a choice fruit of zeal to presse those Rigid Opinions upon their Auditors which the first Authors of them would never have conceived or quickly would have abandoned if they could with safe conscience have subscribed unto the English Leitourgie And in very truth this peculiar Symptom of the crazed and ill-tempered Presbyterie I mean zealous adherents to Rigid Tenents of Reprobation hath been been an especial motive to withdraw manie hands and pens from subscription to our Common Prayer-book or book of Homilies It was a subject of much sadder contemplation to see as who sees not that hath not resolved to wink at the soloecisms of his good friends manie Divines well fitted and engaged for better imployments become anxious sollicitors for the admission or rather intrusion of that very error into Reformed Churches whose extirpation in the Synogogue the prevention of whose propogation throughout the Churches of the Gentiles by him planted was a great part of his labours who in sacred labours was more plentiful than any than all his fellow Apostles The attempt for this intrusion found no such furtherance from the pretended Title of Ancient Orthodoxal Truth as from present opposition to modern errors As if the parties of whom I speak had held it an Aphorism of sacred Policie to entertain any Heathenish Jewish or Turkish Fugitives able to do service against the Lutheran That sundrie Writers of greater note and name than here to be named by me have out of opposition to the Lutheran given more suspition of concurrence with the Stoick the Modern Turk or Jews that lived in our Apostles time than the Lutheran doth of any concurrence with the Papist or other Heretick whatsoever I shall be able to inform him that will friendlie and privately debate this seeming Paradox with me whether by writing or by word of mouth But as the world now is set openly and publickly to confront a countenanced error would breed greater dissention between brethren in profession and affection then the unseasonable publication of truth specially by so mean a messenger of truth as my self could recompence Dum furor in cursu est currenti cede furori It is one thing to give the way unto such fierce oppositions as daily meet us and another to be carryed headlong with them or to sollow them as their Patrons too often follow Princes Courts that is as we say afarre off Whilst I was an Artist I liked the Old Prescript well Loquendum cum multis Philosophandum cum paucis The medicine a little corrected is not much amisse in Divinitie Theologizandum cum paucis non loquendum contra multos unless it be unto some few and those no parts of the multitude or Vulgar sort either for judgment or affection Amongst my choisest acquaintance and most respected friends I had no choice left in Competition with your selves to whom in all congruitie I rather ought or more safely might communicate what I conceive of this or other like points of Divinitie more necessary to be enquired into by such as are intelligently ingenious than expedient to be published or communicated without distinction of Times and Persons For of my choicest meditations heretofore either published or privately perused I have ever liked the impression much better whilest I lookt upon it in your disposition and conversation than whilest I read it in mine own papers or from the Press Vos estis Epistola mea of all my labours in the Ministerie I have reapt no comfort like to this That it hath pleased God to use me sometimes as a Waterer of those precious seeds unto which he himself hath given plentiful encrease and to with-hold any thing that my conscience tels me may yeild wholesome nourishment though but rudely and homely dressed as this small Present is unto those sacred Plants which the right hand of our heavenly Father hath planted in your brests were to robb my self of my chiefest joy Thus I have adventured in a Case as it is commonly apprehended of great danger to be your Taster being more willing as I know you are perswaded of me to drink the deadliest bodily poison that could be ministred unto me than willingly to infect your souls with any poysonous doctrine Howbeit I profer not these brief Receipts as Mountebanks do their druggs or Tradesmen their waves upon Oath or confident Asseverations but rather referr them to the farther trial of your less partial more judicious tast faithfully promising on my part all readiness to recall amend or alter whatsoever upon better examination shall be found amisse whether in the Matter the Method or Manner of speech And upon these Termes I interest you by these presents in other Treatises of this Argument all which I have purposely consecrated as a Memorial Pledge of those Kind References which heretofore have been betwixt us of that respect which I will ever bear unto your persons and of the honour due from me especially to your virtues VALETE From my Studie in Corpus-Christ Colledge Jan. 1. 1619. Yours ever in all Love and observance THOMAS JACKSON SECT VII A Treatise concerning the Acts or Exercises of the SON of GOD his everlasting Priesthood OR Conteining the Manner or Meanes by which the Son of God through the continual Exercise of his everlasting Priesthood in his heavenly Sanctuary doth now De Facto sett Free indeed all such as seek for the working out of their own Salvation with fear and Trembling CHAP. XLIII 1. THe Manner how the Sonnes of Adam are set Free by the Sonne of God hath been in part heretofore or rather the First part of this Freedom hath been declared at large in the Eighth Book of these Commentaries Sect. 2. Chapt. 6. c. Amongst other Qualifications of the Son of God incarnate for destroying the works of the Divel it was a Special One That he should take upon him the Form of a Servant to the End he might without any wrong to His Person or any injustice done upon his Humane Nature by God the Father Dye the death of a Servant that is the Death of the Cross and by such death and sufferings pay the full Ransome of all Mankinds Redemption and set us all Free de jure The main business yet remaining to be discuss'd is Concerning the Manner the several Waies or Means by which he doth de Facto sett Free indeed that is Perfectly All such as seek to work out or rather industriously labour for the working of their own Salvation with Fear and Trembling That is I take it with such Fervent Prayers and Supplications to God the Father through Him and by Him as He tendred for Himself in his Agonie or in the dayes of his Consecration to that Everlasting Priesthood which he now exerciseth in the Heavenly Sanctuary where he now sitteth at the right hand of God the Father 2. With the Manner of Christs sitting at the Right hand of the Throne of of Majestie I am resolved not to meddle in this Book See
of sin or that which is more then a Habit an unmoveable custome of sin or an Hereditary disease of sinfulness throughout all the successions of the sons of Adam to the worlds end The second Querie yet in the first place to be discuss'd is this Wherein the nature of that hereditary disease which we call Sin Original doth properly consist The third How this hereditary disease doth bring all mankind into a true and proper servitude to sin and by sin unto Satan c. In the discussion of this and many other difficulties depending upon it I shall endeavour to observe that Rule which Chemnitius in many of his works hath commended to the observation of every Student in Divinity and his Rule is this To state all Questions upon those places of Scripture out of which they are naturally emergent or out of those passages upon whose mistakings or non-observance of them many Theological controversies were first occasioned and are to this day abetted or maintained with eagerness of dissension To begin first with that most heavenly discourse of our Saviour John 8. 30 c. SECT II. Of the Properties or Symptomes of Sin Original and of the nature of Sin in general CHAP. VII Containing the State of the Controversie or Debate betwixt our Saviour and the Jews John 8. 30 c. JOHN Chap. 8. Verse 30. As he spake those words many believed on him Verse 31. Then said Jesus unto those Jews which believed on him if ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed Verse 32. And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free Verse 33. They answered him We be Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou Ye shall be made free Verse 34. Jesus answered them Verily verily I say unto you Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin Verse 35. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever but the Son abideth ever Verse 36. If the Son therefore shall make you Free ye shall be Free indeed 1. A Paraphrase on John 8. vers 34 c. WHether that Reply or sawcy interruption vers 33. We be Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man How sayest thou ye shall be made Free was made by those Jews whom our Evangelist avouches did believe on him vers 30. or by some other By-standers hath been discuss'd in a Sermon lately delivered which by Gods assistance shall be annexed to the Discussions following which better befit the Press or the Schools then the Pulpit So that I must take my Rise from our Saviours Rejoynder to that former sawcy reply vers 34. Verily verily I say unto you Whosoever committeth sin c. The fore-cited sentence of Cyprian doth here again opportunely interpose it self Vt Deum cognoscas teipsum prius cognosce That thou mayest know God aright first learn to know thy self The advice is as true and fitting to our present purpose Vt Christum cognoscas teipsum prius cognosce There is no better way or Method to know Christ as He is in speciall our Lord God and Redeemer then by knowing or understanding our selves to be servants and wherein that servitude consists from which we are redeemed That we are by nature servants unto sin you will require no further proof nor can there any other be found better then our Saviours own Authority Verily verily I say unto you Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin The Assertion is Emphatical and as peremptory as plain But concerning the Extent or Limitation of it there may be some Question made or Scruple cast in by the ordinary Hearer or Reader For seeing as Solomon long ago hath taught us Ex cathedra There is no man that sinneth not and our Apostle to like purpose If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us Then if it be universally true which our Saviour here saith whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin the very Redeemed of the Lord the best of his Saints here on earth may seem concluded to be servants to sin seeing he that sinneth doth commit sin The Argument is somewhat captious and would be stronger if To commit sin were a verb of the present Tense and were to be no further extended But the word in the Original is not a verb but a participle of the present Tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And participles of that Form as every young Student in the Greek tongue Ecclesiastick especially well knows are according to Hebraisms most frequent in the Greek Testament fully Equivalent to Latin Verbals Vinum appetere that is to call for a cup of wine any ordinary man may without impeachment to his sobriety or censure of temulency But to be Homo appetens vini is in the Latin Tongue a full Character or expression of a Wine-bibber or a Drunkard So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as if he had said in Latin Operarius iniquitatis which is the best expression of the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not every one that committeth a sin or more sins then one but every one that is a Committer of sin or a Worker of Iniquity is the Servant of sin And such all of us are by Nature and so continue until we be redeemed by the Free Grace of Christ from the Dominion of sin and Tyrannie of Satan But before we can come to know the manner how we are made Free by the Son of God we must as hath been intimated before first know wherein our servitude to sin doth consist And this we cannot well know without some prenotion or description at least of the properties or conditions of sin especially original To omit the distinction of sins of Omission and Commission there be of sin generally or indefinitely taken I dare not say divers kinds but divers stems roots or branches The First root of sin was the sin of the First man which was both an Actual and Habitual sin in him The second is Sin Original which is more then an Habit an hereditary disease of our Nature altogether incurable save only by the Free Grace of the Son of God Over and above both these roots or stems there be other branches as some Sins Habitual which are acquired or produced by such precedent Actual sins as we freely and frequently commit without any necessity imposed upon us by the inhabitation of Sin Original in our Nature CHAP. VIII Of the Sin of the First man And of Sin Original which was derived from him Of Sins Actual and the difference betwixt them That of Sin Original the Heathens had a natural notion 1. COncerning the Actuall Sin of the First man and the Habit which it produced in himself I have not much more to say then hath been said before to wit that neither could have any necessary Cause but a Cause contingent only or a free Agent Nor is there I take it
Original Sin and describes or descryes surely the Being of man to be very Evill And Martyr upon the Rom Defining Original Sin and explaining that definition manifestly places it in the Evill essence of Man for he says That The whole man is most Corrupt And then defines it Thus Sin is the depravation of the whole nature of man Transmitted to posterity from the Fall of our First Parents and by Generation c. And then opening the Definition he Says In this Definition are found all Kindes of Causes For the subject Or Matter we have All the parts or powers of man The Forme is the Depravation of them all Lo you see that according to Him Martyr Sin Original Comprehends the parts powers of man so farr forth as they be corrupted and depraved Illyricus in a Book intituled Know thy self 2. But these Definitions or Descriptions though for ought I know or have to except against them they may be most Orthodoxal for their truth or substance yet the right Limitation of them or of the subject defined is not free from further Question as First Whether the Subject of them be Sin Original or Acquired as one or both of them are seated in the Natural or unregenerate man or as they are inherent in part in the Best Men after their Regeneration or Purification of their hearts by Faith If every Part if every Faculty or member of the Humane Nature be from the womb tainted with this Foul Leprosie it will be somewhat hard to conceive how any Part or Faculty should be absolutely freed from all degrees of corruption by Regeneration unlesse we grant that All are in some measure freed from it and acknowledge some Reliques of Sin Original to remain in every part or Faculty of the man truly Regenerate or renewed in the spirit of his mind It may in the First place be conceived that the Mind or Conscience of men so renewed may be throughly cleansed not only from the guilt but from the real stain or pollution of sin and yet the flesh or whole sensitive parts or faculties of the same man still lodge some Reliques of Original Corruption in them though in a Lower degree or Less measure then the same Corruption dwelleth in the Conscience or Spirit of the unregenerate or Natural man Or if we grant the Minde and Conscience of sanctified men to be yet subject to some Tincture or Reliques of Corruption Yet these we must acknowledge to be so weak and feeble that they cannot hinder or diminish the Raign or Soveraignty of the Spirit over the flesh by which the Yoak of servitude unto Sin or slavery unto Satan unto which all men before Regeneration are by Nature subject is utterly broken If we consider Man as he was first moulded by God he was for nature substance and Faculties of his soul like a sound Instrument well string'd and better tuned But by eating of the forbidden fruit and losse of Paradise his very substance was corrupted and deprived of Life Spiritual and all his Powers or Faculties not only corrupted but distuned Our Nature by Regeneration is Restored to Life spiritual yet not to perfect health and strength so long as we carry this burden of Flesh and Mortality about with us By the same Spirit of Regeneration the Powers or Faculties of our souls and our sensitive Affections are better tuned then they were before yet not so sound or well tuned as in the First Creation they were but like to Asymmetral or harsh voices which never hold consort with sounds or voices truly Harmonical or like to those which we call False strings in a stringed Instrument which by no skill either of him that tunes or handles it can be brought to bear a part in exact Harmony Both such voices such strings will still retain some jarring sound or discord in an accurate observant Musitians Ear though much less when the string is stricken open or upon a Lower stop or the voice taken at a lower Key then whe they are stretched higher For with the height of either sound the discord or Dis-Harmony is still increased 3. Whether sin Original or Acquired have an influxe into every Act of the Humane Soul But when Calvin Martyr and Illyricus make Original Sin to be the whole Nature of Man and all his Faculties so far as they are corrupted and taintted I know not whether their meaning were that there is no Action or thought of man though Regenerate into which this Corruption of Nature or Taint of sin hath not some Influx or whether they did actually or expresly minde this or other like Inference when they exhibited unto us the former Definitions of Sin For my self as I make no question but that The Blessed Virgin her self was by nature the Daughter of Adam and therefore not so absolutely free from her Conception as her Son our Saviour was So I am afraid to avouch or think that either Sin Original or acquired it being supposed that she had some Reliques of both in her should have any influence into or commixture with that Good Thought or Actual consent which she yielded to the Angel Gabriel Luke 1. 38. Ecce Ancilla domini c. Behold the hand-maid of the Lord be it unto Me according to thy word 4. But these are Niceties which I would not have touched had it not been that Some whom I name not have gone too far in opposition to the Papist or Pelagian unto whom Others by coming too neer have fallen much wide or short of the Truth My aim and intention as I often professe is not to take upon me either by voice or pen to instruct such as are or take themselves to be pro modulo viatorum perfectly Regenerated much lesse men altogether certain of their own Personal Election or Salvation The utmost of my endeavours is to direct my self and the height of my desires in this work is to advise Others what we are to do for our selves or what is to be done for us after Baptism or Confirmation that we may be throughly Regenerated or which is in effect all one make our Election sure We are I take it in the First place to Calculate the number of our sins and to measure or weigh the Body of Sin inherent in us whether by Nature or invited by our selves not by a corrupt worldly Dialect but according to the scales or Standard of the Sanctuary And to this purpose no man hath given better hints or directions then Illyricus For as he often observes and wel illustrates In the Dialect of our Saviour himself of his Apostles and Evangelists whatsoever is repugnant to the Law of God or abominable in his sight is accounted sin and so are not Accidents or meer Abstracts or Relations only but specially the very sustance or Nature of man so far as that is polluted or corrupted with Sin or wrought and transformed into the image of Satan Now though it be true which was said before
that in exact Philosophical or Theological Calculation the Definitions of Sin given by S. Austin Calvin Martyr c. and Illyricus come in the Issue to One and the same reckoning yet to vulgar or ruder Apprehensions Illyricus his Definitions which for the most part are Causal but especially his Illustrations of them out of Scripture are far more dilucide and more powerful to work upon our affections and to encourage our spirits to undertake our Christian Warfare against the Old Man or Body of sin 5. Illyricus his Illustrations of sin more Consonant to Scripture then Calvins or Martyrs To what purpose were it to tell unletter'd or ordinary men that the Old Man or Body of Sin which we are to crucifie or mortifie is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inordinatio or depravatio unlesse we could perswade them that these were names of Giants and paint them with far more hands then Briareus with ten times more heads and mouthes then Cerberus or Geryon had and with more snakes instead of hairs upon their heads then Medusa according to Poetical pictures is emblazoned with or make some representation of them in more ugly and horrible shape then the Devil and Infernal Fiends are pictured by old Monks and Fryers in their Books and Legends Albeit even these be but silly representations of infernal Powers with whom even Christian Children after they come to the use of Reason or to wage war as O Ecolampadius somewhere excellently observes For every man to whom God hath given Grace or power to Reflect upon his Younger Years or to survey ☜ his own Heart His Affections or Inclinations either past or present may respectively find a more exquisite Live Image of Satan within himself then any Painter can make Though few or none in this Age be bodily possessed with a Legion of Devils yet most men either by Nature ill breeding or bad Company if they would rightly examin Themselves their Actions their Passions or projects by the Rule of Scripture might easily discover more then a Legion of unruly lewd or vain Thoughts of unhallowed Desires or vitious Habits such as are Malice Pride Envy Vncharitableness c. which daily plead or fight for the Soveraignty of the Law of Sin or Lusts of the flesh over the Dictates or motions of the Law of the Mind or Spirit And these are the true and most exquisite pictures or images of the Diabolical Nature And it was a wish or Prayer worthy to be written with the point of a Diamond as I have seen it written though in no sacred place Lord deliver me from my self His meaning which wrote it I take it was that he might be delivered from vitious or unruly Thoughts or Habits or other like Souldiers of Satan which every man before Mortification of the Flesh or Renovation by the Spirit doth suffer to be Lodged or Billeted in his Breast 6. For Conclusion to give the Intelligent Reader a more full Definition ☜ of Sin or of the Old Man which we are to Crucifie It is or contains all the works of the Flesh or Inclinations contrary to the Law or Spirit of God necessarily resulting from our Nature or substance since it was corrupted in our first Parents by the subtilty or power of Satan as the Efficient Cause still Labouring to obliterate the Image of God wherein we were created and to mould us into his own Likenesse to the end that he may withdraw us from the Service of God which is perfect Freedom and make us everlasting Slaves to himself and his Infernal Associates 7. Likely it is I should have Slighted Illyricus as much as Many Other of my Profession do upon a prejudicial Noise or Cry raised against Him At least I should not have taken that care and pains in perusing and examining His Opinions which ◠have done unlesse the Book or Treatise had been long ago commended to a Learned Friend of mine upon very high Termes by that Reverend and Great Divine Doctor Field then Dean of Gloucester SECT III. Of Servitude unto Sin Who be properly Servants unto It and by It unto Satan CHAP. XIV That even those Jews which did in part Believe in Christ were true Servants unto Sin 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews which Believed on him If ye continue in my Word then are ye my Disciples indeed 32. And ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you Free 33. They answered him We be Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man How saiest thou ye shall be made Free 1. AS We rightly gather that part of mans body to be most corrupt Unsound or Ulcerous which is most afraid of the Chirurgions hand or Instrument which must heal or cure it So these Jews may hence be truly convicted to have been as our Saviour censures them truly Servants unto sin or in S. Peters Expression Servants of Corruption in that they are so Touchie and Jealous of the very mention of being made Free Albeit our Saviour if you marke his processe doth handle them as warily and tenderly as any skilfull Chirurgion could do the most dangerous sores or ulcers of his most impatient Patients For he did not say If you continue in my Word then are ye my Disciples indeed and I will make you Free Although if he had thus said he had said the Truth For HEE it is and HEE alone that must make all the Sons of Adam Free A paraphrase upon John 8. ver 31. 32. 33. c. But as He had an Eagles Eye to discover their hidden sore and a Lyons Heart to unrip or Launce their sore unto the quick So he had likewise the Third property of an Excellent Chirurgion to wit a Ladyes hand to touch them gently and tenderly He tells them the Truth but in a placid and most inoffensive manner by soft and gentle degrees If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed And ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you Free And who could be offended or unwilling to be made Free by the Truth but such as were desperately sick of Falshood and Corruption Such and so affected were these Jewes which did in part believe on our Saviour For they had no sooner heard him making mention of beeing made Free though by the Truth but they instantly returne this repinning and impatient Answer We be Abrahams Seed and were never in bondage to any man How sayest thou ye shall be made Free 2. Many Good Interpreters do question the Truth of their Answer as whether they were not at this very time in Bondage to the Romans And Tullie in his Oration Pro Flacco whose crime was aggravated for that he had alienated or detained some Gold which had been gathered towards the adorning or beautifying the Temple at Jerusalem to Elevate or lessen that conceit which many Romans had of the Nation of the Jewes as of a People better beloved of the
deceat quam vivendi ut vult as true a power to will what he ought as to do what he will So much as a man hath of this Freedome so much and no more he hath of true Happinesse Some Philosophers there were which defined Happinesse after the same manner that Tullie defined Libertie Him they accounted Happie which lived according to his own Will But God forbid saith S. Austine Epist 121. ad Probam that we should take this for Gospel Quid si enim nequiter velit vivere for what shall We think if a man were disposed to Live wickedly or naughttly August Epist 121. Nonne tantò miserior esse convincitur quantò facilius mala ejus Volunt as impletur May be not hence be convinced to be so much the more miserable by how much it is more easie for him to accomplish his naughty will And therefore this Opinion as the same Father avoucheth was rejected by such Philosophers or wise-men as were without knowledge of the only wise immortall God For One of those Philosophers or wise men saith the same Father Vir Eloquentissimus whether he meant Cicero or Seneca or some other I know not condemns the former Opinion as an Heresie in Philosophie and gives this Reason for it Velle enim quod non deceat idipsum miserrimum Nec tam miserum est non adipisci quod velis quà m adipscivelle quod non oporteat To will that which a man ought not to will is the greatest misery that can befall a man Nor is it so great a misery not to atchieve what we desire as to desire to atchieve or endeavour to compass that which we ought not to desire 6. Quid tibi videntur haec verba saith the same Father unto his Friend to whom he wrote this Epistle nonne ab ipsâ veritate per quemlibet homin eÌ„ dicta sunt What do you think were not these words derived from the Fountain of Truth by what Conduit or channel soever they have been brought unto us Therefore we may say of this Saying as S. Paul doth of a Prophet or Poet of Creet whose sentence did please him Testimonium hoc verum est this Testimony is true and worthy the receiving And from this saying that Reverend Father concludes Ille igitur beatus est qui omnia que vult habet nec aliquid vult quod non decet He is truly happy that hath all things which he desires to have being disposed to desire nothing which he ought not This Conclusion is as necessarie and true in the Argument whereof we treat He only is a true and perfect Free-man which hath a power or Freedom to desire nothing but what be ought and a power or Freedom to dispose of himself and of his endeavours for attaining or compassing what he thus desires So that this Freedom consists in the service of God And that consists in a submission to his Will and in reliance upon his most absolute Power to accomplish whatsoever he will or whatsoever He shall think fitting for us to will or desire at his hands 7. As absolute Happiness So absolute Freedom is only in God Both are Essential only unto him that is He only cannot be deprived either of Happiness or of Freedom by any other Nor can he be willing to deprive himself of them Non Deus volens iniquitatem Tu es saith the Psalmist Psal 5. Thou art not a God that canst will iniquity as the Gods of the Heathen did It is as impossible for our God to make such Laws or to grant such dispensations with his own Laws as the God of Rome and Roman Catholicks the Pope doth as it is for this God of Rome to make himself the God of Heaven He cannot dispense with the Law forbidding marriage betwixt Uncle and Niece He cannot make Laws to authorize murther It is the First Part of his happinesse to be able to Will only that which is Good Just and Holy the Second in that he hath absolute power to do whatsoever he will in heaven and earth 8. Men and Angels in their first Creation had a true image of this their Creators Happinesse and Freedom And this image of their Freedom did consist in a power or facultie of Willing only such things as were good and pleasing to their Creator Secondly in a power or facultie of Framing their inferior desires or appetities of Sense of squaring all their actions and endeavours acording to the rectitude or Rule of their Reasonable will But this Power or facultie wherewith both Men and Angels at their first Creation were endued was in respect of both its objects or branches as well in respect of willing only that which was Good as of their ability to do what they would mutable or contingent It was not Essential to them as to God Though Man by Right of Creation was truly Free Yet he had a true possibility of losing his Freedom a greater possibility of ceasing to be a Freeman then of ceasing to be a man As he was created after Gods image he was actually and truly indued with Freedom But as he was a man created of nothing he was capable of Servitude And by his folly or wilful presumption he brought himself and his posterity into Bondage unto Satan Who by the like but greater presumption and more wilful abuse of his Free-will or power over himself did bring himself and his Confederate Angels into greater and more desperate Servitude unto sin and wickednesse then he could draw our first Parents unto albeit he drew them into true and proper Servitude and to this day draws all such as seek not to be set Free by Christ in this acceptable time which is allotted here on Earth into absolute compleat and desperate Servitude into such an irrecoverable estate as he and his Angels are in CHAP. XVIII of the several branches of Servitude unto sin 1. THe principal Branches or stems of this our Servitude unto Sin are Four The First an Impotency or want of power of doing that which we would or a necessitie of not doing that which Reason and our own Conscience tels us to be Good The degrees or Latitude of the First Second Third and Fourth Branches of Servitude unto sin or that which the word of God expresly requires at our hands as a due Service unto our Creator and Redeemer The degrees or Latitude of this branch must be taken from the necessity of the duty or precept Commanding obedience and from the degrees of our impotency or want of ability to do what is commanded which sometimes grows into a Necessity of Non-performance The Second branch of our Servitude consists in a necessity of doing what we would not that is of doing that in the Particular which we utterly dislike in the General as being contrary to the Rule of Reason or to the dictate of our Consciences in our sober and retâ—red thoughts or contrary to the expresse word of God which ought to be the Rule
subject to the same Conditions in matters Spiritual that Ismael was subject to in matters Temporal The exposition of that Allegory Gal. 4. 24. you have heard ‖ See Book 7. Sect. 2. chap. 12. ◠2. before at large The Apostles Conclusion is the very same with our Saviours here in my Text to wit that This People were to be cast out of the House of God And Treatise of the Catholick Church as Ishmael was cast out of Abrahams house That whilest they remained in it they remained only as Servants or sons of the Bond-woman Book 1. ch 10. more largely not as the Free-born sons of the heavenly Jerusalem Of which Society none are capable save only so far as they are Set Free by the Son who is the Builder and maker of this House of God as the Apostle tels us Heb. 3. 3 4 5 6. For this man was counted worthy of more Glory then Moses in as much as he who hath builded the house hath more honour then the house For every house is builded by some man but he that built all things is God And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a Servant for a Testimony of those things which were to be spoken after But Christ as a Son over his own house whose House are we if we hold fast the Confidence and the rejoycing of the Hope firm unto the end But the best is we need not stand long or Curiously upon the meaning of the Antecedent or manner of the Inference seeing we believe as we are in duty bound that our blessed Saviour was a Prophet most True and most Infallible as well in every Conclusion or Proposition which he uttered as in the Premisses whence he Inferred them or in the manner of the Inference It shall suffice us then to fasten our Belief upon the Conclusion If the Son therefore shall set you Free Then shall ye be Free indeed CHAP. XXIII The Second Discourse or Sermon upon our Saviours words S. JOHN 8. 36. If the Son therefore shall make you Free ye shall be Free indeed That That sowre Reply to Christ We be Abrahams Seed c. was made by those very Jews which are said verse 30 to Believe on Him And That men which for a while Believe may in Temptation or strong assaults of passions Fall away 1. The Coherence THese words contain One of the Most Remarkable Passages and of best use for Surveying the rest of that long Dialogue between our Blessed Lord and a great Assembly of the Jews of divers sorts and Qualities The Dialogue continues from the 12 th verse of this Chapter unto the End The former Part from verse the 12 th to the 30 th contains so many and so Profound my steries concerning the Eternity of Christs God-head and of his mission c. from his Father to this people That for the present I must apply that Saying which the woman of Samaria directed to our Saviour unto my self The well is deep and I have nothing wherewith to draw neither strength of Body of mind or skill nor opportunity if these were greater to present so much of it as I could perhaps draw for mine own use clear and perspicuous to the major part of this Audience in a short discourse Let it suffice then I pray to acquaint you with the Vent or Out-burst of this deep Fountain of Life which none of these Jews could Sound the one half of the Way though all Catechiz'd by the Lord of Life himself The Issue of this Catechism from verse the 12 th you have verse 30 th As he spake these words many believed on him A good Issue of so Gracious a Sermon concerning the Fountain of Life had his Auditors had the Grace to have followed the clear Current of it not mingling it with their own muddy Passions as in the very first Issue or Out-burst they did For our Saviour had no sooner uttered those words of comfort to the Jews which Believed on him If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples Indeed and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you Free verse 30. and 32. But some of his Auditors whoever they were Tartly Reply We be Abrahams seed and were never in Bondage to any man how sayest Thou ye shall be made Free verse 33. Unto this passionate Reply or impertinent Interruption our Saviours Rejoynder is Calm and meek but fortified with a double seal of Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verily verily I say unto you whosoever committeth sin is the Servant of sin and the servant abideth not in the house for ever but the son abideth ever verse 34 35. Thus by following the Current of the former words I am fairly arrived at my Text it being our Saviours own Inference out of his former Assertions If the son therefore make you free c. 2. Which sort of Jews made that Passionate Reply to Christ Believers or others But before I can conveniently unfold the meaning of our Saviours former speeches or the Connexion betwixt my Text and Them I must briefly discusse a Question naturally emergent out of the 33. verse to wit whether The Passionate Reply or interruption We be Abrahams seed and were never yet in bondage unto any c. was made by those Jews which in the 30 th verse are said to have Believed on Him or by some other Auditors which did not Believe on him at all but were at least for the time being meer By-standers at this debate Some Interpreters say Vnbelievers Some of the choisest Commentators upon this Gospel are of Opinion that the fore-mentioned sowre Reply We be Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man was returned by the Jews which for the present did not Believe More for Believers Yet the greater part of more judicious and discreet Interpreters of our Saviours discourse in this Chapter or of S. Johns Relation of it take it as granted That the Reply was made by those very Jews which verse 30. Believed on him And unto any Rational man specially well conversant in Scriptures or well experienc'd in his own or other mens Affections it will upon short Examination appear that the Contradictory Opinion of Cardinal Tollet and some others could never have found Enterance much lesse any setled habitation or rest in any Learned Mans Judgement or Apprehension unlesse they had been first surprized by that General Incogitancy or common Error from which many plausible Pulpit-men and some otherwise most acute Divines have taken occasion The One sort to deceive their Hearers The Other not to discover the deceitfulnesse of their own hearts Neither of them take it into due consideration that This Word Belief is not a Term Indivisible but admits of many Degrees as well for the Certainty of the * This Great Author in his First Book 1 Ch. Defined Faith by an Assent If any think amisse of that let him please to take notice
Professors have in his Name mistaught their Auditors in our dayes If once ye * If any say It is not True Beliefe if it fade or fail They may be Told That if they put Perseverance into the Definition of True Faith they null the Question and make it whether Faith that cannot fail may fail Believe in me ye cannot fall away from me But Thus he taught them Expresly If ye continue in My Word then are ye my Disciples ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that it is One thing to Believe in Christ Another to be Truly his Disciples One Businesse to Believe his Doctrine Another to Continue in his word that is To persevere in true Faith and maintenance of his Doctrine unto the End Nor is it perhaps all one To be made Free by the Truth and To be set Free indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I take it includes somewhat more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Realitie or soliditie of Truth All these Gradations are Litterally and Emphatically implied in the plain Grammatical Sense and meaning of our Saviours Speech from verse 30 to the words of my Text and more apparently in the next verse following I know that ye are Abrahams seed but ye seek to kill me because my word hath no place in you These words were not directed to the altogether Vnbelieving or Contradicting Jews with whom he had disputed from verse 12. to the 29. They necessarily referr unto those Jews which had Believed in Part and afforded the Assent of the Braine unto his Doctrine but left no place for his word in their Hearts These being full stuft with corrupt Affections as with Pride Ambition and Hopes of Earthly Pomps and Dignities from their expected Messias When he saith Because my word hath no place in you We are to understand No place of Residence or Permanent Habitation although it had found some Entrance into their Fancies Or will ye have a further Reason why His Word that is The Fundamental Point or Mystery of Faith which he had lately taught had No Place in them Take it in his own words I speak That saith our Saviour which I have seen with my Father and ye do that which ye have seen with your Father verse 38. He had granted them before to be Abrahams seed but now expresseth his Meaning to be that they were a kind of Abortivate or ill thriven Seed no true Sons or children of Abraham But as yet they did not fully understand whom he meant by His Father or whom by Their Father And for this Reason they only resume the same Reply which they had made before verse 33 Abraham is our Father say They verse 39. without adding any Gall unto it But our Saviours Rejoynder is not altogether the same but somewhat more smart and full Before he had granted them to be Abrahams Seed but now he denies them to be Abrahams sons in the later part of the same 39 verse If ye were Abrahams sons ye would do the works of Abraham But now verse 40. ye seek to kill me a man that have told you the truth This did not Abraham And again verse 41. he intimates unto them who was their True Father that was neither God nor Abraham Who then was their True Father or whose children were they indeed This he tels them plainly verse 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your father ye will do He wâ—â— a murtherer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him That is by not abiding in the Truth or that Image of God wherein he was created he lost all Seeds of Truth and became a meer Lyar and the Father of Lyes And so these Jews were in the Truth whilest they Believed on Him who was the True Son of God yet did not Abide in it after he had told them The truth should make them Free And out of this swelling Pride of Heart they enter Odious Comparisons that they were Sons of God in an equal or better manner then he was And in Conclusion after he had told them that they were as yet sons of the Devil that is men of murtherous minds and envious to the Truth they answer him boldly and glory in their Answer too Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil verse 48. And if a Samaritan then no Son of God but rather a Conjurer or servant of the Devil 7. Thus you have heard to what height of Contradiction To the Truth to the Son of God who is The Truth and The Life of the world and to their own Profession Men in Part Believers may be drawn by Indulgence to their own Corrupt Affections specially of Pride Ambition and Covetousnesse all which ought to be and must be renounced before they can be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 True Disciples of Christ And here I cannot but wonder why men Conversant in Scriptures or Experienced in their own or others Affections Conditions should move any Question whether those which thus unmannerly contested with our Saviour throughout the later part of this Chapter were the same men which in the 30 th verse are said To have Believed on Him And I wonder the more because every serious Reader much more the Learned Interpreters of this Chapter might have observed many like Animadversions or Observations of this our Apostle and Evangelist concerning the disposition of the Jews which in Part or upon fair Occasions Believed on Christ. I shall for the present Instance only in Two like places of which The One is a Parallel Two Instances of the like or worse Recoyls and Revolts of the Jews the Other more then a Parallel to the Revolt or back-sliding of these Believing Jews verse 31. The One place is an Overture or Presage The Other contains the Fulfilling or Accomplishment of our Saviours Prophesie or Prediction of those mens Disposition which entertained him with the often fore-mentioned Dispute from verse 31. to the end of this Chapter The Overture or Parallel we have John 2. verse 23 c. Now when he was at Jerusalem at the Passeover on the Feast day many Believed in his Name when they saw the Miracles which he did May we hence Conclude or safely Collect that these men were ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truly his Disciples or Believers Indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Although it be unquestionably True for the Evangelist affirms it That they did Believe in his Name If we should make this Construction of the Evangelists meaning in That Place that is that Those Men were Truly Disciples Believers indeed his words immediately following would irrefragably Confute us For although They did Believe in his Name yet He did not Believe Them or to use the Apostles words verse 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is as our English renders it He did not commit himself unto them And why would he not commit himself unto their Trust seeing They Believed
vel non esse That only in true Philosophie and Divinity is properly Contingent which heretofore so hath been as it might not have been or hereafter may as well not be as really be or come to passe So far then is that Vulgar but lately received opinion That nothing is Contingent save only in respect of Second Causes from all shew of Truth or Probability that all things indeed besides the Supreme Agent or Causes of Causes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are in respect of Him Contingent For HE alone being Absolutely Independently and Uncontrollably Free in all his Actions had an Absolute Freedom either to Create or not to Create this World as now it is an Absolute Freedom Likewise to endow Angels or men with such a Freedom as now they have that is a Power of Contingency in their Operations or rather of producing Effects Contingent that is such Effects as have been so produced by them as that they might not have been produced or may hereafter alwayes presupposing the Limitation or moderation of the Supreme Cause or Agent be produced or not produced 3. This kind of Freedom is of Two Sorts or rather hath two Branches It is either of meer Contradiction Free-Will of Two Sorts or of Contrariety Or in other Termes it is either Quoad Exercitium or Quoad Specificationem As for Example It is Free for us to walk or not to walk in the morning And if we resolve not to walk not determining what else to do this is Libertas Contradiction is or quoad Exercitium It is likewise Free for us to read or not to read And after we have resolved to read some Book or other it is Free for us to make choice of some Godly Treatise or of some Lascivious Pamphlet In choosing the one and refusing the other we are said to do Freely Libertate Contrarietatis or quoad Specificationem 4. All the Controversie amongst Divines is about the Second kind of Freedom which is opposed to Necessity About this the Question is Whether it be Common to every Rational or Intelligent Nature Or if in some Degree or other it be Common to all how far Communicable to every such Nature according to their several states or Conditions 5. Without prejudice to other Mens Opinions which we rather seek to Reconcile to be reconciled unto then to Contradict or to be Contradicted by them Our First Assertion shall be This. There is no Rational or Intelligent Nature but is Free according to the Second Kind of Freedom that is It is Freed from all Necessity of doing or not doing of what it doth or doth not in Respect of some Acts Operations or Objects This Assertion we take as granted out of the Grounds of Philosophie For this Freedom whereof we treat is one of the most Essential if not the very First and Radical Prerogative which Reason hath above Sense 6. Our second Assertion shall be This The most Excellent Intellectual Nature the very Excellency of Nature Essence and Intellection is not Free with this Freedom of Indifferencie or Option in respect of Every Object God Almighty himself is not Free with this kind of Freedom to Act or intend Good or Evil. The Infinity of his Transcendent Goodnesse or which is all one the Immensity of his All-Sufficiency absolutely exempts him from all Temptation or Possibility of intending harm to any of his Creatures which are capable of wrong In that he is the Infinite Fountain of Goodnesse Moral he cannot be the Author or Abetter of any thing which is Morally Evil Nay the very best Operation that can be ascribed to the Almighty Father to wit the Eternal Generation of his only Son is not Free in the Second but only in the Former Sense above mentioned He was begotten of the substance of his Father before all Worlds by Necessity more then Natural And He that from Eternity thus begat Him doth so infinitely and Eternally Love his only Begotten Son as he can never cease to Love Him or begin to hate Him So that the Almighty Himself in respect of his Love to his Only Son was never Free according to either Branch of Freedom mentioned to wit either with the Freedom of contrariety or contradiction But as the Apostle saith Of his own Will begot he Vs with the word of Truth We are his Sons by Adoption not by Nature nor by any Necessity Equivalent to that which is Natural It was more Free for him to adopt or not to adopt us then it is for any Father to appoint his Heirs or Executors or to Estate or dispossesse his Children 7. In as much as Goodnesse is the Essential Object of our heavenly Fathers most Holy Will it is most Essential and most Necessary to Him to Will nothing but that which is Good Yet is He not hereby either Essentially or necessarily tied to will This or That Particular Good All things that are truly Good were Created by Him Nor was it Necessary that he should Create these Particulars and no others Yea it was Free for him to create or not to create any thing at all So then within the Sphere of Goodnesse He is Liberum Agens An Agent most Free It was Free for him to create or not to create us It is Free for him to preserve or not preserve us yea to preserve or destroy us It is Free for him to Elect or not to Elect us or to destinate us to Life or Death Eternal He woundeth and he maketh whole He giveth Life and taketh it away at his pleasure He bringeth down unto the grave and raiseth up the Dead again ‖ Spiritus est ubi vult sua munera dividit u◠vult Dat cui vult quod vult quantum vult tempore quo vult He Freely bestows his Blessings on whom he will when he will and in what measure he will It was Free for him to Decree or not to Decree any thing concerning us Nor hath he Decreed any thing for us or against us which may be prejudicial to his Eternal Liberty For if his supposed Decrees should Necessitate His Will in those Particulars wherein it was absolutely and from Eternity Free he should Freely make himself or his Will Mutable whereas we are bound to Believe that His Will is immutably Free or that the very Freedom of His Will is Immutable 8. No Agent Free in respect of All Every Rational Agent Free in respect of Somé Objects The Angelical Nature was created Free in respect of Good and Evil. Every Angel had a Twofold Power or Possibility One of continuing in Goodnesse or in the Way of Life Another of diverting from it to the Wayes of Death Satan and his Angels have lost all Freedom in respect of Goodnesse in the Wayes of Life but not all Freedom Simply For albeit they have no Possibility left them of doing or willing any Good yet have they manifold Possibilities of doing several Evils more Free to Sin then before They have brought
Flesh or seriously intends this work of Mortification that Habitually or customarily Doth Any of The Works by him mentioned But this Point will come more fitly to be handled in discussing the Second Branch or Member of the First of our Three General Enquiries propounded in the fore part of This Chapter which was Concerning the Extent of this Precept or Duty or how farr we are to Mortifie the Deeds of the Body that we may Live CHAP. XXIX How farre the Duty of Mortification is Universal How farre Indefinite 1. Mortification Vniversal in respect of mens Persons not so in respect of the Duty to be performed THe Question concerning the Extent of this Duty is Twofold First it is to be considered in Respect of the Persons whom this Duty of Mortification concerns Secondly in respect of the Duty it self or matter injoyned Many Propositions there be which are Vniversal in respect of the Persons and but Indefinite in respect of the Thing it Self or matter proposed As contrariwise other Propositions or Precepts there be which are of Vniversal Extent in respect of the matter proposed or Duty injoyned and but Indefinite in respect of the Persons whom they concern In respect of the Matter proposed or Duty injoyned in this Place this Proposition is not Vniversal No man is tied under the strict Penalty of damnation to an Vniversal or Total Mortification of the Flesh Unto a Mortification of all the Deeds of the Flesh Every man is bound But not to a Total Mortification of every Work of the Flesh in respect of All the Degrees of it for so no Flesh should be saved But of the Limitation of this Proposition in respect of the Duty it self we shall have better occasion to speak hereafter In respect of the Persons which are to perform this Duty The Precept is Vniversally and absolutely true of ALL that are indued with Reason and are capable of instruction ALL are bound to MORTIFIE the Deeds of the Flesh without Exception of any mans Person Kings are as strictly bound under pain of Damnation to perform This Duty as the Subjects are and subjects as strictly bound under the same penalty as Magistrates are For God is no accepter of Persons And Gods Will which is the Rule of Faith will not warrant any man of what degree soever to presume upon any Exemption from the Duty it self no not to hope for a Dispensation 2. 'T is a Question well moved by some Schoolmen Ad quid teneatur homo cum primùm venerit ad usum rationis What is the first Duty or Consideration whereunto Every one is tied after he once come to the use of reason Their Answer for the most part is not so pertinent or satisfactory Vid. Victor Relect. 13. pag. 642 c. as the Question is useful ☜ And no place of Scripture affords a fitter Answer to the Question proposed then these words of S. Paul do For seeing as He saith the works of the Flesh are manifest and as we may adde in a manner Evident to Every mans Sense Every one when he first comes to the use of Reason may with more Facility or lesse Observation apprehend the truth and necessity of This Duty then he can do many other Precepts of life which in their rank and order are necessary likewise unto Salvation No point of Belief is more Evident or sensible to the natural man then the Corruption or imperfection of his nature Some meer naturalists such I mean as knew no other Article of Christian Faith have delivered their minds in a manner Orthodoxally concerning this point to wit About The General Deficiency or imperfection of Nature in Man No Christian man which sees thus much but sees withall the Enemies against whom he is to fight and may from Experiments in himself answerable to this Rule of our Apostle perceive a Necessity laid upon him either of killing them or of being killed by them Besides the apprehension of this Necessity which ordinarily inspires Cowards with Valour Every Christian stands ingaged by SOLEMN Vow made in Baptism to undertake this Fight For the First Branch of THAT TRIPLE Vow is To forsake the Devil all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh The duty of Mortification here injoyned consists in the Performance of this Part of our Vow And seeing this is the first Service unto which we are ingaged by that Solemn Vow the Answer to the Question proposed by the School-Men must be this The First Duty whereunto every man is tied when he comes to the use of Reason is the Consideration of this Duty and the undertaking of Christs Battel against the Devil the World and the Flesh The First March or progresse or rather the first Preparation to this Battel is the serious Apprehension of the Necessity of Mortification 3. Howbeit even This Preparation is though not directly or in express Terms yet by necessary Consequence or in Effect denied by the Romish Church and by some others who have professed themselves Members of the present English Church For All they in Effect deny or gainsay the Necessity or Universality of this Duty who teach that Original Sin is utterly taken away or that our Regeneration is instantly and fully wrought by the Sacrament of Baptism That Children rightly Baptized are truly regenerated by the Spirit of God we deny not And in Case being so Baptized they die before they come to the use of Reason or apprehension of This Duty here injoyned yet ought we not to doubt of their Salvation because they have been Baptized and by Baptism made partakers of Regeneration in such a Measure as is requisite and sufficient to their Salvation whilest they are Infants But that Original sin the Lusts of the Flesh or the Old Man should be utterly extinguished or killed in them before their Death we must deny Otherwise we shall Contradict our Apostle in this place and overthrow the Foundation or Ground whereupon this Precept or the Necessity of this Duty is built Now the Ground or Foundation of this Duty is this That All men unto whom this Precept is directed and directed it is to ALL that are Capable of his meaning have sundry deeds of the Flesh sundry Reliques of the Old Man in them And if either Original sin the Reliques of the Old Man or Lusts of the flesh be to be Mortified in All when they first come to the use of Reason they could not be utterly abolished or dead before For to kill or Mortifie that which is already dead or without all sense or motion is impossible 4. Original sin not utterly extinguished by Baptism If Original sin or the Old Man with his members be utterly extinguished in young Infants by Baptism I demand how possibly they could revive in the same Parties after they have put off Infancy or Child-hood or as soon as they come to the use of Reason For these being killed or
or more then a Prophet which should work great wonders for the good of the Hebrews or Israelites his kinsmen according to the flesh which could not be effected Rebus sic stantibus As the case stood then without dangerous prejudice to the Egyptians Upon the like jealousie occasioned by more then a publick Fame an Authentick Prenotion That there should about the latter end of Herods raign arise A Star in Jacob a true King of the Jews the bloodie Tyrant caused all the Males of Judah and Benjamin about Bethlehem which were under two years to be cruelly murthered and yet left the true King of the Jews the Heir of David the Flower of Jesse and Hope of Israel untouched The Second Circumstance or remarkable similitude between Jesus and Moses was this Moses after the first cruel Pharaohs death was commanded by God to return into Egypt his native soil upon assurance given him that they were dead that sought his life Joseph is warned in a dream or Divine vision by night to return with Jesus and his Mother out of Egypt into the land of Israel Because they were dead that sought the young childs life to wit Herod and his Complices Mat. 2. 20. But my aim in this place of which I hope I have not fallen much wide or short was to set the Parallel aright between the Induration or Infatuation of the Egyptians in Moses his dayes and the Excaecation of the Jews after their contempt of our Saviours miracles and more then Prophetical Monitions The Kalender made by the learned Author of the Book of Wisdom for the opposite Fates or Destinies of the Egyptians and of the Iews began in his own time and shortly after our Saviours Resurrection to be out of Date and more then so quite inverted Versâ tabulâ currebant qui modò stabant the Lot or destinie which this good Author assigned unto the ungodly Egyptians did fall upon his Presumed Holy Ones the Iews his Countrey-men Vnto these the destroyer gave Place and was afraid of them for it was enough that they only tasted of the wrath But as for the ungodly wrath came upon them without mercy unto the end for he knew before what they would do Wisd 18. 25. and 19. 1. of the Jews saith St. Paul They please not God and are contrary to all men forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that that they might be saved to fill up their sins alway for the wrath is come upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the uttermost or to the end The Author of the Book of Wisdom Whosoever he were Philo or some other did slide or draw himself into a Twofold error only by overstretching two undoubted Canonical Truths He had rightly observed that as the Canaanites so the Egyptians were an accursed seed from the beginning as being the Off-spring of Cham and that the children of Israel were a seed two waies blessed as being the Progenie of Sem and of faithfull Abraham Wherein then did he erre or fail in his Collections First in that he presumed the curse derived from their Father Cham should be perpetually upon the Egyptians Secondly that the blessing derived from Sem and Abraham unto their seed should be absolutely everlasting Our Apostle St. Paul partly by Observation but especially by the Spirit of Prophesie did know or fore-see that the Seed of Sem and of Abraham should fall into a greater measure of Induration to continue for a longer time then that which had befallen the Seed of Cham or the Egyptians Yet did he not hence Collect or occasion us to think that this curse upon his Countrey-men the Iews should be either universal or perpetual but to continue only untill the Fulness of the Gentiles were come in Neither doth he intimate that this blessing upon the Gentiles Rom. 11. 11. specially the sons of Japhet which were heires in Reversion unto the Blessing bestowed upon Sem should continue unto the worlds end but rather to determine with the recalling of the Jews whose Restauration it is Probable shall be wrought or occasioned by the Infatuation or Obduration of the Gentiles which through their ingratitude and contempt is likely to become more grievous then the Induration either of the Egyptians in Moses dayes or of the Jews after our Saviours death ☜ 27. If we would look upon the Face of Christendom at this Instant How small a Portion of it shall we find not either besmeared with its own blood or disfigured with wounds and scarrs or other like signs of more then Jewish Infatuation and which is of all the rest the most Ominous Praesage or Symtom the hearts of most Princes and States-men are so addicted to their own Politick Resolutions that if Gods true Embassadors though Prophets raised for this purpose from the dead should take upon them to forewarn them as boldly as Moses did Pharaoh to submit themselves unto The Lord they should find more harsh entertainment in ordinary Assemblies then Moses did in Pharaohs Court as bad as our Saviours Apostles and Disciples found in Jerusalem or in Jewish Synagogues The best excuse or Apologie which best Divines or Preachers of the Gospel throughout most Christian or other Nations can make for their backwardness or want of boldness to deliver Gods Message unto greatest Princes or other States-men will be this That seeing the Spirit of Prophecie is now taken from them they may not take upon them to use the boldnesse or animositie which Moses and Aaron and other ancient Prophets did even in the Presence of greatest Princes One duty notwithstanding the Ministers of the Gospel or Christs Embassadors may duly practise without danger in the middest of this perverse and crooked Generation in every State and Kingdom a duty which we of this Church and Kingdom are specially bound to perform that is to pray and intreat the same God and Lord Iesus Christ which hardened King Pharaohs heart to remove his Plagues from all Christian Kings and States-men as also from Turkish Mahumetan or heathenish Princes and to use these and the like Parts following of our English Letanie or Liturgie more then thrice a week as we are injoyned twice at least every day evening and morning either in our Publick or private Devotions From all blindness of heart from pride vain-glorie and hypocrisie from envie hatred and malice and all uncharitablenesse c. From hardnesse of heart and contempt of thy word and commandements Good Lord deliver not only all Christians Kings but even such Kings as Pharaoh was by Profession and take from all Iews Turks infidels and Hereticks all ignorance hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and make us all One Flock under One Shepherd Jesus Christ the great Bishop and Shepherd of our Soules Amen CHAP. XLI SALVATION ONLY FROM GODS GRACE Or An Exposition of Rom. 9. 16. So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy THese words as every
observant Eye may see bear the Stamp and Form of a Conclusion or Collection containing matter for its Truth as unquestionable and of as large Extent for good Vse as any Maxime in this whole discourse This Illative being turned into a simple Assertive Non est volentis neque currentis c is as the Axis whereon the whole Doctrinal Part of this Epistle revolves But taking this Verse as it here lyes being both a Principle and a Conclusion the Lists of my Inquirie into it at this time by Gods assistance shall be but Two Vndè infertur Quò refertur 1. Two Inquiries From what Premisses it is gathered And 2. To what End it is referred Or To what Vse or purpose in the Apostles Intent it is specially applyable The Premisses whence it is gathered first well sounded will rectifie our aime or Level at the Scope whereto it is directed And the End or scope being known will easily impart the right Vse or Application Amongst many Vses whereto these words may serve it is not the least That their just Extent once rightly taken will serve as a just measure or scantling to notifie and unfold the contents of many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Chapter which have been as much perverted as any places in all St. Pauls Epistles because they have been the common Themes of every illiterate vocalist or rural Scholar 2. It is I take it agreed upon by all at least it will be denyed by none that the principal End of this Epistle is to establish these Romanes whether Jews or Gentiles by Progenie in that Faith wherein they had been instructed And by the Line or Level which is directed to this End must the Argument of this present Chapter as of all the rest be squared The Materials here handled differ somewhat from the former but Modus considerandi their Reference or Aspect to the proposed End is the same What the Apostle in this place here inserts either concerning the hardening of Pharaoh the Reprobation of the Modern Iewes or free Election of their Fathers is purposely inserted for under-propping or fortifying his Former Assertion That Iustification or Salvation must be sought by Faith only without Works To perswade the truth of this our Assertion no particular Allegations of Authorities or reasons can so much avail with an ingenuous Auditor as his own di-diligent Perusal of the 10. and 11. Chapters in which The Resumption of his former Argument is to cleare-sighted men more evident then the Continuance of it is in this And with his former Doctrine in those two Chapters resumed he intermingles powerful admonitions to the Gentiles to make their Election Sure unto which purpose the Original and manner of the Iewes Rejection is in this Chapter premised And He that shall please in his more retired thoughts unpartially to survey the Connexion which the 10. and 11. Chapters with the last part of this 9 have with the former specially with the 4 5 6 7 and 8 The stream or Current of the Discourse will evidently bewray it selfe to be the same howsoever it may seeme a litle before and after This 16 Verse to run a close way or under ground yet so as the opening of it is apparent verse 30. What shall we say then That the Gentiles which followed not after righteousnesse have attained to righteousnesse But Israel hath not attained to righteousnesse because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the workes of the Law Verse 32. 3. The fairest Connexion of this 9. Chapter with the former in my opinion is This The Apostle having in the later end of the former Chapter confidently avouched the Infallible Assurance of their hopes which renouncing Workes seek Salvation only by Faith in Christ and his heart having been dilated with joy and exultation of spirit in contemplation of their happinesse is in the rebound more deeply touched with sorrow for the Iewes his countrey-men and kinsfolk according to the flesh The lamentable Issue of whose excellent Prerogatives and strange miscarriage of their extraordinary paines and zealous care in observing the Law might well have danted the late converted Gentiles to whom he writes and in mens esteem much impaired the strength of all former assurances which he had given them unlesse he had further manifested the true Original of the Fall or Rejection of Gods antient people This unfained sorrow for their miserie is so much the greater as every good mans in like case would be by how much their Meanes of well doeing had been the better their Approach to true happinesse nearer and their Interest in Gods promises more peculiar then other mens were It litle moves us to see a lazy unthrift come to be a begger But to see a man extraordinarily industrious in his Calling not to thrive or utterly to overthrow himself and his posterity by some one wilfull humour is grief to every other man that can take paines for his living This Original of our Apostles sorrow is expressely intimated by himself Chap. 10. Ver. 1 2. Brethren my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge And in the 11. Chapter he tels us Gentiles what Moses before had told these Iewes That whensoever they should turn again to the God of their fathers they were to have Precedencie of all other people in the world in his Everlasting and unchangable Love I say then Have they stumbled that they should fall God forbid But rather through their Fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousie Now if the Fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles how much more their fulness ver 11. 12. And again ver 28 29. Concerning the Gospel they are Enemies for your sake but as touching the Election they are beloved for the fathers sake for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance And would it not greive any zealous soul that loves the memorie of his fathers to see them so farre estranged from their God who is not altogether estranged from them but alwayes ready when these Prodigals shall returne unto him to embrace them as his dear Sons These are Points whose contemplation in our Apostle was deeper then our shallow witts can rightly sound and did cast him out of such an Ecstasie of joy into such a suddain Trance of sorrow that he had no leasure to expresse the Causes of it in the beginning of this ninth Chapter but is fain to reserve it to the beginning of the tenth The very depth of sorrow had swallowed up the very stream or current of his discourse and causeth him to begin thus abruptly I say the truth in Christ I lye not my conscience also hearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heavinesse and continual sorrow in my heart For I