out by him Tenthly After the Father whose motion and project this was had wrought of the Son to undertake it did not he then engage to stand by him and to supply him with all necessaries a body to suffer in and a spirit to that body without measure and to bring those into him in time by retail whom he had given to him in the Lump before time was he doth more then invite as saith Arminius he doth effectually draw by an omnipotent sweetness Christ must not scruple to entertain the most Leprous loathsome sinner whom the Father is pleased to bring unto him Ay and the Father must help to keep them also whom he hath brought in Ioh. 10.28 29. a pretious Cordial in Apostatizing times and all this being done according to an antient complot and agreement Socinus cannot from these supplies or dependencies infer the Sons inferiority to the Father and the poor believing sinner may press him with all these engagements 11. Over and aboye all this Did he not put forth his paternal Authority and lay his Commands upon his Son to engage in this great service John 10.18 and 12.9 20. as Pharoah to express a Pleonasm of Love commands Joseph to be kind to his nearest and dearest Relations which one would think little needed Gen. 45.19 Go look God in the face and say as David doth Psal. 71.3 Thou hast given Commandment to save me And to whom To Man or Angels No to me says Christ This Commandment have I received of my Father If Christ fail there is not only breach of Articles but Disobedience too Thou canst not believe that Christ loves thee so well as to lay down his Life for thee But canst thou believe he loves the Father tha 's easie there 's no doubt of that Why says Christ when he was going to die that the world may know how I love the Father as the Father hath given me Commandment even so do I John 14.31 12. Yet again to make all sure least the humane nature of Christ upon its affumption should shrink at the approach of sufferings Doth not the Father engage to reward him plentifully to give him a Royal and an Everlasting Priesthood a name above every Name appoints unto him a Kingdom Luke 22.29 and above all assures him of the Salvation of those he died for according to this agrement Isa. 53. 11. without which nothing could ever have satisfied him so that as the assumption of the humane nature is the highest instance of free mercy so is the rewarding thereof in its state of exaltation the highest instance of remunerative Justice All this needed not to engage Christ to the work so much as to engage us to believe that the Father was first in willing as he is in subsisting the Son second to him therein but not in heartiness of good Will for therein they are both equal they must needs be one in Will who are so in Nature and Being but still the Father is first in Love Joh. 3.16 For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life and 1 John 4. 9 10. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him here in is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins and therefore love is laid at his door by the Apostle 2 Cor. ult. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all The Grace of christ makes way for our enjoying the love of God but we had never known the Grace of Christ had it not been first for the love of God who therefore is called our Saviour 1 Tim. 1.1 13. And as ifas all this were not enough Did not the Father seal his Son a Comission to give life to lost sinners John 6.27 and therefore Christ so often mentions the Father as sending him and furnishing him with miracles his letters Credential where ever he came 14. Nay more If suffering for our sakes be a sign of Love as who can deny or doubt it to speak after the manner of men Had not the Father his share of sufferings as well as the Son Was it nothing for him to part with his Son such a Son an only Son the delight of his heart and eyes and that not amongst friends but enemies Who would seek and suck his blood in this sense to spare him and yet in another not to spare him but to bruise him an take pleasure in so doing Is all this nothing He may seem indeed to have an easie part to sit in Heaven and receive satis faction but you see it cost him something too nay more He denies himself and disappears and gives up the immediate management of all affairs into the hands of his Son That part the Son took was sharper but shorter lasted not much above three and thirty years but from the time of Christs resurrection 'T is along aevum before that God come again to be all in all 1 Cor. 15.24 and 28. and he in a manner remains hid till the day of Judgement now Christ is all in all Col. 3.12 The Son transacts all by the Spirit till the last day and the Father worketh now only in and through the Son Thus you see the Father veiling and eclipsing his Glory to make it shine the more hereafter and in the mean time his love that shines forth herein gloriously 15. Hath not the Father as well as Christ an hand in sending the Holy Ghost to make a discovery and application of all these things yea he is called the Promise of the Father which Christ had often hinted to his Disciples as the best news he could bring them from heaven Act. 1.4 which saith he ye have heard of me 16. Lastly Was it not he that wrapt up all this in a glorious Covenant a Covenant of Grace Life and Peace of which I may say as John of the Commandment of Love 1 Ioh. 2.7 8. 'T is both the New and Old Covenant the first and last and everlasting Covenant cal'd a Promise lest the word Covenant should scare us and make us think there 's more required of us by way of restipulation then we can reach unto Tit. 1.2 1 Ioh. 2.25 Covenants of Promise Eph. 2.12 and while we are altogether strangers thereunto we are without Hope The other Covenant was contrived and given forth chiefly to make way and welcome for this and 't is this Covennant the precious things whereof are sealed up unto us in the Sacraments This is that secret of the Lord which is with them that fear him Psal. 25.13 to make them know the Covenant he is ever mindfull of it and therefore sent
he comes to get an inkling of it that he was then minded what me Lord Didst thou then think of me and dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one Iob. 14.3 Fourthyly Was it not He who then picked and chose out of Angels and men whom he would have confirmed amongst the Angels called called therefore the Elect Angels 1 Tim. 5.21 and though they were never out of favour yet they are said to be reconciled Col. 1.20 confirmation being that to them which Reconciliation is to us and they had it by renouncing their standing upon their own single bottom and running under the wing of Christ accepting and owning him as their Head Col. 2.10 God would not keep an Angel in Heaven that would not be beholding to his Son for it And amongst men he chose whom he would have recovered Rom. 9.11 13. Ask how thou mayest make thy calling and election sure and never turn this Grace into wantonness for to abuse this Doctrine is one of the blackest badges and saddest signs of Reprobation Iude v. 4. Fifthly Was it not He who ratified his choyse by a solemn Decree called the Purpose of God according to Election Rom. 9.11 The Mystery of his Will according to the good pleasure which he had purposed in himself Ephes. 1.9 the Eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord Eph. 3.11 And yet there is no unrighteousness with God which Paul foresaw some would charge him with Rom. 9. 14. No cruelty no Dissimulation no Tyranny and if the Lord hath purposed who shall dissanul its Isa. 14.24 ver. 27. Sixthly Was it not He who called for the Books and caused all the Resolves to be entered Heb. 10.5 even to the very names written in the Lambs Book of Life Rev. 13.8 21.27 with the Golden Letters of Love with indellible Characters in his blood we read of no black Book of Death and therefore I meddle not with it but hadst thou ever any help to read thy name written in Heaven this is matter of more joy then if thou coldst cast our Devils and work wonders Luke 10.20 if not yet all in good time go to the Father and he will help thee to spell thy name there by his Spirit of Adoption who was and is a member of this Councel and well acquainted with all that passed there Seventhly Was it not He who then ordered all other things in a way of subordination and subserviency to the Sanctification and Salvation of the Elect good works then received his Seal Ephes. 2.10 Evil ones by a just Analogy a Brand He then drew up the Ordinances of Heaven Passed a Decree for the Sea and for the Rain and for the opening of the Eye-lids of the morning to cause the day-spring to know its place and the Sun his going down unless forbidden as in the dayes of Joshua He then appointed natural Agents to act necessarily the Sun to shine the fire to burn the Sea to run in its course yet be set them not a going with such an irresistable swing but that be can stop them at his pleasure Free Agents to act freely the will of man to be alwayes free in all its acts if not Quoad speeificationem to do good or evil at his pleasure yet quoad exercitium he need never do evil unless he pleaseth so that he is lest without excuse And all other things were ordered as scaffolds to this building now who but a mad man would lay his bed on the scaffold and say that 's accommodation good enough and so take up with that no matter for the building beg that he would never leave thee to that mandness but lead thee to things spiritual and eternal by all externals and that all things may work together for thy good according to this ancient appointment Eighthly Was it not by an Agreement between his Son and him that he should sit as Creditor in heaven and the Son come down to be responsible to Justice otherwise there was love enough in his heart to have let the Son sit Creditor in Heaven and to have come down himself as Debtor and dyed for thee and therefore saith Christ though I should not pray for you the Father himself loveth you Iohn 16.27 Nay he loves you so well that he doth therefore love me because I lay down my life for you Iohn 10.17 what a strange expression of love is this Ninthly Did not He draw up all the Sons Articles and Instructions as 1. That he must begin his work in deepest humiliation and abasement 2. That he must pawn his Glory to go through-stich with it which he Redeems and Redemands upon his performance Ioh. 17.4 5. 3. That he must run the Gauntlop in that nature he would Redeem and be content that every one should have a fling at him 't is Hillaries allusion nature nostra contumelias transcurrit 4. That his Godhead must be eclipsed and vail'd and he made like unto his Brethren in their natural necessities sinless infirmities live by faith get every thing by prayer not do his own will but his that sent him and so fulfill all Righteousness and why was he thus conformed unto us but that we might be made conformable unto him Fifthly That he must in they days of his flesh orally and personally declare his Fathers Name and love unto his Brethren and afterwards depute and substitute some to do it to the end of the world and so long as his Leiger Embassadors reside in any place uncalled home not sent for away the Treaty of Peace holds and continues and their work is not only to declare Christ but the Father also and this was the sweetest promise that Christ could chear up his Disciples with Ioh. 16.25 The time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs but I shall shew you plainly of the Father and that 's a most sweet and satisfying object Iohn 14.8 Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Sixthly That he must dye a bloody painful shameful accuresed death to pay the debts of his people and then rise again from the dead and bring up his blood with him into the Holiest of Holies and there exercise and execute the office of his everlasting I riesthood if he would have his death which was of infinite value in it self to be of infinite vertue efficacy unto others and is not all this performed exactly and hath he not herein commended his love unto us with a witness Rom. 58 c. Seventhly That whatever was given him he must presently give of the same to his members to fit them for that glorious fellowship whereunto they are ordained what he receives with one hand he must give with the other and we see what David cals receiving Psalm 68.18 Paul cals Giving Eph. 4.12 as if these were one and the same thing with Christ and thou desirest no more of Christ then what the Father hath ordered
towards him and doth not straiten it such a fear as is an helper of thy Ioy not an enemy to it such a fear as furthers the Comforts of the Holy Ghost such a fear as hath no torment in it and therefore love though perfected shall never cast it our and thou didst never see good day till this took hold of thee dost never enjoy good hour when this doth not over-rule thee 'T is a bitter thing to thee that ever thou wert without it Ier. 2.19 Thirdly Tell Him it is Him and his goodness that thou fearest his frown his absence his silence are now more dreaded by thee then all his Darts and Thunders used to be formerly the loss of a smile of a kiss a kindness is that thou most fearest and this thou takest to be a spirit of ingenuity not of slavery Fourthly He knows thy voyce and can tell whether he hear any of his own Language from thee or no how badly and brokenly soever it be pronounced though thou chatterest like a Crane or a Swallow or mournest like a Dove as Hezekiah speaks of himself Isa. 38.14 Every creature conveys its sound its tone and tune to the young ones and none of his children are still born the Spirit unties their tongues and sets them a crying Abba Father and he knows thou dost cry sometimes not coldly tender him some dead prayers but cry and not as a thief at a Bar to a Judge whom he neither loves nor hath any confidence in but as a poor child when in distress who daily asks his Fathers blessing Fifthly Desire him that he would feel thee as Isaac did Jacob the desire of thy soul is not only to have a smooth voyce but hands also so far from roughness that he may for ever own thee as one of the seed of Jacob thy heart is against a Covenant of works but for all the works of the Covenant Oh but the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously yea the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously thy Revoltings have been multiplied and thy back-slidings are many and how shall He pardon thee for this In puts God himself to a pawse to a stand to demur upon it Fer. 5.7 and chap. 3.19 How shall I put thee among the children Nay Chap. 2.29 He seemeth to put a stop to all further pleading Wherefore will ye plead with me ye all have transgressed against me saith the Lord Nay which is worst of all the Holy Spirit of God being hereby grieved where haft thou now another friend to speak a good word for thee when the Father is offended there 's the Son to mediate for thee and when Christ is disobliged yet there is the Spirit to intercede for thee but when the Spirit is vexed and quenched there 's never a fourth Person in the Trinity to make up the breach to comprimise the difference who shall now put words into thy mouth or fill thy mouth with with Arguments yet even in this case try him if he will not help thee at this dead lift and prove an Advocate for thee for he himself hath pen'd a form of prayer for one in thy case Hos 14.1 2 3. Go then even to this holy Spirit and fill thy mouth with Arguments First Tell him thou hast read or heard of his goodness Psal. 143.10 and of his Love Rom. 15.30 Not only that which he begets in the Saints but that which he bears to them all the world hath had experience of it the Church especially and thou art not altogether a stranger to it and hast now occasion further to try it and hopest to find it no whit inferiour either to that of the Father in giving his Son or that of the Son in giving himself for thee though He hath not been equally loved and honoured with then but wofully neglected and forgotten Secondly Ask him if it be possible for thee to be in a worse plight then when he first had to do with thee and did he then fall to work upon thee when he might have abhord to foul his fingers with thee and will he now forsake the work of his own hands Psal. 138.8 Thirdly Thou hopest he will dwell in thy dust when death hath done its worst unto thee and raise than again according to Rom. 8.11 and will he now forsake thy soul and not raise that again now that sin and the devil have done their worst against it for worse then what hath been thou thinkest cannot befall thee Fourthly Have not the most eminent Saints that ever he dwelt in had their backslidings and finned even against that grace wherein lay their excellency were they all restored by him and shalt thou only be abandoned Fifthly Were not all those gracious tenders to backsliders framed and filed and recorded by him Fer. 3.22 Return ye backfliding children and I will heat your backslidings Behold i ve come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Hosea 14.4 I will heal their backslidings I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from him and in many other places and beg he would teach thee experimentally to know what is meant by Gods healing backslidings Sixthly He knows that nothing in the world ever so wounded thee or went so near thy heart as thy tempting and grieving of him hath done and thou art resolved never to forgive thy self though he do no as sometimes thou thinkest not in Heaven Seaventhly He knows that thou art to this day wailing and wondring and waiting to know wherefore thou wert so left unto they self and that thou art far from wipeing thy mouth and slighting of it thou canst not but think that God hath some design upon thee therein as he had upon Hezekiah 2 Chron. 32.31 God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart and little didst thou think when God first turned thy heart unto himself there had been that in it which since hath broken forth from it nor was ever any so deceived in thee as thou hast been in thy self but art resolved now against that folly of trusting in thine own heart any more Eighthly Ask him upon what termes he first entred upon thy heart Was it not with a Commission there to stay how ill soever treated or entertained So saies Christ it was agreed on Joh 14.16 And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Thou wouldst not for a world have him only upon the same account The first Adam had him in his state of innocency concurring meerly as a third Person in the Trinity but by vertue of a relation to the second and then he must never leave thee he must not only alight but abide also as upon the head so upon the Members Joh. 1.32 33. Ninthly Say to him hereby shalt thou know that he is God indeed equall to the Father and the Sonne and
thee and put mettle into thee this is lobs consideration in the sixth verse Will he plead against me with his great and absolute Power by which he may do what he pleaseth with his poor Creatures Will he serve me so No but he would put strength in me thus he dealt with Daiel chap. 10.19 Thirdly There the Righteous may plead and dispute with him even at the Bar of Equity and Justice yea and the Judge cannot but pronounce and pass sentence in their favour tha 's his encouragement verse 7. there the Righteous may plead with him and so shall I be delivered for ever from my Judge never more dread him as a Judge but so as withal to love him and live with him as a Father There righteous Ieremy pleads with him Ier. 12.1 c. Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee there 's no question to be made of that that admits of no dispute yet let me talk with thee of thy Judgements There he invites his people to come and plead freely Isa. 43.26 put me in remembrance let us plead together declare thou that thou mayest be justified if thou hast any thing to say for thy self say on Nay even Idolaters shall have this fair play permission to plead for themselves and for their dumb Idols too if they have any thing to say for them Isa. 41.21 Produce your cause saith the Lord bring forth your strong Reasons saith the King of Iacob Have Idolaters this Liberty and not the true Worshippers that worship in Spirit and Truth The Wicked shall they have it and not the Righteous Yes doubtless this is that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} translated boldness of speech 2. Cor. 7.4 mentioned as the great priviledge of the Saints especially now under the New Testament Heb. 10.19 c. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus a Right and Freedom to enter in our persons hereafter and now by our prayers let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith Object 1 But may some say There the righteous indeed may plead with him and not be cast in their suit But where are those righteous Ones And who are they for it is not so with me God be mercifull to me a grievour sinner I dare not be so bold with him Iniquity must stip her mouth Answ I answer Every one that hath a share in yea a sincere desire after the rightteousness of Christ is righteous before him and may in that righteousness plead and prevail and as a Prince have Power with God for this is his own Righteousness of his own contrivance and appointment The Righteousness which is of God by Faith Phil. 3.8 9. A Righteousness spun and woven out of his own bowels the obedience of his dear Son a better then ever came upon the back of Angels for which the personal and legal Righteousness of a Paul of an Angel is to be abandoned Evangelical being far better then angelical Righteousness 'T is said when Pilate appeared in Christs Garment which he had got from the Soldiers Caesar could never be angry with him 't is certain thou canst not miss a Blessing in hi garments who is not ashamed to be called thine elder Brother who came to change cloaths places with thee and to take all upon himself that thou mightest esape The Father cannot but be well pleased with the smell of his Sons raiment and he sits too upon a seat of Indgement and must do thee right and Justice it self which will not be twice paid is as much for thee as much thy freind as Mercy Rom. 3 26. He is just and yet nay therefore a justifier of him that believeth on Iesus So that if thou art not utterly shut up in unbelief if there be but the least spark of true faith alive in thy heart thou maist plead and prosper Object 2 But I have nothing to say for my self my heart is dryed up like a Potseard and withered like grass I have sind away all arguments and must never open my mouth any more before him Answ 1 True not to boast but to plead thou mayest And hast thou nothing to offer not a sigh not the groanings of thy soul this was Iobs preface ver. 2. my stroke is heavier then my groaning O that I knew where I might find him where the heart is full as Iobs was you may perceive it by his sighing the mouth will not be empty a full heart will fill the mouth some way or other if the heart be full of affection the mouth will be full of arguments they deceive their own souls who say their hearts are as good as the best they thank God though they make no shew when neither OGd nor men can hear ought that 's good come from them Psal. 37.30 The mouth of the Righteous speaketh Wisdom and his Tongue talketh of Judgement why so ver. 31. The Law of his God is in his heart that sets his tongue a going the right way and on the contrary some mens stinking breath bewraies their inward parts to be very rottenness they have not so much sweet breath as to make a sigh of if the want of words were all it were a small matter that inarticulate Language of sighs and groans is powerfull Rhetorique Let the sighing of the Prisoners come before thee saith David Psal. 79.11 according to the Greatness of thy Power preserve thou them that are appointed to die and for the oppression of the poor and for the sighing of the needy now will I axise saith the Lord himself Psal. 12.5 I will ser him in safety from him that puffeth at him we own help from the Spirit when we are enlarged Paul saith he helps us even when we are streightned likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought no not Paul and the Apostles but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Rom. 8.26 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with unutterable straitnings our enlargements may be but the flowings of the Gifts of the Spirit but our inward pinchings and coarctations may be the Intercession of the Spirit it self the more immediate operations of the Spirit And we forget that their is such a Prompter hebind the hangings such an Interpreter as his Title signifies as well as Comforter yea therefore a Comforter because an Interpreter to make known the mind of God to us and ours to him and as he betrales the secrets of God to the Saint so he rips up their hearts before God without doing any wrong either in the one or other and t is he who fills their mouths not only with windy words but weighty Arguments Hast thou nothing to complain of to thy Iudge no Sin no Devil no Diabolical Temptations no superdiabolical corruption no spititual Plunderers no
holy boldness if he be not willing to be known though he cover himself with darkness but he is too big and too bright for a covering though he make darkness his Pavilion round about him and if so then 2ly Why hath he mad eIntellectual Beings capable of knowing him and eternally miserable if they know him not thy soul is so for certain 3ly Why hath he so many ways issued forth and made out Himself why hath he written such admirable Comments in the things which are seen upon the invisible things of God his eternal power and Godhead Why hath he sparkled forth such glorious Discoveries in the sacied Scriptures in the face of Jesus Christ in the births and breathings the hints and whispers of his Spirit in the wayes and workings of his Providence in the experience of all his Saints yea in thine own heart mind and soul dark and dolesome though it be for the most part so that thou canst not order thy speech by reason of Darkness Fourthyly why hath he so often laid his Commands upon poor sinners to seek him if he mean not to be found shew him his own hand for it thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel Seek ye me and ye shall live Amos 5.4 Seek the Lord and ye shall live ver. 6. and yet again verse 8. Seek him that maketh the seven stars and orion and turneth the shadow of Death into the morning What meaneth all this earnestness if he mean not to be found or saith he these things to Israel only to Israel after the flesh and saith he not the same to all Nations Nay is not his the very end why he giveth to all Life and Breath and all things that they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him and find him though he be not far from every one of us Act. 17.27 and he never said to the seed of Iacob who wrestle with him seek ye me in vain Isa. 45. 19. And thou hopest thou art one of them though the weakest of all those spiritual Wrastlers Nay shew him his Warrant directed to those who have plowed wickedness and reaped Iniquity and eaten the fruit of lyes Hos. 10.12 13. why then shouldst thou be excluded Fisthly Ask him if he have nor been found of many a soul that sought him not Did not he prevent them and ofter himself and say Behold me Behold me Isa. 65.1 Is there a soul with him now in Heaven whose name is not sought out Isa. 62.12 And will he now hide himself from one that seeks him 6ly Ask him whence is it that thou hast an heart now to seek him Is it not because he hath found thee and means to be found of thee Ier. 29.12 13 14. c. and he knows that thy whole heart is or would fain be engaged in this work Seventhly Why doth he allow so long a time to seek him in all the time of this life as some think at least till the Decree bring forth till he swear in his wrath till the heart be judicially hardened which yet is not thy case through infinite Mercy thou art not yet free amongst the dead nor bound among the damned 8ly Tell him if thou canst say so truly that it is in order to practise that thou wouldst be aquainted with him not meerly to gratifie a natural itch after knowledge not meerly that thou mightst talk of him but walk with him and love him and fear him and obey him in all thing and even in natural things Manus est causa scientiae the hand contributes more to knowledge then the Brain those things we learn to do we learn by doing them and as to Spirituals Christ hath past his word for it John 7.17 If any man will do his Will he shall know of the Doctrine 9. Lastly Tell him t is not in a pang in a fit in an humour of newfangledness that thou art thus covetous thus ambitious of his acquaintance but though late though too too lite thou begannest this enquiry he knows thou hast been of this mind for many a day thou hast though weakly followed on to know him and now thou expectest that good word of his should be made good unto thy soul Hos. 6.3 Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord his going forth is prepared as the morning and he shall come unto us as the rain as the later and former rain unto the earth press these things upon him and his Love and Truth will let him hide no longer Secondly Doth the sense of thy more then ordinary unworthiness oppress thee Doth the horridness and beynousness of thy sins lie as a mountain of lead upon thy soul and stiflle all the movings and mountings of thy Spirit upward Doth this nip all the buddings and bloomings of faith and hope and force thee often to sigh out in secret It is impossible for me to be saved I shall certainly at last prove a Reprobate Is this thy case Go order thy cause before him and sill thy mouth with Arguments in all humility ask him if he did not before the foundations of the world were laid chuse voluntarily absolutely and immutably what company he would have with him to all Eternity sometimes thou thinkest he would never chuse thee there now lies a secret Bar in thy way study the point a little and get it removed He was under no necessity to chuse any no not Christ himself to be the head of the Church for he might have chosen whether ever there should have been such a body yea or no God the Father begets the Son necessarily not arbitrarily that is from his Nature not from his good pleasure but he chooseth him to be the head and root and Representative of the Church arbitrarily not necessarily this is from his good pleasure not from his Nature How free is he then in all his other Elections He chose in deed in Christ but not for Christ as in the natural birth so here first the head comes forth and then the Members Christ is the cause of the Salvation of the Elect but not of Election to Salvation Christ is the meritorious cause of the application of all good not of Gods volition or decreeing that good Election is God himself electing and there can be no cause of God God cannot be an effect Christ indeed was by but had not the naming of the Blect this was the Fathers part and gives him primitively and Originally and interest in them as Christ himself acknowledgeth John 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me Christ himself did not propound sollicite for this or that person much less any foreseen qualifications which are the effects but could not be the causes of that Love or choise and if there was none by to move him was there any to manacle him to prescribe Laws and limits to him to say unto him You may not chuse such or such
Redemption unto his People He hath commanded this Covenant for ever Holy and Reverend is his Name Psal. 111.5 9. c. and t is this will afford Death-bed Comfort 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my house be so not with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow Now then though all these things are phrased in the Language of men yet not without warrant from the Holy Ghost who condescends thus to lisp out the misteries of Salvation else we could not understand or take in any thing of them and though they are all but one act in God as all his Attributes are but one Divine Excellency and Glory the Divine Essence it self but this is too big to come in all at once into our narrow hearts therefore God lets out himself by degrees by drops beams as we may bear it 't is so in the discovery of himself and 't is so in the discovery of his Councill and operations concerning us in Christ Jesus And though the operations ad extra are undivided but according to an ancient agreement between them the operation is attributed to that person the manner of whose subsisting appears most in it beginning work to the Father carrying on to the Son finishing to the Holy Ghost Yea though many disown and dislike these things yet now go and put them home to God and if he will own them and bear his witness to them and seal them upon thy heart it will be sufficient for thee to shame thee for all thy hard thoughts of him and to secure thee from the like tormenting fears for time to come and I know it he will work wonders if thy Spirit be stirred up to put him to it rather then be wanting in his witness to so great a Truth as this and so shalt thou be as Iob speaks delivered for ever from thy Judge from all frightfull Ideas and Apprehensions of him as an angry severe Judge and enabled to walk with him all thy days as with a most indulgent and tender hearted Father But what is all this to me may a poor soul say though I assent unto it and think I believe it if my Faith prove a false blaze of Fancy Presumption vain Hope and thou hast cause to fear and suspect it because it hath not the vertue and operation of that plant of Paradise The Faith of the operation of God the Faith of Gods Elect Is this thy case many times go order thy cause before him fill thy mouth with Arguments go bow thy knees unto the God Father of our Lord Jesus And 1. Tell him he knows how thy heart is carried forth towards him only according to the terms tenour of a Covenant of Grace and not of works thou canst not by any means away with that that he should deal and do by thee as thou dost by him no thou canst not find the life of thine hand as 't is said of some Isa. 57.10 thine hands are not sufficient for thee as 't is said of Iudah Deut. 33.7 And will he trample upon worm that would fain creep towards him only in that way which he himself hath chalked out and is so pleasing to him Secondly He knows that the sole ground of thy confidence is the precious and plentious Grace of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ which tels thee that Christ dyed for sinners enemies ungodly impotent ones and ask him if he have ever a soul with him in Glory that was not once such an one that many are ransomed and pardoned by Christ but not how many Why maist not thou be one of those many That Salvation is neither of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Rom. 9.16 even to the prisoners of unbelief Rom. 11.32 these and a thousand such like precious things the Gospel uttereth Ask him now if thou must be ashamed of the Gospel as thou hast been of the Law of thy looking for life by it and if he will reject this confidence also so that thou must not prosper in it Thirdly Ask him if there be not a double reconciliation plainly taught in the Doctrine of the Gospel the one actually purchased by the death of Jesus Christ and acknowledged by God at that time the other at the conversion of a sinner when he lays down his arms and enmities and the knowledge of the one is the means to the other Hath God then stirred up all his wrath again and will not suffer a poor soul to come near him who would fain receive the attonement and be made friends with him Fourthly Ask him wherefore hath this Gospel been brought to thine ears to thine heart but that thou shouldest trust in it and that perfectly {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} even to the end 1 Pet. 1.13 Did he not call thee to Repentance and will he now repent of his Calling that cannot be for his gifts and calling are without Repentance Rom. 11.29 Did he not bid thee come unto him upon those waters of the Sanctuary And must thou now sink and perish to allude to that of Peter Mat. 14.30 Fifthly Tell him he knows how fully how thankfully thy soul submits to that Righteousness which is revealed of offered in the Gospel and none perish in unbelief but they who are ignorant thereof or submit not thereunto Rom. 10.3 Once indeed thou wert proud of thine own poor polluted Rags but hast now cast them all away and said unto them with detestation get ye hence and wilt never gather them together again but blessest him with all thy heart and soul for that better provision made in the Gospel and wouldst fain appear daily continually before him cloathed with that righteousness which Christ came on purpose to bring into the world Dan. 9.24 Sixthly He knows thy heart closeth with Christ for sanctification as well as Righteousness to justifie thy Faith as that must justifie thy person it closeth with the whole Gospel with whole Christ in all his offices and that there is nothing more desireable to thine eye then that holiness which the Gospel requireth promiseth and promoteth How fain would thy soul be his Glass wherein he might view all his own Gloties Vertues Beauties Graces by reflection And will he break this glass in pieces Seventhly and lastly Ask him if he will but stand to that one good word spoken in his name by his servant Rom 5.20 where sin abounded Grace did much more abound this is not the spawn or spume of thy fancy nor hast thou met with this saying in some good book whose Author might be mistaken but if God will make it good as thou thinkest him bound to do even for the Glory of his Grace Wisdom and Truth thou canst tell where there are superfluities of
that though all the world should conspire against him to un-God him yet shall his invincible patience and insuperable good will raise an everlasting piller of witness in thy bosome let who will cast him off he shall be thy God for ever Who is a God like unto thee pardoning iniquities Micah 7.18 is equally true of Father Son and holy Spirit But still thy heart akes and is diquieted to think that what 's said of a man of great wrath Prov. 19.19 is also most true of thee such an one must needs suffer punishment for if thou deliver him yet thou must do it again he 'le ever and anon bring himself into the bryers and this is thy case though the sweet Spirit of God be willing to forgive thee former offences and to fetch thee off from thy imbroylments yet is he likely to have an heavy hand with thee considering thy corruptions and temptations thou art likely to run upon a new score to run into new rebellions and there will be no end of all his labour yet in this case go and order thy cause before God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and fill thy mouth with Arguments 1. Ask Him Was not this one great end why our nature was taken into personall union with the divine that the diseases of the one might be healed by the infinite vertue an durity and efficacy of the other did Christ come only to cure the sicknesses of the body or were not all these cures the types and representations of those he came to work upon the souls of sinners sure such as touch him by faith shall have their bloody issues stopped and all other inward distempers cured in the dales of his flesh he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil Acts 10.38 and lamentable were our loss by his removall to Heaven if from thence his vertue could not reach us and if he were now on earth thou art verily perswaded thou mightst have help from him why not from Heaven 2. Did He not die that sin might die and be destroyed he was not only cloathed with our nature but strip'd by the seperation of soul and body though not of the Godhead from either that sin and our souls might be seperated why doth sin live seeing Christ died 3. Demand even of Justice if Christ hath not fully paid thy ransome why then art thou kept in bonds holden with the cords of thy sin the worst usage which the worst of men in this world are threatned with Prov. 5.22 his own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins the vilest dungeon to this without this is a pleasant pallace a delightfull garden as was said by some if the blessed Martyrs of their prisons 4. Complain that these corruptions do wrong defile and outrage that nature which Christ now wears in Heaven and hath exalted far above the brightest Cherub for He and his are all of piece Heb. 2.11 and this is a thousand shames and pities 5. If there be any seed of God any beginning of that everlasting work of sanctification in thee thou art not become A member of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 for Christ never took any but sanctified upon him and how then can he hide himself from his own flesh he would not have us do so Isa. 58.7 how can he indure to see his own flesh so shamefully abused He who made a Law a man should not hide himself when he saw his enemies beast sink down under his burden the Ass of one who hated him Exod. 23.5 Doth he take care for Oxen and for Asses and can he himself forbear to help up the soul of one that loves him and will he not help with him or if thou art afraid to say thou lovest him because thy heart is so little with him yet to be sure there 's a poor sould down and will he not help it up will he not help it and that against those oppressors which are as well the enemies of his praise and glory as of thy peace and safety And surely these Cananites are left in the Land as it was in the figure To keep down pride Deut. 7.22 To try whether we will follow the Lord or our lusts Judg. 2.23 To reach us war and to exercise our graces Judg. 3.1 To make us to keep more above upon the mountains Judg. 1.34 To become tributaries and do our drudgery 1 King 10.21 God makes our corruptions do us some service which our graces cannot do without them But peradventure thou maist think with thy self that through grace whereunto nothing is impossible thou maist be both pardoned and purified too in time but it will cost thee dear first a world of afflictions must be expected where there hath been such a world of provocations and yet remains such a mass of corruption and these fears of what may come take thee off from enjoying what is present Go with this complaint to thy Judg that these fears may be disarmed and bound over no more to molest thee go fill thy mouth with arguments for who can say his mountain is strong he shall never be moved or who can fore-tell or fore-see the things that may befall him even pardoning mercy it self is no sence against this flail of affliction 1. Tell Him whatever comes 't is thy disire to bear his indignation because thou hast sinned against him Mich 7.9 and that thy stubborn uncircumcised heart may accept of the punishment of thine iniquity because even because thou hast despised his judgments and carried it as if thy soul had abhorred his statutes Lev. 26.43 Nay 2. Tell him that thou hadst rather be under the schooling of his children then the cockering of his castawayes under the severe mercy of his discipline as Augustin speaks of that of the Church then under the impunity of those desperate lost creatures whom God hath thrown up as a lost case and will not be at the cost to bestow another rod upon them even his correcting rod as well as his supporting staff shall be a comfort to thee Psal. 23.4 no punishment like impunity 3. Though it be infinitely more eligible that way to be humbled and reformed then not at all yet tell him if he will be pleased to spare thee 't will be more for his honour to do it in the midst of prosperity because this is more difficult and more unusuall Jer. 22.21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity but thou saidst I will not hear this hath been thy manner from thy youth that thou obeyedst not my voice Now what a glory will it be to him to bore thine ear in the midst of thy prosperity 4. As this will be more glorious for Him so more usefull to others the examples of such a convert is much more conspicuous and illustrious in miserable ones 't is hard to distinguish
may serve to do the work of a Gibeonite help to hew wood and draw water for the Tabernacle and the Altar it may help you with those Israelites that lamented after the Lord to draw water and to poure it out before the Lord And let me say assuredly that exercise will infinitely surpass in sweetness all sports and pastimes all the treasures and glories of this world all the delights of the sons of men for 't is the delight of the Sons of God 't is Heaven on Earth Heaven on this side Heaven and will undoubtedly convey you at last into the Heaven of Heavens there to be extasied with joy and glory for evermore FINIS Heb. 3 16. Drusius in loc. Grot. in lo. quò magis queror eò a vobis magis vapulo In his Paraphrase upon the place Psal. 72.12 13 14 15. 2 Kin. 6.26 27. Tremel Ephe. 3.12 He. 4.16 Accedaqmus cum loquendi ubertate ad thronum gratia Bez. Joh. 14.26 Ille suggeret vobu omnia vid. Cameroned Mat. 19.3 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Correptionibus Mont. Lite Syr. Sane argumenta qua utrinque proseruntur à partibus in lite pro causa sua {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Dâ—usi Can. 2.14 2 tim 1.6 I Case Unacquaintedness with the Lord Apud drusi Ioh. 17.3 Rom. 1.20 Zeph. 2.1 2. Anaxagnras Case 2. Unworthiness ever to be acquainted with God Eph. 1.4.2 Tlm. 1.9 Col. 1.19 See Mr. Norton Orthod. Evang. p. 225. c. Dr. Th. Goodwin Christ the universal Peace-maker pag. 15. Case 3. Jealousie as to Christ Mat. 11.28.1 John 3.23 John 3. ult. Phil. 3.9 1 Cor. 13.12 Cant 2.9 Case 4. Iealousie concerning God the Father Vld. Dr. Goodwin Encouragements to Faith p. 7. c. See Dr. Iakson 11. book chap. 28. pag. 3372. c. He that cannot look upon the Sun In Its strength at Noon day may take the model of It in the water or In the moon at full so we that cannot behold the glory of Divine Majesty in the Godhead or in God the Father only may safely behold the map or Model of his Incomprehensible goodness in the man Christ Jesus {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Exposuit Bex Isa. 40.14 Heb. 6.17 Eph. 1.11 Isa. 25.1 and 01 46 Prov. 19.21 1 Pet. 1.20 Isa. 28.16 Ioh. 10.36 Psal. 89.19 Isa. 63.1 The Messiah and the Righteous are amongst those seven things which the Jews say were before this world was created that is as Mercer expounds them quae in mente divinâ essent abâ—aeternâ— Merc. on Vent 1. Act. 15.18 17.26 Jer. 33.25 Job 28.26 38.10 c. Psal 119 91. We give this reason for it because the Father was directly offended by sins marring his work of Creation other reasons are given for the Sons incatnation Himmelius Disput. 12. Thes. 14. P. 130. Act. 2.23 4 20. Heb. 9.8 Act. 2.33 5.31 Isa. 42.6 and 50.9 Heb. 10.5 Ioh. 3.34 and 6.37 44 5 17.8.29 Ier. 31.3 Psa 110.1 c. Phil 2.8 c. Heb. 12.2 Rom. 8.32 Isa. 53.10 Mat. 11. 27 28 18. Ioh. 14.16 15.26 Heb. 13.20 Sententiam sapè mutat Deus Concilium nunquà m Greg. Case 5 Fear of unbelief Col. 2.12 Tit. 1.1 Rom. 5.6 8. Mat. 20.28 and 26.28 Mar. 10.45 Icr. 2.36 37. Rom. 5.9 10 11. 2 Cor. 5.18 c. Phil. 3.8 9.2 Pet. 1.1 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 1 Cot. 1.30 1 Pet. 2.9 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Iam 1.21 Case 6. Fear of Hypocrisie Psalm 18.23 Psalm 119.6 and ver. 140. 1 Joh. 2.16 These three are the worlds All Mat. 6.6 2 Chron. 17.4 5 6. Case 7. Fear of being acted only by fear Rom. 8.15 2 Tim. 1.7 Isa. 60.5 Psalm 2.11 Acts 9.31 1 Ioh. 4.18 Hos. 3.5 Psalm 28.1 Cant. 1.2 Gen. 27 21.22 Case 8. Sence of backslidings Prov. 28.26 9th Case Sence of Corruption Math. 4.23 Mind him how long thou hast lain and languished of this disease lo these eighteen it may be eight and thirty years or longer Rom. 6.6 10th Case Fear of affliction 2 Sam 12. ver 13 14. Psal. 99.8 Severa discipliuae misericordia Heb. 12.6 7. Cato chose rather not to be rewarded when he did well then not to be punised when he did amiss Plut. in viz. Cardan de subt. lib. 67. Mountebanks make use of this experiment Job 5.17 Prov. 3.12 11th Case Sence of pain Job 4.6 In case of pain Job 11.6 Psal. 30.5 Job 40. 18 c. Job 6.12 Job 13.24 Job 10.10 Gal. 4.26 Ioh. 8.36 Zech. 9.12 Isa. 49.9 61.1 Isa. 53.10 Jer 9.24 Mic. 7.18 Heb. 12.10 11 12.2 Cor. 1.17 12th Case Desertion felt or feared Cant. 3 4. Isa. 45.15 Deut. 34.5 So Moses died at the mouth of the Lord Super or Domini mons Psal. 30.5 63.3 Math. 27.46 13th Case Exercised in friends relations name or estate Dan. 5.5 6. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 14th Case Disquietment from cross providences Hos. 14.3 Psal. 62.1 2 5 6. 1 King 2.20.23 Isa. 39.4 6. Jer. 42. 5 6 20 21. ver. 15th Case Dread of spirituall judgements 2 Thes. 2.12 Rom. 7.4 Ezek. 15.6 Eccles. 8.10 Gassendus in vitapeirest pag. 72. 1 Thes. 5.5 Id. ibid. page 86 87. Gaffarel our page 144. Luk. 16.31 Prov. 16.1 place marg Isa. 63.1 Isa. 32.2 16th Case Fear that prayer is not beard Psal. 103.13 Dr Jackson 11. Book p. 33.23 See Mr Carill upon the place 17th Case Fear that God cannot delight in such a sinner Rev. 6.16 15. Lev. 16.13 Eph. 5. â— Isa. 40.11 Luk. 15.5 2. Cor. 5.17 Ezek. 16.14 Cant. 4.7 Gen. 24.31 18th Case Fear of unserviceableness See a sad instance 2 Cor. 25.10.13 ver. Judg. 13.23 Mal. 3.6 1 Cor. 15.9 10. Prov. 30.8 8. 19th Case Fear of being cast of at last Psal. 9.17 Judg. 6.39 2 Sam. 23.5 Act. 13.34 Ruth 3.10 Joh. 13.1 Rom. 8.86 Act. 2.40.2 Pet. 1.10 John 14.2 3 20th Case hate cossion for others Psal. 137.6 Psal. 51.18 Isa. 26.21 Rev. 11.2 Though the thousand years Rev. 20.2 were granted to begin at the time of Constautines degree An. do 311. and to expire at the rising of the Ottoman Family An. 13 10. and the Devill then let loose again yet must he have no long time to play reekes in the world as appears by comparing Rev. 20.7 with the 10. ver. see D'Hainend in Loc. Rom. 11.26 Pasal 74.3 Ezek 38.8 Rom. 11.15 Bzek. 37.7 Isa. 29.18 Isa. 49.4 Prov. 3.9 10. Donum est intogritas animi God by exacting this tribute tries the sincerity of our love faith obedience when the Israclices would not endure the sight of him who came to demand the Tribute is was a sure sign of their totall and final revolt and defection it was then high time for Rehoboam to get him gone 1 King 12.18 And 't is observed that Christ though he reproved all sins punished none but that of Sacriledg and prophanation of holy thing what will