giving of the Law on Mount Sinai and yet there he speaks in the singular number Exod. 20.2 Exod. 20.2 I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage 3. 'T is likely the Princes did at first speak in the plural number not to note their power and greatnesse but their modesty and warinesse that it was not their design to rule according to will but according to counsel that they were willing to advise with others and to be guided by others The wisest Kings on earth will have their counsel and it is no more than needs plus vident oculi quam oculus many eyes see more than one eye Eph. 1.11 but Gods Counsel is his Will Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own Will Nor indeed is it safe or fit for any to govern arbitrarily or purely by will but he whose Will is his counsel it is so far from needing a rule that it is the only Rule Isa 63.7 8 9 10. 2. As a plurality of persons so a Trinity of persons may be proved out of the old Testament I shall mention and only mention for brievity sake one place in the Prophecy of Isaiah in the seventh verse you have mention made of Jehovah or the Lord in the ninth verse of Jesus Christ called the Angel of his presence in the tenth verse of the holy Spirit but they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit 2. You have this doctrine more clearly delivered in the new Testament as will appear by several instances Mat. 3.16 17. 1. At the Baptisme of Christ the Trinity of persons were clearly discovered you may read the history And Jesus when he was baptized went up strait way out of the water and lo the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him and lo a voyce from heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Consider here 1. We have three names given severally and particularly to three persons 1. He who spake with a voice from heaven was the Father 2. He who was Baptized in Jordan is called the Son 3. He who descended in the shape of a Dove is called the Spirit of God 2. There were three outward signes or symboles by which those three persons did manifest themselves 1. The Father by an audible voice the Word in heaven is borne witnesse to by a word from heaven 2. The Son in the humane nature 3. The holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove 3. They are described by three distinct actions 1. The one cries by a voice from heaven This is my well-beloved Sonne heare him this could not be the voice of the Sonne for then he would be Sonne to himself nor can this be attributed unto the Spirit for then Jesus would have been the son of the Spirit 2. The second after his Baptisme prayes Luke 3.21 It came to pass that Jesus being baptized and praying the heaven was opened 3. The third descended in the shape of a dove and rested upon Jesus Christ Now to close this particular why might it not be said that the Father was baptized in Jordan as well as the Sonne or that the Father descended in the shape of a dove as well as the Spirit or that the Sonne did all this speak with a voice from heaven and was baptized in Jordan and descended in the shape of a dove if this were not a truth that there are three persons in the divine essence hence the primitive Christians used to say unto any one that doubted of the Trinity abi ad Jordanem videbis go to Jordan and you will see a Trinity 2. This doctrine may be proved from the institution of the Ordinance of Baptisme Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Sonne Mat. 28.19 and of the Holy Ghost and indeed no wonder if God discovered himself to be three persons and one God at Christs Baptisme when the name of the blessed Trinity is as it were in faire and legible Characters writ upon the forehead of the Ordinance of Baptisme its self Baptisme its self is as it were baptized in the Name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost now these I call the words of institution for although you have not here the first institution of Baptisme John the Baptist who was called so from this very Ordinance administring this Sacrament and the Disciples questionlesse from the Command of Christ himself the Evangelist John tells us that Jesus himself baptized not Joh. 4.2 but his Disciples yet here you have a solemn command for baptisme and the forme of the administration thereof unto all generations And here consider 1. Christ commands them to baptize not in the names but in the Name of the Father Son and holy Ghost if you consider them personally so they have three names Father Son and holy Ghost if essentially then but one name unum nomen una deitas one God one deity and I observe farther that which way soever we expound this phrase in the name either calling upon the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost as some or in the name by the authority or at the appointment of God the Father Son and holy Ghost as others or in the name viz. for the service honour and glory of God the Father Son and holy Ghost as a third sort you must either make these to be three Gods or else three persons in the Godhead for who is the object of our prayers but God who hath authority to appoint Ordinances for his Church but God whom are we to serve and worship but God alone Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God Mat. 4.10 and him only shalt thou serve 2. They were to baptize not in the name of the Father by the Son or by the Spirit but in the name of the Father Sonne and Spirit which notes the equality of the three persons 3. Father Son and holy Ghost are so joyned together that we are no lesse baptized in the name of the Sonne and of the Spirit than of the Father and therefore their deity is the same their power and authority the same 4. An Article is thrice prefixed and added to every one baptizate in nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Father that Son that holy Ghost that Father whose voice you have heard from heaven that Sonne whom as yet you see in the humane nature that holy Ghost whom you have seen descending upon me in the shape of a Dove Surely the repetition of this Article doth not want its singular Emphasis that Father that Sonne and that holy Ghost 3. This doctrine may yet further be cleared from that saying of our Saviour John 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter hence is plainly proved the personality of the Holy Ghost he is
called another Comforter now he who is distinguished from the Father and the Sonne in the manner as to be called another comforter is either distinguished in regard of his essence or in regard of his personal subsistence not in regard of his essence for then he would be another God and therefore he is another in regard of his personal subsistence 4. You have a clear proof for this doctrine in the words of the Text There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one and to that purpose consider 1. You have mention here of three witnesses now three witnesses are three persons 2. The Word and holy Ghost are conjoyned in their Testimony with the Father which is not competible to any creature and lest we should doubt of this it is expresly said even by Saint John himself to be the witnesse of God Verse 9. If we receive the witnesse of men the witnesse of God is greater for this is the witnesse of God which he hath testified of his Son and concerning Christ it is said that he is the true God ver 20. This is the true God and eternal life let the Socinian shew me where any creature is called the true God Concerning the Spirit also in this Chapter it is said ver 6. that he is truth it self It is the Spirit that beareth Witnesse because the Spirit is Truth 3. If there be three witnesses whereof every one of them is God the one not the other and yet not many Gods but one true God the point is clear there are three distinct persons subsisting in one divine essence or which is all one there are three persons and one God 3. I am to speak something to the distinction of these three persons though they cannot be divided yet they may be they are distinguished many things in nature may be distinguished which cannot be divided for instance the cold and the moisture which is in the water may be distinguished but they cannot be divided Now that those three persons are distinguished appears 1. By what hath been already said the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Father nor the holy Ghost the Father or the Son 2. By the words of the Text here are three heavenly witnesses produced to prove that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God namely the Father the Word and the holy Ghost now one and the same person although he hath a thousand names cannot passe for three witnesses upon any faire or reasonable account whatever you may be sure that God reckons right and he sayes John 8.13 Father Sonne and holy Ghost to be three witnesses there are three that bear record in heaven so in Saint Johns Gospel the Pharisees charge our Saviour that he bare record of himself say they thou bearest record of thy self thy record is not true now mark what Christ replies ver 17 18. It is written in your Law Ver. 17 18. that the Testimony of two men is true I am one that bear witnesse of my self and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me where you have our Saviour citing the Law concerning the validity of a Testimony given by two witnesses and then he reckons his Father for one witnesse and himself for another 4. I shall speak a few words to the order of these divine persons in order of subsistence the Father is before the Son and the Son before the holy Ghost The Father the first person in the Trinity hath foundation of personal subsistence in himself the Sonne the second person the foundation of personal subsistence from the Father the holy Ghost the third person hath foundation of personal subsistence from the Father and the Sonne Now although one person be before the other in regard of order yet they are all equal in regard of time Majesty glory essence this I conceive to be the reason why in the Scripture sometimes you have the Sonne placed before the Father as 2 Cor. 13.14 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the holy Ghost be with you all Amen Gal. 1.1 So Gal. 1.1 Paul an Apostle not of men neither by men but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead Sometimes the holy Ghost is placed before the Father as Eph. 2.18 Through him we have an accesse by one Spirit unto the Father Eph. 2.18 Rev. 1.4 5. Sometimes before Jesus Christ Rev. 1.4 5. John to the seven Churches in Asia Grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and from the seven Spirits which are before the Throne by the seven Spirits there is meant the holy Ghost and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witnesse c. The consideration of this caused that rule amongst our Divines ab ordine verborum nulla est argumentatio there is no argument to be urged from the order of words Now this shews that although one person be before another in regard of relation and order of subsistence yet all are equal one with another in regard of essence And therefore beware lest you derogate the least jota or tittle of glory or Majesty from any of the three persons As in nature a small matter as to the body may be a great matter as to the beauty of the body cut but the haire from the eye brow how disfigured will all the face look If you take away never so little of that honour and glory which is due to any of the divine Persons you do what in you lies to blot to stain to disfigure the faire and beautiful face of the blessed Trinity 5. I am to enquire whether the mystery of the Trinity may be found out by the light of nature Resol There are two things in the general that I would say in answer to this question 1. That the light of nature without divine Revelation cannot discover it 2. That the light of nature after divine Revelation cannot oppose it 1. That the light of nature without divine Revelation cannot discover it and for that purpose take into your thoughts these following considerations 1. If that which concerns the worship of God cannot be found out by the light of nature much lesse that which concerns Gods nature essence or subsistence but the Antecedent is certainly true For 1. As for the part of the worship and service of God which is instituted and ceremonial it is impossible that it should be found out by the light of nature for instance what man could divine that the Tree of life should be a Sacrament to Adam in Paradise How comes the Church to understand what creatures were clean what were unclean that the Priesthood was setled in the Tribe of Levi and not in the Tribe of Simeon or the Trible of Judah certainly these lessons were not learned by the candle-light of nature 2.
this body of death Paul that could with rejoycing endure scourgings and stonings imprisonments and shipwracks yet cryes out mightily of this O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me Rom. 7.24 2. As a body being material is visible so original sin discovers its self to every one that without prejudice will look to finde it It is discernable in its effects daily Though we cannot see the soul yet from the motions and actions it causeth we know a man hath a soul so we may know every one hath original sin from that vanity and sin that is put forth by it 3. As the body hath divers members so this sinne it is not so much one sin as seminally and vertually all sin Peter Martyr there is a concatenation of vertues and vices Scripture speaks of both under that notion hence a single eye a pure heart c. And on the other side that sin is a body and is thus universally in us the Apostle shews Rom. 3.13 14. and the Prophet saith it hath over-spread us from the soles of the feet even unto the head there is no soundnesse Isa 1.6 As the waters in Noah covered the highest Mountains so these raging waves of iniquity over-flow the highest and choicest faculties of humane nature 4. I wish I could not adde as a body is beloved and provided for so is this sin We make provisioâ— for the flesh to fulfill its lusts Rom. 13. ult Who would willingly part with the least member of his body men do not willingly forgo any sin but if something of this body must be parted with 't is but haire and nayles c. such as are rather excrements than members and will soon grow again which we are content to cut and pare off And thus till that day in which God puts forth his Almighty power to make us willing we are loth to leave any sin unlesse such as for the present are troublesome to us or may ere long grow again and be with more ease or credit enjoyed by us 5. This sin as a body hath strength in it and Tyranny is exercised by it The body leads poor Captives whether it lists and says to this man Gâ— and he goeth c. so does this sin we are held Captive by it Faius till the Son of God sets us free Man is not ingenuus but libertus he is not by nature born free but by grace made free untill he be established by the free Spirit he goes and comes as the winde and Tyde of corruption drives him And this is farre more sad than to be possessed or to have our members acted by the Divel himself for the incestuous person was given over to Satan which some interpret thus for the good of his soul 1 Cor. 5.5 that his soul might be saved but none are left under the power and command of their corruptions but to their certain and inevitable destruction 6. It is call'd here especially a body by the Apostle to answer to the other Metaphor of crucifying in the words before only bodies can be crucified Paraeus and this sin is crucified with Christ Which by the way shews the state of original sin in the people of God and how it should be in all others especially such as are baptiz'd it should by faith be nayl'd to the Crosse of Christ we should by believing fetch vertue from Christs death to crucifie it it must hang on Christs Crosse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Metaphor taken from those that are crucified who hanging on the Crosse upon nailes grow weaker and weaker till they expire and dye so must original sin be in us dead already as to its reigning power and dying daily as to its in-being moving power having every day lesse strength than other The third expression of original corruption in the Text 't is sin We have now but the last expression the Apostle uses for this original corruption he calls it here sin to shew that it is so it is sin 1. Properly and truly 2. Eminently and especially 1. Properly It is truly and properly sin it is not only a defect but a sin it is against the holy will of God and is chargeable upon us by the justice of God every soul disease is not only a punishment but a sin and therefore farre worse than the worst disease that is incident to the body and our sinful state should be more terrible to us than our dying condition To convince us of this know that this original corruption becomes our sin 1. By imputâ—tion 1. In that God imputes the guilt of Adams sin to us which I suppose you have had vindicated in the foregoing Sermon I shall only say this to it that God may as well by imputation make Adams sin become our sin for condemnation as he may by imputation make Christs righteousnesse become our righteousnesse unto salvation and yet Christ is made of God unto us wisdome righteousness c. and we have no other righteousness to appeare in for justification before him at that great day In Thesi de peccato Orig. Hence Rivet well observes that the Church hath ever found and still does that those very men who are enemies to the doctrine of Original sin are enemies also to the doctrine of the grace of God in Christ Thus the Socinians who deny that we have contracted any debt by Adams sin deny also that Christ satisfied and paid our debts to divine Justice and if they take away this let them take all 2. Though Original corruption be truly sin by imputation 2. By inhaesion yet 't is not sin by imputation only It is our sin by inhaesion inhering in us and making of us otherwise than God made us To blot a letter in a fairly writ Copy to draw a black line over a beautiful picture cann't but prove a fault what is it then to mar Gods curious workmanship which this sin does in man Consider that God is many moneths in the framing of the body for we are wonderfully made by him and when this body is fitted he unites it to a soul more worth than a world of bodies This great-little creature man Psal 139.13 14 hath many prerogatives too that advance him especially in that Gods delight is said to be with him Now when all this care and paines are taken this cost and charges expended by God to make man for himself this corruption comes and mars all and will God hold it guiltlesse No this sin is exceeding sinful for 2. 'T is sin eminently 1. Extensive 1. 'T is more extensive than other sins every actual sin hath some particular faculty in soul or body which it does defile and charge with guilt wherein it was conceiv'd or whereby it was acted but original sin stains all alike so farre as by their several natures they are receptive of its defilement it ruines the whole little world of man It does not only overspread
composed of several Nations between whom there are great antipathies yet march in rank and order and with equal courage fight for the safety of a Kingdom we presently conclude there is a wise General who thus united them And is there not greater reason to believe that a Soveraign Spirit governs the Host of heaven and earth and unites them to maintain the peace of the World To assert that irrational creatures act for a general and unknown good without the motion of a higher cause is equally unreasonable as to say a curious Picture is drawn by a Pensil without the hand of the Painter which guided it in every line according to the Idea of his minde We must then of necessity infer that those particular causes which cannot conduct themselves are directed by an universal cause which cannot erre and thus we see the whole World is an entire and continual Argument of Gods Being and Attributes Secondly The second Argument is drawn from natural conscience which is a subordinate God and acts all things with respect to a higher Tribunal as Saint Paul speaking of those visible Testimonies which God hath exprest to men in the Creation saith Acts 14.17 that he left not himself without a witnesse giving them rain and fruitful seasons by the same proportion we may say God hath not left himself without an internal witnesse having planted in every man a conscience whereby he is dignified above the lower order of beings and made sensible of the supreme Judge to whose Tribunal he is subject now conscience in its double work as it accuses or excuses by turns upon good or bad Actions proves there is a God 1. Natural conscience being clear and innocent is the life-guard which secures from fears vertuous persons who have not offered violence to the light of conscience in times of danger as in a fierce storme at Sea or fearful Thunder at Land when guilty spirits are surprized with horrour they are not liable to those fears being wrapt up in their own innocency Parcus Deorum cultor infrequens insanientis dum sapientiae consultus erro nunc retrorsum vela dare atque iterare cursus cogor relictos Namque Diespiter igni corusco nubila dividens fâ—etumque per purum tonanteis egit equos volucremque currum Horat. ad 34. l. 31. the reason of their security proceeds from a belief that those terrible works of nature are ordered by an intelligent and righteous providence which is God 2. It gives courage and support to an innocent person when opprest and injured by the unrighteous the natural conscience so long as it is true to its self by adhering to honest principles it is victorious against all attempts whatsoever si fractus illabatur orbis if the weight of all the miseries in the world should come rushing upon him at once it would bear up under them all and stand unbroken in the midst of those ruines the spirit of a man is of strength enough to sustain all his infirmities as a Ship lives in the rough Seas and floats above them the waters being without it so a vertuous person rides out all storms and is preserved from sinking because the fury of worldly troubles cannot reach beyond his outward man the conscience which is the mans strength remains firme and unshaken yea as those Roses are usually sweetest which grow near stinking weeds so the peace joy and glory of a good conscience is then most sensible when a man is otherwise in the most afflicted and oppressed state now from whence proceeds this calmnesse and serenity this vigor and constancy of spirit but from the apprehension of a supreme Judge who at the last will vindicate their cause 2. We may clearly evidence there is a God from the accusations of a guilty conscience this is that never dying worme which if a sinner treads on it will turn again this is a temporal hell a spiritual Tophet what torments are there in the Regions of darknesse which an accusing conscience doth not inflict on a sinner in this life so intolerable are the stings of it that many have took Sanctuary in a Grave and run upon the first death to prevent the miseries of the second Now the shame horror despair and that black train of affections which lash an offender for his vicious acts discovers there is a principle within which threatens vengeance from a righteous and angry God This Argument will be more pressing if we consider that conscience attaches a sinner First for secret crimes which are above the cognizance of men conscience is Gods spy in our bosomes which mixes it self with all our thoughts and actions let a man therefore take what course he will to hide his offence let him sin in the closest retirement that humane policy can contrive where there is no possibility of legal conviction yet his Accuser his Judge his Hel is in his own bosome when the sin is most secret conscience brings in the evidence produces the Law urges the penalty passes the sentence begins the punishment so that the sinner is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-condemned for those sins which are not punishable by man yea sometimes a discovery of concealed sins though certainly bringing temporal death hath been extorted by the horror and anguish of an accusing conscience the reason of all is because in secret sins conscience appeals to Gods Omnisciency who is greater than our consciences and knows all things 1 John 3.20 And upon this account it is praejudicium judicii a kinde of antedated day of judgement a domestical dooms-day and brings upon a sinner the beginning of his sorrows 2. It stings with remorse for those sins which are above the power of man to revenge those who command Armies and by their greatnesse are secured from the penalties of the Law yet conscience sets their sins in order before their eyes and these as so many armed men charge them thorow and overwhelme them many instances there are Belshazzar in the midst of his cups and bravery how was he invaded by fear and horrour when he saw the hand-writing on the Wall the whole Army of the Persians could not discourage his spirit but when conscience revived his guilt and the apprehensions of Gods justice he sunk under the burden the hand-writing from without was terrible because conscience opened a hand-writing within Tiberius the Emperour who was doubly dy'd in unnatural lusts and cruelties could neither evade nor dissemble the horrors of his mind Nero after the barbarous murdering of his mother was always pursued by imaginary Divels his distracted fancy representing to him furies and flames ready to torment him How many Tyrants have trembled on the Throne when the condemned innocents have rejoyced in their sufferings from hence we may infallibly conclude the conscience of the most powerful sinner is under the feeling of a Deity for if there were no punishments to be feared but those the Magistrate inflicts in his own Dominions why are Soveraign
there is an unchangeable agreement between the will of the Creator and the creature so according to the same measure and degree wherein we conform our wills to Gods we proportionably enjoy the holinesse and blessednesse of that state THE TRINITY Proved by Scripture 1 JOHN 5.7 For there are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one IN the fifth verse of this Chapter the Apostle had laid this down as an Article of faith that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Sonne of God Who is he that ovcrcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Sonne of God 1 John 5.5 Now for the proof of so glorious a truth the Apostle produces six witnesses and ranks them into two orders some bear record in heaven and some bear witnesse on earth some bear witnesse on earth as ver 8. Ver. 8. of this Chapter There are three that bear witnesse on earth the Spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree in one and some bear record in heaven in the words of my Text There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one In the words you may take notice of these particulars 1. The number of the heavenly witnesses or the number of those witnesses that bear record in heaven viz. three 2. Their dignity or excellency they are in heaven 3. Their act they bear record 4. The names of the witnesses the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost 5. Their unity and these three are one I would observe from the context Observ That it is not an easie matter to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Sonne of God Whence is it else that the Apostle so often urges this point in this Epistle whence is it else that whereas it is sufficient for any truth to be confirmed by the mouth of two or three witnesses here are no lesse than six witnesses produced to prove that the Lord Jesus is the Sonne of God three heavenly and three earthly and indeed who can declare the great mystery of the eternal generation of the Son of God I will give five wonders in five words 1. God the Father communicates the whole divine essence unto the Sonne and yet hath the whole divine essence in himself If God communicates his essence it must be his whole essence for that which is infinite cannot admit of any division partition or diminution yet methinks we have a faint resemblance of this here below 'T is not with things of a spiritual nature as with things of a corporeal spiritual things may be communicated without being lessened or divided viz. when I make a man know that which I know my knowledge is still the same and nothing diminished and upon his account whether that Argument against the traduction of the soul that if the soul of the Father be traduced the Father is left soul-lesse be cogent I leave to the judgment of the learned 'T is to be granted that to communicate the notion is one thing and the faculty is another but both are things of a spiritual nature 2. God the Father and God the Sonne are one essence and yet though the Father begets the Sonne the Sonne doth not beget himself The Father and the Sonne are one God yet the Lord Jesus is the Sonne of God under that notion as God is a Father and not the Sonne of God under the notion as God is a Sonne and so not the Sonne of himself 3. God the Father begetteth God the Sonne and yet the Father is not elder than the Sonne nor the Sonne younger than the Father he that begetteth is not in time before him that is begotten if God was a Father from everlasting then Christ was a Sonne from everlasting for relata sunt simul natura an eternal Father must have an eternal Sonne 4. The Father begets the Sonne yet the Sonne is not inferiour to the Father nor the Father superiour to the Sonne The Lord Jesus Christ being in the forme of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God it was his right and therefore it was no robbery as he is coeternal so he is coequal with the Father 5. The Father begets the Sonne yet the Sonne hath the same numerical nature with the Father and the Father the same numerical nature with the Sonne an earthly sonne hath the same specifical nature with his Father but then though it be the same in regard of kinde yet it differs in regard of number but God the Father and God the Sonne have the same individual numerical nature Use Let me entreat you that you would attend unto the record and testimony that is given by those witnesses and for your encouragement consider the difference between these heavenly witnesses in the Text and earthly wi nesses and so I shall proceed to that which I mainly intend 1. On earth there may be some single or one witnesse but here are no lesse than three 2. Earthly witnesses are such as are lyable to exception but these are in heaven beyond all exception 3. As for earthly witnesses it may come to passe that their names may not be known these here are named the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost 4. Earthly witnesses when they are produced either may be silent or it may be bear false witnesse but these bear record and their record is true 5. Earthly witnesses may not agree in their witnesse as the witnesses brought against Christ but there is a sweet consent and agreement amongst these witnesses for these three are one 6. Whereas Earthly witnesses although they may be one in regard of consent yet they are not one in regard of essence every man hath one particular individual essence of his own but these are one in regard of essence Now pray mark this for if it be so then the Father is God the Son God and the Holy Ghost God And therefore the Socinian who denies the Deity of the Word and of the Holy Ghost will perswade you to believe that these words are to be expounded thus these three are one that is sayes he these three agree in one but that this is not the meaning of the phrase appears by the variation of it in the next verse the words are Ver. 8. There are three that bear witnesse on earth the Spirit the water and the blood and these three agree in one Now if both phrases note unity in consent here is an occasion of offence and falling administred by the variation of them in these two verses why is it not said the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost agree in one as well as the Spirit water and blood And suppose we should grant that the onenesse spoken of in the Text is to be expounded of consent in will and agreement yet it would prove the Godhead both of the Father and Spirit for in free Agents
and said Thou art Christ the Son of the living God and Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven It so farre transcends the capacity of humane reason that reason cannot so much as approve of it Gerhard Alting when it was revealed without inward illumination and perswasion of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 2.9 10 14 15. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned but he that is spiritual judgeth all things and hereupon it is called the Nâ—w Covenant not in respect of the time that it had no being before the incarnation of Christ but in respect of the knowledge of it the knowledge of the Legal Covenant was born with us and it was fore-known to nature but the Gospel-Covenant was whoâ—ly new revealed from the bosome of the Father it was administred by new Officers confirmed by new Sacraments let into the hearts of people by new pourings out of the Spirit therefore the Apostle prayes Ephes 1.17 18. * Maccovius That the God of oâ—r Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the Spirit of wisdome and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints God would never have instituted the Legal Covenant but for the Gospels sake Galat. 3.24 Wherâ—fore the Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ The Law was a sharp School-master by meanes whereof the refractory and contumacious minds of the Jewish people might be tamed for Rom. 10.4 Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to evâ—ry one that believeth 2. The Gospel-Covenant is better than the Legal in respect of the manner of it the Law was a Doctrine of works commanding and prescribing what we should be and what we should do Gal. 3.12 And the Law is not of faith but the man that doth them shall live in them But now the Gospel requires faith in Christ for righteousnesse and salvation Rom. 3.21 But now the righteousnesse of God without the Law is manifested therefore saith Augustine faith obtaines what the Law commands we have no help from the Law * Gerhard the condition of the Law is simply impossible it finds us sinners and leaves no place for repentance * Camero and notwithstanding the sprinkling of Gospel that there was with the Law yet it was but obscure And that shall be the next particular 3. The Gospel-Covenant is better than the Legal in respect of the manner of holding forth Christ in it though the Gospel is one and the same whereby all Saints are saved in all times for there was not one way of salvation then and another since Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sinnes Yet the Doctrine of the Gospel was more obscure in the Old Testament Umbratili per se inefficaci ceremoniarum observatione c. Amyrald partly through Prophesies of things a great way off and partly through types Christ was wrapt up in shadowes and figures in the Gospel the body of those shadowes and the truth of those types is exhibited the Land of Canaan was a type of heaven Israel according to the flesh was a type of Israel according to the Spirit the spirit of bondage of the spirit of Adoption the blood of the Sacrifices of the blood of Christ the glory of divine grace was reserved for Christs coming they had at most but starre-light before Christs coming * When Christ first came it was but day-break with them Christ was at first but as a morning starre 2 Pet. 1.19 though soon after he was as the sun in the firmament Mal. 4.2 The Apostle saith Heb. 10.1 The Law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things and in this respect it was that the Apostle saith the Gospel was promised to the Fathers but perform'd to us Rom. 1.1 2. It was hid to them and revealed to us Rom. 16.25 26. and not only by fulfilling of Prophesies which we may see by the comparing of Scripture but by the Spirit Ephes 3.5 The mystery of Christ in other ages was not made known unto the Sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit They had but a poor discovery of Christ but we have the riches of this mystery made known unto us Col. 1.26 27 * Alting The old Covenant leads to Christ but 'tis a great way about the Gospel Covenant goeth directly to him their Ceremonies were numerous bâ—rdensome and obscure those things that represent Christ to us are few easie and cleare * Synops pur Theol. 4. The Gospel-Covenant is the better Covenant in respect of the form of it the promises are better promises the promises of the Law are conditional and require perfect obedience Lev. 18.5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgements which if a man do he shall live in them the condition you see is impossible Beloved 'pray ' mistake not there is expresse mention of eternal life in the Old Testament Isa 45.17 Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end Dan. 12.2 Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlâ—sting life and some to shame and everlasting contemp and that the Law cannot save us that is accidental in respect of our dâ—filement with sin and our weaknesse that we cannot fulfill the condition Rom. 7.12 The law is holy and the Commandment holy and just and good and it is the Word of life Acts 7.38 Who received the lively Oracles to give unto us and the Apostle brings in Abraham and David for examples of Justification by faith Rom. 4.6 13. but yet their promises were chiefly temporal we have the promise of temporal good things in the New Testament as well as they in the Old only with the exception of the Cross Mark 19.29 30. Verily I say unto you There is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or fathers or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions that was the exception with persecution
the end of our faith but the salvation of our souls 1 Pet. 1.9 All the prizes were not equally valuable See Learned Dr Hammond upon Phil. 3. when we come to the Goale here we finde no Tripodes Shields or Caps but Crowns and no mean Crowns but glorious ones no fading Crowns but everlasting ones Who would not with the Apostle but pressed toward the mark Lastly That we may have greater comfort and assurance that we shall not wax weary and faint in our course and consequently not misse of those glorious rewards There 's no Calling that hath so high and heavenly assistances as this hath God that calls to this Race engages his power to carry us through it The Son of God intercedes for us the Spirit of God is ready to comfort us the Angels of God have the charge of us to keep us so that we shall not dash our feet against a stone the spirits of just men made perfect though they be not acquainted with our particular wants yet in general they tender our conditions and help us by their prayers all the people of God are constant sollicitors for us at the Throne of Grace besides those helps they afford us by their watching over us by their counsels instructions admonitions rebukes examples the chearfulnesse and alacrity of some in the ways of God having a great and happy tendency to prevent the wearinesse and discouragements of others Thus it is an high Calling Thirdly It is a Call without a sound or if it have any it is heard by none but them to whom it is directed A good Divine calls it an in visible Call Vocatio invisibilis Alting Occultis itineribus sapor nobis vitalis infunditur as Ennodius speaks by hidden paths and passages the vital savour is infused into us the seed grows up we know not how Mark 4.26 the Spirit secretly winds himself into the soul Christ comes into our hearts as he did into the house where his Disciples were met John 20.26 the doors being shut Thus it is ordinarily though I will not deny but that sometimes it may be oâ—herwise Acts 2.1 The Spirit may come with a mighty rushing and Christ with holy violence break open the doors of our hearts Saul could well tell the time and other cir umstances of his conversion Divina gratia adhuc in utero matris impletus Cypr. in Epist ad Jubaianum but it is likely the holy Baptist couâ—d not in whom the Father saith there was a Spirit of grace as soon as a Spirit of life The corruptions of some will out as it were by insensible breathings but so obstinate and inveterate are the spiritual distempers of others that they must have strong Vomits violent Purges and all little enough to clear them for a man of a good nature as they call it liberal education much restraining grace to take and give notice punctuaâ—ly when his state is changed is very difficult whereas this is no hard matter for a grosse and scandalous piece of debauchery becoming afterwards an example of piety We must not expect the same account from Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of our Lord in poi t of Conversion yet they both rejoyced in Christ as their Saviour This I have the rather spoken that I might enter a Caveat agâ—inst those rigâ—d and severe Tryers of mens spiritual estates whom as I have heard nothing will satisfie but the Precise time of Conversion I acknowledge these men great Artists and good Work-men but it is in frami g New Racks for mens Consciences since the Old Popish ones are broken I make no Question b t a weak Christians soul may be as sadly strained to give an Account of his Graces as it would have been to give an Account of his Sinnes had he lived in the dayes of Auricular Confession Beware my Frâ—ends of the Devils Sophistry Fourthly and lastly It is an Immutable Call immutable as God Himself as his Electing Love the living Fountain from whence it springs Not as the World loves doth God love they love to Day and hate to Morrow wearing their Friends like Flowers which we may behold in their Bosomes whil'st they are fresh and sweet but soon they wither and soon they are laid aside whereas the love of God to his people is Everlasting and he wears them as a Signet upon his right Hand which he will never part with Not as the World gives doth God give Men give liberally and repent suddenly but the Gifts and Callings of God are without Repentance Rom. 11.29 So much for the properties of this Call and so much for the opening of the point Shall I speak a word or two of Application APPLICATION Beloved in the LORD I have answered you many Questions I beseech you answer me a few Me said I Nay answer them to God and your own Consciences First Are you of the number of the Called Called by the Gospel I know you are but that may be your misery Are you Called according to the purpose that only can be your Happinesse Is your Calling Inward and Effectual We hope it is why we have some Convictions some Inclinations to good so had Herod so had Agrippa so may a Reprobate by the common work of the Spirit I would be loth you should be but almost Christians lest you be but almost saved Tell me then is the whole frame of your hearts altered Is sinne odious Is Christ precious Doth the prcie of heavenly Commodities rise in your hearts and the price of earthly Trumpery fall Do you love God and his Sonne Jesus Christ in sincerity Then I can assure you not in the word of a mortal man which is as good as nothing but in the Word of God that cannot lye even in the words of my Text You are Called according to his purpose Secondly If you be Effectually Called Why do you not answer that Call in receiving Christ in all his Offices in obeying Christ in all his Commands in meeting Christ in all his Ordinances Why do you not give all Diligence to make your Calling and Election sure Shall the Children of this World still be wiser in their Generation than the Children of light They rest not till they have assured as they suppose their Earthly Tenements Why do not we bestir our selves as much to Assure an Heavenly Inheritance Why are you not more thankful for this Grace Why are you not more joyful in it How did the Wise men of the East rejoyce when they found Christ born in Bethlem Is it not matter of greater joy to finde Christ born in your hearts Tell me is it nothing to have your Names written in the Book of Life To have God for your Father Christ for your Husband and Brother The Spirit of Christ for your Comforter The Angels for your Servitors All the Creatures at your Beck These are the Noble Priviledges of those that are Called according to the purpose of God How
any other grace as love that then would have been currant and have justified us as faith doth now Fifthly God justifieth in a proper sense two ways first 5. How God As a Legislator secondly as a Judge 1. As a Legislator enacting by his Soveraign Authority that sweet and gracious Law of the New Covenant by vertue of whose tenor every sinner that believes is justified from the guilt of sin from which he could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13.38 9. This Law of justification by faith is Gods own act and deed the great Instrumentum pacis between God and man he hath proclaimed his Letters Patents the King of heaven and earth hath in the Gospel our Magna Charta given his Warrant under his own broad Seal that he that believeth shall not be condemned 2. As a Judge the God of heaven may in three respects be said to justifie a Believer First Forthwith upon his believing God owneth him secretly within himself as a person justified God esteems and approves of him as in that state unto which he hath by believing a title good in Law an indefeasible right a justified estate emergeth actually as soon as faith the Law-title thereunto emergeth as a necessary resultance by vertue of the tenor of the Gospel-Law which only justified vertually potentially and conditionally before every Believer in general but now actually absolutely and in particular it justifieth him as a Believer when he is so Secondly At the moment of dissolution God justifieth as the Judge of all the earth passing a private sentence and award unto everlasting life upon every believing soul Thirdly But eminently at the last day when the Ancient of days shall take the Throne and in open Court before the whole Creation by publick sentence for ever acquit and discharge Believers at that great and last Assizes 6. How Works Sixthly Shall I need to adde that Works are said to justifie us Jam. 2.4 because they justifie our faith or demonstrate before God and man and to our own consciences that our faith is not a dead and barren but a true and living one by its fruitfulness in well-doing 7. How the Spirit Seventhly But I must not forget lastly that the Spirit of God is said to justifie us 1 Cor. 6.11 and that two ways first directly by working faith in the heart which is one of the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 Now Causa causae est etiam causa causati the Spirit justifieth as it is the Author of the justifying grace Secondly reflexively The Divine Spirit clears up justification to a Believers conscience by discovering the truth of faith by working assurance and by sealing a Believer to the day of Redemption The Spirit it self beareth witnesse with our spirits that we are the children of God and if children then heirs c. Rom. 8.16 17. Thus I have at length done with my first Task the opening of the Point which finds it self summed up in this definition Justification is a judicial act of God as Law-giver and Judge of the world gracioussly discharging a Believer for the sake of Christs satisfaction from the condemnation of the Law of Works by the tenor of the Gospel-Law or New Covenant which requireth of accepte h from imputeth unto sinners faith in Christ Jesus as their righteousnesse see Rom. 3.25 6 7 8. Rom. 4.5 Phil. 3.9 To improve it now which was my other task by way of refutation I infer against the Antimonians first Vse Refut That justification is not from eternity 1. Because a person must be charged with guilt before he is justified or discharged but nothing can be before eternity if discharg'd from eternity when was he charged what from eternity too then he will be at once eternally charged with and discharged from guilt which if any excuse from a contradiction they are much wiser than I am 2. My Text convinceth them actual faith is not from eternity therefore not justification before God for if faith justifie us not before God but only at the bar of conscience then there will be no justification at Gods bar at all once mention'd in Scripture for works do it at mans bar what is it I wonder that justifieth from eternity Not Gods decree to justifie for then his decree to glorifie would make glorification from eternity too but Decreta Dei nihil ponunt actu in subjecto Gods decrees are immanent acts and passe nothing actually upon the creature 3. A justified person was actually under condemnation whil'st he was an unbeliever Rom. 3.18 He that believeth not is condemned already but he could not be at all condemned if justified from eternity 4. Saint Paul expressely affirms that the believing Corinthians were not once but now were justified 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus c. Secondly I infer against them that they are dangerously mistaken in thinking that a Believer is righteous in the sight of God with the self-same active and passive righteousnesse wherewith Christ was righteous as though Believers suffered in Christ and obeyed in Christ and were as righteous in Gods esteem as Christ himself having his personal righteousnesse made personally theirs by imputaâ—ion This is their fundamental mistake and from hence tanquam ex equo Trojano issue out a throng of such false and corrupt deductions and consequences as these That God sees no sin in his children that affliction and death are not proper punishments of sin to Believers that all future sins are already actually forgiven as well as past and present that a Believer must not pray for the pardon of sinne but only for the manifestation of it that God loved Noah when drunk Lot when so and besides incestuous David when acting Adultery and Murther Peter when he was cursing and swearing and denying Christ with as high a love of complacency and delight as when coâ—versant in the most spiritual exercises of grace that all which God requires as a sinners duty in the Gospel is to believe that Christ dyed absolutely for him in particular that this is alone true Gospel faith and the doubting or questioning this the unbelief which the Gospel so much condemneth that to argue our justification from our sanctification and gather assurance of Gods love from our love and fear of him is a Legal principle that obedience to Gods Commandments is not properly a Believers debt but that all the obligation which lies upon him to holinesse is only the voluntary expression of his love and gratitude to God not as what is due but what is comely And lastly for I should be tyred to name all that Christ hath kept the Gospel-Covenant for us as well as satisfied the Law So that not only our Legal righteousnesse is without us in Christ our Surety but our Evangelical righteousnesse it self also Now to pluck up all these desperate consequences by
unlesse the seed of the Word be received and retained there can be no new man no good and honest heart 2. There is a formation Gods Art is wonderful in the formation of our outward man Psalme 139.14 15 16. but far more stupendious in the formation of our inward man Gal. 4.19 which is no mean part of the mystery of godlinesse 1 Tim. 3.16 3. Quickening 1 Cor. 15.36 Eph. 2.2 Gal. 2.20 which is perceived by spiritual motion 4. Longing Sometimes the Parents long sometimes the childe here both Parents and childe How doth God Christ and his Ministers long for the natural mans conversion Ezek. 18.23 Luke 13.34 Phil. 1.8 Never did a teeming woman long more for fruit or deliverance than these do for a new-born babe in Christ I but this is not all the Babe himself longs also 1 Pet. 2.2 Compare 2 Cor. 7.11 5. Travaile with paine Oh the pangs of our spiritual Mothers Gal. 4.19 do not increase them by sticking in the birth Hosea 13.13 Compare 2 Kings 19.3 Oh the feare and danger of miscarriage both before and after this spiritual childing Gal. 4.20 11. 1 Thes 3.5 and in this miscarrying age how frequent is the curse of Ephraim Hosea 9.13 14. But is the Babe exempted from paine sorrow and danger In no wise Every new-born babe comes crying into the world The New as well as the Old Creation travails with paine Rom. 8.22 23. The foundation of the second Temple is ever laid in weeping Ezra 3.12 13. and God still layes the beames of his Chambers in the waters c. Psalme 104.3 Each of these may be a taste and touch of our new-birth and prove the greatest part of Professors to be in an unregenerate estate 3. They agree in the Subject produced the new creature with new actions and new Priviledges As in Generation so in Regeneration there is 1. A new nature with new principles 2 Cor. 5.17 Gal. 6.15 In Generation there is still the same first matter but under several and successive formes and when ever a new forme is introduced the Subject is called new so in Regeneration Old things passe away behold all things b come new ib. 2. There are new actions or operations 2 Cor. 4.16 Ephes 4.22 24. There 's a new eye a Circumcised eare a spiritual taste appetite language motion c. 3. And lastly There are new priviledges According to the degrees of Generation the degrees of Priviledge vary a plant hath higher Priviledges than an Element a beast than a plant and a man than a beast But how transcendent are the prerogatives of the new man Heb. 12.22 24. See more of this Head in the Explication of Adoption Next follow the termes of difference or dissimilitude The termes of difference which may be applyed to each of the Heads of Agreement the second Birth far excelling the first Birth even in those Termes wherein both agree But I passe that for brevities sake and shall content my self to note the difference of both Births in four Properties And 1. Regeneration is rare As few men are generated in comparison of all other creatures so few persons are new borne in comparison of those who are borne No more are Regenerated than shall be saved and those are but few in comparison Mat. 7.14 compare Luke 13.23 2. It s far more secret than the natural birth compare Eccl. 11.5 Joh. 3.8 Colos 3.3 John 3.4 9. Whatever Solomon might understand of Generation both he and every man else is very purblinde in discerning the nature of Regeneration nor could the wisest or the holiest excepting Christ ever fathom either the mystery of iniquity or this mystery of godlinesse 3. Regeneration is constant and progressive once born and ever born once born and always bearing It s like the Generation of the Son of God who was begotten from eternity and is still a begetting Psal 2.7 Hebr. 13.8 In natural Generation sooner or later death marrs the birth but it s otherwise in Regeneration he that is born again shall never dye the soul and body may part but Christ grace and the soul shall never part 4. Regeneration is spiritual the very soul it self is carnal if compared to the Spirit of Grace communicated in Regeneration Zech. 12.10 John 3.6 The grace of Regeneration though but a quality far exceeds the most refined substance humane or angelical as is evident in the Apostate Angels who by their losse of holinesse became Fiends and Divels yea worse than nothing This for the Explication of the termes in general and in particular Proof of the Doctrine I proceed to the proof and demonstration of the doctrine In the management whereof I shall need to go no further than my Text. 1. Adoption and Regeneration are distinct Sonships And First It will appear from the Text that the Sonship by Adoption and Regeneration are distinct filiations though never separated as to the subject for whoever is a Childe by Adoption is also a Childe by Regeneration and contra That they are distinct filiations is evident 1. Because they are noted as distinct ver 12. 13. 2. Their foundations are distinct the one is of gift and by actual faith the other is of birth There 's a wide difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applied to Adoption and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which expresses Regeneration compare Matth. 2.1 Joh. 1.2.14 Gal. 4.4 where both words are joyned together An adopted person is made a Son but he is not born a Son as to the Adopter It s evident then these two relations are distinct Secondly It appears also from the Text 2. Believers are Gods children by both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that every Believer is a childe of God by both these filiations Namely by Adoption and Regeneration The former is evident because Believers are dignified with a sonship which follows as a priviledge upon their faith and that by deed of gift which can be no other than the Sonship of Adoption for the Sonship of Regeneration precedes actual believing The second is as evident for they who are born of God must needs be Sons by Regeneration as he that is born of man is a Son by Generation But Believers are expressely said to be born of God as is evident by comparing both the Verses of the Text and therefore are Gods Sons by Regeneration as well as by Adoption If you ask further Whence it is that Believers are Sons of God by this double filiation the Text holds forth a foure-fold ground partly explicite and partly implicite The first ground is free-grace Adoption is a gift therefore not deserved Regeneration cannot be deserved 1. Because all merit is impossible to the creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Because before Regeneration the creature was in a state of Corruption and what can a corrupted creature deserve but wrath and curse The second ground is Christs merit whence probably the bestowing of the priviledge of Adoption
thee Et tu fili Seventhly Wait and long for the perfecting of thy Adoption Rom. 8.23 Here below children cannot without impiety desire and long for the full inheritance Filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos But it s otherwise with heavenly heires who could have no inheritance unlesse their Father lived who inherit the whole together with their Father yea their Father is their main inheritance all other Comforts being but accessory Use 4 4. Of Consolation to Gods children for the effectual application of which comfort two things are very considerable First The grounds of Consolation Secondly The tryals and discoveries of our filiation whereby we may be assured of our râ—ght to and interest in these comforts The general ground of Consolation is our filial priviledges Filial priviledges are which are more particularly 1. Fatherly affections which for tendernesse and vehemency are called mothers bowels Isa 49.15 As a Father God pities his children Psal 103.13 and spares them Mal. 3.17 Parents bowels yearn most towards their weakest Children and such a Father is Christ Matth. 12.20 We pity a Childe that is poysoned not so a Serpent to whom poyson is natural If thou favour not thy self in sin God will favour and pity thee because of thy very infirmities Hebr. 4.15 2. Fatherly provision God will never fall under the foule aspersion of being worse than an Infidel which he blames so much in unnatural Christians 1 Tim. 5.8 This priviledge Relates to the necessities of Gods Children It s well observed by a Modern Writer To have no necessity at all is Gods sole priviledge To have necessities immediately supplied is the happinesse of glorified Saints To have necessities mediately supplyed is the comfor of Saints on earth To have necessities without any supply is the misery of the damned Now Divine provision undertakes for all these supplies mediately here immediately hereafter Fatherly provisions are fourefold answerable to the proportionable wants of Children First for maintenance and God provides no lesse than all good things for his Children Psal 34.9 10. 1 Tim. 4.8 especially the best things Compare Matth. 7.11 Luk. 11.13 Secondly A calling Gods care extends to the particular calling of every one of his Children much more to their general calling 1 Cor. 7.20 Rom. 1.7 Thirdly Marriage their civil marriages are made in heaven Prov. 19.14 much more their spiritual match with Christ Joh. 17.6 9. Fourthly an inheritance Though their portion be not here below yet God gives them portion in things here below which sweetens and sanctifies all their enjoyments Gen. 33.5 But the best portion here is nothing to their heavenly inheritance 1 Pet. 1.4 3. Fatherly protection Deut. 32.6 10 11 12. which is ever seasonable for time sutable for kinde proportionable for degree universal against every danger and constant as long as danger threatneth immediate by God himself Isa 27.3 Or mediate by Creatures Ordinances Providences Comforts Crosses Graces Temptations c. 2 Cor. 12.7 4. Fatherly education with all requisites thereunto for which this Father alone can undertake as First Dociblenesse God alone can make his children apt to learn Secondly Teaching by precepts direction examples illumination manuduction exercise and inclination making them willing to learn Job 36.22 Thirdly Correction and that 1. By chastisements bodily or spiritual 2. By crossing their will and worldly designs 3. By teaching them to crosse their own wills Psal 94.12 This correction is a great branch of the Covenant Psal 89.30 34. All these priviledges God affords them gratis Children pay nothing for provision protection education c. Matth. 17.26 5. Fatherly Communion A Father is very familiar First With his little Children Secondly With his grown Children To assure us hereof God is pleased to take upon him a threefold Relation 1. Of a Friend 2. Of an Husband 3. Of a Father compare John 14.21 23. Revel 3.20 This for the grounds of Consolation which every one is ready to catch at but only children have a right unto This makes way for the last head and a grand case of conscience Namely How shall I make it out that I am a genuine Son and not a Bastard or Stranger In managing this discovery I shall mix together the tryals of both filiations by Regeneration and Adoption And first Sons are like their Father 1. Tryals of our sonship they are usually the Natural and Moral Pictures of their Parents This in its measure holds true of Gods Children who resemble their Father 1. In light Ephes 5.8 2. In love 1 John 4.7 3. In life Ephes 4.18 5.1 Secondly Children honour their Parents 2. Obedience is both a negative and affirmative tryal John 8.47 Mal. 1.6 and that 1. By Reverence 1 Pet. 1.17 2. By Obedience 1 Pet. 1.14 3. By pliablenesse Rom. 8.14 Slaves are driven but Children are led 4. By coming oft into and delighting in his presence Compare Job 1.6 Pâ—al 139.18 Thirdly We may know our Sonship by our spirit every Childe of God hath 1. A Spirit of faith and dependance 2 Cor. 4.13 2. A Spirit of prayer Rom. 8.15 The first cry after the New Birth is Abba Father Acts 9.11 God hath no Childe but can ask his heavenly Father blessing 3. A Spirit of Evidence Rom. 8.16 Ephes 1.13 14. 4.30 The Spirit alwayes witnesseth though his witnesse be not alwayes heard 4. A Spirit of liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 of liberty from the bondage of sin Satan the world and fear Joh. 8.32 Hebr. 2.15 of liberty to Christ and duty Psal 119.32 5. A Spirit of waiting Rom. 8.23 Sixthly and lastly A Spirit of love not only to God and his children 1 John 5.2 but also to our very enemies Mat. 5.44 45. Hence Gods Children like their Father are peace-makers Mat. 5.9 To conclude Art thou like God dost thou honour God as a Father hast thou the Spirit of God then mayst thou comfortably claime and enjoy all the forementioned priviledges and infinitely more than heart can conceive or tongue expresse Art thou covetous here is a treasure for thee Art thou ambitious here is the highest honour Art thou voluptuous here is an Ocean of pleasure Art thou in danger here is an Ark and Haven of security all these in the hand of filiation and that above any created desire or comprehension with infinite security to all eternity OF Saving Faith ACTS 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved THe words are the satisfactory Answer of Paul and Silas to their Keepers serious demand to whose strictest care and custody they were committed by the Magistrates of Philippi upon the complaint of the covetous Masters of a gainful Servant-maid possessed with a spirit of Divination upon whom the Apostle wrought an undesired and displeasing cure after eminent Testimony born by her to them and their Doctrine God answereth their couragious singing in Prison by an earthquake shaking the foundations of the house and the stout heart of
unto the Lord and when provoked by others it is to return to the Lord their God Hosea 14.1 and when God calleth and chargeth their Repentance with hypocrisie it is with this complaint They cryed but nat unto me and they returned but not unto the most High Hosea 7.14 16. The Gospel penitent turneth not from sin to sin as do the profane nor from sinful rudenesse to common civility or only moral honesty as do the civil honest man but unto piety acts of Religion unto God God is the sole object of his affection and adoration the true penitent is prostrate at the feet of God as him only that pardoneth iniquity transgression and sin And pliable to the pleasure of God as him only that hath prerogative over him the whole man soul and body is bent for God and pursueth communion with and conformity to God not only doth Repentance turn us from what is grievous and contrary to God but unto that which is agreeable and acceptable God the minde returneth from the devising of evil to the review of the minde and will of God Psal 1. v. 1 2. from sitting in the seat of the scorneful unto meditating on the Law of God night and day his earnest out-cry is Lord Acts 9.6 what wouldest thou have me to do for he is transformed in the spirit of his minde to prove what is the good and acceptable will of the Lord Rom. 12.3 and full well knoweth it is life eternal to know God 1 Pet. 2.2 and Jesus Christ and therefore having once tasted that the Lord is gracious he as a new-born babe desireth the sincere milk of the Word Gods Word is his great delight and beautiful in his eyes are their feet that bring glad tydings from Zion Rom. 10.15 The will and affections return from all evil unto a resolution and ready acceptance of the good and acceptable will of God not only doth the Gospel penitent pray Wherein I have done amiss do thou shew it me I will do so no more but also speak Lord for thy servant heareth for it is wholly resolved into the will of God approving what is good prizing every act of worship and purposing an exact observance of it sincerely praying Let thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and accounting it his meat and drink to do the will of God his desires and affections run out to God and God alone there is nothing in all the earth to be compared with God nor any in heaven acceptable to the soul besides God Psal 73.25 The Lord becomes his very dread and delight he rejoyceth in the Lord and continually feareth before him such are his affections now towards God that he can leave all to follow him father mother sisters brethren wife children lands houses nay life it self becomes nothing in respect of God A Gospel penitent stands convinced that if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2.15 And if any man love any thing better than Christ he is not worthy of him Matth. 10.37 and so he accounteth all things drosse and dung in comparison of Christ Phil. 3.7 The Lord is his chiefest among ten thousand his all in all and so his outward man is ready in the utmost of endeavours to do the will of God he is wholly resigned to Divine pleasure to do or suffer any thing God shall not enjoyne what his attempts and utmost industry shall not be to performe or inflict what he shall not in patience and silent submission endure Repentance is no other than the obedience of faith 1 Pet. 1.2 the penitent Romans do obey from the heart the forme of sound words unto them delivered or as the Greek bears it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into which they are delivered as in a mold which leaves its shape and impression on that which passed through it Rom. 6.17 For the stony heart removed the Law of God is imprinted in the soul the Spirit of Repentance maketh us walk in Gods way Ezek. 3.26 and to do his Statutes The command of God carrieth the truly penitent contrary to the commands of men nay corrupt dictates of their own soul J seph dare not sin against God for all Potiphars possession nor Daniel slack his devotion for fear of a Lyons Den nay it is irksome to a penitent Peter to be once and again provoked to obedience as half angry he cannot but cry out John 21.17 Why Lord thou knowest I love thee he is ready to execute Divine prescription against the utmost of opposition he never desireth other Apology than whether we obey God or man judge ye for Christ is exalted to be Lord and King to give Repentance c. Not only doth he believe but is also ready to suffer for the sake of Christ he is contented to be at Gods carving as unworthy any thing under sharpest sorrows he is dumb Psal 39.9 and openeth not his mouth because God did it in saddest disasters he complains not because he hath sinned against the Lord 2 Sam. 16.10 let Shimey curse him he is quiet nay grieved at the instigations of revenge for that God hath bid Shimey curse in all his actions and enjoyments he is awed by and argueth not against God However he may with Hezekiah slip and fall in his life time yet the support of his soul at death is Lord Remember I have walked before thee with an upright and perfect heart and have done that which was right in thine eyes Isa 38.3 And with Paul he may finde a Law in his members rebelling against the Law of his minde yet can thank God that with his minde he serves the Law of God Rom. 7.25 So that true Gospel Repentance doth not only convince and cast down but change and convert a sinner sense of and sorrow for sin as committed against God are necessary and essential parts but not the whole or formality of Repentance no that is a turning from sin all sin unto God only untâ— a God it indulgeth not the least iniquity nor taketh up short of the Lord it stayeth not with Jehu at the extirpation of Baal but with Hezekiah and Josiah Rest reth the Passeover the worship of the Lord and that is the fourth thing considerable in the nature of Repentance Conclusion 5 The fifth and last conclusion is Confession of sin and prayer for its pardon are constant concomitants of true Repentance The true penitent is not only the sinner of sense but of hope and therefore a suppâ—iant at the Throne of Grace prostrate at the foot-stool of mercy confessing sin and suing for pardon freely accusing and fully condemning it self before God every penitent soul comes to God like Benhadad to the King of Israel wiâ—h an Halter about his Neck praying Forgive us our trespasses David is no sooner brought to Repentance by Nathan but he is brought on his knees before the Lord with an I havâ—
whose smell is fragrant odoriferous and so full of seeds as no fruit more such is peace of all outward blessings the chief and full of the seed of all blessings it is therefore call'd the bond of peace Ephes 4.4 as if other blessings were the bundle but peace the bond that did comprehend them all Yet holinesse is that which beareth the Bell and maketh the musick in the ears of God and if the sound thereof be not heard before the Lord we shall surely dye Therefore it is observed that the Relative which is not plural as referring to peace and holinesse both nor is it feminine as referring to peace at all but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as referring only to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holinesse Here are two great points contained in this Text. Doct. 1. P ace is a high duty rich blessing and singular benefit that a Christian is bound to follow pursue presse after and labour for and that with all men The duty is pressed strictly in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred here with the softest follow and in other places it is rendered to follow after 1 Cor. 14.1 Phil. 3.12 to pursuâ— 1 Pet. 3.11 to presse unto Phil. 3.14 And we have a full proof for all Rom. 12.18 If it be possible as much as in you lieth live peaceably with all men We must see there be no default on our part that all the world is not in peace but that we follow pursue presse hard after peace as far as possibly we may and to the utmost that lies in us and that with all men so saith the Text also But I must leave this small Pomegranate peace that I may ring out the Saints Bell of holinesse the sound and force whereof I heartily pray may reach all your hearts not ears or rather that the sound thereof in all your hearts may be heard in the Lords ears not ours that ye dye not yea that Religion dye not otherwise I may fear that Englands passing Bell is tolling at the departure of our glory and we may call the next generation Iohabod But the other and present point is this viz. That true and real holiness is the grace the duty the state the trade which every Christian is bound to follow pursue press after with might and main as he ever thinks to look God in the face 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the fear of God perfecting holinesse what is that but to follow it follow after pursue presse hard to it so 1 Pet. 1.15 Be ye holy as God is holy there is as much or more pursue follow it still that you take up with no scant measure no low degree of it I call it 1. A grace and so it is yet more it is not one single grace alone but the conjunction of all graces To say it is a star is too little it is a constellation or the way of holinesse is as the lactea via altogether starry so holinesse is all grace 2. I call it a duty and so it is but much more it is the sum and Epitome of all duty All duties of the first Table are referred to holiness as all of the second Table to righteou ness Luke 1.75 Yea duties of the second Table are call'd holinesse 1 Thes 4.3 7. 3. I call it a state it is not an act or habit but a state nor a state of a Christian but the state of Christianity the state of consistency and continuance or growth there are some states we passe through as the man through Infancy childehood youth but abides in the state of Manhood we passe through the New birth to be born no more of mortification Rom. 6.9 11. Rom. 8.15 to dye no more of bondage to fear no more but in this state once we must persist persevere live dye in it 4. I call it our trade and so it is our noblest profession and course of life 1 Pet. 1.15 Be holy in all manner of conversation 2 Pet. 3.11 What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation This is the trade and businesse we should ply in the whole course of our lives Now it may be asked what this holinesse is And I would answer and if the time would bear it open the definition which is this True holinesse is that inward through and real change wrought in the whole man of a formerly vile sinner by the Spirit of God What holiness is whereby his heart is purged from the love and his life from the dominion and practice of foâ—mer sins and whereby he is in heart and life carried out after every gâ—od 1. I call it a change and so it is it is not from nature custome education it is not an habit form but a change Christiani fiunt non nascuntur creantur non generantur and a mighty and manifest change it makes it is therefore call'd a new birth new creation a new creature resurrection c. Is there not a change when a childe is born when a dead person raised a blinde man receiveth sight Yea whatsoever is call'd holy is eo nomine changed from its common use when a person or a garment or a place or a vessel or a day were called holy all such were changed as to their use serving now for sacred and Religious Services such is Soul-holinesse a Soul-change There are three great changes wrought in a Christian at times First One in Justification 1. Ne imputetur when a guilty sinner hath sin taken away that it is not imputed The second in Sanctification when a sinner living and wallowing in sin hath sin taken away 2. Ne regnet the power of it that it doth not raign The third is in Glorification 3. Ne restet aut omnino sit when the sanctified person hath sin taken away all remainders of it that it hath no being left Now though the first and last of these are both perfect changes and Sanctification is not perfect here yet upon some account some have called that change wrought in Sanctification the greatest change of the three for compare it with Justification Justification is a change of the state not of the person a change without not within the man In Sanctification there is a real change and that within the man In Glorification also is a perfect change it being the highest state of the three but the change is not so great as in Sanctification glory and grace differ but gradually there being no opposition between them as between grace and sin The change is not so different between the Morning light and the Noon-day brightnesse as between the Morning light and the Midnight darknesse 2. I call it an inward change to distinguish it from civil honâ—sty 3. A through change to distinguish it from restraining or conforming
a Physician who could cure all bodily deformities what flocking would there be to him for help such a Physician is Death As Job had all things restored double when raised from the dunghil so shall a childe of God have all bodily deformities removed and his body shall be raised in glory and shine as the Sun in the firmament And why then should we be so afraid of death it is initium vivae spei the beginning of a living hope The Heathen mans Motto is Dum spiro spero while there is life there is hope but a Christians Motto is Dum expiro spero when I dye then my hope begins to live 4. Comfort to those who forgoe any members of their bodies for Christ If thou losest thy leg or arm or ear God will restore it again at the Resurrection The same leg c. as Christ healed the ear of Matchus he did not give him a new ear but the same again Famous is the story that Josephus tells of one of the seven children in the Maccabees who when he was to have his tongue cut out and his hand cut off said to his Mother These I have received from the Heavens and for the love of my God I despise them and trust that I shall receive them again 5. Comfort to the people of God when in the lowest condition When upon the dunghil and past help of man then let them remember That the God whom we serve can raise the dead and therefore can deliver them out of all their troubles though never so great and incurable This was Jobs comfort when in the saddest condition Job 19.25 26 27. It is proper to God to deliver from the lowest grave Psal 86.13 And for this very end and purpose God oftentimes brings his children into a very deplorable and desperate condition that they might learn to trust in that God who raiseth the dead 2 Cor. 1.12 6. Lastly Here is singular consolation in reference to the sad times in which we live It is with us now as it was with the Disciples when Christ was crucified their hopes dyed when Christ dyed their faith in Christ was dead and buried with Christ therefore they say Luke 24.21 We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel and besides all this to day is the third day since these things were done As if they should have said Christ hath now been so long in the grave that we have no hope of salvation by him it is now the third day and we hear no tidings of him Even so the people of God are ready to say of these times We had thought that this had been the time wherein Christ would have made the Churches of England very glorious and have taken away all our tynne and drosse out of his Church and perfectly have purged his floor and made a most happy Reformation But we see that Christ is still in the grave and there are mountains upon mountains rowled over him to keep him still in it We are in as bad a condition as ever and our hopes as desperate and it is now not onely the third day but the thirteenth nay the sixteenth year and yet we are not delivered But now hearken to a Word of Consolation As Christ rose in spight of the Jews they rowled a stone upon the mouth of the grave and sealed it and set a watch to keep it and yet he rose in spight of them all So shall Religion and the Gospel and Church of Christ rise notwithstanding all the opposition made against it Though never so many Mountains â—e in the way God will in time rowl away all these Mountains Mat. 16. Isa 54. Zach. 12.3 for Christ haih said That the gates of Hâ—ll shall not prevail against his Church and that no weapon formed against Jacob shall prosper and that he will make Jerusalem a burthensome stone for all people all that burthen themselves with it shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it As the children of Israel the more they were oppressed the more they multiplied so the more the Church of Christ is trodden under foot the more it will prosper As Moses his bush burned and was not consumed because God was in it so the Church of Christ may be burning and full of troubles and afflictions which shall purge it Rev. 11.7 8 9 10 11. and refine it but it shall not be consumâ—d for Christ is risen and his Church shall rise The God whom we serve is a God who can raise the dead It is related of the two Witnesses that when they shall have flnished their estimony they should be slain and lie three days and an half unburied and that the people that dwell upon the earth should reâ—oâ—ce over them and make merry But yet notwithstanding the Spirit of God should after three days and an half enter into them and they should stand upon their feet and ascend up to Heaven in the sight of their Enemies By these two Witnesses are meant all the eminent Opposers of Antichrist whether Magistrates or Ministers who though they prophesie in sackcloath 1260 years and towards the end of them which is yet to come be in a more then ordinary manner massacred and killed yet they shall after a little while rise again in their successors stand â—pon their feet and ascend up to a more heavenly and glorious condition There will be a happy and blessed Resurrection of the Church Famous is the Parable of the Dry Bones Ezek. 37. God saith to the Prophet Son of man can these bones live The Prophet answered O Lord God thou knowest Then God tells him That he would cause breath to enter into the dry bones and make them to live c. Though the Church of Christ be in as sad a condition as the Israelites in Babylon and be as dry bones in a grave and though the Prophets know not how they can be raised 2 Pet. 2.9 yet God knoweth how to deliver his people He can and will in due time raise them up to a more pure and happy estate even in this life Let us comfort one another with these things Use 3. OF Terrour to all the wicked and ungodly that cannot say with Job I know my Redeemer liveth but I know my Revenger liveth There will a time come when they that now stop their ears and will not hear the voyce of Christ speaking by his Word and Ministers shall hear a voyce whether they will or no and shall come out of their graves to the Resurrection of condemnation just as Pharaohs Baker out of Prison or as Malefactors out of Newgate to be executed at Tiburn Happy were it for such that there were no Resurrection that their souls did dye as the souls of Brute Beasts But let such know That there shall be a Resurrection of the unjust as well as of the just and that there will a day come in which
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infligens ultionem Bez. which relates to the fault by reason 't is fit that the punishment be apportion'd to the fault in the execution of justice as maybe more plain in this case Suppose Titius for Treason should justly deserve death yet so that none living know his crime then imagine Caesar in a rage take away Titius his life â—his crime of Treason all this while neither considered nor discovered why the death of Titius though in it self it be a natural evil yet in order to Caesar is no proper punishment sit'h it is not the execution of justice in reference to the crime however it may be so in respect of God Latet culpa ubi non latet poena Aug. who kâ—ew not only that Titius so dyed but that he deserved so to dye this may illustrate that in the punishment of the damned there is an impression of Divine justice and therefore because of Gods just judgement this punishment is called the damnation of Hell q Mat. 23.12 Quia Deus ex â—uâ—icio hanc poenam â—impiis infligit Gerh. thereby noting the keen impression of Gods wrath wherein not only the Almighty Punisher doth respect sinne but the finite creature who is punished knows that he is cast into the furnace of fire for his sinne against the infinite God whereupon there is further requisite to this punishment 3. That the party punished have an acute feeling himself spoiled of all his perfections a lively sense of all that he is deprived of by reason of his sin otherwise it would not properly be punishment as I hinted before the damned hath always quick and terrâ—ble apprehension of an angry God impressing his wrath and persisting to deprive him of all that glorious good was offered to him instead of which that being refused he is more and more assured of lying in a consuming fire that is and will be continually burning up all those perfections he had not purging but plaguing him worse and worse yet not so that the flames devoure his essence or that the torments utterly i. e. absolutely destroy his substance but that they are continually feeding upon all that it should otherwise have been his simple being neverthelesse remaining thus of the punishment it self both of losse and pain The two properties of Hell punishiment 1. Extremity 2. The Properties of Hell punishment inseparable from it are its Extremity Eternity 1. Extremity it infinitely exceeds all other punishment no pain so extream as that of the damned who sustain the absence of all good and the presence of all evil all the cruelties in the world cannot possibly make up any horror comparable to the horrors of Hell I noted in the Analysis of my Text that the Extremity of Hell-torments is aggravated by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza Annot. their inflammation the fire the preparation of them the prepared the association in them the Divel and his Angels There is a great force and Emphasis in these praepositive Articles in the Original thus repeated demonstrating and defining this punishment to exceed all others in its Extremity 1. The grievous inflammation setting forth the extremity of these torments fire is the most furious of all Elements but this is the fire hotter than Elementary or culinary fire importing the torments to be of a more violent nature than any other Geogr. l. 16. Col. 764. Cit. Full. Strabo relates that there is a Lake near Gadara in Galilie infected with suâ—h malignant and pestiferous qualities that it scaldeth off the skin of whatsoever is cast into it yet this is not comparable to the fiery Lake of brimstone where the extreame anguish of the damned is 1. Most exquisite Damnati exquisitissimos dolores sentient quibus majores non dari nec câ—gitari possunt Gerh. loc com Long. four last things all the exquisite torments that ever were heard of cannot expresse it to the full Nebuchadnezzars fiery furnace could but cause horrours like flea-bitings in comparison of those the damned in hell do suffer in every sense the little Monasyllable Hell though 't is easily over-look't by many at present yet 't is the most unexpressibly grievous Rack in the world They say Gehenne which we translate Hell in the New Testament does in French signifie a Rack which as the Strappado is thought to be the most exquisitely tormenting those terrible allusions to Tophet 2 King 23.18 with Isa 30.32 33. to the shreeks and yellings of Children sacrificed there are but shadowy representations of their paine who dye the second death 2. Intolerable soul and body shall be ever supported by God in being but neither be able to avoid nor yet endure hell-pain if Cain the foreman coming within the sight of hell here cry out My punishment is greater than I can bear Gen. 4.13 Prov. 18.14 Psal 88.15 90.11 Hos 13.8 Rev. 19.20 Heb. 11.36 for a wounded spirit who can bear if the apprehensions of hell even distract the Psalmist if an angry God but meeting the soul of a sinner rent the caul of his heart how will he be able to bear burning in the Lake with fire and brimstone hanging sting racking roasting suffering under harrowes and sawes of Iron fleaing of the skin scratching off the flesh with Thorns c. unheard of mercilesse miseries are nothing to the unsufferable tortures of Hell I grant there are degrâ—es of torment in hell yet the least is in t lerable whether 1. We look up on the Omnipotent hand of God executing the vengeance of eternal fire ah it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.30 31. the Judge to whom vengeance belongs who takes the wicked immediatâ—ly into his own hands as if none else were strong enough to inflict the fiercenesse of his wrath Or Rom. 9.19 2. Look down on the impotent punished creature no way able to make any resistance or lift up his head under the burden of divine indignation but must crouch under it for alas what can a leaf driven too and fro do against the blast of Gods displeasure how should the weak back of a poor feeble man bear the pile of fire and much wood Isa 30.33 33.14 Job 20.26 which the breath of the Lord doth kindle who among us shall dwell with everlasting burning they that suffer least in hell will find the torments intolerable So that when our Saviour saith r Mat. 10.15 ' I will be more tolerable for Sodome and Gomorrah in the day of judgement than for that City which despiseth the offers of Gospel-grace he means not that any damned Sodomites should find hell-paines tolerable at all for Jude writing by the same spirit that Matthew did sayes They suffer the vengeance of eternal fire s Jude ver 10. and eternal fire with a vengeance can be no tolerable paine Christ will come in flaming fire taking vengeance on those that know not God 2 Thes 1.8