observe did report of Them to the Asiaticks who slandered and persecuted them Take notice saith he of the late and daily Earthquakes compare our estate with theirs They he means Christians have more confidence to God-ward then you have 15. This was The solid Truth whose liveless Lineaments or obscure Picture nature had drawn unto the Heathen in the former indefinite Notions or Suggestions The best fruits of a good conscience the principal end why we are to study and labor for the preservation of our Consciences void of offence towards God and man throughout the whole course of our life is that we may be enabled in that last day to stand without horror or confusion before the Son of Man As peace of conscience breedeth confidence so the onely Fountain whence this peace of conscience can issue must be our reconciliation to that supreme Judge whose doom or Censure the Consciences of meer natural men implicitly or by instinct of Nature dread albeit they cannot apprehend the express manner of the Judgement to come or who it is that shall be Judge Both these and all like points which are necessary unto true Christian Faith must be learned out of the Book of Life Thus much of the First General viz. Heathen Notions of a Judgement to come c. we proceed to the second according to the method proposed in the 9 th Chapter CHAP. XI By what authority of Scripture the Exercise of this Final Judgement is appropriated unto our Lord Jesus Christ 1. THat there was to be a Judgement general to all but most terrible to the wicked and ungodly was a Truth revealed before any part of the sacred Books now extant were written But if it be a Revelation more ancient then the written Canon what warrant can we have to believe it besides Tradition Is then Tradition a sufficient warrant for us to believe unwritten verities or Revelations made to Gods Saints for many thousand years ago It is not unless the Tradition be expresly avouched by some Canonical Writer But then it or rather the Vouchers authority concerning the truth of the Tradition is to be believed So that our Belief in this Point must be resolved into a written verity or a parcel of Canonical Scripture The Revelation concerning the final Judgement whereof we now speak was made to Enoch before the Flood The Avoucher of this Revelation is St. Jude ver 14 15. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints To execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Besides the authority of St. Jude which makes this Tradition to be no more a meer Tradition but Canonical Scripture we have other more special Grounds to believe that Enoch did thus Prophesie then we have to believe any other pretended Revelations which are not contained in Scripture The truth and certainty of this Judgment denounced by Enoch was so publickly and notoriously known that the Hebrew Church before our Saviours incarnation did begin the Writ or Instrument of their Great and terrible Excommunication with the first words of Enochs Prophesie Dominus veniet the Lord shall come As if they meant to bind the party whom they excommunicated besides all other punishments or infamies over to this Grand Assize But is there in this Prophecie any particular character of Christ Any pregnant intimation that this Great Judge of the world should be the Second Person in the Trinity rather then The First In the words themselves there is no peculiar Character of Christ save only in The Title LORD which as we said before is peculiar to Christ whether it be in the Original exprest by the word Jehovah or Adonai whensoever Judgment or visible exercise of Jurisdiction Regal is the subject or matter of the prophetical discourse as in this Prophecy of Enoch it is Besides this Character in the words of the prophecie the Prophet himself Enoch was a lively Type of Christ the great Prophet in the very ground of his Title to Lordship and Jurisdiction Enoch was translated that he should not see death but before his translation had this testimony that he Pleased God Hebr. 11. 5. Before his Translation he denounced this Wo or Curse against all that continue in ungodliness fore warning the world withal that the Lord himself whose Embassador he was should come to put his Embassage in execution The congruity of the Fact or Type with the Body fore-shadowed implies that this Propheeie was then to be fulfilled after the Prince of Prophets had been translated as Enoch was from earth but in a higher degree then Enoch was into heaven it self And albeit before his translation he had a more ample Testimony then Enoch had this is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased yet was he not made Lord and King and Judge till after his Resurrection and Translation From that time the Angels and Principalities and Powers even all the Hoast of Heaven intimated by Enoch became by that Title subject unto him That Christ is that very Lord against whom those ungodly men whom Enoch mentions did speak such bitter words our Apostle St. Paul though obscurely yet fully implies in the conclusion of his first Epistle to the Corinthians chapt 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Let him be accursed or excommunicated with that Great and terrible Excommunication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Lord shall come for so they call their Excommunication as we do Writs by the first words of the Writ or Instrument and these were the first words of Enochs Prophecie Veniet Dominus The Lord shall come The full meaning or implication of the Apostle is That whosoever doth not love the Lord Jesus shall be liable to all the Iudgments or Woes denounced by Enoch against the hard speeches of ungodly Sinners which they have spoken against their Lord and Iudge 2. That God is Judge of all the Earth that there shall be a final Judgment generally awarded to all the Inhabitants of the Earth by God himself the places of the old Testament are infinite I shall only touch the principal or more pregnant testimonies to this purpose To begin with the First Gen. 18. 22. When the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom Abraham stood yet before The Lord and drawing neer he said wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked ver 23. And again ver 25. To slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee Shall not The Judge of all the Earth do right Thus he spake in the case of Sodom whose Judgment this Lord and Judge of all the earth was then
God It could not There had been indeed an Exaltation of the bodie so assumed but none of the Nature or Person assuming it How then is the Son of God said now to be Exalted by his bodily Ascension into Heaven or by his Sitting at the Right-hand of the Father in our Nature wherein he was formerly humbled Take the Resolution plainely thus God the Father had remained as glorious as now he is although he had never created the world For the creation gave much even all they had to things created it gave nothing unto God who was in Being infinite yet if God had created nothing the Attribute of Creator could have had no real Ground it had been no real Attribute In like manner Suppose the Son of God had never condescended to take our nature upon him he had remained as Glorious in his Nature and Person as now he is yet not glorified for or by this Title or Attribute of Incarnation Or suppose he had not humbled himself unto death by taking the Form of a Servant upon him he had remained as glorious in his Nature and Person and in the Attribute of Incarnation as now he is but without these glorious Attributes of being our Lord and Redeemer and of being the Fountain of Grace and Salvation unto us All these are Real Attributes and suppose a Real Ground or foundation and that was his humbling himself unto death even unto the death of the Cross Nor are these Attributes only Real but more Glorious both in respect of God the Father who was pleased to give his Only Son for us and in respect of God the Son who was pleased to pay our ransome by his humiliation then the Attribute of Creation is The Son of God then not the Son of David only hath been Exalted since his death to be our Lord by a new and Real Title by the Title of Redemption and Salvation This is the Sum of our Apostles Inference concerning our Saviours Exaltation Phil. 2. 11. That every tongue should confesse that Jesus Christ is The Lord unto the Glorie of God the Father To shut up this Point Though Christ Jesus be both our High-Priest and Lord not only as he is the Son of David but as he is the only begotten Son of God and so begotten from all Eternitie yet was he neither begotten a Priest nor Lord from all Eternitie but made a Priest and made a Lord in time The Word of the Oath saith the Apostle Heb. 7. 28. which was since the Law maketh the Son a Priest who was consecrated for evermore And in the very same Charter wherein this Word of the Oath or uncontrollable Fiat for making the Eternal Word an Everlasting Priest is contained this Peculiar Title of Lord is first inferred For so that 110 th Psalm begins Jehovah said to my Lord Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine Enemies thy foot-stool Not that Adonai importeth lesse Honour or Majestie then Jehovah doth as the Jews and Arians ignorantly and impiously collect but with purpose to notifie that this Title of Lord or Adonai was to become as peculiar to Jehovah the Son of God as the Title of Cohen or Priest But this Title of Lord as peculiar to Christ will require and doth well deserve a peculiar discourse and the place allotted it is in the beginning of the second Section 5. Now for Use or Application These insuing Meditations and Considerations offer themselves What branch of sorrow of bodily affliction or anguish of soul or Spirit can we imagin incident to any degree condition or sort of men to any son of man at any time unto which the waters of Comfort may not plentifully be derived from this inexhaustible Fountain of Comfort comprised in This Article of Christs Sitting at the Right-hand of God the Father Almighty No man can be of so low dejected or forlorn estate for means or friends re or spe either by birth or by misfortune but may raise his heart with this Consideration that it is no servitude or beggerie but freedom or riches to be truly entitled A Servant to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings to whom Angels and Principalities as Saint Peter speaks even those Angels and Principalities to whom not Kings and Monarchs but even Kingdoms and Monarchies are Pupils are subject and his fellow servants Or in case any poor dejected soul should be surprized with distrust or jealousie lest his Lord in such infinite height of Exaltation and distance should not from heaven take notice of him thrown down to earth let him to his comfort consider That the Son of God and Lord of Glorie to the end he might assure us that he was not a Lord more Great in himself then Gracious and loving unto us was pleased for a long time to become a Servant before he would be made a Lord and a Servant subject to multitudes of publick despights disgraces and contempts from which ordinarie servants or men of forlorn hopes are freed If he willingly became such a Servant for thee to whom he owed nothing wilt not thou resolve to make a vertue of necessitie by patient bearing thy meannesse or misfortunes for his sake to whom even Kings owe themselves their Scepters and all their worldly glorie But though it be a contemplation full of comfort to have him for our Supreme Lord and Protector who sometimes was a Servant cruelly oppressed by the greatest Powers on earth without any power of man to defend or protect him yet the sweet streams of joy and comfort flow more plentifully to all sorts and conditions of men from the Attribute of his Royal Priesthood To be a Priest implies as much as to be a Mediator or Intercessor for averting Gods wrath or an Advocate for procuring his Favours and blessings * And what could Comfort her self wish more for her children suppose she had been our mother then to have Him for our perpetual Advocate and Intercessor at the Right-hand of God who is equal to God in Glorie in Power and Immortalitie and yet was sometimes more then equal unto us in all manner of anguish of grievances and afflictions that either our nature state or casual condition of life can be charged with * Albeit he knew no sin yet never was the heart of any the most grievovs sinner no not whilest it melted with penitent tears and sorrow for misdoings past so deeply touched with the fellow-feeling of his brothers miseries of such miseries as were the proper effects or fruits of sin as the heart of this our High-Priest was touched with every mans miserie and affliction that presented himself with prayers unto him his heart was as fit a Receptacle for others sorrows of all sorts as the eye is of colours Who was weak and he was not weak who was grieved and he burned not who was afflicted and he not tormented 6. There be Two more special and remarkable Maxims of our Apostles for our comfort The One Heb.
help of this Rule For Instance to lay this Rule unto St. John Baptists speech Matth. 3. 10 11 12. Now also the ax is laid unto the root of the tree Therefore every tree which bringeth forth not good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire I indeed Baptize you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier then I whose shoes I am not worthy to bear he shall Baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire Whose fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the Garner But will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire This Prediction cannot be exactly fulfilled until the Final Sentence be given and put in execution And yet within 43 years after his Baptism by John there was a manifest and lively representation exhibited to the World of his second coming unto Judgement and this representation was exhibited upon the Nation of the Jews The full accomplishment whereof shall at his second coming and not before be universally and exactly accomplished in all Nations and Languages and People Wherein then doth this representation of Final Judgement which at his first coming was exhibited in the Jewish Nation punctually consist In this especially There was such a notorious and manifest Crisis or distinction between the Elect and Reprobate of the Jewish Nation or seed of Abraham at his first coming as in no Nation or People had been experienced before nor shall be experienced in any before the day of Final Judgement in which this distinction of Elect and Reprobates shall not be onely universally manifested but solemnly declared in respect of all mankinde Every Son of Adam shall in that day be irrevocably marshalled or ranked either amongst the absolute Reprobates or absolute Elect In the one or other rank of which estates neither all nor most of every Nation or Church are at all points of time in the Interim to be accounted no not in respect of Gods Eternal Decree Nor may the Verdicts or Aphorisms whether of our Saviour himself or of his Apostles after his death concerning Election or Reprobation be extended to other times or Nations in the same measure or Tenor wherein they were verified and experienced in the Nation of the Jews at or upon our Saviors first coming Thus far to extend them in respect of all Times or Nations were to transgress the Analogie of Faith or received Rules of Interpreting Scriptures and to dissolve the sweet and pleasant Harmony between the Law and the Gospel or between the Evangelists and the Prophets And thus far of the second Point in handling whereof divers passages have intruded themselves which are not impertinent to the third Point CHAP. XII Of the manner of Christs coming to Judgement which was the third General proposed in the ninth Chapter 1. IT is said in the former Prophecie of Daniel chap. 7. ver 13. that One like the Son of Man came in the clouds of Heaven unto the Ancient of days The literal fulfilling of this Prophetical vision is recorded Acts 1. 9. And when he to wit Christ the Son of Man had spoken these things whilest they beheld He was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight But whither he was carried in the Cloud which received him they could not distinctly see Their bodily eyes could not see so much by day as had been revealed to Daniel in vision by night But admit that this cloud did carry him into the presence of the Ancient of days or of God his Father What is this manner of his going into Heaven unto the manner of his coming to Judge the Earth which is The Point in hand Certainly much for so the Angels ver 11. admonished his Disciples which stedfastly beheld the Manner of his Ascension Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into Heaven But shall the manner of his coming to Judge the World be in every point like unto the manner of his ascending into Heaven No! then it should not be so terrible as we believe it shall be The chief parts then of this similitude are these Two The First As he did locally and visibly go into Heaven so he shall locally and visibly come to judge the earth The second As he was received into Heaven in a cloud so he shall come to Judge the World as he himself foretold the High Priest and his Complices Matthew 26. 64. in the clouds of heaven The literal meaning of both places and the intent and purpose as well of the Angels as of our Saviour in this prediction infers That this Son of man whom they now beheld with bodily eyes was that very God whose glorious kingdom and reign the Psalmist describes Psal 104. 3. Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters who maketh the clouds his chariots who walketh upon the wings of the wind Who maketh his Angels Spirits or the Spirits his Angels his Ministers a flame of fire So they will appear when they attend him Coming to Judgment which will be in flaming Fire In all the manifestations of Christ to be the Son of God The Cloud is still a Witness First In his Transfiguration upon the Mount A Cloud did overshadow him and out of the Cloud this testimony was given him by God the Father Matth. 17. 5. this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him 2. Whilest he ascends to God his Father Acts 1. 9. A Cloud receives him And 3. When he shall come from heaven or from his Fathers presence to judge the earth he shall have a Cloud for his Canopy For more particular Description of the Manner of his Coming the next Point is From what place he shall come Now it is expresly said in our Creed That Christ Jesus our Lord who was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried descended into hell who the third day rose again from the dead ascended into heaven and there sitteth at the right hand of God shall thence come to Judge the quick and the dead But this word Thence is of ambiguous Reference It may be referred in general either to the Heavens into which he ascended or unto the Right hand of God or unto both Certain it is that he shall come from Heaven as visibly and locally as he ascended thither Yet whether he shall come from the Right hand of God is questionable but not by us determinable unless it be determined already in the first Chapter of this Book what is literally meant by The Right hand of God either in the Creed or in those places of the New Testament out of which This Article is taken If Christs Body as Lutherans did contend chapt 3. § 6. be every where or if
The imperfection of all Contentments incident to this life discovers it self these Two Wayes First The several capacities are too narrow and feeble in themselves to give entertainment to any portion of sincere and true joy the very best Contentments which here they find in any Object are mingled with dregs Secondly The satisfying of one capacitie defrauds another of that measure of contentment whereof in this life it was otherwayes capable And commonly the satisfying of the baser facultie or meanest capacitie doth deprive the more noble facultie of its due Men given to their bellies or solicitous in purveying for the grosser senses of taste or touch defraud the sense of sight which is the gate of knowledge and the ear which is the sense of discipline of their best Contentments For as the old saying is Venter non habet aures the Belly hath no ears And too much insight in the means which procure bodily pleasures doth blind or darken the Common sense Others not so solicitous to feed the belly with meat as the ear with pleasant sounds or the eye with delightful spectacles do by both means rob the reasonable soul of her best solace and as it were block up these ports and havens by which provision should come into her Every handy-craft or art of husbandry requires an ordinary capacitie not of the Common sense only but of the understanding And yet such as have their minds exercised in these and the like imployments are thereby dis-enabled for bearing Rule or Government over more civil and ingenuous men as may be collected from the wise Son of Sirach Ecclus. 38. from the 25. to the 33. Even amongst the capacities or faculties of the reasonable soul there is not that harmony or concord which were requisite for her better contentment Some men in a manner freed from the servitude of their outward senses and able to command their service for contemplation by too much contemplating upon one sort of objects make themselves uncapable of reaping that delight which other objects would more plentifully afford to these Contemplators Some by studying the Mathematicks too much do benum their apprehensive faculties or capacities of prudence or civil knowledge Others whiles they seek to give too much satisfaction to their desires or capacities of civil wisdom or humane Prudence do infeeble their capacities and starve their desires of divine Mysteries or spiritual understanding Quite contrary it is in the life to come First The Capacitie of every sense or facultie is improved to the uttermost and no object shall intrude or offer it self but such as are able to give severally full Contentment without satietie Secondly The Harmony or Consent between the several Capacities and desires of every Sense and Facultie is most exact the satisfying of one doth no way prejudice but rather further another Every one is apt to bear its part for making up of that full harmony which is required to true happiness And For those grosser Senses of Touch and Taste â—ith the Appetite of meat and drink All the pleasures in this life wherewith that are commonly overtaken are as we said before medicines of diseases rather than any true Contentments The first degree or step to happiness is To be freed from those diseases wherewith they now are pestered For though it be a miserie for a man to want food when he is an hungry or drink when he is thirstie or rayment when he is cold or needs it for ornament yet we all conceive it to be a far greater happiness to enjoy continual health and liveliness without either hunger or thirst or to have perfect comeliness without clothing or rayment And for this reason that branch of happiness which consists in satisfying the Capacities of these Senses is in Scripture described by Negatives As there shall be no hunger there no thirst no greif no pain These are the Symptomes of those grosser Senses in this life which in the life to come shall not enjoy the pleasures or Contentments which are contrary to these annoyances as we say in kind but by a happy Exchange by such an exchange as he that turns lead into silver doth forego a great deal of dross or baser metal but gains that which contains the full value of it in a small waight or compass Of all and every one of the bodily Contentments we can possibly imagine the very immortalitie of glorified Bodies is for qualitie more then the Quintessence or Extraction It containeth health and chearfulness of Spirit with all the pleasures that accompany them as we say Eminenter that is As one pound waight of Gold fully contains in its worth many hundreds of lead so one Moment of immortalitie the least waight of glory we can imagine is worth a full Age of all the health and happinesse that can be had on earth Instead of material food which perisheth with the use and whose fulness doth alwayes breed satietie the appetite of meat and drink shall be continually satisfied with the Tree of Life which or rather the Emblem or Type of which our First Parents were not admitted to touch in Paradise 6. When the Sadduces captiously demanded Which of those seven brethren should have that woman to his wife in the world to come which had been successively married to all the seven Our Saviour answers The children of this world marry and are given in marriage but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die any more for they are equal to the Angels What then shall such as have enjoyed the comfort of wedlock be utterly deprived of that comfort in heaven which was allotted to Adam in Paradise even in the state of innocencie They shall not have it in kind for seeing flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven there shall not be there any Two in one flesh but in lieu of this comfort such as observe the Commandements of Christ shall be more neerly espoused and joyned in spirit unto Christ For as man and wife make one body so he that is joyned unto the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. This is the consummation of that Great Mystery which is here begun on earth and whereof the first marriage in Paradise was but the visible sign or shadow This is the very perfection of all pure and chast love As for those other purer Senses of Sight and Hearing they shall enjoy their former Contentments both Eminenter and Formaliter both in kind and by happy exchange Though enabled they shall be to see far more glorious sights and to hear more heavenly sounds then in this life they could either hear or see Yet shall they not be disenabled to see the same sights or hear the same sounds which sometimes in this life they did But these they shall hear and see with infinite more delight and joy because the Capacitie of these senses shall
consists in the Fruition of God as he is Love although super-abundant yet are they not superfluous There is no wast there is nothing poured out from one which shall not be received in the same measure or manner by another But wherein do these Concomitant or Accidental Joyes consist Especially in these Two Particulars First In the Glorious Beautie of the Place which is called Sedes Beatorum the Seat or Mansion of the Blessed Secondly In the Society or companie of such as are so seated and made partakers of that Essential Blessedness which consists in the sight and vision of God as he is Happinesse it self For Visio amati est fruitio This is that which the Schools call The Fruition or enjoying of Gods presence Now that either the Place or the Societie of Saints and Angels can add or conferre any thing to our happiness this proceeds from Gods special presence in Both. 2. To begin with The Place or Seat of the Blessed How pleasant soever our Seat on earth may be yet this world it self is but Vallis lachrymarum A Valley of tears wherein some ruful spectacles are daily presented to our eyes wherein some woful news or unpleasant sounds possess our ears To hear and see what we now daily hear and see though we were Spectators only but no Actors would abate our Joy would be an Alloy to our present happiness Hence it is that St. John describing the Accidental Joys of the life to come saith Rev. 21. 1. I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more Sea And again verse 4. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are past away His meaning is not only That no man there shall have occasion to cry or that no sorrow or pain shall breed there But that there shall be no sorrow no cry there by way of Sympathie that is no ungrateful sound or spectacle shall approach their dwelling in the holy City which he describes at large in the same Chapter verse 11. unto the end The Compass and Form of it you have verse 16. It lyeth four square the length as large as the breath twelve thousand furlongs and the building of the wall of it was of Jasper and the City was pure gold like unto clear glasse Verse 18. c. Thus he describes The Beautiful Materials of the Place by the most glorious and most precious materials which this world affords And yet that is true of this Description which the Apostle saith of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Law The gates of pearl and the streets of gold transparent as glasse are no better then shadows of the good things to come which are treasured up in that heavenly Kingdom for all such as love Christ Jesus and the glory of his coming Now though it be true that in Gods house there be many Mansions Yet is not the Beautie or Glorie of them appropriated to one nor divisible amongst some few but alike Common to all One hath not the less comfort There because another hath more Those Two quarrelling Pronounes Meum and Tuum shall be excluded thence as common Barretters One cannot say to another This part of this glorious Kingdom is mine That is yours for every one that shall be accompted worthy to be an heir of that Kingdom shall be as Intire an Heir as if he were sole Heir So it is not amongst the Kings of the earth the greater Dominions one hath or the further he extends them the less he leaves unto his neighbors There is some small Resemblance of the Condition of the Blessed Ones in Heaven to be found in our Hearing sight and knowledge of things which we have here on earth A great multitude may hear a speech and every one hear all No man hath less comfort from the light or heat of the Sun by anothers injoying it unless he purposely stand between the Sun and him No man is prejudiced but rather furthered by another mans extraordinary knowledge specially of matters heavenly and not divisible into parts Howbeit here is a vast difference whilst we live on earth even when there is no matter of prejudice to any other but rather of benefit or advantage to many yet there is matter too much of envy for that breeds within mans self it comes not by infection from without But so it is not in the place of blisse in the heavenly City into which no unclean thing no unclean thought specially no envie no uncharitablenesse shall enter 3. As is the Place so is the Company or Societie Every one is Loving Every one is Lovely All be Sons of Peace their Love and Peace is mutual Ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the Living God the heaveniy Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels To the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12. 22. c. There is no Question at least there ought none to be but that the Essential Ioy or blessedness of the life to come shall not be Arithmetically Equall that is the measure of it shall not be one and the same in all for every man shall be rewarded according to his wayes The Eternal Life which is the Gift of God is the Award not of Commutative Justice nor of Distributive though if so it were it should be awarded according to Geometrical Proportion But it is an Act of mercy or bountie and being such there is no Question but he that loved God more in this world then others shall have a greater proportion in his love No Question but he which hath received a greater Talent and hath imployed it as well or better then he that hath received lesse shall have a greater reward And he which hath been more faithful in his Masters service or he in whom the Kingdom of Grace hath entred further in this life shall enter further into his Masters Ioy shall partake more fully of the Kingdom of Heaven And according to the lesser or greater measure of Essential happiness shall the measure of their expressions of joy or thanksgiving be And yet the Joy which amounts from their mutual expressions shall be equal and the same to all For though every one cannot so fully expresse his joy or thanksgiving as another doth yet he that comes short of others in this expression shall joy even in this that God is more or better glorified by another then by himself and such is the disposition of these heavenly inhabitants that so Gods name be truly glorified by all they respect not by whom it be comparatively most
first ayme and intentions desires to be disobedient seditious or factious to be an Adulterer or murtherer a fornicator a thief or perjur'd man or to look upon his neighbours conveniences with an envious or malicious eye The means by which Satan tempts us or by which our natural affections sway us to do these things in particular as to be disobedient seditious factious or servants to other lewdness are generally Two Per blanda aut per aspera by proposing some things unto us which respectively either promise some contentment to our senses or threaten some loss some pain or vexation This visible world and the things which we see or know by sensible experiment are as Satans Chess-board which way soever we look or turn our thoughts he hath somewhat or other still ready at hand to give our weak and untrained desires the Check and to hazard the losing of our souls and bodies But Faith as the Apostle speakes is the evidence of things not seen And the things that are not seen as the Apostle saith are eternal and these are for number so many and for worth so great that if we be as vigilant and careful to play our own game as he is to play his for every Check which he can give us we may give him the Check-mate And this advantage we have of him that whereas he usually tempts us but one way at one and the same time that is either by hopes of some sensual contentment or by fear of some temporal vexation loss or pain we may at the same time resist his temptations Two wayes both by proposal of some spiritual good or reward much greater then the particular sensible contentment and by representation of some spiritual loss or fear much more dangerous then any evil wherewith he can threaten or deter us from performance of our duty 19. If he tempt us to excesse in meat and drink which is commonly the root whence other branches of Luxury or sensuality spring we may counterpoize this temptation First with that hanger and thirst and other torments incident to this appetite of sense in the life to come And in the second place by our hopes of our celestial food or full satisfaction of our hunger and thirst so we will but hunger and thirst after righteousness And so again if he tempt us to other unclean pleasures of the flesh we may give our inclinations the check by proposing unto them our assured hope of enjoying the society of immaculate Angels and of our espousall to the immaculate Lamb Christ Jesus in this life and of enjoying his presence in the life to come And again we may controule our natural inclination to this branch of lewdness by serious meditation on that Divine Oracle Adulterers and Whoremongers God will Judge and judging condemn them to everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 20. If Satan shall tempt us to an immoderate desire of riches the counterpoize to this temptation is likewise two-fold First There is a promise of treasure in Heaven to such as seek after it more then earthly treasure and this is a treasure not chargeable with the like carking care in getting it nor subject to the like inconveniences after it be gotten for there neither rust nor moth doth corrupt nor do theeves break through and steal Besides the heaps of riches even in this life are fruitless for as our Saviour saith in another place though a man have riches in great abundance yet his life doth not consist in them Ten thousand talents cannot adde one minute to the length of his dayes whereas the heavenly treasures are the crown of life Or if the hope of these heavenly treasures cannot oversway mens thirst or longing after earthly treasures you may joyn to this the weight of Saint James his Wo against this sin Chap. 5. 1 2 3. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you your riches are corrupted and your garments moth-eaten your gold and silver is cankred and the rust of them shall be a witness against you But if this were all a rich worldling would reply that he would keep his gold and silver from rust This he may do perhaps whilst he is alive but more then he can undertake after it once come unto Plutus his custody Therefore Saint James adds the rust of it shall eat your flesh as fire or if this be but a Metaphor he speakes no Parables but plainly in the words following ye have heaped treasure together for the last dayes Behold the hire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud cryeth and the cries of them which have reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth 21. Again if Satan tempt us to do those things which we ought not to do for the favour Or to leave those things undone which we ought to do for the fear of great ones the sacred Armorie affords us weapons sufficient to repell Both temptations The First is that pithy sentence of Saint Paul ye are bought with a price be not ye the servants of men The Second is that of our Saviour Fear not them who after they have killed the body can do no more but I will tell you whom ye shall fear one that can destroy both body and soul in hell fire yea I say unto you fear him Briefly in all assaults Satan hath only Weapons Offensive as fiery darts he hath none Defensive But if the word of God as our Apostle speakes dwell plentifully in us we have both the shield and buckler to repell his darts and the sword of the spirit to chase him away but this word must plentifully dwell in us we must entertain it in our hearts and consciences not only in our lips and tongues nor let it run out of our mouthes faster then it comes into our ears CHAP. XXIII ROMANS 6. 23. For the wages of sin is death but the Gift of God is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Philosophers Precept Sustine Abstine though good in its kinde and in some degree useful yet insufficient True belief of The Article of the everlasting life and death is able to effect both abstinence from evil-doing and sufferance of evil for well-doing The sad effects of the Misbelief or Unbelief of this Article of life and death eternal The true belief of it includes A Tast of both Direction how to take A Tast of death eternal without danger Turkish Principles produce effects to the shame of Christians Though Hell fire be material it may pain the soul The story of Biblis The Body of the second death fully adequate to the Body of sin Parisiensis his Story A general and useful Rule 1. THe heathen Philosopher which knew no temper besides himself no temptation but such as the dayly occurences of what he heard or saw or by some sense of the body had
never dieth which is the chief part of the second Death as heaviness of spirit or grudgings are of Fevers or other diseases which without preventing Physick or diet do alwayes follow them 4. But this Prognostick of the second death or this fear of hell pains which the Sting of Conscience alwayes exhibits must be warily taken and weighed with Judgment The right observance of them as every other good quality or habit is beset with Two contrary extremes The one in defect The other in excess The defect is Carelesnesse The excesse Despere or too much dejection of mind The intimations or Prognosticks which the Sting of Conscience exhibits of death spiritual are often mistaken for the effects of bodily melancholy and the best medicine for melancholy is pleasant society or mirth Out of this mistaking most men prevent that Compassion which is due to their own souls after such a manner as Jewish parents did prevent their natural pity towards their children when they sacrificed them unto Molech by filling their ears with the loud sound of wind Instruments lest the shrikes of the Infants whom they inclosed in an Image of hot glowing brass by entring in at their ears might move their Jewish hearts to pity And most men lest they should be stung with grief of spirit or conscience seek to stifle their first murmurings and repinings either with unhallowed or unseasonable mirth Others by seeking to avoid this common extreme often fall into the contrary which is of the Two the worse to wit dispere or too much dejection of spirit That which the Heathen observed of grief in General is most true of this Particular the grief of a Wounded Spirit Dolori si fraena remitt as nulla materia non est maxima If we let loose the reins to grief or sorrow the least matter or occasion of either will be more weighty then we can well bear Mans unbridled fancie is as a multiplying Glasse which represents every thing as well matter of sorrow as of pleasure in a far greater quantity then it really hath And unless our Cogitations or sad remembrances of sins past be moderated with Judgment and discretion they will appear to our fancies like Cains transgression greater then can be forgiven or then we can hope that the God of mercy will forgive For holding the right mean betwixt these Extrems Carelesnesse and despere there is no means so effectual as to be rightly instructed in the hope of everlasting Life and Fear of everlasting death Immature or unripe hopes of the One ingendereth carelesnesse or presumption so doth erroneous fear of the other bring forth despere He that is perswaded that every one always is in the Estate of the Elect or of the Reprobate cannot avoid the one or other extreme And the only remedy to prevent despere or being swallowed up with grief either in the consciousnes of grosser sins lately committed or whiles we reflect upon sins past is to purge our selves of that Erroneous Opinion concerning Absolute Reprobation or irreversible ordination to death before we were born or from the time of our second birth by baptisme 5 To purge our brain or fancie of this opinion let us take the form and Tenor of the Final sentence into consideration which we may do without digression or diversion Both branches of this sentence we have Mat. 25. The first branch ver 34. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world he doth not say before all worlds though this in a good sense is true most true if we speak of Gods designe or Act for all his Acts or designes are as he is Eternal without beginning so are not the things designed or enacted by him they take their beginning in time or with time The Kingdom prepared for Gods people was prepared when the world was made not before so good and gracious was our God that he did not make man or Angel untill he had prepared a place convenient for them take them as they were his creatures or workmanship and they were all ordained to a life of bliss Paradise was made for man and it may be after man was made but the Heaven of Heavens was prepared for man before he was made and made for the Angels if not before they were made yet when they were made But the Sentence of death ver 41. runs in another Tenor Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire he doth not say prepared for you from the foundation of the world but prepared for the Divel and his angels Those immortal spirits which now are divels were sometime Angels God made them so They made themselves divels Now hell fire was not prepared for them whilst they were Angels not from the foundation of the world but from the time wherein of Angels they became Divels Nor are men at all ordained to it untill of men they become Satans angels And as Satan and his angels the spirits which fell with him continue the self same individual substances which they were when God first created them yet are no way the same but quite contrary for qualitie and disposition so the place whereto they are confined may be for substance space and dimension the same it was at the first creation but not the same for quality it became a prison or place of torment when Satan and other spirits which fell with him of Angels made themselves Divels Satan as some think brought that fire wherein he and his Angels shall be tormented into the bowels of the earth when he fell like lightning from heaven However if the Angels had not sinned there had been no hell no tormenting fire and unless men become the Divels Angels they shall not be cast into hell fire God doth not ordain men to be Satans angels but men continuing his sons or servants God ordaines them to take their portion with him So that if we remove the opinion of Absolute-Reprobation or of irreversible ordination of mens persons unto death before they were baptized or born or if men would be confirmed in faith that no such Sentence or Decree is gone out against them whilst they have either will desire or opportunitie to call upon God through Jesus Christ for remission of sins whether by confession of them or by absolution from them upon such confession or by receiving the Sacrament of Christs body and blood no danger can accrue from the frequent meditation of everlasting death or from such representations of the horrours of it as the often reflecting upon our sins past and the working of the Sting of Conscience upon such reflections will present unto us 6. Another excellent Use and that a Positive One there is of these meditations For no man ordinarily can have a true Tast or rellish of Eternal Life but he which hath had some Tast or grudging of everlasting
or pledges of our heavenly Fathers providence and loving care over us Hence saith our Apostle Heb. 12. 7. If you endure chastisement God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom the Father chastiseth not Surely no gracious or beloved son so the same Apostle had said ver 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Sons then he hath whom he doth not receive because they will not endure chastisement or receive correction from him with submission and patience These he gives over as degenerate and lost sons And there is not a more fearful signe of Gods displeasure toward men then his long-suffering of them without chastisement If ye be without chastisement saith the Apostle Heb. 12. 8. whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons But if all be partakers of it how can any be without it Yes they are without chastisement which will not patiently suffer it which will not embrace it as a pledge of their heavenly Fathers love and these are bastards What is that A bastard is a son but in the language of men unlawfully begotten Hath God any such sons or children God forbid All are his sons all are his children by right of Creation and by right of Redemption and both these are lawful titles of Father-hood and dominion over us Bastards then they are who refuse chastisement in this sense only that they are stubborn and disobedient or misaffected towards the Father of mankind They imagine him not to be so kind and loving to all his sons not to themselves in particular as earthly parents are to their lawfully begotten children This is that imputation which our Apostle seeks to avert from God or rather that suspition which he seeks to remove from all who call him their Father and that by an Argument as the Schools speak a Fortiore ver 9 10. Furthermore we have had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live For they verily for a few dayes chastened us as seemed good unto them sometime perhaps without actual intendment or express fore-sight of any good unto us but he to wit our heavenly Father chastiseth us for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness 12. The End of his chastisement is alwayes This That we may serve him in Righteousness and have our fruit unto Holiness whose End is everlasting Life And One chief part of our Righteousness consists in the patient submission of our selves unto his chastisements The first part of Righteousness in respect of what Law soever is not to transgress the Law The second is to submit our selves unto the penalty which the Law inflicts in case we transgress it To plead the former part of this Righteousness in respect of Gods Law we cannot To perform the second part of it we are bound upon pain of losing our right of sons The penalty of disobedience to it or refusal of chastisements in this life is The woful estate of bastards or of Sons disinherited The sum of that which hath been said concerning our meditation of the second death especially as this Meditation is A Preparative to the works of Righteousness or of Holiness is excellently comprized by our Apostle Heb. 12. 11. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous neverthelesse afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby The burnt child as we say dreads the fire and he is more then a child a very Infant or witless child which will not avoid the scorching flames of it by the experience which he hath of its heat Now there is no chastisement no correction that is grievous for the present but ought to be as a Gentle Remembrancer unto us of hell pains or such a fair Caveat for avoiding them as the experienced heat of visible and known fire unto him that stands neer it is of the harms which it would procure if he should be cast into it And if we would make this or the like use of all the crosses and afflictions of all the bodily pains and grievances of all the perplexities of mind or conscience which in this life we suffer we should be more careful then we are to avoid the temptations by which Satan seeks to draw us into that everlasting fire which is prepared for him and his angels This abstinence from evil is the First branch of our patience in affliction The second is the fruit of righteousness But I suppose the Reader will desire a further Tast First Of the peace of Conscience Secondly Of that joy in the holy Ghost wherein the Kingdom of heaven consists And the Explication of these Two great Points follows in the next Chapter In the Interim the best Use which can be made of the Doctrine hitherto delivered is made unto our hands by our Apostle himself Heb. 12. 12 13 14. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitternesse springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled Lest there be any Fornicator or prophane person as Esau who for one morsell of meat sold his birthright For ye know that after when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears CHAP. XXV ROMANS 6. 22. But now ye have your fruits unto Holinesse and the end everlasting Life c. The Coldness of our Hope of Life Eternal causeth deviation from the wayes of Righteousness and is caused by our No-Tast or spiritual disrelish of that Life The work of the Ministery is to plant this Tast and to preserve it in Gods people Two Objects of this Tast 1. Peace of Conscience 2. Joy in the Holy Ghost That Peace may best be shadowed out unto us in the known sweetness of Temporal Peace The Passions of the natural man are in a continual mutinie To men that yet have no experience of it The nature of Joy in the Holy Ghost may be best exemplified by that chearful gladnesse of Heart which is the fruit of Civil Peace It is the Prerogative of man to Enjoy himself and to possesse his own soul In the knowledge of any Truth there is Joy But True Joy is only in the Knowledge of Jesus Christ and of saving Truthes The Difference betwixt Joy and Gladnesse in English Greek and Latin 1. THe very Hope of Life Eternal would be of it self sufficient to counterpoize all the pleasures and all the grievances incident to this mortal life by the one or other of which our
he is likewise rewarded according to his Faith We may extend that Saying of our Saviour though spoken then but to one man unto all and every man According to their faith so shall it be done unto them And our Saviour in the Parable next before This Sentence expresly avoucheth that the Final Award or retribution shall be according to Faith Matth. 25. 23. Well done thou good and faithful servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. No man shall be rewarded for any Works unless they were the Works of Faith or done in Faith To speak properly it is the Fidelity of our Works or our Fidelity in Working which shall be rewarded As for those Hypocrites against whom St James disputes and from whose Notion or Conceit of Faith the Romish School-men for the most part take their Description of Faith they had altogether as little of Abrahams Faith as they had of Abrahams Works For if they had been partakers of Abrahams faith then as our Apostle infers Gal. 3. 7 They had been the sons of Abraham and if they had been the sons of Abraham they would by our Saviours Inference have done the works of Abraham Such faith as they made brags of could not justifie them because it was a dead and fruitlesse faith devoid of works Such works as the Romish Church doth magnifie in opposition to faith can neither justifie nor receive any Reward because they are no faithful Works but rather like seeming fruits without any Root They put their works upon their faith as we do sweet flowers upon dead Corpses Neither can give life or perfection to others The best Censure that Christian Faith or Charity will permit us to give of their doctrine Concerning the nature of faith and works is This That albeit they all profess to believe that which their Church believes yet the most of them do neither believe nor practise as the Church in these points teacheth Their ignorance in this particular is much better then their knowledge of most of the rest But to conclude the first Position Because some of our Writers exclude all works from the work of Justification some Roman Writers I dare not say all sought to be even with them by excluding faith from sharing with works in the Final Award or retribution For besides this Eagerness of extream Opposition or desire to be contrary unto us it is not imaginable what could move any learned Writer amongst them to Affirm that this final Retribution shall be according to VVorks and Deny it According to Faith 4. About the Second Position there is no Controversie betwixt us and the Romish Church we hold Good works to be as necessary to salvation as they do As necessary according to both Branches of Necessity Necessarie they are Necessitate praecepti and necessarie likewise Necessitate medii necessarie by Precept or duty for God hath commanded us to do them he hath redeemed us to the end that we should serve him in righteousness and holiness But many things which are in this sense necessary in that their Omission doth necessarily include a breach of Gods Commandement and by consequent a sin do not alwayes induce or argue a Forfeiture of our Estate in Grace or utter exclusion from the' Kingdom of heaven For this Reason we say That Good works are necessary not only Necessitate praecepti by way of Command but Necessitate medii as the way and means so necessary to salvation that without the practise of them no man can be admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven Through the Omission of Good works many do forfeit that Interest which they truly had in the promises of everlasting Life In the promise it self all that are partakers of the Word and Sacrament all that acknowledge the Word revealed to be the way unto everlasting life have A true Interest Of the pledge or earnest of the blessing promised that is of justifying or sanctifying Grace none are partakers but such as are fruitful in Good works according to the means or abilities which God hath bestowed upon them Whether it be possible for such as are once estated in Grace to give over the Practise of Good works that here we leave to such as desire to exercise their wits in the controversies about Falling from Grace and the rather because we have spoke a word of that Point in the 26. Chapter of this Book Let them determine of the Categorical Affirmative or Negative as they please This Conditional is most certain If it be possible for him that hath Grace or Faith in what measure soever inherent to give over the practise of Good Works he shall thereby forfeit his present estate in Gods promises and defeat his hopes of inheriting the Kingdom of God Whosoever saith our Saviour shall break one of these Commandements and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven For I say unto you that except your righteousnesse shall exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 5. 20. Yet did these Scribes and Pharisees many Good Works and made conscience of many Duties which many Precise Ones in our dayes do not trouble their Consciences withal This notwithstanding These Scribes and Pharisees did exclude themselves from the Kingdom of Heaven as here established on earth by leaving other Good Works altogether or for the most part undone which the Law of God did no lesse require at their hands Even the Good Works which they did were not well done by them because they were not done in Faith they never came so near unto the Kingdom of Heaven as to acknowledge Christ for their Lord much lesse to be partakers of those Gifts and Graces of the Spirit which after his Ascension were bestowed on men Nor shall all they which were partakers of those Gifts and which did still acknowledge him for their Lord enter into the Kingdom which is here prepared for such as continue in well doing So saith our Saviour Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom but he that doth c. Many will then say Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out divels and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye workers of iniquitie Matth. 7. 21 22. 5. But in this place We see the Sentence is not awarded for Positive Works of iniquitie but for Omission of the duties of charitie He saith not Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Because ye have oppressed the poor and stranger or for that ye have robbed the Fatherless and made a prey of
the widdow These indeed are works of iniquity and deserve Exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven But is it a Work of iniquity not to work at all As not to give meat unto the hungry Not to give drink unto the thirstie Not to cloath the naked or lodge the harbourless Yes even these Omissions deserve Exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven Either by their connexion with sins of oppression because it is scarce possible that any which hear Christs promises should be barren of good Works unless they were too fruitful in the works of impietie and oppression or rather because as our Saviour elsewhere infers that Not to save mens lives when means and opportunitie is offered is to kill Not to feed the hungrie is a bloody sin Not to cloath the naked is as the sin of Oppression The Doing of some Good Works cannot excuse men for the Omission of others which be as necessary To prophesie in Christs name is a Gracious Work to cast out Divels is a Work of Greater Charity and comfort to the possessed then to visit the prisoners and yet such as have done these and many other wonderful Works shall not be admitted at the Last Day Besides the Goodness of the Works which we are bound to do there must be an Uniformitie in them Otherwise they are not done in Faith Now the same Faith and belief which inclines our hearts to works of one kind will incline them to the practise of every kind which we know or believe to be required at our hands by our Lord and Master That even the best Works of mercy or most beneficial unto others are not acceptable unto God unless they be done out of Faith obedience to our Masters Will is clear from our Apostles Verdict of Enoch Heb. 11. 5. Before his translation saith our Apostle he had this testimonie that he pleased God For so it is said Gen. 5. 24. that he walked with God the way by which he walked was his Good Works and Conversation but The Guide of this way and his works was his Faith So the Apostle infers without faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him ver 6. As God is the Author of goodness yea goodness it self so we cannot come unto him by any other way then by doing good to others yet that which must make even our best Works pleasing to him must be our Belief in him and in his goodness and that he is A bountiful Rewarder of all that do good The good Works even of the Heathen and of such as knew neither him nor his Providence of such as in stead of him worshipped false gods were rewarded by him but with rewards and blessings only Temporal He was their Rewarder but not himself their Reward This was the Peculiar of Abraham his friend and of Abrahams children that is of all such as do the works of Abraham out of the Faith of Abraham that is out of a lively apprehension and true esteem of his goodness Unto all such he himself shall be merces magna nimis or valdè magna Their exceeding great Reward Unto men thus qualified and only unto them it shall be said Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world This Kingdom shall be a Kingdom of everlasting bliss and yet the greatest blessedness of this Kingdom shall consist in the fruition or enjoying of the presence of this Everlasting King who is goodness it self the participation of whose goodness is the very Life and Essence of that happiness which all desire but none shall attain besides such as do His Will by well doing To be separated for ever from his presence is the source of all the miserie which shall befall the damned or accursed But from this place of our Apostle Heb. 11. 6. The Romanist alwayes ready like the spider to suck poison from such flowers in this garden of God as naturally afford honey to such as seek God labours to infer as he doth out of the words of the text That the Everlasting Kingdom here promised is the just Reward of our good works and is as properly merited as everlasting death is by the Omission of the works here mentioned or by the Positive Works of inquitie So that I should here according to my proposed method proceed unto the third point That these good works how necessary soever they be are necessary only Tanquam via ad regnum non tanquam causa regnandi only as the Way and Means which lead unto this Kingdom not as the causes of its preparation for us or of our admission unto it But for the present I chuse rather to make some use or Application of what hath been said concerning the necessity of Good Works then to dispute of their Efficacie or Causality for attaining this Kingdom intending to touch that a little more in the next Chapter though with reference to what I have spoken in the 27. and 28. Chapters 6. You see that Good Works done in faith or which is all one a Working Faith are absolutely necessarie unto salvation But are they as necessary to Justification If they be how is it said by St. Austine and approved by the Articles of the Church of England Bona opera sequuntur hominem justificatum non praecedunt in homine justificando Good works follow Justification they do not go before it This Orthodoxal Truth only imports thus much That no man can do those works which are capable of the promises before he be inabled by God to do them and that this ability to do them is from the Gift of Justifying Faith Now every one that hath this Faith in his heart is said to be Justified that is absolved from the Guilt of sins past and freed from the Tyranny and Dominion of sin by receiving this pledge or earnest of Gods mercie and in this sense is Justification taken by St. James when he saith a man is justified by works that is He is not to be accounted the Son of faithful Abraham nor may he presume upon his own Actual Justification or estate in Grace until he be qualified and enabled to do the Works of Abraham In the same sense is Justification taken by St. John Rev. 22. 11 Qui justus est justificetur ad huc Let him that is righteous be righteous still or more justified And in this sort Children or Infants are said to be Justified by the Infusion of Faith The practise of Good Works is not required to their Justification before they come to the knowledge of good and evil But neither is the apprehension or actual Belief of Gods mercies in Christ required of them Though they be justified and saved for the Merits of Christ and through his blood as we are Yet is not the Rule for Application of these Merits the same in them and