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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Creature can preserve it self and this is clear 1. From the Creatures Station even the highest Seraphin stands juxta non esse at the brink of Nullity his Being is between two Nothings Nothing negative and Nothing privative and as his passage from Nothing into Being could not be without an infinite Power creating so his natural fall from Being into Nothing would certainly be without an infinite Power conserving Creatur a habet redire ad non esse à se if God should but say to the highest Angel Tolle quod tuum est abi he must immediately away into Nullity All Creatures by their natural vanity press downwards towards nothing as their own Centre and none but the Almighty shoulders can bear them up in Being 2. From God's Royal Prerogative which the Scripture most emphatically decyphers out as it were in Figures of Glory He only hath immortality 1 Tim. 6. 16. as if there were none at all in Angels and Rational Spirits Nay there is None besides him 1 Sam. 2. 2. as if there were no Being at all in the Creature And the reason of these expressions is this God hath Being and Immortality originally from himself but the Creature hath them but derivatively and in a dependence upon him wherefore in comparison of his Being Creatures are but nullities and in comparison of his Immortality Angels are but smoak But now if a Creature could preserve it self in Being and so immortalize it self it would become a Self-subsistence and consequently a God unto it self 2. That no Creature can preserve another I mean as a principal Agent and this is evident for 1. If one Creature might so preserve another it should be a God to it yet so weak as not to preserve it self But if it could preserve another it must be by some transfusion of virtue into it and that but finite for more a Creature cannot give and then if God transfuse as much virtue into the Creature conserved as the Creature conservant did the Creature conserved might subsist of it self and be a God to it self 2. The nature of Conservation evinces this What is it but an Influx of Being Now suppose all the Angels in Heaven would try to guard the poorest Worm in the Earth and that but for one moment only what could they do towards an Influx of Being being only streams from God as light from the Sun If the Sun be gone who can keep light in the Air If Jehovah withdraw who can keep Being in the Creature All the Creatures are as I may so say sensible of this dependance and look up to God for their preservation Psal. 104. 27. which leads me to the next thing 3. That the preservation of all is from God as of him so through him are all thing Rom. 11. 36. and this appears 1. By a survey of all the Creatures Angels are under God the strongest of Spirits but cannot subsist one moment without him he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1. 7. he is making the Angels even to this day by a daily Conservation their Immortality is a continual Spiration from the Father of Spirits The Heavens are the strongest of Bodies yet cannot stand alone God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 building his stories in the Heavens Amos 9. 6. he is still a building of them or else all those glorious Arches would totter down If he be but angry the Pillars of Heaven tremble and are agast Job 26. 11. If he withdraw his hand all the heavenly Volumes pass away as a Scroll and out go the fair Letters of Sun Moon and Stars in the twinkling of an Eye The Earth is the Centre of the World and as to Sense it hangs upon nothing as if it were only poised by its own gravity but this created Centre is bore up by the infinite Centre of all Being and as to Faith and Reason hangs upon him The pillars of it are the Lord's 1 Sam. 2. 8. he by his strength setteth fast the mountains Psal. 65. 6. or else they would be wavering towards nullity The Sea is a vast spreading Element but lest it should be contracted into nothing it is held in the hollow of his hand Isai. 40. 12. and that imports no less than a preservative comprehension All the numberless Birds in the Air Beasts in the Earth and Fishes in the Sea wait on him for their preservation the sending forth of his Spirit is their Being the opening of his hand their Provision and the shadow of his wings their Protection not a Sparrow forgotten before him not a poor Fly without an infinite Preserver Man who is the Epitome of all the rest cannot but own him O how soon would the earthen Pitcher break if he did not keep it how soon would the Lamp of the Soul go out if he did not light it even every moment Hence God is stiled the preserver of men Job 7. 20. a most universal preserver even from the utmost hairs which are numbred by him Matth. 10. 30. unto the inmost spirit which is preserved by his visitation Job 10. 12. Thus running through the whole Catalogue of Creatures we must conclude with St. Austin Deus est per omnia diffusus non ut qualitas mundi sed ut substantia cratrix sine labore regens sine onere continens omnia 2. By the very nature of Preservation what is it but continuata Creatio God is still a making the Angels and building the Heavens my Father worketh hitherto saith Christ Joh. 5. 17. He doth per intimam operationem continuò facere Creatura saith a famous School-man quamdiu est creatura Deo quia pro quolibet instanti habet esse à Deo Preservation is but the eeking out of Creation and therefore can be from no other but God alone Omnia in illo subsistunt à quo creata sunt But to pass on 4. The preservation of all is from God according to his Decree and this is evinced by these Reasons 1. Either God preserves Creatures naturally or freely not naturally for then he should preserve them perpetually and so every Fly must run parallel in Eternity with an Angel nor naturally for then he should preserve them uniformly and so every mortal body would subsist without food as well as the immaterial Spirits therefore he preserves them freely There be various ways of Preservation viz. Preservation of Creatures as to their Being and as to their adjuncts of order beauty goodness and truth Preservation of them as to their individuals and as to their kinds Preservation of individuals by means and without means preservation of them in perpetuum and for certain periods of time Now all this variety of Preservations doth evidently display the glorious liberty of the divine Will in the dispensing thereof Angels are preserved in their individual Beings and that in perpetuum and that without means but the Nodus perpetuitatis is the divine pleasure or else their Immortality would dissolve in a moment Men Beasts and
Vegetables are preserved in their Individuals but 't is by means and but for a time and lest the kind should perish with the individuals Generation is a supplement to their Mortality and the ruler in all this is the Will of God As for Preservation by means it is God who bringeth food out of the earth Psal. 104. 14. and when 't is in our hand we cannot eat thereof unless God give us an heart Eccl. 6. 2. and when we do eat thereof 't will not be the staff of life to us without the word of his blessing Matth. 4. 4. without this we may eat and not be satisfied drink and not be filled Hag. 1. 6 9. Every Creature saith The blessing is not in me but in the Will of God As for the Periods of Preservation they are all fixed in the divine Decree there the days of men are determined their months numbred and their unpassable bounds appointed Job 14. 5. Hezekiah had fifteen years added to his days but there was no addition to the divine Decree Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Psal. 55. 23. yet they live out all the days set down in the divine Decree If a Sparrow fall not without God's Will Matth. 10. 29. much less can a man do so if our very hairs are all numbred Matth. 10. 30. much more are our days As for the preservation of kinds all propagations are from that primitive Benediction Crescite multiplicamini which dropt from the divine Will Vegetables multiply but 't is God who gives to every seed his own body 1 Cor. 15. 38. Men and Beasts generate their like but 't is God who sows a land with the seed of man and the seed of beast Jer. 31. 27. The man written down childless in God's Book must be without the blessing of posterity the Member unwritten or left out in that Book must never be extant in Nature When Monsters are brought forth there is an abertation in the particular Nature but none in the Will of God when Bastards are generated which cannot be without a moral Monstrosity the sin is Man's but the Creature is God's In brief If we run through all varieties of Preservation either as to the Being of Creatures or as to the Adjuncts of order beauty goodness and truth we must resolve all into the Will of God Alas what is the mutable Being of Creatures unless fixed by the Will of the Necesse esse What are all the Orders and Harmonies of things unless kept in tune by the counsel of his Will By him all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 1. 17. not only subsist in their Beings but consist in their Orders His Will is the Virtus unitiva which glues and tacks the whole System of Heaven and Earth together or else all would unframe and fall asunder in a moment What an empty nothing is Creature-beauty unless shined upon by his gracious pleasure 'T is he that reneweth the face of the earth Psal. 104. 30. or else the Spring would lose her fresh complexion nay and the face of Heaven too or else all the Starry Beauty-spots would drop off What is all the Goodness in the Creature unless supplied from the great Original 'T is but as water in a broken Cistern soon running out and never to be gathered up again What is all the Truth in the Creature but an Impress made from his Ideal Truth The Impress the Creature can no more preserve in it self than it could at first stamp it there Wherefore the Will of God is that vas conservativum which preserves and conteins all things within their Beings and modes of Being or else they would immediately run into nullity 2. Preservation is but continuata Creatio if Creation had been natural so must Conservation have been too but seeing Creation is voluntary such also is Conservation hence the Twenty four Elders attribute both to God's pleasure for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 11. they were by his Creation and are by his Conservation and both were and are for his pleasure 3. Whatsoever God preserves he preserves rationally and for some end as he made all for himself so he preserves all for himself The Heavens and the Earth are by God's word kept in store 2 Pet. 3. 7. his Word that is his Will is the great Storier which treasures up the World with all its furniture for its own ends God preserves all rationally and by just consequence freely also Thus far of God's Conservation but to procede 2. God's Gubernation is also to be considered by us Now here I shall touch on two things 1. That God rules and governs all Creatures and Events 2. That God doth it according to his Decree 1. God rules and governs all Creatures and Events He is King of Kings 1 Tim. 6. 15. his kingdom ruleth over all Psal. 103. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisd. 14. 3. he steers the Ship of the World and all the passengers in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisd. 12. 18. he orders the great House of the World and all the Families of Creatures therein All the hosts of the Universe are ruled by him the spiritual World is ruled by him the holy Angels are still a doing of his Will sometimes they are guarding the godly sometimes destroying the wicked sometimes transporting souls to heaven sometimes striving with Devils but they are always beholding God's face Matth. 18. 10. waiting for his imperial Command as their perpetual rule These have a great share in turning about the Wheels of the World when these stand still the Wheels stand also when these go the Wheels go too but these go not one step of their own heads but whither the Spirit of God goes they go Ezek. 1. 12. and when they go they go straight on to the period of their work and then they return Ver. 14. that is to the face of God for a new Commission and till that come they let down their wings Ver. 24. listening to his voice and adoring at his footstool all that they do is subordinated to his pleasure Nay not only the good Angels but the Devils will they nill they are subject unto him They lost their obediential Wings in their fall and since that he never trusts them to go without their Chains Hence without his divine sufferance these though Princes of the Air cannot raise a storm though Gods of the World cannot enter into a Swine though Rulers of darkness cannot inject a temptation indeed they would undermine the Fathers Election cheat Christ of his purchased Possession and murther all the new Creatures made by the holy Spirit but they cannot get off their Chains and when their Chains are a little loosened yet their actings fall under Providence An evil Spirit troubled Saul but 't was from the Lord as a righteous Judge 1 Sam. 16. 14. Satan afflicted Job but 't was with a Commission to try his Graces the Devil tempted Christ but
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
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
God meet us and commune with us in words of Grace we must thank the true Propitiatory or Mercy-seat for every syllable 2. Grace in the proper Seat or Receptacle of it is Christ's purchase and this I shall make out 1. In general Christ purchased the Spirit of all Grace There is a double Oblation of Christ a personal Oblation on the Cross and that is Moritum Spiritûs and a doctrinal Oblation in the Gospel and that is Ministerium Spiritûs and so the holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ Tit. 3. 6. Christ ascended up on high that he might fill things Eph. 4. 10. One would have thought that his descent should rather have done it but he ascended up in the glory of his Merits he carried up all the Purchase-money to his Fathers house and from thence the Spirit came pouring down upon men some droppings of it were before but then it was richly poured out it came down in cloven fiery tongues and a rushing mighty wind Acts 2. 2 3. Tongues to utter magnalia Dei and above all the master-piece of Redemption and cloven tongues to utter them to all Nations in their own Language and fiery tongues to enlighten and enflame the Auditors hearts with the knowledge and love of Christ and a mighty rushing wind to blow home that fire strongly and insuperably in a thorough Conversion and all this was shed forth from Christ Ver. 33. Never any Tongue truly preached Christ but by a secret touch from him never any holy fire kindled on the heart but by a coal from his Altar never any gales of Grace on the Soul but from the breathings of his Spirit not one drop of his Blood is spiritless but full fraught and flowing with the Spirit of Life 2. In particular and so Christ hath purchased three things 1. The Radical Grace of Faith 2. All other Graces of the Spirit 3. All the Crowns of these Graces 1. Christ hath purchased the Grace of Faith the Apostle is express in it To you it is given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Christ's sake not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Phil. 1. 29. the Apostle evidently points out the merits of Christ as the spring of Faith and Faith persevering unto suffering And in another place he saith we joy in God through Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom we have now received the atonement Rom. 5. 11. he doth not only say that by and through him the Atonement was made but that by and through him the Atonement is received and what is this receiving of the Atonement but Faith it self That therefore is part of Christ's Purchase These express places might suffice us but because the Remonstrants oppose this Truth I shall propose two Quaeries unto them 1. Is not Faith comprized within the Covenant of Grace Let 's come to the Touch-stone Is it not written there I will give an heart to know me and is not Faith a justifying knowledge a sight of the just One and a beam or dawning of eternal life Is it not written there I will take away the heart of stone and is not Unbelief a part of that stone doth it not directly resist the Blood and Righteousness of Christ and can there be a worse Stone than this Is it not written there I will give a new heart and is not Unbelief the heart and life of the old Man and Faith of the new Is it not written there I will put my Spirit within you and is not the Spirit a spirit of faith and faith a fruit of the Spirit is not Unbelief of our Spirit and Faith of Gods Is it not written there I will circumcise the heart and is not Unbelief flesh God saith there is life in his Son and the Unbeliever saith No and does what in him lies to make God a lyar and can there be any filthier or rottenner flesh in the old man than this and unless this be cut off can there be a true Circumcision By all this it clearly appears that Faith is within the Covenant and if so is not the whole Covenant Sanctio à sanguine the New-testament in Christ's blood Is not he the Mediator and purchaser of the whole Are not all the Promises Yea and Amen in him Who dares distinguish and say Christ purchased part of the Promises and not all he purchased notional knowledge and not justifying he breaks the stone in the heart all but that which opposes his own Blood and Righteousness the old man is crucified with Christ all but his heart and life of Unbelief the Spirit of Grace flows out from Christ all but the Spirit of Faith the circumcision of Christ Col. 2. 11. so called because it is procured by the Merits and produced by the Spirit of Christ cuts off the flesh of the heart all but that of Unbelief which upbraids God with a lye who dares thus tear in sunder the Covenant mangle the Promises dimidiate Christ and divide the Spirit by unscriptural distinctions Such shuffling is unworthy of Christians Wherefore I conclude my first Quaere thus Faith is within the Covenant and the Covenant is Christ's purchase therefore Faith is such also 2. Is not Faith a Grace of the Spirit It seals to the Gospel sanctifies the heart works by Love waits by Patience overcomes the visible World and sensibly presentiates the invisible for shame let it be a Grace and if so it must be Christ's purchase The Spirit never effected that Grace in fallen Man which Christ never merited As every Creature in the World is of God's making so every Grace in the Church is of Christ's meriting He that saith Yonder is a precious Stone but 't is not of God's making blasphemes the Creator and he that saith Yonder is a precious Faith but 't is not of Christ's meriting does no less to the Redeemer But further Is not Faith the Grace of Union with Christ Doth not Christ dwell in the heart by faith Is not Faith the Mother-grace of all First Faith gives a touch to Christ and then Love is enflamed with him Joy triumphs in him and Obedience follows him Where do all the rivers of living water flow but in the Believers belly Joh. 7. 38 What holds all the starry Graces of the Church but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the firmament of faith as the Apostle calls it Col. 2. 5 Now will it not grate thine ears O Christian to hear that the Spirit of Holiness is from Christ but not the Spirit of Faith all the starry Graces are Christ's but the Firmament of Faith is our own we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ but not with the Mother-grace which broods and teems out all the rest not with the Grace of Union which lies nearest to Christ eating his flesh and drinking his blood that Faith which is nearest to the Merits of Christ in its Union is furthest off from them in its Origination What is this but
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
spiritually dead to take in the Word of God as from a divine Impression in that the words of Christ entred not at all into the naturally dead in this the Word of God enters into the spiritually dead even intimately into his very heart in that the words of Christ were transient and passed away in this the Word of God though it may pass away as to its sounds and syllables yet as to its substance it lives and abides for ever in the new Creature Wherefore these differences considered I conclude That Christ's words were only declarative in that Resurrection but God's Word is operative also in this The manner how God works gracious Principles in and by his Word as an Instrument is a Secret which I dare not pry into only for a little more illustration of the Words Efficacy in the production of gracious Principles there are two Instants or Moments to be distinctly considered 1. The first Instant or Moment is that wherein there is a close Application and intimate Inning of the Word in the Heart in common Auditors the Word is upon the Heart but here it is in it in temporary Believers the Word is in some degree in the heart but here it is in it intimately This close Application is excellently set out in Scripture 't is a nail fastned Eccles. 12. 11. 't is a word engrafted Jam. 1. 21. 't is instruction sealed Joh 33. 16. 't is the Law put and written in the heart Heb. 8. 10. 't is wisdom entring into the heart Prov. 2. 10. 't is the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or entrance into his auditors 1 Thess. 2. 1. 't is the word having a place in us Joh. 8. 37. and such a place as to root in our hearts thus Joh says of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the root of the word is found in me Joh 19. 28. and this Root is such as will abide in us and become the incorruptible seed of the new Creature This close Application is a glorious work of God and the Word is not altogether passive therein but in the hand of the Spirit 't is quick and powerful as a sharp Sword piercing and cutting its way into the heart Heb. 4. 12. and as a mighty Engine casting down imaginations and high things there 2 Cor. 10. 5. that it self may have a place and Throne in the same 2. The second Instant or Moment is that wherein God in and by the Word so intimately inned in the Heart doth produce the Principles of Grace there in the first Moment the indwelling Word makes the Heart a spiritual Bethlehem a House of Bread in the second Christ is spiritually born there in the first Moment the incorruptible Seed is sown in the Heart in the second it springs up into a new Creature The Scripture seems to me to hold out this Method very clearly the engrafted word is able to save the soul Jam. 1. 21. the Word saves the Soul but not merely as outwardly expressed but as inwardly engrafted Faith comes by hearing the word Rom. 10. 17. but is that a mere outward hearing No surely there is a hearing of the Father and so a coming to Christ Joh. 6. 45. There is the powerful and intimate demonstration of the Spirit and so faith stands in the power of God 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. that is to say in that power of God which intimately demonstrates and closely applies the Word unto the Heart as its true Cause and Foundation When the Apostle speaks of the Thessalonians Faith and Love 1 Thess. 1. 3. he there opens the causes thereof viz. the fontal Cause God's Election Ver. 4. and the instrumental Cause the Gospel Ver. 5. but how could the Gospel be an Instrument The Apostle tells us that it came to them not in word only but in power and in the holy Ghost it was strongly and sweetly set home upon the Heart and from that Impress came Faith and Love The Wise Man would have the Word kept in the midst of the heart and his Reason is because it is life Prov. 4. 21 22. The Word in the Ear only is but a transient 〈◊〉 but the Word in the midst of the Heart is Spirit and Life Job proves the truth of his Grace thus The root of the word is in me Joh 19. 28. The Word as shining on the Head lights up Notions but as rooted in the Heart springs up in Graces St. John tells the Young Men that they are strong and for a â—eason adds this the word of God abides in them 1 Joh. 2. 14. St. Paul first speaks of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or entrance into his auditors and then of their turn to the living and true God 1 Thess. 1. 9. The entrance of the word into the Understanding giveth light Psal. 119. 130. and when it passeth from the Understanding to the Will 't is spiritually a word upon the wheels and inwardly becomes free-making truth Joh. 8. 32. ennobling the Will with true Liberty in the ways of God Epaphras was in an Agony of Prayer for the Colossians that they might be filled in all the will of God Col. 4. 12. the more filling with God's Will the more true Liberty in ours St. Peter clearly asserts that we are born again of the incorruptible seed of the word 1 Pet. 1. 23. In which words his plain meaning is that the Word being intimately sown in the Heart doth under the warming influences of the hoâ—â— spirit spring up into the new Creature and to make this the plainer he adds that the word lives and abides for ever speaking as I take it not of the Words living and abiding in it self but of its living and abiding in the new Creature As it is with natural Seed or Grain sown the Husk or outward part passes away but the lively or substantial part springs up into the Stalk Blade and Ear so it is with the Seed of the Word the letters and syllables the noise and sound of words pass away but the lively and substantial Truth springs up into the new Creature and in it lives and abides for ever God made two great Promises of Regeneration the one That he would write the Law in the heart and the other That he would give a new heart and the latter he fulfils by the former In these two Instants distinguishable at least in Nature doth God by his Word bring forth the Principles of Grace Now here I would conclude this point but that I am obviated by two Objections The one absolutely against the Words Instrumentality The other against the Method proposed in the two Instants 1. Object That against the Words Instrumentality is this The Production of gracious Principles is a Creation and in Creation there can be no Instrument at all and therefore the Word cannot be an Instrument in that Production In answer to which Objection founded on Philosophical Principles I think it were enough to say with the Psalmist Thy testimonies are wonderful Psal.
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
with it Such a Knowledge being really actuated can the Will turn aside to other Objects for its happiness The simple one may turn away Prov. 1. 32. but shall a man of understanding do so A deceived heart may turn aside Isai. 44. 20. but shall the wise in heart do so A heart of unbelief may depart from the living God Heb. 3. 12. but shall a man of precious faith do so But whither can he turn What to the Riches of the World 'T is but dross to the unsearchable Riches of Christ saith the Understanding What to Honours 'T is but a blast to the true Honour which cometh of God only saith the Understanding What to Pleasures These are muddy Puddles to the pure Rivers of Pleasure above saith the Understanding This Understanding doth as it were blast all the World crucifie the Universe and by a prospect of Faith see the Heavens on fire the Earth burnt up and the Elements melting with fervent heat and can the Will fall in love with the Dust and Cinders of it Surely it will not But if the Will cannot turn aside to such false Beatitudes yet may it not suspend its Act as to the true Suspend what from its own blessedness verily thoroughly believed What from God the all in all plainly powerfully demonstrated to be such And what for just nothing for a sic volo Can it be so brutishly free at so dear a rate as to be eternally miserable Will it hang off from perfect Blessedness or can it do so and the summū malū not fall into its embraces And may a Will renewed with the holy Ghost and right set by gracious Principles do thus Surely it cannot They that know thy name will trust in thee Psal. 9. 10. and which follows upon Trust will love thee and which streams from Love will obey thee and which is the Crown of Obedience will resign up themselves to thee for all their happiness Where such an excellent Understanding goes before there the Will doth infallibly follow after even in actual Conversion unto God as its supreme End 2. The Will doth follow the Understanding in its embracing of Christ as the only way and this appears 1. From several Sciptures To know JesusChrist is eternal life Joh. 17. 3. it quickens the Will to embrace him Christ told the Woman If thou hadst known the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee Give me to drink thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Joh. 4. 10. A true Knowledge of Christ would have inflamed her desires after him and those desires would have breathed out prayers for the living Water Our Saviour quotes that in the Prophets And they shall be all taught of God and and what follows upon that teaching Every man therefore saith he that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me Joh. 6. 45. True Knowledge makes a man come to Christ and that without fail for 't is so in every man that hears and learns of the Father not in one or two but in every man and how doth Knowledge do this How but by glorifying Christ unto the Will The Spirit saith Christ shall glorifie me how so He shall take of mine and shall shew unto you Joh. 16. 14 15. the holy Spirit takes Christ and shews him after a wonderful manner it glorifies him in the Understanding and through the Understanding it glorifies him before the Will and so the Will is sweetly and strongly drawn unto him 2. From the Will it self If the Will be determined by the Understanding unto God as its ultimate End then is it also determined by the Understanding unto Christ as the only way thereunto Indeed if the Understanding did propose an End and withal two distinct ways of equal tendency thereunto then the Will might be free to either of those ways But when the Understanding proposes God as the End and Christ as the only Way to that End then the Will must infallibly close in with Christ it must or lose its End or Blessedness it must or the summū malū will fall into its arms When the Understanding tells the Will in good earnest there is no other way but one there is no other Name under Heaven but Jesus only the Will is sweetly constrained into his embraces 3. From the Understanding which shews forth Christ to be the perfect Way sutable to all our wants in our passage to God the true End Thou wouldest come to God but for the weight of Sin and Wrath Loe here is an High-priest with Expiating Blood thou wouldst come to God but thou knowest not the way thither here 's a Prophet with words of Light and Life thou wouldst come to God but for the pressure of thy reigning Lusts here 's a King with a Sceptre of Righteousness to subdue them thou wouldst come to God but for want of a gracious Heart here 's a Treasury of all Grace and Holiness The Understanding still points at Christ Art thou in darkness he is a sun of righteousness Art thou in death he is the resurrection and the life Art thou a withered branch he is a root of fatness and sweetness Art thou a lost and half-damned Creature he is a Saviour able to save to the uttermost This Understanding glorifies Christ in all his Offices sings the sing of the Lamb and cries him up for altogether precious this is the Window or Lattess at which his all-fair Person looks in upon the Will the Conduit through which the sweet Ointment of his Name is poured out unto the Will and the Crucifix which shews forth his bloody Passion in lively colours before the Will This Understanding practically presses the Will to embrace him O my Soul now hear and live take him and everlasting Mercy meets thee leave him and devouring Justice overtakes thee catch hold on this Prince of Life or die for ever look up to this Brightness of Glory or be in utter Darkness wash in his Blood or bleed in eternal Flames put on his righteousness or be naked to all Eternity there is no way into the Holy of Holies but through the Veil of his Flesh enter and thou hast an ever-blessed God to make thee happy neglect and thou hast a righteous God to make thee for ever miserable When Christ through the Understanding thus pours out his precious Name as an Ointment unto the Will how can it chuse but love him When through this hole of the door he thus drops in his sweet-smelling Truths upon the Will how can it chuse but rise and open to him If it do not whither will it turn What to the Creatures they are all Blackamoors to this all-lovely Jesus What to repentant Tears those want washing in his Blood What to its good Works and Righteousness they are but a filthy Rag. There is such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a transcendent Excellency in the Knowledge of Christ that it makes all other things
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