posture and thus the Jews which have been dead in sins and in trespasses this sixteen hundred years this Spirit of Christ will inliven their dead spirits that so they shall or may receive the said gift of life again for in this sense the gifts and callings of God to mankind are without repentance that is to call men and thus to give them as is said in pursuance of his said final end Again Is it so that the Spirit of Christ strives with the spirits of all sorts of men in the world to preserve and increase the one and to suppress the other as is proved Hence observe That all men which as yet have not the gift of faith are to be carefull that they are faithfull in that little they have received but especially not to resist this Spirit striving with their spirits as we see did Cain the old world Noah's posterity at Babel as did Shems in Terah's and Israel Gods Elect the offspring of Abraham lest God denying them the gift of faith and so his gift of life For then in seeing they shall not see and in understanding they shall not understand and shall never truely nor rightly be able to see the things which do belong to their eternal peace Again Is it so That this Spirit of Christs thus strives with all men of the world and also with all men in the visible Churches of Christ and also with the invisible Members as is proved then let them which think they have the true Spirit of faith in God and love to God and their neighbour kindled in their breasts by this Spirit of Christs beware they quench not the Spirits flame of love and firm faith by inordinate cares and love of this worlds profits or pleasurable lusts lest they having begun in the Spirit doe end in the flesh and reap corruption Again Is it so that the Spirit of Christ thus strives and effects in the hearts of the invisible Members of Christs true faith and love and other graces Then hence observe That although in attaining eternal life they can do nothing but in that Christ alone doth all and also that in the gift of internal light of Christ and in the gift of faith and in the gift of other graces and in the increase and grouth of them the invisible members of Christ are meerly passive in all this yet hence observe That by the same spirit of faith and love they are inabled to keep their hearts with care and diligence so that no man or power shall take away their Crown of comfort and hope of glory First because in the said gifts they have received the spirit of love of power and of a sound mind in some degree therefore they are able so to doe A second Reason is this The Spirit of Christ is at hand when they so put forth that power they have not only to assist them to keep their hearts in these endeavours but also to add that wherein they are meerly passive as I said before namely to add the increase of all these graces they have and so they grow from strength to strength in Sion and therefore they may and are able to keep their hearts as is said And therefore saith our Lord As I say unto all men so I say unto you Watch lest ye enter into temptation The Reason why I call the third in the one God or the third Person in Trinity the Spirit of Christ is this Because that as all that the Father hath is Christ's in pursuance of this said final end so Christ by the third in the one Iehovah in Gods mercifull voice in the Creation and most eminently and most properly by the voice of the Gospel in the tongue of man to man by the Ministry of this Spirit doth strive with the spirits of all men to depress the mind of the Devil in them and to implant the similitude of the mind of Christ in them which is mans sanctification in order to the Fathers will to a right receiving of his said righteousness imputed to their eternal life or to be either as is proved CHAP. IX In which is handled the fifth branch of the manifold wisdom of God precedently propounded and the last ingredients which makes up the said posture namely that God by the seed of the woman immediately after the fall gave a rule suitable to all men to work or operate by in reference to his said final end THis Point divides it self into three parts two whereof are handled in this Chapter the third in the next The first declares unto all men who it is that Governs them by this Rule for a Governor is imployed The second is to let all men see what this Rule is The third is that all men may see how suitable this rule is unto them Of these in their order As for the first Certainly he that restoreth all mankind out of the falne mass of death into the said posture to receive the said gift of life he it is that governs man by his own Rule and therefore saith man believing truth To us a Child is born and to us a Son is given and the Government shall be laid upon his shoulders and his name shall be called Wonderfull Councellor and the mighty God and so forth And saith the Lord himself Esa 9.6 All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth and then goes on governing all men in this Government by his Apostles by the said suitable rule Mat. 28.18 19. For he commanded them saying Mar. 16.16 Goe ye therefore into all the world and Preach the Gospel to every creature He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that will not believe shall be damned From this ground it is that the Father judgeth no man because he committeth all judgement to the Son John 5.22 So much for the first Point Secondly That all men may see what this Rule is And in a word it is no more but this namely The Tenor of the Gospel and that is a Rule of Justice and Mercy for the Gospel it self is one thing and its Tenor is another and the Gospel it self is no more but this Gods highest mercy manifested by Christ to man to relieve him out of his deepest misery First implyed immediately upon the fall Gen. 3.15 Luke 2.10 11. when God said unto the Serpent The seed of the woman shall bruise thy head Secondly In the fulness of time when the Angel said Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy that shall be unto all people that is That unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord and the Gospels Tenor is no more but this as is said A Rule of Justice and Mercy for all men to work by and not a Rule of Justice only as was that to Adam in his innocency before the fall in pursuance of Gods said final end For proof of this Point the Oracles
Timothy before the Elect Angels therefore some of them are elected Secondly The others were rejected from the good that the other were elected to to an evil equivolent contrarily for the Text affirms That God cast them down to hel that is when the rest remained in heaven and delivered them saith the Text into Chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgement and Iude saith Iud. v. 6. God hath reserved them in an everlasting Chain under darkness unto the judgement of the great day and our Lord saith For them is prepared everlasting fire therefore these Angels stand rejected by God for ever from the said good to the contrary evil Thirdly The ground of that rejection is named in the fore-cited Texts namely sin for the Text saith God spared not the Angels that sinned also Iude saith those Angels kept not their first estate but left their own habitation and our Lord points out the same For when he had said the Devil was a murtherer from the beginning he also saith and abode not in the truth therefore the ground of their rejection was sin Joh. 8.44 Fourthly if they sinned as we see it is proved this must needs follow 1 Ep. Joh. 3 4. Rom. 5 13. a law they had which they transgressed For as saith the Text sin is not imputed where there is no Law and our Lord himself implyes They stood bound by a Law to worship God their maker as they are his crreatures therefore said he to the Devil It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve and therefore a Law they had for it is propper to God only to be without Law Luk. 4.8 who is without limits in his essence and therefore so in his operations Fifthly in a word the Law they had and transgressed was no more but this namely The Law of Nature that is their nature and existency which they had received from their maker bound them and by an innate principle called upon them by their operations in flames of burning love in all their strength to worship and serve him so to return him the sole glory of all that they had received from him for from this ground our Lord alleadged the same Law that God gave to man against them because they were his creatures aswell as man saying It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve and we all know Gods Law written in mans heart and in Gods Law is one and the same thing in kind yet with this difference in man imperfect otherwise man could not do the things by nature contained in the Law having not the Law as before is proved Sixthly The ground why and to what God elected them that stood to more then what they had together with the rest before they fell was this Job 4.18 Before the fall they were all alike unstable in that estate according to that in Iob he found not steadfastness in his Angels the reason is because of the contingent events that might arise to them all being included in the natural liberty of their will from whence they all alike might refuse or chuse to give their maker his glory due unto him or might chuse or refuse to assume his glory unto themselves because the natural liberty of the will in Men and Angels consists in this as is said namely to chuse or refuse all objects as it likes or as it likes them not therefore their estate stood all alike contingent for the future to stand in it or to fall from it Therefore because these Angels did voluntarily refuse to assume Gods glory to themselves and did chuse to render the sole glory of all they had to him in all their strength therefore this was the ground why God elected them for as certainly as God rejected the others for rejecting his glory due unto him as is proved so certainly he elected these Angels to an establishment in their choice namely so to render him glory to eternity as a reward of their labour of love consequently to be blessed to eternity because they might refuse so to do as did the others Thus God did render to all the Angels according to their works good or bad some to honour some to dishonour and so accomplished his final end on them all to eternity And because this final execution hath thus passed upon them all it follows That as the rejected Angels can never will to render glory to God as once they might before they abused it because by the justice of that execution God doth deny them any influence or efflux from him to them to convey or continue any good in them more then to be that they may eternally be to be eternally miserable so on the contrary by the same execution there flows a continual influence from God to the elect Angels to keep and support them in the said choice to render him his sole glory to eternity which indeed is their blessedness for ever for the service of God is perfect freedom to men and Angels Objection If the workings of men and Angels be a moving cause to God thus to reject or elect them then the moving cause is not in or from God himself but from causes extrinsical which cannot be I answer it is true and so it is in this case because he was moved to work all things not according to their works but after the councel of his own will as he purposed in himself that is to propound this his final end and all the means suitable to accomplish it from whence issued forth the Creation of men and Angels in their natural liberty of their will that so the events of the operations of men and Angels might be contingent that from thence might arise their works good and bad and accordingly to be elected or rejected some to honour some to dishonour therefore the moving cause was and is in God himself to carry on and accomplish his final end by his own means as is described Hence we may inform our selves aright of two things Use First What it is that is Gods great decree upon which all things depend in which he is irrevocably unchangeable that is in that he decreed this final end and all the said means to accomplish it for we see for this end he created the Heavens and the Earth with all therein and both in relation to men and Angels and to carry on this end we see he elected and ordained the seed of the woman Christ the Lord the second Adam the seventh means to carry on this final end Secondly We may hence inform our selves that God made not the heaven of heavens for Angels sakes although it be their own habitation nor this world for mans sake although it be with all therein related to mans use and good I say he made it not for mans sake but all for his own names sake in reference to his final end and it must needs
which I refer the Reader to my former Treatise of Free Grace Pag. 36. to 39 and 44. John 6.39 Rev. 10.6 printed 1642. to the pages in the Margent But as concerning mankind so to be made to honour and dishonour as is affirmed the Scripture affirms its last execution and final consummation shall be at the last day Rev. 20.12 13 that is after that day when time shall be no more as now it is in which day the Text affirms all the dead shall be raised and judged every man according to his works 2 Cor. 5.10 for saith another Text We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every man may receive the things which are done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or evil and that this shall be executed last it further appears by the words of our Saviour who saith of himself When the Son of Man shall come and all his holy Angels with him then he shall sit upon the Throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all Nations Mat. 25.31 32. to 46. and he shall sever them as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the Goats And he having instanced in one particular of works good and bad as comprehending the nature and kinde of all their works concludes all namely That the wicked shall goe into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life everlasting So much for the second thing premis'd namely what Gods final end is for which he made or created all things namely both men and Angels and all his works subservient unto them and their use the further inlargement of this point will fall in the following Chapters in its full proof and what Gods suitable rule to man is Hence observe that the moving cause why God created all his works was this final end it being the ultimate end of all his glories centuring in himself for which he made all things yea the wicked for the day of evil because they all attempt to assume his glory not to him but to themselves which he will not give unto another as will appear more in its due place CHAP. II. In which is made known a sevenfold means to Gods foresaid final end whereof six are handled in this Chapter THe which End in order of Nature in Gods intention was first and in execution last and the means in Gods intention in order of nature last but in execution first Therefore the first thing that God did he gave being to means for his final end and they primarily were seven some more remote and general and some more near and more particular The first means more remote and general was this inferior world as included in its remotest matter which God did make out of no pre-existent matter as Heb. 11.3 and saith another Text The earth was without form and void Heb. 11.3 and darkness was upon the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters and yet the first verse names it by the name of heaven and earth and the ground of it is this because that confused lump was the preexistent matter of heaven and earth and all things else and the ground of that is this because the spirit of God by its moving fil'd it with an intrinsical vigorous disposedness to be whatsoever God by his Creative Will and Word would command it to be Rev. 4.11 Wherefore when he commanded light out of that darkness Gen. 1 2 3. it presently was then saith the Text God said Let there be light and it was so Then God commanded a Firmament to be in the midst of the waters and the waters to be separated from the waters that is the water under the Firmament from the waters that were above the Firmament and God called the Firmament Heaven verse 6 7 8. Then he commanded the waters to one place and so the earth to be for use as now it is verse 9 10. Then he commanded the life and being of all vegitable creatures and it was so verse 11 12. Then he commanded to be the Sun Moon and Stars in their orderly course and warbling influence to fall on the earth and for signes and seasons and succession of daies and nights and it was so verse 14. to 19. Then he commanded the innumerable number of all sensative creatures to live and move and have their being from verse 20. to 25. Thus God gave being to the first means more remote and general to his final end Then God gave being to a second means more near and more particular the principal part of the Creation Namely man whose personal existency was in a twofold nature the one sensible the other an intellectual spirit or rational soul The first was his elementary body of earth for a time a lifeless trunk but God staid not there for saith the Text And breathed in his nostrils the breath of life Gen. 2.7 and man became a living soul And because he was a principal part the whole did terminate in his nutrimental support some to feed some to cloth the aire to imbreath and the earth to bear and the sweet influence and aspects of the heavenly bodies to his delight Again because the chief part therein God put the whole to depend on his operations not for his being but for its wel or woe and therefore the whole creation together with himself fell into the aforesaid vanity bondage and corruption and man thus made was Gods second means for man must first be and so supported to be before he could be to honour or dishonour to Gods foresaid final end Again mans reasonable soul being of an immortal nature and so of an everlasting duration was therefore a third means suitable to Gods final end that is to be to honour or dishonour to eternity which could not be if he were not of an everlasting duration From this ground it is that mans dead body shall be raised and spirituallized therefore when some men denyed the immortality of their souls and consequently the everlasting duration thereof our Lord proved to them the truth thereof Have you not read what was spoken unto you of God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Affirmatively inferring to them that those three men then were and now are living though their bodies are dead and turned to dust Mat. 22.31 32. Again God having indued mans reasonable soul with two natural faculties his understanding and will the understanding its natural property to look to truth as really such or as it appears so to be and to judge and accordingly so to operate the whole man and to the will Two things are natural to it the one is that it doth follow a good as the eye doth follow the light that is the true good or as it appears so to be the other is to nil and will that
THE Fulness and Freeness OF GODS GRACE IN CHRIST DECLARED Namely How God Orders and appoints Men to their final ends some to Honor some to Dishonor to Eternity The Second Part. LONDON Printed by Thomas Newcomb for John Clark and Miles Mitchel and are to be sold at their shops in Mercers Chappel and in Westminster Hall 1655. The Epistle to the Reader Gentle Reader THis Treatise The First Part was printed 1642. being the Second Part of Gods Free and Full Grace and favour to miserable man In this Second Part is handled this point What is Gods final End for which he made both Men and Angels together with all things in Heaven and in Earth subservient to them their use and benefit and also that in pursuance of his final End he doth Order and appoint both men and Angels to their Final Ends according to their Works good or bad some for Honor some for Dishonor to Eternity and it is granted on all sides that God doth order and appoint them thereunto But all the Question and Controversie is how he doth order and appoint them thereunto Wherfore I have endeavored to help where most need is for then and there help is most seasonable and whereas my former Treatise is something obscure by reason of the depth and heigth of the point there handled namely Election and Reprobation and that in both Treatises I deny personal Election and personal Reprobation without respect to Faith or Works good or bad and this way goes Reverend Calvin and others Also I deny any Election of any man or men personally to Eternal life infallibly upon Gods foresight of their perseverance in Faith and Works to the End as that Reverend man Arminius and others for the Truth in sacred Scripture falls between both these two mistakes yet to the Learned and Intelligent Reader that has his minde and wits exercised in Divine Misteries it is not obscure for before I printed that First Part I presented my Manuscript to three Grave Reverend and godly Divines to have their judgements upon it namely Dr. Twist Dr. Gouge and Mr. Gataker and they all understood it cleerly with much ease for one of them said unto me that you in that Treatise say all that we do but stay not there but say a great deal more my Answer was because you say not enough to the depth of the fall of man in the first Adam nor to the raising of the World and all mankinde by the second Adam therefore I must say more then you and the height and depth of this point in this manner handled is it that makes it obscure to some that will not studiously take pains to understand it but in this second part I have brought it as low and plain as I can to the Understanding of all men as the nature of the point will admit and Gentle Reader I wish thee as much good in reading it as I have had in studying and writing it Farewel Thine in Jesus Christ FRANCIS DUKE The Contents of the several Chapters in the ensuing Treatise CHAP. I. IN this Chapter by way of Introduction two things are premised first in what sense known unto God are all his works secondly what is Gods final end for which he made all things that is both men and Angels together with all his works subservient to them and their use pag. 1 CHAP. II. In this Chapter is proved that God made seven means to accomplish his final end six whereof are briefly handled in this Chapter p 7 CHAP. III. In this Chapter is briefly handled the fall of man by way of Introduction to that which followeth p. 12 CHAP. IV. In this Chapter is proved That God gave being to the seventh means to carry on and accomplish his final end p. 15 CHAP. V. In this Chapter is proved the manifold Wisdom of God in six particulars in pursuance of his final end p. 20 CHAP. VI. In which is opened the second Branch propounded That as Adams unrighteousnesse in its guilt and punishment by God imputatively in the faine Mass was extended unto all mankind even so in that falne Mass the righteousness of the seed of the woman was by God imputatively extended to all wankind to justification of life that is to put them in a posture in which they may receive his said gift of life eternal or to be either as is said p. 31. CHAP. VII In this Chapter is handled the first ingredient to make up the said posture namely that immediately upon the said universal imputation God by the Spirit of Christ did put or infuse an internal disposedness naturally in all mankind toward himself hereditarily to descend through all Generations p. 36 CHAP. VIII In this Chapter is handled the second ingredient to make up the said posture That is the Spirit of Christ strives with the spirits of all men in the world universally to depress the seed of Original Sin in them and to preserve and encrease the said disposedness to God in them p. 42 CHAP. IX In this Chapter is handled the third and last ingredients which makes up the said posture namely that God immediately upon the fall of man gave a rule suitable to all men to work and operate by in reference to his final end upon all men p. 54 CHAP. X. In which is proved that the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of Noahs posterity which were confounded and scattered at Babel in their succeeding Generations to preserve them in a narrow way to eternal life p. 59 CHAP. XI In which is handled the third particular in the said Rule namely to let all men see how suitable this Rule is to them p. 70 CHAP. XII In which is handled the sixth Branch of the manifold wisdom of God formerly propounded in the fifth Chapter namely the Execution of Gods final End upon all men some to honour and some to dishonour by the said Tenor of the Gospel according to their works good or bad to men without the Church and to men within the Church visible yea and the invisible members of Christ p. 78 CHAP. XIII In which is proved how God ordained and executed his final end upon all the Angels to their final ends for ever according to their works some to honour some to dishonour p. 37 CHAP. XIV Containing some usefull Observations and Answers to Questions for further clearing the precedent Premisses CHAP. I. In this Chapter by way of Introduction two things are premised First in what sense known to God are all his Works Secondly what is Gods final End for which he made all things that is both Men and Angels and all his Works subordinate to them and their use IT is affirmed in the Text Acts 15.18 That from the beginning of the World God knoweth all his Works Now all Gods Works whatsoever as his had a threefold beginning and may be comprehended in three particulars First the Angels and the Heaven of Heavens their own habitation Secondly
up the said posture And from this posture it is that most men in the world before they can come to receive Gods gifts of justifying faith Iona 2.8 do apostate to lying vanities so forsaking their own mercies Thus did Cain and the old world before the Flood for which God brought in the Flood Thus did Noah's posterity after the Flood apostate to lying vanities by building the City of Babel and a Tower therein to reach the Heavens for which God confounded and scattered them Thus did Terah in Shems Family Abrahams Father apostate to Idols and so became a Den of Devils But when all Families of the earth was thus sinking Ios 24.2 3 4. Ezek. 16. from 3. to 15. as vessels of dishonour eternally for ought themselves can do from which condition that aforesaid election out of Adams fall relieved man into the said posture yet nevertheless then in that point of time in pursuance of his final end God taketh hold of the universal nature of man and preserves it from sinking for he not only commanded Abraham to depart from his Country and kindred and from his father Terah's house but with reference to that very time saith the Text Verily he taketh not hold on the nature of Angels but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold These words lead us to a fourfold Querie First why Abraham is named more in this businesse then any other man Secondly Why Abraham is named in reference to the seed of man as in his loynes he being Terah's son Thirdly Heb. 2.16 Why was not Abraham's person assum'd in personal union with the second in the one God he being thus named by way of eminency in the Text 4 Why this word he taketh hold as to the nature of Angels is spoken negatively and to the common nature of man affirmatively both being in the fall one in apostacy as is proved nay now all Nations of men were in a relapst apostacy to them we see and as will more appear in due place For Answer unto the first Querie Gen. 12.1 Why Abraham is named more in this business then any other man It was because when all the Families of the earth did apostate at Babel except Semes wherefore in his Family the Oracle of Christ was only resident and because Abrahams father Terah was the first in that Family that did apostate from this posture to Idols and became a den of Devils Abraham being his son was therefore named rather then any other man implying mans misery is Gods oportunity for in the Mount will the Lord be seen as to all mankind in the falne mass he was Answer to the second Question Why Abraham is named in reference to the seed of man in his loynes he being Terah's son the meaning is no more but this the proper subject of election is not only man as corrupt but as universally corrupt Therefore God names the common seed of man in the loynes of one of this idolatrous brood the fittest Emblem of the continued act of God in Election of man out of the falne mass as in Adams loyns and therefore the seed of Abraham is named in the Text. Answer to the third Query Why was not Abrahams person assum'd into personal union with the second in the one God he being thus named by way of eminency in the Text Answer If Abrahams person or any mans else had been assumed to the second in the one God it would have pointed out a personal election and rejection of mankind and therefore to remove that he assumed not the person of any man but the nature of every man and so elected humane natures falne mass out of that estate into the said posture either to honour or dishonour for ever as is proved Answer to the fourth Query Why this word he taketh Hold as to the nature of Angels is spoke negatively and to the common nature of man affirmatively both being in the fall one in Apostacy nay now all Nations of men were relapst in Apostacy as we are Answer The meaning is no more then this When men universally do apostate from the said posture so sinking unto destruction then sometimes in this case in pursuance of his final end God as a continued act to the nature of Angels letteth the nature of Angels sink lower and lower into destruction and as a continued act taketh hold of the nature of man to stay it from sinking and therefore the Text speaketh negatively to them and affirmatively to man for first he taketh hold of the nature of man by promise into personal union with the second in the one God when the seed of the woman was first named and in these words to Abraham In thy seed shall all Nations be blessed God saith not of seeds as of many but as of one that is Christ saith the Text and here he taketh not hold of the nature of Angels but here we see he takes hold of the seed of Abraham in Christ's person Again the extent of this taking hold reacheth all Nations for God did not only take hold of the humane nature into the person of Christ as is said but also taketh hold of a seed of humane nature in a national extent at that time by promise in Abrahams loynes in the seed to be when they were not and to this end to be a means to return the blessing of Christ upon humane nature over all Nations that is to return them to the aforesaid posture in which they might receive the said gift of eternal life and all comprehended in these words to Abraham I will make of thee a great Nation and thou shalt be a blessing in thee shall all the Families of the earth be blessed that is that now lie under a curse in my wrath in Heathenism And here again God taketh not hold of the nature of Angels but in the election of this one Nation in Abrahams loyns of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold as a continued act of the universal election of Adams falne mass But if you ask me what was that wrath they lie under and how all Nations but one became Heathens I answer It was when Jehovah looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God and saw that they were all gone out of the way and all corrupt and abominable which made God wrath with them under which wrath they then lay If you ask me when this was God came down to see I answer It was when Jehovah came down to see the City of Babel and the Tower that the offspring of Noah was building in the Plain of Shinor for then and there he confounded their Language and so scattered them upon the face of all the earth to walk in their own waies and so they all became Heathens excepting a very few untill by vertue of the said continued Act of a twofold laying hold of the seed of Abraham they were put into
from Nature by vertue of the Creation as such for that was lost in the fall as is implyed in the Text because it saith The Creation is not subject unto vanity willingly that is by its own natural instinct but by reason of God who caused the Creation to depend first upon the operations of the first Adam and then upon the second Adams as is implyed in the Text namely by reason of him who hath subdued the same in hope from whence the earnest expectation of the Creature or Creation waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God Yet again note this by the way That although the Creation by mans fall lost its blessedness to its self and to man yet it lost not its being no more then the Apostate Angels or damned men which detain their being to eternity for the being of all things is grounded on Gods essence only and never depended on either Adams operations and because the Creation thus travels by the force of Gods favour in Christ it was the ground why the Psalmist sweetly sings that Jehovah is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works and if tender mercy be over all then misery was first over all for misery is mercies most proper object to which mercy is extended from the premisses thus proved Psal 145.9 follows this conclusion That the Voice Language or Speech of the whole Creation of good from God to man in all its force and effects by all creatures ever since Christ was the first-born in the promise to break the Serpents head is the general voice of glad-tidings of God to man by Iesus Christs satisfactory righteousness imputed for we see its tendency and dependancy to blessedness hangeth only upon that so that in a word the whole Creation in general is the voice of the Gospel and that is the reason why in the New Testament and the Old the voice of the Gospel Preached by men is brought in in a sense speaking one and the same thing to mankind yet note that it is with this difference The one a general and remote voice and the other the more distinct and particular as by Writings in the Oracles of God and by the speech and language of man to man by the word Preached and thus David brings them in joyntly saying The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shew his handy works day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledg there is no Speech nor Language where their voyce is not heard their loyne is gone forth throughout all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world in them he hath set a Tabernacle for the Son and so forth and then he joyneth the Gospel thereunto in these words Psal 19. from verse 1 to 8. Note The Creation began thus to preach Christ from its first step into this travel from the bondage of corruption to be partakers of the glorious liberties of the Sons of God and when that first step began you may see in my former Treatise page the 35. The Law of God is perfect converting the soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisdom unto the simple the Statutes of the Lord are right and rejoyce the heart and so forth And Paul speaking of the Preaching of the Gospel concludes Faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of God and then having spoken of Iews and Grecians in the 12 verse concluding That be that is Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him and then puts the Question in the 18 verse saying But I demand Have they not heard meaning the Grecians or Heathens as well as the Iews and then he answers the question namely That the Gospel was heard by them in the said words of the Psalmes No doubt their sound went out throughout all the earth and their words into the end of the world implying That both voices ought to be heard and being rightly heard they both breed vertually in the heart of man faith in Christ Rom. 10.12 17 18. yet with this difference the one implicite and more weak because its voyce is but general and remote the other more clear and strong because his voyce is more clear and near to the spirit of a man So much for the external truth of God in Christ by which Christs Spirit strived with their spirits to direct them in that narrow way to eternal life Secondly The internal truth of God in Christ by which the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of the said confounded and scattered off-spring of Noah at Babel in a word is no more but this namely The remainder of the said internal Law and light of Christ in their hearts for as is proved they were excluded the residence of the Gospel with them as is implyed in the Text Rom. 2. it saith Rom. 2.14.15 The Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law and are a Law unto themselvs which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts And this Law in the hearts of them all if they had submitted to this inward striving of of the Spirit of Christ with their spirits and not detained it in unrighteousness as they did it would have produced the circumcision of the hearts of them all which is the true rectitude of the mind or sanctification as it did to some of them which did in that little they had seek to do well and so it was effected in them namely Circumcision which is by nature saith the Text verse 27. and in the 29 verse To be circumcision of the heart and spirit whose praise is not of men but of God So much for the internal truth of God in Christ to direct the Heathens in the narrow way to life But the Question may be What life that was that the best of those Heathens did attain unto I answer Neither more nor less but the same eternal life which the believing Iews received by operations in Gods gift of Christs imputative righteousness as appears in the sixth verse God will render every man according to his works that is To them which through a patient well-doing Rom. 2.6.7 10. seek for honour and glory immortality everlasting life and in the tenth verse To every man that doth good shall be glory and honour and praise to the Iew first and to the Grecian for there is no respect of persons with God for to this hath our Lord Christ made his promise They that seek shall find and to him that knocketh it shall be opened From this ground it was that the Apostles were not ashamed to Preach the Gospel in Heathenish Rome to believers his first reason is Because it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth to the Iew first and also to the Grecian His second Reason is Because by it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith that is from
Christ in us in its own Nature is above all Ordinances wherfore to speak truth all Rules and Operations and Ordinances to us are useless and void Reply 1 We will examine all those Texts you alleadge and first that in Genesis the Metaphor being taken from breathing spoken of by Moses is taken from Creatures that live by breathing as man or beast or the like and although there be a neer relation between their breath and their Nature yet they are two distinct things that is their breath or breathing is one thing and the Essence or substance of their bodies in another thing still distinct although never totally separated but by death so in this cause the divine Essence or Nature of God is one thing and that Virtue that he was pleased to put forth to give being to the Reasonable Soul of a man are ever distinct As for Example The Nature of God in the person of Christ breathed upon the Apostles and indued them with an Apostolical spirit that is in the Rectitude of their Understandings in Divine light and their Wills in pure affections in love to his Glory in the Conversion of the World by the Gospel yet still that virtue in its Effects in them was one thing and his Divine Nature or Essence in himself was another thing Matth. 5.30 so likewise from the same divine Essence there went virtue to the woman of a bloody Issue for the Text saith He knew there was virtue gone from him and it gave her health and her Nature was not the Divine Nature of God so likewise in the shadow of the Apostles bodies God was pleased to put forth himself by vertue flowing from himself to the cure of many diseased people as they went in the streets yet the peoples bodies that were cured and the shadow of the Apostles bodies and the virtue that flowed from God and Gods own Essence were all distinct things in their several Natures and Kindes even so when God gave being to the Reasonable Soul by breathing into mans Nostrils the breath of lives his own Divine Nature Gen. 2.7 and that Creative power another thing by which he was pleased to put forth to the production of mans Reasonable Soul and as formerly is proved the Essence of God is one thing and that Radical virtue or potency is another thing in its Effects so when he was pleased to reduce that virtue and potency to act creatively that was another thing from which thing it is that the Creature is the Off-spring of God from whom it sprang and in whom it continually is and cannot be otherwise Act. 17.18 he being Infinite In him we live move and have our being but for the manner how we live move and have our being is known to God alone and not perceived by us but because Gods Word hath said it we must believe it Again 1 Cor. 6.17 for the next Text that Believers are one spirit with the Lord The Text refers it onely to Believers and not to all man kinde as the drift of your opinion point at for the words are these But he that is joyned or cleaveth to the Lord is one spirit with him and is apposed to those that did joyn or cleave in their minds as well as with their bodies to Harlots yet these men and women were not one spirit Essentially but Individually still they were twain so on the contrary true Blievers are of one spirit in pure Affections cleaving to God and Christ yet nevertheless the Divine Essence of God is one thing and still their bodies and souls are two distinct Natures so the scope of this Text is directly against your opinion Again for the next Text in regard it refers Believers to Gods precious Promises and Faith 1 Pet. 1.4 5. and Love and Virtue and Knowledge to flee the Corruptions that are in the World through Lusts and that by these they are partakers of the Divine Nature they all imploy the use of their operations as flowing from their Natural Faculties to the said sutable Rule by the assistance of the Spirit of Christ therefore the scope of this Text also is against your Opinion Again the other Texts Christ in you the hope of Glory the drift of it is no more but this Colos 1.23 27. That Christ dwells in Believers hearts by Faith and Love from whence they live in hope of a full fruition and glory with him for ever in the next Life But as for your blaspeamous Error If you be the Divine Nature Essentially it fully injoys it self infinitely therefore your Error is Contrary to the Nature of Hope therefore the drift of this Text is also against you Again Whereas you alleadge the Texts of Scripture and the like it is onely an Introduction to draw mens minds from believing the sacred Scriptures to be Gods Word to believe that the onely true Scriptures is the Divine Essence essentially in themselves and so to believe a lye for what man can believe that is in his right minde that himself is God or Christ and yet cannot walk upon the Sea as Christ did nor deliver himself out of the hand of his enemies and not render himself into their hands till he pleased as did the Lord Jesus Christ when his hour was come nor cause the Sun to go back so many degrees as pleaseth themselves as God did Again for Conclusion take this one Observation more from the precedent premises Gen. 17.10 11 12 13. Namely that there is a threefold ground why God made a Law that Infants as such should be members of Christs visible Church and so under the use of Ordinances in the Church The first is this because the whole Humane Nature as such God Elected in the person of Christ the seed of the Woman in the faln Mass out of that fall into a capacity of the said posture in which they might if they lived to the use of Reason by belief receive in the gift of Righteousness Eternal Life as is proved and this Election is the first ground of their right to be Members of Christs visible Church and so the first ground why God gave that Law Hence it is that Christ saith Matth. 19.14 suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of heaven A Second Ground is this If the whole creation have a right of relation to Christ by Virtue of his Righteousness imputed as interposing the unrighteousness of Adams imputed and by it travels untill now as is proved Then much more hath Humane Nature as such a right of relation to be Christs visible Church and this was the second ground of that Law why Infants should be members the which Law was never repealed A third Ground was this Because as is proved all mankinde dying in Infancy or the like ascended to Heaven and there are Members of the Church Triumphant therefore much more have they a right to the Church Militant and all Churches and Ordinances here upon Earth the which right can never be lost except they live to be able to act unbelieving Operations and so put away their right as did Esaw judging themselves unworthy of Eternal Life and this is a third Ground of that Law whereby Infants are instituted Members of the Visible Church of Christ FINIS