otherwise disturbed and perplexed Thus Faith in its own nature and direct tendency But still understand Faith as acting Faith as exercised produceth this effect the Christian so far forth as he lives by Faith and in the Improvement of Faith enjoys this quiet sedate minde even when he wants the full-blown joy of a life of Spiritual sence And not only from the nature of Faith doth this arise but also as Faiths hand casts out the Anchor of Hope which keeps the soul steddy and also as it represents and foretastes the recompence and joy to come This leads to the next Effect of Faith 10. Assurance and further joy thereby I make not this Constitutive of Faith nor inseparable from Faith lest I condemn and sadden causelesly the Generation of the just but whereever it is it proceeds from Faith Vnbelief is shut out from the Promise and can have no true Hope much less Assurance Heb. 10.22 Therefore it is called The full assurance of Faith and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 boldness and access with confidence and assurance is by faith in Christ Ephes 3.12 And thus believing doth through assurance the soul by a reflex act preceiving its own Faith and thence interest in the O ject of Faith brings the joy unspeakable and full of glory This though not absolutely necessary 1 Pet. 1.8 all believers should labor after that the comfort of it may confort according to the notation of the word and strengthen them Nehem. 8.10 2 Pet. 1.10 2 Joh. 5.13 for the joy of the Lord is our strength The Apostle Pâ—ter bids give diligence to make our calling and election sure even to our selves rather than in it self And St. John wrote to those that believed that they might know they had eternal life 11. And lastly Salvation is the effect and inseparable consequent of true Faith according to the Text. Now this being that great and last effect which the others made way for the object of our desires the reward of our endeavours the only and perfect happiness of man I shall speak more distinctly to the connexion between Faith and Salvation under these three heads That How Why. First That Faith and Salvation are conjoyned and this is peculiarly one of those things which are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6.9 having accompanying laying hold of salvation It is the Testimony of Truth it self John 3.16 that this is Gods great end in sending his Son into the world that whosoever believeth might have eternal life The Purchaser of salvation John 6.40 declares this to be the Will of him that sent him that every one that seeth the Son and believes on him might have eternal life Accordingly he that hath all power committed to him giveth commission and command to his Disciples to preach that whosoever believeth shall be saved Mark 16.16 And ascertaines their salvation by his prayer for all that should believe through his Disciples word John 17.20 Saint Paul testifies Rom. 10.9 10. Rom. 5.17 he that believeth in his heart shall be saved declares that they that have the gift of righteousness which he defends to be by Faith shall reign in life Rom. 8.30 and accordingly conjoynes justified viz. by Faith and glorified and asserteth this to be according to Gods design in Election and terms in Vocation 2 Thes 2.13 14. 1 Tim. 1.14 15 16. sets forth himself as an encouraging example of the exceeding abundant grace of our Lord through Faith to all though great sinners like himself that should believe on Christ to life everlasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril This Saint John accounts so clear and unquestionable that he writes to them that believe 1 John 5.13 that they may know that they have eternal life So unlimitedly true is that of Habakkuk The Just shall live by his Faith Hab. 2.4 Deus oleum misericordiae gloriae ponit in vase fiduciae Bern. Secondly How Salvation is the effect of Faith Here consider these three things 1. The natural aptitude and fitnesse of this grace of Faith to be made use of in the way of saving man that had broken the first Covenant and could not be saved thereby yea so fit is faith as to be necessary upon supposition of Gods saving sinners by a New Covenant in the hands of a Mediatour and Surety and his Righteousnesse There must be an appropriation of that to the sinner and making all his own and this must be by voluntary acceptance self-confidence and boasting must be prevented now faith alone could do this as before hath been shown 2. The institution of God making this fitnesse of Faith useful and effectual to this end Salvation for be it never so fit yea necessary so that Salvation could not be brought about without it and suppose per hypothesin impossibilem which yet could not be that man had believed upon the Redeemer and God had not said Believe and thou shalt be saved Faith had not reached Salvation Phil. 3.9 therefore it is called the righteousness of God which is by Faith in the Son of God even of his finding out and appointing Even as Sacramental signes are and must be fit to represent what they are appointed for as Aug. Epist 23. ad Bonif. Oportet similitudinem habeant earum rerum quarum sunt Sacramenta quam si non haberent non essent Sacramenta yet they work not naturally but by Divine institution as a means of Faiths maintaining and increase so Faith to Salvation 3. The Dignity and Merit of the object of Faith is to be considered for though it be said 1 Pet. 1.9 Receiving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mercedem as Beza rendreth it the end the reward of your Faith yet is it not of merit for the way of Salvation by Faith is altogether of Grace as Saint Paul industriously and abundantly proveth Faith therefore may be considered either qualitativè or relativè in it self or with respect to its object Now not as an habit in us or act exerted by us though acting not dead faith saveth not as a work of the Law required in the first Commandment doth faith save but through the righteousness of Christ which it apprehends and appropriates in it self it is the most indigent and soul-emptying grace that is and cannot by its own merit do this for it is due being by God commanded Luke 17.10 imperfect in it self for who attaines the highest degrees of faith and if perfect in its kind yet but an imperfect Righteousnesse being the fulfilling but of one Gospel-command Thirdly Why there is this undivided connexion between Faith and Salvation The Prime reason and that which it must be ultimately resolved into is the good pleasure of God according to which he worketh all things There is nothing in faith bearing proportion to this effect and attainment so that we may admiringly say Even so Father because it pleaseth thee Secondary and Subordinate reasons First On
to disobey him this renders them inexcusable at the last Secondly To those who are Atheists voto in desire Psal 14. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God the heart is the Fountain of desires he wishes there were no God this Atishem springs from the former men live as if there were no God and then wish there were none guilt always begets fear and fear hatred and that strikes at the being of the object that is hated as Malefactors desire there were no Law nor Judge that they might escape deserved punishment Well their desires are as visible to God as their actions are to men and in the day of Revelation there will be a proportion of Wrath answerable to the Wickednesse of their hearts Thirdly To those who are Atheists judicio in opinion these low running dregs of time afford us many of these Monsters for many to reconcile their principles with their practices that they may undisturbedly enjoy their lusts take this as an Opiate potion that there is no God but this is the most irrational and impious blasphemy 1. Irrational for the Name of God is written in so fair a Character upon this universal frame that even whil'st men run they may read it and therefore God never wrought a miracle to convince Atheisme because his ordinary works convince it Moreover the notion of a Deity is so deeply imprest on the Tables of all mens hearts that to deny God is to kill the soul in the eye to quench the very principles of common nature to leave never a vital spark or seed of humanity behinde 't is as if an ungracious soul should deny he ever had a Father He that does ungod God does unman himself 2. 'T is the most impious 't is formally Deicidium a killing of God as much as in them lies but there are no Atheists in hell the Divels believe and tremble he that willingly quenches that light which is planted in his breast he is passing from that voluntary darknesse to a worse like an offender on the Scaffold he doth but blinde his eyes to have his head cut off he goes from inward darknesse to utter darknesse Use 2 Vse 2. Let us stablish our hearts in the belief of Gods Being in the latter times the World is wholly disposed to Atheisme as the Scripture attributes the ruine of the Old World to their Atheisme and Profanesse so it foretells the universal disease of the last Age will be Atheisme and Infidelity Luke 18.8 Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh shall he finde faith on the earth it were impossible there should be such a palpable contradiction between the lives of men and this fundamental of Religion did they with assurance and certainty believe it Psal 14.1 The fool hath said in his heart there is no God they are corrupt they have done abominable works there is none that doth good Atheisme is the root of Profanesse moreover the spiritual mysteries of Religion which exceed the flight of reason are opposed by many upon the account of their Atheisme they question the truth of Gods Being and therefore disbelieve supernatural Revelations let us then treasure up this truth First As the foundation of faith for all the truths of Religion spring from this as their common principle the watering of the root will cause the branches to flourish so the confirming of this will render our assent to the doctrine of the Gospel more clear and strong Secondly As the fountain of obedience the true and sound belief of every holy truth always includes a correspondency in the believer to the thing believed and this must descend from the understanding to the affections and the conversation Now the fundamental duties which we are to pay to God are love fear dependance and submission to the will of his Law and of his Providence 1. Love He is the supreme object of love for his excellencies and benefits Psal 5.11 Let them also that love thy Name rejoyce in thee the Name of God imports those glorious Attributes whereby he hath exprest himself to us all the excellencies of the creature meet eminently in him and all their imperfections are removed in him there is nothing unlovely in worldly things how refined soever they be there is an allay of dregs the all that is in them is mixed with corruption but in God the all that he is is perfection in the most glorious creature as a creature there is aliquid nihili some imperfection it is not exactly fitted for the soul but God is the Adequate and compleat object of our love There is such an infinite eminency in God that we are obliged to a proportionable affection the first and great Commandment is Matth. 22.36 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy strength all the kinds and degrees of our love are due to him we must put no bounds nor limits to it in him it must begin in him it must end a remisser love is a degree of hatred we disparage his excellencies by the coldnesse of our affections O had we but eyes to see his beauty how would all the excellencies of the creatures become a very Glow-worme that only glitters in the night Moreover God planted this affection in the nature of man that it might be terminated upon himself as its centre and treasure as our natural faculties are fitted for their several objects the eye for colours the ear for sounds the palate for tasts so love is fitted for God that being as the Soveraign which sways all our powers Love is called pondus animae that sets all the wheels in the clock of the soul a going this sets the understanding a work in the serious contemplation of the Divine excellencies it diverts the thoughts from other things and fixes them on God it excites strong desires and earnest aspirings after him it stirs up zeal which is flamma amoris love in a flame to remove all obstacles which hinder the most intimate union with him it produces joy when the soul reposes its self in God and with infinite sweetness possesses him it causes the greatest diligence alacrity and resolution in all our ways to please him for love is ever the spring and rule of all our actions such as it is such likewise will they be thus we may see that God as there is in him a union of all excellencies challenges the most intense and vehement degree of our love he being only fitted for it and that our love being a superlative affection is only proper to God and therefore to love any creature without God or in an equal manner to him is to Deify the creature to place it in the room of God and so it renders us guilty of Idolatry in a spiritual sense But such is the ignorance of mens minds and the depravednesse of their wills that few there be who love God 't is true there may be something like love in natural men to
to it 2. God hath ratified it by the death of his Son A mans last Will as soon as he is dead is in force and cannot then be disanulled The Covenant of Grace is a Testamentary Covenant which by the death of the Testator is so setled that there 's no altering of it Gal. 3.15 c. Hebr. 9.15 16. Again the Covenant of Grace is ratified by the seals which God hath annexed to it What was sealed by the Kings ring could not be altered Esther 8.8 God hath set his seal to this Covenant his broad seal in the Sacraments his privy seal in the witnesse of his Spirit and therefore 't is sure and cannot be reverst And further than all this 't is ratified in and by that Covenant which hath been now opened The Covenant of Redemption betwixt God and Christ secures the Covenant of Grace betwixt God and believers What God promises us he did before promise unto Christ and the Fâ—ther would not make good his promise unto Christ if he should not make good his promises to the Saints And therefore as in other respects so in this also the Covenant may be said to be confirmed of God in Christ Gal. 3.17 with respect to that paction and stipulation that was betwixt them I lay all this before you for the strengthning of your Faith as to the stability of the Covenant of Grace so long as that Covenant stands you are safe and you see there 's no question but that Covenant will stand which God hath set upon such firme pillars This promise in the Text He shall see his seed will assuredly bring every believer into heaven O that faith might triumph in the consideration of this the Covenant of grace is sure Davids Faith did so when death was in his eye and affliction in his eye Yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire 2 Sam. 23.5 When Faith begins to faint look up to this Covenant and reason thus God will not alter his promise to me but to be sure he will not alter his promise to his Son I may fail in such and such conditions but Christ hath been faithful in all every childe of God may take much comfort from this Vse 3 In the third and last place I would have you to enquire what this Covenant of Redemption is to you Here 's a blessed Covenant betwixt the Father and the Son how far are you and I interested in it or like to receive benefit by it Was it universal that all men should have an equal share in it Some very learned men I know tell us of Pactum universale betwixt the Father and the Son Daven de morte Christi c. but I crave leave to differ from them 1. Because that which they make their Pactum universale is rather a Proposition or a Promise than a Covenant as he that believeth shall be saved 2. I know not how to believe that there should be a solemn Covenant betwixt the Father and the Son upon which never any man should be the better Did ever any sinner get any thing by this universal Covenant 3. We may preach the Gospel to all upon an indefinite Proposition He that believeth shall be saved and we need not to assert an universal Covenant for the universal preaching of the Gospel This was the great reason that prevailed with these worthy men to assert such a Covenant I know no Covenant but that special Covenant into which the seed of Christ were only taken I am loth to fall into the dusty roade of Controversies all along in this Discourse where I could not avoide them I have but just cross'd them over and so presently falne in again into some more quiet and private way Passing by therefore this universal Covenant of men more moderate and the universal Redemption of others who go higher I shall only lay down that which I judge to be a great truth viz. That 't is the Elect only who are concerned in this Covenant Such and such persons there were individually considered whom God the Father in his Electing love doth freely give to Christ for these and only for these doth the Lord Jesus engage to lay down his life Redemption on the Sons part shall be no larger than Election on the Fathers part that there may be a perfect Harmony and Agreement betwixt them in their love So then Beloved if you would draw down comfort to your selves from this Covenant you must finde out this that you are the Elect of God chosen of him to be Vessels of his mercy before the world was Christ undertook to give his life only for those whom the Father had first given to him these he only pray'd for and therefore surely these he only dy'd for You 'le say I put you upon a very difficult search 't is true 't is very hard for a man to know his Election but yet it may be known otherwise the Apostle would never have urged this as a duty upon Christians To make their Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Paul knew that the Thessalonians were elected of God 1 Thess 1.4 And he did not know it by Revelation only No he gives another account of it he knew it by way of inference from what he saw of God in them Ver. 5. For our Gospel came not to you in Word only but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost c. If Election may be known by others why not by our selves I grant à parte ante so it cannot be known so the book is clâ—sped and sealed and none can open it Rev. 5.3 5. but the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah but à parte post by such and such effects and operations upon the heart so it may be known Several of these might be set before you out of the Word but I 'le only instance in the grace of Faith He that believes is certainly in the number of Gods Elect he 's a chosen Vessel of mercy All the Elect shall believe sooner or later they shall close with Christ upon the termes of the Gospel John 6.37 All that the Father giveth me there 's Election shall come to me there 's Faith Acts 13.48 As many as were ordained to eternal life believed None but the Elect can savingly believe The sum of all then for the clearing up of your interest in this Covenant of Redemption is this Have you the precious Faith of Gods Elect Are your hearts wrought up to a blessed accepting of Christ Tit. 1.1 Have you ever had such a sense of sin and guilt and misery as to go out of your selves and only to rest upon the Lord Christ Do you venture your souls upon his all-sufficient merits And is this Faith a working Faith an heart purifying Faith a sin mortifying Faith James 2.14 a world overcoming Faith a Faith that closes with Christ as a Lord Acts 15.9
42.3 weak as a bruised reed through dimness and scantiness of knowledge as a building laid upon a weak or narrow foundation cannot be strong weakness of assent strength of temptations natural timorousness Rom 4.19 20. Act 6. suspiciousness and lowness of spirit In others it is strong and they are full of Faith as Steven having clear and large knowledge c. Both weaker and stronger may be considered either as Habitual in the root and principle or Actual as exercised toward Christ and the promises For the Definition or Description of Faith I shall not heap up words in mentioning many but take up with that full and excellent one of the late Judicious Assembâ—y in their larger Catechism that Christians may with more readiness and safety entertain it Description Faith is a Saving Grace wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God whereby he being convinced of his sin and misery and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of that lost condition not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the Gospel but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness therein held forth for pardon of sin and for the a cepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation It hath here for its Genus or general and common nature a Grace it being compared with Love Hope c. they herein agree The word Grace distinguisheth it from other Habits even good and vertuous that are acquired this is a Grace or gracious disposition or habit infused A Saving Grace to distinguish it from and set it above common Grace and make it one of those better things that accompany salvation Heb 6.9 The Subject is twofold Subjectum Recipiens Occupans 2. Subject Subjectum recipi ns The first the Subject receiving it or in which it is most ordinarily called the Subject and this is The heart of man a sinner elected and called 1. It is Man that believeth not Angels for of their Faith we have no ground to speak It is Man not God and the Spirit in us but man through them Yea Man singularly not of another but of him that hopeth for life the Just shall live by HIS Faith not by anothers 2. It is the Heart of man with the heart man believeth Rom 10.10 the Heart includeth Will and Affections it is not the Vnderstanding onely nor so much though that necessarily makes way Coming to Christ is a spontaneous motion of Will and Affections renewed and this is beleiving there is assent to things revealed as true and acceptance of things offered as good receiving Joh 1.12 embracing with suitable affections to the Revealer and things revealed 3. The heart of a man a sinner for man upright is not capable of this Faith which is in God through a Mediator Believing the word of another concerning restoral and reparation speaketh loss and decay acceptance of alms poverty Indeed Adam might and must thus far exercise Faith in beleiving and trusting God it belongeth to the first commandment that he continuing upright there would be a continuation of Gods love and his happiness but Faith apprehending the promise of God of acceptation through the righteousness of another necessarily speaketh man a sinner Rom. 4.5 as Justification which is by Faith is of the ungodly Rom. 11.7 4. The heart of man a sinner elected the election obtained it the rest were hardned Tit. 1.1 and therefore is it called the Faith of Gods elect Remarkable is that expression As many as were ordained unto life beleived Act. 13.48 and our Lord saith all that the Father giveth him come unto him Joh 6.37 and the Jews not believing was because they were not his sheep and therefore heard not his voyce 5. The heart of man a sinner elected and called is the Subject of Faith Rom. 10.17 Faith is by hearing it is the souls answer to and compliance with Gods call God vailing his omnipotency under and putting it forth with words of command Uncalled and unbelievers are the same and therefore calling is one of the links of the golden chain of Salvation Rom. 8.28 30. and goeth before Justification by Faith in which Call the Terminus â quo is Satan sin misery death we are called from and the Terminus à d quem we are called to Christ God Holiness and Life Subjectum Occupans Materiale The Subject about which Faith is employed or Object that which and in which we believe is not God immediately though primarily Heb. 6.1 but Christ immediately and the Promises which are in him yea and amen 2 Cor. 1.20 and God through Christ 1 Pet. 1.21 he that believeth not in the Son believeth not in the Father and he that hath not the Son hath not the Father Act. 20.21 Repentance is peculiarly referred to God and Faith to the Lord Jesus Christ Faith also and the Promises Heb. 10.23 or God through Christ promising are Correlates and of all Promises those that concern righteousness and life through the blood of a Mediator are the peculiar object Act. 10.43 1 Joh. 5.10 11. Believing the witness of remission and the recrod of giving eternal li e is mentioned it is called beleeving the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glad tidings in the Gospel promises of remission and salvation Mark 1.16 It is true that Faith doth believe and apply every word of God Some things reductively and secondarily are the object of Faith in a sequacious Spirit credulous to whatever is contained in Scripture as that Abimelech had a wife c. Gen 20. Some things are more directly the Word of God expressed and asserted in the History of the Bible yet being believed have not an immediate connexion with Justification and Salvation thereby But the grand testimony of and through Christ Faith as saving principally respecteth and as assenting in the mind looks upon the Promise as accepting in the Will and Affections respecteth Christ The ground on which we believe Formale called the Formal Object of Faith shall be referred to the Externally moving Cause to believe of which afterwards Of all Four Causes I shall speak in order 3. Causes Efficient Principal and first of the Efficient which is either Principal or less Principal The Principal Cause may be considered as that from which the beginning acting continuance growth and perfection of Faith do proceed and this is the Blessed Trinity or God the Father through the Son by the Spirit 1. The beginning root and habit of Faith is from God if of every a Phil 1.6 good work and b Jam 1.17 gift then this and therefore it is called the c Ephes 2.8 gift of God and to you it is d Phil 1.29 given to believe e Heb 12.2 Jesus also is called the Author this is wrought by the Spirit it is
in Faith without wavering is required and he that wavereth is bid not to think he shall receive any thing Yea Jam. 5.15 the efficacy of the prayer of Faith is by him asserted and throughout Scripture by remarkable expressions and instances abundantly confirmed and proved Fidelem si putaveris facies is true as to God Sen. as well as man And that of the Roman Historian Liv. Vult sibi quisque credi habita fides ipsam plerumque obligat fidem But it doth not produce this eminent effect as to Prayer only rendring it acceptable but also 5. Acceptance to the person in all services together with the distinction of and denomination of Good given to habits and actions flowes from Faith Heb. 11.6 vers 4. vers 5. Without Faith it is universally and utterly impossible to please God By Faith our Sacrifices become excellent and we with them we and they please God and therefore it is not without good reason usually accounted that Wedding garment which renders our presence welcome to the Lord in any Ordinance or service Mat. 22.11 Faith taketh away the savor of the flesh which whatsoever is born of the flesh hath and gives a divine tincture and relish it is like a vein of gold running through all duties which makes them precious though still they be somewhat earthly That it is Characteristically denominative of other Graces and distinctive of them fâ—om moral vertues those splendida vitia may appear if it be considered That even that eminent Grace of Love is nothing without Faith 1 Cor. 13.2 Gal. 5.6 as no Faith without it could be any thing and doth nothing without it Faith worketh by Love not Love but Faith by it Faith being first and chief in being and working Humility was eminent in the woman and Centurion Mat. 15.27 28 Mat. 8.8 10. yet not Humility but Faith was taken notice of this being the main tree that a sprig from its root receiving its excellency from it and by faith accompanying and overtopping it becoming true humility and not a degenerate meanness and abject lowness of Spirit Sorrow for sin would not deserve the name of Repentance nor Confession be ingenuous but for the hand of Faith laid on the head of the Scape-goat Faith believing Gods promise concerning the Moderation Sanctification removal of Affliction worketh in a way of Patience Jam. 1.3 and this Faith accompanying ennobles Christian Patience and makes it not to be Obstinacy or Insensibility So it makes a Christians contempt of the World not to be a Vain-glorious pretence or a sullen morose reservedness Thus might we run through many more 6. Conquest over Adversaries and hinderances in the way to heaven Isa 9.6 Heb. 2.10 Ephes 6.16 Faith in the mighty God the Captain of our salvation who hath led captivity captive disarmed the powers of darkness and triumphed over them and we in him our head makes couragious and that victorious for if we resist the General of the adverse party will flee Jam. 4.7 1. Pet. 5.9 only we must resist him stedfast in the Faith holding up that shield that will repel and quench all his darts For the life of sence in the lusts of the flesh and of the eye 2 Cor. 5.7 and the pride of life the life of Faith is diametrically opposite thereto by Faith not sight c. doth necessarily weaken it as we find in those Worthies Heb. 11. that by Faith denied themselves in so many things pleasing to flesh and blood and did and suffered so many things contrary thereto For the World as that same eleventh of the Hebrews giveth remarkable instance so St. John beareth testimony in most significant phrase to the power of Faith herein 1 Joh. 5.4 calling it the Victory whereby we overcome the world because certain victory attends and shall crown all that fight the good fight of faith against the World as the God and Prince of this world so the pleasures of the world the honors the profits the friendship of the World with their contrary troubles and the snares and temptations of both 7. Confession and profession of the Faith This is an inseparable adjunct and consequent of true Faith though I call it not a property because this may be where true faith is not but where Faith is this will be also all is not gold that glisters but that is not gold that doth not glister Can a man carry fire in his bosom and not discover it Can a man have the Spirit of Faith 2 Cor. 5.13 and believe yet not speak The Apostolical command is not only that we stand fast in the Faith 1 Cor. 16.13 Heb. 10.23 Rom. 10.10 but also that we hold fast the profession of our Faith for as with the heart man believeth to justification so with the mouth confession is made to salvation Let our unchristianly and irrational deriders of Professors and Profession consider this 8. It giveth the soul a sight of things invisible Heb. 11.27 Joh. 1.18 Exod. 33.20 2 Cor. 4.18 and an enjoyment of things to come By Faith Moses saw him that is invisible Jehovah whom otherwise no man hath seen nor can see and live Yea by the same St. Paul and others of the faithful looked at those eternal good things which are not seen 5.7 for they walked by Faith and not by sight By this the Saints can look within the vail By Faith the soul takes a prospect of the promised Canaan this being the Pisgah of its highest elevation Joh. 8.56 By this Abraham saw Christs day and rejoyced It gives a present subsistence to certain futures and is the evidence of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 and not seen for which cause the believers conversation will be in heaven where he seeth his treasure is and where therefore his heart is 9. Joy and Peace in some degree is an immediate effect of true Faith and no true Joy is without Faith though higher degrees flow through Assurance Rom. 15.13 There is joy and peace in believing and a joy of Faith especially when conjoyned with growth Phil. 1.25 It is expressed by leaning and staying upon the Lord which speaks support fixation quietation of mind For which cause a childe of God under desertions prefers his life of Dependance before the Worldlings life of enjoyment and findes some satisfaction in present unsatisfiedness hath some glimmerings of light in the dark night of unassuredness God hath promised to keep him in peace in peace translated perfect peace whose mind is staid on him 2 Isa 26 3. Ch ron 20.20 because he trusteth in him Believing in the Lord brings establishment not only as to the condition and state of the person but also as to the disposition and frame of the mind We finde it in other cases believing the promise and relying on the power and love of another affords a great calm and some secret joy to a mind
Gods part upon supposition of his institution 1. His Justice having received a valuable price for Salvation and this price being made the sinners own in the way of Gods own appointment so that believing sinners may humbly plead with God as a righteous Judge for their Crown 2 Tim. 4.8 Rom. 3.26 Gods justice being not only secured but obliged in a sense by Faith 2. His faithfulness having in his Word promised Salvation to Faith as hath been shown Secondly On Faiths part the reason why God hath conjoyned certain Salvation with it is because it giveth most glory to God of any thing Rom. 4.20 1 Sam. 2.30 therefore God entailes glory on it peculiarly it honoureth God and God will honour them that have it He that believeth sets to his seal that God is true John 3.33 and every way justifieth and advanceth him Properties and notes of Trial convertible with true Faith 5. Properties and reciprocal where Faith is there is this and that where this and that are there is Faith where Faith is not there these are not c. and farther differencing it from other Faith 2 Cor. 13.5 which is a needful work for there is true and false feigned and unfeigned alive and dead Of these some indeed belong to the former Head of Effects and some of them seem not altogether unsuitable to be referred to this Head The First shall be a more general Note True and saving faith receiveth a whole Christ upon judgement and choice on Gods termâ—s Lord to rule as well as Jesus to save the object of Faith in the Text no separating what God hath joyned and to have a divided Christ not a whole Christ salvation but not self-denial c. True Faith is a considerate thing that which hath least depth Mat. 13 5. springs up most suddenly the soul sits down and weigheth and casteth up all accompts and compareth all things together misery by sin undonnesse in self termes of salvation self-denial a fundamental one taking up the Crosse following Christ universally sincere obedience and what the world lust or Satan can say to the contrary and saith CONTENT to Gods terms and here the bargain is made the soul trusts God contentedly for his part even priviledge and resolvedly sets about its own part even duty Hence true faith proceeding deliberately upon Gods termes is willing to be tryed by the Word declaring those terms which farther tryal according to the Word follows Secondly True and saving Faith is ushâ—r'd in by godly sorrow and humility in a good degree though they are farther compleated afterward upon the sense of Gods pardoning and accepting love Ezek. 16.63 Mark 1.15 Acts 20.21 Then shalt thou be ashamed c. Repent and believe Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ this is Gospel order The inconsistency between Faith and Pride Hab. 2.4 is evident in that opposition of the souls lifting up and living by Faith and the hinderance of the Jews believing John 5.44 The Centurions and womans Faith were attended with eminent humility Did not humility and godly sorrow accompany and bring in faith the Law could not be our School-master to bring us to Christ This shutteth out that easie merry proud faith that springs up without the dunging of humility or watering of sorrow according to God Thirdly True and saving Faith is abiding and perseverant and this upon supposition of temptations and assaults for otherwise a mock-faith may have a continuance and men dye in a pleasing dream of ungrounded presumptuous confidence Now it must be such or cannot be saving for as it is said He that believeth shall be saved Mark 16.16 Mat. 24.13 so he that endureth to the end shall be saved They that have true Faith have the seed of God abiding in them the prayer of Christ for them are kept by the power of God for he that hath begun a good work will finish it his gifts being without repentance Believing and sealing for security are conjoyned Eph. 1.13 The true believer is the wise man that built on the Rock Mat. 7.24 25. his house therefore stood the good ground that hath deâ—th of earth Mat. 13. Heb. 10.38 39. that what springs may not wither The just shall live by his faith continue therein and so believe to the saving his soul being rooted and established therein through Christ Col. 2.7 See more of this before under the efficient cause principal and instrumental Fourthly True and saving Faith is growing though this growth be not alway discernable or alike That prayer for encrease of Faith flowed from the very nature of Faith Luk. 17.5 it is the good fight which must be carryed on to a compleat conquest running a race 1 Tim. 6.12 2 Tim. 4.7 Prov. 4.18 speaking progresse to the finishing our course for the way of the just is as light that shineth more and more to a perfect day Whatever hath life hath growth till it reach a state of consistency 1 John 5.13 Saint John wrote to those that did believe that they might believe Vt credatis credere pergatis which belongs to the last Head fide crescatis Beza in loc i. e. grow in faith according to the general Apostolical precept of growing in all grace The same Author accounts this the most plain and natural interpretation of that of Paul from Faith to Faith Fide Rom. 1.17 quae quotidiè incrementum accipiat confirming it by that of Clement of Alexandria The Apostle speaks not of a double Faith but of one and that receiving growth and perfecting The Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 furtherance of faith Col. 2.7 Phil. 1.25 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 establishing and abounding in the Faith speak encrease and growth in root and branches more fixed habit more frequent acts They therefore that have believed ever since they were born and alway alike never believed at all truly Fifthly True and saving Faith is Purging Act 1 Rom 8.1 4 purifying their hearts by Faith Believing and walking not after the flesh are joyned where there is Faith and much more assurance of Faith there will be heart and body cleansed and washed Heb. 10.22 23 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Pet. 1.4 1 John 3.3 pollutions of flesh and spirit taken away by faith receiving the promise of the undefiled inheritance the believer will purifie himself as he is pure in whom he trusteth and hopeth Living flesh will purge out the Sanies and corruption in it a living Fountain the mud that 's stirred up so living faith And indeeed hereby it is permanent for purity preserveth pure Faith cannot be kept but in a good even a cleane conscience 1 Tim. 1.19 Sixthly True and saving faith hath other graces accompanying it in a good measure with a proportionable encrease strength and activity I know some are more eminent for this others for that grace as Moses for meekness Job patience Abraham
Faith c. yet in good measure must other graces accompany for this is an indispensable duty to add to Faith temperance 2 Pet. 1.5 patience brotherly kindnesse Faith with many other graces are called in the singular number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fruit of the Spirit because connex and inseparable Gal. 5.22 Besides that the growth and strength and activity of other graces have dependance upon it both as it pleads with Christ in prayer for all and pleads with the soul to act stir up and abound in all Abrahams faith had self-denial accompanying it there will be patience for he that believeth will not make hast See more tending to this under the fifth effect of faith Let not men speak of their faith then when other graces are no way suitable Seventhly True and saving Faith is working and fruitful though love and good works are not the form of it as the Papists plead yet it alway hath love accompanying Gal. 5.6 James 2.17 Eph. 1.15 and worketh by love and without works is dead Per opera consummatur fides non ut formatum per suam formam sed ut forma per suas operationes actus primus per actum secundum Alting Faith alone justifieth but Faith which justifieth is not alone Bona opera non praecedunt justificandum sed sequuntur justificatum They that are in Christ Jesus by Faith are described by walking in Christ and according to the Spirit Quomodo accipitur fide quomodo ambulatur in eo ad praescriptum voluntatis ejus vitam instituendo ex ejus Spiritu vivendo Zanch. in Col. 2.6 Faith is obediential Rom. 16.26 and cannot but be so for he that believeth really his labour shall not be in vain in the Lord cannot in reason and holy ingenuity 1 Cor. 15.58 but think it meet he be fruitful and abounding alway in the work of the Lord Alii cogitant pii credunt Aug. for others they do but think not know the greatness and certainty of the reward Yea indeed that assurance I before spake of proceeds from Faith through obedience By this we know that we know him know put for believe Zanch. in loc as Isa 53.11 if we keep his Commandments I shall therefore according to St. Pauls command to Titus affirm constantly this as a faithful saying Tit. 3.8 That they which have believed must be careful to maintain good works Eighthly True and saving Faith trusting God for the greater will trust him for lesser mercies To them that through Christ do believe in God 1 Pet. 1.21 this will seem forcible arguing and a necessary inference He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up I believe for me Rom 8.32 how will he not with him give me also all things freely God hath made all sorts of promises to true Faith and accordingly many of the Servants of God have expressed confidence in God when things have gone worst with them they would not be afraid what man can do unto them nor of evil tidings Psal 11.7 their hearts were fixed trusting in the Lord The just's living by Faith is true in this sence also Gal. 2.20 and that of Pauls living the life in the flesh by the Faith of the Son of God hath much in it Though I know natural timorousness and living too much the life of sense may occasion some worldly fears in a Believer as boldness of temper carelesness false confidence may much bear up an unbeliever Yet in great measure their pretences to faith are questionable I might say their faith is but pretence who say they can trust God with their Souls but will not trust him with bodies and estates Ninthly 1 Pet. 2.7 Vers 8. Isa 53.2 Cant. 5.9 True and Saving Faith makes Christ very precious to them that believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to the unperswadable he is a stone of stumbling without form or comeliness they ask the believer What is thy beloved more than another And no wonder for none but the believer hath a cleared eye to behold things that aâ—e spiritually discerned Tolle meum tolle Deum Psal 34.8 Psal 104.34 None but he hath that special interest which inhanceth the price and valuation None but he hath that experience by which it is tasted and seen that the Lord is good But sight propriety and experience will make him inestimably precious and the meditation of him sweet Faith that seeth his necessity seeth also his excellency and takes him not upon constraint but choyce Those things that are â—pposite to true Faith are of two sorts 6. Opposites First Such as speak the soul void of it and are simply inconsistent with it Secondly Such as actively war against it and repel it These I shall call Contrarily Opposite those Privatively Opposite though the terms may seem not fully suitable to all the particulars Some things are Privatively Opposite to true and Saving Faith Privatively as relating to the Vnderstanding others as to the Will others as to the Life First As to the Vnderstanding and Assent 1. Ignorance bilndness darkness of the inconsistency of which with Faith see before of the Word the Instrumental Cauâ—e This either is invincible Ignorance Act. 17.30 where means of cure are wanting Or Vincible which carelesness sloath or affectation causeth for there are some persons willingly and wilfully ignorant 2 Pet. 3.5 Joh. 3.19 and love darkness 2. Unperswadableness to assent to the truth of the Word and Promise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impersuasibilitas Rom 11.30 31 When men are not satisfied in the grounds of believing and so assent not wherein yet somtimes there is a battery shaking the Assent and by parley bringing near a surrender Act. 26.28 an almost perswasion which yet is ineffectual 3. Error in Fundamentals especially those that concern Faith Christ the Promises Justification and salvation Corrupt minds are reprobate concerning the Faith 2 Tim. 3.8 Therefore doubtful Disputations Rom. 14.1 where on one side is error are dangerous to the weak Secondly As to the Will Affections and Consent Heb. 2.3 1. Unbelief not accepting the good things promised through ignorance or careless neglect of great salvation 2. Disbelief when men through dissatisfaction with the reasons to believe or through pride stubbornnâ—ss uncompliance of spirit Joh 5 39 40 44. WILL not come to Christ for life will not submit to the righteousness of God Thirdly As relating to Life practice and profession 1. Heresie is Privatively Opposite Such as joyn obstinacy and promulgation to their errors 2 Tim 2.16 whose words eat like a gangrene Tit 3.10 are to be rejected as men void of and enemies to the Faith 2. Apostasie from the truth and profession of the Gospel called denial viz. after knowing and owning These never were of the Faith 1 Joh 2.19 else would they not have gone from it This is a dangerous thing drawing
back to perdition in such God hath no pleasure Heb 10.38 2 Pet 2.21 It had been better for them never to have known c. This commonly ends in bitterest enmity to the Faith and true professors of it 3. All sins laying waste the Conscience are inconsistent with faith because Faith and a good conscience are inseparable companions 2 Tim 3.9 Contrarily By way of Contrariety there may be considered these things possibly some also under the former head in part as Opposite to true Faith First Flesh and blood these cannot enter into the kingdom of G d and oppose faith that would bring thither I name this first because it is the greatest enemy and gives advantage to all others and then indeed are we tempted to unbelief or any thing else when we â—re drawn aside of our own hearts By Flesh and blood is meant Sense 2 Cor 5.7 living by sence is the great hinderer and supplanter of Faith Also Carnal reason judging every thing by its own unsuitable apprehensions and so misrepresenting the things of God to it the Gospel is foolishness though it is the wisdom and power of God to them that believe This taketh notice of the meanness of the faithful in the world and stumbleth at it c. Abraham left both these Servants below when he went up into the Mount to the Lord to exercise that eminent Faith of his Rom 4.18.19 c. Yea indeed Sense and Reaâ—on appeared eminently contrary to him in his entertaining the â—romise at first else had not the great strength of his Faith been manifested nor God glorifi d so much Secondly Satans assaults He not only at first keeps out Faith by blinding mens minds 2 Cor 4.4 but afterwards doth with Faith as the King of S ria charged his Captains to do with the King of Israel He knows what an enemy to hâ—s kingdom Faith is 1 King 22.31 by it we resist him and consequentâ—y put him to flight and quench his darts He knows if our Faith fail all fails Luke 22.31 Luke 8.12 and therefore he desires to winnow the soul and get the goâ—d seed out of our hearts lest we should believe and be saved Thirdly The World is a great adversary 1 John 5.4 Why else is Faith called the Victory over the world but that there is hostility between the world and it Fourthly I might add m ns own delays 1. Causing hardness in their hearts from themselves To day to day believe Heb 2.15 Joh 12.38 39 40. unless you would harden your hearts 2. Provoking God to seal men up under their injudicious unperswadable minds for their long opposition to the light and word of Faith Gen 6.3 Act 7.51 The Spirit of Faith will not alway strive when men still resist him I shall improve all that hath been spoken by some few Uses and conclude Vses The first sort of Uses shall be Corollaries for Information 1. Of the certain and u â—peakable misery of â—he unbeliever Information from the sure happiness of the believer Contrariorum contraria est consequentia Remember what hath been spoken before of the excellent Effects and Consequents oâ— Faith Union with Christ Justification Adoption c. and that great and everlasting fruit Salvation upon all which we may coâ—clude with the Apostle Gal 3.9 blessed are they wâ—ich be of Fâ—ith or believe with faithful Abraham Luk 45. yea therefore blessed is he tha bâ—lievâ—th because there shall be a performanâ—e of â—ll tho e things which have been spoken of the Lord Now turn the Table invert the sense read all backward understand all contrary of the unbâ—liever No union with but separation and distance frâ—m Christ No pardon of sin reconciliation and justification but guilt in fu l force the curse of the Law John 3â— 36 and so he is left to stand or fall by himself and the wrath of God are upon him No Adoption of Sons but rejection as spurious and a Sonship to the Devil the god of this world c. No Salvation Mark 16.16 Joh. 3.18 but inevitable condemnation He that believeth not shall be condemned yea is condemned already because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten Son of God i. e. his present state is a state of certain damnableness as sure as if he were condemned already Not that there can be no believing afterward and recovery thereby 1 Cor. 6.11 for who then should be saved for such were some yea all of them that are justified by faith in the name of the Lord Jesus as the Apostle speaks of other sinners He that believeth not maketh God a liar 1 Joh. 5.10 Joh. 3.36 but he shall find him exactly true to his cost in such words as these He that believeth not the Son shall not see life The unbelieving as well as more carnal sinners shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 21.8 which is the second death Heb. 3.12 Joh. 5.40 Act. 13.46 Matth. 13.58 Men by unbelief depart from the living God will not come for life and judge themselves unworthy of eternal life and bring a kind of impotency upon the Omnipotent as to the doing them any good No wonder then if Jesus wondered at their unbelief that held his hands from helping them Mark 6.5 6. Oh! how much better were it for them among us that believe not that they had never had offers of Salvation never heard the Gospel of the Grace of God! 2. It is no small matter to be saved since Faith is such a thing as before described and without it there is no Salvation Should Christ now come should he finde Faith on the earth Alas the small number of those that shall be saved there being so few Believers though so many Professors of Faith among Christians This is sadly manifest in the gross Ignorance of the most and suitable apprehensions in the Doctrine of Faith of very few In the Errors Heresies Apostasies of many even denying the Lord that bought them In the altogether contradictory life of most to that Faith they pretend to have which as well as Repentance should have fruits meet for it brought forth and accordingly it is known No wonder if they that take true Saving Faith to be no more than Assent aâ—d a professed owning the Doctrine of the Gospel a Confidence at all adventures of Gods love c. or some such thing think the way to heaven broad and wonder at any speaking of the paucity of those that shall be saved 3. Hence take notice of the Reasonableness of the Christian Religion 1. That God requireth no more but Believe Other things indeed are required but they naturally flow from faith are inseparably linked with faith and faith cannot be without them faith is the great work of God and command of the Gospel 2. That this is so suitable Without faith no salvation can be
Sure then you will have reason to plead for and to hold fast this blessed book which we call the Bible if I shall be able to make it further evident that it is tha book which God himself hath writ An Argument which you need to hear and which you had need seriously consider for as I shall anon presse it upon you if you did believe the glory the Scripture speaks of and the dreadful misery that remains for impenitent sinners in hell if things as they are stated in the Scripture were looked upon as real truths it would cause you presently to return to God by godlinesse There were even in the Apostles time seducers so you finde in the beginning of this Chapter persons that would resist the truth as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses Not only in the present age which is like the dregs of the world in comparison of the Primitive times but even then also there were seducers and deceivers there are Comets among the Stars as well as ignis fatuus that creep upon the earth what must Timothy do ver 14. Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom than hast learned them and that from a childe thou hast known the Scriptures c. From a childe Jos phus in his book against Apion tells us the children of the Jews were so instructed in their Laws that they could scarce name a Law to them but they could tell it more shame to us Christians that take no care to teach Religion that may much more easily be learned than the Jewish Religion could From a childe thou hast learned the Scriptures And it would be a shame for a person so long instructed not to continue in this doctrine a shame for an old professor well educated to desert the principles of his Religion and forsake the truths of Scripture do not forsake them why this verse gives two reasons first it is of divine revelation secondly it 's profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousnesse A little to explain the words All Scripture is given by inspiration of God Scripture in the Text is the same with the Holy Scriptures ver 15. for you must know that in the Bible the word Scripture is commonly taken for the holy Scriptures so search the Scripture ye erre not knowing the Scripture John 5.39 Matth. 22.29 John 10.33 the Scripture cannot be broken so you must understand it here all Scripture that is not every thing that is written but the holy Scripture Is of Divine inspiration the meaning is that the things written are not of humane invention are not the contrivance of any mans wit or any mans fancy but they are the real revelations of the minde and will of God And yet those things which were thus reveal'd good men were excited to write them and assisted in it I say the inspiration of God comprehends in it these two things First the truths contained in this Scripture were not inventions of mans braine ot fancy Secondly that they who writ them were excited to it and were assisted in it by the Holy Ghost The Text is both explain'd and confirm'd by the parallel place 2 Pet. 1.21 Knowing this first that no prophesie of the Scripture is of any private interpretation for the prophesie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost That you may a little understand this Text give me leave to glosse upon it In ver 16. the Apostle said we have not followed cunningly devised fables c. That which we have proposed and preached to you was nothing cunningly devised by us when we made known to you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ we saw him transfigured we did not go about to tell you the story our selves but if you will not believe that ver 19. We have also a more sure word of prophesie There are predictions concerning Christ in the Old Testament whereunto ye do very well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place untill the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts Not as some Enthusiasts would interpret this that men should mind the Old Testament till the Spirit of God should tell them the truth of this Scripture and then throw away the Old Testament No it 's a light that shines in a dark place untill the day dawns and the day-star arise in your hearts I 'le give two interpretations either first that this heart is the dark place till the day-star arise and so the word untill shall not refer to the word take heed but only to dark place mans heart is the dark place But I rather take it till they saw the accomplishment of those Prophesies till you see that really fulfilled which hath been Prophesied Take heed why knowing this that no Prophesie of Scripture is of any private interpretation c. so we read the word in the Greek it is they are not of any private incitation and impulsion for the word hath reference to the custome of Racers now you know Racers do not set out when they please themselves but when he watch word is given Now no Prophesie is of any private interpretation they did not go about nor set about it till God really put them upon it for it was not the effect of their own will choice or invention but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Say the Papists the Scripture is of no private interpretation therefore you cann't understand it but that is just as if I should say you must not put what meaning you will upon my words and therefore you cann't understand them The Scriptures being from God are not to any of private interpretation that is to put any other meaning upon them than what God means but it doth not follow what God means cannot be understood Luke 1.70 it s said that God spake by the mouth of the holy Prophets c. The Apostles before they preached were endued with power from on high as you read in the Acts. Paul saith of himself it pleased God to reveal his Sonne in him Gal. 1.15 16. by the Revelation of the Gospel 1 Cor. 14.37 If any man think himself to be a Prophet or spiritual let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the Commandments of the Lord. Quest The grand enquiry will be how may any man be truly satisfied that this book is the Word of God or that it hath Divine authority or Divine inspiration I confesse 't is an undertaking too great for me but yet sometimes you have seen a little boat follow a great ship That I may distinctly do it and offer my own thoughts in this great enquiry I shall give you what I have to say in these seven Propositions Sol. 1. Prop. That there may be a Revelation from God no man
in his creation with a perfect and universal rectitude 2. That mans defection from his primitive state was purely voluntary and from the unconstrained choice of his own mutable and self-determining will Though the latter part of the Text would afford a sufficient ground to treat of the state of man now fallen yet that being by agreement left to another hand I observe no more from it then what concerns the manner of his fall and that only as it depended on a mutable will In handling these truths I shall 1. Open them in certain explicatory Theses 2. Improve them in some few praictcal and applicatory inferences 1. About the former that God endued c. take these Propositions for explication Prop. 1 1. All created rectitude consists in conformity to some rule or Law Rectitude is a meer relative thing and its relation is to a rule By a rule I here mean a law strictly taken and therefore I speak this only of created rectitude A law is a rule of duty given by a Superiour to an Inferiour nothing can be in that sense a rule to God or the measure of increated rectitude Prop. 2 2. The highest rule of all created rectitude is the will of God considered as including most intrinsecally an eternal and immutable reason justice and goodness 'T is certain there can be no higher rule to creatures than the divine Will Rom. 7.12 Rom. 12.102 Ezek. 18.25 ch 33. and as certain that the government of God over his creatures is alwayes reasonable and just and gracious and that this reasonablenesse justice and goodnesse by which it is so should be subjected any where but in God himself none that know what God is according to our more obvious notions of him can possibly think Prop. 3 3. Any sufficient signification of this Will touching the reasonable creatures duty is a law indispensably obliging such a creature A law is a constitution de debito and 't is the Legislatours will not concealed in his own breast but duly expressed that makes this constitution and infers an obligation on the Subject Prop. 4 4. The Law given to Adam at his creation was partly natural given by way of internal impression upon his soul partly positive given as is probable by some more external discovery or revelation That the main body of laws whereby man was to be governed should be at first given no other way than by stamping them upon his mind and heart was a thing congruous enough to his innocent state as it is to Angels and Saints in glory it being then exactly contempered to his nature highly approvable to his reason as is evident in that being faln his reason ceases not to approve it Rom. 2.18 fully sutable to the inclination and tendency of his will and not at all regretted by any reluctant principle that might in the least oppose or render him doubtful about his duty Yet was it most reasonable also that some positive commands should be superadded that Gods right of dominion and government over him as Creatour might be more expresly asserted and he might more fully apprehend his own obligation as a creature to do somethings because it was his Makers Will as well as others because they appeared to him in their own nature reasonable and fit to be done for so the whole of what God requires of man is fitly distinguished into some things which he commands because they are just and some things that are just because he commands them Prop. 5 5. Adam was indued in his creation with a sufficient ability and habitude to conform to this whole Law both natural and positive in which ability and habitude his original rectitude did consist This Proposition carries in it the main truth we have now in hand therefore requires to be more distinctly insisted on There are two things in it to be considered The thing it self he was endued with The manner of the endowment 1. The thing it self wherewith he was endued that was uprightnesse rectitude otherwise called the image of God though that expression comprehends more than we now speak of as his immortality dominion over the inferiour creatures c. which uprightness or rectitude consisted in the habitual conformity or conformability of all his natural powers to this whole Law of God and is therefore considerable two wayes viz. In relation to its Subject Rule 1. In relation to its subject that was the whole soul in some sense it may be said the whole man even the several powers of it And here we are led to consider the parts of this rectitude for 't is coextended if that phrase may be allowed with its subject and lies spread out into the several powers of the soul for had any power been left destitute of it such is the frame of man and the dependance of his natural powers on each other in order to action that it had disabled him to obey and had destroyed his rectitude for bonum non oritur nisi ex causis integris malum vero ex quovis defectu Davenant de justitia habituali i. And hence as Davenant well observes according to the parts if I may so speak of the subject wherein it was Mans original rectitude must be understood to consist of 1. A perfect illumination of mind to understand and know the Will of God 2. A compliance of heart and will therewith 3. An obedient subordination of the sensitive appetite and other inferiour powers that in nothing they might resist the former That it comprehends all these appears by comparing Col. 3.10 where the image of God wherein man was created is said to consist in knowledge that hath its seat and subject in the mind with Ephes 4.24 where righteousness and holiness are also mentioned the one whereof consists in equity towards men the other in loyalty and devotedness to God both which necessarily suppose the due framing of the other powers of the soul to the ducture of an inlightened mind And besides that work of sanctification which in these Scriptures is expresly called a renovation of man according to the image of God wherein he was created doth in other Scriptures appear as the forementioned Authour also observes to consist of parts proportionable to these I mention viz. illumination of mind Ephes 1.18 conversion of heart Psal 51.10 victory over concupiscence Rom. 6.7 throughout 2. Consider this rectitude in relation to its Rule that is the Will of God revealed 1 John 3.4 or the Law of God sin is the transgression of the Law and accordingly righteousnesse must needs be conformity to the Law viz. actual righteousnesse consists in actual conformity to the Law that habitual rectitude which Adam was furnished with in his Creation of which we are speaking in an habitual conformity or an ability to conform to the same Law This habitual conformity was as of the whole soul so to the whole Law i. e. to both the parts or kinds of it natural and positive
shewed the expiation of sin and therefore their Sacrifices were killed and the blood shed and sprinkled Heb. 9.22 23. 2. The Covenant at Mount Sinai was not made with all without exception as Adams was but only with a select people even with Israel 3. Because the Lord still puts them in minde of his promise to Abraham which included Christ and faith in him Gal. 3.16 17. and was not null by the Law Quest 5. The last question is how long this Covenant lasted and whither any be under a Covenant of Works Answ Most strictly it was but to the giving of the first promise for then the Covenant of Grace began but was more largely and clearly revealed till the coming of Christ by the Law and the Prophets but was most perspicuously and fully by Christ himself in his doctrine and death and by the abundant pouring out of his Spirit Howbeit all along and to this day every natural man is under a Covenant of Works because out of Christ therefore under the Law and the curse of it for which cause the Covenant of Works is by some called the Covenant of nature Faedus naturae Again all they which look for righteousnesse and salvation by the power of their wills by the strength of nature and by performance of duties as Jews Turks Philosophers Papists Socinians Gal. 4.24 25. Pelagians these are all under a Covenant of Works they are not under grace they are of Hagar the Bond-woman of Mount Sinai which answers to Jerusalem which now is which is in bondage with her children as the Apostle speaks in his elegant Allegory I come now to draw some Corollaries from this doctrine of the Covenant of Works thus propounded in a practical way of application and that briefly Corol. 1. It serves for admiration to wonder with a holy astonishment at the Lords infinite condescending love in making a Covenant with poor man 1. Because it was a free act in him to do it he lay under no compulsion to it Rom. 9.15 16. nothing of merit or profit in a despicable worme appears as a motive to it it was a royal act of glorious grace from the King of heaven to vile creatures O wonderful 2. Because as it was free for him to do it so he bound his hands by it and as it were lost his freedome by it for his truth holds him fast to it Hebr. 6.18 by which its impossible for him to change O wonderful 3. He made the first offer he prevented us by his grace he loved us first 1 John 4.10 19. all this appeared in the first Covenant with us Bullinger de fâ—â—dere Dei unios aeterno in vouchsafing us to make any at all with him Ineffabilis misericordiae Divinae Argumentum quod ipsum numen ipse inquam Deus Aeternus faedus ipsum primus offert nullis ad hoc hominum meritis adactus sed merâ nativâ bonitate impulsus nec scio an humanum ingenium hoc mysterium vel plenè toncipere vel dignis laudibus evehere possit Unspeakable mercy that the eternal God should first offer to league with us moved to it by no merit in us but by his own native goodnesse only a mystery which the minde of man cannot conceive nor his tongue praise to the worth of it thus a grave Authour which will the more inhance the love of God if we 4. Consider that he makes Covenant upon Covenant after breaches and forfeitures renews them again and ratifies them stronger than ever as he did the new Covenant after the old was broken by our high and hainous provocation in the fall and which he doth to every elect soul in the Sacraments and after grosse and grievous Apostasies See Jerem. 3.1 Ezek. 16.60 61 62 63. Hos 2. O admire and adore this love Corol. 2. Seeing there are two Covenants on foot one of Works another of grace and very many yea the farre greatest part of the world are under a Covenant of Works which is a most sad and doleful estate because a state of wrath and death a most wretched and accursed condition O try under what Covenant thou art for if thou art in the state of sinful nature a sprowt of old Adam never yet cut off from his root of bitternesse nor graffed into Christ thou art undone to be under such a Covenant is to be an enemy to God and to be lyable to all his plagues O make haste then and flee as a Post and as the young Roe into Christs Armes For consider how thou canst stand before the Bar of God in thy sins in thy nakednesse Adam fled away from the presence of God afraid and ashamed hiding himself in the Thicket because he was naked but where wilt thou hide thy nakednesse in that dreadful day of the Lord there will be no shelter in that day for a sinner Corol. 3. Labour to understand and discern aright the nature tenour and termes of both Covenants 1. Because they are easiiy mistaken and many do mistake them Rom. 10.2 3. 2. Because the mistake is dangerous like a man in the dark as he travels findes two wayes one way is wrong Prov. 14.12 yet it seems as good and safe as the other he goes on in the wrong which leads him to a Rock where he falls down headlong and breaks his neck so many a poor soul imagines he is under a Covenant of Grace and in a safe way to heaven when alas he is yet under a Covenant of Works and in the high-way to hell Labour then to discern the difference search Scriptures and thy own heart go to the Lord by prayer Job 33.23 and to his M nisters that they may shew thee thy way lest thou go on to thy destruction And therefore Corol. 4. Improve the Covenant of works for the conviction of sin righteousness and judgement for till the Lord lets thee see what it is to be under such a state thou wilt never see the evil of it nor ever desire to change it Corol. 5. Renounce thy Covenants with sin Satan and creatures or else thou wilt never be admitted into Covenant with God if thou break not with them God will never close with thee if thou be a Covenant-servant to them thou art no Covenant-servant of the Lords for how canst thou serve those two Masters Matth. 6.24 1 Joh. 2.15 16. God and Mammon both which crave thy whole man and thy whole work and which are utterly inconsistent with each other Corol. 6. Labour to relieve thy self under thy greatest straits and sears by Covenant promises I mean the promises of the new Covenant which are called better promises Hebr. 8.6 10 11 12. Joh. 15. because absolute prâ—mises because they work that in us and for us which God requires of us when of our selves we can do nothing As the new Covenant is the best Covenant and the promises of it the best promises Isa 55.3 Acts
it self the hearing makes the ears tingle but the wrath does not make the heart quake Ye had better hear the Heralds in the Princes name denouncing the war and send out for peace than have the Prince himself come with fire and sword into your bowels upon the contempt 3. This may informe us of the righteousness and wisdome of the Lord in this wrath annexed and declared against sinne 1. Consider the high rewards the Lord hath propounded The Law is not so fiery in comminations against sin but the Gospel is as full of a 1 Cor. 2.9 2 Cor. 12.4 grace and promises to wayes of duty Now bring things to the bar of reason it self and may not the Lord annex this dreadful wrath to sin that doth annex such glorious incomprehensible promises to the duties and weak services of his people sin strictly deserves these not May not he punish severely that rewards eminently how just is it that persons invited to the Supper Luke 14 24. and making excuses should not taste thereof that despisers of the recompences of God should suffer eternal losse of them and be scourged with the contrary to them 2. Consider the Ends the Lord hath designed to reach 1. In the Elect. 1. To startle Luke 12.5 I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him Faith in the threatning engenders fear as faith in the promise genders hope faith and fear were conjoyned in Noah Heb. 11.7 and wrought together in his obedience and preservation 2. To make all things else little that meet them in the world to shoulder them off from the truth and homage of Christ A Merchant in a Storme throws his goods over-board the wrath of God makes the startled sinner part with any thing and incur any thing rather than incur that Moses had rather incur the wrath of a thousand Pharaohs than the wrath of God because he knew the power of his wrath As Gods people have rewards promised that out-weigh all that they are called to part with so terrours propounded that all other terrours may be over-looked and incurred rather than these 3. To worme out the esteems of the world and the sensual pleasures honours and profits thereof the fewel of lust there is need of violence to pull out of this fire Now he that propounds an end pitches upon means fitted to compasse that end A Cleaver of knotty timber must have a wedge that will go through The mother that will mean the childe must lay such bitter things on the brest as will make the childe loath the milk So the Lord hath declared those wages to sin that shall turn the edge of love and liking to sin That had need be very bitter that shall make those very sweets bitter to us No lesser evils would work the sense of that evil of sin into the conscience And those secretly grudge and complain of the pains as too great to whom they are too little to awaken and lead them to repentance 2. In the Reprobate 1. That he may discover his perfect and infinite displeasure against sin and in these great letters that all the world may read his full hatred of it Eli his faint checks proclaimed his faint dislikes of his sons sins High dislikes produce answerable checks Affections in men are the feet the soul goes forth upon and s rong affections goe a very nimble eager pace The Lord much more because of his infinite contrariety to sin 2. That he may discover the power of his justice and wrath Rom. 9.17 For this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew my power in thee and that my Name might be declared throughout all the earth Those which glorifie not God in that manner which he would he will glorifie himself in the manner that they would not Pharaoh said Who is the Lord and trampled his authority and commands under foot Now as he did sometimes bring light out of darknesse and the Apothecary doth Preservatives out of rank poysons so the Lord not actively glorified doth fetch the glory of his power and vindictive justice out of sin it self The walkers in greatest pride and scorne of God the Lord will have everlasting glory in their everlasting smart and he will so punish that heaven and hell shall ring of his justice and power and displicence against sin and that his threatnings to the utmost are made good and were not scare-crowes 3. Consider the dreadful aggravations of sin It is 1. A confederacy with the devil A sworn servant about the Princes person to contract amity and hold correspondence with the worst of his enemies makes the sin rise and his judgement without pity Should a Christian fall from a mild and gracious Prince without a cause and side with the Turk or worshipper of the devil against him we should think no punishment too much for him 2. A defection from and insurrection against God and ateasing the Lord into the lists and field 1 Cor. 10.22 Do we provoke the Lord to jealousie are we stronger than he Goliah challenges and defies the Host of Israel till David comes forth and sends a stone into his braines and cuts his head off with his own sword and gives his flesh to the fouls of heaven so sinners till they draw the Lord and the weight of his infinite and eternal displeasure forth against themselves even that weight which sinks them and they are never able to rise from under it again Now sins rise as the quality of the person that they are done against He that flies in my face and gives me blows and wounds thereby there is an Action of battery and damages to be had against him He that doth the same against the Judge of Assize or the King upon the Throne that is Treason and his life and estate are hardly enough to make amends for it The infinity of God makes the infinity of the evil and meritoriousness of wrath in sin The Majesty rises and so the guilt and demerit rises infinitely 3. The contempt of all means used for fetching the Rebel in How often would I have gathered you Mat. 23.37 and ye would not Men stand out and if they could have stood would have stood out and continued hostility against heaven for ever How equal is it that a creature nigh to God falling off to the devil without a cause and which chooses to have God his enemy and that no means can reduce though the danger and evil of sin be evidenced and his inability to stand an act of oblivion offered and highest preferment and yet will not come in How just is it that he reap the fruit of his continuing at a distance from his Soveraign and in disobedience against him 4. This may inform us of the distemper and pride of mans heart that will charge his misery anywhere rather than upon himself 1. Upon instruments forreign
is exalted to sit at the Right hand of God which is a Name or honour which never the Angels nor Arch-Angels had This I prove from that passage of the Apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrews where it is said concerning Christ Who having purged our sinnes is sate down on the Right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1.3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being made so much better than the Angels as he hath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they for to which of the Angels said he at any time Sit on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy Fooâ—-stoole Heb. 1.13 Thirdly He hath a Name above every Name because it is through this Name that the Name of God becomes a comfort unto us The Attributes of God are the Name of God Now without an Interest in Christ we shall have no comfort in any Attribute of God To a Christless sinner all the Attributes of God are against him as for instance 1. God is wise that 's the worse for a wicked man for he knows all that wickedness thine own heart is privy to and much more evil by thee Jer. 17.10 1 Joh. 3.20 than thine own heart knoweth 2. God is holy and therefore he must needs hate those that are Filthy Being of purer eyes than to behold iniquity 3. God is just and if the righteousness of Christ do not Skreen thee the wrath and vengeance of God must needs break out upon thee for thy guilt Hab. 1.13 4. God is Almighty and how shall the Potters Vessel endure the least touch of his hand how shall the chaffe stand before the Whirl-wind of his wrath how shall the stubble dwell with everlasting burnings and such are all Sinners out of Christ All the thoughts of God must needs be terrible to all those souls that are out of Christ But the Name of Christ is that which makes the Name of God a Sanctuary and strong Tower the face of God shines upon us in the face oâ— Jesus Christ Prov. 18.10 As Moses when he was hid in the Rock could with delight hear the Name of God proclaimed so how sweet 2 Cor. 5.6 â— Exod. 33.21 22. 1 Cor. 10.4 and lovely and comfortable are all the Attributes of God to all those that are in the Rock the Rock Christ Jesus 1. God is a wise God the more is my comfort Psal 73.24 Mat. 6.32 may a Believer say for he knows how to guide me he knows what I want and how to supply it 2. God is a holy God and that 's a comfortable Attribute for in Christ he is our sanctification 1 Cor. 1.30 3. God is a mercâ—ful and gracious God so he is in himself but in Christ Jesus he is most merciful gracious and full of compassion to pity and pardon his children Even as a Father pitieth his Children Psal 103.13 so the Lord pitieth them that fear him 4. He is an Almighty God mighty in power and thus his Name Prov. 18.10 Rom. 8.31 through the Lord Jesus is a strong Tower the righteous fly unto it and finde succour and through Christ a believer can say If the Lord be for us it matters not who are against us 5. Lastly Even the Justice of God through the Lord Jesus Christ becomes an Attribute of comfortable Consideration for because God is just therefore he will not condemn those for whom Christ hath satisfied Rom. 8.1 Mal. 3.17 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus God will not condemn those that are in Christ but for his sake will spare them as one sparâ—th his Son that serves him And thus the Name of Christ is a Name above every Name because through his Name it is that the Name and Attributes of God become comfortable unto us Fourthly And Lastly The Name of Christ is a Name above every Name because his Name should be most precious and powerful in his Church throughout all Generations thus all the Assemblies of the Church should be in the Name of Christ Matth. 18.20 John 14.13 1 Cor. 5.4 they must meet in his Name all Prayers are to be made in the Name of Christ All Church-Censures are to be in his Name Mat. 28.19 Ministers must Preach and Administer the Sacraments in the Name of the Lord Jesus and thus he hath a Name above every Name 3. The third thing propounded is How are we to understand the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath given him a Name c. I answer This must be understood of Christ as Mediatour for so considered and so only he was capable of Exaltation 1. There are some that hold that Christ as God was exalted that now in Heaven the glory of the God-head which lay hid and was vailed in the Tabâ—rnacle of his flesh John 1.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is now exerted and so exalted But the manifestation of the Deity is no exaltation of the Deity When the Sun shines out of a dark night the ayre is illustrated but the light of the Sunne is not encreased The Lord Jesus was exalted in that Nature in which he was humbled and that is his Humane Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyss As the Divine Nature could not suffer neither can it be exalted God being the highest cannot be exalted It was the Humane Nature of Christ that is thus exalted If we look upon the Divine Nature of Christ John 10.30 Phil. 2.6 Non nová indigeb at exaltatione à Patre qui aequalis erat Patri Calv. Non ea accepit Christus quae non prius habebat sed accepit ut homo quae habebat ut Deus Theod. In qua forma crucifixus e stin ipsa exaltatus est Aug. so he was one with the Father and equal to the Father and thus it must not be thought that Christ could be capable of Exaltation When God gave him a Name Theodoret excellently unfolds this great Mystery thus Christ saith he did not receive that which he had not before but he did receive that as man which from all eternity he had as God 2. But we answer that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Text hath Relation unto Christ as Mediatour God-man not as God so he could not be exalted at all nor as a meer man for so he could not be capable of so great Exaltation The Humane Nature of Christ being a Creature cannot be capable of Divine Worship or of sitting at the right hand of God But the Humane Nature of Christ by the personal inseparable union it hath to his Divine Nature is thus advanced Having finished the first particular of Christs Exaltation that God hath given him a Name above every Name I now proceed Secondly Another particular of Christs Exaltation is this That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow In the handling of which I will endeavour to resolve these Questions Quest 1. What are we to
audaciousness to bid the Son of God fall down and worship him Mat. 4.9 10. Christ said Get thee behind me Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve The Devils are bound to bow though they refuse 2. The Devil Rebels and wicked men do not bow to but blaspheme the Name of Christ and yet Jesus Christ hath and doth exercise Authority over them 1. In limiting them 2. In punishing them 1. In that he doth limit them The Devil could not take away either Jobs Cattle Job 1.11 12. Luke 8.32 Servants Children or Health but as far as Gods permissive Providence was pleased to lengthen the chain and though God doth lengthen the chain yet he alwayes keeps the chain in his hand The Devils could not go into the Herd of Swine till they had first ask't leave of Jesus Christ And so persecuters they are limited too the Devil and his instruments they are limited The Devil shall cast some of you into Prison that you may be tried and you shall have tribulation ten dayes Thus the Devil and his instruments are bounded 1. As to the Persons whom they shall persecute the Devil shall cast some of you not all into Prison 2. As to the kind of trouble the Devil shall cast you into Prison not into hell Rev. 2.10 3. As to the time you shall have tribulation ten dayes and not for ever 2. God will punish them and so they shall be Subject to Christ 1. In this life for though the patience of God be long-suffering yet it is not alwayes suffering 2 Pet. 2.8 Luke 18.7 Psal 110.11 Luke 19.27 and though he do beare long yet he will avenge his elect 2. At the last day The unjust are reserved to be punished at the day of judgement then will Christ put all his enemies under his feet and then Christ will say As for those mine enemies that will not that I should reign over them bring them forth and slay them before my face the total final subject on of the Devil and Wicked men of all the enemies of Christ unto him shall be at the last day then shall all knees bow before God Thus the Lord speaks in the Prophet I have sworne by my self the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness Isa 45.23 and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow every tongue shall sweare To this Scripture it is that the Apostle alludes in this place and if you ask when shall this vniversal subjection be unto Christ the Apostle will answer you in his Epistle to the Romanes To this end Christ both died and rose and revived Rom. 14.9 10 11 that he might be Lord both of dead and living but why dost thou judge thy Brother or why dost thou set at naught thy Brother we shall all stand before the judgement Seat of Christ for it is written As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God And so I am come to the third and last particular of Christs Exaltation viz. Every tongue shall confesse that Jesus is the Lord. In the handling of which I shall resolve these Questions Quest 1. What are we to understand by every tongue Answ 1. Some understand every tongue for every Nation and then the meaning is Omnis linguae pro quavis Gente Dan. 3.4 Rev. 5.9 Psal 67.7 Psal 2.8 Psal 72.9 Rom. 10.18 that the Name of Christ shall be acknowledged and worshipped by every Nation and so in Scripture Phrase Tongue and Language and Nation they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words of the same notion and import And this is true that before the end of the world all the ends of the earth shall worship the Name of Christ. The Heathen shall be his inheritance and the uttermost ends of the earth his possession and they that dwell in the Wildernesse shall bow before him and the Sunne-light of the Gospel shall shine all the world over And it is very remarkable how God did repair the confusion of tongues by the gift of tongues Gen. 11.7 compared with Acts 2.11 Rom. 10.10 2. But I rather conceive that by every tongue is meant every person as by every knee every person for with the heart man believeth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Quest 2. What are we to understand here that Jesus is the Lord 1 Cor. 2.8 Answ Jesus Christ is the Lord the Lord of glory in several respects 1 Cor. 8 6. Rom. 11.36 1. He is the Lord as he is Creatour of heaven and earth to us there is but one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him For of him and through him and to him are all things Heb. 1.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.2 2 Cor. 4.5 2. As he was the Son of God so he is the Lord and so he hath obtained by inheritance this most excellent Name to be Lord and Christ thus Christ is Lord of all jure haereditario as he was the Heire of all things Jesus Christ is the Lord so speaks the Apostle We preach Christ Jesus the Lord. 1. Christ is a Lord to command us he hath that Authority that he hath an absolute Soveraignty over our consciences men are but Servants of our Faith Stat pro rationibus universis Deus vult but Christ is the Lord of our Faith and Consciences It is enough that Christ hath said it that he hath commanded it Heb. 7.25 2. Christ is a Lord to save us and he hath power and ability to save to the uttermost all those that come unto God through him And thus as he hath the Authority of a Lord to command us we should willingly obey him and as he hath the power and ability of a Lord to save us we should chearfully trust in his Name To confess that Jesus is the Lord is so to believe on him as to say Mat. 8.26 Acts 9 6. Lord save us or else we perish and so to obey him as to say Lord what wouldst thou have me to do Now as every knee must bow to the Dominion of Christ so every tongue must confess that Jesus is the Lord. 1. The Devils and Wicked men shall be forced at the last to acknowledge the power of Christ whose Authority they have alwayes rebell'd against And as Pharaoh and the Egyptians cryed out Exod. 14.15 Lâ—t us flee for the Lord fighteth against us So shall the stoutest-hearted sinner one day flee from the presence of Christ Rev. 6.16 and call to the Mountains to shelter them from the wrath of the Lamb. And all the implacable enemies of Christ they shall be forced through spite and rage to gnaw their tongues and gnash their teeth and say as that Cursed Apostate Julian Thou hast overcome me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Galilean 2. All the Saints
evil is ever present but to do good he hath no minde so that he must needs cry out I have sinned and must return or else I perish now reproof finds ready acceptance from him the Ministers of God shall meet with no murmuring if they cry unto him Thou art the man for he is apt and ready to draw up a Bill of Inditement and read a large accusation against his own soul his iniquities now finds him out and followeth him every where that it becomes alive and appears against him with vigour not admitting the least of Apology but leading him to Condemnation and laying him open to the Curse due unto them that break the Law and therefore he now 3. Sentenceth himself as accursed of God and bound over to Divine fury the conscience of his guilt concludes him under the condemnation of the Law that he seeth cause to wonder at his very being concludeth himself unworthy the least of mercy and God to be just in the greatest of judgments which lie upon him and so proceedeth to judge himself and seal up his own soul under the curse standing under the continual expectation of Gods fiery indignation to be revealed from heaven determining it self a debtor to the Law and as such liable to justice and in it self unable to make the least satisfaction so that now the soul doth not only assent unto the Law as true in all its threats but app yeth them unto himself confessing unto him belongs shame and confusion hell and horrour wo and eternal misery that he knoweth not how to escape but if God proceed against him he is most miserable and undone forever and so is constrained with anguish of soul to cry out What shall I do to be saved This is then the first part of humiliation when the soul in this due order and judicial method of conviction is brought to a sight of sin to see God offended the Law violated the soul damned and destinated to everlastâ—ng woe if not Redeemed by the mercy of a God who hath established Jesus Christ his Son to be a Lord and Saviour to g ve Remissiâ—n and Repentance and so it proceeds to the sorrow for his sin as committed against God Second part of humiliation The second part then of penitential humiliation is contrition or sorrow for sin as committed against God Herein the soul is not only acquainted with but afflicted for its guilt seeeth not only that it is a sinner but sorroweth under and is ashamed of so sad and sinful an estate the stony heart is broken the Adamantine soul dissolved he rends not his garment but his heart and goeth out and weepeth bitterly He seeth with shame his many abominations and rendeth with soul-distressing sorrow and anguish the Curse of the Law that is due unto him and considereth with almost soul-distracting despaire the doleful estate into which his sin hath resolved him for he seeth God with whom he is not able to plead to be highly offended and therefore must with Job confesse that he is n t able to answer when God reproveth Job 40.4 5. he is vile and must lay his hand on his mouth though in his pride he hath once spoke yet now he hath no answer yea twice but he dare proceed no further Well seeing that all contending with God is but a da kening counsel by words wi hout knowledge and so he becomes submisse and silent under the saddest of affliction inflicted by God Psal 51.4 Lam 3.39 Crying out Against thee thee only have I sinned And why should a living man complaine for the punishment of his sin the soul is in it self confounded on the sense that God claps his hands against him for his sin therefore his heaâ—t cannot endure or his hands be strong Ezek. 22.13 14. Compunction of spirâ—t is the only condition of the convinced Penitent he seeth he is liable to the curse of the Law and his only outcry is What shall we do to be saved He being convinced that he hath crucified the Lord of life is pricked at the heart and in all approaches unto God he is ashamed and amazed becâ—use a man oâ— polluted lips nay Isa 6.6 sadly seeing that sin overspreads him Isa 64 6. his very righteousnesse is as a menstruous cloth he like the poor Publican stands afar off and dares not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven and his only note and eccho is Lord be merciful to me a sinner Luke 18.13 he humbleth himself under the hand of God as having deserved the most heavy of plagues his haughty spirit is now laid low within him he is wholly resolved into sorrow even godly sorrow it is his grief that guilt is on his spirit but his greater grief that his sin is gone out against God a gracious and an holy God a just and an holy Law his sorrow is a sorrow of candor and ingenu ty not so much that he is liable to the lash and obnoxious to the curse as that a Father is offended the image of his God defaced his grand complaint is I have sinned against God his soul-affliction and heart-trembling is God is offended the frownes of God sink deeper and seize more sadly on his spirit than the sharpest of his sufferings his earnest cry is for the joy of Gods salvation he is not only afflicted with the terrours of the Law Psal 51 12. which he confesseth belongeth to him but is melted with merciful Ministrations of the Gospel of which he is so unworthy he cannot look unto Christ but with a spirit of mourning moved by the strength of the remedy to see the heighth of his malady and by the dolor of a Saviour Zech. 12.10 made sensible of the depth of his miserie by the mercy and love manifested to so great a sinner he is led to mourn over a gracious Saviour like Mary Magdalene he loveth much and manifesteth it by lamenting much Luke 7.47 because much is forgiven Thus then the believing sinner comes home by weeping-crosse findes conviction and contrition antecedaneous acts unto his conversion a sense of and sorrow for his sin precursive parts of his Repentance and God holds this method in g ving Repentance for sundry wife and gracious ends which he hath propounded to be effected As 1. To suit them for and engage them to set an esteem on Christ Jesus and the Remission of sin in him The whole need not the Physician but the sick and Christ came not to call the righteous to repentance but the sinner Mat. 9.12 The hunted beast fl es to his Den and the pursued Malefactor to the hornes of the Altar the chased man-killer to his City of Refuge so the humbled sinner unto Jesus Christ like Paul slaine with the sense of sin and constrained to cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin Rom 7.24 25. it soon seeth and saluteth Christ for
and is exalted to give remissiâ—n of sin and Repentance and to consecrate us unto himself a peculiar people These Lessons and every of them are written in such legible Characters in the death of Jesus Christ that he that runs may read them and each of them are pathetical perswasions to Repentance whil'st they are read by any seriously observant soul they reflect these serious and pensive thoughts How vile is mine iniquity that hath provoked so great severity and exp sed my Surety to so much misery how great peril was my soul in which is râ—deem d by so great a price how dangerous those wounds which are only cured by the death of the Chyrurgion how dissonant to holinesse and daring to justice is that sin which but imputed exposed the only begotten Son of God to be deserted by his Father how fierce that fury which could not be appeased without suffering it must needs be fearful to fall into the hands of an angry God for how will he fume at the servant that thus frets at his Son how will he tear the Principal that thus tormenteth the Surety how shall God punish us for our own sins who is so wrathfully displeased with his Son for other mens sins Oh what shall be the sufferings of the Reprobate if these be the sufferings of his dearly beloved needs must fraile man sink under the burden of Divine fury when the God of Angels needed the support of an Angel If my Repentance will avenge the quarrel of my suffering Saviour shall I not do it if Repentance will rescue me from wrath to come shall I not performe it had I not better weep a few days here then in hell for ever and the rather for that I weep not without cause nor mourn without hope The sin was mine the sorrow my Saviours the transgression mine the satisfaction my Sureties Oh the depth of his pity that endured this for mine iniquity What he endured for a time I must have endured for ever if in him the Father had not been well-pleased Shall that be my delight which cost my Surety so dear Shall I call on the Lords Name or be called by the Name of Christ and not depart from iniquity was Jesus Christ thus broken for me and shall not my heart be broken for and from sin hath he R deemed me from this wrath to come and shall he not Redeem me from my vain conversation shall I expect Remission and not accept repentance through his blood Oh what reason have I to return to God and glorifie him with my soul and body which are his for he bought them at a price and a deare price his own blood he hath consecrated a way of access unto the Father through the vaile of his own flesh but shall I dare to approach not having my heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and my body washed with pure water he is reconciled but shall I againe rebell I am healed shall I againe sin a pardon is to me extended shall I not receive it with a pensive and prostrate soul Thus then we find that there is much of strength in this Argument even above a thousand Arguments to enforce Repentance if but right reason keep the Throne what reply can be made or reason rendred why the call of the Gospel should not be obeyed whilst it pleadeth with so much clearnesse for our repentance from the consideration of the death of Christ But the second Argument urged by the Gospel to induce us to repent is the day of judgement 2. Argument to enforce repentance The former Argument doth assault our affections this our passions that the soul may be surrounded with suggestions unto repentance and if either the one or the other are under the command of right reason the design of the Gospel may not miscarry the dread of the day of judgement drives the Ministers of God to Preach and perswade repentance Knowing the terrours of â—he Lord we perswade men saith the Apostle for that we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive according to the things done in the body according to that he hath done in the body whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 11. This is sure a profitable proper Argument to perswade repentance which provokes unto the Preaching of it and therefore the same Apostle doth in Acts 7.30 31. urge it but now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent for that he ha h appointed a day wherein to judge the world in righteousnesse c. And this Argument is so pregnant and profitable to perswade repentance that it is urged by John the Baptist The Kingdome of God is at hand therefore repent nay the axe is laid to the root of the tree and every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit must be hewen down and thrown into the fire therefore bring forth fruits meet for repentance Matthew 3. and very often by the Lord Jesus himself This is so proper an Argument to enforce repentance that it is noted to be set at a distance to the thoughts of the impenitent they live as having made a Covenant with death and an agreement with hell Isa 28.15 put farre away this evil day it is noted that the Doctrine which increaseth ungodlinesse denieth the resurrection 2 Tim. 2.16 17 18. And such as walk after their own lusts are scoffers at the day of judgement 2 Pet. 3.3 4 5. And it is to be observed that those in Athens who repented not at Pauls Preaching mocked when he made mention of the resurrection and last judgement But certainly there is much in the day of judgement to move the hardest heart and most stubborn sinner to repentance the same Spirit which is to convince the world of sin and of righteousnesse convinceth also of judgement for the day of judgement answereth all the sinners pleas whereby he defendeth and encourageth himself in sin for it assureth of certaine detection and conviction of sin It is a day which alloweth not the least encouragement from secresie for therein every mans deeds must be made manifest whether they be good or evil nay the very secrets of all hearts shall be laid open and sinful thoughts themselves must then be judged the day of judgement determineth a period to all impiety and denieth the duration of its props and Pillars profits and pleasures in the world determining all the advantages of sin to be at the best but pleasures of sin for a season calling on rich men to howle and weep though they live in pleasure on earth in James 5.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. The day of judgement assureth of the punishment of the wicked however they scape scot-free in this life and by their present power Gods patience and humane strength they evade and escape many evils which befall the godly yet they are but reserved to this day of vengeance and this is the day in which the wicked must appeare Cursed and manifesteth
me in whose presence is fulnesse of joy * Psal 16.11.3 Thirdly After this sentence follows the Execution Mat. 13.30 Binde the tares in bundles to burn them Christ will say Bundle up these sinner here a bundle of hypocrites there a bundle of Apostates there a bundle of prophane bundle them up and throw them in the fire And now no cryes or entreaties will prevail with the Judge the sinner and the fire must keep one another company he who would not weep for his sins must burne for them and it is everlasting fire The three children were thrown into the fire but they did not stay in long The King came near to the mouth of the burning fiery surnace and said Come forth Dan. 3.26 but the fire of the damned is everlasting this word ever breaks the heart length of time cannot terminate it a Sea of-tears cannot quench it The wrath of God is the fire and the breath of God is the Bellows to blow it up to all eternity O how dreadfully tormenting will this fire be to endure it will be intolerable to avoid it will be impossible Use 1 Use 1. Let me perswade all Christians to believe this Truth that there shall be a day of judgement Eccles 11.9 Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thy heart but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement This is a great Article of our faith that Christ shall come to judge the quick and the dead yet how many live as if this Article were blotted out of their Creed we have too many Epicures and Atheists who drown themselves in sensual delights and live as if they did not believe either God or day of judgement the Luâ—ianists and Platonises deny the immortality of the soul the Photinians hold there is no Hell I have read of the Duke of Silecia he was so infatuated that he did not believe either God or Devil * Usque adco insâ—nus ut neque inseros neque superos esse dicat I wish there be not too many of this Dukes opinion Durst men swear be unchast live in malice if they did believe a day of judgement Oh mingle this Text with faith the Lord hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world There must be such a day not only Scripture but reason confirms it There is no Kingdom or Nation in the world but have their Sessions and Courts of Judicature and God who sets up all other Courts shall not he be allowed his that there shall be a day of judgement is engraffed by nature in the consciences of men Peter Martyr tells us that some of the Heathen Poets have written that there are certain Judges appointed Minos Radamanthus and others to examine and punish offenders after this life Use 2 Vse 2. See here the sad and deplorable estate of wicked men this Text is as the hand-writing on the wall which may make their knees to smite one against another Dan. 5.6 The wicked shall come to judgement but they shall not stand in judgement Psa 1.5 in the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall not rise up When God shall be deck'd with glory and Majesty his face as the appearance of lightening his eyes as Lamps of fire and a sword of justice in his hand and shall call the sinner by name and say Stand forth answer to the charge that is brought against thee what canst thou say for thy pride oaths drunkennesse c. these sins thou hast been told of by my Ministers whom I sent rising up early and going to bed late * Jer. 7.25 but thou didst persist in thy wickedness with a neck of iron * Isa 48.4 a brow of brass * Ezek. 36.26 an heart of stone all the tools I wrought with were broken and worn out upon thy rocky spirit what canst thou say for thy self that the sentence should not passe O how amazed and confounded will the sinner be he will be found speechless he will not be able to look his Judge in the face * Job 31.14 Job 31.14 What then shall I do when God râ—seth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him O wretch thou that canst now out-face thy Minister and thy godly Parents when they tell thee of sin thou shalt not be able to out-face thy Judge when God riseth up the sinners countenance will be faln * Gen. 4 6. and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Not many years since the Bishops did use to visit in their Diocesse and call several persons before them as criminal all the world is Gods Diocesse and shortly he is coming his visitation and will call men to account Now when God shall visit how shall the impure soul be able to answer him 1 Pet. 4.18 Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appeare Thou that dyest in thy sin art sure to be cast at the Barre John 3.18 He that believeth not is condemned already that is he is as sure to be condemned as if he were condemned already and if once the sentence of damnation be passed miserable man what wilt thou do whither wilt thou go * A dextris erunt peccata accusantia à sinistris infinita daemonia subtus horrendum chaos inferni desupor judex iratus soris mundus ardens intus conscientiaurens heu miser peccator quo fugies Ansel wilt thou seek help from God he is a consuming fire wilt thou seek help from the world it will be all on fire about thee from the Saints those thou didst deride upon earth from the good Angels they defie thee as Gods enemy from the bad Angels they are thine Executioners from thy conscience there is the worme that gnaws from mercy the Lease is run out O the horror and hellish despaire which will seize upon sinners at that day oh the sad convulsions their heads shall hang down their cheeks blush their lips quiver their hands shake their conscience roar their heart tremble What stupifying Physick hath the Devil given to men that they are insensible of the danger they are in the cares of the world have so filled their head and the profits of it hath so bewitched their heart that they minde neither death nor judgement Vse 3 Vse 3. Exhortation 1. Branch Possesse your selves with the thoughts of the day of judgement think of the solemnity and impartiality of this Court. Feathers swim upon the water Exhortat 1. Branch gold sinks into it light feathery spirits floate in vanity but serious Christians sink deep in the thoughts of judgement many people are like quick-silver they cannot be made to fix If the Ship be not well ballasted it will soon overturn the reason why so many are overturned with the vanities of the world is because they are not well ballasted with the thoughts of the day of judgement Were a man
Jacob he made him his heir so Gods blessing makes us a title to this inheritance 1. Then ye that are blessed of my Father from the foundation of the World in his Electing love and they whom he hath so blessed they shall be blessed the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word signifies well-spoken to now Gods Eternal thoughts are * Verba mentis his words and they that were in his thoughts from Eternity their names were written in the book of l fe God had Eternal purposes of grace to them * John 17.6 thine they were and thou gavest thâ—m me they were blessed in the thoughts of his heart before all generations this is an Elective Kingdome yet we are saved not according to the merit of * 2 Tim. 1.9 our works done oâ— fore-seen but accord ng to his own purpose and grace which was given in Christ Jesus beforâ— the World began And in vain â—id Christ Covenant with his Father or make a Testament for us unlesse the heâ—rs purchased were fore-known * Haeres caput Testamenti heirs being the ground-work of a Testament 2. Well spoken to in the Word of God by the powerful vocation of his Spirit * Rom. 1.7 they are called to be holy and he * Ephes 1.3 blesseth them with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places by Christ Jesus There are none come but they that are * Rev. 19.9 invited to the Supper of the Lamb they that God hath * Gen. 9.27 Cant. 1.4 perswaded to dwell in the Tents of Shem whom * Hosea 11.4 he hath drawn with the cords of his love and made them a * Psal 110.3 people of a free-will offering in the day of his power whom the * Luke 1.78 day-spring from on high hath visited and the womb of the morning of the day of grace hath brought them forth those that God * Hos 2.14 hath allured and brought into the Wildernesse that he might speak to their hearts None shall be followers of the Lamb but those that are * Rev. 17.14 called faithful and chosen 3. Well-spoken of in the Word and Promises of the Gospel those that are * Mat. 5.3 c. meek poor in spâ—rit pure in heart merciful persecuted for righteousness sake and merciful for all these shall obtain mercy as it follows in the Verses after the Text Come ye blessed c. For * Mat. 25.35 I was an hungry and ye gave me to eat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink a stranger and you took me in naked and you cloathed me sick and you visited me in prison and you came to me And he said Verily inasmuch as you have done it to one oâ— these my brethren these littte ones you have done it unto me for * Rom. 2.13 not the hearers but the doers of the Word are blessed the * Hebr. 6.17 17. heirs of these promises are the only heirs of glory 4. Blessed in the final pardon absolution and justification which shall be pronounced at the last day Ye shall inherit whom the righteous Judge of all the world shall acquit and discharge from your sins to whom God shall say * Matth. 9.2 son be of good chear thy sins are forgiven thee nay Euge well done * Mat. 25.1 good and faithful servant enter into thy Masters joy thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee Ruler over many Oh how good a word will this be to a soul as soon as it is got up out of the Wildernesse of this World yet * Psal 128.4 thus shalt thou be blessed that fearest God He will give thee then to be sure * Rev. 3.12 a new name and a white stone and write upon thee as a Pillar or a Trophy erected after victory his own Name and when God shall thus blesse thee and speak to thee thou wilt need never a word more to make thee happy but the generations that come up after thee shall when they rise up to heaven call thee blessed And so I come to the third particular the formal introduction of these blessed heirs into their inheritance Come ye blessed c. 1. This is the speech of one that gives us an everlasting avocation from the troubles and vanities of this present world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vox avoâ—antis Christ will speak to them in this manner only in more emphatical significancies Come poor souls where have you been all this while poor sheep where have you been wandring upon the barren Mountains of the earth climbing the cliffs of preferment and worldly honours as if you had been of the number of the Goats and had no title to the blessings on my right hand In what a pickle have you been in in a nasty World which * John 5.19 lies altogether in filthinesse in a muddy body of sin pepsed with a number of tentations you have lain a long time * Psal 68.13 among the pots griming your selves and defiling your garments amongst the Aegyptians on my left hand I but now you shall have the wings of a Dove which are all covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold I will never more * Psal 74.19 give the soul of my Turtle Dove into the hands of her enemies you shall never more be cooped up in a Cage with such a company of unclean Birds no * Cant. 5.2 Come my Love and Dove and flie away Vox admittentis 2. 'T is the speech of one that admits us into this inheritance Christ is pleased to condescend so low as to stile himself * John 10.7 the door nay the Keeper of the door he opened a door of hope by his death a door of faith by his preaching the Gospel a door of life by his resurrection and heaven-gates also by this admission and when he hath admitted his heirs of glory and taken them out of this deluge of sin and sorrow into that Ark of salvation he will * Gen. 7.16 shut them in as God did Noah and though they have an * 2 Pet. 1.11 abundant entrance ministred to them into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ yet when entred the door is shut and no egress or back-door of Apostacy can be found in that state Adam was created out of Paradise to shew that his admission even in his innocency was of grace much more is it of grace upon a recovery from his fall Christ while in the Kingdome of his patience doth call his to many a penitent groan to mournful prayers and many tribulations which make a very bed of dust to be a soft couch of repose and he calls them thither * Isa 26.20 Come my people enter thou into thy Chambers shut thy doors about thee hide thy self for a little moment till the indignation be over-past Come child go to bed in the grave oh but
natura had the charge of these sublunary things even the holy Prophet himself was liable to this temptation Psal 73.9 10 11 12 13 14. he saw that as the clean Creatures were sacrificed every day the Turtle and the Lamb the Emblems of innocency and charity whilest the Swine and other unclean Creatures were spared Plutarch and Seneca and Cicero have rendred satisfaction concerning this method of the Divine Providence So good men were harrast with troubles when the wicked were exempted and this shook his faith but by entring into the Sanctuary of God where he understood their end he comes off with victory now for the removing this Objection Consider First we are not competent Judges of Gods actions we see but one half of Ezekiels Vision the Wheels but not the eye in the Wheels nothing but the Wheels on which the world seems disorderly to run not the eye of Providence which governs them in their most vertiginous changes The actions of God do not want clearnesse but clearing What we cannot acquit is not to be charged on God as unjust the stick which is streight being in the water seems crooked by the refraction of the beams through a double medium we see through flesh and spirit and cannot distinctly judge the ways of God but when we are not able to comprehend the particular reasons of his dispensations yet we must conclude his judgements to be right as will appear by observing Secondly The sufferings of the righteous do not blemish Gods justice 1. God always strikes an offender every man being guilty in respect of his Law Now though love cannot hate yet it may be angry and upon this account where the judgements of God are a great deep unfathomable by any finite understanding yet his righteousnesse standeth like the high Mountains as it is in Psalme 36. visible to every eye if the most righteous person shall look inward and weigh his own carriage and desert he must necessarily glorifie the justice and holinesse of God in all his proceedings 2. The afflictions of good men are so far from staining Gods justice that they manifest his mercy for the least sin being a greater evil than the greatest affliction God uses temporal crosses to prevent or destroy sin he imbitters their lives to wean their affections from the World and to create in them strong desires after heaven as long as the waters of tribulation are on the earth so long they dwell in the Ark but when the Land is dry even the Dove it self will be wandring and defile its self When they are afflicted in their outward man it is that the inward man may be revived as birds are brought to perfection by the ruines of the shell that is not a real evil which God uses as an instrument to save us Who will esteem that Physitian unjust who prevents the death of his Patient by giving a bitter potion 3. If the Righteous be thus afflicted upon earth we may conclude there is a reward in the next World if they are thus sharply treated in the way their Countrey is above where God is their portion and happinesse Thirdly The temporary prosperity of the wicked reflects no dishonour upon Gods justice or holinesse for God measures all things by the Standard of eternity a thousand years to him are as one day Now we do not charge a Judge with unrighteousnesse if he defer the execution of a Malefactor for the day the longest life of a sinner bears not that proportion to eternity besides their reprieve increases and secures their ruine they are as Grapes which hang in the Sun till they are ripe and fit for the Wine-presse God spares them now but will punish them for ever he condemns them to prosperity in this world and judges them not worth his anger intending to poure forth the vials of his wrath on them in the next Fourthly The more sober Heathens have concluded from hence there is a judgement to come because otherwise the best would be most miserable and the ungodly prosperous from hence they have inferred that because all things are dispenc't in a promiscuous manner to the just and unjust in this world therefore there must be an after-reckoning Fifthly There are many visible examples of the goodnesse and justice of God in this World either in rewarding afflicted innocency or punishing prosperous iniquities He that shall read the story of Joseph and consider that wonderful chain of causes managed by the Divine Providence how God made use of the treachery of his brethren not as a sale but a conveyance how by the Prison he came to the principality must conclude there is a watchful eye which orders all things And how many instances are there of Gods severe and impartial justice there is no State or History but presents some examples wherein an exact proportion in the time measure and kind between the sin and punishment is most conspicuous the unnatural sin of Sodom was punish't with a supernatural showre of fire and brimstone Pharaoh had made the River guilty of the blood of the Hebrew Infants his first plague is the turning of the River into blood Adonibezec is just so served as he did by the seventy Kings Judas who wanted bowels for his Lord wanted bowels for himself in life and death for he hanged himself and his bowels gushed out and thus the punishment as a hand points at the sin and convinces the World of a Deity Use 1 Vse 1. This is just matter of terror to Atheists which are of three sorts 1. Vita 2. Voto 3. Judicio First To those who are practical Atheists vita in life who live down this truth denying God in their lives sad and certain it is that many who pretend they know God yet so live they as if there were no Deity to whom they must give an account Such are the secure that sleep in sin notwithstanding all Gods thunder and if ever sleep were the true image of death this is the sleep The sensual who are so lost in carnal pleasures they scarce remember whether they have a soul if at any time conscience begins to murmure they relieve their melancholy thoughts with their company and cups like Saul sending for the Musick when the evil spirit was upon him The incorrigible who notwithstanding the designes of Gods mercy to reduce them although Providences Ordinances conspire to bring them off from their evil ways yet they persist in their disobedience Let such consider it is not a loose and ineffective assent to the being and perfections of God which will save them God is not glorified by an unactive faith nay this will put the most dreadful accent and the most killing aggravations on their sins that believing there is a God they dare presumptuously offend him and provoke the Almighty to jealousie as if they were able either to evade or to sustain his wrath 't is the greatest prodigy in the World to believe there is a God and yet