comfort both in life and in death Let us then never rest untill we be grieved for the miseries that lye on the bodies of others but especially for the evils on the souls of others and such as do appertain unto us that we be not like stocks nor stones but that we mourn for the sinnes on the soules of others Now from these words the Apostle where he saith he grieveth for the rejection of the Jewes some move this question Whether the Apostle might lawfully be grieved for the rejection of the Jews it being according to the appointment of the Lord. But the question Quest arising from hence concerning our selves is this seeing we are to be grieved for the known miseries of others the question may be Whether we may be grieved for such persons as suffer just punishments for their evil deeds brought to the place of execution when the hand of God is in punishing of them for their evil doings or no Now to this I answer Answ That we are to put on tender bowels of pity commiseration and compassion towards all that be in any distresse and under the punishing hand of God in any thing whatsoever they be though never so vile and sinful though they be monsters in regard of the outrage of sin yet as they be the creatures of God as they bear the Image of God and be reasonable creatures and are partakers of the same nature with us so we are to put on tender bowels of pity and commiseration towards them though they be never so vile or wicked Thus we find Samuel mourned for Saul Samuel as a Prophet foreseeing the evil that was like to fall upon Saul both in the losse of his Kingdom and the losse of his life in so desperate a manner he grieved for him as we may read in the 1 Sam. 16.1 The Lord biddeth him no longer to mourn for him yet he did in regard of the miseries that he saw lye upon him thus we are to mourn for all be they never so vile as they bear the image of God and are men and women like unto us but as wicked persons undergo just and deserved punishment for their offences either against God the good estate of the Church or the good estate of Religion we may in that respect be so far from grieving mourning and pitying of them that we may rejoyce and joy in it yet not pleasing our selves in the smart or pains of others be they never so vile but for the manifestation of Gods Justice because we love God and the glory of God is dear unto us therefore we may and ought to magnifie and justifie the Name of God in cuting off of such men as be Jesuites and Seminary Priests we may be so far from sorrowing for them as that we may rejoyce in it and glorifie God in cutting off of such wicked Imps as in Psal 58.10 11. The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the revenging hand of God upon such and men shall say Verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtlesse there is a God that judgeth on the earth God himself desireth not the death of any so he saith I delight not in the death of a sinner yet God was pleased with the punishment of the wicked according to the rule and course of his Justice so we must not delight in the punishment of any as he is a creature of God and beareth the Image of God like unto us but we are to look upon the glory of Gods Justice and to magnifie and to glorifie him in such persons being destroyed that seek the hurt of Gods glory Gods Church or Gods Religion For then we are to rejoyce but not in their punishment as they are men of the like nature with us In the next place we are to mark that the Apostle saith not nakedly and barely that he was grieved and sorrowed for the rejection of the Jewes but doth affirm and say that he had great heavinesse and continual sorrow for the rejection of the Jews his heavinesse and sorrow was not small nor vanishing but it was great and heavy such as is a womans travelling with child for so the word sorrow signifieth a vehement great and heavy sorrow for their rejection Now what was the cause the Apostle grieved for the rejection of the Jews because he loved them for this was a manifestation of his love his sorrow and love held sympathy and proportion hence the observation is thus That true love unto any person Doctr. or thing causeth heavinesse sorrow and grief in the heart upon any known just occasion of grief given from that person or thing so loved and according to the measure of love to any person or thing so is the measure of grief or sorrow upon any known just occasion of grief from that person or thing so loved our grief is answerable and proportionable to our love the more we grieve for any person or thing the more we love them this we see is clear from the example of the Apostle that was grieved for the rejection of the Jews out of his love to them and this is manifest by other places as in Gen. 37.34 we read when good Jacob that holy and just man had just occasion given unto him for sorrow and heavinesse as he thought for his son Joseph he thinking verily his son was devoured by wild beasts as they did give him intelligence though false it is said that he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth and sorrowed for him exceedingly yea the Text saith that when his children came about him to comfort him he would not be comforted in regard of the evil he thought had befallen his son Joseph he grieved a long season and would not be comforted so also in 1 Sam. 20.34 Jonathan was very sorrowful and exceeding heavy for David because his Father Saul had reviled him such was his love to David so also we find that the good man Nehemiah had a heart full of sorrow and grief and humbled himself in weeping and fasting when he heard of the evil that was upon the Church and the people of God it made him break out into weeping and humbling his soul Nehem. 1.6 yea his sorrow and heavinesse was so great that he could not dissemble it he could not keep it in his bosome it appeared in his very countenance yea and that so apparantly that the King said What is the matter Nehemiah why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick Sure I perceive that this is nothing else but sorrow of heart Nehem. 2.2 In John 11.36 the Jews said when they saw Jesus weeping for Lazarus Behold how he loved him they could thereby conjecture his love to him so 2 Cor. 2.4 The Apostle saith in great anguish of spirit he wrote to them and in many tears that they might perceive his love unto them his true and hearty love and anguish of his soul went together so that the point is clear That true love unto
patience and such like And thereby also they do give to us to understand that we are especially to wish and desire the good of the soules of those whom we love and are bound to love that they may have saving grace in their soules and an increase of it here in this life and that they may be eternally saved hereafter in heaven And there is good reason for it Reason Because indeed saving grace here in this life and salvation hereafter in heaven is the most excellent thing that can be desired or enjoyed saving grace in the soul is proper to those whom God loves in special manner and gives it to none but to such as belong to Gods election And it sweetens all other good things of this life and makes them truly comfortable without which they are but accursed vanities and vexations of spirit Eccles 2.11 as the Preacher speaks yea saving grace in the soul yeelds comfort and rejoycing of heart when all other things in this life can yeeld none at all as in the midst of trouble sorrow and perplexity and in the hour of death And therefore doubtlesse saving grace here in this life and salvation hereafter in heaven are the things that we are especially to wish and desire in the behalf of those whom we love and are bound to love But may some say It may be that those whom we love Quest and are bound to love belong not to Gods election Are we bound to wish saving grace and salvation to them I answer Answ That they belong not to Gods election is a secret and unknown to us and we are not to meddle with that we are to follow the Will of God revealed which enjoyns us to desire the good of those whom we love and are bound to love especially the good of their soules even to wish them saving grace here in this life and salvation hereafter in heaven We see then a Duty that concerns us laid before us Vse and we are to take notice of it and to put it in practise it is a duty little thought on or little regarded by many we can many of us wish well to such as we love and are bound to love to our children and friends in respect of their bodies and outward estate we can wish them health and wealth and outward prosperity that they may live in health and may thrive and come forward in the world and may prosper in their outward affaires these things we can wish them out of the strength of natural affection which indeed we are bound to wish unto them that they may so live and so do by the use of all good means But alas here is our failing and fault few there be that make it the earnest desire of their hearts and the chief wish of their soules That their children servants brethren friends and such as they love and are bound to love may have saving grace wrought in their soules that they may come to have saving knowledge of God saving faith and saving repentance and may come truly to fear the Lord. Indeed sometimes men for form and fashion break out and say God give grace to my child to my servants and such like and God blesse them with his grace and God make them his faithful servant which are good speeches but this is but a flash and a vanishing wish it ends with a breath and in speaking of it it is not seconded with a careful use of all the good means as it ought to be Now then know it whosoever thou art thou must especially wish and desire the good of the soules of those whom thou lovest and art bound to love that they may come to saving knowledge saving faith and saving repentance and may come truly to fear God and thy desire must be true sound settled and constant seconded with the careful use of all good means within the compasse of thy place and calling that serve to work saving grace in them as teaching and instructing them counselling them comforting them and praying for them and sending up thy wishes to heaven for them And to help us forward in this duty consider we these two things First If we make it the earnest desire of our hearts and the chief wish of our soules that those whom we love and are bound to love may have saving grace wrought in their soules we are therein like to God himself and we follow his example for thus doth the Lord himself wish to his people Deut. 5.29 Oh that there were such an heart in them or who will give them such an heart as to fear me and to keep all my Commandements alway as if he should have said It is the chief desire of my soul that they had such an heart Secondly If we earnestly and heartily wish saving grace to the soules of those whom we love and are bound to love it is a good evidence that we have true saving grace in our own soules and that we feel the sweetnesse and comfort of it in our own soules For certainly they that find the sweetnesse of saving grace in their own soules Act. 11.23 24. cannot but wish it to others and delight to see it in others they that truly fear God themselves cannot but wish that others did as Paul said to Agrippa Act. 26.29 would to God that not onely thou but also all that hear me to day were both almost and altogether such as I am If then we would be like to God himself and a better example we cannot follow and if we would have good evidence that we have true saving grace in our own souls we must be mindfull of this duty not onely to wish good to the bodies of those whom we love and are bound to love but especially that they may have saving grace in their soules here in this life and salvation hereafter in heaven and carefully use all good means serving to that purpose Let us now go on to further matter offered to us from this Verse For I could wish my self to be separated from Christ for my brethren that are my kinsmen according to the flesh We are further to consider that the Apostle as I have shewed in this wish of his to be separated or accursed from Christ had respect not only to the conversion and salvation of the Jews out of his love to them but he had also therein respect to the glory of God and to the glory of Christ He could have wished himself if it had been possible separated and cut off from salvation purchased by Christ and from all hope of it and to have been damned for ever in hell not onely for the good of the Jews that they might have been converted and saved but also for the greater glory of God and of Christ That God and Christ might thereby have had the greater honour and glory whence we are given to understand thus much and the point further offered to us from this wish of the Apostle is this Doctrine
issued and sprung from that ever springing fountain of the free love of God Exod. 19.4 he carried his people upon Eagles wings he did favour and do them good from time to time and so in Deut. 30.10 he chose Jacob and the seed of Jacob and brought his seed out of Egypt by a mighty power and Deut. 4.37 he turned the curse of Balaam to a blessing Numb 23.5 when Balaam thought to curse the people of God God turned it to a blessing so I might instance in many particulars how the Lord manifested his love unto his people one for all Joh. 3.16 where Christ saith God so loved the world or his chosen in the world that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life the free love of God was it that moved God to send his Son to be a Saviour unto them Indeed I grant that Gods chosen now believing in Christ they have the pardon of their sins and they have all good things vouchsafed unto them for Christ his sake even for Christ his sake God is pleased to vouchsafe unto them pardon of sin and all other dependents thereon for we must know that though God out of his free love decreed to make Christ a means and a Saviour by whom and through whom men should have pardon of their sins conveyed unto them that he should be the conduit and person that they should receive it by yet the fountain and chief ground is Gods eternal love so that the first cause the first ground of all good things that come unto Gods chosen here and hereafter in heaven it is Gods free love and his free good will and pleasure though Christ be the means of conveyance Because God being most free as he is liberrimum agens he will not have Reason 1 any good thing come from any thing out of himself Because no good can be given above the good will and pleasure of God Reason 2 Christ himself saith so that we have nothing but the free and eternal pleasure of God so that this plainly sheweth Gods free love is the ground of all good things First of all this Doctrine doth put down a main difference plain and Vse 1 manifest between Gods love unto us and our love unto others we love others in respect of some good some worth we see some good quality some excellent and worthy thing in them which doth attract and draw our love unto them we see some beauty some wit some learning some strength or the like that draweth our love unto them and knitteth our hearts unto them and indeed we are bound so to do to love others in respect of their beauty wit learning and the Image of God in them in any manner Now with God there is no such matter our love is bounded and grounded and set upon some excellency or worth in the creature even our very enemies but with God there is no such matter his love is not stirred up nor caused by any good worth or excellency in us or any goodnesse in us no not by any thing out of himself Indeed I grant God loveth his own Image being renued in us and the more we are renued of God the more holy the more religious the more pleasing to God and the more dear and pretious to him God loveth his own Image in us actually but the cause of that is his eternal free love so that though the Lord love us we being renued and holy and righteous yet the cause is his eternal free love which proceedeth not from any thing out of himself but onely his free good will and pleasure Is this so that all good things in this life and the life to come do proceed Vse 2 from the good will and pleasure of God Upon this ground we must learn then to indeavour in every good thing we enjoy yea in the good things of this life that we have and possesse to see Gods love unto us in them to see in the bread we eat the apparel we clothe our selves withal and the good things we enjoy to see Gods love unto us It is not sufficient for us to know that the outward good things of this life are good things in themselves blessings of God a man may go so far by the very light of nature to know that meat and drink and maintenance is a blessing of God and there is no comfort in this knowledge no we must be able to know that these good things come out of Gods free and eternal love and to be blessings unto us in particular and that they flow out from Gods free and eternal favour wherewith he had loved us before the world was and that they coming thus we may use the Apostles form of thanksgiving Ephes 1.3 blessed be God our heavenly Father who hath blessed us with all heavenly and with all temporal good things with this health with this wealth this apparel but some may say how is that to be done I answer Labour thou in the first place to get thy part in the blood of Jesus Christ labour thou to apprehend and apply the merits of Christ his death and obedience to thine own soul by a true saving faith and never rest untill thou hast a true and a saving faith to apply and to apprehend the merits of Christ to thy soul for in Christ alone is the spiritual right and title of all good things applyed to Gods chosen Secondly having gotten this labour thou to find that the outward good things of this life they do stirre thee up and provoke thee forward to love God to fear God to walk humbly before the Lord and to be thankful unto his holy Majesty the outward good things of this life thou hast a true right and title unto them and are means to help thee forward in the wayes of God and to walk humbly before the Lord thy meat thy drink thy apparel are means to help thee forward to thy salvation and to further thee in the way of salvation And it is not with thee after the manner of the men of the world to abuse the good things of this life to vanity and pride to set out their hearts in pride of apparel garishnesse of attire riot and excesse as some do that a man may say and easily discern there is a proud person however you will say under a russet coat may be a proud heart yet a man may say where there is smoke there is fire It breaketh out in their foreheads and foretops and in their long shag'd ruffian-like hair and in their exteriour parts a man may say they are clothed with cruelty and pride hangeth as a chain about their necks Psal 73.6 and their houses and lands are priviledged places for all manner of abomination impiety and ungodlinesse and no man may speak against them especially being men of place and authority great men their greatnesse doth priviledge their places and houses for all manner of impious and abominable courses
Oh take heed thou use not thy wealth as they do but the more bountiful the Lord is in pouring his blessings upon thee the more humble thou art the more holy thou art the more thy heart is inlarged with righteousnesse and in walking before God and in all thankfulnesse yea thereby thou art made ready and fit for every good work thy heart is not lock't up to choak the seed of the Word in thy heart but they open thy heart and thy hand and make thee ready to every good work to reflect upon the poor members of Christ the more thou hast the more abundant thou art in good works then certainly thou mayest conclude that God hath blessed thee with thy wealth and they are testimonies of Gods love to thee and God hath manifested his love unto thee which he bare before the world was and thou mayest certainly conclude God loveth thee indeed As it is written I have loved Iacob and hated Esau LEt us now proceed unto farther matter offered unto us from this testimony of the Prophet I have loved Jacob and hated Esau here cited by the Apostle and here we see that God did not onely love Jacob for the time present but also loved him from everlasting hence I observe thus much briefly Doctrine That Gods chosen they were alwaies beloved of God there can be no time given wherein Gods chosen were not beloved of God God loved his chosen before they had a being in the world yea before the world was and we cannot possibly prescribe a time when God loved not his chosen or when he began to love his chosen no his love was from everlasting Reason For as all other things were ever present unto God things past things present things to come they were all present unto him from everlasting he did look upon them uno intuitu with one full sight so were his chosen as many as belonged to his election he loved them before the foundations of the world was so that no time can be given wherein God began to love his chosen Object I but some may say doth not the Scriptures point out that though Gods children be now beloved of God yet there was a time when they were enemies of God as in Rom. 5.10 yea doth not the Apostle say in the Ephes 2.3 that they were children of wrath how can it be then that no time can be pointed out when they were hated of God It is true indeed the Scripture doth note out this unto us Answ that they are by nature children of wrath as well as others and we are to believe it to be a truth That Gods chosen before their effectual calling and conversion are enemies to God and God is an enemy unto them before their effectual calling and conversion in respect of sin and because of sin which is opposite and contrary to good and to God himself which is good yet even then Gods chosen are beloved of God in regard of election and even then God loveth his elect before their effectual calling as his elect uncalled and with that degree of his love which he beareth to his elect uncalled yea God maketh it appear manifestly that he loveth them as his elect uncalled in that he giveth unto them in time true repentance for if he did not love them he would not give them repentance and therefore they were then beloved of God as his elect in time to be called and he doth work upon them in time saving grace true conversion true faith and sanctification which are things tending to life and salvation and doth he give these to reprobates as testimonies of his love to them he loveth not no certainly he doth not and therefore certainly we may resolve upon this That God loveth his elect from everlasting and no time can be given when he loved them not Upon this ground it followeth that the Anabaptists and other such Vse 1 erring spirits are deceived in that they hold this as their tenent that God doth purpose and decree the salvation of some before the world was but God doth onely then actually choose them when he seeth faith and repentance in them For if this were true surely then God loveth not any sinner to life and salvation till he seeth repentance in them which is clean contrary to the truth of God now delivered That no time can be given wherein God loved not his chosen This being so that no time can be given wherein God loved not his chosen Vse 2 surely then upon this ground we may conclude to our comfort we being such that belong to Gods election that Gods love shall be continued unto us for ever as Gods love unto us unto life and salvation hath no beginning but is eternal so also it shall be without end as we cannot point out the time of beginning no more can we of the continuance but as God hath loved us from everlasting so doubtlesse he goeth on not only within his own blessed Majestie but in his love to us he goeth on continually without alteration or shadow of changing Joh. 13.1 whom he loveth he loveth unto the end so that this may be a ground of sweet and excellent comfort to as many as find themselves wrought upon by the Spirit of God and find Gods love shed abroad in their hearts that Gods love is everlasting for the beginning and continuance of it Now proceed we further I have loved Jacob and hated Esau here we see that as Gods love to Jacob was the cause of Jacobs advancement and preheminence so Gods hatred to Esau was the cause of Esau's servitude and subordination hence I might stand to shew that Gods hatred is the soveraign and chief cause of all evils of punishments that befall the wicked in this life and hereafter though sin be the next and subordinate cause yet the soveraign the main the chief the grand and Mother cause is Gods hatred but this I will not stand upon but rather note out the particular application of Gods hatred against Esau and observe we to that purpose it is here said God hated Esau that particular person Esau which being understood as before expounded affordeth unto us this conclusion That God hath from everlasting certainly decreed the rejection of some particular persons among men even of Esau and of such as Esau was Doct as God from everlasting decreed the election of some to life and salvation so hath he also decreed certainly the rejection and refusing of others for even as he loved the one so he hateth the other And this ground of truth hath evidence and proof of it in other places of Scripture in the 1 Thess 5.9 saith the Apostle he hath not appointed us to wrath but that we should obtain salvation by the means of Jesus Christ thereby implying that some are appointed of God to wrath and in his eternal counsel God hath appointed that some shall never come to life and salvation and in 1 Pet. 2.8 the Apostle
us by six priviledges vouchsafed unto them as that unto them was vouchsafed the adoption the glory the covenant the giving of the Law the service of God and the promises Thirdly and lastly he sheweth the reason and ground of his wish because of that people of Israel the fathers came yea Christ Jesus according to the flesh came of them and was of their seed and line of the seed of Abraham even the Lord Jesus the Lord of life and glory whom the Apostle further describeth that he is God over all and blessed for ever unto whom the Apostle assenteth Amen Now before we come to open these words and to handle them particularly I hold it sit one generall thing be observed and that may be thus grounded the Apostle being about to speak of a thing which would be very harsh and hard and odious to the Jewes that they were rejected of God In wisedome he useth as you see a patheticall insinuation of his love unto them it was out of his love and not of hatred he would have them to know and to take notice of it that his speech was from the grief of his heart and soul he had no pleasure in it but with a desire of their good yea he speaketh it with a desire to be severed from Christ for their salvation Now then herein appeareth the wonderfull wisedome of the Apostle to be imitated of the ministers of the Gospell and the observation is this That though Ministers of God must speak such things as they have to speak that are hard and harsh and unpleasing and distasteful to the hearers as just occasion is offered unto them yet it must be with a signification of their love unto them and so as their hearers may discern that those harsh hard things delivered are out of love and to do them good Ministers of the Gospel they must not be men pleasers or daubers to daube with untempered morter and draw a fair skin over a foul ulcer and soothe up men in their sins for if they so demean themselves they are not the servants of Christ Gal. 1.10 saith Paul If I please men I am no true servant of Christ but they must tell men plainly of their sins and of their miserable estate and condition which they are in in regard of their sinnes yea they must set things close unto their hearts and souls and speak such things as be harsh and hard to their hearers yet so as it be with an insinuation of their love and that their hearers may perceive that it cometh of love We read in Luke 19.43 44. Christ Jesus uttereth a very sharp sentence and heavy doom that should befall the City of Hierusalem he telleth them that the time should come when their enemies should cast a trench about the City and compasse it on every side and should lay the City even to the ground and all her children in her and not leave a stone upon a stone a heavy doom yet withal even in the pronouncing of this heavy doom he spake these heavy things how the Evangelist saith in the 41. and 42 verses he spake it with trickling tears in his eyes and shewed his pity and compassion for he wept for them saying Oh I wish that thou hadst known these things that belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes And in Gal. 3.1 The Apostle uttereth very hard and harsh things he calleth them fooles and bewitched Galathians that they would not obey the truth revealed unto them yet in the 15. verse he sheweth this was out of his love he called them brethren which before he called fooles and bewitched and in Gal. 4.19 he calleth them little children with whom he travelled in birth like a mother and thus are the Ministers of God to do in dispencing of harsh and hard things they are to deal roundly with hearers and to tell them of their sins and to speak unpleasing things to their hearers as just occasion is offered yet so as their hearers may discern that they love them and that it cometh out of the love of the Minister and out of the pity and compassion and tender care that they have of them though they pronounce harshly Ministers must thus do because their hearers being carnal Reason will else take occasion to quarrel with their affection and to carp against them saying they speak out of malice and hatred and spleen and out of a distempered humour unlesse they be mitigated with their love and so they will reject the reproof that may be for their good and not profit by it because it seemeth harsh and displeasing to them We know a wise Physitian when he giveth a bitter pill lappeth it up in sugar that the patient may more willingly receive it and the better retain it in his stomack so must the Ministers of God in this case even in delivering harsh and hard things telling them of their sins and publishing Gods judgments lap them up in the sugared expressions of their love and good will and desire and tender compassion of them that they may be the better received and their hearers profit by the same This concerneth us that are Ministers of the Gospel Vse that we thus deal in dispensing of hard and harsh things such as be displeasing to the eares and hearts of the people with a signification of their love unto them we may and ought to teach hard-hearted impenitent sinners that they are in the way that leadeth to hell and that if they go on in that way without repentance it is not possible for them to escape the damnation of hell they are going on in that way and are sure to come to hell without repentance yet it must be with some insinuation of love and testification of it as we must say I am grieved at the very soul for your miserable estate oh that you had hearts to consider and eyes to see that your miserable estate and fearful condition and the Judgment of God against you and to beseech them earnestly that they would labour to come out of that miserable estate and condition Vse 2 And for you that are Hearers for the use of your part onely to pray unto God and to intreat the Lord for us and to be earnest with God that the Lord would vouchsafe to guide us by his good Spirit that we may shew our selves such as are faithful to the Lord that hath sent us and not such as are studious to speak that which pleaseth men and soothe them up in their sins But that the Lord would give us to shew our studious care and indeavour of the peoples good by a signification of hearty love unto them and tender affection And as the Prophet saith Esay 58.1 We are such as must cry aloud and lift up our voyce like Trumpets this you must pray for us Vers 1 Come we now unto these five Verses as they lye in order I say the truth in Christ I lye not
any person or thing causeth the like sympathy of grief unto that person or thing so loved The Reasons are First from the working and effects of true love it Reason 1 is the nature of love where it is in the heart and soul toward any person or thing to be operative and working and the working of it is to make the heart affected either with joy or sorrow touching the thing that is so loveth and according to the known estate of the person or thing so loved if it go well with the person or thing so loved it causeth joy if it go ill it causeth grief Reason 2 The second Reason is from the nature of grief it self for what is grief surely grief may be thus described A motion of the soul arising from the hurt of the thing that is loved if any hurt or evil be either imminent and ready to fall upon the thing loved or be already fallen the heart that loveth is stirred up to grieve for it and according to the measure of love so is the measure of grief and therefore we may resolve upon this as a certain truth That great love causeth great grief upon any just occasion of grief for the thing or person that we love that is dear unto us for the Application Vse The truth now delivered yeeldeth unto us a ground of tryal and of examination touching the truth of our love and the measure of our love to such persons or things that ought to be loved and respected of us as to draw this to particulars hereby we may try the truth of our love to the Church and people of God and also whether our love be true and sound unto them Doest thou love the Church and people of God in deed and in truth surely then thou art affected either with joy or sorrow according to the estate of the Church or people of God if thou hearest that it go well with the Church and people of God thou rejoycest and art glad of it if so be on the other side thou hearest that it goeth hard with the Church of God thy heart is then oppressed with sorrow and according to the measure of thy love to the Church and people of God so is thy sorrow for any known danger or distresse of the Church and people of God Now then to apply this to the time wherein we live we hear and have often heard that the Church and people of God at this day are in great distresse in forraign Nations even our Neighbour Nations in France and other Nations are in armes and are forced to stand up for the defence of their own lives and liberties and their wives and children stand upon their guatd at home or else to lye in the field to defend their lives and liberties and we have heard and do hear it daily that many of Gods children are in great streights that they are besieged by their cruel and bloody enemies even of such as desire nothing but to suck their blouds yea we hear daily how the Saints and servants of God are Massacred About this time was the Massacre of the poor Protestants in the Valtoline 1620 1621. and murthered yea many of them in going from the assemblies have had their throats cut and are knocked down before they come home yea we hear how that Gods children are forced either to yeeld to the Pope and his Idolatry or to lose their lives now we hear of this are we touched with sorrow and grief according to the measure of their afflictions surely then we have good evidence of our love to the people of God but on the contrary are our hearts nothing at all touched with grief and with heavinesse upon the newes of these things which is I fear the case of many to give themselves to jollity and rejoycing and are not touched with the afflictions of Joseph do we hear of these things as matter of news and discourse of them as novelties if so be it be so that now we give our selves to all manner of riot and excesse when you should give your selves to prayer certainly then you have no true love to the people of God So also for the glory of God canst thou hear the Name of God blasphemed and dishonoured by cursing swearing lying rybaldry and use all manner of filthy speaking and prophaning the Sabbath is not thy heart smitten is it not as a dagger in thy soul and a sword in thy heart when thou hearest men blaspheme and fearfully abuse the holy name of God assuredly then thou hast no true love to the glory of God and so also for the truth of Religion canst thou hear the holy Religion of God destroyed and trampled under foot and that Popery Idolatry and Superstition is like to be set up in the room of it and when thou hearest of this doest thou not mourn but art a man indifferent and carest not which end goes forward either Popery or true Religion it is a sure note that thou hast no true love to the Religion of God and thus I might proceed in other particulars but let us learn now to be grieved according to the known just occasion of grief given unto us for the Church and Children of God for the glory of God and pure Religion of God if so be we find no grief at all in our hearts when there is just occasion of grief let us not deceive our selves assuredly we love them not as we ought to do We read in the 1 Sam. 4.18 19. and so on to the end of the Chapter that old Eli was more affected when he heard newes that the Ark of God was taken then with the losse of his two sons and the wife of Phinees the daughter in law of Eli was more affected with the losse of the Ark of God then with the losse of her own dear husband for when she heard the Ark of God was taken she fell in travel and dyed and named her son Jekabod the glory is departed from Israel yea she repeateth it again the glory is departed from Israel for the Ark of God is taken And when the women laboured to comfort her she would have none for the Ark of God was taken Thus must we when the Religion of God is trodden down we must be affected with it A disgrace done to the name of God or a wrong done to the religion of God must affect our hearts with sorrow if we would have evidence that we truly love the holy Israel of God we must find our hearts affected according to the known estate of it if we have not we have not in us the Spirit nor the Life nor the grace of Gods Children in 2 Thess 2.10 11. if we do not imbrace the Religion of God and that with love and delight and be more then formal professors of it we are in danger to be seduced of Antichrist and to be led some one way and some another we are in danger to be given
judgement he will come to be glorified in his Saints and to be made marvelous and wonderful in all that believe He will invest his Saints then with heavenly glory and manifest his rich grace and abundant mercy upon them and that to the admiration and astonishment of all the world that shall looke upon him and be eye-witnesse of it in 1 John 3.2 Dearly beloved saith the Apostle We are now the Sonnes of God yet it doth not appear what we shall be is not now apparant nor evident to the eye of the world but the time shall come when it shall be apparant and manifest and that shall be when Christ shall come in glory unto judgement then the Saints of God then the true believers and the Chosen of God shall be made like unto him in fulnesse of grace and in fulnesse of glory not equal unto him but like unto him a plain Text evidencing and confirming this Truth That God will one day manifest his exceeding greatnesse and mercy to his chosen and make it appear to all the world to men and Angels that he is a merciful God to the confusion of the wicked and the admiration of the Angels Now beloved if so be we desire to be further enformed touching this what shall make men and Angels to admire the wonderful mercy of God to his Chosen Beloved it shall be not onely in respect of the abundant greatnesse of Gods mercy to his Chosen but also in respect of the freeness of Gods grace and of Gods glory that God bestoweth abundance of grace and of mercy and that freely for when as the wicked and reprobates shall at that day have justly according as they have deserved inflicted upon them even everlasting wrath and vengeance so on the other side God hath revealed the greatnesse of his mercy upon his chosen not for any merits or deserts of theirs and herein appeareth the wonderful admiration of Gods mercie in that he giveth it not in respect of any merit or desert of theirs for they have deserved the same wrath with the Reprobates but onely of his free mercy this shall make men and Angels to wonder at it that God vouchsafeth such a weight of glorie which they have not deserved freely out of his own mercie and it must needs be so for these Reasons Because the glorie of his mercie is as dear unto him as the glorie of his Reason 1 Justice and he will no more loose the glorie of his mercie then the glorie of his Justice Because God having promised grace unto his Chosen yea fulness of Reason 2 grace and fulness of mercy according to their measure The Lord will be justified in his Word and in his sayings and in his promise he will make it good yea the most wicked in the world shall one day justifie the goodness and the mercie of God to his Chosen and he will make them one day will they nill they to confess his goodness and this is not done in this world but in the world to come then he will wring a confession from them howsoever now they will not confess it yet then they shall manifest the riches of Gods grace to his Chosen The due consideration of this yieldeth matter of sweet and excellent comfort to Gods Children two waies First in respect of the cause and estate of Gods Children as it standeth with them when they are under some great and grievous affliction or under some strong temptation and violent assaults by Sathan in that he feels such a weight of sinne and such a burthen of corruptions lying and pressing down his heart and soul as for the present he hath no apprehension of the special love of God unto him nay he concludeth the Contrarie even against himself as that God hath forgotten him and left him though there be no such matter but God is pleased to exercise his Faith and to trie the soundness of his grace and he will have him to know that his faith and grace is even as pure gold tried in the furnace 1 Peter 1.7 That the trrial of your Faith is much more precious then gold Now in this case a Child of God may call to minde in this miserable estate he thinketh himselfe may call to minde what comfort and what mercie the Lord hath vouchsafed upon me and what pledges of his saving goodness the Lord hath vouchsafed and then he may consider that though the saving mercy of God be now hid from him for a time and that he can finde no comfort yet he having had experience of his saving grace formerly he may resolve that he will again return and manifest his mercie unto him for consider to reason thus Will God one day make it apparant to all the world that he is a merciful and gracious God to his Children and will not the same God make it manifest and apparant to thy soul here in this life at one time or other it cannot possibly be thou having had love tokens of his favour though they seem to be lost yet the Lord will come with abundance of grace and goodness Romans 15.13 Yea the Lord one day so exprest his grace as that the Child of God shall himselfe wonder and magnifie the grace of God unto his own soul yea he shall be ravished with the wonderful mercie of God unto his Chosen in general and to himselfe in particular For though when the Devil opposeth the godly by temptations they feele not the mercie of God to them yet the time shall come when it shall be manifest to all the world much more then to themselvess and to their own souls Again will God one day manifest his abundant mercie unto his Chosen Vse 2 making it to appear to the view of men and Angels it yieldeth a matter of comfort to Gods Children in respect of the censure and judgement that they pass upon Gods Children The men of the world seeing Gods Children walk humbly before the Lord and looking upon their humble and low carriage and behaviour which they account baseness they presently shoote out their fools bolt that they are the Reprobates they look upon the outside and see not what is within they are not able to see what mercy the Lord vouchsafeth unto his Children even in this world in that he giveth them assurance of his love unto them in Jesus Christ and a feeling of the sweetness of his grace and of mercie and the pardon of their sinnes this they are not able to see through the darkness of affliction and the cloud of their miserie Now this is to be remembred and to be thought upon for our comfort that are Gods Children in respect of this censure that howsoever the grace and the mercie of God be obscured and they cannot see it yet comfort thy self the time shall come that God-wil make it appear to men and Angels that he is a gracious God and that he is rich in mercy unto them and that the love of God is
as Conscience doth enlighten them that will bring to Life and Salvation no Familist or Anabaptist can have any assurance that they shall have Salvation But if we would have assured Evidence that cannot deceive us we must seek for the proofe of it in our hearts and soules in our effectual Calling see here what evidence of grace we have then we need not in this case to climbe up unto Heaven to search the Court-Rols of Heaven but we may take a shorter cut looke into thy owne Charter drawne out with the bloud of Christ in thy heart and therein looke to Gods effectual Calling to the Evidence of grace in thine own soul and that wil Evidence thee of thy Election and that thou art in the number of those that are Gods Chosen and herein I desire that everie one wil deale truely with his owne heart and soul Haste thou answered the voyce of God God calleth upon thee in his Word to come out of thy Ignorance and thy unbeliefe and other known sinnes tel me and deale faithfully Art thou wrought upon by the Word of God Doest thou come out of thy ignorance and thy blindenesse of minde by a through change from evil to good is the course of thy sinnes broken off thy pride thy drunkennesse thy usurie Hast thou thus answered the Call of God and hath the Word had a kindely workeing upon thy soule Romans 6.17 Doest thou finde sweetnesse in the Consolations of the Word of God and doest thou yield obedience to it in all things in one thing as well as in another Not onely in some things but in all things that God requireth yea in those things that doe most of all crosse thy owne humour Doest thou finde that the lusts of thy owne heart are curbed and ordered and doest thot finde that thou art now brought to love God to love his Children to love his Messengers to love the instrument of thy Calling If thou hast these things in thee thou art effectually called and being effectually called thou art a man or a woman that shall certainly be saved my soule for thine thou shalt come to Heaven all the Devils in Hell cannot deprive thee of it Oh then let every one trie above all things their effectual Calling which will assure them of salvation and be an infallible Evidence for their Election Even us whom he hath called not of the Jewes onely but also of the Gentiles Vse 2 IS it so that effectual Vocation doth prove unto men infallibly their Election and salvation in Heaven doubtless then effectual calling must needs be a ground of sweet and excellent and heavenly comfort unto the soules of all those that are indeed effectually Called Hast thou then good Evidence of thy effectual Calling Art thou sure that God hath wrought upon thee by the power of his Spirit That he hath brought thee by the preaching of the Word out of thy natural estate of ignorance and unbelief to true knowledge and faith in Jesus Christ Oh then comfort thy self thou hast cause to rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious 1 Peter 1.8 For this sealeth up unto thee this comfort that thou art one whom God loved from everlasting from all Eternitie before this world was that thou art one redeemed by Jesus Christ that thou art justified in the sight of God and acquitted and freed from the guilt and punishment of all thy sins and that they shal never be laid to thy charge for effectual calling and justification joyn hands together it giveth thee assurance thou art acquitted from all thy sinnes both past present and to come and shalt as certainly goe to Heaven as if thou wert already in Heaven and all the power of hell shal never be able to prevail against thee therefore thou art in a most happie condition Object But here happily some may say here is a sweet ground of excellent comfort we must needs confess if so be a man be effectually called and truely believe in Christ but alas say the Papists a man cannot know whether he hath the Spirit of God working in him or no he may have a false spirit neither can a man tell whether he doth truely believe in Christ or no. Now therefore to remove this stumbling stock of the Papists Answ we must consider that the Spirit of God is compared to fire Matthew 3.11 He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire and it is compared to the blowing of the wind Joh 3.8 The winde bloweth where it listeth c. So are all that be born of the Spirit thereby giving us to understand that as sensibly as a living man may perceive the burning of the fire and feel the blowing of the winde so sensibly may a Child of God perceiue in himself the working of the holy Spirit of God And indeed it is the very office of the Spirit of God to teach Gods Children to know the things of God so saith the Apostle expresly 1 Cor. 2.12 We saith the Apostle have not received the spirit of the world but we have received the Spirit of God whereby we know the good things that are given us of God He teacheth us to know our Hope our Faith and a good life it is the office of the Spirit and he will certainly perform his Office And beloved did not the Apostle know on whom he had believed 1. Tim. 2.12 I know on whom I have believed and cannot a Childe of God know assuredly that he truely believeth in Christ by the works and fruits of his faith purifying his heart working in him a love to God and his Children Gal. 5.6 because they bear his Image may not he certainly conclude true faith worketh by love Object Oh but say the Papists for all this a man cannot know whether he truly love God or no Do you say they prove your faith by your love Answ This is more foolish then the other for if one man love another he knoweth it and in what measure he loveth him and cannot a Child of God that layeth aside all earthly pleasures and denieth himself and standeth for Christ and his Gospel to the shedding of his bloud and yet not know whether he loveth God or no surely then Christ did ask of Peter a very idle and frivolous question which were blasphemie to think in John 21.15 Peter lovest thou me Peter might have said Lord thou knowest no man can tel whether he love thee or no but Peter saith Lord thou knowest that I love thee so that a man may truely know whether he loveth God or no and so be assured of his effectual calling I but say the Papists grant this Object that a Childe of God may know the good things given him of God and may know Gods love for the present and know himself in the state of grace yet here is a point you littlc think of sc he cannot be sure of his salvation unless he hold out unto the end And herein they contradict the plain
to God by prayer as thy Father which is in heaven but as a God ready to pour out his wrath and vengeance clothed with Justice and Judgement yea thou canst not hear the voyce of God against thee Oh that Civil honest persons would but consider this their miserable estate and condition thou wouldest be so far from being pleased with thy self in respect of thy estate and so far from blessing thy self therein that thou wouldest fall a bewailing of thy miserable estate and condition in considering thy case is miserable and damnable Again in that the Apostle saith I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not beloved hence we may observe thus much viz. Doctrine That the called of God such as are wrought upon by the Spirit of God and the preaching of the Word hath a kindly working upon their soules they are in a most happy peaceable and blessed condition besides this the Scripture setteth their estate out in many notable places in Ephes 2. saith the Apostle they are made near unto God whereas before God was an angry Judge now they are at peace with God yea at peace with all the creatures of God yea the very stones in the streets and beasts in the field are at peace with them yea such as are in the estate of grace they may have accesse to the Throne of grace to see the face and favour of God with boldnesse they may come into the house of God with comfort and joy and rejoycing they may eat bread at the Lords Table and feed on the Gospel yea they may praise God for assurance of happinesse hereafter yea the Scripture maketh known that they are dear unto the Lord of heaven and he maketh special account and reckoning of them they are a royal Priesthood a holy Nation a peculiar people 1 Pet. 2.9 yea they are the sheep of his pasture the Saints of God and of his Family they are of Gods Houshold Ephes 2.19 they are dear and tender to him as the apple of his eye he that toucheth them toucheth the very apple of his eye Zach 2.8 yea they are the Lords own proper inheritance Deut. 32.9 all the world is the Lords but his people are his inheritance Vse If this be so how ought we to seek and labour to find our selves in this estate out of the estate of Nature if we find our selves in this estate we are beloved of God to the acceptation of our persons our good works and services yea our weak and imperfect service are pleasing unto God through Christ yea we are in such a blessed estate and condition that nothing can make us miserable how should this affect our hearts for if a child of God were in hell and within the compasse of Gods love he were in a blessed estate whereas otherwise though they were in heaven and yet not beloved of God thy case would be miserable Oh what a blessed condition is a Child of God in And as the Heathen man saith If thou didst see the beauty of vertue thou wouldest desire it above all so if thou didst but see the beauty and lustre of Gods love it would make thee admire it and to labour to get out of the estate of nature into the estate of grace and then happy art thou for thou hast right and title to everlasting happinesse and assured possession of heaven As he saith also in Hosea I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not beloved And it shall come to passe in the place where it was said unto them You are not my people There shall they be called the Children of the living God WE are now to come to stand upon the last of these two verses the 26. verse where we see the Apostle doth double his testimony and doth bring two places both of them to one and the same purpose one of them had been sufficient but he bringeth two and indeed doubling of speeches in Scripture is not idle nor superfluous but it is of excellent use and purpose it serveth both for more certainty and for more plainnesse and perspicuity in Gen. 41.32 Joseph said unto Pharaoh his dream was doubled and why because the thing should certainly come to passe so likewise it maketh things more evident plain and perspicuous as in Phil. 3.1 The Apostle saith It grieveth not me to write unto you the same things again for they are sure and certain The point needs not to be inlarged onely I note it to teach us that we must double our regard and our respect of things that are often repeated and often beaten upon in the holy Scripture God having a mouth to speak we must have an ear to hear a mind to attend and a heart to yeeld obedience unto him and the Lord doubling his speech and repeating the same things again we must double our hearing double our apprehension and double our care to profit by it and make use accordingly As in particular Doth the Lord double his threats against thy sins hast thou often heard of thy particular sinnes thy drunkennesse thy whoredome thy pride thy Sabbath-breaking thy Usury hast thou heard of it again and again hath the Lord directed his Ministers to denounce his Judgements often against thee for thy sinnes Oh then it behoveth thee to double thy care and respect in reforming of thy sinnes hath the Lord often threatned thee for thy pride thy garishnesse in apparel and is it not amended certainly the Lord will deal with thee proportionably thou resistest the holy Spirit of God that hath doubled his threatenings against thee for thy sinnes and thou not amending but going on he will certainly one day double his plagues and Judgments upon thee without reformation Now touching the matter of the Apostles speech And it shall be in the place where it was said they are not my people there they shall be called my people Here we see the Lord doth set forth the Calling of the Gentiles by the circumstance of the place the meaning is as if the Lord had said In those Nations those Kingdoms those Countries of the world where I have none that do fear nor worship me nor are called by the name of my people but are Heathen and Pagans there will I raise up some to call upon me and to offer unto me So that we may see that Gods calling of men to the estate of grace it respecteth no place but in any place in any Countrey of the World the Lord will call them in due time but this point for the substance we have formerly handled But hence we may gather briefly thus much viz. That distinction of place in regard of holinesse Doctrine is now taken away in the time of the New Testament it is now abolished one place is not now holier then another but in every nation in every place God will have people to worship him neither is the worship of God now
16 Love whether due to the none Elected page 21 Love wisheth well to the souls of the beloved page 21 22 Love of the father in sending of Christ page 38 How God loved Jacob expounded page 105 Love of God eternal cause of all good to his page 106 Love of God to us how it differeth from our love unto others page 107 He should endeavour to see the love of God in all that we enjoy ibid. Love of God to his Eternal 1â—8 and how page 109 how God loveth his Elect when enemies ibid. Lump expounded page 176 M O MAn what is meant by it page 166 Mary the blessed Virgin saved not by bearing Christ in her womb but in heart by faith page 28 Merit of works the doctrine of it confuted page 94 see more 201 2. use 202 1. use Mercy of God towards his chosen dependeth onely on the good pleasure of his will page 124 125 Mercy of God to his then sweeeest when compared with his wrath on thewicked page 196 Mercy of God to his Elect and Chosen shall be one day manifested page 198 the special uses of that point page 199 Mercy of God to his Elect and Chosen is directed to his own glory page 200 Mercy of God is to be magnified page 201 Mercy of God the ground of our happinesse in heaven page 202 Ministers of God are to manifest both love and wisdom when they deliver harsh things to the hearers p. 3. Ministers must yet take heed of daubing or man pleasing ibid. Ministers must take care to apply the word of God to the hearers aright page 51 128 How they assure men of salvation page 129 use 1. Ministers of the word must use to deal plainly with the hearers page 228 N NAtural estate a miserable condition page 220 Natural estate of the Elect considered ibid. Necessity is twofold shewed page 110 Nicodemus his carnal reasoning page 158 O OBservation of times lawful and unlawful page 79 superstitious Observation of dayes reproved page 122 Opinions false and erroneous drawn from misconceit are very hardly left page 71 Opinions false and Erroneous to be disclaimed and utterly abhorred page 118 Opinions Erroneous arise chiefly from fleshly and carnal Reasoning page 158 P Painting of faces abominable and why page 174 Patinece of God towards the wicked and Reprobate shewed and the reason of it page 185 186 the end and use of Gods patience therein page 187 18 Patience of God abused very offensive to him page 188 Motives not to abuse the patience of God page 190 Papists can be no true friends to Protestant States page 32 use Papists overthrow the truth of Christs humane natures page 37 Popish slander answered and confuted page 41 78 Popish doctrine confuted page 94 132 133 Popish practise observed and reproved page 103 Papists abuse the written word and how page 121 137 Papists impudent cavil answered page 172 Popish Pilgrimages censured and reproved page 224 Peter whether ever Bishop of Rome questionable page 35 Piety the great force and power of it noted page 34 of Parents beneficial to children page 35 Places distinction taken away under the new Testament page 223 Pharaoh King of Egypt why raised up of God page 135 How God is said to harden his heart page 136 Preachers in applying the word may fitly and lawfully say this is a word of comfort c. page 71 Preachers must apply general truthes of God to particular cases and concernments page 128 Presumption how best beaten down in us page 167 Pride one special ground of it discovered Priviledge none whatsoever outward can make graceless persons accepted of God page 28 No outward Priviledge to be rested in no not outward profession of Religion ibid. Promises misapplyed are not comfortable page 50 Promises Rom. 9. what meant by them page 27 Promises of God firm and stable page 48 49 comfort to such as are interested in them ibid. Promises of two sorts page 71 Promises made good all the sorts of them page 72 Profane Proverb reproved page 35 Man fitly compared to Potters vessel with the use of it page 177 178 Q Quarrelling with Gods will very abominable page 173. Questioning the will of God great impudency page 169 not tolerable to do it page 171 Questioning of God a weaknesse in the Saints ibid. R REason carnal apt to gather false conclusions from true principles page 157 the ground of Erroneous Opinions page 158 Carnal Reason apt to abuse Scripture page 159 Religion the glory of a Nation page 32 Reprobation the decree of it from Eternity page 109 c. Reprobates how they sin of necessity page 110 what things cannot be found in them page 111 Reprobation the doctrine of it revealed in Scripture page 139 Reprobates hardened by God and how page 140 Gods highest end in their destruction page 194 Revelation besides or against Scripture to be rejected page 137 Revenge not to be sought by Christians and why page 193 S SAdnesse of Gods children reproved page 49 use Salvation of man wholly in Gods hand page 133 Stars their position not to be observed page 78 79 Separatists reproved and confuted page 52 53 Similitudes in Preaching must be of things known page 177 Scripture if obscure in one place is usually explained and made plain in another page 63 Scripture best expounder of it self page 65 Scripture sufficient to resolve all doubts page 77 136 used by the Apostles to prove doctrines page 103 Scripture sufficient in fundamentals and why page 137 how known to be the word of God page 138 Scripture expresse words not alwaies necessary to be used in preaching proved page 215 Scripture apt to be perverted by wicked men page 65 but ought not to be abused page 215 Successions of persons without truth and piety nothing page 35 Swearing lawful p. 5. but vain reproved ibid. Swearing must be by the true God onely p. 6 7 T TRuths of God how to be delivered page 113 subject to be perverted page 114 Truth in word and heart go together p. 7 V VIrginity whether justly to be preferred before Marriage yea or no page 28 Vessel of clay is man even the strongest page 177 178 Vessel of wrath explained page 183 Vessel of wrath and child of wrath differ page 183 Elect and Reprobate both Vessels page 184 Vessels of mercy how known ibid. W VVEaknesse of Saints discovered page 171 Wilful sinners dangerous condition page 193 Will of God in Predestination Independent page 180 Will of God irresistible page 163 Will of God ever backed by his power page 164 the right use of it ibid. Will of God in all things just and holy page 122 not to be opposed by carnal reason page 123 Will of God overthroweth not the freedom of mans will page 164 Will of God not to be questioned page 169 not to be quarrelled against page 172 Quarrellers against Gods will noted page 174 Wish of the Apostle Rom. 9.3 lawful page 19 the extent of that wish weighed page 20
The Great MYSTERY OF Godlinesse Opened BEING AN EXPOSITION UPON The whole Ninth Chapter of the Epistle of Saint Paul to the ROMANS By the Late Pious and faithful servant of Jesus Christ Mr. EDWARD ELTON Bachelor in Divinity and sometimes Preacher of the Gospel at Mary Magdalens Bermondsey neer London Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated Rom. 9.13 O the Depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God Rom. 11.33 Great is the Mystery of Godlinesse God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world and received up into glory 1 Tim. 3.16 Licensed Entred Printed and Published according to Order LONDON Printed by J. L. for Christopher Meredith and are to be sold at his Shop at the sign of the Crane in Pauls Church-yard 1653. To the Courteous and Christian Reader Good Reader THis Book which the good hand of God hath put into thy hand to read is such of which thou mayest justly say as Jacob did of his pretended venison a Gen. 27.19 20. the Lord hath brought it to thy hand rise up therefore and eat of this savory meat such as thy soul loveth or should do at least It was the work of a most Pious and skilful Scribe excellently instructed to the Kingdom of God b Matth. 13.52 he was a burning and a shining light c Joh. 5.35 burning with zeal for Gods glory and shining as a light in that crooked Generation wherein he lived d Phil. 2.15 but he is now triumphing in heaven and therefore standeth not in need either of thy prayers or my praises who being dead yet speaketh e Heb. 11.4 so that his own works may justly praise him in the gates f Prov. 31.31 Leaving therefore the Author who is now at rest with the Lord I come to the book it self wherein if thou do not meet with new Truths yet thou shalt find old Truth confuting old and new Errors sin sharply rebuked holy Duties earnestly and seasonably pressed the power of Godlinesse advanced and the great Mystery of Godlinesse sweetly opened evidences of Election cleerly discovered here thou mayest know whether thy name be written in heaven g Luk. 10.20 onely let me advise thee to follow the Authors method who beginneth first with the Complaint of a Sinner combating and conflicting then cometh to the Christian Triumphing and so cometh to open the Great Mystery of Godlinesse so do thou read the first Treatise to learn to complain of thy corruption and then thou mayest be sure at last to Triumph with the true Christian and so be the fitter to look into the great Mystery of Godliness for to such is the promise made by our Saviour that to them it shall be given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven h Matth. 13.11 and again if any man be a doer of Gods will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God i Joh. 7.17 so that he that is ready to imbrace the power of Godlinesse and is daily conversant in the practise of it is most likely to be skilful in the mystery of it get thy heart therefore stored with the graces of the Spirit that accompany Salvation add to thy Faith Vertue and to thy Vertue Knowlege and to Knowledge Temperance and that Patience and to that Godlinesse and to that Brotherly kindnesse c. For so an entrance shall be made unto thee abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of Jesus Christ k 2 Pet. 1 5â— c. 11. besides let me recommend unto thee a fit Treasure for a Christian to be laid up in heaven where the Rust and Mothes cannot corrupt nor Thieves break through nor steal l Matth. 6.20 In a word let me advise thee to store up in thine heart soundnesse of Knowledge strength of Faith purity of Heart clearnesse of Conscience holinesse of Life assurance of Gods favour contempt of the world many sanctified Sabbaths fervent prayers holy Conferences Heavenly Meditations dayes of Humiliation sincere love of the Saints righteous dealing with the Brethren a sincere love of Jesus Christ m Ephes 6.24 an universal hatred of every known sin and of all alse waies n Psal 119.104 the true fear of God and the power of Godlinesse o 2 Tim. 3.5 This counsel observed and followed will enable thee to live Christianly and to dye comfortably with full assurance that when the earthly house of this Tabernacle shall be dissolved thou shalt have an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens p 2 Cor. 5.17 where you shall be ever with Lord q who sitteth at the right hand of his Father where there is fulnesse of joy and pleasures that last for evermore r Psai 16. ult such as eye hath not seen nor ear hath heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the excellencies of those joyes that God hath prepared for them that love him s 1 Cor. 29. let me earnestly entreat thee and affectionatly beseech thee good Reader speedily to fall to work and first seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousnesse t Matth. 6.33 for herein delayes are most dangerous for the longer thou stayest thou shalt finde that God groweth more angry Satan more strong thy self more unable to repent sin more unconquerable thy conversion more difficult and thy salvation more impossible a ruinous house the longer delayed the more costly will the repairing be the nail of sin the more strokes are given to it by frequent acting the more difficult to get out of that precious soul of thine oh then begin speedily because delayes are so dangerous and continue constantly having once begun in the spirit do not make an end in the flesh lest you labour and suffer all in vain u Gal. 3 3 4. give me leave therefore to presse thee effectually in the words of the Apostle that having such glorious hopes and so many precious promises w 2 Cor. 1.4 endeavour to cleanse thy self from all filthinesse of the flesh and Spirit perfecting holinesse in the fear of God x 2 Cor. 7.1 alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as I can assure thee that thy labour shall not be in vain in the Lord y 1 Cor. 15.58 onely be sure to fight a good fight and keep sound in the faith till thou finish thy course and I can assure thee of an immortal crown which Jesus Christ that righteous judge wil be ready to set upon the head of all such as love his appearing z 2 Tim. 47 8 9. against whose glorious coming that thou mayest be the better prepared let me advise thee once more to a serious perusal of this and the two former Treatises in the reading whereof my hearty prayers shall be with and for thee at the throne of grace that hereby thy judgement may be rightly enformed
witnesse of the Conscience Many there be that think of their consciences witnessing holily and truly of the good things said or done by them when indeed and in truth there is no such matter when their Consciences telleth them that they pray and hear Sermons as the consciences of all erring spirits Papists and Anabaptists Familists and others their consciences cannot witnesse truly with them and holily they fail in their Judgment and their consciences must needs be erroneous and so cannot possibly afford them any true comfort surely they think they do exceeding great service to God but they are deceived and their Judgment is erroneous But to draw near unto our selves Thus standeth the case with all unregenerate persons and such as be in their natural estate the consciences of unregenerate persons do many times witnesse much good in respect of the good things said or done by them Their conscience telleth them oh they have much good and great comfort in hearing the Word especially if they live a civil honest life and be free from grosse sins and deal justly and truly with men their consciences telleth them that they are in a marvellous good case and you cannot drive them from it for why their Conscience telleth them so that they are no Drunkards no Theeves no Swearers and God is well pleased with them and they have much good and comfort by the testimony of their consciences But their Conscience doth witnesse falsly so as the Prophet saith a deceitful heart hath cousened them Esay 44. and their Conscience cannot possibly truly witnesse any comfort to them For the good things they have done be they the best works or words or deeds done that possibly can be spoken or done their conscience cannot truly witnesse so long as they be unregenerate and therefore to conclude this point If thou wouldst have thy conscience to witnesse holily and truly and to thy comfort never rest untill thou find that thy conscience is sprinkled with the blessed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 9.14 which is able to purge thy conscience and that thy heart is purified by faith and sanctified by grace and then thy Conscience will witnesse with thee in the Holy Ghost otherwise it is but a deceitful conscience that maketh men soothe up themselves and esteem themselves in a holy and good estate without cause VERSE 2. That I have great heavinesse and continual sorrow in my heart NOw from hence in that the Apostle doth set down his grief and sorrow for the rejection of the Jewes I might stand to shew that Gods Children are not stocks nor stones free from natural affections Gods Children have humane affections of joy and sorrow and love which is common to the nature of man but those are rectified and by grace guided to right objects and that by due measure and moderation according to the nature of the object to which they are moved The Apostle maketh this a note of such that are given over to unnatural sences Rom. 1.30 that they want natural affections and doubtlesse the more true and sincere grace is in the heart of Gods children certainly the more tender are the affections of that heart and soul and the more effectual apprehension of any true cause of matter of sorrow or grief but to passe by that And to come to the main point In that the Apostle doth manifest that he had great heavinesse and sorrow and that for the rejection of the Jews that was the object of his sorrow because the Jewes were left in the blindnesse of mind and hardnesse of heart and did not imbrace the Gospel this was matter of great heavinesse to the heart of the blessed Apostle in the first place the observation is this That we are to be grieved for the known miseries of others Doctr. and especially for the known miseries of the soules of others we are to grieve and to mourn for others that we know do lye under any heavy trouble or affliction or distresse in respect of any outward calamity but beloved our hearts must bleed and be broken for the evils that we know do lye upon the soules of others we are exceedingly to be grieved for the blindnesse of the mind and hardnesse of their heart that they go on in sin without repentance with an high hand that they are led by the lusts of their own hearts and according to the lust of their vile hearts in security and brutish lusts this is that which must stick close and wound us especially Besides this evidence in the example of the Apostle we have testimony in other places of Scripture in Ezek. 9.4 we read of the godly who should be marked and have a mark set on their forehead that they should not be destroyed in the common overthrow of Hierusalem they were such as cryed and mourned for the abominations that were committed by others in that City their hearts bled not so much for the overthrow of the City as for the hardnesse of the hearts of men such as did abominably and in Jer. 13.17 saith the Prophet when the people would not hear him and yeeld obedience to the voyce of God in his Ministery My eyes shall weep in secret and why for the hardnesse of the hearts of the people that they would not take notice of the Word of God and the Judgments of God denounced against them for their sins Oh saith the Prophet I must needs grieve for your obstinacy and Psal 119.136 saith David my eyes gush out with rivers of water thereby expressing the grief of his heart why because they were under any calamity no because men keep not the Law of God even for the sins that lye upon the soules of men and the hardnesse of their hearts And the Apostle witnesseth of that holy man just Lot that his soul was vexed with the filthy lusts and unclean conversation of the filthy Sodomites 1 Pet. 2.7 they vexed just Lot from day to day with their filthy abominations and it is witnessed of Christ himself in Mark 3.5 that he mourned for the hardnesse of the hearts of the Pharisees even the blessed soul and heart of the Lord Jesus mourned for the hardnesse of their hearts that they would not be humbled for their sins and in Luke 19.41.42 The Lord Jesus wept for what because Hierusalem should be ruinated not so simply but also especially for the hardnesse of their hearts and that they would not take notice of those things that did belong to their peace the Lord had sent his Prophets and his own Son and yet they would not hearken so that we see it is a clear truth that we are especially to be grieved for the miseries and the known evils of the soules of others those that continue in their sins and will go on with perseverance in swearing Sabbath-breaking Drunkennesse and the like for these we are especially to mourn and to be grieved The Reason Reason is because the evils that be upon the soul of
up to strong delusions and to believe lies because we receive not the truth in love of the truth For if we do receive the truth out of love unto it we shall find that our love unto the truth will be a strong preservative against the seducing of Antichrist and better arm us against the subtilties of our enemies and their powerful efficacy and working though all the Devils in the world do assist them and this defend us better then all the learning in the world we see great Doctours are seduced because though they have learning yet have no love And therefore let thy heart be set upon the Church of God and the holy Religion of God that we may be sure it is true and hearty love as it ought to be that we are able to say with the Apostle we have continual sorrow for the evils upon the soules or afflictions upon the bodies of Gods Church One thing farther the Apostle putteth down his sorrow with the subject of it in his heart hereby he pointeth out thus much unto us That we are to be grieved for the miseries of others even from the heart we must not rest in an out-side sorrow in a verbal sorrow to say we are sorrowful and grieved for it as St. John saith 1 Joh. 3.18 our love must not be in tongue but in deed and in truth As also our pity must not be a verbal pity to say go thy way fill thy belly James 2.15 16. and yet supply nothing to their wants so that the miseries of others known unto us must be indeed and in truth yea in our very hearts and soules especially for the known miseries of the Church and people of God we must expresse our grief to others by sighes and groans and prayers and tears as any just occasion is offered and thereby manifest that our grief is a grief of the heart and soul when we so reach out our help unto them And know we if so be our grief and sorrow be not in our hearts and soules but verbal and outward it is counterfeit for nature can put on a mourning semblance and counterfeit grief and there may be a glad heart under a mourning gown as a poor man having a black gown at a rich mans funeral mourneth not but is glad that he hath it to cover him but we must have sorrow in our heart for the Church of God And again God hateth the sorrow that is not in the heart Psal 51.6 the Lord loveth truth and soundnesse in the affections when we have cause of joy to rejoyce heartily and when we have cause of sorrow to be grieved heartily Oh then in the fear of God look to this that thy sorrow and grief for the miseries of others especially for the Church of God that it be as it ought to be not in word onely verbal but in truth look that our hearts be dissolved into sorrow and that it shew forth the powerful working of it in sighes in groans and in tears for the poor distressed members of the Church to shed abundance of tears for them that we may say with the Apostle I have sorrow in my heart for my brethren in their Afflictions VERSE 3. For I could wish my self to be separated from Christ for my brethren that are my Kinsmen according to the flesh IN this Verse our Apostle putteth down as a fruit of his love to the Jews and as a manifestation thereof an earnest desire of their good as before he did manifest his sorrow for them so here he doth manifest his love unto them in an earnest desire of their good expressing that in wishing himself to be separated and accursed from Christ for their salvation and conversion then he subjoyneth one special cause of this his earnest desire and of this wish because they were his kinsmen and beloved brethren according to the flesh so we see the generality of these words come we now to the sense of them For I could wish Or I would wish it he saith not I could wish another but he putteth it down with an ego ipse I I my self would wish it to be separated or accursed the Text original anathema is the same we read in the 1 Corinth 16.22 where the Apostle saith If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed an execration Anathema Maranatha yea I my self saith the Apostle could be Anathema Touching this word Expositors make much ado and make divers expositions of it not so pertinent to this place But this word Anathema in the general acceptation of it signifieth any thing that is set apart from the common use of man and is dedicated consecrated and devoted either unto God as in Levit. 27.28 29. They were to set apart certain men and beasts and devote them unto God or it signifieth things dedicated and devoted unto the Devil as those things that were consecrated and devoted unto Idols among the heathen that were devils indeed and called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and were hanged up in the Idols temples and so called Anathema or in the third place it signifieth any person or thing that is set apart and devoted unto destruction and hence cometh the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Matth. 26.74 Peter beginneth to curse himself and to wish himself to be destroyed if he knew Christ as many wicked persons say would they might be destroyed body and soul Now in this third sense and signification is the word here used by the Apostle not as a thing dedicated to God or the Devil but as a thing dedicated and devoted to destruction as appeareth in that the Apostle wisheth to be anathematized or separated from Christ for to be separated is to be removed and set apart from salvation purchased by Christ and from all hope of it In a word it signifieth to perish and to be utterly condemned for out of Christ there is no hope of salvation that so he might perish in hell and utterly be damned there and feel the pains of the damned in hell And for further Explanation of this phrase some think that this wish of the Apostle was absolute and actual without any condition at all but others are of another mind to whom I rather encline for it was not an absolute wish to be severed from Christ but it is to be understood with a Condition namely he would thus wish to be separated from Christ and damned in hell if it were possible that he being damned the Jews might be saved and God and Christ have the more glory this speech it is like unto that of David in the 2 Sam. 18.33 where David saith Oh Absalon my son my son would God I had dyed for thee Oh Absalon my son my son he wisheth with a condition if it might be possible would I had dyed for thee so the Apostle would wish himself to be separated from Christ for the Jews if it were possible that he being damned the Jewes might be saved that
and consider that thou seest in them that so go on in their sins a lively image picture and proportion of thine own former natural estate and miserable condition such a one was I once I took as much delight as they do posted as fast to damnation as they do how much then am I bound to magnifie the goodnesse and mercy of God to me who of his mere goodnesse and mercy hath turned my feet another way even the Lord of his rich and abundant mercy hath put a manifest difference between my self and many others he hath put now a new mind in me and hath given me a delight in good things what shall I render unto the Lord what thanks what glory what honour and obedience shall I render to my God This ought to be the meditation and consideration of thee whosoever thou art that findest thy self wrought upon by the holy Word of God when thou seest other run on in sin with delight and pleasure to post to destruction as if they meant to come thither with all speed hasting to damnation Oh then lift up thy heart in Serious contemplation upon the free grace and goodnesse of God in calling thee out of that number and electing thee to salvation Further in that God saith here unto Abraham in Isaac shall thy seed be called Isaac being one that belonged unto Gods eternal election I might here stand to shew that God doth effectually call none but such as belong unto Gods election but I stood upon that in the 30 verse of the eight Chapter onely one thing now that is this We are to mark that God here saith not unto Abraham in Isaac will I make good my Covenant in Isaac will I make good my promise but he saith in Isaac shall thy seed be called Isaac shall be called and his seed and so will I make good my Covenant in Isaacs calling The doctrine is this That Gods effectual calling of men out of the state of nature Doctr. into the state of grace by the Word and work of his Spirit Effectual calling is an evidence of a mans being in Covenant with God it is a sure evidence unto them that are so called that they are in Covenant with God and God with them that God is their good and gracious Father yea it doth infallibly evidence unto them that God hath loved them from everlasting God now hath set upon them a seal of his special love and that now they have right and title to the promises of God concerning righteousnesse life and salvation 2 Pet. 1.10 saith the Apostle Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure You see he putteth down calling before election not that it is so in the order of nature but if a man be called he is certainly elected if we be sure of our calling we may be sure of our election we may certainly and infallibly conclude that we are in Covenant with God and have right and title to the promises of God we may so conclude not doubtfully or conjecturally but certainly conclude I have right and title to the Promises of God Know then what an excellent and sweet comfort may this be to them Vse that find themselves effectually called hast thou good evidence of thy effectual calling hath the Word a kindly working hath it wrought upon thee a change and set thee out of the state of nature into the state of grace thou art certainly in a most blessed and happy condition this doth evidence that God did love thee before the world was before it had a being now thou art in Covenant with God and God hath now set his seal upon thee thou art one of his good Isaacs one of his beloved think upon it therefore the meditation of thy effectual calling is more comfortable unto thee then to think upon thy election or redemption by Christ these are matters of great comfort but thy effectual calling is more comfortable unto thee it sealeth up that thou art one of Gods chosen that thou art redeemed by the Blood of Christ look to thy effectual calling or else it appertaineth not unto thee but thou being called here is wonderful comfort for thee VERSE 8. That is they that are the children of the flesh are not the children of God but the children of the Promise are counted for the seed IN this Verse our Apostle doth deliver by way of Explication that which he put down in the verse foregoing and having in the seventh verse before affirmed that not all they that came of Abraham by the course of nature are the true seed of Abraham because Ishmael was the seed of Abraham but God said he should not inherit the promise but in Isaac should the seed be called he should participate in the promise now this being brought by the Apostle and set down in the verse foregoing In this verse the Apostle explaineth himself and layeth open his meaning a little further shewing what he meaneth by children and by the seed of Abraham here he explaineth his meaning Neither are they all children in the verse before because they are the seed of Abraham but in Isaac shall thy seed be called then he subjoyneth in this eighth verse That is they that are the children of the flesh are not the children of God but the children of the Promise are counted for the seed And in this eighth verse we have laid before us an opposition between the children of the flesh and the children of the promise First of all denying them to be the children of God who are the children of the flesh and secondly affirming that they onely are accounted the true seed who are the children of the Promise Now for the explication of this verse lesse need it to be stood upon and spoken of if so be some erring spirits did not wrest and pervert it and labour to draw it to a wrong sense I will therefore endeavour to lay open the true sense of it viz. That is my meaning is they which are the children of the flesh The Arminians and the Anabaptists joyn together hand in hand and do understand by children of the flesh those that seek for righteousnesse and salvation by the righteousnesse of the Law and so seek for it by a carnal and fleshly course after the law and the flesh and so such as are Justitiaries and seek to be justified by the Law this say they is meant by children of the flesh this is their conceit But this cannot be the true sense of the phrase flesh though I grant indeed by children of the flesh we note out such as are Justitiaries in some places of Scripture and such as seek for salvation by their own righteousnesse the righteousnesse of the Law and that in and by the Law yet here in this place the literal sense and the literal meaning is to be taken and by children of the flesh we are to understand those that discended of Abraham according to the course of
can take notice of to see or know but onely God and a mans own heart and conscience a groaning under inward and spiritual sins a groaning under unbelief hardnesse of heart deadnesse and dulnesse in performing holy duties pride of life pride of heart self-self-love which no man can discern a groaning unto God in secret to remove these things Now then if thou findest these things that thou hast a true and thorough change by the work of Gods Spirit thou art able to stand against thy best pleasing and darling sinnes and the more grace thou hast the more careful thou art to use the meanes thou doest not think the time tedious in hearing the Word or repeating of Sermons the more thy love to the means increaseth and the more thou groanest under such evils and sins as no eye of man can take notice of no not the devil and thou accountest it thy greatest misery to bear the burthen of sin thou couldest endure any torture in thy body rather then sin certainly thereupon thou mayest conclude that thou art one belonging to Gods election and hast outstripped and gone beyond a reprobate Oh then hereby try and examine your selves labour to find this change wrought in thee by the power and means of grace and then this will yeeld thee sweet and heavenly comfort indeed VERSE 14. VVhat shall we say then is there unrighteousnesse with God no God forbid COme we now unto the 14 Verse Our Apostle having from the sixth verse of this Chapter hitherto cleared God from inconstancy from being inconstant in his Word and Promises notwithstanding the rejection of the Jewes for the body and greatest part of them though they be the seed of Abraham and Isaac and descended of Jacob who was called Israel yet God was not inconstant having cleared God from that imputation now he cometh to clear God from iniquity and injustice and in this argument he continueth from this 14. verse to the 19. verse of this Chapter Now in this 14 verse our Apostle preventeth a false inference and a wrong conclusion that mans corrupt and carnal reason might infer and bring upon that before delivered in the verses foregoing For the Apostle having made known thus much concerning these two brethren that they being equal in birth and neither of them in better or worse estate in regard of nature but both in equal conditions God hated the one and loved the other this may seem very hard to flesh and bloud and the carnal humane reason of man at this might stumble and hereupon be offended and rise up in a complaint against God and charge him with injustice and partiality that therefore because he loved Jacob and hated Esau the Lord is partial in his doings Now this inference and conclusion our Apostle preventeth and meeteth with and sheweth it to be a mere cavil of the flesh and a false and wrong conclusion drawn from the premise unjustly and that on this manner this is his manner of proceeding First of all the Apostle knowing that that which he had delivered was a truth and is confident and bold in it and doth provoke any one that doth cavil against him to tell what they could say against him or infer upon that position VVhat shall we say therefore Say what you can he doth provoke every man to tell him what they can say against this God loved Jacob and hated Esau Then in the second place having made this challenge what can we say and infer against this holy position he delivereth that conclusion which in all likelihood flesh and blood was ready to make and bring in And that by way of interrogation is there therefore unrighteousnesse with God what canst thou say is there unrighteousnesse with God to this he answereth Negatively no and that not barely but answereth it by way of detestation and abhorring such a conclusion as grosse and absurd saith he God forbid Shall we conclude God is unrighteous no and that he denyeth most emphatically and powerfully and thereunto the Apostle subjoyneth a further and more special denyal of that grosse conclusion by a more special refutation in the 15 16 17 and 18. verses but to keep within the compasse of this 14 verse wherein is contained the Apostles challenge the particular conclusion and the powerful denyal And first of all briefly to open the sense of the words VVhat shall we say then These words are to be understood with reference VVhat shall we say therefore in the 13 verse where the Apostle bringeth in God speaking from the testimony of the Prophet I have loved Jacob and hated Esau and they are thus to be conceived VVhat shall we say therefore see what conclusion we shall infer Is there unrighteousnesse with God Shall we hereupon bring and infer this conclusion that therefore there is unrighteousnesse with God because God did from everlasting purpose and decree out of his mere good will and pleasure Jacobs eternal salvation and also before the world was out of his free good will and pleasure nothing moving him Esau's rejection that therefore God is unjust and unequal because he so dealt with equal persons in his Justice and mercy God forbid Oh far be it from us let us never entertain such a thought in our hearts that God should be so unequal and so unjust and that he dealt not according to the rule of equity and Justice So then thus briefly conceive we the meaning of the Apostle What shall we say what conclusion shall we infer that God did love Jacob and hate Esau shall we thereupon make this conclusion and inference that therefore God is unjust and unequal and that God proceedeth not according to the rule of equity and justice God dealing so unequally with persons that be equal out of his mere good will and pleasure Oh no far be it from us to infer that the Lord keep us from bringing in such a conclusion such an absurd inference the Lord keep us from uttering of such a thought Come we now to such things as may be observed out of the words of this verse and may be for our instruction And first of all note how confident the Apostle is and resolute upon the truth of it that he provoketh any to tell him what he would say against it what shall we infer what inference or what conclusion can any man bring upon this position that God loved Jacob and hated Esau And beloved not to stand upon this Thus confident ought we to be in delivering the holy Word of God and in preaching the truth of God we are so to deliver Gods truth and especially material and fundamentall truths that we may be able to avouch it against all gain-sayers and all that come against us we must be able to challenge and avouch it to any man and say this is the holy and Divine truth of God and to this purpose is that in 2 Tim. 2.15 That every Minister must study to shew himself a workman that needs
him that willeth or desireth good so it is not in him that worketh any good thing as David saith Psal 119.32 I will run the way of thy Commandements when thou hast set my heart at large then when thou hast set my heart free that is pend up by reason of corruption I will do all that is required in thy Lawes and Commandements so by running we are to understand a working of good But in him that sheweth mercy That is in Gods mere mercy and will in vouchsafing and reaching out his gracious hand So then thus briefly conceive we the meaning of the Apostle as if the Apostle had said So then or So therefore that which we have hitherto spoken of and treated on touching Gods election of Jacob or any particular person to life and salvation in heaven It is not either in Jacob or in any other man that willeth or desireth good or endeavoureth after good by the power and strength of all the powers and faculties of his soul of his mind will and affections and all the rest of his powers neither is it in Jacob or any other man working or doing good things no not in any one's running the right way of Gods Commandements and holinesse neither in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but it is in Gods mere mercy and free will onely out of Gods reaching out his hand of mercy to any one thus understand we the words Come we now to matter of observation And first of all observe we the Apostle here bringeth in this sixteenth verse as a conclusion upon the fifteenth verse and the Apostle doth here apply that which he had set down in the verse foregoing by way of consequence by way of conclusion and application So therefore having cited that testimony of Scripture of God unto Moses I will have mercy on whom I will thereupon in this verse our Apostle draweth out and bringeth in a consequence to that purpose So then it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but God that sheweth mercy thus you see the Apostles Application so then the Observation is this Doctrine That in preaching of the Word general truths found out in the Word must not onely be made known and delivered but such deductions such consequences such conclusions and applications must be drawn from thence as Gods holy truth will bear the Preachers of the Word must not onely deliver general truths from the holy Word of God but they must also apply them particularly reducing such truths as it will bear and drawing from it matter of exhortation and reproof as that truth will adhere unto and such applications as do flow from such truths necessarily In the 2 Tim. 4.2 the Apostle chargeth Timothy to preach the Word and to open the secrets of the Gospel and not there to rest but to be earnest in reproving and rebuking and exhorting with all long suffering and doctrine not onely preach but so preach the Word as that in preaching he be instant in rebuking reproving and exhorting as occasion is offered And in Titus 2.15 the Apostle having taught Titus how he ought to behave himself in his Ministry and how to carry himself to all people saith Speak these things and not onely so but exhort and rebuke with all long patience and authority And we find this hath been the practice of the sound and faithful Preachers of God in all ages and times yea we have the example of God himself as we may instance in Amos 4.12 you shall find in the verses foregoing the Lord maketh known this for a truth that he would bring his hand upon them and a heavy Judgment to attach them He teacheth them that Doctrine that they shall have a mighty plague he doth not rest there but he laboureth to make Use and Application of that general truth and to bring it home to their hearts and to stirre them to repentance Because saith the Lord I will do this therefore prepare to meet thy God O Israel Reason 1 Because God hath appointed the preaching of his Word not onely for the inlightening of their minds to teach them the points of Catechisme for the information of their judgements but also the reformation of their hearts and lives that their hearts may be wrought upon and their affections moved that they may be stirred up to the love of God and the study of good things and that they may be exercised in holy duties Reason 2 The Minister and Preacher of the Word is Gods disposer of his secrets so he is called 2 Cor. 4.1 a steward of the house of God 1 Cor. 4.2 And it is required of these stewards that they be faithful 2 Tim. 2.15 he must divide the Word of truth aright And he must carry himself as a steward and divide to every one his portion he hat power to point out the Word into several shives and not deliver it in a whole lump but distribute unto every one what is meet As Instructions to the ignorant Comfort to the afflicted Conscience sharp rebukes and reprehensions to the dead and senslesse hearted in their sins and Denunciations of Judgments to such as are secure and slightly passe by the Word of God so that it is a certain truth that the Preachers of the Word must not onely deliver general doctrines of the holy Word of God but they must apply it to the hearers particularly by drawing from them matter of Application not forcing it in by head and shoulders but such as naturally and aptly it will bear How far those Preachers are from this duty that onely rest in delivering the general truth and hover aloft in the clouds and never come down to Application to apply it to their hearers A man may discern with half an eye And I might bend my force to reprove them but I passe them by having none of them to speak unto And first of all take we notice of this by way of Application to this Vse 1 end That the Minister and Preacher of the Word ought and may apply the indefinite and general Promises of the Gospel to any one particular believer for their comfort yea he may assure particular persons that they believing shall certainly be saved It is a Cavil of the Papists to the contrary who are enemies to Gods grace and all saving comfort it is their doctrine and Satanical delusion For say they the Ministers and Preachers of the Word know not whether that particular person he speaketh to be in the number of Gods election or no. But beloved this skilleth not it is not material whether the Minister of God doth know it or no he doth not assure any man that he shall be saved because he knoweth he is in the number of Gods chosen but upon condition of believing upon the condition required in the Gospel And a Minister of Christ according to his office is to apply the general Promises of the Word to particular persons and draw from thence
Objection in the beginning For the Papists they say eluding the evidence of this text in this manner It is not in him that willeth or runneth after the flesh and according to Nature but by your leave say they it is in him that willeth and runneth by Faith which is grounded upon Gods mercy may agree with Gods mercy A poor shift and thus they seek to shift off the Evidence of this text directly contrary to the meaning of the Holy Ghost in this place For the opposition here is not between man willing and running after the flesh and mans willing and running by faith they are not here opposed But mark the opposition it standeth thus Between mans willing and running and Gods shewing mercy these are the things that be here opposed and set in Contradiction one to the other mans willing and running in a good way and in the way of sanctification and salvation and the Lords shewing of mercy so that neither the willing of good nor the working of good by any though a regenerate person is the thing that is available to election or salvation As in 2 Tim. 1.9 The Apostle there denyeth that either himself or any other true believer and regenerate person that they were either called or saved by their own works for saith he He hath called and saved us Not according to our own works but according to his own grace whether they were works natural or supernatural so also in Titus 3.4 5. verses he saith in the fourth verse when the bountifulnesse and love of God appeareth then in the fifth verse he subjoyneth not according to the works of righteousnesse which we have done but of his own mere mercy he saved us so that the willing or working of good is not the cause of any mans election or salvation The Reason is Because the goodnesse which is in the will of man Reason and the goodnesse which is in the works of man it proceedeth from Gods election it is an effect and a fruit of it It proceedeth from that root and so is the fruit of holinesse and righteousnesse as the Apostle saith expresly in Ephes 1.4 God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world was laid that we should be holy so that holinesse followeth Gods eternal election And therefore the willing or working of good by regenerate persons cannot possibly be the cause of Gods eternal election it being the effect for it is not possible that the same thing can be the cause of the same thing and the effect in one and the self-same thing For Application First of all this meeteth with that opinion which Vse 1 some do hold That it is of God a man may be saved But that men are saved That particular persons amongst men come to be saved that is of themselves This do some hold and affirm And it is their tenent That the possibility of the salvation of man that it is possible for men to be saved that is of God But that this possibility becometh profitable and effectual to some men that is of their own free will A foul and a grosse errour directly contrary to the truth now handled and delivered unto us if it be so that the possibility of the salvation of man becometh profitable to some particular persons amongst men from the freedom of their own will surely then it must needs be from the goodnesse of their own will and from their well-willing And then a believing soul a soul that shall be saved and now is in the state of grace and of salvation hath ground to boast of in himself And may lift up himself even against God himself in ostentation and may thus magnifie himself say unto God Lord that there was any possibility for me to be saved it was of thee I freely confess it but that this possibility proveth not an impossibility to me as it doth to many thousands in the world that was my own doing I did that of my self That I could be saved the thanks of that belongeth to thee Lord but that I am now in the state of grace and salvation And that I am sure to be saved the thanks of that belongeth to me my self For thy love to me was no more then to them that are damned till my willingnesse to receive grace and faith put a difference between me and them till the inclination of my soul made me thine I might for all thy love have been damned eternally as well as Cain Judas Saul or any other Reprobate had not I out of the righteousnesse and freenesse of the freedom of my own will chosen grace it was not of thee Lord but of my self that I chose grace And damnation had been mine had I not of my own free and voluntary will chosen and used grace Oh beloved is not this intolerable and monstrous pride and ambition thus in ostentation for a man to lift up himself against God Is this a thought to come into any Christians heart no it is to be renounced For this boasting and ostentation doth naturally follow upon this their tenent that they teach the possibility of salvation cometh from God but that that possibility cometh into Act is of mans free will And this ought by every Christian to be abjured renounced and cast away as blasphemous erroneous and false Vse 2 Again This being a truth that no mans willing or doing of good is the cause of election or salvation Then let this teach us to take heed that we ground not our salvation upon any thing willed or done by us be it never so good yea though it proceed from the root and radix of true sanctifying grace It is mere madnesse in the Papists enemies to Gods grace to ground their hope of salvation as they do upon the performance of those good things that God requireth of them so far forth as they are able to perform them thus they ground their hope of salvation Now they so grounding their hopes they have no reason in the world to hope for any good at the hands of God for who seeth not unlesse he be wilfully blinded and blindfolded by his own self-self-love self-will and self-conceit who seeth not I say how far short we come of doing those good things we ought to do either in the state of nature or in the state of grace And the Papists themselves to joyn with them when they deal against that comfortable and holy truth of God that is held and taught in our Church That a Child of God may in time of this life be infallibly assured of our own salvation the Papists when they deal against this holy and comfortable truth then they plead and say alas we are frail and we are weak creatures and we fail in the manner of doing good duties and therefore we cannot assure our selves of salvation What say they do you say we may be assured of our salvation upon our faith and doing good duties Alas we are full of imbecillity
first of all from the first act of God that God hath mercy on whom he will the words being understood of the extending and reaching out of Gods mercy Here again the same point is offered unto us which before we handled in the 15. verse namely Doctrine That Gods mercy reached out and extended to his chosen is most free and voluntary it dependeth upon the free will of God and upon nothing else it dependeth upon nothing out of God but upon his meer love yet this point is not to be passed over without some further use and applicacation then heretofore was made Vse And for the Application of it we are to consider it as a guide and rule unto us in our shewing of mercy to our brethren in our reaching and extending of mercy here is a rule and guide to direct us Doth God extend and reach out his mercy to his chosen freely and voluntarily nothing moving him but his own free will and good love surely then we must thus do we must be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful Luke 6.36 Now how is he merciful freely out of his own free love and mere goodnesse nothing moving him thereunto but his own free love thus must we do we must shew mercy and exercise the works of mercy towards our brethren freely not respecting their merits nor their deservings yea beloved our mercy and doing of good and the comfort we administer and yeeld to any either in word or in deed must proceed from the inward movings of our hearts and the yearning and tendernesse of our bowels towards those to whom we do any good out of pity and compassion towards them even as God doth freely nothing moving us thereunto in Esay 5.10 the Prophet saith if thou pour out thy soul to the hungry mark this you that are fast fisted the Lord doth not onely require the pouring out of food but of our very hearts and soules to feed the poor with the Affections of thy heart And indeed it is not an act of mercy pleasing to God that the Lord delighteth in that cometh either from our abundance and superfluity or else the importunity of those that are in great want and need nor yet from the example of others inviting us thereunto or for the desire of praise and seeking of Commendations amongst men that we would be well thought on no these are not works of mercy pleasing unto the Lord nor yet a work of mercy that is forced from men by some torture and torment to stop the mouth of an accusing and guilty conscience as for example when wicked rich men that are guilty to themselves how they have gotten their goods by evil meanes and have hoarded up abundance of wealth by the damnable sin of Usury by griping and oppressing the poor and such unlawful means And when they lye upon their death-bed gasping for breath then they are forced to bestow something to religious uses they give nothing before they dye but when they lye upon their death-bed and their Consciences flye up in their faces then they will give to an Hospital or an Almes-house or to the poor or Church to stop the mouth of the Conscience But this is no better then Sauls sacrifice of which we read in 1 Sam. 15. when he had transgressed the Commandement of God in reserving the best sheep and oxen he thought he would stop the mouth of the Lord with a Sacrifice so when men have gotten their goods by oppression and usury then when they are upon their death-beds then they will give unto the poor But the shewing of mercy that is pleasing unto God must come out of a tender and free heart as God is free in mercy so we must be free in exercising the works of mercy the works of mercy must come from the tendernesse of our hearts and without that surely all our shewing of mercy and doing of good though we build Hospitals as it is 1 Cor. 13.3 If I feed the poor with all my goods it is nothing without the heart the Lord looketh rather at the inward affections of the heart then the outward actions and duties of love and mercy 2 Cor. 9.7 every one as he is able must give not grudgingly because he is compelled to do it but the Lord loveth a cheerful giver And consider what moved the Lord to have mercy upon me or upon thee or upon any nothing so must we have mercy upon others freely and out of the tendernesse of our bowels pitying and commiserating their estate then thou art like unto God and this will yeeld thee true comfort else thy shewing of mercy is no better then Sauls sacrifice 1 Sam. 13. Again in that the Apostle faith God will have mercy upon whom he will The Apostle sheweth plainly that Gods shewing of mercy is indeed limited and reached out unto some and not unto others even to whomsoever it pleaseth him he hath mercy upon whom he will and not upon all the Apostles speech implyeth a limitation the point hence lyeth plain before us viz. That Gods will it is to extend and reach out his saving mercy Doctrine not to all men generally without exception of any but onely unto some amongst men The Lord out of his own free will and good pleasure doth extend and reach out his saving mercy in the act and exercise of it onely unto some amongst men and not to all men generally without exception And this may appear to be a truth by considering the saving mercies of God the mercies of God that are extended and reached out from the hand of God to men As first of all the saving mercy of Election unto life and glory it is according to the good will and pleasure of God extended and reached out onely unto some the Text is clear Ephesians 1.4 5. where the Apostle saith God hath chosen us not all the world but us in in Christ and hath Elected and Adopted us through Christ himself how according to the good pleasure of his will so also the saving mercy of God touching effectual Vocation and Calling it is according to the good will and pleasure of God extended to some amongst men in Matth. 11.25 I thank thee saith Christ O Father God of heaven and earth I thank thee that thou hast hid these things what things the saving comforts of the Gospel to be called to know thee through me thou hast hid these things from the wise and revealed them unto babes thou hast hid them from some and revealed them unto others and he subjoyneth even so it is O Father because it so pleaseth thee and in 2 Tim. 1.9 God hath called in by an holy calling according to his purpose and grace Rom. 3.24 we are Justified freely by the free grace of God without respect had to any thing in us thus the Holy Ghost speaketh in James 1.18 of Sanctification out of his own free will we are begotten and sanctified and renewed And touching Glorification the
consummation of all Rom. 6.24 it is the special gift of God bestowed upon some and not upon all according to the will of Christ Joh. 17.24 Father saith the Lord Jesus I will that those whom thou hast given me be where I am and behold my glory and be everlasting partakers of my glory so then we see that the saving mercies of God from the beginning to the consummation they are reached out according to the good will and pleasure of God Hence it followeth in the first place that they erre grosly who do hold Vse 1 and affirm that God hath elected all men to life and salvation if they will and that God would have all men to be saved and to come to life and salvation if they will and that men are not saved that cometh to passe because men themselves will not This was the opinion of the Pelagins and now of the Papists in part Anabaptists and Arminians and others Now this opinion is not onely erroneous and false in the ground making the absolute and unchangeable will of God to depend upon the will of man that if man will be saved God hath chosen him but also this opinion of theirs cannot stand with the truth now delivered that God giveth his saving mercy to whom he will Object I but say they now they take hold of the Scripture the Apostle in Rom. 11.32 saith that God hath shut up all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all so in 1 Tim. 2.4 God willeth that all shall be saved and come to the knowledge of his truth therefore your doctrine is not true Answ To this I answer it is true indeed God hath shut up all men in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all what all without exception of any upon every man without exception no but upon all that believe upon all the faithful ones among the Jewes and Gentiles of whom the Apostle speaketh in this 11. Chapter of whom he speaketh of the estate of the Jewes and Gentiles I but say they this is a false interpretation mark then and to this purpose read a paralel place unto this in Gal. 3.22 where the Apostle saith The Scripture hath concluded and shut up all under sin that the promise of God what promise the promise of mercy and faith in Christ Jesus might be extended and reached out what to all without exception no saith the Apostle unto them that believe so the Apostle doth there limit the universal particle all to all believers and so the place is to be taken Again for the place in Timothy that God will have all men to be saved First to answer to it the word all in that place is not taken Collective but Distributive as they speak not collective and gathering all men in the world but distributive by way of Distribution some of all sorts of all states conditions and degrees and calling in the world and that this is a truth mark what the Apostle saith in the first verse of this Chapter I do exhort that prayers and supplications be made for all men what shall we understand all mankind no he subjoyneth by way of distribution for all men in all callings and conditions for Kings and Magistrates he ranketh them into their several degrees so when God saith I will have mercy upon all his meaning is not all men shall be saved but some of all sorts and again as One saith God will have all men salvos fieri to be saved but God will not salvos facere make all men to be saved but he reacheth out his mercy to some of all sorts Vse 2 Is this so that Gods mercy is to be reached out not to all but onely to some amongst men surely then it behoveth us to look unto it and to take heed that we deceive not our selves touching Gods saving mercy as many there be that live in their known sins and go on in the practice of them wittingly and willingly and presume upon this ground Oh say they God is merciful but they deceive themselves and build upon a rotten ground God is merciful and pitiful It is true indeed God is infinite and endlesse in his mercy but remember what hath been delivered that the Lord will not extend and reach out his saving mercy unto all but onely to some amongst men he will not save the soules of all men generally because he is a merciful God but to some of all sorts And therefore we must labour to find our selves in that Number of whom God will vouchsafe saving mercy and save their soules Quest Alas some will say how shall we come to know that God will reach out his saving mercy unto us Who knoweth the mind of God how can we be acquainted with the will of God that God will reach out his saving mercy unto me Answ Yes we may know the mind and the will and the purpose of God to us in particular how by the Spirit of God even by that Spirit of God which searcheth the deep and hidden things of God and maketh known the gracious purpose of the Lord 1 Cor. 2.12 we have not received the Spirit of the world but we have received the Spirit which is of God whereby we know the things that are given unto us of God even the love and the mercy and the favour of God unto us in Christ And if we have that Spirit of God when we find and feel that Spirit in our hearts and soules working there convincing us and doth check us in our hearts and soules and we are able to expresse and shew forth the fruits of the Spirit in our life and conversation Gal. 5.22 23. Whose effects be joy peace love meekness long suffering patience and we are able to expresse it in our lives and conversation And hereby we may come to know that Gods good will is towards us in Jesus Christ even by the work of Gods Spirit which testifieth what God hath Purchased indeed if men live in their known sinnes and fancie unto themselves the Gospel and the saving mercies of God in Christ they deceive themselves and it is a true saying as one saith as they that have the fruits of the Spirit against them is no Law so they that have not the fruits of the Spirit there is no Gospel for them therefore in the fear of God labour we for this for the Spirit of God making known unto us the good will of God what he hath sealed unto us from everlasting convincing us of our known sins and showing forth the fruits in our lives and conversations then we may assure our selves that God will bestow upon us life and salvation and hath conferred his graces unto us Therefore he hath mercy upon whom he will and whom he will he hardneth THe next thing observable and to be stood upon in this point of Gods reprobation that God hardneth whom he wil the Lord out of his own good pleasure denieth mercy and saving grace and withholdeth it
work grace in the soules of men to mollifie and soften the hearts of men are vouchsafed and yet all are not softened but some continue in their hardnesse living under the means of softening because the powerful meanes of grace are uneffectual unlesse it please God to put life unto them and to give efficacy by the work of his grace Now the Lord is pleased sometimes to withhold his saving and softening grace from men and to inflict hardnesse upon them as a Judgment and then no marvel it is that they continue in their hardnesse and sins and stiffe-neckednesse And beloved upon this ground the Preachers and Ministers of the Word may stay themselves when they see that after their labour and pains taking with the soules of men they see little or no fruit of their labour he seeth that the profit of the same Word delivered by him to one and the same people is so divers and different that some are bettered by it and yeeld obedience to it and do according to it and some do clean contrary unto it it is a savour of life unto some and a savour of death unto others thus it was in Exod. 9.20 21. with the preaching of Moses those whom God gave grace unto yeelded others yeelded not The Lord is pleased sometimes to withhold his softening grace from men and to leave them to themselves And beloved the Lord commonly dealeth thus with hypocrites and such as come unto the means of grace onely out of form and of fashion and of custome and are asleep when they come unto it they come without any longing desire to profit by the means they have no more desire to profit by it then the seats they sit upon then when they so come without a desire to profit and onely for form and fashion then the Lord suffereth them to go on in blindnesse of mind and hardnesse of heart that though they hear a hundred Sermons yet they are dull and dead and have no more good by them then the seats in the Church And hereby the Minister may cheer up himself that the Lord hath hardened their hearts and will not suffer them to profit by the means but permits them to post on the way to hell Is this so that Gods will is to harden some amongst the sons of men and Vse 2 inflict hardening upon their hearts how are they then to magnifie the goodnesse of God to them to whom the Lord hath given soft and melting hearts and such as are flexible pliable and yeelding to the will of God in the admonitions and threatenings of it yea such a heart as good Josiah had in 2 Chr. 24.27 that when he heard the Book of the Law read his heart melted and dissolved with tears so dost thou when thou hearest the threatenings and denunciations of the Word against thee tremble and is thy heart humbled when thou hearest the sweet comforts of the Word of God even as the matter is so is thy heart affected if matter of comfort thou rejoycest if matter of threatening thou art humbled yea though it be against a sin thou art not guilty of when thou hearest the threatenings of God against sins thou art not guilty of thou tremblest considering he is a just God thy heart is flexible pliable the text is clear in Ezek. 36.25 26. Here we find that those whom the Lord doth please to justifie and sanctifie and to pour the clean waters upon their soules and to cleanse them from the filthinesse of their sins to them he giveth a heart of flesh this is a work of God vouchsafed to such that God doth cleanse mollifie even a flexible plyable and yeelding heart to the Word of God and the means of grace and of salvation Oh hast thou such a heart blesse God for it this is a special mercy of God for of all the plagues that befall men in this world hardnesse of heart is the worst none worse then that that is the most dreadful so softnesse of heart assuredly is a special blessing of God and given to none but those whom God loveth Oh then labour to have this bowing bending yeelding heart to the good hand of God labour to cheer it up and to have a plyable heart yeelding not stubborn and to that end use these meanes that may mollifie thee more and more namely be frequent and often in hearing and reading of the holy Word of God and when thou hast heard and read it second it by meditation Oh what enemies are they that hear the Word and do not respect to call to mind what they have heard but let it slip away and secondly be often and frequent in thinking upon the sweet and comfortable mercies of God in Jesus Christ that will soften thy heart and keep it soft the heart of the prodigal when it began to relent to yeeld and to be moved and to come to himself and to consider the tendernesse and love of his gracious Father Oh saith he I am a poor wretch here and an outcast but I have a good father I have sinned against heaven and against thee Luke 15.17 18. he will entertain and receive me again so the consideration of the tender mercies of Christ Jesus to consider what the Lord hath done for thee hath he not vouchsafed his mercy in Christ Jesus And last of all be thou earnest above all be earnest with God in prayer that he would be pleased to vouchsafe unto thee the Spirit of grace and of softening and continue in thy breast a soft heart Oh Lord never suffer me to be given over to hardnesse of heart Lord keep this heart of mine soft plyable and yeelding to the Word of God Thus we are to hear it and to read it and to meditate upon it and to pray unto God to keep the heart in us for it is the greatest blessing of God that can befall a man in this world as hardnesse of heart is a great curse so softnesse is a great blessing therefore labour for to get and increase it VERSE 19. Thou wilt say then unto me Why doth he yet complain Who hath resisted his Will OUr Apostle having cleared God from the imputation of inconstancy and of unfaithfulnesse in his promises notwithstanding the rejection of the Jewes for the body of them from the sixth verse of this Chapter to the 14. verse and having proved from the 14 verse to the 19. verse that God is not unjust in that he hath out of his own absolute good will and pleasure chosen some to life and salvation and hath passed by and rejected others and that without respect had to any thing in them or foreseen in them having I say cleared God from this slander He now in this 19. verse falleth upon a new and a further Cavil and reasoning of the flesh namely such a Cavil as doth charge God with no lesse then cruelty and with Tyrannical dealing with some men and from this the Apostle cleareth God also Now
tumbleth down into them Hence it is that the Lord Jesus in Acts 9.15 speaking of Saul afterwards called Paul saith unto Ananias that his purpose was to send him unto the Gentiles and he calleth him a chosen vessel a vessel fit to receive grace and to bear the Name of Christ to all Nations And of the reprobate Heathen the Apostle saith in Romans 1.29 God gave them up to a reprobate sence to receive the fulnesse of all uncleannesse when the Lord did poure out the tokens of his wrath they were full of all uncleannesse And also the Apostle speaketh of the reprobate Jewes in 1 Thess 2.15 16. That they killed the Lord Jesus and their owne Prophets persecuted us and they are contrarie to all men and they forbid us to preach to the Gentiles and they fill up the measure of their sins because the wrath of God is come upon them unto the uttermost Vse Vessels of mercie how known This being so that Gods Elect are Vessels fit to receive mercy and the reprobate vessels to reeeive all manner of filthinesse and uncleannesse then learn we to trie our selves whether we be the vessels of mercie or no I conceive well of you and every one conceiveth well of himself then trie whether we be in the number of Gods vessels of mercie or no looke to thy own heart and soul If thou finde the Heavenly liquour the Heavenly moysture of Faith Repentance Love to God love to his Children a care to please God a desire to feare God Humilitie Patience and all other adorning Graces here then is comfort but if thou find thou art an ignorant person ignorant of the wayes of God hard hearted thou art full of Pride Hypocrisie self love a desire of earthly things thou art a vessel of wrath and fitted to destruction and if thou goe on and remain unreclaimed though I will not determine of thy final estate if thou so live and die thou art appointed unto everlasting destruction trie then thy selfe which of these thou art deal truely with thy selfe and by that which floweth from thee thou maiest know it as a bottle of sweet water sendeth forth a sweet savour so if thou have this heavenly moisture of grace and of sanctification in thee it sendeth forth holy and gracious words thou canst speak comfort to those that are sick it sendeth forth sweet Actions of love to God mercie and justice to men thou art readie to every good work Now then to conclude If we have these sweet graces in our hearts it shall spring up to everlasting life as in John 4.14 It will ever be ejaculating and casting up and springing unto life and as a stream of water will rise as high as the fountains so will grace now the head of this fountain where is it in Heaven thither will thy grace climbe and thou shalt certainly bee saved but if otherwise woe bee unto thee thou art in a miserable estate What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known indured with long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction COme we now to the proposition What if God willing to suffer the wicked for a long time to escape his punishing hand and thus forbearing towards men what if the Lord be thus patient when he might strike them suddenly down and send them unto Hell Now then this propoposition laid down thus before us by way of interrogation What if the Lord would thus spare them doth note unto us this position or conclusion viz. That God is very patient toward sinners yea even towards the Reprobates Doct. 2 God is not onely patient in forbearing as we have it in 1 Pet. 3.9 But he also beareth with wicked and ungodly persons though they goe on adding sinne unto sinne provoking him to wrath and to their destruction daily when he might suddenly send them to the pit of Hell And for proofe of this we have not onely evidence here but in Psalme 50. The Psalmist bringeth in God speaking to the wicked and ungodly and expressing their wicked and lewd behaviour from the 16. verse to the 21. verse in this manner that they hate to be reformed cast the Word of God behind them run with the adulterer and the theefe sit with the slanderer and joyn hands with all manner of wicked persons and no sinne came amisse unto them And then he subjoyneth these things hast thou done and I held my peace forbearing to punish thee and was patient towards thee while thou rannest on in all manner of sinnes thus patient and thus forbearing was the Lord toward Cain that wicked reprobate who as the Text saith in 1 John 3.1 Was of that evil one the Devil that slew his brother yet he having done this vile act and villanie in shedding of innocent bloud the Lord was patient with him and suffered him still to live the Lord suffered him to grow rich and wealthie to beget children and to be the father of a great Nation thus patient was the Lord with him and thus patient was the Lord with Saul to Judas to Herod though they were branded and marked for Reprobates the Lord suffered them to live a long time and as we have it in Acts 14.16 saith the Lord he suffered the Gentiles to walke in their own wayes and that for many thousand yeares together and yet the Lord was patient with them in their grosse idolatrie and did suffer them many thousand yeares to continue in their sinnes and in Acts 13.18 Paul saith that the Lord suffered the evil manners of the people of Israel fourtie yeares in the Wildernesse together And beloved the Lord doth not onely forbear to punish wicked and ungodly persons and reprobates whilest they are sinning against him and provoking him but so abundant in mercie and goodnesse is the Lord that he suffereth them to enjoy many outward good things as we see in Esau the Lord permitted him to enjoy many outward good things yea he was the father of many sonnes of many Dukes many great and mightie men in the world yea wicked Ahab who sold himselfe to work wickednesse in the fight of the Lord 1 Kings 21. Of whom the Text saith in 1 Kings 16.30 He did worse then all that were before him and in the 33. verse it is said he provoked the Lord God of Israel more to anger then all the Kings of the people that had been before him he sold himself to work wickednesse yet the Lord suffered him to enjoy a flourishing Kingdome for a long time in the 29. verse He was the King of Israel two and twentie yeares together yea come but to our own experience and we may see it many wicked vile abominable sinners are advanced to high dignitie and worldly promotion and the Lord powred upon them an overflowing cup of worldly glorie and they have good successe in everie thing they put their hands unto and they enjoy an overflowing cup though they be gracelesse and wicked persons
spread abroad in thy heart yea the time shal come that men and Angels shal se thee Crowned with a Crown of glorie and a Crown of mercie that they shal be driven to an admiration of it and then they shal befool themselves and say we fools thought these mens lives to to be madness yea we accounted them contemptible and base fellows but now behold the riches of Gods mercie that he is wonderfully gracious and merciful unto his Children they shal befool themselves to see the greatness of Gods mercie unto his Chosen which shal be so great that they shal admire at it yea the verie Angels shal wonder at it Angels that are able to understand more then all the men in the world they shal be amazed and wonder at the riches of Gods mercie unto his chosen Therefore let the calumnie and the slander of the wicked pass by unregarded for the Lord wil one day manifest his mercie to the admiration of Men and Angels And that he might declare the riches of his glorie unto the vessels of mercy prepared unto glorie AGain observe we here the Apostle putteth glorie for mercie and maketh them both tending to one end from hence the Doctrin is this viz. Doctrine That God in shewing of mercie unto his Chosen intendeth the glory of his grace and the glorie of his mercie The Lord in shewing of mercie unto his Chosen doth it to this end that he might have his praise and glorie by it he aimeth at this end that it might be known and admired and spoken of and magnified and that he might have glorie by it as good Kings and Princes next after the things that concern Religion they doe esteem this above all the honour of their name that they might be respected of their Subjects for their Clemencie and bountie unto their Subjects so it is with the Lord the great King of Heaven and Earth all the graces and favour and mercy that he vouchsafeth unto his Chosen from the first mercie to the last from their Election to their glorification in Heaven it tendeth to this end that his grace and mercy unto his Chosen may be manifested and appear and that he may have the praise and the glorie of his grace and of his mercie In Ephesians 1.5 God saith the Apostle He hath Predestinated us to be Adopted through Jesus Christ in himself nothing moving him thereunto out of his own blessed Majestie according to the good pleasure of his Will to what end To the praise of the glory of his grace of his rich and abundant grace and mercie And as glorifying of the riches of his grace and mercy is that which the Lord delighteth in so he aimeth at it as the supream and highest end in shewing of mercy And the Lord may safely seek his own glory and praise without any danger of pride in it as it is in man for they looking at their own praise and estimation among men they are tainted with pride but it is not so with the Lord because indeed he is the highest and there is none above him And hence it was in Exod. 34.6 7. when the Lord shewed himself unto Moses he magnified his mercy above all other attributes and he proclaimeth his mercy by many several titles and passages The Lord the Lord strong merciful and gracious slow to anger abundant in goodnesse and in truth reserving mercy unto thousands forgiving iniquities transgressions and sins there is mention of Gods power in a word very sparingly but there is nothing sufficient to extol the glory of his mercy explicating that in variety of expressions and setting it out to the full Now this being a truth first of all this serveth to stir us up to give God Vse 1 the praise and glory of his mercy vouchsafed unto us in any kind whatsoever this is the main thing the Lord aymeth at in shewing of mercy unto his chosen that it might be known and glorified Oh then surely we ought never to let the grace and the mercy of God to be out of our mouthes this is that he delighteth in and therefore we must have his mercy in our mouthes especially we professing our selves to be his children and servants for consider I beseech you how will those servants that belong and appertain to bountiful Lords and Masters how will they be ever setting forth and extolling the bounty and beneficence of their Masters in what company soever they are commending their frank House-keeping and good hospitality in being beneficial to the poor and good to their followers And so indeed they are not the children of God that do not thus magnifie the riches of Gods mercy unto them and have them in their hearts and mouthes continually crying out Oh the mercy of God to us is large else they are bastards and not the children of God for such as belong unto Gods grace God giveth them grace unto this end that his grace and mercy might be known and magnified that they may say Oh what hath God done for my soul this is the practise of a holy servant of God therefore we are to be stirred up for any mercy the Lord hath vouchsafed in any kind not onely for health restored or for any such things that are temporal but also for things that are spiritual or for any mercy that he hath bestowed upon us we are to be thankful and especially we are to give praise and thanks unto God for his great and wonderful mercy bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus in that he gave Christ Jesus to be a Saviour for our soules this we ought to be thankful unto God for above all other mercies Again is this so that Gods shewing of mercy unto his chosen it tendeth Vse 2 to the glory of his mercy surely then it cannot be that life and glory is given unto Gods chosen from the hand of Justice as a thing due unto them by their meritorious deserts this cannot possibly be for mercy is given for the magnifying of his mercy for if it were so as the Papists teach given for their merit by the hand of Justice surely then God should aym at his Justice as the main and highest end of all in their glorification which is not so for he aymeth at the glory of his mercy for indeed as God intendeth and aymeth at the glory of his Justice and power as the highest end in the destruction of the Reprobate and wicked and so he aymeth at the glorification of his mercy as the highest end in the salvation of the Elect and godly And whereas the Papists say that life and glory is given as an act of mercy and of Justice and so they would make a hotch-potch and a compound of that which cannot be compounded for it is as possible that God should send a man to hell and condemn a man out of his revenging Justice and saving mercy at the same time as that God should give a man mercy and salvation out of his hand