Peradventure they will save us a live So do ye although ye have but a May be we shall be hid Zeph 2. 3. Minde your Duty and leave the issue to God Believe above hope and against hope Follow God in the dark as your father Abraham did Not knowing whether He would lead him Thus to do is To give Glory to God Therefore Fear the Lord and Obey the voice of His Servant even then when ye are in Darkness and have noe light Namely of His special Favour and love to you in perticular And though never so great discouragements are afore you from the Guilt of sins Committed the power of Indwelling Corruption and your present Aversness to Beleiveing and hear withall That Faith is the Great Commandment let your heart answer Is it my Duty my Duty to believe Nay then I must Remember His Greatness His absolute Dominion The â—ncontrollableness of His Matters That He hath concluded All in unbelief That He might have mercy upon All Rom. 11. 32. that is That the Salvation of Those who shall be saved might appear to be of Mercy and be so acknowledged To him therefore Commit your Cause and Commit it to Him as your Sovereign Lord and so leave it with Him And see that you take it not out of His hand again by your doubting the issue of it And know that then is your Soul nearest to Peace and settle ment when brought to this Submission Be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits Heb 12. 9. and live But let not the Word be misconstrued I do not mean by Submission That you should be satisfied under a denial of Mercy on the accompt of God's Absolute Dominion I cannot think That a Necessary term or qualification in your â—reating with God for Salvation For 1. I do not find That God requires such a Submission as the Condition of obtaining Mercy Nor that He hath made any Promise to give such a Submission in order to that end Nor any Instance in scripture of Mens having or indeavouring such a frame of spirit in that business Nor yet That Men are any where tax'd for-Not attâ—ning to it They are blamed indeed and that worthily For not submitting to the Righteousness of God that is For not Renouncing their own and flying to That of Christ And this blame-worthiness you cannot escape if finding your self lost and undone you will not presently run to Christ without first finding in your self Something that may seem to commend you to him 2. Such a Submission seems Repugnant to God's revealed Will For if this be the Will of God even our sanctification That we should believe in His Son and love Him with our whole heart Then it cannot be his Will That we should be willing to Remain in an unsanctified estate in unbelief and enmity against Him which are the inseperable Conjux of Willingness to be Seperated from God 3. Because the promise of Ease and Rest is made to the Weary and Laden coming to Christ Not to a Contentedness to be divided from him And the promise of Satisfaction is to your bungring and thirsting after Righteousness Not to the Câ—ssation of your desire without the Thing which onely can satisfie 4. Because To be satisfied without obtaining Mercy is to be satisfied with an utter incapacity to Glorify the Grace of God and to enjoy Communion with Him which are the principal End and Duty of Men. 5. It is Crosse to the Genius and Concreated Principle of the Reasonable Creature which is to seek its own happiness In any thing short of which it ought not to acquiesce 6. Such a submission cannot be Requisite in Preparatory work because That would suppose the highest pitch of Grace attain'd if yet it be a Grace and attainable before you beleive and consequently That it is not a Grace out of Christ's fullness for ye are supposed to have it before ye go to Him And therefore when I say ye must submit without Capitulating or making terms my meaning is ye are not to Treat upon terms of your own Making Nor propound any thing to God but What Sovereign Mercy propounds to you as the Way and Means of obtaining your Great End And great Reason ye have for this Submission for herein lies your Interest Those being in truth the onely Terms by which a lost and sinfull Creature can be rendred salvable or capable of being saved as may further appear in the Sequel of this discourse I think with humble Submission That if any Point of time may be supposed before the Decree It was Then that Absolute Dominion borâ— sway But ever since Election came in It is Grace that Reignes Not That Sovereignty is Ceased but Transferr'd Before it was in Power but Now in Grace In Grace as touching the Elect and in Justice as touching the Rest Grace is the Attribute God delights to honour And all the Other are if I may so speak Subjects of This Even Christ Himself was made a Servant to perform the pleasure of His Grace So then That you are to Submit unto is the good pleasure of God's will as held forth in the Covenant of Grace undertaking for and perfectly able to save you and as having His Sovereign Power engaged to make it good Which seems the scope of that passage in Moses his prayer for the people Numb 14 17 18 19. when they had highly provoked God Let the power of my Lord be Great according as Thou â—ast spoken c. It was to pardon and still Own them for His people And to this agree all those Scriptures which hold forth the Power of God as the ground of Faith as that by which He is Able to pardon sin Isa 27. 5. To subdue miquity and to hold your Souls in life you are therefore directed If ye will have peace with God to take hold of His strength Which cannot be meant of Contentedneâ—sâ— in having that strength put forth to destroy but as being perfectly Able and engaged by His Covenant to Save you As to the time When He will manifest His love to you As also touching the manner and measure of His dispensing it the good pleasure of God's Will is expressly and with all quietness of spirit to be Submitted unto But as to the Thing it self You ought not to be said Nay but as he who had power with God and prevail'd Hos 12. 14. Gen. 32. 26. He wept and made supplication but still resolv'd I will not let thee 〈◊〉 except thou bless me 2. As for the other nearest Concernment touching your Children deal in like manner for them by submitting them to the same Mercy It is true That next to your own personal salvation there cannot be a greater evidence of God's love to you than to Choose your Children after you Nor any thing more desireable to you Therefore Command them Gen. 18. 19. and Instruct them to keep the way of the Lord That He may bring on them the
not lose it as some would give the sense had been a Comfortless and empty Notion and an injudicious way of speaking This is yet further confirmed by John 5. 24 He that believeth is passed from death to life and shall not come into condemnation The Reason of all which is that their Faith is founded on a Rock Math. 7 15. which Wind and Waves may beat and break themselves against But never the Rock it self nor That which is built upon it He that trusteth in the Lord is as Mount Zion which cannot be moved No Not so much as One of the stakes of that Tabernacle shall be removed Psalm 125. 1. Isa 33. 20. Chap. 45. 17 1 Pet. 2. 6. and that for ever They shall not be ashamed nor confounded World without End It would very much allay that superlative cause of Rejoycing That our Names are written in Heaven If possibly they might be blotted out agen since we find in our selves such a proneness to Revolt which every one acquainted with his own heart must acknolwedge But we are sure Christ would not propound to us a failable ground of rejoycing For that would have been an inviting us to lean on a breakable staff which kind of dependence He is evermore calling us from Believers indeed are sometimes foyl'd but never overcome Though they fall and that seaven times in a day as was said As often do they rise agen And it 's no disparagement to their leader yea it is the Glory of a General to give his enemy advantages and take them agen at his pleasure to his enemies greater confusion and overthrow Satan got nothing by his Winnowing Peter Peter lost some of his Chaff which well might be spared and the Tempter lost many an after-advantage For the World of Believers have been the warier ever since To this second sort of evidence I shall onely add That of the Holy Apostle in Rom. 8. He was perswaded that is He was throughly swayed in his faith to believe it for himself and deliver it down to the Ages to come as a Truth infallible That neither Height nor Depth Nor any other Creature shall be able to separate from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8. 38 39. He reckons up all that can be named and lest any thing might have slipt him he brings in Height and Depth as being those two extreams that take in All and more than Men can think and then resolves That even These shal not be able to do it And surely if the super-celestial height of God's Holiness Nor the infra-infernal Depth of sin shall separate from that day of Glory which the sons of God were Predestinated to and for which they were both made and Redeemed called into and groan for then are Believers Roundly secur'd against final Apostacy III. A third sort of evidence for Confirmation are certain Arguments or Reasons why the Saints must needs Persevere in Faith and Holiness By this word Needs must I do not understand any other kind of necessity than well consists with perfect freedom such a Necessity as was upon Paul to preach the Gospel which was a work he rejoyced in such as was upon Jesus Christ to bring-home his sheep and to lay down his life for them Luke 12. 50. How was He streightned till it was accomplished That it was written in his heart was no hindrance to the freedom of his will The expression is well warranted also where it is said That the Scripture speaking of Judas his fact must needs be fulfilled Acts 1. 16. The first Argument Arg. I. John 1. 13. in proof of Perseverance is founded on the Saints Extract or Original They are born of God And this hath the force of a double Argument 1. As God is their Father and Eternal Root Our Saviour holds forth this Relation as the ground of our Faith in prayer Math. 6. 9. And He begins with it Himself when He prayes for His own Glory and that His Disciples might be partakers of it John 17. 1. To the same end He frequently useth that style of Father in the Gospel of John as in particular That He ascends to His Father and our Father John 20. 17. It is to strengthen our Faith in God thro' Himself on the account of His Fatherhood to us The Father loveth the Son John 3. 35. And He loves His Believers as He loveth Christ Himself Iohn 17. 23. On which ground the Apostle concludes That He cannot but give us all things else Rom. 8. 32. Believers are in truth the product of His love both in respect of Election and Regeneration and being so He cannot but have a paternal affection for them to administer to them what-ever tends to their sustentation and growth and to keep-off what ever would intercept or weaken His gracious influences towards them Having once loved them John 13. 1. He loves them for ever They may therefore be confident That what He hath begun in the Spirit He will not let end in the flesh That having begun a good work in them Phil. 1. 6. He will also perform it For As they have their spiritual Being from Him as the Father of it so 't is Natural to Him to derive his virtues into them without intermission as for a Vine to send up its sap into its own branches or the Sun to cherish the plants of its own production All the natural affections that are in Creatures towards their own are but drops of His Immense fullness A Mother may possibly forget the Child of her Womb but the Lord cannot forget His Off-spring That none may hurt them nor they themselves He will keep them night and day Isaiah 27. 3. chap. 46. 3 4. and water them every moment They are born by Him from the Belly and carried from the Womb and even to their old age He will carry them and deliver them 2. The new Creature as it comes from God so it exists in Him and lives upon Him and it is Natural to it to seek its nourishment where it had its Original Nothing can satisfie it but that great Deep from whence it sprang As a New-born child that has not the use of Reason will hunt for the breast by natural instinct and not be qulet without it As soon as ever Paul was converted Behold he prayes Acts 9. 11. Having once received the Spirit of Christ they cannot but incline after Him as Elisha did Elijah upon the casting of his Mantle on him It is natural to them 1 K. 19. 19 20. as for sparks to fly upwards They are said To be baptized with fire Not onely because of the purifying Nature of fire but in respect of its Aspiring quality it will be Mounting and not rest till it come to its own element Obstructions many it meets withall but still it presseth onwards and by degrees bears-down all afore it and carries that with it in which it
Chief and Eminent Elect One The First-born and Prince of the Family and all the Elect besides were given to Him as younger Brethren to be maintain'd upon His Inheritance It is plain to him that reads That the whole of Salvation was laid upon Christ That He bears up the Pillars of it and that all shoulders else had been too weak He is both the means and Center by whom and in whom God will have all things gathered together in One He was made God with us That we might be made One in God as appears by the scope of His Prayer in the 17th of John In Him the Father is well pleased and out of Him there is nothing pleasing to God or good for Men We are therefore said to be Chosen in Him a Eph 1 4. To be Called in Him b Phil. 3 14. To be Created in Him c Eph. 2. 10. To be Preserved in Him d â—ude vâ—r 2. and in Him to be blessed with all spiritual Blessings Blessings in themselves d e. Eph. I. 4. would not be so to us if not in Christ And being in Him all things are turned into blessings to us For now Nothing can come at us but as coming through Him and what ever so comes is Tiâ—ctured by His Divine Excellency and made Propitious to us And hereby it is That the Thing we were Chosen unto is effectually and unfailably Provided for There may divers good Reasons and Ends be assign â—â—d for God's Choosing the Elect in Christ As I. That by bringing in Man's Restauration this way Arg. 1. He might as it were Baffle His great Adversary and Out-shoot him in his own Bow And it well became the Wisdom and Grace of God Thus to do The devil thought by Poisoning the Root to Vitiate and Ruin the whole Stock and Progeny and he fail'd not of His Design The Lord would therefore by putting His Elect into a Head uncapable of Degeneracy Retrieve that Ruin and not only recover them but bring them into a Better Estate than that they had lost He would set up a Man that should be too hard for the Devil and be able both to Destroy Him and Dissolve his Works And He hath accordingly done it In which Method of Man's Recovery is a great Answerableness to the Method of his Ruin And it is a Thing the Lord would have us to mind Rom. 3. 12 21. as appears by the Parallel beforementioned II. That by shewing us His Righteousness in the way and manner of our Recovery Arg. 2. we might the more readily subscribe to His Righteousness in the imputation of Adam's sin For without the sight and knowledge of One we cannot with any heartiness submit to the other Hence Some in their too-bold Arguings against Election have alledged That What Adam did was without their Consent III. If the Elect had not been in Christ Arg. 3. the satisfaction He undertook for Sinners could not have availed them As Adam's sin could not have been ours if not in him So neither the Righteousness of Christ if not in Him Our sins could not have met upon Him nor we have been Iustified and Reconciled by the blood of His Cross If He had not sustain'd our persons and stood in our stead Another's Act cannot be mine either as to Profit or loss if there be not some kind of Oneness between us IV. If not in Christ Arg. 4. we could not have been Sanctified The Lump was sanctified the first fruits Rom. 11. 16. The Wilde-Olive-Nature could not be supprest and changed but by grafting into the True As a Man cannot be Naturally born Without relation to Adam as his Natural head so 't is impossible to be born again or Regenerated without the like relation of Union to Christ as his Spiritual Head There is no being a New Creature without being in Christ 2 Cor. 5. 17. They that are joyned unto the Lord and they only are one Spirit with Him The branch must be in the Vine before its sap can be derived into it He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified must be One There must be a Contact a touching of Him before this virtue can come from Him V. They were Chosen into Christ Arg. 5. That the Salvation they were Chosen unto might be invincibly secured of which this putting them into Christ is a pledge irrevocable Their Vnion with Him is their stability It is That makes them hold out as He Himself did till all is finished Isa 42. 4. He did not fail nor was discouraged so neither shall they and this because he is their Head This makes them victorious over all the power of the enemy Election indeed makes their Salvation sure but it is by this way of Putting them into Christ In whom the heirs of the World to come are preserv'd whiles the World of ungodly are deluged in Perdition Gen. 6. 18. Adam therefore whiles a Common Person and as such could not be said to be in Christ If he had he could not have fallen For Joh. 5. 26. the Father hath given the Son to have life in Himself i. e. to have it as a Root That all in Him might still be supplied from an increated Grace and Power which holds them fast to Himself and so from Withering and falling off It is not Grace received by us that keeps us But that Grace which received us to the Glory of God the Father Rom. 15. 7. which still Communicates a fresh supply Through Jesus Christ Having gone these few steps towards the Compass and extent of Election It concerns us also to know where this broad River hath its Head What Rock it is That this Immense Fabrick is built upon That we may not give the honour of it to another nor indanger our selves by settling on a wrong foundation To shew which is the Scope and Subject of the Sixth particular under this General Head viz. VI. That Election is founded upon Grace Or The good pleasure of God's will is the only Original Cause and Motive of Election As in Men's Genealogies there is no stop until you come up to God the Father of all Luke 3. 23. 38. So is it in the order of Causes relating to Men's Salvation The efficiency of all things that are mediate and subordinate depending on God as First and Sovereign His Willing the futurition of them is the cause of their being and We shall never judge Rightly unless we come up to the Will and Good Pleasure of God as the Sovereign Rule and Law of His Works And this I term The onely Original Cause of Election to shut out Faith foreseen with all the works and worthyness of Men from being any way Causal Influential or Motive thereto and so from sharing in the Glory of God's Grace which He is very jealous of and will not impart to any The Ground or Moving Cause of God's Election is quite different from the manner
state can never be lost And the Reason is because Grace hath out-done Sin and gone beyond it Grace hath abounded much more Rom. 5. 20. Which super-abounding of Grace cannot referr to the Subjects of Grace as if they were more in number than the Subjects of Sin for sin came upon All and Grace cannot come upon more than all But 't is meant of the prevalent efficacy of Grace and the permanency of its effects towards all that are the Subjects of it Rom. 5. 21. And thence it is that Grace is said to Reign and that to Eternal life IV. If the End of Christ's death might possibly be frustrate Arg. 4. as possibly the very end of God's making the World might suffer disappointment All things were made for Himself and by this scale they ascend to Him The World for the Elect 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. The Elect for Christ and Christ for God All His works praise Him but above all that of Redemption as of highest note and eminency Most conspicuously doth the Glory of God shinâ—-forth in the face of Christ as Dying and as dying for such an End viz. the Salvation of His People It is the chief of the wayes of God the very Meridian and height of His Glory not essential but manifestative both in this world and that to come It therefore behoved Him so to lay it that of all his designments This might be sure to succeed For do but subtract the sureness of its Effect and leave His Redeem'd in a perishable condition and it draws a blemish instead of beauty upon all the Divine Attributes 1. The end of God's setting forth Christ a Propitiation Rom. 3. 25 26. was to declare His Righteousness in the Remission of sins which it does doubly 1. That without satisfaction sin could not justly be remitted 2. That satisfaction being given it could not justly be imputed Who shall condemn It is Christ that dyed Rom. 8. 34. But if those for whom this plenary satisfaction has been given should not be justified and effectually saved Divine Justice would be as liable to impeachment as if He had saved them without And so the thing designed for the honour of His Righteousness would turn to its disparagement 2. It would not accord with the love and goodness of God towards His Elect that That which was meant for their Recovery Joh. 3. 19. and was also a price well-worthy their Ransom should possibly turn to their deeper condemnation for so it must if they be not effectually saved This could not be that Pleasure of the Lord which should prosper in the hands of Christ 3. It would not be according to the Faithfulness and Truth of God that Christ should fail of That He was promised and earnestly looked-for as the fruit of His Sufferings which was a Seed to serve Him Isa 49 6. ch 53. 10. Prov 8. 31. The thoughts of which were matter of complacency to Him from Everlasting But if those He died for should not only abide in the same condemnation He came to deliver them from but under a much sorer vengeance than if He had not undertaken for them How grievous would it be to Him and contradictious to the Faithfulness of God! 4. Another End of Redemption was That the manifold Wisdom of God might shine-forth in the sight of Angels and Men. Christ crucified is the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. But if it were so contrived that the Thing chiefly design'd might possibly miscarry it would be no illustration of Wisdom Will one of common prudence part with His Jewels and choycest treasure and that in such manner as never to be regain'd and leave his purchase knowingly under hazzard Men â—â—deed may possibly waste their Estates in Tryals and Essayes that come to nothing but did they foresee the success they would not so expose their prudence to reproach 5. The Greatness and Power of God would suffer an eclipse if it were in the power of Creatures to defeat His most wise and holy Designments and hinder the accomplishment of His greatest work What would the Aegyptians say but that He destroyed them because not able to go through with what He undertook Numb 14. 16. 6. Lastly If the end of Christ's death might possibly be frustrate Then that blessed project for glorifying the Grace of God might possibly be disannulled and come to nothing For None but Saved Ones do or can glorifie that Grace V. Another Argument for the Sure effect of Christ's death Arg. 5. is because He hath the Management of the whole work committed to Himself as well the Application or Redemption as the procurement of it He is the Repository Root and Treasury wherein all the benefits of Redemption are laid up and the Great Almoner by whose hand they are dispensed Adam was no more a publique Person after his fall The new Stock was not intrusted with him but put into the hands of Christ who will give a better account of it For VI. There is Nothing wanting to Him who is our Redeemer which might any way conduce to the final Compleatment of His Work Arg. 6. There are Five things mainly requisite to make a great undertaking Successeful viz. Authority Strength Understanding Courage and Faithfulness All which the Captain of our Salvation is eminently invested with Joh. 3. 35. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand 1. Authority He was appointed to His Office For as Mediatour the Father is Greater than He He came not of Himself but the Father sent Him Joh. 9. 42. He was called of God Isa 42. 6 Heb. 7. 21. Heb. 5. 4 5. It was laid on Him and undertaken by Him in the way of a Covenant And Confirmed hy an Oath Never to be Reversed which also may partly be the Meaning of God the Father's Sealing Him Joh. 10. 18. Isa 61. 1. Joh. 6. 27. The Government is laid upon His Shoulder He hath the Key of David committed to Him Rev. 3. 7. Which shewes the absoluteness of His Authority Gen 41. 44. Without Him No man can lift up his hand or his foot in all the Earth 2. Strength or Power These cannot be wanting to Him if All in Heaven and Earth be sufficient for it Matth. 28. 18 And this he hath That He might give Eternal life to as many as He dyed for Joh. 17. 2. Which if they should miss oâ— it would be said That all power was not able to Save them He that made the World is surely well able to Govern it and to over-rule whatever comes into it He would never have suffered sin the onely enemy to invade it if He could not have quell'd it at pleasure Isa 63. 1. Ch. 9. 6. Their Redeemer is strong The Lord of Hosts is His name He shall thorowly plead their cause Jer. 50. 34. He must reign until He shall have put all enemies both under His own feet and ours 1 Cor.
Jer. 37. 15. yea they proceed further for this enmity knows no bounds Some they Stoned Others they slew with the Sword Lu. 20. 10-15 When was there One that escaped them At last He sends them His Son Surely they 'l Reverence Him No This is the heir Come let us kill Him And thus they went-on Till there was no remedy 4. The World of Ungodly in Noah's time Gen. 6. 3. After warning of the flood they had the Spirit of God striving with them Sixscore years together And yet Not a Man in the whole Universe prevailed-upon The people in the Wilderness How many wayes did the Lord strive with them by mighty deliverances terrible Appearances Merciful Providences Dreadfull Judgments And this Fourty years together and yet still they went-on Rebelling against Him and vexing his holy Spirit Isa 63. 10. 5. Miracles will not do it What a Multitude of These mingled with Judgment where shewn upon Pharaoh All which did but further harden him Exod. 7. 14 22. Ch. 8. 19. Ch. 9. 7 c Then the People in the Wilderness Take but that one Instance of Korah and his Company The Earth clave asunder and swallowed-up the chief of the Mutineers with all that they had They went alive into the Pit Num 16. 32. ver 35. Two hundred and fifty more were consumed by fire from Heaven Which one would think should cause them to fear the Lord and do no more presumptuously and yet the next thing we hear of them ver 41 on the very Morrow they are at it again And that v. 41. not a Party of them but the whole Congregation All which considered and laid together It follows with much evidence III. That the New Creature is the Product of Divine Power alone The Evangelist John is clear on our side touching this Original and Pedigree of it Both Whence it is not and whence it is Joh. 1. 12. It is born 1 not of blood It belongs not to nor is brought forth in any as they are Men made of flesh and blood Ro. 9. 7. Nor as they are Abraham's feed according to the flesh Nor 2 is it born of the will of the flesh The carnal and sensual affections have nothing to do in the spiritual birth Nor 3 of the will of Man The rational faculties by which Men are set above the Rank of other Creatures these do not contribute towards our Divine Sonship But 4 It is of God i. e. It is His Work alone and the Natural Man has nothing to do in that birth he is perfectly unactive in it Ezek. 37. 5 9 14 even as the Dry bones in causing themselves to Live Or as Lazarus in Reviving himself of whom it is said Joh. 11. 44. He that was dead came-forth bound hand and foot Which was such a Demonstration of Divine Power that the Pharisees themselves acknowledge v. 48. If they now let Him alone all men will believe in Him And if it were not so the Lord alone should not be exalted And with this falls-in that other beloved Disciple James James 1. 18. 2 Pet. 1. 3. Of His own will begate He us i. e. By His Own Divine Power He forms and brings-forth the New Creation without any assistance from the Old or Co-operation of it Peter he also tells us It is born of Incorruptible Seed 1 Pet. 1. 23. John 3. 8. And John agen That It is born of the Spirit which is plainly to be of the Off-spring of God Of like tenour is that of the Prophet Isa 26. 12. Thou hast wrought all our works in us Eph. 2. 10. and that of Paul We are his workmanship Ps 100. 2. As also That of the Psalmist It is He that hath made us and not we our selves His people We find it here and in John expressed both Negatively and Positively as purposely and for ever to exclude what-ever is in Man from being so much as thought contributary to the New Creation and that the whole Work might be Father'd upon God only Which is indeed the natural Result of all those Scriptures which speak of this Work under the Notion of a Creature which necessarily implies That the whole of It both Matter and Form is from the Creatour For in truth a Creature 's foundation is Nothing besides the good pleasure of God It may further be Noted That in James The Father of Lights is said to beget it and in the Galathians Jerusalem which is above is said to be the Mother of it and in John as afore that It is born of the Spirit And if Father and Mother Begetter and Bringer-forth are both in Heaven what shall the Man of Earth found his pretensions upon as to the Parentage of the New Creature And further It is worthy of Remark 1. What sort of Instruments were mostly used in this Work Not the Learned but Illiterate Men And of These such most eminently as had neither elegancy of Speech 2 Cor. 10. 10. Nor Majestick presence And the End of this was That it might appear and Men might be Convinced That their Faith stood not in was neither made nor maintain'd by the wisdom of Men 1 Cor. 2. 3 4 5. but the Power of God 2. The natural unaptness of the Persons commonly wrought upon to Receive those high-born Principles Not many of the Wise and Noble but the poor base and foolish i. e. In comparison of Others And why These Truly it was to make good the Truth that 's here asserted viz. That no flesh might Glory in His presence ◠Cor 1. 26 27. And yet likewise take Notice That the Wise and Noble were not excluded Witness the wife of Herod's Steward Joseph Nicodemus and Sergius Paulus Acts 13 7. a Prudent Man Which further illustrates the Power of God in that He did by those weak and contemptible Means bring-in also such as These 3. The Scripture's so emphatically ascribing the Work unto God which kind of ascription were very improper if Faith and Holiness were things so Common and easily attain'd and the Natural Man so Able and Virtuous an Engine in that Work as most Men imagine Paul siles it The Faith of the Operation of God 〈◊〉 2 12. Isaiah makes it dependant on the Arm of the Lord Revealed i. e. Made-bare Isa 53. 1. and put-forth to the utmost Our Saviour He attributes it to God the Father as Lord of Heaven and Earth And Paul agen To the exceeding Greatness of His Mighty Power even the same by which He raised Jesus Christ from the Dead Even Then when the sins of all His People lay upon Him And all the Malice Strength and Subtilty of the Powers of Darkness were up in Arms against it Which was indeed the highest Indication of Divine Power that ever was put-forth or shall be III. Our next Enquiry is Who those blessed Ones are to whom these Requisites to Salvation do belong and
head and you intend him an honour or office which he never will be capable of without the full use of his Reason Is it not meeter and doth it not argue an higher degree of love Prudence and Justice to cure his distemper though in a way contrary to his present mind than to Wait his complying with your prescriptions which as he is he 'l never understand And what hinders but that God may do so by his People Even give them an heart to know Him and to fear Him for ever Save only that this Quaggy principle of Man's freedom of Will will not Comport with it But if a sufficiency of Means to Repent and Believe be not afforded to All how shall God be just in punishing for Neglects The Justice of God will not need our Salving especially by a balm of our own making Whether He judge or justifie He is Just in what He doth tho' purblind Reason sees not How His Judgments are a great Deep and it follows not That there 's no bottom because our line will not Reach it God dealt not so in respect of Means with any Nation as with Israel And the Men going with Paul to Damascus the Lord would not give them to see His face nor to hear His voyce both which He vouchsafed to Paul and yet He needs no vindication or Apologie for punishing their unbelief Rom. 2. 12. They that have sinned without law shall perish without law 2. Men are justly obnoxious to punishment for Neglecting or Not-improving the means they have albeit those Means when made the best of that Nature can will not save them They are punishable for Not-feeding and not-clothing and yet by doing these Men are not justified The least transgression layes open to wrath and you cannot by keeping some Commands compensate the breach of Others Where it is said I will write my law in their hearts and cause them to walk in my Statutes c. There is no more intended by it but the Giving of Things or Means proper to such an End if they will but Improve them The sense objected cannot be the mind and limit of that most gracious promise Deut. 10. 16. with 30. 6. Ezek. 18. 31. with ch 36. 26. For the Promise is as broad as the Command And if the Command carries in it as much as the words of it do import then also doth the Promise But the Command doth not enjoyn only a Using the Means that tend to such a duty but the actual and perfect performance of the Duty it self Therefore doth likewise with Promise Besides the heart and Will are One And if the law be written in the Will then is the Will Compliant with what the Law commands To write it in the heart is to make it Natural and so 't is more than a Means It is the Thing it self 2. That Doctrine is hardly bestead and not much to be credited which for its support must put such a construction on the highest Rev. 22. 18 19. and most absolute Promises that God hath made as will render them weak and fruitless Things 3. Where God hath absolutely said That such a thing He will do For Men to put-in Conditions or Limitations is To raze or interline a Record which is a Felonious act And how He will deal with those who add-to or take-from the words of His prophecy you have recorded in the last Chapter of His book It is ill trifling with Sacred things 4. A Physician that undertakes to cure a Man of his phrensie and to keep him in his right mind is not said to have done his Work or made-good his Word what ever Means have been applied to him if the Patient continue his former distraction or Relapse into it 5. There is no need or Reason why the Lord should Promise or make shew of Promising more than He intends to perform for That would be as a broken staff Or Why He should express himself in terms of a fuller or more absolute Engagement than might in all points consist with His Wisdom Justice Holiness c. 6. Lastly The Objection is further excepted against and rejected Not onely as it makes Man the chief Agent in his own salvation but as denying That God doth any thing more for them that are Saved than for them that perish If Men make themselves to differ the Gospel-designe of Magnifying Grace is dash'd at once But is it not said To him that hath shall be given i. e. He that Improves what he hath shall have more If they use Common Grace well they shall have Special 1. The well-using of Common-Grace is a duty that lies upon all but is no way Meriting or Moving God to bestow the special He is above all humane Motives and is not wrought upon by them as Men are This is seen by Paul whom special Grace took hold-upon even whiles in the heat of misusing that which is Common 1 Tim. 1. 13. with Acts 9. 4. There was no space of time between his being a Persecutour and his obtaining Mercy 2. What proportion is there in value between an handfull of Clay and a Talent of Gold Infinitely more is the disproportion between the Grace of Faith and all that a Natural Man can do for the obtaining of it 3. Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin but a Man's Sin cannot be a Motive for his Good Remember who it was and what condition he was in Act. 8. 18 19 that profer'd money for the Gift of the Holy Ghost Improvements for Faith is but the same 4. It would not become the Wisdom Power or Grace of God to build on a Foundation made-ready to His hand He needs it not nor will it Sort with His Design which is to have His Grace acknowledged the Alpha and Omega of Mens Salvation 5. Lastly A Will to improve is as much from God as the Thing to be Improved A Man can receive nothing except it be Given him from above Joh. 3. 27. The thing given and power to receive or improve it are both from Thence And things from Above are not fetch'd down by Men but they Come-down When and upon whom Jam. 1. 17. the Father of lights pleaseth Men are commanded To make them a New heart which must imply an Ability So to do For how can it be just to require things impossible And that under so severe a penalty Whatever is implyed in the Command such Allegations do surely imply that the framers of them are much unacquainted with the Scriptures or extreamly Rash in drawing Conclusions from them There are Reasons enough and holy ends which do justly warrant such Commands without supposing those to whom they are given Able Now to perform them As 1. Perhaps the Lord speaks it Ironically Deriding their vain confidence 1 King 18. 27. as Elijah did the Priests of Baal when he bids them Cry aloud for he is a God Will you hence inferr That Baal was a God Isa 41.