Sea-shore or as the Stars in Heaven then the same Spirit of Christ strived with their spirits also in the succeeding generations to preserve and increase the one and to depress the other to bring them into the said posture in which they might receive the said gift of life as saith Nehemiah unto God Neh. 9.20 30. Thou gavest them thy good Spirit to instruct them Hagg. 2.5 and saith God to them According to my Covenant with you when I came out of Egypt so my Spirit remaineth with you And Nehemiah saith also Yea many years didest thou bear with them and testifiedst against them by thy Spirit in thy Prophets but for their gain saying this Spirit so striving with them all the day-long in their generations God put a period to this striving of Christs Spirit so denying them the gift of faith to believe that they might not receive his said gift of eternal life and therefore saith the Text excepting to some few of them Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your daies Esa 49.6 Luke 19.41 42 Hab. 1.5 Acts 13.41 which ye shall in no wise believe although a man declare it unto you Hence it is our Saviour said If thou hadst known even thou in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hidden from thine eyes Again under the Gospel now it is unvailed of Moses vail and that the visible Churches of Christ stand constituted not as Family-Churches only as to the daies of Moses nor constituted a visible Church as was that one Nation a part of Humane Nature as such were they good or bad but now under the Gospel constituted of Believers as such according to the judgement of harity And thus the Spirit of Christ also strived with the spirits of men in the visible Churches as well as unto the men of the world to cherish and increase one and to depress the other to keep them in the said posture in a right reception of the gift of life Hence saith the Spirit of Christ to the Church of Smerna Be thou faithfull unto the death and I will give thee the Crown of Life Thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of men in the Church of Sardis Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent If thou therefore wilt not watch Rev. 2.10 I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know the hour when I will come upon thee Rev. 3.11 And so likewise to the Church of Philadelphia Christs Spirit striveth with their spirits Rev. 1.4 Behold I come shortly hold that which thou hast let no man take away thy Crown And this Point is apparent for the seven Epistles were sent to the seven Churches So much for the Spirit of Christ striving with the spirits of men in the visible Churches under the Gospel Again Not only with the visible but the same Spirit strives with the spirits of the invisible Members of Christ's mystical body to preserve and increase their internal and spiritual graces and to depress the power of original sin in them as in others to keep them in the said posture and right reception of the said gift of eternal life for saith the Text to the said visible Churches Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches these words four times repeated implies That in these visible Churches there were some whose spirits did hear and understand what the Spirit spake And thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of the eleven Apostles Mark 16.14 which were invisible Members Judas being dead for the Text saith He appeared unto the eleven and upbraided them with their unbelief at another time Thus strives his Spirit with theirs saying As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue in my love John 15.9 10. if ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love Another time thus the Spirit strived with theirs Oh faithless and perverse generation Mark 17.17 how long shall I be with you how long shall I suffer you At another time thus the Spirit strived with the spirit of Nathaniel to establish him Because I said I saw thee under the Figg-Tree John 1.50 Believest thou Thou shalt see greater things then these Is is so that Christs Spirit thus strives with the spirits of all sorts of men in the world Hence observe That all those who have not yet received the gift of Faith nor the gift of eternal Life and so do fall into eternal death shall be left without excuse in their own consciences to eternity because it will witness to them that God would have given them both but they refused and if they had received it then their salvation was of God because attained by his Son given by himself As also Christ's Spirit thus striving with their spirits and therefore it will also witness that their destruction is of themselves and so Gods most sweet righteousness in this administration will shine to his glory in their ruine to eternity Again Is it so that Christ's Spirit thus strives with all men to cherish and increase the said light of Christ in them and to depress the seed of the Serpent in them and that they are thus internally meetly disposed towards the said posture Hence observe it must needs follow that all men which become totally dead in sins and in trespasses to that posture so as that they cannot change or alter their operations thereunto no more then the Black Moor can change his skin or the Leopard his spots I say Hence observe That all men that are thus dead in sins and in trespasses in the world it ariseth not from the seed of original sin but as an occasion and only from their custom in sin and wickedness unto the acquired habits therein as the cause for it is custom in any thing that brings another nature Again Is it so that the Spirit of Christ strives with the spirits of all men to preserve and repress as is proved Hence observe That when God by Christs Spirit is pleas'd to inliven the spirits of some men to the said posture which were dead in sin and in trespasses and leaves other some in the same condition so to perish I say hence observe That God in this case neither inlivens the one nor leaves the other from love or hatred to either of them personally considered but out of love to himself in pursuance of his final end for thus he took up the Jews when they lay polluted in their bloud being Terah's Idolatrous brood and said they should live that is in this posture that they might receive his gift of life and that not for their sakes but for his own names sake and thus he had mercy upon some of the Gentiles in the fulness of time that were dead in sins and in trespasses that they might live in this
which I refer the Reader to my former Treatise of Free Grace Pag. 36. to 39 and 44. John 6.39 Rev. 10.6 printed 1642. to the pages in the Margent But as concerning mankind so to be made to honour and dishonour as is affirmed the Scripture affirms its last execution and final consummation shall be at the last day Rev. 20.12 13 that is after that day when time shall be no more as now it is in which day the Text affirms all the dead shall be raised and judged every man according to his works 2 Cor. 5.10 for saith another Text We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every man may receive the things which are done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or evil and that this shall be executed last it further appears by the words of our Saviour who saith of himself When the Son of Man shall come and all his holy Angels with him then he shall sit upon the Throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all Nations Mat. 25.31 32. to 46. and he shall sever them as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the Goats And he having instanced in one particular of works good and bad as comprehending the nature and kinde of all their works concludes all namely That the wicked shall goe into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life everlasting So much for the second thing premis'd namely what Gods final end is for which he made or created all things namely both men and Angels and all his works subservient unto them and their use the further inlargement of this point will fall in the following Chapters in its full proof and what Gods suitable rule to man is Hence observe that the moving cause why God created all his works was this final end it being the ultimate end of all his glories centuring in himself for which he made all things yea the wicked for the day of evil because they all attempt to assume his glory not to him but to themselves which he will not give unto another as will appear more in its due place CHAP. II. In which is made known a sevenfold means to Gods foresaid final end whereof six are handled in this Chapter THe which End in order of Nature in Gods intention was first and in execution last and the means in Gods intention in order of nature last but in execution first Therefore the first thing that God did he gave being to means for his final end and they primarily were seven some more remote and general and some more near and more particular The first means more remote and general was this inferior world as included in its remotest matter which God did make out of no pre-existent matter as Heb. 11.3 and saith another Text The earth was without form and void Heb. 11.3 and darkness was upon the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters and yet the first verse names it by the name of heaven and earth and the ground of it is this because that confused lump was the preexistent matter of heaven and earth and all things else and the ground of that is this because the spirit of God by its moving fil'd it with an intrinsical vigorous disposedness to be whatsoever God by his Creative Will and Word would command it to be Rev. 4.11 Wherefore when he commanded light out of that darkness Gen. 1 2 3. it presently was then saith the Text God said Let there be light and it was so Then God commanded a Firmament to be in the midst of the waters and the waters to be separated from the waters that is the water under the Firmament from the waters that were above the Firmament and God called the Firmament Heaven verse 6 7 8. Then he commanded the waters to one place and so the earth to be for use as now it is verse 9 10. Then he commanded the life and being of all vegitable creatures and it was so verse 11 12. Then he commanded to be the Sun Moon and Stars in their orderly course and warbling influence to fall on the earth and for signes and seasons and succession of daies and nights and it was so verse 14. to 19. Then he commanded the innumerable number of all sensative creatures to live and move and have their being from verse 20. to 25. Thus God gave being to the first means more remote and general to his final end Then God gave being to a second means more near and more particular the principal part of the Creation Namely man whose personal existency was in a twofold nature the one sensible the other an intellectual spirit or rational soul The first was his elementary body of earth for a time a lifeless trunk but God staid not there for saith the Text And breathed in his nostrils the breath of life Gen. 2.7 and man became a living soul And because he was a principal part the whole did terminate in his nutrimental support some to feed some to cloth the aire to imbreath and the earth to bear and the sweet influence and aspects of the heavenly bodies to his delight Again because the chief part therein God put the whole to depend on his operations not for his being but for its wel or woe and therefore the whole creation together with himself fell into the aforesaid vanity bondage and corruption and man thus made was Gods second means for man must first be and so supported to be before he could be to honour or dishonour to Gods foresaid final end Again mans reasonable soul being of an immortal nature and so of an everlasting duration was therefore a third means suitable to Gods final end that is to be to honour or dishonour to eternity which could not be if he were not of an everlasting duration From this ground it is that mans dead body shall be raised and spirituallized therefore when some men denyed the immortality of their souls and consequently the everlasting duration thereof our Lord proved to them the truth thereof Have you not read what was spoken unto you of God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Affirmatively inferring to them that those three men then were and now are living though their bodies are dead and turned to dust Mat. 22.31 32. Again God having indued mans reasonable soul with two natural faculties his understanding and will the understanding its natural property to look to truth as really such or as it appears so to be and to judge and accordingly so to operate the whole man and to the will Two things are natural to it the one is that it doth follow a good as the eye doth follow the light that is the true good or as it appears so to be the other is to nil and will that
Christ by Jude 2 Epist Joh. 3.12 Jude ver 7. concludes the execution of the justice of the said Rule upon Cain as upon Balaam and Corah and so a vessel of dishonour for ever consequently thus God executed his final end upon those of the old world who were without the Church 2 Pet. 2.5 that is which were not of the Family-Churches of the first ten Fathers before the Flood for the Text saith God spared not the old world and brought in the Flood upon the world of ungodly and the like execution after the Flood on men without the Church namely Noah's posterity Rom. 2.11 12. when they became Heathens upon their confounding and scattering at Babel for of them the Text saith As many as have sinned without Law shall perish without Law and God will render to every man according to his deeds Consequently thus this execution doth and shall proceed upon men without the Church to the worlds end So much for those without the Church Secondly concerning the visible Church God declared this execution impartially unto Cain when he was a member of the visible Church when he said unto him If thou dost well Shalt thou not be accepted meaning as is Abel thy brother implying Yea most certainly thou shalt But if thou dost not well sin lies at thy dore And accordingly the justice and mercy of this Rule was executed upon Abel for because his operations were Right in belief Heb 11.4 therefore according to the justice of this Rule God rewarded his labour of love by mercy receiving him into glory in the imputed righteousness of his Son both which is implyed in the Text which saith By faith Abel offered unto God a more acceptable sacrifice then Cain and obtained witness that he was righteous consequently thus the Lord proceeded in execution in the Families of the ten Fathers before the Flood and it is implyed Genesis the fixth in that he took special notice of their degeneration from their operations to him in their posture to amity with the world in that the Text saith The Sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair and took them wives of all which they chose for thus did God when there was but one Family-Church of Christs left and that was Noahs for saith God to him Come thou and thy house into the Ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation that is Thee only for that is implyed Again this execution proceeded thus upon the Family-Churches of Christ after the Flood as is implyed in the eleventh of Genesis For there all that did apostate at Babel and were scattered from being a visible Church of Christ their names are wholly left out in the Genealogy of Noah in that Chapter implying this execution had cut them off and left them in the vanity of their minds to perish excepting some few of them which did seek honour and glory in that narrow way to eternal life as before is proved but the contrary it implies the mercy of this rule was executed upon Shems Family-Church of Christ Gen. 11.10 to verse last which kept to this posture and so were preserved to be vessels of honour as is implyed in this that Shems Family their names are all upon Record their births their lives their deaths written as it were in the book of life Again thus this impartial execution proceeded upon the next visible Church which sprang out of Terah's idolatrous brood namely elect in Abrahams seed then unborn to be a visible national Church of Christ as before is proved and of this Church the Text doth say Although the number of the children of Israel be as the sand on the Seas shore a remnant shall be saved for God will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness that is according to this righteous rule of justice and mercy and therefore when the generality of that people did degenerate by undervaluing the righteousness of Christ which as to us so to them was the righteousness of God in which was included life and glory for them by overvaluation of their own works and operations in that posture they were in by this they brought on the execution of the justice of the said rule of mercy as is implyed in the Text which saith They sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the Law and they stumbled at that stone they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God and thus they fell by degrees under the execution of Gods said final end this sixteen hundred years and now are to this day no visible Church of Christ Again the next visible Churches of Christ to this were those under the New Testament and were chosen and elected into those Churches by a new way as never none was before that is only of believers according to the judgement of charity and not mixt of believers and undbelievers as it was in the said Family-Churches from the beginning now as in the Jewish Churches to the times of the Gospel and the said admittance into the Church as believers only under the Gospel unvailed is implyed in the words of our Lord in his great Commission Rev. 2.12 Rev. 2.7 And as more may appear at large in c. 2 3. He that believeth and is baptized that is he that believeth and is received into the Church by Baptism is in the Ark of salvation and God executes his final end by the said just and mercifull rule as before some to honour some to dishonour according to their works to eternity as appears in those Epistles to the seven Churches of Asia in that the Lord Christ takes special notice of their good works and their bad to their good works in the said posture he makes gracious promises and incouragements as that he will give them a Crown of life and so forth and for their several evil works many grievous threatnings among the rest to remove their Candlestick of light and life in him and so to leave them in darkness as vessels of dishonour for ever that is to be no Churches of his Again thus God executes his final end by the justice and mercy of the Gospels Tenor upon the invisible members of Christs mystical body according to their works good or bad some to honour some to dishonour for ever for Paul speaking of these men as of himself saith We walk by faith and not by sight implying they were the invisible members of Christ which walk not by sight only as do those which are only visible members Wherefore we labour saith he being present or absent we may be accepted of him And in the next words he gives a reason why they do so 1 Cor. 3.16 17. namely We must all appear before the judgement Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that
capacity to receive the said gift of life for the whole need not the Physitian but the sick since Original corruption is an evil privitive and positive CHAP. VIII In which is handled the fourth Branch of the manifold wisdom of God precedently propounded and being the second ingredient to make up the said posture namely that the Spirit of Christ striveth with the spirits of all men in the world to preserve and encrease the said internal disposedness consequently to depress the force of the seed of original sin so to bring and to keep men in the said posture in which they might receive Gods gift of eternal life THis Spirit of Christ thus began to strive immediately upon the fall and upon the said universal election and universal imputation in these words Adam Where art thou so seeking to save what was lost and so forth Gen. 4.4.5 Again Thus Christ's Spirit strived with the spirits of Cain and Abel To Abel in an approbation and confirmation of his operations in this posture to continue to receive and hold fast the said gift of life for saith the Text God had respect unto Abel and to his offering and the reason is Heb. 11.4 because it was by belief Abel offered a more acceptable offering then Cain Again the same with Cains spirit for when he began to go on in nourishing the seed of original sin to the acquired habits therein so to extinguish the light of Christ in him then the same spirit of Christ strived with his spirit to suppress the one and to cherish and increase the other for in respect to the one God gave him no respect but to his discontent and discouragement but in respect to the other he encourages him to goe on in his posture as Abel his brother saying If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted implying most certainly Thou shalt as well as he Now the ground why this Spirit is the Spirit of Christ that thus strives with the spirits of all mankind as with these two men it did is this Because ever since the falne Mass of mankind Christ immediately entred as the first-born of every creature in an universal relation to the whole world in pursuance of Gods said final end and thereupon according to his own saying All things that the Father hath are mine and so saith he The Spirit shall take of mine that is not only to comfort the faithfull in this world John 16.8 9 10 11. but also to reprove the world of sin that is to the same end as to Cain and saith the Text When he shall come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgement Of sin because they believe not in me Of righteousness because I goe to my Father Of judgement because the Prince of this world is judged And according to this the said Spirit of Christ thus strives with the spirits of all men as to Cain and Abel and so to the worlds end that is to depress the one and increase the other as is said to bring them into the said posture and to preserve them therein and it clearly appears that it so did strive with man during the first world for saith God When their Apostacy did abound my Spirit shall not alwaies strive with man Genesis 6.3 for that he also is flesh Whereupon God limited the time of the striving of Christs Spirit with them from time to come Gen. 7.1 to one hundred and twenty years and no longer 1 Pet. 3.18 19 20. and as this Spirit striveth with Abels spirit to preserve him and establish him in the said posture consequently so did it with all the righteous in the generations precedent and to the end of that world even untill there was but one righteous man left saying unto them Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation so establishing and confirming his mind in the said posture so that thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of the men of that world both good and bad when once thelong patience of God waited in the daies of Noah for to return and keep them in the said posture to receive his gift of life in the said righteousness of the seed of the woman Again In the next world thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of all men to preserve the one and to depress the other as is said and that by the Ministry of Christ by Noah to his own posterity who saith the Text 2 Pet. 2.5.8 was a Preacher of righteousness Gen. 9.28 the which righteousness that he preached to their spirits was twofold The first was manifested to them by the Sacrifices he offered unto God which figured unto them the satisfactory righteousness of the seed of the woman imputatively Gen. 8.21 22 bringing to them the said gift of eternal life and also further manifested in that God smelled a savour of rest and from thence ratifying to them and their generations the good of this world and that to come in reference to keep them in the said posture in their succeeding generations Eph. 5.2 and to this end Noah their Father lived thus with them three hundred and fifty years after the Flood The second righteousness which he preached was the rectitude of his operations which is sanctification and this he preached to his posterity by his posture in the right reception of Gods gift of eternal life by the manner of his sacrificing and building an Altar unto Jehovah and by making choice of Beasts in refusing unclean and taking clean Gen. 8.20.21 and also by his building the Ark according to the commandment of God all being fruits of his operations according to faith in his said posture Heb. 11.4.7.8 So much for the second righteousness namely Sanctification which he preached and also for the first righteousness which came upon all men for justification of life Again Likewise the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of Shems Family-Church for Noah's three hundred and fifty years a Preacher of righteousness after the Floud extended within two years of the birth of Abraham as Learned Broughton observes in his Consent of Scriptures Again When this Family began to Apostate from the said posture to Idols as appears in Terah the Father of Abraham and were become corrupt and abominable not knowing the way of peace like to those who were confounded and scattered at Babel then it is implyed that God precedently had strived with their spirits for now he began to put an end to the striving of the Spirit of Christ with the spirit of Shems Family in that God commanded Abraham to depart from his Kindred and from his Fathers house to this end to raise a Nation out of his loynes to carry on Gods said final end and so leave that Family to themselves Again When that one Nation was existent and did spring out of Abrahams seed in number as the sands on the
to receive his said gift of eternal life obtained by himself CHAP. XIV Containing some usefull Observations and Answers to Questions for further clearing the precedent Premisses ANd whereas it appears from proof that God hath passed upon man a fivefold Election and Rejection in prosecution of his final end in respect to their eternal estate The first being out of the faln Mass from being one with Devils into the said posture The second being a continued act of the former by electing and rejecting two Nations the one to be Christs visible Church the other not being but vertually in the loynes of two babes their being but individually in their mothers womb unborn A third being when God electeth and rejecteth men which by their acquired habits in sin are both alike dead in relation to Christ for then we see he chuseth to inliven the minds of some and denies it to the others as he did to us Gentiles and denied it to the Jews at that time A fourth election and rejection being that execution of Christ by the visible Churches on earth chusing or receiving into the Churches men which according to the judgement of charity are believers and rejecting or refusing men which cannot be judged in charity to be believers for in this case Mat. 22.3.14 although many are called by the Gospel yet few are chosen because few believe A fift being the consummation of the precedent elections and rejections in the final execution of his said end at the day of judgement by making all men vessels of honour or dishonour to eternity according to their works good or bad and as for any other elections or rejections upon man in relation to their final estate to eternity the Scripture speaks it not And from the Premisses thus proved it appears there is no personal election of any man from Gods foresight of their faith or works nor any personal election or rejection meerly personal without respect to works good or evil but only after the councel of his own will as he purposed in himself that is to finish his said final end by those seven means formerly proved under which fals in the fivefold elections and rejections and none other But if it be objected If there be not an election personal in any of the twofold respects then by reason of the natural liberty of mans will Gods glory of his grace in Jesus Christ to eternity stands contingent may fail and fall and come to nothing I answer and deny that the stress and weight of the glory of Gods grace in Christ any way depends upon the natural liberty of mans will but the stress and weight thereof relies upon an infallible means namely the foresaid seventh means It shal bruise thy head that is infallibly and from this ground this seventh means was by the depth of Gods wisdom composed personally God-Man and therefore the stress of Gods glory by Christ depended not upon the natural liberty of Christs humane will but upon his personal operations and accordingly in that person the falne humane nature of man ascended the heavenly glory above the Angels and so the Apostate Angels chief designe in the said branch was destroyed if no more of the falne nature of man had ascended the Angels glory Secondly I answer The stress and weight thereof depends not upon the natural liberty of mans will because so much of the falne nature of man which departs this life in infancy or the like ascends the heavenly glory also notwithstanding the seed of original sin that is in them because the imputation of Christs righteousness upon the world did interpose the imputation of Adams unrighteousness upon the world and so is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world as is proved Thirdly I answer the stress and weight of the glory of Gods grace in Christ in man having the use of his understanding dependeth not upon the natural liberty of his will but the stress thereof dependeth upon the Spirit of Christ striving with mans spirit in the Gospel for if those men perish by the abuse of the natural liberty of their wils quenching and resisting this Spirit so striving that they put away this eternal life yet nevertheless God has the glory of his grace in Christ in their destruction because no man since the fall is condemned by a Law of works properly such but by the justice of the Law of grace in Jesus Christ namely the Gospel Tenor or Rule of mercy and justice as before is proved From this ground the Ministers of the Gospel are the sweet savour unto God in Jesus Christ in them that perish Fourthly I answer The glory of Gods grace depends not upon the natural liberty of mans will but upon the universal favour of God to man in Christ for had those that are perished been faithfull in the said little which he in Christ hath given them then he would have given them more and more even to his gift of faith rightly to receive Christ and in that faith have given them three degrees that is from babes to young men and Fathers in Christ and in the last degree he would have confirmed them in that union and communion with himself by Christ that nothing should be able to separate them from him nor him from them in that blessed union and communion And because God was thus real towards them the glory of his grace redounds eternally to his praise for it must follow that their destruction is of themselves therefore the glory of Gods grace stands stable to eternity in Christ notwithstanding the liberty of mans will and its contingent events And for conclusion take these following Observations First In regard God created the natural liberty of mans will purposly to be one means to his said final end that from the contingency of its events mens works might be good or bad so to be rendred vessels of honour or dishonour to eternity therefore that opinion of both those personal elections and that of personal rejection falling point-blank to cross this means or to make it of no use must needs be a great mistake Secondly hence observe That although the Spirit of Christ strives as is said with the spirits of all men in all places of the world that it taketh up his dwelling place only in the heart or spirit of man when he is a right believer and not before Quest If it is demanded What the Scripture means by the dwelling of Christs Spirit in the hearts of believers and in none else Answ I answer first Although the infinite Essence of God is not contained in the heaven of heavens that he was pleased for a time to take up his dwelling place only in the Temple in Jerusalem and in no place else in all the world even so he was pleased to take up his dwelling place in the Humane Nature bodily in the person of Christ and so in no humane nature besides of this the said Temple was a