God hath put his Spirit upon him that he might bring forth Judgment to us and give Repentance to us from them namely That Grace and Power whereby we may Repent that he may forgive our iniquity and our sin as Jer. 36. 3. Him hath God exalted with his right hand a Prince and a Saviour for to give Repentance to us also and forgiveness of sins Acts 5. 31. and Chap. 26. 18. Isa 42. 1. Luke 24. 46 47 48. 3. The truth of this also That God hath no pleasure in the Death of the wicked further appears and is evident hereby In that he is vouchsafing Means of Grace unto them and giving gracious Aid and Assistance in and with the Means to the end that the wicked may Repent and turn from their evil ways that iniquity may not be their ruine He doth not onely call them to Repentance with an outward Call but he also stretcheth forth his hand his Power and Spirit with his Calls that such may turn at his Reproofs Prov. 1. 21 22-24 Our Lord Jesus is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world John 1. 9. He is the light of the world which lieth in wickedness or in the wicked One Joh. 8. 12. with 1 Joh. 5. 19. To open the eyes of the blind and to bring forth the prisoners out of prison and them that fit in darkness out of the prison-house Isa 42. 6 7. To open the eyes of Jews and Gentiles and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified through faith in Christ Jesus Acts 26. 17. 18. And he is therefore the Light unto the Gentiles also the light of the World that he might be for salvation unto All even unto the ends of the earth that through him they might be saved Isa 49. 6. with Acts. 13. 47. And as it is the nature and property of the Light to manifest and discover all things unto men in their true and proper colours For whatsoever doth make manifest is light Ephes 5. 13. So our Lord Jesus Christ doth in and by his Testimony and Testimonis of his Goodness manifest himself and Gods Grace in himself to the Sons of Men He makes himself manifest unto them that asked not after him And as in former times Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness that the stung Israelites might look unto and behold it and live Even so the Son of Man is lifted up by the Spirit in the Gospel that sinners may look unto and believe in him And that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have everlasting life Rom. 10. 18-20 John 3. 14-16 Hence he who is a just God and a Saviour and there is none besides him calleth unto men and saith Look unto me all the ends of the earth and be ye saved for I am God and there is none else Isa 45. 2-1 22 23. with Phil. 2. 8 9 10. And Christ as the Light doth also manifest the odiousness and vileness of our sins and what an evil and bitter thing it is to forsake the Lord and that his fear is not in men as Jer. 2. 19. And the necessity of their being turned there-from without which they must all necessarily perish as afterwards we may shew more largely All things that are reproved are made manifest by the Light wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Eph. 5. 13 14. And this most Excellent One doth also as is before said Open the blind Eyes of the Souls of Men to see what he is manifesting to them God hath given him for a light of the Gentiles to open the blind eyes c. Isa 42. 6 7. And herein he excels the Light of this World for though that doth manifest the things here below yet it will not give Sight unto those that are blind to behold what it doth manifest and discover it will not open the eyes of those that want their bodily sight But now our Lord Jesus is the true light the most excellent light who gives both light and sight he lightens every man that cometh into the world John 1. 6-9 And not only so but he gives grace unto all even that Aid and Assistance whereby they may turn from their evil and pernicious ways and live The grace of God brings salvation or is saving unto all men Tit. 2. 11. The goodness of God leadeth men to repentance even such also as are not led by it but after their own hardness and impenitent hearts treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God Rom. 2. 4 5. It is true indeed No man can turn from his iniquities and come unto Jesus Christ unless it be given unto him of the Father unless he draw him John 6. 44 45. But it is as true also that God in due time doth draw all men by Jesus Christ even such also as refuse to return Hos 11. 4 5. with John 12. 31 32. Though the Spirit that dwells in us naturally lusteth to envy yet he giveth more grace That we might not follow after our own Spirit Jam. 4. 5 6. As Christ is exalted with Gods right hand a Prince and Saviour to give repentance c. So he is faithful in giving it in due season And there is good reason for us to believe he is so forasmuch as he was faithful to him that appointed him in that difficult work of humbling himself and becoming obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Acts. 5. 30 31. with Heb. 3. 1 2. Isa 50. 5-8-10 Doutbless God doth not onely afford outward Means and calls wicked Ones with an outward Call to Repentance But he is dispensing to them his Grace and Spirit to enable them to turn from their Iniquities and to exercise themselves to Godliness especially he doth so to us who have the Name of Christ called upon us and the Gospel and Scriptures continued with us And to none other can I speak And to signifie to us that the holy Spirit doth accompany the Gospel to work in men both to will and to do of good pleasure what God requires of them Therefore is the Gospel called the ministration of the Spirit Yea it is called the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6-8 And the words which Christ spake unto them that did not believe are said to be Spirit and Life John 6. 63 64. And when our Lord enlarges the Commission of his Apostles and commands them to go into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature to wit of all the Nations This is that then which he promises to them and assures them of that he would go along and work with them to wit by his Spirit Lo saith he I am with you always even unto the end of the world And to assure us that he was
by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. And so the holy Apostles have delivered to us that which also they received of the Lord And that not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth bu which the Holy Ghost taught 1 Cor. 15. 1-3 with Chap. 11. 23. and Ch. 2. 12 13. And the things which they wrote unto us they are the Commandments of the Lord 1 Cor. 14. 36 37. Thus the Apostle John was commanded to write to the Seven Churches in Asia These things saith not John but the Lord Jesus Christ in those several Descriptions he there gives of himself as may be seen in Rev. 2. 1 8 12 18. and Ch. 3. 1 7 14. And as the Consideration of the Infinite Excellency of the Person that thus chargeth the Prophet to say might encourage him against all his Discouragements to speak what he was Commanded by him to speak and to walk in the strength of the LORD GOD as Psal 71. 16. As it is said The LORD GOD hath spoken who can but Prophecy Amos. 3. 7 8. So also it is powerful to engage us to give most earnest heed unto and to believe the Words of the holy Prophets and Apostles because they are the Words of the Lord God And to receive them not as the words of man but as they are in truth the word of God And in so doing they will work effectually in us 1 Thes 2. 13. Ezek. 6. 3. Mica 6. 1. But we may speak a little more particularly to the Person that Commands and Charges the Prophet thus to say in his Name and Words unto the House of Israel 1. It is the LORD GOD that speaks so graciously concerning sinful and wicked Ones to wit He who is the Creatour and Former of all things And who hath made all Nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined before the times appointed and the bounds of their habitations that they should seek him Gen. 2. 4 7 18 21 22. with Acts 17. 26 28. He who made all things at the first and made all things very good And who made man in his own Image after his own likeness And who intended not our destruction and ruine but our good and welfare He it is who thus speaks to sinful and unworthy Ones He hath a desire to the Works of his own hands Job 14. 15. Psal 138. 8. It is he that hath made us and not we our selves Enter into his Gates with thanksgiving and into his Courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his Name For the LORD is good his mercy is everlasting c. Psal 100. Rev. 4. 11. 2. It is the LORD GOD who when we had sinned against him and treacherously departed from him and were become enemies to him yet did not turn an enemy to us but was still merciful and gracious towards vain sinful Mankind even to Admiration as the Psalmist intimates saying LORD what is man that thou takest knowledge of him the Son of man that thou makest account of him Man is like to vanity Psal 144. 3 4. and and 8. 4-6 with Heb. 2. 6-9 And who in the greatest of his love and pity promised from the beginning That the Seed of the Woman should break the Head of the Serpent Gen. 3. 14 15. And therein and thereby vertually the LORD GOD laid for a foundation of Faith and Hope for Mankind a Stone an elect precious Corner-stone a sure Foundation Isa 28. 16. and 50. 2-5 He is the Lord he changeth not therefore we are not consumed Matth. 3. 6. with Lam. 3. 22. And who in the fulness of the time performed that Promise which he formerly made in raising up a Saviour the Saviour of the world This is he that Commands his Prophet thus to speak unto the House of Israel To which we may speak more afterwards 3. It is One who is abundant in truth that charges his Prophet to speak these gracious words He is a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he Exod. 34. 6. Deut. 32. 4. He is the Lord God of truth Psal 31. 5. Whose mouth speaketh truth and wickedness is the abomination of his Lips All the words of his mouth are in righteousness there is nothing froward or perverse in them as Prov. 8. 4-6-8 Who hath written to us excellent things in counsels and knowledge that he might make us know the certainty of the words of truth c. Prov. 22 20-21 We ought therefore to bow down our Ears and hear the Words of this most Excellent One and firmly and with all our hearts to believe them Prov. 22. 17-20 For he is not a man that he should lye God forbid yea let God be true but every man a lyar As it is written That thou mayest be justified in thy sayings c. Rom. 3. 3-5 4. It is the holy LORD GOD who gives this Command to his Prophet As they say Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God 1 Sam. 6. 20. He is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him The foolish shall not stand in his sight He hateth as with a respect to a love of delight all the workers of iniquity Psal 5. 4-6 He is one that is a perfect hater of Sin One that loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity as Heb. 1. 8 9. One who is Holiness it self And though he be merciful and gracious and abundant in goodness yet he will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34. 6 7. Art thou not from everlasting O Lord my God mine holy One Saith the Prophet Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity c. Hab. 1. 12 13. Sin is the abominable thing which he hates Jer. 44. 4. And therefore whatever he here speaks or charges his Prophet to say in his Name concerning his Graciousness towards Sinners he speaks not at all in favour to their sins or to encourage them to go on and continue therein as afterwards may be shewn more largely but in love and pity to the Souls of poor Sinners that they might turn from their Iniquity that it might not be their Ruine This is the Person who commandeth his Prophet thus to say unto the House of Israel 2. We have nextly to consider the assured Confirmation he gives of the truth of what he saith and which he assures and confirms by his Oath As I live For these words are an Oath and so oft used as the Lord saith elsewhere But as truly as I live they shall not see the Land which I sware unto their Fathers c. And again Say unto them as truly as I live saith the LORD as ye have spoken in mine ears so will I do unto you c. Which is thus exprest elsewhere So I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my Rest Compare Num. 14. 21-23 27 28. with Psal 95. 10 11. and Heb. 3. 10. 18. He
luke-warm and so loathsom and offensive to Christ as that he threatens to spue them out of his mouth yet then he sends this Message to them As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Rev. 3. 15-19 And indeed hereby also it appears that while he is judging men in this World he loves them And that his Corrections proceed from his Love because he signifies it to be a most high Expression of severe Displeasure when he threatens to cease or forbear taking any longer such pains with them because they have been incorrigible under his Afflicting-hand To this purpose he many times speaks as Why should ye be smitten any more Isa 1. 5. I will not punish your Daughters when they commit Whoredom nor your Spouses when they commit Adultery Hos 4. 14. Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone ver 17. And that he doth Correct and Chastise the Sons of Men while it is called to Day out of Love and therefore is not willing with their Perdition will yet further appear if we consider 2. The end of the Lord in his Rebuking and Judging of them yea of his threatnings and judgments and that is Their eternal good and welfare that is the thing ultimately designed by him therein As Elihu saith Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with Man to bring back his Soul from the Pit to be enlightned with the light of the living Mark well O Job saith Elihu Hearken unto me c. Job 33. 27-29-31 The end of the Lord in the liftings up of his hand and threatnings is that men might cease to do evil and learn to do well That he may repent him of the evil threatned to them and be gracious unto them At what instant saith the Lord I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy If that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil which is the thing designed therein by him I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them Now therefore go to speak to the men of Judah and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem saying Thus saith the Lord behold I frame evil against you and devise a device against you return you now every one from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good Jer. 18. 7-11 And to the same purpose the Lord commands the same Prophet To take a Roll of a Book and write therein all the words that he had spoken unto him against Israel and against Judah c. And then adds It may be that the House of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them that they may return every man from his evil way that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin Jer. 36. 2 3. Ezek. 12. 2 3. Jonah 3. 4-9 10. and Chap. 4. 1 2. Psal 7. 12 13. And so also his Design and end in executing Jugments in the Earth while it is called to Day is not the Destruction of Evil-doers but the Correction and Amendment of them That when his judgments are in the earth the Inhabitants of the world might learn righteousness Isa 26. 9. He therefore orders occasions of sadness and heaviness to them that by the sadness of their countenances their hearts might be made better Eccl. 7. 2 3. And therefore he looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not he will deliver his Soul from going down into the pit and his life shall see the light Job 33. 27-30 When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11. 32. And that he doth aim at and design the good of men in his Correcting and Punishing them appears from what hath been said immediately before Namely That he doth chasten them out of love For love worketh no ill to another but designs his good and benefit Ro. 13. 9. And he that charges Parents not to with-hold Correction from their Children but to beat them with the Rod and so deliver their Souls from Hell Doubtless he intends the same in his Judgings of Men while they are joyned to all the living Prov. 23. 13 14. with Job 33. 29 30. and Psal 94. 10-12 And not onely is this his Gracious End in those Chastisements and Afflictions which are more moderate and common to Man But also in his more severe and furious Judgments and Rebukes when he causes men to sit in darkness and in the shadow of Death being bound in affliction and iron Because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the Counsel of the most High c. And whoso is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord Psal 107. 10-22-39-43 When none can stand before his indignation and none can abide in the fierceness of his anger his fury being poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him Yet then the Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble c. Nah. 1. 2-6 7. So the Apostle signifies That the heavy and spiritual Judgments executed upon the unbelieving and disobedient Israelites according to those Imprecations of the Psalmist against them were not inflicted upon them for their destruction but for the amendment of them while it was the Day of Gods Grace towards them According as it is written God hath given them the Spirit of slumber or remorse eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear And David saith Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling-block and a recompence unto them Let their eyes be darkned that they may not see and bow down their back alway These were most severe Judgments in which God in some measure gave them up to a Reprobate Mind And it might therefore be readily concluded by some That God by inflicting these upon them designed their Eternal Ruine But the Apostle gives us cause otherwise to believe and judge for he immediately subjoyns to the former I say then have they not stumbled that they might fall God forbid far be it from us so to conceive but through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them these Jews to jealousie Rom. 11. 8 9 10 11. And again he saith God hath concluded them all in unbelief taken away his Gospel and Kingdom from them and deprived them of those choice and spiritual Priviledges and Advantages they were formerly favoured with that he might have mercy upon all That he might have mercy upon us Gentiles for through their unbelief and rejection the Gospel and its Priviledges were vouchsafed unto us And that he might this way have mercy upon them also That through our mercy they might also obtain mercy The Consideration whereof caused the Apostle to break forth into Admiration and say O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge
are in thy Womb and two manner of People shall be separated from thy Bowels c. And though in Rom. 9. 11. those words the Children are put in yet they are not the words of God but added by the Translators and therefore faithfully put in a different Character 3. This serving Jacob Nationally considered by Esau Nationally considered was not lookt upon nor was out of positive hatred or as a Curse ordered to Esau It was not lookt upon by Isaac as a Testimony of Gods positive hatred towards Esau for Isaac loved him Nay it was a part of Esau's Blessing to serve his Brother Nationally considered for personally he never so did and so signified to be for this was a part of that Blessing wherewith his Father Isaac blessed him to wit Thou shalt serve thy brother Yea and in that he did bless him and bless him by Faith concerning things to come It very plainly appears that Esau was not positively hated of God Gen. 27. 39 40. with Heb. 11. 20. Indeed in that Oracle was signified that Jacob Nationally considered should in former Ages be preferred in Choice Priviledges and Advantages they were the Church of God and had his Oracles committed to them c. Rom. 3. 1 2. and Chap. 9. 4 5. And of them as concerning the flesh Christ came But this was no hatred of Esau in their sense for in Christ there was and is Blessing for all the Nations and Families of the earth Gen. 22. 16-18 and Ch. 26. 3 4. 28. 13 14. And any of them might have become Proselites and so have partaken of their Advantages also And doubtless there were good men descended from Esau as Job Eliphaz c. Deut. 23. 7 8. 4. And as with respect to that saying Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated That was not spoken before these two persons were born but long after they were dead And therefore also it was not spoken of their persons but of their Posterities which still retained their Name And that hatred toward Esau spoken of was exprest not in excluding him or any of that Nation out of Heaven in a personal consideration but in laying his Mountains and his Heritage waste for the Dragons of the Wilderness And if this was an Act of Hatred towards Esau Nationally considered Then certainly it was an Act of Love in God to give him formerly these Mountains and that Heritage And the reason why Esau was thus hated and punished was because he did not serve his Brother with these Mountains but was an Enemy to him Esau was hated not before he had done good or evil But because of the wickedness of Esau Nationally considered towards his Brother Jacob Nationally considered As it is said For thy violence against thy Brother Jacob shame shall cover thee and thou shalt be cut off for ever In the day that thou stoodest on the other side in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces and foreigners entred into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem even thou wast as one of them c. Compare Mal. 1 2 3. with Ezek. 35. and Obad. 9. 16. And the same Prophet that mentions these words to wit Esau have I hated signifies what the reason of his being hated was to wit because of his wickedness for so he saith They shall call them the Border of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever Esau was the People of Gods Indignation as he was the Border of wickedness And is not any other People so also Mal. 1. 3. with ver 4. So that by all we have said it evidently may appear unto any considering person That Esau Personally considered was not positively hated or reprobated of God before he was born nor is any other so And I have been the longer in giving Answer to this Objection because it is as usually as unreasonably urged to prove That Esau was and so others may be Reprobated of God hefore they have done good or evil Whereas indeed There is not the least colour or ground for such a conclusion from the Scriptures in any one place And so notwithstanding this Objection which is altogether groundless and sandy we conclude as we have before said That God hath no pleasure none at all in the Death of those who are onely necessarily and unavoidably polluted Nor shall any such be cast into the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second Death Psal 9. 17. Rev. 21. 8. and Chap. 22. 15. 3. In that the Lord God hath no pleasure in the Death of the wicked while they are joyned to all the living as he here swears Then it appears evidently and manifestly That such as do die and perish eternally are the Authors or Procurers of their own eternal Misery and Ruine And that their destruction is of themselves wholly as with respect to God As the Lord saith to some of his professed People in former times O Israel thy corruption or destruction is of thy self Hos 13. 9. It is true indeed God is the Judge of all and will execute judgment upon all Jude 15. And such as impenitently persist in their unbelief of the Gospel and disobedience to God shall be destroyed with everlasting dâ—struction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power He will wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their trespasses Psal 68. 18-21 But in so doing he will but make them eat of the fruit of their own way Prov. 1. 24-31 And give them the wages of their own unrighteousness and iniquity Rom. 6. 23. Their ways and their doings procure these things to themselves this will be their wickedness even the fruit and reward thereof as Jer. 4. 17 18. And it may then be Righteously said to such as eternally perish Have ye not procured these things unto your selves in that ye forsook or rejected the Lord Their own wickedness will correct them and their back-slidings reprove them as Jer. 2. 17 18 19. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercies Jonah 2. 8. They that love the World and serve the Creature more than the Creator lose their own Souls and bring upon themselves swift destruction Math. 16. 26. 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. Who so sinneth against me saith Wisdom wrongeth his own Soul All they that hate me love death Prov. 8. 36. Num. 16. 38. He that refuseth instruction to wit Gods Instruction despiseth his own Soul Prov. 15. 32. And therefore will be destroyed Prov. 13. 15. Such as when the goodness of God leadeth them to Repentance do walk after their own hardness and impenitent hearts they treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render unto every man according to his deeds And so To them who are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness he will render Indignation and
ye now every one from his way and make your ways and your doings good And they said There is no hope c. Jer. 18. 5. 12. Here was nothing propounded to cause them to make such an evil conclusion but that which might rationally have preserved them there-from yet we see how presently they cry out their case was hopeless But how much sooner will men do so when evil Teachers insinuate into them in their corrupt and discouraging Doctrines That God hath no cordial desire or delight in the salvation of the most of men but a secret pleasure in their endless sorrow and calamity And also 2. It is highly behoofful for men to be delivered from Desperation because when they fall thereinto they thereby are prepared to become desperately wicked as Jer. 17. 9. and to rush themselves into any or all iniquity and wickedness as the horse rusheth into the battle to wit without fear or consideration As they said There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination obstinacy or stubbornness of his evil heart Jer. 18. 12. So again Thou saidst there is no hope no for I have loved strangers and after them will I go Jer. 2. 25. When men heartily entertain despairing thoughts and confidently believe there is no mercy for them they then cast off the fear of God and all care thereto relating and commit all abomination with greediness as believing they of necessity must and can but perish in conclusion O that therefore those that are Teachers of others would take heed and beware of all such pernicious Doctrines as tend to ingulph the souls of men in the Bottomless Pit Again II. The Latter Part of this most Solemn Oath of the Lord God is a most proper and powerful Antidote against that other Mortal or Immortal Disease and Distemper to wit Presumption In that he therein also swears that he hath pleasure that the wicked turn from his way and live Wherein he plainly gives us to understand That though he hath no pleasure in the eternal destruction of the wicked yet that will be their Portion certainly and they cannot possibly live if they continue in their evil ways and turn not there-from while he is in abling them thereto by his gracious aid and divine assistance that so none may abuse the goodness of God and say We shall have peace though we walk in the imagination of our hearts to adde Drunkenness to Thirst c. Deut. 29. 18-24 with Heb. 12. 15 16-29 And the Lord who is a God of knowledge hath seen it needful usually to assure men of his hatred of sin and of the necessity of their repenting and turning there-from unto him when he is proclaiming his mercy and grace towards sinners and his unwillingness with their perdition as is largely shewn in the following Discourse To the end that none might presume of enjoying life persisting in their sins and abominations And he doth oftentimes give his people warning not to hearken to those Prophets who daubed them up with untempered mortar and spake smooth things and prophesied deceits unto them telling them that they spake a Vision of their own heart not out of the mouth of the Lord Jer. 14. 13-16 and ch 23. 9-16-18 Ezek. 13 c. And the holy Spirit by the Apostle Peter hath expresly spoken that as there were false Prophets among the People of the Jews so there would be false Teachers amongst us Christians who would privily bring in heresies of destruction denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction And many would follow their pernicious ways c. 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. Matth. 7. 13-15 To the end then that none of us may be presumptuous take we heed and beware of such Doctrines as these are to wit That all that Christ died for shall be eternally saved That all that belong to the Election of Grace as they speak shall when God's time comes be converted by an irresistable power will they nill they That once in Christ and ever in Christ That all that live and die in Communion with such or such a Visible Church shall partake of eternal life in conclusion with other strange Doctrines of a like complection For they directly tend to lead men into Presumption And because men are very inclinable to flatter themselves in their evil ways until their Iniquity be found to be hateful and are very apt to presume that God will be merciful to them though they indulge themselves in their evil courses needful therefore it is that those that have the lip of knowledge should so use it as to speak the things which become sound Doctrine as Tit. 2. 1 11-15 And as the Apostle saith to Timothy preach the Word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine 2 Tim. 4. 1 2-4 that so they may be pure from the blood of all men as Act. 20. 21-26 27. I shall add no more at this present but refer thee to the insuing Treatise desiring it may be seriously considered by thee and the Scriptures therein quoted searched into And that we may all of us prove all things and hold fast what is good and abstain from every kind of Evil. I desire to be Thy Servant for Jesus sake C. P. March 20. 1678 9. AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST DESPERATION AND PRESVMPTION EZEK xxxiii Say unto them As I live saith the LORD GOD I have no pleasure in the Death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live THese Words in general contain in them a Charge which the LORD GOD gives to the Prophet to say or speak to the House of Israel Wherein let us consider 1. The Occasion of these Words or of this Charge given to the Prophet 2. The Words themselves which he charges or commands the Prophet to speak 1. The Occasion of these Words or of this Charge given to the Prophet And that is laid down and declared before in the fore-going part of this Chapter where first By way of Parable and then more plainly and openly the Lord acquaints the Prophet That he had set him a Watchman to the House of Israel And what his Work and Office was with the great Danger to himself upon his neglecting or being unfaithful in the discharge of â—â—at Office As it is said Son of Man I have set thee a Watchman unto the House of Israel therefore thou shalt hear the Word at my mouth and warn them from me When I say to the wicked O wicked man thou shalt surely die If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way that wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand Nevertheless if thou warn the wicked from his way to turn from it if he do not turn from his way he shall die in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thy Soul Verse 1-7-9 Like that also
Chap. 3. 17 18. whereto is added Therefore O thou Son of Man speak unto the House of Israel thus ye speak saying If our transgressions and our sins be upon us namely in the guilt and punishment of them as Num. 15. 30 31. Ezek. 18. 20. If there be no forgiveness of them or deliverance from them and we pine away in them how then should we live How should we be justified from them enjoy Gods Favour or be made Partakers of Eternal Life In which words especially as compared with Verse 11. is signified to us That there are in men especially when God is reproving threatning and judging them evil and hard thoughts of God as if he had some secret Will or Pleasure in their eternal ruine and destruction The heart of Man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Jer. 17. 9. From within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts wickedness blasphemies c. Matth. 15. 19 20. Mark 7. 20-23 They are then ready to conclude against themselves that their case is desperate and that there is no hope for them Jer. 2. 25. and 18. 11 12. They are then ready to say with Cain Our iniquities are greater than can be forgiven Gen. 4. 13. That God hath no love toward them Or that there is no forgiveness with him that he may be feared and returned to by them that he hath no hands That he hath so tied up himself by his Decree that he cannot help save deliver or redeem them from that miserable condition they have brought themselves into Isa 45. 9. and 50. 1-4 This is the fruit and product of Sin that it makes Sinners afraid of God and even despair of his Mercy and Goodness Thus it was with our first Father Adam when he had sinned and eaten of the Tree whereof God had commanded him he should not eat he then said unto God when he called him I heard thy Voice in the Garden and was afraid because I was naked and I hid my self Gen. 3. 8-11 Yea through infirmity good men by listning to their own hearts have questioned Gods love toward them when they have been under the afflicting hand of God Thus it was with Asaph Will the Lord cast off for ever saith he and will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever Doth his promise fail for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies And I said this is mine Infirmity c. Psal 77. and Psal 13 c. 1. Needful therefore it is for us to hate thoughts our own evil and naughty thoughts and to love Gods Law and Doctrine so shall we have great peace and nothing shall offend us Psal 119. 113. with Verse 165. To wash our hearts from wickedness that we may be saved and not to suffer vain thoughts to lodge within us for Gods thoughts are not our thoughts nor our ways his ways But as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are his ways higher than our ways and his thoughts than our thoughts Jer. 4. 14. with Isa 55. ver 9. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool Prov. 28. 26. 2. Seeing also when God is denouncing Judgments against or executing Judgments upon evil Doers they are ready to despond and to conclude God delights in their Ruine and Misery Therefore it appears that they do a very bad work and are very injurious to the Souls of Men who strengthen them in such evil and despairing thoughts as they do who say The most of men were reprobated before they were born And that there is no possibility of their escaping the vengeance of Eternal Fire These discourage the hearts of men and hinder them from returning unto God from their Iniquity as Num. 13. 32. with Deut. 1. 28. Truly men need not be strengthned by the evil Doctrines of others in such hard Conceptions and wicked Imaginations of God for their thoughts are an abomination to the LORD Prov. 15. 26. When God intimates That the end of his framing Evil and devising a Device against them was not their Ruine and Destruction but that they should return every one from his evil way and make their ways and doings good Yet then they said There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices c. Jer. 18. 7 8. 11 12. How much rather would they so conclude when they are strengthned in their evil Imaginations of God by such Doctrines as are too too rife among us in which men insinuate that there is no hope for the greatest part of Mankind 2 Pet. 2. 1. But we shall here add no more unto the Occasion of these Words we have propounded to speak unto But 2. We have the Words themselves to mind and consider In which we may take notice in general How the Lord by this Prophet doth Answer them and contrary to their wrong and evil thoughts and sayings gives a gracious Discovery of himself unto them And therein he doth not simply speak good and gracious words to them But in and by them makes known the Graciousness of his Heart unto them And that he hath no pleasure in their Destruction but that they turn from their wicked ways and doings Jer. 18. 1-11 When none can stand before his indignation none is able to abide in the fierceness of his wrath his fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him Yet the LORD is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he kneweth them that trust in him Nah. 1. 2-7 Joel 2. 1-11-13 Rev. 3. 16-19 20. But we shall desire to look a little particularly into the Words themselves wherein we hvae to consider 1. The Person that saith these Words and chargeth the Prophet to acquaint Israel herewith saith the LORD GOD. 2. The Confirmation of what he saith by an Oath As I live 3. The Subject Matter thus spoken and confirmed by this most excellent Person And that is laid down and propounded 1. Negatively I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked 2. Affirmatively and Positively But that the wicked turn from his way and live 1. The Person that saith these words and who Commands and Charges the Prophet to Acquaint Israel herewith And that is The Lord Say saith the LORD GOD. Now as these Words contain in them a Charge given to the Prophet thus to speak so it shews unto us That the Holy Prophets in former times spake not nor came in their own Name or with their own Words but in the Lords Name and with his Words He doth not Command the Prophets to say Thus saith Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel No but thus saith the Lord God of the holy Prophets Rev. 22. 6. The Prophets have spoken to us in the Name of the Lord Jam. 5. 10. And they have spoken to us the Word of God Hebr. 13. 7. These holy men spake not by the will of man but they spake as they were moved
will fully seize on none until they be brought out of the first Death and judged by him who died for all and rose again and whom God hath ordained the Judge of quick and dead Mat. 3. 7. 1 Thes 1. 10. Rev. 11. 18. There are some indeed and too many that talk of a third Death but in so doing they speak not according to the Word contained in the Law and Testimony of God And therefore therein there is no light in them And that in speaking of a third Death as the wages of sin they consent not to wholsom words may easily appear to themselves who use this groundless Distinction for some of them to prove that there is such a third Death do weakly enough bring the Scriptures which speak of the second for the proof thereof But it is a very evil and dangerous thing to make such a Distinction where the Scripture makes none but plainly enough opposes and rejects it and may do more harm than they are aware of who make use of it rather I conceive out of ignorance and custom than judgment and consideration It is good for us to hear what the Scripture faith and to receive that But no more to this at present But now the Enquiry is Of which of the two Deaths fore-mentioned are we here to understand these words to mean And to that we say not of the first which is now abolished 1. Because it is Gods Will and Appointment that all men should die the first Death Though not that all should sleep or abide in it 1 Cor. 15. 51 52. It is appointed to men once to die Heb. 9. 27. I know saith Job Thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living To wit the Grave which is called Mans long home Job 30. 23. with Eccles 12. 5. What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah Psal 89. 48. with Eccles 7. 2. and Chap. 8. 8. 2. Because the Death here spoken of is called the Death of the wicked as being their proper and onely Death Ezek 18. 23. And therefore it appears hereby is meant directly and fully the second Death or Hell-fire For the wicked so abiding shall be turned into Hell Psal 9. 17. whereas in the first Death there is no difference but all die that good and bad wise and unwise How dieth the wise man as the fool Eccles 2. 16. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not As is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Eccles 9. 1 2-10 The most holy and righteous men generally have died this first Death And some of them have said They were going the way of all the earth meaning thereby they were going to die the first Death Josh 23. 14. 1 Kin. 2. 2. But none of them shall be hurt of the second Death Rev. 2. 11. 3. It also plainly appears that by the Death here spoken of we are to understand the second Death directly and fully because this Death may while it is called to Day be escaped and avoided as it is here signified in saying I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Men may now in this day of his Grace and Patience flee from and be delivered from the wrath to come Matth. 3. 7. 1 Thes 10. But now no man can by any turning from evil or exercising himself unto and following after Godliness and Goodness escape or be delivered from the first Death As hath been said No man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit neither hath he power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war Eccles 8. 8. By all which it doth plainly and fully appear the Death here spoken of and intended is directly and most properly and fully the second Death as hath been said before Object If any one should object against what hath been said and say That though by the Death here spoken of the first Death as it was appointed to fallen Man after the Promise of Christ by God cannot be meant yet it may mean it of that Death as it is judicially executed upon some for their voluntary and personal Iniquities and Transgressions for so it was not appointed to all men to die it To this I say Ans 1. By way of Grant God did not at first appoint that Men in a Personal Consideration or as fallen in Adam or because of their sins of weakness and unadvisedness simply should die this first Death judicially But 2. When Men are become wicked and have sinned with an high hand against God he may notwithstanding their turning from their evils order the first Death to them judicially and they may not die the common Death of all men or not die it as commonly and ordinarily men die it But in testimony of wrath for their former personal evils it may be executed upon them Num. 14. 28 29. Isa 22. 12-14 And sometimes for the evils of others As upon the little Ones in the old World And of Sodom and Gomorrah c. So that still I say By the Death here spoken of is meant directly and fully the second Death And so we are to understand it That God hath no pleasure in the Death that is in the Eternal Destruction of the wicked Or that they should perish in that Everlasting Fire which was prepared for the Devil and his Angels who sinned without a Tempter But we shall add no more to that 2. Who are the wicked in the Scripture account in whose Death the Lord God hath no pleasure Answ To that we may say Those who are called Wicked in Scripture are not such simply as have sinned in the first Publick Man and come forth into the World polluted and defiled as all do who partake of the Nature of Man by an ordinary way of Generation For who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Job 14. 4. and 25. 4. Psal 51. 5. Nor are they such as have sin in them simply as all while here have Rom. 7. 17. 20. 1 Joh. 1. 8. Or that sin through infirmity and weakness or through unadvisedness as all do For there is not a just man upon the earth that doth good and sinneth not 1 Kin. 8. 46. Eccles 8. 20. And yet all are not therefore wicked Good men who have acknowledged themselves to have sinned have yet truly acquitted themselves of being wicked As Job thus acknowledgeth I have sinned c. Job 7. 20. And yet he appealeth to God and saith Thou knowest or it is upon thy knowledge that I am not wicked Job 7. 20. And God himself saith of him That he was a perfect and an upright man one that feared God and
eschewed evil Job 1. 1-8 and Chap. 2 3. And in affirming him to be a Perfect Man he denies him to be Wicked for perfect and wicked are contrary and opposed the One to the Other Job 9. 22. So certainly David was guilty of many evils and saith Mine iniquities are more than the hairs of my head And prays to the Lord not to remember against him the sins of his youth or his transgressions c. Psal 25. 7. and 32. 4. 5. and 40. 12. And yet else-where he saith I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God Psal 18. 21. But as is usual in Scripture the wicked are such as are opposed to the righteous And who they are we may a little more particularly shew in what followeth That is to say 1. They are wicked men in Scripture account who hate the light which comes to discover and reprove their evil deeds and to save them there from and rebel against the light as Joh. 3. 19 20. with Job 24. 6-13-17 Such as say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray unto him Job 21. 7-15 and 22. 15-17 They are such as are Servants of Corruption and led captive by Satan and who stop their Ears and harden their hearts from Gods fear they are like to the deaf Adder which stoppeth her ears which will not hearken to the voice of Charmers charm they never so wisely Psal 58. 3-5 They are such as hate instruction or to be reformed and cast Gods words behind their backs Psal 50. 16 17. who will not seek after God or the knowledge of him and whose ways are always grievous Psal 10 2-5 Such as contemn God and harden their faces against him and the fear of him Psal 10. 13. with Prov. 21. 29. And hate and persecute his People who desire to fear his Name Psal 10. 2 3. Mat. 4. 1-3 In short the whole World lieth in wickedness or in the wicked One even all such as are not taught and led of God 2 Thes 3. 3. with 1 Joh. 5. 19. And indeed the word here translated wicked signifies unquiet restless turbulent sinners such as are like the raging waves of the Sea foming out their own shame and know no quietness in their belly As it is said The wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast out mire and dirt There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Jude 13. and Job 20. 12-20 with Isa 57. 20 21. And there are such manner of persons not only without the Pale of the Church but even amongst Gods professed People there are too many Sinners and Hypocrites in Zion Isa 33. 14. As the Lord saith Among my people are found wicked men yea and such as over-pass the deeds of the wicked among the Heathen Jer. 5. 23-26-29 they may be wicked ones that come and go from the place of the holy Eccl. 8. 10. As here also appears in this Prophecy of Ezekiel in many places and in this Chapter a part whereof we are considering as is signified in what the Lord saith to the Prophet to wit Son of Man I have set thee a Watchman unto the house of Israel therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me When I say unto the wicked O wicked man thou shalt surely die if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way that wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand c. Ezek. 33. 7 8 9. 14 15 16-19 2. By the wicked also we may understand such persons as have once received the Grace of God to purpose and turned unto him from their sins and Idols to serve the living and true God And yet have afterwards treacherously departed from him as a Wife treacherously departeth from her Husband and played the Harlot with other Lovers after they have known God or rather been known of him These are also called wicked in Scripture and are so in an higher degree than such as have always abidden Servants of sin and so in the state and fellowship and ways of the World So it is said of some who are called wicked They have left off to be wise and to do good Psal 36. 1-3 Thus the Lord saith Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy back-slidings shall reprove thee Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my fear is not in thee saith the Lord God of Hosts Yet I had planted thee a noble Vine wholly a right seed how then art thou turned into the degenerate Plant of a strange Vine unto me Jer. 2. 2 3-13-19-21 Hos 9. 15. So that incestuous Believer that turned to unheard of Fornication in having his Fathers Wife is called that wicked person 1 Cor. 5. 1-5-11-13 To which I shall not further enlarge Now concerning such wicked Ones in both the fore-named Considerations he here saith and sweareth He hath no pleasure in the death of them And it is observable that it is not here said He hath no pleasure in the Death of you wicked Ones or of some wicked Ones or of such wicked Ones as are Elect or belong to the Election of Grace For indeed there are no wicked ones of the Elect while they abide wicked but the Elect of God are holy and beloved Col. 3. 12. And such as unto whom there is no condemnation from God as there is unto all wicked Ones Rom. 8. 33 34. with verse 1. Prov. 17. 15. And it is therefore a very erroneous and dangerous mistake to suppose that any wicked while they are such are elected of God to Salvation But here the Lord swears he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked indefinitely considered And as is usually said Indefinite Expressions are equivalent to general or universal ones and so he hath no pleasure in the Death of any wicked ones And though the Lord commands and charges the Prophet to speak these words unto the house of Israel yet not onely of the house of Israel for then of what use would they be unto the sinners of the Gentiles When the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy That God will have all men to be saved Though that be written to one man yet it is matter of concernment unto all and written for the good of all in their respective Ages and Generations 1 Tim. 2. 4-7 When Peter saith to the dispersed Believers The Lord is willing that all should come to repentance He intends not these words concerning them onely but more largely and extensively without all peradventure 2 Pet. 3. 9. And the like may be said here Though the Lord commanded the Prophet to say these words unto the house of Israel yet they are written for the sake of others also
The Lord hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked indefinitely considered not in the death of any wicked Ones for he is one with whom is no respect of persons And indeed if he had any pleasure in the death of any wicked ones it might reasonably be conceived and concluded That he hath pleasure in the death of the wicked in his Church Because their wickedness is greater and more inexcusable than that of others Because they have more excellent and choice Advantages Means and gracious Assistances than others have to wash their hearts and feet from wickedness that they may be saved And therefore if they continue sinners or treacherously depart from him he is more highly displeased with them and severe toward them As it is said You onely have I known of all the families of the earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities Amos 3. 2. Though indignation wrath tribulation and anguish will be upon every Soul of man that doth evil yet it will be upon the Jew first because he hath much more advantage than the Gentile to be and do better And to whom much is given of them will much be required Rom. 2. 8-11 and Chap. 3. 1 2. Luke 12. 47 48. When in the times of ignorance God winks his eyes are upon all their ways who have choice means of knowledge vouchsafed to them they are not hid from his face neither is their iniquity hid from his eyes And first he will recompense their iniquity and their sin double because they have defiled his land c. Acts 17. 30. with Jer. 16. 16-18 So that these words being directly spoken unto though not confined unto the house of Israel do more powerfully ascertain that he hath no pleasure in the death of any other And are as it were a powerful Argument to evince the truth thereof He who hath no pleasure in the everlasting Ruine and Destruction of such as sin against the clearest Light greatest Grace and choicest Advantages to be sure he hath none in their eternal Perdition who have not such Means and Advantages for knowing and serving him Matth. 11. 20-24 If he be so compassionate towards the greatest Transgressors and be altogether unwilling that they should die how can we suppose but that he is loath and unwilling they should perish who are not such hainous Offenders even as the Apostle signifies to us that he who was the chief of sinners obtained mercy that in him first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a Pattern to such as were not such great sinners even to them that should delay to believe on him unto life everlasting 1 Tim. 1. 13 14 15 16. So we may also here understand it But what is said may suffice to the second Inquiry and we shall desire to proceed unto the next namely 3. What are we to understand by this Phrase no pleasure And to that we say hereby is meant and signified That it is not at all delightful or well-pleasing unto him that such as are wicked Ones should be destroyed with an everlasting Destruction As he is a God that hath no pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him Psal 5. 4-6 And as he hath no pleasure in fools or wicked ones Eccl. 5. 4. So also he hath no delight or pleasure in the death of the wicked As he here swears unto us he hath no pleasure none at all That is to say 1. He hath no Revealed Pleasure in the Death of the wicked that Revelation he hath given of his heart and mind in the holy Scriptures declares no such will or well-pleasedness in him or affection to any such thing but the contrary thereto As plainly appears in that Scripture we are considering 2. Nor hath he any secret pleasure will or delight therein As appears by this Revelation of his Will which he hath given forth to the Sons of Men He speaks thus to us and by his Oath assures us of the truth of it who onely perfectly knows himself which we do not for we cannot by searching find out God we cannot find out the Almighty to perfection Job 11. 7-9 But he who is perfect in the knowledge of himself and all things as Job 36. 4. And perfectly knows his own Mind and Will saith and swears that he hath no pleasure And his mouth herein in all things speaks truth for it is impossible for him to lye Tit. 1. 2. Heb. 6. 18. Yea let God be true and every man a lyar Rom. 3. 4. And indeed the word here translated Pleasure signifies inward intention delight affection well pleasedness And oh let us not be faithless but believing let us give glory to him in believing him when he thus solemnly swears I live saith the Lord God if I will or be well-pleased in the Death of the wicked That is as it is rendred with us and suitable to such like manner of speakings in other places I have no pleasure in their death So what is thus expressed in one place I sware in my wrath if they should enter into my rest Is thus exprest and explained in another by the holy Spirit He sware that they should not enter into his rest Compare Psal 95. 11. and Heb. 3. 11. with verse 18. Mark 8. 12. with Mat. 16. 4. And what hath been now said may in some measure deliver us from entertaining a very corrupt and pernicious Gloss which too many have put upon this Scripture and others that are like unto it namely Some say It is true indeed God hath no pleasure in the Death of the wicked That is say they He hath no Revealed Will or Pleasure therein his Revealed Will is That all men should be saved But his Secret Pleasure or the Will of his good Pleasure is that the most of men should perish and be eternally miserable and therefore he reprobated them or past them by before they were born so as in conclusion they must unavoidably have their Portion in that everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels And in thus speaking they plainly signifie That his Revealed and Secret Will are contrary the one to the other Answ Now for Answer thereto and to discover a little the Evil and Perniciousness of that Distinction or Division rather of the Will of God consider we diligently these things To wit 1. It savours of high Presumption and Daringness of Spirit to give out that God hath a Secret Will contrary to his Revealed Will For if his Will be Secret how come they to know it or ro know that it is contrary to that Revelation of his Mind and Will he hath vouchsafed to us Or why may not others as well know that secret Will they speak of as themselves For in truth none knows what his Will is any further than it is Revealed nor doth it appertain to any to know it And they who would be prying there-into intrude into things they have not seen being vainly
puft up with their fleshly mind as Col. 2. 18 19. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed unto us and to our Children for ever that we may do all the words of this Law Deut. 29. 29. It is a very sinful and dangerous thing for us to be peeping into things that God hath kept secret We may remember how severely God dealt with Fifty thousand threescore and ten men of Beth-shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the Lord 1 Sam. 6. 19 20. And that is written for our Admonition to the intent our hearts might not be haughty nor our eyes lofty And that we should not exercise our selves in great Matters or in things too wonderful for us 1 Cor. 10. 6-11 with Psal 131. Who hath ascended up into Heaven or descended Prov. 30. 4. The Angel shewed his dislike of Manoah's Question when he asked him What is thy Name And said unto him Why askest thou thus after my Name seeing it is Secret or Wonderful Judg. 13. 18. And our Saviour reproves his Apostles for their curiosity in demanding of him Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom unto Israel It is not for you saith he to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power Acts 1. 6 7. And if it be Reprovable to enquire into or after Secret Things much more Condemnable is it to presume to know and declare what Gods Secret Will is And more still to give out that it is contrary to his Revealed as may be after shewn As with respect to Secret and Wonderful things it is good and safe for us to say as sometimes David doth when he is speaking of the Omniscience and Prescience of God Such knowledge is too wonderful or secret for me it is high I cannot attain unto it As if he should say It is such as is impossible for me to comprehend such as mine Understanding cannot reach unto Psal 39. 1-6 2. Time was when that which is now Revealed and made known to us was Secret and hidden also It was hid in God as Isa 48. 6. Ephes 3. 9. And if his Revealed Will be contrary to his Secret Time was when he had two Secret Wills one inconsistent with or contrary to the other One having no Pleasure in the Death of the wicked and the other having Pleasure in the Death of the greatest part of Mankind And how unworthily and wickedly do they herein speak of of God yea as it were say There are two Gods Whereas the Lord our God is one Lord Deut. 6. 4 5. Or that he is divided from himself or one Secret Will divided from the other Whereas he is One Gal. 3. 20. Or in one Mind and Will and who can turn him Job 23. 13. He is Jehovah he changeth not Mal. 3. 6. Do not err my beloved brethren every good giving and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning Jam. 1. 16-18 And our Lord Jesus is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13. 7 8. 3. This wicked Distinction of the Will or Wills of God makes him guilty of Dissimulation and Hypocrisie which are most hateful and abominable to him in others and without all doubt he is most clear thereof himself for it makes him to speak one thing and mean another And though his Lips drop as the Honey-comb and his Mouth be smoother than Oyl yet war is in his heart toward the most of men toward whom he professeth so much love as Psal 55. 21. Burning Lips such as speak kindly and pretend fervent love And a wicked heart which is full of hatred are like a Potsheard covered with silver-dross he that hateth dissembleth with his lips and layeth up deceit within him when he maketh his voice gracious believe him not for there are seven abominations in his heart whose hatred is covered by deceit his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole Congregation Prov. 26. 23-26 And God forbid that we should suppose that He who hath pleasure in uprightness 1 Chron. 29. 17. And who is the most upright Isa 26. 7. should be guilty of that which is so hateful and abominable to him in others Our Lord Jesus who is the Brightness of his Fathers Glory and the Express Character of his Person in seeing whom we see the Father also Though he hated all Iniquity yet most severely enveighed against and denounced Woes upon those who were guilty of Dissimulation and Hypocrisie Matth. 23. And therefore without controversie this is most hateful unto the Divine Majesty and so hateful that an Hypocrite shall not come before him Job 13. 16. And for such so remaining the Blackness of Darkness as it were is reserved Mat. 24. 51. But now if God were guilty hereof which is most abominable to conceive then we might also be safely guilty thereof for we are exhorted to be followers of God as dear children Eph. 5. 1. And our Saviour instructs and commands his Disciples to be Children of their father which is in Heaven in loving their enemies Not to have a mouth full of Love and an heart full of Hatred towards them But sincerely and cordially to love them adding presently Be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect And then presently cautions them that they should not be or do as the Hypocrites But in all their love and expressions of kindness towards their Enemies and others should be hearty and have their Conversation in the world and one toward another in simplicity and in the sincerity of God Mat. 5. 44-48 and Chap. 6. 1 2. c. with 2 Cor. 1. 12. Oh take we heed we attribute not Lying or Dissimulation to him who though he can do all things which are Acts of Power or Potency for he is the Almighty yet cannot possibly Lye or be guilty of Hypocrisie for that is an Act of Infirmity and Impotency Heb. 6. 18. The four living Creatures thus give Glory to God saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty To assure us that he is holily Almighty and Almightily holy And such an One he was and is to come even from Everlasting to Everlasting Rev. 4. 8 9. 4. This ungodly Distinction is justly chargeable with Non-sence for while some speak of Gods Revealed Will what do they mean thereby but that it is the Revelation of his Will which is more hidden or the manifesting or making known of his Will which is secret Now how can that be rationally called his Revealed Will or the Revelation of his Will which is disagreeing with and contrary to his Secret Will But indeed as evil men who have not the faith of Christ are unreasonable and absurd As the Apostle gives us to understand 2 Thes 3. 3. So are also all those corrupt Notions and Distinctions which consent not to wholsom words the words of our Lord Jesus
And he shall answer and say unto you I know you not whence you are c. Luke 13. 24-29 Mat. 25. 10-13 But now I say while God is waiting that he may be gracious unto sinners he hath no pleasure none at all in their eternal Ruine and Perdition Isa 30. 8-18 And so surely to him that is joyned to all the living there is hope Eccl. 9. 4. The very end of Christ in so loving all men as to die for them was That they which live who are still continued in the land of and joyned to all the living might no longer live unto themselves but unto him who died for them and rose again 2. Cor. 5. 14 15. Yea though Sinners and ungodly Ones have long persisted in their folly and disobedience yet while he is long-suffering it is a Day of Salvation 2 Pet. 3. 9-15 And unto such Wisdom utters her Voice saying How long ye simple Ones will ye love simplicity and the Scorners delight in their scorning and Fools hate knowledge Turn ye at my reproof c. Prov. 1. 21 22 23. Isa 50. 1 2. Even as our Lord Jesus speaks and saith If any man here my words and believe not I judge him not To wit now he doth not judge him as that is opposed to saving he doth not say he will never judge him for he will hereafter judge all and yield Vengeance unto all that know not God and obey not his Gospel who will be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power as 2 Thes 1 7 8 9. Acts 10. 40 41. But now during the Day of Gods Grace and Patience he saith I judge him not John 12. 47-49 Hence the Wisdom of God thus speaks unto men and unto the Sons of Adam Indefinitely considered and saith They that seek me early to wit while it is called to Day shall find me And thus exhorts them Now therefore to wit in the opportune season hearken unto me for blessed are they that observe my ways Prov. 8. 1-4 5. 17. 32 33. And thus also we have given some Answer unto this Enquiry and have shewn how long or during what time the Lord God hath no Pleasure in the Death of the Wicked That is to say While he is exercising long-suffering towards them and they are joyned unto all the living And thus we have spoken unto the Explication or explaining of those four things we propounded to Enquire into which we desire may be duly minded and diligently considered And shall now proceed on unto the next considerable to wit 2. We come nextly to give some further Evidence and Proof of the Truth of what the Lord God here so solemnly swears to namely That he hath no pleasure in the Death of the wicked Though indeed his Word and Oath here given us are such Immutable Things and Infallible Proofs as may sufficiently assure us of the Verity of what is so Affirmed and Confirmed But we have not onely this Scripture speaking such gracious Words but others also much-what to the same purpose Thus it is said Have I any pleasure at all either Revealed or Secret in the Death of the wicked saith the Lord God Indeed this is propounded by way of Question or Interrogation But as is usually observed is a vehement Denial of that questioned about And to put all out of doubt he who propounds the Question and best and onely perfectly knows his own Will and Pleasure gives Answer hereto in the same Chapter and saith positively I have no pleasure in the Death of him that dieth saith the Lord God c. Ezek. 18. 23. with verse 32. And we have the two famous Apostles the Apostle of the Uncircumcision and the Apostle of the Circumcision speaking after the same rate The former saith thus God our Saviour will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2. 3 4. The latter thus The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. And these Scriptures considered together more confirm the truth of this Doctrine And this three-fold Cord is not quickly broken But I shall desire to add some other Proofs and Evidences to Assure us of the Truth hereof Namely 1. It appears Evidently That God hath no pleasure in the Death of the wicked nor of any sinful Creature of Mankind while it is called to Day in that according to his Promise he hath actually raised up a Saviour even Jesus This Purpose and Grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the secular times but is now manifested by the appearing of our Saviour c. 2 Tim. 1. 9 10. When the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law Gal. 4 4 5. Which was an high Act Evidence and Expression of the Love of God towards the Sons of Men As our Saviour saith So God loved the World to wit of Mankind that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have everlasting life For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World thorow him might be saved John 3. 16. 7. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners Indefinitely considered 1 Tim. 1. 15. In this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his onely begotten Son into the world that we might live thorow him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son the Propitiation for our sins he sent the Son the Saviour of the World 1 John 4. 8 9 10-14 And Jesus Christ by the will of God his Father came into the World not to destroy mens Souls but to save them Luk. 9 55 56. To which end He in the Greatness of his Love died for all even for all of Mankind that were dead 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. And God crowned him with glory and honour that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man Heb. 2. 9. And he rose again for their justification Rom. 4. 15. and Ch. 3. 23 24. and Ch. 5. 6-8 12. 18. Now herein is clearly and undoubtedly evidenced That God hath no pleasure in the Death of any of Mankind while it is called to Day In that he hath devised such a Device and done what he devised that his Banished might not be expelled from him as 2 Sam. 14. 14. When Christ was born into the World one Angel saith unto the Shepherds Behold I bring you glad-tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you Men and not unto the Angels Heb. 2. 9. 16. is born this day a Saviour c. And the multitude of the heavenly host praised God and said Glory to God
as good as his word unto his Apostles it is therefore also said They went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them c. Mat. 28. 18 19 20. with Mark 16. 15-20 He therefore that rejecteth rejecteth not man but God who hath also given his holy Spirit unto the Ministers of his Word to accompany them 1 Thes 4. 8. And this also shews he hath no pleasure none at all in the death of the wicked while it is called to Day But to this particular I shall not here further enlarge because we shall have apt Occasion to speak somewhat further unto this and the former particulars in what followeth 4. That he is not willing that wicked Ones should perish appears also and is evident hereby In that our Lord Jesus Christ doth by the will of God make Intercession for Transgressors Isa 53. 12. to speak good for them and to turn away Gods wrath from them as Jer. 18. 20. with Chap. 27. 18. He is the Propitiation for their sins who through Grace believe and not for their sins onely but also for the sins of the whole world 1 John 2. 2. The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World That Judgment may not speedily be executed upon it John 1. 29. And hereby the Apostle doth prove and demonstrate That God will have all men to be saved And therefore hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked Because there is One Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all 1 Tim. 2. 4 5 6. And while he Intercedes for Sinners and Transgressors God hears him And Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the Day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6. 1 2. He doth by his powerful Intercession prevail as a Prince with God his Father that further Patience and Forbearance might be exercised toward such as deserve to be cut off in their Trespasses And this is an Evidence that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance Because he is long-suffering to them And the Apostle exhorts the Believers to Account or Reckon that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation To wit toward them to whom it is exexercised Their accounting his long-suffering Salvation doth not make it so to be But his Long-suffering being Salvation gives them good ground so to account it for his Long-suffering is a Fruit of his Love and Charity toward them to whom it is vouchsafed 2 Pet. 3. 9. 15. with 1 Cor. 13. 4. while God waits he waits that he may be gracious even towards Rebellious Ones also Isa 30. 8-18 that they might be brought unto God 1 Pet. 3. 18. 20. As it is said concerning Gods professed People in former times many whereof were disobedient and rebellious Yea many years didst thou forbear them that thou mightest bring them again to thy Law Neh. 9. 29 30. And hence also when the Lord is said to be Long-suffering or slow to Anger then very frequently he is affirmed to be merciful and gracious or of great kindness To signifie to us That his Long-suffering is an Evidence and Expression of his Mercy Grace and kindness towards the Sons of Men Exod. 34. 6. Num. 14. 18. Neh. 9. 17. Psal 86. 15. and 145. 8. Joel 2. 13. Jona 4. 2. Rom. 2. 4. Object But against what we are now considering some may object and say Christ would not vouchsafe to pray for the World And then to be sure he did not die for it Nor is it the Will of God that the World should be saved but he hath pleasure in their destruction John 17. 9. Answ This saying of our Saviour's is much abused and wrested by many who are Enemies to the Grace of God in Christ to Mankind And his words are altered to make them serve their evil Design For 1. Our Saviour doth not say He would not pray for the World or that he never did or will pray for it But his words are I pray not to wit at that present time for the World c. Now that doth not at all deny that he might pray for the World at another time As may appear in other sayings of like nature As where our Saviour saith concerning his Apostles I speak not of you all John 13. 18. It would be very false from hence to infer That he would not nor never did speak of them all for other-where it is very evident he did so Matth. 10. 1. John 6. 67. So also he thus speaks in another place concerning his faithful Disciples I do not say that I will pray the Father for you John 16. 26. Now would not those men who so pervert John 17. 9. exceedingly blame any that should infer herefrom and say Our Saviour never said he would pray for his own Disciples Because he there saith I do not say that I will pray the Father for you And indeed such an Inference would be most untrue and exceedingly condemnable for though he did not there say he would pray the Father for them yet else-where he doth so say for in John 14. 16. he thus assures them I will pray the Father for you c. And the same we may apply to this Scripture objected as will further appear by and by 2. There is this good Reason why the World should then be excluded from his Prayer in that place because he is putting up Requests to his Father for the then Actual Believers and which were onely proper to be petitioned for them and not for the World while in that state to wit That they might be kept in Gods Name that they might be one that they might be sanctified through the truth and sent into the World as Christ was to wit to preach the Gospel c. John 17. 9-19 Now how could our Saviour pray for the World while of the World in these Petitions which were not proper to be presented for them Could he pray That they might be kept in Gods Name that were not in it Or that they might be one in their evil Ways and Designs Or that they might be sent into the World to preach the Gospel who did not believe the Gospel No surely But this doth no more deny that our Saviour ever prayed for the World than Abraham's praying for his Son Ishmael or Isaac denies he ever prayed for Sodom That is to say not in the least for at several times and in divers Petitions he prayed both for the former and the latter 3. Nay it evidently appears in Johâ— 17. That our Saviour prayed for the world though not in verse 9-19 Or the good of the World was one great thing aimed at and designed in his praying for them who were chosen out of the World for that Prayer may be divided into four Parts First Our Saviour prays for himself and therein prays not for the World nor for the Believers directly John 17. 1-5 then he prays for such as were then
or O that thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace Luke 19. 42. As also the truth of what the Lord swears to appears in that he speaks as one grieved at the very heart that men have turned a deaf ear to him and scattered their ways unto strangers and obeyed not his Voice As it is said by himself Forty years longer was I grieved with this generation and said it is a people that do err in their hearts and they have not known my ways Psal 95. 10. So he speaks as one grieved in Spirit and saith My people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me Psal 81. 8-11 And of our Lord Jesus who is the Image of the Invisible God it is said When he beheld the City he wept over it saying If thou hadst known even thou c. Luke 19. 41 42. John 13. 21. The truth hereof also is evidenced In his slowness to Anger and loathness to give them up who refused to return unto him but were Idolaters and bent to back-sliding from the Lord. As How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I delivar thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Seboim Mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God and not man the holy One in the midst of thee And I will not enter into the City Hos 11. 2-8 9. Mal. 3. 6. And lastly As to this particular That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked is evident and evidenced in his Readiness to Repent him of the Evil threatned by him and justly deserved by them upon their turning to him And readiness to receive unto his Mercy great sinners though their wickedness hath been very great and long continued in Though their wickedness hath been like unto Sodom and Gomorrah and though their sins have been as Scarlet and red like Crimson yea though they have spoken and done evil things as they could As Isa 1. 10-18 Jer. 3. 15. So the Lord saith Turn unto the Lord your God And to move them so to do he adds For he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Joel 2. 12 13. Thus he dealt with Nineveh when he saw their works that they turned from their evil way God repented him of the evil that he said he would do unto them and he did it not But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry and said I pray thee O Lord was not this my saying when I was yet in my Country Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil Jonah 3. 8-10 and 4. 1. 2. So when Ephraim repented and smote upon the thigh the Lord saith Is Ephraim my dear son Is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord Jer. 31. 18-20 How ready and forward was the Father in the Parable to be reconciled unto and with joy to receive and give entertainment unto his prodigal Son when through his necessity and indigency he though of returning and began so to do When he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and fell on his neck and kissed him c. And I say unto you saith our Saviour That joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance Luke 15. 2-7-12-32 Nay when some such have not turned to him with the whole heart but feignedly how ready hath he been to spare them As it is said Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouths and they lied unto him with their tongues for their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant But he being full of compassion forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not Yea many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath And the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation Psalm 78. 34-36-38 1 King 21. 27-29 Now all these things considered and put together do clearly evince and evidence to us That the Lord hath no pleasure in the death of him that dieth How can it once enter into our hearts or be entertained by us That he who so expostulates with wicked Ones and saith Why will ye die That so pathetically desires desires their good that is so grieved at the heart for the hardness of their hearts as Mark 3. 5. That is so loath to give up such as have highly provoked him to anger That is so ready to repent him of the evil and to receive with joy and gladness such as repent and turn unto him from their Iniquities and to spare them who feignedly turn unto him that they might consider their ways and turn their feet unto his Testimonies That he mean time doth secretly delight in and desire their Eternal Ruine O my Soul come not thou into the Secret of them who suffer such wicked thoughts of God to lodge within them Unto their Assembly mine Honour be not thou united as Gen. 49. 5 6. 7. As also it appears That the Lord hath no pleasure in the Eternal Ruine of the Wicked while it is the Day of his Grace and Patience Because he doth not delight in severely correcting here in this World He doth not willingly or from the heart afflict or grieve the children of men To crush under his feet all the Prisoners of the earth the Lord approveth it not Or feeth it not to wit with delight Lam. 3. 33-36 He doth indeed afflict and execute judgments in the Earth on those who contemn his Counsels But he doth not take Pleasure therein nor doth he punish them but when their need requires it for he is slow to anger and his Soul is grieved for their misery who have greatly sinned against him Judg. 10. 16. It is not pleasing to him now to plead with wicked Ones in his furious Rebukes Hence it is said The Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim he shall be wroth as in the Valley of Gibeon that he may do his work his strange work so called because it is an unpleasant work to him As Job's breath is said to be strange unpleasant undelightful to his Wife Job 19. 13-17 And bring to pass his Act his strange Act Isa 28. 21. And therefore he doth not bring to pass his strange Act till there be a necessity for it as it were And all more gracious and favourable means and methods have proved unsuccessful and ineffectual Hence the Lord saith I will melt them and try them to
wit throw them into the Furnace of affliction as Isa 48. 10. For how shall I do for the daughter of my people As if he should say What other course can I take for the reclaiming them from their evil ways All those more-mild means he had been making use of had proved in vain toward them and therefore he would thus proceed against them in doing this strange and undelightful work amongst them Jer. 9. 7. Unto Acts of Mercy and Grace he is very forward and exercises himself therein preventingly without and before mens desires And notwithstanding their demerits He giveth liberally to all men and upbraideth not John 3. 16 17. 2 Cor. 1. 3. Jam. 1. 5. But unto Acts of severity towards wicked Ones he is very backward while it is to Day And some of his holy Servants have seemed to think him too backward and unready thereto and therefore have they earnestly imprecated Judgments upon great Offenders before he hath executed them Jer. 11. 20-23 and Chap. 18. 20-23 And thus pleaded with him Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look upon Iniquity or Grievance Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he And makest men as the fishes of the sea c. Ha. 1. 2-4 13-17 Ps 35. 17. Yea when that eminent Prophet Elijah made intercession to God against Israel saying They have killed thy Prophets and digged down thine Altars c. So gracious was the Lord and so slow to anger that he excepts against the Prophets Charge and as it were pleads for them Rom. 11. 2 3 4. Now then to Argue from the Less to the Greater and from the Shorter to that which is Perpetual If God had no Pleasure to inflict tolerable and comparavely light Afflictions upon evil men surely then much rather we may conceive and conclude That he doth not delight in laying upon them such Judgments and Torments as are even intollerable and unsupportable And again if it be not pleasing to him that Sinners and evil Doers should be severely afflicted in this life with momentany and short Afflictions much more unwilling is he that they should go into that everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels and therein he destroyed wth everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his power And doth not the Lord himself lead us thus to Reason for the holy Spirit directs the Prophets thus to Assert and say The Lord will not cast off for ever But though he cause grief he will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies But what doth he bring to prove and evince that he will not cast off for ever It presently follows For he doth not willingly afflict c. As if he should say He who now doth not from his heart or with delight afflict for a moment is more unwilling to cast off to all eternity Lam. 3. 31 32 33. Thou shalt consider in thy heart saith Moses that as a man chasteneth his Son the Lord thy God chasteneth thee Deut. 8. 5. Now how doth a tender-hearted Parent chasten his froward and stubborn Son Surely with a great deal of loathness and reluctancy It is not the Work of his Delight so to do Even so our Gracious Father who is so pitiful and of such tender mercies that the most prudently indulgent Parent here is but evil in comparison of him as our Saviour gives us to understand Matth. 7. 11. doth not delight to afflict his Sons and Daughters as all men are by Creation and Redemption Mal. 2. 10. Deut. 32. 6. 19. when they provoke him to anger but is very slow and backward thereto And as we may be confident and safely conclude that no tender-hearted Parent who hath no Pleasure to whip his Son hath much less any Pleasure to kill him and to bereave himself of him for ever So likewise we may more confidently perswade our selves That the God and Father of all who now chastens not Sinners for his Pleasure hath much more no Pleasure to cast them into Hell-fire where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched Heb. 12. 10. And they that will entertain and hold fast such thoughts of God as these That though he doth not willingly afflict the Sons of Men yet he hath a secret Delight or Pleasure in their endless and eternal Ruine and Misery must turn their Reason out of the Doors of their Souls that they may keep their unreasonable groundless and absurd Opinion in possession But the Apostle tells us That such as consent not to wholsom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ they are fools knowing nothing as they ought to know but doting about Questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envy strife railings evil surmisings c. And he therefore thus counsels from such with-draw thyself 1 Tim. 6. 3 4 5. 8. And lastly It also appears and is hereby evidenced That the Lord God hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked By the Afflictions and Judgments which he now executes and infflicts upon them for though he doth not willingly afflict as hath been said before yet he doth afflict Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth He forms the Light and creates Darkness He makes Peace and creates Evil To wit Evil of Affliction and Judgment Isa 45. 7. Amos. 3. 8. And this doth evince and evidence to us That he hath no delight in their destruction in that he makes use of such Methods for their Amendment as are strange and grievous to him which will yet further also appear if we duly consider these two things Namely 1. The Reason or Motive of his Afflicting and Judging them and that is His love and merciful kindness towards them towards their Immortal Souls Indeed we are apt to look upon Afflictions as Tokens and Testimonies of his hatred towards us But in so doing we judge according to outward Appearance and do not judge righteous Judgment for his love moves him to correct us when our need requires it and so it doth towards the righteous And his trying them is opposed to his hatred Psal 11. 5. Hence the Apostle saith My Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth Prov. 3. 11 12. with Heb. 12. 5-7 Yea and it is out of love towards men generally that he doth try them and correct them for their Faults and Follies Hence Job breaks forth into Admiration and saith What is man that thou shouldst magnifie him that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him to wit thy love and affection that thou shouldst visit him to wit with Afflictions and Corrections as Ps 89. 32. every morning and try him every moment Job 7. 17-19 And when the Angel and Church of Laodicea were become
of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out Rom. 11. 30 31 32 33 34. The Consideration whereof might preserve us from being censorious or rashly judging any when God is inflicting his most severe Judgments upon them For who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellor Verse 34 35. Yea he sometimes gives up wicked Ones in his Church unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that they might learn not to blaspheme And that their Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord 1 Cor. 5. 4 5-13 with 1 Tim. 1. 19 20. And this is not onely his End in those severe and dismal Judgments which he executes upon them that were in his Church and of his people professedly But also as with respect to such as were never joyned thereto or of the number thereof Hence the Psalmist thus Imprecates as with respect to such as were without the Pale of the Church O my God make them like a wheel as the stubble before the wind So persecute them with thy tempest and make them afraid with thy storm Fill their faces with shame that they may seek thy Name O Lord. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever to wit in their evil Designs and Enterprizes yea let them be put to shame and perish That they may know that thou whose Name alone is Jehovah art the most High over all the Earth Ps 83. 13-16-18 And hereby also it appears That God is not willing that any should perish in that he doth Afflict and Judge the Sons of Men though not willingly or delightfully so And doth in all the Afflictions and Chastisements which he is inflicting on them and chastening them withal even in the greatest and more severe also Design their purging from their Iniquity and Conformity to his Mind and Will And so their Eternal Good and Benefit And as is also said before the two Particulars under this last-mentioned Head do mutually evidence the truth of each other That is to say In that he Chastens and Corrects out of love this shews That his End in all his Rebukings is good towards men And in that his Design and End is good and gracious towards Men in his now Judgings of them therein we may see that his Love towards them moves and prevails with him to make use of the Rod of Correction that he might thereby purge out of the Hearts of the Children of Men that Folly that is bound up in them 2 Chron. 33. 10 11 12 13. Isa 9. 12 13. His judgments are as the light that goeth forth for he desireth mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings Hos 5. 14 15 and Chap. 6. 1-5 6. Amos 4. 6-9-12 Jer. 4. 13 14. Psal 9. 19 20. 3. But now having I conceive sufficiently evidenced and demonstrated the truth of what the Lord God here swears to namely That he hath no pleasure none at all neither Revealed nor Secret in the Death of the wicked in the Eternal Destruction of him that dieth according to the Explication fore-given I shall now with the Assistance of the good Spirit of God note and infer from what hath been said some Instructions that may be of usefulness unto us As to say 1. If the Lord God hath no pleasure in the Death and Eternal misery of the Wicked Then we may be confident that he had no Pleasure in the Death of the Righteous as all Men were as they were Created of God in the first Publick Man And before he did eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil whereof God commanded him he should not eat For All were then Innocent and Righteous God created Man in his own Image in the Image of God created he him To wit In Knowledge Righteousness and Holiness of Truth Gen. 1. 26 27 with Eph. 4. 23 24. Col. 3. 10. God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good Gen. 1. 31. This onely have I found saith the Preacher that God made Man upright Eccl. 7. 29. Yet some there are that say The greatest part of Mankind was Reprobated of God before the World had a beginning and while all Men were Righteous and in the pure mass This is so directly contrary to what we have said and to the whole Current of the Holy Scriptures that nothing can lightly be invented or devised by the wit of man more blasphemously opposite thereto and is therefore to be abominated by us For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness and therefore also he loveth the righteous his Countenance doth behold the upright Psal 11. 7. and 146. 8. The righteous shall never be removed Prov. 10. 30. Behold saith Bildad God will not cast away Reject or Reprobate as the word signifies a perfect man Job 8. 20. He will not doom them to everlasting Destruction that is far from him Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right as Abraham saith Gen. 18. 25. God forbid that we should entertain or suffer to lodge within us such vain and wicked thoughts of him who hath now no pleasure in the death of the wicked that he should hate the righteous And yet after this rate they speak who say That he Reprobated the most of men before the Fall for the manifestation of the Glory of his Justice For Reprobation in Scripture always signifies an Act of Hatred in God towards the Persons Reprobated a Judicial Act of Hatred for some Iniquity committed and continued in by those who are so Reprobated Jer. 6. 16-30 Rom. 1. 23 24-28 But the naming this dreadful and ungodly Opinion is sufficient to discover its odiousness unto those that give Glory to God in believing the Truth of what he Affirms by his Word and Confirms by his most solemn and Indubitable Oath And therefore I shall add no more to that 2. If the Lord God hath no Pleasure in the Death of the Wicked Then we may assuredly know believe and conclude that he hath no Pleasure in the Everlasting Destruction of such as are onely necessarily polluted and defiled as all men since the Fall are in partaking of the Nature of Man Christ onely excepted who was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit and so knew no sin But as with respect unto all others in partaking of the Nature of Man they unavoidably partake of the filth of sin They are shapen in iniquity and in sin did their Mother warm them Psal 51. 5. How can Man be justified with God Or how can he be clean that is born of a Woman Job 14. 4. and 25. 4. Now I say If God hath no Pleasure in the Death of them who add rebellion to their sin as Job 34. 37. And in whose filthiness is lewdness as Ezek. 24. 13. We may be confident he hath none in their Ruine and Perdition who could no more prevent their being sinners in this respect than they could prevent their being Creatures or the
wrath tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile for there is no respect of persons with God Rom. 2. 1-4 5-11 There will be no good reason or just cause to blame the Almighty as if he were the Author of their endless misery And if any shall so do He will be justified in his sayings and overcome when he is judged Rom. 3. 3 4. And all â—â—at are incensed against him shall be ashamed when they shall appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ for then they shall know and confess That he had no Pleasure during the Day of his Grace in their Perdition but willed that they should be saved And therefore thus called unto All Look unto me all the ends of the earth and be ye saved for I am a just God and a Saviour and there is none besides me Isa 45. 21 22 23 24. And specially such as continue wicked amongst Gods Professed People will be inexcusable in that day and will be even speechless Matth. 22. 12 13 14. They will not have to plead for themselves That Christ never died for them for he gave his flesh for the life of the world John 6. 51. Died for all even for All of Mankind that were dead and rose again for their justification To the end they might have lived unto him who so dearly bought them 2 Cor. 5. 14 25. They will have no just cause to say That there was no saving Grace vouchsafed to them that they might have been saved from their wickedness For this is very false as afterwards also we may shew more fully And as is intimated in this Oath for without question he that so solemnly swears that he hath now no Pleasure in their Destruction will not be wanting in giving such Grace to them as whereby they may escape that place of Torment The grace of God that bringeth salvation or is saving unto all men hath appeared Tit. 2. 11 12. Or if they should think to excuse themselves or extenuate their wickedness with saying God had reprobated them or past them by before they were born And by vertue hereof they were left under a necessity of perishing and must in conclusion be unavoidably miserable Hereby they will nothing advantage themselves for they do but make lyes their refuge and under falshood seek to hide themselves And when God lays Judgment to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet the hail will sweep away their refuge of lies and the waters will over-flow their hiding place As Isa 28. 15-17 For there is no such dreadful and dismal Decree of Reprobation of any of Mankind in a Personal Consideration as some earnestly and zealously contend for as appears plainly and evidently in what we have said before Nor is the Lord now willing that any should perish as he hath both said and sworn and given his Son to be a Witness of the truth hereof And therefore this will be the Worm that will gnaw upon them for ever That God so loved them when fallen as to give his onely begotten Son to be their Saviour that thorow him they might be saved That Christ by the free Love and Charity of God and by his own Grace tasted Death for them and rose again for their Justification and ascended up on high and led Captivity Captive and received gifts in the Man even for the Rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them That when they came to years of understanding God made known the love of the truth to them to the end they might have been saved and assisted them in order thereunto with his Grace and strove with them by his Spirit to convince them of and convert them from their sins and vanities to serve the living and true God That yet notwithstanding all this they rewarded him evil for good and hatred for his love That they trampled under foot the precious blood of Christ the blood of the Covenant And resisted and offered despight unto the Spirit of Grace Heb. 10. 29. And despised all the riches of Gods goodness and forbearance and long-suffering vouchsafed to them Rom. 2. 4-6 Oh! this I say being reflected on will fill them with desperate Grief and Vexation of Spirit That when it was Gods will they should be saved they would not so be That when Christ would have gathered them as an Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings they would not be gathered Then they will blame themselves onely and even say How have we hated instruction and our heart despised reproof we have not obeyed the voice of our teachers nor inclined our ears to them that instructed us Prov. 5. 7-13 Wisdom 5. 2-8 Then they will be ashamed and cry for sorrow of heart and howl for vexation of spirit That when God called them they did not answer That when he spake they did not hear but did evil before his eyes and chose that wherein he delighted not when they might have chosen the things that pleased him And which would have been eternally profitable to themselves for if they had been wise they should have been wise for themselves But having been Scorners they alone must bear it Isa 65. 11-15 Prov. 9. 12. Had their Ruine and eternal Perdition been unavoidable it would be more tolerable And there would have been no good Reason for them to have blamed themselves But when they shall consider they wilfully sinned and brought upon themselves eternal Destruction when God was not willing they should perish and sware As he lives he had no pleasure therein Oh! this will aggravate their misery how can their hearts endure the thoughts hereof Or how can their hands be strong Ezek. 22. 13 14. And yet thus it must needs be I mean Man's Perdition will be and appear to be wholly of himself And none shall be Damned hereafter but such as might have been saved and yet did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved 2 Thes 2. 10 11 12. And this is evident from what the Lord God here swears to namely That he hath no pleasure in the Death of the wicked Object But against what hath been even now said some may object and say It evidently appears that some Persons were personally elected to salvation before they were born yea before the foundation of the World Eph. 1. 4. And therefore also it necessarily follows that some were then also personally reprobated and must needs perish hereafter Answ To this Objection I shall more briefly give Answer because I have elsewhere largely considered it and shewed some mens great mistake concerning it And therefore I shall here onely say 1. If it should be granted that the Apostle speaks there directly of some mens being elected to Salvation before the Dejection or foundation of the World Yet it appears evidently that they were not chosen thereto in a personal consideration but as considered in Christ and so as Believers in him for the
words are He hath chosen us in him before the Dejection or foundation of the World c. Ephes 1. 4. After some such consideration as Levi paid Tithes in Abraham Heb. 7. 9. It would be most absurd and ridiculous to suppose that that Individual person Levi paid Tithes to Melchisedech before he was born but he did it in Abraham So here no person is elected in a personal consideration before he is born nor otherwise elected to Salvation but in Christ to wit as considered in him who is the Root of Election and the Prime Elect That is to say God in choosing Christ before the Dejection of the World did therein choose all those who should in their several Generations through Grace believe as Believers in him and no otherwise So that the same Person who to day doth not believe and so is not in Christ nor elected yet to morrow believing is then chosen in Christ and made of that Generation or Species chosen in Christ before the Dejection of the World He is now of the elect Generation who before he believed was not of it as Rom. 9. 24-26 1 Pet. 2. 4 5-9 10. But 2. I further say That Eph. 14. speaks not of mens being chosen to salvation but of sâ—me mens being chosen in Christ to an excellent ministration or service And to a more excellent One than any before Nor were they chosen thereto in a personal consideration but as considered in Christ and as Trusters in him and as first Trusters in him as Ephes 1. 12. as plainly appears by the change of the persons In the two first Verses of Ephes 1. The Apostle speaks to the believing Ephesians and saith unto them Grace unto you c. But then from verse 3. to verse 12. he speaks not of them but changes the persons never saith You but always We and Vs to assure us he speaks of some others and not of them And having so done then in ver 13. he again returns to and speaks of them and saith In whom ye also trusted or believed after ye heard the word of truth c. So that all contained from ver 3. to v. 12. respects those that trusted in Christ before the Ephesians were in Christ and so before they were chosen And ver 4. particularly speaks also of the Apostles as Believers in Chriâ—t and Apostles being chosen to the ministration not of the Letter but of the Spirit as 2 Cor. 3. 5-10 That is to say in short God before the Dejection or Foundation of the World chose Christ to be the Mediatour Saviour and great Apostle and purposed to send him in the end of the World actually to make peace for us and to preach it to us and reserved this honour for him That the mystery which was hid from former Ages and Generations should by him be opened He then also in Christ chose the first Trusters in him to be Instruments in this choice Service and Ministration to preach the Gospel according to the revelation of the mystery Eph. 1. 8-10 11. As the Apostle else-where saith We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world or ages unto our glory to wit for the Glory of the Apostles of the Lamb which place is very suitable to the other 1 Cor. 2. 7. with Ephes 1. 4. And this is the proper and direct meaning of Ephes 1. 3 4-12 Now this Election doth not suppose that all others besides the Apostles were reprobated to eternal Destruction God forbid But the very end of Gods choosing them in Christ to this excellent Ministration was That the world there-through might be saved Joh. 3. 17. with Chap. 17 18. As Paul saith Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Commandment of the everlasting God made known to all Nations for the obedience of Faith Rom 1. 5. and Chap. 16. 25 26. So that this Election was intended for the good of the whole world And we still conclude That God is not willing that any should perish And because he hath no Pleasure in the Death of him that dieth it necessarily follows as hath been shewed That their Destruction who perish is wholly of themselves he hath no hand therein nor heart thereto while it is the day of his Grace and Patience 4. And lastly as to this seeing God swears That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked in the death of him that dieth as is before explained Then hereby we may see and know who are like to God and Children of him and who they are that are not so 1. They are not therein born of God who privily bring in Heresies of Destruction or destructive Errors and Doctrines such as tend to the perdition of men as those certainly do who teach men to deny the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. And do not these evil Doctrines do so which teach That Christ died not for all nor tasted death by the Grace of God for every man but onely for the Elect as they speak That though God with his revealed Will would have all men to be saved yet not so with his secret Will That though he commands all men every where to Repent yet he doth not vouchsafe such sufficient or saving Grace whereby they may so do In short That there is a certain determinate number of Mankind elected in a personal consideration before the World was and these shall be brought in to believe in due season irresistibly and so preserved that they shall not possibly fail of the Grace of God however they demean themselves and all the rest are reprobated and must necessarily or shall infallibly perish in conclusion how much soever they indeavour to fly from the wrath to come c. These and such like Doctrines yea All such as consent not to wholsome Words the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine according to Godliness are not of God Nor are such of God therefore who plead for or preach them I mean therein they are not of God as the Apostle John signifies in that Rule he gives the Believers whereby they might know which Prophets are of God and which are not We are of God saith he namely the holy Apostles were so in their Word and Doctrine for Christ gave unto them the Words which the Father gave him John 17. 7 8. He that knoweth God heareth us He that is not of God heareth us not hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of errour 1 John 4. 6. with John 8. 47. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God 2 John 9-11 And our Saviour when he denounceth Woes against the Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites the first
they may lawfully do if it be not expedient and profitable to others but may cause them to perish whom God would not have perish As that Godly and God-like Apostle saith If meat make my Brother offend I will eat no flesh while the world stands lest I make my Brother to offend 1 Cor. 8. 9-13 and Chap. 10. 23. 33. But having spoken so largely unto what the Lord God swears to Negatively namely That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked I shall add no more thereto But God enabling me shall proceed unto the next thing to be considered by us That is to say Mind we also what the Lord God swears to Affirmatively to wit But I have Pleasure that the wicked turn from his way and live Which is like unto that which he intimates concerning himself and is Affirmed of him in other places of holy Scripture So the Lord saith Have I not pleasure that the wicked should return from his ways and live Ezek 18. 23. To this purpose also the Apostle Paul Asserts of him saying God our Saviour will have all men to be saved to wit from their sins 1 Tim. 2. 4. with Matth. 1. 21. And the Apostle Peter saith The Lord is willing that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. And therefore now he commandeth all men evâ—ry where to repent Acts 17. 30. Isa 45. 21 22. Now then in this Branch of the Subject-matter of what the Lord God also swears to there is plainly signified to us 1. That as he hath no pleasure in the death and eternal destruction of the wicked So also he hath no Pleasure in Sin or in mens evil sinful and wicked ways He is not a God that hâ—tâ— pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him Psal 5. 4 5. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity To wit With approbation or well-pleasedness Hab. 1. 13. Sin is the most loathsom and odious thing to him that is It is a detestable thing Ezek. 11. 18. 21. As the Lord himself signifies saying Howbeit I sent unto you all my Servants the Prophets rising early and sending saying O do not this abominable thing that I hate Jer. 44. 4. Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Do not erre my beloved Brethren saith James 1. 13 14 15 16. Indeed too too many there are who take occasion by his goodness lenity and forbearance to think and conclude That God is well-pleased with their evil and wicked ways According to that These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self Psal 50. 16-21 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words saith the Prophet yet ye say wherein have we wearied him when ye say every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them or where is the God of judgment Or as it is rendred in a former Translation Where is the God that punisheth Mal. 2. 17. That is to say Because God was long-suffering toward evil Doers and did not presently or severely judge them therefore some abused his slowness to anger and concluded That he was not such an Hater of sin as indeed he is Or as the Preacher saith Because sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed therefore the heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Eccl. 8. 11. Nay indeed because God is so slow to anger towards evil Doers and so bountiful towards them in filling their houses with good things Some holy men of God though they have ascribed Righteousness and Holiness to their Maker have yet been put to a stand or to seek how to reconcile such like Providences with his Purity and Holiness for or at some time So the Prophet Jeremy saith Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper Are all they happy that deal very treacherously Thou hast planted them yea they take root they grow yea they bring forth fruit thou art near in their mouth and far from their reins Psal 73. Jer. 12. 1 2. So another Prophet saith Art thou not from everlasting O Lord my God mine holy One Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy Tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he c. Hab. 1. 12 13-17 and Chap. 2. 1-4 Job 10. 3. But whatever evil use wicked men make of his Goodness and Forbearance and how painful or difficult soever it hath been or may be to good men to reconcile these things with his Purity and Holiness as Psal 73. 16. yet without all doubt or peradventure he is an holy Lord God And there is none holy as the Lord for there is none besides him as 1 Sam. 2. 2. And the way of the wicked is an abomination to him Prov. 15. 9. He is a most perfect and eternal Hater of sin as plainly appears in his Word and in many Instances of his severity that are therein propounded to us He spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell delivering them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment And spared not the old World but brought in the Flood upon the World of the ungodly And turning the Cities of Sodom and Gomorah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly 2 Pet. 2. 4 5 6 9 10. He spared not the natural branches but cut them off from the good Olive-tree because of their unbelief Rom. 11. 17-24 Yea if his own People sin against him he will visit their transgressions with the Rod and their iniquity with stripes Psal 89. 30-32 If I sin against thee saith that perfect and upright man then thou markest me and will not acquit me from mine iniquity Job 10. 14 15. Nay he will not spare the most eminent amongst his People but will punish them for their Iniquity if they sin against him Moses and Aaron among his Priests and Samuel among them that call upon his Name They called upon the Lord and he answered them Thou answeredst them O Lord our God thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance of their Inventions Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill for the Lord our God is holy Psal 99. 6. 9. Nay when God laid upon his dear Son the Iniquities of us all as Isa 53. 6. Though he was the man his fellow higher than all meer Creatures whatever his Son by Nature And though he was beloved of him with an higher degree of Love
it from us or from any thus to turn the truth of God into a lye as we are too forward to do How shall we that are dead to sin to wit by the Death of Christ live any longer therein Rom. 6. 1 2 3. See also Rom. 3. 3-8 Gal. 5. 13. But now to rhe end we may not think that what God swears to the truth of is in favour to our sins but in love to our Souls Therefore he not only swears Negatively I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked But also Affirmatively But I have pleasure that the wicked turn from his way and live In which he plainly intimates to us his Abhorrency of Sin while he assures us of his love to Sinners and of his no-pleasure in their everlasting misery and perdition That none of us should wrest his Sayings to our own destruction as 2 Pet. 3. 16. But to this we may have further occasion to speak somewhat in what follows and therefore shall here add no more to it 2. In that this is also contained in what the Lord God swears to to wit That the wicked turn from his way and live Herein is also intimated to us That the wicked may turâ— while it is called to Day from his wicked ways and live He may turn there-from possibly and successfully This is also implied and supposed in this Oath For we cannot reasonably believe that this most Excellent One would so solemnly swear that he hath pleasure in that which is utterly impossible for his Creatures to do or which he doth not render or make possible unto them as we may afterwards further shew But that such may turn appears 1. In that he hath opened a Door of Repentance for poor sinful wicked Ones in and by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. We were indeed Gods banished Ones 2 Sam. 14. 14. And no man could by any means redeem his Brother nor give to God a Ransom for him Psal 49. 7. But God hath prepared himself a Lamb for a Burnt-Offering and hath accepted a Sacrifice He that was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God made himself of no reputation without controversie or confessedly Great is the mystery of godliness God was manifest in the flesh Gods own Son was made of a Woman and so became our Goâ— our Kinsman and Redeemer Thereby the Right of Redemption appertained to him Lev. 25 48 49. And He by the Charity of God tasted death for every man and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and gave himself a Ransom or Price of Redemption for all men whereby he hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us And hath opened away for our being brought back to God He hath broken the Gates of Brass and cut the Bars of Iron asunder Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the Children of Men. Psal 107. 15 16. Christ once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit 1 Pet. 3. 18. The Law opened no Door of Repentance but it clapt the Curse upon every one that did not perfectly and constantly keep and observe it As the Apostle saith As many as are of the works of the Law are under the Curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3. 10. But Christ hath opened a way and is the way by which any sinful One may come unto God John 14. 6. He is the Door by which any one may enter into the Fold because he died for All yea rather is risen again without which we had been necessarily left in our sins there had been no Repentance from them nor Forgiveness of them John 10. 9. 1 Cor. 15. 15-17 Heb. 9. 22. And in his Name there is preached Repentance unto all Nations even unto the greatest and most notorious Sinners while men are joyned to all the living And our Lord Jesus was sent and came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance And answerably did so even the greatest Sinners while he was upon the Earth Matth. 9. 11-13 Mark 1. 14 15 And sent forth his Apostles to preach not the Law but the Gospel that men might repent Matth. 10. 7. with Mark 6. 12. So when he was Raised again from the Dead he enlarged their Commission and commanded them to go into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature of all the Nations of Mankind and there-with to call to Repentance to repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentanee Mark 16. 15. with Luke 24. 46 47 48. Acts 26. 17 18-20-23 God now commandeth all men every where to repent Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained having given or exhibited faith unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 30 31. Rev. 14. 6 7. And upon this ground the Wicked and Ungodly are expresly called upon to turn from their Iniquities because Christ who was delivered for their Offences is raised again As it is said Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thought and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him Isa 55. 3 4-7 with Acts 13. 34. 2. It further appears also That the wicked may turn from their evil and wicked ways while it is to day not only because they are called to Repentance and commanded to Repent as is said But also because he who thus calls and commands them doth also enable them so to do especially where the Scriptures are vouchsafed and the Gospel is plainly preached to men The wisdom of God doth not only call unto such as have long loved simplicity delighted in scorning and hated knowledge and saith Turn ye at my reproof But to encourage and enable them so to do she adds Behold mind and consider this well I will pour out my spirit unto you to wit to strengthen them to what she requires of them she doth not call them to repentance simply but also stretcheth forth her hand to help their Infirmity and relieve their Impotency Prov. 1. 22 23 24. In saying That the wicked may turn from their wicked ways we do not suppose nor believe that they have any sufficiency of themselves so to do as of themselves or that they have naturally any freedom of will or power to turn themselves for in them there dwelleth no good thing but they are carnal and sold under sin Rom. 7. 14. But we are assured from the testimony of the Lord that he who sent his Son into the world to be the Saviour of the world hath also exalted him to his right
hand a Prince and Saviour for to give repentance to rebellious ones to wit to give unto them in and with his Call that Grace and divine Assistance whereby they may come to repentance Acts 5. 31. for the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared Tit. 2. 11 12. Our Lord Jesus did promise that he would be with his Gospel and the declarers of it unto the end of the world to open the eyes of Jews and Gentiles and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God That they might turn from the evil of their thoughts and ways And faithful is he that promised who also will do it Mat. 28. 20. with Mar. 16. 15. 20. Act. 26. 17 18 23. The law of the LORD is perfect converting the soul for it is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus Psal 19. 7. with Rom. 8. 2. The Gospel is the ministration of the spirit yea it is called the spirit Because is was given forth by the spirit And the Holy Spirit doth accompany it to make it powerful for the turning men unto God 2 Cor. 3. 6-8 And they that resist the Gospel resist not man but God who also hath given the Preachers of it his holy Spirit to accompany them and work together with them whereby they are able Ministers And hence also Stephen saith to the Jews Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the holy Spirit as your fathers did so do ye 1 Thes 4. 8. Acts 7. 51. In God's hand is power and might and in his hand it is to give strength unto all 1 Chron. 29. 12. And he giveth unto all men liberally and upbraideth not Jam. 1. 5. with chap. 4. 5. 6. And indeed That the wicked may possibly turn from their wicked ways and live I mean That God doth give unto them sufficient Grace and Power so to do while he calls upon them so to do is clearly implied in his Oath In that he so solemnly swears that he hath pleasure that they turn from their ways and live as is before said For how can he be said to have pleasure in their conversion who knows they cannot possibly convert themselves and yet though he hath power in his hand to in able them thereto doth not exert it or give them so much as whereby they might be converted and turned there-from unto him If we should see a man ready to fall into some deep ditch or pit in which he will unavoidably perish and know he cannot possibly keep himself out of it but must fall into it necessarily unless some other preserve him from that imminent danger And some one or more of us should seriously assure the man That we are not pleased that he should fall into that dangerous place Nay we swear most solemnly to the truth hereof also If notwithstanding all this we never put forth our hand to keep him back from thus falling no not so much as a fingar which might preserve him from that destruction can it be reasonably believed that we sware what we thought And not rather that we insulted over that piteous person in that his miserable condition So also it is here Our good and gracious and infinitely wise God knows what a sad state wicked ones are in That they are even at the brink of the pit of eternal ruin and perdition and that they have no power at all to deliver themselves That they cannot deliver their souls nor say is there not a lie in our right hands As Isa 44. 20. now he interposes himself by an Oath and swears he hath pleasure they should be kept from that euerlasting destruction And if he now afford them no power at all that they might be delivered there-from what may we think of such an Oath or of him who thus Sweareth Can we believe he speaks as he thinks or thinks as he swears No surely Our Saviour signifies that he who doth not save life when it is in the Power of his hand and he hath opportunity so to do doth destroy though he never swears he hath no pleasure in such a destruction but that he should be saved Mark 3. 4. See Iam. 4. 17. Much rather may he be said so to do who binds his soul with an Oath That it is his good pleasure that such an one should be cured and delivered from his destructive distemper and yet with-holds all help from him in order therto which he might with the greatest ease reach forth unto him Indeed if such an one doth give the dying person a plaister to heal him and helps him to apply it if then the perishing person refuses his blood will justly be upon his own head But otherwise he is to be pitied and the swearing and potent person to be blamed But let all such thoughts of God who is love it self to man-ward be rejected by us He that had so much love in his heart as to move him to swear with his lips That he hath pleasure that the wicked should turn doth doubtless in able them though not force them so to do If any should say as it is frequently urged by some That God gave men power in Adam in the state of Innocency to obey his will and keep his commands And therefore he may still command them to turn though they have no power because they lost it themselves But he lost not his Authority over them To this I say 1. We are not now considering what Authority he hath to command but what Affection and Good-will he signifies to be in his heart toward wicked ones by his Oath both negatively and positively propounded and from thence conclude That he who so swears will certainly not be wanting to afford that to wicked ones whereby they may be preserved from Death and may turn from their wicked ways and live But 2. We utterly deny That God ever gave wicked ones power in the first Adam to turn from their wicked ways and live For 1. There were no wicked ones in Adam before he fell for God made man righteous to wit Adam and all in him Eccl. 7. 29. God made man in his own Image in the Image of God created he him male and female created he them Gen. 1. 26 27. Nor did any nor could any sin while in Adam's loins before he sinned For by that one man sin entred into the world c. Rom. 5. 12-18 2. When Adam had eaten of the forbidden fruit he had no power to convert himself which he would have had had God given him power so to do The first Adam was indeed made a living soul and so might and should have convayed life to his Posterity had he abode in that honourable state in which he was created of God But he was not made a Quickening spirit to Quicken himself or his off-spring when he was fallen from God and become dead thereby It is the last Adam and not
who receive not or receive not to purpose that more grace so as to be saved thereby but giveth grace to wit following and more abundant grace to the humble Jam. 4. 5 6. with 2 Thess 2. 10 11 12. But to this somewhat hath been spoken before and therefore I shall adde no more to it 4. Seeing the wicked may turn from their evil ways and live and it is Gods good will and pleasure they should so do whereto also he is inabling them by his grace and spirit Let such then be encouraged moved and prevailed withal to repent and turn from all their transgressions As Samuel saith unto the people of Israel Ye have done all this wickedness yet turn not aside from following the LORD but serve the LORD with all your heart and turn ye not aside for then should ye go after vain things which cannot proflt nor deliver because they are vain 1 Sam. 12. 20 21. Though you have played the Harlot with many Lovers and though your tongue and your doings have been against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory yet in returning to him from your ransgressions he will have mercy upon you O then say as they did when they were called to repentance and put your words into Act Behold we come unto thee for thou art the LORD our God Jer. 3. 22-25 But to this also we may speak somewhat further and therefore shall not enlarge to it here 3. And Lastly From the Affirmative Branch of the Oath of the Lord GOD in which he swears That he hath pleasure that the wicked turn from his way and live We may note That the wicked must turn or perish There is an absolute necessity for their turning that they may live for without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. If they will still do wickedly they will be consumed as 1 Sam. 12. 25. Or as our Saviour saith Except they repent they will all perish Luk. 13. 3 5. Though God hath manifested his love to manward and manifested himself to be Love and Charity it self in sending his Son the Saviour of the World yet he sent him not nor did he come to save men in their sins but from their sins 1 Joh. 4. 8-14 with 1 Tim. 1. 15. Christ once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God 1 Pet. 3. 18. he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Gal. 1. 4. Tit. 2. 14. And if we could have been happy or lived abiding in our sins what needed Christ to die for All and rise again And God hath exalted him with and to his right hand a Prince and Saviour for to give repentance and forgiveness of sins not to give forgiveness before or without repentance But to give the former that they might receive and be made partakers of the latter Act. 5. 31. and Ch. 26. 18. Jer. 36. 3. And though God daily loadeth us with his benefits and be a God of Salvation even the Saviour of all men yet he will wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their trespasses His hand will find out all his enemies his right hand will find out them that hate him And he will make them as a fiery oven in the time of his anger Psal 68. 18-21 and 21. 8 9. If the wicked man turn not he will whet his Sword he hath bent his Bow and made it ready be hath also prepared for him the Instruments of Death c. Psal 7. 11-13 And he who now assures us That he hath no pleasure none at all neither revealed nor secret in the death of the wicked he at the same time assures us That he hath pleasure that they turn from their sinful ways and live And thus speaks unto the wicked Repent and turn from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruin plainly intimating to us That if they turn not iniquity will be their ruin Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord GOD wherefore turn and live ye Ezek. 18. 23-30 32. The wicked may live there is life prepared for mankind in Christ 1 Joh. 5. 11. And by the Gospel life and immortality is brought to light and shined forth 2 Tim. 1. 10. And the Bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto or quickeneth the World to wit preventingly Joh. 6. 32 33. But still if men as thus prevented do not repent and believe the Gospel they have no life in them Joh. 6. 51-53 But he who now is their Saviour will hereafter in flaming fire yield vengeance to them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess 1. 7-10 Notwithstanding all God hath done for sinners and made known to them yet if the wicked turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way he shall die in his iniquity Ezek. 3. 19. and Ch. 33. 9 11. God is not indeed willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and he is as willing with the latter as unwilling with the former 2 Pet. 3. 9. And if they do not come to repentance they must go into perdition as Rev. 17. 8. for though God doth create the fruit of his lips peace peace to him that is far off far off from righteousness as Isa 46. 12. yet There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Jsa 57. 19 21. There is no other way for wicked ones to flee from the wrath to come but by repentance unto salvation not to be repented of Matth. 3. 7 8. 1 Thess 1. 9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God Namely Abiding such and not being washed sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. Gal. 5. 19 20 21. and Ch. 6. 7 8. Eph. 5. 3-7 Col. 3. 5 6. Rev. 21. 8 27. and Chap. 22. 15. Consider we seriously that he who so solemnly swears That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked swears also That he hath pleasure that the wicked turn from his way and live or otherwise the wicked will certainly die And God will swear in his wrath That they shall not enter into his Rest unless a separation be made between them and their sins they will die in their sins and they and them will perish together for ever Ezek. 24. 6-13
he hath an unclean spirit Mark 3. 28-30 And in this their blasphemy they acted or spake worse than the Egyptian Magicians Exod. 8. 19. And hereby also they scattered abroad others from Christ who were gathering to him by these mighty works wrought by the Holy Spirit See Matth. 12. 30 31. and Luke 11. 23. And so this may be called the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost as the Holy Ghost signifies as oft it doth the miraculous works or extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit Joh. 7. 39. Act. 10. 44 46. and Ch. 19. 1. 6 c. 2. Consider we this hainous sin as to the continuance of it This Blasphemy which our Saviour declares to be unpardonable is not one word or act only against the Holy Spirit but a persisting therein until this sin be finished And therefore in St. Matthew and Luke this sin is exprest in the Present-tense whosoever speaketh Matth. 12. 32. or Blasphemeth Luk. 12. 10. And words of the Present time usually denote the duration or continuance of any act as Bâ—lieveth cometh eateth abideth followeth c. Joh. 3. 15 16 18. and ch 6. 35. 37 54-58 and ch 8. 12. 1 Joh. 3. 6. And this may further appear more evidently in that this Blasphemy is exprest in Mark 3. 29. in the Future time He that shall blaspheme c. to wit shall go on so to do till this sin hath brought forth Death And this will yet further appear if we diligently consider that our Saviour prayed for these Blasphemers also when he was upon the Cross Luk. 23. 33 34. And when raised again was sent to bless them in turning away every one of them from his iniquities Act. 2. 22 23-8 and ch 3. 13-15 19 26. 1 Tim. 1. 13-16 with Act. 26. 10 11. So that what our Saviour speaks of this Blasphemy is no discouragement unto any mans returning from his wicked ways nor denial of a possibility so to do hopefully while it is the day of God's grace and patience though it be a powerful Antidote to preserve and deterre men from this hainous sin 2. In the next place consider we also what the Apostle saith in Heb. 6. 4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned c. If they shall fall away to renew them again to repentance c. Likewhereto is that other Scripture in the same Epistle namely Heb. 10. 26 27 28 29. Now for our better understanding hereof mind we these things 1. From whence or after what they fell away and that is as it is exprest in Heb. 10. 26. after the knowledge or acknowledgment of the truth received And after they were sanctified thereby ver 29. And as it appears in this Heb. 6. 4 5. they fell from an high degree of Christianity and after they had received true and excellent operations of the Spirit answering unto as hath been observed by some the forenamed Principles in ver 1. 2. As to say 1. They were once enlightned as ch 10. 32. that is by the Holy Spirit their eyes were opened and they were convinced of the vileness of their Sins and vanity of their Idols and so had effected in them Repentance from dead works as ver 1. with Heb. 9. 14. Act. 26. 18-20-23 2. They had tasted of the heavenly gift That is to say as answering to the second Principle in ver 1. they were made partakers of Faith towards God and so of that Faith which is of the operation of God Col. 2. 12. by which they had discerned and proved the graciousness of the heavenly gift even of our Lord Jesus as 1 Pet. 2. 3 4. of his flesh which was given for the life of the world and of his precious bloud which is the Blood of the new Covenant and Testament shed for the remission of our sins Joh. 6. 33-58 Matth. 26. 28. whereby they were inlivened and quickned 3. And were made partakers of the Holy Ghost This Answers to the Doctrine of Baptisms in ver 2. and shews that these by the several mediums of Baptism were by the powerful operation of the Holy Spirit Baptized into the death of Christ as Rom. 6. 3. And were also risen again with him by the faith of the operation of God who raised Christ from the dead as Col. 2. 12. Phil. 3. 10. And also they were endued with the Excellent and Spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit whereby they were enabled to praise and serve God acceptably and to be profitable unto Men and Brethren Yea they might be made partakers of some extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 4-12-23 4. And have tasted the good Word of God which Answers unto the fourth Principle in ver 2. to wit the Doctrine of the laying on of hands In which Doctrine is taught us That God had graciously promised to hear the Prayers presented in the Name of Christ and to give gracious returns thereto And that where two or three were gathered together in Christ's name he would be in the midst of them namely in such Assemblings Matth. 18. 19 20. Of this good Word of God in the performance of his gracious Promises they had tasted They had proved his Graciousness and Faithfulness in hearing their Prayers and granting their Requests and in manifesting his Presence with them and Blessing upon them in their watching at his gates and waiting at the posts of his doors as Prov 8. 34 35 Heb. 10. 19-23-25 Which laid great engagements upon them to cleave unto the Lord with purpose of heart and to call upon him as long as they lived as Psal 116. 1-7 5 and 6. Have tasted of the Powers of the world to come which Answer unto the two last Principles in ver 2. to wit the Resurrection of the Dead and eternal Judgment which follows after the Resurrection of the Dead And of the Powers in the Doctrine of both these had tasted also namely proved and in some measure experimented the mighty Power of God exerted in the Resurrection Eph. 1. 19 20. in quickening them to a lively hope in raising them to seek after and mind the things above Col. 3. 1 2. In giving them some knowledge of the terrour of the Lord in the day of Wrath against impenitent ones 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. And of the Glory to be revealed on them that in a patient continuance in well-doing seek for immortal Honour and Glory 1 Cor. 2. 9 10. 1 Pet. 5. 1. To which I shall no further enlarge See Mr. Thomas Moore Senior in his Explicite Declaration of the Testimony of Christ Page 585 591. But by what hath been said it appears they were eminent Believers and fell from an high degree of Christianity higher than most attain unto who fill themselves with needless fears as if they were guilty of the grand Miscarriage of these and so in an hopeless condition 2. Consider we nextly the Depth of their Fall and so the abominable hainousness of their Transgression and that is such as
which notwithstanding any thing there said may yet be done 1 Joh. 5. 16. Joh. 16. 26. Now what hath been said to this Objection is not said That men might continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid But to the end That such as conclude against themselves that there is no hope for them might not be discouraged from turning from their evil ways unto God For when God saith in any place of Scripture to the wicked Thou shalt surely die if he turn from his sin c. he shall surely live he shall not die Ezek. 33. 11-13-16 Nay when the Lord said unto Jeremiah Though Moses and Samuel stood before me my mind could not be toward this people c. Jer. 15. 1-3 and Ch. 16. And The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a Diamond c. for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger which shall burn for ever Chap. 17. 1 2 3. Yet after all this he thus commands the Prophet Now therefore go to speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying Behold I frame evil and devise a device against you return ye now every one from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good Jer. 18. 1-6-8-11 Oh then however you have sinned do not say as Cain did that your iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven Gen. 4. 13. Do not so dishonour the Father of Mercies as to conclude he cannot redeem you from your iniquities or deliver you from your transgressions as Isa 50. 1 2 3 4. but return unto him and he will return unto you Mal. 3. 7. And consider thereto that God hath reserved this to himself as his Prerogative To shew mercy to such sinners as unto whom men cannot lawfully shew mercy They say if a man put away his wife and she go from him and become another mans shall he return unto her again Shall not that land be greatly polluted But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers yet return again unto me saith the LORD Jer. 3. 1. Oh then though thou art in the belly of hell as it were yet cry unto the God of Mercy Though thou sayest thou art cast out of his sight yet look again toward his holy Temple And when thy soul faints within thee then remember the LORD and let thy prayer come in unto him into his holy Temple even Christ in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily and who came into the world to save sinners sinners indefinitely and the chief and most notorious sinners Jonah 2. 2-4-7 8. with Col. 2. 9 10. and 1 Tim. 1. 13-15 And him that cometh unto him in this day of grace he will in no wise cast out what-ever he hath been or done Joh. 6. 37. Matth. 11. 27 28. 3. Let me proceed on and say Turn ye turn ye for why will ye die Why will we die May another generation say Why the pleasures of sin are so sweet and delightful to us that we know not how on that Account to turn from them Stollen waters are sweet and bread of secrecies is pleasant We cannot deny but that God calleth us to repentance and there-with inables us to turn from our iniquities But the ways of sin are so grateful and pleasing that it is as the cutting off our right hand or the plucking out of our right eye to bid adieu thereto and turn our backs thereon Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the Leopard his spots Then may we also do good that are accustomed to do evil Jer. 13. 23. Answ Now to this generation I might say many things but having much exceeded mine intention at first already shall therefore be the briefer and propound to these Objectors that saying of the Apostle Rom. 6. 21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end or reward of those things is death Here the Apostle propounds three weighty Considerations to take men off from their sinful courses namely They are unfruitful shameful and eternally hurtful and pernicious 1. What fruit had ye then Even when you did commit sin and were servants of it And so what fruit have you now therein who sow to the flesh and serve sin What fruit may you say We have said already Sin is most sweet and delightful to us Well but yet let me say to you 1. Though the ways of sin are delightful or as the Apostle expresses it though you count it pleasure to riot in the day-time 2 Pet. 2. 13. yet sin is not delightful and satisfactory to the whole man It may appear so to the Body and to the Bruitish and Sensual Appetite but not so to the Superiour Eaculties of the Soul which are not delighted with these low and carnal things 1 Joh. 2. 16. They will not satisfie mens souls for they are the stumbling-blocks of their iniquity Ezek. 7. 19. The most noble part of man as Psal 22. 20. is not delighted herewith but contrariwise sadned and filled with horror and dread thereby while mens Consciences are not so seared as to be past feeling and when they consider and lay these things to heart To this purpose speaks the holy Scripture Though wickedness saith Zophar be sweet in his mouth though he hide it under his tongue though he spare it and forsake it not but keep it still in the midst of his palate yet his meat in his bowels is turned it is the gall of Aspes within him That is Wickedness is the very quintessence of bitterness to his soul how sweet soever it be oâ— appear to be in his mouth Surely he shall not know or feel quietness in his belly to wit in the spirit of his mind Job 20. 12 13 14-20 The wicked man travelleth with pain all his dayes and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor a sound of fears is in his ears In prosperity or peace the destroyer shall come upon him Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid they shall prevail against him as a King ready to the battle because he stretcheth out his hand against God and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty Joh. 15. 20-25 c. And though such may appear very merry and jocund yet as the crackling of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of fools Eccl. 2. 2. and Chap. 7. 6. Nay even in their laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness however to the soul Their soul within them shall mourn Prov 14. 13. with Joh 14. 22. How oft do terrors make them afraid on every side and even drive them to their feet as Job 18. 11. and Ch. 20. 23-25 How doth their heart smite them 2 Sam. 24 10. And how are they pricked in their reins when God is reproving them and setting their sins in order before them Now how can any considerate and sober-minded person call or count that truly delightful which doth so wound
in wisdoms ways whilest thou remainest a stranger and enemy thereto But instead of listening to thine own deceived deceitful and desperately wicked heart hearken what God the Lord saith unto thee for his mouth speaketh truth and wickedness is the abomination of his lips He tells thee that in hearkening diligently unto him thy soul shall delight it self in fatness Isa 55. 1 2 3. and mind well what account the holy onâ—â— of God have given of the sweetness of the ways of uprightness who have walked therein and they will teach thee and tell thee that a day in his courts is better than a thousand elsewhere that Blessed are the undefiled in the way that Great peace have they which love God's law and nothing shall offend them Oh then Taste and see that the LORD is gracious Blessed is the man that trusteth in him Psal 34. 8 Come eat of wisdoms bread and drink of the wine she hath mingled forsake the foolish and live and go in the way of understanding for he that cometh unto Christ the bread of life shall never hunger and he that believeth on him shall never thirst Prov. 9. 1-6 with Joh. 4. 14. and Chap. 6. 32-35 Thus saith the LORD stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls Jer. 6. 16. 2. But not only are the ways of sin and wickedness unfruitful but also they are shameful in themselves and unto them who judge righteous judgment And that consideration might somewhat take men off from continuing therein Eph. 5. 11 12. Indeed thorow mens continuance in them and hardening their hearts from Gods fear they make themselves in an high degree shameless the unjust knoweth no shame Jer. 6. 15. and Ch. 8. 12. Zeph. 3. 5. Yea some there are that glory in their shame Pnil 3. 19. But however sin is a loathsom shameful thing and when God reproves sinners and sets their sins in order before them they shall then see and be ashamed thereof Psal 50. 21. with Isa 26. 11. Ezek. 43. 10 11. Yea indeed persons who walk in evil ways do signifie them to be shameful in that they walk in them in the dark And the light is unto them as the shadow of death Job 24. 13-17 Joh. 3. 20. And even such as walk in crooked ways themselves will laugh at and shame their companions in evil for committing the same wickedness which their own heart knows they themselves are guilty of Rom. 2. 1 2 3. which shews unto us that they when they consider things cannot but acknowledge that wickedness is a filthy detestable thing Prov. 13. 5. And the consideration thereof is very powerful to cause men to relinquish that whereof they are ashamed Shame hath this effect upon many men too frequently as with respect to that which is not shameful but truly honourable and highly valuable how many turn their backs upon Christ and his Gospel ways and people because of the reproach of men Isa 51. 7 8. Mark 8. 38. yea such like effect it had like to have had upon some pillars in the Church as to their making mention of Gods righteousness Hence the Prophet saith I am in derision daily every one mocketh me And again The word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me and a derision daily Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name c. Jer. 20. 7 8 9. 10. Psal 39. 1 2 3. But would men but come to the light by which all things that are reproved are made manifest in their right and proper colours and would they thereby commune with their own hearts upon their beds and be still how would the loathsomness and shamefulness of iniquity appear to them so as to cause them to loath themselves in their own sight and even to abhor themselves and repent in dust and ashes that they have so oft and so much polluted themselves with that filthy nasty thing Eph. 5. 11-13-15 c. Ezek. 20. 43. 3. Yea not only are the ways of impiety and profaneness unfruitful and shameful but also destructive and deadly yea endlesly and eternally so if still continued in the end of those things is death Rom. 6. 21 23. And therefore were sin at present never so delightful and pleasurable as in truth it is not as hath been shewn yet seeing it will be bitterness in the end and that without end who would for the enjoyment of the pleasures of sin which are but for a season be cast into the lake hereafter where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched Mark 9. 43-48 Knowest thou not this saith Job that the triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment Job 20. 4 5. But the doleful and dismal reward of wickedness will be eternal when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2 Thess 1. 7 8 9. The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night c. Rev. 14. 9-11 He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be counted worthy who hath trodden under-foot the Son of God c Why what sorer punishment shall such an one undergo than to die without mercy He shall live without mercy in endless torment and that is unconceivably greater Punishment than to die without mercy Heb. 10. 28-31 Now consider this ye that forget God! Is it not the greatest folly and madness imaginable for the enjoyment of the seeming sweetness of a moment to deprive ones self of the real pleasure and to undergo the unmixed torture and torment of Eternity What man in his right mind would buy imaginary contentment and delight at so dear a rate Surely Did men seriously ponder this that the things that are seen and sensibly enjoyed are temporal but the things that are not seen both the glory and wrath to be revealed are eternal it would imbitter that which appears so sweet and grateful to them and cause them to give no rest to their eyes nor slumber to their eye-lids until they turned themselves unto God from their vanities to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus who is the deliverer from the wrath to come as 1 Thess 1. 9 10. And though through thy custom in sin it be very difficult yea impossible for thee to leave thine evils in any strength of thine own and like to the making a Blackamore white yet the grace of God is sufficient for
doth not work irresistably it is presently added Do all things without Murmuring or Anger and Disputings That â—â— may be blameless and harmless c. Phil. 2. 12 13 14 15. And we read of many that have resisted the Truth to wit Christ in the Gospel 2 Tim. 3. 8. That have resisted the Holy Ghost Act. 7. 51. That have refused to return when God drew them with the Cords of a Man with Bands of Love Hose 11. 4 5. That were not gathered when Christ would have gathered them Matth. 23. 37. That would not come unto Christ that they might have Life though Christ spake unto them that they might be saved Joh. 5. 34 39 40. And indeed the pleading for this irresistable Power doth tend to render the Gospel and the Preaching of it foolishness and makes the Requirings Exhortations and the Cautions thereof useless things and leaves no room for Obedience or Disobedience nor for Rewards or Punishments And therefore such an Apprehension or Misapprehension rather is to be abhorred and abominated by us for it openeth a wide Gap to all Spiritual Slothfulness yea to all Prophaneness and Licenciousness whatsoever And makes them that heartily entertain it desperate or careless in seeking after the things which belong to their Eternal Peace and Welfare Because they conclude That when Gods time comes he will overcome and bring them to believe if they be of the Elect number will they nill they And otherwise there is but one Decree for them all as Dan. 2. 9. They must notwithstanding all their Endeavours to the contrary receive this from Gods Hand to wit lie down in dreadful and endless Misery and Sorrow hereafter Oh reject we and abominate all such Instructions or Doctrines which cause to err from the words of knowledge Prov. 19. 27. And consider we That while God calls Men he enables them to turn unto him from their evil ways but doth not so force them but that still they may and ought to comply with that Grace given or they may possibly reject the Grace of God or receive it in vain even ineffectually and unprofitably 2. Cor. 6. 1. And though the Apostle Paul was converted in an extraordinary way or after an unusal manner yet it appears that he was not converted irresistably in that he saith I was not disobedient to the Heavenly Vision He doth not say nor intimate as many do That he could not possibly have so been but the contrary is rather signified in his so saying Act. 26. 19. As also plainly appears in that Caution and Warning our Lord setteth before him at the very time of his Conversion in saying unto him I am Jesus whom thou persecutest It is hard for thee to kick against the Pricks Act. 9. 4 5. And though he was so extraordinarily not irresistably converted yet still he passed the time of his sojourning in fear And did not conclude he could not fail of or fall from the Grace of God But he kept under his Body and brought it into subjection lest that by any means when he had preached to others he himself should be a Reprobate or cast away 1 Cor 9. 26 27. and Chap 11. 32. Phil. 3. 8. 11-14 Oh then Let no Man deceive you with vain Words or idle Dreams and Visions of their own Heart but set your Hearts unto those words confirmed with the Oath of the unchangeable God the onely living and true God which we have been somewhat largely considering and which he commands his Prophet to speak unto the house of Israel Namely say unto them As I live saith the LORD GOD I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye for why will ye die O house of Israel 18 April 1679. THE END ERRATA PAge 1. In the Text for 21. 11 p. 52. l. 25. r. in p. 83. l. 17. add they l. 21. dele Comma p. 90. l. 12. r. 1-5 p. 91. l. 13. r. thought p. 92. l. 15. dele desires p. 106. l. 9. r. when p. 114. l. 18. r. 2 p. 137. l. 17. r. unsuitably l. 19. de Comma p. 149. l. 14. r. hear p. 154. l. 8. r. Goel p. 160. l. 15. r. preserve p. 196. l. 9. r. enlivened p. 204. l. 17. r. was p. 208. l. 24. r. Appetite