In Christo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the two Natures should be united 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so as that there should be no confusion mutation commixtion of them but that both natures should remain distinct and entire in their properties wils and actions without any change of one into the other 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 individually and inseparably so as one nature should never be separated from the other no not by death there never being two Christs but one Son of God manifested in the flesh How great was that wisdome which found out a way for the Mediator between God and Man to partake of the natures of both those parties between whom he mediates and which contrived a Reconciliation between God and Man by the marriage of the natures of both 2. How eminent was that Justice of God that would be satisfied no way but by the Son of God his assuming the nature of man the vailing his Glory emptying himself of Majestie and a debasing to the death of the Crosse Phil. 2.8 So that God may seem more severe in sparing man this way then if he had punish'd him without sending his Son thus to redeem him 3. How transcendent was the Love of God to poor lost man to weave the garment of his spotted and defiled nature anew in the Virgins womb to become a new and living way over that gulf of separation which was between God and Man whereby God might be willing to come to man and man able to go to God! to disrobe himself of Majestie and to cloath himself with the rags of Mortalitie Did ever Love cause such a condescention as this The Thistle did not here send to the Cedar but the Cedar comes to the Thistle to wo for a marriage Let the deepest apprehensions despair to dive to the bottom of this humble undertaking Angels themselves may stoop to look into it 1 Pet. 1.12 and be Students in this piece of Divinitie but never can they be compleatly apprehensive what it is for the Maker of the World to be made of a woman for the everlasting Father to be an infant in the womb for Majestie to be buried among the chips for him who thundred in the clouds to lie in the cradle for him who measured the heavens with a span to be a child of a span long 3. Observ 3. Isai 43.11 Hos 13.4 Any other Saviours beside Christ are altogether needlesse and fictitious If Christ be God there is no other Saviour and he no more wants the help of men or Angels in the Redemption of the world then he did in the Creation To an infinite power nothing can be added and the strength of Christ to save is infinite What brings the creature to God but wants and weaknesses That which receives all its strength from God adds no strength to God There 's none but a God able to do the Work and fit to receive the Honour of a Saviour The highest of all Popishly voyced Saviours throw down their Crowns at the feet of Christ and with one voice acknowledg him their Saviour The Crown of purchasing our salvation is too heavie for any created head Did those glorified spirits in heaven know how much honour is taken from Christ by casting it upon them some think that heaven should be no heaven to them 4. Divine Justice is compleatly satisfied Observ 4. and the sins of beleevers are perfectly removed The Merits of Christ are of infinite value the least sin was a burden too heavie for all the created backs of Men and Angels to undergo None but he that was God Heb. 7.25 John 1.29 Mic. 7.19 Isa 44.22 Isa 38.17 Psal 32.1 Jer. 31.34 could perfectly satisfie a God Christ is able to save to the uttermost He taketh away the sin of the world Our iniquities are said to be subdued Thrown into the bottom of the sea Covered washed away Blotted out as a cloud Vtterly forgotten and Cast behind the back of God Beleevers have nothing to pay to Justice The payments of Popish Merits are not in currant but copper coin which will not goe in heaven but will certainly be turned back again The sins of one beleever are ten thousand times greater than Satan can represent but yet the merits of the blood of God infinitely exceed all the sins of all men put together The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin 1 John 1.7 Christians take heed of a sacrilegious ransacking of the grave of Christ wherein he hath buried your sins If Christ be God desperation is the greatest of sins Is there any spot so deep which the blood of God cannot wash out any disease so desperate which the blood of God cannot cure any heart so faint which the blood of God cannot revive any debt so great which the blood of God cannot satisfie any burden so heavie which the shoulders of God cannot bear away Oh beleever Luke 1.47 let thy spirit rejoyce in God thy Saviour 5. How high is the advancement of humane Nature Observ 5. Hee who hath taken it into the unity of his Person is true God Hebr. 2.16 Phil. 2.10 The seed of Abraham is now more highly dignified then the nature of Angels There 's not a knee either in heaven in earth or under the earth but shall bow at the name of Him who is God and man in one person Let us fear to debase that nature which Christ hath magnified Psal 15.4 There 's nothing but sin that makes a man a vile person How unworthy a condescension is it for that nature to stoop to Divels which is advanced above Angels 1 Sam. 5.5 The Philistims tread not on that threshold upon which their Idol Dagon fell and shall man suffer lust and Divels to trample upon and defile that nature which the Son of God assumed Oh man acknowledg thy dignitie and being made a companion of the divine Nature be not so degenerous as to become a slave to Sin 6. Observ 6. How peculiarly dignified and blessed are all Beleevers Their Head their Husband is very God They have not onely the common honour of all men in the union of humane nature with the Son of God but a speciall priviledg in being united to him by his Spirit through Faith Man is advanced above other creatures in respect of the first Beleevers are advanced above other men in respect of the second union And if thus we are united to him who is God what influences of holinesse wisdom power c. shall flow to us from such a Head A Prince who hath all the gold and ornaments of the world will not suffer his Wife to want necessaries and certainly the Spouse of Christ shall have what shee wants if not what she would 7. Observ 7. Whatever it is that Christ who is God ordains and owns deserves our highest estimation The Day instituted by
Christ deserves rather to be esteemed holy than any dayes of mans ordaining It should be accounted both a good day and an high day having such an Instituter The Ordinances of Christ should be preferr'd before humane traditions No Institutions but his shall stand nor should religiously be esteemed I fear Luk. 19.27 that the great and bloody Controversies which so long Christ hath had with England are about some Ordinances of his which yet we will not take up and some Traditions of our own which in stead thereof we will keep up What is become of those men and of their wisdom Sapientes sapienter in infernum descendunt whose wise work it was heretofore to invent and impose their own Innovations for Christs Institutions The Servants and Messengers of Christ should be more loved and honoured than the servants of any earthly Potentate They are the servants of God We should love as he loves It 's more honourable to be a servant of God than a King over men Our delight should be in those excellent ones who bear the image Psal 16.2 and wear the badg of Christ The feet of his Ambassadors should be beautifull whether we regard their Master Rom. 10.15 or their Message Lastly his Word should be preferred before any other writings Col. 3.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in us plentifully Let it be taken in not stand at the doors or lodg only in our books or on our shelves let it dwell there not be turn'd out again Let it dwell plentifully in all that is within us Understanding Will Affections Memorie and plentifully in all that is of it in its Threatnings Commands Promises It is the word of God who hath strength to back it In a word Take heed of opposing this great God in any kinde If God the Father be offended Christ is our Advocate but if Christ be provoked who shall mediate Thus far of the description of the dignity of him whom they opposed Next we must shew How they opposed him or Wherein that Opposition did consist They Denyed him EXPLICATION Two things are here to be explained 1. How Christ may be said to be Denyed and particularly What Denyall of him is here to be understood 2. Wherein the sinfulnesse thereof shews it self 1. How Christ may be said to be denyed Denying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Denyall properly is verball respecteth our words and signifieth the contrary to affirmation Thus those envious Rulers spake concerning the notable miracle of healing the lame man Acts 4.16 that they cannot dis-affirm or deny it Mat. 26.70 Joh. 18.25 27. John 1.20 Thus Peter denyed openly before them all that he had been with Jesus Thus John denyed not who he was c. But improperly and figuratively denyall may be taken for such a renouncing or rejection of a thing as may likewise be express'd by the actions and in realitie And thus Moses is said to deny Heb. 11.24 or refuse to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and so some are said to have a form of Godlinesse 2 Tim. 3.5 and to deny namely in their course and carriage the power thereof And Christ may be said to be denyed 1. Doctrinally and by our words 2. Really and by our works 1. Doctrinally and by our words And thus Christ hath been denyed 1. In his Person 2. In his Offices 1. In his Person and thus 1. the Jews deny his Person wholly or that he was the promised Messiah Act. 3.13 14. And the followers of Simon Magus taught as he himself had taught them that he was the Son of God Epiphan lib. 1. c. 21. Aug. de Hares cap. 1. Joseph l. 2. c. 12 Tertul. lib. de Haeres The like is reported of Menander Judas of Galilee and he who stiled himself Bencocab all which as credible Stories relate gave out that they were Christs and Messiahs the later whereof though he call'd himself Bencocab the son of a Star applying to himself that prophesie of the Star of Jacob was afterward by way of derision called Barcozba the son of a lie 2. Christ in respect of his person hath been denyed in either of his Natures In his Godhead by the Ebionites Cerinthians Arians Samosatenians and of late by Servetus and his followers In his Manhood by the Valentinians Marcionites Manichees Apollinarists and of late by some Anabaptists 3. The Person of Christ hath been denyed by those who opposed the hypostatical union of the two Natures and thus he was denyed by Nestorians Euticheans Sabellians the first dividing Christ into two persons The second confounding and mixing his two Natures The third mixing him with the person of the Father 2. In his Offices 1. Christ in his Prophetical Office is denyed by Papists who impose upon us a new Scripture 1. 1 Cor. 11.26 Hebr. 13.4 1 Tim. 4.3 By taking away from it in denying the Eucharistical Cup to the people meats also and marriage and which is worse in denying the food of life the reading of the holy Scriptures to the common people 2. Col. 3.16 By adding to it in bringing in a second place for punishment after this life the fained fire of purgatory by inventing five sacraments and introducing their own unwritten traditions which they equally esteem with and often prefer before the Scriptures and by making a Pope the infallible judge of the controversies of faith 2. In his Priestly office Christ is denyed 1. 1 Joh. 2.2 Mat. 20.18 Mar. 10.45 Heb. 10.12 14 2 Cor. 5.21 By Socinians who teach that he dyed not for us that is in our place and stead but only for our benefit and profit to shew us by his example the way which leads to salvation 2. By Papists who teaching that the Masse is a propitiatory sacrifice make the sacrifice of Christ imperfect and by joyning many other mediators and advocates with Christ deny him to be the One and Only Mediator They mingle the blood of Martyrs yea of traytors with the blood of Christ teach that images are to be worshipped Angels invoked relicks adored c. 3. In his Kingly office Christ is denyed by Papists who acknowledge the Pope the head of the Church and teach that all power is given to him in heaven and earth and that he can make lawes to bind the conscience and is universall Bishop c. In a word the eastern Turk denyes the person of Christ and the western his offices 2. Christ is denyed really and by our works And this denyall I conceive the Apostle here principally intends for had these seducers in word denyed Christ the Church would easily have espyed them In speech therefore they professed Christ but in their deeds they denyed him Tit. 1.16 Christ may be denyed by mens workes sundry ways 1. Heb. 10.29 By a malicious and dispitefull opposing Christ and his Gospel of the truth and benefit whereof the holy Ghost hath so evicted a person that he opposeth the
who saith That pride must needs go before envy and that envy was not the cause of pride but pride the cause of envy for none can by envy hate anothers excellency unlesse by pride he first inordinately love his own Superbi endo invidus non invidendo quisquam superbus est Aug. Invidus ex hoc de bono alterius dolet in quantum bonum alterius aestimat sui boni impedimentum Aquin. 1. p. q. 63. a. 2. Bern. in Cant. ser 22. Greg. l. 34. moral c. 14. Ambros in Psal 37. Hierom. in Es 14. August l 12. de Civ Dei c. 6. Ab illo qui summus est aversi ad se conversi sunt hoe vitium nihil aliud est quam superbia Proprium objectum superbiae est excellens mensuram à Deo praefixam Bona vero spiritualia cum secundum se excessiva esse non possunt consequens est ut ex hoc primum habeant rationem vitiosi appetibilis ex quo primum habent rationem excedentis in commensurati alicui hoc autem constat esse divinam dispensationem regulam Cajetan in 1. p. sum q. 63. a. 2. Quid est supcrbia nisi perversae celsitudinis appetitus Aug. de civit D. l. 14. cap. 13. which he apprehends to be impaired by anothers A fourth to adde no more and the most probable opinion is of those who hold that the first sin of these angels was pride And this is the opinion most received and commonly embraced by the Fathers and after them received generally by the Schoolmen and others Aquinas seems strongly to prove that it could be no other sin but pride A spirituall nature and such is the angelicall can only saith he affect some spiritual object as being that which is only agreeable to it now there can be no sin in affecting spirituall objects which in themselves are good unless it be because in affecting of them the rule of the superiour is therein not obeyed and this is the sin of pride For the proper object of pride saith Cajetan is something exceeding that measure prefixed and limited by God Now in regard spirituall things cannot be excessive nor can we have too much of them in respect of themselves because the more of them the better it followes that then they come to be sinfully desired when they begin to exceed and to become incommensurate to the divine rule and dispensation the affecting them in which inordinate measure namely beyond the limits prescribed by God was the sin of pride in the angels That this pride then or an affecting as Augustine calls it of some spirituall highness beyond the bounds of Gods will was the first sin seems very probable by reason but more then probable by that of Paul 1 Tim. 3.6 where the Apostle gives this reason why a Bishop must be no novice Ne ob superbi am incidat in eandem damnationis poenam cum diabolo Est in Loc. lest saith he heing lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the divell in which place I understand not why the Apostle expresseth the condemnation or punishment of the divel to deterre from pride unlesse the divel had faln into condemnation for that sin and unlesse the Apostle had intended to shew the danger of being proud by setting down the punishment of the divel for that sin But more particularly if it be enquired wherein this pride of the angels did consist and what that highnesse was which they did affect beyond their measure I think the answer hereunto can be but conjecturall and uncertain Some conceive that it was revealed to the Angels soon after their creation that the humane nature should in time be hypostatically united to the divine that the Son of God in humane nature should be the head of men yea of angels that hereby mans nature was to be exalted above the very angels Heb. 1.6 and that they were commanded to worship and submit to him Hereupon say some they desired that the dignity of this union with the divine might be afforded to their own angelical nature But say others they refused to consent and submit to Gods pleasure in the former discovery Vid Zanch. de op Dei in this say they stood the pride of angels And of this opinion is Zanchy whose chiefest argument is taken from that deadly hatred which Satan hath ever put forth against the doctrines of the Person and Offices of Christ and his incessant opposing of beleeving and affiance in him Others conjecture for indeed none in this point can do much more that the angels desired to be equal with God and that they aspired to the divinity it self And here they distinguish of a twofold will in the angels 1. A will of efficacy which others term a will of intention 2. A will of delight and complacency According to the former they say that the angels did not desire to be equall with God as if they had intended or used means to attain to divinity For this the angels knew was absolutely impossible but according to the later will of complacency they say the angels might desire to be equall to God namely wish it as a pleasing and delightfull thing to them as a sick a dying man who despaires of recovery desires health though not as using means to procure it because he judgeth it impossible to be obtained yet as a good and most pleasing benefit and thus they say these angels had this will of delight or a velle conditionatum such a will whereby if it had been possible to have attained to the divinity Scotus in l. 2. sent dist 6. Estius in dist 6. §. 6. they would have used means to have done it and this was the opinion of Scotus and after him of sundry others who consider the tentation that Satan laid before our first parents Ye shall be gods And afterward being blinded with pride his endeavouring to have Christ worship him and his propagating the adoration of himselfe among heathens under the names of sundry gods The most probable opinion is that of Augustine Suâ potestate delectati velut bonum suum sibi ipsi essent à superiore communi omnium beatifico bono ad propria defluxerunt Aug. de Civ Dei l. 12. c. 1. It seemeth that there was no other way for angels to sin but by reflex of their understanding upon themselves who being held with admiration of their own sublimity and honour their memory of their subordination to God and their dependency on him was drowned in this conceit whereupon their adoration love and imitation of God could not chuse but be also interrupted Hooker L. 1. §. 14. and after him Aquinas Cajetan and others who think that the pride of the angels was in desiring and resting in their own naturall perfection as their ultimate end That as God is blessed by his own nature having no superiour from whom to draw his blessednesse so did these angels
c. as well as to our selves should make us love grace Thus much for the third and last particular in the description of the Authour of this Epistle the brother of James and so for the first part of the Title of the Epistle The description of the Penman of it The 2d part of the title or preface of the Epistle viz. The parties to whom the Apostle writes The second part of the Title followeth which is the Description of those persons to whom he wrote which persons are described from a threefold priviledge 1. They are sanctified by God the Father 2. Preserved in Jesus Christ 3. Called Of these in their order The first branch of this description 1. is They are sanctified by God the Father Wherein I consider two Particulars 1. The sort or kinde of the priviledge bestowed upon them viz. Sanctification To them that are sanctified 2. The Author therof or by whom it was bestowed By God the Father 1. Of the kind of Priviledg Sanctification Of which I shall speak 1. By way of Explication of it 1. By way of collecting Observations from it 1. Of the Priviledge Sanctification by way of exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To them that are sanctified Beza speaks of two Copies that read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and from thence the Vulgar Translation renders it Dilectis This other reading mentioned also by Ro. Steph. and Gagnaeus To them that are beloved of God the Father which manner of speech as Beza well notes is unusuall in Scripture which speaketh of us being for and in Christ beloved of the Father And Estius though a Papist acknowledgeth that the former reading Estius in loc sanctified is not onely more pure but more sutable to the scope and drift of the Apostle who by calling them sanctified would deterr them from and make them take heed of those unholy and impure Seducers against whom he was now about to write The word here used by the Apostle admits of and signifieth in Scripture severall kinds of Sanctification as 1. Sanctification by way of destination or separation To this purpose the Greeks use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 29.44 1 King 9.3 2 Chro. 7.16 Esa 13.3 i.e. when things are separated to an holy use so the Lord sanctified the Sabboth day by separating it from other dayes and appointing it for the duties of his own Service Thus also the Tabernacle the Temple the First-born were sanctified Exod. 13.2 God commandeth Moses to sanctifie all the First-born which he explains ver 12. Thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix 2. There is a sanctification by way of celebration acknowledging manifestation declaration of the goodness of a thing thus the creature sanctifieth the name of the Creator Isa 29.23 They shall sanctifie my name and sanctifie the holy One of Jacob. 3. Sanctification by way of fruition comfortable use and blessed enjoyment of the gifts of God so 1 Cor. 7.14 the unbeleeving husband is sanctified by the wife and 1 Tim. 4.5 Every creature of God is sanctified 4. Sanctification by way of application to apply a thing to such a holy use as God appointed so we sanctifie the Sabboth Exod. 20.8 i.e. imploy it to the holy use for which God ordained it 5. By exhibition introduction or bestowing actuall holinesse by putting holinesse really and properly into one This the Creator only can do to his creature this God doth by his Spirit which is called the holy Ghost and the Spirit of sanctification 2 Thess 2.13 And thus man particularly is sanctified or made holy three wayes 1. Of not holy negatively Ex non sancto negativè and so Christ as he was man was sanctified for there was a time when as Christ had not this holinesse in his humane nature when his humane nature was not 2. Of not holy privatively Ex non sancto privativè and so man that had lost totally his holinesse is made holy by regeneration or effectuall vocation 3. Of lesse holy and so Gods children are sanctified Ex minus sancto by being enabled to the exercise of an actuall mortifying of sin and living in holinesse with proceeding in both The sanctification here spoken of presupposeth the second afterward in the word Called more particularly to be handled and intendeth the third namely the actuall exercise of the abolition of our naturall corruption and the renovation of Gods image in us begun in grace here and perfected in glory hereafter So that this Sanctification stands 1. In an actuall putting off of corrupt qualities Ephes 4.22 23 24. Col. 2 9 10. Rom. 6.2 Gal. 2.20 Gal. 5.24 Rom. 6.8.5 Gal. 6.14 Col. 3.5 Eph. 2.1 2 a putting on the new and sanctified 1 A Buriall 2 a Resurrection 1 A mortification of the old 2 a vivification of the new man 1 One thing is destroy'd and pull'd down 2 Another set up 1 A taking away of what is redundant 2 an addition of what is wanting 1 The killing power of the Cross 2 the quickning power of the Resurrection of Christ 1. Mortification of the old man is the first part of sanctification wherby the strength power and tyranny of sin is weakened and more and more abolish'd like John Baptist it decreaseth like old folks in a house who are going out of the world and crowded out as it were by the younger the heirs The living of the old man is onely as a clog and eye-sore to the new This work of Mortification stands principally in these three acts or degrees of acting 1. An act of discerning 2. Detesting 3. Destroying sin the souls enemy Knowing causeth hatred and hatred puts us upon seeking the destruction of an enemy 1. An act of discerning Sin may hurt us when wee know it not but we not hate it unlesse we know it Sin had deformity always but we had not always eys to see it It was Leah that lay by Jacob all night but he discern'd her not till the morning Sin is now discovered as it is not as it is coloured over by Satan Sin is uncomly onely to a renewed understanding Nature never sets up a light to discover its own deformities Of others its often said They know not what they do In understanding they are children nay brutes they see with Satans spectacles But a renewed minde discerns between things that differ looks upon the old bosom favourite as a traytor there are new apprehensions of the old man The Apostle not without an emphasis speaks of those things wherof we are now ashamed now not formerly nay heretofore sin was gloryed in but now the soul sees its not onely unsafe and its own death but unsutable and the death of Christ It was striking at me saith a gracious heart but Christ step'd between me and the blow Herein standing sins great deformity as that of drunkennesse in a mans wounds 2. Detestation The eye increaseth loathing It cannot
discover our misery and deformity by reason of unholinesse as also to discover the beauty of holinesse and the happiness laid up for holy ones bestowing also upon it an inclining power to bow us to the imbracing and obeing of his holy will the pattern of all holiness 2. From God we have our sanctification not by traduction from our parents Grace is not of an equall extent to Nature Grace is not native but donative not by generation but by regeneration it s from the Father of spirits not fathers of our flesh Who can bring a clean thing out of filthinesse The new birth is not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of man Joh. 1.13 The purest seed-corn brings forth the stalk the husk and chaff and the holiest men have a posterity with a nature covered over with corruption 4. God sanctifies so as the first infusion of the habit of Grace is without the active concurrence of any abilities of our corrupted nature to the acquiring of grace in the heart the plantation of grace in us being purely supernaturall Gods manner of working is altogether divine beyond the power and without the help of any thing in man only he being a rationall creature is a subject capable of grace and therby in the work of sanctification hath a passive concurrence for of our selves we are not sufficient to think a good thought but our sufficiency is of God He worketh in us both to will and to do We are dead in trespasses and sins c. New begotten new created c. Grace is an habituall quality meerly infused by divine vertue not issuing out of any inward force of humane abilities howsoever strained up to the highest pitch of their naturall perfection All civility sweetness of nature ingenuity of education learning good company restraint by laws with all moral Vertues with their joynt force cannot quicken our souls to the least true motion of a spirituall life 5. God sanctifies so as that in the practice of sanctification man doth actually concurr with God for being sanctified and inwardly enabled in his faculties by spirituall life put into them he moves himself in his actions of grace although even in these actions he cannot work alone he being onely a fellow-worker with the Spirit of God not in equality but in subordination to him Neverthelesse though these actions be performed by the speciall assistance of the Spirit yet in regard man is the next agent they are properly said to be mans actions 2. God the Father sanctifies And yet Eph. 5.26 1 Cor. 1.30 Christ is said to sanctifie and to be Sanctification and most frequently the holy Ghost is said to sanctifie Gal. 5.22 Ephes 5.9 Gal. 5.17 Grace being called the fruits of the spirit the whole work of Sanctification stiled by the name of spirit and the Scripture expresly speaks us sanctified by the Spirit and the holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Sanctification Yet when the Scripture saith we are sanctified by God the Father it doth not contradict it self For the explication whereof I shall briefly set down this Distinction and these Conclusions All the Attributes of God are either 1. Essentiall Dist which are the very divine Essence and pertaining to the very nature of God as to be a Spirit omniscient eternall true good powerful mercifull c. Or 2. Relative And that either 1. Inwardly to the Persons within themselves as for the Father to beget the Son to be begotten the holy Ghost to proceed from Father and Son Or 2. Outwardly And that either 1. to the creatures as to create sustain c. or 2. to the Church as to redeem and sanctifie c. The Attributes that appertain to the Nature or Essence of God are common to the three Persons as to be a Spirit Concl. 1. omniscient eternall c. The Attributes or properties that inwardly belong to the Persons among themselves Concl. 2. are peculiar and proper to each of them both in regard of order of being and working The Father hath his being from Himself alone the Son hath his being from the Father alone the holy Ghosi hath his being from them both The Father alone begetteth the Son is alone begotten the holy Ghost doth proceed from the Father and the Son All works externall Concl. 3. and in reference to the creatures as to create to govern to redeem to sanctifie c. are in respect of the things wrought equally common to the three Persons of the Trinity who as they are all one in Nature and Will so must they be in operation all of them working one and the same thing together John 5.17 19. Most true is that of Christ Whatsoever things the Father doth these also doth the Son the like may be said of the holy Ghost so that we are sanctified by Father Son and holy Ghost there being the same power and will of all three and in works externall and in respect of the creature when onely one Person or two are named the whole Trinity is to be understood Though the works of three Persons toward the creature Concl. 4. world or Church in regard of the thing wrought are common to all the three yet in respect of the manner of working there is distinction of Persons that work for the Father works through the Son by the holy Ghost The Father works from none the Son from the Father the holy Ghost from both Joh. 5.19 8.28 16.13 there being the same order of working in the Trinity that there is of existing the Father works by the Son and the holy Ghost sending them and not sent by them the Son works by the holy Ghost sending him from the Father into the hearts of beleevers and is not sent by him but by the Eather the holy Ghost works and is sent from the Father and the Son not from himself The works therfore of the Trinity are considerable either absolutely or in regard of the works wrought and so they are the works of the whole Trinity in common Or relatively when we consider in what order the Persons work which Person works immediately which by another And so the Persons are distinguish'd in their works This considered Jude in ascribing Sanctification to God the Father is easily reconciled to those that ascribe it to God the holy Ghost and the Son these last named persons being by Jude included in the working of sanctification and only the order of working of the blessed Trinity noted The Father sanctifying through the Son by the holy Ghost the Father sanctifying by sending the Son to merit and giving his Spirit to work the Son by meriting the holy Ghost by working our sanctification and immediately sanctifying us in which respect he hath the title of holy and Sanctification most commonly exprest as his work This for the Explication of the second particular in the first priviledge of the faithfull to whom Jude wrote viz. The Author of their sanctification
God the Father Secondly the Observations follow 1. Even our holinesse administers matter of humility Obs 1. Our very graces should humble us as well as our sins as these later because they are ours so the former because they are none of ours Sanctity is adventitious to Nature Heretofore holinesse was naturall and sin was accidentall now sin is naturall and holinesse accidentall when God made any of us his garden he took us out of Satans waste ws are not born Saints the best before sanctification are bad and by nature not differing from the worst the members that God accepts to be weapons of righteousnesse were before blunted in Satans service when God sanctifieth us he melteth idols and makes of them vessels for his own use Before any becomes as an Israelites wife he is as a captive unpared unwash'd unshaven Sanctification is a great blessing but was this web woven out of thine own bowels the best thou didst bring to thine own sanctification was a passive receptivenesse of it which the very worst of heathens partake of in common with thee having a humane nature a rationall soul and was there not with that a corrupt principle of opposition to God and all the workings of God was not God long striving with a cross-grain'd heart how many denyals had God before he did win thee to himself How far was the iron gate of thy heart from opening of its own accord and if he had not wrought like a God omnipotently and with the same power wherewith Christ was raised Eph. 1.19 20. had thy resistence been ever subdued and when the being of grace was bestowed from whence had thy grace at any time its acting Didst thou ever write one letter without Gods guiding thy hand didst thou ever shed one penitentiall tear till God unstop'd thy spouts smote thy rock and melted thy heart didst thou hunger after Christ till God who gave the food gave the stomack also Was ever tentation resisted grace quickned corruption mortified holy resolution strengthened power either to do or will received from any but from God Doth not every grace the whole frame of sanctification depend upon God as the stream on the fountain the beam on the Sun when he withdraws his influence how dead is thy heart in every holy performance onely when he speaks the word effectually bidding thee go thou goest and do this or that thou dost it 2. Obs 2. The reason why all graces of a sanctified person are for God they are from him Gods bounty is their fountain and Gods glory must be their center He planted the Vineyard and therefore he must drink the wine We are his wormanship and therefore we must be his workmen All our pleasant fruits must be laid up and out for our well-beloved All things but particularly our graces are from him and for him we can never give him more or other then his own when we give all we can The streames will rise as high as the fountain head and so should our graces ascend as high in duty as he who gave them Where should God have service if a sanctified person denyes it 3. Obs 3. From this Author of Sanctification I note t s excellency and worth It s a rare work certainly that hath such a workman a beauteous structure that hath such a builder What is a man to be desired for but his sanctification if we see a beauty on that body which hath a soul how much more on that soul that hath the reflexion of God himself upon it Every Saint is a woodden casket fill'd with pearls The Kings daughter is all glorius within Love Jesus Christ in his worky-day clothes admire him in his Saints though they be black yet they are comely Did the people of God but contemplate one anothers graces could there be that reproaching scorn and contempt cast upon one another that there is Certainly their ignorance of their true excellency makes them enemies they strike one another in the dark 4. Obs 4. Great must be the love that God bears to Sanctification It s a work of his own framing a gift of his own bestowing God saw that the work of the first creation was very good much more that of the second Wonder no more that the faithfull are call'd his garden his Jewels his Treasure his Temple his Portion God hath two heavens and the sanctified soul is the lesser How doth he accept of Saints even in their imperfections delight in their performances pity them in their troubles take care of them in dangers He that hath given his Son for them promised heaven to them and sent his Spirit into them what can he deny them Jesus Christ never admired any thing but grace when he was upon the earth the buildings of the Temple he contemned in comparison of the faith of a poor trembling woman Certainly the people of God should not sleight those graces in themselves that God doth so value as they do when they acknowledge not the holinesse that God hath bestowed upon them Shall they make orts of those delicates that Jesus Christ accounts an excellent banquet 5. The love of God is expressive Obs 5. really and effectually in us and upon us even in sanctifying us Creatures when they love will not put off one another with bare words of bidding be clothed sed c. much lesse doth God If there be love in his heart there will be bounty in his hand Thou sayst that God is mercifull and loves thee why what did he ever do for thee work in thee hath he changed thy nature mortified thy lusts beautified thy heart with holinesse Where God loves be affords love-tokens and such are onely his soul-enriching graces No man knows love or hatred by what he sees before him but by what he findes in him If our heart moves toward God certainly his goeth out toward us the shadow upon the Dyall moves according to the motion of the Sun in the Heaven 6. Obs 6. We are to repair in our wants of Sanctification to God for supply He is the God of grace The Lord will give grace and glory He hath the key of the womb the grave the heavens but chiefly of the heart He that sitteth in heaven can onely teach and touch the heart How feeble a thing and unable is man whether thy self or the Minister to do this He hath the windes in his own keeping and till he send them out of his treasury how necessarily must thy soul lye wind-bound Whither shouldst thou goe but to him and how canst thou go but by him The means of grace are to be used in obedience to him Parum prodest Lectio quam non illuminat Oratio not in dependancy upon them A golden key cannot open without him and a woodden can open with him Man may with the Prophets servant lay the staff upon the fore-head but God must give life How many fat and rich Ordinances have been
should pass by others better accomplish'd Let his free grace have all the glory Who shall speak of God if thou beest silent Let heart and tongue and life advance him Hitherto of the two first parts of the Title viz. 1. The Person who wrote this Epistle And 2. The Persons to whom he wrote it The Third follows The Prayer wherein the person writing salutes the persons to whom he wrote contained in the second Verse in these words VER 2. Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplyed IN which Prayer we consider 1. The blessings which the Apostle requesteth may be bestowed which are three 1. Mercy 2. Peace 3. Love 2. The measure in which the Apostle desireth they may be bestowed Be multiplyed 3. The persons upon whom he prayeth that these blessings may be in this measure bestowed Vnto you 1. In this Prayer To consider of the Blessings which the Apostle requesteth for And first of the first of them Mercy Concerning which I shall speak by way Of 1. Exposition Of 2. Observation 1. For the expository part Mercy is referr'd either to Man or to God Misericordia est dolor et aegricudo animi ex miseria alterius injuriâ laborantis conceptus Cic. in Tus 4. Misericordia est alienae miseriae in nostro corde compassio quâ utique si possemus subvenire compellimur Aug. de C.D. l. 9. c. 5. Ex eo appellata est misericordia quòd miserum cor faciat condolescent is alieno malo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Nemo parricidae supplicio misericordiâ commovetur Cic. Tusc 4. Mat. 5.7 Luke 6.36 Luc. 10.37 1 Pet. 3.8 Col. 3.12 1. To Man and so mercy is according to some a grief of heart arising from the apprehension of anothers misery according to Scripture Such a holy compassion of heart for the misery of another as inclines us to relieve him in his misery It is a compassion or sympathy because it makes the mercifull heart a partaker of the misery of him who is distressed and therefore say some called misericordia because it translates the misery of another into the heart of the merciful And for this cause it is called the bowels of compassion Col. 3.12 1 John 3.17 Phil. 1.8 and 2.1 So likewise by the LXX Pro. 12.10 And to have compassion is usually set out in Scripture by a Verb that signifieth to have the bowels moved Mark 6.34 Matt. 14.14 and 15.32 Mar. 1.41 Luk. 7.13 c. because mercy expresseth it self in the bowels especially he that is affected vehemently with anothers sufferings having his very intrals and bowels moved and rouled in him Hos 11.8 and is affected as if the bowels of him that is in misery were in his body Nor is this Scripture compassion a foolish pity whereby a man doth unlawfully tender him that is in deserved misery as Ahab pitied Benhadad and Saul Agag against Gods command but such a compassion as God approveth a fruit of the Spirit commanded and commended in the Word In this grace of mercy is also comprehended a forwardness to succour the miserable the bowels of the mercifull not being shut up 1 Joh. 3.17 This grace the Scripture honours with many precepts and promises A merciful man is Gods Almner his conduit-pipe to convey his blessings his resemblance like unto his heavenly Father who is the Father of mercy And that 's the second consideration of mercy as it is referr'd to God and so indeed it is in this place by Jude In which consideration of mercy as referr'd to God there are three things to be explained 1. How mercy can be attributed to God 2. What sorts of mercy are attributed to God 3. What be the properties of the sorts of mercy attributed to God 1. How mercy can be attributed to God Not as it is an affection of grief for the misery of another But 1. As it signifieth a promptitude and forwardness of the will to succour the miserable Not as 't is miseria cordis or as to be mercifull is taken passively for one to be a fellow-sufferer Zanc. de Nat. Dei l. 4. c. 4. q. 1. Misericordem hominem appellare solemus◠non passivè qui miserum habet cor talis enim potius est miser quà m misericors sed activè hoc est illum qui miscro homini ex corde cupit succurrere Si licuit Augustino dicere quod sit cordis miseria ex alterius miseria concepta our non liceat nobis dicere misericordiam dici quia nobis sit cordi alterius miseria Misericordia duo importat unum tanquam essentiale aliud tanquam accidentale Primum est promptitudo voluntatis ad subveniendum miseris alterum est passio tristitiae quae oritur in appetitu ex cognitione miseriae alterius quantum ad primum summè est in Deo non quantum ad secundum Rich. d. 46. a. 2. qu. 1. lib. 4. Zech. 2.8 Acts 9.4 Exod. 34. Psal 100.5 Psal 145.9 but as 't is miseria cordi as learned Zanchy distinguisheth and as to be mercifull is taken actively for one so to be mindfull of the miseries of others that hee desires and is willing from the heart to help them Suffering with the distressed in their miseries is not essential to mercy but only accidental in regard of our nature which is so subject to passions that without a fellow-feeling we cannot look upon the miseries of those whom we love and this is not in God but a propension and inclination of will to relieve the miserable which is the essential part of mercy is most properly and abundantly in God although sympathy or fellow-feeling be often attributed to God improperly and by way of resemblance to humane affections for the relieving of our capacities and strengthening our faith And in respect of this propensenesse and willingnesse in God to help the distressed are we to understand those Scriptures where God calls himself merciful and of great mercy that is of a most forward nature to help us in our distresses 2. Mercy is attributed to God as it signifieth Gods actual helping and relieving us in our distresses as he bestows those blessings upon us spirituall or bodily which proceed from his alone mercy and of this are those places of Scriptures to be understood where God is said to have or shew mercy as Rom. 9.18 He hath mercy on whom he will 1 Tim. 1.13 I found mercy because I did it ignorantly In which places mercy is put for calling to Christ So Psal 136. Rom. 11.31 2 Tim. 1.18 and all graces which follow it These works or effects of mercy being various and innumerable it comes to pass that though mercy be single and one in God the Scripture speaks of it in the plurall number as Gen. 32.10 2 Cor. 1.3 Rom. 12.1 2. For the sorts or kindes of Gods mercy It is either 1. A general mercy extended to all creatures in common as there is no creature in any misery which in some
suffering them to enter among them he saith They were before ordained to this condemnation he thereby teaching that God was neither regardless and unmindfull of the Church nor indulgent to the false teachers or their false teachings 2. In setting down the impiety of these Seducers 1. He expresseth it more generally saying They were ungodly 2. More particularly he shews wherein that ungodlinesse appeared 1. In their abusing the grace of God Turning the grace c. 2. In their opposing the God of grace Denying the onely Lord c. 1 The Apostle describes the entrance of the seducers among the Christians Explicat And 1. He describes it from the nature of the parties entring They are men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Apostle seems for two reasons to note the nature of these seducers calling them men Riv. in loc Me. lius sentiunt qui per hominis funes intelligunt omnem humanam amabilem tractationem qualis solet esse hominum erga homines Homines hominum causâ generati sunt ut ipsi inter se alii aliis prodesse possint Cic. l. 5. Offic. 1. To aggravate the sin of the seducers One man should be helpfull not hurtfull to another Man is a word used to denote goodness I drew them with the cords of a man saith God Hos 11.4 to express his gentleness toward the people And in our ordinary expression humanity is used for kind and helpfull carriage Cruelty to the body is more beseeming beasts but cruelty to the soul is fitter to be used by Divels than by men The nearer any one is to us the more heinous is the hurt which he offers us or we him Natura nos cognatos edidit Senec. Nature hath made us near of kin To be cruel and hurtfull to others is to put off the man as well as the Christian 2. To amplifie the danger of these Christians Men like our selves may most probably prevail over us by their seducements Non lupi silvestres sed urbani specie humanâ lupinam vitiositatem tegunt Were they Divels or beasts they might affright but being men they allure As it 's the wisdome of God to send us holy men to instruct us and win us to himself so it s the subtilty of Satan to send wicked men to seduce and draw us from God None hurt so unexpectedly and unavoydably as those who are near and sutable to our nature Seducers are Satans dequoyes to fetch men in to him by multiiudes 1. Observ 1. Sin hath made even man a hurtfull creature Not onely man hurtfull to beasts and beasts to man but man to man Even man who should be in stead of God a keeper a defender is by sin made a wolf a destroyer of man Man till sinfull was never harmfull Before he sin'd he naked neither fear'd nor offer'd wrong His sinless state will ever be known by the name of a state of innocency or hurtlesness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sine cornibus non feriens cornibus Phil. 2.15 and when the lost image of God is again restored he is made a Lamb a Dove a harmless or as the word in the Originall signifies a hornless creature But how much more than brutishly cruel hath sin made man become witness not only the vast multitude of men destroyed in all ages by men and the incredibly exquisite tortures as wrackings sawings burnings c. against man invented by man as if sin had set up an hellish inquisition in mans nature but even the murders committed by Seducers and Hereticks upon the souls of men it being now as much against corrupt nature to go towards hell alone as to walk in the wayes of heaven at all Oh that we could contemplate the odiousnesse of sin in this glass of it's harmfulness 2. Observ 2. We should not content our selves in being meer men He who is and continues no more but a man had better never to have been so much as a man A man altogether without grace though otherwise never so exquisitely accomplished is but a tame divell and often most hurtfull How restlesse should we be till the divine nature be bestowed upon us 2 Per. 14. The naturall man or the man who hath no more than a rationall soul naturall abilities and perfections as he cannot receive so he can and will oppose the things of the Spirit of God Satan can as easily enter as assault a man meerly naturall And many who have had religious education and made hopefull beginnings yet having never been by a saving change of heart more then men have soon shewn themselves as bad almost as divels Nature elevated to the highest pitch by its most exquisite improvements is still but nature it may thereby be coloured over but grace can only change it 3. Observ 3. We should beware of those who are but meer naturall men and have nothing more or more excellent then humane nature It 's the Command of Christ to beware of men Mat. 10.17 Beware of them 1. lest they betray your liberties lives or externall welfare Naturae bonitas nisi pietate confirmetur facilè illabescit Cartw. Harm Christ committed not himselfe to man because he knew what was in man and let not us commit our selves to them because we know not what is in them Nature is a slippery thing and unlesse back'd by grace will prove but unsteady How oft have I seen found I had almost said that the love of acquaintance meerly naturall ends upon change of times either in persecution or at the best in cruell compassion in perswading to self-preservation by wracking conscience and offending God! 2. Especially let us beware lest they betray our souls by seducing them from God and truth Follow no man further than he follows God Look upon every man as a rule ruled not as a rule ruling Captivate thy understanding to none but God Take equall heed of receiving the word of God as the word of man and of receiving the word of man as the word of God The errour of the Master is the tentation of the scholer Love no man so much as to follow that of his which is not lovely in that sense call no man Master We must never beleeve errour when he speaks it nor truth because he speaks it 4. Satan is wont to make use of such instruments as Observ 4. may most probably do his work He loves to put upon himself the most taking and insinuating shape when he comes to tempt us He imployed the most subtill creature to convey his tentations to our first parents Ordinarily he makes use of men and most commonly of the fittest either for parts or seeming piety to work upon men He also hath his Apostles and Ministers to pervert the world 2 Cor. 11.13.15 transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ and the Ministers of righteousnesse But how unworthy is it for men to suffer Satan to use their parts and wits against their Maker
ex justitia in peccatum Estius in 2. Sent. Dist 3. § 4. Wee must not think that angels were inferiour to men If man from the beginning was holy why not angels And as bodies cannot be said to fall but from a higher place than is that into which they fall so neither can there be a fall of spirits but from the height of some good which formerly they had which fall from good is not so much in regard of locall motion as of their defection from righteousnesse to sin whereof their change of place is afterwards a punishment And how can any but most impiously imagine that he who is perfectly and absolutely good and goodness it self should create evil And if God doth righteously punish the sin of Angels then God did not create them sinful for how can God punish for the being of that which he himselfe made to be And it is by all the Learned exploded for impious Manicheism to hold that any creature is evill by a necessity of nature It s plainly exprest God saw all that he had made and it was very good Singula bona sunt bonitate naturae suae sed omnia valde bona quia bonitati singulorum accedit pulcherrimus ordo quo cuncta sibi invicem aptissimè congruunt Est in 2 sent Dist 1. §. 7. Tantae excellentiae in comparatione pecoris est homo ut vitium hominis na tura sit pecoris Aug. de pec Orig. c. 40. The creatures were good with a goodnesse of nature and very good because to the goodnesse of every particular creature there was an accession of the goodnesse of that order whereby they did all harmoniouâ—â—sute and agree with one another for the making up the beauty of the whole And whereas some object that the Wolfe is by nature ravenous and the Fox subtle and deceitfull Therefore that angels may possibly be subtle and cruell by nature its answered That this is the dignity and excellency of intellectuall nature either angelicall or humane that what is the nature of beasts is a sin in angels and man To which may be added that the forenamed qualities of cruelty and subtilty in angels and man would be against a law given to them but this cannot be said of those beasts which are not capable of a law Holinesse then it was which at first God bestowed upon the angels and from this first estate of holinesse they made a defection An heinous offence whither we consider what this holinesse was bestowed upon them and when it was bestowed 1. It was a conformity to the originall pattern of purity and excellency It was that by which they as much resembled the great and glorious God as creatures yea the best of creatures could do That whereby they who stood are still called the sons of God yea Gods To cast dirt upon Job 1.6 Gen 33.10 or to cut in pieces the picture of a King is an heinous offence but to trample upon and spoil the image of God is an infinitely more heinous indignity We are wont to burn or openly disgrace the pictures only of traitors or eminent offenders and we account that the dishonour of the picture is the dishonour of the person the image of God in man was very excellent but it was far more excellent in an angel who was a subject more capacious to receive it and wherein it might more gloriously appear But 2. When was this holinesse bestowed it was bestowed upon angels at their creation It was given to their nature it was their first estate These angels were as it were crowned in the cradle God was a benefactor to them betimes And what an impiety was â—o trample upon so early a mercy That land which comes to us by inheritance with Naboth we love to keep though bequeath'd by an earthly father yea a gift which is bestowed upon us as soon as we are born we love to keep all our days but these angels threw away a gift even born with them as old as their beings conveyed by God himself 2. The angels forsook also their own habitation y these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their own habitation some understand those heavenly places of happinesse and glory in this sense as if for their defection from their originall holinesse they were cast out and compell'd to depart from them but because the punishment of their fall is subjoyned in the second part of the verse I conceive with learned * Quidam illud accipiunt de domicilio coelesti sensu eo quod ob crimen laesae majestatis pristinum suum domicilium relinquere fuerint coacti sed quia de poena lapsus in verbis sequentib demum agitur rectius acci pitur hoc modo quòd cum primum fuerint in certa statione collocati transfugae facti illam deseruerint Gerhard in 2 Pet. 2.4 Gerhard and others that by their own habitation we are rather here to understand that proper station and set office in heaven wherein their great Lord and Master was pleased to fix them for serving him The Apostle comparing them to a company of fugitive souldiers who leave their colours and that station in the army where by their Commander they are placed And this interpretation seems to bee much favoured by these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their owne that place properly and peculiarly appointed allotted and set out for them by God viz. to serve and honour him in and this is the force of the word in other places of Scripture when used either concerning persons or places God in the beginning appointed severall places for his creatures wherein they were to perform their services unto him and like a Master of a family who hath sundry servants distinct offices to all sorts of creatures Heaven was the place of angels and the melodious praising of God in heaven the work of angels and possibly in heaven those glorious spirits might have their severall parts peculiarly appointed to each of them all of them together making up the celestiall harmony and because there are sundry titles of dignity given them in Scripture it seems to follow That there are sundry sorts of duties allotted to them from which severall duties for in respect of their nature angels are all alike some are simply called angels some archangels some powers some principalities though what the particular differences between these are and what the offices of these I confesse with * Quid inter se distant dicant qui possunt si tamen possunt probare quod dicunt ego me ista ignorare confiteor Tom. 3. in Euchr. c. 29 Austin I understand not I conceive its neither my duty to know nor my danger to be ignorant of these things The bold determinations of Aquinas and other Schoolmen herein are by the learnedst and godliest Writers rather noted than liked And this forsaking of their owne habitation seems in a due and proper sense to be subjoyned to the former expression of the
when they are not actually in the very place of the tormented in hell because they know that eternall woes are due to them as the scorching distemper of one in a burning feaver is not removed though he be removed into a bed of ivory and the most refreshing place 2. The second particular to be explained is How and why these chains are everlasting By the word in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which singnifies alwayes continuing perpetuall is intended that the fore-mentioned chains shall never be shaken off and that these angels shall stand guilty for ever expecting the last judgement despairing and without any hope of recovery and redemption they having no Saviour nor any means allowed them by God for their release And if it be here demanded why the faln angels rather then faln man stand guilty for ever without any deliverance or hope of recovery it s by severall men differently answered 1. Some say Because man was seduced to sin but the divell sinned meerly by his own will without instigation from any other he fell alone and must if at all rise alone 2. Others say Because in the fall of angels the whole angelicall nature of angels perish'd not but the first man sinning the whole humane nature had perish'd if the goodnesse of God had not afforded a remedy 1 Cor. 15.22 In Adam all die Id. in Joh. Tr. 110. Tanto damnabilior eorum judicata est culpa quanto erat natura sublimior In offend endo creatorem tanto execrabilius beneficio ejus ingrati extiterunt quantò beneficentius sunt creati 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damascen l. 2. Orth. Fid. cap. 3. 4. Gerh. m 2. Pet. 2. Praestat grato corde Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in remedio generi humano praestito agnoscere quam profunditatem divinorum judiciorum curiosius extra verbi limites scrutari 3. Others say That the nature of the angels being more excellent and sublime their fault was more damnable then that of mans and that so much the more ingratefull to God were they in their fall then man by how much the more bountifull in their Creation God was to them then to man But I humbly conceive we may more safely say with Gerhard It 's better thankfull to acknowledge the love of God to mankind in affording him a recovery then to search into the depths of divine judgements without the warrant of the word with curiosity OBSERVATIONS They whose course and trade of life is in sin Observ 1. do most resemble Satan Sin is a chain to the godly to weary and trouble them but it s a chain to the divell and wicked men wholly to subdue them to its power and obedience The holiest may sometime fall into sin but the ungodly onely live and lie in sin the godly are like a sheep which sometimes may slip and be tumbled into a dirty ditch but the wicked are as swine who tumble and wallow in the ditch The former beat themselves with striving to get out the later are ready to beat and hurt any who labour to help them out The former crie out of sin and sinning as their torment the later like the divell when any go about to reform and hinder them from sin cry out What have we to do with you are you come to torment us before our time The godly sin but the wicked are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 workers of iniquity witty and skilfull practitioners in impiety Sin is the woe of a Saint and the work of a sinner To the former its a thorne in the eye to the later as a crown upon the head In the former sin is but the later are in sin a sober man may have drink in him but the drunkard only is in drink A Saint when he sins is as a poor child when he fals into a pond of water but a wicked man as a fish in the water sports and swims in sin as his element his bibere is his vivere he drinks in sin as the fish drinks in water A sinner performes good duties by fits and starts but sin is his course and standing employ ment a Saint sins by fits but holinesse is his course and he walks with God though sometmes he be drawen away by a tentation Oh that they who live in sin cannot sleep unlesse they sin who are sick with Amnon till they have fatisfied their lusts who can walk in sin from morning to night week after week year after year yea and if they had more lives they would do so life after life would consider who is their father and whom they resemble and never be at rest till they get from under the cruel slavery of sin into the service of Jesus Christ which is the true and only liberty And let them fear lest the Lord at length give them up to final obstinacy Revel 22.11 and say in his wrath Thou that art filthy be filthy still my spirit shall never more strive with thee I will never give one blow more to knock off thy chains but they shall be like the divels everlasting chains and thou who holdest thy sin so fast here upon earth shalt be held and bound by that chain for ever in hell 2. Observ 2. Torments cannot reform divels Hellish horrours cannot change hellish hearts Sinners will not be perswaded either by the rising of one from the dead or their own remaining among the damned The braying of sinners in a mortar cannot make their folly depart from them Outward troubles may break the back only God by his supernaturall working can melt the heart Notwithstanding smiting Isai 1.5 people may revolt more and more After all the repeated plagues upon Pharaoh and Egypt their hearts were hard And though God battered the Israelites with successive judgements yet he testifies they returned not to him Am. 4.8 Judgements move only by way of outward and objective perswasion they cannot reach really work upon or turn the heart The smartest outward poverty cannot make a man poor in spirit The glorified angels are humble in the joyes of heaven the divels are proud in the torments of hell It is not the inflicting but the sanctifying of troubles that can benefit us Whensoever the Lord chastens us Psal 94.12 Jer. 6.29 let us beseech him likewise to teach us otherwise wee shall continue unreformed 3. Restraint much differs from reformation Observ 3. Divels may have a chain upon them and yet no change within them A necessitated forbearance of sin may accompany a divilish nature divine chastisements and humane lawes may hide sin and hinder sinning 't is only a principle of renovation wherby we hate sin Let none please himself with such a conversion as he is forced unto by his earthly superiours They who only leave sin because men forbid it wil upon the same ground be brought to forsake any way of holinesse And yet what is the religion of the most but a meer restraint and hence
nemo videbit in judicio quia filius hominis est ut possit ab impiis videri August lib. 1. de trin cap. 13. Talis apparebit judex qualis possit videri ab iis quos coronaturus ab iis quos damnaturus est Prosp The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son he hath given him authority to execute judgment Joh. 5.22.27 And all power is given him in heaven and in earth 3. By his former estate of humiliation As he emptyed and humbled himself according to his humane nature so in that hee is to be exalted He humbled himselfe and became obedient to death c wherefore God hath highly exalted him Phil. 2.9 And as Christ in his humane nature was unjustly judged so in that nature shall he justly judge Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and he shall appear the second time without sin Heb. 9.28 4. By reason of the necessity of the visibility of the Judge and judiciall proceedings at the last day He executes judgement because he is the Son of man Joh 5.27 and every eye shall see him The Judge is to be beheld and heard by the Judged God will judge the world by that man c. In respect of the judiciall process a man must be our Judge for God is invisible and the Judge shall so appear as to be seen both of those whom he shall crown and of those whom he shall condemn Nor can it be but that God will be the more justified and men without all excuse having one who is bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh to be judge between God and them Notwithstanding all which immediate audible visible administration of the last judgement by the second Person this judgement belongs to the other Persons in Trinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of Authority Dominion and judiciary power though to the Son only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of dispensation and office and externall exercise 2. For the second viz. Wherein the Judge makes the day of Judgement great 1. He makes it a great day 1. As he is considered in himselfe 2. As he is attended and accompanied by others 1. As we consider him in himselfe and that either 1. as God or 2. man 1. As God He who shall be the Judge is the mighty God It is Jehovah to whom every knee shall 〈◊〉 Isai 45. Hence the Apostle cals the appearance of this Judg who is God glorious in those words Tit. 2.13 The glorious appearing of the great God If the great God be Judge the day of Judgement must needs be a great day How great is the day of an earthly Judges appearance a man a worme dust and ashes one who though hee can give yet cannot avoid the sentence of death and one who hath scarce a faint reflection of that majesty with which this King of glory is adorned think then and yet thoughts can never reach it what it is for God before whom the whole world though full of Judges is as nothing and less then nothing and vanity to come to judge the word God is a judge Omnipotent and therefore one whose voice as the living who are distanced so many thousands of miles shall hear and obey so even the dead shall hear being quickned and shall at his beck come and stand before his judgment seat He shall come with great power 2 Thes 7.9 and the wicked shall be punish'd with everlasting destruction from the glory of his power Nor shall he use the ministry of Angels for necessity but Majesty God is an omniscient Judg infinitely onely wise his eyes are clearer then ten thousand suns one who will in the day wherein the brightnesse of his omniscience shall shine in its full lustre bring every hidden work to light and tell to all as the woman of Samaria said all that ever they did one who doth not as earthly Judges onely know what to ask but what every one will answer who wants no witnesses nor needs he that any should testifie of man for he knows what is in man God is a true and a just Judge The Apostle 2 Tim 4.8 cals him The Lord the righteous Judge hee will render to every one according to his works The Apostle proves the righteousnesse of God from his judging the world Rom. 3.6 and Abrahams question asserts it strongly Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right Other Judges may do righteously but God cannot do otherwise The wils of other Judges must be regulated by righteousnesse but so righteous is God that righteousnesse it selfe is regulated by his will which is the root and rule of all righteousnesse 2. This Judge shall make the day great as he is Man greatly amazing and dismaying must his appearance as Judge in mans nature needs be to sinners who have denyed him persecuted crucifyed and put him to an open shame all whose designes have been to crush and keep him under With what horror shall the Jews then see their delusion who would not heretofore beleive him to be the Messiah Needs must they and others who would not have this man to reign over them to whom he was a stumbling stone when low and small contemptible in his former discoveries upon earth now find and feel him a rock to fall upon them from heaven and crush them to powder Greatly comforting and refreshing must the appearance of this man be to beleevers who shall not onely behold him to be the great Judge of the whole world who hath taken upon him their nature but who hath also given to them his spirit whereby through faith they are mystically united unto him as their head their husband and upon whom they have fixed all their hopes and expectations of happinesse for and with whom they have so long suffered from the world whom they look upon as their treasure their portion and for whose coming they have so long'd and sigh'd and groan'd In a word How greatly glorious shall his appearance in our nature be both to good and bad when in it he shall be deck'd and adorn'd with Majesty and clothed with unspeakeable glory above all the Angels he being to come in the glory of his father Mat. 16.27 with power and great glory Mat. 24.30 The glory of a thousand Suns made into one will be but as sack cloth to that wherein Christ shall appear in mans nature that great day The glory of the Sun scatters the clouds but from the glory of Christs face the very earth and heaven shall flie away Rev. 20.11 The beames of his glory shall dazzel the eyes of sinners and delight the eyes of Saints The wicked shall be punish'd with everlasting destruction from his presence and the glory of his power 2 Thes 1.9 and when his glory shall he revealed the Saints shall be glad with exceeding joy 1 Pet. 4.13 2. The Judge shall make this day of judgement great considering him not
speak or as Varro deriveth it as though they vvho committed it vvere ne farre digni not vvorthy to eat bred Vid. Willet in Lev. p. 504. and makes even the unclean creatures more unclean and the beast below a beast and not worthy of living the very life of a beast but especially as Calvin notes the Lord would shew how much this sin displeath him when he commands that even the harmless beast neither capable of nor provoking to thesin was punish'd with death 2. The other sort of pollution by strange flesh was that which is properly termed Sodomy committed when persons defile themselvs with their own sex The sin which the Gentiles committed when God gave them up to vile affections or affections of dishonor and ignominie where by men with men wrought that which was unseemly Rom. 1.27 whereby as they had left the authour they were also suffered to leave the order of nature A sin called an abomination Lev. 20.13 sending an abominable favour unto the Lord. Incest with the daughter in law is called confusion with the mother and daughter wickedness This sin of Sodom is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abomination And when the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abominable are unmbred among the fearfull unbeleevers c. who shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone by Abominable many learned men understand those who are given to this sin against nature as if abomination were properly belonging to it In adultery violence is offered to marriage in Incest to affinity but in this sin as Tostatus observes infamy is offered to the whole humane nature And †Ex eo quod relatione ad Deum sub nomine tetragrammaton dicuntur valde mali peccatores significatur eos contra jus naturae valde peccasse Erant enim mali homines declinabant à recto naturali ut eorum venerea contra naturam testantur Per. in Gen. 13. Infamia irrogatur toti bumanae naturae Sulphure significatus punitus fuit Peccatorum foetor igne libidinis ardor Ger. l. 4. Mor. c. 10. Pererius notes because it 's said these Sodomites were sinners before the Lord the word being Jehovah that it signified they sinned against the right and light of nature And it s called as Gerard notes Sap. 14.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a changing of birth The unsavoury sulphur that was mixt with the flames of Sodome and if travellers may be beleeved the still continuing stink of that sulphureous lake where Sodom once stood seem to be comments upon the abhorred unsavouriness of this sin By the law of Theodosius and Arâ—â—dius Sodomites were adjudged to the fire Among the Athenians he who defiled the male was put to death and the party abus'd was barred from all office In the Councell of Vienna the templers who were found guilty of this sin were decreed to be burnt Among the Romans it was lawfull for him who was attempted to that abuse to kill him who made the assault Probus adoleseens facere periculosè quam turpiter perpeti maluit Orat pâ—o Milon Quâ indignati one tantuÌ„ nefas prosequar Vincit officium lenguae sceleris magnitudo Piget dicere Lact. l. 6. c. 23. de vero cultu Sexum nec foemineum mutat Christianus Christianus uxori suae soli masculus nascitur Non deli cta sed monstra Tertull. de pud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia vacat pudore Justinian in 1 Cor. 6.9 and thus C. Lucius did who as Tully saith of him had rather do dangerously than suffer shamefully In short against this sin of Sodomy no indignation as Lact antius speaks is enough The greatnesse of the sin overcomes the office of the tongue Tertullian brings in Christianity triumphing over Paganism because this sin was peculiar to heathens and that Christians neither changed the sex nor accompanied with any but their own wives This and such like as Tertullian speaks being not so much to be called offences as monsters and not to be named without holy detestation by Saints though they be committed without shame by Sodomites Thus having in the second place spoken of the fornication of these Sodomites and their pollution by strange flesh it remains that briefly in the third place wee should enquire what was their giving themselves over to the former and their going after the later both these are contained in a double expression in the originall the first is the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulgata barbare ex fornicarae Bez. in loc being in Composition in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the addition whereof the signification of the word saith Gerard is dilated inlarged increased as also are the significations of other words by the same Preposition The second is in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. going after c. whereby is intended more then the accepting or embracing even the prosecuting the motions of their unnaturall uncleanness In sum I conceive by these expressions of their giving over themselves and following after strange c. here is noted besides the Originall root and fountain both of uncleanness and all other lusts I mean that fomes innatus that imbred occasion of sin as also besides the arising of unclean motions in the heart the delighting in such motions the consent to those motions so delighted in the actuall performance and execution of those motions so consented to I say besides all these which are supposed in these expressions of the Apostle there is intended the more hideous hight and prodigious eminency of this Sodomiticall uncleannesse and that in sundry respects As 1. Of their making Provision and in projecting for their lusts and that both by spending their time pains cost in fetching in and laying on its fuel the constant providing and pouring on of oyl to keep in and increase the flame by fulnesse of bread and excessive eating and drinking and also by listning after relating of and laying out for such objects as seemed to promise most satisfaction to their unsatiable lusts which appeared by the sudden notice and shamefull resentment of the arrivall of Lots beautifull guests 2. Their excessivenesse and exuberancy in pouring out themselves upon their lust even to the consuming wearing and wearying themselves by uncleannesse the boyling over of their strength and lusts together though with difference the former being hereby impaired the later increased and in a word their becoming hereby their own destroyers and the Divels Martyrs And this the Apostle Peter intends clearly in that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2.7 where he speaks of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the filthy conversation of the Sodomites the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comprehending not only all kinds of lust and obscenity but also a monstrous profusion a violent spending ones selfe without measure in all lasciviousnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 4.4 even the greatest excess of riot 3. Their