truly he so intended his Faithfulness also in so far only as that it is expected he will punctually and readily perform without Compulsion and he were unfaithful if he did not so perform untrue if he did not intend to perform when he engaged as well as unjust by not performing These may all concur in God but his Justice in performing his Promise and his Truth in intending to perform it can never be separated yet his Faithfulness may be without them in particular Acts so may his Justice in Rewards and Punishments be without any Word and consequently without Truth in that Word and both may be without exerting Faithfulness The Ground and Warrant of Faith is the excellent Disposition of the Person trusted whereby it were incongruous to him to disappoint the Expectation and Confidence which he knew were placed in him and were not rejected by him The Psalmist saith They that know thy Name will put their Trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee Here the Knowledg of God's Name which signifies his excellent Nature is the ground of Trust and specially that Divine Perfection that he will not forsake them that seek him Here is no relation to a Promise the Psalmist founds his Prayer both on God's Faithfulness and on his Justice in performing his Promise and not on this alone when he saith Hear my Prayer O Lord give Ear to my Supplications in thy Faithfulness answer me and in thy Righteousness where these are clearly distinguished The same Psalmist saith in another place Thy Mercy O Lord is in the Heavens and thy Faithfulness reaches unto the Clouds Thy Righteousness is like the great Mountains where God's Faithfulness and his Righteousness are clearly diversified If one should trust in a powerful vertuous Person if he did not make his Trust known to that Person he could not be said to disappoint him or to fail in Faithfulness yet the Manifestation of Confidence may be without Words and sometimes it is unfit to be by Words and it may be abstract from Particulars and be left to the Discretion of the Person trusted So the Attendance the Dependance the humble and kindly Countenance may better express Confidence than Words which are more frequently false Courtiers do manifest their Confidence in Princes Souldiers in their Generals and Creatures may so express their Considence in God but it is more proper to pray to God in Faith for particular Favours as being more the Homage and Dependance of his Creature than the urging his Justice on general Promises It is not Faith but Folly to trust in any but those that are indued with Vertue and moral Perfections or in these for things that the Person trusted hath not or which were unbecoming for him to bestow therefore there is no Creature on which there can be laid entire and absolute Faith because the Inconveniency may occur that they cannot satisfy In this Sense God may be said to be only Faithful as well as only Wise and Good one may trust when he is not wise in trusting yet he may become unfaithful that admitted the Trust they were very unwise that would trust a Secret to a Liar or the managing of an Affair to an imprudent Person or Money to a Prodigal yet if they did admit of the Trust they were unfaithful if they failed It is very evident that it is highly congruous and worthy of the Divine Perfections to be faithful and it were inconsistent with these to disappoint the Faith of his Creatures trusting in him for things fit for him to give and them to receive without consideration of any Promise or Declaration of his purpose so to do It is fully evident that it were unsutable to him to give Happiness to them that love not Holiness or to pardon Sin to those whose Souls cleave to it or to give the highest Favour to such or Glory to any in the next Life to whom he never gave Grace in this in Act or Inclination which by the very Light of Nature do appear but by Revelation God hath clearly declared in what Things he will not allow of Trust or Faith in him or Hope from him especially for obtaining Reconciliation Forgiveness and Happiness and hath expresly declared when Faith is saving God bestows many good Things out of Commiseration or meer Goodness upon those that have not saving Faith nor can I say that he doth not bestow some good Things upon such even upon consideration of their trusting in him for them as by the Faith of Miracles upon whose Confidence he exerted his supernatural Power though at the great Day he rejects them who had that Faith Those who do not by Word or Sign signify that they allow not the Confidence or Hope of these who pertinently signify it do fail in their Faithfulness if they disappoint them My Thoughts upon God's Faithfulness do exceedingly clear me in that eminent Point that Faith is the only Consideration on which God gives Pardon Reconciliation and Happiness and not upon Love or any other good Work as never to be claimed upon rewarding Justice or Merit but of free Favour and Grace alone Albeit Love to God or Reverence and Obsequiousness to him be more excellent Perfections than Faith for in Faith the Creature hath Consideration of the return to it self and much more in Fear but Love is terminated alone upon God himself and upon no return from God which would make it defective The Love of Gratitude is for what is already received but the Love of God purely on consideration of his infinite Perfections is the highest moral Perfection of Creatures If Happiness had been by the Creatures Love Reverence or Obedience it would have been by Justice and Debt not by Grace as the Apostle says to him that worketh the Reward is not reckoned of Grace but of Debt but being by Faith there can be no pretence of Debt or Justice There is no more ground for him that hopes or trusts to attribute the Effect to himself as deserving it by his Faith than if the Miserable should imagine his Misery were the Cause of Mercy shown him I never find a Reward attributed to Faith for tho it be said cast not away your Confidence which hath great Recompence of Reward Confidence there is not Faith but Forwardness and Boldness for in the Original it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though Faith were in the Power of fallen Man he could have little more ground to boast of Happiness on occasion of it than the Beggar of his Poverty which is the occasion of Alms or the Oppressed of Oppression as the Cause of his Relief or than the Infant or Idiot of his Salvation God could have given all good Things without either Prayer or Faith as he doth to Infants but it is a far greater Measure of Benignity to give that which is longed for and desired by Prayer and which is hoped and trusted by
know that God can make them willing in the Day of his Power Conversion and Regeneration when accurately considered are distinct for Conversion is wrought by that Inclination given of God to accept the Offer of Grace for thereby the Soul is no more addicted to Sin but Regeneration is the Infusion of the Habits of Grace the Pardon of Sin Justification or holding of the Believer as Just and thereby reconciling with him and adopting him as a Son which are God's Part of the Covenant of Grace and are always done together and the future Blessings of the Covenant for increasing Grace giving Perseverance exciting Repentance and renewing Pardon Direction Protection and Glory are not Parts but Effects of the Covenant of Grace proceeding from God's Bounty and Faithfulness and from his Engagement in the Covenant of Grace to give these things which Promise is a Part of the New Covenant There is a great deal of Debate and Noise between divers Churches and those of the same Church in what Justification doth consist And it is clear from comparing Paul and James that there is a Justification before Men and a Justification before God The former is but the Manifestation of Justification the latter is the being of it and this only is in God's Part of the Covenant of Grace so that the Question is in what Justification before God consists Some make it anterior to the Covenant of Grace with the Believer and so no Part of it but rather of that Covenant between the Persons of the Trinity accounting the Elect as just Persons Others hold Justification never to be till all Sin be purged and so not before Death Neither of these do agree with the golden Chain of Salvation the Order of which is not without great Moment wherein Foreknowledg is first Predestination second Vocation third Justification fourth and Glorification last So that Justification is after Vocation and before Glorification and so it is one of the two Links in Time Foreknowledg and Predestination being before Time and Glorification being after every particular Believer's Time when they are entred into Eternity Yet even those who hold Justification to be in Time and a Part of the Covenant of Grace differ in their Conceptions of the Nature of it Some hold it to differ nothing from the Forgiveness of Sin to which I cannot agree for then there behoved to be an Act of Justification whenever there is forgiveness of Sin which is often to be repeated and is a chief Article in the Lord's Prayer which bearing Give us this Day our daily Bread and forgive us our Sins must at least import a Prayer for these every Day By entring into the Covenant of Grace future Sins are not forgiven before they be committed which would be an Indulgence to Sin The Church of Rome maketh Justification to be nothing else but Sanctification which doth not consist with that golden Chain where Sanctification is put as the End or Effect of Predestination For whom he foreknew them he did predestinate to be conform to the Image of his Son That Conformity is Sanctity or Holiness not only in conformity to the Holiness of God which would not reach many Duties of Man's Holiness but conformity to his Son God-Man which comprehends them all Others make Justification a judicial Act whether before Time after Time or in Time supposing God to charge a Man as a Criminal with the Guilt of his Sin and that Christ for the Sinner or he for himself pleaded Christ's Satisfaction and thereupon God doth absolve But I conceive there is no such pleading by Man at the Entrance of the Covenant of Grace tho virtually that Absolution be implied but only his assenting to be converted and to be made holy and happy Therefore I conceive Justification to be God's holding and reputing the Believer to be as if he were intirely Just notwithstanding the Remainders of Sin seeing he is become an Adversary to Sin and so may say with Paul Not I but Sin that dwelleth in me In which Sense only it can be said That God seeth no Iniquity in Jacob nor Sin in Israel and that he that is born of God cannot Sin Seeing the indelible Habits of Grace do ever continue in him which is called the Seed of God Tho forgiveness of Sins past at Regeneration purge him and make him innocent yet thereby alone he cannot be accounted Just because the sinful Inclinations remain yet may he be reputed as Just seeing it is expresly said Happy is the Man to whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and whose Sin is covered It is an ordinary Expression that the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to Believers and that their Justification consisteth in that Imputation because Christ is said to be our Righteousness which is not a proper or accurate Expression but improper and metonymick whereby the Cause is put for the Effect as Christ is also our Wisdom and our Peace because he is the Cause of both And likewise Faith is said to be imputed for Righteousness which gave the Rise to that Error that Faith as a good Work is accepted in place of intire Righteousness and of all the good Works required for the fulfilling the Law Whereas the Apostle in the Fourth of the Romans saith Abraham believed and it was counted to him for Righteousness and Faith is counted for Righteousness to him that believeth on him that justifieth the Ungodly but is not imputed to him as Righteousness for the Original Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth not to impute but to reckon account esteem or repute And therefore Christ's Righteousness can no more properly be imputed as our Righteousness than his Wisdom or his Peace can be our Wisdom or Peace of which he is the Cause not the Effect for if his fulfilling of the Law were our fulfilling of it we needed not also fulfil the same and the Antinomians would have too much to say that Believers are not obliged to fulfil the Law which Christ fulfilled in their Place and that all their good Works are only free Gratifications Christ's Rightousness is no otherwise imputed to Believers than as a necessary Accomplishment of the second Adam coming in the Place of the first Adam who if he had continued Righteous would have made effectual the Covenant of Works which was lost by his Failure The fifth Point proposed will now easily be cleared That the saving Act of Faith is not ordained to be Man's part of the Covenant of Grace upon Consideration of its own Worth and Value but as it relateth to and relieth on the Mercy and Faithfulness of God and the Merits and Satisfaction of Christ. It useth to be called the Eye of Faith looking to these the Hand of Faith laying hold upon them or the Instrument of the Soul whereby it obtains Salvation There are sharp Disputes under which of these Considerations it justifies but I like it much better to be conceived only as the
if they continued sinless during the time of their Trial But tho innocent Adam was capable of Merit by improving the Holiness God gave him yet so great a Reward as God promised him upon his Persistance was not a Reward of meer Debt but of Grace so that only the Covenant of Grace is of meer Grace without any thing of Merit in the Elect. Therefore as Faith in the Covenant of Grace is only the Manner freely chosen of God so Persistance in Obedience was the Manner freely chosen of God in the Covenant of Works So then the clearest way of taking up the Covenant of Grace is that Christ by his Humiliation and Suffering did so fully vindicate the Purity of God and his Justice that thereupon God might have forgiven the Sins of the whole World and of every individual Man and he did exclude none from Mercy but malicious and obstinate Sinners that rejected the Motions of Conversion and the Offers of Grace but did even include some of these and that he advanced the Elect to Celestial Glory upon Christ's entire fulfilling of his Law being also as the Manner freely chosen for the Covenant of Grace as Adam's Performance was for the Covenant of Works and so not only Christ's Passive Obedience is imputed to Believers but his Active Obedience as the Terms of the Covenant and so the exceeding superabundant Grace of the Goodness of God is manifested not only in accepting the Expiation of Sin by a Mediator but in giving to the Elect Glory freely as a Reward by Grace and not of Debt whereby the Difficulties on both Hands in the forementioned Controversy do evanish If Christ's Sufferings had been properly a Payment of the Debt of Sin it could have had no effect in relation to the Reprobate nor could they have been restored to a possibility of Salvation nor could God complain of the Hardness of their Hearts For if Christ had suffered as to pay the Debt of Sin he could not have paid the Debt of those that were to perish or else God had exacted that Debt of them which Christ had paid nor should Christ have suffered more than what were sufficient to pay the Debt of the Elect only whereas all agree that his Sufferings were sufficient for the Sins of the whole World but being conceived as the Vindication of God's Aversion from Sin he not only saved the Elect but stopt the Mouths of the Reprobate and Damned and made them inexcusable so that their own Conscience will condemn them and be their perpetual Tormentor that they have thrown themselves into Hell when they might have escaped if it had not been their own deserving fault This way doth far more illustrate to my Soul the infinitely amiable Representation of God both in his Grace and his Justice than any other way that I can apprehend in which I am exceedingly confirmed by that excellent Parallel of the first and second Adam held so clearly forth to the Romans by the blessed Apostle of the Gentiles saying Death reigned from Adam to Moses even in them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's Transgression who is the Figure or Type of him that was to come that is of Christ. Where the similitude of Adam's Transgression distinguishing it from others is that by it the whole Benefit of the Covenant was lost not only to himself but to all his Posterity For if through the Offence of one Man many be dead much more the Grace of God and the Gift by Grace which is by one Man Jesus Christ bath abounded unto many If then Adam was a Type of Christ certainly it was not in that he sinned and lost his Posterity but in this that as if he had continued obedient to God he had brought himself and his Posterity to Glory and as his bringing them to Glory were not by Merit but by fulfilling the Terms of the Covenant of Works so Christ's bringing the Elect to Glory is by fulfilling the whole Will of God as his part of the Terms of the Covenant of Grace The same Apostle to the Corintbians makes the Type and Parallel yet more clear For since by Man came Death by Man came also the Resurrection of the dead And so it is written the first Man Adam was made a living Soul the last Man Adam was made a quickning Spirit But seeing the second Adam not only performed the Terms of Salvation by Obedience but hath expiated Sin by his Suffering therefore it is said For this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by the means of Death for the Redemption of the Transgressions that were under the first Covenant they which are called might receive the Promise of Eternal Inheritance Here the Transgressions that were under the first Covenant must be meant of the accumulated Sins in the Fall which were redeemed repaired and restored by Christ the second Adam's fulfilling all Righteousness and purging the Sins of the Elect. And again it is said Not as the Offence so also is the free Gift Not as it was by one that sinned so was the Gift for the Judgment was by one to Condemnation but the free Gift is of many Offences to Justification where the Gift to Adam is said to be to Condemnation not by the Intent but by the Event through his failing whereas the second Adam could not fail in performing his Undertaking By this Explication of the Covenant of Grace I find my Mind cleared and eased of these perplexing Difficulties about God's Decrees and Dispensations in the Salvation and Reprobation of his Rational Creatures and about the Terms and Tenor both of the Covenant of Works and of the Covenant of Grace The most learned and most accurate in all Churches and all Ways have been perplexed in thinking how God would decree to reject damn and eternally torment a great part of his Rational Creatures for that which was never in their Power to perform much more without any cause on the Creatures part but only by his meer Soveraignty or that they were never in a possibility to have escaped eternal Misery Or that Christ the second Adam had not so far exceeded the first Adam that as the first Adam might have preserved all his Posterity in a Capacity to be saved if he had not fallen so the second Adam should not at least have put all Manking in a Capacity to be saved and escape eternal Misery by the Covenant of Grace And yet on the other hand the Scripture is so plain and positive that it is not in Man's Power to believe by a saving Faith to be holy or how it could consist with the Veracity and Sincerity of God to exhort and expostulate with Men to repent believe and be holy tho it were neither in the Power of the Elect or Reprobate to perform the same Whereupon some found no Outgate but by recurring to that Freedom that once was in Adam and that a Creditor might press his Debitor to pay his Debt
The safe meaning can only be that that which may innocently be presumed to be the Will of God isnot always truly his Will As when God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his Son Isaac Abraham did sincerely intend to do it as innocently conceiving it to be the Will of God consistent with his Promise That in Isaac should all Nations be blessed knowing that God could and believing that he would restore sacrificed Isaac to Life again in which Belief he did not sin tho he erred by an innocent Mistake supposing that to be sure which was not for when he lifted up his Hand with the Knife to give the deadly Blow he had little ground to doubt of the Effect and consequently of the Will of God yet by God's stopping him even in that Posture he knew he was mistaken of the Will of God But from such rare Cases it is not safe to conclude upon the Will of God as did Jonah upon the Command given him to preach to Nineveh that within forty days it would be destroyed which being a Threatning designed for Repentance and not for a meer Prediction had both by Reason and Revelation implied the Mercy of God upon Repentance though it was not Repentance unto Life nor universal and which if it had been expressed Jonah would have had no pretence for his Anger that the repenting Ninevites were not destroyed This Distinction of the Will of God is also extended by some to his commanding or forbidding Will because his Will is not always that that which he commands should take effect which is more incongruous to the Sincerity of God than the former as if it were not always pleasing and acceptable unto God that his Will should be obeyed even then when he permitteth it to be disobeyed because by his Wisdom he saw it congruous to his own Nature and for his Glory to create his Rational Creatures with Reason and free Choice that they should not act by meer Instinct as Brutes but be governed by Rewards and Punishments which necessarily importeth that sometimes they should be permitted to make wrong use of that Freedom being always over-ruled for his Glory Yet without doubt that in which they miscarry is unacceptable to God and justly punishable by him and so he cannot exert an Act of his Will to effect what he abhorreth and punisheth but he exerteth only a permissive Act which terminates in himself and hath no outward Operation but is immanent and not transient by which he willeth to forbear the exerting of his Will to hinder these Acts in so far as Evil doth necessarily thence result whether it be in the Essence of the Act or in the evil Intention of that which otherwise might be good so that his Command doth not import his Will to operate or effect these things presently or his Intention so to do for the future but his Pleasure in what he commands which is evident by what Paul saith For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who will have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledg of the Truth where his Will is exprest to be his Acceptance and his Pleasure but Pleasure is not properly an Act of the Will That Pleasure is no Act of the Will albeit it be very little adverted but on the contrary Pleasure is reckoned among the Appetites or Affections Upon accurate Consideration it will easily appear that Pleasure is neither an Act of the Understanding nor of the Will but of a Power distinct from both for it is a chief Object both of the Understanding and of the Will I do by my Understanding perceive Pleasure when I have it and I know when I have it not albeit I have no Grief or Pain for want of it but am in a middle indifferent State without either Pleasure Pain or Grief And tho this Act of the Understanding may in some sense be said to be a reflexive Act as when I advert and think that I have a Faculty of Understanding or an Act of that Faculty yet I do more reflect upon my Understanding by perceiving Pleasure than by thinking upon my Will or my Locomotive Power if then the Perception of Pleasure be not a reflex Act of the Understanding upon its own Act but by a direct Act perceiving another thing than its own Act it can only be the Object of Understanding and so cannot be the Act of it Pleasure can less be an Act of the Will because it is the chief Object of the Will for we have both Appetite and Desire to have Pleasure when we have it not and to have it continued when we have it and therefore being the Object of the Will it cannot be the Act thereof for the Will doth less reflect upon it self or its own Acts than the Understanding If Pleasure were an Act of the Will it behoved to be in our Power by a sole Act of the Will for Pleasure is no such Perfection as the Will of a natural Man cannot reach If then by willing Pleasure without other Assistance we could have Pleasure who would be so stupid as to want it at any time But I do evidently perceive that I can no more bring forth Pleasure by willing it than I can bring forth Light in Darkness by willing it to be but Pleasure results from the Perception of the pleasing Object by a kind of necessary Emanation which I cannot directly hinder but by diverting my Mind from that Object and applying it to another that can impede the Thoughts of the former I perceive my self to be in the like condition as to Grief or Pain which is a kind of Grief which I can neither make nor mar by willing it without applying my Mind to another Object diverting it from that Object that was the cause of Grief and applying it to another Object strong enough to exclude the former and which can excite an opposite Passion as Admiration which will sometimes wholly take away the most violent Grief or Pain or Pleasure in or desire of another Object And there are but few so Masculine Minds as can by this indirect way take away great Pain or Sorrow tho many may allay or lessen it Therefore Pleasure and Sorrow are not Acts of the Will or Affections nor are to be numbred among Affections but are common Results arising from them and from other Objects and are the Means of Reward and Punishment Happiness and Misery without which Creatures could be capable of neither I may thus safely reason by Inspection in my own Mind and from the specifick Equality of other Men conclude the like of them But I ought with much more tenderness and trembling to make Inferences of the Will of God and yet I know no other Mean to apprehend God's Will but by his own revealing it or by resemblance of Man's Will whom he hath declared to be made after his own Image removing all Imperfection in the Will of Man So then I conceive
burn with Revenge or Envy do relent when they see the Misery of that Creature to which they wished the worst of Evils and their Misery may become so great that there ariseth thence a Compassion and suffering with the miserable Creature with a desire to relieve it Mercy therefore implies a Displeasure or Grief for a Miserable Creature and a desire to relieve it whether from Misery incumbent or imminent so a merciful Man shelters a Creature from the Avenger This natural Inclination of Mercy may be and often is much abated and eradicated by contrary evil Inclinations and Custom as those that murder for Gain and too many become not only void of Compassion but cruel contrary to Mercy delighting to behold the Misery of others but then they are reckoned to put off Humanity and that Pain that 's felt in the Heart and Bowels upon the sight of Misery Misery is not every Evil of Suffering and Want but the Prevalence of them to which alone Mercy is applicable which being an innate Inclination given to us of God cannot but be pleasant to God the Giver and is a Remainder of his Image in the Natural Conscience he delighteth much in the Mercifulness of his Creatures and it is an eminent Sign of those that are in his Favour which appeareth by that Article of the Lord's Prayer Forgive us our Sins as we forgive them that sin against us intimating that none can with hope ask Mercy of God who are not merciful The Mercy of Creatures may often be exercised in Fellow-feeling or Compassion when they are not able to help but still there is a desire to help Mercy when effectual consists in giving and forgiving which is a giving of Remission or Pardon of that which may be exacted or inflicted by the Forgiver in so far as it 's in his Power as when a Creditor forgives his poor Debtor whom he might throw and detain in Prison which is the Forgiveness of a Debt or when an injured Person forbeareth to insist against the Injurer for Punishment or absolutely passeth from him which may be where there is a Debt of Reparation beside the Punishment and may be also without these Punishment is not properly a Debt as I have cleared my self in the preceding Meditation and therefore Mercy in Forgiveness of Punishment is Forgiveness of a Crime or Fault which God hath allowed the Injured to forgive to the Penitent even to seventy and seven times But there be Crimes which do more concern the Common-wealth than a particular Interest whereunto the Example is pernicious these cannot be forgiven by private Persons and ought only to be forgiven by the Common-wealth when the Punishment would give more Inconvenience to the Common-wealth than the Forbearance Mercy even in Creatures is not of Justice as a Debt but of Benignity for tho it be very necessary for Mankind and therefore God hath given a strong natural Propension to it before it be perverted yet he hath not imposed it as a Debt to be punishable for the Omission but rewarded for the Performance and therefore it is said to the Merciful he will be merciful for all that is due by Justice stateth a Power to claim or exact in the Person to which it is due It is an eminent Office of Humanity to relieve the Distressed to give Alms to the Poor yet they have no Power to claim or exact it By the Divine Vestige of Mercy in the Creature I am helped to the more distinct Knowledg of the infinite Mercy of the Creator wherein the Difference will easily appear both by Reason and Revelation I shall therefore compare the two in what they agree and in what they disagree The Mercy of God and the Mercy of the Creature agree in this that both respect a miserable Object yet not so that it must be infinite and eternal Misery For God hath Mercy on many of his Creatures to whom he doth not forgive their Sins for he hath Mercy upon Nations and Communities who are not capable of that kind of Pardon How often hath he recorded his Mercy to Idolatrous Israel when they cried to him in their Misery and perhaps had Sorrow for that particular Sin whereby they did nationally provoke but it was not a Repentance unto Life for that must be of all Sin tho of some more eminently than of others God had Mercy on wicked Ahab and said to the Prophet Dost thou not see how Ahab humbleth himself yet Ahab was far from saving general Repentance God hath Mercy on the Wicked generally in delaying the inflicting of his Judgments against them sometimes during the course of a long Life and many think that he hath Mercy on the Devils till the Day of Judgment It hath puzled many eminent Divines how it can consist with God's Justice to shew any Mercy to the Reprobate for if without Satisfaction to his Justice he might be merciful he might have forborn for ever to punish any Sin much more to punish the Sin of the Elect and if he might forbear Punishment of Sin for an hundred Years no Man can determine when he behoved to begin so that he might delay for a Million of Millions of Years The Difficulty is increased because many good Men through the hatred of the Socinian Popish and Arminian Opinion that Christ died equally for all Men and procured them universal Grace that they might repent or not repent at their Option run into the other Extream that Christ purchased nothing but to the Elect and therefore endeavour to loose the Knot by the resemblance of Civil Powers whom Justice obligeth to punish but leaves the Time to their Discretion This Solution importeth nothing for the Justice of Civil Powers is not to expiate but to suppress Crimes That which deserves eternal Punishment can never be expiated by all that they are able to do but God's Justice is for Expiation I doubt not that the Mediator hath procured Temporal Mercies even for the Reprobate and that tho by his Purchase there is no Grace given them yet that it is sincerely offered to all that come to Discretion and that it was the Reprobates fault that they did reject it and will be their eternal Accusation against themselves else how could it be said Turn ye turn ye Why will ye die Nor could it be complained by God That they would have none of him that they hardened their Hearts and stiffned their Necks against him Nor on the contrary That his long-suffering Patience leads unto Repentance Tho this may be said only for the Elect it is also said I gave them time to repent and they repented not which could only be meant of the Reprobate who are frequently said to be inexcusable that is they have no Excuse that they have thrown themselves into Misery yea their own Natural Conscience shall not suffer them to think that they were inevitably miserable It is not enough to say that the Reprobate are inexcusable because there are many
Sins that they might have omitted and did not if the Remainder were inevitably effectual for their Damnation I do not think that the outward Privileges of the Church and the Tastes of the Powers of the World to come and that Illumination that even Reprobates attain who never had true and saving Grace in which they exceed the finest Heathens are otherwise accountable than by the Purchase of Christ Nay I do not believe that the damned Spirits having liberty of going to and fro in the Earth is from Mercy as if their Damnation were allayed or abated till the general Judgment but that they are sent out as the Executioners of God's Justice being still in that Torment of Conscience wherein Hell doth consist tho it be allayed by accidental Consequences being by their acting somewhat diverted from the full poring on their Misery God only knows the exact Proportion of Punishment and Sin according to Merit and as the Damned always continue and encrease in their Hatred against God so their Misery may be increased There is also a Resemblance between the Mercy of the Creator and the Creature that neither is extended to every kind of Evil some Punishments may be so great that will not breed Pity in the most merciful because of the Atrocity of the Crimes so the Mercy of God extends not to the Sin against the Holy Ghost which must imply a high measure of Knowledg of the Divine Perfections and yet by the Exorbitancy of Self-love a Hatred and Despite against God as not bestowing so much as these malicious Wretches think he should And I think that was a main Difference in the Fall of the damned Spirits and Adam's Fall tho he was innocent and had a great measure of Knowledg and Happiness yet far short of theirs they abode not in that Station God placed them in for by their Sin they desired to rise higher and therefore in God's Justice they were brought exceeding much lower How far they have lost of their Natural Perfections I know not but sure they have lost their Moral Perfections and that Joy wherewith once they were blessed they tempted Man by the same Bait by which they deceived themselves inducing them to be discontent with what God had given and that he had forbidden to eat of that Fruit not as a Badg of their Obedience in an indifferent thing as to which they had no inbred Principle to prompt them on either side but because he envied the Happiness they would attain to by eating that Fruit which would make them wise to know both Good and Evil therefore the Devils seem to have sinned against the Holy Ghost which Man being of a less Capacity did not and none but those Men that attained to the Gifts of Illumination and the Taste of the Powers of the World to come and yet do despite against God cannot be restored nor are not to be prayed for in whom no doubt Hell is begun by the tormenting of their Conscience and therefore God's Way is equal both as to Angels and Men yet in Justice he was not obliged to have Mercy upon any Sinner but it was not congruous to his glorious Nature to receive into Favour such horrid Sinners There is another Resemblance of the Mercy of the Creator and the Creature that it is not equally to be applied to those who have the Offer of a Reconciliation upon Repentance and do obstinately reject that Offer and will continue to insist in and approve the Injuries done By Reflection on our own Mind we find it to be so in Men and yet it is evident to be no part of our Essence or Nature and therefore it must be an inbred Principle freely given of God and a part of his Image God hath incited us to forgive those that offend us to seventy and seven times yet still it is upon their Return Mercy may take place by Forgiveness simply given without an Offer of Reconciliation but it exceeds Humanity to forgive so far as not only not to endeavour Punishment but to offer Reconciliation when it is obstinately refused There is yet another Resemblance of the Mercy of God and Man that there is no Right in the Injurer to claim it tho he may implore it but it is an Act of Benignity and Goodness God hath injured no Creature if he had never received into Favour any Sinner But he will have Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and whom he will he hardeneth that is he giveth the Offer of Mercy and Reconciliation and permitteth the Wicked to reject the Offer whereby they become more hardened in their Sin and Impenitence But infinite is the Distance and the Difference between the Mercy of God and the Mercy of Men. For 1. Man's Mercy may by contrary Custom be eradicated and Cruelty succeed in its place Man's Mercy may be overcome with the frequency of Injuries nothing like these can befal in the Mercy of God which is unchangeable and no multitude of Sins can be so great as should give Despair 2. Man's Mercy if it be obtained and violated in the same kind is hardly renewed but where God hath once given Pardon no new Breach doth exclude it yea he gives Repentance exciting the Sinner thereto that he may forgive sutably to his Nature and oft accepts general Repentance of inadverted Sins and even habitual Repentance where actual cannot be exerted as in those that die before they have time to have an elicite Act of Repentance for Sins committed immediately before Death 3. Man's Mercy doth oft go no further than Compassion and desire to help without Ability God's Omnipotence does ever make his Mercy effectual and compleat 4. Man doth often forgive one Fault and retain others God's Forgiveness of Sin is ever entire and universal where it is for all Sins preceding are ever forgiven where there is Repentance for all Sin but where some Temporal Punishment is only forgiven the Sin is not forgiven simply 5. Man may repent that he did forgive whether by the mutability of his Nature or by the discovery of aggravating Circumstances unknown when he forgave nothing of this can occur to the Omniscient God 6. Injuries may be so atrocious that exceed Man's Mercy without supernatural Grace in which he will never offer Reconciliation No Sin can be so hainous but that the Merit of Christ is sufficient for remitting it not excepting the Sin against the Holy Ghost which is not unpardonable by the Insufficiency of Christ's Merit neither yet because there is less Power in Man to repent for that Sin than others because he is utterly incapable to repent for any Sin till God give him the Grace of Repentance but because it is incongruous to the Divine Nature and to the Glory of God to receive into favour such Sinners But in all others tho they were as Crimson God offereth Pardon and Reconciliation and will effectually give them if the Offer be not obstinately rejected yea the height of God's
pardoning Mercy reaches so far that he hath even had Mercy upon frequent and long Rejecters pulling them as Firebrands out of the Fire whose Souls did cleave to their Abominations and he continueth many such Sinners in Life without kindling Hell in their Consciences with design to magnify his Mercy upon them wherein Consideration may be had of the Kindness he had to their Ancestors or of their extraordinary Temptations or simply by his absolutely free and unbounded Grace but these Firebrands are but some and few and ought not to encourage Sinners to cleave to their Sins and reject the Offer of Mercy and Reconciliation We have one clear Example of Pardon to the Thief on the Cross at the point of Death that none might despair and but one that none might presume God's long-suffering Patience and Forbearance of Sinners are Acts of his Mercy whereby the Effect of his Justice is delayed which are never in vain for either forgiving Mercy doth at last take place or at least the Glory of God's Goodness is manifested upon obstinate inexcusable and self-condemned Sinners not that he delights or designs to make them such but to manifest the superabundance of his Grace in giving them a sincere and true Offer of Reconciliation and not by causing them to reject it but by not causing them to entertain it when his Glory did not require it The Mercy of God is a most eminent and most amiable Moral Perfection his other Goodness doth either presuppose something in the Object not as a Merit but as a Mean His Faithfulness supposeth the Faith of his Creatures trusting or hoping for that Good which he hath not promised nor shown that he hath purposed it His Goodness in Creation supposeth nothing in the Object for it yet nothing against it but his forgiving Mercy and Reconciliation presuppose those things which are extreamly opposite sometimes the most irrational Injury and Enmity actually in some and habitually in all by natural or acquired Inclinations Mercy is the most amiable Divine Perfection that provoketh the most fervent Love to God as Christ said to the Woman who washed his Feet with her Tears and wiped them with her Hair Her Sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same love little There is more of Mercy expressed in the whole course of Scripture than of all the other Divine Perfections the main Scope thereof being to shew the Mercy of God towards Mankind which he foresaw lapsed in a miserable Condition and of his inconceivable Mercy he designed the way of their escape from Misery and their becoming Heirs of Glory through the Satisfaction of his Son Christ Jesus whereby he might give Mercy and Forgiveness without incroaching upon his Justice and so made both Mercy and Justice to meet together and attain both their Effects When God manifested himself to his beloved Moses and proclaimed his Name before him by which he would be designed as his most proper Character he said The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin and that will in no way clear the Gulilty Mercy is the leading and inculcate Attribute thrice repeated Justice is last The Paths of the Lord are not only said to be merciful but Mercy in abstracto and his Mercy is plenteous he is full of Mercy his Mercy is multiplied Mercy belongeth to him he desireth Mercy rather than Sacrifice his Mercy is tender he is rich in Mercy his Mercy is everlasting it is his Saints Joy who sing of his Mercy MEDITATION XVI Upon the Faithfulness of God FAithfulness is that Perfection whereof Faith or Trust doth immediately lay hold and rest The Term is diversly taken there is not another proper Word but it to signify both the being worthy of Trust and Faith and the having Faith But when it is applied to God it imports not the Subject but the fitted Object of the Faith which doth import an Inclination to do that Good which is believed or hoped for sutably to the Giver and Receiver freely without Right to claim it where-ever there is a Right to claim there is an Obligement or Tie to perform and the Performance is an Act of Justice not of Benignity or meer Decency The moral Perfections of Men are of three sorts Justice Benignity and Decency Justice implies an Obligement or Tie to perform and a Right or Power to claim and exact Benignity is an Inclination to do good to another freely without Necessity or Obligement to do it or Right to claim it which sometimes respects its Object under no other Consideration than that it 's capable of that Good and this is specially called Goodness Such is God's Goodness in Creation Preservation and giving those good things which are not believed or expected such as Acts of meer Liberality but other Acts of Benignity are upon special Considerations beside the Capacity to receive as Mercy to the Miserable tho they do not trust or expect it but Faithfulness considers the Object as trusting or hoping not simply for one may trust or hope for that that is not sutable for him to receive or for the Person trusted to give and so it is an unwarrantable Expectation and not Faith but Presumption Such was the desire of the Mother of Zebedee's Children to Christ That the one might sit on his Right-hand and the other on his Left-hand in his Kingdom and such is commonly the Hope of the Hypocrite who trusts to obtain Happiness without Holiness But Faith must be a well-grounded Faith hoping or trusting for such things as are becoming the Person trusted to give and the Truster to receive and that upon Consideration that trusteth for tho the Good done were both sutable to the Giver and Receiver yet were not given to the Receiver as trusting and hoping to receive it were an Act of Goodness but not an Act of Faithfulness The third sort of Moral Perfections is Decency which respects the Actor only and not any other and is done alone because it is sutable and becoming that Person so to behave Every Vertue or Moral Perfection consisteth in a Congruity to the Actor and so is Decency whether the Act be terminate on the Actor or on another But there is no special Name to signify that Decency that terminates on the Actor but it retains the common Name and so is Decency strictly taken As Man beareth the Image of God the Light of Nature shews that all those Perfections which he gave Man are originally and eminently in God He is just and acknowledges himself Debtor so to be in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments in the performance of his Promises whence there is a Right to claim them tho there be no Power to exact them He is good and doth good in some kind to all he makes his Sun to shine and his Rain to fall upon the Just and
Unjust he openeth his bountiful Hand and bestows what is necessary for every living thing while he allows it Life He is merciful and pitieth the very Ravens when they cry for want of Food and much more supplies the Necessities of Men even when they do not trust or expect it All these Perfections respect his Creatures and it is evident that they are without Obligation and in that differ from his Justice and so is also his Providence and Government of the World but his Truth and his Wisdom are Perfections terminated on himself as their peculiar End they are free for none can be obliged to himself yet they are more necessary than the Acts of Bounty which he might forbear but they are comprehended under the Decency proper to God on his own account tho there had never been a Creature he would ever have been true his Thoughts being ever conform to their Objects The Faithfulness of God then is comprehended in his Bounty or Benignity respecting his Creature as warrantably trusting in him As the Term Faithfulness is variously taken so the thing is commonly very indistinctly and sometimes erroniously understood confounding Faithfulness with Justice and Truth and supposing there is no Warrant for Faithfulness but upon Promise and upon the Truth of God in that Promise which is a great Mistake for the Performance of a Promise is an Act of Justice and Truth is not an Object of Trust but when Words or Signs to express it are emitted but Faith may warrantably be where God hath made no Promise nor expressed any Word When God created Angels and Men before he made any Promise to them they did know from his excellent Nature and firmly trust that if they did not offend him he would never make them miserable and they might have trusted for particular Favours not in the way of Reward I know no clear Evidence from Scripture that God promised to Adam that he should never be annihilated only I see that he threatneth Death if he transgressed his Command in eating the forbidden Fruit whence it is collected that God promised him Eternal Life and even Immortality and that he entered into Covenant with him wherein Adam willingly ingaged himself to the Obedience of God and God did promise Life and Immortality to him to his Wife and their Posterity and to raise them from an Animal Life on Earth to an Angelical Life in Heaven without the Dissolution of Soul and Body by Death and as it is commonly believed the good Angels after they had given proof of their Obedience were confirmed that they should never fall There is no less ground to believe that the like Favour would have been granted to Man not only for himself that he should not fall but that a greater measure of Perfection should be given to his Posterity that they might not be under the Necessity of falling and it is evident and certain that by his Transgression in eating the forbidden Fruit he lost these Benefits both to himself and his Posterity but by the infinite Mercy and Benignity of God Christ the second Adam perfected and performed what the first Adam had lost Can any Man pretend that the particular Favours that the Saints have always prayed for from God were all promised by God or did he express his Purpose to give them No certainly and yet they did warrantably trust and prayed in Faith for them and obtained that which they prayed for whereof there are innumerable Examples in Scripture and Experience And therefore it is said that the fervent Prayer of the Godly availeth much If the Import of Mens Prayers should only be that God should be just in the performance of his Promise and be as good his Word I see not how Prayer could be said to avail much for God would be true and just whether any Creature prayed or not But God granteth many things upon the earnest Prayer of his People which were neither promised nor necessary and had no other Conveniency but to satisfy their longing Desire which if it be not incongruous for God to do or them to receive as being hurtful to them if Faith be not wanting the Effect will not fail Was there either Necessity or Promise for the Prophet's stopping the Clouds of Heaven for three Years and six Months and for obtaining Rain when there was no second Cause for it Is it not warrantable to pray to be inclined or directed in the Choice of a Calling a Match or any lawful Undertaking or for the Success of the Choice Is there any Promise for these Particulars Yea tho it be said by Christ to the Apostles That whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will do it I take it rather to be a Declaration of God's Faithfulness and of the Effect of faithful Prayer not signifying an Engagement but a Resolution And I think it were a very unbecoming manner of praying to say Lord Thou hast promised that whatsoever I demand in Christ's Name thou wilt grant it this I demand and therefore I claim it as due by thy Justice and Truth which thou canst not refuse With God's Grace that never shall be my strain God hath declared that he will give Salvation and Glory to all that shall have saving Faith trusting to obtain these with Sutableness which cannot be towards those who resolve to cleave to and pursue their Sins Suppose this were not only a Declaration but a proper Promise and that the Performance were an Act of God's Justice and Truth yet where hath he promised that he will give Faith to this or that Man that believeth And should he that believeth claim Salvation as an Act of Truth and Justice and not as a free Act of God's Mercy and Benevolence and specially as an Act of God's Faithfulness that he will not disappoint the becoming Hope or Trust of his Creature Trust among Men is not accounted when they obtain a clear Obligation tho it had been granted freely because the Obliged can be compelled to perform but it is accounted a Trust when there is no Promise but that from the Nature of the Deed it is to be presumed not to be a Donation in favour of the Person trusted but with Intention and Expectation that he would restore to the Truster or those who derive Right from him upon demand God of his Benignity to further the Faith of his Creatures does not only promise where no Promise was necessary but gives Seals and Oaths not so much to secure the Effect as to produce Faith and therefore the Effect should ever be attributed to God's Faithfulness and to the Creature 's Faith resting on that Faithfulness I know that God's Justice Truth and Faithfulness have been oftentimes joined as Man 's also may When a Man obtains a written valid Obligation suppose it were for a valuable Consideration there concurs the Justice of that Person who may be compelled to perform his Truth that as he expressed his Purpose to perform so
Faith but saving Faith it self is not in Man's Power by Nature or by universal Grace but is given to the Elect in Conversion God hath frequently assumed the Title of faithful in the Scripture as the faithful God the faithful Creator the faithful Witness the faithful Lord and he that calleth is Faithful God can no more deny his Faithfulness than he can deny himself as it is said if you believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself Mercy taketh away Misery but Faithfulness freely giveth eternal Glory and withholdeth no good thing rewarding Justice keeping proportion with Merit Faithfulness hath no Bound Faithfulness is a most eminent Perfection and moral Vertue for the Breach of it is Treachery and Treason much more abhorred by God and Man than the failing in Performance of natural Obligations or Engagements and therefore Treachery hath the most atrocious Punishment I adore and bless thee O God who hast exceeded all thy Goodness to Creatures in thy Faithfulness which exceeds the Goodness of Creation Preservation and Providence rewarding Justice and even Mercy it self which only extends to Relief and Necessity but Faith to all good Things which are becoming thee to give and thy believing Creatures to have MEDITATION XVII Upon the Wisdom of God WISDOM is the Divine Attribute nearest God's Decrees and Dispensations whereby he contriveth all his Purposes and Decrees towards his Creatures as is worthy of and becoming his glorious Majesty according to which all things do unchangeably and certainly come to pass therefore I have resolved to meditate upon it immediately before his Dominion Wisdom is diversly taken more extensively it comprehends all eminent Knowledg contemplative or practical and even the Skill of Arts but more strictly it excludeth that Skill but the most proper Signification of Wisdom relates only to Practice and it is of the same Import with Prudence or Discretion tho these are seldom attributed to God but to Creatures yet Wisdom is more strictly taken for sublime and universal Prudence as to the whole Course of Life One may be prudent in a comely and discreet Behaviour carrying himself becomingly to every Person in common Converse who may be faulty in his main Project and so is not to be esteemed Wise but he only who hath a right Design for his whole Life and who chooseth fit Means for that Design God hath given an unalterable Inclination to all his rational Creatures to desire their own Happiness which doth ever bring it self in remembrance and is ordinarily their last End tho God gave them a higher Principle to make Him their last End and they alone are wise who have the Glory and Pleasure of God for their last End to which all their other Designs and Purposes are subordinate that is the Wisdom which is from above which the Apostle James doth excellently describe that it is first pure then peaceable gentle and easily to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without Partiality or Hypocrisy Wisdom useth to be taken as a part of Knowledg yet tho Knowledg be in Wisdom it is distinct from it and consists more in the Will and Inclination to choose and follow only that which is morally good and fit So it is said to one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom to another the Word of Knowledg by the same Spirit There may be Means to effectuate good Ends which yet if chosen it would be no Act of Wisdom We must not do Evil that Good may come Fraud and Deceit are not only distinct from but opposite to true Wisdom no less than Force when used for that which it cannot or ought not to be effectuated And therefore the same Apostle saith the Wisdom that descendeth not from above is earthly sensual and devilish which is but abusively called Wisdom and is well expressed by three Terms signifying three Kinds the Wisdom of the Malicious is devilish of the Voluptuous is fleshly and that which is used to promote unwarrantable Profit is worldly The Wisdom of God is excellent it is infinite tho it be certain and evidently appprehensible yet is it incomprehensible and unsearchable so saith the Psalmist Thy Thougbts are very deep and the A postle saith O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! how unsearchable are his Judgments and his Way past finding out Nothing can be added to or abated from the Wisdom of God It requireth no less Wisdom than his fully to know his Wisdom in Wisdom hath he made all his Works and therefore we owe an implicit Faith unto his Wisdom Tho we cannot perceive the reason of what he doth we may innocently doubt whether some of his Acts be Acts of Justice or of Mercy but we may never doubt but they are Acts of Wisdom yea the Apostle to the Romans concludeth well To God only wise through Jesus Christ be Glory for ever Amen For he findeth Folly in his Angels even the most glorious Seraphim There have been many Things which they could never comprehend nor contrive and there might be infinitely more They are neither free of Ignorance nor of innocent Error There is no proportion between their Wisdom and God's and therefore it is as nothing in his Sight So that as there is none absolutely Good but He so there is not any other absolutely Wise. It were a Task never to be ended to pursue the Wisdom of God in all his Decrees and Dispensations of which little can be reached in the State of Mortality yea it will be the exercise of the Mind to Eternity in the State of Glory yielding and increasing a continual Delight The innumerable variety of God's Creatures their Parts their Powers their Preservation and Productions afford matter of search and delight to the most glorious Angels Therefore God saith to Job Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth declare if tbou bast understanding when the morning-Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy Where the Sons of God must signify the Angels who were created before the terrestrial Globe was framed and invested with all its Ornaments when as yet Man was not created I shall therefore only endeavour to excite my Admiration by some few eminent Instances of the Wisdom of God in which I cannot see so good a Method as the Order God followed in his Dispensations from whence his Decrees are inferred 1. Then it was the Wisdom of God that he did not create the World so soon as he did decree it whereby he shew'd that to his Perfection and Blessedness he had no need of it 2. It was both the Wisdom and Goodness of God that he did not with one Act of his Omnipotent Fiat bring at once the whole Creation out of the barren Womb of nothing but proceeded by Parts that his Creatures might the more distinctly know it therefore the first Act of Creation was that To-hou-vo-bohou which is commonly rendred the Chaos as if all
Works he hath whereof to glory but not before God as if it were any thing whereof he could glory in himself for all Glorying and Boasting is excluded but Abraham's glorying is in God who freely justified him and he rejoiced from that Act of Faith concerning his Son evidencing the Soundness of the saving Faith and the Manifestation of his Justification thereby both to himself and other Men whereby he glorieth before Men and not before God And whereas it is said That Faith worketh by Love it cannot be understood that Acts of Love are Acts of Faith for they are Graces essentially distinct but that Faith is Man's Part of the Covenant whereby Love is given upon God's Part nor doth it follow that because Faith is perfected by Love therefore its Essence is not distinct from Love Man is perfected by Love yet it is no part of his Being That Historical Faith believing the Truth of the Gospel is specifically different from saving Faith and yet it is said That whosoever believeth Christ is come in the Flesh is born of God for no Man can call Jesus Lord but by the Spirit of God which imports no more than a Sign of saving Faith at that time when there was so general an Opposition against Christ when no Man did avow or own Christ hypocritically 7. The Church of Rome hath more exceeded in bringing Works as Man's Part of the Covenant of Grace than any other Society of Christians for they have made Works the whole and only Part of Man in the Covenant of Grace and have given no Preheminence to Faith but to Charity or Love consequently enough to that Principle As it is said of the three eminent Christian Vertues that of these the greatest is Charity so that if Faith did save as a good Work Love would much more save They acknowledg no Justification distinct from Sanctification they do not require good Works as the Condition of Salvation but as the meritorious Cause of Salvation that God in Justice could not deny Celestial Glory to those that live holily and which is yet more extravagant Supererrogation is the common Opinion publickly preached in that Church and when the Council of Trent was call'd on purpose to amend Errors in Doctrine and Manners that had crept into that Church not one Word in any of their Canons disapproving Works of Supererrogation and the Treasure thereof out of which the Pope by Assignment of the superfluous Merits of the Saints may supply the Merits of others and bring them to Heaven either immediately upon Death or shortning their purging by the purgatorial Fire as soon as he thinks fit and yet they dispute vehemently against the Imputation of the Holiness of Christ. They do acknowledg that Christ's Sufferings have satisfied the Justice of God that without encroaching thereupon he may give Pardon of Sin and they do not ascribe the Pardon of Sin to the Merit of their Holiness but only to the Expiation by Christ's Sufferings and inconsistently enough they require purging by the purgatorial Fire which cannot be thought Correction to amend them and therefore could only be to cleanse and expiate in which they derogate even from the Sufferings of Christ. But to give them the most benign Interpretation they think the Forgiveness of Sin could not exalt Men to heavenly Blessedness but that as in the Covenant of Works every one behoved to merit that Exaltation by their Works which could not be after the Fall because of Original Sin whereby the eating of forbidden Fruit did condemn all Mankind descending from Adam by Ordinary Generation until Christ's Suffering had satisfied that Debt and even the actual Transgressions of those in the Covenant of Grace yet tho Men be still sinful their Sins being pardoned as satisfied by Christ's Sufferings Mens good Works lose not their Effect to merit Heaven as well as Adam's which is the only Difference they make between the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works Nothing can be more contrary to the Covenant of Grace and to the Way of Salvation inculcated in the Gospel wherein 1. All Glorying or Boasting of the Creature attributing any Part of its Salvation to it self is excluded Where is boasting then It is excluded by what Law of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith Therefore we conclude saith the Apostle That a Man is justified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law But God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in Sin hath quickned us together with Christ where it is twice repeated by Grace you are saved through Faith not of Works lest any Man should boast Yea Boasting is so far excluded that Man cannot boast of Faith as it is his Part of the Covenant of Grace for it is said By Grace you are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God What could be more said to exclude Works from Man's Part of the Covenant of Grace not only that there cannot be an equivalent Cause deserving Glory but not so much as the Terms upon which Glory was to be freely given For it is expressy said that we are God's Workmanship created in Christ to good Works which God hath before ordained or prepared that we should walk in them and God hath not predestinated Men to Salvation for their Works foreseen or performed For whom he did foresee them he did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son which Image is Holiness which is not the Cause but the End and Effect of Predestination Good Works indeed are Via Regni but not Gausa Regnandi and they are the Evidences of true and saving Faith to be diligently followed not only by reason of the indispensible Law and Duty anterior in order to any Covenant but as the Means to evidence true Grace and give solid Peace and therefore it is said Strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way that leadeth unto Life and that the Kingdom of God is taken by Violence and the Violent enter it by Force which doth import no more than the Way to the Kingdom And where it is said Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have Right to the Tree of Life it doth not import Right by Merit the Word being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that Works can no more properly be called Right than the Evidence of Lands or Inheritance are called the Rights thereof as sighifying the same and therefore the explicatory Words are subjoined and may enter in through the Gates to the City All others but the Romanists that bring in Works to the Covenant of Grace bring them in as the Conditions of it but not as a deserving meritorious Cause much less as a superfluous supererrogatory Merit seeing Christ hath declared so clearly that the first and great Command of God is Thau shait love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind
tho the Debitor were not able to pay it Would ever a rational Creditor exhort his Debitor to pay when he knew he were altogether insolent Hence it is that Pelagians Semi-Pelagians Lutherans Arminians and Papists have all run to a Freedom in Man's Will to perform the saving Acts and many of them have held that Freedom essential to and inseparable from the Will And others have held that Freedom as a Purchase of Christ giving that Capacity to all Mankind by their Birth or to many of them by their Baptism The Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians thought the Powers of Nature were sufficient without any Purchase of Christ as to that The Lutherans and Arminians attribute it to a general Purchase of Christ to all Mankind that they were in a Capacity to believe to be holy and to be saved by their Birth or their Baptism and the Papists hold the same by Baptism administred in that Church and do condemn all others not so baptized What can be more useful satisfying and quieting Mens Consciences in this matter or more illustrating the Wisdom and Justice of God than to extricate these Difficulties and to show the true way of reconciling these apparent Inconsistencies by the wonderful Wisdom of God Showing that by the Covenant of Grace all Men were to be in a Capacity to be saved and none under the absolute necessity of inevitable Misery but through their own deserving fault whereby the Damned shall eternally accuse themselves as the only Authors of their own Damnation and the Glorified shall attribute it wholly to God that they are saved and that it may be well consistent with the Veracity and Sincerity of God to exhort and expostulate with any whether Elect or Reprobate to repent believe and to be holy All which to me is convincingly cleared in that God sincerely offers to all that come to Discretion by their natural Conscience by his Word or by the Motions of his Spirit to give them the Grace of Repentance Faith and Holiness if they do not reject the Offer And so he doth by all Expressions possible expostulate with them why they will not hear and accept but will reject that Offer and so die and perish which is seldom or never ascribed to any other Sin but Misbelief hardning the Heart or rejecting the Counsel of God All which may well consist without any Power in the Person to whom the Offer is made to perform these Duties by themsélves either by the Powers of Nature or any universal Grace given in their Birth or Baptism This will evidently appear and the Consistency will be clear by several Examples First If a King should make a Proclamation of Pardon to all his Rebellious Subjects if they did not reject it might he not sincerely and warrantably expostulate with them if they did reject it might he not exhort them to accept it And yet nothing more evident than that they could not pardon themselves or escape Condemnation being guilty of Death without that general Pardon Secondly If a Person had in Despair drunk down Poison a Physician comes and hath in his Hand an Antidote which he offers and which the Patient continuing in Despair refuses to accept May not this Physician tho he knew the Patient were inflexible exhort him to accept the Antidote wherein he performeth a vertuous Act congruous to his Nature If this Patient continue obstinate were he not a Self-murderer Could he excuse himself from being the Author of his own Death If he should desire the Physician to put the Antidote in his own Hand and in his Choice that he might drink it or throw it upon the ground were it Prudence or Kindness in the Physician so to do Yet nothing is more evident than that this Patient could not cure himself and yet is inexcusable that he was not cured For tho it was not in his Power to cure himself yet it was in his Power not to hinder his Cure These Examples do abundantly show not only the Consistency but the Wisdom of Divine Dispensations towards Mankind All Men are poisoned with Sin yet God convinces all that have the use of Reason that they are Sinners and yet he is merciful to Penitents which is the first step to the Covenant of Grace wherein God will make farther Progress unless the first Motions be rejected which is much clearer as to those to whom the way of God's Dispensations is revealed and inculcated and the Offer of Regeneration Repentance and Faith sincerely made Can any of these pretend that they have not Power to repent or believe seeing the All-sufficient Power of God is offered if it be not rejected and tho God foreknows that the Offer will be rejected yet it is congruous to his gracious and benign Nature to exhort the Acceptance of it and to expostulate for the wilful Rejection thereof as he saith Turn ye turn ye why will ye die O House of Israel As it were not becoming the Physician to put the Antidote in the obstinate Patient's Hand knowing that he would pour it out and lose it So it is not congruous to the Divine Wisdom to give universal Grace knowing that most that were to receive it would throw it away There is indeed this difference between the Offer God the Physician of Souls makes and the Offer of the Antidote by a Physician of the Body that the Power of God is insuperable and can overcome the strongest Aversion and the most wilful Rejection of Sinners And therefore even some of these are in the Election of Grace but that it is not congruous to his glorious Nature to exercise his Power upon all This is evident because he applieth it to none who sin against the Holy Ghost who having tasted of the Powers of the World to come do Despight unto the Spirit of God Nor do any of his Divine Perfections incline him to overcome the Resistance of all other obstinate Sinners and therefore God may justly say Behold ye Rejecters and wonder and perish This way doth well quadrate with and is much confirmed by the signal Sentence of the most universally applauded of all the Fathers and the greatest Antipelagian Augustine saying Deut neminem deserit nisi à quo prius deseritur God forsaketh none but those that first forsake him This must import more than forgetting neglecting or not obeying God It must imply an Application to God and Consideration whether to cleave to Sin or endeavour to return to him with Consideration of a possibility of it and an Offer of Mercy upon Repentance and after all a rejecting of the Offer and resolving not to repent but to cleave to Sin either absolutely or for a time as most do who leave Repentance to old Age or Death-bed that in the mean time they may enjoy their beloved Sins I shall conclude with craving humble Pardon for what through the Weakness of my Capacity I have thought or said unsutably to the Infinite Perfections of my most glorious God and with this Acknowledgment and Exaltation of the Bounty Mercy and Faithfulness of God towards Mankind in the most profound Veneration adore Him saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Heaven and Earth are full of the Glory and of thy Grace which thou freely and effectually givest to all Men capable of the Offer of Grace who do not reject that Offer by sinning against the Holy Ghost or cleaving obstinately to their other known and predominant Sins from which they refuse to be reclaimed yet thou savest some of these by thy superabundant and insuperable Grace pulling them as Firebrands out of the Fire And all by the Merits and Mediation of thy only Son our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. To the Father Son and Eternal Spirit consubstantial in Personal Trinity and individual Unity be Glory eternally World without end Amen FINIS ADVERTISEMENTS NEwly printed The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New with Annotations and Parallel Scriptures To which is annexed the Harmony of the Gospels As also the Reduction of the Jewish Weights Coins and Measures to our English Standards And a Table of the Promises in Scripture By Samuel Clark Minister of the Gospel Printed in Folio of a very fair Letter and excellent Paper the like never besore in one Volume The four Last Things viz. Death Judgment Heaven Hell Practically consider'd and applied in several Discourses By William Bates D. D. Both printed for B. Aylmer Zanchius More