our selves from thy presence masses of corruption mountaines of sin dead and dry trees fit fuell for thy fierce wrath to worke upon If wee should climbe up into heaven to hide us from thee thou art there or goe downe into the bottome and depth of hell thou art there also or take the wings of the morne and fly to the utmost part of the seas even there also will thy all-seeing eye behold us and thy right hand will quickly visit and finde us out wee will therefore here dissolve and melt our selves into a floud and fountaine of many teares bewailing and bemoaning our wofull and miserable estate for albeit by reason of that foule Chaos and staine of naturall corruption and originall sin wee have deserved long since to have had the sweet issue of all thy good blessings to be stopped and dried up thy milde and gentle corrections to bee turned into the sudden execution of bloudy to â—utes and fearefull judgements upon us even in this life and at ouâ— departing out of this world to be plunged everlastingly into a piâ—â— destruction there to be fried and scorched with Sataâ— and his Angels for evermore And yet for all this O Lord we have never ceased to adde oyle unto this flame and to blow up the coales of thy fearefull displeasure through the hot and eager pursuit of many loud crying actuall sinnes and transgressions so that from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foot there is not one place sound or whole within us but we are full of sores and swellings and botches full of sinne full or corruption our understandings which should have knowen thee to bee our true God and him whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ our Redeemer these are blinded and mis-led with ignorance and doubting our affections which should have beene good guides to have directed our feet into the way of peace they are become swift messengers of Satan to buffet us our bodies which should have been sweet Temples for thy blessed Spirit to dwell and lodge in they are sinks of sin and cages of filthy birds Our eyes O God are like open windowes and doores to receive sin our hearts like common Innes to lodge sin our heads like skilfull Politicians to contrive sinne our tongues smooth and sweet Orators to plead for the maintaining of sin and all our hands like stout Souldiers and couragious Champions to fight in the defence of sin Thus have we waged and managed war against thee our God ever since wee were borne so that now thou maist justly spâ—e us out of thy mouth cut us off in the midst of our sins come amongst us this verie present and binde us hand and foot and at the end of these few and miserable dayes send us all into hell together that so Satan might pay us our wages only whom thus long we have obeyed and served thus emptying our selves from all trust and confidence in the arme of flesh wee fly unto thee O God the anchor of our hope and the tower built for our defence with many deepe sighes and groanes from our perplexed consciences and diseased soules most humbly intreating thee to be gracious and mercifull to all our sins for they are wondrous great make it thy glorie to passe by and to winke at them poure into our soules the oyle of thy mercie supple our hard and dry hearts with the sweet influence of thy best graces and cure all our swelling wounds with the true balme of Gilead Purge good Lord and cleanse all the polluted and infected corners of our hearts that though 〈◊〉 this day our sins be as old as Adam as numberlesse as the stars oâ— heaven as high as the tallest Cedars in the Forrest Lord plucke them up by the roots burie them in everlasting forgetfulnesse that they may never stop the issue of thy blessings nor draw downe upon us the vials of thy wrath nor be a wound and griefe to our troubled consciences in this life or worke despaire in us at the end of our dayes nor stand up in judgement to be the utter ruine and condemnation of our soules and bodies at the last day Good Lord prepare us all for a better life sit us all for the Kingdome of thy Sonne Christ Jesus guide us all with thy blessed Spirit tutor us out of thy holy Word humble us by thy mercifull corrections and by thy fatherly blessings wed our affections and knit our hearts more neere unto thee in newnesse of life than ever heretofore they have beene that living as becommeth thy obedient children and servants an holy and a religious remnant of our dayes we may by thy grace and mercie be partakers of a joyfull and a comfortable death and after death of a glorious resurrection to everlasting life and peace among thy Saints Neither doe wee pray to thee for our selves onely but for all people and Nations of the earth but more particularly for the place in which wee live and therein according to our bounden dutie for thy servant and our Sovereigne Charles by thy speciall Providence King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the most true ancient Catholike and Apostolike faith and in all causes and over all persons within these his Majesties Realmes and Dominions next under thee and thy Sonne Christ Jesus supreme Governour adde unto his dayes as thou diddest unto the dayes of Hezekiah that he may enjoy a long and a prosperous reigne over us and in the meane time remember him in goodnesse for the good he hath done already to thy Church Bestow the sweetest of thy blessings upon our gracious Queene Marie our hopefull Prince Charles and the Lady Marie and the rest of those royall Branches beyond the seas season them in their young and tender yeares with thy feare that they may bee great in thy favour and if it may stand with thine eternall Decree let us never want an holy and a religious man of that house and line to governe the Scepters of these Kingdomes and to maintaine the preaching of thy glorious Gospell within these his Majesties Realmes and Dominions so long as the Sun and Moone endure Blesse 〈◊〉 King with an honourable valiant and a religious Councell and â—obilitie blesse him with a learned painfull and a zealous Clergie by what names or titles soever they be called whether they be Arch-Bishops or Bishops and all other painfull Labourers in this thy Vineyard blesse him with a wise prudent and a religious Gentrie blesse him with a peaceable a loyall and a religious Commonaltie and good God wee beseech thee to showre downe thy blessing upon the right hand and upon the left to them whom it hath pleased thee to send to this Congregation that by the blessing of thy good Spirit whensoever they shall stand on thy Mountaine to deliver a Message from thee give them good Father what wilt thou giue them give them wise and understanding hearts that they may open to thy people the wondrous things
Lectures Vpon The Eleventh Chapter To The ROMANS Preached by that learned and Godly Divine of famous memorie Dr. SUTTON in St. Marie Overies in Southwarke Published for the good of all Gods Church generally and especially of those that were then his Hearers APOC. 14 1â— Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they rest from their labors and their works doe follow them LONDON Printed by I. H. for Nicolas Bourne and are to be sold at his shop at the South Entrance of the Royall Exchange 1632. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE ROBERT Lord BROOKE Baron of Beauchamp-Court I. D. Wisheth all increase of saving graces with true honour and prosperitie in this life and eternall happinesse in the life to come I Shall not need Right Honourable to spend much time and many words in commending this Booke to your Lordship and all sincere Lovers of Gods truth seeing the name of the Author surmounting my best praises can much better grace it to them and many were they that knew him and the worke it selfe may worthily commend the Author to them that knew him not Jt presenteth unto your Lordship the labours and Lectures of that faithfull Servant of God and famous Preacher of the Gospell Doctor Sutton in his weekly exercise at S. Marie Overies in Southwarke which when they were delivered were received with the generall applause and approbation of all his Hearers that were godly and judicious A man furnished with many rich endowments and entrusted by our great Lord and Master with not a few of his choycest talents which whilest he lived hee employed faithfully and fruitfully to the glorie of God and the edification of his people in his painfull Ministerie But alas too little a while did this burning and shining light appeare unto the world setting in our Horizon and without any Poeticall fiction dying in the Ocean by an unnaturall motion before he had attained unto the high noone of his perfection that he might shine much more cleerely among those bright Stars who with him have been the meanes upon earth of enlightning and converting many others Some little glympse hath hee left behind him of his greater light like the rayes in the skie after the Sun setting in these his labours penned by his owne hand for his owne use which wanting the gracefulnesse of his elocution and powerfull spirit to enlive them in which he excelled are but like a naked body stripped of its ornaments or a dead picture compared to a living body and this picture as farre short in beautie and likenesse of that it would have beene if himselfe had lived to perfect it with his owne pensill as a picture taken of a dead man in comparison of one which is drawen to the life But yet I supposed that this dimmer candle-light of his fruitfull labours was too usefull and profitable to lye any longer hid under a bushell and that it was in me a kinde of sacrilege to rob the Church of the use of his talents after hee had done trading with them and to hide them in a manuscript as it were in a napkin which being published might become profitable for the inriching of many And therefore that God might be yet more glorified by these fruitfull labours of his faithfull servant and the Church thereby might be also further edified J have caused them by being imprinted to be laid out in common for the benefit of many especially those who having beene his ordinarie hearers were much addicted to his Ministerie and will highly esteem the worke for the Authors sake The which I humbly present and dedicate to your Honors Patronage being emboldened hereunto by your fervent love to Gods truth and your zealous profession of it in these cold and declining times as also for that honourable respect which I have observed in your Lordship to Gods poore Ministers and your cheerefull receiving of them and their message for their Masters sake and finally that I might take occasion hereby of preserving and continuing your Honourable acquaintance with me the least of Gods Servants which J highly esteeme not for any worldly respects but that J may be still honoured by your Noble and Christian love and bee alwayes ready by my best services to honour you in it The Lord more and more multiply all his graces in you that you may long remaine as a Noble Peere of our Common-wealth so a firme Pillar of our Church adorning your religion which as your best ornament chiefly adorneth you and gracing that truth by your holy profession and practice which above all other titles will most enoble you and make you truly honoured in this world in the sight of God and all good men and eternize your glorie in the life to come The which shall bee the heartie prayer of me a poore Minister of Jesus Christ who shall ever remaine much devoted to your Lordship in all Christian dutie and service Iohn Downame To the Christian Reader IT is no small part of mans miserie that being created by God in a state of happinesse and immortalitie hee hath made himselfe mortall by his sinne and fall And it is an evidence of Gods infinite and never sufficiently admired mercie that hee hath not onely by the death of his best beloved Sonne restored all his elect to a state of incorruption and eternall life and blessednesse in the world to come but also in this world hath provided certaine meanes and medicines for the curing in some sort even of death and mortalitie it selfe which in their owne nature are apt to burie us all in perpetuall oblivion Namely that whereas by Gods just unchangeable sentence we must all dye yet by generation we propagate our kinde and so though mortall in our selves wee are immortalized in our posteritie Besides which benefit common to all mankinde God vouchsafeth a more peculiar blessing unto those whom he calleth to be spirituall Fathers in the Church begetting children unto God by the seed of the Word and preserving them in this life of grace by their fruitfull and powerfull preaching of the Gospell Especially if hee also enableth them to leave unto their children the riches of their holy writings for their instruction and increasing of their spirituall growth in all grace and goodnesse as it were holy legacies bequeathed by their last will and testament For those spirituall births of the braine are herein much to bee preferred before the fruit of the wombe in that they continue an honourable memorie of their Father after his death whereas the other often degenerating from the vertues of their Ancestours doe staine their names with their vices and dishonourable actions But much more doth God honour those who thus honour him in giving them power to speake unto his people even when their bodies rot in the grave and making them instruments of his glorie and of much good vnto his children even for a long time after death So that as wicked men doe
the Arke of the Covenant and the Temple which Salomon built Quis cladem illius urbis quis sunera sando Explicat aut possit lachrymis c. Virgil. 2.1 Aeneid Babylon who could say of herselfe as Isay 47.8 I am and none else beside mee I shall not sit as a widdow c. Yet now she is laid waste Ostriches cry there and the Satyres dance there Isay 13.21 Few places had such prerogatives as Nineveh so much state that Volateran reports that it was eight yeeres a building and all that time no lesse than ten thousand worke-men and Diodorus Slculus that the height of the wals were an hundred foot the breadth able to receive three carts on arow it had fifteene hundred turrets and yet none of these have sence but paper-wals to preserve their memoriâ—â— So the seven Churches of Asia I am seges est ubi Troja fuit Ovid. Epist 1. Nice Ephesus and Chalcedon famous for generall Councels and now the ruines and rubbish of them cannot bee found they are turned into pastures for oxen and sheepe 2. Outward privilege is no proofe of election for then all the Iewes enjoying the same privileges should bee saved aswell as any one of them Beware then you deceive not your hearts Vse that you trust not to these broken reeds that have no strength that you judge not of your estate by these outward marks It is not your hearing nor your maintaining of the Gospell but it is your sanctified holines in the heart Follow holines for without that no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 not Herods holines nor Pharisaicall holines not Popish holines in rites and ceremonies will you know that are of the Church I know you desire it for alas what good will it doe a man to have Princes to bow unto him doubt what shall become of his soule That saying of Trajan the Emperor will be but cold coÌ„fort at the day of death though my words perish in the aire yet When that day shall come that Christ shall set some on his right hand and others on his left you will have no comfort but in this that you led good lives kept cleere consciences served God in singlenesse of spirit for then hee will take you by the hands and bring you into his Palace admit you into his Court make you Inheritors of his Kingdome invest you into his glorie where I hope we all long to be and where I hope we shall all meet to praise the blessed Trinitie the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost to whom be glorie So I come to Pauls answer in the next words God forbid for I also am an Israelite Answ This answer consists of two branches The one Pauls reply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forbid The other the strength of his reply in three Arguments 1. From the person Paul 2. From the fore-knowledge of God 3. From the state of the Church in the time of Elias I begin with the reply God forbid It seemes to bee a bare negation but is indeed in sence Bipartita propositio Ad Rom. 1. a two-fold proposition saith P. Martyr 1. God hath cast away none that are within the Covenant God forbid that 2. Which followes by way of corollarie All that are Iewes are not within the Covenant Doct. and from these two propositions follow two conclusions They that are within the Covenant of grace cannot finally be cast away 1. They that are within the Covenant of grace cannot finally bee cast away 2. All men are not within the Covenant of election and grace I beginne with the former and lay downe these grounds Reason 1 whereon it being built will stand like the house upon a rocke against the wind of Popish opposition The 1. God who elected them is unchangeable I am 1.17 I am God and change not Mal. 3.8 a Sine mutatione facit mutabilia moderatur mobiiased sine motu Aug de Trinit lib. 1. cap. 1. He being without change doth make things changeable and governeth things moveable but without motion saith Augustine b Et qui mutat opera non mutat concilium consess lib. 1. cap. 4. And hee who changeth his works changeth not his counsell c Et quodsemel habet nunquam admittit What he once hath he never loseth d Tempus ab aevo esse jubes stabilisque manous das cuncta manert Boet deconsol philos lib. 3. From all eternitie thou commandest time to bee and remaining stable thou causest all things to abide saith Boetius They that would see more may finde it in e De Ecclesiast Hierarch cap. 3. Dionysius the supposed Areopagite that though a man would fall yet God will bee sure in his Covenant The 2. Reason 2 Institut lib. 3. cap. 24. second given by Calvin All the elect are committed by God the Father to the keeping and protection of God the Sonne All that the Father giveth mee shall come to mee Ioh. 6.37 and in Ioh. 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them to me and therefore Christ cals himselfe the true Shepherd in Ioh. 10. and knowes everie one that God puts into his keeping vers 14. If a Shepherd then he is to tend and keepe all that is committed to his trust and if you will know how faithfully Christ doth keep them see Ioh. 17.12 All that thou hast given me I have kept and not one of them is lost save the sonne of perdition c. And Ioh. 6.37 Him that commeth to me from the Father I put not away nay there is not one that God hath commended to my keeping but I will shew him to my Father and bee accountable for their soules at the day of judgement For I will raise him up at the last day saith the Shepherd of Israel vers 39. The 3. Reason 3 If any thing should cut them off who are once in the Covenant it must needs be their owne sinne or the stratagem of an enemie Sin cannot because if any of them sinne they have an advocate with the father Iesus Christ 1 Ioh. 2.1 Hee will present them blamelesse and without spot and in the meane time keepe them that they shall not fall Iude 24. nor can the stratagems of Satan prevaile for I give unto them eternall life and none take them out of my hands and they shall never perish Ioh. 10.28 If the elect could be deceived it should bee by false Christs and false Prophets Matth. 24.24 they would deceive if it were possible the verie elect The 4. The assurance of salvation is sealed the covenant is not onely made as Gen. 17.7 but it is also sealed Reason 4 for God hath sealed us and hath given us an carnest-penny for hee hath sealed us and hath given us the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts 2 Cor. 1.22 So Ephes 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God by whom you are sealed c. So 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God remaineth sure
for Rahab the harlot nor want for poore Lazarus shall bee accepted of God at the judgement A singular comfort for such as live in prophane and wicked places Vse that are enforced to complaine as David did Psal 120.5 Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar for though the place where thou livest bee as Sodome and the sinnes of it mount as high as Heaven yet if thou bee a Lor that lovest holinesse and hatest iniquitie thou shalt surely be saved from the fire Though the place where thou livest be like the old world so sinfull that God repented that ever hee made it Gen. 6.6 yet if thou bee a Noah faithfull and holy thou for thy part shalt surely bee saved from the water what if thou live in Mesech amongst the untoward Ishmaelites that bend their bowes against the Lord and shoot their arrowes against Heaven like the Thracians in Herodotus his Melpomene For if thou bee a David David after Gods heart when thousands fall beside thee and ten thousand at thy right hand the plague shall not come nigh thee what if thou dwell amongst thornes prepared for the fire yet if thou be a Lilly or a Rose it shall goe well with thee in the day of vengeance what if thou live in the salt sea yet if thou retaine thy sweet and pleasing rellish there shall no harme happen unto thee What if thou passe thorow the weeds and gravell of a brinish Ocean yet if thou be like the river Arethusa commended for that rare qualitie by Virgil in his 10. â—clogue Quamvis fluctus subterlabere Sicanos Dor is amar a suam non intermiscuit undam Thou shalt bee è mult is millibus unus one of a thousand Titio ereptus ex igne one whom God will choose out of the midst of a perverse and crooked generation what then remaines but this that we continue constant and unmoveable in our most holy faith and though wee live in such evill dayes and dwell in such prophane places where wickednesse over-flowes the banks as the sea at an high tide and a full spring though wee be reserved ad tempora novissima to the last times and dwell neare the outsides and the common sewers where all Heretiques make their nests and like to Toads and Frogs engender in these sens and puddles Aug. de temp Scrm. 232. as Augustine is pleased to stile them though wee dwell amongst Papists Anabaptists Familists and have our residence amongst the Bastards of Barrow Browne c. yet if wee beleeve and repent if wee turne to the Lord though we turne from them if wee cleave to the Lord and renounce them if wee keepe our selves unspotted our consciences untouched we shall undoubtedly bee saved and received unto mercie notwithstanding all their peremptorie sentence of condemnation which they passe upon us Before I come to the two other branches let me note unto you the drift of all it is to prove that the Iewes are not all cast off and how it is proved because Paul knowes that hee himselfe is not cast off Here we have Paul sure and certaine of his owne salvation From whence gather A man while he is in this life may be sure and certaine of his owne salvation Doct. and life eternall And I adde ordinarily because I meane to oppose the Trent Councell denouncing the deepe Anathema upon them that say it a Si quis dixerit bominem ronaium justificatum toueri ex side ad credendum se esse ex numero praede stinatorum anathema sit If any man say that a man regenerate and justified is bound by faith to beleeve that he is in the number of the elect let hm bee accursed as Chemnitius notes to be in the 6. Session Canon 15. b Possunt quidom bon sperare peccata sibi remitti sed sine cerid siducia They may indeed hope well that their sinnes are forgiven but not with any certaine assurance In any particular man yet saith Christ Sonne thy sinnes are forgiven thee to one and to another Thy faith hath saved thee viz. the woman that had the bloudie issue Mar. 5.34 I fetch my reasons first from the nature and propertie of a free promise made by God as unto Ioshua I will never faile thee unto Abraham Gen. 17.7 I will be thy God c. So that if Gods promises be certaine and sure then is the salvation of the faithfull certaine and sure and because some men might doubt the Apostle tels us Heb. 6.17 18. that God was willing to confirme the promise And therefore bound himselfe by an oath that by two immutable things wherein it is impossible that God should lye that they might have strong consolation the one is his word the other his oath whosoever shall not beleeve God in these two maketh God a Liar in this that hee saith he hath given eternall life through his Son 1 Ioh. 5.10 That which the Papist replyes that the promises of God are true in generall but are not certaine to particular men by the certaintie of faith because it is no where faid in speciall I will give thee is most frivolous and idle for if the promise bee made to all that beleeve then when I know that I beleeve I know the promise is made to mee and besides it is false to say that the promises are onely generall See Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus c. thou shalt bee saved Here is certaintie of faith which is nothing else but that assured confidence of our heart by which it perceiveth and doubteth not that it hath right to what is promised and this is that new name written in the white stone Apoâ— 2.17 by this faith God dwelleth in our hearts and suffereth none to perish saith Lombard Booke 3. Distinct 23. Secondly from the propertie of justifying faith First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an infallible perswasion Heb. 10.22 Reason 2 Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the substance Hebr. 11.1 Thirdly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through Christ we have boldnesse Ephes 3.12 Vpon these the Holy Ghost in Heb. 6. by an excellent metaphor compares faith to an anchor fastened in firme earth which the ship-man knowes to bee sound and constant against which no stormes can prevaile Which we have as the anchor of the soule both sure and stedfast Heb. 6.19 And Paul Rom. 8.38 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. shall bee able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. And vers 16. The Spirit of God witnesseth to our spirits that we are the sons of God which Pighius and Andradius setting downe the Trent Councell as Chemnitius reciteth it contend to have beene not by faith but by revelation But I will make it appeare that Paul grounds not this assurance upon revelation but on a ground
any other thing beside him not any other thing after him as Bernard speaketh 2. In time and season For they that seeke mee early shall finde me Pro. 7.17 3. Sincerely for they that seeke him with all their heart shall finde him Deut. 4.29 4. In the time of grace Whilst hee may bee found Isa 55.6 5. In faithfulnes without Hypocrisie for Hypocrites shall come with their sheepe and oxen to seeke the Lord but shall not finde him for hee hath withdrawen himselfe from them Hos 5.6 And besides the manner we must seeke him for a rightend viz. not our owne praise and glory but Gods Christ for himselfe In which point they offend who seeke Christ because they gaine by him as they in Iohn 6.26 You seeke me not because you saw the miracles but because you eat of the loaves Vt vix quaeritur Iesus propter Iesum Trect 25. in Iâ—hanem he so he thus That Iesus is scarcely sought for Iesus saith Augustine and therfore no marvell if they that deferre their repentance doe seeke and not finde for they seeke not early if Hypocrites seek and not finde for they seeke not sincerely if proud justiciaries seek and not finde for they seeke not in faith But if a man seeke him early as Elkanah and his wife 1 Sam. 1.19 if sincerely with all our heart and soule as Iosiah did Adsiar 〈◊〉 Erâ—â—no sert 2. 2 King 23.25 then that of Bernard will be most true It is more easie for Heaven and earth to passe away than that hee that so seeketh should not finde Facdues est transire calum terram quam lit sic quaerens non inveniat sic petens non accâ—piat sic pulsantium aperiatur In Cant. 3.1 that so asketh should not receive to him that so knocketh should not be opened for this is his word and though earth and heaven should passe yet not an Iota of my word should passe Math 5.18 I conclude the point with that of Bernard in Cant. 3.1 I sought him whom my foule loved but found him not There be three causes that hinders a man from finding God 1. When they seeke not in time he is departed without doubt when he cannot bee found this earlie is the acceptable time 2. If negligently 3. Because not as she ought shee sought him in her bed but hee is risen he is not here Doe you seeke the valiant one in a bed Quaeris in licto fortem in lectulo maâ—nuâ— in stabulo gloâ—â—ficatls Aug Conf. lib. 4. chap. 12. Quaerite quod quaeritâ— sed non ubi quaeritu luce intenebris vitam inregione mortis non est illic him that is great in a little bed him that is glorified in the stable no no saith Augustine Seeke what you seeke but not where you seeke light in darknesse and life in the region of death it is not there So I come to the second part of the proposition The election hath obtained it But the election hath obtained it It is a Metalepsis the abstract for the concrete as if he should say though such as seeke for life in their owne righteousnesse cannot finde it yet they that seeke it in faith cannot misse of it and who are these all that were eternally elected and he saith that the elect have obtained it already to note that it is as sure as if they were in full possession I will take the verie purpose of the Apostle for my conclusion A man once elected shall certainely be saved Doct. A point which I use to build upon these foure props against all the contrary windes of Popish opposition as above and so I come to the third clause in the proposition The rest have beene hardned And the rest have beene hardned I meet with it againe in the next verse where I shall shew you in what sence and how farre God is said to harden and to will sinne and yet be farre from being author of it In the meane time see the meaning of the word and one doctrine In the greeke it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the vulgar and Erasmus translate they are blinded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is asmuch as to change into a stony hardnesse and amongst Physicians is asmuch as to harden with an overgrowne-thicke skin as much as the brawne or hardnesse of a mans hands or feet by much labour And in the Hebrew the word sometimes signifies to harden that it cannot bee bent and notes 1. a naturall malice and hardnesse 2. a contracted hardnes under this understand both that hardnes when of soft a thing is made hard when of hard is made harder as iron hard of it selfe yet softned with fire and then put in cold water is harder than before Sometimes it signifies to aggravate as if the heart were then hindred with some great weight that it could not lift up it selfe to contemplate the workes of God and embrace grace when it is offered In Isay 6.10 It is applied to the eares of men when the hearing facultie is hindred by the accesse of some vitious humour either within or without it that it can either not at all or hardly perceive any sound what kinde of hardnesse this is viz. that it is not of the hands or fingers but of the eyes the eares the heart will appeare in the two next verses out of Isay and David So I come to Doctrine Induration and hardnesse of mans heart is a fearefull signe of reprobation for whereas in reprobation there bee two acts 1. Affirmative 2. Negative The affirmative hath two degrees the one a just induration 2. An ordaining to punishment and where there is the one it is to be feared the other will follow and therefore you read not in Scripture that any people were hardened but surely destruction followed In Iosh 11.20 when some of the Hivites that inhabited Gibeon made peace with Israel it came of the Lord to harden the hearts of the rest to the intent that they might be destroyed and have no mercie shewed to them So it is said of Sion King of Heshbon Deut. 2.30 that when he would not let Israel passe by him The Lord hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate because hee would deliver him up to bee destroyed So it is said of Pharaoh in Exod. 7.4 Hee shall not hearken but his heart shall be hardened that I may lay mine hand upon Aegypt So that when God hath a purpose to proceed to judgement against wicked men he lets them alone to worke ungodlinesse to live in disobedience to be hard-hearted and obstinate in sinning as in the sonnes of Eli they obeyed not the voice of their father viz. God left them and gave them not grace to hearken because he meant to slay them 1 Sam. 2.25 and all this is not meant of that hardnesse which is naturally even in the best for God many times takes away that hardnesse and gives hearts of flesh that may bleed and
for them then the Lord stayed him and stopt his passage by bringing in the sea to drowne him and his host Exod. 14. as hee did with Saul when he would have taken away Davids life the Lord set downe how farre hee should proceed to chase him from place to place but not to death By all which it appeares that wee make not God to bee an idle looker on which suffers every creature to doe what they will But when God gives men over to bee blinded and hardned by Sathan and suffers wicked men for a time to worke mischiefe yet sets bounds and limitts to their rage and fury and in the end wonderfully rescues his servants from trouble This surely is not to doe nothing Fifthly a reducing of the ends to the rule of justice The bringing of some good out of evill for though Sathan and wicked men propose their ends the wicked that hee may serve his pleasures the Devill that hee may destroy yet such is the goodnesse of God Bâ—â—um est mala esse vel â—ieri alioquâ—â— sumâ—â—è bonus non permitteâ—et ca ficri Loâ— hard lib. 1. distinct 46. that hee will never suffer evill to be done if it were not to bring good out of it It is good that evils be or bee done otherwise the most good God would not suffer them to bee done and such is the wisdome of God that out of worst things he can chose the best ends as for example Iosephs brethen sold him for envy but God sent him to prouide for his old father and his brethren to preserve their lives Gen. 45.5 So in the death of Christ Sathan and the Iewes intended onely his death but God turned it to the salvation of all that beleeve As poyson is in it selfe evill but the skilfull Physician by tempering it cures the sicke and workes good out of it So doth God with sinne Shimei by cursing would shew his hatred of David but God would make knowne the patience of David which was good Now these workes as they proceed from the next cause man and the Devth be evill they be evill trees which cannot bring forth good fruits But as they proceed from the supreme cause and as hee brings good out of them they are good God and Satan will both have Ierusalem destroyed But Sathan that hee might bee avenged on them God that hee might punish their rebellion Christ is delivered to death the Iewes they doe it onely in malice But God hath another end the redemption and salvation of man and therefore in Act. 4.28 Pilate and the Iewes Gentiles gathered together to doe whatsoever thy hand and Councell had determined S. Enchirid ad Laurent ca. 101. Augustine shewes how God man may will the same thing and God in willing it doth well and yet man sinnes in willing it The father of an ungratious child is sicke Vt citius perveniat ad haereditaâ—em paâ—ris Vuâ—t Deus jâ—â—sâ—e fil uâ— iâ— pie God will have him to die â—n his just judgement the sonne That hee may sooner come to his fathers inheritance God wills it justly the sonne wickedly Albeit God doe order Res mala non habet â—aulan essi cientem sed desi ie 〈◊〉 De 〈◊〉 taâ—e Dei Lib 12. cap 7. determinate and governe sinnes that be done yet is he not properly the efficient cause of sinne It was a good saying of Augustine An evill thing hath no a cause efficient but defficient as the corruption of iudgement and the perversnesse of will and further I say that though the Papist accuseth us for making God the author of sin yet I will change my religion if I will not shew to any Romanist that will challenge me that wee of this Church teach no otherwise than the Papists themselues have written not onely out of Occam Durand and Bannes but principally out of Thomas Aquinas and Bellarmine himselfe In Râ—m 9. Dea â—ass gratiae lib. 2. Cap. 13. By a figure hee commands it and incites men unto it as a Huntsman sets the dog upon the Hare by letting goe the slip That God doth not onely permit the wicked to doe evill nor onely forsake the godly that the wicked may doe what they will against them But he oversees their wills he rules their wills he governs their wills nay he bowes and bends them by working invisibly in them and not only inclines the will to one evill rather than to another by permitting them to bee carried into one sinne and not into another but also positively hee bends them by inclining them to one evill and turning them from another occasionally and morally as hee speakes out of Thomas Aquinas Let them looke well into these speeches and they shall finde that wee say no more than they and if they would expound ours as candidly as their owne there would bee small or no difference Briefly then we say first in generall That God is not the author of sinne but the devill and mans corrupt will and the contrary we defie as blasphemy Secondly in particular wee beleeve that God wills nothing which is formerly sinne but hee fulfills his good wills by our evill wills as P. Lombard as hee wills that which is good Lib 1. Distinct 48. but hates it rather whence it followes that hee inspires it into no man nor creates any corruption in our wills which was not there before but forbids it absolutely within us by the light of his spirit as Rom. 2.15 without by the commandement Thou shalt heare a word behinde thee saying this is the way turne not out of it Isay 39.21 c. The first entrance of sinne into the world and the continuance of it in the world was the voluntary action of mans will God infusing no evill into him for God is not the cause why man is worse but that which God doth about and concerning sinne is contained in three actions First as the universall cause of all things hee sustaines mankinde and upholds his being yea the being motion of all his actions good and bad So that no man could either move to any action or have being himselfe if God sustained him not as Act. 17.28 whence it followes that the very positive act which the schoolemen call the subject of sinne and the materiall part of sin whereto sinne cleaveth is of God in the same sort that all other actions of the creature are this proposition doth Zanchius well illustrate A man rides upon a lame horse in this action are two things Motion and Halting the motion is of man man makes him move but his halting is of himselfe so in sinne the action or motion is of God but the deformity of man himselfe Secondly he withholds his grace as Iohn 12.39 Therefore they could not beleeve because Isay saith he hath blinded c. as being bound to no man but leaves the wicked to themselves whereupon it followes that their hearts grow hard and they cannot chose
seduceth them their eyes are not onely darke and see not but deceitfull and seducing making them thinke that they see what is right when they see it not which I thinke to bee here meant and therefore Christ in Ioh. 12.40 addes these words not understand with their hearts from whence the point may be When good meanes of salvation be not used aright then God turnes them to their hurt and destruction Their eyes that once saw his workes Doct. whereby he shewed himselfe to bee God and whereby they should have beleeved doe now lead them into error and cast them upon their destruction Physicke is the meanes of health yet if not rightly used is able to kill him that useth it The eye mans best guide yet if distempered may bring a man into more danger than any professed enemy The Word and Gospell the best meanes to mollifie our hearts and bring us unto God yet if neglected and abused makes the heart hard the eyes blinde and the understanding darke Goe make the hearts of this people fat shut their eyes that they may not see Isa 6.10 If rightly used it is the savour of life unto life 2. Cor. 2.16 but if not it is a stumbling blocke to make men fall Ier. 6.21 But to keepe to the Apostles instance The eye It is first as a watchman set in the top of a tower to discover the enemy a farre off but if not rightly used it proves like a treacherous Sinon to open the gates of the City and let in the enemy to let lust into the heart And therefore Iob made a covenant with his eyes Iob 31. And David praieth Turne away mine eyes Psal 119.37 and how many the eyes hath undone you cannot bee ignorant The sonnes of God as they are called Gen. 6.2 saw the daughters of men and tooke them wives It brought Sichem to commit folly with Dinah Gen. 34.2 David to lie with Bathsheba 2. Sam. 11. Therefore saith Bernard that the eye is Prima sagitta The first arrow offornication that it is the window of the minde Demodo bene vivendi Ser. 23. Etin Psaâ— 91. Sertn 7. a Occâ—lus deprae datâ—r animam Epist 107. The eye robbeth the soule about his 107 Epistle Let us then heare aright for feare the word which is in it selfe the savour of life unto life be not the savour of death unto death As meat indigested rots upon the stomacke and poysons the body So doth this best meanes of life if onely heard and not digested with zeale It is a fearesull case when God lets our Pilot and our guide deceive vs our eye the best director to misleade us our meat to poyson us the light to bee like an Ignis fatuus to seduce us I pray God it befall not us who have a long time had eyes to see the wonders of God and yet make smal use of them And so I come to the second particular Eares that they should not heare Eares that they should not heare In Pro. 20.12 God hath made both these the eye to see and the care to heare These Iewes have them but neither see nor heare God hath made man two eares for two reasons First Vt 〈◊〉 actliuâ— That words may more easily be gathered as Lâ—â—l intius of Gods workmanship Chap. 8. Secondly Qua spoâ—tet dupla ad disciphnaÌ„ Consequenâ—am auâ—nt cum uraÌ„ linguim dederit ut meminerimus pau toraci enda plura audienda Because we must heare with a double care to the attaining if learning whereas hee gave but one tongue that wee might remember that sewer things are to bee spoken more to bee heard As Basil in his booke of virginitie and though the eyes be the organ of a most excellent sence of seeing the workmanship and wonders of God yet the eare is more needfull Institut Lib. 3. Cap 9. because as Lactautius saith Learning and wisdome is perceived by the eares alone not by the eyes alone It is a great misery to be blinde for then he sees not Gods workmanship but greater misery to want the hearing because then they cannot heare of their Saviour nor of eternall life Thomas Aquinas tells us that outwardly they could heare and perceive well enough but the judgement was they did not heare with fruit as Deut. 29.4.3.6 You have seene the great tentations the miracles and wonders how I led you sortie yeares in the wildernesse your cloathes waxed not old on your backes nor your shooes yet you want a heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare untill this day The first thing that I observe I comprize in these tearmes Doct. It is a misery unspeakeable to heare the mysteries of salvation and bee no better for it for hearing without obedience hath no blessing he onely that so heares the will of God to doe it shall enter into the kingdome Matth. 7.21 shall bee blessed Luke 11.28 shall bee justified before God Rom. 2.13 But the hearers otherwise if they looke for any mercy from God they doe but deceive themselves Iames 1.22 a Ille â—crè aâ—dis qui moâ—bus non contrad cit In quatuor Evan. 〈◊〉 29. Hee beares aright that in his manners doth not contradict it saith Gregory b Fâ—deâ—ni presi â—u â—vita praâ—a est Chrys st in lib. Homd 〈◊〉 Faith profits nothing if the life be wicked c Frusâ— a audit qui non amat Encl 〈◊〉 Cap. 17. He leares in vaint that loves not saith Augustine d Grave estse catum non 〈◊〉 sse quoctsac as â— avnis nonseetsse qu◠〈◊〉 Deâ—ss◠〈◊〉 Lib. 2 20. It is a great sinne not to know that which thou doest a greater not to do what thou knowest saith Ambrose I here be three kindes of bad hearers in Mat. 13. every one of them miscrable The first compared to stores and the stones are cast cut of the vineyard in Isa 5.2 The second to thornes and thornes are to bee burned Heb. 6.8 The third to the way side and that is a double misery First the way is ever left without the hedge and without defence Secondly it is troden under soot of all passengers Woe be to thee Chorazim woe be to thee Bethsaida for if these workes had beene done in Tyre and Sidon c. and Wee to thee Capernaum for if these workes were done in Sodome c. Mat. 11.21 These three Cities Chorazim Bethsaida and Capernaum were Cities of Galilee very fruitfull by reason they were neere to Iordan which made them as rich as Nilus doth the country of Egypt Ioachiâ— us Vadianus not farre from the lake of Gennezareth where Christ often preached and where most of his great workes were done as Mat. 11.21 Out of Bethsaida he called his first disciples Peter Andrew and Philip In Capernaum he did many miracles hee preacht almost every Sabbath day and made them astonished at his doctrine Luke 4.31 and because they had all this meanes heard all this preaching the
to powder with a greater fall and therefore small cause to reioyce in that In their wealth alas this is but their opportunitie to sinne and strength to doe evill and power to worke mischiefe and liberty to heape sinne upon sinne and wrath against the day of wrath and what cause to reioyce in that when they are in the midst of their friends in the midst of their wealth in the height of their honour in the prime of their strength then are they though they know it not in the midst of the snare in the midst of their danger they are snared and know it not Deproviden Lib. 7. entrapt and feele it not they are intoxicate with that herb that Salvianus mentions that makes them laugh at the point of death Secondly Vse 2 see how sinne changes the condition and property of every thing that the wicked hath and wherein hee delights from a blessing upon him to a snare to choake him from being a help in the way it becomes a stumbling blocke to overthrow him It alters the property of the word preached unto him that in it selfe is the savour of life but to him the savour of death 2. Cor. 2.16 In it selfe the fountaine of wisdome This is your wisdome and understanding Deut. 4.6 But to a blinde Iew it is a stumbling blocke and to the wicked Grecian the preaching of Christ is but foolishnesse 1. Cor. 1.23 It alters the condition of the heavens which of themselves doe drop their dew and of the earth which of it selfe doth bring forth fruit but sin makes the one as brasse and the other as iron Deut. 28.23 It alters the nature of goods and makes those that in themselves bee blessings to be the incentives of sinne and the occasions of falling and therefore if we would have ioy in any thing that we possesse if a blessing upon what we have and not snares and traps to intangle us let us put off our sinnes labour to be in Christ for then onely have we them in the right use then will they bee blessings and not snares to us Secondly I observe out of Beza That as unhappy birds are there ensnared lose life where they seeke to uphold it So doe these Iewes they lose life where they seeke it they seeke it in the Law wherein they are ensnared and there lose it Doct. The point is They that seeke life in the Law shall finde destruction the righteousnesse whereby we are saved is the Lord Ier. 23.6 This is the name whereby you shall call him the Lord our righteousnesse not essentially as Osiander but effectually in him have wee righteousnesse Isay 45.24 It is the imputed righteousnesse of Christ apprehended by faith whereby we obtaine life Rom. 4.24 And therefore Paul praies that hee may not be found in his owne righteousnesse but clothed with the righteousnesse which is of God through faith and therefore durst not appeare in the righteousnesse of the Law Phil. 3.9 In Christ there is purity of nature answering for our corrupt nature Secondly integrity and obedience answering for our disobedience Thirdly merit and passion that takes away our curse and torment none of these can bee found in the Law but the Law is an unsupportable yoake which neither we nor our fathers could beare the strength of sinne 1. Cor. 15.56 the ministration of damnation and death 2. Cor. 3.7.9 how then can they finde life in it And though Bellarmine say stif Lib. 2. that this proposition Christs impâ—ted righteousnes is ours is never read neither in Scripture nor Father yet as we have before shewed it is a meere untruth The use is to confute the Papist Vse 1 who would have us to finde life in our inherent justice yet touching this they agree not among themselves some making actuall justice some habituall to be the cause the other two bee paralells with this and therefore I come to the last For a recompence Doct. It yeelds a double note 1. God repayes wrong done to Christ and his members in the same kinde that they were done They wronged and used him unkindly in his meat they gave him gall to cat they gave him vinegar tod inke mingled with gall Matth. 27.34 And as they use Christ so they used David before who was a type of Christ Psal 69.20 21. And now the Lord payes them in the same kinde their table is a snare and a net to take themselves The Iewes had a Law Levi. 24.19 20. If a man cause a blemish in his neighbour as he hath done so shall it bee done to him Breach for breach eye for eye tooth for tooth such a blemish as hee hath made such shall bee repayed to him Like to this is that of the Apostle 2 Thess 1.6 It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you His qui vos 〈◊〉 â—nt â—uj steâ—am rependet â—ictionem * He repayeth just affliction to them that afflict you unjustly saith Zanchius It was one of the Lawes of the twelve tables a nong the Romans Simembruâ— pit moum vâ—â—ssim â—um membrum Aut. Geliu 20. Cap. 1. Aâ—sta Etl Lib 2. Cap. If hee hath broken my member in like manner let his member bee broken And the Pythagoreans call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simply just But these were but temporall recompences but God will pay affliction with eternall affliction and though this may seeme hard that God should afflict them for ever who afflicted his sonne and servants but for a while yet it is quite contrary for God in punishing doth not so much respect the action which is temporall as the object against whom it is done who is that eternall and immense good Secondly the will of sinners which is for ever extended with their malice for if they did still live they would still persecute them Let them therefore see what they doe who persecute the innocent Vnto these let mee adde a most pregnant example of Adonibezok in Iudg. 6.7 Israel pursued Adonibezek and caught him and cut off the thumbs of his hands and his feet And Adonibezok said Seven kings having the thumbs of their hand and feet cut off gathered bread under my table as â—ave done so hath God rewarded me thus is that of Christ fulfilled With what measure you mete unto others it shall be measured unto you â—gâ—ine Matth. 7.2 and that of Habac. 2.8 Because thou hay spoyled many nations all the remnant of the peopl shall speile thee Take heed of wronging the people of God by disgraces by oppression by impoverishing them lest God in the same kind reward you seven fold into your bosomes 2. The Lord doth punish the sinnes of men by the best things that they have Sometimes by their children Doct. as Eli 1 Sam. 2.22 And Davids sin in Amnon and Thamar and Absalom but especially wicked men that they may say as it was said of the Emperour Antoninus Antoninum fuisse soelitem si nullum
consecrated through affliction Heb. 2.10 And to that Image all the predestinate must be conformable Rom. 8.29 But concerning this I may say as the Philistines did of Sampsons riddle Iudg. 14.1 How can sweet come out of that which is sowre and meat out of the eater So say worldlings How can tribulation bring forth patience and how can a light affliction cause unto us a most excellent weight of glory But the children of God have learned by experience that albeit no visitation be sweet for the present yet afterward it brings the quiet fruits of righteousnesse to them that are thereby exercised Heb. 12.11 There is more solid joy in enduring rebuke for Christ than in all the pleasures of sin for as Moses the typicall Mediator of the old Testament by prayer made the bitter waters of Marah to be sweet Exod. 15.25 so Chrrist the true Mediator by his passion hath mitigated to his children the bitternesse of the Crosse yea made it profitable to them The prodigall sonne concludes not to returne till he was brought low by affliction Hagar was proud in Abrahams house but humble in the wildernesse Ionah sleepes in the ship but watcheth and prayes in the whales belly Ionah 2.1 Manasses lives in Ierusalem as a libertine but bound in chaines at Babel he turnes his heart to the Lord his God 2 Chron. 33.11 12. Corporall diseases inforced many in the Gospell to come to Christ whereas others that enjoyed bodily health would never acknowledge him The earth if not tilled beares nothing but thornes the vines wax wilde if they be not pruned and cut So would our wilde hearts overgrow with the noysome weeds of unruly affections if the Lord by a sanctified trouble should not manure them I will adde no more but that example of Ioseph Iacob sends him to Dothan to visit his brethren Gen. 37.18 his brethren cast him into a pit Reuben releeves him the Midianites buy him and sell him to Potiphar his mistresse accuses him his master condemnes him the Butler after long forgetfulnesse recommends him and at last Pharao exalts him What strange instruments are here and how many hands about this one poore man of God! and yet never one of them looking to that which God proposed So much of the negative I proceed to the affirmative But through their fall Th. Aquin. in hunc locum Tho. Aquinas produceth that in the fourth of Iohn Salvation is of the Iewes to prove this that the salvation of the Gentiles was occasionally by the fal of the Iewes and makes a threefold interpretation First because by their fault in killing Christ followed the redemption of the Gentiles Secondly because they refused the doctrine of Christ which therefore came to the Gentiles Act. 13.46 Seeing you put the Gospell from you and iudge your selves unworthy of eternall life wee turne to the Gentiles Thirdly because the Iewes for falling from God were dispersed thorow the world and by that meanes brought the Scriptures and Word to the Gentiles and to this purpose brings that Psal 59.11 Kill them not but scatter them Secondly wee must not thinke that the fall of the Iewes was any cause but only an occasion of the salvation of the Gentiles Thirdly there was no necessitie that the one people should be cast off before the other could be received for God might have called both at once Fourthly though the Iewes had not beene cast off yet the Gentiles should have beene called because there is no such dependencie as effects have upon their causes The first thing that I collect is God works good for his servants by contrary and most unlikely meanes Doct. It was a great worke that he opened the eyes of the blinde but greater that he should doe it by the application of spittle and clay meanes more like to put out the eyes of a seeing man than to restore sight to a blinde man Thus in the worke of creation when there was nothing but Thou and Bohu upon the earth and Choshec-panai Tehom darknesse upon the face of the deepe in Gen. 1.2 then did the Lord make Light of it So in the worke of redemption hee wrought by unlikelihoods and contraries when by a cursed death he brought a happy life by yeelding to death he overcame death by his Crosse he won the Crowne and through shame he ascended into glory The same order he keeps in our second creation he casts downe that he may raise up he kils that he may make alive he accuseth his children for sinne that he may cause them to seeke remission he troubleth their consciences that he may speake peace unto them and most commonly the meanes which he useth is contrary to the worke which he intends for his children He sent on Abram a most fearfull darknesse even then when he was to communicate unto him most joyfull light Gen. 15.12 Hee wrastled with Iacob and shooke him to and fro even then when he was about to blesse him Gen. 32. He strooke Paul with blindnesse even then when he came to open his eyes Act. 9. Sometimes he frownes upon his beloved as Ioseph upon his brethren when with loving affection he is about to embrace them he seemes angry at our prayers and puts us backe with the woman of Canaan when he is about to grant a favourable answer unto them Learne Vse first never to murmur what meanes soever be use to worke with Secondly not to doubt but God will doe us good when all meanes seeme contrary and against us he is able out of darknesse to bring us light out of death to bring us life and out of falling to make us rise Secondly at the fall of the Iewes he takes occasion to call the Gentiles from whence observe That God watcheth any opportunitie Doct. and takes all occasions to doe his children good How gladly would he have taken occasion to have spared Ierusalem when for one mans sake he would have spared it Ier. 5.1 How passionatly did he affect the cure of Babylon when he intreated her with as powerfull oratory as the heavens were able to compose and the Angels to utter till she made this the burthen of her song I will not be cured Ier. 51.9 How did he watch an occasion to spare Sodome when for ten mens sake he would have spared it Gen. 18.32 Deus secat ut sanet He cuts and sliceth our flesh that he may have occasion of shew mercy in healing it So Augustine on Matth. Ser. 15. Deus savit ut parcat Aug. in Matth. ser 15. He casts into despaire that he may shew mercy in sparing it And in another place He kils us that wee may not die And againe He strikes to death Oâ—idâ—t ne neriamur Aug. in Iohan sern 38. Aug. Confess lib. 2. cap. 2. that he may have occasion to doe his servants good in restoring them to life So that a man may fitly take up that speech of Themistocles when he was first banisht by the
receiving and so being an hypotheticall proposition it consists of an antecedent and a sequele From the antecedent I observe That God never gives way to any evill but for a good end and purpose their fall was suffered for this end to reconcile the world unto himselfe as in the eleventh verse I come to the sequele wherein were noted first their danger dead secondly their hope received to life from death From the first note That living in sinne out of favour with God Doct. is to be in the estate of a dead man The dead shall heare the voice of the sonne of God Ioh. 5.25 If you aske who be these dead surely you need not goe downe into the vaults of the earth to seeke them they are buried above ground they are dead soules in living bodies That body is their tombe and this their epitaph Hic siti sunt Here are they buried Therefore awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead Ephes 5.14 It may be thought a strange position and savour somewhat of melancholy that a man that breathes and moves and speakes and drinkes and sweares and fights and does all other acts which now adayes are counted manly should be induced that for all this he is no better than a dead man a carcase But let such a man as this be brought before the Iudge of life Christ Iesus examined by the rule of life viz. the word and you shall see what his case is The life of a Christian consists in the union of his soule with God which is made by the grace of the holy spirit dwelling in him for as the life of the body is the soule so the life of the soule is grace and where that is wanting well may the body live but the soule is dead as Paul speaketh of the widow 1 Tim. 5.5 Such dead men are all by nature dead in sinnes and trespasses Ephes 2.1 yea dead even from the wombe and if I may so speake still borne for no man brought grace into the world nor suckt it from his mother he is made not borne a Christian The word Soule is capable of life if God be pleased to give it the best by nature but dead There be two things that argue life in the soule of man sense and motion if man in the estate of sinne hath either I will confesse him to be alive and not dead But first he hath no sense for he perceives not the things of the spirit of God nor can he for they are discerned spiritually 1 Cor. 2.14 Secondly he hath no motion he hath set up his rest in this world never dreames of aspiring higher Tell him of a journey to heaven t is not in him to will it t is not in him once to thinke of it 2 Cor. 3.5 Now if this man may be said to live which manifests life neither by sense nor motion then stocks and stones and the dullest of spring of the elements may as truly be said to live So that wee may conclude as Christ doth Matth. 8.22 Let the dead bury their dead or I may say of such as the holy Ghost doth of the Angell of the Church of Sardis Apoc. 3.1 Thou hast a name that thou livest but thou art dead Hence learne first the errour of the Pelagian and his naturall sonne the Papist Vse 1 who will defend man in sinne and without grace not to be dead but halfe dead like the wounded man Luk. 10.30 or the maid Matth. 9.24 But first God finds no such good in man Gen. 6.5 Secondly Paul finds nothing in the unregenerate part but opposition Gal. 5.17 Thirdly leave the best man to himselfe and he is dead to all good actions Fourthly Paul could not finde any good thing in himselfe Rom. 7. Yet in this point I can make it good out of Bellarmine and others that they neither speake nor write what they thinke Secondly Vse 2 the lamentable case wherein naturally wee are borne dead in sinnes and trespasses Thirdly in what fearfull case they are that live in sinne in grace dead in soule dead in Gods account dead and therefore how little honour wee should performe to them how base they are in respect of the sonnes of God you may perceive If a man want grace nothing can make him honourable he is servant of how many vices Servus quot vitiorum tot dominorum of so many masters saith Augustine Stemmata quid prosunt c. Aug. de Civit. Det lib. 4. cap. 3. Iuâ—inal Satyr 1. When the Apostles seemed to be a little proud that the devils were subdued unto them our Saviour would not have them rejoyce in this but in that their names were written in the booke of life Luk. 10.18 19. Wherefore if you affect either glory or honour or life see where you must seeke it seeke them not at Court those be like glasses saith Augustine bright and brittle Moses had rather be the childe of God than to be called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter And so I come from the danger wherein they were to their hope of restoring Life from the dead First the world shall be changed as it were from death to life after the receiving of the Iewes for though light be risen to the Gentiles yet while the Iew remains in blindnesse The world hath not yet revived saith Beza Secondly Life from the dead Their estate shall be more glorious after their calling than it was before Mundus nondum revixit So Ambrose Thirdly Life from the dead The restoring of the Iewes suddenly shall follow the resurrection from death to life So Aquinas out of Origen and Chrysostome I will not shew my dislike to any of these yet that which I observe is different That wee should not despaire of the Iewes though now they be out of favour and seeme to be dead Though a man be dead he may live againe though buried he may rise againe though out of favour he may be received againe though he run away with the prodigall he may returne againe though he be fallen yet he may rise againe If a man be never so farre gone wee should not despaire of his amendment and reformation What people in all likelihood farther gone than the men of Ephraim They willingly obeyed the commandement that is of Ieroboâ—m Hos 5.11 and when the Lord told them that they were sicke and would have cured them then went Ephraim unto Ashur and sent to Iareb King of Assyria This was added to his former sinnes Hoeaccedu ad superiora peceata saith Mercer yet if once they say Come let us returne to the Lord Hoe est tantum piccavit ut eâ— Sedoma comparata justa videatur then after two dayes he will revive them and they shall live in his sight Hos 6.2 What Citie so farre gone as Ierusalem She justified Sodome and Samaria Ezek. 16.51 that is She sinned so much Aug. contra Faustum Manachaum lib. 22. cap. 61. that Sodome compared
holy Spirit He hath sent the spirit of his Sonne into our hearts by which we cry Abba Father Gal. 4.6 But to make it more evident it may bee demonstrated by these reasons First those that be married to Christ for ever cannot fall away from faith and grace but all the Elect and children of God are such I will marrie thee unto myselfe for ever in righteousnesse in judgement and in compassion I will marrie thee in faithfulnesse Hos 2.19 20. Of which union and neerenesse by marriage when the Apostle speaks he saith that the Church consisting of his Elect are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Ephes 5.30 Secondly they are branches of Gods owne planting therefore not to bee plucked up Ioh. 15. They build their houses upon the rocke Christ therefore they cannot bee overthrowne Matth. 7. Thirdly they are of his Church therefore the gates of hell cannot prevaile against them Matt. 16.18 Fourthly though they fall yet they cannot bee cast off for the Lord putteth under husband Psal 37.24 His left hand is under my head the right hand of the Lord embraceth me saith the Spouse Cantic 2.6 The devill comes to strike my head but the hand of the Lord is under my head to steale away my soule but the right hand of God embraceth me Aug. in Psal 121. saith Augustine Fifthly Christ did pray for his Church that their faith might not faile Luk. 22.32 And hee was heard in that which he prayed I know thou hearest me alwayes Ioh. 11.42 But that was onely for Peter No Bellarmine himselfe saith That Christ prayed mediately for the other Apostles Mediatè pro alus Atostolis nec si lùm pro perseveramià Apostolerum sed omnium electorum Bellaâ—m DeRoman Pentâ—sdtb 4. cap. 3. Rogavi nè deficiat fides tua intelligamus ei dictum qui adificatur super Petram Aug. De Corrept grat lib. cap. 12. nor onely for the perseverance of the Apostles but of all the Elect. I pray not for these alone but for all that shall beleeve in me thorow the world Ioh. 17.20 Yea and aske Augustine I asked that thy faith faile not we may understand it spoken to him that is built on the Rocke he prayed therefore he was heard nay he sits now making continuall intercession for us Rom. 8.34 Sixthly they that abide in Christ and Christ in them cannot utterly fall and perish but such be all they that are justified by faith for they eat his flesh and drinke his bloud and therefore Christ is in them and they in him as our Saviour speakes Ioh. 6.56 Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him Lastly There is one reason unanswerable from 1 Ioh. 3.9 Whosoever is borne of God sinneth not nor can he sinne But all reprobates doe sinne and can sinne therefore reprobates were never borne of God which is not meant of every sinne for there is sinne in the most holy If any man say he hath no sinne he deceiveth himselfe 1 Ioh. 1.8 but it is to be understood of such sinne whereby any man doth wholly fall backe into the power of the devill wholly into falshood and iniquity But they fall from grace make shipwracke of faith and must needs fall from God wholly into Satans power But unto this Bellarmine answers where he disproveth the exposition of Ambrose Bernard and Augustine He cannot mortally sinne so long as he is borne of God Non pâ—tell lâ—thalitèe peicare quamdiu natus est ex Deo Aug. De Iustist lib. 3. cap. 15. Hierome Contra Pelagion lib. 1. pag. 268. So Hierome in his Dralogue taking leave to change the causall particle because into a conditionall how long But Saint Iohn shewes that Bellarmines quamdiu so long as is as much as nothing for his purpose is to teach that a maâ— once borne of God can never bee given over wholly to serve sinne and Satan the reason because he is borne of God Excellently the same Apostle chap. 5.18 we know that if a man be borne of God the wicked toucheth him not The devill may throw his darts and shoot his arrowes which may wound and hurt him sore but cannot touch him that is not lay so fast hold on him as to take him with him to death to hell So that a childe of God sinding himselfe in the state of grace may with comfort meditate upon these Scriptures Iob. 4.14 whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never be more a thirst but it shall be in him a well springing and growing to eternal life Matth. 24.24 There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets to deceive if it were possible the very elect Ioh. 10.28 Mysheepe heare my noice and I give unto them eternall life and they shall never perish nor shall any plucke them out of my hands Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded not grounded upon extraordinary revelation but upon the death of Christ vers 32. On Gods free justification vers 33. On Christ intercession vers 34. Phil. 1.6 I am perswaded of this thing that he that hath begunne this good worke in you will also peforme it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will perfect it untill the day of the Lord lesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.5 The elect are kept by God through faith unto salvation If you list to heare the judgment of ancients in this point marke the disputation of Augustine a Si quispiam clecterum sereat tum fallitur Deus at nemo electorum poit quia non fallitur Deus Aug de Gratta Cerrept cap. 7. If any of the elect perish then God â— deceived but none of the elect perish because God is not deceived b Si quispiam dicterum pereat tum vitio humano vincitur Deus c. If any of the Elect perish then God is over come of hâ—m inevice but none of the Elâ—â—l perish because God is over come of nothing So Gregorie c Aurum quod pravis Diabcli persuasion but sternt potest ut â—â—tum aurum ante ecules Dei nâ—â—q am c. 〈◊〉 Meral lib. 31. as 13. That gold which by the wicked perswasions of the devill may be stricken downe like dirt never was gold in Gods account had sanctitie as it were before men they lose but in Gods accourt they never had it Lombard likewise speaketh to the same purpose d Noâ— potest 〈◊〉 que 〈…〉 praedeâ—â—tur non 〈◊〉 tur Loâ—â—b lib. 1 distinct 40. Both cannot bee true that one should bee predest inate and not saved So Aquinas e Serepti in libro viti deâ—â— non 〈◊〉 Aqeâ—n 1. 〈◊〉 21. Art 3. 〈…〉 24. Those that are written in the book of life câ—â—not be blotted out Espencaeus on 2 Tim. allowes that of Augustine of catechizing the simple chap. 11. f Ex Je usal m â—stâ non erat qui serâ—it Objections against perseverance grounded on Scriptures answered Out of that Ierusalem
was not one that perished And now for better setling of your mindes let me take a briese survey of those Scriptures that seeme to make against it First from Luk. 8.13 There is mention of some which for a while beleeve but in time of temptation goe away Answ It is meant of temporary not of justifying faith Secondly the Scripture saith that some concerning faith have made shipwracke 1 Tim. 1.19 That many shall depart from the faith 1 Tim. 4 1. Ans Faith is there taâ— cannot for justifying faith but for that 〈◊〉 of saith Thirdly Ezek. 18.24.26 If therâ—◠〈◊〉 turne away from his right coâ—snesse hee shall die Answ That is meant of righteousnesse hypocriticall which carries the name and goes in the habit of true righteousnesse and God by that speech doth teach us First alacrity and chearefulnesse Secondly our owne infirmity and pronenesse to faint in well doing Thirdly the miserable condition of hypocrites Fourthly what wee must doe In praeceptione cagnosce quid debeas in correptione quid tuo vitio non bileas inoralione unde accipias Aug Dc Gratia Corr. pt cap. 3. In a precept know what thou must doâ— in a reproofe what thou hast not done through thine owne fault in prayer whence thou receivest saith Augustine Fourthly Ioh. 15.6 If any man abide not in me he is cast forth as abranch and withereth and men gather them and cast them into the fire and burne them Answ He saith That if any branch abide not and bring not forth sruit he is cut downe but it is impossible that any should be engrafted by Christ which should not both abide and bring forth fruit and the elder they are the more fruit as Psal 92.13 The fifth Matth. 24.13 The love of many shall bee cold Answ It is meant of such Christian vertues as are common to the faithfull and hypocrites Sixthly Matth. 25.29 Take from him that talent Answ That talent is not saving grace not regenaration but meant of common gifts whether naturall or Ecclesisticall Seventhly 1 Cor. 9.29 I keepe downe my body c. Answ Reprobation is not opposed to election unto life nor doth it signifie the losse of eternall glory but probato vita moribus such a one whose life doth answer to what he taught Secondly If it be meant of reprobation to death yet the argument holds not Paul laboured that he might not be reprobate therefore could he be a reprobate for godly care and holy feare may and doth consist with certainty of election Eighthly From Heb. 6.4 5 and 6. verses It is impossible that they which were once enlightned have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they fall away should be renued Ans The Apostle speaks of hypocrites which professe Christ for a time and afterward become Apostates they are said to have tasted the heavenly gift but not in a saving mannner and partakers of the holy Ghost that is of the gifts which God gives indifferently both to the Elect and reprobates as outward sanctity temporary faith the gifts of Prophecie doing of miracles but not the spirit of regeneration and a justifying faith And to have beene enlightned and tasted of the good Word of God that is to have attained to some knowledge in the mysterie of the Word and the powers of the world to come by world to come wee must understand the Church of the New Testament and by powers the doing of miracles which Christ in the primitive times granted both to the elect and reprobate I passe a multitude of places and their reason from the Angels and Adam who were just and yet fell They had the righteousnesse and grace of creation wee of redemption they were in a mutable condition wee in an immutable Adam fell but not finally the Angels were reprobates therefore fell finally we elect and within the Covenant and therefore cannot fall finally but I cannot in this Audience speake as beseemes this question onely for conclusion I wish you to admire the happy estate condition of all that truly feare God and faithfully beleeve in his holy name as vers 1. And so I come to the reason of the Apostles exhortation at vers 21. VERS 21. Vers 21 For if God spared not the naturall branches take heed lest he also spare not thee BY naturall branches understand the Iewes By thee understand the Gentiles the one a naturall sonne the other adopted and it is an argument from the greater framed thus God spared not the naturall branches not the naturall sonnes not those that were neerest unto him therefore let the engrafted branches the adopted sonnes and those that are farther off take heed They containe two branches 1. Gods proceeding with the Iew. 2. Pauls instruction and admonition to the Gentile I begin with the former There is no out ward privilege Doct. as descent as parentage or any thing else that can acquit grievous sinners from Gods fearefull punishments God is as resolute as Saul when he had bound the people not to eat untill night As I live though it be done by my sonne Ionathan he shall die 1 Sam. 14.39 Though Israel be never so deare yet if they turne his grace into wantounesse hee will send upon them great plagues and of long continuance sore diseases and of long durance Deut. 28.59 And as the Lord rejoyced over them to doe them good and to multiply them so hee will rejoyce over them to destroy them and bring them to nought vers 63. Though Ierusalem be the Vine though she be the place where God promised to bee resident and to have the Arke of the Covenant yet if this faithfull Citie become an harlot her Princes Rebels her Iudges murtherers then will God be eased and avenged of them and turne his hand against them Isay 24. Though Manasses have never so godly a father as Ezekiah yet if he commit those grievous sinnes mentioned 2 King 21. hee shall be carried into captivitie Though Iehojakim come of as good a father as Iosiah yet if presumptuously and with an high hand hee sinne against God he shall be cast out and buried with the buriall of an Asse and none lament for him and God will punish him and his seed for their iniquitie Ierem. 22.18 19. and 36.30 31. Though Cain have the privilege to bee the first man that ever was borne of a woman yet if he murther his brother God will curse him from the earth Genes 4.11 Vse 1 The Vse is First to blame them Vindicare praregativam religiost nominis Gothos baeretied pravitate superare Salvian lib. 7. who because of these outward prerogatives think themselves in good estates and free from Gods judgements They challenge the prerogative of a religious name and yet exceed even the savage Goths in hereticall wickednesse as Salvtan complaineth They cry The temple of the Lord Ier.
Sioni unto Sion And so it is Isa 59.20 The redeemer shall come unto Sion and unto them that turne from iniquitie in Iacob And that some Greeke copies have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Sions sake and that perhaps the Printer made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I take it as it stands Sion a mountaine of Ierusalem called the mountaine of the Lord and the holy mountaine in the top whereof was the tower of David which was also called the Citie of David 2 Sam. 5.7 from thence the deliverer comes Non quia ibi natus sed quis inde doctrina ejus exivit in universum muaedum Not because hee was borne there but because his doctrine went forth thence into all the world as Aquinas speakes on Rom. 11. and it agrees well with the Prophets words The Law shall goe forth of Sion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem Isa 2.3 Wheresoever the word is preached thither Christ comes and there hee is Or thus When the Gospell is sent unto us then Christ himselfe is sent unto us Hence is that speech of Christ He that heareth you heareth me hee that despiseth you despiseth mee Luk. 10.16 as if it were no question but where the Word comes there Christ himselfe comes also Hence is that 1 Thess 4.8 Hee that despiseth these things despiseth not man but God for wheresoever the Gospell is preacht there Christ is had in it and covered under it Learne first what estimate wee are to make of the Gospell as the treasure hid in the sield for which the wise Merchant sels all that he hath Secondly that when wee have the Gospell wee can want nothing Ha' enti Deum n b l dcesse potest Nothing can bee wanting to him that hath God as vers 12. I hasten to the person The deliverer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The signification one that shall plucke them out of their miserie and servitude under which they grone to note Man under sinne endures miserable and wofull servitude Doct. And therefore is sinne compared unto a heavie burthen that makes the whole earth to reele Isa 24.20 that over-presseth God himselfe and makes him say of Moab Iudah and Israel Amos 2.13 I am pressed under you as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves It is that which made the Sonne of God to sweat drops and clods of bloud when our sinne was upon him Luk. 22.44 and therefore they that goe on in sinne are like to men that be pressed to death and cry still for more weight to be cast upon them and they feele not this weight because they are already dead or drowned in sinne A man on drie ground feeles the least weight of a bucket but a man at the bottome of a water feeles not though never so great weight and heape be upon him and therefore no marvell if it made David to roare Psal 32.3 Ezekiah to mourne like a dove to chatter like a crane Bonus etiamsi serviat liber est maâ—us etianisi regnet servus est Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 3. cap. 4. Isa 38.14 Secondly it is a miserable servitude to live in it and therefore must have a deliverer It is Augustines position A good man though he serves yet he is free a wicked man though he reignes is a servant I know not whereby to resemble this servitude of man under sinne better than by the subjection of him that was possessed Mark 9.22 The bondage of Istael under Pharao when they cried and groaned so loud that they moved the heavens Exod. 2.23 the slaverie of the Gibeonites made to be hewers of wood and drawers of water Iosh 9.23 The matchlesse bondage endured by poore Christians under Turks and Infidels is as much as nothing but like a yoke of reed in comparison of the servitude which man endures under sinne therefore sinne is said to reigne and tyrannize over them Rom. 6.12 It hath them in awe as the Centurion had his servants that saith to one Goe and he goeth Luk. 7.8 If it command the drunkard hee riseth early in the morning to follow it Isa 5.11 The adulterer he watcheth the twilight be the night never so blacke and darke Prov. 7.9 And though in the acting of some sinnes there be great difficultie yet doe they not excuse themselves as men doe when they should doe any good like Moses Exod. 4.1 They will not beleeve me and at vers 10. I am not eloquent And Ieremie Chap. 1.6 I am but a childe and cannot speake But bee the danger never so great the difficulties never so many the profit or pleasure never so small they adventure upon it What better can Ahab the King be for Naboths vineyard it is but to make a garden of herbs yet his master sinne hath commanded he must have it though it be like to cost him his life for hee lyes upon his bed turnes his face to the wall and will eat no bread 1 Kin. 21.4 Amnon can hardly have his purpose upon the body of Thamar if he have it will be but a short sudden pleasure yet his master sinne hath commanded and though it vex him never so sore and cast him into a fit of sicknesse and in the end cost him his life yet hee will doe it 2 Sam. 13. Bee the action never so base he that is servant to sinne must act it Be it in the dead time of the night he must breake his sleepe and rise and goe about it Be it in the extremitie of sicknesse yet even then hee must plot and contrive it upon his bed The bondage under sinne will appeare in this That though common sinners seeme to lead a pleasant and merrie life yet there is no greater toyle and drudgerie than that which they undergoe in contriving and acting of sinne Isa 5.11 Who rifeth so early as the drunkard who walkes so many darke nights as the adulterer who endures so many tempests as the Pyrats comes in so many dangers as theeves and robbers seldome doe they suffer either their eyes to sleepe or eye-lids to slumber or the temples of their head to take any rest The Vse is Vse to teach us the Apostles lesson Rom 6.12 Let not sinne reigne c. 1. It is a base service to serve either the flesh that is our fellow or the world that is our servant or the Devill that is our enemie 2. After all the service there will be a miserable payment death Rom. 6.23 the punishment of losse losse of happinesse peace life glorie of the blessed vision of God the eternall comforts of his Spirit of that noyse of heavenly musicke which beats the spheares and makes the heavens toring with hallelujahs of glorie and honour and peace The paine of sense in everie part paine and sorrow in the conscience convulsions and terrours in the tongue burning and heat and both these eternall Be the fire and brimstone never so hot they shall not consume it
confesse with David mourne with Ezekiah weepe with Peter fall at Christs feet with Mary wipe them with our haires and kisse them with our lips and cry Lord be mercifull to mee a sinner And so I come from the person I to the action take away I will take away their sinne In the former verse he will turne away iniquitie in this verse he will take it away the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of an â—â—nusuall word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to take away that which troubles and hurts to note that When God forgives sinne he takes it quite away Doct. that it can hurt no more for God will not remember it any more as Ier. 31.34 I will forgive your iniquitie and remember your sinnes no more He will not remember to object it to punish it to condemne us for it He doth not so take it away ut non sit that it may not be sed ut non regnet but that it may not reigne as Augustine Aug. de coniâ—g concupisâ—en lib. 1. cap. 21. When he brought Israel into Canaan he did not cast out all the Canaanites still some of them dwelt in the land but were made tributaries and brought under subjection Iosh 17.12 13. which is by Hierome in many of his Epistles morally applied unto sinne in a man regenerate Velis nolis habitabit intra fines tuos lebusaeus Whether thou wilt or no the Iebusite shall dwell within thy borders but it is made tributary brought in subjection and made serviceable for the true Israelite First for the continuall exercise of his faith to make him warre and fight the good fight of faith against it Secondly to make him still keepe his armour about him lest he should be surprised unawares when men have no enemies they put off their armour Thirdly to worke humiliation in regard we must still carry sinne about us and cannot be rid of it still a Dalilah to solicit us and we cannot avoid her Fourthly to move us to have recourse unto God that he would weaken it and pray unto God that he would pardon it Thus God alwayes works good out of evill turnes poyson into an antidote Lib. 1. dist 46. as Lombard God in forgiving sinne takes it quite away Conclusion that it shall never be remembred As farre as the East is from the West so farre hath he set our sins from us Psal 103.12 He subdues our iniquities and casts all our sins into the bottome of the sea Micah 7.19 If he suffer any remembrance of it to remaine it is for our greater good and his greater glory And so I come from the phrase of taking away to the spots and staines which are washt away and cleansed I will take away their sinne Here is the happinesse of Iew and Gentile and here is the glory of our redemption by Christ here is the peculiar prerogative of the Church that our sinnes are pardoned and the punishment removed and taken away This was Iohns message he should goe before Christ and prophesie of salvation by the remission of sinnes and the great benefit at the day of refreshing is the putting away of sinne Act. 3.19 And this is the great cause of the Churches rejoycing because he forgives all thine iniquities heales all thine infirmities redeemed thy life from death and crowned thee with mercy and loving kindnesse Psal 103.3 4. 1. Reason 1 This belongeth only to the beleevers and repentant as appeares by comparing Ioh. 3.16 with Act. 3.19 all unbeleevers all impenitent persons are excepted for albeit God beare long with them he is but fetching his stroke the farther and the end of them will be that in Ioh. 8.24 Except yee beleeve and amend yee shall die in your sinnes Marke the incomparable happinesse of the godly Christian beyond others the wicked is all the time of his life like to a greene bay tree Psal 37.35 but suddenly I went by and sought him but his place could not be found But vers 37. Marke the iust man for his end is peace he may be all the time of life like a tree in the dead time of winter without sap lease and beautie but as it is 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this life only wee have hope in Christ wee are of all men most miserable Hence First Vse Ministers must learne not to propose remission of sinnes to all in generall but to such as beleeve and repent Secondly it reproves Philosophers who sought blessednesse in honours pleasures morall actions and not in Christ by faith Thirdly Iewes and Iusticiaries who seeke it in their owne works And so I come to a second confirmation of the mysterie in the vocation of the Iewes VERS 28. As concerning the Gospell Vers 28 they are enemies for your sakes but as touching the election they are beloved for the fathers sake IT is taken from the dignitie of the Iewes Exposition though enemies of the Gospell for your sake yet are beloved for the fathers sake therefore hee will restore and call them As if he should say They are indeed enemies yet doth not Israel cease to be a nation deare unto God because God once elected them the infidelitie of some cannot frustrate Gods election because his gifts be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without repentance and if the vigour of election be yet in the nation then must we hope for their conversion at some time or other That 's the argument I come to expiscate the meaning of the words They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enemies which some referre to God they be hated of God as Origen followed by Paraeus and Beza some referie it to Paul and the Church as Chrysosâ—ome Theod. and Luther as if he should say They are mine and your enemies because of the Gospell which we preach Or thus Propter Evangelium quod aâ—nunciaâ—us They are enemies while they continue in unbeleefe but shall be loved when they are converted Or thus It is meant of divers sorts of Iewes they are enemies among them who spurne against the Gospell they beloved who are the remnant according to election Or thus It is not meant of particular men but of the whole nation which at that time seemed to be rejected because of unbeleefe but was not utterly cast off in regard of Gods election and the promise made to their fathers So then these are not contrary The Israelites are enemies and hated The Israelites are not enemies but beloved for first contraries must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the same but these are not the enemies being such of them as beleeve not the beloved such as are elected Secondly contraries must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one and the same respect and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at one and the same time but the Iewes are enemies and yet beloved both in divers respects enemies for the Gospell beloved in respect of election and this at divers times enemies in the time of their unbeleefe
our Lord Rom. 6.23 From hence I may first approve of the conclusion of Fulgentius a Nos nec bona posse nec velle nisi Deus utrumqâ—elargiatur Ad Monim lib. 1. Wee neither can nor will doe good unlesse God gives us both Secondly I may approve of the doctrine of S. Augustine on Psal 118. b Solus liberi arbitrii vires non suffi ere ad divina mandata implerda The powers of the will alone suffice not to the keeping of Gods commandements and therefore must wee say without all pride Vse 2 Thou hast commanded Lord but I would it might be done for mee which thou hast commanded And therefore Augustine Give Lord what thou commandest and command what thou wilt Thirdly c Praecepisti Domine sed utinam fiat mihi quod praecepisti Da Domine quod jubes jube quod vis Aug. Confess lib. 10. cap. 29. I cannot chuse but challenge the doctrine of the Romish Church to be blasphemous Andradius saith The heavenly blessednesse which the Scripture calls the reward of the iust is not given of God gratis and freely but it is due to their works yea God hath set heaven to sale for our works Another Papist of Lovaine saith thus Vse 3 Farre be it from us to thinke Explic. Artic. Lovan tom 2. art 9. that a man should beg for heaven as a poore man doth for his almes for it is the garland which by his works he deserves Suar. in Thom. tom 1. dist 41. Suarez saith That works proceeding from grace have in themselves and of their owne nature a condignitie and proportion with the reward and a sufficient value to be worth the same and this without the merits of Christ Beggars that aske almes shew their wounds but Papists would have us to shew our merits and not begge heaven as almes due for Christs sake but challenge it as our owne and due for our works sake But what saith Origen I cannot beleeve that there is any worke which can require the reward of debt What saith Augustine Wee must understand that God brings us to life eternall not for our merits but for his owne mercie Neque enim talia sunt hominuÌ„ morita ut propter ea vita aeternâ— debeatur ex jure aut Deus injuriam saceret nisi donaret Bern. de grat lib. Arbit Bern. in Annunt Marrae Serm. 1. pag. 123. Bern. sup Cant Serm. 61. What saith Bernard Mens merits are not such that eternall life is due to them of right or that God should doe them injurie if he did not therefore bestow it See many other places of Bernard against the merits of works The mercy of God is my merit And when Bernard hath long disputed the point of grace and free will the conclusion is this Ea quae dicimus merita nostra spei quaedam sunt seminaria charitatis incentiva occultae praedestinationis indicia futurae foelicitatis praesagia regni via non regnandi causae Nurces of hope provocations of love signes of election fore-runners of future happinesse the way to the kingdome but not the cause why wee come to the kingdome of God And I would have you to observe that howsoever our adversaries boast of their works yet their most learned at their way gate have renounced them Anselmus five hundred yeeres since taught the people to die in this faith Lord I set the death of Christ betweene mee and my bad merits I offer his merits for mine which I should have but have not betweene mee and thine anger I oppose the death of my Lord Iesus So Waldensis Waldens Sacr. tit 1. cap. 74 31. Proptèr in ertitudinem prâ—priae j â—stitiae timorem inâ—uâ— gloriae tutissimum est in solo Christo omnein fiduciam reponere Bellar. de Iustis lib. 5. cap. 7. He is reputed the sounder Divine the better Catholike the more agreeable to Scripture that simply denies all merits and holds that no man can merit the kingdome of heaven but obtaines it by the grace and free will of God that gives it Bellarmine saith For the uncertaintie of ones owne righteousnesse and the feare of vaine glory it is safest to put all our trust in Christ alone Ferus saith The parable of him that hired labourers into his vineyard teacheth that whatsoever God gives Comment in Matth. 20. is of grace not of debt if therefore thou desire to hold the grace an favour of God make no mention of thy merits But I insist no longer upon the point Let us looke for life only by the merits and death of Iesus Christ and renounce our owne righteousnesse account all but dung to win Christ that wee may be found in him not having our owne righteousnesse which is of the law but that which is of God through faith Phil. 3.9 I come to the last viz. the condition and qualitie of heavenly gifts Without repentance They import the certaine fulfilling of Gods promises and words though the time be long deferred and that the Iewes shall be converted though his promise be not yet accomplished The thing aimed at is this That in regard of Gods immutabilitie Doct. wee must expect the certaine fulfilling of every part of Gods promise seeme they never so hard be they never so long delayed as vers 27. VERS 30. Vers 30 For even as yee in time past have not beleeved God yet now have obtained mercy through their unbeleefe VERS 31. Vers 31 Even so now have they not beleeved that by the mercy shewed unto you they also may obtaine mercy THese verses containe a third argument to prove the last branch and clause of the mysterie Exposition to wit that God will call home the nation of the Iewes and a perswasion to the Gentile not to despaire and doubt of it It is a topicall reason taken a comparatis from the greater to the lesse If the infidelitie of the Iewes was the occasion of shewing mercy to the Gentiles much more shall the mercy shewed to the Gentiles occasion the shewing of mercy to the Iewes for will not God take occasion to doe good from good as soone as from evill If infidelitie in the Iewes make God shew favour to the Gentile much more shall his mercy shewed formerly to the Gentile make him also now shew mercy to the Iew. The things compared are three First the infidelitie of the Gentile with the infidelitie of the Iew Secondly the mercy which the Gentile received in time past with the mercy which the Iew shall receive hereafter Thirdly the occasion of both The occasion of mercy to the Gentile infidelitie in the Iew the occasion of mercy to the Iew is mercy formerly extended to the Gentile I begin with the first branch of the comparison Yee in time past have not beleeved as if he had said Learne from your selves that yee ought not to despaire of the Iewes They are now in the verie same case wherein thou wast once They
makes much for Gods glorie Reason 1 that his judgements and secrets especially in matters of election and reprobation as also of particular events and of the times and seasons are hid and it is not fit for us to know them Acts 1.6 God doth not as Ezechias did 2 Chron. 32. shew all his riches and treasures to the Babylonish Ambassadours Secondly Reason 2 we cannot finde them out because God in his dispensation of his workes hath hidden contraries under contraries viz. contrarie ends under contrarie meanes life under death riches under povertie glorie under shame as the Apostle speakes He being rich became poore that we through his povertie might be made rich 2 Cor. 8.9 and by dying destroyed him that had the power of death Heb. 2.14 And therefore if we trouble our braines in these we shall be oppressed by the brightnesse of Gods Majestie confounded in our owne imaginations The Poets report of Prometheus the Father of Doucalion Horat. lib. 1. Od. 3. Ovid. Mâ—â—am lib. 1. Natal Comes Mytholog li. 4. cap. 6. that for prying too farre into the secrets of Iupiter the God rewarded him thus sent him a box by Pandora the wife of Epimetheus which so soone as ever he opened a thousand evils and diseases brake forth Mille morborum malorum geuera cruperunt by which they intimated the danger of prying into Gods secrets Thirdly Reason 3 they that in this have been inquisitive and curious have plunged themselves into such inextricable labyrinths and mazes that they have never been able to come out of them unto which we may adde That we have employment sufficient for our soules health to busie our mindes all the dayes of our life in searching out in musing upon in bringing into practise the lessons of Gods revealed will and word which containes whatsoever is necessarie for our salvation Wee can never in this mortalitie sound the just depth of that much lesse obey it and follow it Therefore what vanitie and folly were it to omit and leave undone that which God hath commanded and so highly concernes us and preposterously and unprofitably to dwell in the search of things impossible to be knowen and unprofitable if they were knowen Which serves first to answer all curious and unnecessarie questions Vse 1 as for example Why did God create man apt to fall Why did hee not keepe him from falling Why did God elect some and refuse others Why doth not God cause his word to be preacht at once in all places Why doth God condemne men for unbeleefe seeing no man can beleeve except God conferre faith upon him Why doth God suffer the greatest part of the world to lye buried in blindnesse and infidelitie Why doth hee at one time call moe than at another Is not God unjust and cruell to predestinate men to condemnation before they have done any evill I will not say to these as once Augustine answered him that made the question what God did ante mundum conditum before the world was made Aug. Confess lib. 11. cap. 12. That God was making hell for such idle and curious Questionists But I say with Chrysostome Ista ignorantia ipsâsâ—imtiâ sapâ—enâ—â—or est Chrysost in Eph. 5. Hom. 19. Bern. de pugna spirituals serm 2. Cave inquirere quae non debes scire curiositas pericâ—losa praesumptio est damnosa pâ—ritia in obscuris an daces in periâ—â—losis praecipites facit De modo banc vivendi serm 44 That ignorance is wiser than knowledge it selfe And I say with Bernard that it is contraria omni pietati contrarie to all godlinesse Take heed thou inquirest not after those things which thou oughtest not to know curiositie is dangerous presumption damned skill it makes men wex bold in hidden points to run headlong in dangerous points Let us passe by curious questions bid adue to all vaine speculations Let us exercise our selves in searching the Scripture First to know and practise such things as concerne our faith the sanctification of our life and the salvation of our soule Vse 1 this will finde employment enough though wee were as wise as Salomon and could live as long as Methusalem did And so I come to examine what particular conclusions will come from the word And first from this that it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The riches of wisdome and knowledge True riches consists in true wisdome and in knowing of God There is one dives sibi rich to himselfe another dives Deo rich unto God Luk. 12.21 He that hath onely outward treasures is rich to himselfe but he that hath the treasures of wisdome and knowledge is rich in God But where is this rich minerall of wisdome and knowledge to be found I answer out of the Apostle Coloss 2.3 All the treasures of wisdome and knowledge are hid in Christ How then may wee come to have our part in them I answer By searching and knowing the Gospell that is the field spoken of Matth. 13.44 Disce home ubi sunt verae divitiae regnum caelorum vere divitem facit praestat Deum ipsum quo praesente quid deosse potest Learne O man where are the true riches the kingdome of heaven makes man truly rich it gives God himselfe who being present nothing can bee wanting saith Ferus A man may bee like unto Lazarus without bread like Peter without money like Iob without friend yet if hee have a costly jewell in a box hee is rich and wealthy so is hee that hath that pretious jewell of wisdome and knowledge If you desire to be enformed what riches it is to have wisdome and knowledge See Prov. 8.10 Secondly Vse 2 from these How unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out VERS 34. Vers 34 Who hath knowen the minde of the Lord or who hath beene his Counsellour 1. HIs wayes and judgements viz. the course and order which God observes in managing and disposing universall and particular things Doct. The course and order which God observes in managing and effecting his workes and purposes are not to be sought into farther than they are manifested in the word So Moses Deut. 29.29 Things secret belong unto God but things revealed to us and to our children When the Disciples moved that question Master wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdome Our Saviour answers that it is not fit for them to know the times and seasons Acts 1.6 Where the Spirit of God hath had no mouth to speake we must have no cares to heare and where hee ceaseth to direct wee must cease to enquire They are too malapart and saucie schollers who will needs know more than Gods Spirit is willing to impart Hee hath written enough to convert their soules to give wisdome unto the simple to rejoyce the heart and to give light unto the eyes Psal 19.7 8. He hath revealed enough to make them wise unto salvation to teach to reprove to correct to instruct in righteousnesse to make them
other moving per seipsum nullo adjuvante through him none helping propter seipsum nullo communicante for him none other partaking of glorie with him The words doe containe two lessons The one determines whence we have our being and well being whence come mercies and judgements whence come life and death of him brough him for him The other to whom we must returne the sacrifice of thankes praise and glorie to him be glorie wee have our being from him we are blessed and preserved by and through him made created for him we must returne the praise and glorie to him I begin with the first clause Of him Rerum Antiq. lib. 1. cap. 1. Depraeparat Evaagel lib. 1. Lib. 1. de coelo Diodorus Siculus Eusebius recite the opinions of many Philosophers as Aristotle many others who thought the world to be eternall Others that it was made yet not of God but of concourse of small indivisible bodies This was the fancie of Democritus and Lucippus confuted by Tully De naetuâ—a Deorum lib. 2. Phys lib. 1. and by Aristotle Others have thought that the world was made by Angels as Simon Magus Capocrates and Cerinthus confuted by Augustine De hares cap. 1 7 8. Others that it was made by two Gods the one good the other evill So the Gnostickes the Marcionites and the Manichees as the same Angustine remembers Cap. 6 22 46. All consuted in the words of my Text Of him are all things Which is not to be limited to the first person in Trinitie for Opera Trinitatis ad extra suntindivisa Lomb. lib. 1. distinct 15 The externall workes of the Trinitie are undivided saith Lombard It was an old Cabalisticall note that everie letter in the word Bara should signifie one person in Trinitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ben silius signifies the Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ruach spiritus signifies the Holy Ghost and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Abba pater signifies the Father But I need not insist upon that consider but the time when and the meanes how it will bring you suddenly into a wonderfull admiration of Gods power and greatnesse and minister this point of learning to wit That God can bring to passe great matters in short time by small meanes Doct. He speakes but the word and they are made hee commands and they are created Psal 33.9 Nebuchadnezzar as Monarch of the world walkes in his palace boasts of his tower Is not this great Babel c. Dan. 4.27 But how quickly is hee stript of all deprived of his Kingdom driven from among men hath not a cottage to hide his head in nor a rag to cover his nakednesse heâ— is cast in a moment from the height of prosperitie to the depth of miserie Thus is hee punisht for his contempt of heaven and yet when he looks to heaven he is as quickly restored againe his beautie and fashion renewed his Kingdome restored here is a wonderfull change in short time and small meanes So did God deliver Israel out of Aegypt and Babylon I come a little neerer to the Apostles argument His purpose is to prove that God cannot bee beholding to us for wee are his workmanship Doct. have our being from him are made by him and if wee have any thing that he loves wee have it of him if wee doe any thing that hee accepts and likes we doe it by his hand and power all things are of him God is in nothing beholding to any creature but all creatures in heaven and in earth are beholding to him for whatsoever they have whatsoever they are Hee is not beholding to us for our holinesse and righteousnesse If thou bee righteous what givest thou to him or what receiveth he at thine hand Thy righteousnesse may profit a man but not God Iob 35.7 8. Wee cannot hurt him by our sinne nor helpe him by our holinesse in all that wee doe the Lord is not better but all the benefit comes upon us that doe the service In prayer the dew of heaven lights upon us in hearing the blessing fals upon us if we give to his poore he is not beholding for hee payes us double Prov. 19.17 If we comfort his Prophets he is not beholding for hee rewards us with a Prophets reward Matth. 10.41 If wee keepe his Sabbaths hee is not beholding to us the reward is greater than the obedience Isa 58.14 But all creatures are beholding unto him for their being For in him we live and move and have our being Acts 17.28 For their breeding For when father and mother forsake us the Lord takes us up Psal 27. It is hee that feeds and cloathes us Matth. 6. If wee have wealth wee are beholding to him for it Creariâ— sanaris salvaris quid horum tibi O home ex te Beware that thou say not in thine heart c. Deut. 8.16 17. as vers 29. I end with the words of Bernard Thou art created healed and saved what of these hast thou O man of thyselfe Learne here first how glorious is the Lord our God Vse who makes such glorious creatures as Angels and men Secondly how weake and fraile are all these creatures who have neither being nor well-being but from God Thirdly how poore our service is how meane and slender all our workes and doings are That though wee should spend all our dayes in the Temple with Hannah give our goods to the poore with Dorcas make restitution with Zacheus build a Temple with the Centurion give our bodies to bee burned for his sake yet we doe but our dutie and God is not beholding to us for it I come to the second Per seipsum Through him are all things Doct. none helping God is sufficient to preserve and keepe his people and to doe whatsoever he will without any helpe This the Prophet intimates Isa 45.23 I have sworne by my selfe that everie knee shall bow unto me noting both a soveraigntie to keepe the wicked in awe and a sufficiencie to maintaine uphold all that be his This David intimates Psal 99.1 The Lord is King though the whole earth be moved the Lord is King be the people never so unquiet noting first the securitie wherein Gods children are who are defended by his Scepter and the vanitie of all wicked attempts against those that are preserved by his power This is a point plainly delivered Let Kings band therefore their forces against the Lord and his Anoynted hee that dwelleth in heaven will but laugh them to scorne Psal 2 4. This is plainly confessed and proved Behold the God whom wee serve is able to deliver us out of thy hands and he will deliver us Dan. 3.17 Therefore is hee called God all-sufficient Genes 17.1 A God to whom nothing is hard Genes 18.14 A God Almightie Genes 43.14 Instance in the planting of his Church Hee will and can plant it where hee will in despite of opposition as at Thessalonica see the storie Act. 17.