and the glory of thy truth in performing what thou hast promised though thus I have not deserved XCV All the afflictions of Gods people are either punishments chastisements or probations punishments for sins past chastisements to prevent sinnes to come probations to make triall of our Christian vertues and though Christ was punished for our sinnes to free us from eternall torments yet we are not thereby exempted from temporarie punishments he died to save us from death eternall not from death temporall he both suffered and satisfied we suffer though we cannot satisfie our sufferings are to shew our conformitie with Christ but not to shew any insufficiencie in the death of Christ Thou O Lord hast paid a plenarie ransome for sin and thou that knewest no sin becamest sinne and didst suffer death as a punishment for us that we who are born in sin might be free from sin that death might not be a punishment but a chastisement to us XCVI As by one simple act God knowes his own Essence so by one simple act he wils his own goodnesse which will whether we take it for an act or for an habit is eternally in God and differs but in some respects from his essence and therefore is immutable infinite and holy as his Essence and though many things are willed by him yet there is but one will in him which cannot be moved by any efficient end or object different from himself Lord though my will cannot attain that simplicitie infinitenesse and immutabilitie that is in thee yet let it obtain some measure of holinesse that in desiring of that only which is good it may in some measure resemble thine XCVII All have not had the happinesse to heare of Christ and yet there is no happinesse without Christ in this God is not unjust for they who either in themselves or in their parents have rejected him are not worthy of him besides God hath not left himself without a witnesse for he hath left a law written in all mens hearts and so much light of his goodnesse and justice as may make all men excuselesse If therefore they shall be rejected that had not that light of knowledge which we have how can we think we are elected who have even spurned at the knowledge of that light which they have not XCVIII Regeneration which is the killing of the old man and quickning of the new hath for her ushers Sorrow and Contrition for her Attendants Faith and Hope for her followers the works of Charitie if any of these be defective Generation will be little effective neither is this the work of nature but of grace for nature by generation can give us a mortall essence but grace by regeneration gives us an immortall existence in our first birth we had a new nature from our corporall parents in our second birth nature is renewed by our spirituall parents So easie is the work of physicall generation that it 's performed in the instant of our conception so difficult is the work of hyperphysicall regeneration that we cannot be consummately reformed till the instant of our dissolution Lord the great world was with greater facilitie by thee created then the little world of man could by thee be re-created that was done only by uttering thy externall word this could not be done but by the suffering of thy internall Word therefore as I am bound to thee for the tempor all life which in my generation by thy spirit thou breathedst in me much more am I bound for that eternall life which in my regeneration by thy Sonnes death thou hast purchased for me XCIX In thy sight O Lord no flesh can be justified if we consider the puritie of thy nature the rigour of thy justice the infirmities of our flesh and the imperfections of our righteousnesse For the first the Angels are not pure in thy sight much lesse we who dwell in houses of clay For the second if thou shouldst marke Lord what is done amisse who could abide it For the third there is no man that doth good no not one we are all gone out of the way For the fourth the justest man falleth seven times a day and our righteousness is like a menstruous cloath Therefore we acknowledge Lord there is no righteousnesse inherent in us by which we can be saved but that righteousnesse which is inherent in thee and imputed to us and by that we are justified and there is in thee exuberance of mercies by which we may be pardoned C. We are justified by grace formally by faith instrumentally by the word ministerially by good works demonstratively by sorrow and repentance preparatively by Christs death and obedience meritoriously and by God himself principally if then God be the efficient cause if Christs active and passive obedience be the materiall if grace be the formall if Gods glory be the finall cause of our justification how can we claime any share in it We are only subjects and patients no wayes agents our good works are but fruits and effects no wayes causes our sorrow and repentance are effects of preventing grace not of free-will our faith is from above not from our selves Therefore O Lord I disclaime all merit of congruitie and condignitie all efficacie of Sacraments all suffrages of Saints all power of Romane Prelates all absolution of Priests all observation of humane tradition and all will-worship from my justification I acknowledge no other merits but thy mercies by thy grace thou preventedst my merits my merits are thy suffrings my holinesse is thy goodnesse my righteousnesse is but a sparkle of thy brightnesse a drop of that Ocean a grain of that heap a stone of that immense mountain of thy incomprehensible goodnesse for which I am indebted to thee not thou to me Therefore not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name we glve the glory DIVINE MEDITATIONS UPON Gods Justice I. GOD will not pardon any sin except we repent of every sin for as he that breaks one command is guiltie of the breach of all so he that faileth in repenting of one sin repenteth of never a sin God loves not to doe things by halves he will pardon all or none and he will have us repent of all or none for as it stands not with his goodnesse and perfection to give an imperfect pardon so it consisteth not with the sinceritie of repentance to conceale any sin not repented as he ejected seven divels out of one and a legion out of another without leaving any behinde in the possessed so he will have us cast out all our sinnes without hiding of any unrepented What availes it to be freed from Satans power in casting us into the water of drunkennesse if he can when he pleaseth fling us into the fire of concupiscence O thou that art the great Physician of my soul to thee I open all my wounds and disclose all my maladies make me by the vomit of confession to cast up all my sinfull humours before
own Son is an action of necessitie but the regeneration of his adopted sonnes is a work altogether voluntarie So much the more then will I admire and praise that goodnesse which elected and saved me by how much the more I see it was free and voluntarie but no wayes in respect of his perfection necessarie XXIII There is in man a two-fold judgement to wit an antecedent which is that of the affections and senses and a consequent which is that of reason so there is a two-fold volition the one followes the judgement of sense and it is rather an imperfect desire then a perfect volition the other followes the judgement of reason both these volitions were in Christ more eminently then in us because in him were two Wils and these by reason of his two natures were distinct in him though his person was but one therefore he desired the cup might passe from him but willed it not or he willed it by his antecedent not by his consequent will O thou that madest in thy selfe the judgement of affection stoope to the judgement of reason and madest thy desire subservient to thy will and causedst thy antecedent will to give place to thy consequent produce in me the same effect that these sinfull delights which my affections so earnestly run after and thy gentle corrections which they so earnestly run from may be so ordered that the one by me may be courageously subdued the other patiently indured that my affections may submit to my will my will to reason and reason to thy Spirit XXIIII God worketh not immediately by his decree but by his power his decree is but a remote cause his power immediate his decree is an internall action the actions of his power are externall the actions of his decrees depend on his wisedome the actions of his power are subservient to his decrees Lord if in thy wisedome thou thoughtest it good that my soul should be saved and if thou hast decreed it then let thy power be seen in effecting it XXV The necessitie and contingencie of things is not to be attributed to Gods decree but to the working of his power contingencie is when he useth his resistible power if he works irresistibly then followes necessitie what is contingent to the second cause is infallible to Gods prescience but necessarie to the work of his omnipotencie his decree is a remote cause which without his power worketh not Christs death was contingent to the Jewes that crucified him infallible to Gods prescience who foresaw that the Jewes would kill him but necessarie in regard of his decree working by his power in presenting that bitter cup unto him Why then shall afflictions dismay mee which though they be contingent in respect of the second agent yet they are infallible to that all-seeing eye of Heaven that foresaw them and necessarie if we regard that powerfull hand which inflicted them XXVI God ordereth sin though he ordained it not he ordereth it that it may be subservient to his glory he ordained it not because he sinneth not He could not ordain it seeing he hates it forbids it and punishes it Lord I ascribe to thy glorie both my salvation and my sin my salvation thou hast ordained my sin thou hast ordered that by the one I may love thy mercie and by the other I may feare thy Iustice Who but Goodnesse it selfe would ordaine the salvation of a sinner and who but Wisdome it self would order the prevarications of a sinner What is more offensive to thy nature then sin What is more destructive of thy feature in me then sin yet out of sin thou hast drawn the meanes to manifest the goodnesse of thy nature in my salvation and out of the same sin thou hast drawn a meanes to repaire in me thy decayed feature by my repentance and conversion XXVII God gave to Adam sufficient grace to stand but not to persist he permitted him to fall who by the grace he received might have stood he gave him sufficiencie of grace not permanencie in grace by the one God is cleared from iniquitie and by the other he manifests his justice and mercie if man had not been a sinner God had not been a Saviour we had not known Emanuel God with us if Adam by sin had not separated God from us we had known him as Jehova but not as Jesus O my God if thou give me sufficiencie of grace I may fall but if thou give me permanencie in grace I shall not fall give me Adams happinesse in Paradise that I may sufficiently love and know thee give me the Angels happinesse in Heaven that I may constantly love and know and eternally abide in thee XXVIII God delivered his Son to death so did Satan by Iudas God had power to doe so Satan had none God did this in love to the sonnes of men Satan did it in malice to the Son of God by an affirmative act God was willing to permit Satan to exercise his malice by a negative act he hindered him not in all this God sinned not if we consider the authoritie of the agent the forme of the action and the justice and goodnesse of his intention Though God acts not sin nor is willing it should be acted by man yet he is willing to permit it Not sin but permission is the object of his will he could not will sin because he is not sinfull he permits it because he can draw good out of it XXIX God permits not punishment but inflicts it he permits not good but commands it he wills not sin but permits it not as it is good but as out of it he drawes good O thou that drewest light out of darknesse and meat out of the eater draw good out of my evils and comforts out of my afflictions Thou canst draw honey out of the rock and turne water into wine and make bitter Meribah potable we pray thee turn the bitter waters of our Meribah our strife and contention into the pure and sweet streames of Peace and Union XXX What God cannot doe he cannot will what he cannot will he cannot decree and although affirmatively his power be of a larger extent then his will for he can doe that which he will not doe yet negatively he cannot will what he cannot doe nor doe what he cannot will he cannot doe evil therefore he cannot will it he cannot will it therefore he can neither doe it by an externall nor decree it by any internall act O that my will and actions Lord were conformable to thine for oftentimes I doe the evil which I will not and I will the good which I doe not Lord make my will conformable to thine that my actions may be conformable to my will XXXI Gods grace reacheth further then his mercy his grace is extended to all his mercy only to those that are in miserie by grace the Angels were confirmed by grace the world is preserved but by mercie man is redeemed he is gracious then to
for the second Adams obedience but we have no cause to suspect thee of crueltie in condemning us for the first Adams disobedience LII Punishment was prepared in Gods decree as well for the sin of Iacob as of Esau both having sinned alike in Adam but it was pardonable in the one unpardonable in the other which difference proceeded from grace not from nature Lord I confesse thou couldst see no more originall sin in Judas then in me yet thou wast pleased to punish him and to spare me if thou hadst condemned us both thou hadst done justly but in sparing the one thou hast magnified thy mercie LIII There is a two-fold grace the one of Creation the other of Election the one was the gift of God without Christ the other was the gift of God in Christ the one was the image of God the other was the renovation of that image the one was lost in Paradise the other shall never be lost in Heaven Lord thou hadst no other inducement but thine own goodness to create me to thy image but now thou hast another inducement to wit thy Sons merits to renew in me that decayed image the one thou mightst not have done the other thou canst not but doe for though thou wast not bound in the creation to bestow thy image on me yet now thou art bound by thy Sonnes satisfaction to repaire this image in me LIIII Adam could have abstained from the externall act of touching by naturall grace only but in him could not be the inward and permanent affection of obeying without supernaturall grace also Lord if Adam could not yeeld constant obedience to thee in his estate of integritie how shall I be able to persevere in obedience without thy speciall grace being now in the estate of iniquitie LV Though the habit of justice as it is the essence of God be necessarily in him yet the actions of justice which are not his essence are not necessarily performed by him He is necessarily just but a voluntarie agent He doth necessarily hate injustice but freely and voluntarily he punisheth it and decreed punishment for it Lord what should become of me and of all the other wretched sonnes of Adam if it were as necessarie for thee to punish as it is to be just But my comfort is that as justice is so necessarie in thee that thou canst not be unjust so thy actions are so free and voluntarie that thou canst pardon my sin and yet notwithstanding thou canst not be but just LVI There was no necessitie why God should manifest his justice in punishing sinners seeing he had power to manifest that in punishing his own Son for sinners In the one he shewes himself to be a God of mercy not of revenge in sparing his enemies in the other he shewes himself a God of justice in punishing his beloved Son who became suretie for his enemies LVII There is a two-fold cause of predemnation the one is sin the other is Gods decree the one is necessarie the other voluntarie sin is the cause why God may condemne all Gods decree is the cause why he will condemne but some he looks on sin as it is pardonable in some unpardonable in others the one eye by which he lookes is justice the other is mercie Lord thou didst look upon my sin with justice and severitie when thou punishedst it in thine own naturall Son therefore look on it as it is in me with meeknesse and mercy and pardon it in me that am thy adopted son LVIII Every man is not a reprobate that falls into sin but he that finally perseveres in sin for all men fell into sin by the permission of providence but wicked men only continue to the end in sin by the permission of preterition Lord that sin which was voluntary in Adam is necessary in me but although in thy just judgements there is a necessitie that I should be tainted with originall contagion yet there is no necessitie why I should lye still and persevere in actuall transgression without thy providence I could not fall without thy assistance I cannot rise as by thy providence thou hinderest not my falling because the glory of thy justice was thereby manifested so I pray thee further by thy assistance my rising again that the glory of thy goodnesse may be thereby magnified LIX In Gods externall actions there is neither naturall nor coactive necessitie for both nature and coaction exclude libertie the fire burnes naturally the bullet flyes upward violently therefore both necessarily but Gods internall actions on himself are naturall therefore necessarie the Father begot his eternall Son neither willingly nor unwillingly but naturally and necessarily so because Gods attributes are naturall and essentiall to him they are necessarily in him he is necessarily not voluntarily good because he cannot be but good he doth voluntarily not necessarily make man good because he can forbeare if he would to make him good Lord I confesse that the more free Agent thou wast in the work of my conversion the lesse free am I but the more necessitated to praise thy goodnesse and wisdome for how can I choose but honour and obey thee who couldst have chosen whether thou wouldst have redeemed and saved me LX Faith is both an habit and an action if it justifie as it is an habit I will not dispute this I know that it justifieth as it is an action for Abraham beleeved and so was justified The life then of Religion consisteth in action not onely of the outward works of the hand but also of the inward work of the heart for this is the work of God that we beleeve in him O Lord faith is thy work and it is mine too it is thy work to infuse it it is my work to apprehend Christ by it let thy work be first performed in me and then I know my work if thou assist shall be performed by me LXI Though we are not actually free from sin in this life yet there is a possibilitie that we may be free if either we consider the power of God who can mightily effect it or the will of a regenerate man who doth so earnestly affect it Lord in that I may be free from sin it argues thy omnipotencie but in that I am not free from sin I must blame my own impotencie There is in me a desire to be freed from this body of death and in thee there is power to free me who art the Lord of life LXII There was in Adam a directive light of the minde while he was falling to let him see his danger but there was not in him that perswasive light which might powerfully restrain him from danger that light had kept him from falling had he followed it and this light had kept him from falling had he received it Lord though thou didst not give Adam this light thou art unblameable seeing thou didst give him so much of that light as made him inexcusable LXIII In what facultie of the
goodnesse and sight without injoyment It is by knowledge I see it is by love I enjoy LXXXVIII 1. There is in us an inward man so there is an outward 2. There is a new man so there is an old man 3. There is a law of the minde so there is a law of the members and there is a law also of the spirit of life 4. There is a voluntarie dominion in sin and there is an involuntarie 5. There is an universall tyrannie of sin and there is a particular 6. There is a regeneration in the minde and will and there is a regeneration in the members and affections 7. There is a complete will or volition and there is an incomplete will or velleitie 8. There is a generall or confused judgement and there is a more particular or distinct judgement 1. The inward man is the minde the outward man is the body 2. The new man is grace the old man is sinne 3. The law of the minde is knowledge and conscience the law of the members is sin the law of the Spirit of life is saving grace 4. The wicked are under the voluntarie the godly under the involuntarie dominion of sin 5. Originall sin is an universall tyrant actuall sins are particular tyrants 6. Regeneration in the minde and will is knowledge and desire Regeneration in the members is action or working the will of God 7. Volition followes the last judgement of reason velleitie followes the antecedent or confused judgement 8. By a generall and confused judgement my will affects the good which is commanded by Gods law by a particular and distinct judgement my will affects the evil which is condemned by Gods Law Lord 1 as I praise thee for the inward and the outward man 2 so will I much more praise thee if thou wilt strengthen in me the new man of grace and weaken the old man of sin 3 if thou wilt give me the law of the spirit of life to illuminate the law of the minde and to debilitate the law of the members 4 Make my service of sin involuntarie 5 and though I cannot be free from that catholike tyrant of originall sin yet in thy mercy deliver me from the insolencie of these particular tyrants my actuall sinnes 6 And let not my Regeneration be only intellectuall but also operative and effectuall 7 Rectifie and cleere my judgement that it may direct my will 8 And make my will to affect the good which thou câ—mmandest and to dis-affect the evil which thou condemnest LXXXIX Though Predestination as it is an act or work of God can nothing be furthered or hindered by our good or wicked lives yet salvation which is the effect of Predestination may be furthered by prayers and holinesse hindered by our infidelitie and wickednesse for God who preordained Salvation preordained also the means which may help forward our Salvation Lord let not the conceit of my Election dull me with securitie or puffe me up with presumption but assist me that by good works I may make my Election sure and in feare and trembling I may work out my Salvation XC There are three books of life the one is Gods Register book the other is Gods book of Statutes the third is his book of Records In the first as in a Register are set down all the names of the predestinate in the second which is the Scripture are set out all the duties that are to be performed by the predestinate in the third are set down all the good actions and sufferings of the predestinate Out of the first we cannot be blotted for our names are written in Heaven and though an earthly mother may forget the fruit of her womb yet our heavenly Father cannot forget the fruit of his Spirit Out of the third book we may be blotted because our sinnes may occasion him to forget our good works and to slight our suffrings Lord I confesse that I have slighted thy sacred Book of divine Statutes therefore thou maist justly blot me out of the book of thy remembrance but in that thou hast not blotted my name out of thy first book I ascribe it to thy immutabilitie and if thou wilt not blot out my patience and suffrings out of thy other book I will admire and praise thy mercy XCI Though God loves all men yet he saves not all men he loves them because he made them he saves them not because he willed it not he could not in justice will all mens Salvation seeing man by his voluntary unjustice deprived himself of Salvation he loves his own image but hates that which defaced his image he loves the man but hates the sin and if it were not for sin he would not punish man Lord thy love to man is unspeakable in that thou savest some and thy justice is unsearchable in that thou savest not all I cannot blame thy justice but my sins that caused my miserie I cannot brag of my merits but of thy goodnesse that moved thee to mercie XCII God hates the sins of man because he loves his own justice with the love of †complacencie he hates the miseries of man because he loves mans welfare with the love of * amitie but by accident he loves the death of wicked men because he hates the works of iniquite Thus it is as naturall for God to hate evil as it is to love himself and as impossible for him to love evil as it is to hate himself XCIII Christ loved us when we were his enemies and he loves us being his friends when we were his foes he suffered death for us being his friends he hath purchased life to us that love was greater then this if we consider the object this love is greater then that if we consider the benefit O my God how am I bound to thee who when I was thine enemie didst weare the crown of thornes for me and being now thy friend hast bestowed a Crown of glory on me Let not the servant repine to beare the reproaches of so gracious a master who was content to beare the sins and shame of so ungracious a servant XCIIII God did first will his own glory 2. Mans existence 3. His righteousnesse 4. His own Promises 5. The execution or accomplishment of them concerning mans happinesse Gods glory is the great wheele of this clock which moves all the rest the finall cause which moves all other causes Had it not been for his glory I had neither had being nor well-being he gave me existence he made me to his image he promised me happinesse and he hath performed it to the end I might glorifie him Shall I then dishonour thee O God by whom I am what I am when I look on my creation and am by grace what I am not by nature when I look on my regeneration Therefore I will praise the glory of thy power for my existence the glory of thy goodnesse for my righteousnesse the glory of thy mercy in promising