turned from God and God departed from Man and instantly the Captive appeared all in Chains of Sin and Wrath his Lamp went out in obscure darkness Satan ascended up into the Throne the fire of Lust rose up in the Sanctuary the Affections were all in a mutiny against the upper Powers and the whole Man became a Prisoner under Sin and Wrath and all this because he left 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his original State of rectitude and holiness 2. Man fallen in opposition to fallen Angels When Man though but an earthen Pitcher fell from God the whole Trinity seemed to be moved at it the bowels of the Father yearned over him and as not content with inward compassions Grace breaks out at the Lips of the Son Unto you O men do I call saith the eternal Word Prov. 8. 4. and because words such as made a World could not do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 2. 16. He catches hold of the Humane Nature and rather than fail he would live and bleed and die in it for our Redemption And lest after all this Man should not catch hold of his own Salvation out comes the holy Spirit to make sure work of it in an application of it unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostome When Mankind fled and fled far from Christ he pursued and caught hold of it But when those Vessels of Gold the Angels dropt out of Heaven there was no such matter the Father's bowels though of immense largeness were shut up not a thought of mercy rose in his heart towards them the Son's Lips which drop sweet smelling Myrrh unto men let fall never a syllable of comfort unto them he saw them tumbling down from Heaven yet caught not hold of them the holy Spirit would not stir a foot to recover 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their original Rectitude for them again that so they might be capable of staying in the holy Heavens but down they must into Chains of darkness such as for ever shut out every glimpse of Mercy But why a Philanthropy rather than a Philangely Why a Redemption for Men and not for Devils Here men give their conjectures Man say some sinned by seduction but Devils by self-motion In the Fall of Men say others all the Humane Nature fell but in the Fall of Angels all the Angelical Nature fell not Others alledge that the Sin of Angels was more damnable than Man's because their Nature was more sublime than his Others yet affirm that Men are capable of Repentance but Devils not because whatever they once choose they do immobiliter velle the Devil sinneth from the beginning 1 Joh. 3. 8. 't is not said he sinned but he sinneth because from his first Apostasie he sinneth on uncessantly But alas Who can limit the holy One Might not his boundless Mercy have saved the selftempted Devils What if his devouring Justice had broke out against devil-seduced Men nay against all the Race of Men Who should accuse him for the Nations that perish which he hath made and Sin hath marred Wisd. 12. 12 Could not the Blood of God have washed out the blackest spots of fallen Angels Was not the Almighty Spirit of Grace able to melt a Devil into Repentance Had we poor Worms been to dispute with the Devil about the Body of Christ as Michael did with him about the Body of Moses O how easily would he have reasoned us out of our Redeemer What would he have said shall the tender bowels of God be let down to you on Earth and restrained to us in Heaven Will the All-wise God repair his Clay-images in the Dunghil of the lower World and neglect his fairer Pictures once hung up in his own Palace of Glory May not the Son of God be a Redeemer at an easier rate without stepping a foot out of his Fathers house and will he travel down so far as an Incarnation How much better were it for him to spot himself with an assumed Cherubin than to take Flesh into his glorious Person But the great God hath neither given Angels a day to plead for a Redeemer nor Man a licence to pry into his Ark. Wonder then O Man at this astonishing difference made by the divine Will alone Angels must be damned and men may be saved golden Vessels are irreparably broken and earthen Pots are set together again Inmates of Glory drop to Hell and Dust and Ashes fly up to Heaven When I consider thy Heavens and the Stars glistering there Lord what is man that thou mindest him Psal. 8. 4 but when I consider thy Heaven of Heavens and thy Angels dropping from thence into utter darkness Lord what is man that thou savest him Misericordiâ Domini plena est terra quare non dictum est plenum est coelum quia sunt spirituales nequitiae in coelestibus sed non illae ad commune jus indulgentiae Dei remissionémque peccatorum pertinent as holy Ambrose expresses it Even so gracious Father because so it seemeth good in thy sight Thus having found the right Captive I pass on 2. To the Captivity and this I shall set out in three things 1. The Chains 2. The Prison 3. The Jailor As for the first I shall first touch upon the Chains themselves and then upon the distinct links thereof 1. The Chains themselves are no other than Original and Actual Sin 1. Original Sin is a very heavy Chain and here I shall view 1. The upper end of this Chain I mean that first Sin of eating the forbidden fruit called in the Schools Peccatum originale originans here there was truly magnum in parvo a vast World of Sin in a small Act. There was an Idol of self-excellency a framing and to adorn it a concupiscential stealth of the forbidden fruit and in this stealth a bloody Homicide a slaying of all Humane Nature at one blow and which is more a kind of Deicide too a slaying as much as in Man lay even of God himself the Pride of this primordial Sin snatching at God's excellency the Unbelief stabbing at his Truth the Rebellion fighting against his Sovereignty the Ingratitude trampling his Goodness under foot and the Presumption as it were daring out his Justice into warlike Arms and all this contra praeceptum tam breve ad retinendum tam leve ad observandum This is the upper end of this Chain and it reaches down to us all for in him we all sinned Rom. 5. 12. The sweetest Bonaventure cannot say In Adamo non peccavi For Adam was not here considered as a private person but as the Root and Head of Mankind Adam's person was the fountain of ours and his Will the representative of ours we were all in him naturally as latent in his Loins and legally too as comprized within the Covenant made with him therefore we all sinned in his Sin Omnes nos unus ille Adam saith one Father Genus humanum in primo parente velut in radice computruit saith
it with the Person of the Son so that it never was any where but there all other Creations stand under the Roof of Providence and Preservation but here the Humane Nature is an Inmate in the very same Person with the Divine all other Creatures have their proper sutable seats and Ubi's in the Sphere of Nature but here 's the Sackcloth of an Humane Body cast upon and the Rush-candle of a Reasonable soul lighted up in the Sun it self The glorious Son of God espoused Flesh and Blood and the Bride-chamber where the knot was tied was the Virgins Womb there was he made of a Woman consubstantial with us as to his Humanity who was consubstantial with the Father as to his Divinity O how great is this Mystery God manifest in the flesh O Domine quà m admirabile nomen tuum non modò mundi hujus staturam admiror non stabilitatem Terrae non Lunae defectum incrementum non Solem semper integrum laborem ejus perpetuum Miror Deum in utero Virginis miror Omnipotentem in cunabulis miror quomodo Verbo Dei caro adhaeserit quomodo incorporeus Deus corporis nostri tegumentum induerit in caeteris aliquae satisfaciant rationes hîc solus me complectitur stupor God never came so near to us as in this wonderful Conjunction In the Creatures we see God above us in the Law we see God against us but here we see Immanuel God with us he is one with us by a natural Conjunction but that 's not all for being in our Nature he became one with us 2. Conjunctione Legali he was our Sponsor or Surety and so in Law one person with us his Stile is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Surety of the covenant Heb. 7. 22. and the Covenant being mutual on both parts from God to Man and from Man to God he is in both respects a Surety of it a Surety on God's part that his Promises should be performed to us and a Surety on our parts that our Debts should be paid to God We were double Debtors to God as Rational Creatures we owed perfect Obedience and as Sinful Creatures we owed eternal Sufferings the first is a debt to God's Holiness and the second to his Justice Now Jesus Christ was our Surety for both a Surety to fulfil all Righteousness for us and the Fidejussorial Bond which he gave for this was his Circumcision for he had no sinful flesh to be cut off but would become a debtor to the whole Law for us and in Circumcision he signed security for it with his own Blood and also a Surety to take our Sins on him Hence the Righteous God who cannot but judge according to truth charged our iniquities upon him Isai. 53. 6. and he as our Surety accepted the charge and those words my sins are not hid from thee Psal. 69. 5. are as St. Jorom thinks spoken ex personâ Christi for he was though not commissor yet susceptor delictorum our Flesh and Blood was taken into his Divine Person and our Sins which could by no means enter in there were yet cast upon him and being cast upon him God exacted satisfaction of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was exacted and he answered Isai. 53. 7. Satisfaction was exacted from him as our Surety and he answered for us and what was his Answer Why I 'le lay down my Life I 'le pour out my Soul saith he let all the Wrath due to those Sins be squeezed into one Cup and I 'le drink it up to the bottom let the Fire of God's Anger drop down from Heaven and I 'le be the Paschal Lamb roasted in it Thus Jesus Christ was a Surety nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the noblest of Sureties putting his Soul in our Souls stead to bear our Sins and God's Wrath and for this very purpose was he one with us in Nature that he might be one with us in Law too But neither is this all for both these Conjunctions are crowned with a third and so he is one with us 3. Conjunctione Mysticâ Christ is the Head and the Church is the Body and both together make up one mystical Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. the Head in Heaven and the Body on Earth and the spiritual Continuity between both is one and the same holy Spirit which is on the Head without measure and on the Members according to measure If the Jew ask us where is Christ we can truly answer He is at the right hand of God in Heaven and on Earth loc here is Christ and there is Christ living and breathing in his Saints every Saint is a piece of him and all together are his fulness Eph. 1. 23. so that he doth not count himself complete without them This Conjunction is so near and full of spiritual Sense that a poor Member cannot suffer on Earth but instantly the Head in Heaven cries out of Persecution Acts 9. 4. and even the suffering Member reckons himself sitting in Heaven as long as his Head is there Eph. 2. 6. Thus our Redeemer comes very near unto us in a threefold Conjunction and in each Conjunction there is a rare Condescention In the first he came down into our Natures by a stupendious Incarnation in the second he came down into our Hell by a Fidejussorial Passion in the third he comes down into our Hearts by the Spirits Inhabitation the first opens a way to the second the second is the purchase of the third and the third as in design was a Motive to and as in existence is a Crown upon the Work of Redemption 4. Having considered the Redeemer I pass on to the Price and here I shall reduce all to three Questions 1. What this Price is 2. What manner of Price it is 3. For whom it was paid 1. What this Price is and this is the Humane Nature of Christ as subjected to the Law When the Son of God came forth to redeem us he was made of a woman made under the Law to redeem us that were under the Law Gal. 4. 4 5. Made of a Woman there 's his humane Nature made under the Law there 's his subjection to the Law and the End of all is our Redemption Christ through the eternal Spirit offered up himself to God Heb. 9. 14. and that in a way fully answering the demands of the Law The Law demanded of the Captives two things perfect Obedience from them as rational Creatures and penal Suffering from them as sinful Creatures and Christ gave up his Humane Nature a price both ways in doing and in suffering he gave himself that is his humane Nature for us an offering and a sacrifice Eph. 5. 2. an Offering in his Active Obedience and a Sacrifice in his Passive and both these together were the entire Price of our Redemption 1. Christ gave up himself in his Active Obedience That holy thing his humane Nature as soon as it came out into the World fell a breathing forth
it stands in the Law absolutely is Death punishment as it stands there in relation to a finite Creature is eternal Death the first was really suffered by Christ and the second could not be justly exacted of him for he paid down the whole sum of Sufferings all at once and so swallowed up Death in victory As to that of the Worm I answer the Worm attends not Sin imputed but Sin inherent 't is bred out of the putrefaction of Conscience and that putrefaction is from the in-being of Sin Now Christ being withot spot suffered punishment not as it follows Sin inherent but as it follows Sin imputed and so he suffered the same punishment for the main as was due to us 3. Christ suffered this punishment in our stead he died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for us Rom. 5. 8. and which is more emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in stead of many Matth. 20. 28. the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth sometimes in Scripture signifie only the utility or benefit of another but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly imports a Subrogation or Substitution of one in the Room of another and so Christ as our Surety died in our room or stead Hence the Apostle argues thus If one died for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then all died 2 Cor. 5. 15. all died in the death of one in as much as that one died as the Surety of all Hence our Sins were condemned in his flesh Rom. 8. 3. and so condemned there that upon Gospel terms they are remitted to us But unless he had stood in our room divine Justice could neither have adjudged him to punishment nor yet have admitted us to an absolution from Sin 4. Suffering thus in our stead he satisfied both God's vindictive Justice and minatory Law 1. He satisfied God's vindictive Justice God is a righteous God a God that loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity nay he so perfectly hateth it that his pure eyes cannot look upon it and his righteous hands cannot but punish it he will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34. 7. not unless his Justice be satisfied for he is a righteous judge 2 Tim. 4. 8. so righteous that he cannot but do right Gen. 18. 25. his judgment is righteous judgment Rom. 3. 8. and every sin must have a righteous recompense Heb. 2. 2. and no wonder for Sin is an horrible Ataxy and God will not inordinatum dimittere the subjection of a rational Creature to its Creator is indispensable God whilest God must be above and the Creature whilest a Creature below and this dependance so far as it is broken off by Sin must be salved up by punishment or else God loses his dominion over his Creature This is that which the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the righteousness of God Rom. 1. 32. and this is so naturally in him that the very Heathens knew it by the light of Nature The Viper upon Paul's hand made the Barbarians cry out of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 28. 4. Now what doth this vindictive Justice require Not precisely that the Sinner himself should be punished for then Redemption should be impossible but that the Sin should be punished and so it was in Christ he for our debt was cast into Prison and paid every farthing of it The damned in Hell pay a little and a little and can never satisfie but he paid down the total sum of Sufferings all at once they are always striving with God's wrath but he wrastled with it and prevailed Hence in Isai. 49. Ver. 3. he is called Israel a Prince with God His Sufferings were so satisfactory to divine Justice that the pains of death could not hold him Acts 2. 24. neither could the Prison of Wrath detain him Isai. 53. 8. and all because there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a redemption of transgressions Heb. 9. 15. that is a compensation or satisfaction made to divine Justice for them I go to my Father saith he and ye shall see me no more Joh. 16. 10. Justice did not stop him in his passage to Heaven neither did his Father send him back again to mend his work You shall see me no more no more bleeding under the burthen of Sin no more paying down sufferings to divine Justice for all 's discharged and to assure us of it God who received the sum pawns Heaven and Earth in mortgage that he will forgive our Sins without any further satisfaction Jer. 31. 34 35 36. By all which it appears that Justice was fully satisfied But here 't will be objected That the innocent should suffer for the nocent is unjust that which is such cannot satisfie Justice I answer 'T is unjust if the innocent suffer compulsorily but not if he suffer freely 't is unjust if the innocent sink under his sufferings but not if he be able to bear them 't is unjust if there be no good in his sufferings commensurate to the evil but not if the evil be exceeded by the subsequent good 't is unjust if the innocent stand in no relation to the nocent for whom he suffers but not if he stand in relation to him Suppose a natural relation Saul's Sons were hanged up for Saul's sins 2 Sam. 21. 9. Suppose a political relation seventy thousand fall for David's sin 2 Sam. 24. 15. which makes him cry out Lo I have sinned but these sheep what have they done Suppose a voluntary relation Sureties must pay for their Principals and that not only in Money-matters but in Capital punishments thus the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 engaged life for life which the Apostle seems to insinuate in that passage Peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die Rom. 5. 7. and why then may not Christ who by all these ways is conjoin'd to us naturally as a Man legally as a Surety and mystically as a Head justly suffer for us Especially seeing there was free Action in his Passion victorious Strength under his Burthen and the penal Evil crowned by such a grand Good as Redemption is why may not he justly suffer for us The Scriptures are positive in it Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5. 6 the just for the unjust 1 Pet. 3. 18. and one for all 2 Cor. 5. 14. Wherefore if humane Reason will not subscribe it fights against God himself 2. He satisfied the Minatory Law for this is no other than the voice of vindictive Justice uttering Death and a Curse against Sinners and to satisfie this he died and died an accursed Death in their room But you 'l say though he died for us yet the Law is not satisfied because it requires that the Sinner himself should die thou shalt die the death Gen. 2. 17. and cursed is he that doth not all the words of this Law Deut. 27. 26. in which places he and thou relate to the person of the Sinner and therefore though Vindictive Justice as in it self might have been satisfied with punishing Sin
all on the Cross may be offered to all in the Gospel there is no Pagan in the World to whom Christ may not be offered And if there were but one great Ear or Organ of Hearing common to all how would Christ's Ministers always be filling it with Gospel But it follows not that Christ shall be preached to all for the Gospel is God's own and he may do with his own as he pleaseth and Christ who purchased for all the Being of the Gospel as far as the general Promises go yet purchased not for all the publication thereof In a word the Pagans have some glimmerings of Gospel and may be saved on Gospel-terms which shews that Christ so far died for them and that they have not the express knowledge of Christ is a deep Abyss much fitter to be adored than dived into by us Object 3. If Christ died for all men then he intercedes for all but he intercedes only for the Elect therefore he died for them only I answer that Christ doth in some sort intercede for all men and this I shall clear several ways 1. From the Nature of Christ's Intercession that is not a formal Prayer but an appearing in the Holy of Holies before the face of God as an Advocate and there presenting his Blood and Righteousness in their freshness and endless life of Merit with a Will that all the Grace purchased thereby may be dispensed to the sons of men therefore Christ even in Glory stands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one slain Rev. 5. 6. shewing his bleeding Wounds to make Intercession with God Hence it follows that his Intercession being a kind of celestial Oblation perfectly answers to his Oblation on the Cross he is an Advocate above so far as he was a Surety here below his Blood speaks the very same things in Heaven as it did on Earth and his Will stands in the same posture towards Sinners there as here Now how far was Christ a Surety for all Surely thus far that all may be saved if they believe else either they cannot be saved at all which is contrary to the truth of the Promise or they may be saved without a Surety which is contrary to the current of the Scriptures But if he were so far a Surety for all then he is so far an Advocate for all for he appears an Advocate in Heaven for all those for whom he appeared as a Surety on the Cross. Hence the Apostle saith in general If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2. 1. he saith not strictly if the Elect sin but at large if any man sin we have an advocate and as the true ground-work of this general Advocation he adds he is the propitiation for the whole world Ver. 2. So far forth as he was a Propitiation for the World so far forth he is an Advocate for it And another Apostle affirms that Christ is a Mediator between God and men 1 Tim. 2. 5. he saith not betwixt God and his Church but betwixt God and men and the following words give the true reason of it Christ gave himself a ransom for all Ver. 6. he is no less a Mediator for all than he was a Ransom for all Christ's Blood shed on the Cross spake thus far for all men that they might have their pardon on Gospel-terms and afterwards being carried to Heaven it speaks the very same language for them for the voice or speech of that Blood is its Merit and that Merit is of an indeficient virtue Hence that Blood cannot be speechless because it cannot be meritless and so far on Earth as it merited for all so far in Heaven it speaks and intercedes for all Moreover as Christ's Blood speaks the same things for them in Heaven as it did on Earth so Christ's Will in Heaven stands in the same posture towards them as it did on Earth wherefore in a sort he intercedes for all 2. From the Patience of God which waits on men even such as at last perish If Christ did not stand with the Incense of his sweet-smelling Merits between the living and the dead between the reprieved Sinners on Earth and the damned Spirits in Hell the Patience of God would not wait one moment upon them 3. From the working of God's Spirit for as Christ is our Paraclete or Advocate in heaven 1 Joh. 2. 1. so the holy Spirit is Gods Para. clete or Advocate on earth Joh. 16. 7. Surely if the Advocate in Heaven spake nothing for the Non-lect the Advocate on Earth would not wooe them to salvation if the Blood of Christ did not at all plead for them the Spirit of Christ would give no touches at all upon them much less such touches as to make them taste the powers of the World to come 4. From the liberty of Prayer Simon Magus even whilest in the gall of bitterness was commanded to pray Acts 8. 22. but what without a Mediator No surely that sinful man who hath no Mediator in Heaven must not presume to pray on Earth I see no reason why a man merely mediatorless should have more lieve to pray than a Devil who is therefore without hope because without a Mediator The Apostle commands men to pray every where 1 Tim. 2. 8. but a little before he lays down this as the ground-work there is one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all Ver. 5 and 6. The Mediation of Christ opens the door to Prayer Wherefore as to this Objection I answer thus Christ intercedes for all men in such sort as he died for them I say in such sort for there is a vast difference between his general Intercession for all and his special Intercession for the Elect For as Christ by his Blood shed on the Cross merited for all in general that they might be saved on Gospel-terms and merited for the Elect in special that they should believe and be saved so by the same blood presented in Heaven he intercedes for all that they may be saved on Gospel-terms and intercedes for the Elect that they may believe and be saved And thus he is the complete Mediator of the Covenant as the general Promises extend to all so answerably he intercedes for all and as the special Promises point only at the Elect so proportionably he intercedes for the Elect. Object 4. If Christ died for all men then he was a Surety for all and satisfied for the sins of all and consequently God hath a double Satisfaction one in Christ the Surety and another in the persons of the Damned which is against the nature of his Justice In this Argument are two consequences to be weighed 1. If Christ died for all then he was a Surety for all satisfied for the sins of all 2. If Christ so satisfied for the sins of all then God hath a double Satisfaction which is against Justice As to the first consequence I admit it as a
payment from another wherefore Christ's Blood and Righteousness are meritorious as for us not merely by their intrinsecal dignity but by the divine acceptation God receiving them as on our behalf Whence it clearly appears that the divine Will doth guide the Merit of Christ in all its procurements and how then doth the Merit of Christ guide the divine Will in its eternal Election Can it guide its Guide Can it go before its Leader Surely that divine Will which goes before those meritorious procurements by its Acceptation doth not follow after them in its eternal Decrees 5. The Father is the first Person in the sacred Trinity and works from himself the Son is the second and works from the Father Thus he tells us that he can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do Joh. 5. 19. And in his Prayer to his Father he saith Thine they were and thou gavest them me Joh. 17. 6. Thine they were by Election and thou gavest them me as the peculiar purchase of my Passion But now if Christ by his Merits do found the very Decree of Election is not the Order of working in the sacred Trinity inverted Is not the Son the first Origine of our Salvation Doth not the Father even in his Eternal Election work from the Son Might not the Scripture rather have said that the Elect were given by the Son to the Father than by the Father to the Son Wherefore to me it seems most congruous to say That the Fathers Love laid the first plot of our Salvation and then the Sons Blood purchased Grace and Glory for us I shall shut up all with an Answer to an Objection This Thesis that Christ did not merit the Decree of Election seems to abase Christ as if he were a mere medium for the executing of Election nay to nullifie his Merits for it supposes that God doth amare peccatores ad salutem etiam extra Christum that God doth destinate eternal Life to them even without a Mediator and then what necessity is there at all of Christ's Merits I answer Far be it from every Christian to abase and nullifie the Merits of Christ but as I take it the Thesis aforesaid doth neither of these Not abase Christ as a mere medium under the Decree of Election for though he merited not the Decree of Election yet must his praise be ever glorious and his Name above every name in that he is both the glorious Head of the Elect and the meritorious Fountain of all the blessings and good things of Election In Eternity the Elect are predestinated to be conformed to his Image as the first-born of all and in time they are called justified sanctified and glorified in and through him as the purchaser of all Neither doth he vilifie Christ who calls him the grand Medium for the executing of Election the Apostle cries up Christ by those glorious Titles The head of the Church the beginning the first-born from the dead one who hath the primacy or preeminence in all things Col. 1. 18. yet immediatly after puts all under the Father's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 19. His Decree or good pleasure did preordain and direct all Neither doth this Thesis nullifie the Merits of Christ for these consist not in procuring the Decree of Election but in procuring Grace and Glory and these he procured though not the Decree it self Neither doth it at all follow that if Christ merited not the very Decree then God doth amare peccatores ad salutem extra Christum or destinate Eternal life to them without a Mediator For seeing Christ is predestinated to be the Head of the Elect and Fountain of all Grace and Glory unto them and the Elect are predestinated to be the Body of Christ and to receive all Grace and Glory in and through him and both these Predestinations are simultaneous in the heart of God and framed together in the same instant of Eternity There is not nor cannot be any colour at all to say that God doth love sinners extra Christum or destinate Eternal life to them without a Mediator When God in free Election resolves with himself such individual persons shall by an effectual Call be united to Christ as members of his Body and being such shall be washed in his blood filled with his Spirit and at last crowned with his everlasting Salvation when he resolves every grain shall come through Joseph's hands every particle of Grace every income of the holy Spirit every glimpse of Divine Favour every beam of glory in Heaven shall pass through Jesus Christ's hands nay through his very Heart-blood and crucified Flesh unto the Elect Doth he now love them extra Christum Doth he yet destinate them to Eternal life without a Mediator Undoubtedly he doth not If therefore you ask me what necessity there is of Christs merits I must answer That all Grace and Glory Sanctity and Salvation Faith and Fruition are thereby purchased and procured for the Elect. The pure fountain of Election rises of it self in the Will of God but the gracious streams thereof issue forth through the bleeding Wounds of Christ. CHAP. V. Of Gods Decree of Reprobation as touching Men. HAving treated of the Decree of Election as respective of men I proceed to the Decree of Reprobation as it relates to them In the Old Testament we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint rendred by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and importing as much as reprobare to reprobate or reject In the New Testament we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importing a rejectaneous or disallowed person and rather pointing out man's State than God's Act. But to pass over the word Reprobation is that Eternal Decree of God whereby he purposes in himself not to give Grace and Glory to some individual persons lying in the Mass of Humane Corruption but to leave them to final sin and for the same to punish them with Eternal Damnation In this Decree the Divine Will hath as I may so say a Triple Act For 1. It purposes not to give Grace and Glory to some persons and this is called among Divines Preterition or Non-election and is of all other the most proper act of Reprobation as it stands in opposition to Election Hence Reprobates are called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rest or residue in opposition to the Elect Rom. 11. 7. the nunquam noti or never known Matth. 7. 23. in opposition to the foreknown and the not written in the book of life Revel 13. 8. in opposition to the written ones whose names are enrolled in Heaven 2. It purposes to leave them to final sin I say final sin for God permits sin even in the Elect but final sin only in the Reprobate Thus God suffered the Nations to walk in their own ways Acts 14. 16. and thereby gave them pereundi licentiam Thus he hardneth whom he will Rom. 9. 18. and hardening in
prove snares and stumbling blocks to them Hence we find in Scripture an ensnaring table Psal. 69. 22. a destroying prosperity Prov. 1. 32. a sin-irritating Law Rom. 7. 8. a death-savouring Gospel 2 Cor. 2. 16. an enraging adversity such as makes them like a wild bull in a net Isai. 51. 20. with many more like providences which occasionally harden and blind men into further degrees of sin and wickedness Now this Judicial hardning and blinding is neither to be found in all Reprobates but in the grand Rebels nor yet only in Reprobates but in the Elect at least some of them Hence that out-cry O Lord Why hast thou made us to err from thy ways and hardened our hearts from thy fear Isai. 63. 17. Only here is the difference this Judicial blinding and hardning in the Elect is but partial all the holy light is not out all spiritual tenderness is not gone Wherefore in that place they groan after a return but in the Reprobate it is more total Again in the Elect it is but for a time through auxiliary Grace the closed eyes will open again the stony heart will melt again but in the Reprobate it is final the darkness is upon them till they come to utter darkness the stone is in them till they come to hellish obstinacy Wherefore in them 't is a kind of sealing up of Damnation Negative blinding and hardning suffices to the permission of final sin but Judicial is an earnest of final perdition 3. As to the third Act of Reprobation the thing decreed is Eternal Damnation hence Reprobates are said to be made for the day of evil Neither can any man doubt that there is such a Decree for God doth actually condemn them in time and both Reason tells us that whatsoever God doth even in his judgments he doth it Volent and Scripture tells us that whatsoever he doth he doth it according to the counsel of his own Will wherefore both assure us that there is such a Decree But you 'l say Doth not that Promise whosoever believeth shall be saved both import God's Will and extend even to Reprobates and how then can God decree their Damnation Which way can both these Wills stand together in the heart of God I answer 'T is true that the Promise doth both import God's Will and extend to Reprobates nevertheless it very well consists with the Decree of Damnation and this will appear by a double distinction 1. Let us distinguish the Decrees of God Some of them are merely productive of Truths others are definitive of Things which shall actually exist The first are accomplished in connexions the last in events To clear it by Scripture instances The Decree that David should be King of Israel was definitive of a thing but the Decree that if Saul obeyed his Kingdom should have continued 1 Sam. 13. 13. is but productive of a truth The Decree that David should not be delivered up by the men of Keilah was definitive of a thing but the Decree that if he had staid there they would have delivered him up 1 Sam. 23. 12. was but productive of a truth The Decree that Jerusalem should be burnt with fire was definitive of a thing but the Decree that if Zedekiah did go forth to the King of Babylon it should not be burnt Jer. 38. 17. was but productive of a truth Moreover that there are Decrees definitive of things is proved by the events that there are Decrees productive of truths is proved by the connexions if there be no such connexions how is the Scripture verified but if there be how are these things connected There is no natural connexion between Saul's Obedience and his Crown David's stay and the Keilites treachery Zedekiah's out-going and Jerusalems firing wherefore these connexions do flow out of God's Decrees as productive of truths Now to apply this distinction to our present purpose The Decree of damning the Reprobate for final sin is definitive of a thing but the Decree imported in the general Promise is but productive of a truth viz. That there is an universal connexion between Faith and Salvation such a connexion that Reprobates themselves if Believers should be saved Now these two Decrees may very well stand together for Decrees definitive of events contradict not Decrees productive of truths unless the event in the one Decree contradict the truth in the other Wherefore if which is not there were a Decree of damning Reprobates whether they did believe or not it could not stand with the general Promise for the event of that Decree would contradict the truth of the Promise But the Decree such as indeed it is of damning Reprobates for final sin may well consist with the general Promise for the event of that Decree no way crosses the truth of the Promise Reprobates are damned for final sin that 's the event of one Decree and Reprobates if Believers shall be saved that 's the truth of another both which may well consist together 2. Let us distinguish the objects of these Decrees the objects stand not under the same qualifications as to both of them The Decree of Salvation upon Gospel terms respects men as lapsed sinners but the Decree of everlasting damnation respects them as final sinners and so there is no inconsistency between them Thus much by way of Answer to the Objection Yet withal before I pass on to the next thing suffer me a little to stand and adore the stupendious Abyss of the Divine Decrees The Elect arrive at Heaven yet by the way see Hell flaming in the Threatning the Reprobate sink to Hell yet by the way see Heaven opening in the Promise The Elect cannot live and die in sin but they will be sub gladio the Reprobates cannot repent and return but they will be sub corona Tremble work and watch O Saints for the holy One thunders out from Heaven in that sacred Sentence If you live after the flesh you shall die Repent return and believe O Sinners for the Divine Philanthropy wooes you in those real undissembled Offers of Mercy Whosoever believes shall be saved Whosoever forsakes his sins shall find mercy Here O here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manifold wisdom of God a fit reserve for the Apocalypse of the Judgment day whose clear light will display these wonderful consistencies before men and Angels 3. Having dispatched the things decreed in Reprobation I procede to speak of the persons to whom these things are decreed and here I shall consider 1. What they are for Quantity 2. What they are for Quality 1. What are they for Quantity they are certain individual Persons As some certain individual persons are chosen so others are passed by as some are by name in the Book of Life so others are by name left out of it There is a great difference between the Reprobation of sin and the Reprobation of sinners the Reprobation of sin issues from the Sanctity and Holiness of God's Will but the
his Vindictive Justice Now here I shall offer my thoughts in two Positions 1. The final Sin of Reprobates is not properly the very Cause of the Decree of Damnation it is the proper very Cause of Damnation but not of the Decree it self That passage in Scotus is remarkable Non est aliqua causa propter quam Deus effectivè reprobat in quantum est actio in Deo quia tunc Deus esset passivus What is moved by a thing ab extra seems in order of nature before that motion to be in potentia and in that motion to be passive in some degree But God's Will in all its Decrees even in that of Reprobation is a pure Act perfectly excluding Passiveness and Potentiality and by consequence Motion ab extrá 2. The final Sin of Reprobates though it be not properly the Cause of the Decree it self yet it is conditio in objecto necessaria making men meet Objects for the Decree to terminate upon The Vessels of wrath are fitted to destruction Final Sin as produced in actual Existence fits them for actual destruction and final Sin as foreseen in the divine Prescience fits them for a Decree of destruction Where final Sin is foreseen there the Decree of Damnation terminates and where final Sin is not foreseen there the Decree of Damnation terminates not After all thy wickedness woe woe unto thee saith the Lord Ezek. 16. 23. Hells woes are after final wickedness and the Decree of Hells woes are after the Prescience of final wickedness In a word That which causes men to be capable objects for the Decree of Damnation to terminate on is the final Sin which is in the unrighteous Will of Man and that which causes the Decree of Damnation to terminate on them is the Vindictive Justice which is in the righteous Will of God In Tophet the Torments are as unquenchable fire The final sin is as much wood and that which kindles it is Vindictive Justice breathing out from the righteous Will of God in all which there is nothing at all but exact Righteousness God may say to Man Thy perdition is of thy self and Man must say to God Thou art righteous O Lord in all thy ways I will shut up all with an Answer to an Objection You will yet say God's Justice is not cleared in this point for the Decree of Preterition and Permission is merely out of Sovereignty and upon this Preterition and Permission doth infallibly follow final Sin and upon final Sin doth infallibly follow eternal Damnation Wherefore hereby God is made the great Author of the Reprobates Sin and Damnation To which I answer in three Propositions 1. 'T is true that upon Preterition and Permission final sin doth infallibly follow When God gave them up to their own lusts they walked in their own counsels Psal. 18. 12. When he suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways they did so Acts 14. 16. If upon God's Permission Man's Sin follow not then which is very strange God may permit that which yet will never be But 2. Upon Preterition and Permission final Sin doth infallibly follow but not as an Effect from a true Cause but as a Consequent upon its Antecedent Hence God is no more the Author of Sin than the Sun is of the darkness which follows upon its departure Also the Objectors may be asked Doth not God foreknow that the Creature set in such a state and order of things will finally sin Foreknowing this doth not he willingly and actually set the Creature in that state and order From or upon this setting the Creature in that state and order doth not its final Sin infallibly follow I suppose they will deny nothing of all this yet they will by no means say that God is the Author of sin neither need they say so for in Sins following there is only sequela ordinis and not sequela causalitatis Moreover God in Preterition and Permission doth not subtract from men any Creaturedue but suspend such special effectual Grace as is undue unto them This is clear for Preterition and Permission respect men as sinners lying in the corrupt Mass and to sinners God owes nothing but punishment Verbum Debet venenum habet nec Deo propriè competit qui non est debitor nobis nisi fortè ex promisso saith Peter Lombard If God be bound to give special effectual Grace to all shew me a Promise for it if he be not bound the suspension of that Grace can in no wise make him the Author of Sin Wherefore final Sin is indeed no fruit of God's Reprobating Will but the proper issue of Man's perverse Will And this is one grand difference between Election and Reprobation Election doth effectually work final Faith and Holiness in the Elect but Reprobation doth not effect the least drop of Sin or Malice in the Reprobate Faith and Holiness come down from Heaven out of the bosom of free Grace but Sin and Malice grow at home in the Reprobate's own heart Dea non operante sed permittente 3. Hence it follows That God is the Author of the Reprobate's Damnation only as a just Judge inflicting the same for final Sin God's vindictive Justice is the inflicting Cause of Damnation but Man's final Sin is the proper meritorious Cause thereof And thus God is perfectly justified in the Decree of Reprobation because that final Sin of Reprobates which follows consequently upon God's Preterition and Permission doth flow effectively from man's perverse and corrupt Will and that everlasting Damnation of Reprobates which is inflicted by God as a Righteous Judge is also merited by a man as a final Sinner CHAP. VI. Of the Work of Creation HAving treated of the Divine Will as to its Eternal Decrees I procede to speak thereof as to its External Works which are as it were the Royal Display thereof And that there may not be a Chasme in my Discourse I shall first touch upon Creation as the first of God's ways There are besides the Ens Entium three several Worlds or Ranks of Beings viz. Spiritual Material and Mixt the first is the Intellectual World made up of those invisible Glories Spirits by Nature Angels by Office Principalities and Powers spiritual Stars of Light and Flames of Love all of them at first Inhabitants of that pure spiritual Body the Heaven of Heavens but afterwards part of them were for their proud Apostasie cast into Hell The second is the World of visible wonders the stupendious Heavens eyed with a glorious Sun and spangled with Moon and glittering Stars encircling all the rest with their spherical Stories and wheeling round about with an indefatigable Motion spinning out time for all the World and with admirable influences hatching and hovering over all the living Creatures Under these is the vast Air encompassing the Earth and Sea coated with woolly clouds and those sometimes laced with the curious Rain-bow every morning putting on the bright-shining Robes of Light and at evening exchanging
them for the black Mantle of the night now all on a flame with flashes of Lightning and anon all in a Sea with the Bottles of Heaven sometimes rent in pieces with thundring Tempests and then made up again into serenity and clear as a molten Looking-glass This is the Fan of all Creatures breathing on the Earth and it self is fanned with various Winds This is the Inn where the visible Species the Imagery of the Worlds Beauty and Glory and the audible Species the multiplied progeny of Sounds and Voices lodge together This is the common Road where the influences of the Heavens and the vapours of the Earth the beams of the Sun and the sweet perfumes of Herbs and Flowers meet and embrace each other in their passage Within this is the massie Earth the Centre of the World hanging upon nothing inwardly boweled with rich Minerals and precious Stones and outwardly teeming with numberless births of Grass and Corn shaded with Trees and Woods and laughing with odoriferous Herbs and Flowers bubling with lively Springs and Fountains of Water and admirably enterlaced with gliding Streams and Rivers inhabited with strange variety of Beasts and lorded with Man And the Girdle of this Earth is the wonderful Sea swadled with Clouds swarming with Fishes lodged and locked up in the hollows of the Earth and from thence secretly winding and straining its moisture into the inward Veins thereof now swelling with the pride of Winds and Waves as if it meant to swallow up Heaven and Earth and then sinking down again into its Den as if it were afraid to be drunk up by the little Sands The third is the Mixt World the mariage or copula of the other two made up of Men whose Immortal Souls claim kindred with the World of Angels and whose Earthen Bodies are the Breviaries and Epitomes of the visible World virtually summing up the Elements in their harmonious Mixture the Plants in their Life the Beasts in their Senses and the Heavens with the Sun Moon and Stars in their Heads Eyes and beautiful Faces Now touching all this Catalogue of Beings I shall briefly demonstrate three things 1. That all these Beings had a beginning 2. That their beginning was from God 3. That it was from God as a free Agent and according to the counsel of his own Will 1. All these things had a beginning and this I prove three ways 1. I argue ex absur do if they had no beginning of being then every one of them is a God by Nature a Jehovah in Self-beingness and an Alpha in Primacy If they had no beginning of duration then are they all inmates in God's Eternity copartners in his Immutability and which is a step higher possessors of his Infinity and boundless Beings without any limits of Being For what imaginable limits of Being can they have which want a beginning which is the first limit of Being 2. The Motions of the Creatures evince this the Elements have their enterchanges the Earth its seasons the Sea its tides the Air its winds the Stars their courses the Moon her variations the Sun runs its race between the Tropicks the Heavens the common carriers of all the rest turn about with an uncessant Motion nay the immaterial Angels and rational Souls are never without some Motions in their Understanding and Will neither can they do any thing without a change because their being and their doing are two things Now what do all these Motions speak but a first Mover a beginning at some first point and a measure of time ever since Such moveable Beings cannot be measured with Eternity for that is unmoveable and unvariable but these are in motions and mutations that is instantaneous and simultaneous but these are under a flux of priority and posteriority in their motions and mutations wherefore it must needs be that these had a beginning 3. If these had no beginning then what shall we say of the Years Days and Minutes past Are they finite or infinite If finite then numerable and there was a beginning if infinite then how past Infinity cannot be passed over but and if it could then there are infinite numbers of Minutes past infinite numbers of Days past and infinite numbers of Years past and because there cannot be infinito infinitius by most necessary consequence there are as many Years past as Days and as many Days past as Minutes which is utterly impossible therefore these things must needs have a beginning 2. The beginning of all these was from God The Scripture speaks evidently In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth Gen. 1. 1. Of him and through him and to him are all things Rom. 11. 36. He that built all things is God Heb. 3. 4. When we look upon the stately Palace of the World roofed with the glorious Heavens floored with the fruitful Earth chambered with the cloudy Air watered with the stupendious Sea and furnished with all variety of Creatures we cannot dream of any other Architect but God alone And because Job bids us speak to the earth Job 12. 8. and the Psalmist tells us that there is a language in the heavens Psal. 19. 1 2 3. and the Apostle asserts that there is a witness of God in the rain Acts 14. 17. therefore suffer me to parly their Original out of their own mouths Creatures whence came you Ex nihilo What ex nihilo How then came you over that vast infinite Gulf which lies between Nothing and Being Infinite Power filled it up to make our passage But since you came over where do you stand In a Being betwixt two Nothings Nothing negative and Nothing privative And who set you there at first The first and chief Being who is ipsum Esse suum Esse infinitum Esse infinitè elongatum à non Esse But whence had you all that truth and goodness which is in you Our truth is but a beam from his infinite Verity and our goodness the Redundance and Super-effluence of his infinite Goodness And whence came all these numbers and hosts of Beings Out of perfect Unity every one of us is numbred by our finiteness and composition and every Number is from infinite simple Unity Monas est principium radix omnium there is but one God of whom are all things But how came you into such ranks Why have not the Elements Life the Plants Sense the Beasts Reason and Men Angelical Perfections When infinite Power brought us out of nothing infinite Wisdom shut up every one of us within the bounds of his proper Being But your Beings being of such different sorts how came you to be so kind each to other the Clouds drop down Rain on the Earth the Earth brings forth Grass that feeds the Beasts and these serve for Man the Breviary of all and Steward of all All these and innumerable more links of Amity were made by the God of Order But if you be of God's own make shew me your tokens 'T
Creature can preserve it self and this is clear 1. From the Creatures Station even the highest Seraphin stands juxta non esse at the brink of Nullity his Being is between two Nothings Nothing negative and Nothing privative and as his passage from Nothing into Being could not be without an infinite Power creating so his natural fall from Being into Nothing would certainly be without an infinite Power conserving Creatur a habet redire ad non esse à se if God should but say to the highest Angel Tolle quod tuum est abi he must immediately away into Nullity All Creatures by their natural vanity press downwards towards nothing as their own Centre and none but the Almighty shoulders can bear them up in Being 2. From God's Royal Prerogative which the Scripture most emphatically decyphers out as it were in Figures of Glory He only hath immortality 1 Tim. 6. 16. as if there were none at all in Angels and Rational Spirits Nay there is None besides him 1 Sam. 2. 2. as if there were no Being at all in the Creature And the reason of these expressions is this God hath Being and Immortality originally from himself but the Creature hath them but derivatively and in a dependence upon him wherefore in comparison of his Being Creatures are but nullities and in comparison of his Immortality Angels are but smoak But now if a Creature could preserve it self in Being and so immortalize it self it would become a Self-subsistence and consequently a God unto it self 2. That no Creature can preserve another I mean as a principal Agent and this is evident for 1. If one Creature might so preserve another it should be a God to it yet so weak as not to preserve it self But if it could preserve another it must be by some transfusion of virtue into it and that but finite for more a Creature cannot give and then if God transfuse as much virtue into the Creature conserved as the Creature conservant did the Creature conserved might subsist of it self and be a God to it self 2. The nature of Conservation evinces this What is it but an Influx of Being Now suppose all the Angels in Heaven would try to guard the poorest Worm in the Earth and that but for one moment only what could they do towards an Influx of Being being only streams from God as light from the Sun If the Sun be gone who can keep light in the Air If Jehovah withdraw who can keep Being in the Creature All the Creatures are as I may so say sensible of this dependance and look up to God for their preservation Psal. 104. 27. which leads me to the next thing 3. That the preservation of all is from God as of him so through him are all thing Rom. 11. 36. and this appears 1. By a survey of all the Creatures Angels are under God the strongest of Spirits but cannot subsist one moment without him he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1. 7. he is making the Angels even to this day by a daily Conservation their Immortality is a continual Spiration from the Father of Spirits The Heavens are the strongest of Bodies yet cannot stand alone God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 building his stories in the Heavens Amos 9. 6. he is still a building of them or else all those glorious Arches would totter down If he be but angry the Pillars of Heaven tremble and are agast Job 26. 11. If he withdraw his hand all the heavenly Volumes pass away as a Scroll and out go the fair Letters of Sun Moon and Stars in the twinkling of an Eye The Earth is the Centre of the World and as to Sense it hangs upon nothing as if it were only poised by its own gravity but this created Centre is bore up by the infinite Centre of all Being and as to Faith and Reason hangs upon him The pillars of it are the Lord's 1 Sam. 2. 8. he by his strength setteth fast the mountains Psal. 65. 6. or else they would be wavering towards nullity The Sea is a vast spreading Element but lest it should be contracted into nothing it is held in the hollow of his hand Isai. 40. 12. and that imports no less than a preservative comprehension All the numberless Birds in the Air Beasts in the Earth and Fishes in the Sea wait on him for their preservation the sending forth of his Spirit is their Being the opening of his hand their Provision and the shadow of his wings their Protection not a Sparrow forgotten before him not a poor Fly without an infinite Preserver Man who is the Epitome of all the rest cannot but own him O how soon would the earthen Pitcher break if he did not keep it how soon would the Lamp of the Soul go out if he did not light it even every moment Hence God is stiled the preserver of men Job 7. 20. a most universal preserver even from the utmost hairs which are numbred by him Matth. 10. 30. unto the inmost spirit which is preserved by his visitation Job 10. 12. Thus running through the whole Catalogue of Creatures we must conclude with St. Austin Deus est per omnia diffusus non ut qualitas mundi sed ut substantia cratrix sine labore regens sine onere continens omnia 2. By the very nature of Preservation what is it but continuata Creatio God is still a making the Angels and building the Heavens my Father worketh hitherto saith Christ Joh. 5. 17. He doth per intimam operationem continuò facere Creatura saith a famous School-man quamdiu est creatura Deo quia pro quolibet instanti habet esse à Deo Preservation is but the eeking out of Creation and therefore can be from no other but God alone Omnia in illo subsistunt à quo creata sunt But to pass on 4. The preservation of all is from God according to his Decree and this is evinced by these Reasons 1. Either God preserves Creatures naturally or freely not naturally for then he should preserve them perpetually and so every Fly must run parallel in Eternity with an Angel nor naturally for then he should preserve them uniformly and so every mortal body would subsist without food as well as the immaterial Spirits therefore he preserves them freely There be various ways of Preservation viz. Preservation of Creatures as to their Being and as to their adjuncts of order beauty goodness and truth Preservation of them as to their individuals and as to their kinds Preservation of individuals by means and without means preservation of them in perpetuum and for certain periods of time Now all this variety of Preservations doth evidently display the glorious liberty of the divine Will in the dispensing thereof Angels are preserved in their individual Beings and that in perpetuum and that without means but the Nodus perpetuitatis is the divine pleasure or else their Immortality would dissolve in a moment Men Beasts and
't was that he might succour the tempted Heb. 2. 18. Which way soever Satan turns himself still he is under God as the supreme Moderator But the spiritual world is not all the Material World is also under his dominions the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wheel of Nature is all turned about by his counsel the Heavens with all their Luminaries rapid Wheelings spinnings of Time and hovering indulgent influences are under his Ordinance his immense hand spans them Isai. 48. 19. at once twirling them about with an indefatigable Motion and squeezing out their quickning influences into the lower World 't is he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 5. 45. raises up the Sun to rule the day and the Moon and Stars to rule the night the Air with all its Meteors is at his command he maketh the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth Psal. 135. 7. and forms them into Clouds in an admirable and exact proportion the airy and watery parts ballancing each other Job 37. 16. These are the Bottles of Heaven when he breaks a Bottle down comes a refreshing showre when he turns and tosses a Bottle 't is by his counsel Job 37. 12. The Winds are all in God's hand Prov. 30. 4. and when he lets out any of them 't is by weight Job 28. 25. just so much and no more and 't is to fulfil his will Psal. 148. 8. and when one command is done it returns by its circuits to execute another Eccl. 1. 6. Thunder is God's majestick Voice and Lightning his glittering Arrow both are at his beck and say to him Here we are Job 38. 35. The treasures of Snow and Hail he purses up in the Clouds and those pay them out again according to his pleasure The stupendious Sea is but a little Babe in his almighty Arms Clouds and darkness are its swadling-band Job 38. 9. and the hollow of the Earth its Cradle there he rocks and rules it as he pleaseth if it cry and roar he stills and rebukes it till he lull it fast asleep in a calm The vast Earth is but instar puncti before him at his command are all the living Creatures the greedy Ravens were Caterers for Elijah untrained Kine faithful carriers of the Ark the dumb Ass a reprover to the Prophet clamorous Dogs moved not their tongues at departing Israel Laban's Cattle change colour to pay Jacob's wages Peter's Fish brought Tribute-money in his mouth and when proud Pharaoh said Who is the Lord an answer was sent him by wonderful hosts of Frogs and Flies Lice and Locusts proclaiming the sovereignty of their great Maker and Master In summ Man is the Epitome of all the rest and in governing him God governs all Man hath an inward Principality of Reason and Will yet still he is under the Almighty and All-wise Moderator who rules and disposes the hearts of men as he pleaseth 'T was but his touch on their hearts and Saul had a band 1 Sam. 10. 26. 'T was but his turning the key in Lydia's heart and the Gospel had entrance Acts 16. 14. Titus went to the Corinthians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 8. 17. a word importing high liberty yet God put it into his heart Ver. 16. The King's heart and who can be freer than he is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of waters he turneth it whither he will Prov. 21. 1. he turneth it whither he will there is the sovereignty of Providence yet he turneth it as the Rivers of waters there is the salving of Humane Liberty For as when the Husbandman leads the Waters this and that way by Channels and Trenches they lose nothing of their natural fluency so when God turns the hearts of men to such and such Objects they part with nothing of their natural liberty God is infinitely greater than our hearts wiser than our reason and freer than our liberty therefore he is able and worthy to rule over us in our freest actions Lastly as his gubernative Providence is over all Creatures so 't is over all Events the greatest Events are not above it When Kingdoms are tossed and bandied up and down like a Tennis-ball Isai. 22. 18. not one Event can fly out of the bounds of Providence the smallest are not below it not a Sparrow falls to the ground without it not a hair but 't is numbred by it he is maximus in minimis the most natural Effects are but casual till his free concourse makes them certain The Iron with all its gravity is not sure to sink 2 Kings 6. 6. the Fire with all its fury is not sure to burn Dan. 3. 27. The most casual effects are not casual to him when the Lot is cast into the lap the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord Prov. 16. 33. When a Bow was drawn at a venture 1 Kings 22. 34. Providence sent it as a certain messenger of death to the King of Israel Thus far I have been surveying the hosts of Creatures and Events I now procede to demonstrate that God is the great and universal Governour over them all For 1. He hath an absolute Authority over all his just Title is King of kings and Lord of lords all the Sphere of Nature and World of Creatures was of his making he that ruled over Nullity it self in their Creation is worthy to rule over all Creatures by his Providence but because Authority is liveless without presence therefore 2. His presence is every where Creatures lie in the shell of Time and Place Angels have their definitive Ubi the Body of Christ which subsists in an infinite Person is circumscribed by a finite place but God is every where present he is higher than Heaven deeper than Hell longer than Time and greater than Place and who like him to be universal Governour If he were only on the Throne of Heaven how should the Footstool of the Earth be ordered If his hand only spanned the celestial Spheres what should the Sea do But he is every where where-ever any Creature is there is I AM supporting and governing it But because power is the Crown of presence therefore 3. He is Almighty the only potentate 1 Tim. 6. 15. power belongs to him nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 1. 19. a pleonasm of power such as can do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 3. 20. superexcessively above all thoughts of men No wonder then if the Omnipotent reign who should reign else he can call things that are not Rom. 4. 17. even a World of Creatures out of the barren Womb of Nullity and a Church of New-creatures out of the dead Womb of Nature He is a God doing wonders Exod. 15. 11. Wonders to us but none to himself for all things are easie to Omnipotence his Government can have no blemishes because his Power can have no obstacles But because Powers hands cannot be without Wisdoms eyes therefore 4. He is Infinite in Wisdom to manage all He is a God of knowledge 1
Glory 1. As to the World of Nature Christ procured two things 1. The Standing of it 2. The Deliverance of it 1. The Standing of it and that in a threefold respect 1. The Standing of it in Being Sin filled it with so much spiritual stench and rottenness that the Power of the holy One would not have endured to have been there supporting and bearing it up in Being if the Death of Christ had not been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sweet-smelling savour Eph. 5. 2. to perfume and sweeten it the World was as it were new founded by the Cross or else Sin that abomination of desolation would have dashed it down about the Sinners Ears Justice if unsatisfied would not have spared so much as the Stage whereon Sin was acted but hurled it down into its first Nullity Christ upholdeth all things by the word of his power Heb. 1. 3. Before Sins entry they stood merely by the word of his Power but since they stand not without the blood of his Cross. Redemption is the great Buttress of Creation as it rears up the little World after its fall so it keeps up the great World from falling 2. The Standing of it in Order When the Prophet describes God's Judgments he speaks as if the old Chaos were come again Loe the earth was without form and void Jer. 4. 23. All the Orders and Harmonies in Nature were at first set by the Wisdom of God and afterwards cemented by the Blood of God or else Sin would have unframed all By Christ all things consist Col. 1. 17. not only subsist in their Beings but consist in their Orders 3. The Standing of it in its Usefulness to us Sin was the blast and forfeiture but Christ is the Purchaser and heir of all things Heb. 1. 2. and in and through him all are as it were new-given to us We became such wretches by Sin that the Earth would not have bore our persons if Christ had not bore our iniquities the Sun in the Firmament would not have lighted the material World if the Sun of Righteousness had not appeared in the spiritual these lower Heavens would not have spun out a day for us if Christ had not purchased the upper ones of Glory the Blood of Creatures should never have been shed for the life of our Bodies if the Blood of God had not been poured out for the Life of our Souls Under the Law before Harvest began the Passeover was killed at Harvest a Sheaf of the first-fruits was brought to the Priest to be offered to God and after Harvest there was the Feast of Tabernacles to bless God for the Fruits of the Earth which by the Jews was kept with Booths and Hosannahs Had not Christ our Passeover been sacrificed for us there would have been no Harvest of Creature-blessings at all and now that there is one the praise of every Sheaf must be brought to Christ the high-priest of good things and in and through him offered up to God therefore there is a spiritual feast of tabernacles under the Gospel Zach. 14. 16. Whilest we sit under the Booths of the Creature we must sing Hosannahs to the Son of God who tabernacled in our flesh and in it merited all comforts for us Every bough of Nature hangs upon his Cross every crum of Bread swims in his Blood every Grape of blessing grows on his Crown of Thorns and all the sweetness in Nature streams out of his Vinegar and Gall. A right-born Christian is the best Philosopher for he sees the Sun of Righteousness in the Luminaries of Heaven the waterings of Christ's Blood in the fruits of the Earth the Word incarnate in Creature-nourishment and the Riches of Christ in all the Riches of Nature All are ours and we are Christ's and Christ is God's 2. Christ by this Price procured the Deliverance of it God made the House of the World for Man and whilest there is Sin in the Inhabitant the Curse-mark is on the House the Heavens wax old as if there were Mothes in them the Stars have their malignant Aspects the Earth hath its Thorns and Thistles and the whole Creation groans and travels with an universal Vanity the Sun groans out his light on the Workers of darkness the Air groans with Vollies of Oaths and Blasphemies and the Earth groans forth its Corn and Wine into the lap of the Riotous and as Sin grows heavier so the Creaturegroans wax lowder every day But at last in and through Christ there shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a restitution of all things Acts 3. 21. the Balm of his Blood will perfectly heal all the stabs and wounds in the Body of Nature the groaning and traveling Creature shall be delivered from the bondage of Corruption Rom. 8. 21. there shall be new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness 2 Pet. 3. 13. and all the steps and traces of the old Curse shall be razed out of the World Thus Christ hath purchased the World of Nature but this as appears by the Purchaser's own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 6. 33. is not the main bargain but the casting in or overplus thereof therefore 2. Christ by this Price purchased the World of Grace Grace may be considered two ways either as it is in the Map or Charter of the Gospel or as it is in the Subject or receptacle of the Heart and both ways 't is Christ's purchase 1. Grace in the Map or Charter is the Covenant of Grace comprized in the Promises called the Covenant of Promise Eph. 2. 12. In this Covenant there are Promises reaching down as low as the World of Nature and Promises reaching up as high as the World of Glory and betwixt these two run the Promises which water the World of Grace and these are either Promises of Grace such as those I will give an heart to know me Jer. 24. 7. I will circumcise the heart to love me Deut. 30. 6. I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts Heb. 8. 10. I will give a new heart and a new spirit I will take away th◠stony heart and give an heart of flesh Ezek. 36. 26. or else they are Promises to Grace such as those God will justifie the believer Rom. 3. 26. beautifie the meek with salvation Psal. 149. 4. dwell in a broken heart Isai. 57. 15. comfort the mourners fill the hungry and be seen of the pure in heart Matth. 5. 4 6 8. Now all these Promises are the purchase of Christ and the whole Covenant made up of them is the New-testament in his blood 1 Cor. 11. 25. Without his satisfactory Blood there would have been no room for Promises no not for the least twinkling of a Promise to the sons of men for unsatisfied Justice would have hurried all to Hell All the Promises issue out to us in and through Christ the Rivers of Life gushed out of the true Rock the Gospel-wine run forth from the true Vine if
Surety and the promised Life made good to us Sinners But you 'l object further If the Law be thus interpreted in an equitable way viz. to be done by a Surety then it is not so much as a Rule of life to us for that issues out of the first interpretation viz. the doing of it in our own persons I answer that still the Law is a Rule of life to us and the reason is because God doth not wave the rigorous and take the equitable interpretation totally and absolutely but in order to Redemption and so far only as Redemption requires it Now what doth that require It requires that the Obedience of a Surety should be admitted for the impletion of the Law and therefore thus far the rigorous interpretation is waved and the equitable takes place But it requires not that the redeemed ones should be exempted from the Law as a Rule and therefore the equitable interpretation doth not go thus far and so far as that goes not the rigorous one takes place because pro tanto it is consistent with Redemption Hence it comes to pass that Christ as our Surety fulfilled the Law for us and yet still the Law is a Rule of life to us Christ is the end of the Law to the believer and yet the Believer is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law to Christ 1 Cor. 9. 21. Thus this Price is redemptive from Evil and procurative of Good but the Crown of all is yet behind 3. It is a Price sufficient for both the former There is a double Sufficiency Sufficientia nuda and Sufficientia ordinata the first consists in the intrinsecal value of the thing the thing in value transcending or at least equalizing the thing to be redeemed the second consists in the Will of the Payer and Receiver the one intentionally paying and the other intentionally accepting that thing as a Price of Redemption the first is that radical Sufficiency whereby the thing may possibly become a Price the second is that formal Sufficiency whereby the thing doth actually become a Price Let the thing be in it self of never so vast a value the former without the latter doth not constitute it a Price Now the glorious price of our Redemption hath both these Sufficiencies in it 1. It hath Sufficientiam nudam the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ have intrinsecal value enough to equalize nay infinitely superexcede all our Debts and over and besides to purchase three Worlds for us and the reason is because his Deity poured out a kind of Infinity into his Doings and Sufferings The Righteousness which he fulfilled was the righteousness of God Rom. 1. 17. the Blood which he shed was the blood of God Rom. 20. 28. the Life which he laid down was the life of God 1 Joh. 3. 16. And what nakedness cannot the Righteousness of God cover What debts cannot the Blood of God pay for And what Worlds cannot the Life of God purchase Remember O poor trembling Soul remember he that was pierced for thee was Jehovah he that was smitten for thee was the man God's fellow and he that obeyed for thee was in the form of God O what manner of Actions and Passions were those wherein the Law-giver stood under his own Law and the Creator suffered in his own World How was his Obedience elevated into Infinity and transfigured into glory by his Godhead What a Mass of sweet-smelling Merits must that be into which the Deity it self transfused Riches and Odours This may be one reason why Christ is stiled the heir of all things Heb. 1. 2. though he be the Purchaser of all yet he is Heir of all because he received his divine Nature from his Father and that divine Nature stamped an infinite value upon the Purchase-money which bought all May I shadow it out by an imperfect Similitude A Son receives vast sums from his Father and with them purchases an estate in Lands to himself that Son is the Purchaser of those Lands in respect of his own payment of the Money and yet in a sence he is Heir to them in respect of his receipt of the Money from his Father So the Eternal Son of God is the Purchaser of all for he paid down his own Blood and Righteousness as the Price and yet he is Heir of all for that Price had its value from the divine Nature and that divine Nature was received from his Father in the Eternal Generation There is no doubt then as long as Christ is God but that his Obedience hath value enough in it self 2. It hath Sufficientiam ordinatam and this appears 1. By the Will of Christ who paid down the Price 2. By the Will of God who received it both their Wills concentre in the work of Redemption and the counsel of peace is between them both Zach. 6. 13. 1. It appears by the Will of Christ when he paid down his Obedience what was his meaning Surely not a tittle of his Obedience was irrationally done nor a drop of his Blood irrationally shed what then was his meaning in it Was it not to dissolve the Chains of Sin open the Prison of Wrath and spoil and triumph over the bloody Jaylor Satan Was it not to procure the standing of the Body of Nature the shedding down of the Spirit of Grace and the opening a door to Heaven and eternal Life These were the things on which the divine and humane Will of Christ were both set his divine Will was set upon them for before the foundations of the World even in his joyous Eternity with his Father his delights were with the sons of men Prov. 8. 31. and when the World was up he appeared to Abraham in a humane shape and to Moses to usher in a temporal Redemption the first as a praeludium to his Incarnation and the latter as a praeludium to our Redemption and both as a demonstration that the work of Salvation was in his Heart And afterwards in the days of his flesh his humane Will never parted from his divine but in a rape of Love always run upon Redemption this he sought for in a long circuit of Obedience and sought with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till it was finished this he sought for in his bloody Agony and when his humane Will as Nature shrunk back from the Cup of Wrath yet the same Will as Reason kissed and drunk it off to the bottom in order to Redemption this he ardently pursued after through Cross-tortures and Soul-travels and rather than fail of it he would for a time be forsaken even of God himself and when he cried out I thirst his greatest thirst of all was after this and could never be quenched till he came to a consummatum est Thus stood the mind of Christ in the business 2. It appears by the Will of God and that in two things 1. God decreed this Price to be paid for the ends aforesaid 2. God accepted it being paid for the
Redemption Surely it imports thus much unto us that Redemption hath a larger Sphere than Election and therefore the Scriptures contract Election in words of Speciality only whilest they open and dilate Redemption in emphatical Generalities 2. If those general Expressions denote only the World of the Elect or the All of Believers why doth the Scripture use such very different language in the same thing Sometimes Christ is called the saviour of the world and sometimes the saviour of the body sometimes 't is said that Christ died or gave himself for all or for the world sometimes it is said that he died or gave himself for the Church or for his sheep Who can imagine that such words of universality and such words of speciality should be of the same latitude that one and the same thing should be imported in both Moreover the Scripture doth make a signal distinction when it speaks of his giving himself or dying for all it says only that he died for all or gave himself a Ransom for all But when it speaks of giving himself for his Church it says that he sanctified himself that it might be sanctified through the truth Joh. 17. 19. and that he gave himself for it that he might purisie to himself a peouliar people Tit. 2. 14. and that he gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the word and present it to himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle Eph. 5. 25 26 27. Never in all the Scripture is it said that he gave himself for all or for the World that he might sanctifie or cleanse it or make it a peculiar People or glorious Church which yet might have been truly said if the All were no more than the All of Believers or the World than the World of the Elect wherefore to me it seems clear from those various Expressions and the observable distinctions in them that the All for whom Christ died is larger than the All of Believers and the World for whom Christ gave himself larger than the World of the Elect. 2. Having laid down my own Reasons I procede to answer the Objections made against this Opinion Object 1. If Christ died for all men then all would believe for Christ's Death procures all Graces and in particular Faith seeing then all men have not Faith either Christ did not die for them all or else he loseth part of his Purchase I answer that Christ's Death is procurative of all Graces and particularly of Faith so far as it is a Price and it is a Price so far as it was paid down by Christ and accepted by God for that purpose for in a Price there must be both Sufficientia nuda consisting in the intrinsecal value of the thing and Sufficientia ordinata consisting in the intentional paying and receiving that thing as a Price Now Christ's death was paid down by him and accepted by God as a Price with a double respect As for all men it was paid and accepted as a Price so far forth as to procure for them a ground for their Faith viz. that they might be saved on Gospel-terms And as for the Elect it was further paid and accepted as a Price so far as to procure the very Grace of Faith for them Thus our Saviour Christ who best knew both upon what Terms he paid down the price and upon what Terms his Father received it opens this mysterious Dispensation I came down from heaven saith he not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me Joh. 6. 38. and what was that As to all men 't was that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life Ver. 40. and as to the Elect 't was that all those should by faith come unto him Ver. 37. and never be lost Ver. 39. Christ then died for all men not so far forth as to procure the Grace of Faith but so far forth as to procure Salvation on Gospel-terms for them therefore albeit all do not believe it follows not either that Christ did not at all die for them or that he loseth part of his Purchase Christ's Death is procurative of Faith not in reference to all but to the Elect. Object 2. If Christ died for all men why is not the Gospel revealed to them many Pagan Nations have no glimpse of a Christ. I answer two things 1. God hath not left himself altogether without witness no not in the Pagan-world the invisible Spirit renders himself visible in the Glass of the World Rom. 1. 20. and as it were palpable in the body of Nature the very Heathens may see and feel him in every creature Acts 17. 27. nay and in themselves too for his Presence is not far off from them his candle burns within them Prov. 20. 27. when by this Candle it appears that there is Justice in God and Sin in them yet that they may still seek after him he lets out some glimmerings of mercy placability towards them the very standing of the World utters somewhat of this This Psalmist tells us of a line in the heaven Psal. 19. 4. God in the Creation drew lines of Power and Wisdom over the Sphere of Nature but Christ in Redemption struck a line of Mercy quite through it and that legible even to the Heathens forasmuch as they know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vindictive justice of God Rom. 1. 32. and yet see the World standing and not dashed down about the Sinners Ears they know there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a divine vengeance Acts 28. 4. and yet they are not consumed they see Justice as it were winking Acts 17. 30. judgment slumbring 2 Pet. 2. 3. and infinite Patience and Long-suffering waiting and leading them to Repentance Rom. 2. 4. they have some glimpses of pardoning Mercy where there is no pardoning mercy at all there is no room for repentance but the Patience of God is a kind of temporal pardon of the punishment that temporal pardon of the punishment points out that Mercy which can give an absolute pardon of the Sin and the true duct and tendency of that Mercy is to lead men to Repentance and if there were any man in the Pagan-world who did in truth repent and convert to God I make no question at all but that he should be saved and probably not without the express knowledge of Christ indulged to him for upon all that fear Gods Name will the Sun of rigteousness arise with healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. Here then is aliquid Evangelii though not the express knowledge of Christ. 2. As to the Argument let us weigh what may be deducted from Christ's death as universal If Christ died for all men it follows from thence that Christ may be preached to all but it follows not from thence that Christ shall be preached to all it follows that Christ may be preached to all for he who was offered for
are renewed with the renewings of the holy Ghost but that is shed on them through Jesus Christ they have the Law written in their hearts but that is the Epistle of Christ their filthy flesh is cut off from their hearts that they may love God who is a pure Spirit but this is the circumcision of Christ Col. 2. 11. In a word all the saving Graces of the Elect are as so many Legacies of the New-testament and the New-testament is founded in his Blood Wherefore it is clear from the Covenant of Grace and its special respect to the Elect that Christ died in a special and peculiar manner for them 3. I argue from the Issue of Christ Christ was to have a Seed and this I shall demonstrate three ways 1. From the Preciousness of his Blood 2. From the Purpose of his Father 3. From the Promise of his Father 1. From the Preciousness of his Blood That there should be a Laver made of God's Blood and never a Sinner washed in it that such a vast sum of precious Merits should be paid down and never a Captive released by it is to me no less than prodigious Blasphemy every little Grain in Nature doth confute it if that do but fall into the ground and die it bringeth forth much fruit and shall the Son of God bleed and die in his assumed Flesh and be fruitless God in his waky Providence gives to every little Seed his own body and shall the peerless Flower of Heaven sow his Blood and Righteousness and have none at all A Cup of cold water given in Charity shall in no wise lose its reward and can it be so with the Blood of Christ poured out in a transcendent excess of Love and glorified into an infinite Merit by his Deity When Christ fed the multitude but with Barley-loaves small Fishes nothing was lost and can all be lost when he makes a Feast of spiritual Marrow and Fatness and gives his Flesh to be meat indeed and his Blood to be drink indeed Oh! far be the thought from every Christian 2. From the Father's purpose which as the Scriptures hold forth clearly was that his Son should be a King a Captain a Shepherd an Husband an Head and a Father And what is a King without Subjects a Captain without Souldiers a Shepherd without a Flook an Husband without a Spouse an Head without a Body and a Father without Posterity Empty Names are below him whose name is above every name Wherefore this King must have a Sion a mountain of holiness to reign in Psal. 2. 6. this Captain a Militia an army with banners to fight under him Cant. 6. 4. this Shepherd a flock to hear his voice and follow him Joh. 10. 4. this Husband a spouse a Queen in Gold of Ophir maried to him Psal. 45. 9. this Head a body to be animated with his Spirit and filled with his life Col. 1. 18. and this Father a numerous issue begotten and brought forth into the spiritual World to honour and serve him Heb. 2. 13. 3. From the Father's Promise which was in terminis That he should have a seed Isai. 53. 10. a Seed begotten by his Spirit and by that Generation bearing his Image and in that Image serving of him and to make it sure God engages by special Promises to take away the stony Heart to write the Law there to put his holy Spirit into them and so infallibly to raise up a seed to him and for the continuance of this Seed successively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filiabitur nomen ejus his name shall be sonned or childed from generation to generation Psal. 72. 17. The special Promises shall be ever budding and blossoming and bringing forth the fruits of Grace thus Christ shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied Isai. 53. 11. and as a sign of this Satisfaction he breaks out Behold I and the Children which God hath given me Heb. 2. 13. Should he miss but one of his Seed or Children his Heart would not rest or be satisfied for they are in a peculiar manner the travel of his Soul But now if Christ died alike or equally for all what becomes of his precious Blood How can the Purpose and Promise of God stand Which way shall Christ have a Seed Shall his Seed be begotten out of Man's Will No such Generation ever was there Joh. 1. 13. 'T is not of him that willeth Rom. 9. 16. Nothing less than the holy Spirit which formed Christ in the Womb can form him in the Heart but shall they be begotten by the holy Spirit That Spirit doth nothing in the work of Regeneration but what Christ merited in his Passion every new Creature which is efficiently begotten by the Spirit was first meritoriously begotten by the Death of Christ or else it would not be the Seed of Christ at least not the travel of his Soul Now Christ did not travel or merit for all men that they should be begotten again by the holy Ghost for then either all would be so begotten which Experience denies or else the Merit and Travel of Christ must be lost which the preciousness thereof abhorrs And if Christ did not merit it for all then neither did he if he died alike for all merit it for any and how then shall he have a Seed His Seed must be begotten by the Spirit and the Spirit begets no new Creatures but what Christ merited and Christ dying equally for all did not merit such a thing for any because not for all Moreover when God promised Christ a Seed either the meaning of that Promise was that some men should become his Seed or that all should be so if that some then Christ died not equally for all if that all then all must be begotten by the Spirit and renewed after Christ's Image the Stone must be cut out of every heart and the Law written there for in these things is the very spirit and life of Regeneration But seeing these things are not wrought in all it appears that the promised Seed is not all but some for whom Christ merited the very work of Regeneration 4. I argue from the Working of the holy Spirit As the holy Spirit eternally procedes from the Father and the Son in his personal Subsistence so he goes forth in time from the Father and the Son in his working in Men. Hence he is called the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son the Father sends him and the Son sends him and as the holy Spirit works in Men from the Father and the Son so he works in them more or less as the Love of the Father and the Merits of the Son do more or less respect them The Father doth in some sort love and the Son did in some sort die for all men Hence the holy Spirit hath some workings in the Non-elect Within the Church many of them taste the Powers of the World to come nay in the Pagan-world
the holy Spirit drops some moral Vertues and Beams of light from whence have issued many excellent Sayings some of which the holy Spirit hath so far owned as to quote them in his own Book But the Father doth in a special manner love and the Son did in a special manner die for the Elect. Hence proportionably the holy Spirit works in them after more glorious strains of Power and Grace as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication he melts them into Repentance as a Spirit of Faith he makes them catch hold upon Christ for Righteousness and Life as a Spirit of Wisdom he unveils their hearts and makes the Light to shine out of Darkness as a Spirit of Liberty he unshackles and unbinds their Wills and makes them free indeed in the ways of God and as a Spirit of Truth and Holiness he leads them into Truth and by inward Law-engravings moulds and changes them into it Moreover the holy Spirit after such glorious workings on them comes and dwells in them and that intimately in the very secrets of their hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will indwel in them saith he 2 Cor. 6. 16. there are two in 's to denote an intimate inhabitation as if God could never be near enough to them As in Christ Personal who is the Head there is God in the flesh by an hypostatical Union so in Christ Mystical which is the Body there is God in the Flesh by a gracious Inhabitation and to shew that he is there he cries Abba Father in their Devotions he is a Spirit of Love in their charities a Spirit of Power in their infirmities a Spirit of Comfort in their distresses and a Spirit of Glory in their sufferings Seeing then the holy Spirit who works in men more or less according to the Fathers Love and Sons Merits works in such a special way in the Elect 't is as clear as if it were written with a Sun-beam that the Father loves them and the Son died for them in a special way Hence we find these three folded and wrapt up together by the Apostle Elect according to the foreknowledge of the Father through sanctification of the Spirit and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 2. And again The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the holy Ghost be with you all 2 Cor. 13. 14 If the Father's Love and the Son's Blood had respected all men as much as the Elect doubtless the holy Spirit who in Subsistence procedes and in Operations works from them both would have converted all as well as the Elect why then are not all men actually converted Is it because the holy Spirit works not equally in all or because the holy Spirit is resisted in some Is it because the holy Spirit works not equally in all I answer That the Spirit is sent forth from the Father and the Son and works exactly according as it is sent the inward impulsive Cause of pouring out the Spirit is the Father's Love and the outward meritorious cause of it is the Son's Blood Wherefore if the Father equally love all and the Son equally died for all the Spirit works equally in all for there can be no breach in the sacred Trinity Or is it because the Spirit is resisted in some I answer Their resistance is a grand Obstacle to the work but if the Spirit did roll away the Stone and new-mould the Heart and work the Will in all as he doth in the Elect that Obstacle would at last be removed out of the way 5. I argue from the Blessings purchased Christ's Death is more or less respective of men as it is more or less procurative of Blessings for them Christ purchased a Salvability for all but over and besides he purchased many choice Blessings for the Elect he purchased Repentance for them for he is a prince and a saviour to give repentance to Israel Acts 5. 31. He purchased a room for Repentance even for all men but he purchased Repentance it self for his chosen Israel he purchased Faith for them Unto you it is given for Christs sake to believe in him Phil. 1. 29. For others he purchased a ground-work for Faith but for them he purchased the very Grace of Faith he purchased effectual Vocation for them others have a Call by the Gospel but these have a Call by the Gospel coming in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance he purchased Holiness and Sanctification for them Indeed there is no man living on the Earth but if he did really believe he should have the rivers of living water the Spirit of holiness flowing in his heart Joh. 7. 38. but the Elect were destined and chosen in Christ to be holy Eph. 1. 4. and Christ sanctified himself in a special manner for them that they might be sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in truth actually truly Joh. 17. 19. Lastly he purchased Heaven and Glory for them others may have Heaven upon believing but these shall certainly arrive at it these are the sheep to which Christ gives eternal life Joh. 10. 28. these are the sons which without fail shall be brought to Glory Heb. 2. 10. Now seeing Christ purchased so many Blessings for the Elect 't is evident he died for them in a special way 6. I argue from the Intercession of Christ. Christ intercedes for men more or less proportionably as he more or less respected them in his Death for his Death is the foundation of his Intercession the very same Blood of Christ which as shed on Earth made Satisfaction as presented in Heaven makes Intercession Now how far doth Christ intercede in Heaven What doth his Blood speak there For all men it speaks thus Father let them all be saved on Gospel-terms but for the Elect it speaks thus Father let them have Repentance this the Apostle hints out Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince a saviour to give repentance to Israel Acts 5. 31. Israels Repentance on Earth comes from Christ exalted in Heaven for there he intercedes for it by his Merits and from thence he works it by his Spirit Again it speaks for them thus Father let them be made a willing people this I gather from the 110. Psalm where we find Christ sitting at the right hand of God Ver. 1. and sitting there he intercedes for us and from this Session and Intercession comes forth a willing people Ver. 3. Here 's the true original of spiritual willingness the right Hand of God which is a right Hand of Power works it in our Hearts and works it at the instance of Christ who sits and intercedes there for it Again it speaks for them thus Father sanctifie them with thy Grace preserve them with thy Power and crown them with thy Glory in Heaven Thus Christ in his sweet Prayer a little before his bitter Passion interceded for them for their Sanctification Sanctifie them
irresistible way I am for the Affirmative in a right sence A work may be said to be done irresistibly two ways either when there is no resistance at all thus the Apostle saith ye have killed the just and he doth not resist you Jam. 5. 6. that is not resist at all or else when there is no such resistance as to impede the work thus they were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit of Stephen Acts 6. 10. there 's an irresistibility but what without any resistance at all No they disputed against him with might and main but because their disputes could not impede his work in propagating the Gospel therefore it is said that they were not able to resist him Thus when I say that Conversion is wrought in an irresistible way I mean not that there is no resistance at all for even in the Regenerate there is flesh lusting against the spirit the old Man and the new strugle in the same Faculties like Esau and Jacob in the same Womb but I mean that there is no such resistance as to impede the Work of Conversion In meekness saith the Apostle instructing those that oppose themselves if peradventure God will give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. here is a resistance but for all that the work will be done if God give repentance He went on saith the Prophet frowardly in the way of his heart but what saith God I have seen his ways and will heal him Isai. 57. 17 18. here was a great resistance but for all that God will heal him God works Conversion in such an insuperable way that notwithstanding all the opposition made thereunto it doth infallibly come to pass Now this I shall endeavour to demonstrate first in general and then in particular with respect to the two Instants of Conversion 1. I shall demonstrate it in general and that by these Arguments taken 1. From God's Election He hath chosen some before the foundation of the World chosen them to holiness as the Way Eph. 1. 4. and chosen them to salvation as the End 2 Thess. 2. 13. But if Conversion be not wrought in an insuperable way how doth the foundation of God stand sure 2 Tim. 2. 19 How is that golden Chain kept entire Whom he did predestinate them he called whom he called them he justified and glorified Rom. 8. 30 Were not these called ones who have Predestination going before them and Justification and Glorification coming after them called in an insuperable way If not the Chain cannot hold together The Apostle makes a plain difference between men he opposes those of the election of grace to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were blinded Rom. 11. 7. and those on whom God will have mercy to those whom he hardens Rom. 9. 18. But if Conversion be not irresistibly wrought this difference falls to the ground those of the Election may be blinded and those on whom God hath mercy may be hardened as well as others For my part I should as soon believe that a little Child may put up his finger and rowl about the Spheres as that the Will of Man may stay or turn aside the Influences of electing Grace 2. From Christs Redemption If we consider the preciousness of his Blood surely he must have a Body every little Seed in Nature hath a Body given to it and the Son of God sowing his Blood and Life cannot want one If we consider the Promise of God surely he must have a seed Isai. 53. 10. and what else is the Fulness of the Gentiles and the Conversion of the Jews but this promised Seed But if Grace be not wrought in an insuperable way Christ might sow his Blood and Life in a wonderful Passion and yet have no Body springing out of it nay God might engage himself in the Promise of a Seed and yet nothing at all come of it if the Grace of God be resistible lieve must be asked of Man's will that Christ's Blood may be fruitful and God's Promise Faithful 3. From the Spirit 's Work The three glorious Persons in the sacred Trinity shew forth themselves in three glorious Works the Father hath a special Shine in Creation the Son in Redemption and the holy Spirit in Sanctification In the first Work we have God in the World in the second God in the Flesh and in the third God in the Heart or Spirit When God came forth in Creation Oh! what an Heaven and Earth full of admirable Creatures and Harmonies issued forth When God came in the Flesh what out-breakings of Glory were there What sparklings of the Deity in Miracles upon the Bodies of Men The blind received their sight the lame walked the lepers were cleansed the deaf did hear the dead were raised and the Devils were ejected with power And when God comes in the Heart or Spirit what planting of a new heaven and a new earth How much of Glory and spiritual Miracle breaks forth in the Souls of Men Even here also the blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf hear the dead are raised and the devil is cast out with power The very same Miracles which Christ in the flesh did do on the Bodies of Men in a visible manner the very same doth Christ in the Spirit do on the Souls of Men in a spiritual way This is the proper Work of the Spirit to sanctifie Mens Hearts the Spirit doth not appear any where in all the World so much as in a true Saint Look into a godly Man's Understanding there 's the Spirit of Revelation look into his Will there 's the Spirit of Holiness look into his Affections there 's the Spirit of Love and Joy look into hs Conscience there 's the Spirit of Consolation look into his Prayers there 's the Spirit of Supplication look into his Conversation there 's the Spirit of Meekness and all Righteousness Thus the holy Spirit shews forth its Glory and flows in Men as rivers of living water and this Glory and Out-flowing is so precious that before it came in Esse according to the rich Measures of Gospel-grace it is said of the eternal Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Spirit was not yet Joh. 7. 39. as if the Spirits flowing in Men were a kind of second Being to it But now after all this if Conversion be not wrought in an insuperable way the holy Spirit may be barred out of every Heart and then how shall his work be done Where shall his Glory and spiritual Miracles appear The Father hath a World to appear in the Son hath Flesh to tabernacle in but possibly the holy Spirit can get never an Heart to inhabit in never a Temple to fill with his Glory the holy Spirit would tabernacle with Men but what if the Iron-sinew in the Will will not come out What if the Stone in the heart will not break Then the holy Spirit is robbed of his Glory But is this so strange