the holy Spirit drops some moral Vertues and Beams of light from whence have issued many excellent Sayings some of which the holy Spirit hath so far owned as to quote them in his own Book But the Father doth in a special manner love and the Son did in a special manner die for the Elect. Hence proportionably the holy Spirit works in them after more glorious strains of Power and Grace as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication he melts them into Repentance as a Spirit of Faith he makes them catch hold upon Christ for Righteousness and Life as a Spirit of Wisdom he unveils their hearts and makes the Light to shine out of Darkness as a Spirit of Liberty he unshackles and unbinds their Wills and makes them free indeed in the ways of God and as a Spirit of Truth and Holiness he leads them into Truth and by inward Law-engravings moulds and changes them into it Moreover the holy Spirit after such glorious workings on them comes and dwells in them and that intimately in the very secrets of their hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will indwel in them saith he 2 Cor. 6. 16. there are two in 's to denote an intimate inhabitation as if God could never be near enough to them As in Christ Personal who is the Head there is God in the flesh by an hypostatical Union so in Christ Mystical which is the Body there is God in the Flesh by a gracious Inhabitation and to shew that he is there he cries Abba Father in their Devotions he is a Spirit of Love in their charities a Spirit of Power in their infirmities a Spirit of Comfort in their distresses and a Spirit of Glory in their sufferings Seeing then the holy Spirit who works in men more or less according to the Fathers Love and Sons Merits works in such a special way in the Elect 't is as clear as if it were written with a Sun-beam that the Father loves them and the Son died for them in a special way Hence we find these three folded and wrapt up together by the Apostle Elect according to the foreknowledge of the Father through sanctification of the Spirit and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 2. And again The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the holy Ghost be with you all 2 Cor. 13. 14 If the Father's Love and the Son's Blood had respected all men as much as the Elect doubtless the holy Spirit who in Subsistence procedes and in Operations works from them both would have converted all as well as the Elect why then are not all men actually converted Is it because the holy Spirit works not equally in all or because the holy Spirit is resisted in some Is it because the holy Spirit works not equally in all I answer That the Spirit is sent forth from the Father and the Son and works exactly according as it is sent the inward impulsive Cause of pouring out the Spirit is the Father's Love and the outward meritorious cause of it is the Son's Blood Wherefore if the Father equally love all and the Son equally died for all the Spirit works equally in all for there can be no breach in the sacred Trinity Or is it because the Spirit is resisted in some I answer Their resistance is a grand Obstacle to the work but if the Spirit did roll away the Stone and new-mould the Heart and work the Will in all as he doth in the Elect that Obstacle would at last be removed out of the way 5. I argue from the Blessings purchased Christ's Death is more or less respective of men as it is more or less procurative of Blessings for them Christ purchased a Salvability for all but over and besides he purchased many choice Blessings for the Elect he purchased Repentance for them for he is a prince and a saviour to give repentance to Israel Acts 5. 31. He purchased a room for Repentance even for all men but he purchased Repentance it self for his chosen Israel he purchased Faith for them Unto you it is given for Christs sake to believe in him Phil. 1. 29. For others he purchased a ground-work for Faith but for them he purchased the very Grace of Faith he purchased effectual Vocation for them others have a Call by the Gospel but these have a Call by the Gospel coming in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance he purchased Holiness and Sanctification for them Indeed there is no man living on the Earth but if he did really believe he should have the rivers of living water the Spirit of holiness flowing in his heart Joh. 7. 38. but the Elect were destined and chosen in Christ to be holy Eph. 1. 4. and Christ sanctified himself in a special manner for them that they might be sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in truth actually truly Joh. 17. 19. Lastly he purchased Heaven and Glory for them others may have Heaven upon believing but these shall certainly arrive at it these are the sheep to which Christ gives eternal life Joh. 10. 28. these are the sons which without fail shall be brought to Glory Heb. 2. 10. Now seeing Christ purchased so many Blessings for the Elect 't is evident he died for them in a special way 6. I argue from the Intercession of Christ. Christ intercedes for men more or less proportionably as he more or less respected them in his Death for his Death is the foundation of his Intercession the very same Blood of Christ which as shed on Earth made Satisfaction as presented in Heaven makes Intercession Now how far doth Christ intercede in Heaven What doth his Blood speak there For all men it speaks thus Father let them all be saved on Gospel-terms but for the Elect it speaks thus Father let them have Repentance this the Apostle hints out Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince a saviour to give repentance to Israel Acts 5. 31. Israels Repentance on Earth comes from Christ exalted in Heaven for there he intercedes for it by his Merits and from thence he works it by his Spirit Again it speaks for them thus Father let them be made a willing people this I gather from the 110. Psalm where we find Christ sitting at the right hand of God Ver. 1. and sitting there he intercedes for us and from this Session and Intercession comes forth a willing people Ver. 3. Here 's the true original of spiritual willingness the right Hand of God which is a right Hand of Power works it in our Hearts and works it at the instance of Christ who sits and intercedes there for it Again it speaks for them thus Father sanctifie them with thy Grace preserve them with thy Power and crown them with thy Glory in Heaven Thus Christ in his sweet Prayer a little before his bitter Passion interceded for them for their Sanctification Sanctifie them
turned from God and God departed from Man and instantly the Captive appeared all in Chains of Sin and Wrath his Lamp went out in obscure darkness Satan ascended up into the Throne the fire of Lust rose up in the Sanctuary the Affections were all in a mutiny against the upper Powers and the whole Man became a Prisoner under Sin and Wrath and all this because he left 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his original State of rectitude and holiness 2. Man fallen in opposition to fallen Angels When Man though but an earthen Pitcher fell from God the whole Trinity seemed to be moved at it the bowels of the Father yearned over him and as not content with inward compassions Grace breaks out at the Lips of the Son Unto you O men do I call saith the eternal Word Prov. 8. 4. and because words such as made a World could not do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 2. 16. He catches hold of the Humane Nature and rather than fail he would live and bleed and die in it for our Redemption And lest after all this Man should not catch hold of his own Salvation out comes the holy Spirit to make sure work of it in an application of it unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostome When Mankind fled and fled far from Christ he pursued and caught hold of it But when those Vessels of Gold the Angels dropt out of Heaven there was no such matter the Father's bowels though of immense largeness were shut up not a thought of mercy rose in his heart towards them the Son's Lips which drop sweet smelling Myrrh unto men let fall never a syllable of comfort unto them he saw them tumbling down from Heaven yet caught not hold of them the holy Spirit would not stir a foot to recover 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their original Rectitude for them again that so they might be capable of staying in the holy Heavens but down they must into Chains of darkness such as for ever shut out every glimpse of Mercy But why a Philanthropy rather than a Philangely Why a Redemption for Men and not for Devils Here men give their conjectures Man say some sinned by seduction but Devils by self-motion In the Fall of Men say others all the Humane Nature fell but in the Fall of Angels all the Angelical Nature fell not Others alledge that the Sin of Angels was more damnable than Man's because their Nature was more sublime than his Others yet affirm that Men are capable of Repentance but Devils not because whatever they once choose they do immobiliter velle the Devil sinneth from the beginning 1 Joh. 3. 8. 't is not said he sinned but he sinneth because from his first Apostasie he sinneth on uncessantly But alas Who can limit the holy One Might not his boundless Mercy have saved the selftempted Devils What if his devouring Justice had broke out against devil-seduced Men nay against all the Race of Men Who should accuse him for the Nations that perish which he hath made and Sin hath marred Wisd. 12. 12 Could not the Blood of God have washed out the blackest spots of fallen Angels Was not the Almighty Spirit of Grace able to melt a Devil into Repentance Had we poor Worms been to dispute with the Devil about the Body of Christ as Michael did with him about the Body of Moses O how easily would he have reasoned us out of our Redeemer What would he have said shall the tender bowels of God be let down to you on Earth and restrained to us in Heaven Will the All-wise God repair his Clay-images in the Dunghil of the lower World and neglect his fairer Pictures once hung up in his own Palace of Glory May not the Son of God be a Redeemer at an easier rate without stepping a foot out of his Fathers house and will he travel down so far as an Incarnation How much better were it for him to spot himself with an assumed Cherubin than to take Flesh into his glorious Person But the great God hath neither given Angels a day to plead for a Redeemer nor Man a licence to pry into his Ark. Wonder then O Man at this astonishing difference made by the divine Will alone Angels must be damned and men may be saved golden Vessels are irreparably broken and earthen Pots are set together again Inmates of Glory drop to Hell and Dust and Ashes fly up to Heaven When I consider thy Heavens and the Stars glistering there Lord what is man that thou mindest him Psal. 8. 4 but when I consider thy Heaven of Heavens and thy Angels dropping from thence into utter darkness Lord what is man that thou savest him Misericordiâ Domini plena est terra quare non dictum est plenum est coelum quia sunt spirituales nequitiae in coelestibus sed non illae ad commune jus indulgentiae Dei remissionémque peccatorum pertinent as holy Ambrose expresses it Even so gracious Father because so it seemeth good in thy sight Thus having found the right Captive I pass on 2. To the Captivity and this I shall set out in three things 1. The Chains 2. The Prison 3. The Jailor As for the first I shall first touch upon the Chains themselves and then upon the distinct links thereof 1. The Chains themselves are no other than Original and Actual Sin 1. Original Sin is a very heavy Chain and here I shall view 1. The upper end of this Chain I mean that first Sin of eating the forbidden fruit called in the Schools Peccatum originale originans here there was truly magnum in parvo a vast World of Sin in a small Act. There was an Idol of self-excellency a framing and to adorn it a concupiscential stealth of the forbidden fruit and in this stealth a bloody Homicide a slaying of all Humane Nature at one blow and which is more a kind of Deicide too a slaying as much as in Man lay even of God himself the Pride of this primordial Sin snatching at God's excellency the Unbelief stabbing at his Truth the Rebellion fighting against his Sovereignty the Ingratitude trampling his Goodness under foot and the Presumption as it were daring out his Justice into warlike Arms and all this contra praeceptum tam breve ad retinendum tam leve ad observandum This is the upper end of this Chain and it reaches down to us all for in him we all sinned Rom. 5. 12. The sweetest Bonaventure cannot say In Adamo non peccavi For Adam was not here considered as a private person but as the Root and Head of Mankind Adam's person was the fountain of ours and his Will the representative of ours we were all in him naturally as latent in his Loins and legally too as comprized within the Covenant made with him therefore we all sinned in his Sin Omnes nos unus ille Adam saith one Father Genus humanum in primo parente velut in radice computruit saith
God Tit. 2. 13. not an under subordinate God but over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. not a God by office but a Jehovah Jer. 23. 6. a God by nature though not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to his Subsistence yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to his Essence Gods name is in him Exod. 23. 21. One great Letter of that Name is Eternity and his going forth was from everlasting Mic. 5. 2. another is Immutability and he is yesterday to day and for ever the same Heb. 13. 8. another is Omniscience and he knoweth all things Joh. 21. 17. another is Omnipotence and he hath all the power in heaven and earth Matth. 28. 18. another is Immortality and he hath life in himself Joh. 5. 26. another is Immensity and he whilest on earth was in heaven Joh. 3. 13. and though long since ascended to heaven is still on earth Matth. 28. 20. All these golden Letters are graven on the Godhead and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in him Col. 2. 9. all these shed forth a divine Glory and Majesty he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brightness of divine glory Heb. 1. 3. and what need we any more witnesses of his Deity His Name is wonderful Isai. 9. 6. far above all Creatures his Generation is unutterable being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the proper Son of the Father Rom. 8. 32. not as Creatures made ex nihilo but as a proper Son begotten out of his very Substance his standing is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the essential form of God the very divine nature Phil. 2. 6. and his special Ubi there is the Fathers bosom Joh. 1. 18. and from thence together with him he breathes forth the holy Ghost His Works are divine and all one with the Fathers Joh. 5. 19. He sat in counsel with him in framing his Eternal Decrees and since wrought with him in making first a World of Creatures and then a Church of Saints and still he works with him in the preservation and gubernation of both Lastly his two Testaments which face each other as the Cherubims upon the Ark by their sweet glances and respective aspects upon each other do disclose his Deity For in the Old Testament 't is said that Jehovah brought Israel out of Egypt Exod. 20. 2. in the New Testament 't is said that Christ did it Jude 4. and 5. Ver. in the Old Jehovah circumcises the heart Deut. 30. 6. in the New Christ doth it Col. 2. 11. in the Old Jehovah poured out the Spirit Joel 2. 28. in the New Christ Acts 2. 33. in the Old every knee bowes to Jehovah Isai. 45. 23. in the New to Christ Rom. 14. 11. in the Old miracles were done in Jehovah's Name 2 Kings 2. 21. in the New in Christ's Acts 9. 34. in the Old Jehovah is the first and the last Isai. 44. 6. in the New Christ is Alpha and Omega Revel 1. 11. in the Old there is Deus absconditus Isai. 45. 15. in the New Deus manifestatus in carne 1 Tim. 3. 16. All which do most pregnantly prove the Deity of Christ unto us Nevertheless proud Reason will be babling How can the Father beget the Son ex propriâ Substantiâ Can any part of the Divine Essence be discinded in such a Generation Or if not can the whole be given to the Son And if so how is it retained to the Father I answer The Father gave unto the Son the whole Essence non alienatione sed communicatione non generatione emanante sed immanente the Father so begets the Son as that he still possesses him Prov. 8. 22. the Son so goes forth from the Father as that he still abides in him his eternal egress Micah 5. 2. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not by defluxion but immansion I am in the Father and the Father in me saith Christ Joh. 14. 10. Indeed if we speak accurately the Father begets the Son out of himself rather in Essentiâ divinâ than ex essentiâ divinâ Hence the entire Essence is in the Father and the entire Essence is in the Son too and what if it could not be thus in a finite Essence yet why may it not be so in an infinite What if Reason cannot fathom it must therefore Faith reject it I conclude then that Christ is very God and as God hath a right to redeem us his Creatures 2. Jus Idoneitatis as the Son of God he was most fit to be our Redeemer what can be more perfectly congruous than Reconciliation by God's beloved one Adoption by his Natural Son Reparation of his gracious Image by his substantial a shine of Favour by the brightness of his Glory beams of Light by his Wisdom Restitution of Life by the Prince of Life and Mediation between God and Man by the middle Person in the sacred Trinity There be three great goings forth of God into which all others may be resolved the first is that fundamental one of Creation and upon Sins Entry which is but an Apostasie from Creation in comes the second viz. Redemption and out of this as out of a Fountain flows the third and that is Sanctification these hang in order one upon another Unless there had been a Creature and that Apostate there had been no place for Redemption and unless there had been a Redemption there had been no room for Sanctification for God would never have reimplanted his Image of Holiness in a Creature left under the eternal stroke of his Justice nor have plucked away the spot of Sin there where the guilt of Sin is left behind Now albeit it is a most sure Rule that Opera Trinitatis ad extrà sunt indivisa yet among Divines Creation is in a sort peculiarized to the Father as the first Redemption to the Son as the second and Sanctification to the Spirit as the third Person in the Glorious Trinity Thus in these three goings forth of God each person in the Trinity hath his special Shine and that in the very Order of his Subsistence wherefore it was very congruous that the Son of all the Persons in the Trinity should be out Redeemer 3. Jus Conjunctionis he that redeems a Captive must be Persona conjunct a with him and so was Christ with us in a threefold respect 1. Conjunctione naturali he was our Goel Isai. 59. 20. that is our next kinsman by his Incarnation and our Redeemer by his Passion he assumed our Nature into himself that he might redeem us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great God a sucking Child regens Sydera yet sugens Ubera he that ruled the Stars sucked the Breasts The word was made flesh Joh. 1. 14. and a strange making it was all other Creations are as it were extra Deum but here was a Creation in the very person of God The glorious Trinity in the very instant of drawing the Humane Nature exnihilo interweaved
are renewed with the renewings of the holy Ghost but that is shed on them through Jesus Christ they have the Law written in their hearts but that is the Epistle of Christ their filthy flesh is cut off from their hearts that they may love God who is a pure Spirit but this is the circumcision of Christ Col. 2. 11. In a word all the saving Graces of the Elect are as so many Legacies of the New-testament and the New-testament is founded in his Blood Wherefore it is clear from the Covenant of Grace and its special respect to the Elect that Christ died in a special and peculiar manner for them 3. I argue from the Issue of Christ Christ was to have a Seed and this I shall demonstrate three ways 1. From the Preciousness of his Blood 2. From the Purpose of his Father 3. From the Promise of his Father 1. From the Preciousness of his Blood That there should be a Laver made of God's Blood and never a Sinner washed in it that such a vast sum of precious Merits should be paid down and never a Captive released by it is to me no less than prodigious Blasphemy every little Grain in Nature doth confute it if that do but fall into the ground and die it bringeth forth much fruit and shall the Son of God bleed and die in his assumed Flesh and be fruitless God in his waky Providence gives to every little Seed his own body and shall the peerless Flower of Heaven sow his Blood and Righteousness and have none at all A Cup of cold water given in Charity shall in no wise lose its reward and can it be so with the Blood of Christ poured out in a transcendent excess of Love and glorified into an infinite Merit by his Deity When Christ fed the multitude but with Barley-loaves small Fishes nothing was lost and can all be lost when he makes a Feast of spiritual Marrow and Fatness and gives his Flesh to be meat indeed and his Blood to be drink indeed Oh! far be the thought from every Christian 2. From the Father's purpose which as the Scriptures hold forth clearly was that his Son should be a King a Captain a Shepherd an Husband an Head and a Father And what is a King without Subjects a Captain without Souldiers a Shepherd without a Flook an Husband without a Spouse an Head without a Body and a Father without Posterity Empty Names are below him whose name is above every name Wherefore this King must have a Sion a mountain of holiness to reign in Psal. 2. 6. this Captain a Militia an army with banners to fight under him Cant. 6. 4. this Shepherd a flock to hear his voice and follow him Joh. 10. 4. this Husband a spouse a Queen in Gold of Ophir maried to him Psal. 45. 9. this Head a body to be animated with his Spirit and filled with his life Col. 1. 18. and this Father a numerous issue begotten and brought forth into the spiritual World to honour and serve him Heb. 2. 13. 3. From the Father's Promise which was in terminis That he should have a seed Isai. 53. 10. a Seed begotten by his Spirit and by that Generation bearing his Image and in that Image serving of him and to make it sure God engages by special Promises to take away the stony Heart to write the Law there to put his holy Spirit into them and so infallibly to raise up a seed to him and for the continuance of this Seed successively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filiabitur nomen ejus his name shall be sonned or childed from generation to generation Psal. 72. 17. The special Promises shall be ever budding and blossoming and bringing forth the fruits of Grace thus Christ shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied Isai. 53. 11. and as a sign of this Satisfaction he breaks out Behold I and the Children which God hath given me Heb. 2. 13. Should he miss but one of his Seed or Children his Heart would not rest or be satisfied for they are in a peculiar manner the travel of his Soul But now if Christ died alike or equally for all what becomes of his precious Blood How can the Purpose and Promise of God stand Which way shall Christ have a Seed Shall his Seed be begotten out of Man's Will No such Generation ever was there Joh. 1. 13. 'T is not of him that willeth Rom. 9. 16. Nothing less than the holy Spirit which formed Christ in the Womb can form him in the Heart but shall they be begotten by the holy Spirit That Spirit doth nothing in the work of Regeneration but what Christ merited in his Passion every new Creature which is efficiently begotten by the Spirit was first meritoriously begotten by the Death of Christ or else it would not be the Seed of Christ at least not the travel of his Soul Now Christ did not travel or merit for all men that they should be begotten again by the holy Ghost for then either all would be so begotten which Experience denies or else the Merit and Travel of Christ must be lost which the preciousness thereof abhorrs And if Christ did not merit it for all then neither did he if he died alike for all merit it for any and how then shall he have a Seed His Seed must be begotten by the Spirit and the Spirit begets no new Creatures but what Christ merited and Christ dying equally for all did not merit such a thing for any because not for all Moreover when God promised Christ a Seed either the meaning of that Promise was that some men should become his Seed or that all should be so if that some then Christ died not equally for all if that all then all must be begotten by the Spirit and renewed after Christ's Image the Stone must be cut out of every heart and the Law written there for in these things is the very spirit and life of Regeneration But seeing these things are not wrought in all it appears that the promised Seed is not all but some for whom Christ merited the very work of Regeneration 4. I argue from the Working of the holy Spirit As the holy Spirit eternally procedes from the Father and the Son in his personal Subsistence so he goes forth in time from the Father and the Son in his working in Men. Hence he is called the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son the Father sends him and the Son sends him and as the holy Spirit works in Men from the Father and the Son so he works in them more or less as the Love of the Father and the Merits of the Son do more or less respect them The Father doth in some sort love and the Son did in some sort die for all men Hence the holy Spirit hath some workings in the Non-elect Within the Church many of them taste the Powers of the World to come nay in the Pagan-world
irresistible way I am for the Affirmative in a right sence A work may be said to be done irresistibly two ways either when there is no resistance at all thus the Apostle saith ye have killed the just and he doth not resist you Jam. 5. 6. that is not resist at all or else when there is no such resistance as to impede the work thus they were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit of Stephen Acts 6. 10. there 's an irresistibility but what without any resistance at all No they disputed against him with might and main but because their disputes could not impede his work in propagating the Gospel therefore it is said that they were not able to resist him Thus when I say that Conversion is wrought in an irresistible way I mean not that there is no resistance at all for even in the Regenerate there is flesh lusting against the spirit the old Man and the new strugle in the same Faculties like Esau and Jacob in the same Womb but I mean that there is no such resistance as to impede the Work of Conversion In meekness saith the Apostle instructing those that oppose themselves if peradventure God will give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. here is a resistance but for all that the work will be done if God give repentance He went on saith the Prophet frowardly in the way of his heart but what saith God I have seen his ways and will heal him Isai. 57. 17 18. here was a great resistance but for all that God will heal him God works Conversion in such an insuperable way that notwithstanding all the opposition made thereunto it doth infallibly come to pass Now this I shall endeavour to demonstrate first in general and then in particular with respect to the two Instants of Conversion 1. I shall demonstrate it in general and that by these Arguments taken 1. From God's Election He hath chosen some before the foundation of the World chosen them to holiness as the Way Eph. 1. 4. and chosen them to salvation as the End 2 Thess. 2. 13. But if Conversion be not wrought in an insuperable way how doth the foundation of God stand sure 2 Tim. 2. 19 How is that golden Chain kept entire Whom he did predestinate them he called whom he called them he justified and glorified Rom. 8. 30 Were not these called ones who have Predestination going before them and Justification and Glorification coming after them called in an insuperable way If not the Chain cannot hold together The Apostle makes a plain difference between men he opposes those of the election of grace to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were blinded Rom. 11. 7. and those on whom God will have mercy to those whom he hardens Rom. 9. 18. But if Conversion be not irresistibly wrought this difference falls to the ground those of the Election may be blinded and those on whom God hath mercy may be hardened as well as others For my part I should as soon believe that a little Child may put up his finger and rowl about the Spheres as that the Will of Man may stay or turn aside the Influences of electing Grace 2. From Christs Redemption If we consider the preciousness of his Blood surely he must have a Body every little Seed in Nature hath a Body given to it and the Son of God sowing his Blood and Life cannot want one If we consider the Promise of God surely he must have a seed Isai. 53. 10. and what else is the Fulness of the Gentiles and the Conversion of the Jews but this promised Seed But if Grace be not wrought in an insuperable way Christ might sow his Blood and Life in a wonderful Passion and yet have no Body springing out of it nay God might engage himself in the Promise of a Seed and yet nothing at all come of it if the Grace of God be resistible lieve must be asked of Man's will that Christ's Blood may be fruitful and God's Promise Faithful 3. From the Spirit 's Work The three glorious Persons in the sacred Trinity shew forth themselves in three glorious Works the Father hath a special Shine in Creation the Son in Redemption and the holy Spirit in Sanctification In the first Work we have God in the World in the second God in the Flesh and in the third God in the Heart or Spirit When God came forth in Creation Oh! what an Heaven and Earth full of admirable Creatures and Harmonies issued forth When God came in the Flesh what out-breakings of Glory were there What sparklings of the Deity in Miracles upon the Bodies of Men The blind received their sight the lame walked the lepers were cleansed the deaf did hear the dead were raised and the Devils were ejected with power And when God comes in the Heart or Spirit what planting of a new heaven and a new earth How much of Glory and spiritual Miracle breaks forth in the Souls of Men Even here also the blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf hear the dead are raised and the devil is cast out with power The very same Miracles which Christ in the flesh did do on the Bodies of Men in a visible manner the very same doth Christ in the Spirit do on the Souls of Men in a spiritual way This is the proper Work of the Spirit to sanctifie Mens Hearts the Spirit doth not appear any where in all the World so much as in a true Saint Look into a godly Man's Understanding there 's the Spirit of Revelation look into his Will there 's the Spirit of Holiness look into his Affections there 's the Spirit of Love and Joy look into hs Conscience there 's the Spirit of Consolation look into his Prayers there 's the Spirit of Supplication look into his Conversation there 's the Spirit of Meekness and all Righteousness Thus the holy Spirit shews forth its Glory and flows in Men as rivers of living water and this Glory and Out-flowing is so precious that before it came in Esse according to the rich Measures of Gospel-grace it is said of the eternal Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Spirit was not yet Joh. 7. 39. as if the Spirits flowing in Men were a kind of second Being to it But now after all this if Conversion be not wrought in an insuperable way the holy Spirit may be barred out of every Heart and then how shall his work be done Where shall his Glory and spiritual Miracles appear The Father hath a World to appear in the Son hath Flesh to tabernacle in but possibly the holy Spirit can get never an Heart to inhabit in never a Temple to fill with his Glory the holy Spirit would tabernacle with Men but what if the Iron-sinew in the Will will not come out What if the Stone in the heart will not break Then the holy Spirit is robbed of his Glory But is this so strange
his Church as with Jerusalem Ezek. 15. 2 3. What is the vine-tree more than any tree Will men take a pin of it to hang a vessel thereon The Church may answer My own Free Will is such a pin that my Faith and Perseverance chiefly hang upon it and my Faith Perseverance are such pins that God himself hangs up the eternal Rolls of his Election upon them Thus and much more may the Will of man by the Remonstrants Principles sit as a Queen glorifying her self and opening her mouth in Blasphemies against the Sovereignty of God's Will and the freeness and power of his Grace But all this while a deaf Ear is turned to the Scriptures which cry aloud No flesh must glory in it self he that glorieth must glory in the Lord 't is not of the runner or willer but of God who sheweth mercy he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth And if any man reply to this he must hear his own nullity Nay but O man who art thou and God's sovereignty hath not the potter power over the clay that so he may fall down astonied at the Glory of God and cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out Indeed according to the Remonstrants Doctrine which bottoms God's Election on mans Faith and Perseverance there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at all in it all is ultimately resolved into the shallow Will of man there is no unsearchableness or untraceable difficulty at all in it all is plain and easie every jot of it carries a clearness and visible equity Election being only God's Decree to save Believers there is no more scruple or intricacy in it than there will be in the Judicial proceeding at the last Judgment when all things shall be as obvious to every eye as if they were represented in a Sea of Glass But if according to the Apostles Scope we do consider the absolute Sovereignty of God's Will in that Expression He will have mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth there is a very glorious abyss in it such as may justly astonish us into eternal admiration Oh the heights and depths of divine Love All the Elect of God may here lose themselves in holy Mazes and trances My God! my God! may every one of them say Why hast thou chosen me I know and not without wondring that Heaven is mine through Christ and Christ is mine through Faith and Faith is mine through the Election of Grace but my God! my God! why hast thou chosen me I know that thy blood was shed for me and thy Spirit is shed into me and thy Glory is reserved for me and all this out of love but my God! my God! why hast thou loved me Oh that I could adore Calling Justifying Glorifying Grace from the top of Predestination Thou hast loved me because thou hast loved me thou hast chosen me because thou hast chosen me Even so holy Father because so it seemeth good in thy sight 5. Having dispatched the Impulsive Cause of Election I proceed to the last thing viz. in whom God doth Elect us I answer with the Apostle God chuseth us in Christ Eph. 1. 4. But because these words are variously taken it is to be considered how Christ may be stiled the purchaser of Election whether only quoad res in Electione volitas praeparatas or also quoad actum volentis to which I answer 1. Affirmatively Jesus Christ as God-man our glorious Mediator did purchase Election quoad res in Electione volitas All the Churches Grace and Glory Sanctity and Salvation Faith and Fruition must sing Hosannahs and Hallelujahs to him whose precious Blood more worth than a thousand Worlds is the glorious price of all these God in the Decree of Election did not only design the communication of these to his own Elect but also he did design that communication to be in and through Christ. 2. Negatively I conceive that Jesus Christ as God-man our Mediator did not purchase Election quoad actum volentis and that for these Reasons 1. That phrase chosen in Christ Eph. 1. 4. doth not evince Christ to be the Cause of Election for in another place we are said to be chosen to Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thess. 2. 13. Which sanctification is for all that not a Cause but an Effect of Election 2. Christ was delivered up to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the determinate counsel of God Acts 2. 23. First he was delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Counsel or Decree of God and if being delivered by God's Decree he merited the Decree of Election then God made one Decree that Christ should come and merit the making of another Christ our Mediator stands in the midst between God and man but that he should stand so between the two Decrees of God as a fruit of the one and a cause of the other seems very incongruous But further he was delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the determinate counsel of God that is by a Decree perfectly designative of his Death and the fruits thereof and in a special manner perfectly designative of those individual persons who should have Grace and Glory in and through him If it be not so perfectly designative how is it a determinate Counsel If it be so perfectly designative is not the Decree of Election at least included therein Undoubtedly it is Now this determinate Counsel which is inclusive of the Decree of Election was not merited by Christ for he was delivered by it and did not merit that by which he was delivered 3. Christ came to do his Fathers will Heb. 10. 7. all that he did and suffered was a faithfulness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to him that made him a Mediator to do and suffer the same Heb. 3. 2. Now aliud est facere voluntatem Deo aliud facere voluntatem Dei Christ did not make a new Will in God but do the Will of God if he had made a new Will in God then at his death there was not only a passion in the flesh of God but as it may seem in the very Will of God too wherefore he not making a new will in God did not merit the Decree of Election But further how did he do the Will of God Did he not do it by laying down his life for his sheep Joh. 10. 15 By redeeming a people out of every nation Revel 5. 9 By purifying to himself a peculiar people Tit. 2. 14 By bringing many sons unto glory Heb. 2. 10 And what is all this but the executing of the Decree of Election And if Christ's errand into the World was to execute Election then how did he merit it 4. God might have exacted satisfaction from poor sinners in their own persons he was not bound to accept
payment from another wherefore Christ's Blood and Righteousness are meritorious as for us not merely by their intrinsecal dignity but by the divine acceptation God receiving them as on our behalf Whence it clearly appears that the divine Will doth guide the Merit of Christ in all its procurements and how then doth the Merit of Christ guide the divine Will in its eternal Election Can it guide its Guide Can it go before its Leader Surely that divine Will which goes before those meritorious procurements by its Acceptation doth not follow after them in its eternal Decrees 5. The Father is the first Person in the sacred Trinity and works from himself the Son is the second and works from the Father Thus he tells us that he can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do Joh. 5. 19. And in his Prayer to his Father he saith Thine they were and thou gavest them me Joh. 17. 6. Thine they were by Election and thou gavest them me as the peculiar purchase of my Passion But now if Christ by his Merits do found the very Decree of Election is not the Order of working in the sacred Trinity inverted Is not the Son the first Origine of our Salvation Doth not the Father even in his Eternal Election work from the Son Might not the Scripture rather have said that the Elect were given by the Son to the Father than by the Father to the Son Wherefore to me it seems most congruous to say That the Fathers Love laid the first plot of our Salvation and then the Sons Blood purchased Grace and Glory for us I shall shut up all with an Answer to an Objection This Thesis that Christ did not merit the Decree of Election seems to abase Christ as if he were a mere medium for the executing of Election nay to nullifie his Merits for it supposes that God doth amare peccatores ad salutem etiam extra Christum that God doth destinate eternal Life to them even without a Mediator and then what necessity is there at all of Christ's Merits I answer Far be it from every Christian to abase and nullifie the Merits of Christ but as I take it the Thesis aforesaid doth neither of these Not abase Christ as a mere medium under the Decree of Election for though he merited not the Decree of Election yet must his praise be ever glorious and his Name above every name in that he is both the glorious Head of the Elect and the meritorious Fountain of all the blessings and good things of Election In Eternity the Elect are predestinated to be conformed to his Image as the first-born of all and in time they are called justified sanctified and glorified in and through him as the purchaser of all Neither doth he vilifie Christ who calls him the grand Medium for the executing of Election the Apostle cries up Christ by those glorious Titles The head of the Church the beginning the first-born from the dead one who hath the primacy or preeminence in all things Col. 1. 18. yet immediatly after puts all under the Father's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 19. His Decree or good pleasure did preordain and direct all Neither doth this Thesis nullifie the Merits of Christ for these consist not in procuring the Decree of Election but in procuring Grace and Glory and these he procured though not the Decree it self Neither doth it at all follow that if Christ merited not the very Decree then God doth amare peccatores ad salutem extra Christum or destinate Eternal life to them without a Mediator For seeing Christ is predestinated to be the Head of the Elect and Fountain of all Grace and Glory unto them and the Elect are predestinated to be the Body of Christ and to receive all Grace and Glory in and through him and both these Predestinations are simultaneous in the heart of God and framed together in the same instant of Eternity There is not nor cannot be any colour at all to say that God doth love sinners extra Christum or destinate Eternal life to them without a Mediator When God in free Election resolves with himself such individual persons shall by an effectual Call be united to Christ as members of his Body and being such shall be washed in his blood filled with his Spirit and at last crowned with his everlasting Salvation when he resolves every grain shall come through Joseph's hands every particle of Grace every income of the holy Spirit every glimpse of Divine Favour every beam of glory in Heaven shall pass through Jesus Christ's hands nay through his very Heart-blood and crucified Flesh unto the Elect Doth he now love them extra Christum Doth he yet destinate them to Eternal life without a Mediator Undoubtedly he doth not If therefore you ask me what necessity there is of Christs merits I must answer That all Grace and Glory Sanctity and Salvation Faith and Fruition are thereby purchased and procured for the Elect. The pure fountain of Election rises of it self in the Will of God but the gracious streams thereof issue forth through the bleeding Wounds of Christ. CHAP. V. Of Gods Decree of Reprobation as touching Men. HAving treated of the Decree of Election as respective of men I proceed to the Decree of Reprobation as it relates to them In the Old Testament we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint rendred by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and importing as much as reprobare to reprobate or reject In the New Testament we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importing a rejectaneous or disallowed person and rather pointing out man's State than God's Act. But to pass over the word Reprobation is that Eternal Decree of God whereby he purposes in himself not to give Grace and Glory to some individual persons lying in the Mass of Humane Corruption but to leave them to final sin and for the same to punish them with Eternal Damnation In this Decree the Divine Will hath as I may so say a Triple Act For 1. It purposes not to give Grace and Glory to some persons and this is called among Divines Preterition or Non-election and is of all other the most proper act of Reprobation as it stands in opposition to Election Hence Reprobates are called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rest or residue in opposition to the Elect Rom. 11. 7. the nunquam noti or never known Matth. 7. 23. in opposition to the foreknown and the not written in the book of life Revel 13. 8. in opposition to the written ones whose names are enrolled in Heaven 2. It purposes to leave them to final sin I say final sin for God permits sin even in the Elect but final sin only in the Reprobate Thus God suffered the Nations to walk in their own ways Acts 14. 16. and thereby gave them pereundi licentiam Thus he hardneth whom he will Rom. 9. 18. and hardening in
intrinsecal merit of Sin and paid only to a final Sinner therefore the consideration of final sin is a prerequisite to the Decree of Damnation without that consideration I see not how it can be decreed as Wages But you 'l say Is not Eternal Life also a Reward of Faith and Holiness and how then can that be decreed as a Reward without a preconsideration of these I answer Eternal Life is a Reward but 't is a Reward of pure Grace 't is Grace upon Grace glorifying Grace upon sanctifying therefore to the Decreeing thereof as a Reward it suffices that it be decreed to Believers and Saints Not Believers and Saints so preconsidered to that Decree for Grace and Glory being both mere gifts and gifts of immediate contact are comprized in one Decree but Believers and Saints so to be made by force of that Decree and so to be made before they wear the Crown This is enough in the decreeing of a Reward so purely gratuitous But in Eternal Death there is nothing at all gratuitous all is mere wages and pay for Sin Sin doth really and intrinsecally merit it Wherefore Eternal death as such wages is decreed only to final Sinners Not final Sinners so to be made by force of God's Decree for that makes no man a final Sinner but final Sinners so preconsidered to the Decree of Damnation for without that preconsideration it is not as I conceive decreeable as wages or pay due unto them To shut up this point in a word Reprobation as to the Decree of Preterition and Permission respects men as lapsed Sinners and as to the Decree of Damnation respects them as final Sinnets 4. What is the Impulsive Cause of Reprobation To which I make answer 1. As for the Decree of Preterition and Permission of final Sin it is from God's Will as cloathed with supreme Sovereignty God passeth by and hardneth whom he will This appears in two particulars 1. First God doth not give so much as the Gospel-means unto some men He suffered all nations to walk in their own ways Acts 14. 16. Some sin and perish without Law or Gospel all the Law they have is the dark glimmering of Nature and all the Gospel they have is the patience and goodness of God leading to Repentance The Sun Moon and Stars are divided to all nations Dent. 4. 19. but Jesus Christ a Sun of infinite light and lustre shines in a narrower compass on the earth than the finite Sun the Moon is lesser than the Earth the visible Church than the World of Men. The Apostles those Stars of light must not shine in Asia and Bithynia Acts 16. 6 7. By what way is this Evangelical Light parted Surely by the divine Will alone the difference is not from the worthiness or unworthiness of men for those in Asia and Bithynia were as good as others Christ was manifested to a Thief and not to a Socrates or Plato Rebellious Israel hath the light of the Word in it and a more flexible Nation which would hearken thereunto wants it Ezek. 3. 6 7. Impenitent Corazin and Bethsaida have a visible Deity before them in Christ's Miracles when poor Tyre and Sidon much nearer to Repentance hath it not Matth. 11. 21. In all which the sovereign Will of God is to be adored for that is it which divideth between the Light and the Darkness 2. In the Visible Church the Orb of Gospel-light God doth not give saving Grace unto all 'T is true the mercy of God is so immense that all the sins of men are but as the drop of the bucket to it the Blood of God is so meritorious that all the crimson Crimes in the World are as nothing to it and the Spirit of God is so almighty that all the chains of hardness and unbelief fall off before his converting Grace Nevertheless this immense Mercy doth not pardon all this meritorious Blood doth not wash all nor this almighty Spirit doth not convert all unto God Oh the wonderful Abyss of the divine Counsel All men naturally lie in bloody pollution and God saith to one Live and not to another all are as it were one entire Rock of obstinacy against God and he calls Abraham's children out of one part of the Rock and leaves all the rest to be Rock still All are dead in sins and trespasses nay and sealed up in their Graves with a stone of hardness and unbelief and one Grave-stone is rolled away and the dead under it raised up by almighty Grace and not another External Revelation is all over the Church why is not the inward holy Unction so too The Gospel sounds in every Ear why do not all hear and learn of the Father The Gospel calls and knocks at every door why are not the Demonstrations of the Spirit and the drawings of the Father in every heart The Gospel says in general Whosoever will may take the Water of Life freely why doth not God work the Will in all Why are any dimissi libero arbitrio left to the miserable servitude of their own free Will Here there is no other resolution but that of the Apostle He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth and beyond this we can only wonder and in quodam mentis excessu cry out Oh the depth Cur hoc illi operetur saith St. Austin illi non operetur metuentem me trementem judicia ejus inscrutabilia incomprehensibilia nolo interroges quia quod lego ercdo revereor non autem discutio And Ne dicas Deo interrogando Quae est voluntas tua sed tremendo Fiat voluntas tua And again Posset Deus saith he of wicked men ipsorum voluntatem in bonum convertere quoniam Omnipotens est posset planè cur ergo non fecit quia noluit cur noluerit penès ipsum est If there were any thing extra Deum moving him to the Decree of Preterition and Permission it must needs be sin either Original or Actual or final Impenitency and Infidelity therein but none of all these moved God thereunto Not Original sin for this is the common blood wherein all men Elect as well as Reprobate lie by nature And this is St. Ambrose's Mirum touching Infants Ubi actio non offendit ubi arbitrium non resistit ubi eadem miseria similis imbecillitas causa communis est non unum esse de tanta parilitate judicem quales reprobat abdicatio tales adoptat Electio Indeed Original Sin makes all men reprobable for all are by nature Children of wrath Transgressors from the womb an unclean and corrupt Seed lying in bloody and abominable pollution fit and worthy to be put away from the holy One as dross and for ever to be cast out into utter darkness but it makes no man a Reprobate for the Elect are as deep in this filthy mire as others Nor yet doth Actual sin do it for Jacob was loved and Esau hated before they had
of the living is but a puff of Vanity the Reason of the intelligent but a snuff in the socket and the Liberty of the free but a dead broken Idol Shouldest thou but for one moment withdraw thy hand oh what a tumbling cast would there be among the Angels what a crack in the heavenly Orbs what a Chaos in the Elements what a strange Dooms-day by the blending of Sun and Sea Heaven and Earth together Thou O divine Will art all in all thy Wisdom is a wakeful Eye thy Power a supporting Centre thy Presence a lively Cherisher thy Authority a supreme Law-giver and thy Pleasure an universal Orderer to all the World Oh that there were such an heart in us as to eye thy Wisdom in every Wheel own thy Power in every Preservation awe thy Presence in every place acknowledge thy Authority in every Law and submit to thy Pleasure in every Event always praying Fiat Voluntas tua which cannot be perfectly prayed sine infimâ humilitate altissimâ charitate CHAP. VIII Of the Work of Redemption I Have now passed over the Work of Creation with its Appendices of Conservation and Gubernation but behold a greater than Creation is here stupendious Redemption the wonder of Angels and envy of Devils at which Creation starts back and gives up its Sabbath I am come to the Tree of Life growing in Paradise hanging full of Pardons and Graces and spreading forth a broad and indefective shadow of Merits over sinful Worms I am now at the pure Well of Salvation springing out of the Deity of the Son of God issuing through the bleeding Wounds of his Humanity and filling every Vessel of Faith I am now to open my eyes upon the most tremendous Mystery that ever was God in the Flesh the brightness of Glory under a Veil the Fulness of the Godhead tabernacling in Dust and a Sun of infinite light and lustre cloathed in Sack-cloth in his Incarnation and turned into Blood in his Passion Oh! for some illapses of that holy Spirit which takes the things of Christ and shews them in their spiritual Glory Redemption may be thus described It is the procuring of Freedom for a Captive by a Price paid by him who is to redeem and accepted by him who is the Supreme Detainer in that behalf that the Captive may be delivered out of a state of Captivity into a state of Liberty according to the Wills of the Payer and Receiver of that price I say it is the procuring Freedom Actual Freedom is the Crowning Issue of Redemption but the procuring of Freedom is an essential ingredient in it Hence Christ is said to obtain eternal Redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. 'T is the procuring of Freedom for a Captive Free-men are not capable of it but Captives only and such are all men become by sin They owed ten thousand Talents to God as the great Creditor and Traitor-like they rebelled against God as the great Law-giver and for those Debts and Rebellions God as a righteous Judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shut them up in the prison of wrath Rom. 11. 32. 'T is the procuring of Freedom for a Captive by a Price not by mere Power but by a Price when it is procured by mere Power 't is but a naked Deliverance but when it is procured by a Price then 't is a true proper Redemption Hence in the Evangelical Charter we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Price and that which issues from it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 true proper Redemption Again 't is the procuring of Freedom for a Captive by a Price paid by him who is to redeem and accepted by him who is the supreme Detainer in that behalf for if it be not paid 't is no Price if it be not paid by him who is to redeem he cannot be a Redeemer the Detainer must accept of it in that behalf or else no Freedom can be justly procured and the supreme Detainer must accept of it for not the Jailor or Fetters which are but Under-detainers but the Creditor Law-giver who is the supreme Detainer must receive satisfaction or else the Captive cannot be justly released And all these are couched together by the Apostle Christ gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour Eph. 5. 2. Christ there 's he who was to redeem gave himself an Offering and a Sacrifice there 's the Price paid down by him to God there 's the supreme Detainer the Jailor Satan and the Fetters of guilt are but under-detainers but God is the supreme and must have satisfaction and for a sweet-smelling savour there 's the Price accepted by God in that behalf Lastly the end of all is that the Captive may be delivered out of a state of Captivity into a state of Liberty according to the Wills of the Payer and Receiver Redemption moves towards the actual deliverance of the Captive as its proper Centre and that actual deliverance comes forth according to the Wills of the Payer and Receiver as its rule and measure If their Wills be that upon the very payment and acceptance of the Price the Captive should be ipso facto delivered then he is delivered without any more adoe but if their Wills be that the Captive should be delivered but upon certain conditions to be by him first performed then he is not delivered till after the performance thereof Thus the Redemption wrought by Christ moves towards the actual deliverance of sinful Captives and that actual deliverance according to the Will of the Father and the Son comes forth not immediately upon the payment and acceptance of the Price but upon Faith and Repentance which are the Terms of the Gospel Hence the Apostles testified Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20. 21. Hence also those expressions of Propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3. 25. and of Receiving the atonement Rom. 5. 11. which with many more shew us the Terms upon which actual deliverance comes forth into being Now in this discourse of Redemption I shall gather up all under four Heads 1. The Captive 2. The Captivity 3. The Redeemer 4. The Price 1. The Captive is fallen Man and here two things are considerable 1. Man fallen in opposition to Man standing 2. Man fallen in opposition to fallen Angels 1. Man fallen in opposition to Man standing Man as he came out of his Makers hands was a spotless Creature his Mind a pure Lamp of knowledge his Will a Throne for the holy One his Heart a Sanctuary of all Graces his Affections all in harmony with the Rational Faculties the Image of God sparkling within him and the Favour of God sunning him round about Here all was Freedom no Chain but that of Graces no Bands but Cords of Love no Prison but a Paradise no Captive but the Lord's Free-man the least drop of wrath could not fall on him here But alas how soon was this Star shot Man
of Holiness burning with zeal for God melting in compassions over Men bowing it self down in miraculous humility and in a rape of love doing all the Will of God even to the last gasp upon the Cross. His thoughts were all births of Holiness his words oracles of Truth his works a fulfilling all Righteousness and his meat and drink was to do his Father's Will He ascended up to the top or pinacle of the Moral Law in the sweetest strains of Love and fetched about the breadth or vast compass of it in the largeness of his Obedience and passed down to the very hemm or border of it in the lowness of his Humility Rather than fail he would be subject to his own Creature Luk. 2. 51. pay tribute to his own Subject Matth. 17. 27. and wash his Disciples feet with those very hands which had all the power in Heaven and Earth in them Joh. 13. 3 4 5. Nay he stooped down as low as the fringe of the Ceremonial Law his sinless flesh was circumcised Luke 2. 21. his holy Mother purified Luk. 2. 22. the true Passeover kept the typical one Matth. 26. 20 21. and so obedientially stood under his own shadow In every respect he was obedient unto death His Obedience was a fair Commentary on the whole Law written in glorious Characters of Holiness and Righteousness all his life long and at his death clasped and sealed up with his precious Blood Thus the Mandatory part of the Law was answered now for the Minatory 2. He gave up himself in his passive obedience he was in some sence crucifyed in the womb in that he was made of his creature and coming forth into the world all his life was a perpetual passion The Gospel shews us the immense God in swadling clouts the builder of all things working as a Carpenter the holy one hurried up and down by a tempting Devil the filler of all things hungry the fountain of living water thirsty the power of God weary the eternal joy of the Father weeping the owner of all things extreme poor and not knowing where to lay his head in his own world Thus as a man of sorrows he passes on towards his Cross one of his own Apostles betraying him another denying him the rest forsaking him the chief Priests bloodily conspiring against him false witnesses unjustly accusing him the tumultuous rabble crying out crucify crucify and Pilate first confessing his innocency and then condemning his person And now arriving at his Cross sorrows break in upon every part his head raked with thorns his face besmeared with spittle his eyes afflicted with the tears of friends his ears filled with the blasphemies of enemies his lips of grace wet with vinegar and gall his hands and feet nailed to the Cross and his sacred body hanging between thieves racked and tortured to death in a Golgotha of stench and rottenness But all this is but the outside of his passion at the same time hell was let loose and from thence the Devils as so many roaring Lyons came with open mouth to devour him and which is much more Heaven thundred over his head and the righteous God as angry as our sins could make him fell a smiting of him Isai. 53. 4. and smote him in his Soul too verse 10. and with smiting wounded and bruised him verse 5. the smart and anguish whereof was so great that he was afraid Hebr 5. 7. and his fear was so high that he began 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to faint away and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be sore amazed Mark 14. 33. and in this amazement the Eclipse was so dark that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surrounded with sorrows even unto death verse 34. and in this spiritual Siege he falls a praying Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Matth. 26. 39. and in prayer he sinks into an agnony His soul became like that poor ship that fell into a place where two seas met the fore-part sticking fast and remaining unmoveable and the hinder-part broken with the violence of the waves Acts 27. 41. Even so here were two seas met a sea of wrath storming against him as our Surety and a sea of love breathing in him after our Redemption His humane will as nature shrunk at the sense of Gods wrath but as reason it stedfastly pointed at the work of our Salvation Redemption stood fast and unmoveable in his heart yet the same heart though without the least spot of sinful contrariety was broken with the waves of amazing horrors and so dreadful was this agony that it cast this grand Heroe the strength of all the Martyrs into a bloody sweat there fell from him great drops of blood Luke 22. 44. The sins of the world ascending up as a vast cloud before Gods Tribunal now came dashing down upon him in an horrible tempest of incomprehensible wrath and this makes him cry nay as the Psalmist hath it Psal. 22. 1. roar out upon the Cross My God! my God! Why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27. 46. One would have thought at the first blush that the humane nature had been dropt out of his divine person but though that were not yet the sense of Gods favour was for a time suspended from his humane nature Never was sorrow like to his sorrow In all the legal sacrifices there was destructio rei oblatae and all those destructions were summed up in his sufferings As the corn he was bruised as the wine and oil poured out as the Lamb slain and rosted in the fire of Gods wrath and as the scape-goat driven into the dismal wilderness of desertion He did as it were sport in Creation but in Redemption he sweats suffers bleeds and dyes Now his humane nature thus made under the Law both in his active and passive obedience is the complete and integral price of our Redemption I say both in his active and passive obedience for these were not sundred either in existence or merit 1. Not in existence for there was passion in his actions and action in his passions from first to last his obedience was with suffering and his suffering with obedience There was passion in his actions 't was a great suffering for the great Law-giver to be under the Law for the Lord of the Sabbath to observe it The noblest and purest piece of the Law is the knowing and loving of God and yet even in that there was a great suffering for he who eternally knew the Father in an infinity of light now knew him as it were by candle-light in a finite reason he who eternally embraced the Father in an infinity of love now loved him in the narrow compass of a finite will and therefore even in these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he emptied himself as the Apostle speaks Phil. 2. 7. And on the other side there was action in his passion his passions were with knowledge he shut not
in another yet the Minatory Law which is the voice of Justice cannot be satisfied unless the punishment fall on the Sinner himself and the reason is because in this Minatory Law the Veracity of God is engaged which it was not before now Justice speaks out which it did not before and that which it speaks must be true For answer whereunto 1. Some as the Learned Grotius say that here was Dispensatio Legis quâ Legis manentis obligatio circa quasdam personas tollitur But I take it that God's Threatnings are indispensably Yea and Amen as well as his Promises for albeit God doth not dare aliquod jus creaturae in his Threatnings as he doth in his Promises yet is he debitor sibi-ipsi in both and not one jot or tittle of either can fail because of his infinite Veracity God will not call back his words of threatning Isai. 31. 2. neither will he himself turn back from them Jer. 4. 28. his words stand surely for evil Jer. 44. 29. That Threatning that Nineveh should be destroyed had a tacit Condition in it which had it been expressed the Threatning would have run thus It shall be destroyed except it repent therefore it repenting there was a remotion of the Judgment according to the tenour of the Threatning but no dispensatio Juris at all Wherefore 2. I answer that here God did interpret his Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in an equitable way equity is nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a filling up of a general Law by a benign interpretation in that part which was not precisely determinate The divine sanction was the sinner shall die but it was not precisely determinate that he should die in his own person for then God's unalterable truth should have barred out a Surety neither was it precisely determinate that he should die in his Surety for then the threatning should originally have been a promise and a promise unto sin such as God never made But the sanction was general the sinner shall die and two interpretations lay before God the first that the sinner shall die in his own person the latter that he shall die in his surety the first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just severity the latter is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condescending mercy in the first there is more of the sound of the law-letter in the latter more of the sounding of the Law-givers bowels the first is much like the first delivery of the Law with thundrings and lightnings and devouring fire Exod. 19. 16 17 18. the latter is like the second delivery of it with a Proclamation of grace and goodness and pardoning mercy for thousands Exod. 34. 6 7. Now these two interpretations lying before God he as the Supreme Law-giver in order to redemption interpreted his Law according to a merciful equity the sinner shall die that is in his surety Christ. Oh the immense love of the Father and the Son the Fathers love fills up the Law by a gracious interpretation and then the Sons love fulfils it by a perfect satisfaction mercy and truth are met together mercy in a favourable construction of the Law and truth in the evident veracity of the Law-giver the person of the sinner may be saved and yet the truth of the threatning is salved through Christ's satisfaction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are abrogated from the Law Rom. 7. 6. and yet we do not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abrogate the Law but establish it Rom. 3. 31. because it is fulfilled in Christ. Neither doth this equitable interpretation suppose any defect in the divine Law as it doth in humane Laws for humane Laws are made general for want of providence in men to forsee all particular cases which fall out but this Law was made general out of the perfection of providence in God that there might be room for a surety to come in and satisfie it But you 'l say if God interpret the threatning in such an equitable way the sinner shall die in his surety then no sinner is in a state of wrath here nor can be condemned in hell hereafter for both these issue out from the first interpretation thou shalt die in thine own person and that is now waved by the Judge I answer that God doth not totally and absolutely either wave the first rigorous interpretation for the elect are under wrath till they believe and repent and the reprobate not believing and repenting are cast into hell and both by virtue of the first interpretation but he waves the first and makes the second interpretation in order to redemption and only so far forth as redemption requires it Now what doth that require It requires that all that embrace Christ should be saved from the death in the threatning and therefore thus far the first interpretation is waved and the second takes place but it requires not that any person should either be out of a state of wrath before faith or be saved without faith and therefore the equitable interpretation doth not go thus far and so far as that goeth not the rigorous interpretation takes place because pro tanto it is consistent with redemption redemption is the end and the all-wise God measures and proportions out the equitable interpretation in such a way as serves unto it and the rigorous interpretation in such a way as stands with it In a word according to this equitable interprepretation Christ hath so satisfied the threatning as that all believers shall be saved from it yet this satisfaction hinders not but that the rigorous interpretation should abide upon unbelievers whilst such for whilst such they embrace not that satisfaction and therefore are justly cursed by the Law till they receive the Gospel Fifthly God's vindictive Justice and minatory Law being thus satisfied he becomes reconciled There are two degrees of reconciliation the first is that whereby God is ready to receive men into grace and favour if they believe the second is that whereby God is actually reconciled to them upon their believing The Apostle mentions both these Col. 1. 20 21. for first he tells us ver 20. That God did reconcile all things to himself by the blood of his Cross and then it follows ver 21. Yet now hath he reconciled you you O believing Colossians All were reconciled in the first degree and believers in the second the first was done all at once upon the Cross and the second is yet now a doing and so will be till the Believers are all come in therefore the Apostle says God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself 2 Cor. 5. 19. Reconciling which imports a continued Act a carrying on the work of Reconciliation from one degree to another by particular applications Now both these degrees of Reconciliation are wrought by the Death of Christ the first was wrought by it ipso facto without it God would have breathed out nothing but wrath but through it he is ready to forgive Psal. 86. 5. As
Surety and the promised Life made good to us Sinners But you 'l object further If the Law be thus interpreted in an equitable way viz. to be done by a Surety then it is not so much as a Rule of life to us for that issues out of the first interpretation viz. the doing of it in our own persons I answer that still the Law is a Rule of life to us and the reason is because God doth not wave the rigorous and take the equitable interpretation totally and absolutely but in order to Redemption and so far only as Redemption requires it Now what doth that require It requires that the Obedience of a Surety should be admitted for the impletion of the Law and therefore thus far the rigorous interpretation is waved and the equitable takes place But it requires not that the redeemed ones should be exempted from the Law as a Rule and therefore the equitable interpretation doth not go thus far and so far as that goes not the rigorous one takes place because pro tanto it is consistent with Redemption Hence it comes to pass that Christ as our Surety fulfilled the Law for us and yet still the Law is a Rule of life to us Christ is the end of the Law to the believer and yet the Believer is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law to Christ 1 Cor. 9. 21. Thus this Price is redemptive from Evil and procurative of Good but the Crown of all is yet behind 3. It is a Price sufficient for both the former There is a double Sufficiency Sufficientia nuda and Sufficientia ordinata the first consists in the intrinsecal value of the thing the thing in value transcending or at least equalizing the thing to be redeemed the second consists in the Will of the Payer and Receiver the one intentionally paying and the other intentionally accepting that thing as a Price of Redemption the first is that radical Sufficiency whereby the thing may possibly become a Price the second is that formal Sufficiency whereby the thing doth actually become a Price Let the thing be in it self of never so vast a value the former without the latter doth not constitute it a Price Now the glorious price of our Redemption hath both these Sufficiencies in it 1. It hath Sufficientiam nudam the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ have intrinsecal value enough to equalize nay infinitely superexcede all our Debts and over and besides to purchase three Worlds for us and the reason is because his Deity poured out a kind of Infinity into his Doings and Sufferings The Righteousness which he fulfilled was the righteousness of God Rom. 1. 17. the Blood which he shed was the blood of God Rom. 20. 28. the Life which he laid down was the life of God 1 Joh. 3. 16. And what nakedness cannot the Righteousness of God cover What debts cannot the Blood of God pay for And what Worlds cannot the Life of God purchase Remember O poor trembling Soul remember he that was pierced for thee was Jehovah he that was smitten for thee was the man God's fellow and he that obeyed for thee was in the form of God O what manner of Actions and Passions were those wherein the Law-giver stood under his own Law and the Creator suffered in his own World How was his Obedience elevated into Infinity and transfigured into glory by his Godhead What a Mass of sweet-smelling Merits must that be into which the Deity it self transfused Riches and Odours This may be one reason why Christ is stiled the heir of all things Heb. 1. 2. though he be the Purchaser of all yet he is Heir of all because he received his divine Nature from his Father and that divine Nature stamped an infinite value upon the Purchase-money which bought all May I shadow it out by an imperfect Similitude A Son receives vast sums from his Father and with them purchases an estate in Lands to himself that Son is the Purchaser of those Lands in respect of his own payment of the Money and yet in a sence he is Heir to them in respect of his receipt of the Money from his Father So the Eternal Son of God is the Purchaser of all for he paid down his own Blood and Righteousness as the Price and yet he is Heir of all for that Price had its value from the divine Nature and that divine Nature was received from his Father in the Eternal Generation There is no doubt then as long as Christ is God but that his Obedience hath value enough in it self 2. It hath Sufficientiam ordinatam and this appears 1. By the Will of Christ who paid down the Price 2. By the Will of God who received it both their Wills concentre in the work of Redemption and the counsel of peace is between them both Zach. 6. 13. 1. It appears by the Will of Christ when he paid down his Obedience what was his meaning Surely not a tittle of his Obedience was irrationally done nor a drop of his Blood irrationally shed what then was his meaning in it Was it not to dissolve the Chains of Sin open the Prison of Wrath and spoil and triumph over the bloody Jaylor Satan Was it not to procure the standing of the Body of Nature the shedding down of the Spirit of Grace and the opening a door to Heaven and eternal Life These were the things on which the divine and humane Will of Christ were both set his divine Will was set upon them for before the foundations of the World even in his joyous Eternity with his Father his delights were with the sons of men Prov. 8. 31. and when the World was up he appeared to Abraham in a humane shape and to Moses to usher in a temporal Redemption the first as a praeludium to his Incarnation and the latter as a praeludium to our Redemption and both as a demonstration that the work of Salvation was in his Heart And afterwards in the days of his flesh his humane Will never parted from his divine but in a rape of Love always run upon Redemption this he sought for in a long circuit of Obedience and sought with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till it was finished this he sought for in his bloody Agony and when his humane Will as Nature shrunk back from the Cup of Wrath yet the same Will as Reason kissed and drunk it off to the bottom in order to Redemption this he ardently pursued after through Cross-tortures and Soul-travels and rather than fail of it he would for a time be forsaken even of God himself and when he cried out I thirst his greatest thirst of all was after this and could never be quenched till he came to a consummatum est Thus stood the mind of Christ in the business 2. It appears by the Will of God and that in two things 1. God decreed this Price to be paid for the ends aforesaid 2. God accepted it being paid for the
Redemption Surely it imports thus much unto us that Redemption hath a larger Sphere than Election and therefore the Scriptures contract Election in words of Speciality only whilest they open and dilate Redemption in emphatical Generalities 2. If those general Expressions denote only the World of the Elect or the All of Believers why doth the Scripture use such very different language in the same thing Sometimes Christ is called the saviour of the world and sometimes the saviour of the body sometimes 't is said that Christ died or gave himself for all or for the world sometimes it is said that he died or gave himself for the Church or for his sheep Who can imagine that such words of universality and such words of speciality should be of the same latitude that one and the same thing should be imported in both Moreover the Scripture doth make a signal distinction when it speaks of his giving himself or dying for all it says only that he died for all or gave himself a Ransom for all But when it speaks of giving himself for his Church it says that he sanctified himself that it might be sanctified through the truth Joh. 17. 19. and that he gave himself for it that he might purisie to himself a peouliar people Tit. 2. 14. and that he gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the word and present it to himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle Eph. 5. 25 26 27. Never in all the Scripture is it said that he gave himself for all or for the World that he might sanctifie or cleanse it or make it a peculiar People or glorious Church which yet might have been truly said if the All were no more than the All of Believers or the World than the World of the Elect wherefore to me it seems clear from those various Expressions and the observable distinctions in them that the All for whom Christ died is larger than the All of Believers and the World for whom Christ gave himself larger than the World of the Elect. 2. Having laid down my own Reasons I procede to answer the Objections made against this Opinion Object 1. If Christ died for all men then all would believe for Christ's Death procures all Graces and in particular Faith seeing then all men have not Faith either Christ did not die for them all or else he loseth part of his Purchase I answer that Christ's Death is procurative of all Graces and particularly of Faith so far as it is a Price and it is a Price so far as it was paid down by Christ and accepted by God for that purpose for in a Price there must be both Sufficientia nuda consisting in the intrinsecal value of the thing and Sufficientia ordinata consisting in the intentional paying and receiving that thing as a Price Now Christ's death was paid down by him and accepted by God as a Price with a double respect As for all men it was paid and accepted as a Price so far forth as to procure for them a ground for their Faith viz. that they might be saved on Gospel-terms And as for the Elect it was further paid and accepted as a Price so far as to procure the very Grace of Faith for them Thus our Saviour Christ who best knew both upon what Terms he paid down the price and upon what Terms his Father received it opens this mysterious Dispensation I came down from heaven saith he not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me Joh. 6. 38. and what was that As to all men 't was that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life Ver. 40. and as to the Elect 't was that all those should by faith come unto him Ver. 37. and never be lost Ver. 39. Christ then died for all men not so far forth as to procure the Grace of Faith but so far forth as to procure Salvation on Gospel-terms for them therefore albeit all do not believe it follows not either that Christ did not at all die for them or that he loseth part of his Purchase Christ's Death is procurative of Faith not in reference to all but to the Elect. Object 2. If Christ died for all men why is not the Gospel revealed to them many Pagan Nations have no glimpse of a Christ. I answer two things 1. God hath not left himself altogether without witness no not in the Pagan-world the invisible Spirit renders himself visible in the Glass of the World Rom. 1. 20. and as it were palpable in the body of Nature the very Heathens may see and feel him in every creature Acts 17. 27. nay and in themselves too for his Presence is not far off from them his candle burns within them Prov. 20. 27. when by this Candle it appears that there is Justice in God and Sin in them yet that they may still seek after him he lets out some glimmerings of mercy placability towards them the very standing of the World utters somewhat of this This Psalmist tells us of a line in the heaven Psal. 19. 4. God in the Creation drew lines of Power and Wisdom over the Sphere of Nature but Christ in Redemption struck a line of Mercy quite through it and that legible even to the Heathens forasmuch as they know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vindictive justice of God Rom. 1. 32. and yet see the World standing and not dashed down about the Sinners Ears they know there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a divine vengeance Acts 28. 4. and yet they are not consumed they see Justice as it were winking Acts 17. 30. judgment slumbring 2 Pet. 2. 3. and infinite Patience and Long-suffering waiting and leading them to Repentance Rom. 2. 4. they have some glimpses of pardoning Mercy where there is no pardoning mercy at all there is no room for repentance but the Patience of God is a kind of temporal pardon of the punishment that temporal pardon of the punishment points out that Mercy which can give an absolute pardon of the Sin and the true duct and tendency of that Mercy is to lead men to Repentance and if there were any man in the Pagan-world who did in truth repent and convert to God I make no question at all but that he should be saved and probably not without the express knowledge of Christ indulged to him for upon all that fear Gods Name will the Sun of rigteousness arise with healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. Here then is aliquid Evangelii though not the express knowledge of Christ. 2. As to the Argument let us weigh what may be deducted from Christ's death as universal If Christ died for all men it follows from thence that Christ may be preached to all but it follows not from thence that Christ shall be preached to all it follows that Christ may be preached to all for he who was offered for
this legal fear issues a flood of legal sorrows for sin as procurative of wrath Gods arrows stick fast in the Soul and hence men are pricked in heart Acts 2. 37. and which is more wounded in spirit Prov. 18. 14. and these wounds stink and are corrupt till the balm of Christs blood be poured into them Such is the weight of these fears and sorrows that it presses the Soul into a self-weariness and by degrees breaks it all to pieces that there is scarce left a shard thereof to take a little fire from the hearth or water out of the Pit of any Creature-comfort 4. In the midst of these fears and sorrows some glimmerings and appearances of mercy in Christ offer themselves to the Soul and the Soul begins to have some vellcities and imperfect wouldings after Mercy anguish and bitterness make it cry out Oh! What shall I do to be saved The scorching flames of Gods wrath leave a thirst in the heart after the coolings and refrigerations of pardoning Mercy and in proportion to these wouldings and velleities there are some light touches and tasts of Free Grace some flashes of joy in the Word and Christ the marrow thereof and yet all this while there is no root of Spiritual life in the heart These are the preparatories of Conversion only we must not conceive them to be such formal immediate dispositions as infallibly inferr Conversion after them for such prepared ones though not far from the Kingdom of Heaven may yet possibly never enter into it neither must we look on these preparations though Gods usual method as necessary on Gods part for if he please to use his Prerogative he can make even dry bones to rattle and come together again without any previous dispositions He can say unto men even when they are in their blood Live and that word as with child of Omnipotency shall instantly bring forth the New Creature 2. What is the work of Conversion it self I answer 'T is that inward Principle of Grace whereby a man is made able and willing to turn from all Creatures unto God in Christ. Conversion is a motion of the Soul and therefore there must be an inward Principle called in Scripture a Root The root of the matter is in me saith Job Job 19. 28. Friends you look upon me as if I were nothing but leaves of hypocrisie but the inward Root of Holiness is in me Conversion is a supernatural motion and therefore there must be an inward Principle of Grace called by the Apostle the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. the Humane Nature cannot elevate it self so high as Conversion but the Divine Nature can do it By this inward Principle of Grace man becomes able he hath an active posse convertere and which is more a velle too he becomes able and willing to turn Conversion is called in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a returning unto God Mans Natural state wants a Turn and Gods Supernatural Grace effects it Motion is between two terms the terminus à quo in conversion is all Creatures Creatures as Creatures are the footsteps of Gods Power and Goodness and so we must not turn from a worm but see God in it but Creatures as they are deifyed and idolized in the heart become lying vanities and empty nothings and so in Conversion we turn from them all The world without us is a Glass of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness and so Conversion gives a sanctified use of it but the world within us the world in the heart is nothing but a lust 1 John 2. 16. sitting in the place and Throne of God I mean the chief and uppermost seat of the Soul and so Conversion casts it out of the heart The Soul in Conversion moves towards God as its true centre and therefore must leave all the world behind its back The terminus ad quem in Conversion is God A man before Conversion walks in an Image Psal. 39. 6. he thinks that he moves towards happiness in this or that Creature but all the while he is but in an image or picture of happiness but in Conversion he moves really to God the Centre and Sabbath of Souls Lastly in Conversion there is a turning unto God in Christ. To turn to God is a most rational Act for he is the only true end of the Soul and to turn to God in Christ is a most Regular Act for he is the only true way to that end The way into the Holy of holies is only through the vail of Christs flesh If we go to God out of Christ we go to a consuming fire but if we go to God in him we go to a reconciled Father who is ready to fall upon our necks and kiss and welcome us with his Love revealed in the face of Christ. Now in Conversion there are two instants or moments to be distinctly considered 1. The first instant is habitual Conversion or the habits or vital Principles of Grace which incline and dispose the Soul to actual Conversion 2. The second instant is actual Conversion or the actuation and crowning issue of those Principles in an actual turn to God 1. As to the habits or vital Principles of Grace I shall do two things 1. I shall demonstrate that there are habits or Principles of Grace 2. I shall particularly unfold what they are 1. I shall demonstrate that there are such things The Remonstrants mince the business There is say they potentia supernaturalis concessa voluntati ad hoc ut credere bene agere possit but as as for any habitual Grace they tell us Scholasticorum figmentum est corum qui simul somel optant infundi omnes illos habitus quos actibus crebris comparare nimis laboriosum esse arbitrantur Now there is a vast difference between a mere posse convertere and those Habits or Principles of Grace which dispose and encline the Soul to actual Conversion A mere posse convertere doth not include in it any inward disposition or inclination in the Soul to turn to God no more than the posse peccare in innocent Adam did include in it an inward disposition or inclination in the Soul to depart from God but the Habits or Principles of Grace do incline and dispose the Soul to actual Conversion Again a mere posse convertere doth not denominate a man gracious no more than the posse peccare in innocent Adam did denominate him sinful but the Habits or Principles of Grace do denominate a man gracious And the Reason is a mere posse may be abstract from the Nature or Essence of the thing into which it is reducible but the Habit or vital Principle hath something of the Nature or Essence of the thing in it nay it is virtually and seminally the thing it self A mere posse peccare in Adam before his Fall did not denominate him sinful because it had nothing of the nature of Sin in it but the Habits and Seeds of
can truly say to the Covetous God is my gold Job 22. 25. to the Ambitious God is my glory Psal. 3. 3. to the Voluptuous God is my delight Isai. 58. 14. to the Souldier God is my buckler and high tower Psal. 18. 2. to the Mariner God is my broad rivers and streams Isai. 33. 21. to the Potentates and Emperours of the World God is my crown and diadem Isai. 28. 5. and to those who with Esau have enough of the World Jacob-like I have all Gen. 33. 11. all in one even in God alone Such Resolutions as these are the proper Issues of this purposing Principle this makes the Will free indeed before it was free in Naturals but now in Spirituals which is freedom indeed When the Will fixes it self upon the Creature as its End it is in straits in a house of bondage Take the World in its own place 't is a spacious Looking-glass of God's Power and Goodness but take it as a man's End and Happiness 't is too strait and narrow for the immortal Spirit to breathe in Hence carnal Men even in the fulness of sufficiency are yet instraits Job 20. 22. but when the Will through this purposing Principle fixes it self upon God as its End 't is free indeed The Rabbins call God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Place and a large one he is no less than an Infinity and Immensity of Goodness such as no desire or out-going of the Will can ever pass thorough Here there is Room enough for an immortal Spirit Goodness enough to satiate the rational Appetite for ever Now as the desiring Principle is Love in the Will in its first Plantation so this purposing Principle is Love further rooted and grounded in the same Faculty 3. In that it is a resting Principle such as enclines and disposes the Will to a double rest in God 1. To a Rest of Innitence 2. To a Rest of Complacence 1. To a Rest of Innitence it inclines the Will to lean and roll it self upon God and to set its faith and hope in him hereby the Heart hath an access unto God and casts and ventures it self upon him for all its happiness as being fully resolved in it self to be happy only in him And this is no other than Faith in the Will considered ut in ultimo termino in God its only resting-place We which believe saith the Apostle do enter into rest Heb. 4. 3. Faith makes a man cease from himself and enter into rest by a fiducial repose on God's All-sufficiency 2. To a Rest of Complacency it enclines the Will to delight in the Almighty Isai. 58. 14. and count him its exceeding joy Psal. 43. 4. Hereby the Soul dwells at ease or lodges in goodness as the Original hath it Psal. 25. 13. hereby it lies down in the bosom of bliss and hath peace for its tabernacle Job 5. 24. God was the Levites inheritance Deut. 18. 2. As the purposing Principle makes a man a spiritual Levite so the resting Principle gives a man an inheritance in God and this is Love in its triumph and joy inheriting all things in Gods Mercy and glorious All-sufficiency 2. This Principle of Rectitude or Holiness sets the Will right in reference to the true Means The true Means is Jesus Christ the Mediator the only way into the Holy of Holies is through the Veil of his flesh We are in a treble Incapacity of returning unto God our ultimate End We are in the Darkness of Sin and see not the right path thither and as to this Christ is the way as a Prophet teaching us by his Spirit and Word We are in the Guiltiness of Sin and dare not approach thither and as to this Christ is the way as a Priest offering up his Blood and Righteousness for us We are in the Impotency and Enmity of Sin and cannot will not of our selves return thither and as to this Christ is the way as a King subduing and ruling us by his gracious Sceptre God hath sealed Christ to all these Offices for this very end to bring us home to himself Now this Principle sets the Will right in reference to Christ in all his Offices 1. Take him as a Prophet this Principle sets the Heart right in a threefold respect 1. 'T is a Principle of humble Teachableness God who is the Soul's Centre dwelling in Light unapproachable and Christ who is in the Father's bosom being the great revealer of him this Principle enclines the Will to hearken to Christ the ear is opened or revealed to hear the great Prophet in all things There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or readiness of mind to let in every beam of Light and catch at every drop of Truth which falls from Christ. Before Man was a Wolf and a Lion for bruitish untractableness but now a little child may lead him Isai. 11. 6. even the least truth or message from Christ he will not be unruly or break away from it for a World but meekness and humility make him as a little Child ruleable by every word of Christ. 2. 'T is a Principle of Faith ready to receive Christ in the name of a Prophet Christ doth no sooner usher in a Truth into the Soul but this Principle clasps about it with fiducial embraces and says This is a beam from the Sun of righteousness this is a message from the Angel of the Covenant sent on purpose to setch me away to God Hereby the Soul is disposed to believe Christ's Words and receive his Testimony 3. 'T is a Principle of Love ready to embrace Christ as the Angel of God's face or presence and kiss the Son as revealing holy secrets from the Fathers bosom This Principle hangs upon Christ's myrrh-dropping lips and when he speaks it catches up his words as the words of eternal life every Truth is received in Love as from Christ's hand and above all Christ himself is very precious because he is the brightness of glory 2. Take him as a Priest this Principle sets the Heart right towards him Under the Law the Levites were given to the Priest under the Gospel those who are spiritual Levites are given to Christ the High-priest Now the Principle whereby they are given to Christ as a Priest is double 1. 'T is a Principle of Faith enclining the Soul to wash in the Laver of Christ's Blood and wrap up it self in the Robe of his Righteousness This is called in Scripture trusting in Christs name Matth. 12. 21. faith in his blood Rom. 3. 25. receiving the atonement Rom. 5. 11. and receiving the gift of righteousness Rom. 5. 17. When a Soul comes up out of the wilderness of Sin to return to God all the way it leans upon Jesus Christ Cant. 8. 5. 2. 'T is a Principle of Love enclining the Soul to love Jesus Christ as its Priest When once there are Faith-glances in the Understanding at Christ crucified and Faith-rollings in the Will upon him the holy Fire called a vehement
apprehensive Faculty all the things of Godliness are given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through the knowledge of God 2 Pet. 1. 3. that 's the great Channel by which all Grace passes into the Will 2. As to the actual Conversion of the Will the Understanding is as a potent Perswader effectually inducing the Will thereunto There are three principal things in the Wills actual Conversion viz. a turning to God as its supreme End an embracing Christ as the only Way and a rejection of Sin as the great Obstacle and in all these the Will doth follow the Understanding 1. The Will doth follow the Understanding in its turn to God as the supreme End and this appears divers ways 1. The Scriptures clear it to us there we find in conjunction bethinking and turning 2 Chron. 6. 37. remembring and turning Psal. 22. 27. considering and turning Ezek 18. 28. understanding and turning Mat. 13. 15. and opening the eyes and turning Act. 26. 18. in all which places the Understanding goes before and the Will follows after There we find Conversion to be a thing wrought by Perswasion God shall perswade Japheth Gen. 9. 27. by Inshining God hath shined in our hearts 2 Cor. 4. 6. by Teaching they shall be all taught of God Joh. 6. 45. by Anointing you have an unction from the holy one 1 Joh. 2. 20. and by coming to a mans self Luk. 15. 17. first the Prodigal came to himself and then he returned to his Father the import of all which is plainly thus much That God doth actually draw home the Will unto himself through the Understanding Thy people saith the Psalmist shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth Psal. 110. 3. here are a willing People like the Dew for multitude but whence are they Whence but from the womb of the morning The morning of supernatural Illumination is the Womb out of which they issue As long as there is no morning in men as the Expression is Isai. 8. 20. there is no Will at all to God but as soon as the day dawns in their hearts out comes a willing People as Dew from the morning 2. The Nature of the Will holds forth thus much The Will naturally wills Blessedness or the ultimate End in general because it is a Good perfective and expletive of the Soul but the Will doth not naturally fix on this or that thing as its blessedness or ultimate End in particular One Man fixes on Mammon as his chief Good another makes his Belly his God a third is all for the Pride of Life whence is the Will thus determined Either it must be determined by it self or else by the Understanding not by it self for it is a blind Faculty and cannot of it self judg any thing to be a chief Good much less can it fix it self on it as such wherefore it must be determined by the Understanding One Man chuses Mammon to be his chief Good because as the Psalmist hath it his inward thought is that his house shall continue for ever Psal. 49. 11. that's lasting happiness saith his carnal Understanding Another makes his Belly his God because his inward thought is Eat drink and be merry Luk. 12. 19. there is nothing better saith his bruitish Understanding A third is all for the Pride of Life because his inward thought is to be a Lucifer in Self-excellencies that 's the top of Bliss saith his soaring Understanding In every one of these first the Understanding makes the Idol and then the Will doth fall down and worship Now if the Will may be determined by the Understanding to such false Beatitudes as these how much more may it be determined by the Understanding to God who is the true blessedness 3. This appears from the Excellency of that practical Understanding which draws the Will unto actual Conversion 'T is an excellent Understanding for the Object of it being in the Mount of Transfiguration it shews forth unto the Will not Creatures Chips of Being in the shell of Time but a Jehovah of Self-beingness a God of Allsufficiency dwelling in Eternity not Streams of Life or Goodness in the Creature-channel but a Fountain of living waters an Ocean of immense Goodness such as cannot be sailed over by Faith or Vision not golden or pearly Mountains but an infinite Mass of free Grace unsearchable riches of Mercy such as cannot be â—old over to all Eternity not shadows or little portions of Being but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Revel 1. 4. the true I am the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the all things 1 Cor. 15. 28. in whom are all the rich Mines of universal Blessedness and which is the sweetness of all it shews forth this God not as reserving himself only to himself but as freely offering himself to poor worms Oh my Soul stand still and adore the opening of his Bowels and Self-motion of his Grace this Jehovah of Self-beingness and All-sufficiency will make over himself to thee this Fountain of Life and Goodness will flow out to thee this rich Mass of Grace and Mercy will portion thee this I am and ever-blessed All is an inheritance for thee and in inheriting him thou maist after a wonderful manner inherit all things This is the infinite Excellency of the Object but after what manner doth the Understanding shew it forth unto the Will Surely though as much below his worth as finite is below infinite yet in an excellent way the Understanding shews forth God unto the Will not in a dead or literal manner but with spiritual liveliness and as I may so say in sparkles of Glory for it is eternal life and Heaven it self dawns in it not darkly or at a distance but clearly and closely the day-star is up in the heart and God approaches near unto the Will his goodness passes before it and leaves some holy touches and savours thereupon not in a weak and languishing manner but powerfully and effectually The Apostle joins the demonstration of the Spirit and power together 1 Cor. 2. 4. There is such a Demonstration of the Spirit in the Understanding as cannot be denied and from thence such a Power upon the Will as cannot be frustrated not notionally only but practically it seriously presseth in upon the Will Here O rational Appetite here is a God indeed his Grace free his Mercy Self-moving take him and thou hast all lose him and thou hast nothing Now Oh! now is the accepted time the day of Salvation in his Favour there is Life in his Wrath nothing but Death If he bless thee none can curse if he curse thee none can bless now or never turn and live After this manner doth it practically press in upon the Will Now when the Understanding holds forth such an excellent Object in such an excellent manner unto the Will already principled with Grace how can it chuse but actually close in
a thing will you say What saith holy Stephen Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears you do always resist the holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye Acts 7. 51. To which I answer That the Spirit may be said to be resisted two ways either as it is in the external Ministry or as it comes in the internal Operations It may be said to be resisted in the external Ministry He that despiseth you despiseth me saith Christ Luk. 10. 16. He that despiseth despiseth not man but God saith the Apostle 1 Thess. 4. 8. When therefore it is said that they resisted the holy Ghost the meaning is not that they resisted him as to his internal Operations but that they resisted him as to the external Ministry This appears by the Context for they resisted him as their fathers did ver 51. and how was that The next Verse tells us Which of the Prophets have not your fathers persecuted Ver. 52 Their resistance of the Spirit was in persecution of the Prophets But you 'l say Might they not also resist him as to his internal Operations I answer so much doth not appear in the Text but however the internal Operations of the Spirit are twofold some are for the production of common Graces some for the production of saving Graces such as the new Heart and new Spirit Now if the holy Ghost may be resisted as to the former Operations yet it cannot as to the latter for in these it takes away the heart of Stone the resisting Principle and gives an Heart of Flesh capable of divine Impressions 4. God doth insuperably remove the Obstacles of Conversion What is thy Mind dark nay darkness it self God can command the light out of darkness and shine into the heart 2 Cor. 4. 6. Is thine Ear deaf He can say Ephatha to it and seal instruction Job 33. 16. Is thy Heart hard and stony He can take away the stony heart and in the room of it give an heart of flesh Ezek. 36. 26. Is thy Heart barred and shut up against God He can open it as well as Lydia's Acts 16. 14. he opens and none can shut Rev. 3. 7. Doth thy Will hang back He can draw thee Joh. 6. 44. and reveal such day of power upon thy heart as shall make thee truly willing Psal. 110. 3. Dost thou go on frowardly in the way of thy heart Yet he can see thy way and heal thee Isai. 57. 17 18. Dost thou oppose the precious Gospel Yet peradventure he will give thee repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. Whatever the Obstacle be he can remove it he can cast down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every height in the heart 2 Cor. 10. 5. and then what Obstacles can remain Now if God do insuperably remove the Obstacles of Conversion then he doth insuperably produce the Work of Conversion 5. If God do not work Conversion in an insuperable way then what doth he produce towards it but a mere posse convertere According to the Remonstrants Doctrine he doth not infuse Habits or vital Principles of Grace neither will they in plain direct terms assert that he doth produce actual Conversion what then doth he produce towards it but a mere posse convertere and is not a posse peccare from him also Voluntatem say the Remonstrants comitatur proprietas inseparabilis quam libertatem vocamus à qua Voluntas dicitur esse potentia quae positis omnibus praerequisitis ad agendum necessariis potest velle nolle an t velle non velle And again Semper in omni statu hujus vitae ubi legislatio praemiorum promissio poenarum interminatio hortationes preces similia locum habent voluit Deus libertatem Voluntati adesse quâ objectū ab intellectu monstratū velle potest nolle aut velle non velle Surely if the Nature and inseparable Property of the Will be such and such by the Will of God then according to the Remonstrants Doctrine a posse peccare is from God as the Author of Nature as well as a posse convertere is from him as the Author of Grace and by consequence it follows that he doth act as far towards Transgression as towards Conversion No by no means will you say it cannot be for God by his Commands Promises and the Spirit 's Motions doth promote Conversion but by his Prohibitions Threatnings and the Spirit 's Counter-motions doth beat back Transgression Very well these things shew that God's Actings touching Conversion and Transgression are not the same as to the Manner nevertheless they still remain the same as to the Terminus or product For after all the Commands Promises and Motions towards Conversion still the Terminus or Product is but a posse convertere and notwithstanding all the Prohibitions Threatnings and Motions against Transgression still there is the Terminus or Product of a posse peccare and by consequence he acts as far towards Transgression as towards Conversion Will you yet reply that God gives a posse convertere and without this Man could not convert and when he doth actually convert God concurrs thereunto I answer that according to the Remonstrants Doctrine God gives a posse peccare also and without this Man could not sin and when he doth actually sin God concurrs to the material Act thereof and where then is the Difference By the Doctrine of resistible Grace God seems to act as far towards Transgression as towards Conversion 6. If God do not work Conversion in an insuperable way then he works it in a dependent way putting Man's Will in aequilibrio as it were in an eaven Ballance that it may turn or not turn to God ad placitum Now that this last is none of God's Method clearly appears because God as beseems his infinite Wisdom works Conversion in such a way as is most depressive of the Creature and exaltative of himself the Man whom he indeed converts doth lick the Dust the fountain of Blood in his Nature is broken up and the superfluity of Naughtiness in his Life set in order before him he falls down in self-abhorrencies and cannot deny but that he is a Beast in his sensual Sins and a Devil in his spiritual he perceives his spiritual Poverty to be extreme so many thousand Talents owing to divine Justice and nothing at all to pay a shameful nakedness in his Soul and not a rag of Righteousness to cover it as a wretched half-damned Creature down he goes to the brink of Hell and from thence be hath a prospect of Heaven down he goes into the Abyss of his own Nullity and from thence hath some glimpses of Christ's Allness His first breath of spiritual Life is a groaning under the weight of Sin Oh! the intimate love of Sin says he 't will never out unless my heart be broken all to pieces Oh! the obdurate Stone in my Heart it cannot be mollified but by Almighty Grace Oh! my dead Heart nothing can quicken it
ones Ver. 7. God's stretching out his hands is all one with his call Prov. 1. 24. but all men are not called after the â—â—me rate as the called according to purpose Wherefore this place proves not that the workings of Grace as to the Elect are resistible but that the Offers of Grace as to the Non-elect are serious God in the Means really spreading out his Arms of Grace unto them Again they urge that of our Saviour These things I say that you might be saved Joh. 5. 34. which words were spoken to them which would not come to Christ Ver. 40. but that the holy Spirit spake as inwardly and powerfully to them as to the Elect who hear and learn of the Father what Chymistry can extract it out of this Text or from what other Scripture can it be demonstrated God commands the light to shine out of darkness in some hearts 2 Cor. 4. 6. but doth he so in all Whence then are those blinded ones Ver. 4 If there be any such where is the Remonstrants Equality of Grace Where when they say that Illumination is wrought irresistibly These things cannot consist together Wherefore our Saviours words shew not forth the weakness or superableness of Grace as to the Elect but the true End and Scope of Christ's Preaching as to the Non-elect what he spake to them was in order to their Salvation Again they urge that The Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves being not baptized of him that is of John Luk. 7. 30. Here say they is their Thesis in terminis But this place is so far from proving that the internal Grace vouchsafed to the Elect is resistible that from hence it cannot be proved that these Rejecters had any workings of internal Grace at all in them For internal Grace runs in the Veins of Ordinances and the Ordinance here spoken of was John's Baptism and that these Rejecters would not partake of at all for so saith the Text They were not baptized of him and then which way should they come by internal Grace could they have it quite out of God's Way No surely there is little or rather no reason to imagine that these Rejecters so far scorning God's Ordinance as not so much as outwardly to be made partakers thereof should yet have the workings of internal Grace in them But suppose they had some internal Working must it needs be the baptism of the holy Ghost and fire such intimate and powerful working as is in the Elect Not a tittle of this appears in the Text wherefore this place proves not that the working of Grace in the Elect is resistible but it signally shews forth the nature of divine Ordinances Every Ordinance is an Ordinance from the Will of God 't is an Appointment dropt down from Heaven 't is divinely destinated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for edification and not for destruction 't is the Place where God records his Name 't is the Way where God would be met withal 't is the Oracle where God would be heard 't is a kind of Tabernacle of witness where God attesteth the Riches of his Grace John's Baptism was not a mere external Sign or Shadow but imported God's ordinative Counsel to bring men to Repentance 't was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to repentance as its proper End Matth. 3. 11. Gospel-preaching is not a mere sound or voice of Words but it importeth Gods ordinative Counsel to turn men unto himself Hence every true Minister is said to stand in Gods counsel and for this very End to turn them from the evil of their doings Jer. 23. 22. Every Ordinance speaks an ordinative Counsel for some spiritual End a serious Ordination for the good of Souls Oh! that every one would think so indeed how surely would they find that God is in it of a truth whosoever comes to an Ordinance so thinking justifies Gods Institution and meets his Benediction but he who comes and thinks otherwise doth by that very thought forsake the ordinance of his God and reject his counsel though not in so high and gross a manner as the Pharisees and Lawyers did who would not so much as outwardly partake of John's Baptism Again they urge that What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes brought it forth wild grapes Isai. 5. 4. Here say they were omnia adhibita not a tantillum gratiae wanting here seems to be the ultimus conatus the utmost Acting of Grace even equal to those Operations of Grace which were in the Converts of the Jewish Church and that upon a double account First because God says What could be done more Secondly because God had done so much that he expected the grapes of Holiness and Obedience from them and yet after all this they brought forth wild Grapes Hence the Remonstrants conclude that Conversion is wrought in a resistible way I answer those which will take the true measure of the Grace set forth in this Text must first consider to whom this Grace was afforded 't was to the Jewish Church in common even to every member thereof this granted as it cannot be denied I procede to answer first as to that expression What could have been done more Either the meaning of it is what could have been done more in a way of internal Grace or else it is what could have been done more in a way of external Means the first cannot be the meaning that God could do no more in a way of internal Grace if God had said so in that sence the Jewish Church might have aptly answered Lord couldst thou not write the Law in every Heart Couldst thou not make a new heart in every one of us O how many unregenerate Souls are there found in me But if not that Lord couldst thou not at least have inwardly enlightned every one Couldst thou not have given him some inward dispositions to Conversion O how many ignorant Souls are there which call evil good and good evil and put darkness for light and light for darkness Isai. 5. 20 these are not so much as inwardly inlightned O! how many Atheists are there which jear and scoff at the Threatnings of God saying Let him hasten his work that we may see it let the counsel of the holy One draw nigh that we may know it Ver. 9. These are so far from any dispositions to Conversion that they scarce have the sense of a Deity in them Lord thou who didst plant me a Vineyard or visible Church couldst have planted saving Graces in every Heart thou who didst gather out the stones of publick annoyance out of me couldst have took away the privy stone of hardness out of every Heart doubtless thou art Almighty and therefore thou canst do it thou art True and therefore thou wilt do it if thou hast said it Hence it appears that that Expression What could have been done more relates not