Justification to be in the workes of the Law and doth absolutely ascribe it to the power of faith in Christ and he giveth a reason of this doctrine for saith hee If righteousnesse be by the Law Gal. 2.21 then Christ dyed without cause So then the very cause why Christ died was that righteousnesse might be imputed and apprehended by faith to all them that believe seeing that by workes it is impossible and therefore saith the Prophet David Psal 32.1 Blessed is he whose unrighteousnesse is forgiven Verse 2. and whose sinnes are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth no sinne so hee thinketh them most righteous that have their unrighteousnesse forgiven them and them most holy that have not their sins imputed unto them Rom. 4. The fourth to the Romanes the whole Chapter is an earnest and sufficient proofe of this argument and doctrine where the Apostle laboureth by direct evidence to satisfie all doubt as if hee had fore-knowne the stiffe and unreconcileable oppositions of these times against this doctrine of Justification in which Chapter he maketh Abraham his instance in whom there was as much cause of boasting and as much righteousnesse as in any other particular save Christ Jesus onely yet he there proveth that Abraham upon whom God had founded his peculiar people was not justified by the righteousnesse of his workes but that this faith was imputed unto him for righteousnesse and for proofe alleadgeth Scripture Gen. 15.6 And Abraham believed the Lord and hee accounted that to him for righteousnesse so that the matter of our justification is the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ onely and the meanes of apprehending it is onely by faith This doctrine howsoever it is made strong and unresistable by many testimonies of holy Scripture and though it be zealously maintained by men of great learning and religious judgement yet it hath endured violence and suffered disgrace both by ignorance and envie this age maintaining such oppositions of error as the ignorance of former times first occasioned thereforâ— at this day this argument of justification is one of the maine controversies of the world the one maintaine justification by faith onely the other by workes that defending truth this opposing it and though a faithfull man would be willing to quarrell in defence of faith Note Psal 91.4 faith being our shield of defence against all gaine-sayers sin and the dwell yet know not how to give addition of strength to them that have already exceedingly travelled in this manifest truth and whose faithfull paines have maintained this quarrell with valour and victory against all opposition neither is it in the purpose of this businesse to dispute questions of truth but to deliver truth as it is by admonitions and plaine teachings to men of simple easie understanding for whose Christian good these paines are principally taken whose simplicity might most easily be confounded in the intricate search of cunning arguments for these respects And because all contention and strife of words is in the hatred of my nature I will as I finde it written downe sparingly deliver my selfe in a large argument and strike onely one blow at the enemy of faith that I may bee knowne to be an enemy of that enemy and that by a familiar proofe I may instruct the knowledge of them that are lesse learned For they that deny justification by fayth and approve it by works would frame this argument from the testimony of Saint James Jam. 2.17 c. who speaking of a generall faith doth utterly disable it from the office of justification and therefore he saith that Faith without workes is dead in it selfe for as the body without the spirit is dead even so faith without workes is dead also Therefore say they that the Apostle concludeth that of workes a man is justified and not of faith onely To this is answered it is most true that fruitlesse faith is dead neyther can justifie and that good workes are the spirit and soule of a living faith for as the body without the soule is not a living man but a dead carcase so faith without workes is not living is not saving nay is not true faith but onely beares a generall name and with Saint Iames wee may conclude against all such faith But if there be a faith that hath a necessity depending of good workes as necessarily as the soule to the body and the fruit to the tree and that this faith declare it selfe to bee plentifull in good actions the fruits of a living faith we may then with Saint James conclude against them for hee doth not as they doe disinable all faith in the worke of justification but onely that faith which is dead Note and without workes So both opinions imply a necessity of workes the one as the cause of justification and the other as an effect in them justified It were easie to be large in numbring authorities and in reporting such distinctions and shifts as the deceived use in supporting their erroneous opinions they are but inventions therefore without respect wee will passe them over Note but advise the Christian Reader to beware of both extreames and modestly and moderately to understand the meanes of his justification that his zeale carry him to no extremity but to the vertuous meane onely and not to ascribe all to fayth and nought to workes but to give them both their necessary respects for as wee are not justified but by fayth so our fayth is not justified but by our workes for if our works be not faythfull our fayth working we are not justified neyther can be saved For when it is said that fayth onely justifieth it is meant and not denyed that charity is joyned with that fayth which justifieth being inseparably united unto it but that onely fayth and not charity is the meanes by which we embrace Jesus Christ our justification righteousnesse As for example the fire hath heate and light which qualities cannot bee severed in that subject Note yet the fire burneth by heate only and not by light now if they will reason say if the heate of the fire only burn Similitude then it burneth without the light of the fire but that it cannot do such is their reason against justification only because it cannot be separated from charity Likewise though the parts of mans body bee joyned together and one is not without another in a perfect body yet the eye onely sees and the eare onely heares and every part hath his distinct office and so hath faith and charity Thus may the seeming difference betweene Saint Paul and Saint Iames bee reconciled Heb. 11. but such fayth and workes as Saint Paul meaneth justifie us before God but such fayth and workes as Saint Iames meaneth justifie us before men but God doth justifie effectually fayth doth justifie apprehendingly and good workes doe justifie declaringly that is we doe declare our selves by our workes unto men to bee justified therefore good workes doe not precede a man to bee justified but follow him being justified as the effect and fruit of faith that is our workes shall
bee our witnesses what wee are in heart and what wee are in fayth Rom. 4 22.23 Eph. 2.10 but by faith wee are justified and made righteous in the sight of God Saint Paul saith not that wee are the creatures of God in Christ through good workes but that wee are created of God in Christ to doe good workes Againe you are saved by grace through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Vers 8 9. not of workes least any man should boast himselfe Math. 9.22 29. Marke 5.34 10.52 Luke 7.50 8.48 Acts 26.18 John 1.12 Our Saviour Christ as it is in sundry places of the Evangelists recorded saith often thy faith hath saved thee onely believe believe onely and thou shalt receive remission of sinnes and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in mee as many as believe in me to them hath God given power to become the sonnes of God whosoever believeth in me shall not be condemned shall not perish but have everlasting life these be the words of our Saviour Christ now Saint Paul saith Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Acts 16 31. and thou shalt be saved Gal. 3.8 Rom. 4 3 c. God doth justifie through faith we are blessed by faith we are the children of Abraham yea we are the children of God by faith the righteousnesse of God commeth by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe If therefore thou confesse with the mouth of the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raysed him from the dead thou shalt bee saved for with the heart man believeth unto righteousnesse Rom. 3.24 c. and with the mouth man confesseth unto salvation Wee are freely justified by his grace through faith but justification is onely proper to Gods children so that all prophane and ungodly people are out of possibility to bee justified and made righteous in the sight of God this is proved by Saint Paul to the Romans Rom. 8.3 Whom he predestinated them also he called and whom he called them also be justified And againe justification is a righteousnesse in the sight of God that is such as have a true a living and a saving faith and by faith wee doe apprehend the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ God is content to accept of such in the righteousnesse of his Sonne and to obscure their sins and to make them to appeare and stand before him as actually and verily just by his imputative righteousnesse as if they had wrought it personally in the practise of their owne lives If any make demand how can these things be I answer with the Apostle Vers 33 34. Rom. 5.1 It is God that justifieth who shall condemne Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ Thus farre Saint Paul whereby we may see that if justification and salvation should bee attributed to the merits of mans good workes it would occasion boasting and glorying in the flesh and challenging of our justification and salvation as due to the merit of our good workes and so much abâ—te and abase the glory of Gods grace that grace should then no more deserve the name of grace The Scripture is full of proofes in this argument looke Gal. 2.16 Rom. 3.21.22.28 30. Act. 13.38 Rom. 1.29.30 31. but if Justification and Salvation be as it ought to be wholly given and ascribed unto Gods grace and mercy promised unto us in Christ Jesus which we doe apprehend and lay hold of onely by faith as the onely instrumentall cause under Gods grace then is all the glory and honour of our justification given onely unto God without any merit of man and so as it is said before is concluded that we meane not by faith onely to exclude the doing but the meriting of good workes Seeing that none can be saved but those that are first justified and seeing none can be justified but they that have a true living and a working faith It behoveth all men to have a principall care to have the assurance of this faith that so they may be sure to be justified that they may be sure to be saved And because all men are naturally prone to deceive themselves with flattery and favourable opinion of themselves and their owne actions because Saint James and so the Scripture James 2. in many places doth utterly dis-inable an idle dead and a fruitlesse faith from the office of Justification it therefore neerely concerneth all men seriously and without private respect to examine their faith and compare their faith and their workes together that their workes being good those workes may justifie their faith to be a living and a saving faith and that they content not themselves with a bare and common historicall faith the which the Divell and the damned soules may have but that their faith may be approved good by the sufficient testimony of their good works without which their faith cannot be good For as the tree is knowne by his fruit and as it is impossible to gather grapes of thornes or figs of thistles even so is our faith judged by our workes and so it is impossible that good workes should proceed from an evill faith or that a good faith should not produce good works good works being a necessary dependance upon a good faith This ought to provoke all men to an emulation of godly exercise to contend to exceed in holy actions and to square and fashion all their workes by their faith Note and to make every act of theirs a testimony that they are truly faithfull For he that is not with us is against us and those workes of ours that witnesse not for us will be witnesses against us and will condemne us in the sight of all men that our faith is not good or not at all and that therefore wee are not justified neither can be saved This may judge all those actions of men that disproportion a good faith and a good conscience For though men flatter themselves and promise peace to their soules and thinke to be justified and saved by a bare acknowledgment of God and their common historicall faith yet in a time when they thinke not on 't Note their ungodly workes will make warre upon their soules and bring upon them a sure and a sudden destruction Againe seeing justification is a meanes ordained by God to bring us to salvation this ought to move all men to a faithfull acknowledgement of Gods love who onely is the principall and first moving cause in every circumstance of our salvation and that we doe acknowledge our selves in great humility to be altogether defective and unable in the worke of our owne salvation and that every grace in us is
that as he hath performed the Law in all sincerity and righteousnesse so we should endeavour a strict imitation of his vertuous doings for such faith only hath the benefit of the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ as is proved by the testimony of holy life Workes the testimony of faith and hath the witnesse of vertuous living therefore it doth needfully behove all men carefully to endeavour in the exercise of the Law of God for though no man can be justified by the workes of the Law so no man can declare and approve himselfe to be justified but by the workes of the Law for it is God that doth justifie effectually faith doth justifie apprehendingly and good workes doe justifie declaringly Againe By the Law we may judge our selves the knowledge of the Law of God may give every man a true understanding of the state of his life whereby to know in what condition hee standeth whether in the favour or displeasure of Almighty God for the Law is the revealed Will of God to which all men owe conformity upon paine of grievous forfeit and therefore whosoever shall examine the behaviour of his life and compare his severall committings and omittings with the duties of the Law for all ought so to doe shall be well able to understand and judge himselfe The Law a patterne to a Christian life for the Law is the patterne of our lives to which wee ought to square our actions So then when wee find a dissimilitude betwixt the Law and our lives we cannot but judge our selves to be disobedient and rebellious to God and his Lawes and consequently to forfeit our soules to the state of damnation This judgement ought to cause humiliation in all men and so it will in them that God shall make gracious who when they know themselves to be in the disease of sin How the Law doth humble us and that the Law doth wound their consciences with guiltinesse and that themselves have a naturall pronenesse rather to cause then to cure their infirmities this maketh them to deny themselves and their owne power which is but weaknesse and with humblenesse to resort to the mercy and merits of Jesus Christ the Sonne of God and the Physician of our soules Christ the Physician of our soules who only hath beene able to satisfie the justice of the Law and who onely hath beene able to worke the Redemption of mankinde and to repossesse them of Gods favour who had lost it by their transgressions and this our Redeemer hath done by assuming our nature Christ hath fulfilled the Law for us that could not bearing our sins satisfying our contempts and finishing our neglects who in our nature hath fulfilled the Law for us that could not who hath triumphed over sin and made conquest of hell and by his death hath slaine death which but for him had seized our soules into everlasting condemnation Thus will the knowledge of the Law admonish us and thus it will remember us This knowledge presents our soules with matter of serious meditation wherein wee may have a full view of the miserable condition of our life what strength is in our nature what endeavour in our actions for when wee finde an impossibility of our dutifull and strict obedience to the Law wee shall then acknowledge our defects and the corruption of our nature when we examine the particulars of our life and compare them with our duties we shall acknowledge the neglect of our endeavours and that wee have failed not onely in the maine performance of the Law of God which our nature could not performe but in our desires and carefull endeavours to doe well The effects in the Reprobate issuing from the meditation of the Law which our nature might And from this meditation doth necessarily follow one of these two effects in the Reprobate and gracelesse it causeth desperation and a hopelesse distrust of their salvation for when the divell and their consciences expose before them the justice of God the severity of his Law and the infinite measure of their offence the extreme terror and sense of their wickednesse doe so confound their understandings that often they execute upon themselves torment and death despising and despairing of the mercy of Jesus Christ in whom if they had reposed trust The effect of grace in the Regenerate believed and apprehended his righteousnesse their sins had not beene imputed neither had their soules perished But in the children of grace this meditation doth produce a contrary effect for when they by the Law understand the misery whereinto their sins have brought them it causeth in them a wonderfull degree of feare but not desperate for though the divell presents their sinnes in most ugly formes and urge them to a desperate apprehension yet the Spirit of God in thē doth withstand this temptation God supporteth the Elect against temptation and giveth them holy motions to devise the meanes of their salvation presenting them in their spirituall sorrowes with the mercy and merits of Jesus Christ then giving them grace to understand the mysterie of his death and the promise of the imputation of his righteousnesse which when the grieved sinner understandeth he allayeth and mitigateth his sorrow and affieth in the mediation and merits of Jesus Christ his Redeemer The divers effects of the Law Thus the Law produceth contrary effects in contrary spirits it damneth the Reprobate without hope it condemneth the Elect but not damneth them but instructeth and giveth him hope them it judgeth without mercy these it teacheth admonisheth and bringeth them unto Christ therefore though the Law condemne us Resolution let it not condemne our hope for though wee cannot our selves performe the righteousnesse of the Law yet there is one hath done it for us our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ in whom let us confidently repose our hope and respire new life The worke of Faith because we know that his righteousnesse is ours by imputation and that our sins were nailed upon his crosse and suffered death with him when he wrought our redemption Let us therefore enlarge our love without limits to this our Saviour who for our salvation hath beene pleased to undergoe so great a travell Let us admire the admirable degree of his love that for our sakes did descend from his Majesty to take and dignifie the basenesse of our nature Christ hath freed us from the judgement of the Law let us with unspeakable joy meditate his most holy sufferings whereby we are released from the condemnation of the Law let us despise our selves and our owne righteousnesse and apprehend him the onely staffe of our confidence let us never despaire because we know our Redeemer liveth the hope of our salvation but in all the extremities of our life and in all the sorrowes of our conscience To whom repentant sinners should resort let us resort to Jesus Christ the Physician of our soules let
willingnes of Christ to bee apprehended of the faithfull who is alwaies willing and ready to bee apprehended and applyed to our soules by whom wee onely enjoy the peace of conscience and the hope of Heaven therefore no man ought to affy and have any confidence in the pardons of Popes dispensations indulgences and such trash and merchandise whereby the besotted and blinded people of this world is wonderfully delighted for such dangerous pedling stuffe Note must not bee thought to have equall vertue with the blood of Christ or that they have any power in the cure of soules but on the contrary they surfeit the conscience and poyson the soules of them that trust in them inlarging the wounds both in number and griefe Dangerous Physicke and maketh the soule incapable of cure and most unfit to have the precious blood of Christ Jesus applyed unto it Lastly seeing there is no meanes to apprehend and apply this Christ the physicke and Physitian of our soules but onely by a true and lively justifying faith Christ cannot be apprehended but by a true faith only therefore it most necessarily concerneth all men to have this meanes of apprehending Christ because as it is said The salve though most soveraine cannot profit the sore unlesse it bee applyed by faith that being the maine act of our spirituall health all other offices and duties being but circumstances to assist and forward this act Moreover the faith by which wee apprehend Christ must be more then a generall faith for it profiteth not to our health and salvation to know onely that Jesus Christ is the present cure of our soules unlesse we also by a confident and a lively faith apprehend and apply him to the sore of our soules Againe seeing Christ is our only salvation and seeing faith is the only meanes of apprehending him we ought not to seeke or appoint any other meanes or matter of salvation neither any other manner of applying it and therefore no man ought to ascribe righteousnesse to himselfe or his workes or to the supererogating workes of his friends but onely to Jesus Christ and that this Christ is onely apprehended by a saving faith for by faith we live Note by faith we walke by faith wee are justified and our hearts purified by it we vanquish the world and without it it is impossible to please God Let us therefore often meditate this doctrine of repentance what feare what care what affliction is in the soule at such occasion let us practise it in our selves and pity it in others let us condemne sinne to bee the greatest cause of such misery and let us condemne our selves to be the greatest cause of that sinne When wee exercise this spirituall office of repentance let us bee carefully busie in the duties thereof A necessary resolution let us search the wounds of our soules expell and empty the rottennesse and putrefaction thereof search and dresse them search them by a serious examination of our sins and dresse them by an humble and hearty acknowledgement How to dresse the wounds of our soules let us also examine the actions and particulars of our lives let us compare them with our duties and those that proportion not thereto let us call them our errors and our sinnes and the wounds of our soules let us by meanes of faith and prayer referre our defects to bee supplyed to the most absolute satisfactory righteousnesse of our Saviour Jesus Christ The righteousnesse of Christ must supply all our defects what we finde sin let us call it sin let us not flatter our errors nor smooth our deformities and defects in our selves let us not pretend health when wee are dangerously sicke nor safety when wee are mortally wounded We must not foster nor favour no sinnes let us not favour our sins be it a sin of profit or a sin of pleasure in this cause let us despise both let us be sorry for all acknowledge all and earnestly pray for the remission of all if we have gained possessions and wealth by theft extortion or forged cavillation let us restore as our present estate shall enable us let us be ashamed that Zacheus the Publicane shall restore his extortions foure-fold and we not to restore the principall Shun all such sin as the plague or leprosie because we know that salvation will not come to the house that is so infected but as of necessity all sin must bee cured All sinne of necessity must be cured otherwise there is no cure in our repentance let us hate all sin without dispensation of any otherwise we repent not but flatter our selves in presumption and vaine confidence and because nothing can apprehend and apply salvation to our soules but onely by the hands of saving faith let us therefore bee sure that our faith bee lively and stedfast faith let us trie it by the evidence of our workes they will beare us witnesse and testifie what it is and of what nature Workes must try our faith for as our faith in Christ doth justifie us before God so the workes of our faith doe justifie us in the sight of men If the fruit of our faith be good our faith it selfe then must needs be good and availeable to apprehend and apply Jesus Christ our salvation Let us therefore be plentifull in the exercise of good actions that our conscience may testifie our faith and that our faith may bee able to execute the holy office assigned it We must be plentifull in good workes and why when wee have the assurance of this faith let us then with stedfast confidence looke up to Heaven let us seeke him whom our soule loveth and when we have found him let us expose before him the calamity of our soules and our present condition wee are in let us lay open our sins discover our wounds declare our endeavour and report our faith when we have thus done wee may assure our selves that our Saviour will rejoyce at our recovery be glad of our conversion and returne and will shew us his righteousnesse and will also willingly yeeld himselfe unto our faith and give us free liberty in the use of his righteousnesse Apprehension of Christ Let us busily apply our cares to apprehend him in his righteousnesse and stretch our hands of faith to the altar of his Crosse and with a wonderfull degree of comfort apply his sufferings his wounds and his death to heale the wounds which sin hath made in our soules Note and infuse his most precious blood into them and with that blood shall enter the spirit of health and everlasting safety Thus in an instant shall wee finde the happy alteration of our soules and wee that but then were in spirituall griefe The happy alteration of our soules anguish and tribulation shall now finde joy and strength in our soules and our soules that were before wounded deformed and full of the markes of sinne shall now
and the direction of the holy Ghost should keepe the holy day upon that Lords day or Sunday Apoc 1.9.10.11 agreeable to the practise of the ancient Church and worthily solemnize it on the first day of the weeke in memoriall of the worlds redemption to the honour and praise of the Lord Jesus who rose from death to life upon that day This should stirre up all Christians to a thankfull remembrance of their redemption by Christ his resurrection from the dead Hebr. 2.5 2.11 5.9 And note that with the day the blessing of the day is likewise translated to the Lords day because all the sanctification belonging to this new world is in Christ and from and by him conveyed to Christians and because there cannot come a greater motive or cause then the new creation of the world therefore the worship of God is fitler solemnized on this day then on any other The holy Sunday is the Lords market day for the weeks provision Esa 55.1 2 3. wherein he will have us to come unto him and buy of him without gold or silver the bread of Angels and water of life the wine of the Sacraments and the milk of the Word to feed our soules tried gold to inrich our faith Apoc. 3.18 Gen. 2.2 3. Exo. 20.10 11. precious eye salve to heale our spirituall blindnesse and the white rayment of Christs righteousnesse to cover our filthy nakednesse Of Christs Ascension MEditate upon thy Saviours ascension by a holy contemplation Joh. 20.29 thou faithfull soule for Christ withdrew his visible presence from the faithfull to exercise their faith by holy contemplation and blessed are they that see not Mat. 6.21 Act. 8.21 Colos 3.2 and yet believe where our treasure is there let our heart be also Christ our treasure is in heaven let our hearts therefore be set upon those things that are heavenly and meditate upon those things that be above let us put our confidence in the pledge of the holy Spirit which the Lord left unto us at his departure let us put our confidence in the body and blood of Christ which wee receive in the mysterie of the holy Sacrament and let us believe that our bodies which are filled with this incorruptible food shall at length be raised up againe and that which we now believe in faith wee shall then see with our eyes and our hope wee have now in Christ shall then be reall fruition to our soules the Lord is present unto us here but in part Colos 3.4 but in the mansion of his heavenly kingdome Act. 1.9.10.11 12. we shall behold him in his glory and know him as hee is which is our life our Saviour ascended up from the Mount of Olives the Olive is the signe of peace and joy therefore not without great cause hee ascended up from Mount Olivet because by his passion and holy sufferings he hath purchased peace and tranquillity for amazed and terrified consciences not without cause did hee ascend up from the Mount Olivet for the court of heaven exceedingly rejoyce to receive him the Mount doth not onely put us in minde but doth also call and invite us to heavenly things and seeing we cannot follow him with the feete of our body let us follow him with the feete of our holy desires The disciples stood lifting up their eyes Vers 11. and looking towards Heaven so let all the true Disciples of Christ lift up the eyes of their heart to behold and desire heavenly things Sweet Jesus what a blessed and glorious alteration followed thy passion Oh happy and sodaine change how didst thou suffer on Mount Calvary for our sinnes and how doe I now behold thee in the Mount of Olives there thou wast alone here thou art accompanied with many thousands of Angels there thou didst ascend up to the Crosse in disgrace Luke 24.52 here thou didst ascend up into Heaven in a cloud and in glory there wast thou crucified betweene thieves here thou dost rejoyce amongst the company of Angels and Saints there thou wast nayled to the Crosse as a condemned man here thou art at liberty and dost deliver those that were condemned Eph. 5.23 30 there suffering and dying here rejoycing and triumphing Christ is our head and the Saviour of the body we are his members Rejoyce therefore and bee glad thou faithfull soule for though our sinnes doe hinder us yet the communion of nature doth not repell us where the head is there shall the members be also our head is in heaven therefore the members have just and great cause to hope for entrance there not onely so but they are assured already that they have possession there Christ descended from Heaven to redeeme us and againe hee ascended up into heaven to glorifie us unto us was he borne Note for us did he suffer and for us did he ascend our charity is confirmed by Christs passion our faith by Christs resurrection and our hope by Christ ascension Let us strive to follow Christ our Bride-groome not onely with our ardent desire but also with our good workes Acts 21.27 Acts 1.10 for nothing that is defiled shall enter into this heavenly City The Angels that came from heavenly Ierusalem appeared in white robes by purity and innocency is figured that no pride can ascend with the Doctour of humility nor no malice with the Authour of goodnesse with the lover of peace there ascends no discord and with the sonne of the Virgin there ascends no uncleannesse after the parent of vertue there ascend no vices and after the just person there ascends no sinnes Therefore he that desires to see God face to face let him so live here in this world as in his sight and hee that hope for celestiall things let him contemne terrestriall things Our Saviour Christ promised unto his Apostles that after his departure he will send unto them from his father a comforter John 14.26 15.26 Luke 24.47 Vers 47. John 24.17 the holy Ghost the Spirit of truth to testifie of him and to teach them all things and to endue them with power to preach repentance and remission of sinnes in his name among all Nations saying Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you Therefore let not our hearts be troubled neither let us feare but that our Saviour which redeemed us will also through his merits and mediation glorifie us in Heaven O sweet Jesus draw our hearts unto thee whether thou art gone before and that in the meane time wee may immitate thy goodnesse mercy truth and patience and follow thee in the same Amen Of the holy Ghost OUr Lord Jesus ascending up into the Heavens and entring into his glory Acts 2.4 Vers 1. Exod. 10.11 sent the holy Ghost upon the Apostles on the day of Penticost as in the old Testament when God proclaimed the Law in Mount Sinai he came downe unto Moses So when the Gospell was
labour in the minde and a peaceable trouble in the senses Wherefore love exceedeth all the knowledge of all other mysteries and cannot be but in the godly The reason why our love of God is not perfect in this life because the measure of our love is according to the measure of our knowledge 1 Cor. 13.12 13. now in this life we know God but in part as in a glasse but then shall we know him face to face and then shall wee be perfectly blessed and because wee shall then perfectly know him therefore we shall then perfectly love him but no man can hope to have the perfect love of God in the world to come Note which beginneth not first to love God in this world The kingdome of God must begin in the heart of man in this life or else it cannot be consummated in the life to come without the love of God in this life there is no desire of eternall life How then can that man be partaker of the chiefest good which seeketh it not which desireth it not which loveth it not such as thy love is such art thou because thy love transformeth thee into it selfe for love is the chiefest couple because the lover and the thing beloved becommeth one What hath conjoyned the most just God and wretched sinners being infinitely distant in worth Note one from the other but the infinite love of God And because the infinite justice of God might not be weakned the infinite price and love of Christ interceded betwixt sinfull man and the infinite justice of God Againe what hath joyned together God the Creator and the faithfull soule created things infinitely distant but love In the life which is eternall wee shall be joyned to God in the chiefest degree because wee shall then love him in the chiefest degree love uniteth and transformeth therefore he that loveth carnall things shall be carnall if thou lovest the world thou shalt become worldly 1 Cor. 48.49 50 c. but flesh and blood cannot inherite the kingdome of God neither doth corruption inherite incorruption but if thou lovest God and celestiall things thou shalt become celestiall Note The love of God is the Chariot of Elias ascending up into heaven the love of God is the joy of the mind the Paradise of the soule it excludeth the world it overcometh the Divell it shutteth hell it openeth heaven unto us and pleadeth mercy in the justice of the Almighty the love of God is that seale with which God sealeth his servants the elect Rev. 7.3 4. Ephes 4.30 At the last judgement God will acknowledge none to be his but those that are sealed with this seale For faith it selfe the onely instrument of our Justification and Salvation is not true faith unlesse it doe demonstrate it selfe by true love for there is no true faith unlesse there be a firme confidence and there is no firme confidence without the love of God and that benefit received is not acknowledged for which wee doe not give thankes and we doe not give thankes to him which wee doe not love If therefore thy faith be true it will acknowledge the benefit of our redemption wrought by Christ Jesus it will acknowledge and give thanks Note it wil give thanks and love that gracious God who hath bestowed all these saving benefits upon us the love of God is the life and rest of the soule when the soule by death departs from the body then the life of the body departeth but when God departeth out of the soule by reason of sins then the life of the soule departeth Againe God dwels in our hearts by faith Ephes 5.17 Rom. 5.5 God dwels in the soule by love because the love of God is infused into the hearts of the elect by the inspiration of the holy Spirit there is no tranquillity of the soule without the love of God the world the flesh and the divell doe much disquiet it but God is the true rest of the soule Ephes 3.19 and the fulnesse of the knowledge of Christ is the fulnesse of the knowledge and love of God there is no peace of conscience but to those that are justified by faith in Christ there is no love of God but in them that have a filiall confidence in God To conclude in the praise of this peerelesse vertue love is the grace of nature and the glory of reason the blessing of God and the comfort of the world therefore let the love of the world the love of our soules and the love of the creatures die in us that the love of God may live and abound in us which God of his grace beginne in us in this world and perfect in the world to come This love of God is wrought by the meanes of the same spirit dwelling in Christ and the faithfull and incorporateth the faithfull as members unto Christ their head Rom. 8. and so makes them one with Christ and partakers of all the graces holinesse and eternall glory which is in him as sure and as verily as they heare the Word of promise and are partakers of the outward signes of the holy Sacrament Verse 39. What then can be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord The properties of Charity and true Love to our Christian brethren CHrist Jesus our Saviour gave himselfe for us to redeeme us from all our sinnes and wickednesse Titus 2.14 and to purge us a peculiar people followers of good workes To this purpose wee are admonished of the Lord Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes Math. 5.16 c. and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Therefore whilst wee have time let us doe good towards all men and especially towards them of the household of faith To this use the holy Scriptures were given unto us for all Scripture inspired from God 2 Tim. 3.16 17 is profitable to teach to reprove to correct to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God bee perfect and instructed to all good workes It is cleare then that we be not so justified by faith that wee should bee unprofitable barren and unfruitfull of good workes but rather that giving our selves continually unto good workes wee should advance the glory of Gods grace and shew it before the eyes of all men as the light of our new creation for we are regenerated in Christ Eph. 4.23 24. and thereby wee doe declare our selves to bee justified before men Therefore let us not onely shew our selves to be Christians in name but to become good of evill and to declare that goodnesse received of Christ by good workes for they be as certaine fruits of our life witnessing the goodnesse of our mind and declaring the nature of our heavenly Father Good workes bee the workes of faith which worketh by love they be the workes of God which hee worketh in us and by
us but it must be considered with what minde those things be wrought which be of themselves good whether of the affection of love and mercy or for some other cause Let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed verity 1 Iohn 3.18 for hee is not worthy straightway to have the commendation of good workes which doth bestow meate drinke and cloathing upon the poore not of the desire to do good but rather to hunt hauke for glory and praise in the sight of men wherefore all be not immediately good workes which be esteemed to be good unlesse they be such as doe profit their neighbours and that they do proceed from a good and faithfull heart and the affection of charity thereby our faith is exercised fed encreased and strengthened by good workes and that wee be assured by them in our consciences of our election and calling in that wee doe daily more and more feele the grace and vertue of Christ encreasing in us by meanes thereof like as on the contrary part evill workes doe expresse and shew forth more and more the malice and wickednesse of our hearts Therefore Saint Peter admonisheth us to make our election and vocation sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Eccles 28.10 for like as the fire by wasting much wood waxeth greater and stronger so is godlinesse and faith fedde and maintained in Christian men by the study and use of good workes even so by use exercise of vertuousnesse men doe come to a perfect habite of the same and so by imitation of their good workes others bee stirred up to the like desire of godlinesse when they doe see some lively examples in their neighbours that by the applying of good workes to the reliefe and necessities of the poore Jam. 1.27 John 3.17 Hebr. 13.1 2 3 16. needy widdowes fatherlesse prisoners sicke folkes and all other distressed which kind of goodnesse doth resemble the very disposition of God himselfe for the goodnesse which wee are created unto is not determined in the workes of mercy onely but it doth extend unto our whole life and common trade of living together Amity is the true bond of all humane society wherein one man is so knit unto another by mutuall love ayd and service even as the very members and parts of our body doe service one to the necessary use and ayde of the other wherefore they be not men but vaine shapes of men John 5.5 which doe vainely and idlely spend all their life as though they were borne to no other intent and end but to waste and consume upon themselves without regard to their Christian brethren or relieving and supplying their wants and necessities in time of need to which end they were chiefly and necessarily ordained of God next then to doe him service and divine worship for Saint Paul admonisheth all men to walke worthily in the sight of the Lord Col. 1.10 to please him in all points being fruitfull in all good workes for hee that is fruitfull in all good workes doth please the Lord in all things if they be done with a pure and sincere faith for they bee the fruits of faith for good workes are pleasing to God Good workes be done by the Spirit of God because they bee done by his Spirit for he doth worke in us both to will and to performe according unto his good will and pleasure therefore forasmuch as they come from him it cannot be but that they must be liked of him That which is just and good is loved of God as the authour and beginner of them Such is his justice that he loveth the same which is just and good being himselfe of all other most just and the rewarder of all good workes that proceed of faith but wee must not assume the reward of our good workes to proceed of our owne deserts but unto the goodnesse of God who doth worke the effects of godlinesse and charity in them that believe True and sincere love is an inseparable property in the godly no Christian without faith Iohn 15.17.12 13 14. and no faith without charity where there is not the brightnesse of charity neither is there the zeale of faith Note take away the light from the sun and thou maist aswell take charity from faith Charity is the outward act of the inward life of a Christian the body is dead without the spirit James 2.26 so faith is dead without charity He is not of Christ that hath not the Spirit of Christ and hee hath not the Spirit of Christ Gal. 5.22 that hath not the gift of charity for charity is the fruit of the Spirit and the bond of perfection Col. 3.14 Note As the members of the body are knit together by the Spirit that is the soule so the true members of the mysticall body of Christ are united by the holy Spirit in the bond of charity 1 King 6.21 22 Salomons Temple was all covered with gold within and without so let Gods Temple be all beautified with love and charity both within and without let charity move thy heart to compassion and thy hand to contribution for compassion is not sufficient unlesse there bee also outward contribution neither is outward contribution sufficient unlesse there be also inward compassion 1 Iohn 4.7 c. faith receiveth all from God and charity giveth againe unto our neighbours God is love and by faith we are partakers of his divine nature no man believeth in Christ which loveth not Christ and no man loveth Christ unlesse he love his neighbour neither doth he apprehend the benefits of Christ with true confidence of heart that doth deny his neighbour the office which hee oweth unto him That is not truly a good worke which proceedeth not from faith Rom. 14.13 neither is it truely a good work which proceedeth not from charity charity is the seed of all vertues it is no good fruit which springeth not from the root of charity for charity is the spirituall taste of the soule for unto it alone is every good thing sweet and pleasant every hard thing sweet yea all troubles and adversities sweet 1 Ioh. 13.34 35 It profits not to give all that one hath unto the poore if hee hath not charity for the outward action is done in hypocrisie if there bee not inward love Rivers of bounty profit not unlesse it spring from the fountaine of charity Charity is patient for no man is easily angry with him that he loveth charity is bountifull for hee that by charity hath bestowed his heart which is the chiefe good of the soule how can he deny his outward goods to his neighbour which are of farre lesse worth Charity envieth not because hee that hath charity looketh unto anothers good as upon his owne Charity thinketh no ill 1 Cor. 13.1 c. but loveth truly and from his heart Charity is the bridle of anger Charity is simply
both caused and continued in us by the secret power of God our selves being meerly passive and moved to divine exercise by the onely direction of the holy Ghost and therefore that we doe ascribe the honour of every good action to God by whom it is caused and utterly disgrace our selves in our owne estimation because Gods grace doth leade every man to every particular action of goodnesse Note Againe seeing that by faith in Christ God doth both cancell and abolish our sinnes and repute us righteous in his presence it doth remember all men the admirable degree of Gods favour and the powerfull operation of faith First Gods favour towards us hee being pleased to forgive us our sins and deserts of condemnation and to give and impute the most absolute righteousnesse of his deare Sonne Christ to all men upon this easie condition of faith that such who have a true faith to apprehend him shall be accepted in his favour as sonnes and shall appeare in the presence of God as equally righteous as if themselves had actually performed righteousnesse in their owne particular persons Secondly Heb. 11.1 c. wee are taught the powerfull operation of true faith that it is able to enter heaven and to apprehend and apply Christ and his righteousnesse to reconcile the favour of God unto us and to satisfie his displeasure to wash off the leprosie and spots of our sins and to put on us the garment of righteousnesse even Jesus Christ the Sonne of God by whom and through whom wee are justified in the fight of God and by whom also wee shall be saved Let us therefore carefully endeavour our selves in a constant exercise of all godly actions not that we repose our justification in the vertue or merit of our owne workes but that by the testimony of our good works we may approve our selves to be faithfull and that our faith is more than a common or a generall historicall faith even a living and a saving faith which is and must be the onely meanes of our apprehending Christ who is the all-sufficient and onely matter of our justification and let this be the onely glory and pride of our well-doing that this witnesse of workes shall gaine us the reputation of Gods servants and that Gods faithfull children here on earth shall esteeme and repute us to be of their fellow-brethren then which let us never desire a greater cause of boasting and this judgement of good men must needs rise from the testimony of good workes because there is an inevitable necessity of consequence and necessary dependence betweene faith and workes they being as inseparable as the heat from the fire and as necessarily depending as the body and the soule let this provoke us to a zealous forwardnesse of all godly actions because thereby we shall conclude the assurance of our justifying faith and thereby satisfie the desire of our owne soules and that doubt which otherwise might justly be had of us in the common opinion of men From this argument must needs follow this conclusion that seeing we have the fruits of faith Note good works therefore we have also the cause of workes true faith and that therefore this faith thus working is a tree of Gods owne planting this is that use this is that comfort and consolation which wee shall understand and find in the nature of our best deserving workes thus let us esteeme them and but thus let us therefore avoid and abolish that dangerous opinion of meriting by workes because it is farre better to want honour then to force it from God by violence nay let us rather disgrace our selves then to dis-inable our Saviour Jesus Christ for if righteousnesse be from our selves it is not onely from him and then would follow that absurd and blasphemous conclusion that he is not the onely Saviour neither hath perfected the worke of mans salvation let us therefore doe all the good we can Note but let us repute our deeds though never so good to be the effect and not the cause of goodnesse in us let us also confidently hold that nothing is able to merit salvation but onely the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ let us therefore utterly disclaime our selves and our owne power which is nothing but weaknesse and wholly ascribe all vertue and all power to our Saviour Christ for it is safer to give him honour then to take it from him and it will farre better become our Christian modesty to acknowledge our weakenesse and infirmities then proudly to boast and advance our selves above our deserts and worthinesse If therefore God by the moving of his holy Spirit doe incline our hearts unto godlinesse hee will also give us grace to continue in the same and give us a desire and power in godly exercise which when it makes us grow plentifull in the demonstration of holinesse let us ascribe the glory thereof unto God to whom it is due onely and onely acknowledge our selves to be that instrument whereby his holy hand of grace is pleased to work with to our salvation Of Faith FAith is the ground the foundation and the pillar of the truth 1 Tim. 3. and it is the constant assent of the heart unto those things which bee taught and promised by the word of God for to believe is to assent unto the same which we doe heare it is also a certaine and sure perswasion of the heart What it is to believe that there is a God whereby wee doe believe certaine things of God as that there is a God and that there is but one and none other besides him that hee is omnipotent the creator of heaven and earth that he is just doing good to the righteous and punishing the wicked that he is good gentle and mercifull to them that doe amend their sinfull life that he is true and keepeth promise that he is able to performe what hee hath promised that hee is everlasting and many other things that bee reported of him in holy Scriptures and to beleeve also of Christ that hee is the onely begotten Sonne of God the word of God made flesh true God and true man our onely Lord redeemer Saviour and Mediatour hee was crucified dead buried and rose againe taken up into Heaven touching his manhood and that he sitteth at the right hand of the father and that he shall come at the end of the world to judge the quicke and the dead and many other things set forth in the Evangelists and Apostles and to believe of the holy Spirit that he is of the same Godhead equall with the Father and the Sonne that he is of the light giver of the minds the comforter teacher reliever renewer sanctifier and governour of the elect of God this maketh a great matter to the salvation of man how it be grounded in their hearts Secondly To believe God that we doe believe God also that is to credit and to believe his word as the word of
Angels Gal. 3.10 by the hand of a mediator not that the Angels did principally give the Law and appoint the covenant but that there service was to attend by the holy ministration Againe the Law was given by God by the hand of Moses in the presence of the Angels to give unto the Israelites because the Spirit of God had so sanctified Moses that hee was able to stand in the presence of God Exod. 20.18 19 the which the host of the Israelites could not doe but became astonished and exceedingly afraid at the voice of Gods thunders and therefore they desired Moses to negotiate betweene God and them they being not able to endure the presence of his Majesty Againe it was given by the hand of Moses because God would honour him above the rest of his brethren he having beene most industrious and constant in the service of God and therefore as God had by the hand of Moses given them deliverance out of Aegypt so by the hand of Moses hee would give them the covenants of his everlasting love Note and deliverance out of the bondage of sinne which grace was promised to all them that would live within the compasse of these lawes and is now given to all them that faithfully endeavour them though they faile in the maine performance therein Iohn 1.17 For the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Lastly the Law was given by name to the Israelites but in the purpose of God to all men all men being under the bondage of the Morall law of God the Law being able to judge and condemne all men Againe God gave it by name to the Israelites because they were then the choyce and select people of God for whom hee had done his wonders and to whom hee had promised a faire inheritance it also derived downe upon us and upon all posterities all men having entred into covenant with God to endeavour themselves in the faithfull keeping of his Commandements these circumstances are all necessarily considered in the maner of Gods delivering the Law From this may be generally observed that God in all his actions hath principall respect to holinesse and that no prophane circumstances assist him in his actions but as himselfe is most holy so his delight is in holy actions and hateth all prophanation both in matter and circumstance In the Law may generally bee observed an impossibility in the precise performance and keeping thereof no man being able An impossibility in the strict performance of the Law Acts 15.10 without favour to give a true account and to make an even reckoning with the Law the law being able to conclude us all under sinne it is an argument of Saint Peter now therefore why tempt ye God to lay a yoke that is the performance of the Law on the disciples neckes which neither our fathers nor we were able to beare Gal. 2.16 Saint Paul also to the Galatians concludeth an impossibility to be justified by the Law By the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified so that no man ought to repose his Justification in the Law Gal. 3.22 All men are judged by the Law yet every man ought to endeavour therein his utmost performance Secondly men are judged by the Law to be guilty and deservers of everlasting damnation This generall judgement of the Law against all flesh doth conclâ—de all men in the state of damnation no man being able to deliver himselfe from this judgement before the Law be fully satisfied which could not be done by other meanes then by the righteousnesse and death of Jesus Christ Gal 4.5 the Sonne of God and Redeemer of the World Seeing the severity of the Law of God Deut. 5 2. c. that no flesh can be saved by the workes of the Law therefore at the delivering of the Law when the Israelites promised Moses that they would doe whatsoever God should command them God seemes to expresse a passion of his love and to require lesse then the Law for the Law requireth a precise performance upon paine of damnation but God promised the blessing of his favour to all them that zealously endeavoured to keep the Law Vers 19. for howsoever no man can observe the ordinances of the Law Gal. 3.11 as thereby to be righteous and to deserve the promise yet did God accept the faithfull endeavours of men and supply their defects by the grace and operation of his holy Spirit Therefore God saith to Moses O that there were such an heart in them to feare me and to keepe my Commandements tâ—at it might goe well with them Deut. 5 29. and with their children for ever God is mercifull in his severest justice This doth prevent an objection which the wicked disobedient children might make against God and his Law seeing the Law of God doth require a greater duty then is in any mans performance and seeing that the Law doth condemne all them that faile in the least particular duty of the Law wherefore God might seeme to bee mercilesse in the severity of his justice God that made the Law is above the Law and their labour fruitlesse to attempt that which was unpossible both which are wickedly false for though the Law condemne every man yet God that made the Law is above the Law and dâ—th often grant his dispensation and pardon them whom his Law condemnes Secondly though no man can performe the Law yet all men may endeavour it the which endeavour being faithfull and industrious is accepted of Ood as if it were performance and this doth take from all men all matter of argument whereby they would excuse their disobedience He that endevours the Law hath the promise and neglect in their dutifull service to God for as is said though no man be able to doe the Law yet all men are able to endeavour it and this doth necessarily admonish all Christians in these times who presume over boldly on the liberty of faith that because Christ Jesus the Saviour of the world hath satisfied the justice of the Law Man must nor presume on the liberty of faith and wrought righteousnesse to all them that faithfully believe and apprehend his merits therefore they despise the workes of the Law holy and charitable exercises and repose themselves on the bare confidence of faith onely the which being altogether fruitlesse in the works of the Law A fruitlesse faith profiteth nothing is but presumption and vaine confidence and will dangerously deceive all them that affie therein for though Christ Jesus hath abolished the ceremoniall Law and satisfied the justice of the morall Law the which is availeable to all them that shall be heires of salvation yet his righteousnesse in observing the Law Christ hath not destroyed the Law but qualified it doth not destroy the substance of the Law and make it fruitlesse and uselesse but doth rather command our imitation
God false repentance by the feare we have of Gods justice and the punishment due to our sinnes the one is the office of a sonne the other is the office of a slave both of them repenting one matter but for divers respects Sinne then is the materiall cause of repentance the moving cause is God who moving by his holy Spirit in the hearts of his Elect presents them the ugly formes of their sinnes God is the moving cause in every office of grace awakes their consciences and stirres them to a serious cogitation of their sinnes and wretchednesse giving them still such proportion of grace as the degrees of their repentance and spirituall sorrow shall require and that God is the first moving cause to godly repentance is evident by many places of Scripture namely the second of Timothy where Saint Paul advising Timothy to instruct them that are contrary minded he giveth this reason 2 Tim. 2. Vers 25. Because ye shall thereby prove if God at any time will give them repentance that they may know the truth Here repentance is called the gift of God which doth utterly barre man from all cause of boasting his owne ability in this necessary duty for saith the Apostle Eph. 2.8.9 You are saved by grace through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of workes least any man should boast himselfe Also in the Acts of the Apostles proving Jesus to bee Christ and God coequall to his Father Acts 5.31 useth this argument before the counsell of the Jewes that God made him a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sins where the power of forgiving of sins and giving repentance is made a proofe of his divinity interposed betweene his office of Saviour and his power of forgiving of sins These places out of many sufficiently prove that God is the first and principall moving cause of fruitfull repentance Note now God moveth not repentance in all them that repent for sin but onely in them that truly repent his chosen Elect. Now of the cure or meanes of deliverance from spirituall griefe In the curing is considered first the preparing and dressing of the wounded soule whereby it is made fit for curing Secondly the matter to be applied to the soule Thirdly the manner of applyment In the preparing of the wounded soule there be foure things necessary First a spirituall sorrow for sinne that is ascent of sorrow in the soule caused by a cogitation of sin and guiltinesse and this is a necessary preparative in a repentant soule for that soule cannot desire a spirituall refreshment that hath not first a sense of sorrow and feeling of present calamity This preparative to repentance was in the Jewes that were hearers of holy Peter when he declared before them their sinne in crucifying the Lord Jesus Acts 2.37 for the text saith When they heard it they were pricked in their hearts and said what shall we doe as if the present sorrow and anguish did so astonish them as they knew not what to doe nor how to advise themselves Humble acknowledgement The next preparative is an humble acknowledgement of the soule of the misery it is in and an exposing of such particular griefes as we finde in the register of our conscience this is also necessary in the preparing of our soules For though God the Physition of our sicke soules understand our sinnes better then our selves and can remember them better then conscience yet it is great reason that hee which desireth the health of his soule should declare so much of his griefe as hee can remember not to instruct or helpe the knowledge of God but to confesse and acknowledge our selues and our dutifull desires This acknowledgement of sinne was common in the custome of holy David The example of holy David Psal 32.5 6. how often hath hee confessed his sinne and exposed his griefe before God for God is so desirous of our good as that then he readily helpeth us when we doe but carefully desire it Therefore saith the Prophet David I said I would confesse my sinne unto the Lord Vers 6. and so thou forgavest the wickednesse thereof David did but say he would confesse his sinne God taketh his word and forgave him his sinnes and certainely humble and unfeyned acknowledgement in our repentance is an undoubted testimony that God doth give us grace and that he will without question give us his favour The third preparative consisteth in holy action that is No man can satisfie Gods justice for sin when we endeavour a reformation and declare our repentance in a conscionable discharge of our duty for though no man can satisfie the justice of God for sinne yet ought all men so much as they have by the power of grace given them to satisfie men For example he that stealeth or defraudeth be it by force or of fraud is of necessitie bound to make restitution if he be able And this the reformed Publican Zacheus well understood who professing before Christ his reformation and repentance to witnesse it to be true and unfeigned hee gave this infallible token Behold Lord Luk. 19.8 9. saith he the halfe of my goods I give to the poore and if I have taken from any man by force or forged cavillation I restore him foure-fold and the Text saith in the next Verse that then salvation was come into his house and so Zacheus endevouring that hee could not did at one time entertaine both his Saviour and his salvation therefore though no man can satisfie the Law yet every man must endeavovr it otherwise his repentance is idle and but vaine neither can hee have part in the righteousnesse and redemption of Jesus Christ Psa 25.1 2 c. The last preparative is prayer that is a lifting up of the heart to God with faith unfeigned and hopefull confidence in the exercise of prayer there is a double office First wee must expose our griefe next we must implore his favour for as in ordinary cures in surgery Note the patient must first suffer his wounds to be ript launst and search'd before the remedy can be applyed to the sore so must wee rip and search the wounds of our soule avoid and empty the infectious matter and when we have it out 2 King 19.14 1â— 16. we must use it as Hezekiah did the blasphemous letter of Rabshakeh spread it all before the Lord and then with earnest humblenesse implore his favour lay open our sins unto him and confesse that these are they that have wounded our soules troubled our conscience for which we grieve for which we pray when our soule is thus prepared there is joy in our repentant teares pleasure in our griefe and hope in our spirituall sorrow and then and not before are wee made fit to apprehend and apply Christ Jesus the salvation of our soule The matter of the cure of
eternall life and wee are sure and believe that thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God and Christ said unto them which believed in him John 8. if you abide in my word you be verily my Disciples and you shall know the truth thereof commeth that assurednesse of faith Note whereof mention is made before In Gods case and Religion all things are blind and doubtfull to mans naturall reason but unto faith they be certaine and cleare and thereby we know that wee be the children of God faith doth take hold of the gifts of God which we doe request of him in prayer the attainment of the which cannot be hoped for nor trusted upon without wee aske in fayth James 1.6 wherefore Saint Iames saith Let him aske in faith doubting nothing for hee that is doubting and wavering is like a wave of the Sea tost to and fâ—owith the wind and carried with violence And Christ sayth Verily I say unto you Mark 11.23 24 whatsoever you request in your prayers believe that you shall obtaine it and it shall befall unto you Againe fayth doth worke in him that is justified a peaceable quiet good and contented conscience towards God through Christ so the Apostle testifieth saying Therefore being justified by faith Rom. 5. we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ without this fayth it is impossible that wee should have a quiet conscience towards God for as is sayd before that by fayth wee doe apprehend the grace of reconcilement and justification purchased for us in the blood of Christ fayth must needs therefore worke in us the invocation adoration Rom. 10. and worship of him whom wee doe believe in How shall they call upon him sayth the Apostle in whom they have not believed and the blind man which our Saviour made to see when he had sayd Lord I doe believe John 9.38 The confessiâ—n of truth hee worshipped him immediately in whom he beleeved For by fayth wee doe confesse the truth that is once beleeved and knowne of us So the Apostle doth joyne fayth and confession together for to beleeve with the heart justifieth and to acknowledge with the mouth maketh a man safe having the selfe-same spirit of faith At the poynt of death wee doe by fayth commend our soules and spirit unto the Lord. So did the thiefe upon the Crosse Math. 27. Acts 7.59 and Saint Stephen also when he was stone this is the last worke of faith towards God for after the yeelding up of the Spirit once there is no longer place nor use of faith These bee therefore the workes of fayth towards God first the love of God a good conscience towards our neighbour hope of things to come a boldnesse to repaire by prayer to the Throne of grace invocation adoration and worship confession of the truth obedience perseverance and the yeelding up of the Spirit to goe immediately unto God the faithfull are comforted in the Lord by the benefit of fayth whereupon Christ also when hee admonished his Disciples from whence they should seeke their comfort in adversity he said John 14.1 c. Let not your hearts be troubled believe in God believe also in me for there is in none greater goodnesse in none greater mercy in none greater knowledge of those things wherewith all our hearts be tormented in none more knowledge and power to helpe and ayde then is in God himselfe 2 Cor. 1.3 so that he is justly called the father of mercies and God of all comfort For he that is faythfull doth apply himselfe to the goodnesse of God and by it wee doe perceive the efficacy and sence thereof and it bringeth comfort unto the troubled heart By fayth wee doe believe the promises of grace and doe by it embrace those things which be spoken of God in his word fayth doth also mortifie the concupiscence of the flesh and maketh a mans mind humble and lowly and worketh many other notable matters in the hearts of the beleevers This excellent and rare jewell is faith the excellence whereof is surpassing precious wherewith we must of necessity be endued to become perfect men Heb. 11. Saint Paul sayth that Faith is the ground of things hoped for and the evidence of things which are not seene This is a speciall jewell and happy is the man that hath it but in quantity comparable to a graine of Mustard seed it is the ground of things hoped for as if it were sayd whatsoever crosse or calamity vexeth us if wee hope for reliefe and ease wee must ground it upon fayth otherwise our hope is no hope It is the evidence of things not seene Note it is the patefaction or laying open as it were of the very thing though farre from our sight which is expected and longed for in hope the thing hoped for through it is as it were Eph. 1. evidently seene and layd before our eyes wee may upon this ground build so certaine a foundation of hope of the joyes to come as if we were setled in Heaven it selfe with Christ It is indeed the assurance of all our comforts in the promises of God and whensoever wee lay this evidence before the celestiall Judge by prayers for therein it appeareth to be fayth or not to be he cannot but allow it so current lawfull and effectuall as that whatsoever wee aske though wee see nothing to answere our hope yet wee may assure our selves that wee shall obtaine our desires at such time and in such sort as shall bee most fittest for our necessities in so much as wee may be bold to say wee are already partakers of that we looke for before it come Psa 34.8 9 10. because comming it will come and our fayth which is the ground and the evidence of things hoped for shall not be in vaine and therefore in what danger so ever we are we must open this evidence even our fayth unto the Almighty in humble suit and hearty prayer that as his promises are manifold for the releefe of his children and his meanes infinite so will he accept of our faith Psal 91. wherein wee stand assured that hee is God al-sufficient full of mercy and truth able and willing to grant what we aske and first we must consider that there is no dissembling with God neyther can wee bragge of this rare jewell and yet bring forth the fruits of infidelity which then appeareth when wee shew our selves impatient at the chastisements and corrections of the Lord and when we grudge to stay the Lords leasure for helpe and when leaving the meanes commanded by God wee runne to worldly and forbidden meanes these things can we not shroud nor cloake under any colour or pretence for hee that searcheth the heart findeth every dissimulation Acts 5. he found out Ananias and Saphyra in their hypocrisie and gave them the reward of death because they would seeme to have faith and dissembled Learne of the
the Apostle saith of Abraham that he believed in hope against hope Rom. 8. because hee knew that God is so mighty that he is able to performe whatsoever he promiseth faith commeth not of hope neither doth knowledge come of hope but hope is bred of the faith of the promises and knowledge of the might of God the Prophet saith They shall hope upon thee O Lord Psal 9. which have knowne thy name for that thou dost not forsake them which doe seeke thee and doe hope upon thy mercies in Christ But for as much as it is not possible that the heart of a sinner which is troubled for his sinnes and afflicted for Christ should be faithfull without hope whilest hee is in the very temptations and sufferings of his troubles the beginning of hope cannot come of proofe wherefore that which the Apostle saith Rom. 5.3 4. that proofe breedeth hope is to be understood not of the beginning but rather of the encrease of hope and maketh up and perfecteth it for the Apostle meaneth not that troubles laid upon men for Christs sake should decay the hope of the glory of the children of God God is our hope and strength a very present helpe in trouble but enforceth it the more making it therby more supreme and fast so then the beginning of hope comes of faith and the knowledge of God For as much as hope is of things invisible and to come and not of things visible and present it falleth out oftentimes that the hearts of them which live in hope be sore assaulted and their hope so impaired in their troubles miseries and afflictions that they need aid succour and strength whereby it may be cherished and encouraged lest it doe utterly decay and perish yea the very tarrying in the deferring of those things which we doe hope for is so troublesome irkesome and loathsome that though there be no temptation at all joyned with it yet it is alone sufficient to drive a mans hope unto desperation unlesse it be upholden by the divine assistance of Gods grace Prov. 13.12 this Salomon meant when he said the hope which is deferred and prolonged doth afflict and torment the soule who doth not see what great need wee have of the helps and ratifying of Gods grace especially if wee doe consider the weaknesse of our flesh ready to mistrust despaire and the understanding of our owne sins and unworthinesse according unto the which wee doe esteeme our selves as the refuse and cast-awaies of the people the very shame and filth of all men to stand steddy in assured hope but by the vertue and might of God therefore let us see whereby the hope of a Christian man is nourished and strengthened The Christian hope is nourished and confirmed from God Job 39. for it is a cleare case that both hope and faith are the speciall gifts of God so that the strength and nourishment thereof doth come specially from God in as much as he which giveth us the hope doth also nourish and confirme the same in our hearts God doth not forsake his gifts as wee doe reade of the Estrige in Job which departeth and leaveth her egges in the ground and careth not for them whether that they be saved or doe perish but hee doth nourish encrease and preserve all those gifts which hee hath once given unto any man Note and this hee doth by the operation of the holy Spirit whereby he doth cherish feed defend and strengthen both the fayth and hope in the hearts of the Elect. For this is the sure anker of our salvation which the divell may endeavour but never breake the cable hold thereof for God doth fasten and make it tough by his grace and vertue so that he doth preserve the same by his strength and ayd which could not bee wrought by all the power and might of man The party which is in hope when hee feeleth the strength of temptation Prov. 15 8. he flyeth immediately unto his Lord God by prayer earnestly requesting that he may be preserved and not to be overcome by temptations so the Lord warned his Disciples in the garden when the ppwer of darknesse was at hand saying Math. 26.41 Watch and pray that yee enter not into temptation indeed the spirit is willing but the flesh is weake and hee himselfe hath taught us in the Lords prayer to say Luke 11. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evill In the Psalmes of David the Prophet had made such formes of prayers whereby he sought comfort and strength to his hope by praying and singing to bee delivered out of all his troubles Therefore the fayth of Gods promises and the knowledge of the truth and might of God to performe Rom. 4 13 15. doth minister much helpe and strength to the travelling hope for the hope of things to come is nourished by the milke of the same fayth which breeds it and the strength of fayth is made the strength of hope Augustin cha 14. Augustine in his booke of meditations writing in the confirmation of his hope saith There bee three things which doe strengthen and confirme my heart that no lacke of deserts no consideration of my owne basenesse no regard of heavenly blessednesse can thrust mee downe from the high expectation of my hope for my soule is fast rooted therein Now to know the matter why wee must consider and weigh three things in which our whole hope doth consist the love of adoption the truth of Gods promise and his power to performe what he hath promised and if thus to beleeve we may be assured that God in his exceeding great love hath adopted us his children Patience of afflictions Rom. 5.1 c. Againe the very sufferance also of afflictions wherewith the Christian man is tranâ—aled and tryed doth make hope lusty and strong as appeareth by the Apostle and on the contrary impatience doth decay that hope that is The example of godly persons and makes it unprofitable unto us the examples also of godly men which have holden on their hope firme and sure in all kind of their temptations and troubles even till the very end have received the crowne of immortall life as the reward of their hope Heb. 11. may profit much to the cherishing and establishing of our hope as is shewed in the Epistles to the Hebrews and straight addeth in the beginning of the twelfth Chapter Heb. 12.1 2. Therefore seeing that wee have so great a number of godly fathers our witnesses let us shake off that burthen of sinne which sticketh so fast unto us and would presse us downe and with joy and sufferance Vers 3. let us runne the race appoynted us ever looking unto Jesus the Captaine and finisher of our fayth and for the joy that is set before us let us with hope endure the crosse hope keepeth and stayeth the workeman in his worke and desperation is full
Almighty God and they labour with content and alacrity the divels have neither liberty nor pleasure but being fettered with limitations cannot doe what they would but what they are licensed to doe The Angels are Gods servants the divels are his slaves both labour in his worke but with great inequality the testimony of Scripture doth set forth a number of authorities which because they are frequent I will produce onely some few Psal 104. which may satisfie doubt the Prophet admiring and praising God for his wonderfull creating and governing the World saith God made the Spirits that is the Angels Messengers and a flaming fire his Ministers Verse 4. For when they be sent they be Angels when they be spirits they bee no Angels for Angell is the name of the office and not of nature for respecting that whereof it is hee is a Spirit and in respect of that which he doth he is an Angell Againe who to prove the preheminency of the Sonne of God saith Heb. 1.6 that all the Angels worship him and proveth by the testimony of the Prophet Vers 7. that Angels are but messengers or ministers and that they are of a substance like fire or pure ayre by which testimony is proved both the nature and office of the Angels their nature that they are spirits like fire their office that they are ministers or messengers are they not all ministring spirits Vers 14. sent forth to minister for their sakes that shall bee heires of salvation by which is declared the purpose of their ministration and service that is for the good and benefit of the Elect of God both to prevent the enemy and to further them in their holy exercise To prove the power of Angels wee may remember in Exodus what God by an Angell did for the Israelites Exod. 14. when he brought them out of Aegypt by an Angell and by an Angell God destroyed in the host of Senacherib in one night 185000. 2 King 29.35 The Scripture is full of demonstrations of their powerfull acts God working his admirable effects by the service of his Angels Againe if we reduce to memory the most admirable of all Gods mercies we shall finde that in the execution thereof his Angels are either Ministers or Messengers and oft both to omit many other particulars and come to the most worthy most meritorious and most happy the Redemption of mankind by the birth and by the death of Jesus Christ were not the Angels continuall workers in that administration God sent his Angell Gabriel to bring the first newes thereof to the blessed Virgin Mary Luke 1.26 againe as soone as Christ was borne of the Virgin Luke 2.9 c. the holy Angell did publish and preach it to the Shepherds and multitudes of heavenly Souldiers praysed and magnifyed God for so great a benefit How often did the holy Angels visit and comfort our Saviour Math. 2.13 Math. 4.11 an Angell bids him flie into Aegypt the Angels waite upon him in the desert Luke 22 43 44 the Angels ministred unto him in the holy ministery of his preaching an Angell was present with him at the agony of death Math. 28.2 Acts 1.10 Math. 24.31 an Angell appeared at his resurrection the Angels were present at his ascension the Angels shall attend him when he returnes to judgement So then as the Angels waited upon Christ Note in the daies of his flesh so are they now solicitous for all them that are incorporated into Christ by faith as they served the head so doe they also serve the members they rejoyce to serve them here whom they shall have their companions in Heaven they doe not deny their ministery unto them whose most sweet fellowship they hope for hereafter There appeared to Jacob campes of Angels in the way to his Country Gen. 32.1 2. so in this life which is the way to our heavenly Country the Angels are Conductors and made Keepers of the holy ones The Angels defended Daniel in the midst of the Lyons Daniel 6.22 so likewise they defend all the godly from the treacheries and cruelty of the infernall lyon the divell Gen. 19.15 c. 19. The Angels preserved Lâ—t from the fire of Sodome so the Angels doe defend the faithfull by holy inspirations and gracious protections against the divels tentations the Worlds incantations and the fire of hell Luke 16.22 The Angels carried the soule of Lazarus into Abrahams bosome and so they translate the soules of the Elect unto the Pallace of all heavenly happinesse Acts 12.8 9. the Angell lead Peter out of prison so he doth deliver the godly out of most apparent dangers Great is the power of our adversaries but the guard of holy Angels is able and will defend the faithfull from them and doubt not but they will bee with them present Exod. 25.20 Esay 6.2 to ayde them in all places at all times and in all dangers the Scripture describeth them with wings under the figure of Cherubin Seraphin because thou maist know assuredly that they will come with incredible celerity to bring ayd and succour thee make no doubt but they will be thy protectours in all places in all dangers because they are most subtill spirits which no body can resist all visible things give way unto them and all bodies though they bee solid and thicke by them are made penetrable and passable Math. 18.10 The looking-glasse of the Deity is no argument of the Angels knowing all our necessities for that specular knowledge is but dispensatory Doe not doubt thou faithfull soule but these spirits know thy dangers and afflictions because they alwaies behold the face of thy heavenly Father and are alwaies ready prest for his service and thy safegard know also thou devout soule that these Angels are holy therefore study and endeavour holinesse if thou wouldst enjoy their fellowship accustome thy selfe therefore to holy actions if thou desirest to have the holy Angels thy keepers in every place and angle stand in awe and reverence of thy Angell and doe nothing in his presence that thou wouldst be ashamed to doe in the sight of man These Angels are chaste therefore they are driven away by thy impurity and filthy actions for filthy and lamentable sinnes drive away the Angels the keepers of our life if by thy sinne thou deprivest thy selfe of their tuition how canst thou be safe from the divells trecheries and the worlds tyrannies if thou be'st destitute of the Angels protection how canst thou be safe from the invasions of many imminent and ensuing dangers Hebr. 1.14 if thy soule be not guarded by the Angels defence the divell will overcome it by his deceitfull perswasions The Angels are Gods messengers sent unto us from him therefore if thou wilt have an Angell to be thy keeper thou must be reconciled by faith and true repentance where the grace of God is not neither is there the
guard of Angels the Angels are as Gods saving hands which are moved to no worke without his divine direction The Angels rejoyce in heaven over a sinner that repenteth the teares of the penitent are as it were the wine of the Angels but an impenitent heart puts to flight the Angels our keepers let us therefore repent that wee may cause the Angels to rejoyce the Angels are of a heavenly and spirituall nature let us therefore thinke upon spirituall and heavenly things that they may remaine with us and take pleasure in our company The heele which is the extreme part of our body and the last terme of our life the wicked Serpent lyeth in wait for at the time of death therfore in that last agony of death the Angels guard is most necessary and needfull that they may deliver us from the firie darts of the divell and carry our soule when it is departed out of the prison of our body into the heavenly Paradise Luk. 1.11 12 13. When Zachary was in the Temple busie about his holy function the Angell of the Lord came unto him so if thou doe likewise delight in the exercise of the holy Word and Prayer thou mayst rejoyce to have the Angels thy protectors Thus wee may see by the testimony of Scriptures what the Angels are what their office and how they are affected of so gracious a disposition and so inclinable to the good of men Luk. 15.7.10 that they have consolation and joy in heaven among themselves at the conversion of a sinner â—oby 12.15 therefore in all respects of noblenesse and excellency they are the soveraigne of all Creatures whom God hath ordained to be continuall waiters in his holy presence and workers of his blessed Will and Pleasure It is by many doubted by some demanded Question whether men may not lawfully implore the favour and assistance of Angels it is dangerous to acknowledge Apoc. 22 8 9. lest thereby we take divinity from God and give it to his Angels they are therefore dangerously deceived who for giving the holy Angels demonstration of thankes give them adoration and divine worship and so coveting to please displease both God and his holy Angels that attend on them this is one extremity There is another and that is remissenesse when men acknowledge no reverence no respect to the dignity of holy Angels The holy men in all ages at the sight of an Angell Gen 18.2 3. would use extraordinary respect of humility and reverence as Abraham hee bowed himselfe to the ground in reverence of an Angell and called him Lord so likewise in the example of all the godly though in these times the Angels doe not present themselves as in the old world in visible formes therefore they neede no reverence yet they are often present in their spirituall natures which though wee cannot discerne them with our corporall eyes yet a spirituall judgement by holy contemplation may discerne them with the eye of faith for if there be a duty of reverence to men with whom wee converse doubtlesse there is a reverence also due to the holy Angels which doe converse and are conversant with us This Doctrine of the Creation the Nature the Power and the Office of Angells doth admonish and remember all men to make these and such like profitable uses to put us in remembrance of the mighty power of God and that in a double respect first being able by the power of his Word to create a Creature of such excellence and power of nature in nature excellent in number infinite Secondly being served and attended by these infinit number of powerfull creatures one whereof is able if God please to command to destroy the world and all the generations on earth God then being of such infinite power in himselfe in his servants the Angels it ought justly to move all men to a reverence of so great a Majesty and feare to provoke a power so able and infinite Againe the apostacy of those Angels that fell from their obedience and first state of happinesse doth admonish all men that seeing the Angels of such power of such excellence and so neere God in his favour and presence were tempted to fall from so great happinesse Let no man therefore be secure or presume in the confidence of his owne trust but daily beg and crave wholly to relie upon the mercy and providence of God without whom there is no safety no security the greatest power in the world being but weaknesse without the strength of his supportation For 2 Pet. 2.4 5.6 if God spared not the Angels that had sinned but cast them downe to hell and delivered them into chaines of darkenesse to be kept unto judgement neither spared he the old world Genes 7. but saved Noah the eight person a preacher of righteousnesse and his family Genes 19. and brought in the floud upon the world of the ungodly and turned the Cities of Sodome and Gomorah into ashes overthrew them and damned them and made them an ensample unto those that after them should live ungodly neither will he spare the transgression of men that of knowledge and purpose offend him for the Angels are farre exceeding greater then men both in power and might If God spared not the better hee will not spare the worse but cast them likewise into chaines of darknesse to bee kept unto the judgement of condemnation Againe though the Angels were of this excellency and dignity of nature and though many fell from their state of innocency as Adam afterward did yet the Redeemer of the world Christ Jesus Heb. 2.16 17 18 c. did not vouchsafe to take their nature and redeeme them but left them in the judgement of condemnation undertaking and finishing the worke of Redemption for man onely and not for Angels for as much as there was no recovery no turning no hope of salvation for these wicked and trayterous angels there was also no cause why their sinnes should bee set forth and declared as was the sinne of man Vers 15. which had not onely a punishment layd on him immediately but also a promise made for his reliefe and remedy in that respect the Apostle said that Christ tooke not upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham for he came not to save the angels that had falne but men yea rather to destroy the evill angels and their power and therefore they cry Mark 1.24 What have we to doe with thee Jesus of Nazareth art thou come before the time to destroy us and that they shall never bee saved it is plaine enough by the words of Christ Math. 25.41 Goe yee cursed to the everlasting fire which is prepared for the divell and his angels Therefore this ought to provoke all men to a zealous affection of love towards God who gave his onely beloved Sonne for the redemption of men preferring them in his love before the angels that had offended
Apostle doth call the election made in Christ wherefore wee must consider of this mystery of our election as it is whole and sound with both the parts of it joyned together with sincere faith with all devotion honour and thankfulnesse in Christ our Mediatour Head and Saviour and for the confirmation of the certainty of our salvation in our hearts wee must ponder also in our selves how that the election and choosing of us is grounded and builded upon the same purpose and counsell of God 1 Pet. 1.20 21 22. in the same eternity yea and the very same certainety that the mystery of Christ is but concerning those which be chosen of God they be chosen generally to this purpose to be made happy for evermore To this point of true felicity those things doe belong which be rehearsed particularly by the Apostle Psal 32. for what can we make of it else but to bee holy and blamelesse then to bee adopted to be the children of God to be beloved redeemed and favourably pardoned of our sinnes to be lightned with the wisedome and knowledge of Gods will and purpose to be called to the portion of inheritance and to be signed with the holy Spirit as the earnest-penny of our inheritance but to bee made happy forever and to be the heires of God and coheries with Christ and to be taken into the glory of his children If the Prophet pronounce him happy whose sinnes bee forgiven Vers 1 2. how much more are they to be counted happy which bee chosen to that intent from everlasting that they should be adopted the children of God made holy and blamelesse and partakers of the heavenly inheritance this grace of Gods election is incomprehensible and therefore can never be so esteemed of us as it ought to be This certainty doth beget exceeding joy in the elect for what can raise a greater joy in faithfull hearts then this that wee know and believe verily that we shall see the infinite good pleasure of the Lord Psal 27.15 The infinite joy of the faithfull in the Land of the living and shall have an inheritance not earthly but eternall in the heavens and what greater joy can any man desire to enjoy then to believe himselfe to be elected to eternall joy This assurance in the elect is the more excellent Note considering the woe of the reprobates which want it and the wearisome sighs and inexplicable terrors of such as are swallowed up in despaire This privilege is the more to be accounted of because wee may enjoy it daily thoroughout our life and that the longer we be partakers of it the sweeter it is unto us for this assurance is infallible so long as we have true faith in us Rom. 4.20 Heb. 11.1 by which we come to Christ approach to the Father and hasten to Heaven for faith is an undoubted certainty or perswasion in us and an enemy to doubting and incredulity This election of God is most free without obligation compulsion externall instigation For hath not the Potter liberty over his clay c Who can compell the Almighty who can resist his power Rom. 9.21 or what is before his will for the election of God is constant perpetuall immutable inviolable and unresistable Esay 43.13 it is firme grounded stable and unmovable for those things which be contingent mutable and uncertaine are barred and utterly excluded from being an originall cause or ground thereof Now the decree of election is the foundation and scaturidge of salvation and is certaine stedfast and unchangeable therefore God the authour of election Jam. 1.17 18. Mal. 3.6 doth seriously and effectually separate and elect the faithfull unto himselfe and the reprobate unbelievers therefore his decree must be fulfilled the Scriptures are manifold and evident in avouching this truth In the beginning saith the Lord I shew the end of things Esa 46.10.11 and I tell before things that are not yet come to passe my device standeth stedfastly stablished and I will fulfill all my pleasure as I have spoken so will I bring to passe as soone as I deviâ—â— thing I doe it The foundation of God saith Saint Paul remaineth sure 2 Tim. 2.19 having the seale the Lord knoweth them that are his Therefore this decree of election is the foundation because it is the wel-spring and beginning of our salvation and of all the meanes tending to salvation and is sure and firme and never shaken but remaines immutable for ever for whosoever are elected shall still remaine elected and shall never be rejected Joh. 6.39 This is my Fathers will saith Christ that of all which he hath given mee I should lose nothing John 13.1 those whom he ever loved hee loveth for ever For neither any of those can perish whom God hath predestinated unto the kingdome of heaven nor that any of those can come whom hee hath not predestinated unto life neither doth God offer the least injury to any though he doth not choose all because he is not tied to choose any his Lordship is above all Rom. 9.18 his authority is absolute hee may doe with his owne what hee will who can hinder him the doctrine of election doth manifest the glory of God Thes 1. for it sheweth that we are elected to the honour of God and to the praise of his glorious grace and it argues and illustrates his essentiall properties as his omnipotency omniscience eternity and mercy and doth both demonstrate and defend the free grace of God against all contrariant heresies and errors and will arme us against impetuous enemies of the truth therefore it is worthy to be learned Now the love of God is the ground of election and Gods love is best knowne by his best gifts the best things he reserveth for those he best loveth as Joseph sent unto Benjamin more messes of meat Gen. 43.34 and gave him richer gifts and more costly apparell than to the rest of his brethren Gen. 45.22 So the Lord bestoweth the best gifts upon the elect his owne children Now the graces of regeneration and spirituall gifts of faith hope and love are without comparison the most principall therefore hee that hath faith hope and love may assure himselfe of Gods love and that hee is in the number and ranke of Gods elect these being infallible tokens and undoubted effects of election and fore-runners of eternall life Now this knowledge in God brings â—orth another knowledge in us Gal. 4.5.9 whereby we know God to be our God and this election of God workes in the elect another election whereby they choose God for their God and the love whereby God loveth us works in us another love whereby we love God for Christ first apprehends us and this apprehension of his Rom. 4.20 workes in us the apprehension of faith wherby wee lay hold upon him and his promises If these things therefore be in us wee may conclude infallibly
that wee are the elect of God for they are the fruits of his love and the workes of his spirit and therefore irrefragable testimonies and tokens of election the Sunne by his light shines upon us and by the same light wee view and behold the Sunne againe a man may be elected though for a time he live unconverted Acts 9.1 c. Luk. 23.40 41 42 43. and in his sins as wee may see by the examples of Saint Paul and the thiefe upon the crosse for it is true that whosoever is converted is elected yet whosoever is not converted the same may be elected because the elect may be aliens for a time from God Ephes 2.1 Cor. 6.10.11 Colos 2.13 1 Pet. 4.3 and unregenerated as were the Ephesians Corinthians Colossians yea all men are such by nature so one good and constant motion or resolution of grace is sufficient to prove a mans election unto glory By this we may know that wee belong to God if wee finde the impression of the grace of God constantly in us there is yet matter of true comfort but if all these signes be wanting that a man shall not alwaies finde all these things in himselfe yet must wee not despaire but commend our selves to the grace and mercy of God and use the best meanes of our salvation therefore O devout soule Rom. 4.25 as often as thou dost meditate upon thy predestination behold and thinke on Christ hanging upon the crosse dying for the sinnes of the whole world and rising againe for our justification Begin from Christ lying in a manger Ephes 1.4 5 c. and so thy disputation of predestination shall proceed orderly God the Father elected us in Christ before the foundations of the world were laid if therefore thou art in Christ by faith doe not doubt but that election belongeth unto thee if with a firme confidence of heart thou adherest unto Christ doe not doubt but that thou art in the number of the elect but if thou goest further beyond the limits of the Word of God and wilt search into the profundity of predestination it is greatly to be feared that thou wilt fall into the profundity of desperation God by the voice and severity of the Law accuseth all without Christs satisfaction take heed therefore that thou drawest not the mystery of predestination out of the Law search not into the reasons of Gods secret Counsell lest thy cogitations doe much seduce thee God dwelleth in the light that no man can attaine unto 1 Tim. 6.6 presume not therefore to come unto it rashly but God hath revealed it unto us in the light of the Gospel in this thou mayst safely inquire into the doctrine of this secret Psal 36.9 and in this light thou shalt see true light search not into the profundity of this eternall decree made from eternity but convert thy selfe to the clearenesse of the manifestation of the Gospel which was made in time and in the glasse of Justification thou mayest behold thy election made without time out of the Law take notice of the wrath of God for sins and repent out of the Gospel take notice of the mercy of God through the merits of Christ and apply that unto thy selfe by faith take notice of the nature of faith and shew it by thy godly conversation take notice of Gods fatherly castigation in crosses and endure through patience then at length thou shalt come to the doctrine of predestination Note but in this mysterie there are alwaies three things to be observed the mercy of God loving us the merit of Christ suffering for us and the grace of the holy Ghost by the Gospel sanctifying us Gods mercy is universall because hee loved the world Psal 33.5 6. the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord yea his mercy is greater then heaven and earth for he hath promised Ezech. 33.11 as truely as I live saith the Lord I will not the death of a sinner but much rather that he may turne from his wickednesse and live yea he hath confirmed it with an oath if therefore thou wilt not believe him for his promise yet believe him for his oath The merit of Christ is also universall because hee suffered for the sins of the whole world therefore doubt not of the universality of Christs merits Christ dyed and suffering prayed for them that crucified him and shed his most precious blood for them that persecuted him the promises of the Gospell are universall because Christ saith unto all them that labour and are heavie laden Come unto me and I will refresh you Math. 11.28 God denies his grace unto none but to them that thinke themselves not worthy of it by thinking that their sinnes are greater then the mercy of God is able to pardon forgive so despairing of mercy desperately cast away themselves Consider therefore thou faithfull soule these three props of predestination and rest upon them with a firme confidence of thy heart Consider also the benefits of Gods grace wonderful mercy towards thee that are past and thou wilt not doubt of his finall perseverance towards thee for when as yet thou wast not God created thee Rom. 1.16 when by the fall of Adam thou wast condemned he redeemed thee when thou livedst in the world out of the Church hee called thee by his word when thou wast ignorant of the truth hee instructed thee when thou wentest astray out of the way hee reduced thee home when thou sinnedst he gently corrected thee when thou wast falne hee lifted thee up when thou camest unto him hee most graciously received thee 2 Pet. 3.15 his long suffering appeared in that hee expected thee and his mercy in that he pardoned thee Gods mercy prevented thy destruction hope therefore firmely that his loving kindnesse and mercy will also follow thee Consider thou faithfull soule Psal 23.6 that we were elected of God in Christ by faith faith shews it selfe by love and love hath hope of the promise therefore where there is not love neither is there faith where there is no faith neither is there apprehension of Christ and where there is no apprehension of Christ there is not election and where there is no election there is no hope of salvation Of Mortification HE that is resolved to endeavour his godly repentance and labour the reformation of his sinfull life Note must labour two things principally and of necessity The first is mortification the next is regeneration he must first destroy his sinfull estate before hee can obtaine the estate of grace for God and the gifts of God are so absolutely holy that they cannot admit any mixture or cooperation with sinne and wicked actions For as in curing of bodies infected with poysonous diseases Note the Physitian by severity and strict dyet bringeth downe the body of his patient to extreme poverty and leanenesse and then in that extremity helpeth the weaknesse of