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
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
which I refer the Reader to my former Treatise of Free Grace Pag. 36. to 39 and 44. John 6.39 Rev. 10.6 printed 1642. to the pages in the Margent But as concerning mankind so to be made to honour and dishonour as is affirmed the Scripture affirms its last execution and final consummation shall be at the last day Rev. 20.12 13 that is after that day when time shall be no more as now it is in which day the Text affirms all the dead shall be raised and judged every man according to his works 2 Cor. 5.10 for saith another Text We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every man may receive the things which are done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or evil and that this shall be executed last it further appears by the words of our Saviour who saith of himself When the Son of Man shall come and all his holy Angels with him then he shall sit upon the Throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all Nations Mat. 25.31 32. to 46. and he shall sever them as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the Goats And he having instanced in one particular of works good and bad as comprehending the nature and kinde of all their works concludes all namely That the wicked shall goe into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life everlasting So much for the second thing premis'd namely what Gods final end is for which he made or created all things namely both men and Angels and all his works subservient unto them and their use the further inlargement of this point will fall in the following Chapters in its full proof and what Gods suitable rule to man is Hence observe that the moving cause why God created all his works was this final end it being the ultimate end of all his glories centuring in himself for which he made all things yea the wicked for the day of evil because they all attempt to assume his glory not to him but to themselves which he will not give unto another as will appear more in its due place CHAP. II. In which is made known a sevenfold means to Gods foresaid final end whereof six are handled in this Chapter THe which End in order of Nature in Gods intention was first and in execution last and the means in Gods intention in order of nature last but in execution first Therefore the first thing that God did he gave being to means for his final end and they primarily were seven some more remote and general and some more near and more particular The first means more remote and general was this inferior world as included in its remotest matter which God did make out of no pre-existent matter as Heb. 11.3 and saith another Text The earth was without form and void Heb. 11.3 and darkness was upon the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters and yet the first verse names it by the name of heaven and earth and the ground of it is this because that confused lump was the preexistent matter of heaven and earth and all things else and the ground of that is this because the spirit of God by its moving fil'd it with an intrinsical vigorous disposedness to be whatsoever God by his Creative Will and Word would command it to be Rev. 4.11 Wherefore when he commanded light out of that darkness Gen. 1 2 3. it presently was then saith the Text God said Let there be light and it was so Then God commanded a Firmament to be in the midst of the waters and the waters to be separated from the waters that is the water under the Firmament from the waters that were above the Firmament and God called the Firmament Heaven verse 6 7 8. Then he commanded the waters to one place and so the earth to be for use as now it is verse 9 10. Then he commanded the life and being of all vegitable creatures and it was so verse 11 12. Then he commanded to be the Sun Moon and Stars in their orderly course and warbling influence to fall on the earth and for signes and seasons and succession of daies and nights and it was so verse 14. to 19. Then he commanded the innumerable number of all sensative creatures to live and move and have their being from verse 20. to 25. Thus God gave being to the first means more remote and general to his final end Then God gave being to a second means more near and more particular the principal part of the Creation Namely man whose personal existency was in a twofold nature the one sensible the other an intellectual spirit or rational soul The first was his elementary body of earth for a time a lifeless trunk but God staid not there for saith the Text And breathed in his nostrils the breath of life Gen. 2.7 and man became a living soul And because he was a principal part the whole did terminate in his nutrimental support some to feed some to cloth the aire to imbreath and the earth to bear and the sweet influence and aspects of the heavenly bodies to his delight Again because the chief part therein God put the whole to depend on his operations not for his being but for its wel or woe and therefore the whole creation together with himself fell into the aforesaid vanity bondage and corruption and man thus made was Gods second means for man must first be and so supported to be before he could be to honour or dishonour to Gods foresaid final end Again mans reasonable soul being of an immortal nature and so of an everlasting duration was therefore a third means suitable to Gods final end that is to be to honour or dishonour to eternity which could not be if he were not of an everlasting duration From this ground it is that mans dead body shall be raised and spirituallized therefore when some men denyed the immortality of their souls and consequently the everlasting duration thereof our Lord proved to them the truth thereof Have you not read what was spoken unto you of God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Affirmatively inferring to them that those three men then were and now are living though their bodies are dead and turned to dust Mat. 22.31 32. Again God having indued mans reasonable soul with two natural faculties his understanding and will the understanding its natural property to look to truth as really such or as it appears so to be and to judge and accordingly so to operate the whole man and to the will Two things are natural to it the one is that it doth follow a good as the eye doth follow the light that is the true good or as it appears so to be the other is to nil and will that
capacity to receive the said gift of life for the whole need not the Physitian but the sick since Original corruption is an evil privitive and positive CHAP. VIII In which is handled the fourth Branch of the manifold wisdom of God precedently propounded and being the second ingredient to make up the said posture namely that the Spirit of Christ striveth with the spirits of all men in the world to preserve and encrease the said internal disposedness consequently to depress the force of the seed of original sin so to bring and to keep men in the said posture in which they might receive Gods gift of eternal life THis Spirit of Christ thus began to strive immediately upon the fall and upon the said universal election and universal imputation in these words Adam Where art thou so seeking to save what was lost and so forth Gen. 4.4.5 Again Thus Christ's Spirit strived with the spirits of Cain and Abel To Abel in an approbation and confirmation of his operations in this posture to continue to receive and hold fast the said gift of life for saith the Text God had respect unto Abel and to his offering and the reason is Heb. 11.4 because it was by belief Abel offered a more acceptable offering then Cain Again the same with Cains spirit for when he began to go on in nourishing the seed of original sin to the acquired habits therein so to extinguish the light of Christ in him then the same spirit of Christ strived with his spirit to suppress the one and to cherish and increase the other for in respect to the one God gave him no respect but to his discontent and discouragement but in respect to the other he encourages him to goe on in his posture as Abel his brother saying If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted implying most certainly Thou shalt as well as he Now the ground why this Spirit is the Spirit of Christ that thus strives with the spirits of all mankind as with these two men it did is this Because ever since the falne Mass of mankind Christ immediately entred as the first-born of every creature in an universal relation to the whole world in pursuance of Gods said final end and thereupon according to his own saying All things that the Father hath are mine and so saith he The Spirit shall take of mine that is not only to comfort the faithfull in this world John 16.8 9 10 11. but also to reprove the world of sin that is to the same end as to Cain and saith the Text When he shall come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgement Of sin because they believe not in me Of righteousness because I goe to my Father Of judgement because the Prince of this world is judged And according to this the said Spirit of Christ thus strives with the spirits of all men as to Cain and Abel and so to the worlds end that is to depress the one and increase the other as is said to bring them into the said posture and to preserve them therein and it clearly appears that it so did strive with man during the first world for saith God When their Apostacy did abound my Spirit shall not alwaies strive with man Genesis 6.3 for that he also is flesh Whereupon God limited the time of the striving of Christs Spirit with them from time to come Gen. 7.1 to one hundred and twenty years and no longer 1 Pet. 3.18 19 20. and as this Spirit striveth with Abels spirit to preserve him and establish him in the said posture consequently so did it with all the righteous in the generations precedent and to the end of that world even untill there was but one righteous man left saying unto them Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation so establishing and confirming his mind in the said posture so that thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of the men of that world both good and bad when once thelong patience of God waited in the daies of Noah for to return and keep them in the said posture to receive his gift of life in the said righteousness of the seed of the woman Again In the next world thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of all men to preserve the one and to depress the other as is said and that by the Ministry of Christ by Noah to his own posterity who saith the Text 2 Pet. 2.5.8 was a Preacher of righteousness Gen. 9.28 the which righteousness that he preached to their spirits was twofold The first was manifested to them by the Sacrifices he offered unto God which figured unto them the satisfactory righteousness of the seed of the woman imputatively Gen. 8.21 22 bringing to them the said gift of eternal life and also further manifested in that God smelled a savour of rest and from thence ratifying to them and their generations the good of this world and that to come in reference to keep them in the said posture in their succeeding generations Eph. 5.2 and to this end Noah their Father lived thus with them three hundred and fifty years after the Flood The second righteousness which he preached was the rectitude of his operations which is sanctification and this he preached to his posterity by his posture in the right reception of Gods gift of eternal life by the manner of his sacrificing and building an Altar unto Jehovah and by making choice of Beasts in refusing unclean and taking clean Gen. 8.20.21 and also by his building the Ark according to the commandment of God all being fruits of his operations according to faith in his said posture Heb. 11.4.7.8 So much for the second righteousness namely Sanctification which he preached and also for the first righteousness which came upon all men for justification of life Again Likewise the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of Shems Family-Church for Noah's three hundred and fifty years a Preacher of righteousness after the Floud extended within two years of the birth of Abraham as Learned Broughton observes in his Consent of Scriptures Again When this Family began to Apostate from the said posture to Idols as appears in Terah the Father of Abraham and were become corrupt and abominable not knowing the way of peace like to those who were confounded and scattered at Babel then it is implyed that God precedently had strived with their spirits for now he began to put an end to the striving of the Spirit of Christ with the spirit of Shems Family in that God commanded Abraham to depart from his Kindred and from his Fathers house to this end to raise a Nation out of his loynes to carry on Gods said final end and so leave that Family to themselves Again When that one Nation was existent and did spring out of Abrahams seed in number as the sands on the
from Nature by vertue of the Creation as such for that was lost in the fall as is implyed in the Text because it saith The Creation is not subject unto vanity willingly that is by its own natural instinct but by reason of God who caused the Creation to depend first upon the operations of the first Adam and then upon the second Adams as is implyed in the Text namely by reason of him who hath subdued the same in hope from whence the earnest expectation of the Creature or Creation waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God Yet again note this by the way That although the Creation by mans fall lost its blessedness to its self and to man yet it lost not its being no more then the Apostate Angels or damned men which detain their being to eternity for the being of all things is grounded on Gods essence only and never depended on either Adams operations and because the Creation thus travels by the force of Gods favour in Christ it was the ground why the Psalmist sweetly sings that Jehovah is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works and if tender mercy be over all then misery was first over all for misery is mercies most proper object to which mercy is extended from the premisses thus proved Psal 145.9 follows this conclusion That the Voice Language or Speech of the whole Creation of good from God to man in all its force and effects by all creatures ever since Christ was the first-born in the promise to break the Serpents head is the general voice of glad-tidings of God to man by Iesus Christs satisfactory righteousness imputed for we see its tendency and dependancy to blessedness hangeth only upon that so that in a word the whole Creation in general is the voice of the Gospel and that is the reason why in the New Testament and the Old the voice of the Gospel Preached by men is brought in in a sense speaking one and the same thing to mankind yet note that it is with this difference The one a general and remote voice and the other the more distinct and particular as by Writings in the Oracles of God and by the speech and language of man to man by the word Preached and thus David brings them in joyntly saying The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shew his handy works day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledg there is no Speech nor Language where their voyce is not heard their loyne is gone forth throughout all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world in them he hath set a Tabernacle for the Son and so forth and then he joyneth the Gospel thereunto in these words Psal 19. from verse 1 to 8. Note The Creation began thus to preach Christ from its first step into this travel from the bondage of corruption to be partakers of the glorious liberties of the Sons of God and when that first step began you may see in my former Treatise page the 35. The Law of God is perfect converting the soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisdom unto the simple the Statutes of the Lord are right and rejoyce the heart and so forth And Paul speaking of the Preaching of the Gospel concludes Faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of God and then having spoken of Iews and Grecians in the 12 verse concluding That be that is Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him and then puts the Question in the 18 verse saying But I demand Have they not heard meaning the Grecians or Heathens as well as the Iews and then he answers the question namely That the Gospel was heard by them in the said words of the Psalmes No doubt their sound went out throughout all the earth and their words into the end of the world implying That both voices ought to be heard and being rightly heard they both breed vertually in the heart of man faith in Christ Rom. 10.12 17 18. yet with this difference the one implicite and more weak because its voyce is but general and remote the other more clear and strong because his voyce is more clear and near to the spirit of a man So much for the external truth of God in Christ by which Christs Spirit strived with their spirits to direct them in that narrow way to eternal life Secondly The internal truth of God in Christ by which the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of the said confounded and scattered off-spring of Noah at Babel in a word is no more but this namely The remainder of the said internal Law and light of Christ in their hearts for as is proved they were excluded the residence of the Gospel with them as is implyed in the Text Rom. 2. it saith Rom. 2.14.15 The Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law and are a Law unto themselvs which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts And this Law in the hearts of them all if they had submitted to this inward striving of of the Spirit of Christ with their spirits and not detained it in unrighteousness as they did it would have produced the circumcision of the hearts of them all which is the true rectitude of the mind or sanctification as it did to some of them which did in that little they had seek to do well and so it was effected in them namely Circumcision which is by nature saith the Text verse 27. and in the 29 verse To be circumcision of the heart and spirit whose praise is not of men but of God So much for the internal truth of God in Christ to direct the Heathens in the narrow way to life But the Question may be What life that was that the best of those Heathens did attain unto I answer Neither more nor less but the same eternal life which the believing Iews received by operations in Gods gift of Christs imputative righteousness as appears in the sixth verse God will render every man according to his works that is To them which through a patient well-doing Rom. 2.6.7 10. seek for honour and glory immortality everlasting life and in the tenth verse To every man that doth good shall be glory and honour and praise to the Iew first and to the Grecian for there is no respect of persons with God for to this hath our Lord Christ made his promise They that seek shall find and to him that knocketh it shall be opened From this ground it was that the Apostles were not ashamed to Preach the Gospel in Heathenish Rome to believers his first reason is Because it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth to the Iew first and also to the Grecian His second Reason is Because by it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith that is from
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