to come but also from everlasting age etnall in respect of that which is past Gods mercies are not onely without beginning but also without ending as it is so often repeated even 26 times Psal 136. his mercy endureth for ever This is it that is written by the prophet I the Lord I change not Therefore yee sonnes of Iacob are not consumed Mal. 3.6 Would you know the true reason why the sons of Iacob are nor consumed it is this I change not should the Lord change as often as we change should his love increase and decrease towards us as often as our love to him and obedience to his Maiesty ebbeth and floweth the Lord should be more variable then the wind more changeable then the Moon that the Lords love altereth not although it hath beene sufficiently proved by that which hath been spoken yet to the praise of the glory of his grace I will proceed to shew you by more restimonies that the Lord loveth all his elect with his great love even then when as they lie weltring in their sinnes transgressions Vnto this the Holy Ghost bears witnesse Rom. 5. verse 6. When we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly For whó Christ died them the Father the Son loved but Christ died for the ungodly that were without strength Therefore such were undoubtedly beloved of God Lest wee should think the first of these propositions to be weake it is confirmed verse 8. God commendeth his love to us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us And very worthy of observation is that which is spoken verse 10 When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne Here we have more proved than I have yet undertaken for my task is to prove that God was reconciled to us whilst we were enemyes This text saith not onely so but that we were recontiled to God when we were enemies But of this more shall be spoken hereafter only for the present we disire to have it granted that when we were reconciled to God he was without all doubt reconciled to us for our reconciliation to him is not the cause of his reconciliation to us but contrary his reconciliation to us is the cause of our reconciliation to him Now let us see the argument once againe For whom Christ died those he loved But Christ died for vngodly for sinners for enemies Therefore hee loved ememies sinners ungodly And with such a love as is not onely verball but reall not in word but in deed in truth as doth already appeare by his death and will yet more plainly appeare those acts of love communicated unto us even when wee were in the state of vngodlinesse in the worst estate and condition Let us consider that place so full of the glory of God which is writen Ezek. 16.2.3 verses unto the 15. verse Thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy Person in the day that thou wast born And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee in thy blood yea I said unto thee in thy blood â—ive Why doth the Lord use this Insemination In thy blood In thy blood 〈◊〉 it not because he knoweth how hardly we are drawne to beleeve the glory of his grace and how ready we are to rob him of the honour of his infinite mercy The Lord doth as it were say I know you will wonder at this that I should say Live before you were washed salted or swadled while you were in your blood But I remember the act of my grace which passed upon you even in blood I he Lord loved us not because we were washed and cleansed but therefore he washed and cleansed us because he loved us See the freenes of Gods love God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten sonne that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life Ioh. 3.16 This place is wel known unto you it may be here lies hid something which many of you never discovered namely that Christ given is the effect of Gods love not the cause And that the love of God goes before the gift of his son as the cause goeth before the effect He therefore gave his sonne because he loved If this seem strange that Gods love should be more ancient in order of causes then the gift of his sonne Because that in him God doth communicate all things unto us I answer that Christ is God manifested to him in the flesh 1 Tim 3.16 And that all the blessings of that love wherewith the Lord loved us eternally are manifested onely in Christ Iesus And in him they are fully manifested to have been for ever in the bosome of the Father So that for us to say or think that Christ purchased the love of the Father for us is that which I am confident the redeemer of the world will not chalenge unto himself But say as in another case it is not mine to give but it was given to them to whom it is given before the foundation of the world was laid This is all that I am able to speak unlesse it should be lawfull for me in so reverend a mystery to use a distinction and to consider in the love of God the original of his love and the continuation thereof and to say that the original of his love was before the gift of his sonne as the cause before the effect But that the continuation of love is to be referred unto the propriation of the redeemer as the effect of that sacrifice which he offered To speak plain Gods love was before the gift of his son as the cause before the effect But the continuation of that love that he should loveus for ever requires a foregoing propitiation satisfaction But when we shal say thus we fall into a depth unsearchable when we shall ask why the continuation of his love should rather require a foregoing propitiation then the originall setting of his love upon us I confesse I cannot tell what to say for to cleare this but tremble to speak of this glerious mystery And desire to refer my self to the iudgement of the spirituall who are able to iudge all things and to be instructed by them whether it be not safer to rest in that which was said before then with subtilty of distinctions to wade into the depth unsearchable We see the great love of God to us in our bloud how that he so loved us that he gave us his sonne I will now be bold to step a step higher if higher may be and to shew you that God did not onely love us in our bloud with his great love But that his love to us in our broud was as great as ever afterwards He loved us I say with as great love when we were in bloud and polltion as he did afterward when we were cleansed I know the Pharisee
will stamp at this and say Doth God love us aswell before conversion as after conversion Did God love Paul with as great a love when that he persecuted the Church as when he preached the Gospell I will answer boldly yea he did And that I shall by the assistance of God prove unto you against men or de ills who shall oppose it That God loved us being dead in trespasses and sinnes you have heard proved now give mee leave to propound a question Whether this great love wherewith God loved sinners be not his infinite love like himself nay whether is it any other thing then him self God is love 1 Ioh. 4.16 If this be granted that Gods love is infinite to sinners that it is like himself yea that it is himselfe for love in God is not a quality Then it will be plaine that his love is not capable of increase or decrease but is alwayes one and the same The difference is in us whose apprehensions doe often increase and decrease Again is not the love of God to be weighed by the pledges of his love But we shall find the greatest pledges of his love to be given unto sinners even in the state of ungodlinesse What greater pledge than the gift of his Sonne In this God commendeth his love c. as before Rom. 5.8 All the mercies of God are commendations of his love but none like this All other gifts are not comparable to the gift of his Sonne He thht spared not his owne Sonne but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 If all things were laid in one ballance and the Sonne of God in the other no man doubteth but that the Sonne of God would bee iufinitely beyond all things Greater love than this hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friend John 15.13 But greater love hath God in that he laid down his life for his enemies In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his onely begotten Son into the world that wee might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent his Sonne to be the propitiation for our sinnes 1 Iohn 4.9.10 Now that the Apostle saith In this was manife sted the love of God And Herein is love he doth it to this end that hee might shew unto us that Christ was the greatest manifestation of Gods love Hereby perceive we the love of God That he hath laid down his life for us 1 Iohn 3.16 These speeches are all comparative shewing us that Gods loue was manifest in nothing more or rather nothing so much as in the death of his Son Abrahams love to God appeared in many things but above all in that he denied not his Sonne For now I know thai thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with-held thy sonne thine onely sonne from me Gen 22.12 May not we iustly say with admiration unto God Now we know that thou lovest us because thou hast not with-held thy Sonne thine onely Sonne Thus you see God doth not onely love us before conversion but he loveth us with his great love yea his greatest love that ever was communicated to the creature for greater love did God never manifest to the creature than that hee should give his Sonne This may more fully appeare by severall effects of the love of God communicated unto men by God in and through his Sonne before conversion faith c. or any thing in us preconsidered He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world Eph. 1.4 Again Hee hath predestinated us unto the adoption of sonnes by Iesus Christ to himselfe according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his bloud even the forgivenesse of sinnes according to the riches of his grace verses 5.6.7 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his own will verse 11. How many acts of God have wee here comunicated by his grace unto the creature before repentance faith or conversion or calling We will adde to these one act of grace more communicated to the creature in the state of ungodlinesse God justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4.5 yea take wee sanctificaiion in the common acception may we not say God sanctisieth the ungodly For men are not sanctified because they are godly but godly because they are sanctified Yea one thing more even Calling it self effectual Calling I meane goes before conversion as the cause before the effect for calling is not an effect of conversion but conversion is an effect of calling It is necessary that God call before wee can heare yea that God open the heart before wee can receive If I did think that these things needed proofe I would spend time about it You see now Predestination Choosing Redemption Iustification Sanctification Calling opening of the Heart all of them gracious acts of God communicated unto the creature before the conversion of the creature to God Let us heare the Lord speaking of his own work upon the creature Esay 57.18 Hee went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his wayes and will heale him I will lead him also and restore comforts to him and to his mourners Whom wilt thou heale O Lord whom wilt thou restore Even him whose wayes I have seen What are those wayes Even frowardnesse and perversnesse Hee went in frowardly in the way of his heart See againe Esay 43.25 I even I am hee that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes Whose sins will the Lord blot our Looke wee back unto the 22. verse Thou hast not called upon mee O Iacoh thou hast been weary of mee O Israel Thou hast made me to serve with thy sinnes Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities verse 24. See Thou hast been wearie of me yea thou hast wearied me This is Iacohs qualisication This is Israels preparation Then followes I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions As if the Lord would say unto his people as he speaketh by the prophet Ezek. Chap. 36.22 Say unto the house of Israel Thus saith the Lord God I doe not this for your sake O house of Israell but for my holy names sake which ye have profaned among the Heathen whither ye went or as when Israel was neer the confines of Canaan The Lord speaketh thus unto them by Moses understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possosse it for thy righteousnesse for thou art a stiffnecked people Deut. 9.6 As if the Lod should say I will blot out your transgressions But I would have you know the riches of my grace It is not any thing in you that
yet I will endevout to speak what I am able And I shall commend unto you a twofold Peace the first Descending The second ascending The first is the tidings of the love and reconciliation of the everliving God unto the sonnes of men The second declares the reconciliation of the sonnes of men to the everliving and everloving God To speak plain first I will shew how God comes to be reconciled unto men Beare with the term reconciled although improperly spoken of him that was never an euemy Secondly I will shew you how we come to be reconciled unto God For the first How doth God come to be reconciled to men I conceive now the drooping conscience that sits in darknesse under the cloudy apprelhension of an angry Iudge under the fearfull expectation of a terrible account to be given unto the consuming fire wil be very attentive to heare that which his heart so thirsteth after How God may be reconciled Oh what shal I doe saith the soule to obtain the favour of God What shall I doe to turn away his wrathfull displeasure from me wherewith shall I come before him or how shall I appease him Attend therefore and I shall declare that which thou wilt hardly believe when it is told unto thee for Lord who hath believed out report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed Isa 53.1 And yet that which I shall declare if thou canst believe it will fill thy mouth with laughter and thy longue with singing Psal 126.2 Take this proposition God is freely and fully reconciled to the elect and loveth them in Iesus Christ without any previous dispositions without any qualifications without any performances of conditions on their parts unlesse to be polluted and finful be a previous condition or qualification This is a bold proposition will the pharisee say this is too good newes to be true will the distressed soul say But I say the Lord break your stony harts give you an heart of flesh that you may submit to his righteousnes And I make no question but the glorious grace of the father of our Lord Jesus Christ shal abundantly be manifested The method I intend is 1 To prove the truth of this proposition 2 To answer six obiections 3 To make application 1 For the proof When Eve and Adam in whose loins we all sinned had eaten the forbidden fruit and were now become guilty of condemnation They hear the voice of God walking in the garden which voice was this thou haste at en and thou shalt dy they hide thmselves from the presence of God amongst the trees of the garden when man had sinn'd was in a despairing condition having not so much wit as to think of a saviour much lesse the boldnes to ask one at the hands of an offended God Now in this case behold the exceed-Love of God towards man in giving and manifesting the promised seed aswell to the terrour of Satan as to the consolation of mankind And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed and it shall bruise his head and thou shalt bruise his heel Gen. 3.15 See if I may compare the Creator with the creature how the Lords bowells doe yern upon man And he cannot refraine himself but that least man should have been swallowed up with sorrow the blessing of the promised seed shall be first declared before the Lord pronounce the least curse against man Father Abraham receiveth the promise in the uncircumcision of his flesh And unto Adam is the promise revealed in the uncircumcision of his heart but lest you should think that some qualification in Adam did forerun the manifestation of the promise I will referre you unto that place of Scripture which I am resolved shall never slip out of my remembrance and I hope the like of you 2 Tim. 1.9 VVho hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Iesus before the world began What 〈◊〉 there that is not comprehended in this word grace here you see that grace was given before the world began Now what conditions or qualifictions were there in us before the world began We may safely therefore say that the grace of our God was before all conditions c unto this we will adde in the next place one text that like a diamond casteth his lustre in the dark and ministreth a great measure of the spirit Eph. 2.4.5 God who is rich in mercie for his great love wherewith the loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sinnes hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved What if I shall now prove so bold as to make such a stop at sinnes as shall shew that that part of the sentence is referred to that which went before so that we may say in plain terms that God loved us with his great Love even when we were dead in trespasses and sins If I shall read it thus the text will bear it either in the originall or in other translations But if any froward person shall say that I doe iniurie in reading it thus and that this clause dead in trespasses sins ought rather to be referred to quickened which followes after then to the verb loved which goeth before Let this man know that the sence will be one and the same for when God quickened us then he loved us with his great love His love being the cause of quickening the effect of his Love But thou sayst we were quickened when we were dead in trespasses and sins Therefore we conclude we were loved with his graet love when we were dead in trespasses and sins For further confirmation I must intreat you to consider what is written by the Apostle Rom. 9.11.12.13 verses For the children being not yet born neither having done good or evill that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth It was said unto her the elder shall serve the yonger as it is written Iacob have I loved but Esau have I hated Now you see Gods love set upon Iacob where were Iacobs qualifications he had neither done good nor evill Therefore it is plain that God loved him before any qualification But some may confesse that the Lord loved him indeed before he had done good or evil And yet may perchance ask a question upon a supposition saying suppose that after Iacob was born he should have led a wicked and perverse life suppose that for some yeares he should have been a notorious and prophane person would or could the Lord have continued his love to such a person as this I answer boldly yea for Gods love and mercy are mercies of eternity the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that feare him Psal 103 17 not only to everlasting as eternall in respect of time
moveth me unto it For there is nothing in you but rebellion but I doe it for my glory sake As the Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord Esay 48.8.9 I knew that thou wouldest deale very treachercusly and was called a transgressour from the womb for my names sake will I deferre mine anger and for my praise will I refraine for thee that I cut thee not off This is all the qualification we bring unto God to win his love and mercie We are rebellious we are prophane we are a stiffe necked people And if the Lord should not love us untill hee find lovely conditions in us surely he must hate us for ever If God should not be reconciled unto us untill we be reconciled unto him he must continue our enemy for ever Wherefore considering what hath been said we will be bold to conclude to the praise of the glory of his grace that his love and mercie to us is before all qualifications in us that his love and mercy to us is the cause of all qualifications in us That his love towards us is as great before faith and conversion as after There is no difference in him But some will say peradventure we grant that God thus loveth us as is before prov'd but it may be it was because hee foresaw we would be good repent beleeve c. Farre bee it from us to entertain such thoughts He that well pondereth what hath beene said shall well perceive that God doth not therefore love us because hee foresaw we will repent and beleeve but therefore causeth us to repent and beleeve in his time because he loveth us But to make this also more cleare the holy Ghost declares That the kindnesse of God towards man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3.4 5. The paterne according to which God setteth his love upon man was not any thing save his rich mercy whereby it is plain Not that wee loved him but that he loved us 1 Iohn 4.10 Yee have not chosen mee but I have chosen you Iohn 15.16 As our Father Abraham receiceived the righteousnesse of faith being yet uncircumcised and then received the signe of circumcision a seale of the righteousnesse of faith which hee had yet being uncircumcised So as Abraham was first righteous and then circumcised not first circumcised and then righteous So the children of Abraham are first beloved and then converted not first converted and then beloved And as God did not account Abraham righteous because he foresaw he would be circumcised But therefore he gave him the signe of Circumcision because he had made him righteous So it is with the children of Abraham God doth not therefore love them because he foreseeth they will repent and believe but therefore he causeth them in his time to repent and believe the Gospel because he loved them Thus have I done with the first thing propounded in the handling of this proposition The second followes namely the answer unto the severall obiections The first and greatest is this if God love the elect while they are yet dead in trespasses and sinnes tand so love them with his great love and with as great a love before couversion as after as is before proved then how is it said Psalm 5.5 Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity And hither we may reserre many places of Scripture of like nature If God hate all the workers of iniquity how can he be said to love the ungodly Thus you see in one short sentence seemeth to be quite overthrown all that I have hitherto spoken To wind out of this labarinth which some having assayed have further intangled themselves with invocation unto God for the wisedome of his holy Spirit to guid us into the truth I will first shew you what some have said to clear this and then I shall deliver unto you mine own iudgement And yet I hope not mine owne but the iudgement of the Spirit of God and of most of the Saints of God First then I find a great Cathedrall Doctor moving the obiection and labouring to give solution to give us this distinction That God hates the workes but nor the persons of his elect I will not stand to question whether there may be such a distinction admitted or no but will take it for grant and yet I doe believe sinne to be of that hideous nature and the iustice of God so perfect that he cannot but hate the person unto whom hee imputeth and upon whom he chargeth sinne if so be the person charged cannot give full perfect and present satisfaction And yet will I not say that the Sonne of God upon whom all our iniquities great and small were charged was at any time Filius odii a sonne of hatred for the father was eternally well pleased with him the reason is that our sinnes were no sooner charged upon him but that hee had given full and perfect satisfaction being the Lamh slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13.8 Although the soresaid distinction of person and workes should be granted without further question yet give me leave to pronounce it nothing pertinent to the solution of the Obiection in hand For the Text saith not onely he hateth the works but the workers that is the persons working iniquite Another answer is brought to untie this knot by a jiugling distinction of a twofold love in God namely Amor benevolentiae and amor complacentiae that the simple may understand there is in God say they a love of well willing and a love of liking Now God say they loves his elect before their conversion with the love of well-willing but not with the love of liking Like unto which we heare of a distinction not seldome Of the love of Election and the love of Iustification God say they loves his elect with the love of Election but not with the love of Iustification First of all I desire you to consider whether there be not more time then reason in these distinctions the love of Election and the love of Iustification being not diverfities of love or divers degrees of love but divers manifestations of one and the same infinite love As when a Father hath conveyed an inheritance to his Sonne here is no new love from the Father to the Sonne but a new manifestation of that love wherewith the father loved the sonne before Secondly how can it be that God should not like the person whom he loves There is indeed this difference betwen Humane love and Divine Men commonly love because they like but God likes because hee loves Man cannot but love where hee likes And I beleeve speaking of the person God cannot but like where hee loves To make such differences of love in God will I feare open a gap to many foule absurdities But suppose that these things could be so it will appeare that God loves the persons of his elect not only with a
love of Benevolence but a so with a love of Complacence and liking For this ia the voyc of the Father from heaven This my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 3.17 Here is a revelation of the love of liking I am well pleased The Father is well pleased in his Son With whom Surely with those unto whom hee had given his Sonne that is all his elect Againe this answer if it were beyond all exceptions yet it is very impertinent to the obiection For the Text doth not onely say that God loveth them not with such or such a love but in plaine terms it saith that the Lord hateth them that work iniquity Now what shall we say that God loves a person with infinit a love beyond expression or conceit and yet at the same time hateth the same person with that perfect hatred wherewith hee hateth all the workers of iniquitie Let us take heed that we draw not a vaile before the face of God and delude our selves and others with such frothy and impertinent distinctions But I have by this time bred a kinde of wonder in you what I shall speak seeing that which other men have said thus far liketh me not I answer therefore that this clause God hateth all the workers of iniquity and God loveth the ungodly are both in Scripture and therefore both true yet in a different sense The first The Lord hateth all the workers of iniquity is the voyce of the Law the other the Lord loves sinners is the voyce of the Gospel Now the Law and the Gospel speak divers things the one being the manifestation of Gods iustice tells us what we are by nature the other being the manifestation of Gods mercie tells us what wee are by grace in Iesus Christ The Law saith that every sinner shal be accursed The Gospel saith Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners The Law saith God will by no meanes cleare the guilty Exod. 34.7 The Gospel saith God justifieth the ungodly The Law declareth wrath without forgivenesse The Gospel Mercy grace and peace in Iesus Christ Thus farre is the obiection answered but yet all difficulty and scruple is not removed For the Law you will say is an eternall veritie whatsoever it saith is true I confesse it so and one iot or tittle thereof cannot faile But I say with the Apostle that whatsoever the Law saith it saith to them only who are under the Law and to none other I say again that the righteousnesse of the Law is fulfilled by Christ for us all yea in all that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.4 So that although the elect of God are sinners in the iudgement of the Law Sense Reason yea and oftentimes Conscience yet having their sinnes translated unto the Sonne of God in whom they were elected they have the righteousnesse of the Law fulfilled in the Mediatour and so become to be accounted righteous in his sight that as God on the one side delivered the innocent to death as though hee had been a sinner being made countable for our sinnes So on the other side God loveth justifieth cleareth the guilty and sinners as if they had been holy righteous and blamelesse The summe is this that as Christ was no sinner indeed and yet a sinner by imputation so they that are Chrisis are no sinners by imputation and yet sinners indeed Thus much for the first Obiection The second followes Objection 2. If God be reconciled unto us before all condtions c. How is it that our Saviour saith Matth. 6.15 If you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses Vnto which may be ioined that which we have Matth. 18.35 So likewise shall my heavenly doe also unto you if yee from your heart forgive not every on his brother their trespasses In which place we see first that unlesse we forgive God will not forgive us Nay more that God will reverse the act of his mercy if after hee hath forgiven us 10000. talents wee shall not forgive 100. pence wee shall bee delivered to the tormentors until we pay the whole due For answer to this Obiection we must lay down two grounds the first That God rever reverseth the acts of his mercy communicated to his Elect. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance Rom. 112.9 God is not a man that he should lie neither the sonne of man that he should repent 1 Sam. 23.19 The second ground that Gods forgiveness of us is a fore-runner of our forgivenes of our brethren And we cannot truly forgive our brethren untill wee doe apprehend Gods forgivenesse of us Shouldest not thou have had compassion on thy fellow-servant even as I had pitie on thee Matth. 18.33 And upon this ground the Apostle presseth the Ephesians unto kindnesse and tendernesse of heart forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Eph. 4.3 But then if this be so what meane the foresaid places which strengthen the objection I answer That forgivenesse is there to bee taken for the manifestation of forgivenesse Except ye forgive men neither will your heavenly Father so fully declare and manifest himselfe unto your consciences and so this place pertaineth properly to our reconciliation with God not unto Gods reconciliation with us That this is not a subtile evasion but the truth appeares first by a place of Scripture secondly by the judgement of Interpreters upon a like place The place of Scripture is found Luke 7.47 Her sinnes which are many are forgiven her for shee loved much What have wee here that this womans great love was the cause of remission or that it went before her obtaining of remission as Bellarmine contendeth Verily no but it is plaine that her remission obtained was the cause of her love Simon saith our Saviour A certaine creditor forgave two debtors frankly whereof the one ought five hundred pence the other fifty which of the twain wil love him most Simon answereth well He to whom he forgave most Our Saviour maketh the application Seest thou this woman Thou lovest me a little Thou hast bidden me to dinner But when I came into thy house thou gavest me no mater for my feet but shee hath washed my feet with her teares and wiped them with the haires of her head My head with oyle thou diddest not anoint but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment Thou seest that I have forgiven thee a few sinnes and thou lovest mee a little but this woman hath much forgiven her Therefore she loved much whereby we understand two things first that her love was not the cause of forgivenes but forgivenesse a cause of her love Secondly That forgivenesse in this place includeth the manifestation of forgivenesse many sinnes are forgiven her the sense is this it appeareth unto this woman that I have pardoned a multitude of sinnes for her This is the Scripture The judgement of
and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world But I perceive by this objection that thou accountedst this a doctrine of libertie to declare the free love of God in Iesus Christ and thou thinkest it were better to hide this from the people and to terrifie them with Hell fire with wrath and iudgement and with the fierie flashings of Mount Sinai and to keepe them in bondage I can hardly refraine from giving thee very evill language that art thus presumptuous and audacious to contradict the Lord Iesus who hath given commandement that the Gospel of peace should bee preached to all Nations I will spare to speake what I think and commend unto thy consideration the iudgment of one of our owne Countrimen whose learning was by his adversaries commended whose constancie and patience in his martyrdome was admired it was Iohn Fryth who writeth to this effect Thou maist preach hell and damnation and the rendring of a terrible account to a severe Iudge c. seven yeares together and yet not make one good Christian man Hee that would make a good Christian let the love of God be the first stone which he layeth for the foundation Thus hee speaketh And indeed what motive to obedience so strong as love Many waters cannot quench love neither can the flouds drowne it Cant. 8.7 What greater feare then that which proceedeth from love If wee have an enemy whom we hate wee sheath a sword it his bowels or cleave his head with a Polax and cry him no mercy but how carefull are we not to do the least iniury to a friend if we tread on his singer we are sory at the heart What greater aggravation of sinne then to sin against love Were not he an ungracious and rebellious sonne amongst men who should reason thus I have an indulgent Father who loveth me exceedingly deemeth nothing too good for me who hath given mee assurance and possession of his whole inheritance therefore I will surely neglect him I will shew my selfe undutifull against him I will no more regard his commands or attend unto his precepts but whatsoever will grieve him that will I doe What heart could not afford to cast a stone at the head of such a sonne of Belial as this to dash out his brains For shame let the mover of this obiection blush and hide his head let him consider his folly The case is thine thou art the man because God aboundeth in free love mercy and kindnesse therefore thou wilt abound in wretchednesse I cease to speak any farther of this to thy greater shame The fifth obiection followes which is indeed more mannerly than the former Object 5. If God love us bee reconciled unto us before our faith and our conversion then a man may possibly dye without faith and yet be saved I answer This followeth not because God hath ingaged himselfe to the contrary which if he had not dore much might have beene said But wee see hee that cannot lye hath ingaged himselfe unto his people I will put my Law into their hearts in their minds will I write them Heb. 10.6 And all shall know me from the least to the greatest Heb. 8.11 All thy children shall bee taught of God Iohn 6.54 Isaiah 54.13 So that we say He that beleeveth not shall bee damned Not because his believing doth alter or change his estate before God but because the God of truth hath promised that hee will not onely give us remission but that he wil also give faith for our consolation and so faith becommeth a note and mark of life everlasting and finall infidelity a sure 〈◊〉 of eternall condemnation that whosoever or whatsoever he be in life or conversation yet hee that beleeveth not shall be damned Thus much for the fifth Object 6. The sixth obiection If God love us as you say why doth he suffer us to live in 20.50 or 60. yeares I answer What art thou that repliest against God How unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out Rom. 11.33 Againe let us aske Paul why the Lord suffered him being an elect and chosen vessell to persecute his Saints unto death and bonds and to cause many to blaspheme and hee will tell us that in him first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a patterne to them which should hereafter beleeve on him to life everlasting 1 Tim. 1.16 Thirdly thou mayest as well obiect seeing that God is of infinite power why doth he suffer sinne in the world if thou shouldest the Lord will give answer My grace is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12.9 Thus farre for the obiections now wee come to the third thing propounded The application of what hath been spoken Applicat 1. In the first place we will observe the difference betweene the true Religion and the false from that which hath been spoken There are many religions in the world And it fareth with diversities of Religions as with diversities of opinions there is a possibility that they may be all false but it is altogether impossible that they should be all true There is but one true Religion but there are many false the false Religions seeming to differ exceedingly amongst themselves in very many things even in the obiect of worship and in the matter and manner yet be they never so different there is one common foundation wherein they doe all agree and wherein they differ from the true The true Religion propoundeth unto us a God in chiefe reconciled pacified pleased a justice already satisfied a propitiation made sinnes taken away and we have not one jote not one apex in all the new Covenant to be found of reconciling God to us but of our reconciliation to God The new Covenant manifesteth unto us a God already reconciled to us and the whole ministery of reconciliation propoundeth our reconciliation to God Now this is the common character of all false religions of what sort soever Iews Turks Papists pharisaicall Protestants Heathen all propound in some degree or other an angry God a deity not reconciled and then prescribe certain means and services whereby to appease his wrath and to quench his displeasure and to obtaine his love and favour Man doth not oftner seeke after salvation but hee naturally stumbleth upon this principle What shall I doe to be saved The world would bee saved by doing Martin Luther speaking of this difference doth more than once compare the false religions unto Sampsons foxes Iudg. 15.4 their heads looking divers wayes but they were fastned together by the tayles This comparison wee doe imbrace yet I had rather compare them to Gentlemens Spaniels which are fastned together by the necks but loose at the tayles They differ indeed in some circumstances but in the main substance they agree in one Doe wee not see some men contending with the Papist with wonderfull eagernesse doe we not see others tugging and haling one one way the other another one for
must know that it is meere necessity that drives us we are by nature haters of God and cannot be brought to come to God in love before we perceive God to love us such is the malignant nature of man that if he could make any shift in the world hee would not bee beholding to God for helpe The prodigall sonne will never returne to his father so long as he can get cloaths for his backe and meate for his belly elsewhere but when he is brought to that passe that he would fain have filled his belly with husks which the swine did eate and no man gave unto him Luke 15.16 Then he is contented to thinke of submitting to his father but not before if he could have got a living by keeping of Hogs hee would not have returned Thus is it with man so long as he is in any hope to escape misery any other way there is no hope of his returning to God They that be whole need not the Physitian but they that are sick Mat. 9.12 The Pharisee thinketh himself able to establish his owne righteousnesse and therefore he will not submit to the righteousnesse of God Rom. 10.4 He cares not a pinne for Christ he is whole he cares not for the Physitian If any man will come after me let him deny himselfe and take up his crosse daily and follow me Luke 9.23 No man can follow Christ except he deny himselfe his own Righteousnesse and holinesse would you know a reason under the determinate counsell of God why the Publicans and Harlots received Christ but the holy Pharisees rejected him a true paterne of our dayes the Pharisees thought themselves able to stand upon their owne legs they were alive in their conceits and for them to heare of righteousnesse in another was too great a disparagement unto them and their holinesse when the publicans and strumpets being convinced of sinne and having no righteousnesse of their owne they are contented to accept it upon any terms A rich man he sometimes scorneth a gift and saith nay but I will buy it I will give satisfaction for it but the poor naked man is glad to receive what he wanteth Thus before the soule of man be brought to be reconciled unto God it is necessary that it see it selfe a sinfull creature yea so sinfull That neither crying nor howling can wash it away yea so sinfull that no correction or amendment of life is able to make satisfaction Thus farre of the antecedent conditions which as I said before are proper to all but not onely to them that are reconciled to God for these that I have shewed hitherto may be found in the not reconciled even as in the reconciled yea in the reprobate even as in the elect The second sort of conditions are present which go before reconciliation as the cause before the effect but is never separated from it as being the thing I say whereby the holy Spirit of God doth actually reconcile the soule to God Of this sort I finde but one only condition namely of faith or beleeving Here are two things to be pondered The first That without beleeving the soule remaining in the body cannot be reconciled unto God The second That by beleeving the soule is actually reconciled unto God For the first it is proved He that beleeveth not the Sonne shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Iohn 3.36 To be reconciled to God is to see life therefore he that beleeveth not shall not be reconciled to God but the apprehension of the wrath of God shall torment his wakened conscience He that beleeveth not shall not see life he shall see nothing but wrath Secondly He that beleeveth not God hath made him a lyar 1 Iohn 5.10 That is hath accounted him a lyar Now who can finde in his heart to be reconciled to a lyar Wherby it is plain that without or before faith man cannot be reconciled unto God For the second that by beleeving the soule becomes to be reconsiled unto God is proved He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seale that God is true John 3.33 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sonnes of God even to them that beleeve on his name Iohn 1.12 Whosoever beleeveth hath power to cry Abba Father And to this place we refer that knowne text Rom. 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ And this is the proper office of faith as it justifieth to reconcile the soule and conscience unto God and to make us at peace with him by assuring us of his favour and good will towards us in Jesus Christ manifested in that God gave his only Sonne to be a propitiation for our sinnes and to satisfie whatsoever the justice of God required at his hands And this is our receiving of Christ our putting on of Christ and our living by faith if we take faith for beleeving And thus much of the second condition which is present Now followes the third sort of conditions which are consequent unto our reconciliation and things that accompany our salvation These conditions are first Ioy in the Holy Ghost Secondly Love to God and his Church Thirdly New obedience in newnesse of spirit and not in oldnesse of the letter First Ioy in the Holy Ghost is a necessary consequent and an inseparble companion to our reconciliation by faith as appears by that which hath been spoken before touching joying in beleeving with joy unspeakable and full of glory And indeed how can it be that it should be otherwise can the men of this world hear of great possessions fallen unto them without joyfulnesse How then is it possible that the children of the living God can come to the apprehension of the fatherly love of God in Christ but they must needs sing a new song yea break forth into singing and cry aloud with the blessed Virgin saying My soule doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour Luke 1.46 If I could this day bring you happy tydings of reconciliation betweene King and Parliament which the God of heaven effect what joy would this work in the hearts of every man here present How much more shall the tydings of eternall peace by Jesus Christ affect the soule with extraordinary comfort Here what the Lord speaks concerning the new Jerusalem God shal wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying c. Rev. 21.4 Let others think what they will I firmely beleeve the new Ierusalem to be the glorious kingdome of Iesus Christ which is righteousnesse and peace and joy in the holy Ghost advanced in the conscience and hither also are to be referred those glorious things that are spoken of the City of our God by the Gospell Prophet in these words The ransomed of the Lord shall returne and come to Sion with songs and everlasting joy upon