Glory 1. As to the World of Nature Christ procured two things 1. The Standing of it 2. The Deliverance of it 1. The Standing of it and that in a threefold respect 1. The Standing of it in Being Sin filled it with so much spiritual stench and rottenness that the Power of the holy One would not have endured to have been there supporting and bearing it up in Being if the Death of Christ had not been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sweet-smelling savour Eph. 5. 2. to perfume and sweeten it the World was as it were new founded by the Cross or else Sin that abomination of desolation would have dashed it down about the Sinners Ears Justice if unsatisfied would not have spared so much as the Stage whereon Sin was acted but hurled it down into its first Nullity Christ upholdeth all things by the word of his power Heb. 1. 3. Before Sins entry they stood merely by the word of his Power but since they stand not without the blood of his Cross. Redemption is the great Buttress of Creation as it rears up the little World after its fall so it keeps up the great World from falling 2. The Standing of it in Order When the Prophet describes God's Judgments he speaks as if the old Chaos were come again Loe the earth was without form and void Jer. 4. 23. All the Orders and Harmonies in Nature were at first set by the Wisdom of God and afterwards cemented by the Blood of God or else Sin would have unframed all By Christ all things consist Col. 1. 17. not only subsist in their Beings but consist in their Orders 3. The Standing of it in its Usefulness to us Sin was the blast and forfeiture but Christ is the Purchaser and heir of all things Heb. 1. 2. and in and through him all are as it were new-given to us We became such wretches by Sin that the Earth would not have bore our persons if Christ had not bore our iniquities the Sun in the Firmament would not have lighted the material World if the Sun of Righteousness had not appeared in the spiritual these lower Heavens would not have spun out a day for us if Christ had not purchased the upper ones of Glory the Blood of Creatures should never have been shed for the life of our Bodies if the Blood of God had not been poured out for the Life of our Souls Under the Law before Harvest began the Passeover was killed at Harvest a Sheaf of the first-fruits was brought to the Priest to be offered to God and after Harvest there was the Feast of Tabernacles to bless God for the Fruits of the Earth which by the Jews was kept with Booths and Hosannahs Had not Christ our Passeover been sacrificed for us there would have been no Harvest of Creature-blessings at all and now that there is one the praise of every Sheaf must be brought to Christ the high-priest of good things and in and through him offered up to God therefore there is a spiritual feast of tabernacles under the Gospel Zach. 14. 16. Whilest we sit under the Booths of the Creature we must sing Hosannahs to the Son of God who tabernacled in our flesh and in it merited all comforts for us Every bough of Nature hangs upon his Cross every crum of Bread swims in his Blood every Grape of blessing grows on his Crown of Thorns and all the sweetness in Nature streams out of his Vinegar and Gall. A right-born Christian is the best Philosopher for he sees the Sun of Righteousness in the Luminaries of Heaven the waterings of Christ's Blood in the fruits of the Earth the Word incarnate in Creature-nourishment and the Riches of Christ in all the Riches of Nature All are ours and we are Christ's and Christ is God's 2. Christ by this Price procured the Deliverance of it God made the House of the World for Man and whilest there is Sin in the Inhabitant the Curse-mark is on the House the Heavens wax old as if there were Mothes in them the Stars have their malignant Aspects the Earth hath its Thorns and Thistles and the whole Creation groans and travels with an universal Vanity the Sun groans out his light on the Workers of darkness the Air groans with Vollies of Oaths and Blasphemies and the Earth groans forth its Corn and Wine into the lap of the Riotous and as Sin grows heavier so the Creaturegroans wax lowder every day But at last in and through Christ there shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a restitution of all things Acts 3. 21. the Balm of his Blood will perfectly heal all the stabs and wounds in the Body of Nature the groaning and traveling Creature shall be delivered from the bondage of Corruption Rom. 8. 21. there shall be new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness 2 Pet. 3. 13. and all the steps and traces of the old Curse shall be razed out of the World Thus Christ hath purchased the World of Nature but this as appears by the Purchaser's own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 6. 33. is not the main bargain but the casting in or overplus thereof therefore 2. Christ by this Price purchased the World of Grace Grace may be considered two ways either as it is in the Map or Charter of the Gospel or as it is in the Subject or receptacle of the Heart and both ways 't is Christ's purchase 1. Grace in the Map or Charter is the Covenant of Grace comprized in the Promises called the Covenant of Promise Eph. 2. 12. In this Covenant there are Promises reaching down as low as the World of Nature and Promises reaching up as high as the World of Glory and betwixt these two run the Promises which water the World of Grace and these are either Promises of Grace such as those I will give an heart to know me Jer. 24. 7. I will circumcise the heart to love me Deut. 30. 6. I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts Heb. 8. 10. I will give a new heart and a new spirit I will take away th◠stony heart and give an heart of flesh Ezek. 36. 26. or else they are Promises to Grace such as those God will justifie the believer Rom. 3. 26. beautifie the meek with salvation Psal. 149. 4. dwell in a broken heart Isai. 57. 15. comfort the mourners fill the hungry and be seen of the pure in heart Matth. 5. 4 6 8. Now all these Promises are the purchase of Christ and the whole Covenant made up of them is the New-testament in his blood 1 Cor. 11. 25. Without his satisfactory Blood there would have been no room for Promises no not for the least twinkling of a Promise to the sons of men for unsatisfied Justice would have hurried all to Hell All the Promises issue out to us in and through Christ the Rivers of Life gushed out of the true Rock the Gospel-wine run forth from the true Vine if
but a resurrection Oh! my nothingness in Spirituals there must be a creation or I shall never be any thing Oh! the miserable down-cast when I fell from God into my self I can never get up again unless I be unhinged and unselved unless the Spirit lift me up out of my own Iness and Egoity Oh! that I were once out of my own carnal Reason and in the light of life that I were once out of mine own rebellious Will and in the will of God if ever I live 't is not I but Christ in me if ever I labour 't is not I but Grace in me I can write an I upon nothing but my sins if ever I be true to God 't is the holy anointing if ever I be willing 't is the day of God's power Oh! the Cross-bars in my perverse Heart none can shoot them back but the Almighty fingers Oh! the Plague of Apostasie in my lying Heart nothing can heal it but the holy unction if God do not write his Law in my heart there will be nothing but wickedness there if he do not let down some holy Fire into my Affections there will be nothing but Earth there Flesh is Grass and God Glory Man nothing and Grace all God's Mercy is all and the Willer or Runner nothing God's Encrease is all and the Planter or Waterer nothing Thus in Conversion all glorying is cut off and pride stained God as a God is very high upon his Throne-of free Grace and Man as Man very low upon the Dunghill of his own baseness The little ones enter into the Land of Promise the poor are evangelized the dry Wilderness gapes for distillations of Grace the poor weeping soul which bears the precious seed of Self-nothingness and mourns after a supply from free Grace alone shall be sure of the sheaf of comfort at last But now if God in working Conversion doth only put the Will in aequilibrio whether it will turn or not then the Method is quite another thing Lie not O Man upon thy face shake off the dust of Creature-weakness talk no more of thy poverty and wretchedness cry not out for a Resurrection or Creation trouble not the Almighty Spirit and Grace all 's in thine own power already will and live for ever in the sweat of thine own improvements nill and all the power of Grace cannot change thee will and take the Crown of thy self-differencing Glory â—â—ll and all the breathings and inspirations of the holy Spirit must fly away from the Birth and from the Womb. Adam left thee in the common Mass God gives thee the common Grace but thou O Man must make thy self differ from others by a right use of that Grace which they neglect Beatae vitae firmamentum est sibi fidere trust in thy own heart thy way is in thy self thy Will is the great Umpire whether thou wilt be God's or not After all the swasions of Precepts and Promises after creating and quickning Grace hath done its utmost after the living Spirit hath tried to write the Law in thee shall all this be something or nothing Shall the new Creature come forth or not Which shall abide in thy Heart Law or Lust Thou thy self must determine the business God made the Heart and all the Wheels therein but the Motion is thine own Christ hath all the power in Heaven and Earth but the actual Turn is in thine own hand alone Thus according to this Doctrine Man is exalted and God is abased free Will hath the Throne and free Grace waits upon her Man in his first Transgression would have been a God in his Understanding and now in his Conversion he becomes one in his Will turning the Scale of Grace one way or other as he pleaseth 2. Having proved in general that God works Conversion in an insuperable way I procede to prove it in particular with respect to the two Instants of Conversion 1. As to the first Instant God works the Habits or Principles of Grace in an insuperable way and to make this appear 1. Let us compare them with the Remonstrants posse convertere They because they would own somewhat more than mere moral Grace in Regeneration tell us potentiam credendi ante omnia conferri dicimus per irresistibilem gratiam Now if the posse convertere be wrought in an insuperable way why should not the Habits or Principles of Grace be so wrought how is the Wills Liberty impeached by the one more than by the other Which way can the Will resist the infusion of the one more than of the other I know no difference between them as to these things Wherefore supposing what I have proved before that there are such Habits of Grace it follows that they are wrought in an insuperable way 2. There is in Man's Soul an obediential Capacity to receive the Habits or Principles of Grace there is a Capacity and therefore God who fills all things can fill it there is an obediential Capacity and therefore God when ever he fills it fills it in an insuperable way for this obediential Capacity is no other than that whereby the Soul as to the receiving of gracious Principles stands in obedience to God's power and as it stands in obedience to God's power it cannot resist To have an Obediential Capacity and not stand in obedience to God's power is one Contradiction and to stand in obedience to Gods power and yet to resist is another Wherefore the Soul receiving gracious Principles from God in its obediential Capacity receives them in such a way as excludes resistance Add hereunto that if the infusion of gracious Principles can be hindred then it must be hindred either by the habitual pravity of the Soul or by the sinful Act of the Will but neither of these can do it not the habitual pravity of the Soul for then it should hinder always and in all persons for it is in all and whilest it is there it hinders and whilest it hinders it cannot be removed because there is no other way of removing it but by those gracious Principles and by consequence there should be no Capacity at all in the Soul to receive gracious Principles nor yet can the sinful Act of the Will hinder it for the Will doth not receive gracious Principles by its Act and those which it doth not receive by its Act it cannot refuse by its Act but it receives them in its obediential Capacity and therefore in an insuperable way 3. The Covenant of Grace evidences this to us I shall instance in two famous places the one is that A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you an heart of flesh I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes Ezek. 36. 26 27. The other is that I will put my Laws in their inward parts and write them in their hearts and will
redeem some from among men unless it merit for them that Faith which is the grand distinction between man and man in the matter of Salvation Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purchased the church with his blood Acts 20. 28. and purchased it in a special manner hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a purchased people is not a title common to all but proper to the Church 1 Pet. 2. 9. God's Children lay scattered up and down the wide World and Christ died that he might gather them all together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into one one Faith here and one Glory hereafter Joh. 11. 52. If Christ had died so for all all should have come into the same Unity We find in Scripture many signal distinctions made among men there are some on whom God will have mercy and others whom he will harden Rom. 9. 18. some written in the Lambs book of life and others left out of it Rev. 13. 8. some given unto Christ Joh. 6. 36. and others â—eft to themselves some are Gods own jewels Mal. 3. 17. and others but as dross Now how incredible is it that Jesus Christ who came to do his Father's Will should in his Death respect those whom God will harden as much as those whom he will have mercy on those that are out of the Book of Life as much as those that are in it those that are left to themselves as much as those that are given to him and those that are the dross of the World as much as God's own Jewels Believe it who can 't is a monstrous Opinion worthy of nothing but exile from Christians Seeing God's Will hath so distinguished men it is no more possible that Christ should die alike for all than that he should dissent from his Father's Will which to do was his great errand in the World Christ suffered between two Thieves a Type of the Elect and Reprobate World but who dare say that he had as much respect to the one as to the other 2. I argue from the Covenant of Grace Christ is the Mediator of the Covenant and the Covenant is the New-testament in his blood as then the Covenant is more or less respective of men so the Mediator's Death is more or less respective of them There are in the Covenant two sorts of Promises the one general and conditional such are those Whosoever believes shall be saved Whosoever will may take of the water of life If any man come to Christ he will not cast him out the other special and absolute such are those I will circumcise thy heart to love me I will put my fear in their hearts I will take away the heart of stone and give an heart of flesh I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes I will put my Laws in their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people there is a vast difference between these Promises For 1. The general and conditional Promises are as it were the hands of the Covenant pointing out the true way and path leading to Salvation but the special and absolute Promises are as it were the Veins of the Covenant carrying in them the blood and spirit of life and power to enable us to walk in that way Here God himself engages to work all saving Graces in us Are our hearts hard he 'l roll away the stone from them do our hearts resist holy impressions he 'l give us hearts of flesh capable thereof are our hearts void of God's Law he will write it there and turn them into the Epistles of Christ and for the effectual doing hereof he will put his Spirit into us and as a real proof of it he will cause us to walk in his ways and in this Walk Love shall be the Motive for he will circumcise the heart to love him and Fear the Bridle for he will put his Fear in the heart never to depart from him and which is the Crown of all he himself will be a God to us and we shall be a people to him in an everlasting Covenant Stand still O Saints and adore here loe here is the ministration of the Spirit indeed 2 Cor. 3. 8. here are words which are spirit and life Joh. 6. 63. here is the supernal Jerusalem the mother of spiritual freedom Gal. 4. 26. here is the immortal seed which begets all the Sons of God 1 Pet. 1. 23. here is that Vis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or formative Virtue which moulds us into the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. here is the day of God's power which makes his people willing to serve him in the beauties of holiness Psal. 110. 3. Happy yea thrice happy they who dwell in this Land of Promise and drink of these Wells of Salvation 2. The general and conditional Promises are extensive to all men but the special and absolute Promises respect the Elect and them only for they are fulfilled in them and them only had these extended to all that God who cannot lye nor deny himself would have fulfilled them in all You will say He would have fulfilled them in all but that men themselves will not But what a strange word is this they will not Will they not if God give them a Will a new heart and a new spirit Will they not if God take away the nilling and resisting Principle the heart of stone Will they not if God write his Laws in their hearts and inward parts O what is this but by an absurd Blasphemy to change God's Truth into a lye his Omnipotence into weakness and his Glory into the old broken Idol of Creature-freedom Surely if God who is Truth and Power engage to make a new Heart the old one cannot hinder it if he promise to remove Hardness Hardness cannot resist it if he say that he will write the Law in the Heart the Heart will not say Nay to his Almighty Fingers Seeing then these Promises are not fulfilled in all but in the Elect only I may safely affirm that they respect not all but the Elect only These things being so it appears how in what manner Christ's Death respects men even more or less as the Promises of the Covenant founded on his Blood do more or less respect them As the general Promises extend to all men so the Death of Christ the Mediator proportionably extends to them all and as the special Promises point only at the Elect so the Death of Christ the Mediator hath a peculiar respect to them Christ by his Death over and besides the general Promises founded those special Promises for the Elect hence they come to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sons of promise Gal. 4. 28. begotten by it to spiritual life which others standing only under the general Promises are not All the saving Graces of the Elect suting to those special Promises are no other than the fruits of Christ's Merits they
Corruption after the Fall did denominate him very sinful because they were virtually seminally all Sin A mere posse convertere doth not denominate a man gracious because it is abstract from the Nature and Essence of the thing but the Habits or Principles of Grace do denominate him such because they were virtually and seminally all Grace Now that there are such Habits or Principles of Grace and not only a naked Power I shall thus demonstrate 1. Out of the Scriptures which do elegantly and emphatically decypher out those Habits or Principles to us Wonderful is the variety of Expressions to this purpose These Habits or Principles are called the new heart and new spirit Ezek. 36. 26. the new man Eph. 4. 24. the new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. the hidden man of the heart 1 Pet. 3. 4. the good treasure of the heart Matth. 12. 35. the glory within Psal. 45. 13. eternal life abiding in us 1 Joh. 3. 15. a well of water springing up into everlasting life Joh. 4. 14. the teaching and abiding anointing 1 Joh. 2. 27. the renewing of the holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. the seed of God remaining in us 1 Joh. 3. 9. the life of God Eph. 4. 18. and which is the sublimest word of all the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. And is all this glory of words poured out upon a mere posse which doth not so much as encline to Conversion Are not here the noblest and highest Inclinations set forth unto us Hath not the new heart which hath eternal life in it a propensity to Acts of spiritual life Will not the new creature renewed by the holy Ghost and sweetned by the holy Unction have some Odours and Fragrancies breaking forth from it Can the hidden man be ever hid the good treasure ever sealed and the glory within ever shut up Must not the Well of life break forth the seed and life of God spring up and the divine nature shew forth it self and do not these denominate him gracious in whom they are What doth a new heart speak him How doth the good treasure enrich him the glory within illustrate him the holy unction perfume him the life and seed of God quicken him the renewing of the holy Ghost alter him and the divine nature glorifie him Here are pregnant denominations indeed but there is not a tittle of this in a mere posse convertere wherefore these expressions are of a nobler emphasis than so You 'l say 't is true these expressions shew forth habits or principles of Grace but not such as go before the actual consent of the will to Gods Call but such as follow after it nay after frequent acts thereof Unto which I shall answer two things 1. The habits and principles of Grace decyphered in the Scriptures aforesaid are there set out as the royal acts of pure Free Grace and not as pendents upon mans Will and for this I shall give two eminent instances omitting others The first is in that famous place Ezek. 36. where God promises a new heart ver 26. and his own spirit ver 27. but withal he enters a double protestation one before the Promise Thus saith the Lord I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for mine own holy names sake ver 22. and another after it Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord God be it known unto you be ashamed and confounded for your own wayes O house of Israel ver 32. What could be more said to exalt God and his Free Grace and to annihilate man and his Works How could the True God enter such protestations if the great promise of a new-heart hang in suspence upon mans actual consent When a man without the new-heart gives that actual consent there in something which instead of shame and confusion is worthy to be noted as a matter of Praise and Glory But you 'l say these protestations respect not the way or order of working these gracious habits but exclude mans worth or dignity in the business Now albeit God do not give the new-heart for mans consent yet he may do it upon or after mans consent I answer these protestations shew that before the new heart there is nothing in man but what is matter of shame and confusion and by consequence the actual consent of the Will which is a matter of Praise and Glory cannot so much as in order exist before the new-heart The second instance is that Tit. 3. 5. where the Apostle opens the fountain of Regeneration Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost We are saved by washing and renewing but in what way or method is this wrought The Apostle tells us not by works of Righteousness but of mere mercy Surely if there be any Righteousness in man it must be in his Will and if any work of Righteousness be in the Will an actual consent to Gods Call must be such a work Yet the Apostle asserts that our Regeneration was not by works of Righteousness but of Gods Mercy Again 't is observable that the Apostle doth not say Not for works of Righteousness as only excluding the meritorious dignity thereof but he saith Not by works of Righteousness as denying the very existence thereof in order to Regeneration 2. If the actual consent of the Will to the Calls of God do indeed precede the habits or principles of Grace then what is that which gives an actual consent to Gods Call What else but the stony heart the old Creature the wisdom of man and the humane nature For the mere posse convertere doth not include in it a heart of flesh a new Creature an holy Unction or divine Nature therefore the consent precedent to these Gracious Principles must be given by the stony heart old Creature humane Wisdome and Nature which is very incongruous Let us hear Anselms determination in this case Voluntas non rectè vult nisi quia recta est sicut non est acutus visus quia videt acute sed ideò videt acutè quia acutus est it a voluntas non est recta quia vult rectè sed rectè vult quoniam est recta To the same purpose is that of our Saviour A corrupt tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot bring forth good fruit Mat. 7. 18. that is whilst it is corrupt it cannot A corrupt tree may become a good tree but whilst it is corrupt it cannot bring forth good fruit as when the Apostle saith The carnal mind cannot be subject to Gods Law Rom. 8. 7. the meaning is that whilst it is carnal it cannot and how then can the Will whilst it is a corrupt tree bring forth so precious a fruit as an assent to Gods Call How can such a grape of Heaven grow upon the thorns of an unregenerate heart You 'l say I must not call the Will a corrupt tree
a thing will you say What saith holy Stephen Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears you do always resist the holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye Acts 7. 51. To which I answer That the Spirit may be said to be resisted two ways either as it is in the external Ministry or as it comes in the internal Operations It may be said to be resisted in the external Ministry He that despiseth you despiseth me saith Christ Luk. 10. 16. He that despiseth despiseth not man but God saith the Apostle 1 Thess. 4. 8. When therefore it is said that they resisted the holy Ghost the meaning is not that they resisted him as to his internal Operations but that they resisted him as to the external Ministry This appears by the Context for they resisted him as their fathers did ver 51. and how was that The next Verse tells us Which of the Prophets have not your fathers persecuted Ver. 52 Their resistance of the Spirit was in persecution of the Prophets But you 'l say Might they not also resist him as to his internal Operations I answer so much doth not appear in the Text but however the internal Operations of the Spirit are twofold some are for the production of common Graces some for the production of saving Graces such as the new Heart and new Spirit Now if the holy Ghost may be resisted as to the former Operations yet it cannot as to the latter for in these it takes away the heart of Stone the resisting Principle and gives an Heart of Flesh capable of divine Impressions 4. God doth insuperably remove the Obstacles of Conversion What is thy Mind dark nay darkness it self God can command the light out of darkness and shine into the heart 2 Cor. 4. 6. Is thine Ear deaf He can say Ephatha to it and seal instruction Job 33. 16. Is thy Heart hard and stony He can take away the stony heart and in the room of it give an heart of flesh Ezek. 36. 26. Is thy Heart barred and shut up against God He can open it as well as Lydia's Acts 16. 14. he opens and none can shut Rev. 3. 7. Doth thy Will hang back He can draw thee Joh. 6. 44. and reveal such day of power upon thy heart as shall make thee truly willing Psal. 110. 3. Dost thou go on frowardly in the way of thy heart Yet he can see thy way and heal thee Isai. 57. 17 18. Dost thou oppose the precious Gospel Yet peradventure he will give thee repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. Whatever the Obstacle be he can remove it he can cast down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every height in the heart 2 Cor. 10. 5. and then what Obstacles can remain Now if God do insuperably remove the Obstacles of Conversion then he doth insuperably produce the Work of Conversion 5. If God do not work Conversion in an insuperable way then what doth he produce towards it but a mere posse convertere According to the Remonstrants Doctrine he doth not infuse Habits or vital Principles of Grace neither will they in plain direct terms assert that he doth produce actual Conversion what then doth he produce towards it but a mere posse convertere and is not a posse peccare from him also Voluntatem say the Remonstrants comitatur proprietas inseparabilis quam libertatem vocamus à qua Voluntas dicitur esse potentia quae positis omnibus praerequisitis ad agendum necessariis potest velle nolle an t velle non velle And again Semper in omni statu hujus vitae ubi legislatio praemiorum promissio poenarum interminatio hortationes preces similia locum habent voluit Deus libertatem Voluntati adesse quâ objectū ab intellectu monstratū velle potest nolle aut velle non velle Surely if the Nature and inseparable Property of the Will be such and such by the Will of God then according to the Remonstrants Doctrine a posse peccare is from God as the Author of Nature as well as a posse convertere is from him as the Author of Grace and by consequence it follows that he doth act as far towards Transgression as towards Conversion No by no means will you say it cannot be for God by his Commands Promises and the Spirit 's Motions doth promote Conversion but by his Prohibitions Threatnings and the Spirit 's Counter-motions doth beat back Transgression Very well these things shew that God's Actings touching Conversion and Transgression are not the same as to the Manner nevertheless they still remain the same as to the Terminus or product For after all the Commands Promises and Motions towards Conversion still the Terminus or Product is but a posse convertere and notwithstanding all the Prohibitions Threatnings and Motions against Transgression still there is the Terminus or Product of a posse peccare and by consequence he acts as far towards Transgression as towards Conversion Will you yet reply that God gives a posse convertere and without this Man could not convert and when he doth actually convert God concurrs thereunto I answer that according to the Remonstrants Doctrine God gives a posse peccare also and without this Man could not sin and when he doth actually sin God concurrs to the material Act thereof and where then is the Difference By the Doctrine of resistible Grace God seems to act as far towards Transgression as towards Conversion 6. If God do not work Conversion in an insuperable way then he works it in a dependent way putting Man's Will in aequilibrio as it were in an eaven Ballance that it may turn or not turn to God ad placitum Now that this last is none of God's Method clearly appears because God as beseems his infinite Wisdom works Conversion in such a way as is most depressive of the Creature and exaltative of himself the Man whom he indeed converts doth lick the Dust the fountain of Blood in his Nature is broken up and the superfluity of Naughtiness in his Life set in order before him he falls down in self-abhorrencies and cannot deny but that he is a Beast in his sensual Sins and a Devil in his spiritual he perceives his spiritual Poverty to be extreme so many thousand Talents owing to divine Justice and nothing at all to pay a shameful nakedness in his Soul and not a rag of Righteousness to cover it as a wretched half-damned Creature down he goes to the brink of Hell and from thence be hath a prospect of Heaven down he goes into the Abyss of his own Nullity and from thence hath some glimpses of Christ's Allness His first breath of spiritual Life is a groaning under the weight of Sin Oh! the intimate love of Sin says he 't will never out unless my heart be broken all to pieces Oh! the obdurate Stone in my Heart it cannot be mollified but by Almighty Grace Oh! my dead Heart nothing can quicken it
be their God and they shall be my people Jer. 31. 33. These Promises do most signally set forth the production of gracious Principles here 's the Principles themselves a new heart and a new spirit here 's the principal efficient of them the holy Spirit of God here 's a remotion of the Obstacles unto them the taking away the heart of stone here 's the next immediate Capacity of receiving them an heart of flesh here 's the way or manner of producing them a writing the Law in the heart here 's the effectual fruitfulness of them a causing to walk in God's statutes and here 's the crown or glory of all God will be their God and they his people Now when there is a Worker such as the Almighty Spirit a Remotion of the Obstacles such as the Stone of hardness an immediate Capacity such as an Heart of flesh a way of Working such as the intimate Impression of Truth a Fruit proceding such as Obedience to God's Statutes and a Crown of all such as an Interest in God How can the Grace be less than insuperable You will say These Promises were not made to the Gentiles but to the Jews and not to any singular persons among them but to the whole Nation I answer These Promises extend not only to the Jewes but to the Gentiles for these are Promises of Grace founded in Christ and in Christ Jew and Gentile are all one Gal. 3. 28. so one that the Gentiles are of the same body and partakers of the promise Eph. 3. 6. Indeed before the middle Wall of Partition was broken down they were strangers from the covenant of promise but that being gone they are fellow-heirs partaking of the root and fatness of the Olive Neither do these Promises extend to all the Nation of the Jews but to the true Israel the elect People of God whether they be Jews or Gentiles for in them only are these Promises fulfilled Had these been made to all the Jews the true God would have fulfilled them in every Jew You will say No God's Truth doth not exact such a performance for he promised to do these things not absolutely but conditionally so as men did not resist the operations of his Grace I answer If God only promise these things shall be done so as men do not resist then these Promises run thus If thy stony Heart do not resist I will give thee an Heart of Flesh if thy old Heart do not resist I will give thee a new one if thy own spirit do not resist I will give thee my Spirit and if the Law of Sin do not resist I will give my Laws into thy Heart Which Interpretation doth utterly evacuate the Glory and Power of these Promises for to be sure that Stone that old Heart that Spirit of our own that Law of Sin in us will what it can resist the operations of Grace You will say God gives unto Man a posse convertere a supernatural Faculty whereby he is able to turn unto God Now God promises to do these things not so as men in their mere Naturals do not resist but so as men furnished with that supernatural power do not resist I answer two things overthrow this Interpretation 1. In the Text it self there is not a tittle of such a Condition of Non-resistency nor of such a supernatural Power of Conversion nay on the contrary in stead of the Condition of Non-resistency it speaks of a stony heart which is a Principle of Resistency to be removed instead of a supernatural power of Conversion it implies an old heart which is powerless in the things of God to be made new 2. If God promise to do these things so as men furnished with supernatural power of Conversion do not resist then there is such a supernatural power in men before these things be wrought in them that is before there be a new or soft Heart whilest the Heart is old and stony there is such a supernatural power in them which assertion is as I take it 1. Against Scripture that divides all men into two ranks they are clean or unclean new creatures or old spiritual men born of the spirit or natural men born of the flesh but this Assertion ushers in a middle sort of men such as hang by a posse convertere between Nature and Grace with the natural man they have an old stony Heart and with the spiritual man they have a new supernatural Power in the frame of their Heart they are no better than natural and in their supernatural Power they are little less than spiritual 2. 'T is against Reason All Powers in the rational Soul flow out of Life the Power of knowing and embracing natural good things flows out of the natural Life of the Soul and the power of believing and receiving spiritual good things flows out of the supernatural Life of the Soul but this Assertion supposes a supernatural Power of Conversion without any vital Root nothing of a new Heart or Spirit and yet a supernatural Power of Conversion Wherefore rejecting these Interpretations I conclude that those Promises import the production of gracious Principles in an insuperable way 4. The Production of gracious Principles is in Scripture set out in such glorious titles as do import insuperable Grace 't is a creation Eph. 2. 10. 't is a generation Jam. 1. 18. 't is a resurrection Eph. 2. 5 6. 't is a traction Joh. 6. 44. 't is an opening of the heart Act. 16. 14. 't is a translation into Christs kingdom Col. 1. 13. Now if this be not insuperable Grace then there may be a Creation on God's part and no new Creature on mans a Generation on Gods part and no Child of Grace on mans a Resurrection on Gods part and nothing quickened on mans a Traction on Gods part and nothing coming on mans an Opening on Gods part and all shut on mans and a Translation on God's part and no Remove at all on mans and why then should such stately names of Power be set on the head of resistible Grace You 'l say all these are but Metaphors very well but Metaphors are Metaphors that is they carry in them some image or resemblance of the things themselves but there is not the least shadow of likeness or similitude between these things and resistible Grace What shadow of Creation in that which a Creature may frustrate What of Generation in that which produces nothing at all What of Resurrection when the dead need not rise What of Traction when there is no coming upon it What of Opening when there is a Heart still shut up What of Translation when there is no remove by it Take away the infallible Efficacy of Grace and it can be none of all these no not so much as metaphorically because it hath no print of likeness thereunto 5. The Scripture doth not only set out Conversion under the Glory of Metaphors but in plain terms it stiles it a Work of
another But that of Nazianzen is fullest of spiritual sence who cries out O infirmitatem meam meā enim duco primi parentis infirmitatem If any reply But how could we sin in Adam I answer that our humane Nature was in him and why might it not sin there You 'l say It could not for want of a Will I answer that our Wills were put into Adam's by that Covenant which was made with him for himself and all his posterity If one Man may put his Will into another Man's Will in a Comprimise why may not God who is more Lord of our Wills than our selves put all our Wills into Adam's by a Covenant and here God did it with abundant Equity because our Wills were put into Adam's as well for the obteining blessedness upon his Obedience as for the incurring punishment upon his Disobedience 2. The lower end of this Chain the universal depravation of Nature called Peccatum originale originatum this hangs upon the former all habitual Sin hath an essential relation to some actual Sin precedent 'T is impossible that one should be a Sinner habitually who in no kind sinned actually If Adam had not sinned actually he had never been habitually vitiated nay if we had not sinned in his Sin we had never been so This original Depravation is the sinning Sin the Body of Sin a Body in our Souls Flesh in our Spirits a Nail on our Eyes a Plague in our Hearts and a Root of bitterness in our whole Nature this turns our Minds into Dungeons of darkness our Wills into Gulfs of Sin our Memories into leaking Vessels our Fancies into Forges of Vanity our Affections into Chambers of Imagery our Members into Weapons of Unrighteousness and our whole Man into a Man of Sin insomuch that to be carnal is to walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3. 3. When we are formed in the Womb this Chain lies upon us even in primo ardore in the first warmth of natural Conception Psal. 51. 5. And when Christ is formed in our Hearts this Chain presses so hard upon the spiritual Embryo that as soon as ever it begins to live it falls a sighing and groaning with tears Oh! my hard heart Oh! my unbelieving heart Oh! my carnal sensual heart Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7. 24. Nay the very Philosophers themselves who never kenned so far as the top of this Chain I mean Adam's Sin yet seem to feel the weight of it Wherefore sometimes they complain of a Sepulchrum Corporis as if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Grave to the Soul and sometimes they cry out of a Defluvium Pennarum as if the Soul had lost her Wings Whither also may be referred the Trismegists Indumentum Inscitiae Pravitatis Fundamentum Corruptionis Vinculum Velamen opacum with many such like expressions touching the weight and pressure of this Chain involving Men in a horrid slavery and captivity 2. Besides the Chain of Original Sin there is that of Actual the whole World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 5. 19. lies in wickedness as a Slave in his Chains Oh! the open Profaneness secret Hypocrisies spiritual Wickednesses carnal Pollutions daring Presumptions faultring Infirmities Impieties against God Unrighteousness against Men vast Armies and Hosts of Sin which cover the World As Original Sin turns Man into a Man of Sin so Actual Sin turn the World into a World of Sin This is a long Chain reaching from Adam's Fall to the Worlds Period and from first to last enwrapping Captives all along 2. The Links of the Chains are considerable and those are three great ones 1. The first Link is Macula peccati the Stain of Sin this is the filth of the Chain a brand of deformity on the naked Captive God is the beauty of Holiness and there is no turning from him without a Blot God is a Sun of infinite light and there is no holding up our hands against him without casting a dark shadow on our faces Every Sin is a filthiness If it be a brutish lust 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filthiness of flesh if a spiritual wickedness 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filthiness of spirit as the Apostle distinguisheth 2 Cor. 7. 1. Nay that which is filthiness of flesh in the external commission of the Act is yet filthiness of spirit in the internal commaculation of the Soul The wicked cast out mire and dirt and the more they cast out in the transient Acts of Sin the more there is within in the abiding spot of it When the Act of Sin is passed and gone the Spot and Stain thereof stays behind and denominates us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 children of disobedience 2. The second Link is Reatus peccati the Guilt of Sin a dreadful Link chaining the naked Captive to divine Wrath fastened within him by the desert of Sin and bound upon him by the Justice of God and hence he becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a child of wrath No sooner doth he turn from God as his Law-giver but he meets him as his Judge and that in the face The face of the Lord is against them that do evil Whilest he flies extra ordinem praecepti hee falls intra ordinem justitiae the wages of sin is death 3. The third Link is Regnum peccati the Reign of Sin Sin is an absolute Tyrant over us his Laws are all writ in Letters of blood his strong Holds are in our very Reasons 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. His Throne is in our Wills his winged Chariot in our Affections his Weapons in our earthly Members and our whole man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the slave of sin Joh. 8. 34. 2. The next thing in the Captivity is the Prison and that is the Wrath of God But here we must distinguish the Walls from the Dungeon the Walls are very strong and dreadful infinite Justice and Holiness are the flaming Cherubims that guard them and the Hand-writing upon them is A curse to the sinner and woe to the worker of iniquity The poor Captive as long as his Chains are unbroken lies within these Walls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the judgment of God Rom. 3. 19. Wrath abides upon him Joh. 3. 36. a sad State Nevertheless whilest but here he is a Prisoner of Hope a Captive capable of Redemption The Dungeon is Hell it self a place of Darkness a gulf of unquenchable Fire a bottomless Pit of Perdition into which impenitent Sinners are still a sinking deeper and deeper without any hope of ascending out of it when the Captive is once here the utmost farthing will be exacted of him 3. The last thing in the Captivity is the Jaylor even Satan and he doth three things 1. He takes the Captive into his custody the Natural Man's Heart becomes his Palace and every room in it is full of hellish furniture not the Turret of Reason nay not the reliques
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-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-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
upon the Sufficiency of Christ's Death which hath worth enough in it to redeem millions of Worlds I answer there is a double Sufficiency 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 of Redemption the first is that radical Sufficiency whereby the thing may possibly become a Price the second is that formal sufficiency whereby the thing doth actually become a Price Let a thing be of never so vast a value in it self 't is no Price at all unless it be paid for that end and being paid 't is a Price for no more than those only for whom it was so paid because the intrinsecal worth how great soever doth not constitute it a Price Hence it is clear that if Christ's Death though of immense value had been paid for none it had been no Price at all and if it were paid but for some it was no Price for the rest for whom it was not paid These things premised if Christ no way died for all men how can those Promises stand true All men if they believe shall be saved saved but how Shall they be saved by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Price of Redemption there was none at all paid for them the immense value of Christ's death doth not make it a Price as to them for whom he died not or shall they be saved without a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Price God's unsatisfied Justice cannot suffer it his Minatory Law cannot bear it neither doth the Gospel know any such way of Salvation take it either way the truth of those Promises cannot be vindicated unless we say that Christ died for all men But you 'l yet reply that albeit Christ died not for all yet is the Promise true because Christ's death is not only sufficient for all in it self but it was willed by God to be so I answer God willed it to be so but how Did he will that it should be paid for all men and so be a sufficient Price for them then Christ died for all men or did he will that it should not be paid for all men but only be sufficient for them in its intrinsecal value then still it is no Price at all as to them and consequently either they may be saved without a Price which is contrary to the Current of the Gospel or else they cannot be saved at all which is contrary to the truth of the Promise If it be yet further demanded To what purpose is it to argue which way Reprobates shall be saved seeing none of them ever did or will believe Let the Apostle answer What if some did not believe Shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect God forbid yea let God be true but every man a liar Rom. 3. 3 4. And again If we believe not yet he abideth faithful and cannot deny himself 2 Tim. 2. 13. No Reprobate ever did or will believe yet the Promise must be true and true antecedently to the Faith or Unbelief of men true because it is the Promise of God and antecedently true because else it could not be the Object of Faith Wherefore I conclude that Christ died for all men so far as to found the truth of the general Promises which extend to all men 3. I argue from the Ministers Commission which is Go preach the Gospel to every creature by virtue of this they command all men every where to repent and to induce them thereunto they open a door of Hope to them and to raise up that Hope they set forth Jesus Christ evidently before their eyes as if he were crucified among them opening his bleeding Wounds and through them shewing his naked Heart and the inward bruises there made by Gods Wrath for man's Sin they lift up their voices and cry Come O poor sinners come for all things are ready here 's Christ and his redeeming Blood ready here 's an Act of free Grace Pardon seal'd in that Blood here 's a Heaven of Reconciliation and at the end thereof a Heaven of Glory open before you Come O come without delay Behold now is the accepted time the day of salvation come and your Sins shall be blotted out come and your Souls shall live for ever whilest it is called to day we beseech you be you reconciled unto God why should your immortal Souls saveable through Christ be choaked with worldly Thorns or inchanted with base Lusts or inhabited by unclean Devils Turn ye turn ye why will ye die And in all this they bespeak not the Elect only but others too for their Commission reaches to every creature neither do they utter their own humane Passions but pursue their divine Commission for in all their pathetical beseechings God himself beseeches 2 Cor. 5. 28. in all their loud out-cries Wisdom it self cries out Prov. 8. 1 4. in all their earnest expostulations Christ himself stands at the door and knocks Rev. 3. 20. in all their holy Doctrines the Kingdom of Heaven comes nigh unto men Luk. 10. 11. and in all their invitations to the Evangelical Feast made up of Christ's Flesh and Blood which is meat indeed and drink indeed God himself invites and bids men eat and drink for his heart is with them These things being so it necessarily follows that Christ died for all men because the Oblation of Christ in the Gospel is founded on his Oblation on the Cross and the Ministery of Reconciliation is founded on the Mystery of it Hence the Apostle joins both together God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 19. And in another place Christ gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time 1 Tim. 2. 6. The word of Reconciliation is extensive to all therefore so is the work the Price of Redemption may be testified to all therefore it was paid for all so far as to found that testimony of Jesus which is the spirit of Prophecy But if Christ no way died for all men how came the Ministers Commission to be so large They command men to repent that their sins may be blotted out but how can their sins be blotted out for whom Christ was not made sin They beseech men to be reconciled to God but how shall they be reconciled for whom Christ paid no Price at all They call and cry out to men to come to Christ that they may have life but how can they have life for whom Christ was no Surety in his Death If then Christ died for all men the Ministery is a true Ministery as to all but if Christ died only for the Elect what is the Ministery as to the rest Those Exhortations which as to the Elect are real undissembled offers of Grace as to the rest seem to be but golden Dreams and Shadows those Calls which as to the Elect are right Ministerial
are renewed with the renewings of the holy Ghost but that is shed on them through Jesus Christ they have the Law written in their hearts but that is the Epistle of Christ their filthy flesh is cut off from their hearts that they may love God who is a pure Spirit but this is the circumcision of Christ Col. 2. 11. In a word all the saving Graces of the Elect are as so many Legacies of the New-testament and the New-testament is founded in his Blood Wherefore it is clear from the Covenant of Grace and its special respect to the Elect that Christ died in a special and peculiar manner for them 3. I argue from the Issue of Christ Christ was to have a Seed and this I shall demonstrate three ways 1. From the Preciousness of his Blood 2. From the Purpose of his Father 3. From the Promise of his Father 1. From the Preciousness of his Blood That there should be a Laver made of God's Blood and never a Sinner washed in it that such a vast sum of precious Merits should be paid down and never a Captive released by it is to me no less than prodigious Blasphemy every little Grain in Nature doth confute it if that do but fall into the ground and die it bringeth forth much fruit and shall the Son of God bleed and die in his assumed Flesh and be fruitless God in his waky Providence gives to every little Seed his own body and shall the peerless Flower of Heaven sow his Blood and Righteousness and have none at all A Cup of cold water given in Charity shall in no wise lose its reward and can it be so with the Blood of Christ poured out in a transcendent excess of Love and glorified into an infinite Merit by his Deity When Christ fed the multitude but with Barley-loaves small Fishes nothing was lost and can all be lost when he makes a Feast of spiritual Marrow and Fatness and gives his Flesh to be meat indeed and his Blood to be drink indeed Oh! far be the thought from every Christian 2. From the Father's purpose which as the Scriptures hold forth clearly was that his Son should be a King a Captain a Shepherd an Husband an Head and a Father And what is a King without Subjects a Captain without Souldiers a Shepherd without a Flook an Husband without a Spouse an Head without a Body and a Father without Posterity Empty Names are below him whose name is above every name Wherefore this King must have a Sion a mountain of holiness to reign in Psal. 2. 6. this Captain a Militia an army with banners to fight under him Cant. 6. 4. this Shepherd a flock to hear his voice and follow him Joh. 10. 4. this Husband a spouse a Queen in Gold of Ophir maried to him Psal. 45. 9. this Head a body to be animated with his Spirit and filled with his life Col. 1. 18. and this Father a numerous issue begotten and brought forth into the spiritual World to honour and serve him Heb. 2. 13. 3. From the Father's Promise which was in terminis That he should have a seed Isai. 53. 10. a Seed begotten by his Spirit and by that Generation bearing his Image and in that Image serving of him and to make it sure God engages by special Promises to take away the stony Heart to write the Law there to put his holy Spirit into them and so infallibly to raise up a seed to him and for the continuance of this Seed successively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filiabitur nomen ejus his name shall be sonned or childed from generation to generation Psal. 72. 17. The special Promises shall be ever budding and blossoming and bringing forth the fruits of Grace thus Christ shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied Isai. 53. 11. and as a sign of this Satisfaction he breaks out Behold I and the Children which God hath given me Heb. 2. 13. Should he miss but one of his Seed or Children his Heart would not rest or be satisfied for they are in a peculiar manner the travel of his Soul But now if Christ died alike or equally for all what becomes of his precious Blood How can the Purpose and Promise of God stand Which way shall Christ have a Seed Shall his Seed be begotten out of Man's Will No such Generation ever was there Joh. 1. 13. 'T is not of him that willeth Rom. 9. 16. Nothing less than the holy Spirit which formed Christ in the Womb can form him in the Heart but shall they be begotten by the holy Spirit That Spirit doth nothing in the work of Regeneration but what Christ merited in his Passion every new Creature which is efficiently begotten by the Spirit was first meritoriously begotten by the Death of Christ or else it would not be the Seed of Christ at least not the travel of his Soul Now Christ did not travel or merit for all men that they should be begotten again by the holy Ghost for then either all would be so begotten which Experience denies or else the Merit and Travel of Christ must be lost which the preciousness thereof abhorrs And if Christ did not merit it for all then neither did he if he died alike for all merit it for any and how then shall he have a Seed His Seed must be begotten by the Spirit and the Spirit begets no new Creatures but what Christ merited and Christ dying equally for all did not merit such a thing for any because not for all Moreover when God promised Christ a Seed either the meaning of that Promise was that some men should become his Seed or that all should be so if that some then Christ died not equally for all if that all then all must be begotten by the Spirit and renewed after Christ's Image the Stone must be cut out of every heart and the Law written there for in these things is the very spirit and life of Regeneration But seeing these things are not wrought in all it appears that the promised Seed is not all but some for whom Christ merited the very work of Regeneration 4. I argue from the Working of the holy Spirit As the holy Spirit eternally procedes from the Father and the Son in his personal Subsistence so he goes forth in time from the Father and the Son in his working in Men. Hence he is called the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son the Father sends him and the Son sends him and as the holy Spirit works in Men from the Father and the Son so he works in them more or less as the Love of the Father and the Merits of the Son do more or less respect them The Father doth in some sort love and the Son did in some sort die for all men Hence the holy Spirit hath some workings in the Non-elect Within the Church many of them taste the Powers of the World to come nay in the Pagan-world
pouring forth his Blood and reconciling us to God's Justice here we have him pouring forth his Spirit and reconciling us to God's Holiness Now in my discourse touching Conversion I shall reduce all to 3. Quaeries 1. What is Mans state before Conversion 2. What is the Nature of the Work 3. Who is the Worker thereof In the first we shall meet with the extreme Necessity of the work in the second with the intrinsecal Excellency thereof and in the third with the Power and Grace of the great Agent 1. What is Man's State before Conversion I mean Man fallen for Man standing needed no Conversion and this I shall consider two ways 1. What it is in general in relation to the whole Man 2. What it is in particular in relation to the several parts of Man 1. What it is in general and this I shall open in two things 1. 'T is a State of Estrangement from God 2. 'T is a State of Enmity against God 1. 'T is a State of Estrangement from God a natural Man is estranged from the womb Psal. 58. 3. without God in the world Eph. 2. 12. God is all round about him in the witnessing Creatures and yet he is without God in the World God is in him in the Lamp of Conscience yet he is without God in his Heart for there he saith There is no God Psal. 14. 1. Which way soever God comes forth to meet him whether from Mount Sinai in the fiery Law or from Mount Sion in Gospel-charms of free Grace still he flies away from God's presence and if God pursue after him he 'l say to God in plain Terms Depart from me Job 21. 14. and if any reliques of light will not depart but stay behind in his heart he shuts them up in the prison of unrighteousness Rom. 1. 18. His Ubi is with Cain in Nod the Land of wandring and demigration and with the Prodigal in a far Country where he is far off from God Psal. 73. 27. and God far off from him Prov. 15. 29. if ever he be saved he must be brought from far Isai. 43. 6. Now upon a distinct View this is a deplorable Condition for 1. A natural Man being estranged from God the Fountain of Life must needs be a dead Man dead in sins and trespasses Eph. 2. 1. because alienated from the Life of God he is not only as the man in the Gospel half dead Luk. 10. 30. who is there set forth not as a figure of Original Corruption but as an Object of Charity as is very evident by the scope of the Parable which is ushered in with that Question And who is my neighbour Ver. 29 and at last closed up with the like Which of the three was neighbour to him Ver. 36 but he is altogether dead in Spirituals there are no true vital Spirits of Faith in him no true motions of Obedience no pulse of heavenly Affections no breath of Spiritual Prayer no taste of the Gospel-wine and Marrow no feeling of all that massy Sin and Wrath which lies upon him all his Life is a Death-wandering all his rest is in the Congregation of the dead Prov. 21. 16. Give him all the Statures of natural Excellencies strew him over with the flowers of sweetest Morality and spangle him with the Notions of sublime Theology yet still he is but a dead man his Soul a dead Soul his Faith a dead Faith his Works dead works and his Hopes and Comfors but as the giving up of the Ghost But you 'l say Is not Man a living Creature Hath he not a Reason and reliques of Light in it Hath he not a free Will and Seeds of Moral Vertue in it And why then do you call him dead I answer Man is a living Creature alive in Naturals but dead in Spirituals he hath a Reason but because there is no light of life in it 't is but a dead Reason his reliques of Light argue no more Spiritual Life in him than knowledge doth in Devils he hath a free Will but for want of the freedom indeed 't is only free among the dead I mean to this or that carnal or natural Work and not to the Will of God he hath some Seeds of Moral Vertue in him but alas these are of too low an Extraction to be any Particles of spiritual Life Mere Moral Vertues are by God's blessing on humane Industry struck as sparks out of natural Principles but Spiritual Life is a Fire dropt down from Heaven into the Heart mere Moral Vertues descending but from natural Principles never ascend up to God as their end but Spiritual Life as it is originally born of God so it is ultimately terminated in him Wherefore a man may be naturally nay morally alive and yet be spiritually dead 2. A natural Man being estranged from God who is an infinite Spirit must needs be Flesh Thus God calls the Men of the old World flesh Gen. 6. 3. thus our Saviour sets out Regeneration by its opposite That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit Joh. 3. 6. As the Body separate from the Soul is Flesh such as moulders into Dust and putrifies into Worms so the Soul separate from God is Flesh too such as turns into the Dust of earthly things and rots in those Lusts which breed the never-dying Worm in Hell neither is this Flesh only in the lower Rooms of the Soul but in the upmost Faculties of Reason and Will In the Reason there is the cankred flesh of Errors and Heresies and in the Will there is the dead flesh of Impotency and the proud flesh of Obstinacy against the Will of God Hence the Apostle tells us of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a mind of flesh Col. 2. 18. and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wills of flesh Eph. 2. 3. And therefore the true Circumcision is in the heart and in the spirit Rom. 2. 29. even in the highest Faculties and Powers of the Soul 3. A natural Man being estranged from God who is the Beauty of Holiness must needs be very impure he is filthy or stinking Psal. 14. 3. an unclean thing Joh 14. 4. he lies polluted in his blood with a Leprosie in his head and a Plague in his heart clothed in filthy rags of Sin and rolling in the mire and vomit of Corruption so great is his filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness that he taints whatsoever he touches his very Prayers are an abomination and his Services as dung before God Neither is this pollution only in the sensitive Soul but also in the rational there is filthiness of spirit 2 Cor. 7. 1. and disilement in the very mind and conscience Tit. 1. 15. there is no sound part but all over wounds and bruises and putrifying sores 4. A natural Man being estranged from God who is Jehovah or Beingness must needs be a very Nullity in spirituals If a Creature be separate from the God of
in Sins Again the natural Will is turned away from God the holy One and so it 's become desperately wicked Jer. 17. 9. a Fountain of blood out of which evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies naturally procede Matth. 15. 19. a Forge of iniquities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the forming or framing of the heart every purpose and desire effigiated there is only evil continually Gen. 6. 5. all 's marred upon the Wheel of man's corrupt Will Nay further the natural Will is turned from God who is Being and so it 's become a Nullity in Spirituals What God says of Israel he mav well say of every Natural man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath no will to me Psal. 81. 11. the Object of the Will is Good and yet all the fontal Goodness in God moves it not Nay lastly there is an Enmity in the Will against God Every Natural man as a part of the corrupt World lies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Devil 1 Joh. 5. 19. and his heart as a hell sets his tongue on fire James 3. 6. Deum ipsum quantum in ipsâ est perimit voluntas propria saith one clearly it would if it could abrogate God's Holiness blindfold his Omniscience and chain up his Justice in order to the fruition of its lusts 3. As for the Affections there 's nothing but monstrous Ataxy in them Love in a Natural Man dotes upon abomination and Hatred breaks out against goodness it self Hope hangs upon a broken reed and Fear starts and trembles at its fellow-mortal Joy triumphs in the pleasures of sin and therein virtually sports it self with the flames of Hell and Sorrow which should wait upon Sin pours out it self over worldly Crosses all the Affections are out of frame and place At first they were born Subjects to the Kingdom of Reason but the Rational Faculties which are the man rebelling against God in the first Adam the Affections which are the brutal part mutin and rise up in Arms against Reason and by an unnatural violence depose it and so unman the man Hence he becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the unreasonable beasts that perish What Asaph was in his Envy at the foolish that is every man in his inordinate Affections he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great beast before God Psal. 73. 22. Here Dinah that is the judgement is deflowred by the Son of Chamor that is an Ass as his Name imports A generation of bruitish Lusts ravish the Soul Here are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vile Affections which debase the Immortal Soul to the dust of the Earth Here the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dii Stercorei those dungy Gods of sensual Lusts carnal Profits and worldly Honours ascend up into the heart and as Gods assume the throne of it command the power of it and by a kind of omnipresence fill the whole circumference thereof Here is the troubled sea of passions and affections where Satan the great Leviathan raises up the winds and waves of all inordinate motions making the heart boil as a pot and sporting himself in the sinful tossings thereof 4. As for the members of the body they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weapons of unrighteousness Rom. 6. 13. The Law of Sin issues out its commands in the soul that speeds them to the members of the body and these are ready to put them in execution Thus deplorable is mans state before Conversion which if duly weighed is enough to make every one cry out Oh! what shall I do to be saved wherefore I proceed to consider the second Quaere 2. What is the nature of the Work And here I shall unfold two things 1. What are the preparatives to Conversion 2. What is the work of Conversion it self 1. What are the preparatives to Conversion For as God makes a way to his anger in punishing so he makes a way to his Mercy in converting sinners First the fallow-ground of the heart must be broken up before the Seed of God be cast into it first Moses must hew the Tables of the Heart and then God writes the Law upon them Manasseh will not humble and turn unto the Lord till he be in chains Every natural man is a Manasseh a forgetter of God as that name imports and will not remember and turn unto the Lord till the Spirit of bondage lay him up in chains under deep Convictions of Sin and Wrath. As when Christ came in the flesh John Baptist prepared his way by the doctrine of Repentance So when Christ is formed in the heart John that is Gods Grace prepares his way by legal humiliations Now the preparatory works to Conversion are these 1. There is a Conviction of Sin the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall convince the world of sin Joh. 16. 8. not only of Sin in general but in particular The Law as 't is in the Letter only operates little but as 't is in the Spirits hand it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 7. 9. it comes home to the heart and gives it a full Charge as Nathan to David Thou art the Man These are Sins saith the Law and these hast thou done saith Conscience and from particular sins the Spirit leads up the Sinner to the fountain of blood in his Nature it shews him a Seminary of corruption in his own heart it makes him smell the sink of sin in his ownbosome neither is this conviction only rational and notional but real and intuitvie Sin with all its Hosts is as it were mustered and set in order before his eyes Psal. 50. 21. Nay it takes hold upon him and he is made to possess it as his own which forces him at last to cry out Guilty Guilty 1. There is a Conviction of Wrath. When Satan gave man his first fall he instilled this Principle into him thou shalt not surely dye Gen. 3. 4. No though thou eat the 〈◊〉 thou shalt not On the contrary when God comes to recover a Soul out of its Fall he speaks in the same language as to Abimelech Behold thou art but a dead man Gen. 20. 3. The wages of sin is death and because such sins are found in thee thou hast the sentence of death in thy self In conviction God sets up a Judgement-seat in the heart and there after Law-accusations and Conscience-proofs the Sinner is sentenced to death and after sentence he is drawn into the valley of Achor or trouble to be stoned with the curses of the Law and scourged with Scorpions of Wrath he hangs by the thred of his life over the bottomless gulph of perdition and out of the fiery Law Hell doth as it were flash in his face 3. Out of these convictions there ariseth legal fear Gods judgements which before were far above out of his sight now approach near unto him qualms come over Conscience and hell-pains begin to seize the Soul this fear hath torment a kind of hell in it and out of
Questions 1. Whether God be not the Author of Conversion 2. After what manner it is wrought 3. Whether God's Will be not always accomplished therein 1. Whether God be not the Author of it And to this Scripture and Reason answer in the affirmative 1. Scripture asserts it there Conversion is painted out under various Notions With reference to our old Corruption 't is called a new heart with reference to the Seed of the Word 't is a generation with reference to our natural Birth 't is a regeneration with reference to the Law in the Letter 't is the Law in the heart with reference to the World 't is a heavenly call out of it with reference to Satan 't is a translation out of his kingdom with reference to Christ 't is a coming to him by faith with reference to God 't is a returning or conversion to him with reference to our death in Sins 't is a resurrection a quickning of the dead with reference to our nullity in Spirituals 't is a creation or a new creature The Scripture phrases it many ways but still it sets forth God as the supreme Author of it Be it a new Heart God is the giver of it Ezek. 36. 26. be it a Generation or Regeneration God is the father of it Jam. 1. 18. be it the Law in the heart God is the writer of it Heb. 8. 10. be it a Call out of the World God is the caller 2 Tim. 1. 9. be it a Translation out of Satan's Kingdom God is the translator Col. 1. 13. be it a coming to Christ God is the drawer Joh. 6. 44. be it a turning or returning to God God is the converter to him the Church prays Turn us O Lord and we shall be turned Lam. 5. 21. be it a Resurrection God is the quickner Eph. 2. 5. be it a new Creation God is the creator and we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his workmanship created in Christ Jesus Eph. 2. 10. Every way God is the Author of Conversion even in Actual Conversion whilest the Act is Man's the Grace is God's for he worketh the Will and the Deed. 2. Reason evinces this and that 3 ways 1. Creature-weakness needs it Man cannot convert himself the Natural man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 receiveth not the things of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he cannot be subject to God's Law Rom. 8. 7. as to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he wants a heart Prov. 9. 4. a Stone he hath which resists God's Will but a heart he hath not to obey the same His Will is tota cupiditas a Lust rather than a Will no wonder if he cannot by his own power convert himself Conversion is a thing above the Sphere of lapsed Nature nay beyond the line of Angels Man's Heart is so dark that those stars of light cannot irradiate it and so cold that those flames of love cannot warm it there is such an Iron-sinew in it as the heavenly hosts which excel in strength cannot bow but must leave it to the Arms of the Almighty and when he doth it they joy over the Convert as a wonder of Power and Grace 2. The Excellency of the Work calls for it The Body of Nature is a rare piece but the Soul of Man is of a nobler value and in the Soul converting Grace which is but an Accident is worth more than the Soul it self 't is the Soul's Rectitude 't is glory within 't is the precious hidden man of the heart 't is the very image of God 't is Christ formed in us 't is anima in centro the Soul centred in God joined unto him and after a wonderful manner becoming one spirit with him 't is Faith in the true one Love in the essential Love a mind light in the Lord and a Will at liberty in the Will of the primum liberum and who can be Author thereof but God alone God made all things ab Angelo usque ad vermiculum from the Angel in Heaven to the Worm on Earth but in Conversion he makes a poor Worm angelize God must be owned in every Atom of Nature how much more in the great Work of Grace This is one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wonderful works of God Acts 2. 11. St. Austin tells a Story of one who was seduced at first but to deny God's Creatorship in the Fly afterwards came to deny it in the Bird and then in the Beast and at last in Man But if any one should procede so far as to deny him in Conversion it would be more prodigious Blasphemy than all the rest Saving Grace is a ray or sparkle of the Deity a thing merely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to God Eph. 4. 24. there is more of God to be seen in it than in all the World of Creatures besides and by consequence to deny him in that is more than to deny him in all the rest 3. The Almightiness of Grace can only effect it As the Scripture sets out Conversion as a great Work so it sets out an almighty Grace as the Cause thereof He that believes acording to some Scriptures that in the work of Conversion there is a resurrection of the soul from the dead a transformation of a stony heart into flesh and a Creation of a new heart and new spirit must also believe according to other Scriptures that in the production of that Work there is put forth a divine power excellency of power and exceeding greatness of power such as raised up Christ from the dead In Conversion there is not only a light shining round about the Sinner but a light shining into him not only a waking of a sleepy Will but a quickning of a dead one not only a proposal of divine Objects but an infusion of divine Principles therefore the Grace effecting it must be almighty That in the Prophet I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes Ezek. 36. 27. is as much a word of Power as the Fiat which made the World that in the Gospel the hour cometh and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Joh. 5. 25. sounds out as great an efficacy as that other Lazarus come forth nothing less than almighty Power can effect it 2. After what manner is it wrought Our Saviour sets out the Mystery of Regeneration by the Wind the wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit Joh. 3. 8. In Regeneration the Spirit blows with such a sound as breaks the Stone in the Heart and with such lively gales as quicken the dead Soul but the manner of this Work is in a great measure secret and incomprehensible by us If we know not how the Bones grow in the Womb how much less how Christ is
irresistible way I am for the Affirmative in a right sence A work may be said to be done irresistibly two ways either when there is no resistance at all thus the Apostle saith ye have killed the just and he doth not resist you Jam. 5. 6. that is not resist at all or else when there is no such resistance as to impede the work thus they were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit of Stephen Acts 6. 10. there 's an irresistibility but what without any resistance at all No they disputed against him with might and main but because their disputes could not impede his work in propagating the Gospel therefore it is said that they were not able to resist him Thus when I say that Conversion is wrought in an irresistible way I mean not that there is no resistance at all for even in the Regenerate there is flesh lusting against the spirit the old Man and the new strugle in the same Faculties like Esau and Jacob in the same Womb but I mean that there is no such resistance as to impede the Work of Conversion In meekness saith the Apostle instructing those that oppose themselves if peradventure God will give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. here is a resistance but for all that the work will be done if God give repentance He went on saith the Prophet frowardly in the way of his heart but what saith God I have seen his ways and will heal him Isai. 57. 17 18. here was a great resistance but for all that God will heal him God works Conversion in such an insuperable way that notwithstanding all the opposition made thereunto it doth infallibly come to pass Now this I shall endeavour to demonstrate first in general and then in particular with respect to the two Instants of Conversion 1. I shall demonstrate it in general and that by these Arguments taken 1. From God's Election He hath chosen some before the foundation of the World chosen them to holiness as the Way Eph. 1. 4. and chosen them to salvation as the End 2 Thess. 2. 13. But if Conversion be not wrought in an insuperable way how doth the foundation of God stand sure 2 Tim. 2. 19 How is that golden Chain kept entire Whom he did predestinate them he called whom he called them he justified and glorified Rom. 8. 30 Were not these called ones who have Predestination going before them and Justification and Glorification coming after them called in an insuperable way If not the Chain cannot hold together The Apostle makes a plain difference between men he opposes those of the election of grace to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were blinded Rom. 11. 7. and those on whom God will have mercy to those whom he hardens Rom. 9. 18. But if Conversion be not irresistibly wrought this difference falls to the ground those of the Election may be blinded and those on whom God hath mercy may be hardened as well as others For my part I should as soon believe that a little Child may put up his finger and rowl about the Spheres as that the Will of Man may stay or turn aside the Influences of electing Grace 2. From Christs Redemption If we consider the preciousness of his Blood surely he must have a Body every little Seed in Nature hath a Body given to it and the Son of God sowing his Blood and Life cannot want one If we consider the Promise of God surely he must have a seed Isai. 53. 10. and what else is the Fulness of the Gentiles and the Conversion of the Jews but this promised Seed But if Grace be not wrought in an insuperable way Christ might sow his Blood and Life in a wonderful Passion and yet have no Body springing out of it nay God might engage himself in the Promise of a Seed and yet nothing at all come of it if the Grace of God be resistible lieve must be asked of Man's will that Christ's Blood may be fruitful and God's Promise Faithful 3. From the Spirit 's Work The three glorious Persons in the sacred Trinity shew forth themselves in three glorious Works the Father hath a special Shine in Creation the Son in Redemption and the holy Spirit in Sanctification In the first Work we have God in the World in the second God in the Flesh and in the third God in the Heart or Spirit When God came forth in Creation Oh! what an Heaven and Earth full of admirable Creatures and Harmonies issued forth When God came in the Flesh what out-breakings of Glory were there What sparklings of the Deity in Miracles upon the Bodies of Men The blind received their sight the lame walked the lepers were cleansed the deaf did hear the dead were raised and the Devils were ejected with power And when God comes in the Heart or Spirit what planting of a new heaven and a new earth How much of Glory and spiritual Miracle breaks forth in the Souls of Men Even here also the blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf hear the dead are raised and the devil is cast out with power The very same Miracles which Christ in the flesh did do on the Bodies of Men in a visible manner the very same doth Christ in the Spirit do on the Souls of Men in a spiritual way This is the proper Work of the Spirit to sanctifie Mens Hearts the Spirit doth not appear any where in all the World so much as in a true Saint Look into a godly Man's Understanding there 's the Spirit of Revelation look into his Will there 's the Spirit of Holiness look into his Affections there 's the Spirit of Love and Joy look into hs Conscience there 's the Spirit of Consolation look into his Prayers there 's the Spirit of Supplication look into his Conversation there 's the Spirit of Meekness and all Righteousness Thus the holy Spirit shews forth its Glory and flows in Men as rivers of living water and this Glory and Out-flowing is so precious that before it came in Esse according to the rich Measures of Gospel-grace it is said of the eternal Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Spirit was not yet Joh. 7. 39. as if the Spirits flowing in Men were a kind of second Being to it But now after all this if Conversion be not wrought in an insuperable way the holy Spirit may be barred out of every Heart and then how shall his work be done Where shall his Glory and spiritual Miracles appear The Father hath a World to appear in the Son hath Flesh to tabernacle in but possibly the holy Spirit can get never an Heart to inhabit in never a Temple to fill with his Glory the holy Spirit would tabernacle with Men but what if the Iron-sinew in the Will will not come out What if the Stone in the heart will not break Then the holy Spirit is robbed of his Glory But is this so strange
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