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
have done had he longer lived The answer is ready This argument is prevented and cut off by the former distinction Gods knowledg was of things that actually should come to pass and not of things that might be only St. Augustin in his discourse of Predestination uses three arguments to confirm this truth in hand sharply condemning the Opinion of Pelagius and in him all Jesuits and Arminians at this day concluding that the Lord chose us not for faith but to faith he chose not such as were worthy but by chusing made them worthy The sum of all may be collected into one positive conclusion or doctrinal Instruction viz. That there is a foundation laid in God for the salvation of his Elect that nothing can alter this foundation of God seduce his Chosen finally from him nor hinder them totally from assurance of salvation Matth. 24.24 False Christs and false Prophets shall arise to seduce if it were possible the very Elect. If it were possible implying not a difficulty as Bellarmine would have it and the Remonstrants expound it but a reseptive impossibility as it will plainly appear to any perusing the Text impartially with the circumstances and intent of the Speaker False Christs and Prophets with lying Signs and Wonders shall deceive or seduce many but for the Elect that they should be seduced it is impossible in respect of Gods immutable Purpose and Decree Let them be of good comfort the foundation stands sure That there is such a foundation appears Ephes 1.4 5. According as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated us with the adoption of children by Jesus Christ c. Rom. 8.29 30. For whom he did fore-know he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son c. 1 Thessal 5.9 For God hath not appointed us to unto wrath but to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace Titus 1.12 According to the faith of Gods elect in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye promised before the world began That this foundation is sure see Psalm 125. v. 1 2. They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting love John 10.28 29. I give unto them everlasting life and they shall never perish c. What can be spoken more plainly Jer. 32.4 I will make an everlasting Covenant with them and I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me All which are so plain and full as should put an end to all altercations and silence all Disputes in this Point We may conclude nothing can change or alter the foundation of God none can reverse the Seal of the Almighty nor break one link of that golden Chain The Creature as it had no influence upon the foundation so neither hath it any power to alter it First Hereticks nor wicked Seducers cannot It is the plain Doctrine of our Apostle here his only aim being to comfort the Church against Seducers and men seduced neither one or the other were laid in the foundation Secondly Not the gates of Hell Matth. 16.18 i. e. all the power and policy of Hell combined all the wiles of the Devil cannot conquer one Soldier in Christs Camp much less shall rout the whole Army Thirdly Not the Will of man it self because God by infallible grace ceases not to govern and dispose the acts of the Will in them he hath known and called As an inferiour Orb cannot alter the motion of the first Sphere because it is moved with and by it no more can the Will of man alter the foundation of God because the acts thereof are guided by and disposed according to Gods Will and fore-knowledg in the foundation Again The gates of Hell are stronger than the will of man they overcame it when it had most strength and freedom in Paradise therefore if the gates of Hell which are stronger cannot alter nor prevail against the foundation the will of man which is weaker and depends thereon cannot do it Satan by his instruments Hymenaeus Philetus Pelagians Jesuits and Arminians with other secret Enemies to God and a Divine Life may and do destroy the temporary faith of such as were left out of the foundation but can never destroy the justifying faith of such as were then taken known and marked out to be the Lords But the Doctrine consists of two parts we will sever them a while to joyn them together more firmly as the breaking of a bone doth finally occasion it to become stronger in its Union The first part concerns the foundation which is the Purpose and Will of God whereby he eternally determined to create and dispose of Angels and Men to their several Ends by certain means Not all to one end the Creatures end is according to the Creators Love his Love was not alike to all diversity of gifts and services sheweth it being tied to none Justice and Mercy both as well as Knowledg Power and Providence took place in laying the foundation that God might be glorified in both This is exprest by our Saviour Matth. 24.40 Two shall be in the field the one is taken the other left There is two of a Tribe and one of a Family as the Prophet speaks Jer. 3.14 As it is and shall be in the execution of the Decree so it was in the foundation Two determined to be created Angels and Men both falling the one is taken the other left Heb. 2.6 Deus non expectabat Angelos sed proecipitavit as St. Bernard expresses it the Angel was left without mercy for a prey of punishment that elder off-spring of Divine Love was expell'd from the beatifick Presence the Imperial Robe of Heaven was descended upon Man who lay on a Dunghil he was drawn out wash'd gilded over with grace the true seed of Glory Two Brothers in one Womb before they had done either good or evil the Decree was past on them the foundation laid that the one should be loved the other hated i. e. past over Two Apostles Peter and Judas both sin greatly little difference in the act both betray him but God puts a difference in the event the one repents being elected the other despairs being past by in the foundation and so ordained to perdition So the renowned Augustin against Julian the Pelagian In one and the same Decree of Disposition saith he one is rejected by Justice not Chance another elected by Mercy and not Merit by mercy in the Elector without any merit or act of Faith or Free-will done or fore-seen to be done in the Person elected Some are chosen to believe to build up their own and the faith of others some others left
your security Providence hath a beautiful face even when it puts on its black mask God hath fair ends in his foulest ways If the Earth be dirty under your feet know for your comfort the Heavens are not cloudy over your heads Who ever frown God smiles Suck from this breast of Consolation Fetch you Honey out of the Lions belly Let this prove a Cordial to support you in all your fainting fits 3. Against worldly prosperity of wicked men though they be in a flourishing condition vex the souls of the righteous and deride their Persons a day is coming when they shall be trodden under feet The Sun of outward splendour casteth its rays upon them only to warm their heads against a storm The same hand that poureth out mercies on them like Oil will pour down his wrath upon them like water Under all their prosperous gallantry their hearts are sinful and in the midst of all their wealth their estates are doleful O know it is better going to Zion through the Valley of Baca than to pitch your tents in the Plains of Sodom The stalled Ox would not set so high a rate on his Pasture did he know it was only to fit him for the Butcher It is their prosperity but as Erasmus said Absit a nobis Charissimi talis prosperitas From such prosperity good Lord deliver us Great and Rich Men will not know you take no notice of you but for their own ends yet the Lord knoweth you and the foundation stands sure which wicked men when they have done their utmost cannot overthrow 4. Against their own sinful failings weaknesses and infirmities to which they are unwillingly and with sorrow subject so it will be whilest they are cloathed in robes of Clay as the Mortar wherein Garlick hath been stamp'd will alway smell of it so your best actions will favour something of the old man Yet if the foundation of God standeth sure against all things then against sin Sin cannot quench that Divine flame of Love The Church had her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 her infirmities her sleepy fits Cant. 5.2 Though blacked and sullied yet is the Dove still Christ could see her faith and wink at her failings He who drew Alexanders's Picture whilest there was a scar on his Face drew him with his Finger on his scar Christ puts the Finger of mercy upon the scars of his Saints He will not throw away his Pearls for every speck of dirt The Rose is a fragrant Flower though it be surrounded with prickles The Pass-over was a Feast though eaten with bitter herbs and though a single string in playing of a Lesson may jar yet the main may be musical God doth not as men do we often take notice of the Evil is in others and over-look the good our Eye is on the flaw in the Diamond when we observe not its sparkling but God takes notice of the good in his People and from that he denominates them and for that he receives them And as sin cannot so neither can men commit such sins as are able to change or overthrow this foundation Regenerate men will not the habit of Grace so orders and disposeth of their Will that they never sin with full consent delight and continuance as natural men do therefore when Sathan assaults us with our sins we must run unto the foundation of God and the means appointed for our Redemption and Salvation Qu. But in what estate is a Regenerate man falling into some grievous sin Ans He is in a dangerous estate it may be no Errour to say damnable in respect of himself and his own act Grievous sins do subject the best men meritoriously to the condemnation of the Law and to the forfeiture of all that right which they had of the pardon of former sins by vertue of the Covenant and that these do not de facto condemn the Believer is to be ascribed to the grace of Election in the foundation and in that regard we say and truly that the Spirit of Regeneration leaves not his residence in such a Person but only suspends his working for a time Grace is not extinguished but opprest it lies like the Phoenix in her ashes till God in his appointed time shall mercifully look again upon him by the powerful beams of his Spirit scattering those mists which darken and hinder the working and shining forth of his illustrious Creature Grace as it did in Peter and David than whose Names the Tongues of Men can hardly pronounce any thing more pleasing I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed My grace is sufficient to revive cleanse and sustein all those whom I have sealed How are we bound to God for his free Love chusing us setting his Seal upon us that we might be known for his in all Places and Assemblies and that none might ever lay claim unto us If God be for us who can be against us Object But if the foundation be so sure to what end is that Exhortation 2 Pet. 1.10 Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure It seemeth here that the certainty of Gods Decree dependeth on mans will Ans There is a two-fold certainty 1. Of determination in Gods purpose and decree and so we are not to conceive that the Exhortation is propounded with reference to God or that which he hath done as though our endeavour were wanting to make it sure or as if we could add perfection to his action which we can no more do than add brightness to the Sun 2. Of apprehension and persuasion as to our selves and others expelling by degrees fears and doubts by an holy life we must be assured and assure others of our effectual Calling so that we and others seeing our good works may be assured of our election to eternal life Qu. The foundation is sure but is the building thereon as sure Ans Men may lay a sure foundation yet make a ruinous building God cannot Where there is the same matter Skill Power and Will there the foundation and building must be of equal force and sureness and so it is in this foundation Not but that the House built on a Rock may be dash'd with Waves though the Seal of God be of an eternal Efficacy yet the impression thereof may be so defaced that it may not be so fairly visible to the Eye though the Root and seed of Grace cannot be lost this excludes not but that the flourish and fragancy thereof may be lost and though the eminency and beauty of it may be lost yet the foundation is sure We are now to proceed unto the second branch of the Text concerning the Signs and marks of Election whereby men may know whether they were laid in the foundation and it runs thus Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity This is the other part of the Seal concerning the foundation the Seal of God in Man and it is two-fold viz.
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