Men specially of them that believe 1 Tim. 4.10 3. Christ considered as God hath no Office but is above Office yet not contrary to it Christ considered as Man hath indeed an Office and but one From his Conception to his Birth thence to his Death Burial and Resurrection thence to his Ascension and Sitting at God's right Hand in Glory thence to his coming to judg the World all this is but one entire office of Christ as Man admitting of just Conception but no Division His Office as Man is to be subservient to himself as God in the work of Redemption this one comprizeth all 4. Christ as Man obedient unto Death is our Pattern and Example a real Martyr and the Prince of Martyrs he discharged his own Debt and Duty and not ours and evangelically merited for himself not for us all that Glory and Reward which as Man he hath for ever at God's right Hand Christ considered as God incarnate is not our Pattern nor a Martyr but infinitely above us he is our Lord and our God our Saviour and Redeemer our Ransom and Atonement for Sin through Faith our All in all he merited nothing for himself but all for us Without shedding of Blood is no Remission And therefore Christ as Man died for Sins yet not his own but ours not as deserving his Death but as deserving our Death and he as Man in obedience to God and out of love to us died for us one Man for all Men as fallen in Adam and so became a Propitiation and Counterprize for the Sin of the whole World yet not without Faith For he that believeth not makes God a Lyar is condemned already and God's Wrath abideth on him 1 Joh. 5.10 Joh. 3.18 36. The obedience of Christ was not two active and passive but simply one as Christ is one As to Eternity the opposition is not between active and passive but between active and idle passive and being at ease Christ as Man nailed to the Cross and pierced with a Spear was invisibly active for God and our eternal Good and not idle And yet in the fame instant he was visibly passive in great pain and not at ease His Death was indeed the most eminent proof of his obedience to God and love to us But still it was obedience and therefore pleasing to God and truly meritorious because it was so For no suffering of Man as distinct from obedience can please God and profit the Soul and merit heavenly Reward 5. Had God not saved fallen Man at all he had done him no wrong but then he had been conscious to himself of going contrary to his own eternal Purpose For from Eternity God the Son was purposed to permit the Fall of Man to be incamate and as Man to dye for Sin and so to enter into Glory and thus to save fallen Man by Christ through Faith and not otherwise This supposed God could not but save fallen Man this only way and yet he thus saved him most freely and willingly and not as constrained and under Law to a Superior And the true reason why the Incarnation doth not change and compound God is because it is the exact fulfilling of his own eternal Purpose Which Purpose if he had not in time fulfilled then indeed he had been changed and compounded of Yea and Nay and had not been himself Yea and Amen the same for ever 2 Cor. 1.17 18 19 20. Eph. 3.9 10 11. The work of Christ as Mediator is to reconcile Sinners to God. When this is fully done and all Sin is for ever abolished and God and Men are no longer two divided by Sin but one in perfect Love then shall the Mediatorship of Christ cease and have an end as being fully accomplished As when the Wound is perfectly healed there is no further need of Plaisters The change is not in Christ but in us 1 Cor. 15.24 25 26 27 28. CHAP. IV. Of the Nature of God. 1. WE cannot rightly conceive of God without diversity and distinction and we may admit of no diversity and distinction repugnant to infinite Unity and Perfection Unity and Diversity are well consistent but not Unity and Division 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. God is for ever good to those in Heaven yet just but not severe And he is for ever severe to those in Hell yet just but not good For the opposition is not between Goodness and Justice nor between Severity and Justice but between Goodness and Severity Rom. 11.22 Therefore the divine Goodness as such is not the divine Severity Nor the divine Severity as such the divine Goodness They are most really and not chymerically truly and not feignedly eternally and not temporally divers and distinct and thus all in God is not God. But then what is Goodness to those in Heaven through God's abundant Grace in Christ the same is Severity to those in Hell through their own Sin And what is Severity to those in Hell through their own Sin the same is Goodness to those in Heaven through God's abundant Grace in Christ and thus all in God is God without accident parts and composition and he is truly all in all Not as excluding the Creature and subordinate Causes but the Creature and subordinate Causes as such consist by and depend on God and yet they add nothing to him they do not make him more wise holy just good powerful perfect blessed Of Him through Him and to Him are all things He is simply perfect and unto what is simply perfect there can be no addition God cannot be beholden to us 2. God is a pure Act eternally active and in no instant idle and God being one the divine Act must needs be one Creation Sustentation Gubernation of Angels and Men Incarnation Redemption Regeneration Justification and the like these are neither immanent nor translent Acts of God but Effects produced by God after the Counsel of his own Will which is the same for ever and can have no new Act. The things produced by God are numberless in them is Order Succession Priority and Posteriority dependence of one thing upon another But in God by whom they are unsearchably produced there is no Number no Order no successive Moments and Instants nothing before and after no dependence at all but unsearchable Unity Diversity Eternity Independency Truth Simplicity Goodness Perfection and Excellency above Number Order Time and all that we can conceive yet not repugnant thereto Angels and Men are dependent Beings and not having Blessedness in themselves they go out of themselves by heavenly Self-denial and seek it in God in whose good Will and Pleasure they rest and terminate as their beginning and end their all in all and so they are happy But God being simply independent true and Truth it self cannot deny and go out of himself for any thing that he hath a mind to effect It is but his Omnipotent Word let this or that be and it is when and how he would have it
is faithful and to be so is to be full of Faith Truth Veracity and Fidelity in opposition to Perfidiousness Unfaithfulness Deceit and Lies Now all the blessed Saints and Angels are perfectly like to God as he is faithful and true and so must needs have in them perfect Faith Fidelity and Truth Deut. 32.20 2 Thes 3.2 Heb. 11.1 2 Cor. 5.7 Prov. 20.6 1 Cor. 13.12 2. As Faith is opposed to Sight so through it we understand discern apprehend perceive embrace and receive spiritual good things spiritually through it we repent of Sin love obey and please God we receive come to trust in and rely on Christ we obtain Pardon Justification and right to Life eternal we overcome Satan and the World and walk with God in Holiness and Comfort on Earth till we come to Heaven where Faith is turned into Vision and Hope into Fruition Faith as thus opposed to Sight is most truly properly and scripturally reckoned counted and imputed to us for Gospel-righteousness before God all the while we are militant in this World. 3. Faith in God may be evidenced shewed declared proved and spiritually demonstrated by heavenly Regeneration and good Works 1 Cor. 2.4 but it cannot be defined For what is defined is finite but God is infinite and infinite as such cannot be finite Believe God we may define him we may not To define is to limit and to limit God is great Sin Psal 78.41 He that hath holy Faith in God knoweth better by inward feeling and Self-perception the true nature of it than any human Definition can inform him There cannot be a Definition of Definition Either then Faith in God is the Standard of Definition or Definition is the Standard of Faith in God. If the former then Faith in God is above Definition more plain than it and is not reducible to it If the latter then there can be no Faith in God because he is Infinite and as such cannot be defined Exact Definition consisteth of somewhat general and somewhat special but all in saving Faith as such is special and peculiar to the Elect and nothing in it common to them with the Reprobate Temperance Justice Chastity Faith in the unregenerate Man as in themselves are proper Graces and Vertues but as relied on for Life eternal without heavenly Regeneration they are no otherwise Graces and Vertues than as a dead Man is a Man or an adulterous Wife is a Wife they are but the Corpse of Graces and Vertues and therefore they differ in kind from Temperance Justice Chastity Faith as in the regenerate Man and are no degree thereof 4. Faith is in no Faculty but it is seated and rooted in the Heart and through it we understand and will spiritual things spiritually Understanding and Will in Man are truly distinct but not distinct Faculties they are the Image of God in whom is unsearchable Unity and Diversity but no Faculties God doth willingly understand and understandingly will and so doth Man. Every intellectual Act of Man is the Act of the Soul or Man and not of this or that Faculty Faith as opposed to Sight is not an Act but through it we act holily It is not a Work but through it we work Righteousness It is not Obedience but through it we obey and please God Heb. 11. Rom. 1.5 16.26 5. Look what Reason is to the human Soul the general Organ and Instrument by which it doth put forth rational and intellectual Acts differing in kind from the manner of Brutes that is Faith to the regenerate Soul the general Organ and Instrument by which it doth put forth holy and supernatural Acts differing in kind from all the Acts of Men unregenerate and ungodly as such Certainty of Faith is proper Certainty of Sense yet not of bodily Sense common to us and Heathens but of heavenly and spiritual Sense through Christian Belief which Heathens have not Unto true believing Souls God's Word is sweeter than Honey and sharper than a two-edged Sword in their Hearts Psal 119.103 Heb. 4.12 Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14.23 That is he whose Heart is not purified by Faith in Christ in him Sin reigns and carnal Dubitation is Lord in his Soul and though the thing done by him as in it self be lawful yet if he doubt whether it he lawful or not to him it becomes unlawful through the Error of his Conscience not purified by Faith. An erroneous Conscience considered as erroneous connot bind for as erroneous it is not Conscience but the Error and Abuse of it But considered as Conscience under God and over Man so it doth truly bind to all Duty and against all Sin and Error Whatsoever is not of Faith is of Infidelity and consequently of Sin. CHAP. IX Of Love to God and Self-love 1. SIncere Love is to love God because of his first Love to us 1 Joh. 4.19 For this is to love him as indeed he is our Maker our Redeeemer our Sanctifier our Reward and Rewarder our God and Portion for ever our All in All dearer to us than we are or can be to our selves and to love him under any other notion is to love an Idol and not God. Self-love considered as repugnant to Life eternal is self-destroying Vice and the common Character of all the ungodly 2 Tim. 3.1 2. Self-love considered as subservient to Life eternal is in a large and true Sense heavenly Self-denial and the true Love of God as good to our Souls in Christ Jesus eternally Prov. 9.12 Luke 9.23 2. Vertue is truly lovely for it self but then the highest Vertue is to love and be like unto God and God is not at all lovely unless he be essentially and yet freely the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him and no Reward short of God himself as enjoyed in eternal Blessedness can content the holy seeking Soul. If in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable To say I would love God though there were no Heaven and I would hate Sin though there were no Hell is in effect to say I would love God though he were not at all lovely and I would hate Sin though it were not at all hateful and abominable Heb. 11.6 1 Cor. 15.19 3. The chief End of Man is but one as God is one Subordinate Ends indeed are many but as subordinate they are not Ends but regular means conducing to the End. The Supream End of Man is eternal Salvation or God himself as enjoyed in eternal Felicity Eternal Salvation is not an End subordinate to the Glory of God but God's Glory is his Will as fulfilled in the eternal Salvation of all the Elect by Faith in Christ God is our Salvation and our Saviour our Blessedness and the Author of our Blessedness No Man can will his own Annihilation as a means to God's Glory for a Man as such is the Image and Glory of God and the eternal extinction of God's Glory cannot be a
immediately after his Death and while his Body hung dead upon the Cross his Soul was with God in Triumphant Joy. In Memory of Christ's Resurrection we rightly observe the Lord's-Day as a Day appointed by God for solemn Religious Worship both publickly and privately The fourth Commandment considered as repugnant to Life eternal by Faith in Christ is meer Judaical Righteousness damnable Impiety and no Command of God But considered as subservient to Life eternal by Faith in Christ so it was typical of Christ's Rest in the Grave and as typical by his Resurrection it was to cease and have an end and in the room of it comes the Lord's Day as the joyful Day on which our Lord rose from the Dead and â—â—th begotten us unto a lively Hope 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Thus the fourth Commandment by Faith in Christ is not abolished but established Rom. 3.31 4. At the Day of Judgment there shall be a perfect opening of all the Good that was in the Wicked and of all the Sin that was in the Righteous not for the Shame and Terrour of the Righteous nor for the Honour and Comfort of the Wicked but that all may have according to their Deeds and it may appear to all that God did not like and approve Sin in his own and that he did not condemn and drinke what was good and commendable in the Wicked that so the Righteous may for 〈◊〉 rejoice in God's Praises and the Mouths of the Wicked may for ever 〈◊〉 This perfect opening shall be by Conscience as God's 〈…〉 in each ones Bosom 5. Eternal Felicity considered as 〈…〉 of no Degrees Thus all both Saints and Angels in 〈…〉 and all in Hell be equally miserable For greater 〈…〉 thâ—n Eternal there cannot possibly be Eternal 〈…〉 admitteth of Degrees For God as he is the Righteous 〈…〉 the World cannot but by Conscience as his Agent in the 〈…〉 and Men eternally difference as between the Righteous and the 〈◊〉 and between the more Wicked and the less Wicked so also between the more and the less abundant in the Love and Service of God and 〈…〉 according to their Deeds Thus the Manhood of Christ hath a 〈…〉 of Glory than the Angels and the Angels who never linned than the Saints and eminent Saints such as Prophets Apostles and Martyrs thâ—n ordinary and common Saints Thus there is perfect Unity and perfect Diversity sweetest Harmony and sweetest Variety no one hath cause to complain no one hath cause to boast he that hath least hath no lack and he that hath most hath nothing over God is All in All and Eternity is All in All. Set aside Eternity and Heaven and Hell Holiness and Sin Angels and Men are meer Dreams and Notions God may do with his own what be pleases but he cannot deny himself and overthrow his own Name Kingdom and Glory And therefore he can in no instant annihilate or eternally torment a holy Man For so to do is not Power but Impotency not Dominion but Tyranny and the abuse of it God's Dominion is by his Will and not against it his Will is essentially and yet freely holy just and good But it is repugnant to infinite Holiness Justice and Goodness to annihilate or eternally to toâ—â—ent a Holy Man. CHAP. XIX Of the Way of Peace 1. TWo Things as I conceive do greatly conduce to Unity and Peace among Christians touching Religion A clear explication of Gospel-Truth and forbearing one another in Love. The former I have endeavoured in the foregoing Chapters and among Persons truly consciencious a clear explication of the Truth is in effect the whole Cure. The latter it is not in my Power to procure Yet this one thing well weighed may do much towards it that Persons eminently Godly may ignorantly hold an Opinion in it self heretical and against the Foundation of Faith and yet not hold it heretically and so as do the Ungodly The reason is because Heavenly and Fundamental Truth is not by way of Syllogism and Human Argumentation Major Minor and Conclusion common to us and Heathens but by way of Holy Likeness to God through Christian Faith which Heathens have not He then who holds one Divine Truth with Holy Belief is thereby free not from all Errour but from all reigning Errour No Errour is safe and yet no meer Man since the Fall of Adam is wholly free from all Errour and every Godly Man is in a safe State not because of his Errour but because Heavenly Truth and not Errour reigns in him 2. The Apostles for some time were in an Errour touching the Nature of Christ's Kingdom which Errour as in it self considered did by consequence overthrow the Kingdom of Christ and yet as it was in them it was no reigning Errour Acts 1.6 The Apostle Peter was in an Errour touching the difference between Jew and Gentile which Errour considered nakedly as in it self was destructive of true Godliness because it did by consequence infer God to be partial unrighteous and a respecter of Persons And yet Peter in this instant was eminently godly Act. 10.34 35. There is no such thing in God as Major and Minor Premises and Conclusion Antecedent and Consequent because all in God is God And therefore there can be no such thing in the Image of God For as all in God is God so all in the Image of God is the Image of God. Therefore no Man is to be counted an Heretick and damnably Erroneous barely because he holds an Opinion in it self Heretical and by Consequence against the Foundation of Faith all the while he doth sincerely hate and detest and disown the Consecouence of his Errour not discerning that it is justly deducible from it There is great difference between ignorantly holding an Errour and bowing to an Idol or worshipping a false God. 3. If Christian Princes and Supream Civil Rulers in their several Dominions would according to their Duty and as becomes nursing Fathers to the Church see with their own Eyes and upon hearing the Arguments and Allegations on both sides wisely and impartially discern between what is plainly contained in God's Word and what is not but is only School-Sophistry and vain Philosophy corrupting Men's Minds from the simplicity that is in Christ and serving only to create Strife and to make plain things obscure and would enjoin all sides to insist upon and unite in plain and wholsome Truth evident by its own intrinsick Light to the Conscience of each Godly Man through Faith and either to cut off and forbear all further Disputes or manage them in Love and in the Spirit of Meekness we should soon see an End of Controversies concerning Religion In the mean time it concerns us all to get and keep well grounded Certainty through Faith of our own Salvation and earnestly to contend for this Faith. This Certainty is by way of special Revelation For all Divine Revelation since Adam's Fall is either Principal and Special or Subservient and Common Special and
Sin and seals them with his holy Spirit and renders them truly godly elect and precious in his sight and severs them from among the ungodly World as to Life Eternal 1 Pet. 1.2 20. Rom. 8.29 30. Acts 13.48 Jude 4. Prov. 16.4 Gal. 1.15 16. Jer. 1.5 2 Pet. 1.10 Eph. 1.11 2. Indeed we are said to be chosen in Christ before the Foundation of the World Ephes 1.4 But that is because Election in Christ is from Eternity future and things future are as present to God who calleth those things which be not as tho they were Rom. 4.17 What is future is as real and certain as what is present yet as future it is not in present being but to come and most surely will be Therefore Election in Christ is no otherwise from Eternity than Faith is For to be chosen in Christ is to be in Christ to be in Christ is to be a Christian A Christian without Faith in Christ is simply impossible Therefore no Faith in Christ no Heavenly Election But God gives Faith to Abel and not to Cain and thereby doth difference Abel from Cain 1 Cor. 4.7 Ephes 2.8 9. Mat. 13.11 And Abel through the same Faith doth renounce and repent of all his Sins and chuse the way of Truth and sincerely covenant his Soul to God and so under God and by his Grace in Christ through Faith Abel is from first to last laudably and rewardably active and instrumental in his own Regeneration and Perseverance doth save himself and doth difference himself from Cain Gal. 6.4 Acts 2.40 1 Tim. 4.16 Deut. 30.19 Psal 119.30 Luke 10.42 Heb. 11.4 3. God worketh Regeneration ever by his Word because his Word is Truth and there cannot be Heavenly Regeneration without Heavenly Truth as the immortal Seed thereof John 17.17 1 Pet. 1.23 In the same instant as to time God doth of naturally unwilling unholy and dead in Sin make us supernaturally willing holy and alive unto Righteousness by Omnipotent Grace in us unsearchably neither contrary to the Intrinsick Nature of the Human Will nor dependent on it but above it and so the Will is not destroyed but fanctified and saved This Omnipotent Grace in us is a Divine Effect produced by God after the Counsel of â—â—s own Will which is the same for ever and can have no new Act Eph. 1.11 James 1.17 There is in all the godly Divine Omnipotency like as there is Divine Nature and the Life of God 2 Pet. 1.4 Eph. 4.18 I 〈◊〉 do all things through Christ which strengthâ—neth me Phil. 4.13 Omnipotency as it is in God is the Divine Effence simply independent and admitteth of no degrees Omnipotency as it is in us is the Image of God a divine Effect simply dependent and admitteth of degrees but so that he who hath the least degree cannot but be a sincere Convert and truly godly and yet he is freely and willingly so Regeneration is entirely Gods Gift and entirely our Duty and so we do the whole through God's Grace in Christ for God cannot do our Duty or any part of it and we without his Heavenly Grace in Christ can do nothing heavenly and supernatural 〈◊〉 is Regeneration Joh. 15.5 4. God's free Grace in Jesus Christ is the Fountain-cause of Predestination and Election to Life eternal but God predestinates no Person to 〈◊〉 and he reprobates no Person eternally save for his own Ungodliness in 〈◊〉 instant truly repented of and breeding the never-dying Worm To be ungodly is to be reprobate to every good Work Tit. 1.16 2 Cor. 13 5â— Jer. 6.30 As then God doth by his Grace of ungodly make many godly 〈◊〉 so he doth by the same Grace of reprobate make many elect and all the Elect in Christ he keeps from final Apostacy Christ considered as Man is himself elect Isa 42.1 Christ considered as God the Son incarnate equâ—â— in respect of his Godhead with the Father and the Holy Ghost Phil. 2. â—â— is the Author of Election 5. In God there is necessarily Self-kowledg and Self-knowledg is boâ—â— Act and Object Therefore no Man is the Object of God's Eternal Presciâ—nce and Decree But God from Eternity doth know love and delight in himself as purposed in time to make Adam holy to permit his Fall to give him Repentance and Pardon through Faith to give him Childrenâ— first Cain and then Abel to permit their being born equally in Originally Sin and to give Repentance and Salvation to Abel and not to Cain 〈◊〉 supposed all these things are from Eternity future and Abel through God's Grace will most surely be penitent and saved and Cain through himself will most surely be sinful impenitent and damned and yet they are no Object at all of God's Eternal Prescience and Decree God cannot go out of himself for an Object to terminate his Knowledg and Will upon because he is simply Independent and the same for ever His Omnipotent Word or Saying Let this and that be is the producing of it without all new Act Transition Motion and Change in God Gen. 1.3 9 11. Psal 148.5 CHAP. II. Of Perseverance and Certainty of Salvation 1. ADam being created in perfect Integrity might well love God though not sure of his Perseverance But unto fallen Man in whose Conscience reigns Guilt eternal the holy and Sin-avenging God is not at all lovely in that condition Fear and flee from him as his Judg he may love and draw nigh to him as his gracious God and reconciled Father in Christ he cannot till by Sin-pandoning Grace in Christ through Faith his Conscience be set free from Guilt eternal and in the room thereof be planted godly hope of Life eternal Every degree of this Hope must needs have with it intrinsecally a degree of godly Certainty and infallible Assurance of Perseverance and Salvation because it is Hope in God who is Truth it self and cannot lie Therefore it is called assurance of Hope an Anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast better Hope by the which we draw nigh to God Heb. 6.11 19. and 7.19 In respect of this better Hope it is that Christ is said to be the Mediator of a better Covenant Heb. 8.6 2. As to Life Temporal and all things worldly and transitory uncertainty may suffice because true Happiness doth not consist therein and no Man can be sure of living another hour But as to Life Eternal as good never a whit as never the better nothing short of divine and heavenly Hope thereof can suffice to fallen Man. Now if the perseverance of all in whom is divine and heavenly Hope in Christ be not infallibly future and a thing that will most surely be in God's good time and through his Grace in Christ then there is no difference between heavenly and worldly Hope Hope in God and Hope in Man Faith in Christ and Infidelity Adam in Innocency could have no divine Hope of his Perseverance but only perfect Assurance that God would not forsake him if he did not
first forsake God. There can be no divine Hope of that which is not infallibly future and God foresees will never be But where is divine Hope that is divine evidence that the thing hoped for is infallibly future Now in all regenerate Souls there is planted by God divine Hope of their Perseverance and Salvation therefore it will most surely be otherwise God is made the Author of false and deceivable Hope 3. God keeps his Saints in this World from final Apostacy by the holy fear of it this is at once a sure pledg and principal engine of Perseverance Jer. 32.40 Ezek. 36.27 Rom. 11.20 As it is holy Fear so it differs in kind from the fear of Devils and Men ungodly in whom is fear but no holy Fear As it is fear of Apostacy so it differs in kind from the State of blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven in whom is perfect Fear as Fear is the same with reverence and transcendent esteem of God but no fear of Apostacy no possibility of Sin. 4. David in the instant of his Murder and Adultery was ungodly and in a state of Damuation The reason is because God's Judgment over all is by Conscience as his Agent in the Breast of Angels and Men universally and for ever And God's Judgment must be so plain that every Mouth may be stopped and all may clearly perceive the Righteousness of God. But if Persons may be in the same instant both Murderers and Adulterers and yet Godly and in a state of Salvation then cannot every Mouth be stopped nor can the Conscience of Angels and Men universally acquit God. There is in the Soul of David invisibly some spiritual Lust against the Flesh such for kind as is in no unregenerate Man 1 Joh. 3.9 Gal. 5.17 Considered as spiritual so it is invisibly active for God and not idle in the Soul Considered as Lust so it is not active but lusteth to act and for the present cannot act by reason of an excess of contrary Lust which doth overwhelm it and extinguish all godly Act. God's gracious purpose in Christ from everlasting concerning David cannot fail and therefore in time he gives him Repentance and Pardon of those enormous Crimes and so makes advantage thereof to his own Glory the disgrace of Sin the esteem of Holiness the comfort of the Penitent and the silencing of the Impenitent Thus where Sin abounded God's Grace much more abounded and from everlasting to everlasting God's Mercy is on David and all other regenerate Souls Rom. 5.20 Psal 103.17 5. Infallible Certainty as it is in God is the Divine Effence and admits of no degrees as it is in us it is the Image of God a divine effect and admitteth of degrees but so that every degree thereof is truly infallible and Certainty not infallible is a Contradiction as being the same with uncertain certainty So much holy Faith in Christ so much holy Self-knowledg Self-perception Self-feeling and Self-intuition here the same thing is both Act and Object As by living we know we live and by seeing we know we see so we believe and know we believe Joh. 6.69 Faith and Assurance as also Faith and Confidence are distinct yet not asunder they differ as Cause and Effect Now Cause and Effect are mutually related things related are simul naturâ intrinsecally together and do mutually prove and infer each other the effect is eminently in the Cause and the Cause as such is the measure of the Effect Isa 32.17 Eph. 3.12 Heb. 10.22 Regeneration is the Seal of the Spirit by which he doth prove evidence and demonstrate to the Heart and Conscience of the Man regenerate through Faith that he is God's Child by Adoption elect in Christ and an Heir of Heaven This is divine Evidence and therefore he is bound to believe it with divine belief The Holy Ghost and renewed Conscience through Faith do undividedly witness the same thing yet not in the same respects the Holy Ghost doth witness the whole as principal and supream and renewed Conscience doth witness the whole as by his Grace instrumental and subordinate Rom. 8.16 17. 9.1 2 Cor. 1.12 22. Eph. 1.13 14. Doubting of Salvation may be in a godly Man in such sort as Unbelief may but no otherwise The least degree of holy Faith doth sincerely yet not perfectly mortify expel and war against Unbelief and carnal Doubting and Uncertainty CHAP. III. Of the Lord Jesus Christ the Mediator between God and Men. 1. THE Mediatorship of Christ began immediately after Adam's Fall For then God the Son as purposed in time to be Man and as Man to die for Sin gave Repentance and Pardon to Adam through Faith and so founded the New Covenant of which himself is the Mediator principally as he is God the Son subserviently as he is Man according to his own eternal purpose The godly before his Incarnation were saved by Faith in Jesus Christ as purposed to be Incarnate and the Godly since are saved by Faith in the same Jesus Christ as already Incarnate according to that Purpose Thus Jesus Christ is the same Yesterday and to Day and for ever without Parts and Composition Heb. 13.8 For if he consist of Parts then he is not simply impartial and then he cannot judg the World in Righteousness he must needs approve Murder in David and condemn it in Cain Which is Blasphemy If he be at all compounded then he is not simply Christ For simple and compounded are Contraries as Light and Darkness Sincerity and Deceit 2 Cor. 1.12 and 11.3 If he be not simply Christ he is a Deceiver 2. Christ considered as Man died for all Men as Men fallen in Adam equally and alike and shed as much Blood and as fincerely and effectually for Cain and Judas as for Abel and Peter and did all that lay in him as Man to save all Mankind without exception and continueth so to do For he could not be a perfectly holy Man without bearing equal and impartial love to all Men as Men fallen in Adam and to all godly Men as Godly As Man he makes no difference between one Man and another farther then they by Holiness or Sin shall difference themselves Christ considered as God could not die but he who is God manifest in the Flesh God the Son incarnate died in respect of his Body and purchased the Church with his own Blood and obtained Faith Repentance Pardon of Sin Perseverance and eternal Salvation for Abel David and the rest of the Elect in all Ages And temporal Grace Mercy Priviledg and Salvation for Cain Judas and the rest of that sort not with design that they should abuse his Grace that so he might have colour against them and damn them But as unsearchably foreseeing that he not preventing them with his heavenly Grace they would through themselves be graceless impenitent and perish And he whose Thoughts and Ways be far above ours purposed not to prevent them Thus he is the Saviour of all
known in the World 'till Sin brought it in Adam in Innocency was not a Slave but a Son even the Son of God Luke 3.38 And his Obedience was not servile and from meer Fear but it was Filial and with perfect love to God as his most good and bountiful Maker altogether lovely to such as love and be like unto him in heavenly Innocency and never forsaking them 'till first they forsake him The Law of Works considered as subservient to Life eternal is not the Law of Works but the Law of Faith in the Hearts of godly Men in Christ Jesus The Law of Works considered as repugnant to Life eremal is not the Law of God but the Law of Sin and Death in the Hearts of ungodly Men Rom. 3.27 Heb. 8.10 Rom. 8.2 4. Adam began to be the Figure of Christ Rom. 5.14 the Head of Mankind and a publick Person not 'till after his Sin Repentance and Pardon when God gave him Children and thereby made him the first Parent and so a Head and Root to all his lineal Off-spring in a natural way to his own Children immediately to the rest of the World remotely For look as the first Adam doth by natural Generation communicate human Nature to all his lineal Off-spring and begetteth Sons and Daughters in his own Likeness after his Image whereby they differ in kind from Brutes So the second Adam Christ Jesus doth by supernatural Regeneration communicate divine and heavenly Nature to all his spiritual Off-spring and begetteth Sons and Daughters like unto God in Righteousness and true Holiness whereby they differ in kind from the ungodly World. The whole Off-spring of Adam doth justly suffer temporal Punishment for his first Sin For in Adam all die 1 Cor. 15.22 Rom. 5.12 Temporal Punishment is well consistent with eternal Joy. But Punishment eternal no one can possibly suffer save for his own Sin never truly repented of 5. God considered as Law-giver doth neither will Sin nor permit it but doth simply nill hate and forbid it and doth all that in him lies to prevent it and the eternal ruine of all both Angels and Men. God considered as above Law yet not contrary to it doth innocently uphold Angels and Men in natural Being while they do of their own accord sin against him And so he doth after a wonderful and unsearchable manner willingly permit Sin and he wills his own Permission of it but he doth not will Sin For all that God doth will he doth will perfectly and without all deceit If God do thus will Sin then he must needs love and be Author of it as truly as he is of Holiness Which is very Blasphemy CHAP. VI. Of Justification 1. JUstification and Righteousness is either Legal or Evangelical Legal is that in the Consciences of the Damned So far as when on Earth they did well refrained from Sin spake Truth and were useful to human Society God by Conscience his Agent in their Bosom will for ever justify and acquit them and lay nothing to their Charge But because they were ungodly and never soundly repented had in them transcendent Vice held it fast to the last in their Hearts and took it with them into Eternity therefore the same Conscience in their Bosom cannot but against their Will for ever justify and acquit God and filence and condemn themselves Evangelical Justification and Righteousness is that by Faith in the Consciences of the Elect. God for the sake of Christ doth by the Gospel through Faith freely and fully pardon all their Sins acquit and set them free from Guilt eternal and from all Curse and Punishment legally due for Sin and then through the same Faith doth regenerate and sanctify them and doth inwardly sentence pronounce judge and esteem them to be what really by his Grace they are truly penitent perfectly pardoned evangelically just and worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven for Christ's sake 2. In Justification by Faith God doth of unjust make us inwardly just but not sinless so as was Adam before his Fall or as the Saints now in Heaven are But the most holy Man while on Earth hath Sin in him and sinneth in all he doth which Sin according to legal Justice deserves Damnation but not according to Justice Evangelical for it is sincerely repented of and so it is not imputed to us but fully pardoned for Christ's sake The eternal Penalty is pardoned and that being abolished all other Penalty becomes medicinal and sanctified and as sanctified it is not Penalty but Priviledg and Gain to the Soul and as such is truly eligible and desirable by a wise Man tho as it is irksom and painful to Nature so it is not desirable but patiently to be born 3. Between Justification and forgiveness of Sin there is this romarkable difference A finless Person may be justified but a sinless Person cannot be pardoned A sinless Person may be falsly accused and by just Sentence cleared and acquitted from that false Charge and so justified Thus God himself is justified but God cannot be pardoned Psal 51.4 Rom. 3.4 Luke 7.29 35. 1 Tim. 3.16 It will for ever remain true that David once was a Sinner a Murderer an Adulterer but as now he is in Heaven he is by Grace for ever sinless and impeccable and so is above Pardon and cannot need it as the whole need not the Physician Justified he may and shall be for ever and most solemnly before all at the day of Judgment but pardoned he cannot be Sin once done cannot by it self be undone but by Grace Evangelical giving us Repentance and Pardon through Faith it may and really is undone and unsinned 4. The Righteousness of God in Christ is through Faith really imputed to us and inherent in us and it could not at all be imputed to us were it not by Faith inherent in us In renouncing all our own Righteousness as dung and loss that we may have compleat and eternal Righteousness even the Righteousness which is of God by Faith in Christ it is manifest that we do not renounce our very renouncing and our very Faith in Christ In order of Nature we are first acquitted and set free from Guilt eternal through Faith this is Gospel-justification Afterward yet in the same instant as to time and through the same Faith we are regenerated and sealed with the holy Spirit we love God and do good Works this is Sanctification Eph. 1.13 Thus Justification by Faith is the rise and spring of Sanctification Articulus stantis cadentis Ecclesiae they are truly distinct and yet not asunder while on Earth 5. Evangelical Justification may be considered two ways either as a Gift or as a Reward Considered as a Gift so it is simply free and freely given of God in Christ by the Gospel and no way merited by us but we by Faith do humbly penitently fiducially obediently thankfully and stedfastly receive it and it becomes ours And thus from first to last we are justified by
Faith without Works according to St. Paul. Considered as a Reward so it is bestowed upon none but the truly penitent obedient regenerate merciful lovers of God and his Saints and such as by godly Sincerity and heavenly Righteousness through Grace difference themselves from the ungodly and impenitent World and all such do evangelically merit Justification before God for Christ's sake And thus from first to last we are justified before God by Works and not by Faith only according to St. James According to legal merit God deals with all the Devils and Damned he renders to them according to their Deeds exacts from them the last Mite and shews them no Mercy According to Evangelical Merit he deals with the Mâ—â—hood of Christ and with all elect Angels and Men. This kind of Merit is the Image of that transcendent Worth and Merit which is in God the more we have of it we are the more like to God and abound in loving serving and praising God saying Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be all the Glory The more we do for thee the more we are beholden to thee for of thine own it is that we give thee God rewards his own Grace and Righteousness in his Saints and renders to them according to their Deeds CHAP. VII Of Satisfaction for Sin. 1. LEgal Satisfaction for Sin is that of the Devils and Damned who suffer eternally of due desert and thereby make legal compleat Satisfaction and Amends to God for all their own Sins to the last mite God considered as Lawgiver hath no pleasure in the death of the wiched but that he turn from his way and live But if he shall in no instant turn then God considered as the Righteous Judg of all the World hath perfect pleasure in his eternal Damnation as adequate legal Compensation and Amends for his Wickedness in no instant truly turned from Evangelical Satisfaction for Sin is that of all the Elect in Christ by Faith they through his Grace with godly Sorrow unsin and undo all their Sins give Glory to God by a face confession of them with grief hatred and shame execute holy Revenge upon themselves humbly beg pardon freely forgive others renounce all legal Merit lay hold upon the Promise of Eternal Mercy in Christ become new Men sincerely obedient to God and his Glory in the World. Thus doing they please and satisfy God evangelically and render themselves truly worthy in a Gospel-sense of pardon of Sin Justification and Life eternal as promised by God and parchased by Christ and prepared for them before the Foundation of the World. 2. God can in no instant pardon and save Persons in their Sins without Heavenly Repentance and he cannot but pardon and save all those who do in any instant by his Grace and free Gift in Christ though Faith sincerely turn from all their Sins to God and become new Men. And yet he faveth the Penitent and damneth the Impenitent freely and willingly and not against his Will. Like as God is necessarily holy just and good yet freely so 3. Evangelical Repentance considered as evangelical is not Punishment but Priviledg and the sweetest Mercy a Sinner can possibly partake of as being Rep 〈…〉 unto Salvation never to be repented of it is a divine and heavenly thing and the Image of God as he is the perfect hater of all Sin and the just and merciful Avenger of it by renewed Conscience his Aâ—ent in the Breast of Penitent Souls Evangelical Repentance considered as Repeatance is proper Punishment as consisting in penitential Remorse Shame Sorrow Contrition Self-loathing and a sort of Revenge 2 Cor. 7.11 None of this should have been if Sin had not been and all this is irksom and painful to Nature and all pain in a large sense is proper Punishment Therefore Repentance is fitly called Poenitentia importing pain smart and penance for Sin. 4. The Debt which we as Men owe to God is sinless Obedience The Debt which we as Sinners owe to God is Heavenly Repentance and in default thereof Eternal Damnation This Debt Christ neither did nor could pay for neither can a sinless Person repent nor can he suffer eternally All the Elect in Christ through Faith do in their own Persons pay the Debt of Gospel-Repentance and so evangelically punish themselves prevent eternall Punishment save God the labour and obtain perfect and free Remission for Christ's sake and evangelically fulfil the Divine Law Rom. 8.4 But the Impenitent by holding fast their Sins do render them unpardonable and their case incurable Where publick Confassion of Sin is necessary by Divine Law there no Law of Man can dispense with it Where it is not necessary by divine Law there it may not be exacted nor Money by way of Commutation the taking of Money in such case is unrighteous gain 5. Christ was made Sin and a Curse for us he bore our Sins in his own Body upon the Tree and God laid upon him the Iniquities of us all but so that he was altogether sinless God could not hate him nor be displeased with him nor repute him a Sinner nor impute Sin to him nor lay upon him more than Corporal and Temporal Punishment in order to his own eternal Exaltation and Glory at God's Right-hand The Pain endured by him did differ in kind from the Pain of damned Men in Hell and from the Pain of guilty Persons on Earth and was no degree thereof For both these do suffer deservedly for their own Sins but Christ being sinless could not deserve to suffer Indeed his Persecuters and Murderers did repute him a Sinner and imputed grievous Sin to him and God did unsearchably permit their Sin but he did no way will and approve it The Soul of Christ was full of sinless Sorrow and his Body was full of Pain and yet it was all but bodily Suffering his Body being dead his Suffering was at an end The Body by it self cannot suffer at all cannot feel Pain the Soul of Christ being sinless could not suffer spiritually but his Soul suffered in and by his Body in respect of his Body he was crucified and died More than Corporal and Temporal Punishment needed not for all the finally impenitent do against their will satisfy for all their own Sins legally and all the truly penitent do through Faith satisfy God evangelically and obtain perfect Pardon and Salvation as purchased for them through the Corporal and Temporal Suffering of God the Son incarnate crucified in respect of his Body CHAP. VIII Of Faith. 1. FAith as opposed to Sight is the way to Faith as opposed to Deceit As Faith is opposed to Sight so there is no Faith in Heaven there they see face to face As Faith is opposed to Deceit so there is no perfect Faith but in Heaven In Men ungodly is no degree of Heavenly Faith In all godly Men there is a degree of it in some more in some less but short of Perfection in all God
is that holy thing which was born of the Blessed Virgin and is truly called the Son of God and this Son of God is very God the Son incarnate Luke 1.35 Joh. 1.1 14 18. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever after Incarnation as before and before as after Heb. 13.8 with this cautious meaning Before Incarnation he was Jesus Christ as from Eternity purposed in time to be incarnate After Incarnation he is the same Jesus Christ as incarnate according to that Purpose If he be at all compounded then he is not simply Christ and then he is a Deceiver For Simple and Compounded are contraries as Light and Darkness Truth and Falshood If Christ consist of Parts then he is not simply impartial and then he cannot judge the World in Righteousness but must needs approve Murder in David and condemn it in Cain which is Blasphemy The Manhood of Christ is not one part or one half of Christ but it is Christ himself considered as Man And the Godhead of Christ is Christ himself considered as God and yet he is but one Person but one Christ and the Nature of Christ as he is God manifest in the Flesh and the Word made Flesh is but one admitting of just Conception but no Parts and Composition Error 2. All things in Nature are reducible to ten Predicaments of which Relation is one Confut. All things in Nature are reducible to one which one is God of whom and through whom and to whom are all things and this God is our God for ever and ever Rom. 11.36 Psal 48.14 Thus Relation is all in all as being the Nature of God the Father not incarnate the Son incarnate the Holy Ghost not incarnate essentially and yet freely related to all Elect Angels and Men as their God and Portion for ever Error 3. There are four distinct Causes of Justification of Satisfaction for Sin of the Sacraments c. the efficient the material the formal and the final Cause Confut. All Cause touching Religion and Life eternal is either principal or supream or instrumental and subservient And the principal and supream Cause is superlatively and transcendently material and of greatest importance to our Faith and eternal Welfare the Cause of Causes even all in all As to Worldly Science common to us and Heathens there is matter and form distinct But as to Heavenly Science by Faith which Heathens have not there is no such distinction For Heavenly Science by Faith consisteth not in Form but in Power 2 Tim. 3.5 not in Shew and Appearance but in Truth and Reality Rom. 2.20 It is one and the same thing which is the beginning and the end the first and the last the efficient and the final Cause yet not in the same respects Rom. 11.36 Rev. 22.13 Error 4. The Will of Man is effentially free and essentially a Rational Appetite Confut. The Will of Man is essentially rational and intellectual◠but neither essentially free nor essentially an Appetite For if it be essentially free then there can be no Hell And if it be essentially an Appetite then there can be no Heaven Damned Men are Men and in them is perfect intellectual human Will as to natural Substance but no free Will. They cannot be holy and happy if they would Luke 16.26 All Freedom and Liberty is either temporal or eternal in the Damned is neither they cannot but implacably hate God and will Annihilation rather than eternal Damnation In the state of perfect Felicity there shall be in all blessed Men perfect rational and intellectual Will but no Appetite no Desire no Wish no want of any good thing but perfect Satisfaction Rest and Pleasure for ever Psal 17.15 Error 5. The Divine Law is twofold of Works and of Faith or the old and the new Law. Confut. The Divine Law is but one as God the Author of it is one admitting of just Conception but no Division The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 Here the Law and Grace as also Moses and Christ are opposed yet not as contraries but as divers not as Satan and Christ but as subservient and supream Moses as God's Minister delivers the Law by which is the knowledg of Sin and Condemnation due for the same to all the natural Off-spring of fallen Adam And thus the Ministry of Moses and the Law as distinct from and relatively opposed to the Grace of the Gospel in Christ is a killing Letter and the Ministration of Death and Condemnation by reason of Sin in us 2 Cor. 3.6 7 8 9 10. The Law and Moses is not Jesus Christ they cannot purchase for us and bestow on us Gospel-repentance Pardon of Sin Peace of Conscience and eternal Redemption This is utterly above Moses and the Law as distinct from Christ by themselves to effect But now Jesus Christ as distinct from and relatively opposed to Moses and the Law is very God the Son incarnate the Word made Flesh Joh. 1.14 and as such is Mediator and as Mediator he doth purchase the Church with his own Blood and doth obtain for and freely bestow on Abel Peter and the rest of the Elect heavenly Righteousness Faith Repentance Pardon of Sin Perseverance and eternal Redemption These are the highest Blessings and Priviledges in respect whereof Christ as Mediator is to be worshipped with supream Worship otherwise he is a meer Man nothing differing from Moses and our whole Faith is a Lie. Thus the Law and the Gospel are distinct and Faith in Christ doth not abolish but doth establish God's Law Rom. 3.31 Psal 19. and Psal 119. CHAP. XVII Of the Ministry and Church-Discipline 1. THere may be a Church where is no Minister or Pastor but there cannot be a Church without a just esteem of Pastors and Ministers and care to have one where one is wanting Where two or three are gathered together in Christ's Name there is he in the midst of them And where is Christ the Head 〈◊〉 Saints his Members by Faith and Invocation there is a Church both Name and Thing tho there be no Pastor or Minister But those may not be said to be gathered together in Christ's Name who disesteem and contemn Pastors and Ministers 2. Where Ordination may be had consistent with Faith and Piety there it is to be had and they who invade the Ministerial Office without it have no due Call from God he never sent them such Persons do greatly offend against the Order and Unity of God's Church and chosen People and are not to be owned and countenanced in their evil way Where Ordination cannot be had consistent with Faith and Piety there it is not to be had There if a Door be opened for preaching the Gospel one not ordained being able for the Work and faithful may preach baptize give the Lord's Supper and do the whole Ministerial Office with purpose to have Ordination so soon as with Faith and Piety it can
Christendom Or the Nature of CHRIST's KINGDOM OPENED And the chiefest Difficulties in DIVINITY CLEARED In order to ending the Controversies among Christian PHILOSOPHERS SCOOL-MEN and DIVINES of all Parties London Printed for the Author 1687. The PREFACE 1. THE Kingdom of Christ is not twofold one as he is God the Son and the other as he is Mediator but it is simply one as Christ is one admitting of just conception but no division Because Christ is not Mediator between God and Men strictly as between two Parties in a worldly and human Sense common to us and Heathens but in a heavenly divine and transcendent Sense through Christian Faith which Heathens have not The Manhood of Christ doth neither add to nor diminish from God But it is the Organ or Instrument by which God the Son as equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost doth in the fulness of Time according to his own eternal Purpose purchase the Church with his own Blood is the Saviour of all Men specially of those that believe and doth reign and rule over the whole intellectual World for ever without all change in God and without all merit in Angels and Men antecedently to the eternal Purpose of God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost 2. Angels Princes Pastors and Parents are instrumental in the work of Redemption but not so as is the Manhood of Christ This is principally and specially instrumental as being the Manhood of him who is by nature very God. Christ considered as God is by Nature not by Grace the only begotten Son of God the Father Christ considered as Man was by Grace not by Nature the Son of Himself as God equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost in a special and wenderful Sense neither by Creation as Adam and the Angels nor by Adoption as the Saints nor by natural Generation but by miraculous Conception in the Womb of a Virgin And yet he is but one Son of God rightly conceived as he is but one Christ Considered as Man his God is our God his Father is our Father elect Angels and Men are his Brethren and Fellows but so that he as Man exalted at God's right Hand in all things hath the preeminence is anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows he is the First-born among his Brethren and of every Creature that is of all created Beings the most excellent and next unto God in heavenly Majesty and Glory Col. 1.15 Rom. 8.29 Heb. 1.8 11. Joh. 20.17 3. The Man Christ and the Manhood of Christ is God Omniscient Omnipatent Omnipresent Independent Infinite Adorable yet not as it is Man and Manhood but as it is by unsearchable Vnion that Person who is in different respects both God and Man. To adore Christ as Man is Idolatry to adere Christ as God the Son incarnate equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost is Christian Piety In adoring God the Son incarnate the Word made Flesh we do indeed adore the Flesh and Manhood of Christ and yet not as it is Flesh and Manhood but as it is in a wonderful Sense that Person who is God the Son incarnate As I write with a white Pen yet not as it is white but as it is a Pen He that is a Husband baptizeth yet not as he is a Husband but as he is a Minister The good God doth damn the Wicked yet not as good to them but severe yet just So we rightly adore the Flesh and Manhood of Christ yet not as it is Flesh and Manhood but as it is God the Son Incarnate That holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Luk. 1.35 Heb. 1.6 Mat. 2.11 Rev. 5.9 to 14. Joh. 14.1 4. Divine Nature as Divine can in no instant be Human Human Nature as Human can in no instant be Divine But the Divine Nature as it is in God the Son became in a wonderful Sense Human The Word was made Flesh Joh. 1.14 All the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily in Christ Col. 2.9 And the Human Nature as it is in Christ became in a wonderful sense Divine that Man who is Equal and Fellow with God Zech. 13.7 Phil. 2.6 Therefore by St. Augustine lib. de Ovib. it is called Divine Humanity and Human Divinity Which Saying learned Sadeel doth highly approve De verit Human. nat Christi c. 5. Jesus increased in Wisdom and Stature and in Favour with God and Man Luk. 2.52 And was made perfect through Sufferings Heb. 2.10 Had he not so increased be must always have been an Infant And yet the Manhood of Christ was in no instant imperfect and defective When New-born his Manhood had all the Perfection it mas capable of in that instant but not all the Perfection designed for it at twelve years of Age. When twelve years old he had all the Perfection he mas capable of in that instant and so in every Successive instant unto the time of his Passion Which being reserved for the last he did patiently undergo and so by Death fulfilled and finished all the Humiliation-work which God gave him to do on Earth Joh. 17.4 and 19.30 5. All true Science is by reducing things to some First beyond which there is no further proceeding Now Christ is the First and the Last in Religion Rev. 1.8 11. All the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg are hid in him Col. 2.3 He is the Truth Joh. 14.6 He who holds this one Truth doth inclusively hold all saving Truth in this one But he who denyes and resists any one Truth plain and evident to his Conscience hath no saving Truth in him Every Errour is not Sin but every Errour touching Religion is very Sin against God and so it must needs be against the Foundation of Faith and Piety either directly and immediately or remotely and consequentially He that is an Heretick doth against his Conscience love Errour and rely on it for Life Eternal and so his Errour is his Idol And yet the love of it doth blind his Conscience and extinguish the Light of Christ so that he cannot savingly discern his Errour and the Turpitude of it he is therefore self condemned CHAP. I. Of Divine Predestination 1. WHOM God did foreknow would by his Grace and free Gift in Christ sincerely believe them he did predestinate and fore-ordain to Life Eternal and whom he did fore-know would through themselves be ungodly and so continue them he did predestinate and fore-ordain to Damnation Eternal The Divine Fore-knowledg and Purpose according to which God doth predestinate Men to Life Eternal is from everlasting but the Divine Predestination according to that Fore-knowledg and Purpose is not from everlasting but in the instant when God creates and forms us in our Mothers Womb. Which Predestination lies hid as a secret in God's Bosom until it shew it self in Heavenly Calling and Election And then doth God elect Men to Salvation when he gives them Faith in Christ and thereby pardons their
without all new Act Motion Change and Transition in God unsearchably 3. God is and was and is to come Rev. 1.4 8. He is truly past truly present and truly to come and yet the same God but not in the same respects God as past is neither present nor to come God as present is neither past nor to come God as to come is neither past nor present God is essentially and yet freely related to all both Angels and Men as their Creator Upholder and Governour for ever this Relation was from Eternity future and it remains to Eternity by the free Pleasure of God. Between God and damned Men as Men there is eternal Relation as between Cause and Effect Between God and damned Men as damned there is no Relation at all but perfect and eternal Contrariety he is for ever blessed they are for ever cursed they do implacably hate him and he doth implacably hate them But he doth not hate them as they are Men For as Men they are eternally against their will the Work and Image of God who can in no instant hate his own Work and Image as such Against their will God doth lord and rule over them by Conscience his Agent in their Bosom and in them the Glory of his just Vengeance and Severity for Sin doth eternally shine forth and against their will they fulfil the divine Law by bearing its utmost Penalty 4. God as our Creator is the way to himself as our Redeemer our Sanctifier our Blessedness and End our All in all For unless we were by Creation Men we could not be redeemed holy and blessed Men. Yet is God no way the Author of Sin. We must not deny things plain because we cannot find out to Perfection things unsearchable and too wonderful for us Joh. 6.44 Rom. 11.33 Christ as Mediator is the way to himself as God our Maker and our End our All in all For we being by Sin alienated from God and Enemies in our Minds by wicked Works unless Christ as Mediator Advocate and Intercessor shall by his Grace reconcile us to himself as God we shall die in our Sins and perish for ever Rev. 22.13 Col. 3.11 2 Cor. 5.19 The Holy Ghost as Sanctifier is the way to himself as God our Maker and our End our All in all For we being by Nature dead in Sin and full of Ungodliness and Unrighteousness unless the Holy Ghost as Sanctifier shall quicken our Souls with Spiritual Life and by heavenly Regeneration make us like to himself as God in Righteousness and true Holiness we can never enter into his Kingdom Joh. 3.3 5. 5. The true God is God the Father not Incarnate God the Son Incarnate God the Holy Ghost not Incarnate one God blessed for ever the Reward and Rewarder of all Elect Angels and Men for ever their Blessedness and the Author of their Blessedness their All in all And under God the exalted Manhood of Christ is Sole Supream over all both Angels and Men the First-born of every Creature Col. 1.15 God as God is simply invisible But God as manifest in the Flesh and the Fountain-cause of all Good to Elect Angels and Men for ever is perfectly seen of all in Heaven Face to face and truly by Faith yet not perfectly of all the Saints on Earth God cannot be seen and known save by his own Light and gracious Manifestation of Himself Now God's first Discovery of Himself is in and by Creation accoâ—â—â—â—â— to his own Eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus Antecedently to this he is not knowable by Angels by Men by Christ Himself as Man. Eph. 3.9 10 11. Joh. 1.18 1 Cor. 13.12 1 Tim. 3.16 1 Tim. 6.16 CHAP. V. Of Adam in Innocency and the entrance of Sin into the World. 1. GOD created Adam in his own Image truly holy and like unto himself in heavenly Rectitude This heavenly Rectitude he lost by his Fall and it was renewed in him in part by heavenly Regeneration after his Fail but not perfectly while on Earth The state of Adam in Innocency was Supernatural and not Natural For God created all Things and consequently Adam by Jesus Christ according to the eternal Purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord Eph. 3.9 10 11. This is cleaâ—â—â— matter of Faith and wholly Supernatural For of God's eternal purpose in Christ Jesus the light of Nature saith nothing at all God only is holy by Nature that is essentially holy like as he only is by Nature God Gal. 4.8 Adam was holy not by Nature but by Grace and heavenly dependence oâ— God. Which-Grace continued with him 'till he dissiking the Condition in which God made him and affecting to be independent Lord of his own Will chose rather to be ruled by himself than by the holy just and good Will of God. And so God did not necessitate his Fall nor deny him Grace to stand nor take his Grace from him But Adam by wilful eating of the forbidden Fruit did expel and put God's Grace from him and became the Author of his own Ruine 2. Adam needed heavenly Grace to keep him from inward lusting after the forbidden Fruit but not from outward eating of it Bare Lust as in it self is not Sin but all Lust in Man against the Spirit and after what the holy just and good God hath forbidden is very Sin before God tho not before Men Rom. 7.7 In such inordinate Lust the Soul is Principal and the Body is Instrumental The Body by it self cannot lust at all the Soul as to its natural substance is the Image of God and in that respect it must needs be innocent But if the Soul be destitute of inward heavenly Grace it is then full of ungodly and worldly Lusts invisibly in respect whereof it is enmity against God and the Image of the Devil Joh. 8.44 Jude 18. Tit. 2.11 12. Rom. 8.7 3. The divine Law is holy just and good Rom. 7.12 The sum of it is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and thy Neighbour as thy Self or A Conscience void of Offance both tomard God and toward Man. The divine Law considered outwardly as of old written in Tables of Stone and now in the Bible is man fold But considered inwardly as written in the Heart so it is only one as God is one because it consisteth by Conscience in each ones Bosom and Conscience in each Man can be but one Take away Conscience and Man is not Man but a Brute The nature of Conscience is to be under God and over Man as such it is a Law to it self Rom. 2.14 15. and the great Engine by which God doth govern the whole intellectual World. Adam while innocent was not under the Law and Covenant of Works For the Law of Works as distinct from the Law of Faith doth not exclude sinful Boasting Rom. 3.27 But there could be no sinful boasting in Adam while innocent The Covenant of Works gendreth to Bondage Gal. 4.24 But Bondage was not