Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God Tit. 3.5 According to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost The Knowledg of secret Sins is ascribed to the Holy Ghost Acts 5.3 4. Why hath Satan filled thy Heart to lie to the Holy Ghost thou hast not lied unto Men but unto God Likewise the Sin against the Holy Ghost is declared to be unpardonable Mark 3.29 He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never Forgiveness but is in danger of Damnation These and many other Scriptures evidence the Truth of the Unity of Essence in the Trinity of the Divine Persons Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are one I John 5.7 For there are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one Compare also 2 Tim. 3.16 All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God And 2 Pet. 1.21 Holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Likewise in the last words of David 2 Sam. 23.2 3. The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his VVord was in my Tongue the God of Israel said c. Thus the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity is not meerly Notional but Real it is not fictitious but eternally true it is infinitely good therefore necessary to be believed and adoringly received in Love as the Principle of Felicity to Intellectual Creatures The Divine Trinity is Incomprehensible therefore to be adored not doubted nor subjected to Human Argumentation which cannot illustrate that which in all respects necessarily excels all Methods of finite Proof or Evidence tho the Reality and Efficacy thereof be most certainly and feelingly perceived and enjoyed The curious Inquiry is like gazing upon the Sun which dazles our weak Eyes For now we see through a Glass darkly now we know in part but when we shall know even as also we are known when we are brought into the third Heaven then we shall hear those unspeakable words which in this State of Mortality are not possible to be uttered fully to reveal the Glory of the Divine Trinity What the Lord said unto Moses is also spoken unto us We cannot see the Glory of God and live but the Lord maketh his Goodness pass before us and proclaims his Name before us that he will be gracious to whom he will be gracious and will shew Mercy on whom he will shew Mercy according to the eternal Election of God the Father and the Redemption by God the Son and Sanctification by God the Holy Ghost into which Truth all Believers who shall be saved are baptized The Duty of common Philanthropy obliges deeply to grieve at the Folly and Madness of Epicurean Sensualists who renounce the Glory of the Image of God and the hope of immortal Felicity and corrupt themselves to be like natural Brute Beasts made to be taken and destroyed vainly imagining to evade the impartial Justice of the Almighty God with whom is terrible Majesty No less miserable are the Profane who take up a scoffing Name of Deist to act the Atheist renouncing the Fear of God which is the only Bond of Human Society and rejecting Hope in God which is the only distinguishing Excellency of Man above the Beasts that perish Unreasonable also is the Pride of those who deny the predestinating Prescience of God the Father changing the Glory of the Incorruptible God in 〈…〉 of corruptible Man as if they thought God to be altogether such an one as themselves who upon any Disappointment or unexpected Accident endeavour to patch up a Remedy for unforeseen Inconvenience But let the Potsherds of the Earth strive with and discourse of the Potsherds of the Earth But unto the eternal Wisdom of God are known all his Works from the beginning of the World according to that determinate Counsel and Knowledg of his own Will who hath appointed all things that ever shall come to pass and all for his own Glory so that not any the least thing even the falling of a Sparrow to the Ground befals by chance but by Divine Appointment Also the most flagitious Wickedness that ever was contrived and acted even the crucifying the Prince of Life was to fulfil the determinate Counsel of God for this very end to accomplish the highest Exaltation of Divine Glory and Goodness in the Salvation of Man Which Salvation likewise is made effectual only to such as are ordained to Eternal Life They also deny the meritorious Satifaction to the infinite Justice of God by the Death and Righteousness of Jesus Christ for the Redemption of Sinners from Wrath to come by which miserable Error is effectually and really denied and evacuated the Essential Justice of God They also deny the necessity of the Almighty efficacious Grace of the Spirit of God to sanctify regenerate and quicken those that are naturally dead in Trespasses and Sins under that Corruption and Impotence wherein all are alienated from the Life of God Now concerning the words used by the Orthodox to express the Mystery of the Divine Trinity It ought to be considered that Words of Rational Speech being the Signatures of Things there are many more things to be expressed than are words to represent them For such is the Poverty of every the most copious Language that there is necessity to apply the same syllabical Word to signify various and different things which yet receive the Certainty of Interpretation from the Rational Contexture of the respective Discourse Thus in the Controversies raised by Heretical Blasphemers against the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity The Orthodox to vindicate the Truth of the Scriptures which abundantly testify both the Essenâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 and the distinct â—â—â—perties of God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost have made use of several words as Person and Co-essential to express and signify the scriptural Truth of the Identical Substance and distinct Properties of the Divine Trinity in Unity Therefore the possession and use of the aforesaid Words or Phrases are duly retained by the Church according to the Meaning and Intention clearly made known in the holy Scriptures which ascribe as before mentioned unto the Father unto the Son and unto the Holy Ghost Attributes of Essential Divine Perfection incommunicable to any but unto the only living and true God who from everlasting to everlasting is God blessed for ever Religious Worship being the absolute Soveraignty of the only living and true God both in respect of the Object of Worship which can only be God and in respect of the Rule of Worship which can only be appointed by God For all other Objects of Worship are despicable vain Idols and all Rules Mediums and Ways of Religion not instituted by God are blasphemous Detraction from the Truth and Majesty of God It must therefore be that the great Temptation to Atheism is Superstition that is a Human Composition of Religion when the Fear
Aim and Regard to the Glory of God The Effect of this eternal Truth is the Stream of Truth the Law of universal Justice Righteousness Equity by God implanted in the Nature of all Rational Creatures to direct and judg all their Affections and Actions This is Truth scoffed by the Profane vainly discoursed by Morosophists found possessed and enjoyed as the Happiness of all that fear and love God This assigns the End to all Controversy is the Standard of Conscience and the Basis of all Rational Conversation The Manifestation of this Truth is the revealed Will of God For Knowledg in God both satisfyingly comprehends the All-sufficient Perfection of the Divine Essence and effectually determines and appoints the Nature Operation Use and End of all Beings to his Glory According to the Conformity to or Alienation from this Eternal Truth is the Result of Happiness or Misery to every Rational Being For Divine Truth and Goodness are convertible and inseparable God only is good originally essentially infinitely eternally all-sufficiently Goodness is the Root the Branches are Love God is Love Mercy God is the Father of Mercies Consolation God is the God of all Comfort Patience and Long-suffering God is the God of Patience and his Long-suffering is Salvation his Loving-kindness is better than Life Forgiveness is with the Lord that he may be feared Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is Mercy and with him is plenteous Redemption But this abundant Mercy is not in any respect Encouragement to Presumption or continuance in Sin for that is to despise the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth to Repentance but after the Hardness and Impenitency of Heart treasureth unto it self Wrath against the day of Wrath and Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God God that dwells in Light inaccessible cannot be perceived and apprehended in any other Manifestation than as he is pleased to reveal himself which can only be in his Word wherein tho there be sufficient Evidence to satisfy a created Intelligence what is the infinite Excellence of the Divine Object of Worship yet it remains absolutely impossible for the most exalted created Mind fully to comprehend the Perfection of the Divine Essence Notwithstanding what is revealed thereof as the Object of Faith is replenished with immense Goodness and Beauty to be the all-sufficient and necessary Felicity of an immortal Rational Creature Thus the highest and deepest Mystery concerning the Deity tho not possible to be investigated by human Capacity yet being revealed by the Word of Divine Truth necessarily constrains the Understanding Will and Affections to adore believe and receive in Love the Truth of this glorious Mystery The Manifestation of the Divine Essence cannot possibly be arrived at but by such Revelation as God is pleased to make of himself No Man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any Man the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him Neither can any Man say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost The Ladder of Divine Knowledge by which the Mind ascends to God the Top whereof reacheth to Heaven is yet set upon the Earth For altho the very Light is a Covering to the Glory of God yet things material visible and humanly intelligible present the Shadows of excellent Evidence subservient unto the incomprehensible Perfection of Light and Truth of the Trinity in Unity of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost the only and true God blessed for ever There are Signatures in the Nature of created Beings to assist the Mind in its Ascent of approach to behold the Goodness of the glorious Mystery of the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Divine Essence The Doctrine of the blessed Trinity is shadowed in all Beings viz. a Trinity of Subsistences in Unity of Essence In every individual material Substance there is Height Length and Breadth In every the same Luminary Orb there is Light Heat fructifying Influence In every Man Understanding Will Affection yet the same univocal Soul In the Godhead was always acknowledged Entity Truth Goodness subsisting in Unity always from the Foundation of the World declared to be eternal Truth of God The holy Scripture declares in the Trinity of the Godhead distinct Properties yet one and the same Infinite Essence and in every Person of the Godhead Attributes incommunicable to any but God Creation of all things is assigned to the Son of God to the eternal Word of God John 1.1 2 3. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made Both the Creation and the Sustentation of all things are assigned to the Son of God Heb. 1.1 2 3. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Who being the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person and upholding all things by the Word of his Power when he had by himself purged our Sins sat down on the Right-hand of the Majesty on high The Knowledg of the Heart of every Man is assigned to the Son of God Joh. 2.25 Who needed not that any should testify of Man for he knew what was in Man Compared with I Kings 8.39 For thou even thou only knowest the Hearts of all the Children of Men. Isa 6.1 5. the Prophet saith I saw also the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up Then said I Wo is me for mine Eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts This Vision of Jehova is expresly applied to our Lord Jesus Christ Joh. 12.41 These things said Esaias when he saw his Glory and spake of him Also Joh. 2.24 25. But Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew all Men And needed not that any should testify of Man for he knew what was in Man I Joh. 5.20 speaking of Jesus Christ This is the true God and Eternal Life Also to the Holy Ghost the Scripture assigns the Creation of the World Gen. 1.2 And the Earth was without Form and void and Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters And God said Let there be Light and there was Light Likewise the Works of Divine Providence Isa 63.10 But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit Where is he that put his holy Spirit within him The Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest so didst thou lead thy People to make thy self a glorious Name The Work of Regeneration is ascribed to the Holy Ghost John 3.5 Except a Man be born of the Water and of the
Blood if he were found out of the City of Refuge it was only the City of Refuge which conferr'd and established his Preservation and Safety So the Sinner cannot be saved from Wrath to come without Faith in Christ But the Propitiation according to the Will of God by the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant can only make a Sinner perfect before the Tribunal of God's infinite Justice Therefore to assign any degree of Ability to any Act of Faith as meritorious of Justification is to usurp upon Christ and to incur the severe Animadversion of the Almighty Then will I confess unto thee that thine own Right-hand can save thee The everlasting Covenant of Grace is ordered in all things and sure For the Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity But unto the wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldst take my Covenant into thy Mouth These Scriptures fully evidence that altho the Covenant of Mercy to Sinners is established only in the free Grace of God and the meritorious Satisfaction and Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ yet there remains an utter Incapacity in any Person to partake actually of the Benefit thereof until by the Spirit of Christ without which not any can be Christ's he be born again and made a new Creature For the State of every Man since the Fall is a Complication of Misery under Condemuation Dementation and mortal Corruption Accordingly the necessary Remedies are distinct Justification to take away Condemnation and Sanctification to free from Corruption by a new Principle of Life by a renewed Faculty of Life acted by a new Rule the Word of God written in the Heart directed to and aiming at a new End and Mark the Glory of God and the Prize of our high Calling in Christ Jesus our Eternal Salvation Accordingly the Tenour of the New Covenant is both promised and expressed in the Old and New Testament Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and ye shall be clean This imports that washing throughly and cleansing from Iniquity and Sin so as to be whiter than Snow which is supplicated by David and promised by God to Sins of the deepest Stain being effected by the Blood of Sprinkling the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant which makes us perfect to do his Will For the End why the Blood of Christ who by the Eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God purges the Conscience from dead Works is to serve the Living God But God is the God of the Living not of the Dead Therefore as the Condemnation of Death is to be taken away in Christ Jesus so the Corruption of Death is to be abolished which cannot be without a new Principle and Faculties of Life and being made a new Creature Accordingly the Covenant of Grace proceeds to promise A new Heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you This is that renewing of the Holy Ghost vouchsased unto the foolish and disobedient who are unperswadable by any Moral Argumentation being deceived serving divers Lusts and Pleasures because the Heart of Man is full of Evil and Madness is in his Heart while he lives and after that he goes to the Dead This is the native Misery of every one and the Recovery is as wonderful as to restore the Habit and Exercise of Reason into a Person depraved with Idiotism or Madness Now as they who are such tho they are sometimes capable of uttering some words sensible and rational yet they are utterly unable to perform or maintain the Tenour of reasonable Discourse or Conversation So neither can any meer animal Man dead in Sins and Trespasses before he be made a new Creature by being born again live to the Glory of God the End of Being or in Communion with God the highest Felicity of every Intelligent Being This is the Gift of God as our Lord saith to the Jews No Man can come to me except it were given him of my Father Judas indeed came to our Lord as many do in Profession but not in Heart He did believe with a Faith of general Assent and of particular Fiducial Assiance in the Power of Christ for miraculous Operation but not with a Faith of vital Union with Christ so as to dwell in Christ and Christ in them so as to live by Christ which cannot be without having the Spirit of Christ Also our Lord saith I have chosen you and ordained you to bring forth Fruit that should remain and persevere even much Fruit to the Glory of God Election Vocation Justification and Sanctification are inseparable Eternal Election is unto Holiness and Justification of Life is universally and necessarily conjoin'd with Renovation of Life The End of which is Activity Operation Fruitfulness without which there is Death Burning Destruction for good Works are ordained by God to be the Walk and Conversation of every Child of God For this is the Covenant God makes with every Israelite to put his Laws into their Minds and write them in their Hearts as both the Rule and Inclination of Life which is indeed to be taught of God to know God without which it is impossible that God shall be to any a God Covenant-Relation or that any can be a People to God Now as the Principle of Life and the Operation of Life so Justification and Sanctification are not confoundable yet always inseparable For of God are we in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption That no Flesh should glory in his sight but according as it is written Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. From the beginning of Apostacy the Devil was a Murderer and a Liar When he speaketh a Lie he speaketh of his own for he is a Liar and the Father of it He envenomed the old World with the evil Imaginations of continual Contempt of God and profane Irreligion which broke out in all the Acts of Wickedness and Violence justly provoking the Vengeance of God to destroy that World of Atheistical Rebels When through infinite Mercy a small Remnant of eight Persons were not only spared to survive the Deluge that had swept away the World of the Ungodly but much more a Covenant of Grace and the Blessing thereof was renewed to them and to their Seed confirmed unto Noah by the Acceptance of instituted Sacrifice Then again the great Adversary and Deceiver of Mankind tempted the new World to distrust Safety in the Promise of the living and true God and to attempt Self preservation in a Structure of Babel or Confusion in the Land of Shinar the proper Base upon which was to be built and established the House of Wickedness that is the
God the first-born of every Creature For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers All things were created by him and for him And he is before all things and by him all things consist And he is the Head of the Body the Church who is the beginning the first-born from the dead that in all things he might have the Preheminence For it pleased the Father that in him all Fulness should dwell And having made Peace through the Blood of his Cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself whether things in Earth or things in Heaven God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Who being the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person and upholding all things by the Word of his Power when he had by himself purged our Sins sat down on the Right-hand of the Majesty on high For unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Because God hath appointed a Day in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given Assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Now it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail The Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory and before him shall all Nations be gathered Then the foolish Virgins that neglected opportunity to provide Oil shall be excluded Heaven They that in divers Instances agreed in one Consent to prefer and over-value present Animal Enjoyments before the Lord's Invitation to his Marriage-Supper shall never taste of Eternal Life They that thought it a hard Saying and not to be born the Command of our Lord to crucify the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts to renounce a vain Conversation and a Conformity to the Fashion of the World which passeth away that refuse to deny self to take up the Cross to cut off right Hand and Foot and pluck out right Eye and cast them away All such must hear and perish for ever under that dreadful Word Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels But on the other side to those who believed the Truth as it is in Jesus without contradicting or blaspheming received it in Love and the Obedience of Faith not holding it in Unrighteousness the King shall say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World But where shall ungodly Sinners appear that send after the Lord Jesus into Heaven this Rebel Message We will not have this Man to reign over us That renounce the Satisfaction and Redemption of Christ that blasphemously deny the Deity of Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory they shall say to the Mountains and Rocks Fall on us and hide us from the Face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb For the great Day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Few Men have been found in any Age or Country to have filled their Hearts with such profligate Madness to deny God Indeed Cicero saith that Epicurus while in words he allowed a Deity he did really and by pretended Notions utterly disavow the Providence of God without which the Name of God must be an empty and contemptible Sound For as Cicero observes if the Fear of God and Reverential Regard to the actual Providence of God be denied or weakened thereby also the common Faith and Security of human Society and the Ground and Foundation of universal commutative and distributive Justice is altogether subverted The Psalmist affirms that the Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God That is the Disposition and working of his Heart in the desperate Wickedness and unexpressible Deceitfulness of all its Purposes and vain Imagination to avow the casting off the regard of God Therefore the Psalmist immediately adds They have done abominable Works there is none that doth good Accordingly the Psalmist again expresses The Transgression of the wicked saith within my Heart that there is no Fear of God before his Eyes For he flattereth himself in his own Eyes until his Iniquity be found to be hateful It is therefore most irrational Dementation to detract from the infinite Perfections of the Eternal God for thereby Man is left in a wretched Condition more abject than that of the Beast which perishes liable to the Miseries of this Life without the help of the Awe and Encouragement of future Punishments and Rewards There needs not any Foreign Topick of Argumentation to prove the Existence of God and his absolute Soveraignty over all Beings For the Conscience of Good and Evil radicated in every human Intelligence is a continual and unanswerable Evidence of the infinite Perfections of the Eternal God blessed for ever It is most absurd Folly and Contradiction to own a Nominal God and to deny the Essential Attributes of the infinite Perfection of the Deity Eternal Being Truth and Goodness are the infinite Perfections of one Almighty All-sufficient God Eternity of Being implies Original Essential Existence absolutely simple altogether independent wholly immutable universally powerful every-where present From whence flows Almighty Power to create and uphold all things according to his Will to be the only Cause of all other Beings and of all Causes of their Life with all distinct and proper Abilities thereof of their Operation with all the Powers of Exercise Rules or Limits to direct and govern and End of Performance Of their Subsistence with all Circumstances of Time and Place for the Beginning Continuance or Progress and finishing their Course with all diversity and alterations of Condition therein Sustentation and Regulation as necessarily flowing from and depending upon God as Origination Truth is original eternal infinite Righteousness and Holiness and Knowledg the Perfection of excellent Eminence whereby the Divine Majesty and Essence is infinitely exalted above and separated from all possibility of Communion with or Respect unto Vanity Impurity Unrighteousness or Wickedness and doth satisfyingly rest in his own All-sufficient Soveraignty Thence derives and dispenses to all Creatures the Law of Truth to guide and direct inherently the Sustentation Operation and final Determination of all Beings according to their several respective Natures for the mutual Support Preservation and Comfort of the Universe all in subordinate necessary Subjection to the supreme Obedience unto the Will of God and ultimate