took he Counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the Path of Judgment and taught him Knowledg and shew'd him the way of Vnderstanding Behold the Nations are as a drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small Dust of the Balance Behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing The Majesty and the infinite Power that is in God when some glimmering of it is beheld by the Soul how doth it lay it in the Dust before him and make it willing to be resigned up unto him to be disposed of by him For as his own Pleasure and his own Glory was the moving Cause why he created Angels and Men so in disposing of them according to his own good Pleasure who shall say to the most High Why dost thou thus God will be honoured by all his Creatures in a way of Mercy or in a way of Justice That he secured part of the Angels in the state wherein he created them is infinite Grace to them that he gave up others that fell from him to follow the Counsel of their own Wills and to persist in a course of Rebellion against him that so they might glorify the Attribute of his Justice is no Injustice in him the Evil which they brought upon themselves being a voluntary Act of their own That part of the Offspring of Adam are rescued out of their fallen state by rich and free Grace whilst the rest are left to the Light or Law of the first Covenant under which the great Creator hath placed them determining to proceed towards them according to the Tenor of that Covenant which they stand under before him is his own good pleasure In clearing up the Soveraignty of God I shall proceed a little further and before I leave it open two or three Scriptures in Job Chap. 2.3 And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my Servant Job that there is none like him in the Earth a perfect and an upright Man one that feareth God and escheweth Evil and still he holdeth fast his Integrity altho thou movedst me against him to destroy him that is in his outward Estate without cause From hence I observe that Sin was not the moving cause why that great outward Calamity fell upon Job but an Act of God's Soveraignty over his Creature intending to bring Glory to himself out of the Misery of his Servant of whom he might dispose as he pleased without the least Injustice And Job beholding God dealing with him in a way of Soveraignty his Soul was kept in a right frame before him ver 9 10. Then said his Wife unto him Dost thou still retain thy Integrity Curse God and die But he said unto her Thou speakest as one of the foolish Women Shall we receive Good at the hand of God and shall we not receive Evil The best Support for God's Children when under Affliction is to look at the Soveraignty of God that so they may be kept from murmuring against him When we look up unto God as no ways bound to us but as he is pleased himself it makes us stoop before him and when the Soul goeth from its Duty here it goeth from that which should support it in Peace and Quietness An Example we have in Job when he begun to stand upon terms with God how was his Spirit unsettled as Chap. 31. from ver 1 to the 35th and then he breaks forth O that one would hear me Behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me And in ver 37. I would declare unto him the number of my steps as a Prince would I go near unto him Look forward into Job 40. from ver 1 to 15. and we find that God doth come forth to answer Job but how doth he answer him Doth he give Job an account why he brought such Calamity upon him No he stands upon his Soveraignty ver 2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him He that reproveth God let him answer it Doth Job now make good what he said that he would declare unto him the number of his steps as a Prince doth he go nigh unto him No he falls under him ver 3 4. Then Job answered the Lord and said Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth Here is the end of the Creatures standing upon terms with God and here is the safety of God's Children to endeavour to witness a humble submissive frame of Spirit to him I have treated hitherto of the Soveraignty of God I come now under the second Head to shew that Election proceeds from God as an Act of Grace and Goodness the advancing of his own Glory being that which is carried on in the Decree of Election Rom. 9.23 And that he might make known the Riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto Glory For altho God was infinitely happy in himself yet so great is his condescending Grace to those whom he doth by his eternal Decree choose to be Vessels of Mercy that he is pleased to manifest of his Goodness to them and to take them into a state of eternal Glory with himself nothing foreseen at all in them being the moving Cause of God's choosing of them the only Cause being the good Pleasure of his Will 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which is given us in Christ Jesus before the World began Chap. 2.19 Nevertheless the Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his This Doctrine administreth great Comfort to the Saints who feel the Work of Election upon their Hearts that their Salvation standeth by God's eternal Decree that cannot be changed and not in themselves that daily might lose it How doth this make the Saints love God to the uttermost who hath manifested so great Love to them How doth this serve to humble them that they had nothing of themselves for their Salvation but it freely came from God Thirdly I shall proceed to shew how the Lord Jesus Christ is made the Head of the Elect and the way through which electing Love doth pass to every elect Person I shall prove it by these following Reasons 1st Because that our Nature in him was fitted as a Tabernacle for the receiving of the eternal Word the second Person in the Godhead the Holy Ghost by his incomprehensible Power working his Conception supernaturally purifying that Matter of which his Human Nature was taken in the Womb of the Virgin so that his Nature had not the least Defilement in it The Divine Nature and the Human Nature became united in him to him run all the Promises and to all the Elect as they are united in him 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the Promises of God in him are Yea and in him Amen unto the Glory of God by us that through him
implied that his Obedience should continue Life to him But stop my Soul and take a view of what thou hast been treating in this Chapter Was Adam so happy in having his Soul created in the Image of God Did his Understanding consist in true Wisdom Was his Memory sanctified with the remembring or meditating upon divine things Was the Will at liberty of chusing or refusing Were the Affections taken up with the desire of enjoying Communion with the Creator Was the Conscience upright in walking with God Consider my Soul that the Children of the second Adam who are gotten to the Souls of just Men made perfect in Glory have this Image fully restored to them again and in many respects are in a better condition than the first Adam enjoy'd in Innocency for his State was brought to the trial whether he could be able to stand before a Temptation or not their Condition is eternally fixt and never more subject to trial by any Temptation O my Soul art thou interested by Faith in this second Adam Dost thou witness a recovery of the same Excellency of the Image of God upon thee in a good measure which the first Adam enjoy'd in his Innocency by the powerful workings of the Spirit of God upon thee Then wilt thou behold more and more of the Beauty of it the more thou experiencest of the recovery of this holy Image in thee the stronger will be thy Cries after a full recovery of it the more thou seest of inward Corruption by which this blessed Image is defac'd the stronger will be thy Cries unto God against this Corruption and that thou mayst be brought to that blessed place where the Souls of the Children of the second Adam are made perfect CHAP. III. Of the Fall of Adam The miserable change of his Condition by the Fall and how all his Offspring were included in it THE great and glorious Creator that he might shew forth his Soveraignty over that curious Creature Man whom he had created in his own Image and that he might shew unto Man that he did require a perfect Obedience from him was pleased to try his Obedience by prohibiting of him to eat of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die This Tree was to be as a warning to them of their Mutability for altho the state wherein they were created was a most glorious state nevertheless it was such a state as was liable to be lost the Creature enjoying of it upon the terms of a perfect Obedience not that the Tree could give Knowledg but by tasting of if the terms upon which Adam and Eve stood in the favour of God were broken on Man's part and so they came to have the experimental knowledg of Evil in themselves which before they had of Good only But altho God had no hand at all in Satan's Temptation or in Adam and Eve's Sin yet we may safely own God to be concerned in the Fall of Adam and Eve to far as to give them up into the hands of the Tempter and giving the Tempter power over them to try them whether they would willingly go from their Obedience to God or no he having afore by his eternal Decree determined to magnify his Power Justice and Mercy For being able to bring Good out Evil as Light out of Darkness he ordereth in his Wisdom the Fall of Man to the setting out of the Glory of his Mercy in those that shall be saved in Christ and of his Justice on those that shall perish for their Sins out of Christ Satan being fallen from a glorious Angel through his Pride into the depths of Ruin was fill'd with Melice against God and with Envy at the happy state of Adam and Eve and endeavours to bring them into the like Misery with himself and so is rightly call'd a Murderer from the beginning Joh. 8.44 He was a Murderer from the beginning and abode not in the Truth because there is no Truth in him When he speaketh a Lie he speaketh of his own for he is a Liar and the Father of it He gains upon Eve by first questioning her concerning what God had commanded Gen. 3.1 Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of Every Tree of the Garden And finding by her Answer that he gain'd upon her she not answering to his Question as God had spoken that surely they should die but by a term of doubting lest ye die he proceeds in his Temptation to a flat denial of the truth of the Threatning Gen. 3.4 5. And the Serpent said unto the Woman Ye shall not surely die For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof your Eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Hereby endeavouring to beget in Eve's Mind hard thoughts of God as if his prohibiting them to eat of that Tree was to keep a future good from them and begetting Pride in her Mind in not being satisfied with that happy state and condition that she was then in Thus through Unbelief in God and Pride to be like unto God did Sin enter into Eve and through Eve's Prevalency with her Husband Sin enter'd into him Thus we may see the nature of Sinners is to draw others to the same Condemnation they are in as Satan Eve and Eve her Husband even those who are nearest them whose good they should procure Having cleared up how Adam and Eve were brought into their fallen State I proceed to shew the miserable state that they were fallen into and how their Offspring were included in it and I shall treat of it under these three Heads I shall first shew the miserable change that was brought upon their Souls Secondly The miserable change that was brought upon their Bodies And Thirdly The miserable state they brought upon all their Posterity The Sentence threaten'd against Adam and Eve for their Disobedience in eating the forbidden Fruit did not reach to a Dissolution of the Soul as to its being for the Soul remains immortal after Sin enter'd as it was before but the Sentence reached to a Dissolution of that Union that was betwixt the great Creator and the Soul the Soul by Sin being changed from that happy state in which it was created into a state of Misery the Faculties of the Soul being put out of that Rectitude and Order in which at first they were placed The Understanding wherein consisted true Wisdom and the knowledg of heavenly things is now become blind and dark ignorant of God and of his Will 1 Cor. 2.14 But the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned compared with Ephes 4.17 18 19. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their Minds having the Vnderstanding darkened being alienated from the Life of
of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts to give the Light of the knowledg of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 That is The way that God doth take to exalt his Grace and Mercy to his Elect is in a way that doth agree with his Justice He beholds the eternal Word Creator united to the Childrens Nature by it giving Satisfaction to Justice The stoppage of Grace being removed Grace doth shine down upon them The Spirit of Adoption which is the inward Witness meets Grace in the way that it comes forth The Soul admires the Wisdom and Goodness of God in appointing the way of its Salvation in such a way as exalts Grace and wrongs not Justice Grace being no less to us by making its way through Christ to us because it was the Father that appointed the Son this Work and it was to answer the Father's Will that he performed it This inward Witness incourageth a poor Sinner that is weary of Sin to go to Christ and to God through him For altho there seems a great distance betwixt a poor guilty Sinner and a holy God to behold each of them as they are in themselves yet this middle Person the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Reconciler or the maker up of the Breach betwixt them being inwardly discovered in the Gospel-Glass by the Holy Ghost working with it those who were far off before are brought nigh by the Blood of this blessed Jesus Divine Love descends Faith enables the Soul to mount up and with Wings to ascend We love him saith St. John because he first loved us This Light of the Holy Ghost is a distinct thing from the first Covenant-Principle That lays the Soul under Guilt for Sin but takes not in the way of Reconciliation The Holy Ghost takes in the way of Reconciliation and gives Evidence of the Souls Interest in it It is by the Apostle called the Spirit of the Son because it is by the Intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ that the Holy Ghost is sent and because it leads the Soul to pay the Tribute of Divine Honour to him as being the way to the Father It leads the Soul wholly in another way than the first Covenant-Principle leads in Its Motives by which it stirs up the Soul to watch against Sin are from Mercy and Goodness that is spiritual Mercies received by the Soul The first Covenant-Principle breaks the Soul off from Sin by shewing the Wrath and Misery that attends it The Holy Ghost stirs up the Soul to set a Watch against the first motions of Lust by discovering the loathsom nature of it which if the Soul joins with it will thereby be unfit for Communion with God As it is by the Holy Ghost that Sanctification is carried or in the Soul to prepare it for the Enjoyment of God in Glory so the Apostle seems to put the Cure of the Bodies of the Saints even when they are under a Dissolution upon the Holy Ghost in order to their recovery out of that state Rom. 8.11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you I have gone through the first Head and laid before you the dealings of God with me in bringing of me to the Enjoyment of himself by Faith and shall now proceed to the second Head Secondly The Counsel and Direction which I recommend unto you if I should be shortly removed from you 1st Endeavour to get imprinted upon your Hearts the thoughts of God in his Soveraignty over you and those outward Providences which he exerciseth towards you God is so incomprehensible in his Being that he cannot be fathom'd by the Creature What an Awe and Reverence of him hath the Consideration of his Incomprehensibleness made upon the Hearts of his dearest Children In his discovering of himself to them in the greatness of his Power how hath he treated them as Worms and nothing Creatures And they in their expressing of themselves before him their Language hath carried in it the Evidences of a humble Heart Psal 22.4 5 6. Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them They cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded But I am a Worm and no Man a reproach of Men and despised of the People We see here the Psalmist David who is recorded to be a Man after God's owh Heart how he expresses himself before God First In acknowledging God in his Power to deliver And then secondly In acknowledging his Unworthiness to be delivered by him in these words I am a Worm and no Man The clearer Discovery that the Soul gets of God in the Absoluteness of his Power and that incomprehensible Greatness he is invested withal hath that Effect upon the Heart as to lay it in the Dust before him Remember my Children that in your Creation you were in the hands of the wise Creator as the Clay is in the hand of the Potter The forming and the fashioning of you lay wholly in his own Will and Pleasure Psal 119.73 Thy hands have made and fashioned me give me Vnderstanding that I may learn thy Commandments That there is no defect in the Members of your Bodies is a Mercy to you but that there is no defect in the Faculties of your Souls is a greater Mercy What great Obligations are you under to the great Creator seeing you have received your Being from him 2. Consider how the Creator has disposed of you and how his Providential Dealings are towards you Acts 17.26 And hath made of one Blood all Nations of Men to dwell on the face of the Earth and hath determined the Times afore appointed and the Bounds of their Habitation That is He hath determined the time that he allows every one in this World and their place for a Habitation in it How bountiful is the great Creator unto you that he should appoint you your place in England and not in India or some other dark place of the World that is full of the Habitations of Cruelty that your Lot should be hitherto to have a full supply of outward Necessaries whereas many others are attended by great outward Wants and Penury 3. Consider God's Providential Dealings towards you that your Parents have been hitherto continued and made a Blessing to you that they have not been wanting to your outward Man by their utmost care to provide for it But above all what a Blessing have they been made unto you as to your Souls if it be but sanctified unto you What proof have your poor Parents given of their Care over your Souls in giving you your Education in such a way as hath been a means to bring them under great outward Straits their Eyes being fixt upon the good of your immortal Souls in what they have done that you might not be exposed