which doth not cannot rellish affect heavenly and spirituall things so as to be moved by them effectually Because the word finds the heart of man under the guilt and dominion of sin § V and his corrupt lusts therefore one of the first things man is made sensible of is his sinfull and miserable condition Upon this the heart begins to bleed grieve smart as being deeply and mortally wounded And it may be God doth not at the first represent unto man all his sin but it may be one and the same principall or more predominant or some other nor discover all the punishments due but some few or one especially the eternall This may be called that part of judgment which we tearme to be Conviction upon Summons and a charge and the same confessed For when God hath thus made the heart of man sensible he is convinced confesseth accuseth and condemneth himself And though at the first the work begins with the apprehension and sense of one sin yet afterwards he begins to see his sins to be many and heinous and so his condition to be very miserable And in this case a man may continue a longer or a shorter time as it shall please God and this his sad condition is sometimes made more sad by outward afflictions or inward terrours or both and all this while the sinfull wretch is in danger of dispair if God prevent it not by restraining Satans rage who then will be very busie Yet God gives man no occasion to cast away all hope because he doth not at the first represent sin as unpardonable but pardonable nor the punishment as unavoydable but avoydable Some say this is done by the Law and they meane the morall Law discovering unto man his sin by the precept and his misery by the commination But 1. God doth not use onely the morall law but all other laws or any law in force and he maketh use of the History of the first sin and â—all of man nay of the sufferings and death of Christ of his judgments executed upon others 2. No man ought to preach the law of works unto sinfull man as in force for that makes sin unpardonable and is the high way to cause dispaire He indeed that will onely threaten death and punishments according to the Law of works and silence and conceale the promise of the Gospel is a Legal-Preacher indeed and can be no faithfull Servant unto Christ in this work 3. It 's not the Law nor any other Doctrin preached by man which can break his stony heart without the Spirit and power of the Gospel That Doctrin which used by God in this work is most effectuall is the Doctrin of Christ Jesus crucified for our sins and it must be the law of the Spirit of life that must free us from the Law of sin and death In this sad condition § VI whilst man continues guilty and convicted by his own conscience at the bar of divine Justice he will begin to cast about and look on every side to see whether there be any help deliverance and hope of escape and he finds nothing in himself nothing in any Creature no not in Angels to help him and so despairs of any comfort in any thing excepting Christ and so casts away all confidence in any other things and with the Jews pricked in their hearts cryes out Men and Brethren what shall we do Acts 2. 37. And with the Jaylour Sirs what shall I do to be saved Act. 16. 30. To this question made in the anguish and bitternesse of Spirit the answer is Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the Remission of sins and ye shall receive the Holy-Ghost Act. 2. 38. And Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Act. 16. 31 This implyes 1. That the Sinner is Savable and remission possible 2. That Remission and Salvation is onely by Jesus Christ. 3. That the meanes to obtaine both by Christ is repentance and faith Upon this follows an appeal from the Throne of Justice to the Throne of Grace and mercy Christ is pleaded the guilty person offers the sacrifice of a broken heart and bruised Spirit to the supreme Judge and earnest suit is made not onely for pardon of sin past but for power against sin for the time to come And though man desires and endeavours to repent and beleive and quiet his mind in Christ's merits and Gods promises yet he cannot do these things to purpose nor any man in the world can give him effectuall comfort by the application of the promises till God put his laws in his mind and write them in his heart by his Divine Spirit Thus to do is a work of the Divine Spirit who alone can write immedâ—ately and imprint the Divine precepts and promises of the Gospel upon the heart of man and so give him a divine power to repent to believe to understand to do the Laws of God and apply his promises The word now is no longer onely in books or in mens mouths or in their eares but also in the heart Yet it 's here to be noted 1. That this great promise of the Gospel is not absolute as though God pre-required no duty to be performed by man 2. That he doth not this work without the word both taught heard and learned 3. That this Law is not fully and perfectly written in any mans heart in this life 4. That therefore the most illuminated and sanctified man in this life hath need of the written Word This is not any precept or promise of the Law it 's a performance of a promise upon some precepts performed and so an act of judgment and the same not a bare sentence pronounced out of man but executed in the soul of man and not a punishment but a blessed reward Upon this follows another performance § VII and that is repentance and belief and the same of a far higher degree then can be performed by any strength natural and moral They are divine and supernaturall not performed by any acquired power but by a strength from Heaven For in writing these divine precepts in the heart of man God himself so immediately speaks to man that he receives the Word of God as the Word of God indeed is taught of God drawn to Christ and comes unto him never to depart from him again I will not deny but there may be some supernaturall illumination and alteration in the heart of man and some comforts thereupon in an heart not fully humbled But for God so to write his laws in our hearts as to cause us to walk in his statutes and keep his judgments to do them and that sincerely and constantly Ezek. 36. 27. is a far higher degree of grace in Christ and the duty performed thereupon is far more perfect and excellent In this repentance and faith there are severall branches The 1. Is a sincere and totall submission unto Christ alone as our onely Saviour and to
Gods worship They are Laws and binding in respect of the divine institution and command and mans obligation to observe them In this word Ceremony is included also the outward and sensible part and the inward and spirituall as likewise the Analogie and proportion between them and according to that Analogie and Gods determination the signification or representation of the Spirituall part by the outward and bodily The specificall difference is the confirmatition of the Covenant of grace in Christ Where we have 1. Christ. 2. The Covenant of grace in Christ. 3. The confirmation of it by a Sacrament or sacred Rite 1. Christ is the foundation of all Sacraments in that he finished the work of Redemption and thereby established the promises of the Covenant for ever For if he had not suffered all promises in him had not bin Yea and Amen but had bin all voyd By his Sacrifice he satisfied Gods justice and merited both the promises and all the mercies promised upon condition of faith and power to performe the conditions as you heard before when I spake of the immediate effects of his death 2. Yet these benefits and mercies are not conveyed without a Covenant which promiseth them unto sinfull man yet so as the promises require some conditions and duties to be performed by man yet by the power of the spirit enabling us And because the Laws of God are so made as that they contain not onely promises whereby God binds himself voluntarily to man but also duties to be performed freely by man they are called a Covenant Yet because there was a Covenant of works requiring perfect and perpetuall obedience as the condition and duty upon which alone performed life would follow and a Covenant made with Israel when they came out of Egypt and this Covenant requires neither that perfect obedience as a condition of life nor the Ceremonies of the Law but faith in Christ and promiseth not onely life but power to believe in Christ meriting remission and life therefore it 's called the Covenant of grace and free mercy in Christ for whose sake he is willing to save man whom he might have condemned 3. This Covenant is confirmed by a Sacrament This confirmation of this Covenant is the specificall difference For in this very act of confirmation a Sacrament differs from all other Ceremonies which might signifie Christ or his work of Redemption or the Sanctification of the spirit or some duties of man yet not confirme the Covenant either in respect of Gods promises or mans duty This Covenant may be said to be confirmed three ways § V 1. By the death and blood of Christ. 2. By the Spirit 3. By a Sacrament 1. It was confirmed as a Covenant by the death of Christ so as a Will is confirmed by the death of a Testatour Heb. 9. 15 16 17. The issue of this confirmation is that upon the death of Christ both the promises and duties and the whole Substance of the Covenant were made unalterable so that now we can expect no other promises nor any other conditions though the former Covenant of works both with the promises and conditions was altered 2. It 's confirmed by the Holy Ghost being given unto true believers to assure them that as they have received the title to glory and the first fruits thereof so they shall receive the principal reward promised and fully enjoy it In this respect the Spirit is called an earnest and a Seal yet it 's rather a Seal in respect of glory promised then of the promise it self The 3d. Confirmation is by a Sacrament and this is a confirmation rather of the Covenant in respect of man then in respect of it self as a Covenant This confirmation is expressed by the Metaphoricall word SEAL as when Circumcision is said to be not onely a Sign as all Ceremonies are but a Seal Rom. 4. 11. There be many kinds of Seales and many uses and ends of them but one usuall Seal is a confirming Seal and the end and use of it is to confirme Covenants Deeds Grants For whether the Deed be Indenture or Will or a Patent and free-grant whether absolute or conditionall we first express and signifie our minds consent and approbation by Words and Writings and then we add our Hands and Seal which sealing is the highest and most Solemn testification of our consent and the greatest confirmation that we can give and being produced is the most perfect evidence and proof of our title being as an Authenticall record And in this respect a Sacrament is a Seal for confirmation And it 's a Seal in respect of God and man 1. In respect of God who by his very institution of it intended to confirme his consent unto and approbation of the promises upon the conditions expressed and acknowledgeth his engagement to performance of the promise 2. In respect of man who by Receiving and Celebrating the Sacrament Solemnly testifies his approbation of the conditions and doth further engage himself unto the performance of them The thing confirmed by a Sacrament is 1. The Covenant it self both in respect of God and Man for it confirmes Gods promise of mercy and Mans engagement to duty 2. If the mutuall promises and engagements be confirmed a conditionall right to the mercies promised is made sure to man and the conditionall performance of duty in man is confirmed to God 3. When man performes his duty he receives an actuall right and in due time possession but this cannot be immediately made sure as may appear hereafter Whereas some say that Sacraments exhibite and confer grace and the School-men say that a Sacrament is SIGNUM EFFICAX GRATIAE yet if we speak properly a Sacrament as a Sacrament doth no such thing except we understand it thus that as an Instrument sealed conveyes and gives a right upon a consideration so this upon a condition may conferr a right and so all other Laws of God Redeemer do by vertue of the promises annexed to them without which men cannot have so much as a conditionall and remote right Reformed Divines do generally deny that Sacraments conferr grace ex opere operato as the School-men speak and require a due qualification in the party to whom they are administred according to divine institution As for the actuall exhibition of saving grace it depends upon this divine ordination that when man doth his duty and performs the condition saving grace shall follow according to His promise And this is to be understood most properly of such as are at age The principall condition is faith without which no Sacrament in adultis can be effectuall so as that upon the receiving thereof grace should actually follow And no man ever received benefit by Celebration of Sacraments without a morall qualification in the very receiving of them By all this we may understand how Sacraments are said to signify seal and exhibit grace They signify as Ceremonies and Rites seal as Sacraments exhibit and convey as other Laws
and severall degrees thereof but do not proceed to perfection and sincerity Some will hear the word but not receive it into their minds to understand the very principles and fundamental Laws of this Kingdom Their punishment is that as they will go no further with God so God will go no further with them but denyes unto them the Spirit of illumination leaves them blind as he found them and suffers Satan to take the Word from them Luke 8. 12. Some receive it so far as to understand it but are not willing to do it Their punishment is this that God will not make it further effectuall to promote their spirituall happinesse and they are left as the former to Satan to take it out of their hearts lest they should be ieve and be saved And though these may receive the Spirit of illumination yet they receive not the Spirit of Conversion Some receive if onely into their understandings but not into their hearts so as to delight in it and to do something commanded and obey it in some degree but either for fear of adversity or love of the World and the Cares of this life they bring no fruit unto perfection but either deny the truth or receive it not into an honest heart Their punishment is this That the Spirit of conversion sanctification and Adoption is denyed unto them whilst they are such but they remaine under the Power of Satan the dominion of sin and in the state of Damnation Some continue for a longer or a shorter time in this imperfect condition and in the confines of these Kingdomes of life and death and though God be patient and calls for an honest and good heart yet they deny it and at length the time of grace allotted by their Saviour is expired and then the things which belonged to their peace are hid for ever from them and the gates of mercy and eternall life are shut against them Luke 19. 42. The last sin is Apostacy of such as have received the knowledge of the truth have been convinced of the same escaped the corruption that is in the World through lust have tasted some joy and comfort in their Saviour yet turn back to their Vomit and Wallowing in their former sins or deny the Lord who bought them or do not only deny him but blaspheme him and persecute him in his Members The punishment of these is that God suffers the unclean Spirit with seven other spirits worse then himself to enter and keep possession and so the end of that man is Worse then the first Math. 12. 45. And it had been better for them never to have known the way of righteousnesse then after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandement delivered to them 2 Pet. 2. 21. There remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries Heb. 10. 27. They cannot be renewed to Repentance Heb. 6. 6. So that they make Repentance and Salvation plainly impossible to themselves Such is the Punishment of them who blaspheme the Holy Ghost Though many of these may live a while in worldly Peace yet their case is miserable and so miserable as no Tongue of man can expresse and God delivers them up unto security till they suddainly sink into Hell or before their end awakes them and they become desperate and the â—lames of Hell begin to kindle and rage in their hearts and so intolerably that some with Judas murther themselves The Sins § VI deserving these Punishments formally considered are Impenitency and Vnbelief Impenitency is a continuance in Ignorance or Errour or other sins against the meanes and motives of Conversion and it 's the same with Blindnesse and Hardnesse of Heart which admit of many degrees according to the meanes greater or lesser or continued a shorter or a longer time or according to the Malignancy of the Heart which may be more or lesse Unbelief is a reâ—usal to receive Christ upon those terms God doth offer him After a time of Mercy wherein God calls us to Repentance mispent Impenitency and Unbelief which before were Sins may become Punishments The Punishment of these Sins is deniall of the Spirit either sufficiently to prepare them or convert them and so justifie them From some of these he takes the Word To some of these he continues the Word and denies the Spirit To some he grants the Spirit for some degrees of Preparation but not of full Conversion From some he takes away the Spirit wholly and delivers them up to Satan And this deniall of the Spirit is the heaviest Judgement that God inflicts or man can suffer in this life when men shall hear and not understand see and not perceive to have their Hearts made fat their Eares heavy their Eyes shut lest they see with their Eyes and hear with their Eares and understand with their Hearts and convert and be healed Esa. 6. 9 10. and Act. 28. 26 27. As the State of impenitent Sinners § VII upon their death doth alter so their Punishments different from the former do begin and they suffer in another kind and their condition being miserable becomes unalterable The day of Grace with them if not before as it is with many yet surely then is past No place for Repentance will be found No Prayers Tears Intercession of Saints and Angels or any other meanes can do them any good Their Conversion and Salvation become irrecoverable and impossible Death which in it self is a Curse yet by the Wisdom and Mercy of God in Christ to the faithfull is a door to Eternity of Blisse and an end of all their Misery is the beginning of their greater Woe and though it doth not wholly take away their Being yet it deprives them of all hope of a better Being Their Bodies are laid in the Grave or left upon the Surface of the Earth for a prey to Fowles Dogs wild Beasts or hurled into the Deep or howsoever dissolved and turned into dust are reserved for greater Torment Their Souls departed from their Bodies are forsaken of God not received by Christ not guarded by Angels nor carried into Abraham's bosome and are left as a prey unto the Devils and into whatsoever dismal Lodging they are brought or in whatsoever woeful Region they wander as in this life they had no faith in God no Union with Christ no heavenly Consolation of the Spirit so now they are destitute of all peace and joy And it 's not the least Torment to remember that once there was a day of Mercy and Grace an Opportunity of obtaining pardon or at least a power to have lessened Sin to lessen the Punishment yet now that day is past and that Opportunity neglected is for ever lost They are in the same condition with the Devils and reserved as it were in chains unto the Judgment of the great Day This certainly known and continually remembred continually torments In consideration of which
said to be set forth or ordained to be a propitiation through faith in His blood Rom. 3. 25. For we are not immediately made justifiable either by Christ dying or Christ pleading but by Christ dying and pleading believed upon The righteousnesse of God is by faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe Rom. 3. 22. This is an unspeakable comfort to sinfull guilty man deserving to be sentenced unto eternall death and the extreme punishments in Hell that 1. There is a Court of Grace Equity and Mercy ever kept in Heaven 2. A propitiated and most merciful God is the Judge 3. Jesus Christ His Son being once tempted and having suffered cruel punishments is very sensible of our miserable condition and full of compassion 4. Every penitent and believing sinner on Earth is his client and he will vndertake his cause and plead it as his own 5. A prayer a sigh a groan will mind him of our cause 6. A most righteous Advocate pleading vehemently and before a Father of eternal mercy for penitent believing and heart-bleeding sinners and that with his own blood and urging Gods own promise must needs prevaile Oh! fear not guilty Wretch thy cause will be carried in Heaven There can be no doubt of it Yet the Saints of God who lived and died before Christ's exaltation to glory had faith in Christ and were justified by it as Abraham was Their faith indeed was implicit and far short of ours yet it pleaded Mercy a Promise a Messias a Sacrifice though very darkly and God did look upon Christ though to come as a Propitiatour and intercessour and for his propitiation and intercession foreseen and fore-accepted and imperfectly yet sincerely believed did justifie them This Faith whereby we are justified is opposed by the Apostle Paul § IV to the Faith of the Jew in his Letter to the Romans to the Faith of the Judaizing Christian in that to the Galatians unto the Faith of Jews of Philosophers of the Worshippers of Angels in that to the Colossians It s opposed to these severall faith 's in a twofold respect 1. As an assent and perswasion 2. As a confidence or reliance The Jew believed that he might be justified by the Works of the Law and so trusted unto and relied upon his own Works alone The Judaizing Christian believed that Christ alone without the Law could not save him but with the Law he might and so his confidence was not in Christ alone but in Christ and the Law The Jew the Jewish Christian the Philosopher the Worshipper of Angels were perswaded either that Christ was needlesse or yet if he was needful he was not sufficient without the Law or without Philosophy or without the Worship of Angels and did either trust in Christ with these or in these without Christ and none of these would be compleate without or with Christ without some of these The Doctrine of the Gospel different from and opposed to all these proposeth Christ and him only and Christ alone as the complete High Priest Sacrificing himself and pleading his Sacrifice as the meanes and only meanes of justification Justifying faith believes all this and out of this belief rests upon Christ and Christ alone and pleads him and him alone and none else nothing else This Faith is not a perswasion that our sins are already forgiven § V nor a speculative assent to the truths of the Gospel concerning Christ as our Saviour which vanisheth with the speculation and doth not pierce the inwards of the soul nor is it any kind of resting upon Christ as our High Priest and Mediatour neither is it a sincere receiving of Christ as our Lord and King much lesse is it a generall act of faith in God Redeemer meerly considered under that generall notion 1. It cannot be a perswasion that our sins for Christs sake are already forgiven For we must believe before we can be justified much more before we can be assured that we are justified But this perswasion follows justification and remission it self It puts the act before the object and the reward before the performance of the duty and so makes justifying faith which is antecedent to be consequent and needlesse and from hence its consequent that a man may be justified without faith by a faith which follows justification But these things are absurd to a considerate Christian. 2. It 's not a mere speculative assent to the truths of the Gospel concerning Christ for it presupposeth practicall acts antecedent and issues from a practicall habit It looketh upon and closeth fast with the object wherein there be the Highest and most powerfull motives unto practise and obedience that ever were or possibly can be How is it possible that a man should believe seriously that stupendious love of God which moved him to give his onely begotten Son That whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life and not be powerfully stirred up to love that most loving and mercifull God who loved him so much How can Faith look upon the Son of God bleeâ—ing and dying for his sins upon the Crosse and not hate sin with an eternall hatred and give himself wholly to Christ as infinitely more pretious and beneficiall to him then many Worlds Our reformed Writers had good reason to say that though this faith in receiving Christ Satisfying meriting interceding was Sola yet not Solitaria for it must of necessity work and work by love For it 's a lively principle of all heavenly virtues and sincere obedience That faith which is not predominant over all lusts and a mother of universall obedience is no faith whereby a man can be justifiable and justified 3. It 's not any kind of resting upon Christ as our High Priest and Mediatour For we may rest in part on Christ and in part on the Law and our own Works and in Saints and Angels and Superstitious rites of men We may rest on Christ for benefit and not duty We may rest on Christ and yet continue in sin be Hypocrites and so presume It must be a totall and a sincere dependance with a detestation of sin 4. It 's not a receiving him as Lord and King in that it presupposeth him as so received already For faith it self is a duty of obedience and presupposeth a submission unto him as Lord and King to command and bind us to obedience But it 's one thing to receive Christ for duty another to receive him for benefit Justification is a Benefit a reward not a duty not an act of obedience And though faith receiving Christ as Priest for justification be a duty as doing that which is commanded yet it 's but the generall nature of it whereby it agrees with and differeth not from any duty commanded by God Redeemer And consider it as a duty it 's a work and faith it self as a Work is not justifying But to come more closely up to the point and head of the matter now by some
severall persons may do the same act and yet not be equally sinfull there may be a great inequality in the sin 2. That there are degrees of sins as there shall be of punishments 3. That the more of will there is in any sin the more heynous the sin is and it 's the principall and intrinsecall aggravation of it This greater measure of Will appeares to be and manifests it self 1. In such as have helps meanes power to do that which is just and many and powerfull restraints from sin and yet commit it 2. In such as have many helps meanes motives to repentance and yet continue senslesse and secure 3. Those are most heynons which proceed not from ignorance and infirmity within nor from violence of temptation opposition and impediments without but from the pure and mere malignity of the Will Ignorance infirmity and strength of temptation make sin lesse the more excusable and pardonable Yet we may willfully or at least carelesly cast our selves upon temptation be ignorant through out negligence or willfulnesse we may go on in sin till it prove habitual and make us Slaves unto our own lust We may give way to one sin as Drunkennesse Covetousenesse or Ambition and so necessarily entangle our selves in other sins which those once having possessed our hearts make unavoydable In these cases sin is lesse excusable because we are the cause of our ignorance infirmity and disadvantage If any say that to intend murder and act it is more then barely to intend it the Answer is easy That if any not only intend it but proceed if not hindered to act it that doth manifest more of will and inclination to be in the heart then if he should only intend it and yet when he hath power doth not act it And so of Adultery and other sins 3. There be aggravations extrinsecal as from the qualification of the party offending from the party offended from the circumstances of time and place and such like which I passe by and come to the consequents of sin And they are of three sorts Such as follow 1. In respect of sin it self 2. In respect of the Law-giver and the Law 3. In respect of the Judge and judicial processe 1. In respect of sin it self the consequents are 1. Stain because it 's filthy 2. Shame because it 's base 3. Weakning the inclination to good because it 's contrary 2. In respect of the Law-giver and the law the Consequents are 1. Offence 2. Blame for it makes the party accusable and chargeable with it 3. Guilt because it makes liable to punishment 3. In respect of the Judge and judgement the consequents are fear sorrow conviction condemnation and suffering of punishment if not pardoned And the punishment deserved by mâ—n and inflicted by God is not only losse of that good which we enjoyed whilâ— obedient by obedience might have obtayned but the pressure of all evill threatned in the Law which the party hath justly deserved For God doth punish men in their Persons Bodyes Soules Name Friends Goods and other wayes and doth not onely take away blessings received but denyes and that justly mercyes promised but man suffers many positive evills even in this Life and yet all these are but the Beginning of Woe everlasting if not by mans timely repentance and Gods great mercy prevented These things concerning sin in generall premisd I proceed to the first sin of Adam in particular which was the subject of the first judgement passed upon Adam and all mankind And therein I will consider 1. The Sin it self 2. The causes of it 1. The sin it self was the disobedience to a Law of God and more particularly a positive Law that positive Law concerning the tree of knowledge of good and evill This sin in respect of the matter and the outward Act of eating the fruit of the tree seems not to be heynous And certainly if there had been no divine prohibition the act was in it self indifferent Morally and intrinsecally it was neither good nor evill But to eate of that fruit contrary to Gods prohibition and peremptory commination was heynous as being a contempt of Gods absolute powers and a breach of the first and great command from which all the rest derive their morality And it was a contempt not onely of his absolute power but of his severe justice And he that doth not regard the supreme and legislative power of any Prince will not feare to disobay any of his Lawes And it was more grievous for other reasons For the observation of that Law was very easie because the thing commanded was the forbearance of and abstinence from the fruit of one onely Tree whereof he had not the least need as having such plenty and variety of so many kinds of delicates He that will not yearly pay a pepper-corn in acknowledgment of the eminent dominion of a chief-Lord for a vast estate freely given him upon such easie termes is most unworthy of it Againe the law was cleare and easie to be understood and he knew it well and had full and perfect power to keep it and that without any difficulty Besides upon this petty act of obedience the eternall welfare of him and mankind his Posterity did depend and if he once tranâ—grest it he had not the least colour to expect any thing but absolute condemnation to eternal death Neither could all the Powers of darknesse force or necessitate him to touch â—ast the forbidden fruit To eare it therefore must be a complication of a multitude of heynous sins as ingratitude unbelief cruelty to himself and his posterity Yet though it was so heynous yet it came short of and was lesse grievous then the first revolt of Angels For he was tempted surprized circumvented but so they were not After that we know § VII what the first sin in particular is let 's consider the causes and they are 1. Blameable 2. Blamelesse Blameable were the persons tempting and the Persons tempted The partyes tempting were the Devills united in a body Politick under the Prince of Devills their Generall and Commander in chief To understand this better I will enquire into the nature of temptation examine Who the tempter and what this temptation in particular is 1. Temptation unto evill and Sin is opposed to the truth of God to his law and therein to his Precepts prohibitions promises threats as they are meanes to inform the understanding in the truth and move the Will unto obedience The end of it is to blind the understanding and pervert the Will It blinds the understanding either by taking away or hindering the clear light of the truth or deluding it with falshood or errours by representing that as good and just which is evill and unjust or that which is just and good as evill and unjust and if it once cause the mind to doubt of or deny the truth it 's likely to prevaylâ—e For by this meanes it takes away the feare of punishment
threatned and allures the heart with some hope of good which God did never promise and this is the way to deale with man being an intelligent and free creature whose will in matter of practice can neither be forced nor necessitated The weaknesse of the party tempted is from the imperfection of knowledge and integrity And the more 〈◊〉 active resolute importunate the tempter is the greater must needs be the danger of the party tempted Yet this is to be observed that no temptation though violent and subtile can necessitate the will of man Thus Bradwardine proves excellently and fully that Voluntas non potest necessitari à causa secunda No second cause no not the Devill himself can do it This is the generall nature of temptation § VIII but 2. Who was the Tempter The History Gen. 3. makes mention onely of a Serpent Yet no doubt the principall tempter was far above that Serpent which was a Bâ—ast of the Field and irrationall Yet from other places we are informed that there is a Dragon Captain-generall with his Angels Rev. 12. 7. And lest we should be ignorant who this Dragon is it followes that it was the old Serpenâ— the Devill and Sathan who deceives the whole earth verse 9. For he is the grand-impostor and cheater-generall as all his temptations are cunning cheats and juglings He it was who by his lyes deceived Eve at the first and by her enâ—iced and surprized Adam and so murdered all mankind For this cause is he said to be a Lyar and a murderer Joh. 8. 44. Though the great temper was the Devill yet in this temptation he used or rather abused a Serpent which was more subtile then any beast of the field In which respect our Saviour adviseth us to be as wise as Serpents Math. 10. 16. A Subtile Creature was a fit instrument of a subtile Devil Why he should not immediately tempt the Woman without making use of a Serpent is not mentioned in that short History where the heads of things are onely and that briefly related Whether it was because he being a Spirit could not so well converse with Woman a bodily Creature without a body assumed or because the Devills and so good Angels can do many things by bodyes assumed which without them they cannot as by man they act farr more upon man for good or evill then without them they could do Yet in this designe if he must make use of a bodily Creature and he was not permitted neither could it then be convenient to assume the body of man a Serpent of all other was the fittest for his turn And it is strange that in many places almost in all times he should be worshiped in the form of a Serpent as we are informed he is at this day in many parts of the East-Indian Countryes But in the Third place the temptation is chiefly to be considered It was a conflict and encounter between Angels and all mankind and the event was of greatest consequence and no battle like this till many generations after the Son of God made man did encounter the Prince of Devills and all his power of darknesse upon the Crosse gave him a fatall blow and foyled him for ever in revenge of this cursed design whereby he intended the eternall ruine of mankind This businesse was contrived and managed with greatest power and pollicy For 1. He makes use of a Serpent the most subtile beast of the field and though we do not understand it yet he certainly knew there was some special advantage in it 2. He doth not encounter Man and Woman joyntly and at once but severally 3. He begins with the Woman 4. He doth not single out any of Gods Moral precepts or prohibitions For these were too deeply imprinted in the soul and of clearer light but he makes choyce of that positive precept which was not so obvious to reason and seemed to have some mystery in it and to admit some latitude for a Subtile discourse 5. He doth not instantly deny this Positive Law but begins to question the sense of it till at length he caused the Woman to doubt 6. In the end he assures her there was no danger as she seated and fondly surmised in eating of that fruit but certain hope of some great good and therefore perswades her to look upon that goodly fruit and consider whether there was any probability of the least evill to follow thereupon 7. By the Woman he perswades the man who dearly loved her and according to his affection could suspect no evill in any wise from her And here it is observeable that the first advantage the Woman gave him was in that she did not strictly peremptorily insist upon the plain and simple sense of he Law For when we once forsake the simplicity of the Word of God the subtlety of Sathan is such that he will speedily and easily deceive us This was Paul's fear lest by any meanes as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety so the Corinthians minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ 2 Cor. 11. 3. And now it is the grand designe of Sathan by his Agents to detaine people in the ignorance of the Scriptures or if that cannot be to Question the Divine authority of them or if they be perswaded of it yet to put them to prove it and prove it evidently and demonstratively to them Yet if notwithstanding all this they will adhere to these records as Divine they will argue against the sufficiency of them without unwritten traditions But let the sufficiency be proved they will controvert the Transcripts and Translations and make the sense in plain and necessary things to be obscure or divert them from necessaryes to doubtfull disputations in things needlesse and no wayes conducing to Salvation The Scriptures are the great and mighty engine of God against all the power of Sathan and if we clearly understand certainely beleeve and constantly practise the Saving Truths thereof then we may foyle him he cannot prevayle against us His endeavour therefore is to puzzle our understanding shake our Faith hinder our practise and perswade us that there is no danger but safety and advantage in sin or at least tempt us to presume upon Gods mercy The inward motive which set the Devill on work in this cursed damned designe was envy malice and delight in doing mischief which presupposed his Revolt from and Rebellion against God And in this respect he is said to be a Lyat For this was the first grand lye and Sophism in the World and also a Murderer for by this meanes he slew mankind and had for ever undone him if God had not prevented it By this attempt the partyes tempting had made themselves deeply guilty § X though it had never taken effect Yet the cursed damned designe prevayled against the partyes tempted and first against the Woman For she admitted conference forsook the simplicity of the truth began to parly then to doubt and
Attribute which God did exercise § III and manifest in this Judgment passed upon man was his Mercy which is his free love of man who had made himself unworthy For after that he had sinned and made himself miserable though his misery were an object of compassion yet his sin did provoke to anger and deserved vengeance God looking upon man in this condition was more willing to pitty him then to punish him to remove the sin then to destroy the sinner He was unwilling all Mankind should perish as they must needs have done if he had proceeded in strict justice against them The sin in it self was no fit subject of mercy yet seeing that Woman was deceived by the subtilty of the Devil and Man by Woman his dearest Wife brought into transgression God took occasion to pitty them yet there could be no mercy for them except it issue out of the abundant goodness of God who is slow to anger and so much inclined to compassion and willing in this particular rather to manifest the glory of his mercy then of his justice Man had made himself unworthy and liable to eternal misery and God might have eternally punisht him and that justly too yet mercy kept justice back mitigated the rigour of it and confined it in a narrow compass to inlarge her self more abundantly This mercy was the Fountain from which issued the Promise of Christ the ruine of Sathan's Kingdom the Redemption of Mankind the Relicks of God's Image the means of Conversion the patience long-suffering bounty and clemency of God the gifts of the Spirit the remission of sin and eternal life And that God might be placable Sin pardonable Man saveable he accepts Christ's propitiation reverseth the Law of Works as requiring and that strictly perfect and perpetual obedience as the condition of life and makes a new Law and Covenant which determines Faith to be the condition of life and that condition to be performed by the power of the Spirit merited by and restored for Christ's sake This mercy did appear in this great Judgment many ways § IV 1. God sentenced the Devils in the first place and that without any mercy and for this very cause even because they had attempted the eternal ruine of man which upon the success of their damned Design had proved unavoidable and the recovery of man impossible if God should not have done some extraordinary work to prevent it Upon this fiery indignation of God against these Liars and Murderers of Mankind expressed in this Sentence it did appear 1. That the punishment to be suffered by these cursed Fiends was grievous unavoidable and unremovable for ever 2. That God was highly displeased at their malice shewed against and the mischief done to Mankind in that he takes so fearful vengeance upon them 3. That there was some pitty in God towards poor man trembling at the Bar of God for though their folly was inexcusable yet their condition considering the temptation was lamentable 2. This mercy was manifest in an high and extraordinary degree and measure in that in this Sentence he promiseth or at least implies a most certain promise of Jesus Christ a Saviour and Redeemer It 's true that this great promise was folded and wrapt up in a few words and the same very mysterious as we read them in Moses Gen. 3. 15. But those very words inform us 1. That the Redeemer should be the Seed of the Woman that Woman whom the Serpent had so deluded and who now stood guilty before God's Tribunal 2. That this Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents head and so be the ruine of his Kingdom and Dominion over Man 3. That he should not obtain this Victory without Blood for his Head must be bruised and he put to death And there is not onely an Emphasis but a Mystery in those words The Seed of the Woman The Emphasis is in this That God doth not say an Angel or Spirit or some man more excellent then Adam whom he should create instantly but the Seed a Child a Mortal Man born of that sinful Woman though now contemptible and miserable should encounter the Devil with that power and policy as to foil him The Mystery seems to be this That it 's not said the Seed of Man nor the Seed of Man and Woman but the Seed of the Woman signifying though darkly that Christ should be the Seed and Child immediate of a Woman but of no Man For as he was Man he had an immediate Mother who conceived bare him brought him forth but no immediate Father Upon these words as the condition of Man and Woman became more comfortable so the Kingdom and Government of Mankind began instantly to be altered and a second Adam was appointed their Head to redeem them as the first Adam had undone them We must needs think that our first Parents being sinful guilty and convicted before the Supream Judge of Heaven and Earth stood with sad and heavy hearts expecting their doom and condemnation to Eternal Death until they heard these words The Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents Head Then their Despair was turned into Hope and their sinking-dying-hearts began to revive For to them these were words far above all expectation of sweetest comfort Never better words spoken never better heard 3. This mercy was evident in that God did not send the Spirit of Despair nor of Slumber and Security upon them § V nor deliver them up to a reprobate mind as he might justly have done and so made their condition desperate and irrecoverable nor presently execute his judgment Eternal upon them either by taking away their lives in their sin or making their bodies immortal to punishment in body and soul for ever Neither did he take from them the Light of Nature and the sense and power of Conscience but gave them the saving-light of the Gospel and the means of Conversion with the promise of the Spirit All this is evident by the promise of Christ the ruine of Satan's Kingdom a final Victory after a Bloody War in this Sentence of the Devil and it doth further appear by the Education of Cain and Abel and especially in the Faith of Abel That the means of Conversion have been denied several persons whole Tribes many Nations and the greatest part of the World howsoever it might be deâ—erved by this sin of Adam yet usually it 's the punishment of Apostasie as of the generality of mankind before the â—lood of the Gentiles before Christ's incarnation and of the generality of the Jews and many of the Gentiles since the preaching of the Gospel to all Nations And the very Gentiles were not delivered up unto a Reprobate mind before they abused the Light of Nature Yet the very outward means of Conversion were a gift of Free grace for the merit of Christ who was promised of pure and abundant mercy The Sentence of Justice past upon them was allayed § VI and tempered with great mercy
opposition of these Enemies their cruelty the sufferings of God's People God frustrating of their Designs and confounding of their Counsels His Defence His mâ—ny and strange Deliverances the Valour of God's Saints and their glorious Victories mentioned in the Scripture would require a whole Volume and be an excellent Subject of some Sacred Pen. As this Administration refers to the Church the Subjects of God-Redeemer by Christ the Parts thereof are LAWES And JVDGMENT For as there be two Branches of this Supream Power § II the one of Legislation and the other of Jurisdiction so the Parts of this Administration which is the Exercise of this two-fold Power are Laws or rather giving of Laws or judging according to these Laws For these Laws are the Rules of this Administration of the Subjects Duty and of God's Judgment as the Judgment puts the Laws in execution according to the obedience or disobedience of the Subjects Concerning these Laws we may observe 1. That they bind the Conscience and the Immortal Souls to obedience and make men upon their disobedience liable not onely to Temporal but Spiritual and Eternal Punishments And in Judgment God takes cognizance of all causes even the most secret and spiritual and rewards and punisheth accordingly 2. The Church was never without these Laws since God made the first Promise of Christ. 3. They were made known and promulgate before the Exhibition of Christ by Angels and Men and by men either immediatly inspired as by extraordinary Prophets or by ordinary Prophets Priests and other Teachers The Decalogue which we call the Moral Law was once delivered by God in wonderful manner upon Mount Sinai And after Christ was exhibited they were promulgated by Christ His Apostles Prophets Evangelists and after that by ordinary Pastours and Teachers The Gospel began to be made known by our Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 2. 3. 4. They are delivered to us and reserved in the Church by Word and Writing 5. They are not bare Precepts Prohibitions Threatnings and Promises but have annexed many Admonitions Reproofs Exhortations Dehortations absolute Denunciations of Judgments and Examples The Examples are delivered in the Historical Part and they set before us the Obedience and Vertues of some and their Rewards with the Disobedience Apostacy Rebellions of others and their Punishments And all these are further illustrated by Parables and Similitudes and the same Commands and Prohibitions repeated often in several parts of the Scriptures The final and universal Judgment with many other particulars of this Administration we may read in the Prophetical Part. 6. All these are Laws of God-Redeemer who doth not expect from sinfull man perfect and perpetual Obedience nor promise Eternal Life upon that condition but upon the Faith of Christ's Satisfaction and Merit 7. They presuppose man sinful and destitute of all power to observe them Therefore they require obedience by way of Return to be performed by the power of the Spirit merited by Christ and restored in great mercy unto us And which is strange Obedience as Obedience and performed by us gives us no Title unto everlasting life For it 's derived by the Promise of God from the merit of Jesus Christ from and for which we receive our Faith and Obedience 8. Some of these Laws were Temporary and to stand in force onely for a time Some perpetual and after they were once given to continue unto the Worlds end These Laws must be considered 1. As a Rule of Man's Duty § III 2. Of God's Judgment In respect of the Commands they bind man to duty and are the Rule thereof In respect of the Promises and Threatnings they are the Rule of God's Judgment As they are the Rule of Man's Duty they are either Moral or Positive The Moral require or presuppose Subjection unto God not onely as Creatour but Redeemer in the first place The Moral Law as such is of perpetual obligation and was given to Adam innocent and continues in force for ever yet as it is purely Moral Yet the obligation thereof which followed the Promise of the Redeemer differed much from the former as it bound Adam innocent as shall appear hereafter at large This Law is called Moral not merely because it 's Regula morum a Rule of Humane Actions for so other Laws may be but to distinguish it from Laws Positive as Judicial and Ceremonial be and because the Acts commanded by it are intrinsecally just For we must not so much attend to the proper signification as the use of words And it 's so called not by the Prophets or Apostles but by Latine Christian Writers especially of later times The reason why it is of perpetual obligation is because God having made man righteous and holy never gave him liberty to be unrighteous and unholy and He always bound him to love his God himself his neighbour The Duties thereof arise from the Natural Relation of Man unto God and unto his Neighbour therefore called the Law of Nature The very frame and constitution of his reasonable and immortal Soul and of his Body did dictate the Equity and Justice of this Law Some therefore say that this Law did result from the Image of God wherein Man was created Yet there are degrees of Morality For some acts are more immediately Moral Others derive their Morality from some other and are such at second hand In the Decalogue all the Commandements derive their Morality from the first And all the Precepts of the second Table receive their Morality from the last as that receives Morality from the first of the first Table Some are Moral in this life which shall cease to be so in the life to come And we must diligently consider what Duties are purely Moral and of perpetual continuance Consider the matter of this Law as consisting in so many Rules or Propositions of Divine Wisdom and Justice as abstracted from the Nature of a Law and the commands of God's Legislative Will and the same known unto man if he act according to these Rules he may be capable of reward yet can have no title to it if he act contrary he may be worthy of punishment yet not bound to suffer it But consider the Parts and Branches of it not onely as Rules and Acts of the Understanding but of Gods Legislative Will so they have the form of Laws and such God's Will hath determined them to be unto Man The nature of them as Laws is to bind unto obeâ—ience or upon disobedience unto punishment This is that which they call active obligation which is the essential act of a Law Passive obligation whereby Man is bound flows necessarily from the essence of it That this Law should have a Promise of Eternal Life annexed unto it upon condition of obedience and a threatning of Eternal Death upon Disobedience was accidental unto it That if Man sinned he should actually suffer the punishment threatned was so too That the particular Precepts thereof should be Articles of a Covenant was not
essential And that perfect and perpetual obedience should be that condition upon which perâ—ormed it was God's Will Eternal Life should follow and no ways else was accidental So likewise it was that the sin of one should be the sin of all and His Death their death For the Law might have been a Law without any such thing This Law may be considered § IV 1. As given to Adam and in him to all Mankind 2. As continued yet with several accidental and extrinsecal alterations in the Kingdom of God-Redeemer As it was given to Adam it 's of a two-fold consideration in respect 1. Of him as Innocent 2. Of him as Fallen Adam as Innocent received this Law and it was given unto him as righteous and holy by Creation and he was able to keep it And he was bound to perform it perfectly and perpetually together with other Positives And this perfect and perpetual obedience was the onely condition of life to him and his and one sin one committed made him and his liable to death After that Adam and in him all his had sinned it was a Law of Sin and Death unto them and if God had made it a standing Rule of Judgment in strict Justice man must needs have bâ—en condemned to Eternal Death and there was no hope or possibility of Eternal Life by this Law For suppose God had pardoned this first sin and yet continued this Law in force man could not have been saved by it For he lost the Spirit of Sanctification and if God had continued to say Do this and live because he could not do this he could not live Neither was there any Promise of a Saviour to expiate his sin nor of the Spirit to enable him to keep it nor of Pardon upon expiation made if he afterwards transgressed it After that God in passing Sentence upon the Devil had said § V that the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents Head this Law continued but with a great alteration in respect of man A Redeemer who should satisfie God's Justice and merit God's favour unto man was promised his satisfaction accepted the Spirit restored pardon and eternal life promised Faith in the Redeemer made the condition of life the Law of the forbidden Fruit ceased the Law of Works as the condition of life and rule of judgment for punishments and rewards repealed And all this was done in great mercy by God as Supream and absolute Lord above his own Law which bound not Him the Soveraign but Man His Subject Thus much I observed when I spake of the Judgment which God passed upon the Authors of the first sin But how the Law-Moral continued you shall hear-anon The knowledge of this Law § VI as applyed to the Acts Dispositions Habits of men is commonâ—y called Conscience which is nothing else but the knowledge of a man's Acts Dispositions Habits as agreeable or disagreeable to this or other Laws of God This Knowledge in respect of acts future is the Law of God within him to bind him to obedience and restrain him from disobedience In respect of acts past it 's a Judge within himself or a Witness for or against him before the Tribunal of God This it is properly yet tropically in Scripture it 's several times taken in another sense according to the several adjuncts thereof For the practical judgment of man is sometimes more sometimes less perfect and great is his Ignorance and many his Errours both in matter of Law and of Fact and most of all in applying the Law unto the Fact or Fact unto the Law Sometimes it 's a false Witness and an unjust Judge and hence man's Security in greatest Guilt and Despair when there is hope of Mercy This Knowledge of this Law-Moral in Adam innocent was more perfect § VII in his Posterity more imperfect For the enlightening Spirit was taken from him it was not so purely diligently constantly taught neither was the outward Revelation thereof renewed to all Besides the erroneous Traditions without the Corruptions of man's Heart within with other vicious Habits together with God's just judgment had much impaired this Knowledge though not utterly razed it out For even the wicked Heathen who had not the Law written yet by Nature did something contained in the Law and were a Law unto themselves which did shew the Works of the Law of God written in their hearts Rom. 2. 13 14 15. Yet the knowledge of it was always preserved in the Church by constant Teaching and reiterated Revelations improving the Natural Light of Reason Yet some Positives and Ceremonials were always added and it was joyned to the Law of Faith God renewed the Doctrine of it more perfectly and in a more solemn manner unto Israel both by an audible Voice and by writing it in Tables of stone Moses and the Prophets Christ and His Apostles more fully and clearly explain it And by outward Teaching and inward Illumination God writes it by degrees in the hearts of His people The use of the Law may be considered § VIII 1. In respect of the Gentile 2. Of the Jew 3. Of the Church in general but especially Christian. In respect of the Gentiles who had other positive Laws and Customs either by Tradition or the invention of the Devil and wicked men this Moral-Law so far as it was left written in their hearts taught them their Duty to the onely true God and also unto Man For it was a Rule in matters of Religion and in matters of Justice unto them both as they were single persons and also associated in a Family or a Common-wealth It was the Rule of their Civil Government both in making Laws and in Judgment And according to the violation of this Law God judged single persons Families Nations and Kingdoms And the knowledge thereof which they had or might have had though imperfect did manifest in their own Conscience the justice of God's Judgments executed upon them And so much the more because by His patience long-suffering and bounty together with this law he sought to draw them to Repentance But they holding the truth of God in unrighteousness and continuing impenitent were inexcusable and justly delivered up unto a Reprobate mind as may appear Rom. 1. from ver 18. ad finem Chap. 2. from ver 1. to the 17th And they that disobeyed this clear light of Nature were justly punished by God with the ignorance of Jesus Christ and the want of the Laws and Promises of God-Redeemer It was of singular use to the Jew For § IX 1. It was added to the Promise made to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before 2. It was so revealed that it reduced all Moral Duties to a few Heads and digesteâ— those Heads into an exact and excellent Method and was given with a special application to that People 3. It was Supernaturally written in two Tables of Stone that it might be reserved in the Ark as a rare and lasting Monument from Heaven
judgement mercy and Faith Math. 23. 23. Where he intimates 1. That there be lesse and greater dutyes 2. That to pay Tyth of our goods and fruites is a duty of the first Table and judgement mercy and Faith of the second 3. That payment of Tythes though a duty of the first Table is inferiour to Judgement Mercy and Faith duties of the second Table In the time of the Law Sacrifice New-Moones Sabbath Solemn-Feasts and prayers were duties of the first rank and form to be performed to God yet then God required justice and mercy to Man before them as appeares Esay 1. from verse 11. to the 18. And he desires Mercy more then Sacrifice Hos. 6. 6. And if any except and say that Sacrifices and Sabbaths were part of the Ceremonial not the moral Law I answer that the Weekly Sabbath and so prayer were dutyes required in the moral Law and all the Ceremonies of worship were branches thereof in those times After the difference § II and inequality the order is to be considered and that is either general of the whole in respect of the former part of the Law or of the parts amongst themselves The order of the whole is either of dignity or nature The former precepts and dutyes considered comparatively with the later are more excellent and terminated upon a more noble object and the performance of them conduced more immediately to the supreme end and communion with our God and so deserve the first place which God hath given them As for the order of nature its evident that we have relation first to God our Creatour Redeemer Lord and King before we have relation unto man our fellow-subject and the love of our God is before the love of our Neighbour because we cannot love our Neighbour aright except we first love our God The latter depends upon and issues from the former which doth regulate and rightly qualifie the later and besides the morality of the later is derived from the morality of the former as you heard before As the object of the dutyes required in the former precept was God so the object of these latter are Men with whom we do converse We must love and honour Saints departed and the blessed Angels yet the Persons here principally understood are men living upon earth with whom we have ordinary Communion For these Commandements do refer unto this life and respect men living in this vale of teares and therefore much of this Law shall cease to bind in Heaven To do as we would be done unto and to love our Neighbours as our selves do virtually containe all the particulars of this part and are the brief abridgement of the whole To leave every man unto his liberty in the distribution and digesting of these later Commandements unto a method and to unfold the excellency of that order which God hath observed I will at this time deliver mine own apprehensions of the same Upon consideration I find that these six last precepts may be distinguished into two sorts 1. Such as receive or 2. Such as give morality § III Such as receive their morality are the V. VI. VII VIII IX the five first of the second Table That which gives morality is the Last which is the measure and foundation of the five former For you must note that in the former Table God did begin with the greatest and the principall and so proceeded to the lesse and inferiour but in this part he proceeds in another order and reserves the greatest to the last Of the five which derive their morality from the last some prescribe the rule of justice to be observed Some a rule oâ— judgement Those which prescribe a rule of justice do determine Jus Personarum aut Rerum the right of persons or things belonging to perâ—ons The fifth determins the right of persons the rest the right of things which are life wise goods or estate The 6th is concerning life The 7th concerning our Neighbours Wife The 8th concerning mens goods In the 9th we have the rule of judgement Gods order and method if we can observe it is most accurate and excellent The last which gives morality to the former five commands the love of our Neighbours as of our selves as you shall heare hereafter And this is the root and rule of all the rest For as our Saviour comprized all the foure first Commandements in the love of God so he collected and included all the latter precepts in the love of our Neighbour These things first observed § IIII let us enter upon the explication of the 5th Commandement which as Philo saith had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and was placed in the confines of both the two Tables and joynes them together Whether it was the last in the first Table as some conceive or the first in the second or part of it in the former and part in the latter I will not dispute This is certain they were all written in two Tables this of necessity is next to those which concern our duty to God Parents and superiours represent God and yet are men and so that Commandement hath some affinity with the former though more agreement with the latter This Commandement determins the right of persons who are superiours inferiours equals To Equals the offices of love and humanity are due but no honour for its the â—ight which inferiours must give to superiours as superiours and of them it is principally intended For God did so order it that though all men as men are subjects fellow-subjects amongst themselves and under the power of God as their Lord and Soveraign yet there should be an imparity not onely of excellency and dignity but of power amongst them for without imparity there can be no order The first imparity is naturall wherein Parents are superiour to their Children and that in po-wer And I will consider and understand the Commandement first of natural Parents and their Children and afterwards proceed to the imparity which is by institution and which may be reduced Analogically to this Commandement Wherein we have 1. The duty Commanded 2. The reward promised In the duty we may observe 1. The persons who are bound to perform it 2. The persons to whom it s to be performed 3. The duty it self The persons bound to perform it are not expressed but easily understood 1. To be inferiours 2. To be Children who onely have relation to Father and Mother as such for Children are such as have Father and Mother and Father and Mother are such as have Children who receive their life and being from God by them For they are both begotten and preserved by them Parents are in Gods place and his deputies and instruments and the benefit which we receive by them except they be unnaturall is such as cannot be requited It was Gods will to bring us into the world in this manner and to make us so much depend upon our Parents that we might see what great reason we have to
from his Father because his Father was a Roman If a man for his merits be invested with a Fee or estate of honour and juridiction adherent and the same investiture include him and his Heires then his Heir after his decease from that first investiture of his Father or his father first invested the estate with the honour and jurisdiction is one person with him If a Peer be convicted and condemned for high treason his estate is confiscate and the blood tainted and the Children and Family suffer as one with the person guilty These instances though others more clear and fit may be given may suffice to manifest in things civil and by humane Laws the Father or the Parents and Children to be one person I might further shew that in many cases Prince and People and also the whole State may be considered as one person and are so taken both by God and Men. Let 's inquire whether it be so in matters of Religion and by the Laws of Gods Kingdome That it is so I have made it evident out of the second Commandement of the Law morall both in punishments and blessings For not onely temporall but spirituall judgments lye upon the Children for their Fathers sins which could not be just except they be some ways one person with their Parents And all true believers derive their right unto spirituall and eternall rewards as one person with Christ and in some sort from Abraham since his time as the Father of Believers But the principal thing to be cleared is that Parents and Children are one person in religious obligations spiritual priviledges favours For obligation unto obedience to Gods Laws all Orthodox and understanding Christians will grant that Adam and all mankind were one person as Father and Children insomuch that in Adam sinning we all sinned and in him dying we all dye This could never have bin so if God both in his Laws and Judgments had not considered and accounted that in Adam bound all his were bound But this was under the government of God Creator not Redeemer Yet Abraham was under the government of Redemption and the Kingdom of grace And in him God binds his seed and Posterity yea his bought and born-servants male For thus it is written And God said unto Abraham Thou shalt keep my Covenant Thou and thy seed after thee in their generations Gen. 17. 9. Where we must note 1. That this was the first institution of Circumcision 2. That this was immediately and personally given as a Law at this time only to Abraham 3. That it did not onely bind Abraham himself but his posterity to many generations 4. That the obligation in respect of the Children was so strict that the uncircumcised man-child whose flesh of his fore-kin was not Circumcised that soul should be cut off from his people He had broken the Covenant ibid. vers 14. 5. That this Sacrament was a Sign and Seal of the righteousnesse by faith Rom. 4. 2. And was to continue till the time of the Gospel when the Sign of the Covenant was to be changed into that of washing with water and the faith confirmed then was in Christ to come and by that Abraham was justified but after that time the Gospel-justification was by faith in Christ already come From all this it 's evident that the obligation of the Father was the obligation of the Child And it 's further remarkable that 1. That Covenant did expresly include the Children with the Parents 2. That it was the Covenant of Righteousnesse by faith in Christ. 3. That there is no exception or exclusion nor clause to that purpose in all the Gospel as that God should contract his mercy and not extend it so far even to Christian Children in the times of the Gospel as he did in the times of the Old Testament No man that shall seriously consider this matter but will confesse that Parents are bound not onely for themselves but also for their Children too And therefore they are so oft not onely under the Law but under the Gospel to teach their Children so soon as they are capable and the Children are bound to receive their instruction and to observe the condition of the Covenant into which their Parents entred for them and theirs Therefore God saith that Abraham would command his Children and houshold after him Gen. 18. 19. Which command of Abraham had been of little force except his Children and houshold had been bound by that command which was given to him and in him to them God considering both as one person God hath so far subjected Children to their Parents Servants to their Masters and the houshold or family to the Master or Mistris of a family that neither Servants nor Children are Sui juris or in their own power but in the power of Parents and Masters so that they may command them and not onely in matters of this life but especially in religion And if they were not so much in their power and bound in them it was strange that when the Centution believed his whole houshold became believers John 4. 53. and that Lydia and her houshold the Jaylour and all his or all his house should be baptized at one time Acts 16. 15. 33 34. And surely the Child of Christian Parents is bound in his Christian Parents unto the conditions of the Covenant so as no Child of any Mahumetan Pagan or unbelieving Jew is But the principal point to be cleared in this particular is § XX How Parents and Children are one person by the Laws of God in spiritual favours and priviledges so that what the right of the Parents is the same may be the right of the Children And what these rites and priviledges are which are communicable from the Parents to the Children And here this is a certain rule that so far as God binds Children in their parents to duty so far he binds himself to Children in their Parents by his promise The Apostle saith That if the root be holy so are the branches Rom. 11. 16. Where we may observe 1. That the root are the Parents and the branches are the Children 2. That the root and branches make but one tree So parents and Children make but one body one person Politick 3. That if the root be holy the branches are holy and to be holy is a Spirituall priviledge 4. That as the branches derive their naturall Being from the root so the Children derive their spiritual priviledges to be holy from their holy Parents Yet this holinesse is not either justification or inherent righteousnesse and immediate sanctification of the Spirit For when the unbelieving Husband is sanctified by the believing Wife and the unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the Husband it cannot be meant of any such sanctification neither is the holinesse of the Children of such sanctified parents any such thing It 's something whereby they are nearer the Kingdome of God then the Children of Apostate heathens Mahumetans
said to be the confirmation of Prayer CHAP. XIX Concerning the Laws of God as a Rule of Judgment in the Promises and Comminations HItherto of the Law of God Redeemer § I both Moral and Positive as it 's a Rule of Obedience in Precepts and Prohibitions It remains that we speak of it and consider it as a Rule of God's Judgment in Promises and Threatnings By Precepts God binds Man by Promises He binds Himself Before I proceed one thing formerly omitted is to be added That some Precepts of this Law are mixt and are partly Moral partly positive as Faith and Repentance considered in their general Nature as Duties to be performed to God are Moral For Faith whether it be assent unto the Truth of God's Word or a reliance upon Him promising any Reward or Benefit Repentance as it includes materially in it subjection to God as Supream Lord and Obedience unto His Commands are Duties of the Moral Law as Moral But as Faith assents unto the Truths of the Word concerning Jesus Christ and relies upon God's Promises in Christ and Repentance as it 's a Return unto God-Redeemer in Christ as atoned by his Bloud and so made propitious may be said to be positive as the Objects of both are positive and above the Law of Nature as those positives which are Ceremonial are below it But to return to the Law as a Rule of Judgment we must enquire into 1. The Nature of Promises and Threats in general 2. The Order of this part of Divine Laws 3. The particular Nature of these Promises and Threats in the Laws God-Redeemer 1. For the Nature of Promises and then of Threats The Object of the Promises is Bonum suturum For we cannot promise evil but good at least that which is conceived to be good neither can we properly be said to promise good past or present The act of a promise is a voluntary Obligation whereby the party promising doth bind himself unto another for to do or give some good unto the foresaid party All promises are voluntary otherwise they are not promises The effect of them in respect of the party promising is Obligation in respect of the party to whom the promise is made some kind of right unto the thing promised To threaten is to signifie to another that we intend to do him some hurt or evil The Object is 1. Evil For we cannot properly threaten good 2. It 's evil to come otherwise it 's actual hurt or punishment 3. It presupposeth some intention or resolution to do hurt or inflict evil 4. It signifies by words or other signs this intention as Promises 1. Presuppose some intention to do good 2. A signification of this intention or purpose I will not here spend time in the enumeration of the Accidents or Adjuncts of these Promises to shew how they are private or publike annexed to the Precepts of the Law or not absolute or conditional made by Superiours Inferiours Equals feigned or unfeigned the Promises of such as have power to make them and also strength to perform them or of such as have nor I also pass by the accidental distinctions of Threats which word some think comes of Terreo to terrifie There are Promises and Threats of Man and of God These are of God annexed to His Precepts and Prohibitions as a Rule of Man's Obedience And in this respect they differ from other Promises and Threats The Order of these § II in this Government of God-Redeemer is very evident For 1. They are referred to that part of Government which is concerning Laws 2. In Laws they follow that part which in Precepts and Prohibitions is a Rule of Obedience For as the Law considered as a Rule of Judgment presupposeth something before in it as a Rule of Obedience So these Promises relate unto the Precepts observed as the Threats consider them as violated This is the Order determined by God to manifest His Justice in His Retribution of Rewards and punishments and hereby He signifies that though He be much inclined to reward and do good yet He will judge onely the Obedient a fit Subject of His Bounty and Rewards They that are just and obey His Laws and they onely shall live and enjoy His Mercies And he never threatens as He never inflicts punishments but upon demerit of the Disobedient For He never punished any but such as violated just Laws neither did ever intend it or signifie His intention otherwise The particular and distinct Nature of these Promises § III and Threats is the third thing to be considered They agree with the Promises and Comminations of the Law of Works in Creation with the Law also given to Israel from God by Moses both in that they are Promises and Threats of God and also because they are annexed to the Precepts as a Rule of Obedience These likewise as well as those may be called Sanctions as added to the Precepts for to enforce the Obedience For the Promises are mighty Motives and powerfully perswade to the Observation as Threatnings restrain from the violation of the Precepts And both these were so much the more effectual because there is â—n inward principle in man whereby he naturally desires his own preservation â—nd happiness and abhors to think of his own destruction or misery But these are distinguished from other Promises and Threats even of God 1. Because the Author of them is God-Redeemer as Redeemer 2. The things promised are merited by Christ and so promised and given and to be expected of Free-grace 3. The tearms upon which the Promises are made is Faith in Christ and sincere obedience to God Redeemer 4. The parties who must receive the mercies promised are in themselves 1. Unjust and unworthy 2. Derive their power to perform the Conditions and Precepts of the Law from the Redeemer upon the merit of Christ having satisfied God's Justice whereas the Promises of the Law of Works presupposed man to have power to keep it given in Creation and required perfect and perpetual obedience by that power And if man once lost that power there was no promise in that Law of restoring it again or giving new power It 's said Do this and live Sin in the least and die And so it bound to perfect and perpetual performance or unto death as unavoidable by that Law for there was no promiâ—e of pardon The Law of Moses did strictly command universal and constant obedience for Cursed is he that continueth not saith the Law in all things written in that Book it promised no Spiritual Blessing no Spiritual power nor Spiritual pardon As for the Threats of this Law they make Offenders liable punishment yet they determine Eternal Death as unavoidable to none offending but to final Impenitents and Unbelievers And this was the Imperabundant goodness of 〈◊〉 â—hat whereas He had given Man his Being his Laws his power to keep the 〈…〉 and by his absolute power might have required man's Service without any reward
generall qualificatition to which all these promises are annexed is faith and repentance All those places both of the Old and new Testament which prohibit reprove dehort from impenitency unbelief blindnesse and hardnesse of heart have some threatnings or commination annexed either implicitly or expresly And as Duty and Promise so Impenitency and Threatning go together and as the promises many times expresse the duty so these the sin and the same not repented of And as the sins not repented of are many so the punishments threatned are too I might give examples as If ye be willing and obey ye shall eat the good of the Land but if you refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured with the Sword Eâ—ay 1. 19 20. Where 1. To eat the fruit of the Land is a mercy promised 2. To be willing and obdient is the duty and qualification and that 's Repentance as doth easily appear from the context 3. To be devoured with the Sword is the punishment threatned 4. To Refuse and Rebel is the sin threatned and that 's Impenitencie More expresly He that believeth on him is not condemned He that believeth not is condemned already c. Joh. 3. 18 36. Yet we must 1. Distinguish betwixt threatning and peremptory denunciations upon impenitency continued foreseen For those Denunciations are rather Sentences of the Supreme judge or predictions then comminations of the Supreme Lawgiver Thus God did denounce the universall deluge the ruine of Jerusalem the rejection of the Jews 2. We must seperate from these promises and threats those which God signified to Adam innocent and to Israel as a body politick in the Land of Canaan till Christ was exhibited For though these and those might generally and materially be the same yet specifically and formally they were not 3. There is a difference between promises and threatnings in that promises bind God to reward the obedient yet threatnings do not bind him to punish the disobedient For by promises God doth bind himself to reward by threatnings he only binds man to suffer His promise he cannot deny because he is faithfull and just His threatnings signifie what man deserves and how he may justly punish him and the effect thereof is this that the party offending is instantly liable to punishment and bound to suffer it though God be not bound to inflict it If he were bound by it in the same manner as he is by promise he could have no power to pardon sin and if he must make the Law the Rule of his judgment and were bound so to do in the threatning as he is in the promise he must needs punish every sin and pardon no sin But He being slow to wrath and ready to forgive and much inclined to mercy He in his wisdome thought good in his Law so to threaten sin as to reserve a transcendent power above his threatnings to shew mercy Some threatnings may be peremptory but all are not such He also so threatens sin that if man commit it he is not bound absolutely to punish it nor obliged to punish it wholly or in part instantly upon the commission of the sin but hath power to deser his judgment And hence his patience and long-suffering wherâ— by according to the Law of Redemption he gives man time and means of returning and seeks to draw him to Repentance Yet lest any should presume and despise his threatings he lets man know that if he delay his Repentance too long he shall in no wise escape the punishment and there will be a day of the Revelation of his just judgment wherein he will powre out the treasures of his Wrath in full measure upon impenitent Wretches and the more they contemned his patience the more they shall suffer Though God hath power to dispence with his Law in respect of judgment threatned yet he hath bound himself by an eternall decree not to spare or pardon but upon condition of Christs expiation and mans repentance for which there is a limited time granted wherein if we repent not pardon will become impossible These promises in respect of the matter promised § VI may be again distinguished 1. Into promises of blessings or deliverances and as both are bodily or spirituall temporall or eternall so the promises be The Apostle assures us that godlinesse hath the promises of this life and that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. And our Saviour informs us That if we first seek the Kingdome of God and his Righteousnesse then these temporall necessaries shall be added unto us Mat. 6. 33. This is evident from Christs pattern of Prayer wherein as you heard before he taught us Supplications for good and the same not onely Spirituall but temporall and deprecations of evill and that also both spirituall and temporall He promiseth the Kingdome that 's a promise of a spirituall and eternall reward Luke 12. 32. And Food and Rayment and that 's a promise of bodily and temporall blessings verse 31. ibid. So he hath promised to deliver us from temporall evils and also from condemnation and eternall death Yet 1. He binds himself in these promises only to godly men as you heard before and in them unto godly men for temporall mercies in subordination to spiritualls and so far as his Divine wisdome shall see them tending to their eternall good The spirituall promises are such as whereby he bindes himself to give blessings to be received in this life or in the life to come in this life either blessings antecedent to conversion or consequent to it consequent are either the state of justification upon our union with Christ or our continuance of it according to our continuance in Christ. Mercies promised for the life to come are either such as are Sutable to the State of Separation or the State of Resurrection And there may be a distinction in respect of the subject to whom they are made For some are made to single persons some to familyes some to whole Nations some to mankind in generall And some of these are ordinary some extraordinary According to these heads all the promises in Scripture might be reduced to a certain method if some would take paines and it would be a profitable work The threatnings also materially considered § VII may be distinguished according to the matter threatned which is punishment And seeing the punishments are contrary to the rewards and so the threatnings to the promises therefore they may receive the same distinctions which the promises do as to be spirituall or bodily temporall or eternall And so of the rest For as the whole man body and soul sins and all his parts faculties and members participate in iniquity and concurâ—e in tranâ—gression severall wayes and in severall degrees so the punishments both threatned and executed are distinguished and proportioned They may be differenced from those of the Law of Creation For those ranne thus Sin and Dye And in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Gen. 2. 17.
comfort And God knowing this doth alwayes in this particular declare the Sentence by the Execution and never did justify and person and left him unsanctified And by this Sactification doth plainly testify unto the party justified that he hath freed him from the guilt and obligation to the greatest Punishment of all Yet this Regeneration is not perfect at the first neither shall be fully perfect in Body and Soul untill the Resurrection This must needs be the first part of branch because all that follow depend upon it and without it we are uncapable of them For as God for order so far as our shallow capacity will reach is first conceived to be holy before he be conceived as happy so man must needs be The greatest and first penalty for Sin was to take away the sanctifying Spirit and the greatest mercy is to restore it again And this as all the rest is derived immediatly from Christ believed upon For by faith we first have Union then Communion with him and derive both Grace and Peace from God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and are blessed in him with all spirituall Blessings It 's called Regeneration because we are by it delivered from that most fearfull death we call the death of Sin and receive a new and spirituall life being created anew according to his Image in Righteousnesse and true Holinesse It may be said to be begun though at some distance in Vocation when ouâ— Hearts are first prepared for then informed with Faith and so we are ingrafted into Christ and made one with him Yet all this was but a preparation for it and tending unto it to complete our union with our Saviour And when we are once united that Spirit which did onely prepare us is given to abide in us constantly and first as a Spirit of Sanctification In this the foundation of eternall Joy and Glory is laid and now we begin to move directly towards our full happinesse This not onely takes away former guilt but the very Root of former guilt of Sin The second Branch is our Reconciliation § XI for being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have accesse into the Grace wherein we stand This is said to be an effect of Justification strictly taken In the words of the Apostle Rom. 5. 1 2. we must consider 1. The Condition of the party to be reconciled before he be reconciled 2. What this Peace with God is 3. Who they are that are thus reconciled and have this Peace 4. How they have it through Jesus Christ our Lord. 1. Because Reconciliation presupposeth Emnity therefore the condition of the party to be reconciled must be that he is at Emnity with God and God at Emnity with him There is Emnity between them and this is a very sad condition to be at Emnity with that God in whom all our comfort is and upon whose favour depends our spirituall and eternall happinesse The cause of this Emnity is Sin considered either in the habit or in the act or guilt By the habit and the act we are contrary to God as just and holy and God must needs abhorr us Therefore the Scripture represents Sin as base and filthy polluting the Sinner and God as pure and holy hating detesting abominating sin For nothing is so contrary to God and so odious in his sight as sinne Therefore is it said Thou art not a God that hast pleasure in Wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight Thou hatest the Workers of Iniquity â— Psal. 5. 4 5. And thou art of purer eyes then to behold evil and canst not look upon Iniquity Hab. 1. 13. And there shall in no wise enter into the new and holy Jerusalem any thing that defileth Rev. 21. 27. And without as in no wise admitted to enter are Dogs and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murderers and Idolaters and who so maketh a Lye Rev. 22. 15. That is men polluted and defiled with sin are uncapable of this Society and communion with the most holy God and his most holy people Nay we are commanded to be holy as He is holy and if we be not so He will not admit us into his presence hear our Prayers accept our Persons or our Service nay He will cast us out of His Presence And though He may love us as Men yet He cannot love us as polluted with sin As sin so the Emnity begins on our part for we first sin and so are alienated and Enemies in or by our mind by wicked Works Col. 1. 21. Where the Learned Bishop of Salisbury observes 1 The miserable estate of those Colossians before they were reconciled it was an estate of Emnity and Hostility And 2 The cause and that was the mind in sin set on sin so he with Beza understands it The first Emnity therefore is from sin as sin But this is not all for sin as a transgression of the Law of God threatning punishment offends God and provokes him to anger as it makes man liable to punishment So as that God who as merciful is inclined to reward as just is bent to punish and so not onely take away his mercies but inflict Positive Penalties to take vengeance upon the sinner for the Transgression and Contempt of His Law And he that continueth in his sin without repentance must needs be an Enemy and the subject of His Wrath. God is an enemy to him not as a man but as a sinful man continuing in sin and as he is unclean he can have no fellowship with God who is Light and in whom there is no Darkness because he walks in Darknessâ— and he is deprived of his special favour and love and lies under His heavy displeasure This is the condition of the party before He be reconciled The 2d Thing to be considered is What this peace with God should be And 1 It 's peace after Emnity Therefore called Reconciliation 2 It 's a removal and taking away the emnity by taking away the cause thereof as you shall hear hereafter 3 This Emnity is so taken away that the state of the Person reconciled is not a bare Neutrality between God and him but a state of special love and favour whereupon follows an acceptation of the person and an admittance into God's presence to come with boldness and confidence unto the Throne of Grace a delight in his Prayers and Service and a Peace and quiet calm of Conscience which cannot be without great joy God before did hate hide his face cast out of his presence and man once sensible of his sin doth fear and fly from God's preâ—ence as from a conâ—uming Fire As Adam hearing the voice of God was afraid and hid himself and Israel trembled before Mount Sinai burning with fire up to the midst of Heaven Now God loves and man is bold and confident This is a special favour God bears unto his
is great we must often pray humbly depend upon our God and work out our salvation with fear and trembling because it 's God that worketh in us the Will and the Deed of his good pleasure Because of our many foils and falls one worke of our Sanctification is to renew our Repentance and our Faith in Christ and that daily that as we contract new guilt and are weakned so we may be cleansed and strengthned Therefore David after his grievous fall petitions to God to create in him a clean Heart and renew a right Spirit within him Psal. 51. 10. And Peter goes out and weeps bitterly and no doubt prayes fervently Divine Desertions are fearfull and we must take heed of offending the sanctifying Spirit of God By these frequent returnes unto God and our Saviour Jesus Christ our Sanctifycation is renewed and recovered What should be the reason whereupon the Eternal Wisdom of God should determine to put his Regenerate Ones upon this Bloody War sometimes continued long and not wholly destroy sin at once and so in an instant give us perfect and perpetual Security is hard to know Yet this is certain that he thought it best to teach us Humility so as that we might learn that Lesson perfectly and that we should fully know our total and perpetual dependance is upon his grace For Pride and Security was the ruine of Man at first and the â—inal Fall of the Apostate Angels Besides He knew how to turn all the Events of this War unto our good and greatest glory and He would let the Devil plainly see that he by frail man over whom he had so domineer'd and whom he had so insolently trampled under his feet could not onely Resist him but eternally subdue him This is the intermediate Event of this War § XII The final Event is a final and compleat Victory For we are enabled not onely to withstand in the evil day of Temptation but having done all and finished the War to stand victorious in the Field and see all our Enemies subdued Ephes. 6. 13. For this end the compleat Armour of God was given us And this is the Promise that God the God of Peace who will put an end unto this War will bruise Sathan under our feet shortly Rom. 16. 20. And the God of all grace who hath called us to his Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus after we have suffered a while will make us perfect stablish strengthen settle us 1 Pet. 5. 10. We shall overcome the Great Dragon and Old Serpent by the Blood of the Lamb and his Testimony not loving our lives to Death Revel 12. 2. The Reward upon this Victory is an Eternal Crown which will be certain For when Paul had fought this good Fight had finished his Course and kept the Faith from thenceforth there was laid up for him a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge would give him at that day and not to him onely but unto them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 8. This Victory is obtained by final Perseverance which is often in part interrupted by our many failings and falls yet continued by a continual Supply of inward strength and outward Assistance upon which it doth chiefly depend God requires on our part a constant Exercise of that Power He hath given us and humble dependance upon his strength a continual Watchfulness a dayly renewing of our Repentance and Faith For without Duty there is no expectation of solid comfort This Perseverance is never totally interrupted by Apostasie in the Saints of God once regenerate and sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise who have received the first-fruits of glory as an earnest of the full possession of the great Inheritance That these ever did or may according to the Eternal Rules of this Government fall totally and so finally never any yet could clearly prove That others though baptized enlightened changed in their hearts reformed in their lives so as to forsake in some measure their former sins endued not onely with ordinary but extraordinary gifts of the Spirit and out of an imperfect hope of Salvation have tasted of the joys and comforts of the Gospel may fall will not be denied Yet all these things are not sufficient sufficiently to qualifie the subject of this Question concerning Perseverance For the Question Whether those who by a sincere Faith are living Members of Christ have received the Regenerating Spirit as a Seal and Earnest of Eternal Glory can according to the Laws of God-Redeemer fall away totally from the estate of Justification The Question may be § VII De esse aut Posse or both That any such did ever so fall no man yet did ever prove That they may fall according to the tenour of the Gospel hath not been yet nor I think can be made evident The Scripture doth sometimes take Righteousness Calling Regeneration Sanctification the purging away of sin in a large sense and attribute all these to such as have been baptized made profession of their Faith and have not by Scandal or Apostasie stained their Profession and as the Scripture so the ancient Writers also term these Saints Righteous and Regenerate But a thousand such places will not evince this Fall that 's here denied For they changed the subject of the Question and so the Question it self Many do instance in David who no doubt was regenerated and â—ealed with the Spirit of Promise and he fell grievously and contracted the guilt of Adultery and Murther But what though Was this a total Fall It was not For 1 Though the sins were heynous and did highly offend God and deserved Death yet this Death was removeable For they were not the sins of Apostasie or final Unbelief nor properly nor immediately Impenitency and Unbelief which are the sins directly and formally against the Covenant and Fundamental Law of Redemption Therefore they could not make him of a subject to be no subject neither did God wholly reject him and take his Spirit wholly from him A man may commit heynous offences against the Law and yet be a Subject but if he be guilty of Rebellion or High-Treason he loseth all right of a Subject Thus David was not guilty 2 This Death was more easily removable then that Penalty of that Party which never did believe never was regenerate 3 Though the Sins were actually yet they were not habitually contrary to the Law or to Repentance and Faith For to be an Adulterer and Murderer was not his constant temper 4 God made such promises to David and those personal as were not consistent either with total or final rejection This was one promise and that Personall My mercy will I keep for him for evermore and may Covenant shall stand fast with him And for his seed if they transgresse he would chastise them Neverthelesse his loving kindnesse He would not take utterly from them Psal. 89. 28 29 30. c. And this did include an obligation on Gods part to