he hath done whether it be good or bad and in reference to this point saith God himself When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and dieth in them for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die 2 Cor. 5.9 10. and therefore saith God unto the Prophet Thou Son of man say unto the children of thy people The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression and for the wickedness of the wicked he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth Ezek. 18.26 And in reference to this point to these invisible members Ezek. 33.12 the Apostle saith Know ye not that ye are the Temples of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you if any man destroy the Temple of God him shall God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are let no man deceive himself and so forth Again in reference to this Point the Lord Christ himself speaks to his eleven Apostles which were invisible members also for John 13.10 11. when he had said Ye are clean but not all for he knew who should betray him therefore he said saith the Text Ye are not all clean but when Iudas was gon forth from them verse 30. then in the fifteenth Chapter and third verse Now saith he unto them ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you that is your hearts are purified by belief and love to me thereupon saith he Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me Joh. 13.10 11.30 Joh. 15.3 4 5 6 7 8 10. And saith he I am the Vine he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit and yet in the next words he tels them Their evil works will bring them to be vessels of dishonour for ever saying If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burnt implying And so shall you if ye abide not in me But on the contrary If they rightly operate in the said posture they shall be vessels of honour for ever saying If ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you herein is my Father glorified that ye bring forth much fruit so shall ye be my Disciples that is ye shall continue so for ever for they were his Disciples before And saith he If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his love that as I abide for ever in his love so shall you if ye keep my Commandments or otherwise not for that is implyed Thus we see that God executes his final end upon the invisible members of Christ some to honour and some to dishonour as to all men else Again That the full consummation and final execution of this final end shall fall in at the great day Jude 6. Joh. 11.24 as Iude cals it and the day of the resurrection as Marcha cals it And then the Sea and the Grave shall render up their dead and then shall every man saith the Text Rev. 20.13 John 5.19 be judged according to his works and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation and before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd his sheep from the goats and he shal set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on his left then shall the King say unto them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father Mat. 25.33 34 41 46. inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world then shall he say also unto them on his left hand Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels and these shal go into everlasting punishment but the righterous into life everlasting So upon this last and final execution of Gods final end then cometh the end when Christ shal have delivered up the Kingdom to God even the Father when he shal have put down all Rule and all Authority and Power that is all Authority Rule and Power raised in a world of ungodly men by the Apostate Angels delusive lies and temptations against the truth of Gods said final end in the foresaid particular branch for till then Christ must reigne 1 Cor. 15.24 25 28. as it is in the next words untill he hath put down all enemies under his feet implying and no longer in this Government by his Spirit striving in the Gospel and its Tenor a just and merciful Rule as is implyed in the 28 verse when all things shal be subdued unto him then shal the Son himself be subject unto him that did put all things under him yet it is one thing that this Administration Heb. 1.6 Psal 45.6 as such shal cease for ever as we see it shal and another thing that the personal union in Christ God-Man shal cease for that shal never be for so he is and ever shal be above the Angels and they shal worship him for ever as it is written Thy Throne is for ever O God and so forth and let all the Angels of God worship him and so shal he be worshiped of all the glorified Saints for ever for if by the Angels much more by them notwithstanding he is their head and they members of his triumphant body yet he as head and members shal as is said before be subject to God the Father in this respect for as there was a time when Christ should have the preheminence in all things for the prosecution of his Fathers final end so now that end being attained and time shal be no more Now God must have the preheminency to all eteruity CHAP. XIII In which is proved how God ordained and executed his final end upon all the Angels to their final ends for ever according to their works some to honour some to dishonour IN the prosecution of this Point I will briefly touch these six particulars First That some of them God elected secondly That some of them he rejected Thirdly lay down the ground of that rejection Fourthly That they transgressed Gods Law Fifthly lay down what that Law was Sixthly I will lay down the ground why God elected the other Angels and to what they were elected more then they had together with the rest before any fel of these in their order First The Text affirms that some of them are elected 1 Tim. 5.21 as appears by Pauls charging
way of peace in pursuance of his said final end Rom. 11.32.33 This was the insearchable depth of Gods wisdom that Paul so much adored and admired Again although the Text saith Observe God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son Observe the moving cause why God sent his Son was not his love to the world primarily but in love to himself in this said final end wherefore when the Text said God so loved the world that he sent his Son it comes with this proviso That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life otherwise not for that 's imply'd Again observe although mans efficiency was wholly excluded in producing Christ Gen. 2.22 23. yet nevertheless he was verily the Son of Man as he cals himself First because woman was produced out of man and so flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone and he of the womans seed Therefore the Son of Man also his Mother the Virgin was produced by generation of man and woman in the course of nature and he of her and so the Sonne of Abraham and the Sonne of David and so forth Mat. 1.2.6 CHAP. V. In which is laid down how in this seventh means God doth carry on and accomplish his final end IN this Point fals in the manfold wisdom of God but I will pitch only upon six principal Branches thereof as first When man became with the apostate Angels one in deserved misery to eternity and also one in their diabolical nature as is proved then in that point of time In the seed of the woman God elected the fallen mass of man-kind out of that state into a posture in which all man-kind may receive the said gift of life attained by Christ the second Adam which they lost in Adam or be either Vessels of honour or dishonour to eternity according to their works good or bad The second Branch Rom. 5.18 That as Adams unrighteousness in the fall by one offence in its guilt and punishment by God was imputed to all mankind even so the one righteousness of the seed of the woman the second Adam by Gods gift imputatively came upon all man kind and so put al men by mercy in a posture in which they might receive the said gift of life or to be either as is said The third Branch That immediately upon the said Election and Imputation by the Spirit of Christ God put an internal disposedness into all man-kind to descend hereditarily in their natural generations disposing them to operations according to the said posture The fourth Branch immediately upon the said Election and Imputation the same Spirit of Christ began to strive and still so doth with the spirits of all men to keep them in that posture in all ages and in all places of the world The fifth branch immediately upon that Election and Imputation God in mercy gave a rule suitable to all man-kind in the state they are in by that Election to direct their operations proceeding from their internal disposedness to receive the said gift of life and to avoid the contrary death The sixth Branch That according to the operations of all men good or bad God by that suitable rule maketh them vessels of honour or dishonour to eternity So that thus by this seventh means Gods final end is carried on and accomplished eternally to his glory in the said branch notwithstanding what was done by the apostate Angels In mans fall or ever fince according to that God said unto the Serpent He shall break thy head Of these six branches in their order First in the Election of the falne mass of mankind out of that state into the said posture which is the first branch proposed the foundation of this universal election was laid in the humane nature of Christ the seed of the woman I will put enmity saith God between thy seed and her seed clearly implying that humane nature as such womans offspring was elected out of that falne Mass into the said posture in Christ but not the nature of Angels but left to sink deeper in their falne estate and designe by the power of Christ the womans seed for saith God He shal break thy head and the Apostle affirms the same He chose us in him saith he before the foundation of the world and it implies in the Text as before is noted Mans Election was out of the fallen mass that is as unholy and under blame and not loved as in our selves and therefore he saith He chose us in him that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Eph. 1.1.4 And the Apostle Peter points out that our Election was to the said posture when he saith Elect according to the fore-knowledg of God the Father unto sanctification of the spirit through obedience and sprinkling of the bloud of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.2 This word Us in the Text He chose us in its full drift and scope is to be understood in a twofold sense that is restrictively and universally Restrictively thus He chose us that is us among mankind which believingly operate according to our rule and posture as all were elected unto to receive eternal life by Christs own righteousness imputed so that he chose us into the possession of that eternal life in belief and so this word Us comprehends all Believers only as such to whom the Epistle was sent Secondly This word Us is to be understood Us Men that is Humane Nature as such and so it comprehends all man-kind universally as chosen out of the falne mass into the said posture when the falne nature of Angels were left to sink deeper into their diabolical nature and damnation as is proved But if it be questioned what that posture is to which all man-kind was elected unto out of the falne Mass Answer It is no more but this namely A disposedness to operate to receive the said gift of life and to make up this meet disposedness there goes a threefold ingredient First as is said immediately upon the said Election and Imputation by the Spirit of Christ God put an internal disposedness into all mankind hereditarily to descend in their natural generations disposing them in operation according to the said posture which fals to be handled in the third Branch of the manifold wisdom of God propounded Secondly immediately upon the said election and imputation the same Spirit of Christ began to strive and still so doth with the spirits of all men to keep them in that posture in all ages and in all places of the world which is to be handled in the fourth Branch propounded Thirdly immediately up on that election and imputation God gave a rule suitable to all mankind in that state they are in by that election to direct their operations to receive the said gift of of life and to avoid the contrary death which fals to be handled in the fift branch propounded the which threeing redients make
Christ in us in its own Nature is above all Ordinances wherfore to speak truth all Rules and Operations and Ordinances to us are useless and void Reply 1 We will examine all those Texts you alleadge and first that in Genesis the Metaphor being taken from breathing spoken of by Moses is taken from Creatures that live by breathing as man or beast or the like and although there be a neer relation between their breath and their Nature yet they are two distinct things that is their breath or breathing is one thing and the Essence or substance of their bodies in another thing still distinct although never totally separated but by death so in this cause the divine Essence or Nature of God is one thing and that Virtue that he was pleased to put forth to give being to the Reasonable Soul of a man are ever distinct As for Example The Nature of God in the person of Christ breathed upon the Apostles and indued them with an Apostolical spirit that is in the Rectitude of their Understandings in Divine light and their Wills in pure affections in love to his Glory in the Conversion of the World by the Gospel yet still that virtue in its Effects in them was one thing and his Divine Nature or Essence in himself was another thing Matth. 5.30 so likewise from the same divine Essence there went virtue to the woman of a bloody Issue for the Text saith He knew there was virtue gone from him and it gave her health and her Nature was not the Divine Nature of God so likewise in the shadow of the Apostles bodies God was pleased to put forth himself by vertue flowing from himself to the cure of many diseased people as they went in the streets yet the peoples bodies that were cured and the shadow of the Apostles bodies and the virtue that flowed from God and Gods own Essence were all distinct things in their several Natures and Kindes even so when God gave being to the Reasonable Soul by breathing into mans Nostrils the breath of lives his own Divine Nature Gen. 2.7 and that Creative power another thing by which he was pleased to put forth to the production of mans Reasonable Soul and as formerly is proved the Essence of God is one thing and that Radical virtue or potency is another thing in its Effects so when he was pleased to reduce that virtue and potency to act creatively that was another thing from which thing it is that the Creature is the Off-spring of God from whom it sprang and in whom it continually is and cannot be otherwise Act. 17.18 he being Infinite In him we live move and have our being but for the manner how we live move and have our being is known to God alone and not perceived by us but because Gods Word hath said it we must believe it Again 1 Cor. 6.17 for the next Text that Believers are one spirit with the Lord The Text refers it onely to Believers and not to all man kinde as the drift of your opinion point at for the words are these But he that is joyned or cleaveth to the Lord is one spirit with him and is apposed to those that did joyn or cleave in their minds as well as with their bodies to Harlots yet these men and women were not one spirit Essentially but Individually still they were twain so on the contrary true Blievers are of one spirit in pure Affections cleaving to God and Christ yet nevertheless the Divine Essence of God is one thing and still their bodies and souls are two distinct Natures so the scope of this Text is directly against your opinion Again for the next Text in regard it refers Believers to Gods precious Promises and Faith 1 Pet. 1.4 5. and Love and Virtue and Knowledge to flee the Corruptions that are in the World through Lusts and that by these they are partakers of the Divine Nature they all imploy the use of their operations as flowing from their Natural Faculties to the said sutable Rule by the assistance of the Spirit of Christ therefore the scope of this Text also is against your Opinion Again the other Texts Christ in you the hope of Glory the drift of it is no more but this Colos 1.23 27. That Christ dwells in Believers hearts by Faith and Love from whence they live in hope of a full fruition and glory with him for ever in the next Life But as for your blaspeamous Error If you be the Divine Nature Essentially it fully injoys it self infinitely therefore your Error is Contrary to the Nature of Hope therefore the drift of this Text is also against you Again Whereas you alleadge the Texts of Scripture and the like it is onely an Introduction to draw mens minds from believing the sacred Scriptures to be Gods Word to believe that the onely true Scriptures is the Divine Essence essentially in themselves and so to believe a lye for what man can believe that is in his right minde that himself is God or Christ and yet cannot walk upon the Sea as Christ did nor deliver himself out of the hand of his enemies and not render himself into their hands till he pleased as did the Lord Jesus Christ when his hour was come nor cause the Sun to go back so many degrees as pleaseth themselves as God did Again for Conclusion take this one Observation more from the precedent premises Gen. 17.10 11 12 13. Namely that there is a threefold ground why God made a Law that Infants as such should be members of Christs visible Church and so under the use of Ordinances in the Church The first is this because the whole Humane Nature as such God Elected in the person of Christ the seed of the Woman in the faln Mass out of that fall into a capacity of the said posture in which they might if they lived to the use of Reason by belief receive in the gift of Righteousness Eternal Life as is proved and this Election is the first ground of their right to be Members of Christs visible Church and so the first ground why God gave that Law Hence it is that Christ saith Matth. 19.14 suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of heaven A Second Ground is this If the whole creation have a right of relation to Christ by Virtue of his Righteousness imputed as interposing the unrighteousness of Adams imputed and by it travels untill now as is proved Then much more hath Humane Nature as such a right of relation to be Christs visible Church and this was the second ground of that Law why Infants should be members the which Law was never repealed A third Ground was this Because as is proved all mankinde dying in Infancy or the like ascended to Heaven and there are Members of the Church Triumphant therefore much more have they a right to the Church Militant and all Churches and Ordinances here upon Earth the which right can never be lost except they live to be able to act unbelieving Operations and so put away their right as did Esaw judging themselves unworthy of Eternal Life and this is a third Ground of that Law whereby Infants are instituted Members of the Visible Church of Christ FINIS
did believe that God is although remotely And secondly that he is a rewarder of them that seek him although they do it with much confusion and the like in the Ninivites but first in the Marriners they referr their cause by lot to God to determine a point of difficulty implying they did believe though remotely yet truely that God is and conceiving the second they prayed him not to lay innocent bloud to them implying they did believe he is a rewarder of those that seek him So likewise the King of Ninnive he did believe God as saith the Text that is That God is as well as his threatnings to be true by Jonah And as for the second That he is a rewarder of them that seek him is clear also because he did seek him upon this reason saying Who knows whether God will be intreated to turn away from his first wrath If thus much amity toward God be in such men as these certainly some remainders of enmity to Satan and amity to God is in all mankind Hence it follows without all contradiction that the precedent premisses are true That Christ is the true light which lighteth every man which cometh into the world Hence it is that our Lord said unto such men or that man which by custom in sin hath turned that light into darkness as we see here these men had done saying If the light which is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness Again The force of this internal light and Law of Christ demonstrates it self to be his Law by this particular in all mankind that is as Christ himself is Gods only Seat of mercy or mercies seat to the world so all mankind in their distress invocate God to take off their misery under the notion of mercy so cannot the apostate Angels invocate God under the notion of mercy or pitty and the ground of it is this as they have no internal princple by Christ as here we see all mankind hath therefore they have no internal disposedness to seek relief from him under the notion of mercy and from this ground it is that their consciences cannot excuse them as mens can do Objection If the natural liberty of mans will consists in its chusing and refusing all objects as it likes or liks them not then man by nature may without this internal Law of Christs Spirit from the natural power of his will chuse Gods gift of eternal life Answer It is one thing to have power to chuse and refuse all objects as it likes or as it likes them not as have the Devils and good and bad men for this power cannot be lost but in the annihilation of the Creature and another thing rightly to chuse that which is good and rightly to refuse that which is evil This power man lost in the fall therefore no man can rightly chuse or rightly refuse any object good or evil since the fall according to Gods will in relation to Christ but by the Spirit of Christ which put the said enmity into all mankind and so from degree to degree they being faithfull in that little would give them more even to the gift of faith rightly to receive the said gift of life and thus if the Son make them free they are free indeed rightly to chuse good and to refuse evil for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty Objection If the natural Liberty of Mans Will is to chuse and refuse all objects as it likes or as it likes them not How can the Will be disposed naturally to any one thing as naturally to Gods Law in a capacity to the said posture Answer The natural Liberty of the Will is one thing and the natural Property of the Will is another For as the natural property of the Understanding is to adhere to Truth as such or as it appears to be such so the natural property of the will of man is to adhere to God as such or as it appears to be such and in the fall man lost not this natural property no more then its natural liberty but the rectitude thereof was totally lost both in Will and understanding for he lost all righteousness and holyness wholly and so became totally evil as are the Devils themselves for there was no middle estate in the nature of Adams Covenant but good and evil Therefore in the depth of that darkness Christ enlightneth by his Spirit the intellectual spirits of all mankind so farr as attendency to adhere to truth and to the true good as such which includes a vertual tendency to love God above all and its neighbour as it self Therefore the Will by the assistance of Christs Spirit may be terminated to one thing to which it has thus a natural tendency as in the Saints when they in the third degree of belief are Fathers in the faith Rev. 3.10 11 12. Rom. 8. from 35 to 39. 1 Tim. 1.19 20 2 Tim 2.12 13 Acts 10.34 35 See my former Treatise p. 108 131 132 133. and from page 134 to 140. then God so terminates their wils to himself vertually at least that nothing shall be able to separate them from him nor he from them and the grounds why God will so terminate the Will to the Saints that improve their measure under manifold tryals is this He loves to glorifie his Justice in the distribution of his mercy by the Gospels Tenor so on the contrary to the Saints which totally backslide before they come to the third degree of Faith so farr as to make shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience he by the justice of the same rule of mercy doth make that final which they have made total for God is no respecter of persons The ground why this internal disposedness is Christs Law is not only because it is infused by Christs Spirit as is proved but also the whole government of all mankind in relation to eternal life and death Acts 7.53 Gal. 3.19 is only and alone in his power since the fall and therefore he gives all Laws external or internal and he adjudges men for transgressing those Laws This was that which was figured at Mount Sinai when God gave all those Laws to that one Nation as a part of the whole of mankind he then gave all those Laws by an Angel into the hand of a Mediator the which Mediator was Christ in the truth but Moses in the Type who administred those Laws to the people Hence observe That all mankind in their native production and succeeding generations are not conceived and born dead in sins and in trespasses nor children of wrath for by reason of the said universal election and universal imputation of Christs own righteousness all mankind are conceived and born in the favour and mercy of God by Christ notwithstanding the bitter seed of original sin in their natural production for we see it is reduced to be but a seed by the said internal disposedness and so are in a
Sea-shore or as the Stars in Heaven then the same Spirit of Christ strived with their spirits also in the succeeding generations to preserve and increase the one and to depress the other to bring them into the said posture in which they might receive the said gift of life as saith Nehemiah unto God Neh. 9.20 30. Thou gavest them thy good Spirit to instruct them Hagg. 2.5 and saith God to them According to my Covenant with you when I came out of Egypt so my Spirit remaineth with you And Nehemiah saith also Yea many years didest thou bear with them and testifiedst against them by thy Spirit in thy Prophets but for their gain saying this Spirit so striving with them all the day-long in their generations God put a period to this striving of Christs Spirit so denying them the gift of faith to believe that they might not receive his said gift of eternal life and therefore saith the Text excepting to some few of them Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your daies Esa 49.6 Luke 19.41 42 Hab. 1.5 Acts 13.41 which ye shall in no wise believe although a man declare it unto you Hence it is our Saviour said If thou hadst known even thou in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hidden from thine eyes Again under the Gospel now it is unvailed of Moses vail and that the visible Churches of Christ stand constituted not as Family-Churches only as to the daies of Moses nor constituted a visible Church as was that one Nation a part of Humane Nature as such were they good or bad but now under the Gospel constituted of Believers as such according to the judgement of harity And thus the Spirit of Christ also strived with the spirits of men in the visible Churches as well as unto the men of the world to cherish and increase one and to depress the other to keep them in the said posture in a right reception of the gift of life Hence saith the Spirit of Christ to the Church of Smerna Be thou faithfull unto the death and I will give thee the Crown of Life Thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of men in the Church of Sardis Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent If thou therefore wilt not watch Rev. 2.10 I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know the hour when I will come upon thee Rev. 3.11 And so likewise to the Church of Philadelphia Christs Spirit striveth with their spirits Rev. 1.4 Behold I come shortly hold that which thou hast let no man take away thy Crown And this Point is apparent for the seven Epistles were sent to the seven Churches So much for the Spirit of Christ striving with the spirits of men in the visible Churches under the Gospel Again Not only with the visible but the same Spirit strives with the spirits of the invisible Members of Christ's mystical body to preserve and increase their internal and spiritual graces and to depress the power of original sin in them as in others to keep them in the said posture and right reception of the said gift of eternal life for saith the Text to the said visible Churches Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches these words four times repeated implies That in these visible Churches there were some whose spirits did hear and understand what the Spirit spake And thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of the eleven Apostles Mark 16.14 which were invisible Members Judas being dead for the Text saith He appeared unto the eleven and upbraided them with their unbelief at another time Thus strives his Spirit with theirs saying As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue in my love John 15.9 10. if ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love Another time thus the Spirit strived with theirs Oh faithless and perverse generation Mark 17.17 how long shall I be with you how long shall I suffer you At another time thus the Spirit strived with the spirit of Nathaniel to establish him Because I said I saw thee under the Figg-Tree John 1.50 Believest thou Thou shalt see greater things then these Is is so that Christs Spirit thus strives with the spirits of all sorts of men in the world Hence observe That all those who have not yet received the gift of Faith nor the gift of eternal Life and so do fall into eternal death shall be left without excuse in their own consciences to eternity because it will witness to them that God would have given them both but they refused and if they had received it then their salvation was of God because attained by his Son given by himself As also Christ's Spirit thus striving with their spirits and therefore it will also witness that their destruction is of themselves and so Gods most sweet righteousness in this administration will shine to his glory in their ruine to eternity Again Is it so that Christ's Spirit thus strives with all men to cherish and increase the said light of Christ in them and to depress the seed of the Serpent in them and that they are thus internally meetly disposed towards the said posture Hence observe it must needs follow that all men which become totally dead in sins and in trespasses to that posture so as that they cannot change or alter their operations thereunto no more then the Black Moor can change his skin or the Leopard his spots I say Hence observe That all men that are thus dead in sins and in trespasses in the world it ariseth not from the seed of original sin but as an occasion and only from their custom in sin and wickedness unto the acquired habits therein as the cause for it is custom in any thing that brings another nature Again Is it so that the Spirit of Christ strives with the spirits of all men to preserve and repress as is proved Hence observe That when God by Christs Spirit is pleas'd to inliven the spirits of some men to the said posture which were dead in sin and in trespasses and leaves other some in the same condition so to perish I say hence observe That God in this case neither inlivens the one nor leaves the other from love or hatred to either of them personally considered but out of love to himself in pursuance of his final end for thus he took up the Jews when they lay polluted in their bloud being Terah's Idolatrous brood and said they should live that is in this posture that they might receive his gift of life and that not for their sakes but for his own names sake and thus he had mercy upon some of the Gentiles in the fulness of time that were dead in sins and in trespasses that they might live in this
faith implicite as most weak to faith more strong and expressive as formerly is proved His third Reason is Because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all unrighteousness of men which withhold the truth in unrighteousness for as much as that which may be known of God is manifest in them for saith he God hath shewed it unto them namely by the Creation and the Gospel Rom. 1.19 as aforesaid for that is here implyed The first Reason why the Spirit of God thus strives with the spirits of these Heathens and all men else may be this although it be all alike unto God in respect of his final end whether the most or least number of men be made vessels of honour or dishonour unto eternity so all be either one or the other because by his mercifull and just proceedings in the suitable rule his glory in a most sweet righteousness shineth forth eternally in either to his praise and yet nevertheless in respect to man it being his Creature Acts 17. from 25. to 29. his offsprings and generation which as saith the Text he hath made of one blood and under the aforesaid universal election yet in this respect God would rather man would as he should and might according to this rule and Christs Spirit striving with his spirit return by his operation into the said posture to receive the said gift of life and be blessed for ever As I live saith the Lord God Ezek. 18.27 I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his waies and live when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed Ezek. 33.11 and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall save his soul alive The second Reason why the Spirit of Christ thus strives with the spirits of these Heathens and all men is because the Apostate Angels do universally indeavour by their temptations lies and delusions to keep all mankind from receiving the said gift of life and therefore do endeavour not only to extinguish the Preaching of the Gospel but also to extinguish and turn the internal light of Christ in all men into darkness and if they could possible draw all men into eternal darkness and their main end in all this is that God might not have any glory in mans felicity to eternity and therefore to repel this their designe in that particular branch it is that the Spirit of Christ thus strives with all men and for this end we see the seed of the woman was elected to be Christ the Lord and second Adam and for this end God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever by believing operations will receive the said gift of life shall not perish but have everlasting life for therefore we see God elected the falne Mass of mankind out of that despicable estate into the said posture as is proved and also therefore we see that God elected one Nation to be and to be in the said posture to carry on his said final end as it respected this particular branch not for their sakes but for his own names sake and likewise we see to carry on this said final end in this particular branch He hath mercy upon whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth when by their acquired habits in sin against the said posture they are all alike dead in sin and trespasses I say not in love or hatred to any of these men personally considered but only in love to himself in the prosecution of this branch of his said final end as is proved that he called the Gentiles to this posture but denied it at that time to the Iews and so on this sixteen hundred years and that in pursuance of the said branch will call them to this posture again by which they may receive the said gift of life and this is the ground why he precedently made so many glorious promises of calling the Gentiles and also of the Iews according to his Covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and from this cause only they are beloved for their Fathers sakes as is proved and therefore it is that the Spirit of Christ thus strived with the spirits of these Heathens and all men else as is proved The third Reason may be this Because the more men are brought by the striving of Christs Spirit with their spirits to believing operations in this posture by the reception of this gift of life in point of justification the more fruit of righteousness abounds also in their sanctification in a redundancy to Gods glory against the Apostate Angels said designe and therefore it is that the Spirit of Christ thus strives as with these Heathens so with all men The first Use is for Information That if the Spirit of Christ thus strives with the spirits of all mankind to bring them to and to keep them in this posture Hence we learn two things First That the striving of this Spirit to all mankind as is proved is the universal favour of God in Iesus Christ to all men in the world The second is this That those amongst men which by believing operations rightly receive the said gift of righteousness shall muchmore receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness and shall reigne in life by one namely Iesus Christ that as sin had reigned unto death even so might grace reigne through righteousnesse Rom. 5.19 unto eternal life by Iesus Christ The second use is this That God will never revoke that pardon of the guilt and punishment namely eternal death due to all mankind for Adams one offence First because of his said gift of life which came upon all men unto justification in the imputative righteousness of Christ as is proved for for this end he gave the Spirit of Christ thus to strive with the spirits of all men from the beginning of the world to the end thereof that they might receive the said gift of life therefore the pardon of the said guilt and punishment due to all mankind for Adams one offence stands irrevocable to eternity for ever since the fall this is the condemnation now this light of life is come into the world because men love darkness rather then light The third Use God is irrevocable in this Point also namely To give to any man the possession of eternal life in this world by belief and the fruition in the next world which is constant in his believing operations in the said posture according to the striving of Christs Spirit with his spirit for saith our Lord He that endureth to the end shall be saved In the fourth place this informs us also That if any man be by God dispossest of his eternal life in this world and so in the next it must needs follow he quencheth this Spirit of Christ which thus by belief gave him possession of it here and so would have done there had he not
persisted in quenching and also in resisting the said Spirit by following lying vanities and so forsaking his own mercies as did Demas and the seven Churches of Asia till God removed the Candlestick from them and left them in darknesse and Demas to imbrace this present world Is it so That the Gospel and the Universe of this Creation has a tendency and bends joyntly as one in mans universal good and vertually to breed in him the faith of God in Iesus Christ as is proved Then hence observe That those that stand in an universal relation to men at the Stern of Magistracy as Gods stand bound universally to further the good of man not of this life only but of that which is to come namely to set up in their Territories and Dominions in all convenient places the Preaching of the Gospel to beget the belief of God in Iesus Christ in the minds of men CHAP. XI In which is handled the third particular in the said Rule namely to let all men see how suitabble this Rule is to them THe suitableness whereof is opened in nine particulars as first It has its Institution in Gods word of truth and the natural property of the understanding of all men being as is proved to follow truth as such or as it appears to be such wherefore we see the Apostate Angels came to our first Parents in the appearance of truth therefore it is universally suitable to all mankind in this respect Secondly This rule tenders to man not only a good to be received by his operations according to it but also his sweetest and chiefest good namely to enjoy God in belief of the truth in this life and according to truth to eternity in the next and so this rule is suitable to mans will whose natural property is to follow good or as it appears so to be as the natural property of the eye is to follow the light wherefore the Apostate Angels came to us in our first parents as is proved in appearance of a good wherefore this rule is universally suitable to all men in this respect Thirdly ever since the fall of Adam God in his word requires no man by his workings to attain eternal life for himself or others but only by his workings in the said posture to receive eternal life attained only by the Lord Christ and given imputatively by God himself therefore this rule is universally suitable to all men none excepted but Christ himself Fourthly Because the natural liberty of mans will consists in this namely to chuse and refuse all objects as it likes them or as it likes them not as is proved And because this rule tenders a twofold object to will or nill that is to chuse or refuse namely good or evil that is eternal life or death for it to chuse or refuse therefore it is universally suitable to all in this respect none excepted Fifthly because this just and mercifull rule admits mercy to man after he hath not done well according to his said posture man being ever since the fall imperfect therefore this rule is suitable universally to all men none excepted but Christ the Lord. Sixthly Because it is propper to all men which propound to themselves an end in their workings to ground those workings and operations upon their own belief or faith of a good to be attained and attainable as do Merchants which send or go by Sea or Land for wealth or the like or upon their own belief of some evil or danger as did these Marriners which to avoid the danger of death by their operations cast the wheat out of the Ship into the Sea and therefore because this rule requires mans own belief of Gods truth and the said good and to avoid the contrary evil to be the ground of all their operations in the said posture He that believes shall be saved he that will not believe shall be damned as is proved Wherefore because this Rule requires all men thus to make their own belief as is said the ground of their operations in this posture therefore this rule is universally suitable to all men none excepted but men that are dead in sins and trespasses by acquired habits herein or sots idiots mad men or the like From this ground it is that our Lord saith This is the work of God That ye believe and so forth and from this ground it is that Abrahams believing operations in this posture Rom. 4.4 was so much respected as opposed to men that made their own works as works in this posture to be the ground only of their acceptance with God to eternal life and from this ground namely That man makes his own belief of Gods truth and the said good to be the ground of his operations in this said posture it is that faith is so highly extol'd in Scriptures by the Spirit of Christ for in so doing they render unto God the sole glory of all his truth and goodness revealed in the seed of the woman Christ the Lord and his imputed righteousness and Gods gift of life therein Seventhly Because mans reasonable soul or spirit is of an everlasting duration and never to be extinct and mans body when raised a spiritual body so to be also and because this rule tenders to man an estate of well and woe of an everlasting duration and that all things else under the Sun are only suitable to his moldring body and to a change as also is it therefore this rule is universally suitable to all men in this respect none excepted Eightly Because this rule not only admits man to do well after he hath done evil as is said but when he so returns admits pardon of the guilt and punishment due to him for his sin or sins as is proved therefore this rule is suitable to all men capable to operate to this rule Christ only excepted in whom was no sin Ninthly Because God hath given an impression and dictate of the effect of this rule as it respects its execution in reference to his final end in the minds of all men naturally namely that he will render unto all men according to their works and from this ground it is that the consciences of all men do either excuse or accuse them according to their own works good or bad the which is the dictate of this rule and Gods said final end as is said therefore this rule is universally suitable to all men none excepted From the Premisses thus proved ariseth these following Observations First That this Gospel as carrying along in it this Tenor a just and a mercifull rule is it which all mankind are under to work by in relation to their eternal state and none other as is proved Hence saith the Apostle The Gospel was Preached unto us as to them meaning to us in the last daies as to the Jews and unto all in former ages before them wherefore not any of mankind since the fall ever was or now is nor never shall