is to be shewed them that it might be as a powerful Argument to beget faith and affection to God and Christ in them and to make them that duly consider it willing to come and which if rejected leaves them without excuse and aggravates their sin and makes evident the equity of their condemnation with a witness Indeed in Promises and Threatnings which alwaies respect the future there is an If or condition understood where not expressed often as appears 1 Sam. 2.30 Jer. 18.7 8. Jonas 3.4 but not in declarations in matters done Now I say this love and salvation so generally expressed is not that to be sought to be obtained or that we may be under it we being all preventingly under it and too many content themselves with being under the enjoyments of its streams in having the patience and bounty of God exercised toward them and in hearing that God hath loved them while sinners and Christ hath died for them sitting down content with this or some more common gifts vouchsafed in or through such means as upon the account thereof are afforded not minding that though those things be true without condition and so ought to be proposed yet they were not done without an end which ought to be pursued Though it s not said Christ died for all if they will live to him yet it s said He died for all that they who live might live to him Though it s not right to say God is patient towards men and doth them good if they repent as if not otherwise yet it s right to say that he is patient towards them and do 〈◊〉 them good that they might repent It 's not handsome to say The Gospel is sent to men if they will believe yet it is to say It is sent to men that they might believe and in believing be justified sanctified washed renewed and be made new creatures having on them the Wedding garment without which they may not partake of the feast nor be the Subjects of Gods choice love in which true bliss and happiness are to be enjoyed nor be made partakers of the special salvation in which Christ is the especial Saviour of them that believe the Author of Eternal salvation unto which things as to our being the Subjects enjoying them there is an If or condition And therefore that these ends of what Christ hath done and doth might be obtained by us it 's needful both that the Gospel be declared clearly and plainly to men by those who are thereto called and that where declared men set their hearts to it to mind it that they might in another sort or sense find this general love and salvation that is to say as to the knowledge belief and efficacy of it upon them it being as is shewed in the Treatise the way by which men are and may be begotten and brought to Repentance Faith and the New Birth and â—o become the objects of the special love aâ— salvation The Word in the Gospel is the seed of Regeneration 1 Pet. 1.23 25. The Gospel of Christ even the preaching of the Cross that Christ died for our sins and was buried and rose again according to the Scriptures is the power of God to salvation to every one that believes Rom. 1.16 1 Cor. 1.22.24 15.1 2 3. the preaching that Christ died for all and to what end and that God was in Christ reconciling the world and is the Word of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.14 15 19. The Grace of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saving to all men teacheth that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly That Teacher is to be attended to and that teaching learned and they are greatly faulty that slight or darken it or overly hear it or rest in a notion of it without being brought under the special love by it Though yet neither is this all that men should attend to in hearing and receiving it to be made in Christ by it and so objects of special love All the business is not done and over in that it 's needful also to abide and go on therein for we have adversaries will endeavour to pull us back or pervert us from it Pharaoh who hindred Israels going out of Egypt endeavoured when gone to fetch them back again So deals Satan and as all that were brought into the way to Canaan attained not to Canaan because some turned back in their hearts and some such as had believed and sung his praises afterward through unbelief perished So there is a danger here too And therefore as Moses his work was not all over when he had brought them over the Red Sea and led them to Mount Sinai so neither was the Apostles when by their Ministry and Gods blessing thereon they had brought any to Christ and so to Mount Sion now they were jealous with a godly jealousie for such as they had espoused to Christ lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve any of them might be corrupted from the simplicity in him 2 Cor. 11.23 Least by any means they might be moved and the Tempter should tempt them and render their labour frustrate 1 Thess 3.5 Therefore they wrote Epistles to them wherein they instructed reproved warned them provoked them to watchfulness and stedfastness in the faith So run that they might obtain so to hold fast and abide in Christ as not to lose their reward nor fail of the Grace of God directing them how to behave themselves so as to be preserved in Christ unto eternal life And that 's the main scope and drift of the Treatise here presented that being in the special love of God thou mayest be kept in it But I am sensible that some things might have been spoken to that I over looked in it for some perhaps by the love of God spoken of in the Text understand not that love whereof he is the Subject and we the Object Gods love to and of us but that whereof we are the Subjects and God the Object our love to and of God And indeed upon consideration I had thought of inserting some things in that sense also Not because I think I have taken it amiss but because I think that also might not have been unprofitably spoken to as one sense of the phrase though the matter comes much what to the same for the lover of God is the choicely beloved of God as it is said I love namely with an approving delightful love them that love me Prov. 8.17 Psal 147.11 and my Father hath loved you because ye have loved me John 16.27 they are the called according to his purpose and all things work together for their good Rom. 8.28 to them God hath promised the Crown of life and a glorious Kingdom James 1.12 2.5 Onely to supply that defect I shall here briefly note that in those words Keep your selves in the love of God so taken there is signified Note 1. That the real and hearty
of other his Brethren and so Christ as held forth therein was not able to make the receivers thereof holy or perfect though it might do wel to enter them into the way of life yet something else was needful to be added to it and further observed by them to perfect them as is implied in that passage Gal. 3.3 Are ye so foolish having begun in the Spirit are ye made perfect by the flesh those passages before recited of letting that abide in them that they had heard from the beginning namely in the first preaching of the Gospel to them and their hearing it or what was delivered first of all or in the first things as Paul says 1 Cor. 15.2 3. and that therein they should have both Father and Son and eternal life as also this expression of the Apostle that the faith on which they were founded is the most holy Faith meets with and opposes that false conception of those deceivers and implies that there is nothing holier than this Doctrine or Christ as held forth in it nothing like it able to make them holy to sanctifie and devote them to God and render them his chosen and beloved people as the nature of holiness stands in being separated to God and so owned chosen of appropriated to him nothing comparable in those respects to this holy faith of theirs your most holy faith yea and as the Apostle having said to the Galatians If we or an Angel from Heaven preach unto you besides what we have preached let him he accursed adds in the next verse as I said before so say I again If any man preach any other Gospel than what ye have received let him be accursed least some false Apostles should say that they preacht no other Gospel or Doctrine than Paul and his fellow Apostles preacht only they gave them a better understanding of it than what they had received they had received the literal notion but they would tell them a more spiritual or ful understanding of it even so here he doth not say only the most holy faith but your most holy faith to signifie that the faith and Doctrine they had received and as yet retained was the most holy faith and compleat doctrine Such as would build them up to the inheritance as to that purpose Paul told the Elders at Ephesus Act. 20.32 and therefore no need for them to listen too or tamper with any additions to or pretended perfectings of the faith by any false Teachers 4. To imply and signifie to them that this Faith or Doctrine is not to be professed with an unholy unclean or prophane heart or practise it comes to require and effect the most perfect holiness in them that receive and profess it otherwise it is received and professed in vain and to no good purpose Let every one that names the Name of Christ depart from iniquity sayes God as a seal of the holiness and sureness of his foundation that he hath laid in Sion for us 2 Tim. 2.19 and therefore all those filthy practises of the false Teachers and their followers mentioned and reproved in this Epistle are to be fled from and avoided by the believers and confessors of the Name and Faith of Jesus as most unsuitable to the purity and cleanness of the faith professed by them and most unbecoming them and their profession suitable to that charge given prophetically in Isai 52.11 Depart ye depart ye namely from Babylon the World or pollutions of the worldly Church go ye out from thence touch no unclean thing go ye out of the midst of her be ye clean ye that bear the vessels of the Lord With which agrees that in 2 Cor. 6.17 18. and 7.1 Come out from amongst them and be ye separated namely from the pollutions of the world unto God and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you c. as also all those many exhortations to walk worthy of God and of his call wherewith he hath called us to his Kingdom and glory and to let our conversations be such as become the Gospel that as he who hath called us is holy so we may be holy in all manner of conversation and that as the Gospel and Faith we are called to and profess is the most holy clean and pure faith so we also may be the most holy clean and pure peculiar people to God Denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts and living soberly righteously and godly â—â— his present world Ephes 4.1 2. Philip. 1.27 â— Peter 1.15 16 17. and 2.9 10. Titus 2.11 12 13 14. 5. To imply and signifie the very exceeding great danger of either corrupting or departing from this faith or dishonouring it by a contrary an unholy and unclean conversation or any way impugning or opposing it for in saying it is most holy he implyes as before that it is most tenderly and carefully respected of God so as he will by no means suffer it to be wronged or injured by any either by persecuting it he will surely retribute wrath to them that oppose it and disturb his Servants in their profession of it He that falls upon this stone shall be broken but upon whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to powder only where men do it in the ignorance of their unbelief they may upon conviction and repentance find mercy as Paul did or by corrupting it thence the blackness of darkness is as the portion of those Teachers who are as wandring stars and abide not in the faith of the Truth and their heresies are damnable and destructive They bring upon themselves swift destruction as well as also they occasion the destruction of all that receive their doctrine and follow their pernicious wayes or by dishonouring it crucifying Christ to themselves and putting him to an open shame by their prophane unclean unrighteous conversation in and with the profession of it which occasions God to cut men off from the faith and give them up to strong delusions yea and in a sort to send them strong delusions that they might believe a lye and be damned as in 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. or give them up to all unrighteousness to practice â—â—cleanness with greediness and to do things moâ—â— convenient and dishonourable and at last to destroy them everlastingly from his presence The sins and evils men do while ignorant of God and his Gospel and before the profession of it God can wink at and upon sight of his Truth and Goodness men repenting thereof he freely forgives yea and what men at unawares and through some sudden and violent temptation commit after but if we sin willingly or wilfully after the knowledge of the truth received if yet we go on in a course of sin and commit iniquity that 's most dangerous and renders a mans condition worse than if he had never known the truth provoking God more highly to execute vengeance and not spare as in Deut. 29.18 19 20 21. Heb. 10.25 26 29. whence that
persons that set themselves to poyson mens meats and drinks that so while men think only to feed themselves with wholesome food they might instead of wholesome meat take down poyson then there may be greater need to admonish men to take heed what they eat or drink and for men to be cautelous what they eat or drink and from whom they receive their meat because then there is not only possibility but danger of it too it may too too easily happen else that they poyson themselves and so when of divers meats propounded to them and lying in their way divers of them are mixt with poyson The like may be said when there are crafty and naughty persons that set themselves on work to intoxicate men and make them drunk at unawares and then to lead them amongst Rocks and Precipices whence they may break their necks Now if it appears that there is danger of mens loosing or turning out from the love of God unless they be careful to keep themselves in it then it appears more dearly yet to be a principal business or work that men that are therein should bend themselves to to keep themselves therein otherwise not they need not set themselves to keep themselves from those things which are barely possible and of which though they be careless there is no great danger that they should befall them or come to pass I say though they be careless for indeed there is no danger of any Believers loosing or falling from the love of God if he be diligent and careful to take heed to the means and way of safety provided of God for his preservation therein The danger asserted is only in case of carelesness or presumption and so there is danger 1. In respect of the many enemies that lye in wait to subvert and withdraw us from Christ As First Satan who indeavours it what he can and Goes about as a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour And although he be a conquered enemy and Christ that is with the Believer is stronger to preserve the Believer from his wiles and assaults than he is to assault and hurt and Christ also is as well faithful as able yet his faithfulness is ingaged for the helpfulness of the Believer and for overcoming for him in the diligent use of the means the Believers putting on and exercising himself in the armour of God provided and afforded of which if he be careless and neglective and slothful in the use of means and so grow from slothfulness to deep sleep as Slothfulness doth cast into a deep sleep Prov. 19.15 then is not Christ in point of faithfulness ingaged to save him but as the Apostle implies in Eâ—â—s 6.13 14. 1 Pet. 5.8 9. Satan may prevail upon the unsober unwatchful sleepy and unarmed Soul to overthrow and devour it And that the Soul may very possibly be unsoâ— secure careless or presumptuous and so through slothfulness fall into a deep sleep of sencelesness either of the Grace and Goodness of God brought to it in Christ and the excellent advantages thereby afforded for its attainment of happiness or of the dangers that either others or it self is in of being led away by the deceitfulness of sin and so lye open to Satans malice and malicious enterprises the many exhortations to watchfulness and cautions against slothfulness and negligence propounded in the Scriptures to the Believers as well as the experience of the sleepy decaying tempers that have oft befallen Believers sufficiently testifie See the exhortations and warnings in these Scriptures Matth. 24.42 43 44 c. and 25.13 and 26.41 Mark 13.33 35 36.37 where it is said by our Saviour that what he there said was both to the Disciples who were generally real Believers and to all besides viz. Watch. So also in Luke 21.34 35 36. Ephes 6.11 12 13 14. 1 Cor. 16.13 1 Pet. 5.8 9. Heb. 3.12 13. and 6.12 and 12.15 16. Revel 3.2 3. and 16.15 Instances of sore decayes by heedlesness and thereby of great danger signified See in Revel 2 4â— 5. and 3.1 2 13 14 15 16. and the reason of it is partly from other enemies As 2. The flesh with its affections and lusts warring against the Soul and lusting against the â—pirit that endeavours the good of the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 Galat. 5.17 18 19. it lusts after ease and pleasures riches honours and the injoyment of this present world the love of which cannot consist with the love of the Father but will by degrees choak it and eat it out of the heart No man being able to serve two Masters but that he must either love the one and hate the other or lean to the one and forsake the other and that it is very possible and easie for a Believer to walk after and mind the flesh as well as to mind and walk after the Spirit or at least if not so easie to the conscience and renewed mind yet easie enough in respect of the natural affections and desires is sufficiently proved by every one 's own experience and by all those serious watch-words counsels and provocations to watchfulness there against it and to deny it and not walk after it Not to love the world and the things of it the many falls of the Servants of God as David Peter c. and reproofs for their walking after it seeking to make themselves friends of the world c. as partly appears in the Scriptures before quoted under the former Head and further in these Scriptures Rom. 6.11 12 13 14 15 c. and 8 12.13 14. and 13.12 13 14. Galat. 5.13 14 25 26. Ephes 4.17 18 c. 1 Cor. 5. and 6. and 10. and 11.17 18 20 21 22. James 2. and 3. and 4.4 5 6 c. Revel 2.4 5 c. to which also add 3. The World both in the seeming good and desirable injoyments of it and in the persons of it pretending piety knowledge of God and friendship to Believers persons as also the examples and customs of it and of many Professors of the Gospel in it prove oftentimes very great baits and inticements to their lusts and put vigour and force into them while wistly lookt upon and considered by them with a carnal eye as appears in Prov. 2.12 13 15 16. and 5.3 4. c. and 6.25 26. and 7.10 11 18 21 22 23 26 27. and 23.20 21 26 27 28 31 c. Luk. 8.14 and 12.15 and 21.34 2 Cor. 6.14 15 16. Jam. 4.4 5. c. and also in the threats and frowns of the great and mighty persons of it the harsh and biâ—ter afflictions and sufferings they are oft exposed to in and from it which being viewed do affright and scare from the stedfastness of the faith and of the profession of it by believers as it is intimated in Thes 3.1 2 3 4. Matth. 13.20 21. Heb. 12.2 3 4. and therefore in both these cases we are exhorted by our Saviour to pluck out the right eye where