foundations and therefore do not rest upon them It is Christ in you which is the hope of glory Col. 1.27 If the Lord Jesus have not taken up his residence in you by the workings of the holy Ghost and if you are not implanted into him all your hopes of salvation will vanish and come to nothing whatever other foundations you build upon I will instance in divers things which carnal persons are apt to rely upon 1. Church-membership and such spiritual advantages as have a dependance thereupon are but a sandy foundation though many lay the stress of their hopes upon this bottom They expect to be saved because they were born in the Church and are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus they enjoy the presence of Gospel Ordinances and give their attendance upon them Surely think they it cannot go amiss with our souls who hear Christ's word and are present at his institutions and belong unto the Church however it fareth with Heathens and infidels But mind it Sirs these things may be without having the Son which is of indispensable necessity to eternal life A man may be visibly a member of the Church of Christ and yet an utter stranger unto Christ himself the head of the Church He may externally and in appearance belong to Chris◠kingdom and yet really be a subject of the devils kingdom He may be present at the Ordinances and yet have no communion and fellowship with the Lord Jesus in his Ordinances He may be baptized with water in Christ's name and yet never taste the baptism of the holy Ghost whereby believers are spiritually knit unto him You read of the children of the Kingdom cast into outer darkness Mat. 8.12 And in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Gal. 6.15 Circumcision is put by a Synochdoche for all outward priviledges into which that Ordinance was an inlet These will never save you from hell unless you be sanctified by the Spirit of Christ and so implanted into him When the Lord cometh to execute judgment upon the ungodly he will bind the Heathen and unsanctified Church-members in the same bundle together and cast them into the lake of fire Jer. 9.25 26. He will punish the circumcised with the uncircumcised Egypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moab and all that are in the utmost corners that dwell in the wilderness For all these nations are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart Church-priviledges if not rightly improved will be as oyl to make the flames of hell fire burn hotter upon thee But they will avail nothing to save thee from hell except thou be married unto Christ the head of the Church 2. Great measures of the knowledge of the will of God and an insight into the doctrines revealed in the Scriptures are a sandy foundation whereupon to build your hopes of eternal life For they are to be found in persons that were never ingraffed into Christ A man may know much of the doctrines of Christianity when yet he never was taught the truth as it is in Jesus There may be a clear head to apprehend the principles of Religion and yet an unclean and unsanctified heart He may discourse understandingly to the edification of others of such mysteries of godliness as he never felt the power of in himself He may know many things touching the Son that never learnt of the Father so as to be drawn unto the Son And indeed all the knowledge of hypocrites is no knowledge in Gods account and will only serve to double the stripes * Melius est ergo utilius idiotas parum scientes existere per charitatem proximum fieri Deo quam putare multum scire multa expertos in suum Deum blasphemos inveniri Iraen adv haer wherewith they shall be beaten Luke 12.47 He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him 1 Joh. 2.4 If a sinner did truly know the excellency of Christ he could not but love him and thirst after his righteousness he would never be at rest in his spirit till he had secured his interest in him and were able to call him his Lord and his Saviour Joh. 4.10 3. Some inclination in the affections towards the things of God is not a sufficient ground whereupon to build our hopes of eternal life For it may consist with an estate of estrangedness and separation from the Lord Jesus Christ and there is no salvation by the Son without having the Son A man may rejoyce at Christ's word that doth not give up himself in sincerity to be his servant He may see a loveliness and excellency in the wayes of holiness that was never wrought up to an actual walking in those wayes Wemeet with John Baptist's hearers that they were willing for a season to rejoyce in his light Joh. 3.35 He was a powerful and affectionate Preacher and his doctrines raised up some flashy joy in their spirits that heard him when yet the word took not such root as to make them fruitful So many who attended upon the Ministery of Christ wondered as the Text saith at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth and yet never felt a gracious work upon their hearts as is evident from the sequel of their carriage towards him Luke 4.22 A sinner may be warmed at the fire of Gospel-truths that hath not his lusts and corruptions consumed thereby 4. Comparative righteousness is a sandy foundation of hopes of eternal life Although many persons imbarque in this bottom They are better than others and wallow not in that filthiness wherewith multitudes are defiled and therefore their inward thought is that certainly their condition is good however it fare with such and such profane persons But mark it Sirs this is no proof of unior with Jesus Christ you may be better than others comparatively i. e. not so bad as others and yet enemies to the Son of God and the power of godliness For there are different ranks and degrees of impenitent sinners but all of them in the same state of damnation There was none of the Kings of Israel like unto Ahab and yet many of them were bad enough being servants of the devil and such as promoted his interest though not at that rate as Ahab did 1 King 21.25 He may die of a Feaver that never had such violent paroxysms as others have felt So a sinner may perish in his iniquity who yet is not so notorious for impiety as some others are This the Pharisee could have pleaded nay it was the foundation which he bunt upon Luk. 18.11 God I thank thee that I am 〈◊〉 as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican And yet he went down to his house a condemned person All that can be said for the comfort of such a one is this
brought to light wherein the way is revealed for restoring fallen sinners to their primitive happiness or conducting souls to everlasting bliss God hath graciously pleased to declare this way by the Scriptures and to leave it upon record in the Word of the Gospel and here we have the substance or summary of that Record viz. That God is the giver of eternal Life and that this life is in his Son c. If you examine the connexion or dependance which the words of the Text have with and upon the foregoing passages of the Chapter You will evidently find our Apostle is herein giving a succinct account of the great foundation-foundation-truths which are proposed to be the object of a Christians Faith by closing with which we do eminently and signaly advance the glory of God and by disbelieving whereof we are said to make him a lyar Our faith is to be built upon the word of the Lord to be bottomed upon the Record which God hath given concerning his Son And this saith the Apostle is the Record That God hath given us eternal Life c. The better to clear this coherence and so the genuine import and scope of these words let us a little cast our eyes back upon the context or the verse immediately preceding the Text wherein we may note two things 1. The nature and excellency of the grace of faith or believing on Christ ver 10. former part He that believeth on the Son hath the witness in himself 1. For the nature of Faith it is a believing on the Son so it is usually set forth in the dialect of the Holy Ghost Act. 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thine house Joh. 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life This is the saving act of Faith which will bring a soul to Heaven a believing on the Son And therefore I might touch by the way on that common distinction as useful to be considered that there is a threefold act of Faith or three waies of Believing in reference unto Christ There is a believing 1. That Jesus is the Christ Credere Christum Christo. In Christum 2. Jesus Christ 3. On the Lord Jesus Christ 1. There is a believing that Jesus is the Christ an assent unto the truth of this principle that he who was born of the Virgin Mary is the true Messiah and Mediator sent of God to be the Saviour of Mankind So the very Devils believe As they know there is one God so they acknowledg this principle that Jesus is the Son of God and the only Redeemer of lost sinners Hence it is that they are so unwearied in their endeavors to hinder poor souls in closing with Christ and that they labour by all manner of false suggestions to draw their affections from the Lord Jesus Mark 1.24 The unclean spirit cried out Let us alone thou Jesus of Nazareth I know thee who thou art the Holy one of God And that herein the Father of lies spake the very truth you will find by the testimony of the Spirit of God himself v. 34. He cast out many Devils and suffered not the Devils to speak because they knew him 2. There is a Believing Jesus Christ i.e. a subscribing to the truth of the Doctrines that he delivered which are contained in the Scriptures the Word of Christ and Preached by Ministers of the Gospel in his name Thus a Simon Magus may believe he may own the verity of Christs Word though in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Acts 8.12 13. When they believed Philip Preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ then Simon himself believed also Thus Nicodemus believed before he was instructed in the necessity or acquainted with the grace of regeneration he was convinced by the Miracles wrought by Christ that he was a teacher sent of God and consequently that the Doctrines which he taught were the truths of God Joh. 3.2 As a carnal person who never tasted of saving grace may have much knowledg in his understanding of the will of Christ so he may be under such convictions upon his judgment as in a sort to approve the Word of Christ Rom 2.17.18 3. But lastly there is a believing on the Lord Jesus When a man is so powerfully convinced of the evil of sin and his own obnoxiousness to the wrath of God and the heart so fully perswaded of the excellency of Christ and the sufficiency of his Righteousness together with the utter insufficiency of all other wayes of deliverance that thereupon he doth actually close with Christ upon Gospel terms and make application to him casting himself upon the Son of God for Salvation and renouncing all things for the enjoyment of him Although believing on Christ doth not alwayes signify a saving faith as see Joh. 2.23 yet for the most part it doth and so may fitly be made use of by way of distinction It being observed by some that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a phrase peculiar to the Holy Ghost and not used by prophane Authors This is the saving act of Faith A believing on or in the Son Joh. 11.25 26. He that believeth in me though he were dead yet he shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye For mark it Sirs that assent of the Judgment unto the great truths of the Gospel which is required of the Lord and is well pleasing in his sight is not a bare naked lifeless assent but a compounded and operative assent such as doth ingage the heart to comply with those truths and brings the whole Soul in subjection unto them Rom. 10.10 With the heart man believeth unto righteousness That 's for the nature of Faith It is a believing on the Son 2. For the excellency and preciousness of thus believing He that doth so hath the witness in himself i.e. in his own Soul and Spirit and Conscience He hath it graven upon the very tables of his heart But what is this witness which a Believer hath in himself Answ You may understand it either of these three waies 1. In relation to his spiritual state He hath a fundamental evidence that he is a child of God and in covenant with him here is sufficient matter if rightly improved whereupon to raise a testimony of this thing It is faith which brings a man under the favor of God and the act of believing is a sure token that the person is endowed with the grace or habit of Faith Spiritual actions as they must proceed from a Divine principle so they are evidences of that principle from whence they do proceed 1 Joh. 5.1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ not with a bare assent of the Judgment but he that believeth it with the heart as before * When a particular duty is produced as an evidence of a state of Salvation or hath a promise of grace and
mercy annexed to it it ought alwayes to be understood of a sincere spiritual and Evangelical discharge of that duty Compare Matt 7.7 Hos 5.6 with Jer. 29.12 13. So Joel 2.32 Prov. 1.28 with Psal 145.18 is born of God That is an undoubted evidence of his regeneration for how could the heart of a sinn r bring forth such fruit unless there were the â—oot of grace planted in the heart 2. It may be meant in reference to the Doctrines of the Gospel He hath the Witness himself that is he is able to seal to those t uths experimentally from the work they have had upon his own Conscience and the effects wrought by them in his own soul He hath not only heard by report of the awakening convincing and converting power of the Gospel which are a strong witness of its divine original and authority but this witness he hath within himself as having felt that efficacy So that he can say to the Ministers as the men of Sychar to the woman Joh. 4.42 Now we believe not because of your reports for we have found it our selves to be a divine doctrine because it hath subdued our hearts and wrought mightily upon our spirits Or as the stranger that commeth into the Church Assembly upon whom the Word is quick and powerful and sharp as a two edged sword piercing into his bosom and discovering the secrets of his heart O saith he God is in you of a truth surely this is none other than the Word of the Lord of Hosts 1 Cor. 14.24 25. The Arguments produced by the Minister are a witness without him and the energy of the Word upon his heart is a witness within him 3. Or thirdly You may understand it metonymically the witness for the person witnessing q.d. He that believeth hath the Spirit of grace and holiness conferred upon him He is made partaker of the Holy Ghost whose work it is to bear witness unto Jesus No man out of sincere aff ction and true faith can profess that Christ is the Lord but by the instinct of the Holy Ghost Engl. Annot. in loc and without whom they could never believe in Jesus 1 Cor. 12 3. No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost that is no man can speak it spiritually from the heart as he ought to speak it so as to subscribe to this principle that Jesus is the Lord and to submit to his Lordship and Government but by the Holy Ghost That 's the first thing I would note in the context The nature and excellency of believing 2. We have the sinfulness of the sin of unbelief the horrid and heinous nature thereof It doth implicitely charge the God of truth with falshood and virtually impeach him as a lyar v. 10. latter part He that believeth not God hath made him a lyar because he believeth not the Record that God hath given of his Son How doth unbelief make God a lyar Answ 1. Not by the contamination or pollution of the divine nature as if the Lord contracted any defilement thereby He cannot be tempted to sin nor tainted with sin Jam. 1.13 The blessed Angels are not tainted with pollution but the nature of God cannot be tainted he is infinitely out of the reach of it Unbelief doth not take from the truth of Gods promise but puts a bar in the Way of our receiving the mercy promised 2 Tim. 2.13 If we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself And mark what the same Apostle saith Rom. 3.3 4. What if some do not believe shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect God forbid q. d. Let not such a cursed thought enter into your hearts it cannot be but the faith of God that is the faithfulness of God as to his word and promise must abide firm and immutable to such as have an interest therein We make our fellow servants oftentimes sinners by real infection when the guilt is spread into their souls being seduced by us and made partakers with us but God is holy holy holy Isa 6.3 infinitely holy unchangeably holy capable of nothing but holiness Our unbelief doth not hurt him but our selves Job 35.6 2. But it makes God a lyar in a way of calumniation or detraction Unbelievers do really and consequentially though unjustly charge God with this imperfection They say in their hearts the Lord is not a God of truth For did they own the truth of God they would undoubtedly subscribe to his word By questioning the matter witnessed we impute falshood to the person witnessing Tantum valet testimonium quantum auctoritas testantis and this is the very nature of unbelief As it is the damning sin that locketh up a man under the guilt of all his transgressions so it is an exceeding heinous and sinful sin it carrieth a kind of blasphemy in the bowels of it it maketh as if God were a lyar As by believing we seal to the truth of God Joh. 3.33 Non quod dei fidem labefactet corum impietas sed quod per eos non stat quin issum arguant vanitatis Calv. So by unbelief we do in effect lay falshood to his charge O the desperate wickedness of mans heart O the horrid abomination of this great ungodliness and the wonderful patience of God towards unbelieving sinners That 's the second thing to be noted The sinfulness of the sin of unbelief 3. Now the Text is brought in as a Specification of that Record which is propounded as the object matter of our faith and in reference to which unbelievers do asperse and calumniate the God of Heaven as a lyar They will not acquiess in the dictates of the Scripture they call in question the record that God hath left concerning his Son And if it be demanded what this record is or what special matter it doth contain The Apostle informeth you in the subsequent verses This is the record that God hath given us eternal Life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life Which words are a Compendium of the Christians Charter An abbreviature of the great deed of gift or conveyance which God hath made of eternal glory and blessedness unto the children of men the record which he hath left touching the way of salvation Wherein you have observable for the distribution of the words these four parts 1. The mercy provided or the blessing conveyed that is eternal life What are we to understand by eternal Life in this place Vita aeterna sumitur 1. Propriè pro beato electorum statu post hanc vitam 2. Impropriè seu Metonymicè pro viâ seu medio perveniendi ad vitam aeternam Ravan I answer 1. Expresly and primarily the enjoyment of God in heaven the blessed Vision and fruition of the Lord in glory the Rivers of pleasures that are at his right hand for ever the
sloth and carelessne's of men For though we are not active in the planting grace into our souls yet there is something expected at our hands in order to the a tainment thereof Although we cannot convert our selves yet we are to wait upon God that we may be converted by him and are to attend upon the means which he hath appointed and wherein he is wont to meet the souls that seek him Although we cannot cleanse and sanctifie our own spirits yet we are diligently to search the Scriptures and to press arguments upon our selves from the Scriptures and to give constant attendance upon God in his Ordinances which are the special instruments he is wont to make use of whereby to convey the spirit of sanctification * Sâ—bordinata non sunt opponenda sed componenda Auditio hominis irregeniti etsi conversionem non inchoat Est camen ordmarium requisitum quod conversionem ordinariam aâ—tecedit tanquam quaedam ad eam nondum existentem praeparatio Wendel Syst majus And this is none other then what God looketh for at our hands Ezek. 36. v. 26. compared with v. 37. A new heart also I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh But then v. 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel that I may do it for them Though we cannot mortifie and subdue our own corruptions yet we should reason the case with our selves and be much in expostulation with our own hearts why we should be so vile and foolish as to serve base lusts and corruptions and to turn our backs upon the Lord and though we cannot put the principles of holiness into our own souls yet we must follow after God by prayer and supplication that he may graciously send forth the holy Ghost to plant them in us And this seemeth to be one of the great ends of God in laying his commandments upon us though we have no strength or ability to the performance of them that we might turn the commandment into prayer and be earnest with him to work in us what he requireth to be within us Jer. 31.18 Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Psal 51.6 7 10. Behold thou defirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me It is just for all the world in the case of a private man or woman as it is in the work of a Minister It is not within the power of the most excellent Preacher in the earth to convert one soul but it should be his care to preach such heart-searching truths and to press upon sinners such awakening considerations in season and out of season as may have a tendency towards conversion to instruct in meekness them that oppose themselves not as it he could give them repentance but if peradventure in the use of the means God may give them repentance 2 Tim. 2.25 26. So it is with sinners themselves they cannot bring spiritual life into their own souls yet they may wait upon God in the duties which he hath required and be earnest with the Lord to speak the word that their souls may live in his sight As we are to serve God with grace or in the exercise of grace when it is bestowed so we are to seek unto him for grace that it may be conferred And pray mind it Christians this will be enough to stop the mouths of impenitent sinners and render their plea of inability to convert themselves invalid Why thou sinful wretch who thus cavillest against the Lord hast thou duly and diligently set upon the discharge of that work which God calleth for in order to conversion That is a notable acknowledgment Dan. 9.13 We made not our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquity and understand thy truth If Daniel had onely confessed that they had not turned from iniquity might some captious sinner have been apt to say alas we had no power we were not able to turn of our selves yea but saith that holy man we have neglected the means which God hath appointed to turn us so put it home to thy conscience hast thou not resisted the Spirit whereby God hath many times striven with thee Hast thou not neglected to study the word or restrained prayer before the Lord wherein peradventure he might have been found by thee Thus I might instance in other particulars but I proceed 5. These principles of grace infused into the soul in the work of Regeneration or this image of God restored upon the soul by the Spirit in the day of conversion may be called Christ in us and the Lord Jesus may be said thereby to dwell with us and that upon a fourfold account especially Because 1. This grace is derived upon the soul out of the fulness of Christ 2. Hereby we are made conformable unto Christ 3. The Holy Ghost implanting it doth act in Christs name 4. Hereby we become his servants and possession is taken of us to his use 1. It may be called Christ in us because the habits of grace infused into the soul are derived upon us out of Christs fulness The whole stock of grace was put into the hands of the Mediator and from thence it is communicated unto Gods chosen people When the Lord Jesus was anointed with the Spirit without measure it was put into his hands as into a common Store-house or Magazine that from thence the Elect of God might be furnished It was put into him as into a fountain that out of that fountain our vessels might be filled It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. â— 19 And out of his fulness we all receive and that grace for grace John 1.16 And therefore it is called The Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.2 It is in him originally in us derivatively being imparted to us from him 2. Hereby Christ may be said to dwell in us because grace doth render a man conformable to Christ In the work of Regeneration our natures are fashioned according to his nature As there is an answerableness between a Copy and the Orignal from whence it is transcribed there is line for line and sentence for sentence word for word and letter for letter so take the humane nature of Jesus Christ as he was anointed by the Holy Ghost and the nature of a Person sanctified and there is a suitableness between them there is love for love and joy for joy and hatred for hatred they have the minde of Christ and the meekness of Christ and the long-suffering and compassion and gentleness of Christ and the like Therefore they are said to purifie themselves
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That 's the second thing I intended for the confirmation of this property of a Believers union with Christ viz. the inseparableness of it 3. A little to vindicate this point from the grand exceptions thas are made against it I will lay down only two rules Rule 1. This doctrine of the perseverance of a sincere Believer in the faith or the inseparableness of his union with Christ is so far in it self from being as enemy to practical holiness and new obedience that if rightly improved it will be a mighty incentive and provocative thereunto It will have a powerful influence to inlarge a mans heart to run the steps of God's commandments and to cause him to take heed unto himself to continue upright and undefiled in the way of the Lord. This assertion I maintain to obviate the main cavil and objection that is made against this comfortable truth For there is an aspersion cast upon it as if it were not a doctrine according to godliness as if it did minister occasion to slothfulness and carelessness and carnal security They will be ready to say who are the opposers of this truth if a person be in Christ so as to be sure he shall in no case be separated from him then they will be apt to think they may live as they list that they may take what liberty they please to indulge the flesh and satisfie their lusts and walk in a way of licentiousness seeing whatever they do they shall abide in a state of grace and come safe to heaven at the last Thus a door say they would be opened to all manner of wickedness But mind it Sirs It is a calumny falsely laid to the charge of this doctrine For in it self it is a strong argument and motive unto holiness It is a consideration that may have a tendency to the mortifying sin and awakening the Spirit if rightly pressed on the soul and thus it will be improved by a gracious heart * Hac igitur certitudo perseverantiae non potest consistere cum deliberate proposito peccandi nedum tale quid causari Piis exercitiis procreatur conservatur eadem etiam invicem procreat conservat auget Ames Coron 'T is true there is not the most wholsom herb but a toad or spider may suck poyson from it there is not the most heavenly doctrine but a carnal heart will pervert it unto evil especially such truths as are purely evangelical that hold forth the free grace of God Jude 4. They turn the grace of God into lasciviousness that is not only the experience which they have of the grace of God in the exercise of it in their preservation and affording to them means and seasons for working out their salvation but it seemeth principally to be meant of the doctrine of the grace of God There is no doctrine more influential in its native tendency to the subduing of sin and crucifying the flesh and quickning to a closs walking with God But ungodly men wrest it and writhe it to countenance their filthiness So hath it befallen this particular point of the Saints perseverance though in its proper causality it will help to cleanse a man from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit and make him vigorously to pursue the designes of holiness See what use the Apostle Peter makes of it 1 Pet. 1.5 13. He had before told them that they were elect according to the foreknowledge of God v. 2. and that this grace of election had broken forth in their regeneration from whence they had a lively hope of enjoying the inheritance prepared for the Saints v. 3 4. And then he doth assure them that they were kept by the power of God is the state of grace that they might not fall short of actually possessing what they hoped for v. y. c. And in the close of all he subjoyneth this exhortation v. 13. Wherefore gird up the loyns of your minds be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance but as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation q. d. If God hath graciously taken care of the concernment of your souls will not you be diligent to advance the glory of his grace Will not you be ashamed to sin against him who hath in every respect dealt so bountifully with you If the Lord has not been unmindful of securing your salvation will not you mind his honour and follow his conduct Should not this mightily prevail upon you never to cast off this God but to cleave unto him unto the end O set diligently and industriously about your work be ready and prepared for all the wayes of holiness and to continue stedfast and unmoveable therein Do not walk as the generality of people walk nor as your selves have formerly walked for God hath called you out of the world and prepared for you a kingdom and taketh care of your preservation that you may come to the enjoyment of it This is the proper use of this doctrine which will plainly appear if you seriously weigh these four things 1. That God hath not promised to preserve his people in the state of grace and union with Jesus Christ whether they be holy or no or however they walk But the promise is to keep them in the exercise of grace in the ways of holiness that so they may not be separated from him If any represent it in another dress it is not the Scripture doctrine of perseverance but they endeavour to cast a slurre upon it We do not teach that God hath ingaged to bring his people safely to heaven let them live as they list or that he will keep them from falling away from Christ though they cast off the fear of the Lord and run to all excess of riot But God hath ingaged to inable them to live the life of the just and to cause them to fear his Name and through the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the body that so they may never draw back to perdition 1 Pet. 1.5 Ye are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation It is not said God will keep them by his almighty power whether they believe or no but he will suodue their unbelief and set their faith on work in order to their being secured Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Mark it is not said They shall never depart from Gâ—d though they slight his word and despise his Majesty and reject the fear of his Name But he will maintain in their hearts an holy aw and dread of him that so they may never be cast out of his favour 2. Consider That the
and should have been handled under that third particular Obj. The objection is this If unregenerate persons are thus dead in sins and have no power to that which is spiritually good either to turn themselves unto the Lord or to walk in wayes of holiness before the Lord To what purpose then doth he so frequently command them to turn unto him and to make their wayes perfect before him and to cleanse their hearts from wickedness if they have no power to do what is commanded Such injunctions you have often upon record in the Scriptures Ezek. 33.11 Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will ye die O house of Israel Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved And Isa 1.16 Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes To what end now will you say are these injunctions laid upon the unconverted if they are stark dead in their sins and have no strength to do what is injoyned Sol. I answer These commandments do not import any spiritual strength in the wicked for they are dead They have lost the image of God which was the life of the soul For as the soul is the life of the body so the image of God was the life of the soul and this image they put away from them by their apostacy But these commandments have their usefulness many wayes principally upon a fivefold account 1. God doth command the unregenerate to walk in his wayes and that in truth and with a perfect heart not as importing their strength what they are able to do But to shew them their duty what they ought to do * Non mensura nostrarum virium sunt praecepta Dei nec vires nostrae mensura praeceptorum diviâ—orum Nec attemperat Deus mandata sua ad vires hominis peccato corrupti sed ad debitum naturale Wendelin system majus And it is no such strange thing as some persons would perswade us that a man should be in duty bound to the performance of more than in his fallen estate he is able to perform A little to illustrate it by a familiar instancâ— or two Take a servant that by his licentiousness hath made himself drunken and it is still his duty to serve his Master although he hath put himself into a present incapacity for the discharge of that duty His sin and wickedness doth not disannul or cancel his masters right and authority If I lend a sum of money to another and he through negligence and ill husbandry squandereth it away and is not able to pay me yet I may justly and legally call upon him for payment to manifest unto him what he is bound to do This is the very case God gave us power at first to obey his will and to keep all his statutes and to walk in obedience before him and we wilfully put it away from us Eccles 7.29 God made man upright but they have sought out many inventions Now mans wickedness and sinful declension from God doth not invalidate God's authority over us nor enervate the obligation of his Law upon us He may justly come and require the debt of obedience at our hands though we have made our selves unable to tender it As it is in the parable Mat. 25.27 Oughtest thou not to have put my money to the exchangers * Industriam tuam servus debebas demino Marl. So this is the work which we ought to do though by our apostacy we are deprived of ability to do it 2. God doth lay these injunctions and precepts upon the unconverted not as implying any power in them but to make them sensible of their own weakness As sometimes when children will boast of what is above their strength we set them upon the work that they may see their folly and how unable they are to do what they boasted of Why Sirs the heart of man is very deceitful and apt to boast of great matters Most men think it is an easie thing to repent and believe and that they can turn unto God at any time Why let me see you do it saith the Lord. * Ad hoc lex data est ut superbo suam infirmitatem notam faceret Aug. He setteth them upon the performance that he may cause them to see and acknowledge their own insufficiency As Christ dealt with the young man that was full of self Mat. 19.20 21. He thought he was able to keep all the commandments of God and to climbe to heaven by that ladder And what saith our Saviour to him Why If thou wilt be perfect go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven As if he had said Thou thinkest thy self able to do whatsoever is commanded I will trie thy strength Here is a commandment I give go and do it and then it quickly appeareth how impotent and unable he was In this respect all the commandments of the Law are to the unregenerate praecepta probationis precepts for trial As it was with the Israelites they supposed they could have kept all that God had spoken and he giveth them his precepts in their full extent and latitude and leadeth them through the wilderness to humble them and to prove them and to know what was in their hearts Deut. 8.1 2. That is to make them to know what was in their hearts for he knew it well enough all things are naked and open before him But they could not believe it that they had such a proneness to evil and such an aversness and impotency to that which is good But by putting them to the trial God maketh them to know it 3. God is pleased to lay his commands upon the unregenerate to turn unto him and to believe in Christ and the like That they might be stirred up to address themselves unto the Lord to work in them what he requireth to be within them and to inable them to do what is commanded to be done * Praecepta Dei sunt precationum nostrarum materia quia jubet Deus facere quae non pâ—ssumus ut sciamus quid petere ab ipso debeamus Wendel syst majus That out of every precept they might frame a petition for strength and spiritual grace and present it unto the Majesty of heaven Psal 119.4 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently O that my wayes were directed to keep thy Statutes So should a sinner say Thou Lord commandest me to convert and turn O that my soul were converted that I might turn unto the most high Thou commandest me to repent O Lord give me repentance not to be repented of Thou requirest me to be holy O make me such a one as I am required to be * Lex data est ut gratia quareretur gratia data ut lex impleretur Aug. And therefore it is observable that what is commanded in one place the