elders of the Iewes vnto our Sauiour in behalfe of his sicke seruant Luc. 7. 3. was it not to doe the more honour to our Sauiour If the sending of such honourable messengers were some honour to them to whom they were sent what shall we thinke of Gods sending his owne sonne to vs and for vs to make vs his children Doth not God thereby greatly honor vs verely it cannot be denied sith the sending of Christ was more then if he had sent all the Angels in heauen For Christ is made so much more excellent then the Angels by how much more he hath obtained a more excellent name then they Heb. 1. 4. This is so much the more because God sent not his sonne in glory and to liue here in glory but in basenesse and in forme of a seruant cloathed with our base nature yet purged from all corruption as soone as it was separated in the wombe of the Virgin to be that which afterward it was and so to liue a while in pouerty in shame and in all contempt and at the last to be put to the most shamefull death of the crosse as though he had been a worme and no man or as though he had been the vilest man that had before come into the world Were it not a very great honor to a poore yea to a trayterous subiect being somewhere in captiuity bondage and great misery if his Prince should abase his only sonne and send him disguised in base apparell and to vndergoe much pouerty and other hardnesse with shame also and contempt for a time for the redeeming the said subiect and to bring him home to the Court of the Prince there to eat meat with the Prince his sonne and to be accounted as a companion of his How great then is this honour that God hath done vnto vs in sending his own sonne and in exposing him to many yea to all indignities to redeeme vs that we might receiue the adoption of sonnes Before I proceed any further let me here insert another principall cause of our regeneration viz. the mercy of God This may seeme to be all one with the loue of God before handled And indeed it is so like thereunto that it is often confounded therewith so that the word loue is often taken for mercy and mercy is often taken for loue when there is speech of the dealing of God with men especially in the matter of election calling and saluation This may be obserued in diuers places before alledged and therefore I stand not vpon it But although there be great similitude betwixt them yet Note they are also to be distinguished For first of all both are in God towards man but both cannot be in man towards God Loue may be and must be in man towards God but it is very absurd to say that a man may shew mercy vnto God Againe the loue of God hath respect vnto vs as being only the creatures of God euen base creatures such as were altogether vnworthy so great honour of being made the children of God But the mercy of God hath respect and relation vnto vs not only as we are creatures base and vnworthy of the foresayd loue but also as we were miserable especially polluted with infinit 〈◊〉 yea dead in all sinnes and trespasses more then vnworthy of his fauour euen such as had deserued his euerlasting displeasure and indignation as hauing been traitors and rebells against him in the highest degree Furthermore the loue of God is in order before the sending or giuing of Christ being the cause both of our election and also of sending or giuing Christ Iesus as hath beene shewed touching election out of Ephes 1. 5. 6. and touching the sending of Christ out of Ioh. 3. 16. But the mercy of God is only in Christ Iesus and for Christ Iesus his sake as afterward shall appeare Whereas it is said that we are elected in Christ that is not to be vnderstood simply of election itselfe but rather of the ends whereto we are elected viz. adoption and saluation To speake simply of election itselfe it was meerly of the free loue of God and the efficient cause thereof was only in God himselfe And so God hauing eternally decreed our saluation did also at the same instant decree the meanes of our saluation namely the giuing of his only sonne to be made man for vs. We were first in order elected to be saued and then Christ was appointed and at the same instant destinated to be the person by whom we should be saued Therefore as Peter saith that the Iewes had put Christ to death by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God Acts 2. 23. so he calleth Christ alambe vnspotted c. ordained before the foundations of the world 1. Pet. 1. 20. Notwithstanding this priority of decreeing our saluation before the sending of Christ was decreed must be vnderstood of a priority in order in the nature of things not of a priority in time For both being eternall and before all times to wit the decree for sauing vs and the decree for sending Christ to worke out that saluation for vs one could not bee before an other in time For in things eternall there can be neither priority or posteriority in time Thus then we see a plaine distinction betwixt the loue of God and the mercy of God either in our election or in the worke of regeneration or in any other thing That the mercy of God was one of the principall mouing causes of our regeneration viz. which moued God to worke this worke in vs it is manifest also by the testimony of Peter For he in his first Epistle and Chapter hauing after his Apostolicall maner saluted the Christians to whom he wrote maketh this entrance into the rest of the Epistle saying Blessed be God the father of our Lord Iesus Christ who according to his abundant or rich mercy hath begotten vs againe c. 1. Pet. 1. 3. Is it not in these words plaine that the Apostle doth make the mercy of God a principall cause first mouing God to beget vs againe So the Apostle Paul in the worke of our saluation ioineth together the mercy of God and the washing of the new birth Tit. 3. 5. So also particularly speaking of his owne conuersion from blaspheming and from persecuting and oppressing of the Church to the true feare of God and loue of his Saints he attributeth the same to the mercy of God saying I was a blasphemer and a persecuter and an oppressor but I was receiued to mercy or I found mercy By the mercy of God here I vnderstand the pity and compassion that God tooke vpon vs beholding vs in our miserable state by nature being blind deafe dumb lame sicke dead c. as hath been said and so his bowels of compassion being moued towards vs and neuer ceasing to worke as it were in him till by the worke of our regeneration he had released and discharged vs from
be likewise said of the worke of our adoption and of the loue of God in making vs his children This is the Lords worke and it is maruellous in our eies This circumstance noted by this word is to bee ioined with the former word Behold the more to prouoke vs to long after the knowledge of the excellencie of the children of God especially after that knowledge that is by experience sense taste and feeling as it were of the excellencie thereof For no man so well knoweth this excellencie or can so well speake or write thereof as he that is partaker of it and findeth the sweetnesse of it in himselfe For this is that white stone promised to them that ouercome wherein is a new name written which no man knoweth sauing he that receiueth it Reu. 2. 17. The rather is this to bee ioined with the former word to make vs more desirous of getting this title and the more carefull to keepe it being gotten yea to carry our selues according vnto it All men doe gaze vpon the honourable titles of the world and are in great admiration of them but no man almost doth once looke after this yea euery man almost in respect of the contempt wherein this name is with the world afterward to be spoken of in handling this obiection is afraid to be called or knowen by this name As many of the chiefe Rulers that beleeued in Christ for feare notwithstanding of the Pharises durst not professe him Ioh. 12. 42. so many hearing so much as often times they do of the dignity of Gods children haue some desire and could be content to bee the children of God but fearing the world and the great men in the world especially such as to whom they doe specially belong are loth to be seene to haue any minde or affection that way But of these more afterward Thus much of the second word in this text preparing vs to thinke the more highly of the dignity of the children of God heere spoken of The third word is Loue. Behold what loue This word setteth foorth the fountaine or principall cause of making vs the children of God to be the loue of God So it is said to bee the cause why God sent or gaue his onely sonne for vs Ioh. 3. 16. and. 1. Ioh. 4. 9. wherof we shall heare more afterward If the loue of God be the fountaine of sending his sonne then also it is of our making or adopting to bee the children of God For whence is it that we are made the children of God Is it not by Iesus Christ It cannot bee denied and it shall afterward bee more plentifully prooued Heerein the Lord differeth from men for men cannot properly bee said to beget children of Note loue There may be and is in men a desire of children but there cannot properly be a loue of children till children bee begotten and borne For how can men loue them that haue no being at all in nature But God is said to loue vs and in loue of vs to make vs his children or to beget vs againe to himselfe and so his loue towards vs is before we are borne againe or begotten againe vnto him As this loue of God was before the action of our regeneration so it continueth euer after Gods loue is vnchangeable As Christ is the same yesterday to day and for euer Heb. 13. 8. so is God in his loue towards them whom he loueth yea there is not only no change in him but also with him there is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning Iames 1. 17. But being to speake of this loue againe afterward this in this place shall be sufficient thereof The fourth word heere to be obserued is the Father As the former word setteth foorth the originall cause of our being the children of God so this setteth foorth the authour thereof and the subject of that loue before spoken of and that to be not onely God barely considered in his diuine essence but as he is inuested with the title of a Father To speake more plainly The loue before spoken of whereby wee are made the children of God doth not come from God as he is God only but as he is a Father and that first of all as he is the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ And therefore when the Apostle Peter speaketh of this matter euen of our regeneration he saith not only Blessed be God but hee saith further euen the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ which of his abundant or rich mercy hath begotten vs againe 1. Pet. 1. 3. God was alwaies the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ in the distinction of persons in the diuine essence and so Iesus Christ as the second person in the Deitie was alwaies the sonne of the Father euen before all times so that there neuer was any time when the one of these two persons was not the Father and the other the Sonne Secondly this loue heere spoken of commeth from God not only as he is the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ but also as by Iesus Christ he is our Father To speake this also a little more plainly the Apostle heere speaking of himselfe and of them to whom he did write not only as the people of God nor as the workes of God but as the children of God it was therefore the more sit that hee should describe God by such a title as was most answerable to that respect wherein he speaketh of himselfe the writer and of them to whom he did write These being as they were the children of God it was more answerable to the word children that he should say Behold what loue the Father hath giuen vnto vs then Behold what loue God hath giuen vnto vs. For the word God doth more fitly answer to the word creatures or people and the word Father is a plain correlatiue to the word children Now although euer sithence the creation and sithence the first time that there were any elect and beleeuing men God was alwares their Father yet as God was not so knowen to bee the father of our Lord Iesus Christ in the old Testament and before the mearnation and manifestation of Christ in the fleth as â—â—thence so God also Note did not so plainly open and manifest himselfe to be the father of the elect as he hath done sithence the time of the Gospell And therefore wee finde this title Father ostener attributed vnto God in respect of Christ and of the elect in the new Testament then in the old In the old Testament he is most called and made knowen by the name of The God of Abraham the God of Izaak and the God of Iaacob but in the new Testament he maketh himselfe knowen by the name of The Father of our Lord Ieâ—us Christ and of them that by faith are made members of Christ and flesh of his flesh euen one bodie with him As the grace of God which bringeth saluation vnto all men is said especially to
our foresaid miserable state and condition I might speake in this place of the mercy of God in forgiuing our sinnes but because I shall speake afterward of the forgiuenesse of sinnes amongst the benefits belonging to the children of God by their communion with God therefore I will spare all speech thereof here In the meane time that God hath shewed such mercy vnto men as to make them his children it cannot but adde somthing to their dignity For as it is a great preferment to be beloued of God he being the King of kings so it is no lesse matter for such miserable yea rebellious and traiterous creatures as we were to find such mercy with God as not only to be pardoned of all our sinnes but also to be made his children yea this is the greater matter because it is a speciall testimony of the loue of God before handled For if he had not loued vs full dearely he would neuer haue shewed such compassion vpon vs. CHAP. VI. Of Christ Iesus being one of the principall causes of and agent in our adoption of the great price hee hath giuen for it of the worke also of the holy ghost therein and of the true nobility of all Gods children by the ioynt working of all the three persons in their adoption TO returne a little backe and to consider a little more of Christ Iesus as one of the principallest agents in our regeneration all before spoken of the fathers sending of him is so much the more because himselfe also came voluntarily and of his owne accord euen freely offering himselfe to be so sent because he saw that no burnt offrings or other sacrifices would be sufficient for our saluation or adoption and regeneration Psalm 40. 5. 6. 7. When Christ also was come in the flesh and saw and felt what it was that the Father had sent him for and he was come for did he any waies shrinke or shew that hee repented of his former forwardnes Nothing so but he did most willingly proceed and go through with that which the Father had decreed he should performe and which himselfe had taken vpon him to doe in our behalfe viz. not only to accomplish and fulfill all righteousnesse Mat. 3. 15. which actiuely was to be accomplished and fulfilled by him but also to suffer both pouerty reproch contempt and all other indignities wrongs and iniuries with men and euen the wrath of God his father the torments of hell and the sorrowes of the life to come in his soule as well as in his body and in his body as well as in soule we hauing deserued all these things euen such paines and pangs as would haue broken the backe and very heart strings of all the Angels in heauen Notwithstanding all that he suffered onely whiles he liued in the earth long before his last passion Ioh. 12. â—7 and the very night before his said passion in the garden when he praied thrice that if it were possible that cup might passe from him and when his sweat was like drops of blood trickling downe to the ground Luk 22. 41. c. and in his last passion it selfe crying with a strong cry and bitter as it is said of Mordecai Ester 4. 1. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27. 46. Yea so willing did Christ suffer all before spoken and ten times more then can be spoken that albeit till his time appointed was come he did sometime auoid the rage and fury of his enemies yet for all that he did often sharply reprooue his very friends that either gaue him any counsell to the contrarie Mar. 8. 33. Ioh. 11. 8. 9. or that did any thing for to haue rescued him against his enemies that put him to death Mat. 26. 53. His threefold praier before mentioned in shew to the contrary was not so indeed because it was but conditionall and shewed the greater extremity of his passion For after the said Note praier he did not only rebuke Peter for going about to rescue him as was said by smiting off the high Priests seruants eare neither did he onely heale him whom Peter had so maimed the better to shew that he neither had pleasure in Peters rashnesse neither had any spleen against the said high Priests seruant that had come out with other to apprehend him but he did further also tell him that if he would he could by his prayer to his father haue obtained more then twelue legions of Angels to take him from them Who then had laid their hands vpon him Mat. 26. 53. Doth not this most plainly testifie that he did all most willingly Doubtlesse it doth For otherwise he could as easily haue auoided yea and confounded all the company though comming foorth with swords and stanes to take him as by telling them that he was the man they sought for he made them to goe backward and to fall to the ground Ioh. 18. 6. By these things therfore that God so loued vs that to make vs his children he sent his owne sonne and that in forme of a seruant yea and worse then a seruant vnto wretched men not for doing any thing as Paul for biddeth vs to be the seruants of men 1 Cor. 7. 23. but for suffering any thing at their hands And that the sonne himselfe did also this most willingly and cheerfully without any constraint doth it not manifestly appeare that the adoption of the children is much graced and honored Yea certainly the more is that their adoption to be the children of God graced and honored by all things before spoken of because as Christ was therefore sent and did therefore come and being come did also willingly vndergoe and suffer all so also he did effect that which was so the end of his sending comming and suffering For so it is said of him not of the father that as many as receiued him to them he gaue prerogatiue to be the sonnes of God or to be the children of God euen to them that beleeued in his name Ioh. 1. 12. And so although it be said in one respect that he is not ashamed to call vs brethren Heb. 2. 11. yet both in the same place vers 10. in another respect he is insinuated also to be our father in that it is said that he brought many children vnto glory and also he is expresly intituled by the name of Euerlasting father Isaâ— 9. 6. Moreouer by these things thus written it is most apparant that Christ hath not onely made vs the children of God but also that he hath paid full deerely for our said adoption Therefore it is said that we are bought with a price 1. Cor. 6. 20. and 7. 23. and this price was not any corruptible thing as siluer or goâ—d but his owne most pretious blood 1. Pet. 1. 18. 19. and by the blood of Christ are ment all those his dreadfull sufferings before mentioned If God had sent all the Angels of heauen and they had taken our nature vpon
obtaine mercy Matt. 5. 7. then much more blessed and much more may they hope for mercy that iudge wisely of the godly and that shew mercy to the children of God Againe the Prophet praieth or exhorteth to pray that they may prosper that loue Ierusalem Psal 122. 6. by Ierusalem there meaning not only the publike state of the Church but euery particular member thereof because it cannot goe well with the whole except it goe also well with euery member Now although that bee a praier or exhortation to praier yet the matter thereof insinuateth a promise for neither the Church nor any part thereof may pray for any thing in their owne behalfe or in behalfe of any other whereof they haue no promise Forasmuch therefore as the Church praieth or exhorteth to pray for them that loue Ierusalem viz. that such may prosper it followeth that there was and is a promise of the prosperitie of all those that loue Ierusalem that is of the Church and whole compaine of Gods children and euerie part thereof that is of euery one of Gods children therein or thereunto belonging Our Sauiour speaketh yet more plainly and expresly saying that he that receiueth arighteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receiue thereward of a righteous man and that whosoeuer shall giue vnto one of his little ones that is to one of the smallest and meanest children of God a cup of coldwater only in the name of a disciple verily he should not lose his reward Matt. 10. 41. Thus much briefly for the promises of God to all that shall shew any kindnesse to any of his children Touching the threatnings against all that shall deale vnkindly with them first all that our Sauiour speaketh of offending generally any one of his little ones Match 18. 6. Mark 9. 42. Luk 17. 2. may particularly be applied to this purpose If the Angell of the Lord also as Dâ—borah reporteth said Curse yee Meroz Curse yee the inhabitants thereof because they came not to helpe the Lord to helpe the Lord against the mightie Iudg. 5. 23. so condemning them not to haue helped the Lord that did not helpe his people how much more doth the curse of God belong to them that go out to hurt the children of God or that doe any thing for the damnifying of them When the Prophet Ieremiah had said that Israel was as a thing hallowed vnto the Lord and his first fruits presently hee addeth All they that eat it shall offend euill shall come vpon them saith the Lord Ier 2. 3. By eating there the Prophet meaneth the offring of any indignity vnto them For in the time of the Law when things according to the Law were consecrated vnto God what common person soeuer not of the stocke of the Priests did eat of them they did greatly sinne against the Lord and prouoked his heauy indignation against themselues When the Prophet Zecbariah had said He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his ete immediately he addeth this commination against such persons saving For behold I will life vp mine hand vpon them and they shall be a spoile to those that serued them c. Zech. 2. 8. The Prophet Amos saith against the rich men of Israel that dealt hardly with the poore buying them for siluer and for old shoes selling vnto them the refuse of the wheat c. as many rich men doe in these daies the Prophet Amos I say speaketh thus against such The Lord hath sworne by the excellencie of Iaacob Surely I will neuer forget any of their workes Amos 8. 6. Did the Lord with an oath so threaten them that dealt hardly with the poore of Israel who long before were fallen away from God What then doe we thinke threatneth he against all those that any waies deale hardly with them whom in his abundant mercy he hath begotten againe vnto himselfe and whom so begotten he loueth with an euerlasting loue and wil neuer cast them off When Amalek came out to fight against the children of Israel as they came out of the land of Egypt and were trauelling by the wildernesse towards the land of Canaan the Lord spake thus vnto Moses Write this saith hee for a remembrance in the booke and rehearse it vnto Ioshua who was to succeed Moses and in his stead to fight the Lords battles against the enemies of Israel for I will vtterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from vnder heauen Also hee said The Lord hath sworne that hee will haue warre with Amalek from generation to generation Exod 17. 14. and 16. Though this were spoken and threatned particularly against the Amalckits yet it insinuateth a generall commination against all the like enemies of the children of God To conclude this point of Gods promises to them that shew kindnesse to his children and of his threatnings against those that doe shew them any vnkindnesse to conclude I say this point as I beganne the same viz. with a sentence comprehending both so let vs remember that our Sauiour applieth the parable of the vnrighteous Iudge and of the poore widow in this manner Heare what the vnrighteous Iudge saith Now shall not God auenge his elect which cry day and night vnto him yea though hee suffer long for them I tell you hee will auenge them quickly Luke 18. 6. 7. This word to auenge seemeth to import not onely a promise of deliuering the elect from all their wrongs but also a threatning of a iudgement against them that had wronged them All this of Gods promises to the friends of his children and Note of his threatnings against their enemies is much more to bee vnderstood of all good towards them that are any furtherers of their saluation and of all euill against them that doe any wates oppugne and hinder their said saluation Therefore as such loue to the Saints is reckoned vp as a thing accompanying saluation Heb 6 9. 10. so also to hate and persecute the children of God is set downe as a token of perdition Phil. 1. 28. The more excellent also the person of the children of God is to whom any kindnesse is shewed the greater promise is made vnto him that sheweth such kindnesse Therefore in the place before alleged Matt. 10. 41 it is said that He that recesueth a Prophet in the name of a Prothet shall receiue a Prophess reward The same is to bee vnderstood of threatnings The more excellent the person is that receiueth any wrong the more is threatned to him that doth the wrong Thus much of these promises and threatnings Touching the performance of them the Scripture affoordeth vs many examples to witnesse the same As Ebedmelech a stranger none of the people of Israel but a Black-moore had made request to the king of Iuda for Ieremiah being in prison and so had deliuered him Ier. 38 8. c. so when the city of Ierusâ—lem was taken by the Babylonians according to the word of the Lord before spoken by Ieremiah in