he puts the Lord in mind of His promise to their Fathers Of His Mercy in pardoning them â—forâ—time what reflection it would have on His honour among the Egyptians If He should now destroy them c. Not a word of Complaint That first to promise and then to threaten is a senseless thing It had been senseless in Moses thus to do and in no wise consistent with His duty But more directly It were no senseless part in a Father to purchase an Office for his Son and so to settle it on him that it sâ—all not be in his own power to Reverse it And yet keeping to himself the knowledge of that Settlement propose the injoyment thereof conditionally viz. upon terms of obedience to his fathers Commands The tendency of all which is but to prove himself the Son of such a father and to Meeteâ— him for his place And the more to oblige his Son to a studious preparing himself for it to lay before him the evil and danger of a Negligent course by which if persisted in he might render himself uncapable But surely supposing this Father to have the same power over his Son as God hath over the heart and Spirit of His people He will so order him by Instruction discipline and good principles that he shall not run into a Forfeiture Besides Threatnings of Damnation are not properly appliable to Believers who know themselves so to be For he that believeth Joh. 5. 24. is passed from death to life and shall not come into Condemnation However at times for want of a thorow knowing their State unthankfulness for it or some other miscarriage they bring themselves under doubtings of it But for such as have Compleat assurance under God's hand and seal as the Objection speaks They are sealed up to the Day of Redemption Eph. 4. 30. Rom. 8. 15. with a Seal that never shall be loosed In case any person were so adjudged to Eternal life from Eternity that there is no possibility of miscarrying then there was no necessity of Christs dying for him The Assertors of Absolute Election do hold with the Scriptures That Election is in and through Christ The same Decree that ordained to Salvation ordained also the death of Christ in order thereto That God might be Just in Justifying He hath appointed us to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5. 9 10. It might be inferr'd with as much shew of Reason That if such an End be appointed to be wrought by such a Means then that Means is unnecessary to that end That if God hath Chosen Men to salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth then holiness and faith are Needless things These are absurd reasonings which the Truth never Owns We judge such an Election to be an open Enemy to Godliness For who will strain and toil himself for that which he knows he shall obtain by an easie pace The Doctrine of Conditional Election can be no friend to Godliness whatever it may pretend since all that a Man doth on that account ultimately ends in self Godliness is to Aim at God as our Chief End in all that we do Now One that holds the Elect sure of Salvation and believes himself to be one of them and yet goes on to fear God and obey Him Glorifies God more than he that performs the same duties for kind and perhaps greater in bulk in expectation of life thereby The Pharisees fasted oftner than Christ's Disciples but were not such real friends to Godliness as they Long prayers fastings and Alms-deeds are all Nothing without Love and who do you think will Love God more he that believes himself sure of God's Love unchangeably or One that holds That after all his toiling and straining he may possibly have Run in vain and lose all at last And who would think that a Master in Israel should Reason so absurdly who counts it a toil to eat his Meat when Nature requires it especially when 't is most agreeable both to his palate and constitution All the wayes of God are pleasantness to them that walk in them And these would not leave them again although their future happiness were not concerned in it If they be grievous to any it is from their unacquaintedness with His Love 1. John 5. 3. It must needs make men very remiss and loâ—se in the Service of God Christ knew that the Angels had charge over Him and that He should not dash His foot against a stone yet ne'r the less careful of His own preservation Paul was sure of the Crown of Righteousness and yet as diligent in beating down his body andâ— strain'd as hard in Running his Race as any of those who lay the stress of Salvation upon their works Such a Notion of Election layes the honour and necessity of that great Ordinance of Preaching the Gospel in the dust For if the Elect so called shall as certainly be saved by a weak simple or Corrupt Ministry and this it may be enjoyed but a day or two in all a Mans life or loosely attended upon wherein is the Ministry of the Gospel to be esteemed That peremptory Decree That Summer and Winter Day and Night shall not cease takes not away the Necessity of the Sun 's being in the World Gen 8. 22. Nor of its daily Risings Settings and various Revolutions For by these as the Necessary Means thereof must the Decree be made good So The Absoluteness of that other part of the promise That Seed time and Harvest shall not cease doth no whit discharge the Husbandman either of his ufefulness or duty but evinceth the One and inforceth the Other Giving also Encouragement to him in his Work The force of this Answer will not be evaded by alledging That God affords them Means proper and sufficient for seed time and harvest that is they have fitting Seasons with Seed-corn horses plows and other Utensils of husbandry and that 's all the Promise intends and if they improve them not the fault 's their own True it is so and they shall smart for their Neglect But what will become of the Promise and Sureness of the Covenant Therefore this is not All that God doth for Men in this point He that Decreed How long the Earth shall endure and what number of Men He will raise up upon it Did also Decree His own upholding thereof during that time and by what Means those Men should be propagated and kept alive and did accordingly put into Mankind the Principles of Self-preservation by which they are Naturally prompted to the use of them as they are to Eat Drink and Sleep He hath set the World in their heart Eccles 3. 11. As the Elect shall certainly be saved and also prepared for that Salvation so hath the Lord appointed them such a Ministry and for so long a time and their attendance thereon in such manner as best agreeth to His Own intent and which He will bless and
state can never be lost And the Reason is because Grace hath out-done Sin and gone beyond it Grace hath abounded much more Rom. 5. 20. Which super-abounding of Grace cannot referr to the Subjects of Grace as if they were more in number than the Subjects of Sin for sin came upon All and Grace cannot come upon more than all But 't is meant of the prevalent efficacy of Grace and the permanency of its effects towards all that are the Subjects of it Rom. 5. 21. And thence it is that Grace is said to Reign and that to Eternal life IV. If the End of Christ's death might possibly be frustrate Arg. 4. as possibly the very end of God's making the World might suffer disappointment All things were made for Himself and by this scale they ascend to Him The World for the Elect 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. The Elect for Christ and Christ for God All His works praise Him but above all that of Redemption as of highest note and eminency Most conspicuously doth the Glory of God shinâ—-forth in the face of Christ as Dying and as dying for such an End viz. the Salvation of His People It is the chief of the wayes of God the very Meridian and height of His Glory not essential but manifestative both in this world and that to come It therefore behoved Him so to lay it that of all his designments This might be sure to succeed For do but subtract the sureness of its Effect and leave His Redeem'd in a perishable condition and it draws a blemish instead of beauty upon all the Divine Attributes 1. The end of God's setting forth Christ a Propitiation Rom. 3. 25 26. was to declare His Righteousness in the Remission of sins which it does doubly 1. That without satisfaction sin could not justly be remitted 2. That satisfaction being given it could not justly be imputed Who shall condemn It is Christ that dyed Rom. 8. 34. But if those for whom this plenary satisfaction has been given should not be justified and effectually saved Divine Justice would be as liable to impeachment as if He had saved them without And so the thing designed for the honour of His Righteousness would turn to its disparagement 2. It would not accord with the love and goodness of God towards His Elect that That which was meant for their Recovery Joh. 3. 19. and was also a price well-worthy their Ransom should possibly turn to their deeper condemnation for so it must if they be not effectually saved This could not be that Pleasure of the Lord which should prosper in the hands of Christ 3. It would not be according to the Faithfulness and Truth of God that Christ should fail of That He was promised and earnestly looked-for as the fruit of His Sufferings which was a Seed to serve Him Isa 49 6. ch 53. 10. Prov 8. 31. The thoughts of which were matter of complacency to Him from Everlasting But if those He died for should not only abide in the same condemnation He came to deliver them from but under a much sorer vengeance than if He had not undertaken for them How grievous would it be to Him and contradictious to the Faithfulness of God! 4. Another End of Redemption was That the manifold Wisdom of God might shine-forth in the sight of Angels and Men. Christ crucified is the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. But if it were so contrived that the Thing chiefly design'd might possibly miscarry it would be no illustration of Wisdom Will one of common prudence part with His Jewels and choycest treasure and that in such manner as never to be regain'd and leave his purchase knowingly under hazzard Men â—â—deed may possibly waste their Estates in Tryals and Essayes that come to nothing but did they foresee the success they would not so expose their prudence to reproach 5. The Greatness and Power of God would suffer an eclipse if it were in the power of Creatures to defeat His most wise and holy Designments and hinder the accomplishment of His greatest work What would the Aegyptians say but that He destroyed them because not able to go through with what He undertook Numb 14. 16. 6. Lastly If the end of Christ's death might possibly be frustrate Then that blessed project for glorifying the Grace of God might possibly be disannulled and come to nothing For None but Saved Ones do or can glorifie that Grace V. Another Argument for the Sure effect of Christ's death Arg. 5. is because He hath the Management of the whole work committed to Himself as well the Application or Redemption as the procurement of it He is the Repository Root and Treasury wherein all the benefits of Redemption are laid up and the Great Almoner by whose hand they are dispensed Adam was no more a publique Person after his fall The new Stock was not intrusted with him but put into the hands of Christ who will give a better account of it For VI. There is Nothing wanting to Him who is our Redeemer which might any way conduce to the final Compleatment of His Work Arg. 6. There are Five things mainly requisite to make a great undertaking Successeful viz. Authority Strength Understanding Courage and Faithfulness All which the Captain of our Salvation is eminently invested with Joh. 3. 35. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand 1. Authority He was appointed to His Office For as Mediatour the Father is Greater than He He came not of Himself but the Father sent Him Joh. 9. 42. He was called of God Isa 42. 6 Heb. 7. 21. Heb. 5. 4 5. It was laid on Him and undertaken by Him in the way of a Covenant And Confirmed hy an Oath Never to be Reversed which also may partly be the Meaning of God the Father's Sealing Him Joh. 10. 18. Isa 61. 1. Joh. 6. 27. The Government is laid upon His Shoulder He hath the Key of David committed to Him Rev. 3. 7. Which shewes the absoluteness of His Authority Gen 41. 44. Without Him No man can lift up his hand or his foot in all the Earth 2. Strength or Power These cannot be wanting to Him if All in Heaven and Earth be sufficient for it Matth. 28. 18 And this he hath That He might give Eternal life to as many as He dyed for Joh. 17. 2. Which if they should miss oâ— it would be said That all power was not able to Save them He that made the World is surely well able to Govern it and to over-rule whatever comes into it He would never have suffered sin the onely enemy to invade it if He could not have quell'd it at pleasure Isa 63. 1. Ch. 9. 6. Their Redeemer is strong The Lord of Hosts is His name He shall thorowly plead their cause Jer. 50. 34. He must reign until He shall have put all enemies both under His own feet and ours 1 Cor.
which in the Sacred Language is termed a Giving of all things pertaining to life and Godliness The Sum of what I intend upon this Subject 2 Pet. 1. 2. is comprised in this Proposition That what ever things are requisite to Salvation are given of God freely to all the Elect and wrought effectually by the Divine Power as the necessary Means of that Salvation to which He hath appointed them By Salvation here I understand the Saints perfect settlement in Blessedness and Glory And by things requisite thereto all those Gifts Graces and Operations that are any way necessary to their actual obtainment of that State The Divine Power is that Ability of working which God hath reserved to Himself and is not Moved or Governed by the Creature 's act but by the Good pleasure of His Own Will That divers things are Requisite to Salvation needs no proof My business therefore is to shew I. What these Requisites are II. Whence they come III. To whom they do belong and by what Right IV. The Way and Manner of God's dispensing them I. What these Requisites to Salvation are They are of three sorts Some to be done for us Some upon us or in us and others by us yet so as Not without the special assistance of that good Spirit who began the work and who worketh all in all The Great thing to be done for us next after Election is Redemption from sin This was a work of infinite moment and as far above the Undertaking of Creatures For 1 The Justice of God that must be satisfied bya bearing the Curse due to Transgressors By this we are saved from wrath and without This Divine Justice will not open the house of His Prisoners 2 All Righteousness must be fulfilled by an absolute perfect Subjection to the Law By this we are interested in Eternal life and without it there is no Entring into Rest 3 The Devil who had the power of death must be destroyed and his works of darkness by which he leads captive at his will dissolved That life and immortality might be brought to light and the prey delivered None of which works could ever have been perform'd but by One of the same Nature with the parties peccant or agressing and yet equal in power and dignity with the Majesty offended For which cause and end it was That God sent forth his Son made of a woman and made under the law Gal. 4. 4 5. c. That what the Law could not do because of its weakness through the flesh the Son of God in the likeness of sinfull flesh Rom. 8. 3. might condemn sin in the flesh This was the proper subject of the former Head The end of which Redemption was To bring in the next sort of Things requisite to Salvation viz. Such as are to be Done upon and in the Elect namely their Reconcilement to God and Receiving the Adoption of Sons This is the actual performance of what was intentionally in Election and Virtually in the death of Christ as the necessary way to their ultimate End The sum of these Requisites lies in Faith and Sanctification the One imports their Right the Other their capacity Faith intitles and Holiness meetens Both which though express'd as two are alwayes together as if but One and as inseparable as light from the sun and without These our little world would stil be in darkness notwithstanding all the light that shines about us or within us Neither knowing our danger nor how to escape it 1. Faith This in generall is that spiritual light in which we see our selves by nature the children of wrath and wholly unable to change our state and withall do apprehend God Justifying freely by His Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 4. 24. and to that end do Roll our selves upon him and give up our selves to His Laws and Government It is of the Essence of Faith to empty the Soul of self and 1. Of its own understanding It is a beam of Divine light which evidenceth all a Man 's natural knowledge to be ignorance and darkness as to Spirituall things The Apostle speaks of it as of a Faculty newly given and the Nature of its new objects requires it For the natural man cannot discern the things of God They that have the best eyes now were sometimes Darkness 2. Faith empties the Soul of its own Righteousness 1. By discovering the uncleanness of it Isa 64. 5. 2. By shewing the necessity of a Better Rom. 3. 20. 3. In whom this better is to be found Rom. 10. 4. 4. That it may be attain'd and had Rom. 3. 25. 5. That being attain'd the Soul is happy and may triumph over all Rom. 8. 34. 6. That this better Righteousness and its own cannot stand together Gal. 5. 2. Rom. 10. 3. And then 3. The next work of Faith is To empty the Soul of its own Strength that is of all confidence in himself as to the obtainment of that better Righteousness He makes it indeed his business to be shut of his own and most gladly would be Invested and clothed-upon with the Righteousness of God but findes it a matter of transcendent difficulty Now he 's convinced 't is no easie matter to be saved since To believe and to keep the whole Law are things of an equal facility i. e. They are in truth both alike impossible to him Isa 27. 5. He therefore takes hold of the Strength of God to work this Faith in him And so by a Faith unseen believes to a Faith that is visible It 's Faith that is at work all this while though the Soul knows it not till afterwards II. Sanctification or Inherent holiness This consists in the expulsion or rather subduction and bringing under of Corrupt nature by bringing in the Divine and setting it uppermost in the Soul Col. 1. 13. It is an Actual translating of us out of Satan's Kingdom into His Own It is To have Christ formed in us To bear the Image of the Heavenly To have Dispositions according to God and an heart after His Own It is sometimes called Regeneration or a being born again John 3. 7. Rom. 11. 17. The separating a Man from his Old stock and grafting him into the New Whereby the Law becomes written in the heart It is also called The Passing away of old things 2 Cor. 5. 17. and a beâ—oming New of all Not that the old faculties are destroyed or blotted out in Regeneration but reduced duced Col. 3. 10. or Renewed â—ccording to the Image of Him that Createth it As the Body when it shall be Regenerated or raised again It shall be the same that was sowen but so changed in its qualities as if it were another So in the Regeneration of the Soul the same Understanding Will Affections Memory remain but are quite otherwise disposed and qualified according to the New Objects they are to Converse with 1 John 5. 20. And
ever Shaken you may be and tossed with tempest but never Over-turn'd because ye have an Eternal Root Electing love is of that Sovereignty That it Rules and Over-rules all in Heaven and Earth Christ Jesus our Saviour and Lord The Holy Ghost our Sanctifier Councellor and Comforter in all that they have done do or will do do still pursue that scope All Ordinances Providences Temptations Afflictions and whatever can be Named be it good or be it bad in it self Life death things present and things to come are all made Subservient to the Decree of Election And do all Work-together To compass and bring-about its Most glorious designment If the Course and Conduct of Common Providences were truly lined-out It would yield an illustrious Prospect How much more the Conduct Order and End of those special Providences which are proper to and conversant about Election When all the peeces therof shall be brought-together and set-in-order how beautifull will it be Angels and Men shall shout for the Glory of it Then 't will be evident God has done nothing in vain or impertinent to your blessedness That what ever hath befallen you here however contrâ—ry to your present sense and opinion of it was dâ—spensed in very faithfuâ—ness to you That if any of those manifold and seemingly Cross Occurrences you have been exercised-with had been omitted it would have been a Blank in your story a blot in your Scutcheon of honour When you shall see What Contrivances have been against you what Art Subtilty Malice and Power they were agitated-with How unable you were to Fore see prevent avoid or repell them And how all the Attributes of God and His Providences each one in its time and place which was always most seasonable came-in to your Rescue Retorting on your adversaries and safeguarding you yea how that which was death in it self was made to work life in you How amiable and admirable will the story of it be That when your faith was weak the Lord did not withdraw from you That when it was at its height and strength He then did for you above all you could believe or think and through an unspeakable Preass of Difficulties and Contradictions He carried-on his work in you even bearing you on Eagle's Wings until He had brought you to Himself How will you Magnifie His work and Admire it then Begin it Now. Secondly Infer II. Let us study more the Knowledg and Contents of this Great truth of Believers Invincible Perseverance the Rise Progress and Tendency of it and what advantages it yields us which indeed are many and very considerable 1. As it is a part of the Doctrine of Election which teacheth That Nothing in us but Grace and love in God was the only Original Cause of our Salvation The knowledge whereof will work in the Soul an holy Ingenuity and love towards God whom nothing offends but Sin Simon answered right Luke 7. 43. when he said He that had most forgiven him would love most Whence it follows That he who believes the Free Remission of all his sins from first to last must needs love God more than One who believes only the pardon of those that are past and that so as that they may all be charged upon him agen Or if not That yet he may possibly perish for those to-come perhaps in the last Moment of his life For he is not sure Nay 't is very doubtfull if dependent on his own natural will That Faith or Repentance shall be his last Act. Now This Grace of Love being the strongest and most operative Principle he that is led by it must act accordingly that is 2 Cor. 4. 16. Vigorously and without weariness as Paul did And Joseph having received large Tokens of God's love to him and expecting more yet argues against and with an holy disdain and sleight of hand puts-by the Temptation How can I doe this and sin against God who hath dealt and will deal so bountifully with me 2. As it teacheth the soul to Depend upon God for its keeping as having His Almighty Power absolutely engaged for it Whereas if the efficacy and event of all that God doth for Me should depend upon something to be done by Me who am a frail Creature and prone to Revolt I should still be in fear because still in danger of Falling and losing all at last And this Fear being an enfeebling passion must needs render my Resistance and all my endeavours both irregular and weak Whereas a Magnanimous and fearless spirit who sees himself Clothed with a Divine Power shall have his Wits as we say more about him to discern Dangers and Advantages and consequently how to eschew the one and improve the other 3. As it gives assurance Our labour shall not be in vain This made those believing Hebrews to endure that great fight of afflictions and to take joyfully the spoiling of their Goods Heb. 10. 33 34. because they knew they had in Heaven a better and more-enduring substance All manner of Accomplishments put-into-one and made your own would not so invincibly Steel your foreheads and strengthen your hearts as To be Sure of Success and to come off Conquerour The Apostle therefore brings it in as the highest encouragement in our Christian Warfare in Rom. 6. 14. and chap. 8. 37. And our blessed Lord Himself who of all others had the hardest Chapter to Run-through It made His Face as a Flint Isa 50. 7. because He knew He should not be Confounded Thirdly Infer III. Make it one and that a Mayn part of your business to foyl and disprove the Objections that are brought against this Doctrine And your Nearest way to it is Growing in Grace 2 Pet. 3. 18. with chap. 1. from the 5th verse to the 10th 1. Lay-aside and Cast-away every weight especially the sin that doth most easily beset you your bosom sin whatsoever it be Isa 2. 20. 1 Thes 5. 5 6 Cast them to the Moles and to the Batts They are not fit-Mates for Day-light Creatures It is a Noble prize you Run-for Therefore Clogg not your self with any thing that may hinder or retard your pace 2. Keep your selves in the Love of God that is keep-up and maintain a spiritual sense of His love to you and a lively answer of holy affections towards Him Whatever may tend to obscure or lessen your sense of it have nothing to doe with that unjust thing keep your self from Idols let nothing have an interest in your love but God and all things els but in subordination and with respect to Him onely 3. Watch against the Beginnings and first Motions of sin Nip it in the bud Abstain from all appearance of evil and walk not on the brink of your liberty It is easier to keep-out an Invader than to Expell him being Entred To keep-down a Rebel and prevent his Rising than to Conquer him when he is up Great and black Clouds have small beginnings the bigness
Inference It also imports Matter of Duty from us When Princes conferr titles of honour lands or Immunities They use to reserve some kind of Rent or other acknowledgment To mind their Subjects though Favourites of whom they hold You have no such way of Owning your great Benefactour Nor no such Means of being Considerable in the World as by bearing the badge and impress of Him who gave you this Name of honour Let His Name therefore be Named upon you Carry His Name in your bosom bear it on your Shoulders and the Palms of your hands Let the Choyce of your Affections The Chief of your Strength and the whole of your Activity be employed for His honour Let every thing you do bear an Impression of Him whose Name is Holy Then from the Antiquity of Election I. Inference Let the Ancientness of Electing love draw up our hearts to a very dear and honourable esteem of it Pieces of Antiquity though of base Mettal and otherwise of little use or value how venerable are they with learned Men And ancient Charters how carefull are Men to preserve them although they contain but Temporary priviledges and sometimes but of Trivial Moment How then should the Great Charter of Heaven so much Elder than the World and Containing Matters of Eternal Weight and Glory Which also hath been confirm'd by so many Promises Exemplified by Multitudes of Cases with a Seal affix'd more precious than Heaven it self All which proclaim The Eternal Validity of it How should this I say be had in everlasting Remembrance and the thoughts thereof be very precious to us Lying down Rising up and all the day long Accompanying of us And how carefull should we be Not onely to keep this Charter uncancelled but also to keep it clean from all sorts of Dust and soil by which the legibleness thereof might any way be obscured to our selves or Others II. Inference Let Election's Eternal Origine be an Argument for Its Eternal Duration and so of the Saints Invincible Perseverance to Glory That which is from Everlasting shall be to Everlasting If the Root be Eternal so are the Brancâ—es Surely For this good End among others is it twice recorded in the Revelation Rev. 13. 8 That Their Names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the World Namely Ch 17. 8. To signifie and assure That the Elect shall be safely and surely kept from those dreadful Apostacies which the Rest of the world shall fall into And hence perhaps it is That we read of Nothing done in Eternity but Election and things peculiar thereto as the Promise of Eternal life The Lamb slain The Kingdom prepared c. Election is an Eternal Fountain that never leavs Running whiles a Vessel is empty or capable of holding more and it stands open to all Comers Therefore come and if ye have not sufficient of your own Go and borrow Vessels Empty Vessels not a Few Pay your debts out of it and live on the Rest to Eternity V. From the Doctrine of Choâ—sing in Christ I. Inference It is an high Demonstration of God's love to His Chosen Ones We may say of it as Huram to Solomon Because the Lord loved His People 2 Chr. 2. 11. He set His Son over them It is also an eminent proof of His Manifold Wisdom To Contrive the blessedness of His people in such a Manner as should most Certainly secure their obtainment of it Most signally illustrate His love to them and so most affectionately winn upon their hearts and oblige them to Himself for ever We may hence also discern somthing of that Immense Greatness and Holiness of God That though He so loved His Elect Joh 17. 21. as to make them One in Himself That Union could not be admitted without a Mediatour equal with Himself II. Inference Gather hence your stability and safety What ever streight or difficulty you are Entring upon Drink of this Brook in the way and lift up your head What ever pertains to life and Godliness Grace and Glory This life and That to come is all layed up in Christ As all sorts of Food in the Ark for those who found Grace in His sight All Fullness dwells in him and that for you He is not onely a Root stable in himself but stablishing to you Communicating sap and spirit to all his Branches Whiles there is life in Him you cannot die This is That makes the Saints stand Firm and sacred in the midst of dangers 1 Joh 5. 18. The evil one touchâ—th them not Let all the Rebell-Crew of adversaries Satan the World your own evil hearts associate themselves and take Counsel together it all comes to nought Let their Asaults be Renewed again and again they are still beaten off They gird themselves and are broken in pieces They gird again and again they are broken in pieces Thus it is and thus it shall be Isa 8. 9. to the end of our Warfare For God is with us This was it made David fearless even in the valley of the shadow of death Ps. 23. 4 The Lord was with him And those three Noble Confessors they walked secure in the fiery furnace Dan. 3. 25. 27. because the Son of God was Among them Therefore Do All Suffer All and Expect All as being in Christ and not otherwise But woe to him that is alone who when he falls hath not Christ to help him up III. Inference Let this your Relation to Christ be evidenced by your Likeness to him He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit The holy Oyl that was poured on your Head runs down to the Skirts of His Garmâ—nâ—s i. e. to the very meanest of His Followers and they carry a-long the precious scent with them where ever they go or should do as Paul did 2 Cor. 2. 14. It is natural to those married to Christ to bring forth fruit unto God and see it be such as will abide the Test Rom 7. 4. Endure all sorts of weather and be bettered by it IV. Inference This Doctrine illustrates That of Justification as shewing Wherein the true Matter of Justfying Righteousness doth consist and How it comes to be Ours Our Faith or Act of Believing cannot be the Matter of it for that it is an imperfect thing and so cannot be Reckoned in the place of perfect Righteousness For It must be a Righteousness perfectly perfect that Justifies as it was a sin sinfully sinfull that Condemn'd This Righteousness also must be our own and is in a way of Right as Adam's sin also was though perform'd in the person of Another Christ and Adam being Paralels in their Head-ship the imputation of the One's Guiltiness and of the other's Righteousness are Righteously applyed to their respective seeds And this was a Main end of the Lord 's Putting Those He would Justifie into Christ That He being made sin and a Curse for them They
can happen to His There can be no other Event of them but what He setly intended The least of His Purposes shall never suffer disappointment much less that great Design of Men's Salvation by the Death of Jesus Christ For 1. The Thing it self iâ— feasible Millions of Souls are gon to Heaven on His accompt 2. It was so wisely contrived That all Interests concern'd are secured and satisfied God is Just in Jâ—stifying The Sinner saved even whiles Vengeance is taken on his Sins and Christ well pleased with a Seed to serve Him 3. The way of obtainment is such as will certainly compass the End The Divine Power is engaged in it which rests not in the least on the concourse or compliance of any frustrable Instrument 4. His Heart cannot be taken off from it It is That which His blessed thoughts have run upon from Eternity and those Thoughts of His stand fast to all Generations And 5. No higher Power can supersede His Decree He is Sovereign Lord and controlleth all There he divers Arguments which readily offer to confirm the Matter in hand I. The first is from the Nature and Import of Redemption Arg. 1. It was not the mere depositing of the Ransom demanded as a pledge to secure the Creditor's Satisfaction in case the Treaty took effect Nor was it such a pledge as might be resum'd or paid-back in case it succeeded not Neither yet was the Price of that undervalue and imperfection as to need the addition of any thing from without it self to make it effectual But such a Price it was so paid so accepted and so qualified as for ever concludes all Parties and Interests concern'd in it It was in all respects Adequate to and worthy of the Purchase design'd by it Redemption is a term of large comprehension It is next to Election and carries in it All that Election hath Chosen us to It does not barely make Men Releasable or Capable of pardon but the Actual and Eternal Deliverance from Sin Satan Death and the Law together with the full and perfect Salvation of Redeemed Ones is included in it And this is not barely affirm'd but evident proof will make it good A Witness or two for each of these 1. The Redemption wrought by Christ imports Satisfaction Without this the World had not been Reconciled Nor could it be said the pleasure of the Lord had prospered in His hand But both these are affirm'd Isa 53. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 18 and 19. and Heb. 2. 17. expresly That He made Reconciliation for the Sins of the People Yea our Grand Creditour proclames Himself satisfied by His sending from Heaven to Release our Surety 2. Justification or Deliverance from Guilt Eph. 1. 7 In whom we have Redemption through His blood the forgiveness of Sins Gal. 3. 13 Christ hath Redeem'd us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us He blots out the Hand-writing against us Nailing it to His Cross Col. 2. 14. 3. It imports the vanquishing and binding of the Strong Man who would not else have let-go the Prey By death He destroyed Him who had the power of death that is the Devil Heb. 2. 14. By the blood of His Cross He spoiled Principalities and Powers and triumphed over them Col. 2. 15. 4. Freedom from the power of sin Rom. 6. 6 Our old Man was Crucified with Him that henceforth we should not serve Sin Upon which it follows Sin shall not have dominion over you ver 14. 5. Inherent Holyness or Sanctification Col. 1. 21 You that were somtimes enemies in your mind now hath He reconciled in the Body of His flesh through death to present you Holy c. ver 22. We are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ Heb. 10. 10. and Rom. 6 18 Being then made free from Sin ye became the Servants of Righteousness And that it was by virtue of Christ's death appears by ver Heb. 9. 14. 8 For if we be dead with Christ we shall also live with Him 6. It likewise imports Resurrection Joh. 6 54 55 I will raise Him at the last day For my flesh is meat indeed that is as Crucified Christ dying was the death of death Hos 13. 14. 7. It also extends to the actual possessing of Redeemed ones with blessedness and Glory Rom. 8. 30. Whâ—m He justified them He glorified Liberty of entring into the holiest is by the blood of Jesus Heb 10. 19. and Rev. 5. 9 10. That hast Redeemed us unto God by thy blood and hast made us Kings and Priests It is the voice of Those in Heaven Now All these are in Redemption they proceed out of Christ's fulness as a Redeemer And for this cause it was that Paul cared not to know any thing but Jesus Christ and Him Crucified It is true That the Resurrection of Christ His Ascention Sitting at God's right hand and Intercession have their respective influence into every of those particulars aforenamed but they all spring from His Crucifixiâ—n If He had not dyed He had not been a Priest for ever as He is after the order of Melchisedeck Heb. 9. 12. II. Another Argument is from the inestimable worth and dignity of the Ransom that was given Arg. 2. It was the life of the Son of God Matth. 20. 28. Heaven and Earth will bear no proportion in value to this price of Redemption which therefore could not be parted-with for a doubtful or uncertain Purchase In this lies the stress of the Apostle's Argument Who when He would set forth the happy estate of God's Elect and prove them above the Reach of danger He doth it in two words but very significant ones Christ hath dyed Who shall condemn It is Christ that dyed Rom. 8. 38. The Eminency of the Person and the sufferings He submitted to as they greatly illustrate His love to Men So they strongly affirm and insure the event of His death If reconciled to God by the death of His Son much more Saved by His life Rom. 5. 10. It may truly be said of every one He died for Ezek. 18. 9. He is just He shall surely live But this in the same respect and sense as those then unborn were said to be sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ Heb. 10. 10. And their Old Man to be crucified with Him Rom. 6. No Man is actually justified till he actually believes But Repentance and Faith being purchased by Christ for those He died for They shall as certainly be made to Repent and Believe as that Christ died for them Phil. 1. 29. III. The Righteousness of Christ is more prevalent and effectual to His Seed Arg. 3. than Adam's transgression was to his All his Posterity indeed fell under the Curse by it yet so that there was still through the Intervention of Grace a possibility of Release But the Righteousness of Christ hath so perfectly recovered and ' stablished His Seed that their justified '
ever liveth to make Intercession for Those He died for Heb. 7. 25. There is great weight put upon this in Rom. 8. 34 Who is he that Condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is Risen again Who also maketh Intercession for us And the sum of His Prayer is 1 That Those given to Him might be kept from evil John 17. 15. 2 That they might be One in the Father and Himself v. 21. And 3 That they may be Where He is to behold His Glory v. 24. Now then If the Salvation of Those He died for was the End of His death If it be the Father's Will that they should be saved If also this Salvation be the Thing for which He prays Joh. 11 22. And whatsoever He asketh of God He will give it It needs must follow That the End of His death cannot be frustrate Inferences I. This Doctrine Infer 1. holding forth the Impossibility of Frustrating the end of Christ's death is a Manifest proof and Argument for the Doctrine of Peculiar Redemption before asserted For If the Salvation of Those He died for was the End of His dying and the Intent of His death cannot be frustrate Then He had not in His eye and design the Salvation of them that are Not Saved II. It gives Believers high encouragement in their Conflict against sin Infer 2. For if our old Man was Crucified with Christ That the body of sin might be destroyed in us and the intent of His death cannot be frustrate Then sin shall not have Dominion over you Than which there is Nothing more strengthens your hands in fighting against sin as is Argued in Rom. 6. 6 12 14 and 22 verses The truth is We have nothing to do in comparison but to take the prey for the enemy is beaten to our hand Eleazar slew 2 Sam. 23. 10. and the people return'd after him only to Spoil So is it here Our business now is to display our General 's Trophees To tell of His Victories and prepare our selves for His triumph That we may be suitable Attendants on Him at that Glorious and long'd-for Day There are Stragling parties indeed who watch for our halting and seldom else can they have advantage against us But their heart is broken and if followed in our Captain 's victorious Name they 'l still be Recoiling Nothing daunts them more than to see you stand to it Your Adversary would make you a Bridge of Gold or any thing even to the half of his Kingdom so you would sound a Retreat or speak no more in that Name Gird up therefore the loyns of your Mind let an holy Magnanimity possess you as knowing your Conflict shall end in your being Crown'd You Run not for an Vncertainty therefore fight not as they that beat the air For it is Nevertheless true that your enemy is stubborn and your constant pursuit will make him desperate Since he may not have quarter he 'l do all he can Not to die alone He will stand on his Stumps when his legs are off or lye on his back and fight for his Malice is implicable He will never give-over till quite out of breath and yet he will not be quite without whiles we have any We must expire together But here lies the odds That We dying in the Conflict shall rise again with Marks of honour and our Laurel hold green to Eternity yea we shall sit with our Glorious Captain in His Triumphal Chariot Rev. 3. 21. but our enemy lies in eternal silence and his Name shall Rot or be Remembred only to Greaten our Glory Only as before be sure you stand to it set your face as a flint as your Lord and Master did and know That as he was not Confounded so neither shall you All that he had you have on your side and the Merit of His improvement added to it What Power the Father gave to Him He delegates to you even a power over all the power of the enemy As it were an Antidote or Supersedeas to invalidate all that comes against you Wherefore then should we doubt Though they come about you like Bees In the Name of the Lord you shall destroy them Remember the advantages you have Besides the bruifing of your enemie's head and that incurably your own Head is in Heaven and He is there as on a Mount to behold both yours and your enemies posture and to send-in relief which He never fails to do at a dead lift And He makes intercession for you whiles you are fighting His hands are up and never weary and therefore you may be confident of success It was by virtue of His prayer that Peter's faith did not fail when there was but an hairs breadth between him and death Pro. 30. 4. Jer. 31. 10 11. The Devil Winnow'd but Christ stood-by and held the Wind in Hist fist The Lord will keep His people because He hath Redeemed them III. Since the Lord hath So firmly Secured the blessedness of His Redeemed Ones Infer 3. Then let None who hope themselves of that happy Remnant darken their evidences Do Nothing Omit Nothing whereby your Interest in Redemption may be rendred doubtful to you lest you loose the Comfort and Strength which the Lord intends His People by thus firmly insuring of it IV. This also Confirms the Doctrines of Peculiar and Absolute Election Infer 4. Effectual Calling and Final Perseverance As is very obvious to them that will seriously Mind it Every of which hath something of that kind under those respective heads And so I come to Effectual Calling as the next great effect of peculiar Redemption OF Effectual Calling THe Doctrine of Calling which I term Effectual to distinguish it from that which is Outward only and prevails not respects the Means whereby and the Manner how God's Elect are actually prepared for that Salvation He hath chosen them to It is God's revealing His Son in them and He doth it by the Holy Ghost whose office it is to Sanctifie Whom the Father hath Elected and Christ Redeemed These three acts of Grace are peculiar to the Three Persons respectively as ye have it in Jude v. 1. Next to the Glory of His Grace and the honour of His Son the Lord hath placed the Blessedness of His People as the principal End and Scope of all He hath done in the World or will do till He foldeth it up It could not therefore stand with His holy wisdom to leave those He was pleased to choose unto Salvation to the conduct of their own Understanding and Will with such other helps as they have in common with other Men and thereon to hang the whole of His great design For by such a course it would not only be frustrable but certainly defeated For prevention whereof and that the purpose of His Grace might stand He hath made it of the very substance of Predestination to prepare and apply the Means as well as to appoint the End
spilt on the ground But though this Promise of Christ be virtually a Promise of all Grace yet because of our slowness of heart to believe and to win us off from our legallizing Notions the Lord condescends to gratify His People in Words as well as Substance And therefore V. To make it expresly evident that all Spiritual blessings are perfectly free He hath put them all into Absolute Promises Not that all Promises run in that tenor Many of them have Conditions annex'd which also in their place are of very significant usefullness Gen. 22. 12-18 Joh. 3. 16. chap. 14. 6. Math. 5. 8. 2 Cor. 7. 1. Mark 16. 16. Joh. 10. 9. 1. As proofs of our willing Subjection to God 2. Directives by what Mediums we must get-to the Blessedness design'd us 3. How we must be qualified for the enjoyment of it 4. As Marks and Evidences of our being in the way to it and of those to whom it doth belong But this Annexion of Conditions does not imply a power in Men to perform them tho' perform'd they must be before we enjoy the promised Good Nor does the effect of those Promises depend upon any Act to be done by us which some other Promise doth not provide us with But That Great Fundamental Promise on which is founded our hopes of Eternal life Tit. 1. 2. was Absolute 't was given afore the world Though dearly conditional to Him with whom the Compact was made yet perfectly free and Absolute to us And therefore the adding of Conditions to After-Promises may not be taken as invalidating that First Promise Or as a Defeazance to it It 's a Scripture Maxim That the Covenant which was before confirmed of God in Christ Gal. 3. 17. the Law which was Four hundred and thirty years after cannot disannul that it should make the Promise of none effect The like may be said of Promises made in Time viz That the Conditionalness of Some does not make-void the Absoluteness of Others As the Law was to Christ such are Conditional Promises to the Absolute They shew what we should be and do and by consequence that we can neither be nor do as we should and thence Inferr The Necessity of Divine Grace to undertake for us And then indeed is the Freeness of Grace adorable which promiseth help in terms of an Absolute tenor And accordingly we find That whatever is in one Scripture made the Condition of Acceptance with God and Eternal life In other Scriptures those very Conditions are promised without Condition Some of which we have a Prospect of in the following ballance Conditional Promises Wash ye make you clean Cease to doe evil learn to doe well Come now and tho' your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow Isa 1. 16 18. Repent and turn so iniquity shall not be your ruin Ezek. 16. 30. Make you a new heart and a new spirit v. 31. Hear and your Soul shall live Isa 50. 3. If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find Him if thou seek Him with thy whole heart Deut. 4. 29. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart Deut. 10. 6. Return O backsliding Children Jer. 3. 14. If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land Isa 1. 19. I will yet for this be enquired of by the House of Israel Ezek. 36. 37. He that endureth unto the end the same shall be saved Math. 24. 13. Promises of the Condition Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean From all your filthiness will I cleanse you Ezek. 36. 25. I will forgive your iniquity and your sin I will remember no more Jer. 31. 33. I will put a new spirit within you Ezek. 11. 19. A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you chap. 36. 26. Thou shalt return and obey the voyce of the Lord Deut. 30. 8. They shall return unto Me with their whole heart Jer. 24. 7. I am found of them that sought me not Isa 65. 1. The Lord thy God will Circumcise thine heart Deut. 30. 6. I will heal their Backslidings Hosea 14. 4. Thy People shall be willing Psal 110. 3. I will cause you to walk in my Statutes Ezek. 36. 27. Phil. 2. 13. I will pour upon the House of David the Spirit of Grace and Supplications Zach. 12. 10. They shall not depart from me Jer. 32. 40. Who shall confirm you unto the End 1 Cor. 1. 8. Jer. 3. 19. These are some of those Many exceeding-Great and Precious promises 2 Pet. 1. 4. by which we are made partakers of the Divine Nature And if duly consider'd would much conduce to establish the present Truth which asserts the Absolute free-giving of All things pertaining to life and Godliness ver 3. And this nothing more plainly contradicts than to make the Dispensments of Grace to depend on the Wills and improvements of Natural Men To shut-out which is a principal scope of Absolute Promises 1 Cor. 1. 29. Ch. 12. 6. Phil. 2. 13. That no flesh should glory in His presence Since it is God that worketh all in all and That of His own good pleasure Now If any should ask by the way Wherein the special love of God to Elect persons discovers it self before their Conversion I cannot assigne any plain or Open discoveries of it by which the Elect may be known from other Men All outward things fall alike to all The heir whiles a Child differs nothing from a Servant altho' he be Lord of all by Election Gal. 4. 1. Yet there are divers gracious operations of that love towards them even in common providences Albeit they are not perceiv'd till afterwards As 1. In keeping-alive the Root or Stem they were to grow from which might be a principal cause of His adding 15. years to Hezekiah's life viz. for Josiah's sake who was to come of his lineage Manasseh his grandfather not being yet born So those dayes of tribulation were shortened and many of the Jewes kept alive by the Providence of God for the Elect's sake that should be of their progeny perhaps two thousand years after 2. In preserving the Elect themselves from many a death which they were obnoxious to before their Conversion As He also did Manasseh And this was the Cause when Satan had them in his Nett and had drag'd them to the pits brink That the Lord sent from Heaven and saved them Psal 57. 3. Job 33. 24. Deliver him I have found a Ransom He is Mine and I have designed him to another end 3. In keeping them from the unpardonable Sin Thus Paul being a Chosen Vessel was kept without that knowledg of Christ which some of the Pharisees had For otherwise his persecuting the Church of God had bin uncapable of pardon as appears by 1 Tim. 1. 13. I obtained Mercy because I did it ignorantly 4. In casting the lot of their habitation where He hath planted
fight Heb. 1â— Enabled One to chase a thousand when Fear caused a thousand to flee at the rebuke of One 1 Sam. 14. 13. yea at the shaking of a leaf An handful of obedience springing from Faith and confidence in God is more acceptable to Him than sheafs and loads arising from Fear of wrath 1 Cor. 13. 3. If Paul for fear of hell had given his body to be burned it had been Nothing But Faith and love render small things of value with God the Widow's Mite and a Cup of cold water And 't is worthy of Remarque That when the fruits of the Spirit are reckoned up Gal. 5. 22 33. this Fear is not so much as named among them And certain it is That the more lively and sensible our love is to God the less will be our fear of hell For perfect love casts out fear 1 Joh. 4. 18. 5. If Fear were such an Effectual Curb to sin or help to Perseverance There would not be so many Promises of Delivering God's people from their fears Nor could they so Affectionately bless God for their being delivered Nor so Resolutely set themselves against it Neither would there be so many Commands and Injunctions laid upon them Not to be Afraid 1. Commands and Injunctions against Fear Jer. 46. 27 Fear not thou O my servant Jacob for I will save thee and agen ver 28 Fear thou not I will correct thee in measure i. e. Meetly and proportionably according to the scope of my Covenant which is to save thee The Lord would not have His People to think themselves in danger of being Cashier'd when they are Chastened which seems the Import of that in Isa 41. 9. I have chosen thee and not Cast thee away Fear thou not ver 10. So Heb. 10. 35 Cast not away your Confidence Joh. 14. 27 Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid and Luke 12. 32. Fear not litle Flock It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom Innumerable are the Injunctions laid upon God's people against Fear Isa 35. 4. chap. 43. 5. ch 41. 13. 14. chap. 44. 2. Jer. 30. 10. Dan. 10. 19. Joel 2. 21. Zeph. 3. 16. Hag. 2. 5. Zach. 8. 13 15. Math. 10. 28. Act. 27. 24. Rev. 1. 17 c. Therefore freedom from this Fear is no impediment to Perseverance 2 Promises of delivering from Fears Jer. 30. 10. Jacob shall be in quiet and none shall make him afraid Psal 112. 10. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings Prov. 1. 33. He shall be quiet from fear of evil The promise is not made to Fear and fainting but to Faith and Confidence Ps 27. 14 Be of good courage and He shall strengthen thy heart If it had bin the mind of Christ that Believers should still be under this Fear He would not have told them Joh. 5. 24. They are passed from death to life and shall not come into condemnation Math. 19. 28. That they shall sit upon Thrones That their Inheritance is reserved in heaven for them 1 Pet. 1. 4 5. and they kept for it and that by the Mighty power of God The Result of all which is That having these Promises we should cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7. 1. perfecting holiness in the Fear of God Luke 1. 74. To serve Whom without fear was a main End of Christ's Redemption 3 Examples of Christian Resolution Not to fear Psal 23. 4 yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear none evil Ps 27. 3 Tho' an host encamp against me my heart shall not fear Isa 50. 7 Therefore that is Because the Lord God had promised to help him Therefore have I set my face as a flint and I know that I shall not be confounded Ps 46. 2 We will not fear tho' the Earth be Removed Ps 56. 4 I will not fear what flesh can do unto me and Ps 49. 5. Wherefore should I fear in the dayes of evill when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about These if any thing should have put him in fear but his Faith resolves against it according to Isa 12. 2 I will trust and not be afraid i. e. He would not willingly admit the least mixture of fear with his Faith Neh. 8. 14. and good Reason for it since the joy of the Lord was his strength 4. Instances of Thankfulness for deliverance from fears Psal 34. 3. O Magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt His Name together But what 's the occasion of this joyfull triumph I sought the Lord and He heard me and Delivered me from all my fears v. 4. Psal 27. 6. Therefore will I offer in His Tabernacle Sacrifices of Joy And the Reason of it was That God would hide him in His own Pavillion v. 5. That is He would secure him from danger and set him up above His Fears Which surely he could not with any good Reason have Rejoyced in Nor have prayed that God would Restore to him the joyes of His Salvation if the Dread of Eternal fire had been so good a friend to Perseverance Scriptures to this purpose might be multiplied But these I hope may have left the Objection without footing But besides our Scripture-proof It is evident in Experience That nothing so Elevates the Spirit and Courage of a Man in great undertakings as assurance of Success But whiles he is wavering and doubtfull How he shall speed especially whiles he meditates Terrours and of them the Dreadfullest his hands are enfeebled Nor he has not his Wits about him That which tends in truth to make a Man Steadfast Vnmoveable and alwaies to abound in the work of the Lord is not the fear of Miscarrying and losing all at last but Faith and a certain knowledge that his labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1. Cor. 15. 58. If a Man once believing cannot lose his faith Why is it said Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall and Look to your selves that we lose not the things we have wrought If no possibility of losing what need such Cautions and so great Circumspection The Maker of this Objection hath elswhere granted that the possession of Canaan was sure to Abraham's seed so as all their unworthiness could not deprive them of it And yet we find their Induction and actual Possession yoked afterwards with as many Conditions Cautions and limitations as the Promise of Salvation to Believers any where is and yet Nevertheless Certain But for more particular answer 1. It is evident That a Righteous Man may fall and as evident it is That he cannot fall finally For tho' he falls Seaven times in a day as often does he Rise agen Pro. 24. 26. And this because the Lord upholdeth him with His hand Psal 37. 24. And Psal 145. The Lord upholdeth all that fall Either He stayes them when
who disbelieve the Doctrine of Perseverance have given the Flesh its full Range and liberty Needs no proof But That any Believer hath made that impious improvement of it will never be made-out 2. The Objection deserves no Quarter because it highly Reproaches the Goodness and Faithfulness of God as if for a Fish He had gâ—ven His People a Scorpion For so it would be If His Giving them Absolute Promises should prove an Indulgence to the flesh 3. It also Contradicts the known and constant way of holy Men's Arguing and Inferring from Absolute Promises and the highest Assurance See a few Instances of this Col. 3. 4 When Christ our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in Glory The Result of it is Mortifie therefore your Members which are upon the Earth 1 Ioh. 3. 2 We know That when He shall appear We shall be like Him And what is the fruit of this knowledge Every Man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure The like ye have in 2 Cor. 5. 1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens and what the effect of this great Knowledg was ye have in the 9. v. Wherefore We labour That whether present or absent we may be accepted of Him In 2 Cor. 6. 18. is repeated the Sum of the New Covenant I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty See now the use he makes of it And all Believers have the same Mind Having therefore these Promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthyness of flesh and spirit perfecting holyness in the fear of God Job knew That his Redeemer lived and that he should live with him and yet as to holiness and integrity Not a man like him in all the Earth And that holy Man Asaph was fully assured of Persevering infallibly Psal 73. 24 Thou shalt guide me by thy Counsel and afterward Receive me to Glory This did not loosen the Reigns but made him cleave closer to God Renouncing all but Him and His service Whom have I in Heaven but thee v. 25 And It is good for Me to draw nigh to God v. 28. The like frame of Spirit we find in David Psal 23 Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life His Result also is I will dwell in the house of God for ever And that these were not temporary fits and flashes but from a stled Principle is further apparent by his manner of Reasoning in Psal 27. 5 6 In time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavillion no safer place on Earth nor in Heaven Luke 12. 19. and now shall my head be lifted up above mine Enemies round about me What follows upon this Mounted Assurance Soul take thy ease eat drink and be merry O No! But Therefore will I offer Sacrifices of Joy I will sing yea I will sing praises unto the Lord He was now upon his high-places out of the Reach of danger but did not grow Remiss upon it Restrain Prayer and give-over Calling upon God but falls the more servently upon that which shall be the Upshot of all in Heaven He would rather have been Remiss without this Assurance as himself confesseth at the 13. verse I had fainted unless I had believed to see the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the living Paul s assurance of obtaining what he ran-for was a Mighty strengthening to him in his Race Who so Crucified to the World as Paul so abundant in all kind of service or more ready to dye for Christ than he Who yet had the fullest Assurance of holding-out and of Receiving the Crown of Righteousness at last And that Nothing should separate him from it By these ye may gather That Believers are of a Nobler Extract than to love God the less because He loves them so Much and that 't is no trivial Slaunder to Insinuate That Believers especially such as have Assurance are most exposed and given to backsliding Which is sure an Unnatural consequent of their being Sealed to the day of Redemption Such objections do also argue the Authors of them Not well-acquainted with the good ways of God Nor with that spiritual obligeing sweetness that is found in them Which any One who hath tasted thereof in truth would not Turn-from altho his future happiness were not concern'd in it Nor do they Consider the frame and nature of the New Creature which hath spiritual senses fitted to discern what makes for its own preservation and what makes against it Had you Fifteen years added to your life and a Certainty of it Would you therfore forsake your food and disuse the ordinary means of preserving life The Jews had an Absolute Promise That God would save Jerusalem from the King of Assyria who then besieged it Did they setope their Gates and draw off their Guards upon it Sense and Reason would teach them Otherwise Which Grace does not destroy but perfect It is a sparkle of that Heavenly fire which cannot live out of its Element nor can all the Waters under Heaven quench it It is a part of the Divine Nature and so loves and hates as the Father of it doth and It will cleave to Him in every State If He save me Alive I 'l Serve Him If He kill me I 'l yet trust in him In life and in death I will be the Lord's This is the natural disposition of the New Creature It favours only the things which are of God And the higher-tasted They are by Assurance the more is he Aloft and above the lure of carnal Divertisements Not to be Reigned or led by them Therefore Let God be true and His Prophets and Apostles be reckoned for faithfull Witnesses And every one that speaks Otherwise a lyar The next thing in course is To consider What improvment may be made of this Doctrine Which one would surely conclude of very great usefulness since the Scriptures are so greatly concern'd about it In the General it affords Matter of eminent Support to Believers especially in difficult Cases It also evinceth Matter of Duty on the Believers part And from the Examples forequoted somthing of Direction in reference to both Which I shall here put intermixedly together First Infer I. Stand still and behold the Salvation of the Lord And at the sight of this great thing Say in your hearts with an holy Astonishment What hath God wrought Let your Souls be filled and inlarged with everlasting admirings of that Grace that Sovereign Grace which has thus impregnably secur'd the Salvation of His Chosen That no Manner of thing whether with in them or without them shall be able to hinder them of it Even the Gates of hell shall not prevail against it No Not so much as one of the stakes thereof shall be Removed and that for
Lord should depart from iniquity Which as it is a Means of God's appointing to keep from Apostacy So it shall be to them an evidence That they are of that Foundation and shall be kept For it being his scope to Comfort believers against their Misgivings which arise from a sense of their own weakness and a like aptness in themselves to Revolt He needs must use an Argument suited to such an End And therefore in saying The foundation of God standeth sure He must intend Believers standing-sure upon it For The standing-sure of the foundation would be small Comfort to us if yet We might be blown off it or sink besides it Does God take care for Sparrows for Oxen for Ravens Much more for believing souls who have Committed themselves to His keeping Let the Fowler do all he can Not a sparrow shall fall to the ground you 'l say Without the Will of God they cannot And the Will of God is That they shall not A thousand may fall at his side and ten thousand at his right hand Psal 91. 7. but it shall not come nigh him He that determin'd such a sparrow shall not fall determin'd also to keep him from that as would cause him to fall And therefore either the Fowler shall not find the Bird or the Bird shall discern his approach or smell the powder and be gon Or if he shoot he shall miss his mark Or if he hit it shall light-on the feathers that will grow-agen Or on some fleshy part that may be lick'd whole Or perhaps it shall open an Ulcer that could not otherwise be Cured A Believer's heel may be bruised but his vital-parts are out of Reach and therefore safe Fifthly Infer V. Let this Doctrine of Believer's invincible perseverance in Faith and Holiness strengthen your hearts against all sorts of doubts and fears which may arise from the presence of Indwelling-Sin with its frequent and sturdy insurrections Since He that hath begun Phil. 1. 6. 2 Thes 1. 11. will also perfect His Work with Power Judge righteous Judgment Of our selves indeed we cannot judge worse than we deserve but of our state we may Therefore For help in this Case Consider 1. That tho' the New Nature shall certainly expunge the old at last yet the Work is not perfected here But this for your present relief That the Best Principle is still predominant and getting ground how ever your present sense may judge of it and the old party shall never recover its Wasting condition For the Kingdom of God once in the heart will surely Work and spread it self till the whole lump is favoured by it To assure us of this is the drift of divers Parables in the Gospell Mat. 13 31 33. chap. 25. 29. To him that hath shall be given He that hath life shall have it more abundantly As it was God who girded you with strength Joh. 10. 10. Ps 18. 32. so He will make your way perfect Suppose that Faith and Holiness be at present but as two little flocks of kids And sin like the Syrians Army fills the Countrey Be not dismayed The king of Israel will cleer the Countrey of them His spirit shall lift up a Standard against them and though they come-in like a floud by Him shall their proud waves be stayed The Lord says to you in this Case as He did to Jeremy I have made thee an Iron Pillar and brazen Walls against the whole land They shall fight against thee but they shall not prevail against thee Jer. 1. 18 19. Or as once to His People concerning the Gyant Og Fear him not For I have delivered him into thy hand with all his Army 2. This Sickness is not unto death The Conflict is not to weaken or destroy but for the tryal and improvement of your faith and other Graces The very tryal whereof is a precious thing 1 Pet. 1. 7. and shall be found so at last both to the Glory of Him that tryes you and yours who are tryed Abraham David Job and others are pregnant examples of this They came-forth like Gold More pure solid and flexible David indeed tho' he held-fast his confidence a great while yet still being pursued and Over-prest Every day involv'd in dangers anew and having once admitted Carnal Reason to be of his Councel he began to flagg in his faith I shall one day perish and All men are lyars But it was in his haste Not considering the sureness of an Absolute Promise He therefore when he had better weighed it confesses his fault and Recovers from it And his faith was improv'd by his tryal For being come agen-to it-self he comfortably concludes That Goodness and Mercy shall follow him all the days of his life and Notwithstanding his present exile he shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Ps 23 7. 3. Be it alwaies Remembred That God reckon's of a man according to what his Mind is And you ought so also to reckon of your self This was Paul's course in Rom. 7. where he thus reasoneth Now If I do that I would not It is no more I that do it Rom. 7. 20. but sin that dwelleth in Me. Before Conversion it was Saul but Now 't is Sin Believers may be led-captive at-times even after they have sworn fealty to their true Lord But still they are His in their Mind and that 's their Mark It is the same with that in John Whosoever is born of God doth not Commit sin And he cannot sin because he is born of God 1 Joh. 3. 9. i. e. He does not nor he cannot sin as the Devil's children do for their Wills are in it according to John 8. 44 The lusts of your father ye will do But a Regenerate person The evil he doth he Allows not And this is a staying Consideration That if with our Mind we serve the law of God Rom. 7. 25. it shall not Ruin us that with our flesh we serve the law of Sin But how shall I know it If you be forced you will Cry-out and if you Cry it is a Rape and shall not be charged to your accompt ye have the Law for it in Deut. 22. 25 26 27. So Exod. 21 13. with Deut. 19. 4 6. he that kills a Man against his Will is not reckoned a Murtherer Nor worthy of death albeit the Act it self be the same that another Man whose will was in it shall dyefor 4. Believers are Trees of Righteousness and of the Lord 's own planting and therefore they shall not fear when heat cometh Jer. 17. 7 8. They have their Autumns too often and blighting Winds perhaps â—n the Spring-time too and also luxuriant branches and Suckers proceeding from the Old stock which rob the good Ones of their sap and make their fruit less both in bulk and beauty But still their substance is in them and therefore they Revive and flourish agen And whiles those Suckers are Nipt
and Prun'd-off Joh. 15. 2. the true Branches are preserved and Cherished They shall bring-forth fruit in their old age Pâ— 92. 14. 1 Joh. 3. 2 9. chap. 2. 27. 2 ep Joh. v. 2. They that are Now i. e. Once They that are Once the Children of God shall never be Otherwise save only in a greater likeness to their Father And tho' their living on Him and their likeness to Him be very weakly especially at times as the Natural life of Infants is yet being born they must be kept And the Will and Care of their Father is Eph. 4. 13. To Nurse them up to a Perfect Man You ' I say perhaps That never had any such cause of Complaint as you and possibly it may be so To be sure you know not that They had And those you compare your self with have said as much of themselves and they had the like Cause for our hearts are fashion'd alike Onely each one best knows the plague of his own Agur a Man of great Wisdom and Holiness says of himself That he was more brutish than any Man Prov. 30. 2. But suppose it be true That Others corruptions have not broke-out as yours have done yet May not this put your faith to a â—tand Much less Make you weary Recoil or to faint in your Minds For the same Grace that prevented them can pardon you and will if you cast your self upon it Ye may indeed be allow'd to complain of your sins for Nothing els have ye to complain of Therfore Complain and Cry-out as loud as you will Rom. 7. 24. Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death But withall Betake you to the same Refuge that he did ver 25. abide by it I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Here you may triumph over all both Complaints and the Causes of them It must always be granted That to Overcome Sin Combin'd Intrench'd and fortifi'd as it is is a great Undertaking and must be gon-through with There is no Retreit to be sounded Nor Armour provided for your back Every Mother's son must either kill or be kill'd in this Combate There 's no Compounding the Difference Nor discharge in this Warfare till the day be perfectly Won But What a Recruit is there levied and always stands ready as a sure Reserve viz. That though the Conflict be sharp the success is sure In order whereto amongâ—t other Rules and Articles of War bear in mind these few following 1. Intangle not your self but shun and avoid whatever may prove a clog or unfit you for duty 2. Exercise yourself in things that will teach you to handle your Arms and tending to Nourish your faith 3. Stand on your Guard watchfully that ye be not surprised by sudden excursions or under pretence of friendship 4. Arm your self with the same Mind that was in Christ set your face as a flint and conclude That ye shall not be confounded 5. Submit to the place your General hath set you in It must have been some bodie 's lot and why not yours and the hotter it is the more honourable 6. Look that ye fight with proper weapons which are onely to be had at the Covenant of Grace and the Cross of Christ And There they are never wanting And be sure ye go not down to the Philistines either to forge or sharpen 7. Fight not as one that beats the ayr but as having indeed a sturdy adversary to deal-with whom yet you are sure to Overcome 8. Look still on your Captain to observe what He says and Does and do likewise To take-up your Cross and endure hardship are necessary accoutrements to a Soldier of Christ 9. Wait on the Lord to Renew your Strength who then bestirrs Himself most when your strength is gon Then He lays hold upon Shield and Buckler Ps 35. 2. and stands-up for your help 10. Lastly and to Influence all Mind the Lord of his Covenant even Then when it may be your self think on it with trouble as doubting your interest in it Pray Him to remember it for you and with the same Good-will wherewith He made it Beseech Him to look-on His Bow in the Cloud which Himself hath set there as a sure sign between God and you That tho' the skies be Red and lowring The Clouds return after the Rain and the Billows go-over your head you shall not be deluged by them By this it is that ye are hedged-about and walled-up to Heaven Therefore Stand not like Men in suspense as unresolved to fall-on or doubtful how to come-off But On On the day 's your Own The Lord of Hosts pursues them And let all the Sons of God shout for joy Sixthly Infer VI. since Believers onely are interessed in the Covenant and that Faith is a Necessary Instrument which the Covenant wil not work without without which you cannot work with it Nor see your Interest in it Look-well to your Faith first That it be of the right kind viz. such as Renounces Self lives upon Grace And then having found it such Be sure ye keep it well and improve it to the utmost Two uses especially are to be made of it 1 As your Shield to supply the place of all other peeces of your Armour when broken or loose as well as to safeguard them when they are whole and Tite about you If your helmet be out of the way and fiery darts come pouring down Hold up your Faith between your head and them Faith is the truest quench-coal to the fire of hell If your Sword be forgot or laid-aside or wants an edge c. your Shield if well applyed will Retort your enemies weapons on his own Pate 2 Faith is your spiritual Optick which shews you things of Greatest Moment and Not Otherwise Visible Even Chariots and horsmen of Fire are not discernible without it If temptations from the World do indanger you Turn your Faith that way and through it view and consider how Shallow and short-liv'd the pleasures of it are and how Momentany your sufferings Then look-at the World to come The Glory of it and your interest in it And how much your Crown will be Brightened by the scowrings you have pass'd-under here and dwell on the contemplation of it Bend not your eye so much on the peril or length of your passage as on the long'd-for shore that lies beyond it And reckon the Surges of that dreadfull gulph which is yet betwixt you and It but as so many strokes to waft you Thither Heb. 11. 26. This was the course that Moses took and Christ Himself Nothing so blunts the edge of Satan's temptations Chap. 12. 2. or the World's as this Faith of God's Elect. Therefore see that you hold-fast your Faith Keep it as your life keep That and it will keep you and let it not go until ye die Then indeed it will leave you because then it will have done