live for ever and let us put up our Prayers and say O Almighty and most Merciful Father we adore thy Mercies and admire thy Love to the Word in the Gift of thy Son O blessed Jesu how worthy is thy Love to be had in reverence over all the World for thy voluntary susception and affectionate suffering such horrid and cruel Tortures the Waters of bitterness entred into thy soul and the Storms of Death and thy Fathers Anger broke thee in pieces What shall we do who by our sins have tormented our dearest Lord What contrition and tears can sufficiently express those sad accidents which they have produced Lord have Mercy upon us Christ have Mercy upon us and pity our distress And seeing thou hast done so much for our Souls only speak the word and thy Servant shall be whole Suffer us not to neglect that great Salvation which thou hast purchased for us Dispose us by Love Thankfulness Humility and Obedience to receive the benefits of thy Incarnation and Passion Enflame our Affections more and more towards thee and God the Father whose goodness was not contented in barely loving us but to love us so as to give us thee the only begotten Son of God And so I come to the Organ and Means by which our Redemption was effected the gift of his only begotten Son Wherein we consider both the Action he gave and the Gift it self His only c. We begin with the Action And first He gave it gratis freely and of his own accord for he was omnipotent and could not be constrained by any force all Creatures depending on him alone Acts 17.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In him we live move and have our Being It was not therefore any compulsion but love only which was so generous as to transport it self up to Heaven and assault the Divinity in its Throne drawing from thence the Eternal Son of God 2dly God so loved the World that not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he delivered him and so St. Paul useth it He spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all Rom. 8.3 He was delivered up to the malice and fury of evil men and thence delivered up to the ignominious death of the Cross 3dly Nay God did not only deliver him up but also sent him For saith the Apostle in this was manifested the Love of God because he sent his only begotten Son into the World 4thly And to augment his Love if perfection will admit of addition This Mission is the more to be accepted by us because it was by way of commutation and exchange for us Commutavit filium suum unicum He exchanged his only begotten Son It was the Worlds Price was set to sale and how dearly did he purchase it What reason then have we to spend every moment of our Life in loving praising and glorifying him And when we contemplate these admirable contrivances of his Wisdom and Mercy can we do less than say O God what shall we return thee in requital or wherewith shall we appear before thee When we would praise thee an Abysse of Majesty exhausts in a moment all Encomiums and our adorations what are they before thy Divine Essence Could we render our selves uncreated in deference to thee the Fountain of all Beings it were a poor Homage to thy ineffable Greatness Nay could we annihilate the World and bring all Creatures into their old postures of nothing for thy Glory yet what is this compar'd with what thy immensity might justly expect But while we labour with our Poverty finding nothing created worthy thy acceptance Oh astonishing Mercy behold the perfect oblation of thy Son which thou hast given us the prodigious Effect of thy Love Him we offer unto thee and through him we hope to be accepted None can speak our Gratitude but that word who can only satisfie thy Justice Since by this Gift the very Treasury of Heaven was emptied for a time and the Earth enriched with that pure Sacrifice wherewith thou wert well pleased and the Odour thereof draws upon mankind a continual Floud of Mercies This is a Sacrifice O God thou wilt not despise him we offer unto thee and with him our selves and all that we have beseeching thee to accept of us for the sake of thy Son who was offered up for us all And so I come to consider the Gift it self His only begotten Son Son is a Name by which men oft endeavour to express their endearments and affection to us Thus when Cushi told David of his Sons unfortunate though just 2 Sam. 18.33 death the Text tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latine Commotus The King was troubled and much moved and went up to the Chamber over the Gate where Judgment was administred and wept and said O my Son Absalom my Son my Son and refused to be comforted for his death nay he wished death had been subject to a mistake and took him instead of this rebellious Viper who sought the usurpation of the Kingdom and Death of his Parent And if a Son was so dear to David how dear must he be unto God And consequently what a Noble and Royal Gift must this be of our Heavenly Father It had been too great an Honour to have dispatched unto us the meanest Servant in his Heavenly Court to visit us or if he had deputed an Illustrious Seraphim to proclaim to the World That He who is King of Kings the Great God of Heaven and Earth would be reconciled to his Rebellious Subjects Should we not have been startled at the news of such a Message How much more then when he sends his Son the Prince and Soveraign of the Heavenly Host to be had in no reputation and take upon him the form of a Servant But then 2dly It was his own Son and not anothers He was not an Adopted Son who raised himself by his merits to the Title of the Son of God as Photinus and his Followers would have perswaded the World but he was God of very God and Light of very Light Or was it his Son by Nuncupation and name only as others did imagine but his own Son for otherwise we destroy our belief of the Trinity and conclude the Father Son and Holy Ghost not three Distinct Persons but Names Therefore 3dly Mat. 12.18 It was the only begotten Son of God conceived in the Womb of the Virgin Mary by the powerful overshadowing of the Holy Ghost Here is Love in its Zenith the Son in whom his soul was well-pleased Nay his only begotten Son This is that great Mistery the Apostle speaks of God manifested in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 where we may behold the Eternal Father giving up his only Son in behalf of Mankind polluted and depraved by corruption vitiated by sin disobedient to his Lord and insolent to his King a Worm and no Man a poor scantling of putrifaction and a prey for
only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have ever lasting life SUCH was the unexpressible goodness of God Heb. 1.1 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having in many parcels and in divers manners as the Apostle phraseth it revealed to men the things to come sometimes by Visions and Dreams as he frequently appeared unto Abraham and Jacob sometimes by the coming of his Spirit upon the Prophets 2 Pet. 1.21 for St. Peter informs us how holy men of God spake as they were taught being moved by the Spirit of the Holy-Ghost such were Isaiah Jeremiah and others sometimes by dispatching unto us those immaterial Embassadors of his the Holy and Blessed Angels on their Embassies of love to mankind that he might reconcile them unto himself and at last bring them to Glory But in this latter Age of the World he hath spoken unto us by his Son he hath vouchsafed a mercy of such a quality and noble extent it cannot but incite the most dull and fordid spirit to a pious commemoration of the Nativity of this Mediator betwixt God and Man especially if we reflect on our own unworthiness the nobility of the Person or on this as the only means for lapsed Mans recovery to his Primitive nay to a better state of happiness then that which our First Parents enjoyed Upon which account our Holy Mother the Church hath appointed this day for that solemn purpose that all devout Christians should meet together to celebrate the Birth of our Redeemer and to return our praises and thanksgivings to God for his unspeakable love to Mankind in sending his Eternal Son to assume our nature and to teach and give examples of holy life and at last to die for them rise again and ascend to Heaven All on this one design that every person in the World that shall receive and obey him shall be rescued from eternal death and then made partaker of everlasting life For this gift of his only begotten Son is a mercy of such a weight that we cannot sufficiently admire and esteem it We with the Husband-men in the Parable did evilly entreat the other Messengers he before sent unto us He now therefore sends us his Son saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they will reverence my Son Amongst the constellation of all the Glorious Attributes of God none shine with a more Orient Lustre than that of his Mercy This is his Benjamin in which he takes the greatest pleasures and most refined delight Insomuch that he would not manifest himself unto us in the Thunder-claps and Lightning-flashes of Mount Sinai but in the Mount of Olives a Mount of peace and sweetness for he so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that every one believing on him and receiving him should not perish but have everlasting life In which words I consider First The impulsive or efficient cause of Mans Redemption the love of God God so loved Secondly the persons to whom he express'd this love the World God so loved the World Thirdly The Instrument or Person by whom this Reconciliation was wrought the only Begotten Son Lastly The end or design of this Gift that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have life everlasting We begin with the First The word God is variously taken in Holy-Writ Exod. 22.28 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abusively when it is attributed to Angels or Men. to express the grandeur and dignity of their office and place thus it is used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt not revile the Gods So again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is a Judge amongct the Gods Ps 82.1 v. 6. ib. and so again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have said ye are Gods Sometimes the word is used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 falsly when they are erroneously stiled by this name and reputed as God as the Heathen Idols who were the Workmanship of men and thus it is used by Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Turn ye not unto Idols Levit. 19.4 nor make to your selves Molten Gods and so likewise by holy David Psalm 96 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For all the Gods of the Heathens are Idols but it is the Lord who made the Heavens But the word God is taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a true and right sense when it is either used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the whole Sacred Trinity as that of St. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 4.24 God is a Spirit and so again by St. Paul Rom. 8.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If God be for us who can be against us Where is not meant any particular single Person but the Whole Trinity or Three Persons together And so when it is used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when one only of the Divine Persons are signified and St. Paul useth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord and so again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 17.3 This is life eternal that they know thee the Only True God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Acts 20.21 Where by the word God is not meant all the Three but only the first Person the Father So also St. Luke useth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Church of God which he hath purchased by his own bloud So again by St. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God manifested in the Flesh in both which places is only meant the Second Person the Son So also St. Luke use it in another place only to signifie the Holy-Ghost Acts 5.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast not lied unto Men but unto God By the word God in the Text is chiefly understood the Father for though it may be applyed to all the three Persons yet because God the Father is the Fountain of action he is most properly understood by this term both in this and also in some other places of Scripture as that of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 4.4 When the Fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law Rom. 8.3 and so again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God sending his own Son in the likeness of Sinful Fiesh Nay Our Saviour himself was so far from a scribing this action solely to himself that he doth not disown his mission that he received his authority from his Father to come into the World and save Sinners Thus you may may hear him declaring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am not come of my self but he that sent me is true John 7.28 whom ye know not And thus you have had the various readings of the word GOD in sacred History and the definition according to St. John is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is love and what Justice is it for all men to conclude the same For our Creation was an act of the Almightys which proceeded not from any constraint and tye
of necessity but from the abundant freeness and generosity of his Spirit He should not have needed unless he had pleased to mould us into Shape and form us into Creatures What worth or merit can be alledged miserable dust and ashes that we are whereby we might claim a prerogative or Title to a Being Alas it was undeserved nevertheless he did it without force or compulsion which was an Illustrious Act of his free grace and bounty yet farr excelled by that much more eminent one in the Redemption of us from the slavery and servitude of sin and Satan yes and re-instating of us in a better condition then that which our First Parents so justly forfeited To love us before we were I confess is great love but to love us when we had rendred our selves vile yea and worse then nothing what can it be stiled but the heighth of love To love us in our non-entity is an Embleme of a most Noble Spirit but to love us after our monstrous ingratitude I cannot express it Eph 2 7. but in the words of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the exceeding riches of his glorious and merciful grace For man by his own default had lost his Original Righteousness and was trappand by Satan of all those blessings God of his special favour intended to bestow upon him We were so far from meriting this grand mercy the gift of his only Begotten Son that we had provoked him in the highest measure immaginable and cast all his commandments behind us What can we therefore conceive should move him to give us his Son surely not any loveliness or attractiveness in us We were not such amiable and beautiful Creatures as to cause a God to descend from the Battlements of Heaven and subject himself to the miseries of humane nature but his mercy and wonderful goodness alone which caused him to be invested with the garments of flesh and our Restauration to happiness is to be attributed to nothing but the free Bounty and grace of God For Sense or Reason cannot scruple so evident a demonstration especially if we consider against whom we thus transgressed whose Law it was we thus contemptuously trampled upon whose I pray was it but the Law of the great Legislator himself Did we not Rebel against the Supream Governour of Heaven and Sin against him who spreadeth out the Firmament like a Curtain and limiteth the Sea that it shall pass no further Isa 9.7 How doth the Prophet stile him Wise in Counsel wonderful in judgment and admirable in the execution of his unsearchable Will He is essential purity it self He abhorreth iniquity with a perfect hatred and utterly detests against every thing that is unjust Yet still it was against him that we offended who is cloathed with righteousness as with a garment and holiness as a Breast-plate It was him whom we provoked and consequently forfeited all natural right and possibility to happiness Yet stand still all ye that fear the Lord and see what glorious things he hath done for our souls Behold how his restless love could never be at quiet until it had employed his Omniscience to contrive means and expedients to reconcile both his Justice and Mercy in reconciling Sinners to himself Nay and this merciful design by the Incarnation of his Son He prosecuted in a way so worthy of himself and highly advantageous unto Man 1 Pet. 1.12 that the Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are ardently desirous to pry into them How did this make St. Paul to cry out Suam commendat erga nos charitatem Deus Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his love towards us in that whilst we were Sinners Christ died for us that is when we wanted all motives to invite and had nothing but our misery to cry aloud in the Ears of God for pity and compassion It is an usual expression when we see one in a deplorable condition to say his poverty or misery speaketh in his behalf but this is more eminent surely in our case and it was our misery was so prevalent with the Almighty as to give us his Son to save us when all expectation and hope of Salvation was taken away And how did this Son express his love to Mankind even as the Apostle tells us He being in the form of God Phil. 2.6 7. thought it no Robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of man and being thus arrayed as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross The sense of which is that it was beneath so great a love to love at a less rate then death it self and from the supereminent heigth of glory to stoop to the extreamest of indignities being abased to the bottom of abjectedness that we might be exalted to the contrary extream O Eternal Fathet of mercys thy love and goodness is unmeasurable and thy tender mercys are over all thy works what a large portion hast thou given us of thy love that to us a Son is Born to us a Son is given Thou hast not dealt so with any other creatures as thou hast done with man on whom thou didst stamp thine own Image cloathed him with immortality and constituted him Supream over the rest of the Creation Nay so great was thy goodness O God that when we had lost our selves by departing from thee we should still be found of the in sending thy Son to save and restore them that were lost Lord what is man that thou shouldst so regard him or the Son of man that thou shouldst thus respect him with all thankfulness and praise we remember this day we extol thy love and the humble descent of the Son of thy love Christ Jesus Oh grant that he may be conceived in the heart of every one of us that by the operation of the Holy Spirit Christ may dwell in us and we in him Oh let that Spirit which was in our Saviour inspire our hearts continually with devout affections towards thee that we may love thee beyond what our tongues can express or hearts imagine and so joyn cheerfully with that Coelestial Chorus who are still giving honour blessing power glory and dominion to thee for ever and ever for this thy unspeakable love to Mankind in giving thy only begotten Son that all may have everlasting life And so I descend from the efficient cause of Mans Redemption the love of God to the parties whom he thus loved and they come under a two-fold Consideration their Quality and Quantity We begin with the First God so loved the World By WORLD may be understood the whole compages of all Beings because every creature by the Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour received almost a new life and was in some measure delivered from the bondage of corruption But by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text is especially signified all
Mankind and people in the World Thus St. Mathew useth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wo unto the World because of Offences Mat. 18.7 Yes thus our Saviour himself interpreted it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the World cannot hate you but me it hateth where is meant the People or Inhabitants of the world After the same manner Satan is frequently stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prince of the World because he rules and governs in the affections of men and enthrones himself in their hearts But indeed Expositors are various in their constructions thereof some translate it Sic Deus hominem dilexit God so loved the little World Man some hominem ad imaginem Dei factum Man made after the Image and Similitude of God others hominem lapsum et mundanum fall'n and worldly-minded-man all which Translations contribute to extoll and magnifie the wonderful Love of God For is it not worthy our admiration to see light and darkness enter a League To see the torrid and frigid Zone unite and embrace each other To see JEHOVAH and the Gods of EKRON the Ark and Dagon reconciled to see the God Israel and Baal meet together and the Prophets of the Lord and Sons of Belial kiss each other Yet all these was fall'n man compared to him who is nothing but purity it self yet still how does he court this depraved and sinful creature to a reconciliation Shall we not envy his honour and admire his love who will lay down his life for the sake of a righteous man shall we not then be rapt with wonder when we consider the Immensity of the Divine Love to laps'd man to see the eternal Son of the Most High God descend into the lower parts of the earth and in a manner embrace a Dunghil nay beyond that to expose and submit himself to the cruel stroke of the most ignominious death that he might snatch sinful man from a lamentable downfal and mount him from a miserable earth to the Regions of Immortality and Bliss Herein is love John 4.10 not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a Propitiation for our sins O thou great and All-seeing eye of Heaven what moved thee to glance so favourable a countenance on us miserable sinners what moved thee to send so kind an Embassage of peace to us vile worms to us who were unworthy thy compassion though never so earnestly implor'd to us who had deserved thy wrath more than thy smiles thy Thunder and Lightning thy indignation and anger but not the least drop of thy mercy How comes it to pass thou inexhaustible Fountain of Love thou showr'st down thy goodness upon us in so plentiful a measure 't was thy mercy O God Oh! praised be that mercy which saved us from destruction 't was thy pity and compassion not our tenderness to thy Laws which sheltred us from thy fury 't was thy love and goodness alone Oh! for ever magnified be that love which induced thee to be so bountiful unto us with all thankfulness and reverence O God we desire to join with those Sons of Glory and bright Morning Stars in singing according to our abilitie and power Glory be to God on High for his unspeakable love in giving his only begotten Son that whosoever do believe on him should not perish but have eternal life for thou sent not thy Son into the World to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the Wonders which he doth for the Children of Men. Which is no more then Justice and our bounden duty to perform for if we consult what we are by nature what shall we conclude our selves but Children of wrath the finful Offpring of disobedient Adam made obnoxious to the worst of deaths before we were entituled to life by sinning against God without whose Reconciliation we cannot but perish For though it is true Man at his first creeping into the World was placed in the Regions of felicity and favoured as one of the Darlings of God yet was he not as quickly disobedient to the commands of his Creator how justly therefore was his Crown forfeited and he deprived of all that happiness God had conferred on him when he was banished Paradise and in the sweat of his brows to earn his bread And if he fell so did we by being in his Lovns for since the advantages of that blessing God promised him if obedient had respect to his Posterity then certainly the curse which was the consequence of his disobedience did not relate to his particular interest alone but was of universal influence and he propagated infection to the last and utmost of his Posterity From our First Parents therefore we derive a curse whose Legacy bequeathed us was sin and damnation and all Man-kind were Joynt-heirs of the same Inheritance the wrath of an incensed God Thus holy David confesseth it Ps 51.5 in sin did my Mother conceive me and in iniquity she brought me forth Now what had been the wages of this sin but eternal death what had been the fruit which they plucked from the Forbidden Tree in the disguise of an Apple but everlasting ruine had not the wonderful mercy of God found out an expedient to salve his Justice and save us For had he not dealt thus graciously with his Creatures what could we have in reason expected but to have been swept away in the Deluge of Divine indignation that he should have dipt his Arrow in the Poyson of that Serpent which gull'd and mocked us and exhaust were it possible his whole Magazine of Thunderbolts that he should have girded his Sword upon his Thigh and take Vengeance upon us making us to suck the Lees and dreggs of that intollerable potion reserved for the Sons of Perdition This was the fruit flourishing on the Tree of Knowledge this was that miserable plight and woful condition into which we had brought our selves we had deserved the worst of Gods fury by breaking our bands and Covenant with him Stand still therefore all ye that forget God and admire his goodness and tell me if there be any God like unto our God or any Father like unto our heavenly Father who forbore to enter into the Armory of his wrath or to affright us with the furrows of a contracted brow for notwithstanding we were born Heirs Apparent to calamity without end yet loe he sent his only begotten Son to cut off the entail We have sinned O Lord and dealt wickedly but this Lamb of thine what hath he done that he should be thus battered and bruised wounded and bloudy to save us from the Stripes we had justly deserved how great was thy love to us to send him who was in Heaven with thee to us on earth in the likeness of sinful flesh Oh! what charming love was this how pretious are the thoughts of it to us Grant then O
tells us how the Hebrews with joy sustained the rapine of their goods Heb. 11.16 because they knew there was a more durable treasure and incomparably better inheritance prepared for them What is it therefore which troubles thy repose dost thou bewail the loss of a Parent Relation or Friend Oh consider with thy self he was not born to live always and perhaps like the Righteous was snatched away earlier from the evil to come Moreover If you truly love God as who cannot but love that which is nothing but essential purity it self How canst thou be afflicted at the dissolution of a man since if he perish not to God he perish not to thee and we must not be sorry as men without hope Why art thou then so sad oh my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me dost thou groan under the pressures of an infirm constitution remember with thy self we should not covet to enjoy life but according to the tenour of its grant we breath under constellations which by their variety of influences create variety of humors and distempers and if this be convenient for the good of the universe shall not private respects and particular interests give place thereunto shall I murmur against my God in grumbling at my sickness or rather ought I not thankfully accept it as a present from the most merciful and benign parent ordained either as a chastisement of my sins or tryal of my vertue and blessed is that sickness whose pains lead to salvation blessed is that war which ends in everlasting peace What is it then which makes thee thus disconsolate do the Walls of a Prison affright thee lift up thy eyes unto the Hills and view those immense spaces above the Heavens designed as a praemium of thy Restraint for the deprivation of a little fresh air and some other contentments depending on liberty what spiritual entertainments mayst thou hope to enjoy when Angels are recorded to have accompanied not only St. Peter but also Paul and Silas in the Prison there thou art free from envy and detraction opprobries and calumnies for where is that malice Oh! where is that cruelty will rage upon the prostrate however where is that wise Marchant who Trafficks for so rich a Pearl so great a purchase and will not venture something on the score of persecution Courage then O my soul and welcome the vexations of hunger cold bonds and imprisonments whips or scourges ship-wrecks or nakedness the perils of the Sea City or Wilderness as boni genii good Angels sent from God to minister for them Heb. 1. ult who are Heirs of Salvation For what saith the sincere Christian Nebe 6.11 with Nehemiah shall such a man as I lye shall such a man as I recant am I a child of God and shall not I fight his battels am I a Christian and shall not I fight under the Banner of the Captain of our Salvation how hath Solomon branded me for a Coward Pro. 24.10 and my strength small if I faint in the day of adversity How can I want comfort in the midst of adversity and trouble Pro. 15.15 when a good conscience is a continual Feast With what confidence therefore will I rely upon my God! Isa 28.16 how patiently will I wait the Lords leisure because faith maketh no hast I will pride my self in my Chains and will not be troubled at diseases for though this Sickness may be unto the first yet not unto the second death I will not flatter the Judge out of fear what man can do unto me for whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Pro. 29.25 Shall I betray the cause when God hath appointed it to try me shall I offend my bretheren when St. Paul had rather die than be guilty of being a stumbling block unto any Rom. 14. shall I charge my Conscience when its wounds are more intollerable then the tortures of the body shall I apostatize from my profession and turn from the faith when at my enrolment a member of Christ I so solemnly covenanted with him to maintain it unto my lives end No I will valiantly resist the temptations of the three Cardinal enemies of my Salvation the World Flesh and the Devil let my Friends tempt me like Job's Wife let my Flesh flatter me like Eve let my Persecutors bribe me like Balak let them who suffer with me revolt and abandon me yet like Joshua I will still serve the Lord Josh 24.14 and though every one be offended because of Christ yet will I never be offended for he is instead of comfort health and liberty unto me How great were the troubles of Joseph yet the Lord did deliver him out of all how many were the afflictions of Abraham how many were the sorrows both of David and Job yet thou O my God didst deliver them and therefore thou canst and wilt deliver me for thou art my Castle and strong Tower of defence Oh! hast thee to deliver me that my enemies may not triumph over me yet if thou dost not I will follow the examples of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and will not do evil to escape danger For shall I shrink at this when Christ hath done so much for me Oh! the blewness of the stripes and ghastliness of the wounds Oh the pricks of the thorns and piercings of the Nails all which and much more he patiently submitted to to excuse me from the misery I had justly deserved and what shall I deny my Saviour sopoor a kindness so small a request as to do something for him who hath done all things for me shall he give me his heart and his bowels and shall not I return him the same Is there a flame in him and no spark in me no reflecting of a Sun-beam or repairing of the Stream into the Ocean No with Hester if I perish I perish for I am purposed to observe his righteous judgments If my Purse suffer my mony doth but perish if my body be imprisoned my pleasures do but perish if sickness attend me Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole In whatsoever state or condition therefore I am as Holy David so will I comfort my self in the Lord my God 1 Sam. 30.6 this is the Staf on which I will lean for though earthly Crowns are made of Gold yet heavenly Diadems are made of the thorns of tribulation I will not therefore look for pleasures in my way till I have passed the narrow Gate and am arrived at the place where there shall be no more hunger thirst or cold but all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and the Robes of Scarlet washed white in the bloud of the Lamb who sitteth on the Throne for ever and ever To Whom with the Father and Holy Spirit be all Honour Glory Might Majesty and Dominion now and for evermore Amen GODS LOVE TO LAPS'D MAN John 3.16 For God so loved the World that he gave his
contraction of the guilt of the first man so by the merits of the Man Christ Jesus they are justified freely by Gods grace if they do not fall off from the mercy of the Covenant by prevaricating the conditions of it For through his bloud he hath conveyed notice to all men that they are the Sons of God that they are the Heirs of eternity Coheirs with Christ and partakers of the Divine Nature meaning that they are so by the design of God and the purpose of the manifestation of his Son he being unwilling any should perish but that all should be saved Such was the unmeasurable love of Christ that he would have all men to be saved without exception of City or Country Nation or Language without exception of the ungodly enemies nay without exception of them that perish for it is to give them a space to repent in that he is slack as some men count slackness concerning his promise 2 Pet. 3.9 But alas in our late years of Rebellion when men pretending to fight the Battels of the Lord took up the Weapons of the Divel and under a pretext of the Lords cause entered a solemn league and covenant and swore Allegiance to the Prince of Darkness then also began to flourish their doctrine who say that God designed many Souls to Hell before they had a Being and Existence upon earth insomuch they were incapacitated to work out their salvation their sentence of condemnation being already past in the predeterminate counel of God then began men to flatter themselves that they were the only Children of God the Saints that should inherit the earth and none but they the true people of Sion who were the espousers of their fantastical opinion and perswasion judging all others to be held as Reprobates in the eyes of God because they were so in theirs Then was broached that opinion of a converting grace and irresistable power as if God would urge men to salvation and make them happy without any endeavours of their own if they did but rely on Christ and his Merits for the payment and satisfaction Which Doctrines are of so pernicious consequence that First it renders the Cross of Christ foolishness For wherefore did God give us his Son wherefore did he die rise again and ascend to his Father to what purpose was all that wast of bloud which he shed in our behalf if men were absolutely decreed to salvation or reprobation from all eternity to what end did Christ come into the world when as without consideration to his sufferings or the merits of his death and passion his Father had predetermined from eternity such a number for the pleasures of Heaven and so many for torment without end If it be thus then is Christ dead in vain because the Father might have effected this without putting his Son to the expences of his bloud to redeem us If it be thus the Father had no great love for his Son to put him to such cruelties and hardships not having any cogent or absolute necessity Nay if this doctrine was true it would blemish the wisdom of Heaven for if he had resolved to save some and damn others from eternity he might have done it without the contrivance of that device of reconciling us to himself by the death of his Son because that was intended only to satisfie his Justice and manifest his mercy and what need of that if we consent to a predetermination But then Secondly As it renders the death of Christ insignificant unnecessary so if this be true then is our preaching vain For to what end serve all the commands instructions calls counsels admonitions and reproofs of the Gospel for first they are unnecessary to those who are elected since if they be fully perswaded that they are decreed to salvation from eternity what need they trouble themselves about it when they know they shall be brought in in Gods due time and pleasure by such a converting grace and power as cannot be resisted by them And as the Gospel is useless to these so in the Second place to those who are reprobate for if they be fully perswaded thereof to wit that they must inevitably perish do they what is possible to prevent and avoid it why should men beat the air in labouring to perswade them to that which both the persons to be taught and the persons teaching are fully persuaded can never be effected by them Nay further let us suppose a man doubtful of his state yet if he consent to this doctrine is not the conclusion as if he should say if I be of that number God hath determined from eternity to save I shall be saved though I do what seemeth good in my own eyes for at some time or other which I am as yet ignorant off he will force me from my sins and compel me to obedience by such a power as cannot be resisted by me but if it be my hard lot to be put in the Catalogue of reprobates let me be never so industrious to work out my salvation let me wear the ground with my religious knees by my constancy in praying let me pine my body to a Skelleton by the austerities of fasting and humbling my self before God let me be never so religious never so devout yet still I must be fuel for that fire prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels because it was decreed so from eternity and is more unalterable than the Laws of the Medes and Persians This is the fruit which springs from so corrupt a root and the very case of Ludovicus that learned Italian for he was so miserably infected with this principle that no arguments and reasonings could convince him of its error till perceiving himself indisposed and already fallen into the Neighborhoods of sickness he sends for the Physician who made acquainted with his opinion answered him in his own stile if he should live he should live without trying the experiments of his art and skill the Patient ruminating on his words at last was convinced in his Conscience that as means were to be applied for the restauration of health so likewise for the salvation of the soul Away then with this deluding phantasie which is the parent of nothing but those Twin-Sisters of darkness presumption and despair and let us endeavour to justifie God in his saying that his will is that all should be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 to which end he hath proportioned sufficient means to all so that none can perish but through their own impenitency and perseverance in sin But alas how hath the luxuriant fancies of Geneva endeavoured to poyson this sweet truth by saying that is not meant that God would have every soul to be saved but two or three more or less out of every order and occupation But St. Peter better illuminated than those pretenders to the Spirit hath fully answered their cavil 2 Pet. 3.9 by saying that God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is unwilling that any
Merciful Father that the perfect Image of this thy Son may be so formed in our hearts that we may live the life of Christ serving him in righteousness and holiness all the days of our Pilgrimage here that we may not defeat the ends of his death but strive to compleat the joy of our Lord. To which end we see God spared not his Son but a Manger is his Cradle behold the Bread of life appointed for the Provision and nourishment of our souls he came to fetch home the lost Sheep and to cure and heal the infirm and weak He came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance And what shall we rob our selves of our share in this so glorious an enterprise shall we ruinate the purposes of Christ in delivering us out of that misery wherein we were so unhappily plunged For had not the Father sent him on that errand how had we been broken in peices like a Potters Vessel Whips Scourges and Scorpions had been our portion had not a Rod sprung from the Root of Jesse to save Sinners from the lash Let us then return our thanks to this Redeemer of Israel and say O blessed Jesu who about this time was born of a pure Virgin we return thee our praises and thanksgivings for that thou would be pleased to subject thy self to the miseries of flesh that flesh might be capacitated for the joy of eternal bliss It was our gluttony O Bread of Life which caused thee to hunger our intemperance O fountain of living water which caused thee to cry out I am athirst thou wert made as we are that we might be made as thou art with all the powers and faculties of our souls and bodies we return thee all honour and praise singing with the heavenly quire All glory power and dominion be ascribed to the Lamb and him that sitteth on the Throne for ever and ever Amen And so I descend in the Second place to consider their quantity whom God so loved that he gave his only begotten Son for them God so loved the World He did not give his Son for some choice and select persons only the glorious Son of Righteousness did not dart his radiant beams on the Land of Goshen only but he arose with healing in his wings over the superficies of the whole earth that all mankind might receive benefit by his influence For by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text is meant all the world both Jew and Gentile and so St. Paul useth it saying that God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 2 Cor. 5.18 now what is signified by reconciling the Word is interpreted by St. Paul Rom. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole Creation or all the Gentile World in opposition to the Jewish Enclosure not all the creatures absolutely but all men of all sorts particularly those Gentile Idolators mentioned by the same Apostle whom he stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you who were alienated and strangers to God hath he reconciled to himself Colos 1.21 for he sent him into the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to save all men that were lost to ave all men that were lost to heal the smarting sores not of some few polluted souls only but of all descended from the loyns of Adam For by Adams offence God had concluded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things all his posterity under the guilt of sin Ephes 1.10 and therefore to satisfie his Justice and to manifest his Mercy he hath given us his Son that in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather into one all things both which are in Heaven and Earth where is intimated no more then the people who dwell under the Canopy of Heaven For though the mercy of God and the Merits of our Saviour hath so confirmed and established the Angels in their Stations of glory that it is impossible for them to fall and slide away yet this cannot be said to be by Redemption but by Christs gratious uniting them to God so that I conceive the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot refer to them but only to men because Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did not come to take hold of reduce or reconcile the Angels but only mankind for the Angels in Heaven never fell and therefore what need had they of a Reconciliation so that the Apostle only endeavours to explain to us that Christ is the universal Redeemer of Man-kind of the Gentiles as well asof the Jews which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an act of free undeserved mercy imputable to nothing but Gods meer grace For by our Original depravation we became prone to do evil and are not able to think a good thought insomuch the most righteous of the Sons of men had need of a Saviour to make an Attonement and Expiation for them For the Royal Prophet informs us God looked down from Heaven Ps 14. and none did good no not one Shall the disease then he epidemical and common to all and shall not the cure be the same shall Eves transgression be capable of ruining and destroying all and what hath not Christs all-healing bloud virtue enough to save all Is God a respecter of persons or if we do well shall we not be accepted is not he willing that all should come to salvation why do the Church stile Adams sin an happy sin if our Redemption and the Merits of Christs Sacred Passion was not extended to all even the greatest criminal and highest offendor if he seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him whilst he is near For as by the offence of one Rom. 5.18 death came upon all men unto condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life whence it is clear the remedy brought to us by Christ reached as far as the disease How doth St. John entitle him a Sun which giveth light to every one that cometh into the World John 1.9 There is none overshadowed with so dismal a Cloud of sins who may not if they will take in the rays of his mercy the blackest soul may find the bloud of Christ ready to cleanse her stains and exchange them for a pure die of innocencie if she can with a sincere heart and tongue cry out Have Mercy upon me O God For by the bloud of Christ is conveyed to all men a capacity of Salvation but if they neglect so great Salvation and afterwards come to perish it is through their own default in misusing his gracious endearments and proving refractory to his commands For this is a faithful saying 1 Tim. 1.1 and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners Sinners indefinitely without the exclusion of any And so again He tasted death for every man Heb. 1.9 and is risen again for their Justification that is as verily as all men have sinned by