most ductile and that 's the best Blade which bends well without reteining its crooked figure St. Augustine being asked which was the first Grace answered Humility Which the second third he answer'd Humility Empty Casks sound most when the well fraught Vessel silenceth its own fulness and the deep Rivers pay larger tribute to the Sea than the shallow brooks and yet empty themselves without noise Thus it goes with the heirs of Heaven As the Harp though they sound most sweetly they hear not their own melody As Violets cover themselves with their leaves so do gracious Persons hide their sweetest Excellencies under the garment of humility They live yet not they but Christ liveth in them They are willing to be a Cypher so Christ may stand for a figure Prorsus Satan est Lutherus sed vivat regnat Christus Let Luther be accounted a Devil so Christ may be exalted as God saith that Incarnate Seraphim of himself They say in Herauldry the plainest Coats are the richest Arms sure we may be the most poor in spirit on Earth are the richest Citizens of Heaven This they learn of their Master at their entrance into his School to be meek and lowly in heart both in regard of God and man 2. Love that is a Jewel Christs Bride wears a sparkling Diamond which God placeth in the bosom of his Elect 1 John 4.16 He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God As there is Love descending to us so there is Love ascending to God It 's said that Iron touched with a Loadstone it hath an inclination of following the Loadstone verily when God hath touched any soul with his Love it leaves an instinct behind it of following after God And where this Love dwells it is operative like fire for it 's a Divine flame it is not idle but active and it works diverssy First Towards the Word of God This is given as the mark of a Christian Psalm 1.2 His delight is in the Law of God The Prophet David often expresseth so much Psal 119. O how I love thy Law how sweet are thy words to my taste yea sweeter than the honey to my mouth dearer unto me than thousands of gold and silver He roles it as Sugar under his Tongue he takes pleasure in it as a man doth in a bed of Roses The covetous man takes great delight in telling his thousands but David hath sweeter apprehensions and affections to Gods Law than he had to thousands And so the Prophet Jeremiah Ch. 15. v. 16. Thy words were sound and I did eat them and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoycing of my heart To the same effect the Prophet Isaiah Ch. 60. v. 8. Who are these that fly as a Cloud and as Doves to their windows Gracious souls fly as Doves to an Ordinance upon the Wings of Love God opens the heart of his Chosen to love the Word to receive it as new born Babes do the milk of the Breast greedily delightfully patiently and profitably to grow thereby And therefore Luther said speaking of wicked men only contemn not the Word and there is hope Qu. To this some or other may reply I love the Word and have comfort from it though I be not so strickt and curious for my life as others are Ans It is impossible for a man to love the Word and not reform his life by it David gave not only his Ear but turned his Feet to the Commandments of God He walked in them We judg not of a mans health by his high Colour but by the pulse of the Arm so we judg not of a Christians soundness by words what are they but an higher colour but by his obedient actings towards God and when we see his Soul tuned into a conformity with his Word and mans Will so far as it is discernable perfectly to concur with Gods Will. Hear the Divine Apostle who wrote his Epistles with an Ear in Heaven 1 John 2.3 By this we know that we know him and by this we know that we love him if we keep his Commandments John 14.21 He hath hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me John Epist 2. v. 6. This is Love that we walk in his Commandments Peter Lovest thou me feed my Lambs The Crystal streams of Divine Actions will necessarily bubble from the pure spring of Affection Secondly This Love works towards the Messengers which bring the glad tidings of salvation to us They that love the Message cannot but manifest it by a tender expression of love to the Messengers How welcom are the feet of those who bring glad tidings from Emmanuels Land the Countrey of Canaan He it enjoyn'd Philip. 2.29 Receive them with all gladness and hold such in reputation 1 Thessal 5. Esteem them very highly in love if not for their own yet for their works sake Ministers are Gods Angels to set forth the Kingdom of God and eternal Life non specie oestimandi sed munere not to be judg'd of by their outside but by their Office as Ambrose expresseth it The most curious Pearls are here enclosed in the ruggest shells and the Lord lodgeth rich Treasures in earthen Vessels See Turks Idolatrous Papists honouring every hedg-Priest of theirs and have them in singular esteem above their merits and it is observ'd of the Grecians how they gave greater respect to their Philosophers than to their Oratours because these taught them only how to speak but they how to live well Let us learn something from them to love faithful Ministers who labour with Christ in the Gospel It is a good sign and cannot miss a Reward Thirdly It works towards the People of Christ our fellow-servants Professours of Religion in the Power thereof of whom we may and ought to have this hope that they are laid with us in the foundation of God This sweet Spice sends forth its smell that bears his Image on whom it contemplateth the Image of the first Beauty John 13.35 By this shall all men know ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another Other mens disciples are known by their Titles Habits Ceremonies as the Popes Shavelings are but Love is Christs cognizance He who loveth him who begets loveth him also that is begotten Gods Children are his walking Pictures if we love God we shall love those on whom he hath drawn his Image yea notwithstanding some infirmities as children love one another though there be some imperfections of Nature and we love Gold in the Oar notwithstanding its Drossiness The best Saints have their blemishes the fairest Face may have a scar to disgrace it Yea though poor the Children of God love their Fathers Image though hung in never so mean a Frame Though we have not grace or gifts in that measure and degree we see it in others yet if we love it in them and them for it we may be confident God hath begun his work in us None can prize Grace but they that
manner of knowing by way of composition or Division which pre-supposes distinct acts for several Objects but by one single individual act if we may lawfully speak of so high a mystery fore-seeing and knowing every thing in himself by way of Eminency in their second causes before they were and in themselves as if they had been Universals and particulars which were to be made or done beeing laid before him from all Eternity as if they had been already made or done The Lord knows who are his and who are not but his own he knows with an especial knowledg of Love and approbation as he doth not others Matth. 25.12 Verily I say unto you I know you not Therefore there is a book of Life none of Death mentioned in Scripture this book of Life is this Knowledg here mentioned wherein Gods own do stand firmly recorded We know this Knowledg of God is as himself and can be no more divided than himself yet for our better conceiving of things so known by him we distinguish of it There is in God First A necessary natural knowledg which respects the Power and Providence of God concerning all things done or possible to be done This is not here meant Secondly A free knowledg which goes hand in hand with the foundation of God respecting only things that should actually come to pass with his approbation and hath reference to his mercy and this is the knowledg here spoken of The Lord knows with a free and everlasting Knowledg with the knowledg of Election and Reprobation who were then decreed and should ever remain to be his so that such men once so known can never cease to be his or known to belong to any other His may fall from themselves and pluck off the Seal in themselves not from him nor the Seal in him None can pluck them out of my Fathers hands Majesty it self may as soon be dethron'd the Crown pluck'd from his Head who is the supreme King and the golden Scepter wrested out of his hand as soon may the Apple be pull'd out of his Eye and the Deity annihilated as the Elect be pulled out of Hands as he be robbed of one of his Jewels This Knowledg goes along with the Decree it ties together the Cause the mean and the end Election Vocation and Justification both by imputed Righteousness and imparted with final salvation which no force nor fraud persuasion or temptation can dissolve or separate The will of his people being determined by infallible grace which way they shall necessarily yet freely dispose of themselves even in Conditional things Which clearly overthrows that Scientia media invented by Jesuits foster'd by Arminians whereby God should fore-know but leave the Will simply to it self undetermined so man in the choice of good should be independent give the praise and glory to himself not to the free grace of God disposing the Will to make a good choice For those things which were to us contingents or are offer'd to us conditionally were certainly determined by this free knowledg of God how they should fall out what we should chuse necessarily yet freely gently subduing by his Spirit Resistibility in the Will placing instead thereof a sense of the want and a secret longing after Grace To manifest this Seal somewhat farther this knowledg of God the foundation not only inchoative and terminatively but dispositive also of our salvation is as we find in Scripture First The eternal disposing cause of all Events The Will of God is the cause of all things it self without cause as St. Augustin speaks Nothing now comes to pass but as he knew then it should Acts 4.28 Herod Pontius Gentiles and Jews were gathered together to do whatsoever the hand and counsel of God had determined before to be done All things have their futurition from his eternal Purpose Whence also is in the eternal Mind the Idea of all things with their circumstances that shall be that is the first Mover continuing it self immoveable giving to every thing a regular motion according to the impression which it doth receive for known are all his works from the beginning of the world Acts 15.18 Secondly It is certain and immutable the foundation stands sure Whom the Lord once Loves with this knowledg of approbation to be his he loves and knows them ever All his Saints are letters of Gold engraven on Christs heart which cannot be razed out His Love is a Divine Flame that no Water can quench Nulloe sunt lituroe in libro vitoe His Book admits not of any Deleatur or expurgatory Index God is so full of Light as there is no shadow of change in him Job 17.23 In that admirable Prayer made for the Church Christ thus speaks unto his Father Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me i. e. with a certain and immutable Love If Christ can perish and fall from the love of his Father then may the Elect be seduced totally to fall away and perish finally Thirdly It is of a certain number The Lord knoweth who are his Which cannot admit of any universal Election in Gods intention See Job 10.3 He knows his own sheep so as he calls them all by name Job 13.18 I speak not of you all I know whom I have chosen Revel 7.4 I heard the number of them which were sealed c. Cap. 6.10 11. They cried with a loud voice saying c. and it was said unto them that they should rest for a little season until their fellow-servants and their Brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled From the Collation of which Texts it may most easily be inferred that their number is set and shall in due time be compleated for that 's the thing related unto in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be fulfilled So certain is the number of the Elect that one cannot be added nor taken away which could not be without this pre-determining and present-disposing knowledg of God The best man in his pure naturals would wholly cast himself away were he left to his own dispose Therefore sufficiently-effectual saving grace is not universally offer'd to all men Grace is not extended beyond the Decree Gods foreknowledg limits both the end and the means were the building larger than the foundation it must needs prove ruinous Fourthly It is a free knowledg and foundation not laid on any thing in us either done or fore-seen to be done but only the free-will and power of God You have not chosen me but I have chosen you Called therefore it is a fore-knowledg past before we had done good or evil Rom. 9.11 To clear this by a familiar instance or example suppose a child may die before it had done either good or evil this child was either elected or reprobated without foresight of either of good or evil actual nothing he did nothing therefore was fore-seen he should do If any reply true nothing was fore-seen he did but something he might
the sweetest Preachers that ever spake Few Ministers should be saved With such the Lord expostulates the matter Psalm 50.16 What hast thou to do to take my word within thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed Thou that sayest a man should not steal do'st thou steal Rom. 2. The Eyes of all are upon such they who are blind as Moles in their own Errours have the Eyes of a Lynx to espy your aberrations Ministers must Practise as well as Preach Holiness or they mar all A flaw in the Diamond robs it of its orient splendor a Fly in the Apothecaries box spoils the fragrancy of its Odour thus it is here 2. Hearers that profess and speak well having Christ often in their Ears and upon their Tongue but another in their Hearts and Hands These carry a bright Light in a Dark-Lanthorn build their Nests among the Stars and make their Bed in Hell It is better not to shine than not to be Gold to be Professours of Piety and Practitioners of iniquity is a palpable contradiction a golden Tongue and a leaden Heart never matched together It will prove nothing for any one to have the Trumpet on his Lip who hath not the Torch in his Hand Why call ye me Lord and do not the things that I say Such shall be miserably rejected Tamberlain in his Wars would not own a pot of Gold dig'd out of the Earth and presented to him because it had not his Fathers stamp Certainly God will own none but those who have the stamp of Christ on their Actions The ill deportment of some who pass for Christians hath made men afraid to embrace Religion Hence many Pagans of old stepped back Fullers Holy War p. 88. who had one foot in the Church when they saw Christians that believed so well live so ill breaking the Commandments against the Creed And as Chrysostom spake of the Contentions of the Church in his time viz. if a Gentile should come and say I would be a Christian yet when he sees such a Spirit of dissention amongst them one of Paul and another of Apollo such are their diversities that he knows not which to choose but must return to his Gentilism again the same may be said of the lives of many professed Christians others will be apt to think that Religion is no more than a devout complement a severe Policy Practice doth speak louder than Profession only as the Emperour Jovinian told the Orthodox and Arrian Bishops I cannot judg of your Doctrine but I can judg of your Lives Practice of Holiness is a powerful Loadstone to draw others to a love of Holiness Basil observes that Julian in one of his Epistles writing to Arsatius saith that the Christian Religion did flourish by the sanctity and liberality of them who professed it Wo be to them who by their irregular practices render it odious You were all born to serve God and better you had never been born than not to serve him unfeignedly and universally As A. Fulvius said to his Son when he found him in Catalines Conspiracy Non ego te Catalinae genui sed Patriae thus the Lord saith to every man I gave you not a Soul incomparable more precious than the Purple and Scepters of Kings to suffer it to wallow in the filthiness of the flesh and make it an instrument of sensuality a Vessel of Abomination wherein to present it as a sacrifice to the Devil God will one day pluck the Visard from your Face and say All true Christians I know but who are ye Why did you take my Name upon you and not depart from sin depart from me ye workers of iniquity Matthew 7.23 O consider this betimes all ye that are Christians in Name but Atheists in Practice What wisedom is it to be trimming the Scabbard whilest the Sword is rusting to have a name only to live and yet be dead A pompous Profession without suitable Conversation is worth nothing Consider I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things Vse III. 3. This Doctrine offers matter of singular comfort to all true Christians a sovereign Cordial to revive and maintain their fainting spirits under all fears and cares about persevering to the end of their Warfare who find the Seal of Election in themselves by examining and applying the Premisses Who name the name of Christ and depart from iniquity You are part of Gods building whose foundation is sure Notwithstanding all your failings he 'l give strength to bring forth The bruised Reed shall be turned into a brazen Serpent and the smoaking Flax into a triumphant Flame Christ's errand from Heaven to Earth was not only to kindle a Divine Life but also to propagate this Celestial Fire unto Perfection He was never absent from this spark of Divinity in any poor Sinners breast He is an inexhaustible Fountain of spiritual life and ever toucheth any poor Soul enliven'n'd with it by an out-stretched Ray and freely lends his beams and disperseth his influences unto it from the beginning to the ending What ever change you may find in your selves or in any Creature you shall find an eternal Identity in God As there is no shadow of turning in his Being so not in his Love Here is no vertical Point Isa 54.7 With everlasting kindness will I have mercy c. Qu. But how can a child of God wholly depart from iniquity seeing nothing but death can divide sin from the Soul Rom. 6.7 He that is dead is freed from sin Ans Sin is to be considered two ways 1. As being in and with our Nature so we cannot be free from it here in our mortal Estate whil'st blood is in our Veins sin will be in our nature When the Body and Soul is separated by mortality sin and the Soul shall be separated to Eternity Though in the living man Lust is mortified Sin like Sampsons hair though it be cut it will grow again and come to its strength as the feathers of a Fowl pluck them off they will come forth again only kill the Bird and they grow no more 2. As reigning in us and obeyed by us in the lust thereof so we may and must depart from it here or else we shall never see the Lord with comfort hereafter Rom. 6.12 Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies c. Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Qu. But suppose a man depart once from all sin reigning in him will not his after-commission of sin annihilate and extinguish his former departure Ans A man may leave sin only from a principle of morality as Polemon mentioned by St. Austin who being an Infidel a young man deprived of the knowledg of the true God resigned over to all sort of intemperance Wine love and play with Rashness were the Chariot which drew him to his downfal but hearing Socrates to read an Ethick Lecture of Vertue and Vice went away changed and
no more followed his exorbitances and some others as Cato Seneca Aristides with divers others sparking-brave Souls among the Romans who seeing a beauty in Vertue became renowned for their excellent deportments From this Principle Scipio an Heathen and a Soldier too would not permit certain Captive Virgins of exquisite beauty to be brought into his Presence Ne quid de Virginitatis integritate delibasse saltèm vel oculis videretur as Florus saith i. e. that he might not seem to have sipt the honour of their Chastity so much as with beholding them A man may leave one sin and take up another which sutes better with his Age and Place forbearing sin only of design How good was Joash so long as Jehojada the Priest lived The Lion may look demure whil'st under invincible restraint Nero himself acted it very worthily for the first five years under the conduct of Seneca Others hide their sins like those who shut their shop-windows and follow their Trade within doors Many deal with their sins as Moses his Mother dealt with him she hid him in the Ark of Bulrushes as if she had left him but her Eye was still upon him and in conclusion she became his Nurse Exod. 2.9 Many hide their sins from the Eyes of others when their hearts go after them and at last they give the breast unto them But what availeth such a practice A hand taken off from sinful practices without a heart taken off from sinful principles will be like a piece of ground which when sown again yields more encrease or like a stream that hath met with a damm will run with a greater violence when the Sluce is open'd so all this comes to nothing But this 1. If a man once depart from sin out of a love to God or fear of his Judgments and hatred of sin if he do this freely and heartily after-acts of sin through infirmity can never annihilate such a departure 2. My reason is When God forgives one sin he forgives all if once he forgives ever So that an act of sin being in and coming from a Regenerate man cannot dissolve the habit of justifying Grace Grace was not got meerly with humane actions neither can it thereby be wholly lost 3. I say that as wicked men may actually do that good duty keep that Commandment for a time which habitually they break and disallow so Regenerate men may and do habitually keep those Commandments which they do actually break because they do it not with a full consent and purpose They still depart from that sin in heart which in act they may out of necessary weakness yield unto Many and great are the Privileges of Christ's Elect while they name the name of Christ and strive in the use of means against their own corrupruptions The Lord by his Spirit powerfully works in them Victory by degrees with assurance of Salvation Vse IV. Lastly All may be hence exhortted Professours or Prophane and that three ways viz. 1. That you would seriously consider of these two main fundamental parts of Christianity The foundation of God and assurance thereof as comfortable and seasonable in these backsliding times wherein there are so many Errours and such diversity of Opinions vented so much trouble felt and feared in Church and State maugre the malice of Jesuits and Arminians their Patrons and defenders Men or Devils Let the servants of Christ know The foundation of God stands sure the Lord knoweth who are his and they shall never be known to belong to any other This consider as also the signs and marks of Election that all may seek them none may presume of mercy without them 2. That you would speedily begin if you have not done it already to lay a foundation in your selves mentioned by the Apostle Heb. 6.1 2. Of repentance from dead works and faith towards God The principal reason why many Professours fall back from or make such monstrous buildings in their Profession by idle and groundless conceits is because they began without a foundation rashly running with others not considering why or whither God Almighty you see would do nothing without a Foundation your practice must needs be presumption 3. That as you hope for salvation by Christ upon this foundation you would examine your selves according to the former evidences It is reported of a famous Carver who making a curious Image of Minerva did secretly engrave his own upon it so the Lord of Heaven hath interwoven his own Image in his People which remains as a mark whereby they may be known to be his own workmanship Search it out in you allow nothing in you which is or may be condemned by you Let nothing be acted in one World which cannot be answered in another They can have no hope at the general Assizes whose Conscience condemns them before the appearing of the Judg. That so when the Lord cometh in glory he may know you to be his own sealed with his Spirit wash'd in his Blood and cloathed with his Righteousness for whom a Crown of Righteousness was prepared before the foundations of the world were laid What should hinder such Men and Women from assurance of Heaven The foundation of God is laid the signs of Election are seen both eternally sealed Who shall separate us from from the love of Christ shall Satan or wicked men temptation or persecution poverty or death None of all nothing of all for the foundation of God stands sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth who are his and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity Glory be to God in the Highest THE END