the same to their own destruction Oh! what rare Perfections did he set up in the Angels and yet he eternally foresaw a great part of them apostatizing and dropping to Hell What an excellent Image of Holiness did he stamp upon Adam and yet he eternally foresaw him falling and breaking all his Glory by the the Fall what waitings of Patience wooings of the Gospel and touches of the holy Spirit doth he dispense to such men as he eternally foresaw would abuse all these and yet in all this God's Wisdom suffers not The very same I may say of Christ's dying for such as abuse this great blessing neither is there here any failing in the efficacious Will of God for he wills that the Elect shall believe and be saved and he wills that the rest shall be saved if they believe and both these Wills are accomplished the first in the Event of Faith and Salvation and the latter in the Connexion between Faith and Salvation even as to all men God may be said to will the Salvation of men through Christ's Death two ways either because he wills that Christ's Death should be a Price infallibly procuring their Faith and Salvation or else because he wills that there should be in Christ's Death an aptness and sufficiency to save them on Gospel-terms the former Will points only at the Elect and is fulfilled in their Grace and Glory the latter extends to all men and is fulfilled in the aptness and sufficiency of Christ's Death to save them on Gospel-terms in both God's Will hath its effect Neither lastly is there any loss in Christ's purchase for what did he purchase As for the Elect he purchased Faith and Salvation and as for the rest he purchased Salvation on Gospel-terms in both he hath what he paid for for the Elect believe and are saved and the rest may be saved if they believe therefore when men by their Unbelief barr themselves of the benefit of Christ's Death and make him in that respect cry out I have laboured in vain yet he adds surely my judgment is with the Lord Isai. 49. 4. as if he had said For all this never a drop of my Blood is irrationally shed for God with whom my judgment is knows that I purchased Salvation for them on Gospel-terms although they by their Unbelief deprive themselves of the benefit of the Purchase If final Unbelievers should be saved Christ should have more than his Purchase but if they are not saved he hath no less for he purchased Salvation for them on Gospel-terms which they do not perform through their own voluntary Unbelief Object 6. If Christ died for all men then he loves all with the greatest degree of Love for greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends Joh. 15. 13. and this must needs be the greatest degree of love because it draws all other things after it If God gave his own Son for us how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32 But Christ doth not love all with the greatest degree of love neither doth God give all things to them therefore Christ did not die for all I confess that Christ doth not love all men with the greatest degree of love neither doth God bestow all blessings on them wherefore we must examine these places from whence these Inferences are made As for the first place greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends it doth import one of these two things either it doth import that he that dieth for his friends hath the greatest degree or height of internal love towards them or else it imports that a mans death for his friends is the greatest external effect and proof of his love the first cannot be the meaning of the place for if it be the greatest and most intense degree of love to die for our friends what is it to die for our enemies as Christ did If it be the height and top of love to lay down our lives how can that be done without any love at all as the Apostle supposeth 1 Cor. 13. 3 The Apostle commands us to lay down our lives for the brethren 1 Joh. 3. 16. but when a man doth it he is not to have the same degree of love towards all the Brethren for he is to love those most in whom there is most of God and to whom he is nearest in Nature Jesus Christ laid down his life for all the Elect yet without doubt his love was greater to his Apostles than to ordinary Christians nay and among the Apostles there was one dearly beloved one who lay in his bosom Joh. 13. 23. Wherefore the meaning of the words is not that he that dieth for his friends hath the greatest degree or height of internal love towards them but that such a death is the greatest effect and proof of his love Christ in the 12. Verse exhorted his Disciples to love one another and in this 13. Verse he shews what is the greatest outward evidence of love viz. to die for our friends Now albeit Christ died for all men and that Death was a great and high proof of his Love nothing hinders but that Christ over and besides his common Philanthropy to all may bear a special affection to the Elect the Universality of his Death infers not a Parity in his Love If Jacob had died for all his Sons yet he might have loved Joseph and Benjamin above the rest and left them some special Legacies If Christ died for all men yet he may and doth love his Elect above others and leave some secret Love-tokens upon their hearts As for the second place If God delivered up his Son for us how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32. the Key to unlock this Text is the word Us Who are the Us in the Text Who but the Elect of God Ver. 33. who according to Election are effectually called Ver. 28. and upon their Callings are justified and glorified Ver. 30 These are the Us in the Text wherefore the plain meaning of it is not that if God gave his Son for all men he would give them all things but that if God gave his Son for the Elect he would give them all things viz. all things necessary to Salvation the Text extends not to all men But you 'l say though the Text extend not to all men yet the Argument doth for if the Argument be good that if God gave his Son for the Elect he would give them all things then the Argument is as good that if God gave his Son for all men he would give them all things I answer that if God's Intention and Love in giving his Son for all were one and the same towards all the consequence were undeniable but seeing God in giving his Son had towards the Elect a special Love and Intention to bestow Grace and Glory on them
ascended up into heaven he blessed them to shew that the Curse was gone and ascended up into heaven to possess the purchase of Glory and being there he sate down at God's right hand his work was now done and therefore he sate down and his work was now accepted and therefore he sate down at God's right hand there he received gifts for men and from thence he gave them out again he gave out what he received and received what he purchased Christ's Sacrifice was so sweet a favour to God that the Minister who preaches it is a sweet savour to him 2 Cor. 2. 15. and the Believer who accepts it is accepted of him Eph. 1. 6. nay so far accepted that he becomes a Priest Revel 1. 6. and his good works pleasing sacrifices Heb. 13. 16. his prayers are turned into odours Revel 5. 8. and his charity into a sweet smell Phil. 4. 18. and all this by a perfuming touch from Christ's Merits In a word all the Proclamations of Mercy in the Scripture all the Pardons of sin in the Conscience all the Influences of Grace on the Heart and all the Openings of Heaven in the Promises are as so many pregnant proofs unto us that God accepted the Price Thus having shewed what manner of Price this is viz. redemptive from Evil procurative of Good and sufficient for both I pass on to the last Question 3. For whom was this Price paid and this I shall cleave asunder into two Quaeries 1. Whether Christ died for all men 2. Whether he died equally for all men In both which whilest I name the Death of Christ only according to the usual language of Divines I comprehend his whole Obedience Active and Passive whereof his Death was the complement and extreme Act. 1. As to the first Quaere Whether Christ died for all men I answer affirmatively that he did and here I shall do two things 1. I shall lay down the Reasons of my Opinion 2. I shall answer the Objections made against it and in both it will appear how far or in what sence I assert that Christ died for all men 1. I shall lay down my Reasons for it and these are drawn 1. From the Will of God as the Fountain of Redemption 2. From the Covenant of Grace as the Charter of it and the Promises comprized therein 3. From the Ministers Commission who publish it 4. From certain blessings which are the fruits of it 5. From the Unbelief of men which is the denial of it 6. From the fulness and glorious Redundance of Merit in Christ's Death which paid for it 7. From the large and general Expressions in Scripture concerning the same 1. I argue from the Will of God God's Will of salvation as the fontal Cause thereof and Christ's Death as the meritorious Cause thereof are of equal latitude God's Will of Salvation doth not extend beyond Christ's Death for then he should intend to save some extra Christum Neither doth Christ's Death extend beyond God's Will of Salvation for then he should die for some whom God would upon no terms save but these two are exactly coextensive Hence 't is observable that when the Apostle speaks of Christ's Love to the Church he speaks also of his giving himself for it Eph. 5. 25. and when he saith God will have all men to be saved 1 Tim. 2. 4. he saith withal Christ gave himself a ransom for all Ver. 6. Therefore there cannot be a truer Measure of the extent of Christ's Death than God's Will of Salvation out of which the same did issue so far forth as that Will of Salvation extends to all men so far forth the Death of Christ doth extend to all men Now then how far doth God will the Salvation of all Surely thus far that if they believe they shall be saved No Divine can deny it especially seeing Christ himself hath laid it down so positively This is the will of him that sent me saith he that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life Joh. 6. 40. Wherefore if God will the Salvation of all men thus far that if they believe they shall be saved then Christ died for all men thus far that if they believe they shall be saved But you 'l say that Promise Whosoever believes shall be saved is but Voluntas signi and not Voluntas beneplaciti which is the adequate Measure of Christ's Death Unto which I answer If that Promise be Voluntas signi what doth it signifie What but God's Will What Will but that good pleasure of his that whosoever believes shall be saved How else is the Sign of the true God a true Sign Whence is that universal connexion betwixt Faith Salvation Is it not a plain efflux or product from the Decree of God Doth not that evidently import a Decree that whosoever believes shall be saved Surely it cannot be a false Sign wherefore so far God's Will of Salvation extends to all men and consequently so far Christ's Death extends to them 2. I argue from the Covenant of Grace and the Promises comprized therein Christ is the Mediatour of the Covenant and the Covenant is the New-testament in his blood Christ's Death doth not extend beyond the Covenant for then there should be less in the Charter than in the Purchase neither doth the Covenant extend beyond Christ's Death for then there should be more in the Charter than in the Purchase but both these run parallel in extent Therefore so far forth as the Covenant extends to all men so far forth the Death of Christ extends to all men Now then for the extent of the Covenant Are not those Promises Whosoever believes shall be saved whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely with the like a part of the Covenant and are they not extensive to all men Both are as plain as if they were written with a Sun-beam Wherefore so far doth Christ's Death extend to all men as the Covenant in any part thereof doth extend unto them Moreover these general Promises undeniably extend to all men and in that extent are infallibly true they are all faithful sayings and words of truth and their truth is sealed up by Christ's Blood wherefore as these Promises extend to all men so the Death of Christ in which they are founded doth extend to all men If Christ did no way die for all men which way shall the truth of these general Promises be made out Whosoever will may take the water of life What though Christ never bought it for him Whosoever believes shall be saved What though there were no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no Price paid for him Surely the Gospel knows no Water of Life but what Christ purchased nor no way of Salvation but by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Price paid But you 'l say that albeit Christ died not for all men yet are those general Promises very true and that because their truth is founded
Flame or as it is in the Original the Flame of God Cant. 8. 6. kindles upon the heart and makes it burn with true love to Christ Oh! says the Soul this is he who made the Robe of Righteousness for me and how much love was there in every thread of it This is he who drunk off the Cup of trembling for me and how much wrath did my sins squeez into it When on Earth he bore my sins upon the Cross and now in Heaven he bears my name upon his heart his Person is all desires his Blood all preciousness his Righteousness all glory his Love all heights and depths and breadths surpassing knowledge and who can chuse but love him There is no high Priest or Sacrifice but himself no Balm or healing but in his Wounds no Intercessor above but his Blood and Righteousness no Beauty or Glory in all the visible World like that in his Cross and how can the heart refuse his Espousals This is a Principle of sweet closure with Christ this makes the Soul breathe after nay approach to Christ and when it hath a being in him such is the holy aspiration of this Principle that still it desires to be more perfectly and intimately in him no embraces near enough there 's too much distance in every union When the Soul is brother and sister and mother to him still 't would be nearer nothing less than one spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. and when 't is so in some measure still it presses hard after more oneness with him Oh! that the Veil of darkness were quite off that the remnants of separating Corruption were quite out Oh! for more gales of Faith and Prayer to blow up this holy Fire for more effusions of the holy Unction to feed and enflame it Thus this Principle is hiatus Voluntatis the opening or thirsty gaping of the Will for more and more of Christ and all that it may dwell in God who is Love it self 3. Take him as a King this Principle sets the Heart right towards him Hence a man becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a fit posture towards the kingdom of God Luk. 9. 62. and that in a threefold respect 1. This Principle is a Principle of Faith God made Christ a King Faith owns him as such God gave him all the power in heaven and earth and Faith gives him all the power in the upper and lower Faculties of the Soul This Principle rests upon him as a King able to put all his enemies under his feet Are there strong holds of Sin in us this Principle rests on him as the power of God to cast them down Are there Armies of temptations round about us this Principle rests on him as the Captain of salvation to scatter them As soon as this Principle is in the Soul the Soul is no longer where it was but translated into the kingdom of Christ Col. 1. 13. Before it was in a region of Darkness but now in a place of marvellous Light its native soil was spiritual Sodom and Egypt where Sin is a Law but now it is in the Dominions of Christ where the Law of the Spirit frees from the Law of sin and because after the Law or Reign of Sin is broken the remnants or reliques of Corruption are still in us therefore this Principle doth in a wonderful manner rest upon Christ for a more thorough purging out thereof 2. This Principle is a Principle of Love disposing the Soul to love Christ as a Melchisedek a king of righteousness and to kiss his sceptre as a sceptre of righteousness This Principle desires and delights above all places to dwell in Immanuels land and by a holy acquiescence under his Law it sits down as it were in the kingdom of God Hence the Heart is willing that Christ should reign over it that all his Enemies should be made his footstool even those that dwell in its own bosom if he come search for darling Lusts there this Principle will open every fold and unlock every secret place of the Heart to discover them If he come and slay them with the Sword of his mouth this Principle will be consenting to their death and pray So let all thine enemies perish O Lord even all the remainders of Corruption lying in my Heart 3. This Principle is a Principle of Obedience and this is no other but the two former Principles of Faith and Love conspiring together to do the Will of Christ. Christ is at the right hand of God and the Soul by Faith and Love is at the right hand of Christ Psal. 45. 9. ready to hear and do all his pleasure Ver. 10. Faith hath two Eyes whilest one is upon the propitiatory Cross the other is upon the holy Crown of Jesus Love hath two Hands and whil'st one is thrust into his side and bleeding Wounds the other is busie in keeping his righteous Laws and Commands No sooner doth a Command drop down from him but Faith catches it up Oh! says Faith this comes from the King of Kings and must be done and this great King says Love obeyed for me even to the Cross and how can I do less than obey him His commandments are all right his yoke easie his service freedom and his love constraining 3. This Principle sets the Will into a right Frame in respect of that great Obstacle Sin Sin separates between God and the Soul but this Principle separates between the Soul and Sin and this in three respects 1. As it is a Principle of Evangelical Sorrow Sin is contracted with pleasure and must be dissolved with sorrow and this dissolution will not be kindly unless the Sorrow be Evangelical Legal Sorrow is a preparative to Conversion but Evangelical is an essential ingredient in it in Legal sorrow the Heart breaks under the Fears of Hell and Death but in Evangelical it thaws under the Beams of free Grace it melts for the exceeding sinfulness of Sin it bleeds over the bleeding Wounds of Christ it grieves at the grievings of the holy Spirit it blushes and shames it self for the stains cast upon Gods Glory it is offended full fraught with displicency at its many great offences of the divine Majesty This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sorrow according to God 2 Cor. 7. 10. Sorrow for Sin as Sin such as God would have This turns the sweet morsels of Sin into bitter herbs and the pleasant streams of lust into blood hereby Sin is in some degree loosened out of the Heart 2. As it is a Principle of hatred enclining the Will to hate every false way The Scripture sets out Sin as a very odious thing 't is the poyson of asps Rom. 3. 13. the dogs vomit 2 Pet. 2. 22. a menstruous cloth Isai. 30. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the superfluity or excrement of all evil Jam. 1. 21. enmity to God Rom. 8. 7. the abominable thing which God hates Jer. 44. 4. and that with great hatred
How could God foreknow that is fore-love them who loved him before If they loved first the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must out it is not Pre-dilection but Post-dilection It remains then that they did believe and love consequently to God's Election and by a divine influence from thence But to go on What is the Predestination here but to a Conformity to the Image of Christ And are Sufferings all the Image of Christ Are and Glory no part thereof What Divine will not blush to say so And how then is not Predestination to these But if Sufferings were all Christ's Image yet are all Sufferings his Image What if they be mere Sufferings such as have no tincture of Faith and Holiness upon them Are these his Image also If not the Predestination to his Image must include in it a Predestination to Faith and Holiness And what is the Calling following upon Predestination Is it a Calling to Sufferings Such a Calling uses to be particularly expressed Hereunto were you called saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 2. 21. and We are appointed hereunto saith S. Paul 1 Thess. 3. 3. But where in all the Scripture doth the word Calling being put absolutely and without such addition ever signifie a Call to Sufferings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we meet with therein but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore the Calling is to Faith and Holiness And what is the Justification which hangs upon Calling If the Calling be to Sufferings are they not justified before that Calling No doubt they are in the instant of believing and how then is Calling set first and Justification last You 'l say this place speaks not of the Justification of their persons but of the Approbation of their cause And where in all this Epistle is the word justifie so taken And why so here Lastly the Called are Justified and the Justified Glorified saith the Apostle And are all those which are called to Sufferings Justified and Glorified The experience of thousands denies it You 'l say they are all justified and glorified if they bear the Cross with Faith and Patience But who dares add an it to Gods Word and in this Text to the two links and not to the former The Apostle faith expresly whom he did Predestinate them he also Called and whom he Called them he also Justified and whom he Justified them he also Glorified In the Original the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fasten every link to its precedent and that with appropriation to the very same persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fastens Calling to Predestination and Justification to Calling and Glorification to Justification and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appropriates all throughout the whole chain to the same persons If therefore any person predestinated or called within this Text be not also justified and glorified the chain is broken and the truth of the Text cannot for ought I see be salved Wherefore I conclude that this Text doth not treat of Predestination and Calling to Sufferings notwithstanding which many fall short of Justification and Glorification but of Predestination and Calling to Grace and Glory such as doth infallibly bring them to Justification and Glorification God's Electing mercy towards his chosen ones is sure and unfailable before they had any being free Grace embraced them in an Eternal Decree and laid them in its bosom and when they left the Common Nullity and in the first moment of their Being lay in the blood of their natural enmity and iniquity free Grace would not pass them by but there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Sept. hath it Ezek. 16. 8. a time for love to let out and dissolve it self in gracious operations to cast its skirt over them wash them in the blood of the Covenant anoint them with the holy Spirit and put a Chain of Graces about their necks And after all this when their Faith wavers like a Wave of the Sea his Faithfulness is as a Mountain of Brass when their Love cools and slacks his Love is ever the same and inflames theirs afresh when their Holiness is full of Creature-weakness and impersection there are with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy Mercies and Compassions which never fail when they sin and go on frowardly in the way of their hearts yet he will see their way and heal them as the Expression is Isai. 57. 18. How many millions of times after their Conversion might he have seen their way and damned them but because of his unchangeable Love he will see their way and heal them His Covenant is as the Waters of Noah Isai. 54. 9. When they sin again and again yet his pardoning Mercy and healing Grace will never suffer them to lie under water nor the deluge of sin to overwhelm them for ever In a word his Electing Love never leaves off till it hath lodged them safe in Heaven Thus the Foundation of God standeth sure and the Election infallibly obteineth Grace and Glory 3. To whom are these things designed I answer in two things 1. These are designed to some certain individual persons 2. These certain individual persons are considered as lying in the Mass of perdition 1. These are designed to some certain individual persons The Lord knoweth them that are his 2 Tim. 2. 19. Their names are all down in the Book of life Phil. 4. ◠he called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by name Joh. 10. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith God to Ananias this individual persons this very Paul who but now was breathing out blood against tho Church this is a vessel of Election Acts 9. 15. The Elect are a determinate number What else were the 7000. which bowed not to Baal 1 Kings 19. 18 What the 144000. which were sealed in their foreheads Rev. 7. 4 If there were no set number why are they called a remnant according to the election of Grace Rom. 11. 5 What remnant can there be unless made up of individual persons What Election but of such A chusing or singling out if not of individuals is no chusing or singling out at all And this is one remarkable difference between the Will of God's Complacence and the Will of his Benevolence the Will of his Complacence is properly respective of Graces and that where-ever those Graces are without any distinction of persons in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him saith St. Peter Act. 10. 35. If Cain do well shall he not be accepted If a Judas believe shall he not be justified Without any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the righteousness of God is upon all them that believe Rom. 3. 22. His pleasure is in them that fear him Psal. 147. 11. A good man where-ever he be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 draws out favour or complacence from the Lord Prov. 12. 2. And the reason is because this Will of Complacence issuing out of his perfect Sanctity cannot but embrace his Image where-ever he finds it but the Will of Benevolence
is most apparent that all Beings must be from the chief Being all Truth from the first Truth all Goodness from supreme Goodness all Numbers from perfect Unity and all Ranks and Orders from infinite Wisdom and this chief Being first Truth supreme Goodness perfect Unity and infinite Wisdom can be no other than God alone But if this satisfie not you may yet further see God's glorious Immensity in the vast capacious Heavens his invariable Immobility in the unmoveable Earth his Faithfulness in the great Mountains his unsearchable Judgments in the great Deep his dreadful Justice in the devouring Fire his wonderful Omniscience in the Sun the rouling Eye of the World his transcendent Beauty in the Varnish of the Light the plain foot-steps of the Eternal Power and Godhead in every Creature and the glorious impress of his own Image and Likeness in Men and Angels Thus the very Creatures themselves tell us that their beginning was from God 3. Their beginning was from God as a free Agent and according to his own Decree for either God did produce them naturally and necessarily or else freely and voluntarily Not naturally and necessarily for then he should produce things ad extremum virium and so besides these Beings produce all the possible Beings producible by his glorious Omnipotence all the possible Orders and Congruities contrivable by his unsearchable Wisdom all the possible Goodness effluxive out of his infinite Goodness and all the possible Numbers which his infinite Unity can bring forth into being and produce them all as early as Eternity it self and all of them so produced must be necessary Beings as well as God himself in all which many great contradictions are involved Wherefore it remains that he did produce them voluntarily and according to his own Decree the Will of God was the first Mover in this great Work 'T is true that the World is as Damascene stiles it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of Redundance of God's infinite Goodness but not a drop of this Goodness runs out ad extrà but by his good pleasure 'T is true that there is the various and admirable Wisdom of God in this Work but that Wisdom shews forth never an Order or Rank of Being unless it be taken into the divine Decree and so become the counsel of his Will according to which he worketh all things 'T is true that the Eternal Power and Godhead are clearly seen in the Creation but these had never shewed themselves at all if the divine Will had not spoken the word God made all things by the word of his power that is the divine Will eternally expressed to the divine Power what Beings it should produce in time 'T is true that all the numbers and hosts of Beings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they flow from him who is perfect Unity but not in the way of natural Necessity but of his free Decree Qui dicit Quare Dous fecit coelum terram Respondendum est ei quia voluit qui autem dicit Quare voluit majus aliquid quaerit quà m est Volunt as Dei nihil autem majus inveniri potest When the Psalmist made that general summons to the Angels Heavens Sun Moon Stars Waters Dragons Deep Fire Hail Snow Vapours Wind Trees Beasts Cattel creeping Things flying Fowl even all the hosts of Nature to sing praises to their great Makes he added this as the supreme Reason of all he commanded and they were created Psal. 148. 5. Sermo Dei Volunt as est Opus Dei Naeturae est Unto whatsoever his Will speaks a fiat it comes forth into being but if that be silent not the least Atom can appear The Egyptian Magicians cannot produce so much as the shadow or counterfeit semblance of a Louse but as men mazed and nonplus'd they are forced to cry out This is the finger of God Exod. 8. 19. And what these wicked Atheists mutter out touching this poor Creature upon the rack of Conviction that the Catholick Church confesses touching all the World in a triumphant Gratulation The Twenty four Elders in the name of all Saints falling down and worshipping before the Throne of the Everliving God cry out Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 11. O thou divine Will thou art worthy to be adored in the Angels above and Men below in the Luminaries of Heaven and fruitfulness of Earth in the Meteors of the Air and wonders of the Deep in the life of the Plants and senses of the Beasts at thy imperial Word all these came pouring out of the barren Womb of Nothing the births of their Existence were all dated by thine hand the dowries of their goodness were all given by thy Love the proprieties of their Being were all stamped on them by thy Ideal Truth and the various Ranks and Orders of their standing were all set out by thy glorious Wisdom O glorious Creator who hast made all these things go on one step further create in us an admiring Heart which by the scale of Creatures as by Jacob's Ladder may ascend higher and higher in the Adorations of thee when we are at the lowest step of all I mean mere Being let 's remember thee the chief and first of Beings when at the second step which is Being with Life let 's praise thee the only Fountain of Life when at the third which is Being and Life crowned with Sense let 's tremble at thee the All-seeing and All-hearing Deity when at the fourth which is Being Life and Sense irradiated with beams of Reason and impowered with liberty of Will let 's adore thy infinite Wisdom which contrived and thy allmighty Will which created all these things and us to see thy Glory in them when at the highest step of all Angelical perfections let 's be lost in holy mazes and trances at thy infinitely purer glory in comparison whereof the very Angels themselves are but as spotted lamps and duskish beauties In a word from the sublimest Seraphim to the poorest Worm let 's admire thee humbly confessing that none can shew forth all thy praise CHAP. VII Of the Works of Conservation and Gubernation HAving briefly touched upon Creation I procede to its appendants Conservation and Gubernation The Almighty and All-wise Creator is not as man who builds a House or Ship and leaves it but like a faithful Creator he repairs the House of the World by his Conservation and steers the Ship of it by his Gubernation and that according to the Counsel of his own Will aliter mundus nè per ictum oculi stare poterit as the Father expresses it And first as touching Conservation I shall demonstrate four things 1. That no Creature can preserve it self 2. That no Fellow-creature can preserve another 3. That the Preservation of all is from God 4. That it is from God according to his Decree 1. That no
of Holiness burning with zeal for God melting in compassions over Men bowing it self down in miraculous humility and in a rape of love doing all the Will of God even to the last gasp upon the Cross. His thoughts were all births of Holiness his words oracles of Truth his works a fulfilling all Righteousness and his meat and drink was to do his Father's Will He ascended up to the top or pinacle of the Moral Law in the sweetest strains of Love and fetched about the breadth or vast compass of it in the largeness of his Obedience and passed down to the very hemm or border of it in the lowness of his Humility Rather than fail he would be subject to his own Creature Luk. 2. 51. pay tribute to his own Subject Matth. 17. 27. and wash his Disciples feet with those very hands which had all the power in Heaven and Earth in them Joh. 13. 3 4 5. Nay he stooped down as low as the fringe of the Ceremonial Law his sinless flesh was circumcised Luke 2. 21. his holy Mother purified Luk. 2. 22. the true Passeover kept the typical one Matth. 26. 20 21. and so obedientially stood under his own shadow In every respect he was obedient unto death His Obedience was a fair Commentary on the whole Law written in glorious Characters of Holiness and Righteousness all his life long and at his death clasped and sealed up with his precious Blood Thus the Mandatory part of the Law was answered now for the Minatory 2. He gave up himself in his passive obedience he was in some sence crucifyed in the womb in that he was made of his creature and coming forth into the world all his life was a perpetual passion The Gospel shews us the immense God in swadling clouts the builder of all things working as a Carpenter the holy one hurried up and down by a tempting Devil the filler of all things hungry the fountain of living water thirsty the power of God weary the eternal joy of the Father weeping the owner of all things extreme poor and not knowing where to lay his head in his own world Thus as a man of sorrows he passes on towards his Cross one of his own Apostles betraying him another denying him the rest forsaking him the chief Priests bloodily conspiring against him false witnesses unjustly accusing him the tumultuous rabble crying out crucify crucify and Pilate first confessing his innocency and then condemning his person And now arriving at his Cross sorrows break in upon every part his head raked with thorns his face besmeared with spittle his eyes afflicted with the tears of friends his ears filled with the blasphemies of enemies his lips of grace wet with vinegar and gall his hands and feet nailed to the Cross and his sacred body hanging between thieves racked and tortured to death in a Golgotha of stench and rottenness But all this is but the outside of his passion at the same time hell was let loose and from thence the Devils as so many roaring Lyons came with open mouth to devour him and which is much more Heaven thundred over his head and the righteous God as angry as our sins could make him fell a smiting of him Isai. 53. 4. and smote him in his Soul too verse 10. and with smiting wounded and bruised him verse 5. the smart and anguish whereof was so great that he was afraid Hebr 5. 7. and his fear was so high that he began 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to faint away and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be sore amazed Mark 14. 33. and in this amazement the Eclipse was so dark that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surrounded with sorrows even unto death verse 34. and in this spiritual Siege he falls a praying Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Matth. 26. 39. and in prayer he sinks into an agnony His soul became like that poor ship that fell into a place where two seas met the fore-part sticking fast and remaining unmoveable and the hinder-part broken with the violence of the waves Acts 27. 41. Even so here were two seas met a sea of wrath storming against him as our Surety and a sea of love breathing in him after our Redemption His humane will as nature shrunk at the sense of Gods wrath but as reason it stedfastly pointed at the work of our Salvation Redemption stood fast and unmoveable in his heart yet the same heart though without the least spot of sinful contrariety was broken with the waves of amazing horrors and so dreadful was this agony that it cast this grand Heroe the strength of all the Martyrs into a bloody sweat there fell from him great drops of blood Luke 22. 44. The sins of the world ascending up as a vast cloud before Gods Tribunal now came dashing down upon him in an horrible tempest of incomprehensible wrath and this makes him cry nay as the Psalmist hath it Psal. 22. 1. roar out upon the Cross My God! my God! Why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27. 46. One would have thought at the first blush that the humane nature had been dropt out of his divine person but though that were not yet the sense of Gods favour was for a time suspended from his humane nature Never was sorrow like to his sorrow In all the legal sacrifices there was destructio rei oblatae and all those destructions were summed up in his sufferings As the corn he was bruised as the wine and oil poured out as the Lamb slain and rosted in the fire of Gods wrath and as the scape-goat driven into the dismal wilderness of desertion He did as it were sport in Creation but in Redemption he sweats suffers bleeds and dyes Now his humane nature thus made under the Law both in his active and passive obedience is the complete and integral price of our Redemption I say both in his active and passive obedience for these were not sundred either in existence or merit 1. Not in existence for there was passion in his actions and action in his passions from first to last his obedience was with suffering and his suffering with obedience There was passion in his actions 't was a great suffering for the great Law-giver to be under the Law for the Lord of the Sabbath to observe it The noblest and purest piece of the Law is the knowing and loving of God and yet even in that there was a great suffering for he who eternally knew the Father in an infinity of light now knew him as it were by candle-light in a finite reason he who eternally embraced the Father in an infinity of love now loved him in the narrow compass of a finite will and therefore even in these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he emptied himself as the Apostle speaks Phil. 2. 7. And on the other side there was action in his passion his passions were with knowledge he shut not
his eyes when he drunk off the cup of wrath his passions were free-will offerings Loe I come saith he to do thy will O God Hebr. 10. 7. Gods will was that he should suffer and his will runs before and as it it were anticipates his sufferings Loe I come nay in his passage he breaks out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How am I straitned till it be accomplished Luke 12. 50. He was as it were in pangs of forward obedience to be baptized in his own blood and posted on towards an agony of wrath in an agony of love and when he arrived at his extremest sufferings his signal willingness turned his suffering into doing and his Cross into a triumphant Chariot he triumphed in it saith the Apostle Col. 2. 15. even there his obedience and love rode in triumph triumphant obedience spread out his hands upon the Cross and triumphant love opened his naked heart to the wrath of God His Soul was not snatched away but poured out Isai. 53. 12. his life was not meerly taken away but laid down Joh. 10. 18. He was willing to be forsaken of God himself for a time that thereby he might fulfil the will of God and before the fire of Gods wrath could fall on him he was all in a flame with his own love Thus the active and passive obedience of Christ were not severed in their existence but like his seamless coat were interwoven from the top throughout even to his last gasp upon the Cross. 2. Neither were these severed in merit Christ is not so to be divided as if his sufferings apart by themselves were the price of Remission and his righteousness apart by it self the price of Glory If the active obedience of Christ apart make us perfectly righteous where is the glory of the passive if the passive obedience of Christ apart purchase all for us where is the glory of the active But if both together make up the total sum the glory of both is preserved Our Redeemer was made under the Law that he might redeem us now as he was under the whole Law as to the command and as to the curse of it so his active and passive obedience adequately answering both is the entire price of our Redemption But here I am obviated by 2 Objections 1. Saith the Socinian there is no price at all 2. Say some of our Divines the passive obedience of Christ is all the price and the active no part at all of it As to the first I shall not need spend many words about it because the Scripture is so pregnant in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye are bought with a price saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 6. 20. and this price as S. Peter tells us is not corruptible things as Silver and Gold but the precious blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. a transcendent price able to purchase as much nay far more in the spiritual world than silver and gold can in the material and 't is not meerly a price of emption but of Redemption Christ gave his life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a price of Redemption Matth. 20. 28. and which is more emphatical he gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a counterprice of Redemption 1 Tim. 2. 6. doing and suffering in the room of poor captives and this price was paid into the right hand viz. into Gods Eph. 5. 2. and hence issues out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proper Redemption the prison doors are opened and the poor captives may go out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free indeed John 8. 36. That then there is a price is as clear in Scripture as if it were written with a Sun-beam But yet the Socinian shuts his eyes and cryes out all is but a Metaphor God redeemed saith he Israel out of Egypt and Moses is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 7. 35. and yet there was no price at all paid But alas that ever such vain consequences should drop from the masters of Reason Redemption in some Scriptures is metaphorical therefore 't is so in all Moses was but a naked deliverer therefore Christ is not a proper Redeemer Moses's Redemption was a Redemption by power only therefore Chists Redemption is no Redemption by price Redemption out of the hands of an unjust Pharaoh was without price therefore Redemption out of the hands of a righteous God was so too But on the other side how cogent is the argument If Moses paying down no price was but a naked deliverer then Christ paying down one was a proper Redeemer If I believe that to be but a Metaphorical Redemption because the Scriptures speak of no Price paid for the same pari ratione I must believe this to be a proper Redemption because the Scriptures tell us of a Price If there must be Power to redeem a Captive from humane Oppression surely theremust be a Price to redeem him from divine Justice We were all as Captives locked up under the Curse of the Law and Wrath of God and Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both a Redeemer and a Ransom for us Wherefore concluding that there was a Price I pass on 2. As to the second Objection I conceive that the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ do both together make up the perfect Price of our Redemption I say both together The Active is part of the Sum And this I shall demonstrate 1. In general by those Scriptures which set out the Managery of Redemption Long before our Saviour Christ came about it the Father calls him his servant Isai. 42. 1. and one part of his service was his Active Obedience and just at his entrance into the World he expresses himself Loe I come to do thy will O God Heb. 10. 7. He came in his Incarnation his errand was Redemption and the way to compass it was by doing God's Will and that he did partly in his Active Obedience being come his state was subjection he was made under the Law to redeem us Gal. 4. 4 5. His humane Nature was so far a Price as 't was made under the Law in part as to his Active Obedience this being his state his ear was bored Psal. 40. 6. which the Apostle renders a body was prepared Heb. 10. 5. His humane Nature was as I may so say all Ear to the Commands of God among which one was that he should fulfil Active Obedience this Obedience he fulfilled all along even unto Death nay and in Death and by this entire Obedience accomplished in doing and suffering we are made righteous Rom. 5. 19. and so righteous that the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us Rom. 8. 4. and so fulfilled that the Law hath its end Rom. 10. 4. and this so accurately that one jot or tittle doth not pass from the Law but all is fulfilled Matth. 5. 18. In all which series of Scriptures his Active Obedience concurrs as part of the Price 2. In particular I evince this Truth by
God meet us and commune with us in words of Grace we must thank the true Propitiatory or Mercy-seat for every syllable 2. Grace in the proper Seat or Receptacle of it is Christ's purchase and this I shall make out 1. In general Christ purchased the Spirit of all Grace There is a double Oblation of Christ a personal Oblation on the Cross and that is Moritum Spiritûs and a doctrinal Oblation in the Gospel and that is Ministerium Spiritûs and so the holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ Tit. 3. 6. Christ ascended up on high that he might fill things Eph. 4. 10. One would have thought that his descent should rather have done it but he ascended up in the glory of his Merits he carried up all the Purchase-money to his Fathers house and from thence the Spirit came pouring down upon men some droppings of it were before but then it was richly poured out it came down in cloven fiery tongues and a rushing mighty wind Acts 2. 2 3. Tongues to utter magnalia Dei and above all the master-piece of Redemption and cloven tongues to utter them to all Nations in their own Language and fiery tongues to enlighten and enflame the Auditors hearts with the knowledge and love of Christ and a mighty rushing wind to blow home that fire strongly and insuperably in a thorough Conversion and all this was shed forth from Christ Ver. 33. Never any Tongue truly preached Christ but by a secret touch from him never any holy fire kindled on the heart but by a coal from his Altar never any gales of Grace on the Soul but from the breathings of his Spirit not one drop of his Blood is spiritless but full fraught and flowing with the Spirit of Life 2. In particular and so Christ hath purchased three things 1. The Radical Grace of Faith 2. All other Graces of the Spirit 3. All the Crowns of these Graces 1. Christ hath purchased the Grace of Faith the Apostle is express in it To you it is given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Christ's sake not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Phil. 1. 29. the Apostle evidently points out the merits of Christ as the spring of Faith and Faith persevering unto suffering And in another place he saith we joy in God through Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom we have now received the atonement Rom. 5. 11. he doth not only say that by and through him the Atonement was made but that by and through him the Atonement is received and what is this receiving of the Atonement but Faith it self That therefore is part of Christ's Purchase These express places might suffice us but because the Remonstrants oppose this Truth I shall propose two Quaeries unto them 1. Is not Faith comprized within the Covenant of Grace Let 's come to the Touch-stone Is it not written there I will give an heart to know me and is not Faith a justifying knowledge a sight of the just One and a beam or dawning of eternal life Is it not written there I will take away the heart of stone and is not Unbelief a part of that stone doth it not directly resist the Blood and Righteousness of Christ and can there be a worse Stone than this Is it not written there I will give a new heart and is not Unbelief the heart and life of the old Man and Faith of the new Is it not written there I will put my Spirit within you and is not the Spirit a spirit of faith and faith a fruit of the Spirit is not Unbelief of our Spirit and Faith of Gods Is it not written there I will circumcise the heart and is not Unbelief flesh God saith there is life in his Son and the Unbeliever saith No and does what in him lies to make God a lyar and can there be any filthier or rottenner flesh in the old man than this and unless this be cut off can there be a true Circumcision By all this it clearly appears that Faith is within the Covenant and if so is not the whole Covenant Sanctio à sanguine the New-testament in Christ's blood Is not he the Mediator and purchaser of the whole Are not all the Promises Yea and Amen in him Who dares distinguish and say Christ purchased part of the Promises and not all he purchased notional knowledge and not justifying he breaks the stone in the heart all but that which opposes his own Blood and Righteousness the old man is crucified with Christ all but his heart and life of Unbelief the Spirit of Grace flows out from Christ all but the Spirit of Faith the circumcision of Christ Col. 2. 11. so called because it is procured by the Merits and produced by the Spirit of Christ cuts off the flesh of the heart all but that of Unbelief which upbraids God with a lye who dares thus tear in sunder the Covenant mangle the Promises dimidiate Christ and divide the Spirit by unscriptural distinctions Such shuffling is unworthy of Christians Wherefore I conclude my first Quaere thus Faith is within the Covenant and the Covenant is Christ's purchase therefore Faith is such also 2. Is not Faith a Grace of the Spirit It seals to the Gospel sanctifies the heart works by Love waits by Patience overcomes the visible World and sensibly presentiates the invisible for shame let it be a Grace and if so it must be Christ's purchase The Spirit never effected that Grace in fallen Man which Christ never merited As every Creature in the World is of God's making so every Grace in the Church is of Christ's meriting He that saith Yonder is a precious Stone but 't is not of God's making blasphemes the Creator and he that saith Yonder is a precious Faith but 't is not of Christ's meriting does no less to the Redeemer But further Is not Faith the Grace of Union with Christ Doth not Christ dwell in the heart by faith Is not Faith the Mother-grace of all First Faith gives a touch to Christ and then Love is enflamed with him Joy triumphs in him and Obedience follows him Where do all the rivers of living water flow but in the Believers belly Joh. 7. 38 What holds all the starry Graces of the Church but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the firmament of faith as the Apostle calls it Col. 2. 5 Now will it not grate thine ears O Christian to hear that the Spirit of Holiness is from Christ but not the Spirit of Faith all the starry Graces are Christ's but the Firmament of Faith is our own we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ but not with the Mother-grace which broods and teems out all the rest not with the Grace of Union which lies nearest to Christ eating his flesh and drinking his blood that Faith which is nearest to the Merits of Christ in its Union is furthest off from them in its Origination What is this but
to darken the Sun of Righteousness damm up the Well of Salvation and trample the Blood of the Covenant under foot at which every sober Christian cannot but tremble Therefore I conclude my second Quaere thus Faith is a prime and excellent Grace wrought by the Spirit and purchased by the Merits of Christ. 2. Christ hath purchased all other Graces for all Graces are the fruits of the Spirit and the Spirit is shed on us through Christ. But in stead of proving let me parly with the Saints Speak O ye excellent ones whence came your lovely Meekness your undissembled Love your untired Patience your holy Unction your melting Compassions your broken Hearts your repentant Tears your Law-engraven Spirits and all your sweet-smelling Perfumes of Grace Speak for the Glory of Christ. Methinks I hear them all with one consent cry out Thus O thus it is all our Meekness came from the Lamb our Love from the beloved one our Patience from the Captain-sufferer our Unction from the Christ of God our Compassions from the bowels of Christ our broken Hearts from a broken Christ our repentant Tears from his bleeding Wounds our Law-engravings are the Epistle of Christ and all our sweet-smelling Graces are the powders of the merchant Cant. 3. 6. even of Jesus Christ who bought them all with his sweetest Blood The Church is the House of God made up of lively stones floored with Humility roofed with Knowledge cemented with Charity warmed with the fire of Zeal and filled with the spiritual Glory of heavenly Graces but Christ is the chief corner-stone which bears up all all the Churches Humility is from Christ's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or self-emptying all our Knowledge from Christ the Sun of righteousness all its Charity from the Hyperbole of his love all its Zeal is from a coal of his Altar and all the spiritual Glory which fills it comes by the way of the East Ezek. 43. 2. even from Jesus Christ who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the East or day-spring of all graces Luk. 1. 78. 3. Christ hath purchased all the Crowns of these Graces I mean such as are set on the Saints head in this life the Believers shall be justified but 't is by the righteous Christ the Meek shall be beautified with Salvation but 't is because of the Lamb the broken Heart shall have God dwelling in it but 't is for the Merits of a broken Christ the Mourners shall be comforted but 't is by the consolation in Christ the Hungry shall be filled but 't is from the fulness of Christ the pure in Heart shall see God but 't is through Christ the brightness of his Glory all the Crowns of Grace must be cast down at the feet of Jesus Christ the great Purchaser of them Thus Christ hath bought the World of Grace but yet we are not at the top of the Purchase For 3. Christ hath purchased the World of Glory that is the none-such the World of Worlds to which all Natures Glories are but a shadow and the Churches Graces but a Portal there are Plenitudes of Joy Crowns of Life Weights of Glory Treasures of Bliss and Oceans of Sweetness and all of Christ's purchasing All the Mansions of Glory are of his preparing Joh. 14. 2. all the Wine in Heaven is for his marriage-supper Revel 19. 9. his Blood is the Key to open the holy of holies Heb. 10. 19. the pure River of Life clear as Crystal issues out of the throne of God and of the Lamb even out of Gods Grace and Christs Merit Rev. 22. 1. Christ on the Cross purchased a Heaven for us Christ in the Gospel proffers it unto us and Christ in the heart gives us an actual hope thereof Had it not been for Christ we could never have entred into such a place as Heaven where the Walls are Pearls the Rivers Pleasures the Hills Frankincense the Air Purity and the Light Life Love and all in all God himself Now Christ did not only purchase Heaven for us but purchased it in a way completive of the Law The old Promise of the Law was Do this and live and that seemed quite blasted and withered by our sins but Christ by his perfect Obedience made it revive and bud again with life God would not give eternal life but upon a Do this and Christ fulfilled all Righteousness for us and by that Righteousness we come to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justification of life Rom. 5. 18. such a Justification as is crowned with eternal Life But you 'l say that old Do this required Obedience in our own persons and therefore Christ could not fulfil it in our stead and so purchase life for us I answer that God did here also interpret his Law in an equitable way the divine Sanction Do this on which Life did depend was not precisely determinate that we must do it in our own persons for then a Sureties obedience should have been totally excluded neither was it precisely determinate that we should do it in our Surety for there was a Do this in the state of Innocency where there was no need of a Surety but the Sanction was general Do this and two interpretations lay before God the first that it should be done in our own persons the second that it should be done in our Surety the first a rigorous and literal the second an equitable and merciful interpretation Now these two interpretations lying before God he as supreme Law-giver takes the equitable interpretation had he taken the rigorous one there would have been no room for a Surety nor life for the Sinner but in rich mercy he takes the equitable one and so through a Surety's Obedience eternal Life is purchased for us These two interpretations of the Law seem to me to be figured out by the double making of the Tables the Law in the rigorous interpretation is like the first Tables which were broken For as the Law was first written in those Tables so the rigorous interpretation firstly rises out of the Letter of the Law and as those first Tables were broken so Sin made such a breach upon the Law that the Apostle puts a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon it Rom. 8. 3. it could not give life according to the rigorous interpretation And the Law in the equitable interpretation is like the second Tables which were put into the Ark for as those Tables were kept inviolate in the Ark so the Law was kept inviolate in the equitable interpretation and as the Mercy-seat covered the Tables in the Ark and from the Mercy-seat so covering them God manifested his presence so Christ the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or mercy-seat did by his perfect Obedience cover the Law all over and in and through him so covering it God manifests his presence not only his back-parts on Earth but his face in Heaven Thus by the admirable Wisdom of God Heaven was purchased and yet the Law established the Do this turned upon the
redeem some from among men unless it merit for them that Faith which is the grand distinction between man and man in the matter of Salvation Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purchased the church with his blood Acts 20. 28. and purchased it in a special manner hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a purchased people is not a title common to all but proper to the Church 1 Pet. 2. 9. God's Children lay scattered up and down the wide World and Christ died that he might gather them all together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into one one Faith here and one Glory hereafter Joh. 11. 52. If Christ had died so for all all should have come into the same Unity We find in Scripture many signal distinctions made among men there are some on whom God will have mercy and others whom he will harden Rom. 9. 18. some written in the Lambs book of life and others left out of it Rev. 13. 8. some given unto Christ Joh. 6. 36. and others â—eft to themselves some are Gods own jewels Mal. 3. 17. and others but as dross Now how incredible is it that Jesus Christ who came to do his Father's Will should in his Death respect those whom God will harden as much as those whom he will have mercy on those that are out of the Book of Life as much as those that are in it those that are left to themselves as much as those that are given to him and those that are the dross of the World as much as God's own Jewels Believe it who can 't is a monstrous Opinion worthy of nothing but exile from Christians Seeing God's Will hath so distinguished men it is no more possible that Christ should die alike for all than that he should dissent from his Father's Will which to do was his great errand in the World Christ suffered between two Thieves a Type of the Elect and Reprobate World but who dare say that he had as much respect to the one as to the other 2. I argue from the Covenant of Grace Christ is the Mediator of the Covenant and the Covenant is the New-testament in his blood as then the Covenant is more or less respective of men so the Mediator's Death is more or less respective of them There are in the Covenant two sorts of Promises the one general and conditional such are those Whosoever believes shall be saved Whosoever will may take of the water of life If any man come to Christ he will not cast him out the other special and absolute such are those I will circumcise thy heart to love me I will put my fear in their hearts I will take away the heart of stone and give an heart of flesh I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes I will put my Laws in their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people there is a vast difference between these Promises For 1. The general and conditional Promises are as it were the hands of the Covenant pointing out the true way and path leading to Salvation but the special and absolute Promises are as it were the Veins of the Covenant carrying in them the blood and spirit of life and power to enable us to walk in that way Here God himself engages to work all saving Graces in us Are our hearts hard he 'l roll away the stone from them do our hearts resist holy impressions he 'l give us hearts of flesh capable thereof are our hearts void of God's Law he will write it there and turn them into the Epistles of Christ and for the effectual doing hereof he will put his Spirit into us and as a real proof of it he will cause us to walk in his ways and in this Walk Love shall be the Motive for he will circumcise the heart to love him and Fear the Bridle for he will put his Fear in the heart never to depart from him and which is the Crown of all he himself will be a God to us and we shall be a people to him in an everlasting Covenant Stand still O Saints and adore here loe here is the ministration of the Spirit indeed 2 Cor. 3. 8. here are words which are spirit and life Joh. 6. 63. here is the supernal Jerusalem the mother of spiritual freedom Gal. 4. 26. here is the immortal seed which begets all the Sons of God 1 Pet. 1. 23. here is that Vis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or formative Virtue which moulds us into the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. here is the day of God's power which makes his people willing to serve him in the beauties of holiness Psal. 110. 3. Happy yea thrice happy they who dwell in this Land of Promise and drink of these Wells of Salvation 2. The general and conditional Promises are extensive to all men but the special and absolute Promises respect the Elect and them only for they are fulfilled in them and them only had these extended to all that God who cannot lye nor deny himself would have fulfilled them in all You will say He would have fulfilled them in all but that men themselves will not But what a strange word is this they will not Will they not if God give them a Will a new heart and a new spirit Will they not if God take away the nilling and resisting Principle the heart of stone Will they not if God write his Laws in their hearts and inward parts O what is this but by an absurd Blasphemy to change God's Truth into a lye his Omnipotence into weakness and his Glory into the old broken Idol of Creature-freedom Surely if God who is Truth and Power engage to make a new Heart the old one cannot hinder it if he promise to remove Hardness Hardness cannot resist it if he say that he will write the Law in the Heart the Heart will not say Nay to his Almighty Fingers Seeing then these Promises are not fulfilled in all but in the Elect only I may safely affirm that they respect not all but the Elect only These things being so it appears how in what manner Christ's Death respects men even more or less as the Promises of the Covenant founded on his Blood do more or less respect them As the general Promises extend to all men so the Death of Christ the Mediator proportionably extends to them all and as the special Promises point only at the Elect so the Death of Christ the Mediator hath a peculiar respect to them Christ by his Death over and besides the general Promises founded those special Promises for the Elect hence they come to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sons of promise Gal. 4. 28. begotten by it to spiritual life which others standing only under the general Promises are not All the saving Graces of the Elect suting to those special Promises are no other than the fruits of Christ's Merits they
can truly say to the Covetous God is my gold Job 22. 25. to the Ambitious God is my glory Psal. 3. 3. to the Voluptuous God is my delight Isai. 58. 14. to the Souldier God is my buckler and high tower Psal. 18. 2. to the Mariner God is my broad rivers and streams Isai. 33. 21. to the Potentates and Emperours of the World God is my crown and diadem Isai. 28. 5. and to those who with Esau have enough of the World Jacob-like I have all Gen. 33. 11. all in one even in God alone Such Resolutions as these are the proper Issues of this purposing Principle this makes the Will free indeed before it was free in Naturals but now in Spirituals which is freedom indeed When the Will fixes it self upon the Creature as its End it is in straits in a house of bondage Take the World in its own place 't is a spacious Looking-glass of God's Power and Goodness but take it as a man's End and Happiness 't is too strait and narrow for the immortal Spirit to breathe in Hence carnal Men even in the fulness of sufficiency are yet instraits Job 20. 22. but when the Will through this purposing Principle fixes it self upon God as its End 't is free indeed The Rabbins call God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Place and a large one he is no less than an Infinity and Immensity of Goodness such as no desire or out-going of the Will can ever pass thorough Here there is Room enough for an immortal Spirit Goodness enough to satiate the rational Appetite for ever Now as the desiring Principle is Love in the Will in its first Plantation so this purposing Principle is Love further rooted and grounded in the same Faculty 3. In that it is a resting Principle such as enclines and disposes the Will to a double rest in God 1. To a Rest of Innitence 2. To a Rest of Complacence 1. To a Rest of Innitence it inclines the Will to lean and roll it self upon God and to set its faith and hope in him hereby the Heart hath an access unto God and casts and ventures it self upon him for all its happiness as being fully resolved in it self to be happy only in him And this is no other than Faith in the Will considered ut in ultimo termino in God its only resting-place We which believe saith the Apostle do enter into rest Heb. 4. 3. Faith makes a man cease from himself and enter into rest by a fiducial repose on God's All-sufficiency 2. To a Rest of Complacency it enclines the Will to delight in the Almighty Isai. 58. 14. and count him its exceeding joy Psal. 43. 4. Hereby the Soul dwells at ease or lodges in goodness as the Original hath it Psal. 25. 13. hereby it lies down in the bosom of bliss and hath peace for its tabernacle Job 5. 24. God was the Levites inheritance Deut. 18. 2. As the purposing Principle makes a man a spiritual Levite so the resting Principle gives a man an inheritance in God and this is Love in its triumph and joy inheriting all things in Gods Mercy and glorious All-sufficiency 2. This Principle of Rectitude or Holiness sets the Will right in reference to the true Means The true Means is Jesus Christ the Mediator the only way into the Holy of Holies is through the Veil of his flesh We are in a treble Incapacity of returning unto God our ultimate End We are in the Darkness of Sin and see not the right path thither and as to this Christ is the way as a Prophet teaching us by his Spirit and Word We are in the Guiltiness of Sin and dare not approach thither and as to this Christ is the way as a Priest offering up his Blood and Righteousness for us We are in the Impotency and Enmity of Sin and cannot will not of our selves return thither and as to this Christ is the way as a King subduing and ruling us by his gracious Sceptre God hath sealed Christ to all these Offices for this very end to bring us home to himself Now this Principle sets the Will right in reference to Christ in all his Offices 1. Take him as a Prophet this Principle sets the Heart right in a threefold respect 1. 'T is a Principle of humble Teachableness God who is the Soul's Centre dwelling in Light unapproachable and Christ who is in the Father's bosom being the great revealer of him this Principle enclines the Will to hearken to Christ the ear is opened or revealed to hear the great Prophet in all things There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or readiness of mind to let in every beam of Light and catch at every drop of Truth which falls from Christ. Before Man was a Wolf and a Lion for bruitish untractableness but now a little child may lead him Isai. 11. 6. even the least truth or message from Christ he will not be unruly or break away from it for a World but meekness and humility make him as a little Child ruleable by every word of Christ. 2. 'T is a Principle of Faith ready to receive Christ in the name of a Prophet Christ doth no sooner usher in a Truth into the Soul but this Principle clasps about it with fiducial embraces and says This is a beam from the Sun of righteousness this is a message from the Angel of the Covenant sent on purpose to setch me away to God Hereby the Soul is disposed to believe Christ's Words and receive his Testimony 3. 'T is a Principle of Love ready to embrace Christ as the Angel of God's face or presence and kiss the Son as revealing holy secrets from the Fathers bosom This Principle hangs upon Christ's myrrh-dropping lips and when he speaks it catches up his words as the words of eternal life every Truth is received in Love as from Christ's hand and above all Christ himself is very precious because he is the brightness of glory 2. Take him as a Priest this Principle sets the Heart right towards him Under the Law the Levites were given to the Priest under the Gospel those who are spiritual Levites are given to Christ the High-priest Now the Principle whereby they are given to Christ as a Priest is double 1. 'T is a Principle of Faith enclining the Soul to wash in the Laver of Christ's Blood and wrap up it self in the Robe of his Righteousness This is called in Scripture trusting in Christs name Matth. 12. 21. faith in his blood Rom. 3. 25. receiving the atonement Rom. 5. 11. and receiving the gift of righteousness Rom. 5. 17. When a Soul comes up out of the wilderness of Sin to return to God all the way it leans upon Jesus Christ Cant. 8. 5. 2. 'T is a Principle of Love enclining the Soul to love Jesus Christ as its Priest When once there are Faith-glances in the Understanding at Christ crucified and Faith-rollings in the Will upon him the holy Fire called a vehement
Hos. 9. 7. Now the Heart when this Principle is in it hates and abhorrs the taste of this poison the smell of this vomit the touch of this menstruous cloth the sight or appearance of this filthy excrement the thought of this enmity to God and the very presence of this abominable thing this hatred is the very life and spirit of Repentance As the love of Sin is the vinculum unionis or vital spirit whereby the Soul and Sin are intimately united together so the hatred of Sin is the solutio vinculi or the extinction of that vital spirit whereby the Soul and Sin are separated one from another 3. As it is a Principle of actual Reformation or forsaking of Sin and this is no other than the two former Principles of Sorrow and Hatred conspiring together to make away with Sin Sorrow nails the old Man with all his members upon the Cross there to die in pains and agonies and Hatred pierces into his very Heart and le ts out his vital Blood I mean the love of Sin that he may be sure to die and not revive again where these two are a man suffers in the flesh and ceases from sin 1 Pet. 4. 1. he cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commit sin 1 Joh. 3. 9. not so as he did before Sorrow forbids it to be the joy of his way and Hatred forbids it to be the love of his Heart and both cast it out as an unclean thing causing God's departure from the Soul 3. As to the Affections there is a Principle which tunes and harmonizes them and that in a threefold respect 1. 'T is a Principle reductive of the Affections to the Rule of Reason God in Creation made Man a Lord over Brutes anointed Reason to reign over the Affections but as soon as Man rebelled against God all within him and without him was hurled into confusion Without the brute Beasts rebelled against his person and within the brutish Lusts rebelled against his Reason but when converting Grace reduces Man into order again then the beasts of the field are at peace with him Joh 5. 23. and the Affections of the Heart throw down their arms and confess their homage to the Kingdom of Reason This Principle makes a man able to rule over his own spirit Prov. 16. 32. and say with Authority to one Affection Go and it goeth and to another come and it cometh 'T is true Moral Vertue doth in its way subject the Affections to Reason but this supernatural Principle doth it in a more excellent manner there the Subjection is to Reason as the supreme Faculty of the Soul but here it is to it as the candle of the Lord even for his sake who lighted it up for the guidance of the blind Faculties there it is to Reason as a natural Light but here it is to it as supernaturally illuminated The holy Spirit makes the Truths of the Gospel to become the Law of the mind and this Law of the mind rules over the Affections the Affections are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Woman-part in us the head of this woman is the Man or Reason and the head of this Man is Christ and his holy unction 2. 'T is a Principle moderative of the Affections as to the things of the World Before Conversion the Earth hath its Throne in the Heart but this Principle shakes the earth out of her place before the Affections are as Sails spread open to the gales of the World but this Principle contracts and folds them up lest the spirit of the World should fill them Earthly things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the smallest things of all 1 Cor. 6. 2. and where this Principle is a very small portion of them will suffice Agur's dimensum Daniels pulse our Saviours daily bread Pauls food and raiment Luther's Herring any thing with the word of blessing will serve the turn when there is little or nothing without still there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a self-sufficiency of holy content within and when there is a concourse or affluence of all outward blessings this Principle is as Balast to keep the Heart from drowning and overwhelming it self therein there is such an holy allay upon the Soul that in the lowest ebbs of adversity it possesses all things in its God and in the highest tides of prosperity it will not be possessed by any thing in the World Alas saith the Soul all this is but thick clay and why should I lade my Eagle-affections with it All this is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much fancy and why should an immortal Soul be set upon it The whole World is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a figure or shadow and that Time which invelopes it is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 time contracted and contracted into a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so the Apostle calls the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the now world 2 Tim. 4. 10. Wherefore a shadow of Affections is big enough for a figure and the shortest glance of the Heart long enough for a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transient and momentany thing which perishes with the very using The World in Scripture is set out as a nullity a thing that is not Prov. 23. 5. and this Principle deals with it as such it makes a man rejoyce as if he rejoiced not and buy as if he possessed not the Affections like translated Enoch are not found here below because God hath translated them 3. 'T is a Principle inflammative of the Affections towards God and the things of God before the Affections run down to the World as their Centre but this Principle turns the stream of the Soul upward towards God now Love which is the Key of the heart opens unlocks it unto God Desire which is Love in motion goes out in holy breathings and thirstings after him and if he stay away from the Soul Hope which is Love in expectation looks and waits for his approaches to the Soul and when he doth approach thither Delight which is Love in rest or acquiescence joys and keeps sabbath in his presence and lest this Sabbath should be broken Fear which is the Soul's Sentinel watches against Sin as the great make-bate and incendiary and when Sin offers to enter the Soul Hatred which is the Soul's Guard shuts the doors against it with an holy displicency and antipathy and if it do enter there Anger which is the Soul's Sword strikes at it with indignation and Sorrow which is the Soul's Issue vents and lets out the corrupt blood and humours out of it and which is the heat and height of all Zeal sets the Soul on fire and makes it burn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that which is good for the Glory of God who is the supreme Good and against the commission of Sin which is the supreme Evil. Thus the whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trade or converse of the Affections is in heaven Phil. 3. 20. This Principle
sets the Heart upon God above all it may and doth love Creatures as the Prints of his Power and Goodness Ordinances as the Conduit-pipes of his Grace and Spirit and Saints as the lively Pictures and Resemblances of his Holiness but it sets the Heart upon God above all This Principle is a Fire dropt down from Heaven into the Heart to consume the dross of Corruption and inflame the Affections towards God 't is a touch from Christ risen and sitting in Glory to raise up the Affections out of the Tombs and Graves of earthly Vanities and to quicken and inspire them with the life of God that God may be all in all therein 2. Having shewed what Conversion is in the first instant I procede to the second In the first instant the Lamps of Grace are made in the second they are lighted up in the first instant the new Creature is begotten of God in all its parts and proportions in the second it is born into the spiritual World in the first instant the Tree of Righteousness is planted in the second it buds and blossoms and brings forth precious fruit there is an actuation of gracious Principles an actual turning of the Soul to God The Understanding doth actually see God as the supreme End Christ as the true Way and Sin as the great Obstacle The Will as to God the supreme End doth actually breathe after him in holy desires fix on him by serious purposes and rest in him fiducially and complacentially for all happiness As to Christ the true way it doth actually embrace and receive him as a Prophet for Guidance and Instruction as a Priest for Satisfaction and Intercession and as a King in the Government of his Spirit and Word And as to Sin the great Obstacle it doth actually surround it with Sorrow fight against it with Hatred and overcome it by a real Reformation The Affections do actually bow down under Reasons Sceptre come off from the World's Breasts and ascend up in holy Flames towards God and under this sanctified and actually returning Soul the members of the Body become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weapons of righteousness actually performing and executing the commands thereof Thus all the Habits and Principles of Grace are actuated and all the Powers and Faculties of Man are actually returned unto God Now this actual Conversion comes into Being three ways 1. As from the inward vital Principles of Grace there is a divine Life and Vigour in them putting forth the Soul to Acts congruous and connatural thereunto the divine nature will be shewing forth it self the well of living water will be springing up the seed of God will be shooting forth the kingdom of heaven though but as a grain of Mustard-seed will at last become a Tree When there is a Principle of right Knowledge in the Understanding it is a well-spring of life Prov. 16. 22. and the wise who have it shall understand Dan. 12 10. When there is a Principle of Rectitude in the Will integrity will guide it and direct its way Prov. 11. 3 5. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rectitudes or rightnesses will love Jesus Christ Cant. 1. 4. that is such hearts as have right Principles in them will assuredly love him for the Byass of those Principles draws to it converting Israel will cast forth his roots Hos. 14. 5. the root of Faith casts forth it self in actual believing the root of Love in actual loving The root of the righteous yieldeth its fruit Prov. 12. 12. The very Nature of these Principles is to dispose the Soul to actual Conversion Even moral Vertues dispose to moral Acts how much more do supernatural Principles dispose to spiritual Acts Moral Habits are of our own house but supernatural Principles are of a higher Extraction coming down from Heaven and stiled the vertues of God 1 Pet. 2. 9. therefore there must needs be more Vertue and Vigour in them than in moral Habits which come forth out of Principles of Reason and are the Vertues of Men. 2. Actual Conversion comes into Being as from the assistant and auxiliary Grace of God When the Apostle gives account of himself as to the Principles of Grace he saith By the grace of God I am that I am all his spiritual Essence was from free Grace When he gives an account of himself as to the exercise of Grace he saith I laboured yet not I but the Grace of God which was with me 1 Cor. 15. 10. auxiliary Grace which was with him moved the Principles of Grace which made up his spiritual Essence into actual exercise The new Creature can no more do ought of it self than the old As natural Agents live and move in the God of Nature so spiritual Agents live and move in the God of Grace Wherefore that there may be actual Conversion indeed there is help from the holy One a quickning virtue from God Psal. 119. 37. a stirring up and fluttering over the nest of gracious Principles Deut. 32. 11. a supply of the Spirit Phil. 1. 19. and grace with our Spirit Philem. Ver. 25. nay in a sober sence Immanuel God with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord with us to encline our hearts to him 1 Kings 8. 57 58. God himself is as dew to Israel and then the roots of Grace cast forth themselves Hos. 14. 5. God blows and breathes upon his garden by auxiliary Grace and then the spices thereof flow out in the actual exercise of Grace Cant. 4. 16. 3. Actual Conversion comes into Being as from the Soul it self Timothy must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stir or blow up his grace 2 Tim. 1. 6. auxiliary Grace stirs and blows up the Principles of Grace the Principles of Grace stir and blow up the Soul and the Soul by virtue of those Principles and Assistances stirs and blows up it self unto actual Conversion Anima as a Learned Man hath it priùs act a agit priùs mota movet priùs à Deo conversà convertit se ad Deum Hence in Scripture Conversion is stiled man's act he believes to righteousness Rom. 10. 10. he returns to the Lord with all his heart 1 Sam. 7. 3. he gives himself unto the Lord 2. Cor. 8. 5. he obeys to the form of Gospel-doctrine Rom. 6. 17. still it is man's act Where we may note a remarkable difference between habitual and actual Conversion in the production of actual Conversion Man is active but in the production of gracious Principles he is passive We read in Scripture of men believing and repenting but we never read of any man who made himself a new heart and a new spirit these are of God's make only but being made the man in whom they are through auxiliary Grace doth actually turn to God Having shewed what Conversion is in the first and second instant thereof I pass on to the next and last Quaere viz. 3. Who is the Worker of Conversion and this I shall cleave asunder into three
spiritually dead to take in the Word of God as from a divine Impression in that the words of Christ entred not at all into the naturally dead in this the Word of God enters into the spiritually dead even intimately into his very heart in that the words of Christ were transient and passed away in this the Word of God though it may pass away as to its sounds and syllables yet as to its substance it lives and abides for ever in the new Creature Wherefore these differences considered I conclude That Christ's words were only declarative in that Resurrection but God's Word is operative also in this The manner how God works gracious Principles in and by his Word as an Instrument is a Secret which I dare not pry into only for a little more illustration of the Words Efficacy in the production of gracious Principles there are two Instants or Moments to be distinctly considered 1. The first Instant or Moment is that wherein there is a close Application and intimate Inning of the Word in the Heart in common Auditors the Word is upon the Heart but here it is in it in temporary Believers the Word is in some degree in the heart but here it is in it intimately This close Application is excellently set out in Scripture 't is a nail fastned Eccles. 12. 11. 't is a word engrafted Jam. 1. 21. 't is instruction sealed Joh 33. 16. 't is the Law put and written in the heart Heb. 8. 10. 't is wisdom entring into the heart Prov. 2. 10. 't is the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or entrance into his auditors 1 Thess. 2. 1. 't is the word having a place in us Joh. 8. 37. and such a place as to root in our hearts thus Joh says of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the root of the word is found in me Joh 19. 28. and this Root is such as will abide in us and become the incorruptible seed of the new Creature This close Application is a glorious work of God and the Word is not altogether passive therein but in the hand of the Spirit 't is quick and powerful as a sharp Sword piercing and cutting its way into the heart Heb. 4. 12. and as a mighty Engine casting down imaginations and high things there 2 Cor. 10. 5. that it self may have a place and Throne in the same 2. The second Instant or Moment is that wherein God in and by the Word so intimately inned in the Heart doth produce the Principles of Grace there in the first Moment the indwelling Word makes the Heart a spiritual Bethlehem a House of Bread in the second Christ is spiritually born there in the first Moment the incorruptible Seed is sown in the Heart in the second it springs up into a new Creature The Scripture seems to me to hold out this Method very clearly the engrafted word is able to save the soul Jam. 1. 21. the Word saves the Soul but not merely as outwardly expressed but as inwardly engrafted Faith comes by hearing the word Rom. 10. 17. but is that a mere outward hearing No surely there is a hearing of the Father and so a coming to Christ Joh. 6. 45. There is the powerful and intimate demonstration of the Spirit and so faith stands in the power of God 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. that is to say in that power of God which intimately demonstrates and closely applies the Word unto the Heart as its true Cause and Foundation When the Apostle speaks of the Thessalonians Faith and Love 1 Thess. 1. 3. he there opens the causes thereof viz. the fontal Cause God's Election Ver. 4. and the instrumental Cause the Gospel Ver. 5. but how could the Gospel be an Instrument The Apostle tells us that it came to them not in word only but in power and in the holy Ghost it was strongly and sweetly set home upon the Heart and from that Impress came Faith and Love The Wise Man would have the Word kept in the midst of the heart and his Reason is because it is life Prov. 4. 21 22. The Word in the Ear only is but a transient 〈◊〉 but the Word in the midst of the Heart is Spirit and Life Job proves the truth of his Grace thus The root of the word is in me Joh 19. 28. The Word as shining on the Head lights up Notions but as rooted in the Heart springs up in Graces St. John tells the Young Men that they are strong and for a â—eason adds this the word of God abides in them 1 Joh. 2. 14. St. Paul first speaks of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or entrance into his auditors and then of their turn to the living and true God 1 Thess. 1. 9. The entrance of the word into the Understanding giveth light Psal. 119. 130. and when it passeth from the Understanding to the Will 't is spiritually a word upon the wheels and inwardly becomes free-making truth Joh. 8. 32. ennobling the Will with true Liberty in the ways of God Epaphras was in an Agony of Prayer for the Colossians that they might be filled in all the will of God Col. 4. 12. the more filling with God's Will the more true Liberty in ours St. Peter clearly asserts that we are born again of the incorruptible seed of the word 1 Pet. 1. 23. In which words his plain meaning is that the Word being intimately sown in the Heart doth under the warming influences of the hoâ—â— spirit spring up into the new Creature and to make this the plainer he adds that the word lives and abides for ever speaking as I take it not of the Words living and abiding in it self but of its living and abiding in the new Creature As it is with natural Seed or Grain sown the Husk or outward part passes away but the lively or substantial part springs up into the Stalk Blade and Ear so it is with the Seed of the Word the letters and syllables the noise and sound of words pass away but the lively and substantial Truth springs up into the new Creature and in it lives and abides for ever God made two great Promises of Regeneration the one That he would write the Law in the heart and the other That he would give a new heart and the latter he fulfils by the former In these two Instants distinguishable at least in Nature doth God by his Word bring forth the Principles of Grace Now here I would conclude this point but that I am obviated by two Objections The one absolutely against the Words Instrumentality The other against the Method proposed in the two Instants 1. Object That against the Words Instrumentality is this The Production of gracious Principles is a Creation and in Creation there can be no Instrument at all and therefore the Word cannot be an Instrument in that Production In answer to which Objection founded on Philosophical Principles I think it were enough to say with the Psalmist Thy testimonies are wonderful Psal.
a thing will you say What saith holy Stephen Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears you do always resist the holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye Acts 7. 51. To which I answer That the Spirit may be said to be resisted two ways either as it is in the external Ministry or as it comes in the internal Operations It may be said to be resisted in the external Ministry He that despiseth you despiseth me saith Christ Luk. 10. 16. He that despiseth despiseth not man but God saith the Apostle 1 Thess. 4. 8. When therefore it is said that they resisted the holy Ghost the meaning is not that they resisted him as to his internal Operations but that they resisted him as to the external Ministry This appears by the Context for they resisted him as their fathers did ver 51. and how was that The next Verse tells us Which of the Prophets have not your fathers persecuted Ver. 52 Their resistance of the Spirit was in persecution of the Prophets But you 'l say Might they not also resist him as to his internal Operations I answer so much doth not appear in the Text but however the internal Operations of the Spirit are twofold some are for the production of common Graces some for the production of saving Graces such as the new Heart and new Spirit Now if the holy Ghost may be resisted as to the former Operations yet it cannot as to the latter for in these it takes away the heart of Stone the resisting Principle and gives an Heart of Flesh capable of divine Impressions 4. God doth insuperably remove the Obstacles of Conversion What is thy Mind dark nay darkness it self God can command the light out of darkness and shine into the heart 2 Cor. 4. 6. Is thine Ear deaf He can say Ephatha to it and seal instruction Job 33. 16. Is thy Heart hard and stony He can take away the stony heart and in the room of it give an heart of flesh Ezek. 36. 26. Is thy Heart barred and shut up against God He can open it as well as Lydia's Acts 16. 14. he opens and none can shut Rev. 3. 7. Doth thy Will hang back He can draw thee Joh. 6. 44. and reveal such day of power upon thy heart as shall make thee truly willing Psal. 110. 3. Dost thou go on frowardly in the way of thy heart Yet he can see thy way and heal thee Isai. 57. 17 18. Dost thou oppose the precious Gospel Yet peradventure he will give thee repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. Whatever the Obstacle be he can remove it he can cast down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every height in the heart 2 Cor. 10. 5. and then what Obstacles can remain Now if God do insuperably remove the Obstacles of Conversion then he doth insuperably produce the Work of Conversion 5. If God do not work Conversion in an insuperable way then what doth he produce towards it but a mere posse convertere According to the Remonstrants Doctrine he doth not infuse Habits or vital Principles of Grace neither will they in plain direct terms assert that he doth produce actual Conversion what then doth he produce towards it but a mere posse convertere and is not a posse peccare from him also Voluntatem say the Remonstrants comitatur proprietas inseparabilis quam libertatem vocamus à qua Voluntas dicitur esse potentia quae positis omnibus praerequisitis ad agendum necessariis potest velle nolle an t velle non velle And again Semper in omni statu hujus vitae ubi legislatio praemiorum promissio poenarum interminatio hortationes preces similia locum habent voluit Deus libertatem Voluntati adesse quâ objectū ab intellectu monstratū velle potest nolle aut velle non velle Surely if the Nature and inseparable Property of the Will be such and such by the Will of God then according to the Remonstrants Doctrine a posse peccare is from God as the Author of Nature as well as a posse convertere is from him as the Author of Grace and by consequence it follows that he doth act as far towards Transgression as towards Conversion No by no means will you say it cannot be for God by his Commands Promises and the Spirit 's Motions doth promote Conversion but by his Prohibitions Threatnings and the Spirit 's Counter-motions doth beat back Transgression Very well these things shew that God's Actings touching Conversion and Transgression are not the same as to the Manner nevertheless they still remain the same as to the Terminus or product For after all the Commands Promises and Motions towards Conversion still the Terminus or Product is but a posse convertere and notwithstanding all the Prohibitions Threatnings and Motions against Transgression still there is the Terminus or Product of a posse peccare and by consequence he acts as far towards Transgression as towards Conversion Will you yet reply that God gives a posse convertere and without this Man could not convert and when he doth actually convert God concurrs thereunto I answer that according to the Remonstrants Doctrine God gives a posse peccare also and without this Man could not sin and when he doth actually sin God concurrs to the material Act thereof and where then is the Difference By the Doctrine of resistible Grace God seems to act as far towards Transgression as towards Conversion 6. If God do not work Conversion in an insuperable way then he works it in a dependent way putting Man's Will in aequilibrio as it were in an eaven Ballance that it may turn or not turn to God ad placitum Now that this last is none of God's Method clearly appears because God as beseems his infinite Wisdom works Conversion in such a way as is most depressive of the Creature and exaltative of himself the Man whom he indeed converts doth lick the Dust the fountain of Blood in his Nature is broken up and the superfluity of Naughtiness in his Life set in order before him he falls down in self-abhorrencies and cannot deny but that he is a Beast in his sensual Sins and a Devil in his spiritual he perceives his spiritual Poverty to be extreme so many thousand Talents owing to divine Justice and nothing at all to pay a shameful nakedness in his Soul and not a rag of Righteousness to cover it as a wretched half-damned Creature down he goes to the brink of Hell and from thence be hath a prospect of Heaven down he goes into the Abyss of his own Nullity and from thence hath some glimpses of Christ's Allness His first breath of spiritual Life is a groaning under the weight of Sin Oh! the intimate love of Sin says he 't will never out unless my heart be broken all to pieces Oh! the obdurate Stone in my Heart it cannot be mollified but by Almighty Grace Oh! my dead Heart nothing can quicken it
Power the Gospel comes in power and in the holy Ghost 1 Thess. 1. 5. and in the demonstration of the Spirit and power 1 Cor. 2. 4. there is Power in it nay excellency of power 2 Cor. 4. 7. nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding greatness of power and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the working of the might of power such as raised up Jesus Christ from the dead Eph. 1. 19 20. The entire words runs thus What is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead the Apostle here doth not only denote Gods Power towards Believers but also Gods Power in making them such As there is exceeding greatness of power towards Believers so those Believers did believe according to the working of his mighty power such as raised up Christ from the dead Every way a Believer in fieri and in facto esse is surrounded with Power and excellent greatness of Power Oh! what rare Eloquence what high strains are here Too much and too high in all reason for resistible Grace If the weakness of God be stronger than Man surely the Power of God in its might and excellency put forth for the production of gracious Principles cannot be resisted and overcome by him 6. The Heart which hath gracious Principles in it is God's Tabernacle and all God's Tabernacles have been built in a sure way such as cannot fail of the Effect God besides the natural Tabernacle of his Eternity hath in his condescending Grace been pleased to have three Tabernacles built for him first he had a worldly tabernacle or sanctuary Heb. 9. 1. and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he tabernacled in our flesh Joh. 1. 14. and last of all he hath a tabernacle in the Hearts of men a sanctuary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the midst of them that is in the midst of their Hearts Ezek. 37. 26. the Heart which hath gracious Principles in it is God's Tabernacle Hence God says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will indwell in them 2 Cor. 6. 16. Now God himself undertook that all these Tabernacles should be built As for the first God took care to have it made exactly to a Pin as for the second God engaged that a Virgin should conceive and bring forth Immanuel as for the third God binds himself in a Promise to raise up the tabernacle of David Amos 9. 11. that is to convert the Gentiles for so it is interpreted Acts 15. 14 15 16. New Creatures are the tabernacle of David there is David the Man after God's own Heart there Christ the true David dwells in the Heart by Faith and Love Again God says I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them Ezek. 37. 26. that is I will by my sanctifying Grace turn their Hearts into an holy place for my own habitation Moreover all the Tabernaoles of God have been made in a sure way because they have been made through the overshadowing presence of the holy Spirit As for the first the Master-workman of it was Bezaleel a man as his name imports in the shadow of God filled full of the Spirit of God in all wisdom for the doing of the work As for the second there is a Bezaleel too the holy Ghost comes upon and the power of the highest overshadows the blessed Virgin and so the holy thing the pure flesh of Christ was formed in her Womb Luk. 1. 35. And as for the third there Bezaleel again they that dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his shadow shall return Hos. 14. 7. the holy Ghost comes upon the Soul and the power of free Grace overshadows it and and so Christ or the holy thing is formed therein What is said of the Apostles as to their sacred Function The holy Ghost came upon them Acts 1. 8. the same is true of all true Christians as to their spiritual Generation Thus whilest Peter spake the holy Ghost fell on them Acts 10. 44. by his Grace making them an habitation of God Lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee Zach. 2. 10. he comes by his Spirit and makes their Hearts a Sanctuary for himself Thus this Tabernacle is built in a sure way because pitched by God himself but now if all the Operations of Grace be resistible what becomes of this Tabernacle God may raise and raise by all the Operations of his Grace and yet the Tabernacle not go up the holy Ghost may overshadow mens Souls and yet no Christ be formed in them a holy place in mens Hearts may be sought for the Lord and none at all found All these precious Promises of condescending Grace may fall to the ground You will say What remedy for all this God will not dwell in men whether they will or not Very true but if Almighty Power connot make men willing what can do it Christ received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them Psal. 68. 18. Observe 't is for the rebellious also not that God doth dwell in them as such but that by his gifts of Grace he turns rebellious Hearts into gracious and so comes and dwells in them as his own Tabernacle Wherefore I conclude that God works the Principles of Grace in an insuperable way 2. As to the second Instant of Conversion God works actual Conversion also in an insuperable way so that sooner or later it always takes effect And this will appear 1. From the Vitality of gracious Principles as backed with auxiliary Grace there is a divine Vigor in these Principles these are a Well of living water ready to spring up a Seed of God ready to shoot forth and a Beam of the divine Nature ready to sparkle out wherefore when auxiliary Grace stirs up this Well of living water bedews this Seed of God and blows up this Beam of the divine Nature it is no wonder at all that actual Conversion should infallibly follow Auxiliary Grace stirs up the Principles of Grace these stir up the Soul and that by virtue of both the former stirs up it self unto actual Conversion and so actual Conversion comes forth into Being 2. From the Insuperability of Grace in the Illumination of the Understanding God doth enlighten the Understanding in an irresistible way he shines into the heart he puts wisdom into the hidden parts who teaches like him Job 36. 22 He teaches with a strong hand Isai. 8. 11. He teaches in the demonstration of the Spirit and power 1 Cor. 2. 4. A Demonstration is such a thing as cannot be resisted by the mind of Man and of all Demonstrations the demonstration of the Spirit is most invincible Now if the Understanding be irresistibly enlightned then the Will as I have before proved doth infallibly follow it they that know God's name will trust in it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will come to Jesus Christ truth if but rightly