they are necessary and as far as or how and upon what accounts they are so and that Men honest teachable and truly fearing God do really most easily understand them 15. But because there be very many even amongst Christians who either do not at all or else not with sufficient attention read these Books nor with care and Judgment consider what they read or do not frequently as is meet piously implore the Divine Help and Assistance or else being tainted or filled with Prejudice Self-Confidence Hatred Envy Ambition or other corrupt Affections are imploi'd in reading of these Books and then indeed next because even in these very Books themselves we often meet with here and there as well things as phrases peculiar to the said ancient times and also tropical and figurative manners of speech which at this time afford us some darkness and difficulty and which are such that unless one be solidly instructed in all these or else bring with him a mind very docile honest and void of Affection or Partiality unto the judging or discerning of them they may easily be wrested to a wrong sence yea to a perverse and such as is prejudicial to Salvation from hence ariseth not only just reason alone that we may not treat of many other now why the interpretation and explication of the Scriptures profitably may yea and alwaies ought to have its place allowed it in the Church 16. But the best Interpretation of Scripture is that which most faithfully expresseth the native and literal sence thereof or at least cometh nearest to it as that alone which is the true and living Word of God whereby as by incorruptible Seed we are begotten again unto the Hope of Eternal Life Now we call the native and literal sence not so much that which the Words properly taken hold forth as indeed it very often falls out as that which though the words rigedly taken do not insinuate or hint it yet is most agreeable to right reason and the very mind and intention of him that uttered the words whether it were expressed properly or figuratively The which may and ought to be known and discovered by the scope and occasion of every place also from the Subject Matter Antecedents and Consequents that is things going before and following also from comparing of like places with like and from palpable Absurdities otherwise like to follow and other Arguments of that kind or from the consideration and weighing of things together 17. But to desire to fetch or take this exposition from any other Author Head or Fountain whatsoever to wit from any Symbol or Creed of Mens making or Analogy of Faith in this or that place received or any publick Confession of Churches which we also before advised in our Preface which we would never have at any time severed or divided from this our Declaration or from the Decrees of Councils or Consent of Fathers one or other though even the most or greatest part of them is a thing too uncertain and oftentimes dangerous 18. And yet do we not therefore lightly despise the pious probable or long-since received interpretations of others especially of the ancient Fathers whether Greek or Latin much less so as proudly or arrogantly to reject their unanimous consent but we do then at length and that indeed modestly recede from them when we find in our Conscience that they alledg things aliene from or not agreeable with the true sence of the Scriptures or things contrary to it Nor do we think that we do by this means do them any wrong Since not only every of them apart but also the most of them jointly yea all of them taken together might in many things err and themselves also have freely acknowledged it of themselves with one accord and therefore do expresly forbid that their writings be simply or without any more ado believed but desire that we at length so far approve of them as they agree with the Sacred Scriptures and on the contrary that we freely reject them so far as they disagree with the same CHAP. II. Of the Knowledg of the Essence of God oâ— of the Divine Nature 1. FUrthermore our whole Religion contained in these very Books doth briefly consist in our right knowledg of the one only true God and Jesus Christ the Mediator whom he hath sent and in a lawful or due Worship of both in or under the hope of a Life eternal and immortal after Death to be certainly obtained and enjoyed in the Heavens according to the free promise of the same 2. And that God may be rightly known and piously worshipped and that according to the Scriptures three things offer themselves necessarily to be considered and held by us his Nature Works and Will The Nature indeed of God that we may understand that he is of or in himself most worthy to be worshiped of us his Works that we may know that he may rightfully and defervedly require of us what manner of worship soever he please lastly his Will that we may be clearly convinced that he will be worshipped of us and withall know after what manner he will and ought to be worshipped by us that we may assuredly hope for Eternal Salvation from him Howbeit concerning the Nature and Works of God all those things are not necessarily to be held which in every respect at least whatsoever belongs to the Divine Essence and all the modes or manners of its working and kinds of operations much less all those things which either according to the likely and specious placits of the Schools or from the probable discourse of Reason are wont to be affirmed of them but those only without which the Divine Will revealed in the Scriptures either cannot be rightly understood or performed by us Since they only who do the will of God and keep his Commandments are every where in the Scripture said truly to know God and on the contrary they that do not the same are said not to know God So that that alone deserveth to be called the saving Knowledg of God which is joyned with the practice of Piety But other things pertaining hereunto although haply they may be profitable more or less either for the promoting of Piety or for the better understanding and more happy composing of Controversies of Religion that may happen yet they ought not to be held for necessary doctrines of Faith which we cannot be ignorant of without the loss of Salvation 3. As to the Nature of God the Scripture holds forth God unto us under a twofold consideration 1. Absolutely and generally in his essential Attributes to wit whereby he doth unfold or declare unto us his Spiritual Nature and glorious Majesty common to the distinct or several Persons sofar as is requisite for our Faith and Salvation in this Life 2. Distinctly relatively in the mystery of the Sacred Trinity
darkly known of Men to wit the Work of Redemption or of a New Creation whereby he might of his meer Grace and Mercy deliver Man who by reason of sin was become lyable to Eternal Death and Condemnation and lay in miserable sort under the bondage of sin from the said Guilt and restore him unto the Hope of an eternal and immortal Life and minister to him sufficient yea and superabundant Power and Ability to cast off the Dominion of Sin and to obey the Will of God with his whole Heart 2. This Work God hath accomplished by his one only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ whom indeed he therefore sent into the World not only that he might by him most openly declare and divers ways confirm his most Merciful Will concerning his bestowing Eternal Life freely upon Sinners that do seriously and truly repent and believe but also in very deed that he might through his most holy Obedience and the effectual working of his Holy Spirit in us as far as in him lyeth by degrees bring us to the said wished and desired end 3. Furthermore the whole Knowledg of this Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ as far indeed as is savingly necessary consists chiefly of two parts For it respecteth partly his Person and partly his Office In respect of his Person Jesus Christ is true and Eternal God and withal true and perfectly just Man in one and the same person for that he is the natural only begotten and proper Son of God in the fulness of time by the Operation of the Holy Ghost made true and entire Man and born of the Virgin Mary without any Spot or Stain of Sin 4. And he was not only true or entire and perfect Man as to his substance to wit consisting of a true humane body and a reasonable Soul but also truly obnoxious or subject to the same Infirmities Passions Miseries Afflictions Troubles Griefs Sorrows Ignominy Reproaches and consequently the most sharp or bitter Death as we are and that for this very end that being in all things made like unto his Brethren yet without Sin he might be our merciful and Faithful high Priest in things pertaining unto God to expiate the Sins of the People And this is meant by that Article of the Apostles Creed concerning Christ Jesus I believe in Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary 5. The Office of Jesus Christ is threefold Prophetical Priestly and Kingly all which he did partly now long since in this World in his State of Humiliation and abasement or emptying of himself faithfully administer and now also partly doth gloriously administer or discharge in Heaven in his State of Glory and Exaltation Unto the former State pertain these Articles following He suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended into Hell By which as it were by certain Steps or Degrees the whole Humiliation of Jesus Christ to wit such as became him as our Prophet and Priest was leisurely consummated and finished Unto the latter are to be referred these The third day he rose again from the dead he ascended up into Heaven he sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead By which things is excellently described partly a certain preparation unto both the Kingly and Pontificial Dignity of Jesus Christ partly this very Dignity it self and the magnificent exertion or shewing forth of the same 6. His Prophetical Office he hath now long since fully performed and finished not only when he openly revealed unto us by his Gospel the Will of God concerning the communicating of Salvation truly such or of Eternal life to all that only believe and obey after death but hath also by manifest Signs and Miracles too great to be questioned or excepted against and also by the example of his own proper Obedience both in his life and death most evidently confirmed it and withall yet further after his death he hath most substantially by divers arguments for fourty days together asserted and proved the same 7. His Priestly Office he partly performed long since when at his Father's command whom †submissively obeying he underwent on our behalf the cursed death of the Cross and offered up himself to God his Father as a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of all Mankind and suffered himself being innocent to beslain upon the Altar of the Cross partly he doth yet still daily perform the same whilst being alive again he continually appeareth in Heaven before the Face of God for the sake of Men and doth in effectual and glorious wise intercede for those that believe shewing himself indeed at all times and in all places a most faithful Advocate and Patron to them 8. His Kingly Office he doth even now continually exercise since being once raised from Death by the Father and advanced to the Throne of Supreme Majesty in Heaven and set down at the right hand of God on high and having obtained all power in Heaven and Earth he rules every where in magnificent manner and indeed he doth so dispose of and govern all things according to his own Will and Pleasure that he does chiefly and in the first place consult the Safety and Salvation of his faithful ones to wit since he hath not only now long since instituted the Ministry of the Gospel for our good but doth also continually in powerful-wise preserve it against all sorts of Obstacles or Hinderances and therein still admirably doth exert his own spiritual Efficacy and whil the doth by his Spirits and Angels his Ministers and Attendants powerfully guard protect and defend even in this Life his faithful Subjects against the Devices Wiles Snares Force and Power of Satan Tyrants and all other their Enemies until he shall in the last Judgment utterly destroy the one and take up the other into his heavenly and immortal Glory and make them everlastingly happy and blessed And indeed upon these Offices is built both the Knowledg and Worship proper and peculiar to Jesus Christ as he is Mediator of which hereafter in their order and place 9. But from hence it appeareth that Jesus Christ is not our Saviour in one way or upon one account only and alone to wit not only by his Preaching Example Martyrdom or Suffering or that he is not so only therefore because he hath declared unto us the way of Eternal Life and confirmed it by Miracles also by the examplariness of his Life and by his Death and by this means hath purchased to himself a Supreme power and virtue to save us But withall indeed by virtue of Merit with or towards God and Efficacy arising or proceeding therefrom and immediatly respecting us By virtue of Merit
THE CONFESSION OR DECLARATION OF THE Ministers or Pastors Which in the UNITED PROVINCES are called REMONSTRANTS Concerning the chief Points of Christian Religion LONDON Printed for Francis Smith at the Elephant and Castle in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange 1676. THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS   Page Chap. 1. OF the Sacred Scripture and its Authority Perfection and Perspicuity 59 Chap. 2. Of the Knowledg of the Essence of God or of the Divine Nature 78 Chap. 3. Of the Holy and Sacred Trinity 93 Chap. 4. Of the Knowledg of the Works of God 96 Chap. 5. Of the Creation of the World of Angels and of Men. 98 Chap. 6. Of the Providence of God or his Preservation and Government of things 105   Page Chap. 7. Of the Sin and Misery of Man 117 Chap. 8. Of the Work of Redemption and of the Person and Offices of Jesus Christ. 128 Chap. 9. Of the Knowledg of the Will of God revealed in the New-Covenant 138 Chap. 10. Of the Precepts or Commandments of Jesus Christ in general and of Faith and Repentance or Conversion unto God 141 Chap. 11. Of Faith in Jesus Christ. 145 Chap. 12. Of good Works in particular and of the exposition of the Decalogue 155 Chap. 13. Of directing and denying of our selves and bearing of the Cross of Christ. 170 Chap. 14. Of Prayer and Thanksgiving and in particular of the Lord's Prayer 181 Chap. 15. Of special Callings and of the Precepts and Traditions of Men. 193 Chap. 16. Of the Worship and Veneration    Page  of Jesus Christ the only Mediator and of the Invocation of Saints 196 Chap. 17. Of the Benefits and Promises of God and first of Election unto Grace or Calling unto Faith 200 Chap. 18. Of the Promises of God that are performed in this Life to those that are already converted and are Believers that is of Election unto Glory of Adoption Justification Sanctification and of Obsignation or Sealing 209 Chap. 19. Of the Promises of God pertaining to the Life to come or of the raising again of the Dead and eternal Life 216 Chap. 20. Of the Divine Threatnings and Punishments of the wicked pertaining both unto this Life and unto the Life to come to wit of Reprobation Hardening Blinding and of Eternal Death and Damnation 218   Page Chap. 21. Of the Ministry of the Word of God and of the Orders of Ministers 222 Chap. 22. Of the Church of Jesus Christ and its Marks or Notes 230  Of the Marks or Notes of a visible Church 224 Chap. 23. Of the Sacraments and other Sacred Rites 237  Of Baptism 238  Of the Sacred Supper of the Lord. 240  Of other Sacred Rites but yet such as are indifferent 242 Chap. 24. Of Church Discipline 246 Chap. 25. Of Synods or Councels and of their manner and use 254  The Conclusion 260 ERRATA PAge 29. line 14. read are so tied P. 35. l. 18. r. the very said P. 37. l. 12. r. by God for disturbing P. 38. l. 9. for those r. these P. 39. l. 2. r. use a thing well P. 55. l. 12. r. for such P. 80. l. 25. r. state and relation of each to other Ibid. l. 27. for of r. by P. 88. l. 5 6. r. no ways sworn to any P. 91. l. 19. r. of any other Enemies P. 124. l. 1. r. now long since P. 140. l. 2. for assent â—r assert P. 151. l. 10. r. come to P. 182. l. 18. r. both these parts P. 185. l. 5. r. and in whom P. 186. l. 8. r. to forsake P. 202. l. 14 to 18. r. nor for that thereby the will of him that is called is by an irresistible power or by some omnipotent force which is neither more nor less than Creation or raising from the dead so effectually determined to believe P 223. l. 27. for in r. to P. 242. l. 4. add after themselves as coverts of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. P. 243. l. 10. r. as also P. 250. l. 19 20 21 22. unto the Word Sin to be expunged and to read And also withal there is even in the first place an exact regard to be had of the diversity or difference of Sins P. 256. l. 24 25. add after brought in that they be taken away or removed THE PREFACE TO THE Christian Reader THERE is no doubt pious Reader but that this Declaration of Faith which is published by us will be liable to the various and different judgements of men For as every one stands perswaded in his own mind touching both the necessity profit form and manner of such-like Declarations so is he like also to pass judgment upon this of ours There are some who think we ought to abstain altogether from all Confessions or Declarations and judg that they are not only not necessary nor profitable for the Christian Weal-publick but that they are also unlawful dangerous and hurtful in the Church There are some who do not indeed think it altogether unadvised to publish Confessions or Declarations much less do they think it unlawful or hurtful but they judge they ought to be conceiv'd and framed onely in meer pure Scripture-words There are some who indeed do not altogether disallow of Confessions though conceiv'd in other than bare Scripture-words but will have them to be so general and brief that they shall contain and comprehend nothing but what is absolutely and precisely necessary to be known and believed unto Salvation There are lastly others far different from these who judge particular Confessions and Declarations even of several most minute and small Controversies not only so far profitable but also necessary that without them a Christian-Society can neither have being nor well-being The so various diverse and differing judgments of all these this our Declaration is doubtless like to undergo and these indeed severally have specious and noâ— altogether improbable grounds for their opinions whereon they build and relie Those who judg that we ought altogether to abstain from Confessions or Declarations or that they ought not to be conceived but in meer and plain Scripture words of which sort of men in this â—ge there are found not a few otherwise pious and good men they as far as we can gather pretend for the most part three things for their opinion 1. For that by reason of them there is done no â—ight prejudice to the Majesty and Authority of the Scriptures 2. For that â—y occasion of them there is mighty dammage and detriment done to the liberty of Churches or Conscience and Propheâ—y 3. For that by the same a wide gap is open'd for Factions and Schisms in the Church And first indeed they think that by â—his very means the Majestie of the Scriptures is not a little derogated and detracted from for that both their sufficiency and perspicuity seem to be suspected and doubted of to wit as if they either did not fully and sufficiently contain all things
them with all necessary Wisdome Integrity and variety of Grace in this Estate that they might know not only to use and improve aright their glorious Rule Dominion and Command over the rest of the Creatures but also that they might above all rightly understand the Will of God towards themselves and freely subject their own Will by which in other respects they did freely exercise Command not only over other but also over their own proper actions unto God as their indeed Supreme Lord and Lawgiver and by constant obeying of him might live not only here according to their hearts wish but also hereafter be for ever Happy and Blessed 6. Wherefore this work of Creation chiefly serves to this end that Maâ— might understand that whatsoever good he hath he is wholly owing unto God for it and that he is bound if he require it to render and consecrate the same wholly unto him lastly that he â—â— obliged by the highest right always to give him Thanks For he that hatâ— no good of himself owes all to hiâ— from whom he hath whatsoever he hath and therefore ought continually to glory in him only and not in himself 7. But they who premise or hold aâ— previous and antecedent to this Work not only an absolute Election of certain particular Men unto Eternal Salvation but also the like Reprobation of others the greatest part unto Eternal Torments and indeed both peremptory and made concerning particular Persons every oâ— them by Name from all Eternity they do not only invert the Natural Order of things but also deny the true use of the Creation and wholly and plainly take away the Native Power or Force resulting from this Work to wit of obliging Man to obey God in all things For indeed God cannot of right require that a Man should wholly devest himself of the exercise of his Liberty which he received by Creation and deprive himself of the use and enjoyment of divers pleasures and in all things subject himself to the Will of another to or with his greatest labour and trouble if he have now before-hand for no fault of his own foregoing determined to inflict upon him a far greater and more grevous Evil then that Good is which he gave him by Creation nay if he therefore bestowed on him that temporal and lighter Good that he might under some pretence inflict upon him an Eternal and truly lamentable Evil absolutely destinated to him before And now is not a Man by any right bound to obey him who before he was disobedient yea before he was able to obey did fatally destine him to this Eternal Evil. Moreover the Authors of this Opinion do not only make God unwise for that he destinateth him who is not yet in being yea of whose being there is nothing yet decreed unto Eternal Life or Death but also most unjust and consequently the true and proper Author of Sin For if God as they are pleased to speak hath predestinated his innocent or harmless Creature to an Eternal and really dreadful destruction it is necessary likewise that he destinated the same unto Sin also because where there is no sin or transgression there punishment or penal perdition cannot justly take place and so neither a just Destination or Appointment unto any punishment much less unto eternal torments and everlasting and endless lamentations and wailings Therefore according to the Opinion of these Men even God himself most properly and by reason of his prime intention will be the truest Cause of sin for that he is the alone Cause of Destination both to destruction and sin Nor can a Man now be justly punished for such a sin unto which he was precisely or absolutely destined of God and consequently unto which â—e is by the most powerful Will or Decree and Ordination of God at last compelled CHAP. VI. Of the Providence of God or his Preservation and Government of things 1. CReation is immediately suceeded by Gods Actual Providence which in the mean while also extendeth it self to the Work of Redemption and to all both Ages and Works and things which are or come to pass in this World For this is nothing else but a serious and continual Inspection Care and Government of this whole Universe but chiefly of Man for whose good unto the glory of God all things were created and made or the Conservation and upholding of all Creatures to wit both of things and persons also the governing and directing of our actions and of all events whether they be good or evil which in time in any manner befall the Creatures and especially Men but most of all the Godly and this instituted and contrived according to the most exact rule of Divine Wisdom Justice and Equity 2. This therefore is partly general as it respects all Creatures partly special as it concerns Angels and Men but most of all as it concerns the Godly and Saints By his general Providence God taketh care of and governeth all things whatsoever and wheresoever yet in a different manner and divers degrees of actings and that according to his own Eternal good Pleasure and truly to be admired Wisdom For he doth not only conserve their natures or properties and powers or force but he also useth them according to his free power and pleasure either for the good or punishment of Man to wit by communicating them or by denying them by taking them away by transferring them by exciting or stirring them up by giving check to them by repressing them by directing or disposing of them by multiplying them by lessening them by intending or strengthening them by remitting or weakening or abateing them c. Either as the Goodness or Grace or Mercy and Long-suffering of God or on the contrary his Revenge or Wrath and Severity shall think meet to require The special Providence of God about the Angels so far indeed as is revealed unto us in the Scriptures hath been already sufficiently shewed before in their Creation For God useth their service both for to manifest his own Glory and also for to govern all the parts of the World and in special he makes use of their singular and passing both Wisdom Power Swiftness Number or Multitude c. And that indeed for to instruct take care of observe keep and comfort Men or even also to punish them as he judgeth it comportant with his own Glory or the Safety and Salvation of his People And about Men or rather about the free and especially about the Religious Operations of Men it is divers ways exercised and employed For first he limiteth and boundeth the liberty of their Will by Legislation or making Laws that Man cannot without sin either will or do whatsoever he hath a Will and a Mind to do yea chiefly for this very end that he may not will nor do but those things that are right and just and that by that
to his alone pleasure yet the natural contingency of things and the innate liberty of Mans will once long since given it in Creation he doth never take away thereby but leaveth ordinarily the natures of things safe and entire and in such sort concurreth with the will of Man in acting that he suffers it also to act acording to its own nature and freely perform its part and therefore doth not at any time lay upon it a necessity of doing well much less of doing ill 7. There is therefore nothing that comes to pass any where in the whole World rashly or by chance that is God either not knowing of it or not regarding it or only idly looking on much less he altogether withstanding it or being wholly against it and not in the least willing to permit it And there is nothing also done by Man whether good or evil altogether fatally and incontingently or precisely necessarily that is God violently forcing their Wills to this or that or at least offering any irresistible force to any Men by any absolute and evermore efficacious decree whether you will call it effective or permissive as some are pleased fondly to speak to do so or otherwise 8. Therefore by reason of the true Providence of God to wit wisely holily and righteously moderating or ruling all things there is no place left at any time in the World either for the blind fortune and brute temerity of the Epicureans or for the Iron and fatal necessity of the Stoicks Manichaeans or Predestinarians Which two rocks as being indeed extremely prejudicial and dangerous are chiefly in this point or matter to be taken heed of and avoided From whence furthermore those who are truly pious being rightly inâ—ormed of aâ— these things in Adversity become always patient and in prospetity aâ— was thankful towards God and more over for the future also do repose willingly or freely and constantly theiâ— chiefest confidence in God as their moâ—â— faithful and trusty Father CHAP. VII Of the Sin and Misery of Man 1. BOth these Works of the Divine Goodness of which we have spoken to wit Creation and Providence are seconded or followed by a singular Work of Grace and Mercy but such as unto which sin it self hath ministred a certain occasion and which is the consequent of sin the just punishment or penal or miserable Estate of Man from which they that believe are freely delivered by Christ of which things we are hereafter in order to treat 2. Sin was at first in this manner brought into the World Man being created with such Faculties as we have said God gave him a Law of not eating of the Fruit of the Tree of the knowledg of Good and Evil standing in the midst of the Garden under the pain of Eternal Death and divers Miseries besides That Law Adam brake together with Eve his Wife being beguiled by Satan and deceived by his false perswasions He brake it I say not only by a Spontaneous Will or a Will no forced but by a Will altogether free because he was not forc't either by any outward violent impulse or any secret and hidden determination or necessitation proceeding either from God or the Devil to will to pluck or eat of the Forbidden Fruit nor did he fall into the sin through any withdrawing or denying which some ignorantly call permission oâ— the efficacious permissive Decree of any Divine Virtue or action necessary for thâ— avoiding of sin nor lastly was he impelled or moved by any Power Command or Instinct althoughn ever so secret or hidden to transgress of or from God to wit that God might have an opportunity to exercise his sparing or pardoning Mercy and punitive Justice as some perversly teach For by this means God would truly properly and chiefly nay solely be the Author of Sin yea by this means that transgression would not be truly properly sin at all nor could Man by reason thereof have become truly guilty or justly miserable thereby furthermore neither had God therefrom gotten an opportunity of shewing Mercy and exercising Justice as truly and properly such But Man by the meer pure liberty of his Will altogether free both from all inward and outward necessity only the permission of God intervening and the alone swasion and motion of the Devil the which Man might easily have resisted and not listened unto preceding and the Beauty and Gracefulness of the Fruit in the case outwardly enticing he committed this sin 3. By this transgression Man by Vertue of the Divine Threatning became Guilty of Eternal Death and manifold Misery and was stript of that primaeve Happiness which he received in his Creation and therefore cast out of that most delightful Garden a Type of the Coelestial Paradise in which otherwise he did happily converse with God and was for ever debarr'd from the Tree of Life which was the Symbol or token or pledg of a Blessed Immortality 4. And because Adaâ— was the Stock and Root of all Mankind therefore he involved and intangled not only himself but also all his posterrity who were as it were shut up in his loyns and were by Natural Generation to proceed from him in the same Death and Misery with himself so that all Men without any difference our Lord Jesus Christ only excepted are by this one only Sin of Adam deprived of that primaeve Happiness and destitute of that true Righteousness which is necessary for the obtaining of Eternal Life and consequently are now born lyable to that Eternal Death and likewise manifold Misery that we spake of And this is usually and vulgarly called Original Sin Concerning which notwithstanding we are to hold that the most bountiful God in and by his beloved Son Jesus Christ as in and by another and new Adam hath provided or prepared a free Remedy for al against that Evil or Malady which was derived unto us from Adam So that even from hence the mischievous errour of those who use to lay the ground of the Decree of absolute Reprobation being a thing forged in their own Brains and Fancy in this sin may sufficiently appear 5. Besides this sin there are also other which are every Man 's own proper Sins or actual Sins the which also do really multiply our Guilt before God and do in things Spiritual darken our Minds nay and by degrees blind them and lastly by custome in sinning do more and more deprave or pervert our Wills 6. Of this sort of Sins there are divers kinds and several degrees as may be understood by their several Objects Subjects Causes Manners Effects and Circumstances to wit there is one of commission another of omission one of the Flesh another of the Spirit one proceeding from ignorance another from sudden passion or infirmity another from set Malice one against Conscience another not against Conscience one reigning another not
reigning one unto death another not unto death one against the Holy Ghost another not against the Holy Ghost c. Hence concerning these we must always hold this for certain that there are some actual sins of which it is either expresly written or not obscurely hinted that he that doth them shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and Eternal Life such as are all those works of the Flesh which are described Gal. 5. 1 Cor. 6. Eph. 5. Tit. 3. And elsewhere and those that are like unto them whether they be accompanied with a contempt of God and a manifest abuse of right Reason or at least such as in no wise become him who is desirous of Eternal and Heavenly good Things such as are the love of the World and of the things of the World anxious and continual cares and disquieting thoughts about getting them and possessing them and keeping them c. But there are others that are such that deserve rather to be called lighter Failings then Crimes or Wickednesses which according to the Gracious Covenant of God and his fatherly Love and Kindness do not exclude a Man from the Hope of Eternal Life although he be not yet wholly freed from some one of them if so be he do not wittingly and advisedly bring this difficulty of freeing himself there fom up on himself or by any other means whatever of continuing in them but that he falleth into them only through incogitancy frailty want of consideration or some sudden passion whether it proceed from some natural temper or evil custom or some unexpected chance c. Therefore Acts here are for the most part accurately to be distinguished from habits and in that respect or kind manifest Imperfections and Frailties are likewise carefuly to be distinguished from those Acts which are committed against the express and present dictate of Natural Reason or Supernatural Revelation and accompanied with an open transgression of some Command and hurt or wrong of our Neighbor especially according to the sence of the new Testament 7. According to the divers quantity and quality of Sins so also are there divers Punishments appointed and ordained of God for sins to wit both of loss and sense both temporal and eternal lastly both bodily and spiritual c. 8. And indeed that twofold Force and Efficacy of Sin which hath been formerly mentioned to wit Damnation or Death Eternal and the servitude of Sin or Captivity under the custom of Sin hath now long most clearly all along appeared whilst God did not as yet plainly and fully reveal his saving Grace or Favour designed before all ages unto sinners but did only afar off obscurely and as it were through a Lattice or Casement make discovery of it to wit under a general promise thereof and under a Type and shadow of bodily things For although under the Old Testament there were not altogether wanting some who through the Assistance of the said Divine Grace believed on God and through Faith walked uprightly and sincerely before God and by a Life ordered according to the Will of God shook off the Dominion of Sin and by the said lively Faith also were truly justified or absolved from the guilt of their sins and endowed with the reward of Eternal Life as is clear in the examples of Abel Enoch and Abraham the Father of all that believe c. Yet were the most carried away and as it were overwhelmed with the weight of their Sin and load of their Misery For whereas at the beginning there was as yet no written Law given but the dictate of Natural Reason Traditions of Fathers and certain other Divine and Angelical Revelations and Apparitions only God so ordering the matter did take place or bear sway amongst Men Sin was not only in the World but also did so far exert and put forth its power that all flesh a few only excepted who were righteous and by Faith walked holily before God corrupted its way and every Imagination of Man was only evil from his Childhood Whence the Guilt of sin was then so far encreased that an Universal deluge of Water was brought upon the World of the Ungodly 9. Again after the Floud Sin was not only not washed away but rather like leaven was diffused and spread throughout the whole race of mankind so that whole People Nations and Countries every where defiled themselves with Idolatry and other foul and abominable sins and in the greatest and largest Societies or Communities of Men there were scarce ten Righteous Persons to be found At length when God having passed by other Nations did choose some certain Men from the rest of the multitude of Idolaters and Sinners unto himself and out of his Special Grace did impose or lay upon their Posterity a written Law consisting of many and divers Precepts moral ceremonial political as a burdensome and insuportable Yoak and Fence and that they might be the more effectually restrained from sinning compelled to do their duty did also ratify and confirm the same by most severe Threatnings and manifold Promises yea further did ever and anon by his Prophets and other of his Servants cause the Sermons of his Gracious Will and Pleasure to be repeated and inculcated upon them for the further let and hinderance of Transgressions yet sin nevertheless and notwithstanding all still prevailed and overcame and its Dominion was not only not extinct by this Law and the Guilt thereof by the Blood of Bulls and Goats and other sacrifices of that kind not taken away but sin was ever the more and more encreased and as it were by a prick or goad stirred up and provoked by the Law and the Guilt of Death and Condemnation so far aggravated that the whole World became shut up under sin and liable unto Condemnation 10. From whence at length the most high necessity and also advantage of the Grace of God prepared or preordained for us in Christ before all ages hath evidently appeared for without it we can neither shake off the miserable Yoak of Sin nor do any thing truly good in Religion at all nor lastly ever escape Eternal Death or any true punishment of Sin Much less are we at any time able without it and of our selves or by any other Creatures to obtain Eternal Salvation CHAP. VIII Of the work of Redemption and of the Person and Offices of Jesus Christ. 1. VVHerefore it seemed good to the most Merciful God in the end of the World or in the fulness of time in very deed to set upon and throughly to accomplish that most excellent Work which he had foreknown or purposed in himself before the Foundations of the World and in successive ages all along under divers figures shadows and Types as it were in a rude draught pourtrayed held forth to be seen afâ—r off and
doubtless or Desert because he hath merited eternal Salvation for us by his Obedience or because by the Mediation hereof especially of his violent and bloody Death as by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Price of Redemption and propitiatory Sacrifice God hath thus far reconciled all Sinners unto himself that for the sake of this Price of Redemption and Sacrifice he was pleased to be at one with them again and to open the door of eternal Salvation and way of Immortality to them even as it was prefigured many ages before under divers Types Figures and Shadows of the Old Testament and especially under the Type of that solemn Sacrifice which the High-Priest once every year performed in the Holy of Holies And he is our Saviour indeed by way of Efficacy in as much as he doth effectually apply the Spirituall virtue and fruit of the said Merit of his to his faithful Followers and really affords it to them to enjoy and makes them through Faith really partakers of all those Benefits which he by his Obedience hath purchased for them of which more afterwards 10. But those Men who hold that there was both an absolute Election and an absolute Reprobation of certain Persons whether considered before the Fall or only under or after the Fall without Faith in Christ on the one hand or Disobedience on the other hand was in order first made and past before Jesus Christ was designed of the Father as a Mediator for them they enervate nay do wholly and utterly overthrow the universal force and vertue of this same Merit and the truth and reality of its Efficacy Neither indeed was it necessary that there should be made any true or real Expiation of Sins by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Redemption of Christ for them nay nor indeed was it so much as possible if Truth may be freely spoken who were now long before by name peremptorily and absolutely destinated or appointed part unto Life part unto Death For the Elect as they call them or those who are predestinated unto Life have no need of any such Expiation and Reconciliation because upon the very account of their being precisely or absolutely elected unto Salvation they are likewise upon the same account in actual Favour with God and already necessarily beloved of him with the highest and immutable Love and such as is peculiar to those that are Sons and Heirs of God And as for the Reprobate as they call them they themselves deny that there was or is any Atonement truly made for them and besides the thing is absurd of it self as that which implyes a contradiction For upon their being reprobated according to these Mens Opinion they are thereupon wholly and altogether excluded from the Atonement made by Christ. Because those whom God hath by an immutable Decree once reprobated or excluded from Salvation or devoted to to eternal Destruction he doth not seriously will nor can will that any thing savingly good should really be conferred upon them much less that the said Atonement should be common to them with the Elect. And thus far in general of the chief Works of God hitherto CHAP. IX Of the Knowledg of the Will of God revealed in the New Covenant 1. FUrthermore the Will of God comprehended in the Covenant of Grace which our most high Prophet the only begotten Son of God hath clearly and fully revealed unto us in his Gospel contains two chief heads First those things which God on his part by his Son Jesus Christ hath decreed to do or work in us or about us that we may be made partakers of that eternal Salvation that is offered to us by him Secondly those things which he altogether wills by the mediation or means of his own Grace to be done by us if we will really obtain eternal Salvation 2. Those things which God hath decreed to do on his part in order to our Salvation are chiefly two 1. He hath decreed for the honour of his beloved Son by him to choose unto himself for Sons unto Salvation and Life eternal to adopt justifie seal with his Holy Spirit and at last to glorifie all those and those only who truly believe in his Name or obey his Gospel and persevere in the said Faith and Obedience even unto death and on the contrary to reprobate or reject from Life and Salvation Unbelievers and Impenitent Persons and everlastingly to condemn them 2. He hath decreed through or by his same Son to confer or bestow upon all that are called although wretched Sinners such effectual Grace as by which they may be truly and really enabled to believe on Christ their Saviour obey his Gospel and be delivered from the Dominion and Guilt of Sin yea also by which they may actually believe obey and be delivered unless by a new Contumacy and Rebellion they reject the Grace of God that is offered unto them 3. The first Decree is the Decree of Predestination unto Salvation or of Election unto Glory whereby is established as well the real necessity as profitableness of our Faith and Obedience in reference to our obtaining Salvation and Glory before which dogmatically to assign or assent another Decree first or before it in order whereby some certain particular Persons by name were elected and that indeed peremptorily unto Glory and that all other were reprobated unto eternal Torments is indeed to deny the true nature of this Decree to invert its right order to take away the Merit of Christ to darken the Glory both of the Goodness and Righteousness and Wisdom of God yea utterly to subvert the true Force and Efficacy of the whole Sacred Ministry and so of all Religion 4. The other Decree is the Decree of Vocation unto Faith or of Election unto Grace whereby is established the necessity together with the profit or advantage of Divine Grace or of means necessary for us unto our yeilding Faith and Obedience unto Jesus Christ on our part according to the Will of God revealed in his Gospel But because we ought to be first certain of or clear in that Will of God that he will have to be performed by us before we be certain of the Grace that is necessary for our performance of the said Will and before we be certain of the Glory that is promised to and undoubtedly hereafter to be conferred upon those that do the Will of God hence is it that we shall treat of them all henceforth in the same order wherein they have been propounded or laid down CHAP. X. Of the Precepts or Commandments of Jesus Christ in general and of Faith and Repentance or Conversion unto God 1. THe Will of God which he would have performed or done by us that we might obtain eternal Salvation by Christ is fully contained in the Precepts or Commands of Jesus Christ all which although they be many and divers yet may be comprehended under
this one Precept or Commandment of Faith in Jesus Christ but withal of such as is lively or true and worketh by Love and for the most part in the sacred Scriptures they are usually comprehended under the same Although in the said Scriptures the Precept also of Repentance or Conversion for the clearer explication of the thing is often usually added thereto 2. Now we call that a living and true Faith which hath necessarily in conjunction with it good Works and a sincere Reformation or Amendment of the whole life ordered and regulated according to the Commands of Jesus Christ. For because the Promise of eternal Life is every where by our Saviour annexed or joyned to true Faith yea Faith it self is said to be imputed for Righteousness to him that believeth and yet nevertheless James affirms that we are justified by Works also and not by Faith alone and Paul also asserts that Godliness hath the Promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come yea further the Author to the Hebrews doth peremptorily avouch that without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord and other things to the same sense or import not a few are expresly read in the Holy Scriptures doubtless it is necessary that the Command of Faith be no otherwise considered here than as it includes in its own natural property the Obedience of Faith and is as it were a fruitful Mother of all good Works and the Fountain or Spring of all Christian Piety and Holiness So little reason is there why it self ought or of right may be opposed to the said Obedience and Piety 3. Faith therefore thus considered contains within its orb or circuit the whole Conversion of Man as it is prescribed in or by the Gospel which doth not only contain Penitence vulgarly so called or Contrition and serious Sorrow for Sins past but also Repentance plainly and properly taken or a sincere change of the Mind Heart and whole Life according to the Scriptures for or unto the better although also some times for the fuller explicating of both the one in the Scripture is distinguished from the other 4. And of this every Christian in general must hold this to wit that Repentance or Conversion may be accepted of God unto Salvation there are three things ordinarily necessarily thereunto 1. That it be effectual and therefore is not compleated and perfected by a mere Velleity or light woulding only or mere Affection or bare Desire of or Endeavour after Piety But also that continually as often as there is occasion and it may be done it exert and put forth it self outwardly in acts of virtue to wit in such sort that a man neither neglect himself what is commanded nor wilfully or purposely doth that which he knows to be evill or forbidden or that whereof he doubteth whether it be pleasing to God or no And also that he doth not connive or wink at the Sins of others and by his Consent Silence Dissimulation or any other means approve of them 2. That it be sincere and therefore that it doth not proceed only from a certain and solid knowledg of the Divine Will but that it also doth suppose a true Honesty of Mind or Heart that is such as doth not arise from a divided dissembling feigned Heart but from a whole and entire or upright Heart 3. That it be continual and therefore that it be not performed only once or at certain-times as it were by intervals and that it endure not only for a time but that it persevere or hold out even to the end of our life that is until God himself set a bound or end to our Obedience But it is worth our while and our labour to consider both these Heads both of Faith and good Works particularly also CHAP. XI Of Faith in Jesus Christ. 1. FAith in Jesus Christ is a deliberate and firm assent of the Mind given or yeilded to the Word of God and joyned with a true confidence or trust in Christ whereby we do not only firmly assent and confidently adhere or cleave unto the Doctrine of Jesus Christ as true and Divine but whereby we do also wholly relie upon Jesus Christ himself as our only Prophet Priest and King given unto us of God his pure Grace for Salvation so that we doubt not to expect from him alone as our only Redeemer eternal Life and Salvation but yet not to be obtained but by that means and in that way which he himself hath revealed in his Word 2. Therefore knowledg of the Divine Will alone or of all those senses that are savingly necessary to be known to wit which are contained in the Gospel is not enough to speak a true saving Faith For this may be both without assent and trust yea is really in the Devils themselves and in many ungodly and unbelieving Men. Nor indeed is it every assent to wit a suddain perfunctory implicite bruitish or blind onâ— that is grounded upon no reason and yeilded without any judgment for this by it self and taken alone is not saving nor can it ever sufficiently move or engage the Will to any rational or free service and Obedience and therefore it is found even in them who live little like Christians but there is altogether requisite a firm and solid one and such as is backt by the command of a deliberate Will lastly a fiducial and obedient assent which also is called affiance or confidence not indeed an absolute confidence of special Mercy as already perceived or enjoyed to wit whereby I believe that my sins are already forgiven me for this is not the essential form that constitutes justifying Faith but only a certain consequent adjunct thereof yea doth necessarily presuppose saving Faith itself as a prerequisite condition of it but whereby I firmly conclude that it is impossible that I should by any other means than by Jesus Christ and in any other way than by that prescribed by him escape eternal Death and on the contrary obtain eternal Salvation And which for that cause immediately of it self bringeth forth and hath always joyned with it that new Obedience which is due unto Jesus Christ himself from us that is not only some barren purpose to obey or an Affection without its Effect but true and actual Obedience it self 3. From whence further we conclude if Faith be such an assent as we have said to wit which is seriously commanded of God under the promise of eternal Life and the threatning of a contrary death and performed by Man according to or by vertue of God's command that it cannot then be any thing that is wrought in us without us much less that is produced in our Wills by an irresistible Force or an Omnipotent Operation of God by what name at length or title soever it be called For
what we mere purely suffer from God and what things are produced in us by God's irresistible Omnipotency without us those fall not under any Precept properly so called nor can they of right come under the name of Obedience and therefore cannot any ways justly be rewarded or recompensed or judged worthy of any Praise or Commendation 4. And that this assent may commodiously be drawn from us there are two things chiefly necessary 1. Such Arguments or Reasons on God's part unto which nothing can probably or with any shew of reason be opposed why those things should not be credible or deserve our belâ—ef which are proposed to us 2. A pious docility or teachableness or honesty of Mind in him of whom this belief is required For all Men have not Faith And he that will do the Will of God he shall know or understand whether the Doctrine of Christ be from God or no. But he that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh he to the Light lest his deeds should be reproved but he that doth the Truth he cometh to the Light that his deeds may be made manifest for that they are wrought in God Also he that is of God heareth Godâ—s words therefore ye being wicked hear not because ye are not of God Also ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep 5. Such a fiducial assent therefore or this obediential trust or relyance is at length that true and living Faith which necessarily draws along with it a keeping of the Commandments of Jesus Christ or good works For he that truly believes and is certainly perswaded that Jesus Christ is ordained oâ— God to be an Author of Salvation to all that obey him and that live piously and holily and to them or such only and that it is impossible that Men should any other way attain to eternal Salvation or escape eternal Death but in or by way of true Obedience or good Works he doubtless being filled with good Hope will both willingly and chearfully engage or enter into this way and by true Repentance or a change of his Mind Will and all his Actions for the better earnestly make towards eternal Glory especially if he shall have rightly and duely considered with himself both what eternal Salvation and eternal Death are and mean 6. Howbeit because those who are newly converted to the Faith do for the most part usually labour under some Custom of sinning from hence it comes to pass most usually that this Assent though deliberate and strong doth not immediately altogether excuse or shake off that sinful Habit especially having now been deeply rooted by long custom but gets greater strength by steps and degres viz. for the shaking off of the same From whence this Faith is usually distinguished into certain degrees according to which furthermore there arise three Classes Ranks or Orders even of those that believe and repent or are regenerate that is of those who by Faith do good Works The first order or classis is of Incipients or Beginners which indeed truly assent unto the Gospel but by reason of an inveterate custom of sin some strong grown Habit thereof do with great labour trouble and strugling of the flesh ever and a non still breaking out and kicking against the Spirit or their Mind enlightned by the Spirit of God through or by the Gospel come and subdue the assaults and moâ—ions of the same 2. The second is of Proficients that is of such as have made some progress who by the help or benefit of Faith having now for some time used themselves to some more severe and orderly or correct way and course of Life and having exercised themselves somewhat more in the study and exeâ—cise of Piety do more easily and with less resistance refrain themselves from a custome of sinning albeit sometimes they still feel no light struglings thereof with in themselves 3. The third is of the Adult that is of those that are full grown or of those who are in some respects perfect that is of thâ—se who having been now already 〈◊〉 in Piety do by the help of the◠〈…〉 with Pleasure Joy and a certain delight exercise and addict themselves to Holiness and love Righteousness and Truth with all their Hearts with all their Soul and with all their strength So that the Scripture doth chiefly affirm of them that they sin not yea that they cannot sin c. Not that they never can commit or never really or actually do commit no not so much as through ignorance or some suddain passion or other like infirmity especially under some great temptation any offence or miscarriage no not the least for there is no Man upon Earth that sinneth not but that they have now altogether put off all vicious habits and do abstain from a custome or course of sinning and therefore if by chance they fall into any sin which yet falls out very seldom so long indeed as they are and remain truly regenerate it happens only through errour or mistake or through some surprizal or some over clouding and darkening of their Minds Of all therefore and every of those we judg that they are truly born again through the Grace and Spirit of God or that they are such as truly believe and repent So that they do most diligently do their endeavour to be freed from the said vicious custome of sinning wholly and altogether and continually study more and more to amend those infirmities unto which for the most part all according to the diverse or different respect of their age temperature places of abode state condition and of other circumstances are more or less obnoxious or lyable to Both which indeed we do religiously believe are through the Grace of God possible nay and withall necessary 7. But although such as have once gotten the very habit of Faith and Holiness can very hardly relapse or return unto their former profaneness and dissoluteness of Life yet we believe that it is altogether possible yea and that it doth not seldom come to pass that they do by degrees relapse thereunto and at last wholly fall from their first Faith and Love and having forsaken the way of Righteousness return unto their worldly pollutions which they had quite or really once left like Swine unto their Wallowing in the Mire and Dogs unto their Vomit are again entangled with those lusts of the Flesh which they had formerly truly escaped and so fall totally and at length also sinally unless through the Grace of God they timously and seriously repent And yet in the mean time we do not absolutely deny but that it is possible that they who have once truly believed when they do relapse unto their former profaneness of life may by the benefit and help of the Grace of God be renewned again and repent or become good Men although we
much less of supererogation or of any excellent and singular strain of Religion for that they cannot come under the august or sacred name of true Obedience which is of it self acceptable and of right due unto God and Christ our only Lawgiver and therefore is commanded under the promise of Eternal life yea also which are not seldom a great hindrance to the principal and main part of divine Worship to wit the loving of God and our Neighbour and hurtfull to true Piety especally if as it often falls out they be not only equalled with but also preferred before the Commandments of God CHAP. XVI Of the Worship and Veneration of Jesus Christ the only Mediator and of the Invocation of Saints 1. ANd hitherto indeed we have chiefly treated of the knowledg and Worship of God only Now followeth and succeedeth the Knowledg and Worship which is proper and peculiar to Jesus Christ as he is Mediator For in the said Knowledg and in the Worship which follows from thence even eternal life also is expresly said to consist Joh. 17. 3. For unto Jesus Christ as the only Mediator of the New Testament is given all power in Heaven and Earth and all judgment or an universal Government is delivered unto him of the Father that all men should honour him even as they honour the Father and ¶ Authority is given him to execute Judgment because he is the Son of man Therefore also God hath crowned him with glory and Honour and put all things under his feet and hath made him head of his Church over all c. And furthermore hath given him the Name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow both of things in Heaven and things in Earth and of things under the Earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father c. Which indeed proper and peculiar Majesty of his was conferr'd on him by God the Father chiefly for our comfort and is to be acknowledged by us with religious and thankfull Hearts and continually to be spoken of and praised unto the glory of God and Christ himself 2. Therefore he that holily and religiously worshipeth Jesus Christ as he is our Mediator with God especially since the time he was advanced to that supreme Right and set in the Throne of his Father at his right hand that is he that adoreth calleth upon placeth his hope and trust in him and humbly giveth him thanks and blesseth him for the Salvation purchased by him for us doth altogether well and according to the most certain Will of God And he that doth not acknowledg the foresaid Majesty and Glory of his and therefore refuseth to yeild unto him this Veneration and Worship he doth both to God and Christ great wrong especially if he accuse or rather defame and disgrace it under the name of Idolatry or false Worship and Superstition 3. But besides and over and above this one Mediator between God and Man religously to worship any others either Angels or Men whether living or dead whether they have been really and truly Holy or only so in our opinion only that is to give them more than civil reverence or to invocate and pray unto them as indeed our Patrons and Advocates with God or to dedicate Temples Altars Feasts unto them to offer Sacrifices to make vows unto them or to trust in their Merits and Power and Grace and Favour with God c. we judg wholly and altogether unlawful and displeasing to God especially when the business is concerning the dead although Saints for that the Holy Scriptures every where affirm of them that they know not our condition or concerns and that they no way mind those things that are done under the Sun Yet that the memory both of the one and the other is holily to be kept and their vertues with worthy praises to be celebrated and to be proposed or commended to us and others for our and their imitation we rightly judg Sofar are we either from condemning or any ways blaming the mutual intercession of Believers who are yet alive with God for one another CHAP. XVII Of the Benefits and Promises of God and first of Election unto Grace or Calling unto Faith 1. BUt that Man might not only be able to do or perform those Commandments of God which have hitherto been expounded but that he might be willing to do them readily freely and heartily it hath pleased God on his part to do all things that are necessary for the effecting of both these in Man that is he hath determined to bestow such Grace upon Man that was and is a sinner whereby he might be apt and sit to perform all that which is required of him in the Gospel and further to promise such good things unto him whose excellency and beauty might far exceed the capacity of all humane understanding and the desire and certain hope whereof might provoke and inflame the Will of Man actually to yield obedience to the same All which indeed benefits God who is most merciful in himself and fatherly affected towards us in Christ is wont by his Holy Spirit whereof we have treated more largely before both to make known unto us and also really to bestow and confer upon us 2. First therefore God bestoweth Grace on sinners not only necessary but also sufficient for their yielding Faith and Obedience when he calleth them by the Gospel unto himself and seriously prescribeth to them Faith and Obedience under the promise of eternal Life on the one hand and the threatning of eternal Death on the other This Vocation or Calling in Scriptures is sometimes called Election or Choosing to wit unto Grace or the means of Salvation differing much from Election unto Glory or Salvation it self of which hereafter Now this Vocation is wrought and completed by the preaching of the Gospel and the Virtue or Power of the Spirit joyned therewith and that indeeed with a gracious and serious intention to save and therefore to bring unto Faith all those that are called whether they really believe and are saved or no and so obstinately refuse to believe and consequently to be saved 3. For there is one Vocation that is effectual so called rather from the event then from the bare or sole intention of God to wit which doth obtain its saving Effect not indeed for that it is out of a precise or absolute intent of saving so administred by some certain and singular Wisdom of God so as effectually or successfully to agree with the Will of him that is called by an irresistable Power or by some Omnipotent force which is neither more nor less than creation or raising from the dead so efficaciously determined to believe that he cannot but believe and obey but
of God pertaining to the life to cone or of the raising again of the dead and eternal Life 1. THe acts of God pertaining to the life to come are the raising again from death or instead thereof a sudden change of our mortal nature and Glorification or the bestowing of Heavenly Glory and Life eternal according to those two last Articles of the Apostles Creed I believe the Resurrection of the Flesh and the Life everlasting 2. This raising will be at the second and glorious coming of Jesus Christ unto the general Judgment to wit when he shall raise unto life again all the dead both the just and unjust and judg both them and those that shall then remain alive at the Judgment-seat of his Father and assign or award unto them all just rewards or condign punishments according to the quality and quantity of their Works which they have done in the body whether good or evil For then he shall raise up his faithful ones and Saints which were indeed dead out of the dust of the Earth unto a Life eternal and blessed and shall endow them alone with a glorious and incorruptible body And those which he shall then find alive and surviving of them those he shall on a sudden and as it were in a moment change and make them immortally blessed with the other 3. This-like raising and in part a change shall be immediately succeeded by that blessed Glorification which is the complement of all the other acts whereby the Lord Jesus after he shall have descended from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God to the now said Judgment shall take them being raised by the Angels of his power with himself into the Air and most powerfully deliver or translate them from the universal corruption or total destruction of the whole World being then to be altogether on a flame into the everlasting and glorious mansions of the Heavens which in the Scriptures are called new Heavens a new Earth and the World to come and shall give them to enjoy unspeakable joy with himself and with God and with his holy Angels for ever and for ever CHAP. XX. Of the Divine threatnings and punishments of the Wicked pertaining both unto this Life and unto the Life to come to wit of Reprobation Hardening Blinding and of eternal Death and Damnation 1. TOwards the Wicked and Unbelievers or those who refractorily or obstinately refuse to believe and repent and who although they have been long and much called upon admonished reproved chastened c. do yet nevertheless persist to disobey the Gospel God is minded to exercise acts altogether contrary to the former and they no less severe than just and holy the which he hath threatned them with in his Word and do pertain partly to this life partly to that which is to come 2. The acts pertaining unto this Life are Reprobation or Desertion Also Blinding and Hardening and other temporal punishments of that or the like sort of which the first is the just casting of wicked men off to wit when God will no longer have or account them for his people and therefore doth righteously withdraw from them the Grace of his holy Spirit which hath been so often despised by them yea sometimes also he thinks not meet to bestow upon them those outward means which he is wont ordinarily to make use of for the Salvation of his people to wit by leaving them in their own darkness and sins without true Pastours Godly Teachers or Monitors and diligent Searchers out of Truth 3. Next followeth Blinding and Hardening to wit when these sinners being now left destitute of the light of Heavenly Truth are by Gods permission and just judgment deeply involved in gross ignorance and errours and in wonderful and divers manners seduced and when they are given up to their own unclean lusts or left to their vile or filthy affections or are on every side exposed to the temptations delusions and snares of Satan also when their wicked counsels endeavours and practises are suffered for a time to go on with some happy success and themselves for a while to sin scot-free lastly when manifold occasions of erring and sinning are presented to them and their Consciences in the mean while are not pricked or troubled with any sad remorse or serious sorrow for their sins committed c. All which things indeed and very many other more of like sort profane men are wont to turn to their own destruction From whence there groweth or encreaseth more and more a strange blindness of mind an obstinate hardness of heart and filthy greediness of sinning and finally a thick and gross darkness that is a certain brutish ignorance of God and secure profaneness of life doth wholly seize and possess them And sometimes indeed those acts are seconded and followed even with some exemplary also and publick punishment of these men in this life and such as is visible or obvious to the sight of all 4. The penal acts that pertain to the life to come are most usually contained under the words of the Wrath and Vengeance of God also of Judgment and Condemnation whereby God will not only by judgment irrevocably pass or give away from the wicked and unbelievers immortal glory but will also inflict upon them the torments of Hell and eternal punishments Which indeed shall be done openly at the last day when he shall throw them together with the Devil and his Angels into everlasting fire that there they may be punished with everlasting destruction being banished from the presence of God and his glorious power 5. And these things being thus finished there shall immediately arise that new World wherein dwelleth Righteousness and where Jesus Christ our Lord and King having wholly or utterly destroyed all his Enemies shall deliver up or restore the Kingdom to God and his Father that from thenceforward God may be all in all CHAP. XXI Of the Ministry of the Word of God and of the Orders of Ministers 1. ANd this indeed is the Will of God which is necessary for us to know for that it consists of such like most holy Precepts and so excellent Promises the which that it might become known unto miserable morrals and be continually set before their eyes it pleased that great Pitier or Compassioner of mankind that it should not only be tacitly insinuated or conveyed into them by private reading of the sacred Scripture but also that it should by open and publick preaching be every where proclaimed and daily and openly as it were implanted and inculcated or beaten in to them 2. And that it might be rightly or or duly performed there was first of all necessary a solemn and immediate both election or separation