119. 129. or with the convicted man God is in it of a truth 1 Cor. 14. 25. or with the Apostle The foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men 1 Cor. 1. 25. The Scriptures asserting this Instrumentality what if this Philosophical Objection could not be answered must therefore the holy Oracle be rejected What if Reason cannot comprehend it must therefore Faith renounce it How much better is that old Gloss Taceat Mulier in Ecclesia Let Reason be silent in the Church But for some satisfaction I shall offer four things to your consideration 1. Consider who is the principal Agent who but the Almighty and if he will appear in the word as the Expression is Acts 26. 16. what may not be done by it The Apostle was but an earthen vessel yet a Minister of the quickning Spirit because God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made him sufficient to be such a one 2 Cor. 3. 6. If he make the Word sufficient to regenerate who can gainsay it 2. Consider what the Instrument is 't is the Word of God the two grand Truths therein are the Law and Gospel and what are these in their eternal Idea The Law is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or eternal Off-shining from the divine Will as Righteous and the Gospel is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or eternal Off-shining from the divine Will as gracious and what are they in their external Revelation The Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 breathed out from the very mind and heart of God and therefore cannot be less than a lively Picture or Image of the divine Will Wherefore that such a Word as is the Image of the divine Will should instrumentally produce the new Creature which is the Image of the divine Nature seems to me rather congruous than impossible 3. Consider what the Principles of Grace are they are not Substances but Accidents depending upon their Subject in esse operari and may more properly be said to be increated than created now if there could be no Instrument in the Creation of Substances yet why may not there be one in the Increation of Accidents 4. Consider what a kind of Creation the production of gracious Principles is Is it every way pure Creation How then is it Generation how Resurrection Pure Creation can be neither of these You 'l say 't is Generation and Resurrection but metaphorically only very well if it be but so the Metaphor must be founded on some true likeness or analogy between these and the production of gracious Principles which is altogether unimaginable in a pure Creation It remains therefore that the production of gracious Principles is stiled all these in Scripture partly to import the excellency of the work such as cannot be fully expressed by any single one of these partly to hint out the nature of the work such as hath in it somewhat analogous to every one of these Wherefore I take it to be thus 't is a Creation because a real production of gracious Principles by Almighty Power 't is a Generation because of the immortal Seed of the Word and 't is a Resurrection because a man spiritually dead is raised up to divine life Now if there could be no Instrument in a pure Creation yet may there be one in the production of gracious Principles because that is not purely Creation though there be a creating power put forth therein 2. Object The other Objection is against the Method proposed in the two Instants viz. That first in Nature the Word is put into the Heart and then the Principles of Grace are produced which is contrary to that the natural man receives not the things of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. and contrary to that the word did not profit them not being mixed with faith Heb. 4. 2. and also contrary to the scope of that Parable where the Seed of the Word only fructifies in a good and honest heart Luk. 8. 15. for according to the Method of the two Instants the Natural man doth receive the things of God the Word doth profit before it is mixed with Faith and the Seed doth fructifie in a Heart not good or honest In answer whereunto I conceive that the Method proposed in the two Instants doth not contradict any of these Scriptures As for the first place The natural man receives not the things of God I answer that the Things or Truths of God may be received in the Heart two ways either passively by way of Impression from the holy Spirit or actually by way of actual discerning them in the Understanding and embracing them in the Will the former is a reception of them according to the obediential Capacity of the Heart the latter a reception of them according to the spiritual Faculty thereof the former doth at least in Nature go before the Principles of Grace in order to their Production the latter doth follow after the Principles of Grace as the fruit thereof The former is that which is done in the first Instant abovementioned the latter is that which is spoken of by the Apostle in the Text abovenamed for there he saith that the natural man receiveth not the things of God neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned where evidently he speaks of such a receiving as is an actual knowing and spiritual discerning of the things of God Wherefore according to the Apostle this active receiving doth presuppose the Principles of Grace already in Being but the other passive receiving of which the Apostle there speaks not doth only presuppose an obediential Capacity in the Soul There is a double obediential Capacity in the Soul to receive the Truths of God as by way of Impression the ultimate and radical Capacity is the Rationality of the Soul and the next and immediate Capacity is that Softness of Heart which is wrought in the preparatory work of Conversion The Soul as rational is capable to receive an impression of Truths from God and as softned it is yet further disposed thereunto This is that obediential Capacity which is required in the Method of the two Instants and which the Apostle in that place doth not so much as touch upon As for the second place the word did not profit them not being mixed with faith I answer that the Word may be considered under a double Notion either as it is operative of Faith or as it is promissive of Rest to Believers Take it as operative of Faith and so it profits not being mixed with Faith otherwise faith could not come by hearing as the Apostle asserts Rom. 10. 17. but take it as promissive of Rest to Believers and so it doth not profit not being mixed with Faith that is Faith which is the Condition of the Promise not being performed the eternal Rest which is the thing promised cannot belong to them and this is clearly the Apostle's meaning for having spoken of a promise of rest Heb. 4. Ver.
his own way Unto which I answer two things 1. That God hath set such a Law or Rule unto himself That Believers and those only should be the object of his Election is utterly untrue for then all Infants dying such because no Believers must be out of the Sphear of Election and by consequence out of the Sphear of Salvation also unless which is very strange we could imagine those to be actually saved whom yet God never elected or decreed to save Neither is there any such Law or Rule manifested in the Gospel there God's Will is thus set forth Whosoever believes shall be saved which imports that Believers are the objects of Salvation but not in the least that they are the objects of Election It is written in the Gospel Relieve and thou shalt be saved but in what Gospel is it written Believe and thou shalt be Elected 2. That Law or Rule if supposed doth not answer the Argument for still as to particular Election God is under the pre-determining Will of Man If that say Nay God shall have never a chosen Vessel in all the World to fill with Grace and Glory and how then is he the great Agent in Election Solomon set a Law or Rule to Shimei That if he passed over Kidron he should die for it he passes over and dies What now was the chief cause of his death Solomon's Law or Execution or else Shimei's passage Clearly it was Shimei's own Act Solomon was but as a Legislator Pariratione If God set a Law or Rule that Believers should be elected if a man believe and be elected that which chiefly determines the business is not God's first Law or after Choice but Man's Faith God is no Agent therein but as a mere Legislator So naturally do the Remonstrant Principles run out into that of Theophylact 'T is God's part to call but Man's to be elect or not which Principles must be renounced or else God cannot be owned as the Great Agent in Election And here a three-fold Enquiry offers it self 1. What the things themselves are 2. In what Order these are designed 3. In what manner these are designed 1. What the things themselves are These are Grace and Glory or Faith and Salvation 1 Grace is designed hence we are said to be called according to purpose Rom. 8. 28. and chosen that we should be holy Eph. 1. 4. Do we see a Saint in his spiritual Glory clothed with Humility arrayed with Righteousness girt with Truth his Eyes flowing with repentant Tears his Heart burning with holy Love and his Hands laden with good Works All these were prepared in Eternal Election as well as wrought by the Holy Spirit in Time there was Decretum Dei in the foreordaining as well as Digitus Dei in the forming of them Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King of Heaven will honour In Election there is a designing of Grace nay all Grace Faith it self not excepted The Remonstrants shut out Faith from this design in as much as they pre-require Faith thereunto But how unscriptural is this Paul was chosen to know God's will Acts 22. 14. not to a bare notional Knowledge but to a saving practical one such as justifies Isai. 53. 11. such as is Eternal life Joh. 17. 3. which must needs include Faith The Apostle calls Faith the faith of Gods elect Tit. 1. 1. If Faith had been precedent to Election he would have told us that Election is of Believers but because it is consequent he saith that Faith is of the Elect. And how irrational is it also Election is a design of secretion it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a chusing or singling out of some to Grace and Glory the Elect are said to be chosen out of the world Joh. 15. 19. and chosen unto God Acts 9. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Christ thine they were Joh. 17. 6. thine in a select peculiar manner and Faith is the choice and prime Grace of secretion it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all 2 Thess. 3. 2. If all men did believe without any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or difference the Righteousness of God would be upon them all Rom. 3. 22. the Rivers of living Water would flow in them all Joh. 7. 38. but Faith is not of all whereby it appears that of all inherent Graces Faith firstly and properly makes the secretion Now that such a prime Grace of secretion as Faith should not be decreed in suoh a great design of secretion as Election seems to me incongruous even to absurdity If Faith go before Election then how doth God chuse them out of the World who by Faith are out of it already How doth he chuse them unto himself who by Faith are his own before If Man's Will in believing make the first and proper secretion then God's Will hath no room to make one by electing wherefore if we will allow God his choice indeed we must confess Faith it self to be designed in Election 2. Glory is designed in Election we are chosen to Salvation 2 Thess. 2. 13. and before prepared to glory Rom. 9. 23. the Names of the Elect are written in heaven and registred in the Book of life All the glory above rayes out of the bosom of Election and every Crown of bliss is set on by God's good pleasure 2. In what order are these things designed No doubt by one pure simple Act in God But what is our most congruous conception thereof Some Divines assert that God first decreed Salvation and then Faith Salvation is the end and therefore first Faith the means and therefore last in God's intention But this Reason is not cogent for neither can any thing in the Creature no not its utmost perfection such as Salvation is be God's end all whose Decrees do circulate into himself Neither if it were such should God therefore will it in the first place and in order before Faith for he wills the End and Means with one simple Act. Excellent is that of Aquinas Sicut Deus uno actu omnia in essentia sua intelligit it a uno actu omnia in sua bonitate vult Unde sicut in Deo intelligere causam non est causa intelligendi effect us sed ipse intelligit effect us in causa it a velle finem non est ei causa volendi ea quae sunt ad finem sed tamen vult ea quae sunt ad finem ordinari ad finem Vult ergo hoc esse propter hoc sed non propter hoc vult hoc Other Divines conceive thus That God first decrees Faith and then Salvation and that upon this account Such and in such order as God in time doth save such and in the very same order doth God in Eternity decree to save But God in time doth save only Believers therefore God in Eternity did decree to save only Believers that is such as were so considered by him and so considered by him they
9. that is in the day of the Messiah Ver. 8. But how far will he remove it The Psalmist tells us as far as the East is from the West Psal. 103. 12. and so he did he removed it from us who were in occasu Adami as far as Christ who is oriens Sol Justitiae by this remove all our sins met upon him as the Prophet speaks Isai. 53. 6. Never such a concourse of Sins as here Sins of all weights Pence and Talents Sins of all magnitudes Gnats and Camels Sins of various degrees Frailties and Presumptions Sins of vast distances as far remote in place as the parts and quarters of the Earth and in time as the Morning and Evening of the World met all together upon him he is the Lamb of God that takes or bears away the sin of the world Joh. 1. 29. he saith not Sins but Sin because all the Sins of the World were as it were made up into one burthen and so laid upon him Sins past were present to him for there was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Transmission of them unto him Rom. 3. 25. there was indeed an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Remission as to the faithful but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Transmission as to the Surety Sins future were all one to him as if already existent all our Sins met upon him Hence he cries out My iniquities have taken hold upon me Psal. 40. 12. My iniquities a strange word to drop from the holy one of God but the Apostle clears it God made him for us to be sin 2 Cor. 5. 21. there was no Sin in him by Inhesion but God made him Sin by Imputation not only a Sacrifice for Sin which yet includes that imputation but Sin it self the double Antithesis in the Text carries it this way he was made that Sin he knew not and that was Sin it self he was made that Sin which is opsite to Righteousness and that was Sin it self Hence Luther brings in the Father casting all our Sins on him with these words Tu sis Petrus ille negator Paulus ille persecutor David ille adulter peccator ille in paradiso latro ille in cruce person a illa quae fecerit omnium hominum peccata all our sins were imputed unto him But you 'l say How can these things be Can the righteous God who judges according to truth impute Sin to his holy one I answer As there are in the Apostle two distinct Comings of Christ in the first he bore our sins in the second he appears 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without sin Heb. 9. 28. So in his first coming he susteined two distinct persons his own and ours as he was in his own person he was without sin but as he was our Surety and susteined our persons so our Sins were imputed to him and imputed to him according to truth because he was such The holy One was righteously made sin because first he was a Surety for sinners a World of Sins was justly cast on the innocent Lamb because he stood in the room of a World of sinners In eadem persona Christi saith Luther congrediuntur illa duo summum maximum peccatum summa maxima justitia this is one of the wonders in Theology Reason and Philosophy can shew Sin in the sinner but the sublimer Gospel shews Sin on a spotless Lamb here darkness seized upon the Sun here the abomination of iniquity stood where it ought not I say where it ought not because upon the holy place yet withal where it ought because of an holy Imputation God can by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34. 7. that is the guilty remaining such therefore he first translated the guilt upon Christ and then he justifies the ungodly through him Rom. 4. 5. Oh the glory of the divine Will It s Purity cannot but hate Sin yet its Power removes it its Justice cannot but punish Sin yet its Mercy translates it from the Sinner to the Surety that it may be condemned there where it was never committed even in the flesh of Christ Rom. 8. 3. 2. Our Sins being laid on him he suffered the same punishment for the main that was due to us for them for how doth the Scripture express the punishment of Sin 'T is death Gen. 2. 17. and he died for us 't is the second death Rev. 20. 14. or death unto death 2 Cor. 2. 16. and he suffered deaths Isai. 53. 9. not the death of the Body only but all the deaths in moriendo morieris as far as his holy Humanity was capable thereof 't is wrath Rom. 1. 18. and he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man set in the stroke of Gods wrath as the Septuagint hath it Isai. 53. 3. 't is a curse Deut. 27. 26. and he was made a curse Gal. 3. 13. not only a ceremonial but a real Curse even that which he redeems us from Tu Christe saith Luther es peccatum meum maledictum meum seu potius ego sum peccatum tuum maledictum tuum 't is hell Psal. 9. 17. and he descended thither though not by a local Motion yet by an immense Passion his Soul travelling under the wrath of God He began to descend into Hell when he sweat drops of Blood and he descended yet further into it when he cried out My God my God! why hast thou forsaken me There are two Essentials of punishment in Hell poena sensûs poena damni and he suffered both when the fire of God's Wrath melted him into a bloody sweat there was poena sensùs and when the great Eclipse of God's Favour made him cry out of forsaking there was poenadamni Christ suffered the same punishment for the main which we should have suffered the chief change was in the Person the just suffering for the unjust the Surety for the Sinner But you 'l say Christ did not suffer the same punishment for he neither suffered eternal Death nor yet the Worm of Conscience As to that of eternal Death I answer by two Distinctions 1. In eternal Death we must distinguish between the Immensity of the Sufferings and the Duration the Immensity is essential to it but the Duration is but mor a in Esse and accidental Christ suffered eternal Death as to the Immensity of his Sufferings though not as to the Duration of them he paid down the idem as to Essentials of punishment and the tantundem as to the Accidentals what was wanting in the Duration of his Sufferings was more than compensated by the Dignity of his Person for it was far more for God to suffer for a moment than for all Creatures to suffer to Eternity 2. We must distinguish between punishment as it stands in the Law absolutely and punishment as it stands there in relation to a finite Creature which cannot at once admit a punishment commensurate to its offence and so must ever suffer because it cannot satisfie to Eternity Punishment as
THE Divine Will Considered in its Eternal Decrees AND Holy EXECUTION Of Them By EDWARD POLHILL of Burwash in Sussex Esquire The Second Edition LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Thomas Shelmerdine at the Sign of the Rose-Tree in Little-Britain 1695. THE PREFACE TO THE READER THE Doctrine of Gods eternal Decrees with their Execution in his works of Providence and Grace is of great importance in it self and was ever so esteemed in the Church It is that Revelation which God has been pleased to make unto us in his Word of those Counsels of his sovereign will and pleasure with those actings of infinite wisdom power goodness and grace in the pursuit of them which rise and issue in Eternity Hereby the whole series of divine Operations is represented unto us in their beauty order wherein God disposes all things in this World unto the final issue of his eternal glory An Enquiry therefore into these things is so far from being a needless and curious Speculation as some fondly imagine that without some diligence therein we can never attain that distinct apprehension of divine Excellencies and their effects which is necessary unto the direction of our Faith and Obedience The nature indeed of the things themselves which is sublime and mysterious with that opposition which the pride of corrupted Reason rises up unto against the Sovereignty and Wisdom of God hath exposed the Truth concerning them unto great and fierce Contradiction in all Ages But as God in the primitive times preserved the knowledge and interest of it in the Church by the holy and learnéd endeavours of persons famous on that account in their several Generations against the subtil assaults of men of corrupt minds so in these later Ages he has provided for its vindication and defence by the faithful Là bours of many worthy Instruments against all that opposition which under various pretences and apprehensions hath continually broken forth against it And it hath so fallen out that among all those Digladiations which the Church hath been exercised withal about spiritual things there are none which have been managed with more confidence and seeming satisfaction unto the parties at variance about them than these concerning the Decrees and Grace of God For whereas they procede on various Principles each Party find such assurance in those they build upon as they suppose is not capable of any reasonable contradiction Those who judge it their safest course in heavenly Mysteries to captivate their Understandings unto the obedience of Faith and to regulate their apprehensions about them by divine Revelation with a due reverence of the infinite Wisdom and Sovereignty of God can discern nothing in the reasoning contrary to what they have so learned that is of weight with them or takes any impression on their minds when others who procede upon and make their own inclinations desires and Reason the Rule and Measure of their Conceptions forcing divine Revelation and Mysteries into compliance with them have no valuation of those Arguments which are resolved purely into divine Revelation as representing an Idea of God his Excellency his will and his Power unsuited unto what in themselves they conceive of them but it will be found that as God who alone perfectly knows himself and all the effects of his Wisdom and Power can alone give us true notices and apprehensions of them so it will be found that it is our wisdom and understanding to confine our conceptions about them and Faith concerning them unto divine Revelations And whatever contradictions there may be therein unto the carnal Affections of men there is none indeed unto right Reason when the infinite distance between God and us is once really admitted and acknowledged Of these things treateth the ensuing Discourse if I mistake not in words of truth and soberness for the substance of what is pleaded therein and I could not but upon the first view judge it both useful and needful unto the present season For whereas the Truths here declared and contended for have in former Ages been opposed with more subtilty diligence and specious pretences than of late by any yet being never that I have observed treated with more rage contempt and scorn the common way whereby men supply their defects in Learning and Ability to oppose what they dislike and condemn the worthy Author hath handled them with that gravity and modesty with that particular regard unto express divine Testimonies as is best suited to rebuke unchristian Virulency about sacred things without taking any notice of them And sundry things in perusal of his Discourse I take no small satisfaction in as first that in handling of these mysterious and sacred Truths he chose briefly to state and solidly to affirm his assertions with Scripture and Reason clearing positive Truths and not handling them merely in a way of Controversie though he avoid not the consideration of any material Objection against what he has asserted and proved for as this way of teaching divine Truths is suited unto the nature use and end of them as also the manner of their Original Revelation so the mind is therein preserved sedate and free from such disturbing or diverting provocations as we are commonly too incident unto when engaged even in the defence of Truth by way of controversie Again there appeared unto me that Vein of Piety and spiritual Affection Reverence unto God and satisfaction in the things themselves pleaded about as hath given me a great esteem of the Author as well as of his Work though he be otherwise utterly unknown to me and this respect was increased when I found he was no Minister or Church-man whose business it is or ought to be to enquire diligently into these things but a Gentleman acted by a voluntary concernment in Truth and Piety It would not be to the disadvantage of the Nation or the Church of God in it if we had more of that rank and quality alike able and alike minded The Modesty wherewith he dissents from others or opposes their sentiments without severe reflections on Persons or Opinions is also another thing which deserves both commendation and imitation and the consideration thereof gives me the confidence in these few lines designed unto another end to express my own dissent from some of his apprehensions especially about the Object and Extent of Redemption Had I seen this discourse before it was wholly Printed I should have communicated my thoughts unto him upon that Subject and some few other passages in it but where there is an agreement in the substance and design of any Doctrine as there is between my judgment and what is here solidly declared it is our duty to bear with each other in things circumstantial or different explanations of the same Truth when there is no incursion made upon the main Principles we own The Argumentative part of this Book is generally suited unto the Genius of the Age past where in accurdcy and strictness of Reason bare sway
the Language of it unto this concerning which every one may judg as he pleases Truth is little concerned therein nor is it thereunto that I assign that perspicuity which appears in the main parts of this Discourse but unto the clear and distinct stating of the things themselves in the Authors mind which alone enables any to speak with evidence unto the understanding of others And hence it is that although he be forced to make use sometimes of Scholastick Notions yet he hath so expressed the matter intended as to make it obvious unto the meanest Capacity any whit exercised in the knowledge of these things Having said thus much of this Discourse which I hope God will bless unto good use and fruit I shall not need to mind the Reader of how great importance it is to have the Truths here pleaded for well vindicated and established the fulness and frequency of the Scriptures in the Revelation of them the great influence into our Faith Obedience and due Reverence of God with the eminent tendency unto the exaltation of his Glory and the debasement of the pernicious Pride of corrupt Nature which they have the Opposition made unto them by all sorts of persons for saking the Truth who however differing and fiercely contending among themselves as Papists Socinians Arminians Quakers and others yet all agree in contradiction unto the Sovereignty of God in his Decrees the special fruits of eternal Redemption by the Blood of Christ and the infallible Prevalency of Divine Grace do all sufficiently evince both the weight of these Truths themselves and the eminency of the Service which is done to the Church of God in their Vindication John Owen A Preface to the Reader concerning the Author of the Tract ensuing IT may well be reckoned among Problems or hard Questions whether it were better for those who write and print to publish their Names or conceal them because many things Pro and Cou might be argued upon that Subject especially about things Polemical when they are handled But when Causa Dei the Cause of God as our learned and famous Bradwardine intituled his Book when he wrote against the Pelagians comes to be treated of all Circumstances are duly to be weighed Quis Quid Quare Quando Quomodo c. Who What Why When and How Among those of this kind it 's very momentaneous to know for one that this Gentleman is one of the Sages of the Law an Oracle in the Country where he lives An Eirenarches well worthy of that Name and Place A Justice of Peace and not of Trouble according to the distinction which our unhappy times have made Conformable himself yet one who affects rather to be Orthodox and to mind the Power of Godliness more than the Form thereof I write this Testimony of him though be neither needs desires or knowes of it because I have bad knowledge of him à teneris from his Childhood and have been certified of his Domestical Piety and Exemplariness in all which appertains to the Practice of Piety Concerning the Book it needs not Patron or Advocate Let it speak for it self Aetatem habet It quickly shews Arma Virúmque the Spirit of the Man and his Weapons This pleases me above all the rest that though it treats of most intricate and mysterious Controversies yet that is done humbly reverently freely and with Candor I make not my self his Hyperaspistes or Second or a Party to his Opinion but because his Habitation is remote in a Corner of the Land his Converse more with Books than with Men he seldom sees London and is not yet in these parts any of our Anshe Shem noted or famous Persons Lest any Reader should cast him off with a scornful Ignoramus I know not the man I have presumed to prepare this little Lenitive that no offence should be taken in such respects as are herein mentioned I shall not conclude with Ecce hominem but ad rem Lazarus Seaman ERRATA PAg. 25. lin 27. read object p. 28. l. 24. betwixt Election and And insert 2. What the things designed p. 37. l. 8. r. Predefinition p. 43. l. 6. r. person p. 82. l. ult r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 94. l. 28. r. forbearance p. 97. l. 3. r. nolition p. 148. l. 16. r. creaâ—rix p. 180. l. 8 for nail r. vail p. 204. l 22. r. agony p. 212. l. 3. after that Law add and that it was p. 272. l. 9. for Rom. 20. r. Acts 20. p. 291. l. 26. r. mea p. 295. l. 3. r. little p. 376. l. 11. r. vegetative p. 384. l. 7. for Creature-deadness r. Creature-comforts p. 433. l. 17. r. actively p. 456. l. 6. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 470. l. 11. r. no object Chap I. That God is THat God is is a Primordial Verity from whence all other Verities derive their Original If God were not which is the highest Contradiction there could be Nothing but perfect Nullity because Nullity can never pass that infinite vast Gulf which lies between it self and Being without an infinite God If God were not he could not be a mere possible God is utterly impossible for a God he cannot be unless he be supreme Perfection a pure Act immoveable Eternity and eternal Necessity in suprema essendi vehemontia This glorious Truth that God is can no where be doubted of not in Heaven where his glorious face is opened to the blessed Spirits not in Hell where his righteous Breath as a River of Brimstone doth kindle the fire unquenchable nor on Earth whilest any glimpses of Heaven irradiate the godly or any sparks of Hell flame out in the guilty Consciences of the wicked whilest the Candle of the Lord shines within men or the Heavens and the Earth those Natural Preachers declare a Deity without and wonderfully render the invisible Power and Godhead as it were visible unto them Every Particle of being in heaven and earth leads us to the infinite Being of Beings every Motion within the Sphear of Nature and Grace draws us to adore a first immoveable Mover every breath of life in the old and new Creature tells us of the great Fountain of Life every beam of Light in the natural and spiritual World owns the high Father of lights every drop of Rain natural on the earth and spiritual on the heart witnesses a Deity This truth is so indubitable that none but a fool in his greatest folly can deny it Cur dixit stultus non est Deus cur nisi quia stultus est CHAP. II. That God hath a Will GOd's Being being laid down as a sure foundation I proceed to prove that God hath a Will Which may be evinced by these Reasons 1. God is an immense Sea of infinite Perfections or rather one infinite transcendent Perfection and a Will the fountain of Liberty cannot be wanting in him but there will be a Maim in his perfection Liberum Arbitrium saith Luther est nomen planè divinum solùm competit
in God's Eternity which is Nunc stans it is sure in God's Immutability which is ever the same and the seal upon all this is God's unerrable and infallible Knowledge including within it unvariable and unchangeable Love to his people God is the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning James 1. 17. The visible corporeal Sun rides circuit round the World but whilest he salutes one Hemisphear in the turn he leaves a dark shadow on the other but God is an immutable and supercelestial Sun there can be no shadow in his eternal and unconvertible Light Neither are the various changes among the Creatures shadows cast by any turn in God or his Will but events ordered and disposed by him And because the Apostle speaks in this Verse of perfect gifts and in the next of Regeneration by God's Will therefore there is a further sence in it That if the Father of Lights purpose to make the Day-star arise in any poor Soul his gracious purpose never turns away from that Soul nor leaves it in the dark shadow of Death The Names of the Elect are all indelibly written in God's Book and if the Scripture cannot be dissolved Joh. 10. 35. surely the Book of life must be irrasible Saint Austin on those words Deleantur de libro viventium cum justis non scribantur Psal. 69. 28. raises an Objection si homo dixit Quod scripsi scripsi Deus quemquam scribit delet quomodo isti inde delentur ubi nunquam scripti sunt To which he answers Hoc dictum est secundùm spem ipsorum quia ibi se scriptos putabant Quid est deleantur de libro viventium ipsis constet non illos ibi esse Deleantur ergo secundùm spem ipsorum secundùm autem aequitatem tuam non scribantur In a word whatsoever God doth in his Decrees is immutably the same his Decrees are as Mountains of Brass Zach. 6. 1. unremoveable by any Creature because situate in the Eternal Will The strength or eternity of Israel will not lye or repent 2 Sam. 15. 29. If God's Time cannot lye but will infallibly shew forth the Verity of his Promises and Prophecies surely God's Eternity cannot lye wherein he decrees and knows all The World is full of Vicissitudes Matter is in a perpetual Flux the Glass of Time is running out and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wheel of Nature is running round but all the while God's Will is immoveable it doth not rowl about with the Heavens rise or set with the Sun or ebb and flow with the Sea but sits King for ever and ever upon the Throne of its own Immobility Apud te Domine rerum omnium instabilium stant causae rerum omnium mutabilium immutabiles manent origines omnium irrationalium temporalium sempiternae vivunt rationes Now besides what hath been said out of Scripture to prove the Immutability of his Decrees these Reasons may be offered 1. The Decrees of God are Immanent and Eternal Acts in God therefore cannot but be Unchangeable God in framing his Decrees non egreditur extra seipsum goes not out from his own Eternity 2. As the Eternity of Futures proves an Eternity in God's Decrees so the Immutability of Futures proves an Immutability in his Decrees If the Decrees which are the Basis of Futurition may be changed then that which was future by the Decree may yet cease to be future sine positione ejus in esse actuali which is impossible If a new Decree be made in succession after a former then the thing decreed begins to be future which is also impossible 3. If the divine Decrees should change Oh! what amazing Changes what an horrible Tempest must needs ensue Must not God's own dwelling-house even his glorious Eternity sink and fall to the ground Non enim est vera Aeternitas ubi oritur nova voluntas nec est immortalis Voluntas quae alia alia est Must not God's eternal Prescience fall a doubting and faltring about every Future Seeing God cannot now know his own works no not a moment before their actual Existence because even then their being may be prevented by a Change in his Will May not eternal Grace and Truth lose their glorious light and Jesus Christ the Sun of Righteousness drop out of the Gospel-orb and all the Starry Promises in the Word and lightsom Comforts in the Saints go out in a moment leaving all in darkness and confusion May not the Evangelical Banquet let down to poor Worms be called back again into Heaven and the precious Blood of Christ return again into its Veins and his Humane Nature be cast away into nothing and every Saint instead of Grace and Peace in his heart may have a Lye in his right hand and lie down in sorrow Nay in such a case must there not fall a Change upon the very Being of God himself And seeing every Change is a kind of Death must not the Deity suffer and as it were die in this Mutation All which astonishing Catastrophes being to be for ever abhorred I conclude that God's Decrees must needs be Immutable as long as there is any Stability in his Eternity Infallibility in his Prescience Sureness in his Grace and Truth or Immortality in his Life or Essence 4. The Decrees of God are crowned with Infallibility as to the Event the Event is so certain that the Spirit of God in Scripture speaks of future things as if they were already done Behold saith Enoch in the morning of the World the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints as if he had been then in the Clouds coming to Judgment Jesus Christ cries out of God forsaking and men piercing him Psal. 22. 1. and 16. as if he had then been upon the Cross with all the wrath of God and fury of men upon him Whom he did predestinate saith St. Paul Rom. 8. 30. them he called whom he called them he justified whom he justified them he glorified he speaks as if all the Elect were already in Heaven Hence God is said to be Isai. 45. 11. as the Sept. there hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Maker of things to come the Event is as certain as if it were already done Now for the understanding of this point we must distinguish of Events either they are good things or else evil viz. sins Touching the first the Decree of God is Effective touching the last the Decree of God is Permissive The first come to pass Deo efficiente the last Deo permittente but both do fall out infallibly 1. Those Events which fall under his Effective Decree do fall out infallibly This is clear upon a double Account 1. The Will of God is Causa Causarum an Universal Supreme Cause having all things under it It reigns over all the armies in heaven and the inhabitants of the earth Dan. 4. 35. The poor Sparrow is no more forgotten by it than
prove snares and stumbling blocks to them Hence we find in Scripture an ensnaring table Psal. 69. 22. a destroying prosperity Prov. 1. 32. a sin-irritating Law Rom. 7. 8. a death-savouring Gospel 2 Cor. 2. 16. an enraging adversity such as makes them like a wild bull in a net Isai. 51. 20. with many more like providences which occasionally harden and blind men into further degrees of sin and wickedness Now this Judicial hardning and blinding is neither to be found in all Reprobates but in the grand Rebels nor yet only in Reprobates but in the Elect at least some of them Hence that out-cry O Lord Why hast thou made us to err from thy ways and hardened our hearts from thy fear Isai. 63. 17. Only here is the difference this Judicial blinding and hardning in the Elect is but partial all the holy light is not out all spiritual tenderness is not gone Wherefore in that place they groan after a return but in the Reprobate it is more total Again in the Elect it is but for a time through auxiliary Grace the closed eyes will open again the stony heart will melt again but in the Reprobate it is final the darkness is upon them till they come to utter darkness the stone is in them till they come to hellish obstinacy Wherefore in them 't is a kind of sealing up of Damnation Negative blinding and hardning suffices to the permission of final sin but Judicial is an earnest of final perdition 3. As to the third Act of Reprobation the thing decreed is Eternal Damnation hence Reprobates are said to be made for the day of evil Neither can any man doubt that there is such a Decree for God doth actually condemn them in time and both Reason tells us that whatsoever God doth even in his judgments he doth it Volent and Scripture tells us that whatsoever he doth he doth it according to the counsel of his own Will wherefore both assure us that there is such a Decree But you 'l say Doth not that Promise whosoever believeth shall be saved both import God's Will and extend even to Reprobates and how then can God decree their Damnation Which way can both these Wills stand together in the heart of God I answer 'T is true that the Promise doth both import God's Will and extend to Reprobates nevertheless it very well consists with the Decree of Damnation and this will appear by a double distinction 1. Let us distinguish the Decrees of God Some of them are merely productive of Truths others are definitive of Things which shall actually exist The first are accomplished in connexions the last in events To clear it by Scripture instances The Decree that David should be King of Israel was definitive of a thing but the Decree that if Saul obeyed his Kingdom should have continued 1 Sam. 13. 13. is but productive of a truth The Decree that David should not be delivered up by the men of Keilah was definitive of a thing but the Decree that if he had staid there they would have delivered him up 1 Sam. 23. 12. was but productive of a truth The Decree that Jerusalem should be burnt with fire was definitive of a thing but the Decree that if Zedekiah did go forth to the King of Babylon it should not be burnt Jer. 38. 17. was but productive of a truth Moreover that there are Decrees definitive of things is proved by the events that there are Decrees productive of truths is proved by the connexions if there be no such connexions how is the Scripture verified but if there be how are these things connected There is no natural connexion between Saul's Obedience and his Crown David's stay and the Keilites treachery Zedekiah's out-going and Jerusalems firing wherefore these connexions do flow out of God's Decrees as productive of truths Now to apply this distinction to our present purpose The Decree of damning the Reprobate for final sin is definitive of a thing but the Decree imported in the general Promise is but productive of a truth viz. That there is an universal connexion between Faith and Salvation such a connexion that Reprobates themselves if Believers should be saved Now these two Decrees may very well stand together for Decrees definitive of events contradict not Decrees productive of truths unless the event in the one Decree contradict the truth in the other Wherefore if which is not there were a Decree of damning Reprobates whether they did believe or not it could not stand with the general Promise for the event of that Decree would contradict the truth of the Promise But the Decree such as indeed it is of damning Reprobates for final sin may well consist with the general Promise for the event of that Decree no way crosses the truth of the Promise Reprobates are damned for final sin that 's the event of one Decree and Reprobates if Believers shall be saved that 's the truth of another both which may well consist together 2. Let us distinguish the objects of these Decrees the objects stand not under the same qualifications as to both of them The Decree of Salvation upon Gospel terms respects men as lapsed sinners but the Decree of everlasting damnation respects them as final sinners and so there is no inconsistency between them Thus much by way of Answer to the Objection Yet withal before I pass on to the next thing suffer me a little to stand and adore the stupendious Abyss of the Divine Decrees The Elect arrive at Heaven yet by the way see Hell flaming in the Threatning the Reprobate sink to Hell yet by the way see Heaven opening in the Promise The Elect cannot live and die in sin but they will be sub gladio the Reprobates cannot repent and return but they will be sub corona Tremble work and watch O Saints for the holy One thunders out from Heaven in that sacred Sentence If you live after the flesh you shall die Repent return and believe O Sinners for the Divine Philanthropy wooes you in those real undissembled Offers of Mercy Whosoever believes shall be saved Whosoever forsakes his sins shall find mercy Here O here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manifold wisdom of God a fit reserve for the Apocalypse of the Judgment day whose clear light will display these wonderful consistencies before men and Angels 3. Having dispatched the things decreed in Reprobation I procede to speak of the persons to whom these things are decreed and here I shall consider 1. What they are for Quantity 2. What they are for Quality 1. What are they for Quantity they are certain individual Persons As some certain individual persons are chosen so others are passed by as some are by name in the Book of Life so others are by name left out of it There is a great difference between the Reprobation of sin and the Reprobation of sinners the Reprobation of sin issues from the Sanctity and Holiness of God's Will but the
it with the Person of the Son so that it never was any where but there all other Creations stand under the Roof of Providence and Preservation but here the Humane Nature is an Inmate in the very same Person with the Divine all other Creatures have their proper sutable seats and Ubi's in the Sphere of Nature but here 's the Sackcloth of an Humane Body cast upon and the Rush-candle of a Reasonable soul lighted up in the Sun it self The glorious Son of God espoused Flesh and Blood and the Bride-chamber where the knot was tied was the Virgins Womb there was he made of a Woman consubstantial with us as to his Humanity who was consubstantial with the Father as to his Divinity O how great is this Mystery God manifest in the flesh O Domine quà m admirabile nomen tuum non modò mundi hujus staturam admiror non stabilitatem Terrae non Lunae defectum incrementum non Solem semper integrum laborem ejus perpetuum Miror Deum in utero Virginis miror Omnipotentem in cunabulis miror quomodo Verbo Dei caro adhaeserit quomodo incorporeus Deus corporis nostri tegumentum induerit in caeteris aliquae satisfaciant rationes hîc solus me complectitur stupor God never came so near to us as in this wonderful Conjunction In the Creatures we see God above us in the Law we see God against us but here we see Immanuel God with us he is one with us by a natural Conjunction but that 's not all for being in our Nature he became one with us 2. Conjunctione Legali he was our Sponsor or Surety and so in Law one person with us his Stile is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Surety of the covenant Heb. 7. 22. and the Covenant being mutual on both parts from God to Man and from Man to God he is in both respects a Surety of it a Surety on God's part that his Promises should be performed to us and a Surety on our parts that our Debts should be paid to God We were double Debtors to God as Rational Creatures we owed perfect Obedience and as Sinful Creatures we owed eternal Sufferings the first is a debt to God's Holiness and the second to his Justice Now Jesus Christ was our Surety for both a Surety to fulfil all Righteousness for us and the Fidejussorial Bond which he gave for this was his Circumcision for he had no sinful flesh to be cut off but would become a debtor to the whole Law for us and in Circumcision he signed security for it with his own Blood and also a Surety to take our Sins on him Hence the Righteous God who cannot but judge according to truth charged our iniquities upon him Isai. 53. 6. and he as our Surety accepted the charge and those words my sins are not hid from thee Psal. 69. 5. are as St. Jorom thinks spoken ex personâ Christi for he was though not commissor yet susceptor delictorum our Flesh and Blood was taken into his Divine Person and our Sins which could by no means enter in there were yet cast upon him and being cast upon him God exacted satisfaction of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was exacted and he answered Isai. 53. 7. Satisfaction was exacted from him as our Surety and he answered for us and what was his Answer Why I 'le lay down my Life I 'le pour out my Soul saith he let all the Wrath due to those Sins be squeezed into one Cup and I 'le drink it up to the bottom let the Fire of God's Anger drop down from Heaven and I 'le be the Paschal Lamb roasted in it Thus Jesus Christ was a Surety nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the noblest of Sureties putting his Soul in our Souls stead to bear our Sins and God's Wrath and for this very purpose was he one with us in Nature that he might be one with us in Law too But neither is this all for both these Conjunctions are crowned with a third and so he is one with us 3. Conjunctione Mysticâ Christ is the Head and the Church is the Body and both together make up one mystical Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. the Head in Heaven and the Body on Earth and the spiritual Continuity between both is one and the same holy Spirit which is on the Head without measure and on the Members according to measure If the Jew ask us where is Christ we can truly answer He is at the right hand of God in Heaven and on Earth loc here is Christ and there is Christ living and breathing in his Saints every Saint is a piece of him and all together are his fulness Eph. 1. 23. so that he doth not count himself complete without them This Conjunction is so near and full of spiritual Sense that a poor Member cannot suffer on Earth but instantly the Head in Heaven cries out of Persecution Acts 9. 4. and even the suffering Member reckons himself sitting in Heaven as long as his Head is there Eph. 2. 6. Thus our Redeemer comes very near unto us in a threefold Conjunction and in each Conjunction there is a rare Condescention In the first he came down into our Natures by a stupendious Incarnation in the second he came down into our Hell by a Fidejussorial Passion in the third he comes down into our Hearts by the Spirits Inhabitation the first opens a way to the second the second is the purchase of the third and the third as in design was a Motive to and as in existence is a Crown upon the Work of Redemption 4. Having considered the Redeemer I pass on to the Price and here I shall reduce all to three Questions 1. What this Price is 2. What manner of Price it is 3. For whom it was paid 1. What this Price is and this is the Humane Nature of Christ as subjected to the Law When the Son of God came forth to redeem us he was made of a woman made under the Law to redeem us that were under the Law Gal. 4. 4 5. Made of a Woman there 's his humane Nature made under the Law there 's his subjection to the Law and the End of all is our Redemption Christ through the eternal Spirit offered up himself to God Heb. 9. 14. and that in a way fully answering the demands of the Law The Law demanded of the Captives two things perfect Obedience from them as rational Creatures and penal Suffering from them as sinful Creatures and Christ gave up his Humane Nature a price both ways in doing and in suffering he gave himself that is his humane Nature for us an offering and a sacrifice Eph. 5. 2. an Offering in his Active Obedience and a Sacrifice in his Passive and both these together were the entire Price of our Redemption 1. Christ gave up himself in his Active Obedience That holy thing his humane Nature as soon as it came out into the World fell a breathing forth
in another yet the Minatory Law which is the voice of Justice cannot be satisfied unless the punishment fall on the Sinner himself and the reason is because in this Minatory Law the Veracity of God is engaged which it was not before now Justice speaks out which it did not before and that which it speaks must be true For answer whereunto 1. Some as the Learned Grotius say that here was Dispensatio Legis quâ Legis manentis obligatio circa quasdam personas tollitur But I take it that God's Threatnings are indispensably Yea and Amen as well as his Promises for albeit God doth not dare aliquod jus creaturae in his Threatnings as he doth in his Promises yet is he debitor sibi-ipsi in both and not one jot or tittle of either can fail because of his infinite Veracity God will not call back his words of threatning Isai. 31. 2. neither will he himself turn back from them Jer. 4. 28. his words stand surely for evil Jer. 44. 29. That Threatning that Nineveh should be destroyed had a tacit Condition in it which had it been expressed the Threatning would have run thus It shall be destroyed except it repent therefore it repenting there was a remotion of the Judgment according to the tenour of the Threatning but no dispensatio Juris at all Wherefore 2. I answer that here God did interpret his Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in an equitable way equity is nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a filling up of a general Law by a benign interpretation in that part which was not precisely determinate The divine sanction was the sinner shall die but it was not precisely determinate that he should die in his own person for then God's unalterable truth should have barred out a Surety neither was it precisely determinate that he should die in his Surety for then the threatning should originally have been a promise and a promise unto sin such as God never made But the sanction was general the sinner shall die and two interpretations lay before God the first that the sinner shall die in his own person the latter that he shall die in his surety the first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just severity the latter is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condescending mercy in the first there is more of the sound of the law-letter in the latter more of the sounding of the Law-givers bowels the first is much like the first delivery of the Law with thundrings and lightnings and devouring fire Exod. 19. 16 17 18. the latter is like the second delivery of it with a Proclamation of grace and goodness and pardoning mercy for thousands Exod. 34. 6 7. Now these two interpretations lying before God he as the Supreme Law-giver in order to redemption interpreted his Law according to a merciful equity the sinner shall die that is in his surety Christ. Oh the immense love of the Father and the Son the Fathers love fills up the Law by a gracious interpretation and then the Sons love fulfils it by a perfect satisfaction mercy and truth are met together mercy in a favourable construction of the Law and truth in the evident veracity of the Law-giver the person of the sinner may be saved and yet the truth of the threatning is salved through Christ's satisfaction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are abrogated from the Law Rom. 7. 6. and yet we do not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abrogate the Law but establish it Rom. 3. 31. because it is fulfilled in Christ. Neither doth this equitable interpretation suppose any defect in the divine Law as it doth in humane Laws for humane Laws are made general for want of providence in men to forsee all particular cases which fall out but this Law was made general out of the perfection of providence in God that there might be room for a surety to come in and satisfie it But you 'l say if God interpret the threatning in such an equitable way the sinner shall die in his surety then no sinner is in a state of wrath here nor can be condemned in hell hereafter for both these issue out from the first interpretation thou shalt die in thine own person and that is now waved by the Judge I answer that God doth not totally and absolutely either wave the first rigorous interpretation for the elect are under wrath till they believe and repent and the reprobate not believing and repenting are cast into hell and both by virtue of the first interpretation but he waves the first and makes the second interpretation in order to redemption and only so far forth as redemption requires it Now what doth that require It requires that all that embrace Christ should be saved from the death in the threatning and therefore thus far the first interpretation is waved and the second takes place but it requires not that any person should either be out of a state of wrath before faith or be saved without faith and therefore the equitable interpretation doth not go thus far and so far as that goeth not the rigorous interpretation takes place because pro tanto it is consistent with redemption redemption is the end and the all-wise God measures and proportions out the equitable interpretation in such a way as serves unto it and the rigorous interpretation in such a way as stands with it In a word according to this equitable interprepretation Christ hath so satisfied the threatning as that all believers shall be saved from it yet this satisfaction hinders not but that the rigorous interpretation should abide upon unbelievers whilst such for whilst such they embrace not that satisfaction and therefore are justly cursed by the Law till they receive the Gospel Fifthly God's vindictive Justice and minatory Law being thus satisfied he becomes reconciled There are two degrees of reconciliation the first is that whereby God is ready to receive men into grace and favour if they believe the second is that whereby God is actually reconciled to them upon their believing The Apostle mentions both these Col. 1. 20 21. for first he tells us ver 20. That God did reconcile all things to himself by the blood of his Cross and then it follows ver 21. Yet now hath he reconciled you you O believing Colossians All were reconciled in the first degree and believers in the second the first was done all at once upon the Cross and the second is yet now a doing and so will be till the Believers are all come in therefore the Apostle says God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself 2 Cor. 5. 19. Reconciling which imports a continued Act a carrying on the work of Reconciliation from one degree to another by particular applications Now both these degrees of Reconciliation are wrought by the Death of Christ the first was wrought by it ipso facto without it God would have breathed out nothing but wrath but through it he is ready to forgive Psal. 86. 5. As
all on the Cross may be offered to all in the Gospel there is no Pagan in the World to whom Christ may not be offered And if there were but one great Ear or Organ of Hearing common to all how would Christ's Ministers always be filling it with Gospel But it follows not that Christ shall be preached to all for the Gospel is God's own and he may do with his own as he pleaseth and Christ who purchased for all the Being of the Gospel as far as the general Promises go yet purchased not for all the publication thereof In a word the Pagans have some glimmerings of Gospel and may be saved on Gospel-terms which shews that Christ so far died for them and that they have not the express knowledge of Christ is a deep Abyss much fitter to be adored than dived into by us Object 3. If Christ died for all men then he intercedes for all but he intercedes only for the Elect therefore he died for them only I answer that Christ doth in some sort intercede for all men and this I shall clear several ways 1. From the Nature of Christ's Intercession that is not a formal Prayer but an appearing in the Holy of Holies before the face of God as an Advocate and there presenting his Blood and Righteousness in their freshness and endless life of Merit with a Will that all the Grace purchased thereby may be dispensed to the sons of men therefore Christ even in Glory stands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one slain Rev. 5. 6. shewing his bleeding Wounds to make Intercession with God Hence it follows that his Intercession being a kind of celestial Oblation perfectly answers to his Oblation on the Cross he is an Advocate above so far as he was a Surety here below his Blood speaks the very same things in Heaven as it did on Earth and his Will stands in the same posture towards Sinners there as here Now how far was Christ a Surety for all Surely thus far that all may be saved if they believe else either they cannot be saved at all which is contrary to the truth of the Promise or they may be saved without a Surety which is contrary to the current of the Scriptures But if he were so far a Surety for all then he is so far an Advocate for all for he appears an Advocate in Heaven for all those for whom he appeared as a Surety on the Cross. Hence the Apostle saith in general If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2. 1. he saith not strictly if the Elect sin but at large if any man sin we have an advocate and as the true ground-work of this general Advocation he adds he is the propitiation for the whole world Ver. 2. So far forth as he was a Propitiation for the World so far forth he is an Advocate for it And another Apostle affirms that Christ is a Mediator between God and men 1 Tim. 2. 5. he saith not betwixt God and his Church but betwixt God and men and the following words give the true reason of it Christ gave himself a ransom for all Ver. 6. he is no less a Mediator for all than he was a Ransom for all Christ's Blood shed on the Cross spake thus far for all men that they might have their pardon on Gospel-terms and afterwards being carried to Heaven it speaks the very same language for them for the voice or speech of that Blood is its Merit and that Merit is of an indeficient virtue Hence that Blood cannot be speechless because it cannot be meritless and so far on Earth as it merited for all so far in Heaven it speaks and intercedes for all Moreover as Christ's Blood speaks the same things for them in Heaven as it did on Earth so Christ's Will in Heaven stands in the same posture towards them as it did on Earth wherefore in a sort he intercedes for all 2. From the Patience of God which waits on men even such as at last perish If Christ did not stand with the Incense of his sweet-smelling Merits between the living and the dead between the reprieved Sinners on Earth and the damned Spirits in Hell the Patience of God would not wait one moment upon them 3. From the working of God's Spirit for as Christ is our Paraclete or Advocate in heaven 1 Joh. 2. 1. so the holy Spirit is Gods Para. clete or Advocate on earth Joh. 16. 7. Surely if the Advocate in Heaven spake nothing for the Non-lect the Advocate on Earth would not wooe them to salvation if the Blood of Christ did not at all plead for them the Spirit of Christ would give no touches at all upon them much less such touches as to make them taste the powers of the World to come 4. From the liberty of Prayer Simon Magus even whilest in the gall of bitterness was commanded to pray Acts 8. 22. but what without a Mediator No surely that sinful man who hath no Mediator in Heaven must not presume to pray on Earth I see no reason why a man merely mediatorless should have more lieve to pray than a Devil who is therefore without hope because without a Mediator The Apostle commands men to pray every where 1 Tim. 2. 8. but a little before he lays down this as the ground-work there is one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all Ver. 5 and 6. The Mediation of Christ opens the door to Prayer Wherefore as to this Objection I answer thus Christ intercedes for all men in such sort as he died for them I say in such sort for there is a vast difference between his general Intercession for all and his special Intercession for the Elect For as Christ by his Blood shed on the Cross merited for all in general that they might be saved on Gospel-terms and merited for the Elect in special that they should believe and be saved so by the same blood presented in Heaven he intercedes for all that they may be saved on Gospel-terms and intercedes for the Elect that they may believe and be saved And thus he is the complete Mediator of the Covenant as the general Promises extend to all so answerably he intercedes for all and as the special Promises point only at the Elect so proportionably he intercedes for the Elect. Object 4. If Christ died for all men then he was a Surety for all and satisfied for the sins of all and consequently God hath a double Satisfaction one in Christ the Surety and another in the persons of the Damned which is against the nature of his Justice In this Argument are two consequences to be weighed 1. If Christ died for all then he was a Surety for all satisfied for the sins of all 2. If Christ so satisfied for the sins of all then God hath a double Satisfaction which is against Justice As to the first consequence I admit it as a
through thy truth Joh. 17. 17. for their Perseverance Keep them through thine own name Ver. 11. and for their Glory I will that they be with me where I am to behold my glory Ver. 24. And what he spake for them by his oral Intercession on Earth that he speaks for them by his real Intercession in Heaven Thus Christ doth in a special manner intercede for the Elect which proves that he died for them in a special manner because his Intercession is but the presenting of the Merits of his Death to his Father in Heaven 7. I argue from the Event following upon Christ's Death some men do believe when others draw back and whence comes this distinguishing Faith either it comes merely of Man's Free-will or of God's free Grace if we say the first 't is the very mire and dirt of Pelagianism 't is to set up Free-will as an Idol to cast lots upon Christ's Blood whether any one person in the World shall be saved thereby or not If we say the latter then God and Christ had a special eye upon some above others for God ordained that Christ should be the grand Medium to Salvation and that Faith should be the only way to Christ If then he gave Christ for all and Faith but to some it is because he did in a special way intend their Salvation and consequently Christ who came to do his Fathers Will had in his Death a special respect to them 8. I argue from the special Expressions in Scripture As the Death of Christ is set out there in words of universality so it is set out there in words of special peculiarity Christ died for the elect Rom. 8. 33 34. died for the children of God scattered abroad Joh. 11. 52. gave himself for the Church Eph. 5. 25. gave himself for a peculiar people Tit. 2. 14. laid down his life for the sheep Joh. 10. 15. sanctified himself for the given ones Joh. 17. 9. and 19. purchased the church with his own blood Acts 20. 28. redeemed a people from among men Rev. 14. 4. is a Jesus to his own people Matth. 1. 21. and a saviour to his own body Eph. 5. 23. And is there no Emphasis of Love Are there no strains of free Grace Is there no import of singular respect and affection in all these Expressions We cannot say so without dispiriting the Scripture Experience it self tells us that all are not Christ's Elect Children Church peculiar People Sheep given Ones Body redeemed Ones from among men wherefore when the Scripture saith that he died for these it imports that he died for them in a peculiar manner But you 'l say These Scriptures speak rather of the Application of Christ's Death than the Impetration and though the Impetration be equally for all yet the Application is proper to Believers only I answer that if those Phrases of dying for the elect or children of God giving himself for a church or peculiar People laying down his life for his sheep purchasing the Church with his blood and sanctifying himself for the given ones do not import Impetration I know not what can import it You will reply that these Expressions import not Impetration as it is barely and nakedly in it self but as it hath Application following upon it and this is the Emphasis of them But if these Expressions import Impetration with Application following upon it whether doth that Application follow upon Impetration as a fruit thereof or not if so then Christ merited that Application for the Elect and consequently died in a special manner for them if not then there is no Emphasis of special Love Grace in all those expressions of his dying giving himself sanctifying himself and laying down his life for them for there was no Merit in all this to procure the Application of his Death unto them But let us further enquire what these Elect Children Church peculiar People Sheep given ones and redeemed ones from among men were before or without the Purchase made by Christ were these Elect called and justified without Christ or not If so why did he die for them If not then he died for them that they might be so called and justified Were these children meritoriously begotten by Christ's Blood or not If so then that Blood did more for them than for others if not then they were not the Seed of Christ. Was that Church an actual Church before or without Christ's purchase or was it a Church in his Intention If an actual Church what need he purchase it If a Church in intention then the special design of his Death was to make it an actual Church Was that peculiar People such without the Merit of Christ's Death or not If so why did he give himself for it If not then he gave himself for it that it might be such Were those Sheep brought into Christs fold without his Death or not If so why did he lay down his life for them If not he laid it down to bring them thither Were those given Ones actually sanctified without the virtue of Christs Sacrifice or not If so then why did he sanctifie himself for them If not then he sanctified himself for them that they might be sanctified Were those redeemed from among men redeemed by Christ or not If so then he redeemed them in a special manner if not then they are the redeemed ones of their own Free-will But let the Texts themselves breath forth their own native strains of Love and Grace he so died for the Elect as to effectually call and actually justifie them Rom. 8. 30 33. he so died for his Children as to gather them together into one one Faith on Earth and one fruition in Heaven Joh. 11. 52. he so gave himself for the Church as to make it a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle Eph. 5. 25 27. he so gave himself for his People as to make them his peculiar ones Tit. 2. 14. he so laid down his life for his Sheep as to bring them into his fold and make them hear his voice Joh. 10. 15 16. he so sanctified himself for the given ones as to sanctifie them through the truth Joh. 17. 19. he so redeemed his chosen Ones from among men as to make them first fruits to God and the Lamb Rev. 14. 4. In all these special Scriptures it evidently appears that Christ in his Death had a special respect to his Elect. Wherefore I will shut up all with that of an Ancient Etsi Christus pro omnibus mortuus est pro nobis tamen specialiter passus est quia pro Ecclesia passus est CHAP. IX Of the Work of Conversion HAving passed over Redemption I come to Conversion there we had Christ formed in the Womb here we have him formed in the Heart there we had Christ coming in the Flesh and working miracles on mens Bodies here we have him coming in the Spirit and working miracles in mens Souls there we had Christ
Nature 't is a Nullity in naturals and if a rational Creature be separate from the God of Grace he is a Nullity in spirituals Sure if he were any thing at all he might speak or think but he can do neither As running a fountain of Words as his tongue is he cannot say Jesus is the Lord 1 Cor. 12. 3. and as swarming a Hive of Thoughts as his Heart is he cannot think any thing as of himself 2 Cor. 3. 5. The great Apostle gives a double account of himself an account what he is in himself I am nothing saith he 2 Cor. 12. 11. and an account what he is by Grace by the grace of God I am what I am 1 Cor. 15. 10. all his nothingness is in and of himself and all his spiritual essence is in and of Grace A mere Natural man is nothing in Spirituals his eyes are on that which is not Prov. 23. 5. his joy is in a thing of nought Amos 6. 13. and all the false Gods in his heart are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nihilitates nothingnesses Psal. 96. 5. As they are Creatures in the World they are Beings but as they are Idols in his 〈◊〉 they are nothing nothing to make a God of and he who makes them such is like unto them even nothing in Spirituals 2. 'T is a State of Enmity against God he is not only a Stranger but an enemy too Col. 1. 21. nay which is more his carnal Mind is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. Enmity is irreconcileable it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be not unless the Enmity be slain in it nay further the Apostle call the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haters of God Rom. 1. 30. and Hatred is Enmity boiled up to the height Hatred saith the Philosopher seeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Not-being of the thing hated and such is man's Wickedness that strikes as it were at the Life and Being of God it had rather that God should not be than that Lusts should be restrained The Scripture sets out some grand Enemies as opposing God openly and upon the Stage of the World and by what they did openly we may discern what spirit and mystery of Iniquity is working in every Natural man's heart secretly there is in him some of the corrupt flesh of the old World somewhat of Pharaoh's spirit which secretly saith Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice Somewhat of the bloody Jew which is ready to crucifie the Son of God afresh and trample his precious blood under-foot somewhat of the proud Antichrist the man of sin which exalts it self above God it s own Reason above the Wisdom of God and its own Will above the Will of God The very same Venom and Poyson of Enmity which the Grand Enemies of God pour out openly privily lurks and works in every Natural Man Thus in general Man's State is Estrangement and Enmity But to procede 2. What is Man's State in particular in relation to his several parts Now here the same Estrangement and Enmity shews forth it self according to the Nature of each part 1. As for the Understanding 't is turned away from God the first and essential Truth and so become a Forge of lying Vanities 't is turned away from God the first and essential Light and so become a dark place nay darkness it self Eph. 5. 8. and if the light be darkness how great is that darkness So great it is that a Natural man sets an higher estimate on the Follies of Time than on the Blessedness of Eternity and rates the broken Cisterns above the Fountain of living waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the souly man who hath nothing but a rational Soul the Spirit of a mere man in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God 2 Cor. 2. 14. One would think that all Truths should be welcome to a rational Soul and above all the Mysteries of Heaven but he receiveth them not And this the Apostle lays down distinctly The spirit of man knows the things of man because they are within his own Line but the things of God are only known by the Spirit of God because they are above the Sphere of natural Reason As the things of Man are above the Sphere of Sense so the things of God are above the Sphere of Reason and yet as if they were below it the Natural man counts them foolishness which evinces an extreme foolishness in his own heart he is not a Man not an understanding Creature in Spirituals Agur is a Brute in his own eyes I have not the understanding of a man saith he Prov. 30. 2. The Apostle proving all under sin asserts that there is none that understandeth Rom. 3. 11. Millions of ratinal Creatures in the World and yet there is none that understandeth and his proof is invincible there is none that seeketh after God which sure would be done if there were any spark of spiritual Understanding in him 'T is true there may be a mass of Notions in a man unconverted but not a dram of spiritual Knowledge Seeing he sees not he sees the things of God in the image or picture of the Letter but he sees them not in their liveliness and inward Glory Just as the carnal Israelites who saw their Manna and Sacrifices only in the outside but saw not Christ in them or as those false Seekers of whom Christ saith Ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled Joh. 6. 26. There was a Miracle in those very Loaves but they saw only the carnal and grosser part of the Miracle and not the Glory and Power of Christ's Deity sparkling out in it An Unconverted man knows nothing as he ought to know it no not in the midst of his notions there is no savouring tasting or practical Knowledge in him nothing but a husk shell or form of Knowledg and in the midst thereof a real enmity against the things known Whilest the light of Truth shines only in the Notion he likes it well enough but if it waken Conscience check Lust press Duty or any way offer to assume its Supremacy in his heart or life he instantly hates it as an enemy 2. As for the Will the Principle of Freedom 't is turn'd from God the primum liberum and from his service the vera libertas and so it is become servum arbitrium an arrant Slave bound in the bonds of iniquity and which is the height of Slavery 't is in love with its Bonds and which is the intenseness and intimateness of that love when Christ comes to break these Bonds 't is loth to be made free indeed the iron is so entred into his soul the Bondage is so intimate in the forlorn Will that it looks on God's service as bondage and Sins bondage as freedom and hence it is dead and lame to God's ways but runs and flies
nay 't is a Story higher than the Knowledge of all the unregenerate Rabbies in the World T is ' not a mere literal Knowledge a knowing of Christ after the flesh but a spiritual a revealing spiritual things in their spiritual Glory 't is not a dead Knowledge called by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a form of knowledg Rom. 2. 20. such as is but a liveless figure or appearance but 't is a lively Knowledge called by the Wiseman a well-spring of life Prov. 16. 22. and by our Saviour the light of life Joh. 8. 12. 'T is not a Knowledge without Sense but such as hath Sense nay all the Senses of the inward man in it 't is a seeing of the just one Acts 22. 14. a hearing and learning of the Father Joh. 6. 45. a smelling and savouring the sweet odours of the Gospel 2. Cor. 2. 14. a tasting how good and gracious the Lord is Psal. 34. 81. a tactual knowledge a spiritual touching and handling of the word of life 1 Joh. 1. 1. here are seminally and virtually all those spiritual Senses which discern good and evil 'T is not a dark and duskish Knowledge but clear and lightsome 't is seeing with the veil off and face open 2 Cor. 3. 16 18. 't is the day dawning and the day-star arising in the heart 2 Pet. 1. 19. Here God shines into the heart and things are seen eye to eye as the expression is Isai. 52. 8. that is in a clear evidence of the truth 'T is not a Knowledge at a distance and afar off as Dives saw Abraham and as every natural man sees the things of Faith but a near and intimate Knowledge 'T is wisdom in the hidden parts Psal. 51. 6. 't is wisdom entring into the heart Prov. 2. 10. 't is a reason delivered over to the power of holy truths Rom. 6. 17. 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word engrafted or innaturalized in the mind Jam. 1. 21. Hereby the Truth approaches and presentiates it self to the Soul in so clear and near a manner as that it works a firm assent and perswasion thereof and that upon the divine Authority shining and sparkling out in the same This Principle saith Amen to all the Truths in Scripture by it we come to know truths in our selves Heb. 10. 34. and to carry the witness thereof within us 1 Joh. 5. 10. As Jesus Christ is the Amen the faithful and true witness who sealed the Truths of the Gospel outwardly by his Blood so the holy Unction dropping down fom Christ is an Amen a faithful and true witness sealing up those Truths inwardly in the heart And this clear and near Knowledge as it assures and perswades a man of those Truths is Faith in the Understanding for this sets to its seal that God is true in them 1 Joh. 3. 33. 'T is not a mere notional Knowledge floating in the Brain vaunting in the Tongue or flourishing in a leavy Profession but 't is a practical Knowledge influxive into the Will inflammative to the Affections and directive to the whole Life This is that Principle of excellent Knowledge whereby the Soul is enabled to see God as the only supreme End Christ as the only true Way and Sin as the only great Obstacle thereunto 2. As to the Will there is a Principle of Holiness and Rectitude such as makes the Heart pure and right such as sets the Will into a right frame and posture in a threefold Respect 1. In reference to the true End of Man 2. In reference to the right Means 3. In reference to the grand Obstacle 1. It sets the Will into a right posture in reference to Man's true End Man's true End is God alone for he is fontal Goodness Allness of Perfections the primum amabile and ultimus finis the great Alpha and Omega of Spirits perfectly able to still all the desires and fill all the crannies thereof Now this rectifying Principle in the Will as respective to this supreme End shews forth it self three ways 1. In that it is a desiring Principle Desire is the first-born of the Will the first opening of the rational Appetite and this Principle sanctifies it and sets it apart for God as its supreme End it enclines and disposes the Will to pant and thirst after God to faint and cry out for him to enquire and seek after him with all the heart Before the Will Cain-like did go out from the Lord's presence but now David-like it desires to dwell in his house and behold his beauty Before the Will lay dead in the Grave of Creature-deadness but now it hath the life of God in it quickning it to holy breathings after him before there was such a gravedo liberi arbitrii such Talents of Carnality upon the Will that it could in no wise lift up it self but lay among the pots and embraced dunghils but now it hath the wings of a Dove to elevate it self to God Here is the first resurrection of the Will here are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ascensions in the heart as the Septuagint hath it Psal. 84. 5. The nature of this Principle is to ascend up to God and leave all the World behind its back As the Principle of perswading Knowledge is Faith in the Understanding so this desiring Principle is Love in the Will in its primordial propensities there is spiritual Life in primoradio in its first Light and here is spiritual life in primo ardore in its first heat 2. In that it is a purposing Principle such as inclines and disposes the Soul to pitch by a serious determination upon God as its only happiness and to cleave unto him with purpose of heart Act. 11. 23. This renders a man a true spiritual Levite who as his name imports is joined to the Lord become one spirit with him 1 Cor. 6. 17. And as the first-born were dedicated to God and afterwards the Levites so the desiring Principle first dedicates the Desires the first-born of the Will to God and then this purposing Principle makes a man a spiritual Levite consecrated to God by a holy Conjunction with him This is that Key of David or Love as David imports which opens the everlasting doors of the Will that the king of glory may come in Psal. 24. 7. This is that sweet voice of David or Love which upon mature deliberation is ready to break out Whom have I in heaven but thee whom on earth besides thee Psal. 73. 25. In Heaven there are glorious Angels and on Earth multitudes of good Creatures but none of them all are my end or happiness none none but God alone Were Heaven and Earth emptied of all their Furniture still I should have my end as long as I have my God who fills them both with his presence whilest he is with me there can be no such thing as Emptiness for he is all in all waving all the World I pitch upon him alone as my only end I
Affections are inflamed towards God and here 's the holy Fire which makes our hearts burn within us towards him Every way there is a wonderful Analogy between the Principles of the New Creature and the Properties of the Word which plainly speaks forth the aptness and congrulty of the Word to be a Means or Instrument of Conversion 2. How far or in what sence may the Word be called a Means or Instrument thereof In answer whereunto I shall first lay down two things as common Concessions and then come to the main Quaere The two Concessions are these 1. That the Word is a Means or Instrument of the Preparatives to Conversion 't is as a fire and a hammer Jer. 23. 29. When the holy Ghost blows in this Fire upon the Conscience every Sin looks like a Spark of Hell when the Almighty Arms set home this hammer it breaks the rocky Heart all to pieces No sooner doth the Commandment come home to the Heart but sin revives and the sinner dies Rom. 7. 9. the Sin which before lay as dead in the sleepy Conscience now lives and gnaws upon the Heart as if the never-dying Worm were there the sinner who before was alive in his own Self-righteousness and Self-sufficiency now is a dead man one who hath the sentence of death in himself and feels as it were the pangs of Hell in Conscience 2. That the Word is a Means or Instrument to reduce the Principles of Grace into actual Conversion When God stirs up and flutters over the Nest of gracious Principles 't is by the wings of the Spirit and Word when the Spices of the Garden flow out 't is from the North and South wind the Spirit blowing in Threatnings or Promises That which makes the Roots of Graces cast forth themselves into Acts is the Dew of auxiliary Grace and that Dew falls with the Manna of the Word That Grace with our Spirit which stirs up the Principles of Grace into exercise comes in the clothing or investiture of some holy Truth or other Hence the Apostle counts it one of his Master-pieces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stir up pure minds by his Epistles 2. Pet. 3. 1. These two Concessions being laid down the main Quaere is touching the production of gracious Principles Whether as to that the Word may not be an Instrument in God's Hand Many learned Divines speak of the Word as operating only morally and objectively Mr. Pemble distinguishes thus Instruments are either cooperative or passive and the Word must be one of the two cooperative it is not moving or working on the Soul by any inward force of it self it is therefore in it self a passive instrument working only per modum objecti now no Object whatsoever hath any power per se to work any thing on the Organ but is only an occasion of working And a little after he saith thus I cannot better express the manner how the holy Ghost useth the Word in the work of Sanctification than by a similitude Christ meeting a dead Coarse in the City of Nain touches the Bier and utters these words Young man I say unto thee arise but could these words do any thing to raise him No 't was Christ's invisible power that quickned the dead not his words which only declared what he meant to do by his power So in this matter of Conversion Christ bids us believe and repent but these Commands work nothing of themselves but take effect by the only power of God working upon the Heart Thus that learned man But methinks this is too low the Word of it self operates morally and objectively and shall it do no more as clothed and accompanied by the holy Spirit Surely the Scripture-strains touching the Words Efficacy are so high that it cannot be nudum signum no not as to the production of gracious Principles St. James is express of his own will begat he us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the word of truth Jam. 1. 18. and St. Paul is more emphatical In Christ Jesus I have begotten you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Gospel 1 Cor. 4. 15. 't is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Gospel but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Gospel as pointing out the Instrumentality of it in the Generation of the new Creature And St. Peter is yet in a higher strain We are born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1. 23. where besides the emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word is stiled no less than the incorruptible Seed not only a Sampler externally shewing the figures and lineaments of the new Creature but a seed too springing up into and for ever living in the new Creature Faith which is the new Creatures Head is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or out of hearing the word Rom. 10. 17. and so are all those sanctifying Graces which as it were make up the new Creatures Body For thus our Saviour prays Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth Joh. 17. 17. and thus he practises too he sanctifies cleanses his Church by the word Eph. 5. 26. Surely those Scriptures which are able 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make wise to salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. must do somewhat as to the Principles of Knowledge in the Understanding that Law which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 converting or restoring the soul Psal. 19. 7. must do somewhat as to the Principles of Grace in the Will that Word which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 able to save the soul Jam. 1. 21. must also be able to sanctifie it because without holiness there is no seeing of God that Doctrine which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 healing doctrine 1 Tim. 1. 10. must operate somewhat as to the Principles of Grace which heal the deadly wound of Original Corruption The converted Corinthians were Christ's Epistle and the Apostle's too written by the holy Spirit and ministred by the Apostle also 2 Cor. 3. 2 3. The Apostle's weapons were mighty through God to captivate every thought to Christ 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. which could not be if they were not also mighty through God to set up Christ's Throne in the heart These Scriptures constrain me to believe that the Word doth operate in the production of gracious Principles only not as it is alone or separate from the holy Spirit for so it operates only morally and objectively but as it is clothed in the power and virtue of the Spirit for so it becomes spirit and life to the Soul As for the Similitude used by Mr. Pemble I conceive that the raising of the young man from a natural Death and the raising of a sinner from a spiritual Death are not every way parallel For in that there was no capacity at all in the naturally dead to receive the words of Christ in this there is a passive capacity in the
Power the Gospel comes in power and in the holy Ghost 1 Thess. 1. 5. and in the demonstration of the Spirit and power 1 Cor. 2. 4. there is Power in it nay excellency of power 2 Cor. 4. 7. nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding greatness of power and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the working of the might of power such as raised up Jesus Christ from the dead Eph. 1. 19 20. The entire words runs thus What is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead the Apostle here doth not only denote Gods Power towards Believers but also Gods Power in making them such As there is exceeding greatness of power towards Believers so those Believers did believe according to the working of his mighty power such as raised up Christ from the dead Every way a Believer in fieri and in facto esse is surrounded with Power and excellent greatness of Power Oh! what rare Eloquence what high strains are here Too much and too high in all reason for resistible Grace If the weakness of God be stronger than Man surely the Power of God in its might and excellency put forth for the production of gracious Principles cannot be resisted and overcome by him 6. The Heart which hath gracious Principles in it is God's Tabernacle and all God's Tabernacles have been built in a sure way such as cannot fail of the Effect God besides the natural Tabernacle of his Eternity hath in his condescending Grace been pleased to have three Tabernacles built for him first he had a worldly tabernacle or sanctuary Heb. 9. 1. and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he tabernacled in our flesh Joh. 1. 14. and last of all he hath a tabernacle in the Hearts of men a sanctuary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the midst of them that is in the midst of their Hearts Ezek. 37. 26. the Heart which hath gracious Principles in it is God's Tabernacle Hence God says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will indwell in them 2 Cor. 6. 16. Now God himself undertook that all these Tabernacles should be built As for the first God took care to have it made exactly to a Pin as for the second God engaged that a Virgin should conceive and bring forth Immanuel as for the third God binds himself in a Promise to raise up the tabernacle of David Amos 9. 11. that is to convert the Gentiles for so it is interpreted Acts 15. 14 15 16. New Creatures are the tabernacle of David there is David the Man after God's own Heart there Christ the true David dwells in the Heart by Faith and Love Again God says I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them Ezek. 37. 26. that is I will by my sanctifying Grace turn their Hearts into an holy place for my own habitation Moreover all the Tabernaoles of God have been made in a sure way because they have been made through the overshadowing presence of the holy Spirit As for the first the Master-workman of it was Bezaleel a man as his name imports in the shadow of God filled full of the Spirit of God in all wisdom for the doing of the work As for the second there is a Bezaleel too the holy Ghost comes upon and the power of the highest overshadows the blessed Virgin and so the holy thing the pure flesh of Christ was formed in her Womb Luk. 1. 35. And as for the third there Bezaleel again they that dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his shadow shall return Hos. 14. 7. the holy Ghost comes upon the Soul and the power of free Grace overshadows it and and so Christ or the holy thing is formed therein What is said of the Apostles as to their sacred Function The holy Ghost came upon them Acts 1. 8. the same is true of all true Christians as to their spiritual Generation Thus whilest Peter spake the holy Ghost fell on them Acts 10. 44. by his Grace making them an habitation of God Lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee Zach. 2. 10. he comes by his Spirit and makes their Hearts a Sanctuary for himself Thus this Tabernacle is built in a sure way because pitched by God himself but now if all the Operations of Grace be resistible what becomes of this Tabernacle God may raise and raise by all the Operations of his Grace and yet the Tabernacle not go up the holy Ghost may overshadow mens Souls and yet no Christ be formed in them a holy place in mens Hearts may be sought for the Lord and none at all found All these precious Promises of condescending Grace may fall to the ground You will say What remedy for all this God will not dwell in men whether they will or not Very true but if Almighty Power connot make men willing what can do it Christ received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them Psal. 68. 18. Observe 't is for the rebellious also not that God doth dwell in them as such but that by his gifts of Grace he turns rebellious Hearts into gracious and so comes and dwells in them as his own Tabernacle Wherefore I conclude that God works the Principles of Grace in an insuperable way 2. As to the second Instant of Conversion God works actual Conversion also in an insuperable way so that sooner or later it always takes effect And this will appear 1. From the Vitality of gracious Principles as backed with auxiliary Grace there is a divine Vigor in these Principles these are a Well of living water ready to spring up a Seed of God ready to shoot forth and a Beam of the divine Nature ready to sparkle out wherefore when auxiliary Grace stirs up this Well of living water bedews this Seed of God and blows up this Beam of the divine Nature it is no wonder at all that actual Conversion should infallibly follow Auxiliary Grace stirs up the Principles of Grace these stir up the Soul and that by virtue of both the former stirs up it self unto actual Conversion and so actual Conversion comes forth into Being 2. From the Insuperability of Grace in the Illumination of the Understanding God doth enlighten the Understanding in an irresistible way he shines into the heart he puts wisdom into the hidden parts who teaches like him Job 36. 22 He teaches with a strong hand Isai. 8. 11. He teaches in the demonstration of the Spirit and power 1 Cor. 2. 4. A Demonstration is such a thing as cannot be resisted by the mind of Man and of all Demonstrations the demonstration of the Spirit is most invincible Now if the Understanding be irresistibly enlightned then the Will as I have before proved doth infallibly follow it they that know God's name will trust in it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will come to Jesus Christ truth if but rightly
known will make us free true Wisdom dwells with prudence and practically leads in the way of Righteousness 't is a Suada to the Will and draws it home to God in actual Conversion 3. From those Scriptures which set forth God as the Author of actual Conversion He gives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the actual believing Phil. 1. 29. he grants repentance unto life Acts 11. 18. he works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very act of willing Phil. 2. 13. he causes to walk in his statutes Ezek. 36. 27. In every true Convert there is more than a mere Man the grace of God is to be seen in him Acts 11. 23. there is God in converting Paul Gal. 1. 24. In the Temple of the new Creature every thing speaks of his glory every holy breath in the Will must praise the Lord as its Author If God did not work the very Act of Willing then which I tremble to utter all the Prayers made to him for converting Grace are but God-mockeries all the Praises offered up to him for the same are but false Hallelujahs then they which glorified God in converting Paul glorified but an Idol of their own Fancy they which glorified God in the repenting Gentiles Acts 11. 18. offered but a blind Sacrifice When we pray that God's kingdom should come into our hearts we do not mean that God should put our Wills in aequilibrio but our Wills should be subdued under God's When David and his People offered willingly unto God he falls into a kind of Extasie Who am I and what is my people 1 Chron. 29. 14 And Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory Ver. 11. even the victory over hearts and All things are of thee Ver. 14. not only our Gold and Silver not only our Hearts and Wills but our very actual Willingness also You will say All this is true God works the very Act of Willing but not insuperably but so as men do not resist the Work of Grace But what 's the meaning of this God works the Will so as men do not resist not to resist is to obey Wherefore the plain meaning is God works the Act of Willing so as men do will which is very absurd Because it makes the very same Act of Willing to be the Condition of it self Again What is it for God to work the Act of Willing so as men do not resist but to work it in a way of dependence upon Man's Will and what is that but to contradict the Apostle who saith that God works the Act of willing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his own good pleasure if he do it of his own good pleasure surely not in a way of dependence upon Man's Will but in a glorious insuperable manner 4. From those Scriptures whose truth is so founded upon insuperable Grace that it cannot stand without it Turn thou me and I shall be turned Jer. 31. 18. Turn us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned Lam. 5. 21. If Man's actual Turn do not infallibly follow upon God's turning Grace what truth is there in these And 's which couple both together Other sheep I must bring saith Christ and they shall hear my voice Joh. 10. 16. and which agrees with it The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles and they will hear it Acts 28. 28. What Connexion is there betwixt Christ's bringing and Man 's hearing or betwixt Salvation sent and Man's hearing without insuperable Grace Again God says I will put my Spirit within you and you shall live Ezek. 37. 14. and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes Ezek. 36. 27. What necessity of Life or Obedience in them if the holy Spirit be given in a resistible way Again God says to Christ Thou shalt call a nation and nations shall run unto thee Isai. 55. 5. and the Church prays Draw me we will run after thee Cant. 1. 4. Where 's the truth of these Propositions if God's calling and drawing do not infer Man's running Again David prays Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end give me understanding and I shall keep thy Law Psal. 119. 33 34. Where 's the consequence of David's Obedience upon God's Teaching if Grace be superable Moreover God says I will be as dew to Israel he shall grow as the lilly and cast forth his roots as Lebanon his branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree Hos. 14. 5 6. Here 's Israel very florid but that which secures all is insuperable Grace nothing could hinder their spiritual prosperity who had God for their dew I say nothing not Lusts for Ephraim shall say What have I to do with Idols Ver. 8 not backslidings for God says I will heal their back-slidings Ver. 4. not barrenness for God tells them from me is thy fruit found Ver. 8. not deadness for they shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine Ver. 7. But if the Work of Grace may be frustrated then there is no certain root for all this holy fruit to stand upon 5. From those Scriptures which set forth actual Conversion as a Work of Power Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psal. 110. 3. God fulfils the work of faith with power 2 Thess. 1. 11. the Principle of Faith is incomplete without its Act but God by his powerful Grace actuates it in us When our Saviour Christ told his Disciples that it was easier for a camel to go through a needles eye than for a rich man to enter into Gods kingdom they cried out with amazement Who then can be saved but our Saviour unties the knot thus The things that are unpossible with men are possible with God Luk. 18. 24 25 26 27. God by the power of his Grace can fetch off the World the Camels bunch from the Heart and so make it pass as it were through the needles eye into the Kingdom of God But now the assertors of resistible Grace may turn the words thus The things which according to the ordinary working of Grace are impossible with God are possible with Men that crowning Work of actual Conversion which is too hard and heavy for God's free Grace is absolved and dispatched out of hand by Man's free Will In the Parable of the lost Sheep we find God going after it until he find it then laying it upon his shoulders Luk. 15. 4 5. He goes after it in the Means of Grace he finds it by the intimate Inshinings of his Spirit and he lays it upon the shoulders of his power that he may bring it home to himself in actual Conversion But now if Grace be resistible the Almighty Shoulders are only put under mans Will to bear it up in aequilibrio to see whether it will go home to God or not it may be it will it may be it will not Gods Power doth but