must in this Case exceed little children must be out of the consciousness of this our Impotencie or infirmitie to frame our Petitions unto God with the Prophet Psal 51. 2. Wash me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin And again ver 10. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me Again Little Children though they be set upon their feet after their Fall they are not able to stand upright although they adventure not to go unless they be supported by their nurses or other helper and it is our Apostles advice unto such as stand to take heedlest they fall But is this circumspection in their power after Grace received No no more then it is in the power of Little Children to keep themselves from falling To what end then doth this Admonition serve To make us more careful by the knowledge of this our infirmitie continually to use that or the like prayer Prevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy gracious favour and further us with thy continual help If we truly acknowledge our selves to be but Little Children we cannot but know that without his preventing Grace we must still wallow in our natural filthiness and uncleanness that without his Concomitant Grace we cannot stand and that without his Subsequent Grace we can make no progress towards eternal Life All our doings must be begun must be continued and ended in him by his Grace otherwise we shall fail of the end here proposed unto us by our Apostle Again Little Children are sensible of hunger or want of Food yet cannot provide it cannot be their own carvers of it cannot take it unless it be reached unto them We then become in some degree the children of God when we feel a want of spiritual Food or when we hunger and thirst after righteousness But power we have none after Grace received to give satisfaction to this hunger and thirst after good things The best knowledge that in this Case we have is To Beg Food Convenient at our heavenly Fathers hands in that or the like Form of Prayer Give us this day our daily bread And thus to beg it out of full assurance that he is more ready to hear our requests then any earthly Father is to give his children bread or any earthly Mother to give her sucking Infants milk when they cry for it For some Mothers are unnatural others may forget their children but so will not God forget his so they be children in malice not in the Knowledge of his Goodness Little Children again if they be exposed to cold or heat or any other danger that may accrew from hostile or ravenous creatures have no power or strength to defend themselves all that they can do is but to cry for help from others Now the spiritual and Ghostly enemies of every Child of God and the dangers whereto they daily expose themselves are more in number then the bodily dangers whereof little Children are capable Lesse able we are though endowed with some measure of Grace to resist the Devil who goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour then a sucking child to withstand a Bear or Wolf that should come upon him To what end then doth God bestow his Grace upon us if with this we cannot defend our selves as with a weapon Only to this end that we should daily pray for his special protection as his Son hath taught us Lord lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil specially from the Author of evil for thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory Thou only art able to subdue and conquer the Prince of this world and to destroy him who hath the power of death Lastly albeit we must exceed Little Children in the acknowledgment of our infirmities and though our capacities to conceive these and the like forms of prayer be greater then theirs yet in respect of most particulars we are in this too like Little Children that we know not how to pray or ask those things which for the present we stand most in need of And in this point our Knowledge must exceed theirs that we must have a knowledge of this infirmity and out of the consciousness of it pray more fervently unto our heavenly Father that he would teach us how to pray or hear the supplications of his Spirit for us whose language we perfectly understand not and not to indent with him for other particulars but only to grant us what he knows to be best for us and most available though not for our present occasions yet for the attainment of Everlasting life Until we learn this lesson of Humility and meekness which The Son of God himself so often commends unto us by his own example by Precept and Instances we shall find no true Rest unto our souls we shall not have that Full Assurance of hope unto the end whereof our Apostle speaks Heb. 6. 9. But is this Qualification of becoming like Little Children alone sufficient No he that saith Whosoever receiveth not the Kingdom of heaven as a little child shall not enter therein hath also said Matth. 5. 20. Except your righteousnesse shall exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Doth he Instance in them as in the most wicked men that were So his Instance should not have been so pertinent at least his Admonition not so peremptory The Scribes and Pharisees if they had not thought so of themselves were the most righteous men then living they were the only Precisians of those times and observed many Rules of righteousness more exactly then most men now living do any Wherein then did they come short of the promise By making Extraordinary Conscience of some necessary duties and little or none at all of others The old Serpent deceived them as he doth many Christians to this day by that Fallacie or Sophism which we call A Dicto secundum quid ad simpliciter that is in using their known zealous observance of some good duties as an Argument that they were simply and absolutely more righteous then other men specially then those whom they saw gross transgressors of some Commandements which they made conscience of They did acknowledge that they had received many Graces from God for which they thanked him but yet they gloried as if they had not received them and this polluted all their works A good man saith Solomon is merciful unto his beast This property of Good men is in the Turks for they are more compassionate towards their dogs more careful for begging them benevolence of strangers and passengers for feeding them in the open streets then most Christians are for the relief of their poor brethren yet is that property of wicked men which Salomon in the same place describes more remarkable in them Their mercies are
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
our consciences approve for good If thy enemie be of that strange temper above described and one that would scorn to be beholden to thee steal thy good in upon him and do him good so as that he shall not know from whom it came Thou art bound to minister comfort to him as a compassionate and cunning Physician doth Physick to a melancholick or distempered patient But thou wilt say so I shall lose all my thanks for all my pains and cost I answer by asking Thee is the honour or thanks that cometh from God alone of no value The Heathen could say to his friend We are each to other Theatrum satis amplum a Theater sufficiently large for matter of content and contemplation By doing So thou shalt be sure to gain The Testimonie of a good Conscience And herein thou maist justly triumph over thine enemie in that thou art better aminded towards him then thou couldst expect that he would be towards thee These are the best terms of comparison that thou canst stand upon with thine enemy if thou canst truly say That thou art A better man then he and if the mind be the man then he is truly and properly said to be The better man that is better aminded towards all men in as much as they are men This is the perfection and goodness of men as they are Civil and natural men and this is that Law of nature which St. Paul saith Rom. 2. 14. 15. was written in the Gentiles hearts For when the Gentiles which have not the law that is not the written Law of God do by nature the things of the law or contained in the Law these having not the Law are a law unto themselves which shew the effects of the Law written in their hearts their consciences alwayes bearing witness and their thoughts accusing one another or else excusing 13. But however the Heathen had this Fundamental Law of nature This Root of Righteousness as without offence I hope I may term it because it was a Relique of Gods image in them with many branches of it ingrafted in their hearts yet as their consciences might acquit them for performing many particular duties which it injoyned so might they accuse them for negligence in more For neither did they practise so much as they knew to be good nor did they know all that to be good which This Rule might have taught them to be such And albeit the better sort of them will rise up in Judgement against us and may condemn even the best sort of Christians as the world counts them now living Yet most of them we may suppose especially in later times were as negligent hearers of natures Lore as we are of the Doctrine of Grace God as the Apostle saith Rom. 1. had given some of them over to a Reprobate sense That seeing they would not practise what they knew for good they should not know Good from Bad. And as the learned observe when mankind had like Retchless unthrifts corrupted their wayes and like ungratefull Tenants to their Landlord Or undutiful subjects to their Prince had cancelled the Original instruments of their inheritance Or copie of that Law by which they were to be tried dayly defacing and blotting it by their foul transgressions and stain of sins it pleased The Lord in mercie to renew it once again in visible and material Characters ingraven in stone adding to it the commentaries of Prophets and other Holy men that so his people might once again copie out that Covenant whose Original they had lost the written law being but as the sampler or drawn work which was to have been wrought out by the law of nature and imprint it again in their harts by meditation and practise Yet once again the people of the Jewes unto whom this written Law was committed did by their false interpretations and Hypocritical glosses corrupt the true sence and meaning of Gods Law as the nations before had defaced the Law of nature by their foolish imaginations and conceited self-love Nevertheless as sin did abound in man so did Gods grace and favour superabound For when hoth the Law of nature was almost wholly lost among the Gentiles drown'd in Gentilisme as the Latin tongue is in the Italian and the Jews who should have allured others by their good example and continual prosperitic had they continued faithful in observing it to observe the written Law of God had quite corrupted it God sent his Only Son in the nature of man and Form of a Servant by infusion of Grace into mens hearts to revive the dead Root of Natures Law when it was almost perished and also to purifie and cleanse Gods written Law from the false interpretations of the Scribes and Pharisees which he performs in this seventh Chapter and in the two precedent So our Saviour saith Chap. 5. v. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy or dissolve the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy them but to fulfil them But how did Christ come to fulfil the Law Only by his own Righteousness and example No not so only but by proposing unto us the true sense and meaning of the moral Law which all that were to be his followers were to fulfil in a more spiritual and better manner then either the best of the Heathens or the most strict Sect of the Jews of that time did For they had abrogated the force and sense of sundry Commandements and stood more upon the letter then the meaning of the Law Wherefore he adds verse 20. I say unto you except your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It is evident then from our Saviours words that both the righteousnesse commanded in the moral Law and in the Prophets must be fulfilled in better measure by Christians then it was either by the Scribes or the Pharisees and that the best and most easie way of fulfilling both the Law and the Prophets is the practising of this Rule Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye so unto them For this is the Law and the Prophets 14. Let us see then what we have more from His Doctrine then from Nature for the Right Practise of this Royallest Rule By Christs Doctrine we have both the Grounds of the former Precept which Nature afforded us better fortified and confirmed unto us And also have Motives or inducements which may sway Reason against Passion to the practise of the same Rule more certain and infinitely greater then the Heathen or meer natural man had any I must request you to call to mind what was said before That the Ground of this Precept was The Equalitie of all men by nature The Heathen knew this full well That all men were of one kind all mortal all capable of Reason and consequently of right and wrong And from this knowledge even such among them as held no Creation
to be our Redeemer No Act or work of God no not the first work of Creation was of more free Gift or bounty as the Romanists grant or less merited either de Condigno or de Congruo by any work of ours then the work of our Redemption So that the word Merit how often soever it be used by the Antient Latine Fathers carries no weight to sway us to any conceipt of True Worth in our Works for the purchasing of eternal life 3 But what if the Holy Ghost speak thus in Formal or Equivalent Terms as that Eternal life is the wages or stipend of our Works or that our Works are worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven or of the life to come Shall we not subscribe unto him Yes we will if the Romish Church can prove unto us that He thus spake or meant Now that he thus speaks or means they endeavor thus to prove First from all those places of Scripture in which Eternal life is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Merces that is a reward or stipend Now our Saviour himself thus speaketh Matth. 5. 11 12. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you From this and the like places they labor to infer that the patience of Martyrs is meritorious of Eternal Life To this and the like places the Answer is easie The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so the Latin Merces imply no more in the Language of the Holy Ghost then our English word Reward And hence the fruit or issue of our paines so it be grateful to men though no way deserved is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So our Saviour saith that the very Hypocrites which do all their works to be seen of men if they gain applause have their Reward Yet no man will say that a dissembler or hypocrite doth deserve or merit this Reward but rather punishment And Rewards we know are sometimes given freely out of meer bountie and liberalitie as well as by way of desert or merit Yea it is not properly a Reward unlesse it be a Gratuitie or Largesse That which a man works for upon Covenant or that which he receives by way of hire is not a Reward but a just Pay or Stipend and though it be most true that God renders to every one according to all his wayes yet in proprietie of speech he is said to reward none but those whom he remembers in mercie and bountie For so it is said Heb. 11. 5. He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that seek him not so of such as seek him not for them he punisheth and no branch of punishment is any branch of Reward This then we learn from our Apostle That the first thing to be believed in all ages is this That there is a God The second That this God is a Rewarder of those that seek him This truly infers That His Reward is worth the seeking after whether it be bestowed upon us in this or in the life to come but it doth not infer that our seeking after it is meritorious or worthy of the least of his Rewards And though Eternal Life be the Best and Last Reward of such as seek God yet it is not the Only Reward that he bestowes on them that seek him yea he bestowes Eternal Life or the Life of Glorie upon none upon whom he doth not first bestow the Reward of Grace The Kingdom of Grace is but the Entrance into the Kingdom of Glorie And when we teach new Converts to pray in the first Place for The Kingdom of Grace and to pray for it as the Reward or Gift of God Yea and the Romanists themselves do grant that no man can merit the Kingdom of Grace which is properly the Reward of such as seek God so that all their Arguments which they draw from this Topick that Eternal Life is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Merces and may therefore be merited by us are altogether groundless All of them conclude Aut nihil aut nimium either nothing at all or a great deal too much As That the First Grace may be merited which they themselves deny 4. Their next chief Topick is that Our works or endeavors are said to be worthy of Eternal Life and that in Canonical Scriptures To this purpose Cardinal Bellarmine citeth that of our Saviour Luke 10. 7. Dignus est operarius mercede sua The Laborer is worthy of his hire But I am perswaded that he took this upon trust from some idle or ignorant Scholler whom he had imployed to rake testimonies for his present purpose If his leisure had served him to look upon the Circumstances of the Text with his own eyes he might clearly have seen that our Saviour there speaks not of Eternal Life or of the Reward or Gift of God but of that Hire which is due unto the Preachers of the Gospel from such as are instructed in the Gospel The other Testimonies alledged by him are more Pertinent though not Concludent And they are in number Three The First is Luke 20. 35. But they that shall be accounted Worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage The second is 2 Thess 1. 4. We our selves saith he glory in you in the Churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure which is a manifest token of the righteous Judgment of God that ye may be counted Worthy of the Kingdom of God For which ye also suffer The third is Revel 3 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are Worthy This last Testimony affords them A new Topick or Frame of Arguments which they draw from this and the like places wherein The works or righteousness of the Saints are assigned as True Causes Why they enter into the Kingdom of heaven So our Saviour saith in the Final Sentence Math. 25. 34. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world FOR I was an hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirstie and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me This is as much saith Bellarmine as if he had said Ye are Therefore blessed of my Father ye shall Therefore enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Because ye have done these and the like good Works out of your Love and Charitie towards me Now if these works be The Cause Why they enter into the Kingdom of
Throne Rev. 3. 21. To confine the presence of God the Father of God the Son or of God the Holy-Ghost to any visible Throne were a grosse Heresie But that there may be Real Emblems or Representations of the Blessed Trinitie in heaven as conspicuous and sensible to blessed Saints and Angels as the representations which have been made of them to Gods Saints or people here on earth who can conceive improbable The representations or pledges of the Blessed Trinitie have been diverse Daniel law the Glory of the Father shadowed by the Ancient of daies the Glory of the Son represented by the similitude of the Son of man At our Saviours Baptism there was A voice from heaven as an audible Testimonie of the distinct Person of the Father Christ as Man was the conspicuous seat or Throne of God the Son and the Dove which appeared unto John a visible pledge of the Holy-Ghost And may not the Church Triumphant have as punctual representations or pledges of this Distinction no lesse sensible though more admirable then the Church militant hath had here on earth 4. It is not then altogether so clear that this Title of Christs Sitting at the right hand of God the Father is borrowed from the Rites or customes of the Kings of Judah as it is questionable whether this Rite or custome amongst them were not framed after the Patern of the heavenly Thrones or representations of coelestial dignities so we know the earthly Sanctuarie was framed according to the patern of the heavenly Sanctuarie Our Fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness as he appointed speaking unto Moses that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen Act. 7. 44. Ex. 25. 40. And our Apostle saith Heb. 8. 5. Those served unto the patern or shadow of heavenly things as Moses was warned by God when he was about to finish the tabernacle See saith he that thou make all things according to the patern shewed to thee in the mount But it may be the patern shewed to him in the Mount was but a Shew or Mathematical Draught of the material Tabernacle which he was to erect and yet is stiled an heavenly patern or heavenly thing because it was represented from heaven by God himself yet so represented without any real Tabernacle answerable to it in heaven I could subscribe to this interpretation if the Apostles Inference Heb. 9. 23 24. did not prove or presuppose something more It was then necessary that the similitude of heavenly things should be purified with such things but the heavenly things themselves are purified with better sacrifices then these for Christ is not entred into the holie places made with hands which are similitudes of the true Sanctuarie but is entred into very heaven to appear now in the sight of God for us But hath he the whole heavens for his Sanctuarie or is there as real a Distinction of places or Mansions in the heavens as there was of Courts or Sanctuaries in the material or in Solomons Temple We have such an high Priest saith Saint Paul as sitteth at the right hand of the throne of the majestie in the heavens and is a Minister of the Sanctuarie and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man and Eph. 1. 20. The father of glory set him at his own right hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the heavenly places Some Distinction between the Throne of Majestie and Christs humanitie was apprehended surely by Saint Steven Act. 7. 55. He being full of the Holy-Ghost looked stedfastly into heaven and saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God the Object of his sight was surely Real not a meer vision in the air for he saw the heavens open and by their opening found opportunity to prie with bodily eyes but bodily eyes extraordinarily enlightned by the Spirit of God into heaven it self and to take a view of the land of Promise and the Sanctuary pitched in it The Divine Essence or Person of God the Father he could not see and yet he saw the Glorie of God and Christ at the Right-hand of this Glorie But he saw Christ Standing and not Sitting as here it is said All is one It is the height of Christs Exaltation that He hath the pre-eminence to Sit upon his Throne in the immediate presence of God the Fathers Glorious Throne But this prerogative of Sitting upon his Throne doth not tye him to such perpetual Residence that he may not Stand when it pleaseth him and it seems it was at this time this great Judge his pleasure to Stand as a Spectator of his blessed Martyrs Combat and for the present as a Witness against these his malicious Enemies which afterward were to be made his Foot-stool Now was that of the Psalmist Psal 102. 19. verified He hath looked down from the height of his Sanctuarie out of the heaven did the Lord behold the earth 5. But if Christ have a Visible Throne or Sanctuarie in heaven how is it true which Saint Steven saith Acts 7. 48 49. The most high dwelleth not in Temples made with hands as saith the Prophet Heaven is my throne and earth is my foot-stool what house will ye build for me saith the Lord or what place is it that I shall rest in hath not my hand made all these things And if God dwell not in any Sanctuary which he hath made how can he have any Visible Sanctuary in heaven For even the heaven of heavens every creature whether visible or invisible are the works of Gods hands To this the Answer is easie when the Prophet saith God dwelleth not in Temples made with hands he excludeth only the works of mens hands not all created Thrones or Sanctuaries made immediately by God himself For as the Apostle saith Heb. 8. 2. Christ is a Minister of the Sanctuary which the Lord hath pitched and not man And Hebr. 9. 11. Christ being come a high Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this building c. Thus much of the Grammatical or Literal meaning of these words As for this Opinion of Distinction of Thrones in heaven as I dare not boldly avouch it so I am afraid peremptorily to deny it For Peremptorie Negatives in Divine Mysteries oft-times sway more dangerously unto Infidelitie then Affirmative Paradoxes do to Heresie The Affirmative in this Mysterie is in my opinion more safe and probable then the Negative However The Point which all of us are bound absolutely to Believe is That this Article of Christs sitting at the Right-Hand of God doth contain the height of His Exaltation far above all principalitie and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come Eph. 1. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God saith the same Apostle Phil. 2. 9. hath very highly
gracious words of others in his behalfe will not suffice unless God by their praiers do frame his heart to beleive and move his tongue if God have given him the use of the tongue to Confess that Iesus Christ is the Lord. Corde creditur ad justitiam ore fit confessio ad salutem If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt beleive in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man beleiveth unto righteousnes and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10. 9 10. The Universalitie or extent of this Belief or Confession in respect of the parties whom it concernes is most fully exprest in the verse following For the Scripture saith Esa 28. 16. Whosoever believeth on him shall not make haste or not be ashamed And again Joel 2. 32. Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord whether he be Jew or Gentile shall be saved Thus you see that there is an universalitie of the parties or persons which are bound de Jure to make this Confession and an Universalitie of comfortable promises unto all such as make it as they ought that is not in tongue only but with the Heart not in heart only if God have given them the use of the heart and of the tongue or his blessings of memory and understanding 4. That besides this universality of persons confessing Christ with their tongues to be the Lord there is an Universalitie or Totality of duties to be performed by every one that confesseth Christ to be the Lord is evident from Iesus Christ our Lords own mouth Luke 6. 46. Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say This speech infers thus much at least That though all other both Jews Gentiles even every tongue throughout the world had confessed as much as these his present Disciples of which some were temporary some perpetual Professors did yet this would not suffice to make them capable of the reward universally promised to his true Disciples and servants That this confession though made by every tongue besides was not sufficient to make any particular man capable of the reward promised to all his true servants that are capable of his words and sayings which was not ready and willing to do them That every one which heard his sayings and was willing to do them was truly capable of all the blessings which he promised is clear from his words following ver 47 48 49. Who so cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doth them I will shew you to whom he is like He is like a man which built an house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a Rock And when the flood arose the stream brake violently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon a Rock But he that heareth and doth not is like unto a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruine of that house was great But our Lord and Saviours mind is by himself more fully exprest to this purpose Math. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven The limitation of these words as well for their negative as affirmative extent is this That neither every one nor any one of them which shall confess onely with their tongues that he is the Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven This limitation of the Negative or rather our Assurance of Faith that this negative is thus far to be extended is manifest from the verse following For to prophesie in the Name of Christ is more than to confesse with the tongue only that Christ is Lord. To cast out Divels in the Name of Christ is more then to prophecie in his Name To do many works of wonder in Christs Name is more than to cast out Devils in his Name For to cast out Divels indeed is a wonderful work and yet but One of those wonderful works which then and for many years after were done in Christs Name by such as although they did call Christ Lord Lord as he truly is the Lord of all were not Christs true servants not such as Christ will take notice of or approve as better but rather reject as worse then Infidels in that last and dreadful day when he shall call his servants whether de jure or de facto to a final account For so it is expressed in the words following ver 23 23. Many will say unto me in that day and the more the better so their plea were good Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works And then will I professe unto them I never knew you that is I never approved of you but rather disapproved you and your works as worse then the works of heathens or heathenish workers For unto the Heathens as Heathens he hath not said that he will say in the last day Depart from me Ye Workers of iniquity That the Affirmative extent of his words to such as shall not only with their tongues confess but in heart and practice acknowledge him to be the Lord is as large and ample as his former threatnings to such as either indeed and facts deny him or with their tongues and lips do not confess him to be the Lord his promise in the next words ver 24. will give us full assurance Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock And thus you see The words of our Lord and Savior confirmed by the mouthes of two Authentick witnesses St. Matthew and St. Luke do warrant the truth of these two Universals That never a one of such as onely with the tongue confess him to be the Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That every one which in heart confesseth him though with tongue he cannot confess him to be the Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven For every one which doth the will of his Father which is in heaven and the doing of this his heavenly Fathers will here is not an act of the Tongue but of the heart and of the affections shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven which is the place and seat appointed for all Christs true Servants and onely for them The onely question then remaining is What this Will of his heavenly Father is what it is to do it 5. This will of His heavenly Father is either General whatsoever is expressed in the Ten Commandements in the moral Law or in the Prophets or more Special as it is revealed in Christ or by Christ Did Christ then give us a New Law or other precepts then God by Moses had done
children were taught amiss to know the nature of God or of his Enemy by vulgar Pictures or Representations For so the fashion was long before and continued till his time to picture God or the blessed Trinity in some fair and beautiful form and to paint the divel in some foul loathsom or ugly shape And this good Writer to correct their error well admonished as well the parents as their children That if they would learn to know what God was they must first be taught to know what Goodness is what Justice is what Mercy is what Bounty or loving kindness is And if they desire to know what maner of creature the divel is who is the chief enemy of God they should first be taught to know what malice is what filthiness is what loathsomness is what villany or treachery is For Satan is but a Compost of these or an extract of all that children or their parents acknowledge for evil Howbeit if either children or parents could be taught to know what Iustice is what Mercy is what loving kindness is or if they could be taught to know that God is what all these are even Iustice it self even mercy it self loving kindness it self wisdom it self or Wisdom Justice Mercy and loving kindness it self truly infinite yet his wisdom his mercy and loving kindness would be to us incomprehensible unapprehensible even in that these Attributes in him are infinite We could have no true or lively apprehension either speculative to inform our understandings what were good and ought to be followed or moral to enable and qualifie our hearts and affections to imitate or express that patern of goodness or so much of it as we apprehend in God if we should look upon these Attributes as they are in God the Father only or in the Divine nature But as he that cannot look upon the Sun in its strength or brightness or at the noon day may take the model of it in the water or in the Moon at full So we that cannot behold the glory of Divine Majesty in the Godhead may safely behold the Map or Model of his incomprehensible Goodness in the Man Christ Iesus All His actions and endeavors were with such wisdom set and bent upon mercy on goodness on loving kindness that every one which saw and duly considered his maner and course of life here on Earth might collect that he truly was as himself avouched more then the Son of man the very Son of God himself who is good and gracious to all For Christ as Man went about doing good to all doing hurt to none Now as the Son of Syrach saith Ecclus. 22. 3. That an evil son is the dishonor of his father So it will follow by the Rule of Contraries That a wise or good son is the honor of his father So Solomon hath said in express terms Prov. 10. 1. A wise son maketh a glad father but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother Now Christ as we know is called The Wisdom of the onely wise immortal God his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased And well pleased with him he is for that he is the honor of his Father And as Christ by confessing God and by real expression of his Goodness in his life and actions did truly glorifie his Father as he himself expresly avoucheth John 17. So all that really confess Christ to be the Lord that is all which throughly express the Map or Model of his Goodness in their lives and conversations do truly glorifie God the Father 9. Briefly then Every tongue truly and rightly confesseth Christ to be the Lord that observes his Commandments or that observes the Commandments of God more strictly and more religiously then others do who although they profess they honor God yet do not honor him as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ or do not honor Jesus Christ as his only Son This is that special Will of the Father which is in heaven and that which must be done by all which mean to enter into Heaven that every one which honoreth the Father should also honor the Son Joh. 5. 23. Honor the Son they must not in words or title only but by performance of real Service Every one that thus honoreth the Son doth hereby glorifie God the Father Hence saith our Savior Matth. 5. 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven And again Ioh. 15. 1. Our Savior compares himself to the Vine and his Father unto a Husbandman which expects the fruit of his vineyard So that the end why the Son of God did descend from heaven why he was planted and took root here on earth was that the sons of Adam or Abraham might be ingrafted in him and the End of our ingrafting in him was that we might bring forth fruit unto his Father But What comfort is it to have Christ Our Lord if by Allegeance to him we be more strictly bound to do the will of God then those which do not acknowledge Him their Lord I Answer 1. It is a credit by consent of Nations and repute of men naturally wise if not A Real Comfort to have him Our Lord who governs his people by the most excellent and equitable Laws Such were those which the Son of God gave the Jews What are these now refined in the Gospel All men naturally desire happiness As by those Laws God directed the Jews so by these he disciplines Us for our Good seeking occasion or Title in our obedience to exercise his bounty by rewarding us for doing good to our selves and others at his command He that sins against the laws of Christ doth it in Sui damnum sins against his own soul and by straying from them goes out of that way which only can lead him to the happiness he desireth 2. It is comfort that our Lord rules not with rigor but masters his Dominion with Equity Novit figmentum nostrum having Himself been compassed with the infirmities of mans nature all but such as did proceed from sin or lead unto sin he can by acquaintance and experience of them tell both how willing the spirit and how weak the flesh of miserable Mortals be and ready is he to give allowance accordingly But Thirdly Here is comfort indeed That as JESUS CHRIST the Righteous is our Lord so He is The Lord our Righteousness so is He our Sollicitor our Advocate our most compassionate High-Priest who ex officio negotiates on our behalf by mediation and intercession with the Father for pardon of all our transgressions negligences ignorances both of all sins committed and duties omitted or performed untowardly and amiss He made One Propitiation by his death and he lives for ever to make intercession for us Yea so gracious is This our Lord that he seems in a manner during this Acceptable Day or time of Grace to lay aside The Title
execution according to the Rule of Justice unless he know the transgressor and the quality of his transgression And for this reason even those States which have comparatively the best Laws and the wisest Magistrates admit or rather require and authorize Informers And after the Information given the Magistrate must proceed secundum allegata probata according to the information given by legal and competent witnesses Now to make the Informers and Witnesses alwayes sincere the best Laws and Magistrates are not able The Law of God indeed is a Law most perfect most infallible but no living Rule to see and discern every transgression against it no speaking Rule to give information or testimony against the transgressors of it much less a living Judge to reward or punish every observer or transgressor of it But all the perfections that can be imagined in any Law in any Informer in any Witness in any Judge or manager of Justice are eminently and most perfectly contained in This Word or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with whom we have to do or to whom we are to render our accompt without any tincture or admixture of their imperfections And thus they all are in Him most perfect not by way of Union or Unition but according to most perfect and indivisible Unitie As all things were made by him without help or instrumental service So all the thoughts all the words and works of men are immediatly known unto him without any Prompter or Informer and every man shal be judged by him according to all his works without any Advocate or assistant As he is the expresse Image or full expression of his Fathers Person and himselfe as truly God as his Father is so he is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or mensura omnium the exact measure of every thing that can be known that can be done spoken or thought and the just recompence of all deserts He containes an exact proportion or disproportion to every thought word or action that hath proceeded from the heart or mind of man an exact proportion of every thought word or deed that held consort with the Law of the mind or of the spirit an exact disproportion to every rebellious motion that hath been conceived by the Law of the flesh against the Law of the mind and even in this respect he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so the Original word oft times imports as much as proportion or an exact measure by which all proportion or consonancy all disproportion or dissonancy may be known or notified As if the Base or Diapason be sound and good every Note or sound of the same instrument doth notifie the measure of its consonancie or dissonancie to it by its own sound And in this sense he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a living measure or proportion And every thought or secret inclination of man that is consonant to this living Rule or Law hath more then a Geometrical proportion a live proportion or Sympathie with him And we shall need no other bliss and happines then a true Sympathie and consort with him Every thought or inclination of the flesh that is dissonant to this living Rule or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 includes more then a dead disproportion a live Antipathie to his puritie and according to the measure of every mans disproportion or Antipathie to this living Rule shall the measure of his wretchednes or infelicitie be In all these and many other respects is the Son of God enstyled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he is the Judge of quick and dead 16. But doth the Intent or Inference of the Apostle in that fourth Chapter to the Hebrews lead us unto any such apprehension or construction as hath been made of his Attributes It doth if we look not as the Jews did only into the dead Letter but dive into the live sense or meaning of the Spirit or of the Apostle himself His principal scope or aim was to admonish his hearers and in them all that confess Christ to be the Son of God and their Redeemer to be vigilant and careful whilest it is called to day that they do not incur Gods high displeasure or provoke his sentence of utter exclusion from that Eternal Rest whereof that Rest which Joshuah brought the Israelites unto when he gave them possession of the land of Canaan was but the Map or shadow The Israelites without exception had a promise of entring into the land of Canaan and under it a promise of entring into a better Rest But the word preached saith the Apostle vers 2. did not profit them not being mixed with Faith The foolish posteritie of those rebellious Fathers which were excluded by oath from entring into the land of Canaan and were consumed in the wildernes misdeemed that Gods promise of bringing that Nation into the land of their Rest had been accomplished in the conquest of it by Ioshuah or in continuance of like victorious success unto themselves And by this conceit and by the dissobedience which this conceit brought forth against the Son of God revealed the most of this Nation since his manifestation in the flesh have lived and died in a more miserable estate then their Fathers did which died in the wildernes For neither Christian charitie nor the Analogie of Christian faith will permitt us to say or think that all the Israelites which were excluded by Oath from entring into the land of Canaan or of their promised earthly Rest were also utterly excluded from entring into the Kingdom of heaven They as well as we were to render an accompt unto This Eternal Word for he it was which spake to Moses in Mount Sinai but was not then manifested in the flesh nor was the Article of his incarnation expresly or explicitly known to all or most that received benefit by it The accompt which they were to make was not so punctuall nor their examination so strict For that which St. Paul saith of the antient heathens holds true in proportion of the ancient Israelites God saith he winked at these times of ignorance Act. 17. 30 31. but now commandeth all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will Judge the world in righteousnes But was not this day appointed in these times of ignorance at which God winked Yes before them but not so fully declared nor the manner of it so distinctly known as since Christs resurrection it hath been From this difference of times and from the different condition of men living since Christs Resurrection and from the diversity of the account which they must render in respect of them which lived before it St. Paul makes that inference Hebrews 4. 11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief or disobedience The Israelites fell in the wildernes for their disobedience to Gods word written or spoken they did not so immediatly trespasse against this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
when occasion or exigences of time require it should be This Qualification includes somewhat more or somewhat besides Poornesse in spirit or humility or patience in mourning Meeknesse is a moderation of anger in some special Cases such a Temper as our Saviour requires in his Followers when he commands them to turn the right cheek to him that smites them on the left and to be willing to redeem their peace with a troublesome neighbor that would take away the coat though it be with the losse of the cloak also Now this kind of Temper exposeth men to many kinds of Inconveniences hard to be digested by flesh and blood Many otherwise humble and ingenuous when they are toucht as we say in their Coppp-hold or in their inheritance will take courage and boldness sometimes more then were fitting though necessarie if they be resolved to defend their own without respect to the occasions or exigences of time For facies hominis in causa propriatanquam facies Leonis A mans face or presence in his own cause is as the face of a Lyon And he that cannot take his own part in his own cause and set the best Foot forwards may easily be turned out of house and home And yet there is no true Disciple of Christ but must expect to have his patience exercised in this kind to be injuriously vexed and molested by Others for that which is not Theirs Now he that in this Case will not vex or molest others again nor himself he is truly meek and unto men thus qualified or to encourage all to be thus qualified the Blessednesse of the life to come is promised not under the Title of a Kingdom or of Comfort but under the Title most contrary to the course and custom of this world wherein Meeknesse is commonly Accursed with loss of their own possession But Blessed saith our Saviour are the meek for they shall inherit or possesse the earth or the Land even that good Land where there is no Ejection no dis-inheriting of such as are possessed of it and therefore are the meek blessed because Meeknesse or quietnesse is the Way or Title to get Possession thereof 9. But the poor in spirit may have more honor then they can desire so may such as mourn have as much Comfort and the meek as large and durable an Inheritance as their hearts could wish But if this were all they could not be satisfied Every one of these have in this life their several Thirsts or Longings As he that mourns thirsts after Comfort the poor in spirit and the meek hunger and thirst after their Contentment in some kind or other But without all hope of satisfaction unlesse they hunger and thirst after somewhat else besides these particular contentments Man in his first estate was created righteous and unlesse there be a longing after that Righteousnesse which our first Parents lost whatsoever we gain or get besides cannot satisfie our desire either In Re or In Spe. Hence saith our Savior in the Fourth place Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be satisfied There is a thirst after honor preferment and ease and there is Auri sacra fames an unquenchable hunger after gold and Pelf but this cannot be satisfied all these are tortures to the soul wherein they harbour For though honour be Gods though gold and silver as the Prophet speaks be his yet he is not these these are not the same that He is but as we said lately God is righteousness He is Peace He is Love He is mercy and therefore whosoever delights in these he truely delights in the Lord and shall assuredly have his hearts desire he only shall be satisfied 10. But no man in this life doth or can delight in these works as he ought the most righteous man that ever lived on earth if God should enter into Judgement with him could not be absolved from the sentence of the Law and so long as he stands unabsolved or uncertain of his Absolution he cannot be satisfied he cannot have his hearts desire he alwayes stands in need of mercy And mercy he shall have that is merciful For it is Remarkable that this qualification of mercifulness is the only qualification or condition which is rewarded in kind in this we most perfectly resemble the goodness of God Hence saith our Saviour Blessed are the merciful But why are they blessed Not because they shall receive a Kingdom not because they shall possesse the Land not because they shall be satisfied but because they shall obtain mercy Without the exceeding mercy of God no man can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven neither into the Kingdom of Grace in this life nor into the Kingdom of Glory in the life to come and he that means to enter in at the Gate of mercy must bring his Ticket or rather his * Counter-part indented with him he must be merciful as his heavenly Father is mercifull otherwise he shall be excluded Righteousness towards God if it were possible to be severed from mercy towards man could not suffice 11. But that which comes nearest to true blesledness it self is Puritie of heart This contains the Root whereof Holiness is the fruit that Holiness whose End is Everlasting life Now he that desires to keep this puritie of heart must deprive his eyes of many pleasant sights and his ears of many delightful sounds and every sense of those particular contentments wherein the world most delighteth But in lieu of this loss he hath A blessing promised not only of this life but of the life to come In the life to come he shall see God as he is face to face and in this life he shall see him as through a glass and so he shall see him in his Word and in his Attributes And the best knowledge that in this life can be had The knowledge of God and of his Attributes without transforming the Divine nature into the similitude of our corrupt affections is To see his righteousnes and Justice without derogation from his Mercy or Goodness or to see him to be goodness it self and mercy it self without any diminution of his Justice To see his gracious and peculiar favour towards some without suspition or imagination of rigour or crueltie towards others To know him to be love it self without admixture of hatred towards any thing that he hath made 12. It is this sight of God or this apprehension of this uniformity be-between his Attributes which must transform us into such a similitude of his divine nature as in this life can be had that is such as may make us the children of peace This is the immediat fruit of purity of heart And unto men thus disposed to preserve peace as for their own particulars and to make peace between such as are at variance the blessedness of the life to come could not be promised under a more grateful Title then under the style
you see how the terrour of the last day or fear of everlasting death must work in us an Abstinence from evil or repentance for evil past as the Hope of Everlasting Life doth work patience and constancie in persecution Yet both parts of that brief Receipt Sustine et Abstine may be effected by our serious meditation upon either branch of our belief concerning life and death everlasting For if all the sufferings of this life be not worthy of or equivalent unto the glory which shall be revealed in us we must needs be worthy of and obnoxious to everlasting death if we do not with patience suffer persecution in this life rather then hazard our hopes of Life Eternal Again if the sufferance of everlasting death be much worse then the suffering of all persecutions possible in this life our not repentance at the Terrour of it doth make us uncapable of everlasting life Our hopes of avoiding it by repentance if they be sound and firm will animate and in a manner impell us to follow the wayes of life to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance 4. Seeing then we are thus invironed on the right hand and on the left having the hopes of Eternal Life set before us to encourage us to constancy and resolution and are so strongly beset with inevitable fear of everlasting death if like faint hearted souldiers we should retreat or revoke our vow in Baptisme may not the Lord in Justice take up that complaint against us which sometimes he did against Jerusalem and Judah What could I have done more for my vineyard that I have not done unto it Other means to make men either good men or good Citizens the old world knew none nor could the wit of the wisest Law-givers devise any besides poena et praemium Reward and punishment Now what Kingdom or Common-wealth had either so bountiful Rewards or so dreadful punishments proposed unto them as we Christians have What then is the reason why we of all others are more defective in good duties most fruitful in evil lesse observant or more desperate transgressors of our Princes Lawes then the subjects or Citizens of any other well governed Kingdoms ever were how often do we pawn our hopes of everlasting life upon less occasions then Esau did his birth-right and set Christ our acknowledged Lord and Redeemer to sale at a lower price then Judas did The original of this our desperate neglect or contempt must either be misbelief or unbelief of the Reward promised to well doing or of the Punishment threatned to evil doers And it would be a point very hard to determine Whether of such as make any conscience of their wayes especially since the reformation of Religion more have miscarried through misbelief or through unbelief of this Great Article of our Creed Everlasting life and everlasting death Our Misbelief for the most part concerns the Article of everlasting life Of everlasting death we are rather unbelievers then misbelievers Misbelief alwayes includes a strong belief but the stronger our belief the more dangerous it is if it be wrested or misplaced and the worst way we can misplace our belief of heavenly joyes is when we make our selves certain of our salvation before our time or ranke our selves amongst the elect or heirs not disinheritable of the heavenly kingdom before we have made our Election sure 5. As the absolute infallibilitie of the present Romish Church doth make up the measure of heathenish Idolatry or iniquity So the immature belief of our own salvation or Election doth make up the measure of Jewish or Pharisaical Hypocrisie The manner how it doth so is this If no covetous if no sacrilegious person if no slanderer of his brethren or reviler of his betters can enter into the Kingdom of heaven as it is certain they cannot untill they repent then no man which is certain of his salvation can perswade himself or be perswaded that he is a covetous or sacrilegious person that he is a slanderer of his brethren or a reviler of his betters and hence the Conclusion arising from the Premisses is inevitable that albeit such men as presume of their Election or salvation before their time before they be throughly sanctified do all that covetous or sacrilegious men do be continual slanderers or malicious revilers of their brethren yet it is impossible that they should suspect much less condemn themselves of these crimes until they correct their former errours and rectifie their misbelief or presumption of their immutable estate in grace Yea their errour not being corrected makes them confident in these wicked practises and causes them to mistake hatred to mens persons or envy to others good parts for zeal to Religion and stubbornness in Schisme and faction for Christian charitie or good affection unto truth And if any man of better insight in the Stratagems of Satan shall go about to detect their error or convince them by strength of Reason grounded upon Scripture that their mis-perswasions do branch into Blasphemie and can bring forth no better fruit then Pharisaical hypocrisie yet they usually requite his pains as that young Spanish spark did the Physician which had well nigh cured him of a desperate Phrensie no sooner had he brought him to know what he was indeed no more then a Page though to a great Duke or Grandee of Spain but the Youth instead of a Fee or thankful acknowledgement began to revile and curse the Physician for bringing him out of a pleasant dream of golden mountains much richer then the King of Spain had any it seemed as a kind of hell unto him to see himself to be but a Page who in his raving fits had taken upon him to create Dukes and Earls and to exercise the Acts of Royal Authoritie Very much like him in Horace Epistol Libr. 2. Ep. 2. Fuit haud ignobilis Argis Qui se credebat miros audire Tragoedos In vacuo laetus sessor plausorque Theatro Hic ubi cognatorum opibus curisque refectus Expulit helleboro morbum bilemque meraco Et redit ad sese pol me occidistis amici Non servastis ait cui sic extorta voluptas Et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus Error But with the Originals of Mis-belief besides what is said in our Fifth Book of Comments upon the Creed in this particular we shall have fitter occasion to meet hereafter And the greater part of men amongst us I am perswaded offend more in Unbelief then in Mis-belief 6. And by Unbelief lest we should be mistaken we understand somewhat less then the lowest degree of Infidelity Now of Infidels there be two degrees or ranks Infideles Contradictionis and Infideles purae Negationis He is an Infidel in the former sense that contradicts or opposeth the truth of Scriptures especially concerning Everlasting Life and Everlasting Death and such Infidels I presume there are none amongst us He is an Infidel in the Later Sense that doth not believe the
perish What is the reason why they are so careful in these Toyes and we so negligent in matters of such moment and the like They have a Tradition whether received from Mahomet himself or from his Successors their Mufties I know not but a Tradition they have which they strongly believe That before they can enter into such a heaven as they dream of they must pass over a long iron grate red hot without any other fence to save their naked feet from scorching save only so much paper as they shall preserve from perishing Now of the pains or tortures which the violent heat of Iron produceth in naked bodies they have a kind of feeling or experience The conceit or Notion of this pain is fresh and lively and works more strongly upon their affections then the dread of hell fire doth upon many Christians albeit there is no Christian which doth not believe the fire of hell to be everlasting whereas the Turk thinks this his supposed Purgatory to be but temporary and between pains temporary and pains everlasting there is no proportion How then comes it to pass that this superstitious fear of pains but temporary should so far exceed our true fear or belief of pains uncessant and everlasting Many which truly believe there is a Hell whose fire never goeth out yet conceive this fire to be an immaterial fire a fire of whose heat or violence they have no sense or feeling in this life a fire altogether unknown unto them And as no man much desireth that good which he knoweth not how great soever it be so no man much feareth that evil whereof he hath no sense or feeling no experimental knowledge whereby to measure the greatness of it but only believes it confusedly or in gross and hence it is that the acknowledgment or belief of such a fire how great soever it may seem to be in the General abstract conceit is but like a spacious Mathematical body which hath neither weight nor motion which can produce no real effects in the soul or affections of man For this reason I have alwayes held it a fruitless pains or a needless curiosity to dispute the Question Whether the fire of hell be a material fire or no that is such a fire as may be felt by bodily senses seeing most men conceive no otherwise of things immaterial or spiritual then as of Abstract Notions or of Mathematical Magnitudes As the determination of this Question were it possible in this life to be determined would be fruitless So the chief reason which some have brought to prove the Negative to wit That it is not a material fire is of no force in true Philosophie much less in Divinitie 10. Their chief Reason is This That if hell fire were a material or bodily fire it could not immediately work upon the soul which is an immaterial or spiritual substance But let them tell us how it is possible That the soul of man which is an immortal substance should be truly wedded to the body or material substance and I shall as easily answer them That it is as possible for the same soul to be as really wrought upon by a material fire As possible it is for material fire to propagate death without End to both body and soul as it is for the immaterial or immortal soul to communicate life without end to the material substance of the body For the bodies of the damned shall never cease to be material substances and they shall live to everlasting pains by a life communicated unto them from their immaterial and immortal souls And as the bodies do live continually by reason of their continual union with their living immaterial souls so the soul may die the second death continually by its union with or imprisonment in material but everlasting fire Or if any man be of opinion that hell fire is no material fire or hath no resemblance of that fire which we see and know yet let him believe that it is a great deal worse and that the greatest torture which in this life can come by fire is though a true yet but an imperfect scantling of the torments of the life to come and the danger will be less Of this opinion were the Antients and this conceit or notion of hell fire did in some bring forth very good effects So Eusebius in his Fifth Book and first Chapter of his Ecclesiastical Story tels of one Biblis a woman which had professed Christianity but was so danted with the cruel persecutions of Christians that she renounced her profession and was brought unto the place where the Christians were executed with purpose to withdraw others from constancie in their profession by her expected blasphemie against Christ and reproachful aspersions upon Christians But the very sight of those flames wherein the Martyrs were tortured did throughly awake her out of her former slumber her very fear or rather conceit of such torments which they for the time suffered did afford her a measure or scantling to calculate the incomparable torments of hell fire which being now awaked she began to bethink her self that she must suffer them without hope of release if she should deny Christ or renounce her calling and thus expelling the lesser fear by the greater she resolutely professed her self to be a true Christian in heart and so contrary to the expectation of the persecutors and her own former resolution increased the number of the glorious Martyrs and incouraged others after her to endure the Cross 11. But albeit the Scripture usually describes the horrour of the second death by a fire which never goeth out or by a lake of fire and brimstone and so describes it either because that fire is of such nature and quality as these descriptions literally and without Metaphor import or because these are the most obvious and most conspicuous representations of the pains and horrours of hell which flesh and blood are generally most acquainted with most afraid of yet many other branches of pains and tortures there be besides those which fire of what kind soever can inflict and of these several pains most men respectively may have as true a rellish or sensible representation as they can have of hell fire You have read before that as there is in this life A body of sin which hath as many members as there be several senses or several faculties of the soul So there is a body of the second death every way proportionable to the body of sin The extreamitie or deadliness of all the pains discontents or grievances which are incident to any bodily sense or facultie of the soul in this life are contained either Formaliter that is as we say in kind in the body of the second death or Eminenter that is either in a worse kind or in a greater measure then in this life they could be endured though but for a minute and yet must be endured everlastingly in the life to come
tast of it he shall be saved without addition of any other Grace besides that which it is supposed he hath Is it then apparent that a man may fall from that Grace or lose the Tast of that Grace in which if he did continue or not lose the Tast of it he should be saved Yes This is as clear as the day light For whosoever doth continue in the Participation of the Holy Ghost or doth not lose the Tast of the heavenly Gift or of the Powers of the World to come shall never perish shall be saved Impossible it is that any man should enter into the estate of death or of reprobation so long as he hath the Tast of the life to come implanted in his heart and spirit and this is for nature and quality saving Grace But some that have tasted of this Grace do utterly lose the tast of it and so fall from Grace in it self sufficient to save their souls For though all that lose this tast do not sin against the Holy Ghost yet no man can sin against the Holy Ghost until he lose this tast and yet no man can lose this tast but he that hath had it The Conclusion then is most pregnant that it is more possible or a shorter passage for a man to fall from seving Grace or to lose the tast of it then to sin against the Holy Ghost The most useful meditations then will be to discover the Means whereby such as once have had the tast of the heavenly Grace do come to lose it with their several degrees and these are divers 5. First It is to be supposed that God doth by his Spirit infuse this tast into mens souls not continually or uncessantly But as we say by Fits or Turns This tast of the powers of the Life to come is sometimes Transient we cannot have it when we list but must expect Gods providence and attend his pleasure for the renewing of it and crave the assistance of his Spirit for producing it by humble supplication and prayer Want of the due esteem of it whilst we have it negligence in the duty of prayer and other Godly exercises doth deprive us of it when we might have had it renewed in us God doth not promise that any shall injoy this pearl besides such as diligently seek after it And when they have found it or rather when it hath found them do duly prize it And as this Tast of eternal life is often for a time lost or much prejudiced by meer negligence in sacred duties so it may be choaked and stifled by errors or misperswasions which insinuate themselves into mens thoughts or phantasies after they have been partakers of it Many there be which will unfeignedly acknowledge that the pledge or Earnest of Eternal Life which they have received is of more worth and value then all the pleasures or contentments of this world which can oppose or countersway the desires of it And yet the same men through the sleights and subtilty of Satan play but the Sophisters with their own souls Thus Assuming or Resolving That albeit the tast of the heavenly Gift be more to be desired then all the temporal contentments which are incompatible with it yet the Tast of these heavenly joyes and the contentments of this life which may be enjoyed with it are better then it alone for One good how little soever being added to another how great soever makes some addition of goodness Thus many covetous men and oppressors will easily be perswaded that they may increase their temporal estate without any forfeiture of their estate in Gods spiritual blessings The ambitious or aspiring mind thinks he may glorifie God more by his high place or dignitie in Church or Common-wealth then by continuing a private and retired life As for the drunkard the glutton and the lascivious man they seldom are perswaded that they may continue their wonted courses and enjoy the Tast of the heavenly Gift And for this reason many that have been subject to these sins have been more easily won to the love of truth and of saving grace then the Proud the Covetous the Ambitious or Envious men are because the one in his sober thoughts fore-sees the danger and acknowledgeth his sins whereas the other rejoyceth continually in his courses without suspition of danger 6. Or if the covetous or ambitious mind sometimes suspects his wayes yet being ingaged to pursue them lest he might be thought to have varied in his course of life the best repentance which he usually attains unto is but like his in the Poet Id primum si facta mihi revocare liceret Non coepisse fuit caepta expugnare Secundum est If I were to begin the world again I should happily make choice of another kind of life but being ingaged the next point is to make the best of that course of life which I have chosen And yet the more he makes of it the worse he speeds in it in the main chance the more he prejudiceth the Habitual or Actual Tast of Eternal life for the more we are accustomed to any course of life the more we delight in it and are weaned from it with greater difficultie And yet we must be weaned even from the world it self before we can rightly Tast the sincere milk of the Gospel or be capable of that strong meat which is contained in this Article of Eternal Life and others concerning Christ by which The Tast of this Life must be fed and nourished So that of all sins pride covetousness and Ambition are the most dangerous both because they be of more credit or less infamie in the world and because they multiply their Acts the most and may work uncessantly But though it be for the most part as true of these times wherein we live as it was in the days of our Saviours conversation here on earth that Publicans and open sinners are oftentimes neerer to the Kingdom of heaven then many which live a more sober or civil life but yet are covetous vain-glorious or envious as the Scribes and Pharisees were yet there is no man that sets his heart to Tast of any unlawful pleasures though of those pleasures which in his sober thoughts he condemnes but doth hereby weaken or dead his Tast of the food of Life and make himself subject to former temptations whensoever they shall assault him However in the absence of temptations they may seem unto themselves and unto others to repent yet when fresh ones arise they usually come to the same vent at which the affections of that incestuous wanton in the Poet broke out when she said Denique non possum innoxia dici Quod superest multum est in vota in crimina parvum I am an offender already and if I shall go on but a little this may give greater satisfaction unto my desires then it can adde unto the measure of my sin But voluntarily to give satisfaction to
final sentence is the true cause why the wicked are excluded from all benefit of it The performance of the same works as feeding of the hungry visitation of the sick c. is the Instrumental cause or means subordinate to the Principal cause why Christs sheep are suffered or admitted to enjoy the benefit of the same free Pardon but no cause at all why the Pardon was proclaimed or why the Kingdom of Heaven was prepared for them For that was prepared for them from the Foundation of the world before they had any Actual Being before they could merit any thing at the hands of men much lesse at the hand of God either de Congruo or de Condigno For all merit supposeth some precedent work and every work or operation presupposeth Actual Being 7. But how freely soever the General pardon be issued out or the Kingdom of Heaven be either promised or really bestowed and it is as freely bestowd or given as it is promised the free gift or bestowing of it is so far from excluding all Qualifications in the parties on whom it is freely bestowed that it necessarily requires a sincere performance of those good duties which are specified in the Final sentence Come ye blessed of my Father for I was an hungry and you gave me meat c. Now if to suffer stub born malefactors to enjoy the benefit of a gracious Pardon cannot stand with the Majestie of an earthly Prince much lesse can it stand with the infinite Majestie of the Eternal Judge to permit impenitent sinners to enjoy the benefit and the full redemption purchased by Christ or to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven Both because no unclean thing can enter there and because as the Redemption is a Redemption from the service of sin to the service of righteousness so the Pardon is only a Pardon to such as repent and forsake the Sin Pardoned This answer to their later Topick or Frame of Arguments for our Admission into Eternal Life drawn from the Causal Form of speech will bring forth a punctual Answer to the other General Head or Root of Arguments taken from those places of Scripture wherein is said that We are accounted worthy of Eternal Life For in all the places alledged by them This Phrase or form of speech To be worthy includes no more then then to be so qualified as we shall not be accounted Unworthy of Gods mercy or free Pardon through Jesus Christ All that shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven must be such as Deus dignabitur that is such as God shall vouchsafe or deign to accept in mercy or not accompt altogether Unworthy of his Free Pardon purchased by the merits of Christ or of the benefits of it which are alwayes actually bestowed not only For Christs merits but in Christ and through Christ that is as freely bestowed without any merits of ours as they were first promised The Greek writers especially their Ecclesiastick writers who most accurately follow the true sense and Character of the New Testament which was first written in Greek accurately distinguish betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To this purpose there is an Ecclesiastick Canon in the Greek Church which commends the ingenuity of such as shall acknowledge themselves be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as we say not worthy of the dignities whereto they are preferred But if any man should say he were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Unworthy of such preferment the Canon takes it as a presumption that he is not to be admitted unto it or as a part of Conviction that he deserves to be deprived of it Now to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the language of the Holy Ghost is somewhat more then to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to be in no wise worthy of the preferment which he seekes for or enjoyes This is the phrase which Paul and Barnabas use unto the stubborn Jews Acts 13. 46. But seeing you put the word of God from you and Judge your selves to be Unworthy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of eternal life Lo we turn unto the Gentiles These Jews then to whom they spake were unworthy that is altogether Uncapable of Eternal Life whereof the Gentiles were in this sense thus far Worthy that they were not altogether Uncapable of that free mercy and Pardon which was first tendred to the Jews And this exclusion of the Jews and admission of the Gentiles unto everlasting life or unto the means or pledges of it was but the accomplishment of our Saviours Parable Matth. 22. ver 8. Then saith He to his servants the wedding is ready but they which were bidden were not Worthy And it is worth your nothing that in Two of Cardinal Bellarmines forecited Allegations the One Luke 20. ver 25. The Other 2 Thess 1. 4. is said not such as are Worthy but such as shall be or are accompted Worthy of everlasting life that is such as shall be so accompted or accepted not for their own sake or for their merits but so accompted and accepted for and through the merits of Christ or for his imputed righteousness for to say That Christs righteousness is imputed to us is all one as to say his righteousnesse shall go upon our accompt or that we shall not be uncapable of his Merits For the word to Impute is as much in strict propriety of speech as to be admitted upon an accompt Thus much of the Objections made by the Romish Church and of the Answers unto them which was the First General proposed 8. The Second was The Confirmation of the Doctrine joyntly maintained by all reformed Churches which for the present we shall confirm from One place of Scripture only besides the Words of the Text Rom. 6. 23. and that is Rom. 8 18. I reckon saith the Apostle or I give it up as upon an account that the sufferings of this present time are Not Worthy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us If any Works of men Regenerate were Meritorious or Worthy of Eternal Life These by our adversaries confession should be the sufferings of Holy Martyrs specially of such Glorious Martyrs as St. Paul was Yet These he saith are not Worthy to be compared unto or are of no Worth in respect of the glory that shall be revealed in us But if the precious names of those in Sardis that is the Saints there were to walk with God Because they were Worthy how shall the sufferings of St Paul or of St. Peter be held Unworthy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in no wise Worthy or most unworthy of the glory which was to be revealed in them For this includes as much if not somewhat more then to walk with Christ The Answer is ready The Sufferings of the Saints were not Unworthy in respect of Gods Free Grace or Mercie not Unworthy of enjoying the benefit of his
for God to Elect or not to Elect us and so eternal Life should not be the Award of Gods Free Merrie and Grace as now present but an Act of his Fidelity or promise past before we had any being before the world was made But if God had not the same Free Power at this day to Elect or not to Elect any man now living or not the same Free Power to shew mercie on whom he will and to harden whom he will which it is supposed once he had he should not have the same Power over us which the Potter hath over his Clay which is at his free disposal not only before he works it but while it is in working I may conclude this Point with Cardinal Bellarmines Tutissimum est It is the safest way the only way absolutely to rely all our life time upon Gods Free mercie and Grace and to make continual supplications unto God the Father through Christ that as he hath prepared a Kingdom for us from the foundation of the world so he would prepare and fit us for it For without preparation or fit Qualification we are not capable of it and thus we come unto the Second Point proposed 4. The Second Point to which the Third is annexed or sub-joyned was That the Absolute Freedom of this Gift doth not exclude all Qualifications in the parties on whom it is bestowed but rather requires better qualifications in them then can be found in others which exclude it or make themselves uncapable of it The Truth of this Assertion you may easily conceive by this one Instance or Example Suppose you that are Governors of this Corporation should Found as God put it in your hearts to do a Goodly Hospital or Almes-house at your own proper cost and charges the Gift would be most Free a Gracious Gift or Foundation and yet no man would conceive that the doors of that house though most Freely Founded should be as open or the good things belonging to it as Free for theeves and robbers for Bands or Panders for sturdy and lazie Beggars as for the halt and lame for the aged and impotent or as for men of decayed estate by Casualties as for Widdows or Orphans not so free or open for persons so qualified but otherwise haughty and proud as for Widdows or for decayed persons that were pious humble modest and ingenuous He should wrong you much that should conceive that you did intend only to have the number filled up though it were by such as the Poet describes but in a verse somewhat better Qui numeri essent fruges consumere nati That is by persons good for nothing but only to devour Gods Blessings To admit all sorts of people promiscuously into such a Foundation without respect of any Good Qualification would be an Act of Prodigality or impiety rather then of Free Bounty or Gracious Charity And can you imagine or suspect that the most just and righteous Judge the only wise immortal God who requires no more of us then that we should be perfect as he is perfect that we should be bountiful as he is bountiful and merciful as he is merciful doth not more constantly observe the Rules of his eternal Equity Bountie and Mercie then we can observe our Saviours Rules which are but the Copy of them albeit we made this our chief care and only study Thus to do is natural unto him not so unto us we cannot imitate the paterns which He sets us without much difficulty and many interruptions We may Freely bestow our Alms or Rewards but we cannot qualifie the parties that are to receive them we may prepare good things for them but we cannot prepare their hearts to receive them well or worthily But God doth not only prepare the Kingdom of Heaven for us but must also prepare us for it otherwise as our Apostle speaks Heb. 4. 1. We shall come short of the promise which is left us for entring into his rest And no man can come short of the promise or of the blessing promised but he that had a true Interest in the promise or he for whom the blessing promised was prepared 5. What shall we say then That any for whom the Kingdom of Heaven was prepared from the Foundation of the world shall finally miss of it or be excluded from it at the end of the world so our Apostle in the fore-cited place evidently supposeth Was it then prepared for all or for a Certain number A curious and ticklish Question Yet about which if any Contention have grown or may grow this cannot arise but only from the malice ignorance or incogitancie of the men which dispute and handle it For between these two Propositions themselves The Kindom of Heaven was prepared for all The Kingdom of Heaven was not prepared for all there is no Contradiction if men would not look upon them through some imperfect Logical Rules which hold true only in some Cases or Subjects If we should say That the Kingdom of heaven was prepared for the self same man Saint Peter for example from Eternity And The kingdom of heaven was not prepared for the same Saint Peter from Eternity we should say no otherwise then the Holy Ghost hath taught us There is no more Contradiction between the Affirmative and the Negative then if one should say The inhabitants of this town are rich The Inhabitants of this town are not rich but poor The Rule is generall that Betwixt an Indefinite Affirmative and an Indefinite Negative there is no Contradiction Now though Saint Peter were all his life time One and the same Individual man for Person if we consider him only as he stands in the Predicament of substance yet he was not all his life time One and the self same Object in respect of Gods decree of mercy or Judgement or for the preparation of Eternal life To affirm this were to contradict the Holy Spirit whose unquestionable Maxim it is that God renders to every man according to all his wayes Now if Saint Peters wayes and works were not at all times the same he was not at all times the same individual Object of Gods Decree God had One Award for him whilst he denied his Master or disswaded him from under-going the Crosse for us and Another Award for him whilst he resolutely confest Christ before Princes though certain to undergo the Crosse himself for so doing 6. But where doth The Spirit of God teach us this Logick or thus to distinguish Matth. 20. ver 23. Mark 10. 40. The story is plain save that the one Evangelist saith It was the mother of Zebedees children The other saith that the sons themselves to wit John and James came with this Petition unto our Saviour that The one might sit on the right hand the other on his left hand in his Kingdom And it is plain out of Saint Matthew that the Petition was as well exhibited by the sons as by the
mother as it is likewise plain by our Saviours Reply and his Interrogation ye know not saith he what ye ask To drink of the cup whereof he did drink and to be baptized with the baptisme where with he was baptized he grants was possible for them though perhaps in another sense then they conceived when they answered his Interrogatory However to sit on his left hand or on his right hand as he finally concludes was not his to give but was to be given to them for whom it was prepared by his Father But hence ariseth A Dilemma Captious at the first sight for If the Kingdom of heaven were prepared for these two Apostles then it was his to give them for he must give it to them for whom it is prepared and so he gave it to the Thief upon the Crosse Or if the Kingdom of heaven were not prepared for them from the beginning of the world they might not they could not enter into it What shall we say then that James and John did never enter the Kingdom of heaven God for bib the very phrase and Character of our Saviours Speech and the circumstance of the Text should me thinks call that Logical Distinction to any mans mind that had ever learned it or known it before if not teach such as knew it not to make it The Distinction I mean of Sensus divisus and compositus which indeed is the only Distinction for resolving many difficulties in Divinitie for the Resolution of which many other impertinent and unartificial ones have been and are daily sought out The meaning of the Distinction in this particular is this If we consider James and John with their present Qualifications it is true that the Kingdom of Heaven was not prepared for them they could not enter in at the strait gate that leads unto it until their present swelling humour of secular ambition or pride was asswaged for God from eternity had excluded pride and ambition from any inheritance in the Kingdom of his Son But this bad habit or disposition being laid aside and the contrary wherewith as yet they were not invested to wit true humilitie being put upon them the Kingdom of Heaven was prepared for them and prepared for them thus qualified from the Foundation of the world Our Saviours Answer unto them imports no more then Saint Peter doth when he saith Deus dat gratiam humilibus sed resistit superbis God giveth grace to the humble but resisteth the proud and so our Saviour repels their Petition for the present because it did proceed from secular pride and from this particular took occasion not only to teach James and John but the other Ten also the necessitie of humility as a qualification without which no man shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven either into the Kingdom of Grace in this life or into the Kingdom of glory in the life to come 7. For albeit the other Ten did much mislike this ambitious humour of James and John yet as one observes that Diogenes Calcavit fastum Platonis cum majori fastu So the Ten Apostles bewray more then a spice of the like ambitious humour in themselves by the manner of their mislike or indignation at the Petition of James and John Unwilling they were to give place and precedence unto them albeit they were their Lord and Masters kinsmen when the ten heard it saith Saint Matth. 20. 24. they were moved with indignation against the two brethren but Jesus called them unto him and said ye know the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authoritie upon them But it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant Even as the Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many The same Lesson had been taught them twice before As Mark 9. 34. by the way they had disputed amongst themselves who should be greatest and he sate down and called the twelve and saith unto them If any desire to be first he shall be the last of all and servant of all and he took a child and set him in the midst of them and when he had taken him in his arms he said unto them whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name receiveth me and whosoever shall receive me receiveth not me but him that sent me This admonition you see doth equally concern all the Twelve not James and John alone The Tenor of the admonition is this that no man is fit for the Kingdom of heaven unless he become as a child unless he receive it as a child that is unless they better affect a humble and childish disposition as well in themselves as in others then any pre-eminence or worldly dignity Thus much our Saviour expresly taught them Mark 10. 13. They brought yong children unto him that he should touch them and his disciples rebuked those that brought them But when Jesus saw it he was much displeased and saith unto them Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of God Verely I say unto you whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child he shall not enter therein and he took them up in his arms put his hands upon them and blessed them Thus he treated them not with reference to their Individual Persons but to their Qualifications hereby giving his disciples to understand that all such as seek to be actually blessed by him whatsoever their Parentage or other Prerogatives be they must be so qualified as these children were not so qualified they are not capable of the Kingdom of Heaven We must so demean our selves towards our heavenly Father out of knowledge and deliberation as little children do themselves towards their earthly parents out of simplicity or instinct of nature In respect of malice towards God or man we must be as little children but in knowledge of our own infirmities or more then childish impotency we must be men 8. To parallel the Conditions or properties of little children by nature with the properties of the children of God by supernatural Grace The very Impotencie of little children whilst they learn to go includes a power at least a proneness to fall though it be in the sink or channel but no power at all either to raise themselves or to make clean their garments from such stain or filth as they have contracted by their fall In this property we agree too well with them for as St. Austine saith Sufficit sibi liberum arbitrium admalum adbonum non We have a Liberty or Freedom of Will to defile our garments by falling or back-sliding after Baptism but no Freedom of will no power of our selves to rise again unto newness of life The Knowledge wherein we
in men of years and discretion Though with some abatement or allowance it holds in such as are converted to Christ upon their death beds These must apprehend Gods mercies in Christ resolve to do Good Works and leave testimonie of sorrow for their past negligence in doing Good Works For in such as are endued with knowledge of Christ and are enlightned to see their miserable estate by nature the self same Faith which apprehends Gods mercies in Christ cannot be idle it will be working that which is Good and acceptable in the sight of God In vain it it shall be for them to sue for mercie at Gods hands through the Merits of Christ unless for love to Christ whose Merits for them and Goodness towards them Faith apprehends they be ready to do the works which he hath commended unto them For as you heard before not every one that saith unto him Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven and his Fathers Will is that we do those things which he here commands But another special Branch of the same Will is That when we have done all this we faithfully acknowledge our selves to be unprofitable servants This our Plea for mercie as men altogether unworthy for our best Works sake to be partaker of Gods Goodness or of everlasting bliss is that justification which St. Paul so much insists upon in most of his Epistles and unto This Justification that is to our good success in making this Plea Good works are necessary and usually Precedent or as it is usually taught by Good writers Good works are necessary quoad presentiam to justification non quoad efficientiam Their presence is necessarie to Justification their Efficacy or efficiencie is not necessary for as you have heard before and shall afterwards Chap. 31. hear meritorious efficiencie they have none 7. But let us ever remember as I often put the Reader in mind when it is said VVe must renounce all our works in the Plea of Iustification or suite of Pardon for our sins This must be understood Of those good Works which we have done not of those which we have left undone For these are not ours These the Hypocrites and unbeleevers will be ready to renonnce He alone truly renounceth his Works that doth Good Works and yet when he hath done them puts no trust or confidence in them and seeks not to improve them so far as to make them meritorious but wholly relies upon Gods mercies in Christ appealing from the Law unto the Gospel Nor is it every sort of Relyance upon Gods mercies in Christ but A faithful and stedfast relyance that can avail and no man can faithfully rely upon Christs merits but he that is faithful in doing his Fathers VVill. 8. But is this Necessitie of good Works to be equally extended to all sorts of Good works So saith Saint James Chap. 2. 10 11. VVhosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guiltie of all for he that said do not commit adulterie said also do not kill Now if thou commit no adulterie yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the Law His meaning is That albeit we are diligent in many points of Gods service yet if we wittingly dispense with our souls in other parts of it this is an Argument that we Truly and faithfully observe no part For if we did observe Any part of his Commandments out of Faith or sincere obedience to Gods Will we would observe as much as in us lies every branch of his Will revealed For as true Faith will not admit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Respects of Persons which was the fault in the beginning of that Chapter taxed by St. Iames and gave occasion to the Maxim or principle in the words last cited so doth it exclude all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Partialitie to Gods Commandments or branches of His Will revealed If we love and prize one we must love and value all We may not love and respect One and neglect another This is the true intent and meaning of the Apostle which some to the wounding of their brethrens weak consciences have extended too far who say expresly or at least are so defective in expressing themselves as they occasion others to think That if a man either positively or more grievously transgress in breach of Gods Negative Precepts or often fail in performance of some Positive Duties commanded by him it is all one as if he had transgressed all Gods Commandments This is more then can be gathered from St. James in this place or from any other part of Gods word which only condemnes Partialitie to Gods Commandments Now a man may trespass oftner and more grievously against some one or more of Gods commandments whether Negative or Affirmative then he doth against others and yet do all this not out of any passionate affected Partialitie towards Gods Commandments or for want of uniformitie in his Faith or Affections towards Christ but only out of the Inequalitie of his own natural or acquired inclinations to some peculiar sins or vices in respect of others Some men as well before Regeneration or knowledge of Christ as after may be naturally or out of custome more prone to wantonness then unto covetousness Others again by natural disposition or bad custome may be more prone to covetousness to ambition or unadvised anger then unto wantonness Others again by bad education may be more prone to rash oathes or causless swearing then to any the former vices One sort after their regeneration or after they come to make Conscience of their wayes may offend more often and more grievously against the third Commandment then against the sixth or seventh Another sort may offend more grievously against the sixth Commandment Thou shalt not kill then against the seventh Thou shalt not commit adulterie A third sort such as are by natural disposition or custom given to wantonness may offend more grievously against the seventh Commandment then against the sixth A fourth sort more pecularly prone to covetousness or ambition may offend more grievously and more often against the last Commandment Thou shalt not covet then against any of the former And yet none of them fall under that censure of Saint James Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guiltie of all For they may all respectively offend in some one part or few points not out of any Partialitie to Gods Law or Commandments but out of the Inequalitie of their particular or peculiar dispositions to observe them Their desires or endeavours to observe those duties which they more neglect may perhaps be Greater then their desires or endeavours to observe those wherein they are less defective However this may fall out Yet this Rule is certain that Whosoever truly observes any or more of Gods Commandments out of Faith and sincere obedience to his
greater part of men we do necessarily breed a greater scruple or nurse a more dangerous Doubt of salvation in all men as yet not effectually called then the Romish Church doth For Gods Intention or purpose to save men is without all question more Essential to the Efficacie of the Word preached or of the Sacraments administred then the Romish Church can conceive the Intention of her Priests to be Besides all this If their Doctrine were true who teach That all such men as in the issue prove Goats or Reprobates were such from their birth or irreversibly destinated to death before they were born God should with-hold or withdraw his Purpose or Intention of Salvation from farre more hearers of the Word and partakers of the Sacraments then the Romish Priests usually do 8. But many you will say which hear the Word are already assured of their Estate in Grace or of their salvation And this Doctrine cannot occasion any doubt or distrust in them It cannot indeed whilst they are thus perswaded But even this Perswasion it self if it be immature or conceived before its time doth secretly nurse A Presumption which is far worse then Doubt or distrust of salvation And sometimes occasions a worse kinde of distrust or Doubt then the former doctrine of the Romish Church doth For suppose A man which is to day strongly perswaded of his present Estate in saving Grace and certain of his salvation should to morrow or the next day fall into some grosse or grievous sin and continue in it or the like for many dayes together If his former assurance remain the same it was it is No Assurance of Faith No true Confidence but Presumption Or if his former Confidence or Assurance upon consciousness of new sins fail or abate The Former Division of All Mankinde into Goates and sheep into Elect and Reprobates will thrust him into Despere For the Consciousnesse of freedom from grosser sins or of practise of good works cannot be a surer token of his Estate in Grace or salvation then the consciousness of foul and grievous sins is of Rejection or Reprobation if it were true that every man is at all times either in the state or condition of an Elect person or a Reprobate For The Rule of life and Faith is as plain and peremptory that no Adulterer no murtherer no foul or grievous offender shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven as it is That all such as live a godly and a sober life shall enter into it And yet our own consciences can give a surer Testimony that we have committed grosse and greivous sins then that they are cleansed from the guilt of former sins Seeing the heart of man is more deceitful or more deceivable in its perswasions or Judgement of its good deeds or resolutions then in its apprehension of grosser facts committed by us And for this Reason I cannot perswade my self That any man which hath any sense or feeling of True Religion or rightly understands himself in these or the like Points can in the consciousness of grosse and fouler sins rest perswaded that he is in the same Estate of Grace wherein he was or in the same way to life Howbeit even in the consciousness of foulest sins he may and ought to have hope that he may be renewed by repentance And yet to have such an hope were impossible unlesse he were perswaded that there is a Mean or middle Estate or condition between the estate and condition of the Elect and the Reprobates 9. But let us take a man that hath been long perswaded that he is and hath been in the irreversible state of salvation and is not conscious to himself of any grosse or palpable sin or at least of continuance in any such sins since this perswasion did possesse him Yet if he have embraced this opinion or perswasion before his soul were adorned with that golden chain of spiritual vertues which St. Peter requires 2 Pet. 1. whether for making our election sure in it self or for assuring it unto us This immature or misplaced perswasion may fill his soul with the self same presumption which the absolute infallibilitie of the present Romish Church doth breed or occasion in all such as beleeve it And that is A presumption worse then heathenish For though an Heathen or Infidel kill men uncondemned by law live in incest and fall down before stocks and stones or other dumb creatures Yet such a man being called in question for killing men uncondemned by Law will not justifie his Action If his incest be detected he will be ashamed of it or being challenged for worshipping stocks and stones he will not allege any sacred Authoritie for his warrant But if you challenge a Romanist with some like practises and tell him that he transgresseth the Law of God in those particulars as grossly as the Heathens do his Reply will be Though our facts be outwardly the same yet our practises are most dislike Our practises cannot be against the Law of God seeing they are warranted by the authoritie of the Church and Pope who is the faithful Interpreter of Gods Laws and cannot erre in matters of faith or practice authorized by him In the like case if you shall oppose a man that makes himself thus certain of his salvation before his time in this or the like manner Sir you are as covetous as great an oppressor of the poor as uncharitable as malitious as proud and envious as are the Heathen or others whom you condemn for Infidels and no good Christians And press him with such evident particulars in every kind as would amate or appall an ingenuous Heathen or other meer moral man that were conscious of the like yet you shall find him as surely locked up in his sins by this his immature perswasion of his own infallible estate in Grace as the Romanist is by his Implicit Belief or the Churches absolute Infallibilitie So long as this Perswasion lasts that he shall certainly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven no Messenger of God shall ever perswade him that he hath done or continues to do those things which whosoever continues to do shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Grosse and palpable or open sins might happily shake or break this perswasion how stiffe soever it had been before but so will not secret or lurking sins It rather animates or quickens those secret sins of envy ambition pride or malice And of all other fruits of this preposterous perswasion or misplaced Truth this is the worst that it makes men mistake their malice towards men whose good parts or fame they envy to be zeal towards God or to his Truth 10. Unless Sathan had put this Fallacie upon some men in our times it were impossible that they could sleep upon the consciousness of such uncivil behaviour as they use or such unjust aspersions as they cast upon all others without respect of persons which dissent from them in Opinions often disputed between
of Truthes The Philosophers Rapt with Joy in Contemplation and Invention * The former of the Two Philosophers was Pythagoras The later was Archimedes Of both see Plutarch in his Book intituled Non posse hominem suaviter vivere secundum Epicurum Much more Joy in the knowledge of saving truths How this tast'd of eternal life is preserved Of questions touching falling from Grace See the Authors Opinion more fully about Sin against the Holy Ghost Book 8. Chap. 3. which Book though published 21. years since I suppose was written after This. They only enjoy and keep this Tast that diligently seek after it and truly prize it The danger of seeking to enjoy worldly Contentments together with this heavenly Tast See this Fallacie in Aristotles Rhetor. Tast of unlawful pleasures deads and looseth the heavenly Tast Unlawful pleasures and sinful acts destroy the heavenly tast both by Efficiency and Demerit How worldly pleasures and temporal contentments come to prevail against the tast of Eternal life Faculties natural and Grace Two Scales Moderating of worldly desires and natural affections necessary for gaining and preserving the heavenly tast ☜ ☜ Seneca Watchfulness and sobrietie also are necessary Sobrietie consists not only in temperance of meat and drink but in Ruling our thoughts and words The final Recompence of our doings Good or bad Chemnitius's Rule The Romanists Allegation from the force of the word merit Hor. de Arte. The Romanists second proof of Merit The Answer The Rom-third Argument Bellarmine his Reasons The Causal Particles For Because and the like imply not merit of Works And see more of them Book 8. Chap. 15. The Freenesse of the Pardon excludes not all qualification but rather requires sincere performance of good Duties Works not properly meritorious but indeed Unworthy of eternal life How Christs temporal sufferings were of infinite merit Why the pleasures of sin though temporary deserve eternal punishment See this Book Fol. 3498. Of the word Gift or Grace Whether the Grace of God or the Effects of his Eternal Favour can be merited by us See Book 10. Fol. 3285. Gods Justice and righteousness in rewarding us does not imply the merit of our works The divers acceptions of Justice or righteousness Should such a thing be our meriting derogates from Christs merits See the fourth Book Chap. 11 16. c. About merit and justification The place perhaps related to in the next paragraph Of Justification the doctrin whereof is corrupted by the doctrin of Merit ☞ How works are excluded from Justification Two rocks to be avoide here Confid in merit of Works and Praemature conceit or presumption of our Election ☞ Eternal life a most Free Gift of God Gods infinite Freedom The true way of laying hold on General Promises It follows not God cannot deny himself ergo I am in and shall persevere in the state of Salvation Equally dangerous to confide in Merit and to presume of Election See Book 10. Chap. 42. Fol. 3228. The Free Gift of eternal life excludes not due Qualifications in the receiver * This was preached at Newcastle upon Tine For whom was the Kingdom of heaven prepared See the 10. Book Chapt. 42. Fol. 3236. c. Humilitie a necessary qualification The third Point The Qualification for receiving this Free Gift Why Christ instanceth in the Scribes and Pharisees Turkish mercie See the discourses following upon that precept Do as you would be done to Two Generals 1. A sentence and that Twofold 2 The Execution thereof Controversies about the Sentence Three Positive verities or Conclusions See The Fathers cited by this Author in his fourth Book Chap. 11. c. about the inseparableness of Faith and works Good works necessary to Salvation Omission of Good Works forfeit our interest in the promises Damnation awarded for Omissions The Romanists wresting Hebr. 11. 6. to maintain merit of Works The third Positive truth mentioned §. 1. handled Chap. 31. ☞ See this Authors Treatise of Justifying Faith or fourth Book Chap. 15. See this Authors Treatise Of Justifying Faith or fourth Book Chap. 15. A Sinister exposition of Saint James 2. 10. ☞ Why Christ instances in works of Charitie rather then of Pietie ☞ ☞ * About Newcastle upon Tine where these were preached The worse the poor be the more we may be charitable unto them All neglect of the poor is sin This spiritual neglect is a sin exceeding sinful Jansenius his Observation A Catholick verity The Definition of merit The state of the Question Consider three things Increase of Grace no more merited then the First Grace About Free-will See an elaborate Treatise Book X. Chap. 24. c. A Syllogism If there be not Ratio Dati Accepti A promise is no Ground of merit How the Papists and Pharisee agree in this point rather how they exceed him The Objection drawn from the Causal Particle For in the text framed and answered Jansenius his Argument The Author his Answer See the 27th Chapter of this Book where this Argument is most fully answered and that with some variation of what is here The miserie and mistakes of man The short or summe of mans Dutie The Coherence The Authors Method Severus Two Grounds of this Rule or Law of Nature Cyrus Scipio Exceptions against these two Rules The Answer to the former Exceptions ☞ More exceptions against that Rule and Answers to them This Rule must be understood of a 〈◊〉 Will. Rigid censuring a Pronostick of falling Q. If nature alone binde men to do good to their enemies How Christ fulfilled the Law * See §. 8. Rom. 12. 20. The Application ☜ Ps 35. 13 Esai 22. 12. Ezek. 21. 10. How this Precept Do as you c containeth all the Second Table So Christ said to St. Peters Lovest thou me Feed my sheep So David said to God Psal 16 My goodness extendeth not to thee But to the Saints that are in earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight See St. Aug De Civit. Dei Lib. 10. Cap 4. and 15. Cap. 22. and Lud. vives's Comment An Objection against this precept thus improved and expounded An Answer to the Objection A Second Objection Mens affections are right balanced when they be as ready to do as to receive good A double oversight ☞ Good things are only pleasant whilst they rellish of Gods Goodness ☞ Pro. 16. 8. See the 6. Book 2 part chapt 11. page 95. Titus 2. 11 A Dutie semblable to every desire See §. 13. ☜ See St. Basil de 40. Martyr * See the Sermons upon that Text. Chapt. 35 36. The bestmeans to put the dutie in practise Keep an exact Register or Calendar of our Good and evil dayes Deu. 24. 19 ☞ ☞ Ecclus. 11. 25. 27. Psal 41. 1. Beatus qui intelligit super pauperem ☞ Two great inconveniences of wealth and greatness unduly sought See Fol. 3586. ☞ Such mixt deeds are like a Linsy-wolsey Garment or plowing with an Ox and an Ass yoked or lowing miscellan See Chap.
Heaven and if those of Sardis were to walk with him in white robes Because they were Worthie The Controversie may seem Concluded That Good Works are meritorious of heavenly Ioyes or of Eternal Life 5. To the latter Objections or frame of Arguments drawn from these and the like places For I was an hungry and you gave me meat c. Calvin makes Answer That these and the like particles Quia Etenim For or Because do not alwayes import or denote The true Cause of things but sometimes only the Order or connexion betwixt them But However this may be True it is not so Punctuall but that Bellarmine and others take their advantage from it as having the Authoritie of the Grammer Rule against it For the particles used in all the places alleged by them are Conjunctions not Copulative or Connexive but Causal And it may seem harsh to say That some conjunction causal doth not import a causalitie It is true Yet sometimes they import no cause at all of the thing it self but onely of our knowledge of it Oft-times again they import no Efficacious causalitie of the thing it self but only Causam sine qua non that is some necessary means or condition without which the Prime and Principal cause doth not produce its Effect To give you examples or Instances of both these observations If there should come into This or the like Corporation A stranger who knowes not any Magistrate by sight he would say surely this is the chief Magistrate Because all others give place unto him because the Ensignes of Authoritie are carried before him Here the word Because must necessarily denote A true cause but not the cause why he is the chief Magistrate for that is only his true and just Election What cause doth it then denote The cause of his knowledge of him to be the chief Magistrate Thus when we come to the knowledge of the cause by the Effect The effect is the cause of our knowledge of the cause As others giving place unto him or the carrying of the Ensignes of Authority before him is not the cause why this or that man is the chief Magistrate for the time being but rather his being the chief Magistrate is the cause why all others give him place and why the Ensignes of Authoritie are born before him Yet these and the like Effects are the true cause or reason of a strangers knowledge of him to be the chief Magistrate And by this Rule we are to interpret that saying of our Saviour many sins are forgiven her for she loved much In which speech it may not be denied but that the Particle For imports A true cause yet no cause of the thing it self to wit of her love For this were utterly to reverse or thwart our Saviours meaning which was no other then this That the forgivenesse of her sins was the cause of her love so was not her Love the cause of the forgiveness of her sins which by our adversaries confession being of Free Grace and of the First Grace which was bestowed upon her could not be merited or deserved Howbeit the manner of expressing of her loue by washing his feet with her tears and wiping them with her hairs was The true cause of every understanding or Observant mans knowledge that many sins were forgiven her and unlesse she had an apprehension of her manifold sins thus freely forgiven her she could not have loved him so much or made such expression of her Love 6. Sometimes again this Particle For or the like causal speech imports only a subordinate or instrumental cause or A necessary means or condition required without which the Positive the Principal and only efficacious cause especially if it work freely doth not produce its intended Effect To put the case home in this present business Suppose a great and potent Prince out of his own meer motion and free grace should proclaim a pardon to an Army of Traytors and Rebels which had in Justice deserved death if a man should ask What is the cause or reason why the Law doth not proceed against them no other cause could be assigned besides the gracious favour of the Prince But if one should further ask Why the pardon being freely promised to all the principal malefactors it may be are pardoned or restored to their blood or advanced to dignities whereas others which were included in the same pardon are exiled or put to death The speech would be proper and in its kinde Truly causal if we should say the one part submitted themselves and craved allowance of their pardon whereas the other stood out and rejected it For it is to be presumed that no Prince being able to quell his rebellious adversaries will suffer any to enjoy the benefit of a General Pardon how freely soever it be granted unlesse they submit themselves unto it and crave the benefit of it with such humility as becomes malefactors or men obnoxious Much lesse will he restore any to blood or advance them to dignities whom he knowes or suspects still to continue ill affected or disloyal in heart So then the not-submission or continuance in rebellion is The true and Positive Cause why the one sort enjoy no benefit of the General Pardon but are more severely dealt withall for rejecting the princes Grace then they should have been dealt withall if no Pardon had been granted The humble submission of the other and their penitence for their former misdeeds is Causa sine qua non that is a necessarie means or Condition without which the Prince how gracious soever would not suffer them to enjoy the benefit of their Pardon would not restore them to their blood would not advance them to greater dignities This is the very Case of Adam and all his sons All of us were Traytors and Rebels against the Great God and King of Heaven who is better able to quell the whole host of mankinde than any Prince his meanest Rebellious subjects yet it pleased him to pardon us more freely then any earthly Magistrate can do a malefactor If then the reason be demanded Why any of mankinde are saved Why they are restored unto their blood and advanced to greater dignitie then Adam in Paradise enjoyed no other true cause can be assigned of these Effects besides The meer grace and mercy of the Almighty Judge But if it be further demanded Why some of mankinde enjoy the benefit of this Pardon and inherit Eternal Life Why others are sentenced to everlasting death When as the free Pardon with its benefits were seriously and sincerely tendred to all The Answer is Orthodoxal and True Because some in true humilitie accepted of the Pardon and craved allowance of it whereas others rejected it and sleighted such Proclamations or significations of it as the God of mercy and compassion had given out not to this or that man only but To all the World So that the Omission of those good works which our Saviour mentions in the