have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable Servants c. Therefore if the Saints works either in doing or suffering Isa 64.6 Isa 6.5 are unprofitable in any respect it must be in attaining that great reward of eternal life which is only attained by our Lord himself as formerly is proved And the Saints affirm of themselves selves That they are all as an unclean thing and all their righteousness as filthy rags Isaiah saith I am a man unclean because I am a man of unclean lips And the Psalmist saith I will take heed unto my wayes that I sin not Vers 1. yet Vers 5. concludes Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity therefore this objection at the best is of no force because no weight of truth in it But secondly I answer to that Text which is the ground of the Objection because their sufferings is for the Son of mans sake therefore they are to leap for joy in respect of their great reward in Heaven and much to the same effect in the 10. Verse Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake It is one thing that our Lord comforts the Saints with presenting them with the heavenly glory Answ as the great reward of the gift of eternal life to leap for joy in all their sufferings and another thing that he should intend that their sufferings and works should be the efficient cause to procure that weight of glory man being in his best estate meerly vanity as is proved wherefore Christ gave them this as to comfort them as Paul in the like case to comfort the Saints in a suffering condition Our light afflictions which are but for a moment worketh for us a far more excellent and eternal weight of glory that is worketh this good effect in us to settle our mindes the more upon that glory to come and the lesse upon this worlds glory as the next words imply while we look not at things which are seen but at things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal But to avoid mistakes in this point of the Saints works it will be necessary to lay down this ground that the Saints in this World have a twofold righteousness which are to be handled in the next Chapter CHAP. IX In which is handled a twofold righteousness peculiar to the Saints and no men else THe first righteousness is this namely the imputed righteousness of Christ The second is their inherent righteousness As concerning the first Quest How can that be theirs onely which is extended not onely to the whole Creation but to all mankind the chief part thereof as before is proved I answer It is one thing That all had a right to eternal life Answ and another thing to be possessed of it for so it is the Saints onely by faith they therefore may leap for joy in all their sufferings which none else can The second righteousness which is inherent is their sanctification or Circumcision of the heart and this righteousness is theirs and theirs onely The first righteousness is wrought by Christ onely and alone personally considered and is received by the Saints as the Eye receives the light and so their own The second righteousness is their own actually wrought in their own person and not by Christs person onely his spirit doth assist them rightly to operate but the operation is their own as proceeding from their own counsel and voluntary choyce and so far forth righteous as agrees with the word of God and no further The Apostle commands the Saints to work out their own salvation Object that is salvation as to themselves with fear and trembling Phâ—l 1.12 13. therefore their own works attain to eternal life which is their salvation Salvation in the object is one thing Answ but in the subject another thing Salvation in the object is Gods gift of eternal life and pardon of sin reached to man in the word of truth Salvation in the subject is when a man by faith or beleef is possessed of that gift of imputed righteousness in which is contained pardon of sin and eternal life onely therefore all the works of the Saints is but to be more and more possessed of that gift of eternal life by the increase of their graces and in Union and Communion with God and to their Brethren under the same capacity But if it be objected Object that James affirms that Abraham and Rahab were justified by works I answer Answ James enveighing against those that bragged of their faith without works as to the fruits of righteousness he concludes their faith to be dead and because the said twofold righteousness in the Saints are ever distinct and yet never separated therefore of Abraham and Rahab and all right beleevers James might safely conclude they are justified by works as Abraham in offering up Isaac and Rahab by receiving the spies but to avoid mistakes in this Doctrine of works because the Scripture sometimes promiscuously attributes justification to the Saints works sometimes to faith and sometimes to Christ therefore we must remember this rule as a ground in this point for our direction That these things are spoken according to the rule of communication of properties as for example our Lord attributes that to the eye which is not proper to it saying The Eye is the light of the body yet the Eye hath no light in it self to enlighten the body but he attributes that to the eye which is onely proper to the light because the eye receives the light into the body so in this sense it is said that works saves faith saves and Christ saves attributing that to one thing which is proper to another by reason of that connexion in this point of justification by this rule of communication of properties so it is said that God redeemed the Church with his blood yet God bleeds not but that which is proper to the humane nature is attributed to the Divine by reason of the personal union so in this point by reason of the neer connexive relation between Christ and his righteousness which is the object and the wills and understandings of the Saints together with the motions of the whole man to Christ therefore it is thus promiscuously attributed each to other wherefore Cardinal Bellarmine from the force of divine truth while he endeavoured to prove justification by the Saints own works yet concludes That to cleave to Christs righteousness as to justification is the safest way as is affirmed by Divines And the truth is that right aspect of Christs imputed righteousness which he laboured to make void in those dark times It may be that implicite Aspect might stand him in as much stead to pardon of his sin and salvation as but a glimps of the Brasen Serpent to the salvation of mans body which had been bitten with the fiery Serpent he rendering this
his flesh and bones with that reverence from God as he did the losse of his Children and his whole Estate as he did in the first Commission Another particular was this he had too high an esteem of his own uprightness wrought by the spirit of Christ in him who also assisted him to perfect patience under the first Commission consequently he did too much undervalue the glorious imputed righteousness of Christ in which was comprehended the pardon of his sin and eternal life included in the sacrifices which he daily offered therefore O ye Saints of God that are eminent in the fruits of righteousness beware you stumble not at this Rock but endevour with Paul to be found in Christs righteousness more and more in a sole dependencie onely on it for pardon of sin and eternal life And though ye endevour to grow in the fruits of inherent righteousness and at the best as compared to his esteem yours but as filthy rags or as drosse and dung as did Paul Formerly you affirm Object That man in order to become a Saint did in a patient seeking c. But now you affirm none have true patience but Saints According to the being or nature of a thing such is its workings Answ therefore that former patient seeking was but a shadow of this true patience or as to its perfect work for this patience in the Saints ariseth from the root of their inherent righteousness or sanctification which the former hath not but onely a previous disposedness towards it from a remote principle from whence they do by nature the things contained in the Law of Christ therefore the objection is without ground CHAP. XII In which is more fully opened the works of the Saints as under a dolorous and troubled minde IF it be objected The Apostle saith Object He that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him therefore the Saints are accepted of God for their own works of righteousness as to salvation Although this point be formerly answered Answ and also that I grant that their own works of righteousness is the ground of their acceptance yet I deny it in the sense objected for although Christs righteousness imputed is the Saints own righteousness and that upon a double ground the one is That righteousness is Gods free gift to all mankind as formerly is proved and so theirs with others and so accepted as others the other ground is this That work of Christs righteousness is by beleeving received by them Rom. 5.17 and in it abundance of grace and so a particular ground of their acceptance with God and no men else Again The Saints inherent work of righteousness in one particular branch doth act and work in the receiving of Christs righteousness namely Faith and so Christs righteousness is brought to be their own as the eye by its operation brings that light to be its own which was not its own Hence saith our Lord this is the work of God that ye beleeve so that the one righteousness as in it self is an external object of blessedness the other righteousness in this particular branch is the blessed act of reception and from this union with the subject and object according to the Text He that worketh righteousness is accepted of him and that in two respects First That mans person is accepted of God a member of Christs mystical body whereof he is the head Secondly That mans person is accepted the Son of God by adoption as saith the Text To as many as received him he gave this prerogative to be called the Sons of God even to as many as beleeved in his name You affirm formerly Object the reward from God proper to the works of the Saints is onely in this life by the increase of their graces consequently a more neerer and clearer union and Communion with God then what say you to Heman that holy man whose dayes of life from his youth were in dolor terror and horror Saith he to God Thy terrors have cut me off c. where was the increase of his graces Psal 88.16 either of Faith or love or the quiet fruits of righteousness the reward of his righteous works Questionless Answ He was a most holy man as appeares by his heavenly breathings from his woful minde thoroughout the Psalm therefore it is a hard case to give a right judgement in this particular whether his afflictions were for tryal or chastizement or for neither for this case is very rare and not ordinary for the sacred Scriptures as I remember doth not speak of one man the like as to the whole life of any therefore this is besides our point in hand as to Gods ordinary course of the Saints reward as is proved yet nevertheless in Scriptures we finde one extraordinary proceeding of God in the affliction of a particular man for a time as John 9. God denyed from the womb one man the light of this World being born blind whereupon the Disciples put the question to our Lord Who did sin this man or his Parents that he was born blind Jesus answered Neither hath this man sinned nor his Parents that is not to so transcendent a heighth as to draw on this judgement for that 's implyed but he was so born with respect to Gods glory that Christ might prove himself to be he that was sent of God to give sight and light to man sitting in the shade of death and darkness and accordingly Christ and he met together and the man born blind received sight as never man the like So doubtless as this man so Heman was in some eminent respect to the glory of God for although God thus deeply afflicted him in sorrow and troubles of minde yet it is apparent God secretly preserved him and his minde to himself Vers 1. He saith Oh Jehovah Elohim of my salvation I have cryed day and night c. For God sometimes brings men to a low ebbe of distraction some in respect of Estate some in body and some in minde Psal 9.3 Ps 116 3. but we read not at so great a length as this man as to a troubled minde And then God saith to such men Return again ye Sons of men The Psalmist saith The sorrows of death compassed me the pangs of Hell got-hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow whereupon Vers 4. He prayed to God to deliver his soul and Vers 8. His soul was delivered So without doubt God granted Hemans unfeigned prayers either delivering his soul out of those great troubles of minde in the latter end of his dayes or else over and above what he could think or speak secretly preserved him to his Heavenly Kingdom whereof his deep afflictions were but light in comparison of that glory now revealed Now the main ground why God doth so deeply sink some holy men in sorrows terrors and troubles of conscience as Heman is for the redundancy of his glory that maugre Satan I mean the Apostate Angels by all
Rebecca had conceived as God had promised the children strugling together in her wombe thereupon she said If it it be so Why am I thus wherefore she went to enquire of Jehovah whereupon concerning Esau and Jacob God declares his purpose That he considered those two children in her wombe not as two persons individually but as two roots universally in National respects For saith God unto Rebecca Two Nations are in thy wombe and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels and the one people shall be stronger than the other people the elder shall serve the younger Now the ground why God elected one Nation in the younger childe Jacob and rejected the other in the loyns of the elder childe Esau was to figure that the children of the flesh as such should not be counted as children unto God but the children of the Promise as leading to faith in Christ and born again not of the will of the Flesh but of the Spirit shall be counted the Children of God as faithful Abraham A second ground why God elected that Nation in Jacob's loyns was to be his onely visible Church in all the world to uphold his Name till Shilo came in the flesh namely Christ A third ground why God did so at that time was this Because when he declared this purpose to Rebecca his name in Christ to destroy the works of the Devil Gen. 11.8 10.32 12.1 2 3 4. Josh 24.2 23.15 Ezek. 16.3 4 5 6. was as it were extinguished out of the world And the ground why it was so extinct was this For at that time all Nations and all the Families of the Earth were Apostates from the said posture by which they might receive eternal life I say all Families except one and that was the family of Sem and that also began to Apostate to Idols as appears in Terah Abraham's Father therefore God commanded him to depart from his Fathers house and then promised him having no childe this Nation to issue from his loyns and Isaac's and Jacob's and all comprehended in these words So shall thy Seed be Again God did not onely then at that time elect the Jews unborn to be the visible Church of Christ but also at the same time predestinated the Gentiles into the same posture Gal. 3.8 by which also they might receive eternal life by promise to Abraham whence saith the Apostle And what that postture is is at larg declared in my second Treatise The Scriptures foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through faith preached the Gospel before unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations of the Earth be blessed So that the scope and drift of all these Texts is so far from maintaining the aforesaid Elections that it is against them all for the Text onely speaks of a National not a Personal Election and of a National Rejection not a Personal A second Text which is supposed to speak for Personal Elections as a ground of the Saints perseverance are these words As many as were ordained to eternal life beleeved But as before so now to find the true meaning of this Text Acts. 13.98 is to keep close to that which it aims at Vers 42. The Apostle having preached Christ to the Jews in their Synagogue thereupon some Gentiles then present besought the Apostles that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath whereupon the next Sabbath day Vers 44. came almost the whole City together to hear the word of God And then some of the said Elect of God namely the Jews seeing the multitude they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul contradicting and Blaspheming Vers 45. whereupon the Apostle spake to the blaspheming Jews and said It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing you put it away from you and judge your selves unworthy of eternal life that is of that posture wherein you might have received eternal life Lo we turn to the Gentiles Vers 47. For so hath the Lord commanded us saying I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the Earth Vers 48. When the Gentiles heard this that is those words of the prophecie concerning themselves to be admitted into the posture by which they might receive eternal life then they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord that is in beleef of the said prophecie for they had been 1800 yeers excluded from the said posture because the Oracles of God were before confined only unto the Nation of the Jews not at all to come amongst the Gentiles until Christ came yet did not all that multitude beleeve for some were in the case of final Impenitency through their precedent obstinacy as also were some of the Jews and therefore God denied them the spirit of faith to beleeve vers 41. Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your dayes a work which you shal in no wise beleeve though a man declare it unto you Therefore Vers 51. the Apostles shooke off the dust of their feet to witnesse against those unbeleeving Jews that were his visible members and so his sheep but being denied the gift of faith therefore not his sheep John 10.26 John 10. 26. Ye beleeve not because ye are not of my sheep as I said unto you So as the meaning of these words As many as were ordained to eternal life is no more but this That God predestinated or ordained by promise to Abraham that the Gentiles should be called into that posture by which they might receive eternal life From this ground it was that the Scriptures did foresee that God would justifie the Heathen through faith and upon this ground the Apostle doth apply to beleeving Gentiles That Gods calling of them is according to his purpose to be made like unto Christ and the first born among many Brethren Rom. 8.28 29 30. and to be justified and glorified was now fulfilled So that the scope of these Texts makes nothing for Personal Elections but sets forth the rejoycing of the Gentiles in the demonstration of Gods ordaining them to the said posture by promise to Abraham and conveyed to them under this prophecie CHAP. II. In which the 17 th Chapter of JOHN is opened THis Chapter is supposed to prove these Personal Elections as the ground of the Saints perseverance Some of the words are these which our Lord spake to his Father of himself Thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him c. These words naturally divide themselves into four branches First The power given him by his Father Secondly The extent of that power over all flesh Thirdly The End wherefore That he should give Eternal life Fourthly The Restraint or Bounds to which this Eternal life is limited Not to all
darken his glorious Oracles not in themselves but as to men Again In regard the heart of man at the best is as a Fountain of error he being so neer unto us we may the rather pray him to purifie our hearts that we may by a simplified beleef see where we are even in himself Again In regard Jehovah is so neer unto us from this ground it is the Apostle exhorts all that are truly godly saying Let your moderation be known to all men The Lord is at hand be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God Therefore the Objection is frivolus that we need not pray because God is so neer us From this ground that Jehovah is so neer did arise that singular moderation in Moses as to this sensitives Worlds glory Heb. 11.24.27 for he refused to be called the Son of the Kings Daughter esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt and endured as seeing him which is invisible and David when he was in his right mind beheld Jehovah which is invisible to sense saying Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the vale of the shadow of death yet I will fear none evil for thou art with me And having done with the Familists till I meet with them again I return to the clearing of the point of universal Election by answering of foure Quere's Was not Election out of the fallen Masse Quere 1 personal for the fall was acted by two individual persons Adam and his Wife Although the fall was of two individuals Answ male and female yet the fall was not personal but universal and that of the whole kind How can that be Quest Very well Answ for as God rejected Esau and elected Jacob in the womb yet neither personally rejected nor elected although they had a personal existence as appeares by their strugling in the womb He calls them two Nations and two manner of people to be separated from her bowels so in this male and female God considered all mankind radically in the Seed from this ground the Text saith In Adam all die yet note this by the way our first Parents in this case were onely the Root materially but not formally for the formal cause why all mankind might transgress in that one offence was Gods Covenant with Adam for life and death eternal as is proved in my first Treatise page 22. Therefore the fall was not personal but universal consequently so was the Election In the Seed of the Woman Christ the Lord as comprehending the whole Masse If the whole Masse were elected Quere 2 then no part was rejected and Election is altogether improper where there is no rejection We must consider the Apostate Angels and man Answ in that fall as two distinct natures in one respect and yet but one nature in another respect For instance as they were Angelical and humane natures so they were two distinct but as both natures in the fall were totally diabolical so they were but one therefore when they both were thus one in the fall then God elected the humane nature out of that diabolical nature to mercy in the promised Seed but left the Angelical nature in that diabolical nature rejected from all mercy for ever And all comprehended in these words to the Serpent their Instrument I will put enmity between thee and the Woman Gen. 3.1 5 and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy head c. For he in no wise took the nature of Angels but here we see he did take the Seed of the Woman to mercy so that here is a proper rejection consequently a proper Election From what did that Universal Election Quere 3 free all mankind It freed all mankind from three things Answ First from those dreadful defections crosse operations and hideous representations which by the justice of God in the fall was to come upon the whole Creation as is proved in the third Chapter of my first Treatise Secondly It freed all mankind from the total nature of Devils for in mercy it was reduced but to a Seed and is called rightly the Seed of original sin for two reasons First because this Seed is derived to all men in their natural Generations and so remains in this life in the very best of men Christ only excepted because all may know the total nature of it through mercy was reduced to be but a Seed and so may magnifie Gods mercy for that universal Election and for freedom from so great an evil and to a possibility of all their good A second reason is this for without this Seed of Devils sin I mean thus issuing in humane nature it is not capable of eternal life in Gods gift through Christs imputed righteousness for the whole needed not the Physitian but the sick and he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance therefore all those that fancie themselves to be without sin and righteous as do that pack of Familists or Quakers or to obtain eternal life by their own merits as joyned with the righteousness of Christ or by works of super-erogation as do the Romanists are all quite out of any capacity to be saved by him but not out of a capacity to be damned by their own error if they repent not A third thing from which all mankind are freed by the said Universal Election is from that joynt condemnation with the Devils in torment and reprobation to eternity So as for Adams one offence never any man perished as at large is proved in the fourth Chapter of my first Treatise Quere 4 After what manner was that Universal Election out of that fallen Masse It was after this manner Answ First it was purposed by God before the World or Man did exist as is proved in the first Chapter of my second Treatise Eph. 1.3 4. And the Text affirms that all spiritual blessings which beleevers have it is according as he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundations of the World Again It was after this manner the foundation of this Election out of the fallen Masse was laid in the seed of the woman personally God-man for the Text saith he chose us in him wherefore he did not assume the person of any man into personal union but the nature of every man which contains the universal nature of all men for he assumed it in the womb of the Virgin as already is proved and will yet more fully appear in due place Again This Election was after this manner God considered not man without all respect to works good or evil nor upon his foresight of mans faith and works but he considered man in the fallen Masse unholy and under blame and not loved for the Text saith He chose us in him that we might be holy and without blame before him in love Now this word chose us in its full drift is to be understood
therefore neither of these were lost in Adams fall The third distinction is as concerning the freedom of the will to righteousness that is rightly to choose Gods word and God himself as his cheefest good and rightly to refuse whatsoever is contrary to this Man in the fall lost all this totally and whatsoever else did tend to blessedness for although God created his nature in righteousness and holiness yet holiness and righteousness was not his nature for if it had been so it could not have been lost in the fall for the being of the Creature depended not upon the standing or falling of Adam but upon the Essence of God onely Now that which did depend upon his standing or falling was every thing that any way tended to his happiness and nothing else therefore the Lord Jesus Christ by all his works does no way extend to the being but to the blessedneses of the Creatures wherefore if man would have blessedness he must look only to Christ and keep to his rules for he is the Authour of eternal salvation to all that obey him otherwise not for that 's implyed If it be objected Object that consequently it followes that the salvation of the Saints is altogether uncertain and so there is a possibility that none shall be saved 'T is true Answ there is such a possibility in the nature of the two foresaid Contingencies as also in the nature of original sin to byas the will to evil and in these three respects it is possible that all the Saints may fail of salvation yet notwithstanding the Contingencies pronounced by the tenor of the Gospel that is He that beleeves and continues to the end shall be saved that 's implyed if not shall be damned And notwithstanding the wills natural liberty or the wills being thus byassed by original sin yet it is far more possible for all the Saints to be saved then it is possible for them to be damned for the Gospel-tenor pronounces salvation to beleevers and they are by faith possessed of the chiefest good therefore the wills natural liberty hath more reason to keep to the highest good which it hath possession of because it is suitable to the natural property of the will to follow good as the eye to follow light therefore much more this true good of which it is possessed before any other seeming good And whereas the will is byassed by original sin to evil the will in the Saints is much more byassed according to the degrees of their graces to that which is good by Regeneration because Regeneration in the nature of it contains virtually at least the spirit of love of power and a sound minde therefore it is more possible that all the Saints shall be saved then any of them should fail of salvation by the three Contingencies aforesaid If it be objected Object That Satans temptations and the Worlds alurements do forcibly draw out original sin to a custom in actual sin and so it is likewise possible that the Saints may fall totally from good to evil If they exercise that degree of their spirit of love Answ of power and a sound minde then they shall finde that he that is in them is stronger then a world of Devils and wicked men and their own corruptions to carry them on from strength to strength in Syon to that stability as never to fall as is formerly proved If it be objected Object The Saints through negligence in exercise of their graces may loose their first love and make shipwrack of that faith and conscience that was once good and so may fall totally away In this case there is far more danger Answ then in the former contingencies except they return in time but if they do timely return although their strength be brought very lowe and weak yet if they do return in that small strength which remains they may be saved for two reasons First Because then God will pardon their sin for to the Saints it is that the Text saith If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for our sins c. Secondly If they return in time in that small strength which remains Christ by his spirit will assist and comfort them in that return if their strength be but as a bruised Reed or smoaking Flax for to such he saith Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will refresh you Thus he did to David and Peter and so he will to any other for he is the same God to the Saints which suffer ship-wrack by their own negligence now as then But they must thus come and return which is repentance for God forceth or compelleth the will of no man for then mans will is no will no more then he doth make a man to be man without a reasonable soul for so he is no man Again I answer If the Saints do give diligence and shake off negligence adding to their faith vertue as is described then God will make his word of an immortal force by the power of Christs spirit and keep them through faith unto salvation and establish them as Mount Sion that shall never be moved therefore it is far more possible that all the Saints may be saved then to fail of salvation Now the ground of the point is this To the Saints that so exercise as a reward of their works and labor of love through divers temptations God will habitually manifest himself virtually to the will which will draw the will habitually and hold it to himself virtually at least and on this particular depends their stability But what this manifestation is shall be proved in the next Chapter CHAP. VIII In which is proved what is that manifestation that so drawes the will to keep to God virtually at the least FIrst It is written Luke 24. Luk. 24.13 Our Lord appeared to the eleven Apostles and the two men that went to Emmaus and opened to them the Oracles of God which spake of himself Ver. 44. And the Text saith Then he opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures that is more clearly the mystery of his sufferings and Resurrection Verses 45 46 47. This further clearing of the understanding in the Saints in order to their perseverance and to the Apostles in order to their Ministery contains in it two things The one is right information to the understanding of the word of God as here we see Christ to these two men informs them of his sufferings and Resurrection The other is He illuminates their minds by his spirit to a more right understanding of his word and so this illumination adds more light to the understanding of the truth of God in his holy Oracles and so the will is rightly drawn to God for as sin and error shuts up the understanding and will of the Saints hindering their perseverance so this information and illumination carries them on to the said stability
for the understanding from the force of this illumination and information brings God in Christ to the will as its cheefest good wherefore the will by its natural liberty cannot but freely choose it nor by its natural property cannot but follow it as the eye followeth light Thus the will is forcibly drawn according to its own natural liberty and property Secondly Joh. 14.21 Our Lord speaks to this point as it is written John 14.21 He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him that is virtually and habitually to keep his minde to Christ Rev. 3.10 Rev. 3.10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I will also keep thee in the houre of temptation c. likewise 1 Thes 5.14 to Vers 24. The Apostle having laid down many particulars concludes upon the Saints observance of them Faithful is he who calleth you who also will do it and the Saints having inwardly left in part the force of this drawing of their mindes to Chrâ—st they cry out Draw us O Lord and we will follow thee And this is it when God saith Hos 11.4 Cant. 1.1.13 I draw them with the cords of a man and bowels of love If the will of the Saints cannot refuse God thus manifested Obj. but according to the degrees of their sanctification freely follow him How came it to passe that the Angels refused a greater manifestation of God voluntarily for they forsook their own habitation It is hard to clear this Objection Answ because in the order of nature God hath as it were locked up the excellency of every superior Creature from the Creature inferior As all Vigitables apprehend not the nature of the excellency of sensitives so the excellency of spirits is not apprehended by sensitives therefore it is that mans body cannot apprehend his reasonable soul although it animates it neither does the reasonable soul apprehend the nature and excellency of Angels much lesse do the Angels apprehend the infinite God but as he is pleased to stoop down to their capacities in manifestation of himself but what that manifestation was we know not nor how the Angels did forsake it because it is proved that this is locked up from us but whatsoever that manifestation was it stood for a time contingent that they might or they might not fall for the Text saith He found not stability in the Angels And the ground why it must thus stand upon a contingency for a time is this That they could not be established in any condition of weale or woe but according as they did exercise what they had either right or wrong and the ground of that is this God made the Angels as well as men with reference to his final end That they might be made Vessels of honour or dishonour to eternity according to their works But after what manner God proceeded so to make them Vessels of honour or dishonour is darkly pointed at as by a Law suitable to them and what that Law was and that they did transgress that Law and for the grounds and reasons why God hath elected some Angels to stability in eternal felicity and rejected the rest irrevocably to eternal misery I refer the Reader to the 13th Chapter of my second Treatise From the premises thus proved observe why God by the Prophets and the Apostles and by our Lord himself in commending or blaming men for their actions principally refers it to the will as ye will do this and ye will not do this One reason thereof is this Man from his own Counsel and voluntary choyce produces all his deliberate actions therefore they properly proceed from the liberty of his own will and this is the first ground why God charges the will with this or that You will not do this or you will not do that A second ground why God doth approve or disapprove of mens workings with such special reference to the will is not only that the will hath the immediate production of and inforceth all actions but also the striving of the spirit of Christ to assist the wills of the Saints more eminently then any man in all the World to good works therefore the good and also the evil actions of all men especially the Saints are by Christ imputed to the will hereof the seaven Churches of Asia are an example Whereas you peremptorily affirm Obj. that the sufferings and righteous works of the Saints do not in any respect extend to eternal glory either to the thing or the degrees thereof onely their works extend to the degrees of grace here so far as to establish them so that they shall never fall away yet our Lord himself said expresly the contrary Luk. 6.22 23. Blessed are ye when men shall persecute you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of mans sake rejoyce in that day and leap for joy behold your reward is great in Heaven so that heavenly glory and the degrees thereof are the great reward of the Saints sufferings and righteous works First Answ as concerning the sufferings and best works of the Saints our Lord hath given a right judgement That when they have done their best they are unprofitable Servants and admonisheth them so to judge of these works that is as to attain the heavenly glory for that 's implyed yet in other respects he puts a worth upon their works Herein is my Father glorified that ye bring forth much fruit so shall ye be my Disciples Joh. 15.8 Mat. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven yet in Luke 17. after some discourse he gives a right judgement of their best works for when he had told the Saints It is impossible but that offences will come but woe unto them by whom they come He exhorts them saying Take heed to your selves Vers 2. And if thy Brother trespasse against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him and so to seventy times seaven Vers 3 4. whereupon they sayd Lord increase our Faith whereupon he opened to them the force of faith Vers 5 6. and then goes on to give them an example as to the point of the worth of their works Vers 7 8 9. The example is this Which if you having a Servant ploughing or feeding Cattel will say unto him by and by when he is come home from the field go and sit down to meat and will not rather say unto him make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thy self and serve me till I have eaten and drunken and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink doth he thank that Servant because he did the things commanded him I trow not And to the Saints he saith likewise ye when ye shall
ingenious acknowledgement of the divine truth Whereas you affirm Faith arises as a particular branch of the new Creature Object or Saints inherent righteousness yet it is affirmed by others that Faith is the first and Mother of all graces I answer It is one thing that Faith is included in the general nature of the Saints inherent righteousness wrought by the word and spirit of Christ Answ and another thing that in the exercise of their graces in order to perseverance That Faith is the first mover for in this case it is true Faith sets all graces a work and I suppose this is it they mean and I have proved in my second Book pag. 71.72 That mans beleef is the general ground of all his deliberate actions as to the avoiding of any danger and attaining any good hopeful And this is bottomed in the nature of the thing and not in the excellency of faith above the nature of other graces for justifying Faith simply considered in it self as to justification of a sinner is but a dark body till it hath received Christ and his righteousness which is the light of life eternal As is the eye a dark body till it receive the light And as by the Saints exercising all their graces all graces do grow so faith growes up with the rest Hence saith James thou seest that Faith was the helper of Abrahams works and by works Faith was brought to its end that is by offering up Isaac which figuratively was Christ to Abraham for saith our Lord Abraham saw my day and rejoyced Thus Christ is the Authour of eternal salvation to all that obey him otherwise not for that is implyed as to those professors in whom Faith dyed mentioned by James Jam. 2.22 If it be objected what I affirm in my first Book Object pag. 55. That Christ is the Authour of salvation to them that disobey him as old Eli and Miriam and Aaron and Moses whose carcases fell with others in the wilderness by the wrath of God 1 Cor. 1.29 30. and in the Church of Corinth for contempt of the Sacrament wherefore Christ smote some with sickness and some with death Moses and all the Saints that dye under a relaps Answ or back-sliding condition yet if any seed of Gods word sowne by the hand of Christs spirit remain in any degree of inherent righteousness though never so small then there is in them a virtual tendency by faith to Christs imputed righteousness as to the brazen Serpent the smallest tendency of sight that beheld it saved that mans body from death so that virtual tendency to Christs righteousness doth likewise save that man from the guilt and punishment of his sins and renders him eternal life after his departure out of this World yet the death of these Saints is under a Cloud of obscurity as to themselves and to others in respect of their eternal life as Salomon and Eli and those Corinthians which Christ stroke with death yet as for Moses although he dyed under a Cloud yet he dyed not as a barren and fruitless Christian but being filled with the fruits of righteousness although he disobeyed Christ eminently in one particular of unbeleefe for which Christ slew him his Carkasse falling in the Wilderness with the rest yet God rendered him this honour and comfort in his passage from this Vale of misery to eternal felicity for before he destroyed his body he led him to the top of a Mountain to let him see the figure of his eternal felicity Deut. 34.5 6 7. the promised Land of Earthly Canaan still proving that Christ is the Authour of eternal salvation to them that obey him as is formerly proved those that obey him most according to their measure of grace receive most To those Saints he most manifests himself to their secret minde and they that obey him least according to their measure he manifests himself least to their secret mindes for onely the pure in minde see God therefore the more purity of spirit the more sight of God and the lesse the lesse for the sanctified minde of the Saints is the onely Temple of the Holy Ghost and not the Saints persons as personally elected for as personally elected Christs humane body and soul was only the Temple of the holy Ghost as formerly is proved and therefore it is said the God-head dwelt bodily in that person or humane body but of none else for the Text saith In him dwelleth the fulness of the God-head bodily Col. 2.9 that is the fulness of the one Jehovah for that most properly is the God-head therefore the second in the one Jehovah to carry on his Fathers final end was personally elected God-man and his soul and body receives not the spirit by measure as doe the Saints but without measure as saith the Text. CHAP. X. Briefly touching upon the point of Faith but at large upon the point of Love FOr having formerly spoken of the works of the Saints whereof Faith is the first mover It were necessary that I should now treat what faith is but in regard I have handled it in my first Treatise here I passe it over for there I have proved that in justifying faith there are three degrees and shew the difference between that Faith and other Faiths and then I have proved what justifying Faith in its own nature is definitively and defined what its perfection is and also proved how God doth bring the Saints to that perfection and also that justifying Faiths perfection and dissolution are both in this life Pag. 128. to the 140 from pag. 128. to the 140. And because Faith works by love it is requisite to treat upon the nature of love and how that love doth arise in the mindes of beleevers and in a word all love in general in the minde of man arises from that suitable agreeableness between the subject and the object and so in this case of justifying Faith for no man can love that which is not suitable nor agreeable to his minde From this ground Jacob could not love Leah so well as Rachel but because there was a suitable agreeableness between the subject and the object therefore Jonathans love to David was more than the love of women so much to shew how love ariseth in the minde of man but the question will be What is love in its own general nature Quest In a word Answ It may be definitively thus laid down It is in the minde of man a liking and an uniting affection but the point will be more cleared by its natural properties the which are two What is the first property Quest It is to endevour as neer an Union and Communion with the thing loved Answ as possible may be therefore it was that Jonathan and David kissed one another and wept one with another until David exceeded and that David said concerning Jonathan I am distressed for thee my Brother Jonathan 2 Sam. 1.26 1 Sam. 18.1 very pleasant hast thou