the Minister of sin God forbid For if I build again the things that I have destroyed I make my self a transgressor Gal. 2. 17 18 For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformable to the Image of his Son that he might be the first born of many brethren Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 8. 29 30. So then there is no Predestination where there is not first a Foreknowledge and this Predestination is to be conformed to the Image of his Son and his Image is Righteousness and true Holiness and where Righteousness and true Holiness are not there is not the Image of his Son and where the Image of his Son is not there is no Conformity to the Image of his Son and where there is no conformity to the Image of his Son there is no Predestination And where sin is there is no Conformity to the Image of his Son And so no Predestination no Calling that abides no Justification no Glorification no Foreknowledge to Life Eternal Whom he did Predestinate them he also Called and whom he also called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also Glorified and whom he foreknew he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first born among many Brethren Rom. 8. 27. And here is the sum of the whole matter No fore-knowledge to life Eternal no predestination no calling that abides no justification no glorification but in conformity and to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he may be the first born of many brethren The Brethren of whom he is the first born are such as are conformed to his Image which is Righteousness and true Holiness and he hath predestinated none but to this nor fore-known any to predestination but to this and where this is not there is no fore-knowledge no predestination to life Eternal none of the Brother-hood of which he is the first born for whom he did fore-know he also did predestinate to what to be conformed unto what to the Image of his Son So where conformity is not to the Image of his Son there is no predestination there is no calling that abides as I have said and the Scripture speaks it plain For the Gifts and calling of God are without Repentance saith the Apostle as to Election and that of the Jews who saith he as concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sakes but as touching the Election they are beloved for the Fathers sake for the gifts and calling of God are without Repentance Rom. 11. 28 29. And the gifts and calling of God that are without Repentance are unto Eternal Life and Eternal Life is in his Son John 5. 11. and he that is in Christ Jesus is a new Creature Old things are passed away behold all things are made new 2 Cor. 5. 17. And saith he have put on the new man which is renewed in Knowledge after the Image of him that created him where there is neither Greek nor Jew circumcision nor uncircumcision Barbarian Scythian bond nor free but Christ is all and in all Put on therefore as the Elect of God bowels of Mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man hath a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye Col. 3. 10 11 12 13. And where there is no calling which is unto Holiness there is no justification For God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto Holiness 1 Thes 4. 7. and Holiness becomes thy House O Lord for ever Psal 93. 5. And who hath saved us and called us with an Holy calling not according to our Works but according to his own purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Chriâ—t who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light thorough the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 9 10. And the eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his Power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his Mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places far above all Principality 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 and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all Ephes 1. 18. to the end And there is one Body and one Spirit even as you are called in one hope of your calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism One God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Ephes 4. 4 5 6. And we pray alwayes for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of Faith with Power that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him according to the Grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thes 1. 11 12. And you see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen yea and things which are not to bring to nought the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption That according as it is written He that gloryeth let him glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1. 26. to the end And I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3. 14 15. And Holy brethren partakers of the Heavenly calling consider the Apostle and high Priest of our Profession Christ Jesus who was faithful to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all his house For this man was counted worthy of more glory then Moses inasmuch as he that hath builded the house hath more honour then the house For every house is builded by some man but he that built all
with man in his long-suffering to man in his seeking man who is lost in his gathering man who is scatered he is far otherwise he woes intreats prayes beseeches as I have said he waits to be gracious The Gospel the Power of God Christ Jesus the Wisdom of God and the Power of God that seeketh man that calleth man is as I have said the Gospel of Reconciliation His Ministers are the Ministers of Reconciliation God was in Christ Reconciling the world unto himself not rending from himself and hath committed to us the Ministry of Reconciliation Now then we are Ambassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you We pray you in Christ stead be reconciled unto God as aforesaid And here 's the Will and here 's the Power and here 's that which can be resisted and this is that which man resisteth which waiteth upon man which seeketh man and here the Lord and his Will and his Power is to be understood and no otherwise So all are to be silent and every mouth is to be stop't before the Lord for who can complain of him who hath placed something of himself in man Christ Jesus the Wisdom of God and the Power of God a measure of him in every man to gather him to the Lord and to bring him again to him who is gone from him which is that which witnesses which shews which judges which reproves which makes manifest and this waits on man after that man hath turned from him the Seed of the woman which he promised man after he was fallen should bruise the Serpents Head which bruises the Serpents head in all who are gathered to it believe in it and are guided by it Now they who are gathered unto this receive mercy become vessels of Honour fit for the Masters use vessels of mercy afore prepared unto Glory from him who hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and compassion on whom he will have compassion as he said to Moses who hath concluded all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all and holds forth this unto all and hath placed this in all For as in Adam all die so in Christ all are made alive the Plaister is as broad as the Sore the Medicine as comprehensive as the Disease Those who are not gathered to it reject the Counsel of God against themselves as it was said of the Pharisees and Lawyers who came not to the Baptism of John being not baptized of him Luk. 7 30. and so become vessels of dishonor vessels in whom there is no pleasure unfit for the Masters use by reason of sin and that which defiles which he can have no fellowship with nor can it come near him vessels of wrath fitted to destruction And so all men are left without excuse and will be found so in the day of the Lord wherein he will render unto every man according to his Deeds for this of him which he hath placed in every man which calls upon every man which seeks every man that in every man which witnesses doth it which reproves which judges which shews man what he should do which makes manifest will then witness for God in every man and how the Lord hath sought every man and waited for him and all its sufferings and being rejected and its sighings and oppressions and afflictions and heavy loadings and groanings whilst the long-suffering of God waited will it bring up fresh in man which shall judge man and leave him without excuse You will not be able then to battail it against the Lord your reasonings will be stopt your great Arguments will be at an end No trifling it then as now wherein man is bold by reason of the Instigation of the Devil and the Ignorance that is in him and reasons with the Lord as if he were stronger then the Lord as if the Lord needed man as if he alwayes would wait on man No no before your Judge you will be silent and you shall confess to the Lord that his judgement is just So Friends ye all who are here heed whilst ye have time take heed of pleading with your Maker and reasoning it out with him Hath not the Potter power over the Clay of the same lump to make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour and yet he made not you so nor no man so he made all Nations on the earth of one blood and appointed the bounds of their habitations if happily they might seek after God So he hath concluded no Nation under reprobation from all eternity He Created man after his own Image In the Image of God created he them Male and Female and so he made none to Dishonour none to Reprobation He might have made man otherwise and who could have said to him what dost thou for he hath Power as the Potter over the Clay and yet when he hath made no man so why doth man complain for who hath resisted his Will why doth he find fault It is sufficient and riches of mercy that he hath had compassion on man and visited him again with the day spring from on high who sat in darkness and in the Region of the shadow of death which is the light which shews him whatsoever he doth Is not this the Christ if Man will not be gathered to this if he will neglect so great Salvation if he will trifle out his precious time and do despight unto the Spirit of Truth and trample under foot the blood of the Everlasting Covenant and reject mercy and loving kindness and that which waits upon him and hath compassion on him and his day have an end and so he be hardned and that which called withdraws and that which strove ceases and so he errs from his wayes and his heart is hardned from his fear and the Lord shew his Power in him that which he refused and did reject which is the Power of God unto Salvation and declare his Name throughout all the earth in his destruction Man hath nothing then to reason with the Lord and all men will find it so it is the Word of the Lord. And whereas the Apostle saith What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his Power known endured with much long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath fitted to Destruction that he might make known the riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto Glory He doth but put the Question If he were willing to do so and if he had done so what hath man to do to complain Nay but O man who art thou that repliest against God Shall the thing formed say unto him that formed it why hast thou made me thus If the matter were only there it stood well against man but the Lord hath done otherwise as I have shewed he made man otherwise and the Lord hath otherwise done by man since he marr'd himself as hath been declared so the Lord is true and every man here a liar Rom. 3. 4.
things is God And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a Servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as a Son over his own house whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end Heb. 3. 1. to the 8. And make your calling and election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fail for so an entrance shall be administred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 9 10. Thus saith the Scriptures I say where there is no calling and what that calling is I have signified it is unto Holiness there is no justification and where there is no justification there is no glorification and this is in Christ Jesus And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is Life because of Righteousness But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Therefore brethren we are debters not to the flesh to live after the flesh for if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God and if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joynt Heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together Rom. 8. 10. to the 18. And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times for you who by him do believe in God who raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God Seeing that you have purified your souls in the obeying of the Truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently being borne again not of corruptible Seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever For all flesh is grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass the grass withereth and the flower thereof fadeth away but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever And this is the Word which by the Gospel is Preached unto you 1 Pet. 1. 17. to the end So this is the calling and this is the word and this is the hope and this is the Predestination and this is the fore-knowledge and this is the Justification and this is the Glorification viz. Christ Jesus and as men are for him and are found in him not having their own Righteousness which is through the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by faith Phil. 3. 9. And where men are not here they are mistaken to talk of these things or to think them theirs They appertain to another state then Transgression which delivers out of it and maketh men indeed the Sons of God and so are Heirs of the Blessing that came on Abraham who believed and it was counted to him for Righteousness of whom God saith I know him that he will command his Children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the Way of the Lord to do justice and judgement that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him Gen. 18. 19. And who raised up the Righteous man from the East called him to his foot gave the Nations before him and made him rule over Kings He gave them as dust to his sword and as driven stubble to his bow Isa 41. 2. And art not thou our God who didst drive out the Inhabitants of this Land before thy People Israel and gavest it to the Seed of Abraham thy friend for ever 2 Chron. 20. 7. And if ye were Abrahams Children ye would do the Works of Abraham but now ye seek to kill me a man that hath told ye the truth which I have heard of God this did not Abraham you do the deeds of your Father Then said they to him we be not born of Fornication we have one Father even God Jesus said unto them if God were your Father you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of my self but he sent me Why do ye not understand my speech Even because ye cannot hear my Word Ye are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father ye will do He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it John 8. 39. to the 45. v. So here 's an end to all this matter Those that the Father hath chosen unto himself it is unto good works which he hath before ordained that they should walk in them We are his work manship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them saith the Apostle Ephes 2. 10. And shew me thy faith without thy works and I will shew thee my faith by my works Faith without works is dead Jam. 2. 18. 20. And the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Tit. 2. 11. to the end And those that are not redeemed from all Iniquity he hath not given himself to save And those that are not zealous of good Works he hath not purified unto himself a peculiar people And those that deny not Vngodliness and Worldly lusts and live not soberly and righteously and godly in this present World are not such as look for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ And those that have not works their faith is dead and they that walk not