is not justified by workes or through workes by the Law or through the Law opposing faith and workes in the matter of Iustification but not in respect of their presence faith I say and works not faith and merits which could never be without doubt he excludes the efficiency and force of the Law and workes in justifying But the particles By and of doe not in the same sense take Iustification from the Law and workes in which they give it to faith For faith only doth behould and receive the promises of life and mercy but the Law and works respect the Commandements not the promises of meere grace When therfore Iustification and life is said to be by faith it is manifestly signified that faith receiving the promise doth receive righteousnesse and life freely promised Obedience to all Deut. 7. 1â— 10. 12. Ier. 7. 23. Lev. 19. 17 18. Luk. 10. 27 Mar. 12 30. Gods Commandements is covenanted not as the cause of life but as the qualification and effect of faith and as the way to life Faith that embraceth life is obedientiall and fruitfull in all good workes but in one sort faith is the cause of obedience and good workes and in another of Iustification and life eternall These it seeketh in the promises of the Covenant those it worketh and produceth as the cause doth the effect Faith was the efficient cause of that pretious oblation in Abell of reverence and preparing Heb. 11 4 7 c. the Arke in Noah of obedience in Abraham but it was the instrument only of their justification For it doth not justifie as it produceth good workes but as it receiveth Christ though it cannot receive Christ unlesse it brings forth good workes A disposition to good workes is necessary to justification being the qualification of an active and lively faith Good works of all sorts are necessary to our continuance in the state of justification and so to our finall absolution if God give opportunity but they are not the cause of but only a precedent qualification or condition to finall forgivenesse and eternall blisse If then when we speake of the conditions of the Covenant of grace by Condition we understand whatsoever is required on our part as precedent concomitant or subsequent to justification repentance faith and obedience are all conditions but if by Condition we understand what is required on our part as the cause of the good promised though only instrumentall faith or beliefe in the promises of free mercy is the only Condition Faith and workes are opposed in the matter of Justification and Salvation in the Covenant not that they cannot stand together in the same subject for they be inseperably united but because they cannot concurre or meete together in one the same Court to the Iustification or Absolution of Man For in the Court of Iustice according to the first Covenant either being just he is acquitted or unjust he is condemned But in the Court of Mercy if thou receive the promise of pardon which is done by a lively faith thou art acquitted and set free and accepted as just and righteous but if thou believe not thou art sent over to the Court of Justice Obedience is two-fold perfect in measure and degree this is so farre required that if it be not performed we must acknowledge our sinne in comming short And this God is pleased to exact at our hands that we might walke in humility before him strive after perfection and freely acknowledge his rich grace and mercy in accepting and rewarding the best service we can tender unto his Highnesse when in the Court of Iustice it deserveth to be rejected 2. Sincere uniforme and constant though imperfect in measure and degree and this is so necessary that without it there is no Salvation to be expected The Covenant of Grace calleth for perfection accepteth sincerity God in mercy pardoning the imperfections of our best performances If perfection was rigidly exacted no flesh could be saved if not at all commanded imperfection should not be sin nor perfection to be laboured after The faith that is lively to imbrace mercy is ever conjoyned with an unfained purpose to walke in all well pleasing and the sincere performance of all holy obedience as opportunity is offered doth ever attend that faith whereby we continually lay hold upon the promises once embraced Actuall good workes of all sorts though not perfect in degree are necessary to the continuance of actuall justification because faith can no longer lay faithfull claime to the promises of life then it doth vertually or actually leade us forward in the way to Heaven For if we say we have fellowship with God and walke in darknesse we lie and doe not the truth But if we walke in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another 1 Joh. 1. 6 7. This walking in the light as he is in the light is that qualification wherby we become immediatly capable of Christs righteousnes or actuall participants of his propitiation which is the sole immediate cause of our justification taken for remission of sinnes or actuall approbation with God The truth of which Doctrine St John likewise ratifies in tearmes equivalent in the words presently following And the blood of 1 Ioh. 1. 7. Christ cleanseth us walking in the light as God is in the light from all sinne But of these things more largely in the severall degrees how this Covenant hath been revealed In this Covenant man doth promise to repent of his sinnes and repenting to cleave unto the promise of mercy made in Iesus Christ and in saith to yeeld willing cheerefull and continuall obedience In contracts amongst men one may aske more and the other bid lesse and yet they may strike agreement But it is altogether bootlesse for men to thinke of entring into Covenant with God if they be noâ— resolved to obey in all things The practise of all Gods people who ever made Covenant with his Highnesse doth expressely speake thus much when they solemnly entred into or renewed their Covenant for thus they promise Whatsoever the Lord saith that will we doe Exod 24. 3 7. The people said unto Joshua The Lord our God will we serve and his voice will we obey Josh 24. 23. And they entred into Covenant to seeke the Lord God of their Fathers with all their he art and with all thâ—eâ—r souâ—e That whosoever would not seâ—ke the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman 2 Chron. 15. 12 13. And the King stood by the pillar and made a Covenant before the Lord to walke after the Lord and to keepe his Commandements and his Testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soule to performe the words of this Covenant that were written in this booke and all the people stood to the Covenant 2 Chron. 34. 31. 2 Kings 23. 3. They entred into a Curse and into
seeke attonement and to walke sutably He doth remove the guilt of sinfully from the conscience of the offending brethren Heb. 9 14 15. He is potent with God to satisfie revenging Gal. 3. 13 14. justice by presenting his bloud to remove the curse of the Law that those which are called might receive the inheritance He alone hath in his owne person performed obedience to the broken Law of God and fulfilled all righteousnesse and by his crosse hath cancelled the hand-writing that was against us and broken downe the partition and slayed hatred and enmity betwixt the brethren Ephes 2. 14 15. But of this more hereafter The Fathers received Heb. 11. 13 14. not the promises but saw them afarre off and were perswaded of them and saluted them with great sweetnesse but under the new Covenant we have recived the promise God hath sent his Son into the world borne of a woman and made under the Law and openly manifested him to be the Son of God And if Gal 4. 4 5. the appearing of Christ God and man did adde much to the joy and comfort of the Saints in glory the manifestation of Christ in the flesh must adde to the faith and comfort of them that waited for the salvation of Israel The Incarnation of Christ was the day of his Coronation and of his espousals wherein in speciall manner Cant. 3. 11. he contracted him unto his Church Goe forth O ye daughters of Zion and behold King Salomon with the crowne wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals and in the day of the gladnesse of heart The Fathers expected deliverance from the curse of the Law and to inherit the promises in and through the Messiah and the Sacrifices did prefigure and Prophets fore-tell the death of the Messiah but we may well thinke the faithfull did not distinctly understand how the Saviour promised was to satisfie justice and by death to overcome him that had the power of death But in the new Testament we learne expressely that Christ is made of God unto us wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption how he satisfied justice by one oblation of himselfe removed the curse of the Law destroyed him that had the power of death purchased the promised Spirit and ratified all the promises of the Covenant by his death and bloud-shed Heb. 9. 15. Thirdly He is entred into heaven appeareth before the Father and maketh request for his people unto which there is pre-required a power and prevalencie over all his enemies to breake through the guilt of sin the curse of the Law and the chaines of death with which it was impossible that he should be held And this power of Christ was shewed in his Resurrection wherein he was declared to be the Son of God with power Rom. 1. 4. and in his ascension wherein he led all his enemies captives Ephes 4. 8. and in his sitting at the right hand of God farre above all principalities and powers Ephes 1. 19 20. All which did make way to the presenting of his Sacrifice before the Mercy-seat which is the consummation of it and without which he had not been a Priest We have such an high Priest saith the Apostle as is set downe at the right hand of the Majestie in the heavens for if he were on earth he should not be a Priest seeing that there are Priests which offer gifts according to the Law Heb. 8. 1 4. Christ our high Priest having offered up himselfe an expiatory Sacrifice once for all by his divine power rose againe from the dead and is entered into the very heavens to appeare in the presence of God for us Heb. 9. 24. Levit. 16. 11 15. It was the same continued action whereby the Priest did offer without the holy place and did then bring the bloud into the holiest of all Heb. 13. 11. For the reason why it was shed was to present it to the mercy-seat and to shew it unto the Lord there Heb. 9. 8. Inchoari potest functio veri Sacerdotis stante typico Sacerdotio perfecta esse non potest illo staÌ„â—e Oblatio peracta in terra perfectissima fâ—it sed perfectione partis non perfectione totius Aliud est offerre in terra aliud peracta oblatione manere in terra Heb. 1. 3. 10 5 6 9. 1â— 1 Cor. 5. 7. So Christs act or office was not ended nor fit to denominate him a compleate Priest till he did enter with bloud and present his offering in the holiest of all not made with hands Heb. 9. 24. And therefore he had not been a Priest if he should have continued on the earth for there was another Priest-hood there which was not to give place but upon the accomplishment of his for the whole figure was to passe away when the whole truth was come Now Christs oblation was the truth prefigured in the Priests sacrificing of the beast and his entrance into heaven was the truth prefigured in the Priests carrying of the bloud into the holiest of all And therefore both these were to be accomplished before the Leviticall Priest-hood did give place Some referre this to the oblation of Christ whereof they make two parts the one expâ—atory when Christ suffered upon the crosse the other presentatory when he doth appeare in heaven before God for us the one of killing or suffering the other of ostension the one finished on earth when Christ suffered without the gate because as no sin so no punishment can come within the holy place the other performed in heaven satisfaction being Heb. 13. 11 12. first made on earth The first was not a preparation of a Sacrifice but a Sacrifice the latter was not so much a Sacrifice as the commemoration of the Sacrifice made for appearing in heaven is not properly a sacerdotall act unlesse it leane upon the vertue of the Sacrifice performed the first was an act of humiliation the latter Heb. 10 8 â—â— of glory the first performed once for all the latter done continually that the explatory Sacrifice or obtaining of redemption this the application of redemption The Sacrifice consisted in the Videtur etiam spect are consuetudines Regum Iudicum inter homines Reges enim soederati in suis aulis matuo habent Legatos pacis obsides qui quamdiu apparent in Regis conspectu firma stat confoederatio death of Christ alone the application thereof is grounded upon Christs death as its merit but effected by the life of Christ as its immediate cause When the Apostle saith Christ appeareth before the Father for us the expression is borrowed from the custome of humane Courts for as in them when the Plaintiffe or Defendant is called their Atturney appeareth in their name and behalfe so when we are summoned by the justice of God to defend our selves against those exceptions and complaints which it preferreth against us we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ
for a nocent the question largely handled 284 285 c. It is not universally against equity for one to suffer the punishment of anothers sinne ib. That an innocent person may justly suffer for a nocent what is required 286. Intercession of Christ whether well distinguished into general and speciall 258. Intercession of Christ what it is 296. It is generall and particular heavenly and glorious 297. It is founded upon his satisfactory merits ibid. It implyeth three things 298. It is not reciprocall ibid. The benefits of it to the Church ibid. and 299. How the faithfull come to be subject to evil and misery Christ interceding for them ibid. Whether Christ prayeth for the absolute perseverance of beleevers or only upon condition 301. Invitations of God mans perversenesse only the cause why he answereth them not 343. Israel why called Iesurun 180. Judgement whether the will follow it 333 334. 335. the act of Judgement two-fold ibid. Justice of God cleered in requiring that of man fallen which he hath no power to doe 44. Justification cannot be by faith and workes as concauses â—o Justification is by faith alone not by that faith which is alone 73. K KIngs why specially to be prayed for 231. Kingdome of Christ he entreth alwayes on it by conquest 323. yet useth no compulsion 324. men are gathered into this Kingdome by vocation ibid. Knowledge of God begets in us a similitude of God 86. Christ saveth not as cleerely known but as sincerely acknowledged 33. L LAW called fiery why 101. and 124 The Law as given upon mount Sinai was a Covenant of grace proved at large 102 103 110. The Law never given without the Gospell nor the Gospell without the Law 102. The Law requireth faith as well as love and obedience 105. 106. c. The Law to be expounded according to the sense the prophets give of it 110. In the Law frequent mention of the Messiah 111. Faith in Christ commanded in the Law though more obscurely 113. Law and Gospell in what respects opposed 115 116 117 118 119 120 c. Law a double use of it 120. How it is said that the Law entred that sinne might abound 139. Whether the Law be abolished to them that are under the Covenant of grace p. 15. Learning of Christ what 334. Limbus patrum no such thing p. 30. yet the fathers before Christ had not that perfect state which now they have and we are presently possessed of p 35. Love of God toward the creature a double distinction of it 4. M MAny sometimes put for all 250. Mediatour the necessity of one 264. What an one the Mediatour must be ib. Why the second person was Mediatour rather then the first or third 266. According to which nature Christ was Mediatour ib. A Mediatour what 270. Whether Christ a Mediatour to himselfe ib. whether if Christ be a Mediatour according to his divine nature all the three persons be not Mediatours 271. Mediation of Christ three things to be considered in the acts of it p 28. How Christ hath performed the office of mediatioÌ„ 271. Meanes not vouchsafed to all and therefore neither the rest of the effects of Christs death 233. Measure what to doe a thing in Measure 310. Ministery of the Jewes and the end of it 138. Misery in man the occasion but no cause of Gods mercy towards him Messiah the times of the Messiah times of greater light 331. Moon a fit resemblance of the Church 147. Moses whether the Covenant of grace were manifested by him 93. The shining of his face what it signifyed 94. How and in what sense he was a mediatour 127 128 165. N NAtural gifts whether they may be so used that God will bestow supernaturall 237. Negations in Scripture imply not alwayes an absolute denyall p. 5 New what it signifieth in Scripture 194. A new song what ib. A new commandment what 195. New man what ib. New Testament abolisheth not the former but the former was fulfilled by the latter 29. Covenant of grace in what respect called a new Covenant or TestameÌ„t 195. Why it is called a Covenant and why a Testament 196. New Covenant when properly it began 196. New Testament published on a solemn day in the Assembly almost of all nations 197. New Testament the nature of it stands in three things 198. A description of it ib. The authority of it reason why God made it 199. New Covenant preferred much before the old though both of the same nature and from the same fountain 200. The promises in it assured by Father Son and holy Ghost 201. was stricken with all nations in opposition to the Jewes ib. made with some externally others internally 202 203. The prerogative of the new Covenant above the old 293 294 c. O OAth when the Saints bound themselves by oath to walk in all the statutes of the law what they meant 135. why God confirmed his promise to Abraham by oath 58 Obedience under what notion required in the Covenant 19. It is two-fold perfect and sincere 20. Obedience perfect is commanded though not rigidly exacted and why 21. It is in vain to think of entring into Covenant if not resolved to obey in all things ib. Obscurity in the knowledge of Christ under the Covenant of promise and the degrees of it and reasons p. 32 Old Testament what 92. difference betwixt the old Testament and new Old Testament abolished by the death of Christ in right not in act 196 P PAsseover when and to what purpose instituted 142 Peculiar people who 103 The Pedagogy of the Jewes illustrated largely by comparison of a Schoolmasters dealing with his Scholars 138 139 140. Perfection what it imports in Scripture phrase 75. A thing is said to be perfect three wayes 76 77 78 79. Prayers not to be made for all men 231. Christs praying for those that crucified him was of private duty not out of his office of Mediatour 259. some prayers suppose a condition in him for whom we pray some none 301 Personall union the end of it 269 To prepare the heart to seek God what 179 Preparations whether the spirit makes us come to God immediately or by some preparations going before 336. Nine conclusions concerning such preparations 337. c. This preparation is neither saving grace nor a thing betwixt nature and grace 339 Priesthood the end and use of it 138 141 R REading God may work by it when that preaching is not slighted 327 Reconciliation imports no change in God 293 Redemption universall redemption the controversie concerning it largely discussed 204. thorow the chapter and objections answered The deliverance we obtain by Christ is called Redemption and was made by the paying of a price 279 Religion for substance ever one and unchangeable 27 Remission of sin though certain yet lesse felt in the old Testament 35. Remission what 290. It is not repugnant to antecedent satisfaction ibid. Repentance how called for in the Covenant of grace 18. Necessary and
a restipulation 6. The end viz. the blessednesse of man and the glory of God manifested in his wisdome bounty and goodnesse 7. As Adam in the state of Innocency was made able to fulfill the Covenant made with him so is the Covenant of Grace written in the hearts of them that be heires of the Promise in Christ They differ 1. In the speciall consideration of the Authour cause and foundation of the Covenants God gave his Law to Adam as bountifull and gratious to his creature intire and perfect but in strict justice requiring obedience promising a reward and denouncing punishment But the Covenant of Grace he made as a loving Father in Jesus Christ of his meere Grace promising to receive them into favour that sincerely and unfainedly turne unto him The Creation of man and integrity of humane nature is the Foundation of the former Covenant but the Redemption of man by Christ is the Foundation of the Covenant of Grace 2. In the forme of Sanction In the Covenant of Nature there is no Mediatour but the Covenant of Grace is made in Christ in whom God hath made us accepted The Covenant of Nature was not promised before it was promulgated but the Covenant of Grace was first promised and long after promulgated and established or ratified in the bloud of his Sonne 3. In the speciall matter of the Covenants and that both in respect of the Promise and stipulation For the Covenant of Nature promised life but not righteousnesse but in the Covenant of Grace God promiseth to tread Satan under the feet and to write his Law in the hearts of them that be heires of Salvation That Covenant promiseth life to them that perfectly obey but not remission or forgivenesse of any even the least iniquity But this promiseth forgivenesse of sinnes and life eternall to the penitent sinner believing in Christ and embracing the free promise of mercy In that life eternall is promised as the reward of justice in this life and glory as the reward of free and rich grace and mercy To him that worketh the wages is of debt but to him that beleeves the reward is of Grace In that God as a Creatour doth exact his right of man pure but in this as a loving Father he doth offer himselfe to the sinner smitten with the conscience of his sinne In that life eternall and most blessed is promised but only animal to be enjoyed in Paradise or continuance in that good estate wherein he was set at first of the rich bounty of God but in the other translation out of ignominy and death into eternall happinesse and glory in Heaven In the Covenant of Nature perfect obedience is exacted so that if there be but the least failing in any jot or title and that but once a man can never be justified thereby nor can the breach be made up by any repentance But in the Covenant of Grace obedience is required repentance admitted and sincerity accepted If a man sinne and goe astray if he returne unfainedly he shall be received into favour In the Covenant of Nature obedience and workes were commanded as the cause of life and justification in the Covenant of Grace Faith is required as the instrumentall cause of Remission and Salvation obedience as the qualification of the party justified and the way leading to everlasting blessednesse The object of obedience in the Covenant of Nature was God in the Covenant of Grace God in Christ 4. They differ in the speciall consideration of the Subject The first Covenant was given to man pure perfect intire and sound able to do what God required But the Covenant following was made with man a sinner miserable and by nature the child of wrath And so that was a Covenant of friendship this of firme Reconciliation 5. In the speciall and peculiar respect of the end For the former Covenant was made for the praise of Gods wisdome goodnesse bounty and justice But the Covenant of Grace was made to declare and set forth the riches of Gods grace and mercy In it the wisdome goodnesse power and justice of God is more illustrious then in the former and the mercy long-suffering and rich grace of God is greatly magnified which did not appeare or shine forth at all in the former 6. And in their Effects and Properties For not the Covenant of Nature but of Grace doth exclude boasting By the Covenant of Nature Adam was not advanced above the condition of an honourable Servant In the Covenant of Grace man by nature the child of wrath is made the child of God by grace and adoption The Covenant of nature was neither the last nor everlasting but being first made way for a better and being broken was antiquated or disanulled to our singular comfort but the Covenant of Grace shall continue firme and immoveable for evermore The second thing to be gathered is That the Fathers before Christ ever since the fall of Adam and Christians in the times of the Gospell did live under the same Covenant for substance but not for manner of administration which is most cleare by evident Heb. 13. 8. Rev. 13. 8. Act. 4. 12. and 15. 11. Gal. 3. 29. Rom. 3. 30. Eph. 2. 12. Gen. 15. 1 and 17. 1 7. Lev. 26. 12. Exod. 3. 6. Matth. 22. 32. 2 Cor. 4. 13. Heb. 11. 6 7 8. Rom. 4. 12. Heb. 11. â— 19 23. testimonies of holy Scripture and by the very forme of the Covenant which was one before and after the comming of Christ The same God that calleth us called them to the hope of eternall life they were endued with the same spirit and lived by the same faith Their Sacraments for substance in signification agree with ours and they expected an Inheritance everlasting and undefiled Religion for substance was ever one and unchangeable and such as were truly religious walked in the same way and waited for the same heavenly Inheritance and everlasting crowne of glory The Church before Christ may be considered as an heire or as an Infant according to the substance of the Covenant or according to the manner of administration In the first respect the Church is under the Covenant or Promise and her people are called a free and willing people an heire of heavenly and spirituall blessings In the latter respect she is under the Covenant in respect of the different administration and her people are called a servile people in comparison an heire under Tutors and Governors not differing from a servant CHAP. IIII. Of the Covenant of Promise THe Covenant of Grace is either promised or promulgated Gen. 3. 15. Gen. 12. 1. and 15. 1. and established Promised to the Fathers first to Adam and afterwards to the Patriarchs and lastly to the people of Israel and that before their comming into the Land of Canaan and after Gal. 4. 4 1 Pet. 1. 20. Act. 3. 25. Gal. 3. 16. 1â— Eph. 2. 12. their returne from the Babylonish captivity Promulgated after the
by faith without the works of the Law But that they might not seeme directly to crosse the Apostle they say we are not justified by the works of the Law that is exact and every way perfect whereunto wages is due by debt but by works of grace graciously esteemed for righteousnesse when in the rigour of the Law it is not exact and perfect righteousnesse But first we reade that God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation Rom. 3. 24 25. by faith in his bloud that by the faith of Jesus we might receive remission of sinnes but we find not that he hath ordained Christ to be a propitation through works that by works we should be saved And if God have not taught any such manner of Justification it is not for us to receive it We reade of two waies of Justification by faith and works but of a third manner by faith and works both as joynt causes or con-causes we find nothing in Scripture Secondly By the doctrine of faith we are bound to acknowledge and confesse that Christ Jesus by his eternall Priest-hood is not only the sole meritorious cause of all grace or righteousnesse inherent requisite to finall absolution but these presupposed in the party to be absolved he is likewise the sole immediate cause of finall absolution or justification Without observation in some measure to all the Commandments of God we cannot enter into the kingdome of heaven but we enter not for the obedience we have performed To what use then doth our inherent righteousnesse or observance of Gods commandements serve us If it hath been sincere and â—â—fained though imperfect yet the faith that brought it forth will make a sincere and faithfull plea for mercy in the day of tryall in which he that hath been an hearer only and no doer of the Law or hath done in part what God would have done but not sincerely nor faithfully shall not be heard Our imperfect obedience then is not the immediate cause of our absolution but the obedience and righteousnesse of Christ By the immediate and next cause we understand such a cause as is necessarily accompanied by the effect and without whose participation the effect never doth nor can be-fall any such a cause as whosoever is partaker of is by participation of it forth-with absolved such a cause as who so can probably hope to be partaker of he may upon the same degrees of probability hope for finall absolution such a cause as who so doubts or feares least he shall never be partaker of in this life must upon the same termes doubt or despaire of his absolution or salvation But if workes be accounted for the exact righteousnesse of the Law unto us not the obedience of Christ received by faith but the works of holinesse in us are the absolute cause of remission of sins and acceptance unto life And what else doe the words sound as they be interpreted but that as exact obedience to the Law should have been the matter or cause of Justification from justice so sincere obedience by the estimation of grace is the matter of Justification by grace They will say I know faith and workes are onely the condition without which remission cannot be obtained but faith is not a bare condition without which the thing cannot be for that is no cause at all but an instrumentall cause and workes if they be any cause of Justification instrumentall they cannot be but the matter whereupon and for which we are justified or accounted righteous Workes doe not embrace Christ but if causes of Justification they must challenge to themselves and therefore how faith and workes should be conjoyned as con-causes in Justification it is impossible to conceive seeing the one that is faith attributes all In eo qâ—od solvimus est aliquâ—â—atio meriti to the free-grace of God the other that is workes challenge to themselves the one will aspire no higher but to be the instrumentall cause of free remission the other can sit no lower but to be the matter of Justification if any cause at all For if works be accounted to us in the roome or place of exact obedience in free Justification doe they not supply the place are they not advanced to the dignity of works compleate and perfect in Justification from justice 3. If faith with workes be accepted for righteousnesse to Justification then faith justifieth not as it imbraceth the promises of mercy and by it we partake in the merits of Christs death and obedience but as it doth give assent to the truth of the Gospell and adhere and sticke to the Commandements for in that sense it is an act or exercise commanded in the Gospell and not only as it doth receive Christ and the promise of forgivenesse But in Scripture every where faith in Christ in the Lord Jesus or the Gal. 3. 13. 1 Pet. 2. 24. bloud of Christ is said to justifie not faith in other promises threatnings or Commandements 4. How can it be proved that in the matter of Justification the Apostle doth oppose faith to workes exactly perfect and compleat only and not to the workes of grace done according to the prescription of the Law as it was given to the Jewes to be a rule how people in Covenant ought to walke To him that worketh Rom. 4. 4 saith he the wages is of debt but he that worketh is not only perfectly just but he that is mercenarie that is to him that worketh for his reward as if the reward should be given him for his worke For thus the Apostle argues When wages is given to an hireling or mercenary it is of debt But Justification or life is not given of debt but of grace Therefore it is not given to him that worketh or to the mercenary Properly God oweth nothing to him that fulfilleth the Law either exactly or sincerely when they doe nothing but their duty and there is no proportion betwixt God and them but because they seeke righteousnesse and life by workes if God should retribute to them a reward he should be thought to doe it as it were of debt The Law was given to be a rule of direction to them that be in Covenant and workes of the Law are workes done according to that prescription which the Apostle here excludes from being any cause of Justification though he that walkes according to this Law being not an hearer but a doer of the Law is blessed in his deed But of this more at large in the next Chapter 5. Consider the opposition which the Apostle makes betwixt his owne righteousnesse which is of the Law and the righteousnesse Phil. 3. 9. which is of God by faith I count all things saith he but as dâ—ng that I might winne Christ and be found in him not having mine owne righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith If then the righteousnesse of
the increase of thy kine and the flocks of thy sheep in the Land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee Thou shalt be blessed above all people and there shall not be male or female barren amongst you or among your cattell And the Lord will take away from thee all sicknesse and will put none of the evill diseases of Egypt which thou knowest upon thee but will lay them upon all them that hate thee The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good Land a Land Deut. 8. 7 8 9. 11. 14 15. of brookes of water of fountaines and depths that spring out of the vallies and hils a Land of wheat and barley and Vines and Fig-trees and Pomegranates a Land of Oile Olive and Honey A Land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarcenesse thou shalt not lacke any thing in it a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hils thou maist digge brasse The Lord hath vouched thee this day to be his peculiar Deut. 26. 18 19. people as he hath promised thee and that thou shouldest keep all his Commandements And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made in praise and in name and in honour and that thou maiest be Deut. 28. 1 2 c. an holy people unto the Lord thy God as he hath spoken Secondly The Lord promised to chuse a place to cause his name to dwell there and set his Tabernacle amongst them and walke with them But when you goe over Jordane and dwell in the Land Lev. 26 4 5 6 7 8 9 11. Deut. 12. 10 11 12. 16. 6. which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about so that ye dwell in safety Then shall there be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there thither shall ye bring all that I command you And I Lev. 26. 10 12. will set my Tabernacle amongst you and my soule shall not abhorre you And I will walke among you and will be your God and ye shall be my people For the Lord hath chosen Sion he hath desired it for his habitation Psal 132. 13. 14. This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it Thirdly Free forgivenesse of sinnes is likewise promised in this Covenant This is implyed in that he promiseth to be their God for if he be theirs he will be favourable to their iniquities and remember their sinnes no more And so much is expressed when upon repentance and turning unto him he hath proclaimed himselfe ready to receive them into favour If from thence Deut. 4. 29 30. thou shalt seeke the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seeke him with all thine heart and with all thy soule And it shall come to Deut. 30. 1 2 3. passe when all these things shall come upon thee the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee And shalt returne unto the Lord thy God and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day thou and thy children That then the Lord thy God will turne thy Captivity and have compassion upon thee and will returne and gather thee from all nations When thy people Israel be smitten downe before the enemy because they have sinned 1 King 8. 33 34. Man as capable of Justification is â— sinner as be actually receiveth Justification a Believer against thee and shall turne againe unto thee and confesse thy Name and pray and make supplication unto thee in this house Then heare thou in heaven and forgive the sinne of thy people Israel and bring them againe unto the Land Moreover the Lord made himselfe knowne to be the God that pardoneth iniquity transgression and sinne when he gave this Covenant unto his people But of this before Fourthly Eternall life is promised in the Covenant for God is not the God of the dead but of the living and therefore the faithfull Jewes which have God for their God doe live still not Math. 22. 32. Math. 19. 17. Luk. 10. 25 28. in earth but in heaven The life which is promised to them that keepe the Law is eternall but in this Covenant life is promised to them that keepe the Commandements Not only long Psal 34. 12 13. life and good dayes in the Land of Canaan but eternall life is assured by the promise to them that keepe Covenant as eternall death and destruction is comprehended under the curse denounced against them that breake the Covenant Expresse mention of Gal. 3. 13. the King some of Heaven perhaps is not found in the Old Testament but eternall life is comprehended under the termes of life and blessing as eternall death under the tearmes of death and the Curse Eternall life in heaven eternall death in hell the Law noteth though it doe not expressely name them Which things unlesse they had been commonly knowne in the dayes of our Saviour the penitent Thiefe about to die had not thought of a Kingdome nor the Lord promised Paradice to him when he asked a place in the Kingdome of the Mâ—ssiah But all these promises were made of freâ— grace and of free love accomplished Speake not thou in thine heart after that the Lord Deut. 9. 4 5. thy God hath cast them out from before thee saying For my righteousnesse the Lord hath brought me in to possesse this Land but for the wickednesse of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee Not for the righteousnesse or for the uprightnesse of thine heart doest thou goe to possesse their Land but for the wickednesse of these Nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee and that he may performe the word which the Lord sware unto thy Fathers Abraham Vers 6. Isâ—â—k and Jacob. Vnderstand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good Land to possesse it for thy righteousnes for thou art a stiffe-necked people True it is the promises runne upon this condition If ye obey my voice and doe my Commandments But conditions are of two sorts antecedent or consequent Antecedent when the condition is the cause of the thing promised or given as in all civill contracts of Justice where one thing is given for another Consequent when the condition is annexed to the promise as a qualification in the Subject or an adjunct that must attend the thing promised And in this latter sence obedience to the Commandments was a condition of the promise not a cause why the thing promised was vouchsafed but a qualification in the subject capable or a consequence of such great mercy freely conferred Of them that slip aside and transgresse the Covenant God calleth for and commandeth repentance that is it is his will and command that they
mediatory one generall the other speciall which some of late have devised but that he makes Intercession for all and every of them that are given unto him of the Father and only for them and that his Intercession is ever certain and effectuall as when he saith to Peter I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not and to all the Luke 2â— â—2 Joh. 14. 10. Apostles I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever And when we heare from Christ himselfe that according to the proper office of his Mediatorship he makes Intercession only for them that are given unto him of the Father we may conclude that in speciall manner he offered up himself a sacrifice to the Father for them only Other arguments are alleadged for confirmation of this truth which who list may reade at large in sundry Treatises of this matter â— but it would be too long to insist upon each particular therefore here I will breake off this controversie and proceede to that which followeth in this intended discourse CHAP. III. How Christ hath fulfilled the office of Mediatour or how he is the Mediatour of the New Testament IN the fulnesse of time the eternall Sonne of God took unto him our nature and became God and Man in one person that he might be an equall middle person between God and man The necessity of a Mediatour appeares in this that man is guilty and God true and righteous If man had continued in his integrity he had stood in no need of an expiation if God had been unrighteous in the passages of mans sinne there had been due unto him no just debt of satisfaction But seeing man created good but mutable did willingly and by voluntary choice transgresse that Law under the precepts whereof he was most justly created and unto the malediction whereof he was as necessarily and righteously subject if he transgressed and God was purposed not to suffer sinne to passe utterly unrevenged because of his great hatred thereunto and of his truth and the Law which he had established against it of necessity either God must execute the severity of his Law whereby the creature should everlastingly loose the fruition of him and he should likewise loose the service and voluntary subjection of his creature or some course or other must be found out to translate this mans sinnes on anothers person who may be able to beare them and to interest this mans person in that others righteousnesse which may be able to cover him Of necessity a Mediatour must be found out to stand between God and man who must have one unto whom and others for whom and in whose behalfe and somewhat wherewith to make satisfaction to offended justice In regard of God towards man he must be an officer to declare his righteousnesse and in regard of man toward God a surety ready to procure pardon and deliverance not by favour or request but by way of satisfaction He must be one with us in the fellowship of our nature passions infirmities and temptations that so he might the more readily suffer for us who in so many things suffered with us and one with God the Father in his divine nature that so by the vertue of his sufferings and resurrection he might be able both to satisfie justice to justifie our persons to sanctifie our nature to purifie and perfume our services to raise our dead bodies and to present us to his Father a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle He must be man pure and undefiled man that he might suffer it being no way fit that one having no communion with another should make satisfaction by suffering for anothers fault Man pure and undefiled otherwise he could not have satisfied for himself much lesse for them that had so grievously offended He must be man that he might have compassion on them that come unto God through him and pure and undefiled that his Sacrifice being pure and without spot might be acceptable and pleasing to provoked justice He must be God that he might beare the weight of Gods wrath without sinking under it be the King and Head of the Church defend his people against the enemies of their Salvation send forth his Spirit into the hearts of his redeemed and receive from them such divine worship as was due to so great and gracious a Saviour He must be man our neere kinsman that he might have right of redemption be a mercifull and faithfull high Priest in all things like unto his brethren He must be God that by his death he might overcome death and him that had the power of death that is the devill free us from the guilt of sinne and curse of the Law and preserve his redeemed unto his everlasting Kingdome He must be God and man in one person and so of a middle condition between God and us in that both the natures of God and man doe concurre and are conjoyned in his person that he might joyne God and man in a firme and stable Covenant of friendship and reconciliation and be the root fountaine and beginning of supernaturall and spirituall being in whom the whole natâ—â—â— of mankind should be found in a more eminent sort then it was in Adam The horrour of sinne was so grievous the curse of the Law so terrible the price of redemption so great that a meeâ— creature could not take away the one or pay the other and that man might not fall away as he had done under the former Covenant our Mediatour who was the foundation of this new Covenant did assume our humane nature unto his divine person Therefore the eternall Sonne of God being ordained of the Father to this office of Mediatorship that he might intercede between God and man and joyne God and man in one did assume our nature into the unity of his person and was born of a woman that he might save and call sinners and redeeme them who were under the Law Gal. 4. 4. and shut up under the curse of the Law The second person in Trinity the Son of God by nature the Image of the Father by whom all things were made was made man that he might renew what was disordered by sinne and make us the sonnes of God by grace and adoption who were by nature the children of wrath it being fit our redemption should be wrought by the Sonne and sealed by the holy Spirit For whereas a double mission was necessary the one to reconcile the other to give gifts to reconciled friends the Father being of none sent his Sonne the first proceeding person to take our nature and make satisfaction the Father and the Sonne both send the Spirit the second proceeding person to seale up them that Christ hath redeemed by his bloud And who was fitter to become the Sonne of man then he that was by nature the Sonne of God who could be fitter to make us the Sonnes of God
goe sin unpunished is simply the omission of a divine act the decree of God excepted not deficient or inconformable to any rule of Gods will but rather a peculiar exercise of divine mercy What absolutely God can will that he can justly will otherwise it might be that God can will a thing which is injust or that he can will injustly But it was possible for God to will to let sin goe unpunished it is not absolutely repugnant to his divine nature so to will If God cannot pardon sin without satisfaction Hae rationes tum demum locum obtinerent si ita Deâ— putaretur agere ex necessitate naturae ut solo naturae impetu citra omnem intellectum voluntatis actum ageret veluti ignis calefacit ex necessitate naturae Windel de mundo Sect. 2. c. 2. Lex agendi necessitas 1. naturae 2. congruentiae Illa per quam agens ita agit ut per naturam non possit non agere estque vel sine cognitione vel cum cognitione Ista per quam agens non potest non congruenter suae naturae agere then it is necessary that he punish sin by absolute necessity or sin presupposed it is of absolute necessity that it be punished but it is not of absolute necessity that sin be punished for then God should punish it alwaies in one manner and as much as he can as naturall agents worke whereas we see by experience that God doth differently punish the sins of men in this life the lesser offendors most the greater least many times ever so as their punishments might be increased Neither can it be said that the greatnesse of punishment in this life doth lessen their punishment in the life to come for the punishments of the life to come being eternall can carry no proportion with the punishments of this life Then it was of absolute necessity that Christ should suffer so many stripes and no more be forsaken just so long and no longer continue in his agony so many houres and neither more nor lesse Sciendum est non sequi injustum ex quavis negatione justi etiam posiâ—is â—isdem circumstantijâ— Non est perpetuum ut id quod justè fiat non nisi injustè omittatur The bounty of God to reward obedience is essentiall as well as justice to punish iniquity and if God punish iniquity by absolute and naturall necessity of necessity he must reward obedience if he punish iniquity without divine constitution he must reward obedience in the same manner God may inflict a more mild punishment then sin deserveth therefore at least he may leave some degree of sin unpunished as also it is lawfull for God to men equall in sin to grant pardon to one to punish another according to his deserts To give reward above merit is not contrary to justice if it be given of our owne nor to punish mercifully and lesse then the fault deserveth if it be a fault committed against our selves And it seemes as much repugnant to justice Sunt quaedam Dei proprietates quarum exercitium tum quoad actum tum quoad tempuâ— modum actus imo etiam quoad objecti determinationem pendet a libera ipsus voluntate Ex promissione jus aliquod acquiritur ei cui facta est promissio at comminatione apertius dunâ—axat declaratur meritum poenae in peccante jus puniendi in comminante Cum bonitas misericordia Dei non minus proprietas ejâ—â— sit quam justitia ac quamquam ex misericordia non â—gisset sed puniisset universos minimè eo mutabilis vel etiam immisericors potuerit dici similiter neque extra decreti considerationem mutabilem vel injustum dici potuisse quanquam ignovisset universis citra illam satisfactionem Quod is qui deliquit paenam meretur eoque punibilis est hoc ex ipsa peccati peccatoris ad superiorem relatione necessariò sequitur propriè naturale ut vero puniatur quivis peccator poena tali quae culpae respondeat non est necessarium simpliciter universaliter neque propriè naturale sed naturae satis conveniens Chamier panstrat Tom. 2. l. 5. c. 1â— Parker de desc l. 3. Sect. 56. Wotton de Reconcil l. 1 c 4. Vâ—ss respons ad Iud. Ravensperg cap. 28. Isa 53. 10. Psal 40. 8. Joh. 5. 19 30. to accept a surety as to pardon the punishment especially that the Son of God the party offended should take upon him our nature and make satisfaction for us And if God by absolute necessity must punish sin as it deserveth then it is simply impossible to renew the sinner by repentance or to annihilate him because then he doth not bear what punishmeÌ„t his sin doth call for from the hand of justice Justice is essentiall to God so is mercy bounty liberality but God sheweth mercy to whom he will doth good to whom he will freely not by absolute necessity only God hath obliged himselfe by righteousnesse of fidelity that is by promises and threatnings which must be fulfilled to doe this or that Sin though it hath an outward disagreement such as may be in a creature from the Creator yet it hath no inward positive repugnancy or contrariancy to Gods nature such as is betwixt fire and water for then should the divine nature inwardly in it selfe be worse for the being of sin and should necessarily nill it Sin is displeasing unto God he cannot approve it as good in it selfe but it is one thing to be displeased with or hate sin another to punish it of absolute and naturall necessity as it is one thing to approve obedience another to reward it of necessity It is most true that God doth not only hate but punish all sin but that he doth not by naturall necessity but by naturall congruity which may stand with the most free will of God determining to manifest his justice for the manifestation whereof the punishment of sin was necessary The hatred of sin and punishment thereof are joyned together as a free cause and effect not as a necessary cause and effect for God hateth sin at all times but punisheth it not ever but in his time or season But it is not materiall to dispute this matter in more words for seeing God hath determined that his justice shall take her revenge if by breach of Covenant she be wronged he cannot but punish sin according to its desert neither may he set us free from the same but so as wronged justice may receive satisfaction The decree of God is unchangeable and the sentence of God denounced against sin must stand firme for ever therefore punishment must be executed if the commandment be transgressed And the reasons of this decree be Omne agens quod agit naturaliter agit in objectum suae actionis naturaliter receptivum quare si punire esset naturale illa nimirum acceptatione quae secum sert necessitatem non possit actio
were all their life subject to bondage But when the Scripture nameth death generally it comprehends all that which God threatned in that sentence Thou shalt die the death that penall death which is the reward of sinne but not sinne it selfe which is penall only not sinfull Other mens debts are answered diverse wayes some answer them simply as redeemers some as sureties He that answers them as a suretie must pay the Heb. â— 6. same summe of money that the debtor oweth Now Christ is not only our Mediatour but our suretie Heb. 7. 22. and hence the mediation of Christ is called a propitiation Rom. 3. 25. 1 Joh. 2. 2. and the surety is of debt and justice to make full satisfaction because he hath voluntarily promised it and God the Father did in justice exact it Rom. 3. 24 25. and 8. 32. In the sufferings of Christ we must consider the circumstances and substance of his sufferings The circumstances as the person of the sufferer the cause of suffering and efficacy of the passion in which respect it was more then the Law required for the Law did not require that God should die nor that any one should die that had not finned nor such a death and of such efficacie as not only to abolish death but to bring in life and that by many degrees more excellent then that which Adam had lost but if we respect the substance of punishment it was that which the Law required which he paid of love free and voluntary and yet of justice Justice requireth the same summe of debt the dignity of Christs person nothing hindering and according to justice Christ made satisfaction As concerning the substance of punishment Christ suffered what was due to us but in the circumstances which pertained not to the substance of the debt some thing was pardoned to the dignity of the person In this stands the dignity of Christs person that he might be fit meritoriously to pay our debt so farre was it from freeing or acquitting him for any part of our debt He that knew no sinne was made sinne for us 2 Cor. 5. 21. Surely he hath born our griefes and carried our sorrowes Isai 53. 4. When the Scripture speakes so fully why should humane curiosity limit the sufferings of Christ as if they were not fully satisfactory but by divine acceptilation only Christ suffered not every particular punishment that every particular sinner meeteth withall but his passion was a common price payed at once for all his people satisfying justice for all their offences Rom. 5. 19. Heb. 10. 14. Rom. 8. 33. He bore our sinnes in his body upon the tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. We are redeemed by his bloud Eph. 1. 7. The bloud of Christ cleanseth us from all sinne 1 Joh. 1. 6. Phil. 2. 8. Col. 1. 20. He hath made peace by the bloud Voss respons ad Iudic. Ravens cap. 6. Robert Loeus Examen Eccl. The saur effigiet veri Sabbath of the crosse Touching the punishments which Christ suffered they were not ordinary but beyond measure grievous bitter and unsupportable yea such as would have made any meere creature to sinke down under the burthen of them to the bottome of hell For he suffered grievous things from all the things in heaven earth and hell He suffered at the hands of God his Father and of men of Jewes of Gentiles of enemies insulting of friends forsaking of the Prince of darknesse and all his cruell and mercilesse instruments But whereas of the punishments of sinne some be sinnes and punishments both others punishments only and some common to the nature of man others personall growing out of some imperfection and defect in the vertue and faculty forming the body disorder in diet or some violence offered and some for sinne inherent others for sinne imputed Our Saviour Christ suffered the punishments that are only punishments and not sinne common to the whole nature of man not personall to this or that man the punishments of the sinnes of other men not his own and that of them that should breake off their sins by repentance not of them that would sin for ever if they might live for ever The whole life of our Saviour was a life of suffering but his speciall sufferings were those he endured in the Garden or upon the crosse In the Garden he was in an agony upon the crosse he was pressed with the weight of grievous and unsupportable evils His agony was that sorrow wherein his soule was beset round with heavinesse and feare even unto death Thus the Evangelists describe it He began to be sorrowfull and very heavy Matt. 26. 37 38. Then saith he to them scil Peter James and John My soul is exceeding sorrowfull even unto death He began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy And saith unto them My soule is exceeding sorrowfull Mar. 14. 33 34. Joh. 12. 27. unto death Now is my soul troubled His soul was smitten with horrour that all powers and faculties for a time left their proper functions and did concurre to relieve nature in that extremity as when a man hath received some gashly wound the bloud doth at first retire to comfort the heart But this stay came not from any internall defect which had been sinfull but from an externall cause to wit the horrour which fell upon him as the wheeles of a Watch may cease from motion without any fault in them when they are stayed by the hand of the Artificer He feared also the stroke of the justice of God his Father sitting on the Tribunall or Judgement seat to punish the sins of men for whom he stood forth to answer this he feared as a thing impossible to be escaped in respect of the resolution and purpose of God his Father that by his satisfactory death and no other way man should be delivered And he declined everlasting destruction as a thing he knew he should escape without all doubt or uncertaintie of event though not without conflicting with the temptations of Sathan and the enduring of many grievous and bitter things These passions in Christ were most pure because he himselfe was most free from all taint of sin as if you put cleare water into a cleare glasse though you shake and stirre it never so much it will raise no mud The effects of this agony were two Earnest prayer and bloudie sweat Being in an agony he prayed more fervently He Luk. 22 44. fell on his face and prayed He prayed thrice the same words O my Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me neverthelesse Matt. 26. 39. not as I will but as thou wilt As the sense of nature and inferiour reason presented death and the ignominy of the crosse unto him as they are in themselves evill without the consideration of any good to follow he desired to decline them But as superiour reason considered them with all circumstances knowing Gods resolution to be such that the
common cause doth not distinguish but if grace be common to them that believe and them that believe not it is only the common cause of conversion and doth not separate the believer from the unbeliever Men are said to sanctifie purge and free themselves as the instruments of God and free agents subordinate to grace predetermining but the Scripture never saith that man is the cause separating himselfe from the number of reprobates externally called in like manner with himselfe Conversion as it is an act supernaturall in us should be the effect of divine vocation but the cause of comparative vocation should be the meere will or pleasure of the creature Grace and liberty cannot be mixed together in the partiality of the cause because liberty as the Patrons of that opinion hold is a free indifferent elective cause but grace a cause determinate to produce one effect The use of grace is the application of actuall grace to act But if the efficacie of grace depend upon the liberty of mans will neither grace preventing nor co-operating doth apply grace to it worke not preventing grace because no meere power as such doth actuate it self nor co-operating because in order of causality it goeth not before the efficiency of the will If God give to believe and not only power Phil. 1. 19. to believe to believe and not only to believe when we will to believe then by grace he determineth the will to believe suffer will and the efficacie of grace is reduced unto God willing and determining And if he worke in us both to will and to doe Phil. 2. 13. Mat. 11. 27. not according to the liberty of our will but his own good pleasure if to will and doe inclinably rightly and well and not so as we may resist then he determineth the will to will and doe by his grace To what end doe the promises and threatnings tend may some man say if God doe worke all things by his effectuall power in them that believe To what end but that men might be saved But God doth that which pertaineth to a King and Law-giver towards many when that which pertaineth to the secret and unutterable dispensation of his grace he doth not doe that is he invites many in the Ministery of his Word and externall administration of the Covenant whom he doth not inwardly instruct and draw taking away the blindnesse and hardnesse of the heart But then the invitation is a giftlesse gift Not so neither but rather he is a most unthankfull servant of a perverse minde that he Deus sic movet hominem ad bona opera ut homo cognoscat vetit Deo monenti moventi ultrò morem gerat Nec tantum Deus agit cum voluntatibus nostris sed etiam per voluntates Isa 53. 10. Isa 45. â— 12. Psal 8. 8. Ps 72. 8 â— 10 Ps 100. 1 2 3. Jer. 23. 5 6. cannot obey For this inability is no cause of disobedience proceedeth from no fault of the faculties subject to the minde and will from no naturall quality of the matter necessitating but the meer wilfulnesse and perversenesse of the soul The invitation of God is not so hard that man cannot fulfill it if he would nor wicked that we cannot will to doe it without sinne but lawfull just honest and such as if man would he could not but execute so farre as he truly judgeth it ought to be willed and executed If the efficacie of grace depend upon the liberty of mans will to things opposite then the promises of God the Father made to his Sonne might all be frustrate That he should see his seed that the people should come unto him from the North and the West and from the Isles that he should possesse the Gentiles as his inheritance that his dominion should be from Sea to Sea that a willing people should come unto him c. But the Covenant of God with his Sonne cannot be made void and of none effect If some may object conversion be so the Determinatio Dei est externa aequivâ—ca noâ— vitalis principalis Humana verò interna univoca vitalis subordiâ—ata Deus ita utitur voluntate ut ipsa voluntas sese electivè vitaliter ex practico rationis judicio agat Deus prâ—mò principaliter ab aeterno actum liberum ut futurum liberè ponendum determinat sed non ad alium sed ad â—undem numero actum ad quem voluntas in tempore determinavit â—ese Causa actus liberi est potentia determinata non simpliciter potentia Deus sic movet res necessarias ut non fiant contingentes sic movet res coâ—tingentes ut voluntarias ut non adimit eis contingentiam voluntatem Quando superior causa est physica a legesoluta inferier moraâ—is legi subdita esto quod superior physica influit in inseriorem tamen si inâ—erior est libera rea esse potest inâ—erior non superior Virg. Aeneid 8. fatiâ— egere volentem worke of God then man doth not repent and believe but God But this followeth not for repentance is the gift of God but the act of man God is the cause of willing efficient but not formall the cause externall and effective but not vitally efficient The determination of God externall and vitall volition differ as cause and effect for he worketh in us to will but volition doth not worke to will the determination of God as efficient is externall and respecteth the will in the first act of its influx but vitall determination is internall and respecteth good to be chosen or to be desired In man not converted two things are to be considered native contumacy and the not curing of that native contumacy The native contumacy is of themselves as darknes from the earth the not curing of this coÌ„tumacy is of God as a cause physicall because he can cure it but doth not but not as a Morall cause because he is not bound to heale or cure it The effect of God not curing this native contumacy is only a negative non-conversion physicall or not culpable as a morall effect The absence of the sunne is the cause why the darknesse of the night is not removed but the darkenesse it selfe is not from the sunne Fault is a morall defect and cannot arise but from a morall cause and deficient Culpable non-conversion is a consequent of Gods not curing our native contumacy but no effect thereof as of a morall cause because God is not bound to remove it either by Law debt justice promise or Covenant and betwixt the resistance of the Spirit and Gods not-conversion the free willing of the corrupt will and voluntary love of native contumacy doth intercede Not only ability to believe but beliefe it selfe is merited by the death of Christ and for Christ vouchsafed to them who are called according to his purpose In this vocation of a sinner God doth so administer both