Christ by Jude 2 Epist Joh. 3.12 Jude ver 7. concludes the execution of the justice of the said Rule upon Cain as upon Balaam and Corah and so a vessel of dishonour for ever consequently thus God executed his final end upon those of the old world who were without the Church 2 Pet. 2.5 that is which were not of the Family-Churches of the first ten Fathers before the Flood for the Text saith God spared not the old world and brought in the Flood upon the world of ungodly and the like execution after the Flood on men without the Church namely Noah's posterity Rom. 2.11 12. when they became Heathens upon their confounding and scattering at Babel for of them the Text saith As many as have sinned without Law shall perish without Law and God will render to every man according to his deeds Consequently thus this execution doth and shall proceed upon men without the Church to the worlds end So much for those without the Church Secondly concerning the visible Church God declared this execution impartially unto Cain when he was a member of the visible Church when he said unto him If thou dost well Shalt thou not be accepted meaning as is Abel thy brother implying Yea most certainly thou shalt But if thou dost not well sin lies at thy dore And accordingly the justice and mercy of this Rule was executed upon Abel for because his operations were Right in belief Heb 11.4 therefore according to the justice of this Rule God rewarded his labour of love by mercy receiving him into glory in the imputed righteousness of his Son both which is implyed in the Text which saith By faith Abel offered unto God a more acceptable sacrifice then Cain and obtained witness that he was righteous consequently thus the Lord proceeded in execution in the Families of the ten Fathers before the Flood and it is implyed Genesis the fixth in that he took special notice of their degeneration from their operations to him in their posture to amity with the world in that the Text saith The Sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair and took them wives of all which they chose for thus did God when there was but one Family-Church of Christs left and that was Noahs for saith God to him Come thou and thy house into the Ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation that is Thee only for that is implyed Again this execution proceeded thus upon the Family-Churches of Christ after the Flood as is implyed in the eleventh of Genesis For there all that did apostate at Babel and were scattered from being a visible Church of Christ their names are wholly left out in the Genealogy of Noah in that Chapter implying this execution had cut them off and left them in the vanity of their minds to perish excepting some few of them which did seek honour and glory in that narrow way to eternal life as before is proved but the contrary it implies the mercy of this rule was executed upon Shems Family-Church of Christ Gen. 11.10 to verse last which kept to this posture and so were preserved to be vessels of honour as is implyed in this that Shems Family their names are all upon Record their births their lives their deaths written as it were in the book of life Again thus this impartial execution proceeded upon the next visible Church which sprang out of Terah's idolatrous brood namely elect in Abrahams seed then unborn to be a visible national Church of Christ as before is proved and of this Church the Text doth say Although the number of the children of Israel be as the sand on the Seas shore a remnant shall be saved for God will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness that is according to this righteous rule of justice and mercy and therefore when the generality of that people did degenerate by undervaluing the righteousness of Christ which as to us so to them was the righteousness of God in which was included life and glory for them by overvaluation of their own works and operations in that posture they were in by this they brought on the execution of the justice of the said rule of mercy as is implyed in the Text which saith They sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the Law and they stumbled at that stone they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God and thus they fell by degrees under the execution of Gods said final end this sixteen hundred years and now are to this day no visible Church of Christ Again the next visible Churches of Christ to this were those under the New Testament and were chosen and elected into those Churches by a new way as never none was before that is only of believers according to the judgement of charity and not mixt of believers and undbelievers as it was in the said Family-Churches from the beginning now as in the Jewish Churches to the times of the Gospel and the said admittance into the Church as believers only under the Gospel unvailed is implyed in the words of our Lord in his great Commission Rev. 2.12 Rev. 2.7 And as more may appear at large in c. 2 3. He that believeth and is baptized that is he that believeth and is received into the Church by Baptism is in the Ark of salvation and God executes his final end by the said just and mercifull rule as before some to honour some to dishonour according to their works to eternity as appears in those Epistles to the seven Churches of Asia in that the Lord Christ takes special notice of their good works and their bad to their good works in the said posture he makes gracious promises and incouragements as that he will give them a Crown of life and so forth and for their several evil works many grievous threatnings among the rest to remove their Candlestick of light and life in him and so to leave them in darkness as vessels of dishonour for ever that is to be no Churches of his Again thus God executes his final end by the justice and mercy of the Gospels Tenor upon the invisible members of Christs mystical body according to their works good or bad some to honour some to dishonour for ever for Paul speaking of these men as of himself saith We walk by faith and not by sight implying they were the invisible members of Christ which walk not by sight only as do those which are only visible members Wherefore we labour saith he being present or absent we may be accepted of him And in the next words he gives a reason why they do so 1 Cor. 3.16 17. namely We must all appear before the judgement Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that
to receive his said gift of eternal life obtained by himself CHAP. XIV Containing some usefull Observations and Answers to Questions for further clearing the precedent Premisses ANd whereas it appears from proof that God hath passed upon man a fivefold Election and Rejection in prosecution of his final end in respect to their eternal estate The first being out of the faln Mass from being one with Devils into the said posture The second being a continued act of the former by electing and rejecting two Nations the one to be Christs visible Church the other not being but vertually in the loynes of two babes their being but individually in their mothers womb unborn A third being when God electeth and rejecteth men which by their acquired habits in sin are both alike dead in relation to Christ for then we see he chuseth to inliven the minds of some and denies it to the others as he did to us Gentiles and denied it to the Jews at that time A fourth election and rejection being that execution of Christ by the visible Churches on earth chusing or receiving into the Churches men which according to the judgement of charity are believers and rejecting or refusing men which cannot be judged in charity to be believers for in this case Mat. 22.3.14 although many are called by the Gospel yet few are chosen because few believe A fift being the consummation of the precedent elections and rejections in the final execution of his said end at the day of judgement by making all men vessels of honour or dishonour to eternity according to their works good or bad and as for any other elections or rejections upon man in relation to their final estate to eternity the Scripture speaks it not And from the Premisses thus proved it appears there is no personal election of any man from Gods foresight of their faith or works nor any personal election or rejection meerly personal without respect to works good or evil but only after the councel of his own will as he purposed in himself that is to finish his said final end by those seven means formerly proved under which fals in the fivefold elections and rejections and none other But if it be objected If there be not an election personal in any of the twofold respects then by reason of the natural liberty of mans will Gods glory of his grace in Jesus Christ to eternity stands contingent may fail and fall and come to nothing I answer and deny that the stress and weight of the glory of Gods grace in Christ any way depends upon the natural liberty of mans will but the stress and weight thereof relies upon an infallible means namely the foresaid seventh means It shal bruise thy head that is infallibly and from this ground this seventh means was by the depth of Gods wisdom composed personally God-Man and therefore the stress of Gods glory by Christ depended not upon the natural liberty of Christs humane will but upon his personal operations and accordingly in that person the falne humane nature of man ascended the heavenly glory above the Angels and so the Apostate Angels chief designe in the said branch was destroyed if no more of the falne nature of man had ascended the Angels glory Secondly I answer The stress and weight thereof depends not upon the natural liberty of mans will because so much of the falne nature of man which departs this life in infancy or the like ascends the heavenly glory also notwithstanding the seed of original sin that is in them because the imputation of Christs righteousness upon the world did interpose the imputation of Adams unrighteousness upon the world and so is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world as is proved Thirdly I answer the stress and weight of the glory of Gods grace in Christ in man having the use of his understanding dependeth not upon the natural liberty of his will but the stress thereof dependeth upon the Spirit of Christ striving with mans spirit in the Gospel for if those men perish by the abuse of the natural liberty of their wils quenching and resisting this Spirit so striving that they put away this eternal life yet nevertheless God has the glory of his grace in Christ in their destruction because no man since the fall is condemned by a Law of works properly such but by the justice of the Law of grace in Jesus Christ namely the Gospel Tenor or Rule of mercy and justice as before is proved From this ground the Ministers of the Gospel are the sweet savour unto God in Jesus Christ in them that perish Fourthly I answer The glory of Gods grace depends not upon the natural liberty of mans will but upon the universal favour of God to man in Christ for had those that are perished been faithfull in the said little which he in Christ hath given them then he would have given them more and more even to his gift of faith rightly to receive Christ and in that faith have given them three degrees that is from babes to young men and Fathers in Christ and in the last degree he would have confirmed them in that union and communion with himself by Christ that nothing should be able to separate them from him nor him from them in that blessed union and communion And because God was thus real towards them the glory of his grace redounds eternally to his praise for it must follow that their destruction is of themselves therefore the glory of Gods grace stands stable to eternity in Christ notwithstanding the liberty of mans will and its contingent events And for conclusion take these following Observations First In regard God created the natural liberty of mans will purposly to be one means to his said final end that from the contingency of its events mens works might be good or bad so to be rendred vessels of honour or dishonour to eternity therefore that opinion of both those personal elections and that of personal rejection falling point-blank to cross this means or to make it of no use must needs be a great mistake Secondly hence observe That although the Spirit of Christ strives as is said with the spirits of all men in all places of the world that it taketh up his dwelling place only in the heart or spirit of man when he is a right believer and not before Quest If it is demanded What the Scripture means by the dwelling of Christs Spirit in the hearts of believers and in none else Answ I answer first Although the infinite Essence of God is not contained in the heaven of heavens that he was pleased for a time to take up his dwelling place only in the Temple in Jerusalem and in no place else in all the world even so he was pleased to take up his dwelling place in the Humane Nature bodily in the person of Christ and so in no humane nature besides of this the said Temple was a
persisted in quenching and also in resisting the said Spirit by following lying vanities and so forsaking his own mercies as did Demas and the seven Churches of Asia till God removed the Candlestick from them and left them in darknesse and Demas to imbrace this present world Is it so That the Gospel and the Universe of this Creation has a tendency and bends joyntly as one in mans universal good and vertually to breed in him the faith of God in Iesus Christ as is proved Then hence observe That those that stand in an universal relation to men at the Stern of Magistracy as Gods stand bound universally to further the good of man not of this life only but of that which is to come namely to set up in their Territories and Dominions in all convenient places the Preaching of the Gospel to beget the belief of God in Iesus Christ in the minds of men CHAP. XI In which is handled the third particular in the said Rule namely to let all men see how suitabble this Rule is to them THe suitableness whereof is opened in nine particulars as first It has its Institution in Gods word of truth and the natural property of the understanding of all men being as is proved to follow truth as such or as it appears to be such wherefore we see the Apostate Angels came to our first Parents in the appearance of truth therefore it is universally suitable to all mankind in this respect Secondly This rule tenders to man not only a good to be received by his operations according to it but also his sweetest and chiefest good namely to enjoy God in belief of the truth in this life and according to truth to eternity in the next and so this rule is suitable to mans will whose natural property is to follow good or as it appears so to be as the natural property of the eye is to follow the light wherefore the Apostate Angels came to us in our first parents as is proved in appearance of a good wherefore this rule is universally suitable to all men in this respect Thirdly ever since the fall of Adam God in his word requires no man by his workings to attain eternal life for himself or others but only by his workings in the said posture to receive eternal life attained only by the Lord Christ and given imputatively by God himself therefore this rule is universally suitable to all men none excepted but Christ himself Fourthly Because the natural liberty of mans will consists in this namely to chuse and refuse all objects as it likes them or as it likes them not as is proved And because this rule tenders a twofold object to will or nill that is to chuse or refuse namely good or evil that is eternal life or death for it to chuse or refuse therefore it is universally suitable to all in this respect none excepted Fifthly because this just and mercifull rule admits mercy to man after he hath not done well according to his said posture man being ever since the fall imperfect therefore this rule is suitable universally to all men none excepted but Christ the Lord. Sixthly Because it is propper to all men which propound to themselves an end in their workings to ground those workings and operations upon their own belief or faith of a good to be attained and attainable as do Merchants which send or go by Sea or Land for wealth or the like or upon their own belief of some evil or danger as did these Marriners which to avoid the danger of death by their operations cast the wheat out of the Ship into the Sea and therefore because this rule requires mans own belief of Gods truth and the said good and to avoid the contrary evil to be the ground of all their operations in the said posture He that believes shall be saved he that will not believe shall be damned as is proved Wherefore because this Rule requires all men thus to make their own belief as is said the ground of their operations in this posture therefore this rule is universally suitable to all men none excepted but men that are dead in sins and trespasses by acquired habits herein or sots idiots mad men or the like From this ground it is that our Lord saith This is the work of God That ye believe and so forth and from this ground it is that Abrahams believing operations in this posture Rom. 4.4 was so much respected as opposed to men that made their own works as works in this posture to be the ground only of their acceptance with God to eternal life and from this ground namely That man makes his own belief of Gods truth and the said good to be the ground of his operations in this said posture it is that faith is so highly extol'd in Scriptures by the Spirit of Christ for in so doing they render unto God the sole glory of all his truth and goodness revealed in the seed of the woman Christ the Lord and his imputed righteousness and Gods gift of life therein Seventhly Because mans reasonable soul or spirit is of an everlasting duration and never to be extinct and mans body when raised a spiritual body so to be also and because this rule tenders to man an estate of well and woe of an everlasting duration and that all things else under the Sun are only suitable to his moldring body and to a change as also is it therefore this rule is universally suitable to all men in this respect none excepted Eightly Because this rule not only admits man to do well after he hath done evil as is said but when he so returns admits pardon of the guilt and punishment due to him for his sin or sins as is proved therefore this rule is suitable to all men capable to operate to this rule Christ only excepted in whom was no sin Ninthly Because God hath given an impression and dictate of the effect of this rule as it respects its execution in reference to his final end in the minds of all men naturally namely that he will render unto all men according to their works and from this ground it is that the consciences of all men do either excuse or accuse them according to their own works good or bad the which is the dictate of this rule and Gods said final end as is said therefore this rule is universally suitable to all men none excepted From the Premisses thus proved ariseth these following Observations First That this Gospel as carrying along in it this Tenor a just and a mercifull rule is it which all mankind are under to work by in relation to their eternal state and none other as is proved Hence saith the Apostle The Gospel was Preached unto us as to them meaning to us in the last daies as to the Jews and unto all in former ages before them wherefore not any of mankind since the fall ever was or now is nor never shall