elsewhere We are bound to give thanks alwaies to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God 2 Thes 2. 13. hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth Here we finde not onely Sanctification in general but faith which is the flower of holiness derived from Election The same Apostle stiles it The faith of Gods elect Tit. 1. 1. And St. Luke in the Acts speaking of the success which St. Pauls preaching had among the Gentiles saith expresly As many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved Acts 13. 48. A Text which the soundest divines look at as a most pregnant place to prove a causal influence of Divine Predestination upon the work of saving faith Others I know there are and they not a few nor inconsiderable who have strongly endeavoured to turn the edge and strength of this place another way by rendering the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as we do Ordained but Disposed or well-affected to eternal life Unto whose corrupt Gloss I oppose the following considerations First If it were to be so read then all that heard the Apostles Sermon there recorded even all and every one without exception should have beleeved seeing there is not a man in the world and therefore none in that congregation who was not disposed and well-affected to the reward of eternal life the will of man being necessarily carried to the desire of blessedness which none are so bruitish as not to affect for that unto which these are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not conversion but life eternal Secondly Disposedness in their sense doth not alwaies precede faith nor faith alwaies follow it When Saul was in the full career of his persecuting madness against the Saints what disposedness was there in him unto conversion unless fury be a disposition to faith yet then did he first believe In that young man who came to our Saviour of whom it is testified That he was not far from the kingdome of God which of their dispositions was wanting yet he went away sorrowfull and believed not Thirdly Faith it self is the first saving disposition that any man hath because it first laies hold upon Christ and of life by him in so much as none is formally disposed to eternal life till he have believed Fourthly St. Luke doth no where use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either in his Gospel or in the Acts for disposedness but for ordination and constitution divers times therefore our reading here As many as were ordained to eternal life is to be retained § 8. But learned Grotius will by no means allow of this interpretation They saith he who apply this Text to Predestination Nihil vident see nothing at all Yet by his favour a man that saw as far into the Mysteries of Divinity as also into the idioms of the Greek tongue as Grotius himself be it spoken without disparagement to his great learning Chrysostom I mean applys it so in his Commentary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Hom. 30. in Act. Apost upon the place And his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is expounded Erasmus translates Praefiniti à Deo Predestinated of God Three things are alleadged by Grotius for overthrowing of this sense but all in vain His first plea is that 't is not usual for all of a city a congregation that are predestinated to believe at one and the same time therefore that which we assert is not like to be the meaning here For answer I acknowledge it is not usual no more is it to have three thousand inhabitants of one city brought in to God on one day But what if God willing to glorifie his Gospel and the power of converting Grace as he called three thousand Jews in one day by Peters Ministry Acts the second so here by St. Pauls at his first solemn undertaking to preach unto the Gentiles Acts the 13. were pleased to work upon as many in that congregation as did belong to the election of grace shall any man dare to prescribe and plead custome to the contrary His second Argument runs thus All that truely believe are not Predestinated unto life Therefore that for which we contend is not to be thought a proper sense Answer This reason is founded upon a grand mistake viz. That faith is common to all whether elect or non-elect although Paul stile it the Faith of Gods elect as before and Christ tels the Jews Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep John 10. 26. He argues in the third place from St. Lukes unacquaintedness with the secrets of God It was not in his power to tell who of that company were elected who not therefore by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he must not be conceived to have understood such as were in that sense ordained to eternal life I answer Although the pen-man did not the inditer viz. the Holy Ghost did exactly know whose names were written in the book of life and whose were not Now he it was that in the history of the Acts suggested and dedicated to his secretary both matter and words § 9. The second product of election is happiness hereafter Accordingly the objects of this Decree are those whom God hath not appointed unto wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus 1 Thes 5. 9. Christ Salvation is that which they are said to be chosen to and that wherein their names are written called The 2 Thes 2. 13. book of life For as in military affairs Phil. 4. 3. Commanders have their Muster-rolls wherein are contained the names of all the souldiers whom they have listed whence the phrase of Conscribere milites and in Common-wealths there are Registries kept wherein are recorded the names of such as are chosen to offices of trust and other preferments whence the title of Patres conscripti ascribed to the Senators of Rome So the Scripture condescending to our capacities and speaking of God after the manner of men attributeth to him a book of life wherein it supposeth a legible writing and Registring the names of all those persons whom he hath irreversibly predestinated to life everlasting I say irreversibly for if that of Stoicks be true In sapientum decretis nulla est litura In the decrees of wise men there will be no blotting and blurring how much more may it be asserted concerning those eternal Decrees of the onely wise God If it became Pilate to say What I have written I have written it would certainly mis-become the great John 19. 22. God to blot so much as one name out of the Lambs book of life written by himself before the world was We may take it for granted that this book will not admit of any Deleatur or of any See my Tactica Sacra lib. 3. cap. 2. §. 9 10 11. sequent Expurgatorie Index whatever
For as some of Gods promises are made with the condition of faith and perseverance so his threatnings are denounced with the exception of repentance which though concealed for the most part is always included and sometimes expressed as in that place of Jeremiah At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdome Jer. 18. 7 8. to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it If that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them Be we admonished from hence First What to practise in reference to God to wit Truth in our promises to and covenants with him that so our returns may be answerable in kinde to our receits All his ways are mercy and truth Psal 25. 10. to us-ward therefore all ours should be truth and faithfulness towards him Thrice happy we whatever our outward condition prove if we be able to profess in the sincerity of our hearts as they did in Psalm the fourty fourth All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy Covenant Our principal comfort flows from Gods keeping his Covenant of grace with us it should therefore be our principal care to keep touch with him § 8. Secondly What to look for in reference to our selves To wit an exact fulfilling of all promises and threatnings that are conditional according to their severall conditions Hath the faithfull and true witness said He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved but he that beleeveth not shall be damned Let no unbeleever then whilest he continueth in that estate expect salvation neither any that beleeveth and walketh in Christ fear damnation seeing he hath Truth it self engaged for his safety and seeing the faith of Gods Tit. 1. 1 2. elect according to St Pauls doctrine should go hand in hand with the hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began Let all that wish well to Zion make full account that in due time The mountain of the Isai 2. 2. Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow into it because it hath been promised of old Let them also know assuredly that the Lord will consume Antichrist with the spirit 2 Thess 2. 8. of his mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his coming because this commination standeth upon the file in holy Scripture and is not yet completely verified Former ages have seen Antichrist Nascent when the Bishop of Rome first usurped authority over all the Churches Antichrist Crescent when he began to maintain the doctrine of adoring Images and praying to Saints departed Antichrist Regnant when he exalted himself above Kings and Emperours setting up his mitre above their crowns yea Antichrist Triumphant when he once became Lord of the Catholick faith so as none might beleeve without danger more or less or otherwise then he prescribed To this observation made by one of our own learned countreymen let me add we our Dr Crakanthorp in his Vigilius dormitans chap. 13. § 24. selves have seen him Antichrist Cadent falling and waining ever since Luther Calvin Perkins and others were set on work by God to unmask him And no Exerc. 4. doubt if we do not our posterity shall see him Antichrist morient dying and giving up the ghost for the Lord faithfull and true hath not onely threatned his ruine but foretold that his day is coming EXERCITATION 4. Keeping mercy for thousands explained Men exhorted to trust God with their posterity Luthers last Will and Testament Iniquity transgression and sin what Six Scripture-expressions setting out the pardon thereof Gods goodness therein Faith and repentance the way to it Pardon in the Court of Heaven and of Conscience The equity and necessity of forgiving one another We are to forgive as God for Christs sake forgiveth us viz. heartily speedily frequently throughly A twofold remembrance of injuries in cautelam in vindictam § 1. THe sixth branch of divine goodness is the Lords keeping mercie for thousands which phrase admitteth of sundry notions worthy of diligent consideration First Keeping it as in a store-house God is said to be rich unto all that call upon Rom. 10. 12. him and we reade of the riches of his goodness These riches are laid up with him and kept as in a magazine to be made use of upon all occasions according to the emergent necessities of his people Whence it is that we also reade of their obtaining mercie and finding Hebr. 4. 16. grace to help in time of need Secondly Keeping it for the present age as well as having dispensed it formerly to predecessours Our fathers were all liberally supplied out of Gods forementioned Treasury as it is in Psalm the two and twentieth Our fathers trusted in thee Psal 2◠4 5. They trusted and thou didst deliver them They cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded This should be no disheartning to us as if his Treasury were exhausted but encourage us rather as Pauls example did succeeding beleevers For this 1 Tim. 1. 16. cause I obtained mercie said he that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter beleeve on him to life everlasting Which is the next observable Thirdly Keeping it for time to come as well as dispensing it at present God hath mercy in hand and mercy in store We now say as it is in the Lamentations It is of the Lords mercy that Lam. 3. 22. we are not consumed because his compassions fail not The same will they have occasion to profess that shall come after us God keepeth mercy and mercy keepeth us Created goodness indeed being limited may be justly suspected of penurie Esau might have somewhat to plead for his saying Hast thou but one blessing my father But Divine goodness is like an ocean without either banks or bottome Our heavenly Father hath blessings reserved as well as bestowed many more blessings then one yea for many more persons then one as it followeth Fourthly Keeping mercy for thousands and that not of persons onely but as it is in the Chaldee for thousands of generations One generation goes saith the Preacher and Eccles 1. 4. another generation cometh but the earth abideth for ever Not one of all these generations but coming and going tasteth of mercy and the whole earth during Psal 33. 5. the time of these revolutions are still full of the Lords goodness When the ark rested Moses said Return O Lord unto the many Numb 10. 36. thousands of Israel He that charged his providence with the thousands of Israel is ready to charge it with the thousands of England both in this and after ages if they do not apostatize from him and so forsake
Quae omnia saptens servabit tanquam legibus jussa non tanquam Diis grata Sic adorabimus ut meminerimus cultum magis ad morem quà m ad rem pertinere c. August De Civit. Dei lib. 6. cap. 10. will keep them all as things commanded by our laws not as things acceptable to the Gods for custome rather then conscience sake Thereby shewing as Austine observeth that he himself misliked what he practised and did not approve his own adoration What else was this but mock-worship And although it must be granted that some of them were more serious in that way of superstition which the Gentiles Theology prescribed yet was not their worship in Truth for being destitute of Christ who is the way the truth and the life they John 14. 6. Psal 51. 6. wanted that Truth in the inward parts required by God in all holy services The Pelagians indeed were of opinion that those vertues which appeared in heathen Philosophers and others of eminent note for morality though they had not received the knowledge of Christ were true graces But if Austin may be credited this above all their Hoc est unde vos maximè Christiana detestatur Ecclesia Contr. Julian pelag lib. 4. cap. 3. corrupt tenents was that for which the Christian Church did most abominate them their doctrine Yea Paul whom we are bound to beleeve in the fourth Chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians is thought to have concluded the contrary we finde there the life of the Gentiles Ephes 4. vers 17. 18. 21. 24. clearly opposed to the life of God which they saith he were alienated from as also to the truth as it is in Jesus and to that true holiness or holiness of truth wherewith every spiritual worshipper is endued And so far is the Apostle in that place from excepting their philosophers that as Grotius thinks he aims especially at them because his phrase in the seventeenth verse That ye Vide Grotium in Ephes 4. 17. in Rom. 1. vers 21 22. walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minde is fully parallel with that in his epistle to the Romanes They became vain in their imaginations which is certainly meant of their philosophers for it follows professing themselves to be wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name whereby that sort of men were commonly known witness the seven wise men of Greece before Pythagoras invented that other of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of wisdome as more modest § 4. The second grand direction about the manner of worship is that it be performed in the name and through the mediation of Jesus Christ who saith of himself I am the way No man Joh. 14. 6. comes to the Father but by me And of whom Paul saith Whatsoever ye do in Coloss 3. 17. word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus whereupon Luther was bold to Quicquid oratur docetur vivitur extra Christum est idololatria coram Deo peccatum Luther tom 3. edit Jenens p. 300. assert That all the prayings teachings and actings of men are out of Christ idolatry and sin in the sight of God Now although the first direction were not altogether unknown to some of the Gentiles as may be gathered from sundry passages in their writings cited by Grotius in his notes upon John the fourth at the four and twentieth verse and by Doctour Meric Casaubon in his second book De cultu the third chapter yet of this second they had no knowledge at all for it is not a lesson to be learned in Natures school The heavens indeed and so the earth with all the creatures in them both declare the glory of God in himself but the glory of God in the face of Christ as mediatour is not declared by any of them Insomuch as Paul tells the Ephesians that while they Ephes 2. 11 12. were Gentiles they were at that time without Christ although Ephesus then was full of Philosophers and eminent scholars witness the proverb of Ephesian letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 19. 19. and that story in the Acts which mentions the burning of books there to the value of fifty thousand pieces of silver by such as were taken off from the study of curious arts upon their conversion to the faith As for Jews and Mahometans the former we know have espoused long since another Messias and the latter set up that impostour Mahomet for their mediatour § 5. Now the argument built upon the foundation of these premised considerations stands thus No religion or doctrine can bring us to the fruition of God but such as instructs us how to worship him aright No religion or doctrine but Christianity teacheth the right worship of God Therefore none but it can bring us to enjoy him The proposition is bottomed upon that necessary connexion which is between the fruition of God and his adoration he being wont to communicate himself in or after acts of worship according to these and the like places He that hath Joh. 14. 21. my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Behold I stand at Rev. 3. 20. the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me The Assumption hath been already cleared But if further proof be needfull I shall add one argument more So far is the light of nature from making a full discovery of what belongs to divine worship that the wisest Philosophers in their morall tractates have not onely been silent as to faith in Christ and repentance from dead works and such other eminent duties of religion but commended to their readers some habits and actions for vertues and duties which in Scripture are represented as vices and sins For example Aristotle one of Natures high priests in his Ethicks one of the choicest pieces of morality extant maketh a vertue of Eutrapelia which Paul under that very term prohibits as a thing inconvenient for Christians Neither filthiness nor Ephes 5. 4. foolish talking nor Eutrapelia Jesting which are not convenient So also Nemesis that is grief and indignation at the prosperity of unworthy men is by him reckoned among such affections as are near of kin to vertues but condemned at large by David in Psalm the thirty seven and by Solomon in the Proverbs saying Fret not thy self because of evil Prov. 24. 19. men neither be thou envious at the wicked Another of his vertues is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnanimity which he describeth to be the judging of a mans self worthy of great things when he is so Whereas our Saviour directeth us even when we have Luke 17. 10. done all things that are commanded us yet to say we are unprofitable
them in these a little before he was to be executed afforded a few whorish tears asking whether he might be saved by Christ or no When one told him that if he truly repented he should surely not perish he brake out into this speech Nay if your Christ be so easie to be intreated indeed as you say then I defie him and care not for him Horrible blasphemy desperate wickedness for a man to draw himself back from repentance by that very cord of love whereby he should have been drawn to it The next degree of impiety is when men are therefore bold to continue long in sinning because he with whom they have to do is a long-suffering God A vice which the Preacher of old took notice of Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil But let such fear and tremble at what followeth Though a sinner doth evil Eccles 8 11 12 13. an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know it shall not be well with the wicked The Lord valueth every moment of his forbearance as in the parable Behold these three years I come seeking Luke 13. 7. fruit on this fig-tree and finde none Christ sets an high price upon every exercise of his patience as in the Canticles Open to me for my head is filled with Cantic 5. 2. dew and my locks with the drops of the night Take we heed of sleighting that which God and Christ value Know and consider that patience may be tired that however the Lord be long-suffering yet he will not suffer for ever but be weary of repenting in case men will not be weary of sinning Hear what was once said by himself to Jerusalem Thou hast forsaken me saith the Lord thou Jerem. 15. 6. art gone backward therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee and destroy thee I am weary with repenting EXERCITATION 3. Exerc. 3. The bounty of God declared by his benefits viz. giving his Son to free us from hell his Spirit to fit us for heaven his Angels to guard us on earth large provisions in the way and full satisfaction at our journeys end Joh. 3. 16. James 1. 5. and Psal 24. 1. Glossed Isai 25. 6. Alluded to Inferences from divine Bounty beneficence to Saints not dealing niggardly with God exemplified in David Paul and Luther Truth in God is without all mixture of the contrary It appears in his making good of promises and threatnings teaching us what to perform and what to expect § 1. OUr Bibles in the next clause making use of the generical term have it Abundant in goodness I will make bold to vary a little from the common translation and to reade it Abundant in bounty because the word as Zanchy and others have observed most properly signifieth that kinde of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propriè significat benignitatem seu liberalem beneficentiam Zanch. de Natur Dei l. 1. câ— 18. Vide Fulleri miscellan lib. 1. c. 8. goodness which we call Bounty or Benignity and which maketh a fourth branch This God is abundant in witness the greatest of his gifts by which we are wont to measure the bounty of benefactours I shall instance in some of the chief He bestoweth upon us First His son to free us from hell God Joh. 3. 16. so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son He did not grant him upon Non concessit sed purissime dedit Stella the request and earnest suit of lapsed creatures but freely gave him unasked not a servant but a Son not an adopted son such as we are but a begotten begotten not as Saints are of his Jam. 1. 18. will by the word of truth but of his Nature he himself being the Word and the Truth not one of many but an onely Son thus begotten and this not for the procuring of some petty deliverance but that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Well might this gift of royal bounty be ushered in with a God so loved the world Majesty and love have been thought Non bene conveniunt nec in una sede morantur Majâ—stas amoâ— hardly compatible Yet behold the majesty of God bearing love and that to the world the undeserving yea ill-deserving world of mankinde Herein is love saith St John elsewhere let me say herein is bounty not that we loved 1 Joh. 4. 10. God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Loved and So loved that particle is most emphatical and noteth the transcendency of a thing either good or evil Paul speaking of the incestuous Corinthian decyphers him thus Him that hath so 1 Cor. 5. 3. done this deed so impudently so abominably so unchristianly The officers being astonied at our Saviours doctrine cried out Never man spake so as Joh. 7. 46. this man so excellently so powerfully so incomparably Here God so loved the world that is so freely so infinitely so unspeakably The Apostle himself who had been rapt up to the third heaven and there heard things not to be uttered wanteth words when he cometh to utter this and useth an accumulation of many because no one could serve his turn to express it sufficiently Not content to have styled it love mercie grace as not having yet said enough he calleth it great love glorious grace rich mercy yea exceeding riches Ephes 2. 4 5 7. of his glorious and mercifull grace in his second chapter to the Ephesians § 2. Secondly His Spirit to fit us for heaven Our heavenly Father is he that giveth the holy Spirit to them that ask Luke 11. 13. him The Spirit thus given worketh in us regeneration we are therefore said to be born of the Spirit and that real holiness Joh. 3. 5. 6. concerning which the Apostle saith without it no man shall see the Lord Hebr. 12. 14. So preparing us for that place which our Lord Jesus is gone before to prepare Joh. 14. 2 3. for us A daily conversation in heaven is the surest forerunner of a constant abode there The Spirit by enabling us hereunto first bringeth heaven into the soul then conducteth the soul to it Whence it is that Nehemiah recording the acts of Gods bounty to Israel reckoneth this as one of the principal Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct Nehem. 9. 20. them Thirdly His Angels to guard us on earth After David had said The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that Psal 34. 7 8. fear him and delivereth them he addeth immediately O taste and see that the Lord is good herein good in bestowing such a guard upon us It was an act of royal benignity towards Mordechai in king Ahashuerus to make Haman the favourite his attendant as he rode through the streets Lo here a
much as he doth not will to all men the chief good viz. eternal life he is said to hate and to reprobate them § 3. Fourthly His purpose was to deny unto the non-elect that special grace which brings infallibly to glory those whom God bestows it upon No creature can challenge effectual grace at the hands of God as a due debt either to his nature or to his labour There be many that speak and write of God sawcily as if he were bound to give this and that and the other grace even where they can produce no promise by which he hath made himself a debtour I cannot but commend the zeal of Peter Lombard against such men To me saith he this word Vt mihi videtur hoc verbum Debet venenum habet nec Deo proprie competit qui non est debito◠nobis nisi forte ex promisso Lib. 1. sententiarum Dist 43. He ought or he is bound seems to have much poyson in it and cannot be properly applied to God who is no debtour to us save onely in those cases wherein he hath passed some promise Sure I am our Saviour telleth his Disciples plainly It is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdome of heaven but to them it is not given Matth. 13. 11. And the housholder in the Parable stops the mouths of those murmurers that repined as expecting more from him then it was his pleasure to give with the sole consideration of its being his will to have it so Friend I do thee no wrong Take what is Matth. 20. v. 10 13 14 15. thine I will give to this last even as unto thee Is it not lawfull for me to do what I will with mine own Fifthly The consequents of the forementioned denials are 1. Permission of sin particularly of unbelief John 10. 46. Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep 2. Obduration in sin Romans 9. 18. He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth 3. Condemnation for sin Revel 20. 15. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire This last is that which by Divines is usually styled Positive Reprobation and is clearly distinguishable from the Negative in that the one is an act of punitive justice respecting sin committed and continued in But the other an absolute decree of Gods most free and Sovereign Will without respect to any disposition in the creature I call them consequents not effects because though Negative Reprobation be antecedent to them all it is not the proper cause of them This difference between the decrees Aquinas long since took notice of Election saith he Thom. part 1. quaest 23. Artic 3. ad ◠um is a proper cause both of that glory which the Elect look for hereafter and of that grace which here they enjoy Whereas Reprobation is not the cause of the present sins of the non-elect though it be of Gods forsaking them but their sin proceeds from the parties themselves so passed by and forsaken But I am under a promise of brevity and therefore shall add no more but onely advise the English Reader who is desirous of further information in these deep points to procure and peruse that excellent piece of the profound Doctor Davenant printed at Cambridge Ann. 1641. under this Title Animadversions written by the right Reverend John Bishop of Salisbury upon a Treatise intituled Gods love to mankinde where he will not onely meet with the doctrine of Predestination modestly handled but also with ample satisfaction to most of those wicked cavils which flesh and bloud have been wont to suggest against it § 4. Having thus finished that preamble which the daring Heterodoxie of some modern writers put me upon a necessity of I proceed to the making good of two Assertions tending to cleare the former part of our present Aphorisme viz. That the Goodness of God is abundantly manifested in his Decree of our Election and his Greatness no less in that of Preterition In order to a demonstration of the former I desire to have it considered how free how peculiar how ancient how leading how lasting a favour Election is First A free favour It is therefore called Election of Grace and spoken of Roman 11. 5. as tending to the praise of the glorie of free grace The Lambs book of life Ephes 1. 6. so named because the Lamb Jesus stands there inrolled in the head of it as the head of all the Elect and the Captain of that salvation whereunto they are chosen is a book of love Behold my servant whom I have chosen my beloved Ma◠12. 18. in whom my soul is well pleased It was so said of Christ and may be applied to all the Elect in their measure Hence Paul stileth his Thessalonians Brethren beloved of the Lord because God had chosen 2 Thess 2. 13. them to salvation and God expresseth the Election of Jacob by Jacob have I loved to shew that free love on Gods part is the fountain of this favour We love persons or things because they are lovely God loveth them first after makes them lovely then loves them more for being so The cause of our love is in the objects of Gods in himself we are predestinated aster the Ephes 1. 11. counsel of his own will not after the good inclinations of ours Secondly A peculiar favour Rarity much enhaunceth a benefit Immunities and priviledges are therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato Privilegium gaudet paucitate much valued and stood upon because they are not common to many and are therefore more rejoyced in because but few partake of them There were but eight persons saved from the Deluge of waters in Noahs time who is accordingly said to have fround grace in Gen. 6. 8. the eyes of the Lord in that he and his were preserved when all the world beside perished And in regard the Deluge of fire that came upon Sodom and Gomorrah swept away all the other inhabitants but Lot onely and his nearest relations were exempted from it God is said to have magnified his mercy toward them as Lot acknowledged saying Behold thy servant hath found Gen. 19. 19. grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercie which thou hast shewed unto me We should all have perished in the Deluge of fiery indignation had not God elected some few whom he hath not appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation by 1 Thess 5. 9. our Lord Jesus Christ. They are but few as Scripture tels us again and again Many are called but few chosen Mat 20. 16. 22. 14. The goodness of God is therefore to be more acknowledged in so peculiar a favour § 5. 3ly An ancient favour Old things if evil are so much the worse for that Old leaven is to be purged out and the 1 Cor. 5. 7. Ephes 4. 21. old man to be put off But every
his fancy and hit upon nothing the second did the same He then expected the youngest should go directly to the Crowned bed but he prayed the Emperour that he might be permitted to lie with one of his brothers and by this means not any of the three took the way of the Empire which was so easie to be had that it was not above a pace distant Anastasius much amazed well saw God would transfer the Diadem from his race as he did afterward to Justine Who can read and consider such examples without saying as he did Ludit in humanis Divina potentia rebus That is Divine power often dares Desport it self in mens affairs Remember Daniels four beasts and the seven heads of that beast in the Apocalyps conceived by interpreters to resemble the seven forms of Government which Rome was to undergo sucsessively from a Common-wealth to Kings from Kings to Consuls from Consuls to Dictatours thence to Decemvirs thence to Tribunes of the people thence to Emperours thence to Popes Reflect upon this Nation of ours which hath been governed at first by Britains then Saxons then Danes then Normanes one while in the way of an Heptarchy another while of a Monarchy and now of a Republick and if thou canst refuse to crie out O the depth § 4. III. Military such as belong to the managing of Wars It is not for nothing that God is so often styled Lord of hosts in the Old Testament We finde him so called no less then one hundred and thirty times in two of the Prophets Esaias and Jeremy Because in ordering of Martial affairs he in a manner doth all Captains and superiour Officers may and do consult but God determines They throw the dice he appoints the chance they set their men as it pleaseth them he in the issue plays the game as it pleaseth him Hear David in that Psalm of his which he made in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul speaking of his own experiments and celebrating God as assisting him both in the field and at sieges By thee I have run through a troop and by my God have I leaped over a wall giving him Psal 18. 29. strength activity skill It is God that girdeth me with strength He maketh my feet like hindes feet He teacheth my hands Verse 32 33 34. to war so that a bowe of steel is broken by mine arms Yea success and victory Thou hast girded me with strength to the Verse 39. 40. battel thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies that I might destroy them that hate me In the New Testament we seldome or never meet with that title That which comes nearest it is Lord God Almighty and this occurs twice in the Revelation when mention is made of the victories which it pleaseth God to give to the Reformed Churches against Anti-Christ and his adherents once in these words We give thanks O Lord Rev. 9. 17. God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned And again in these Great and marvelous 15 3. are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy waies Thou King of Saints IV. Moral such as belong to good manners or in more Gospel terms To living soberly righteously and godly in Tit. 〈◊〉 12. this present world The two former I well know are pretended to by men unregenerate yea by heathens Socrates they say lived so soberly as not to be discomposed by any outward emergency to shew himself alwaies the same man Fabritius so righteously as that it was commonly said of him To turn the Sun out of its course would be found more easie then to turn him from the way of justice But for godliness which is the third it were hard if any should pretend to that without strong impressions from God in Christ yet the Pelagians of old did asserting those virtues which appeared in Moral men who had not received Christ Jesus the Lord nor known what it was to walk in him for true graces for which very fault as S. Austin tels us above all others the Christian Church August contr Julian Pelag. l 4. ◠3. did most detest them yea a Christian Minister of late hath in print dared to collect from that saying of Paul All men have not faith an implication J. G. Preface to the Reader before Red. Redeemed fol. 6. à fine That men who act and quit themselves according to the true principles of that reason which God hath planted in them cannot but believe and be partakers in the precious faith of the Gospel But we have been taught and must teach that it is not in the power of any inferiour creature so to improve it's faculties as to raise up it self to a superiour rank No tree can make it self a beast no beast a man no man a Saint by the Omnis insidelium vita peccatum est nihil est bonum sine summo bono ubi enim deest agnitio aeternae incommutabilis voluntatis falsa virtus est in optimis moribus Prosper sent 106. bare improvement of his reason whence he comes to be a man Moral principles prove to such as relie upon them and seek no further Mortal principles We believe that of Prosper The whole life of an unbeliever is sin Neither is there any thing good where the chief good is wanting but false virtue in the midst of the best manners V. Ecclesiastical such as belong to the Church and the legitimate members of it In that Song of Loves Psal 45. 9. Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in gold of Ophir is meant the Church Look as an indulgent Prince besides the common affection he bears and protection he gives to all his subjects hath a peculiar respect to and converse with his Princess so there is a peculiar providence of God toward his Church the handling whereof at large I refer to the next Exercitation EXERCITATION 2. Exerc. 2. Deuteron 11. 12. opened Gods care over the Church proved from the provision he makes for inferiour creatures From Israels conduct From the experiments and acknowledgements of saints in all ages Experiments of the Virgin Mary Rochellers Musculus acknowledgements of Jacob David Psalmist Austin and Ursin From Gods causing things and acts of all sorts to cooperate unto the good of the saints Isaiah 27. 2 3. explained The Church preserved from in and by dangers § 1. OUr third proposition is That divine Providence is seen more especially in such affairs as concern the Church and the members thereof In order to the clearing whereof I intend to insist upon two places of Scripture The first is that in Deuteronomy 11. 12. Where Moses describing the land of Canaan saith of it thus A land which the Lord thy