hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said ibid. Verse 32. and divers other parts of the History The Lord hardened his Heart by Permission of the Magicians Miracles by permitting objective presenting to him the Profit of the Jews Labours by Withdrawing that external Concurrence and operation of his Grace which might have softned it and Pharaoh actively hardens his own Heart 2 Sam. 24.1 Israel had offended God and must be punished but there was an Impediment to the Execution of this Judgment David's Integrity who was concerned in the good or evil of his People if God withdraw his assistance from David and let in Satan to tempt him David will sin as well as his People and so both deservedly punishable And he moved David to number the people yet 1 Chron. 21.1 And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number the people Here were three Parties God moved by permitting Satan to provoke by withdrawing a powerful Countermotion by Ordering David's sin for the means of the punishment of Israel's sin Satan provoked incited and perswaded either immediately or mediately for now the Watchman is gone God hath withdrawn his Hand and Satan loseth not the opportunity David numbers David's Heart was as corrupt and vain-glorious as anothers and as easily surprized by a Temptation when the Keeper of Israel is absent and remoto impedimento sins as freely and more naturally as before it walked conformable to the Will of his Maker this Sampson hath lost his Locks and he becomes as another Man. In the mean time let us ever admire the Justice of our Maker who never necessitates us to incur a Punishment by necessitating our Sin and his Mercy in rewarding that Obedience which he alone performs in us Also to thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every Man according to his Works Psalm 62.12 CHAP. III. Of the Execution of the Eternal Counsel of God in his Works of Creation and Providence NOW we come to consider the Execution of that Counsel in those two greater transient Acts viz. Creation and Providence 1. Touching the Creation This we consider in general and particularly as concerning Man In general we resolve the work of Creation into three parts 1. The original production of all things out of nothing This is simply Creation Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth God Created This is the greatest conceptible motion viz. Ã non esse ad esse and though it be an act of Faith to believe it because related Heb. 11.3 yet it is a conclusion of Reason to know it as it appears by what hath been before observed concerning the impossibility to have any eternal subsistence but one And this truth though it be deducible by necessity of Reason if a God be once admitted yet so infinite is the distance between Nothing and a Being that divers of the acutest Naturalists were ignorant of it the ignorance of which Principle caused many of their absurd and unintelligible Positions and Superstructions to supply those difficulties which by this only Truth are avoided as concerning the First Matter the Eductions of Forms out of the power of it by I know not what Agents God created This infinite Motion could only proceed from an infinite Power who by the mere act of his Will constitutes something out of nothing In the beginning Time could not be before there were something that had succession of Being for it is the measure of a successive Being and therefore the beginning of created Beings must needs be the beginning of Time and Creation was the beginning of created Beings The Heavens and the Earth The indigested matter of the Heavens and the Earth 2. The dividing and ordering of this Mass calling out the particular Subsistences and furnishing of them with forms and qualities This was subsequent to the creation of the Matter and we find the Manner of this production in two Expressions 1. The motion of the Spirit of God upon the face of the Waters Vers 2. containing an act of the Divine Power whereby he fitted every thing to be ready for his call for though by the same instantaneous act the Divine Power could in the first instant of Creation have put things in their several Beings yet it was his Will to work successively first creating the Matter then breathing upon it and fitting this confused substance with aptitude for the things to be thereout produced 2. The Word of Command Let there be Light c. in the several works of the six days And here we may observe the admirable Wisdom of God as in divers particulars c. so especially in these 1. In the Order of the creating particular Creatures proceeding 1. to the finishing of Fundamentals then to Superstructions though of more curiosity and perfection yet more dependant upon those of the first creation 2. in the Variety of the Creatures and accommodating them with Qualities and Conveniences suitable to their Kinds whereby one doth not desire to encroach upon the Conveniences of the other's Subsistence For an Instance the Beasts Fishes Fowl endued with Appetites suitable to their Being yet the several Kinds affecting several Nourishments several places of Residence c. Herbs of contrary qualities drawing several Nourishments of several Natures even from the same Clod of Earth 3. In the Position and Situation of created Beings both for Beauty and Convenience so that the Wit of the most envious Atheist cannot imagine how the Elements the Heavens the several Creatures could be more beautifully or usefully placed every thing serves to accommodate and fit the other and speaks the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator the Position of the Earth the Water the Air with exquisite Convenience that they may meet for the constitution of mixt and the subsistence of animate Creatures The Earth and other Bodies have dependance upon the power and influence of the Sun and Heavens each is fitted with a Figure and the Heavens with a Motion that may with admirable convenience dispense that Influence the variety of Seasons depending upon the ecliptical motion of the Sun giving variety to the Creature and intermissions to the Earth whereby she may recover strength in the Winter for the supply of the Summer The very imprefect Creatures the Rain the Winds Snow c. of admirable use for the Earth Air and Water The Elements so placed and ordered that whiles their contrary motions and qualities of Rarety and Density preserve the extremity of their contrary active qualities from meeting yet their Vicinity is such that one allays the violence of the other and so are in a fit position and temper for production of mixt Bodies 3. The planting in every thing a radical Activity and Causality by which it moves This is by Virtue of that Word of the Power of God the very Multiplication of the Creature Gen. 1.22 The warming of our Garments by the South Wind Job 27.17 The Nourishment that comes from our Bread
Job 33.14 he useth a sharper and louder Messenger he speaks that he may not strike and if he strikes it is unwillingly Lam. 3.33 and that he may not destroy and destroys nor rejects not till his strokes prove fruitless Isa 1.5 Why should ye be stricken any more till there be no remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 He endures with long-suffering even the Vessels ordained to wrath Rom. 9.22 His Spirit did strive with the old World Gen. 6.3 was grieved forty years with the passages of a rebellious people Psal 95.10 pressed with our sins as a Cart under sheaves Amos 2.13 and yet no final destruction That admirable Expostulation of God's merciful Patience Hos 11.8 How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I see thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim I am God and not man. As if he should have said 'T is true thou art Ephraim and Israel a People that I have known of all the Families of the Earth Amos 3.2 a People that I have chosen and thou art called by my Name but by how much the nearer thou art unto me by so much the greater is thy Ingratitude That which in another People would be a Sin is in thee Rebellion and Apostasie Admah and Zeboim were a People that knew me not that never entred into Covenant with me they had no light to guide them but that of Nature and when they sinned my wrath broke out in the most eminent Judgment that ever was heard of But thou hast been a Vine of my own planting and watering and dressing and yet thy fruit hath been the fruit of Sodom thou hast made me to serve with thy sins and according to the number of thy Cities were thy Gods O Israel Jer. 11.13 Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me Isa 1.3 And should I not be avenged upon such a people as this How can I How can I not make thee as Admah and set thee as Zeboim If a man as thou art should but once shew but a grain of that ingratitude unto thee which thou multipliest towards me days without number thy Revenges would be as high as thy Power and thou wouldest justifie thy severest dealings with him nay if I thy Lord that can owe thee nothing but Wrath should withdraw but any of my own Blessings from thee thou art ready to throw off all and presently to upbraid me with thy unuseful Services What profit have I if I be cleansed from my sins Job 35.3 And how canst thou after all this expect any thing from me but that my Wrath should burn against thee like fire till thou wert consumed and that I should stir up all the fury of my Jealousie towards you O but Ephraim I am God and not man and therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed my Mercy and my Patience are not the narrow qualities or habits of a mortal Man but the infinite Attributes of an Infinite God. Though I can see nothing in thee but what deserves my wrath I can find that in my self that sends out my compassion a heart turned by returning upon my own Mercy and repentings kindled upon the considerations of my own Covenant with thy Fathers kindled by a Sacrifice that thou little thinkest of even the Sacrifice of my own Son I will not therefore execute the fierceness of my anger although it be thy duty to repent Sinner yet I will repent of my wrath even before thou repent of thy sin it may be my long-sufferings will as it should do lead thee to repentance Rom. 2.4 But if after all this thou despisest the riches of my Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering know that thou treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and that day will surely find thee and then thou wilt find that every days forbearance and patience that thou hast had and abused hath ripened and improved thy Guilt and made thy sin out of measure sinful and will add weight and fire to my wrath which like a Talent of Lead shall everlastingly lye upon that treasure of thy Sin and Guilt 2. His Pardoning Mercy Those tender and pathetical Expressions of God's Mercy in pardoning Sin upon Repentance and turning to him carry more weight than it is possible for our Spirits to arise unto Isa 1.18 Come now and let us reason together though your sins were as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red as crimson they shall be like wool Isa 43.24 25. Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways for as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways Jer. 3.12 Go and proclaim these words Return thou back-sliding Israel and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and will not keep anger for ever only acknowledge thine iniquity c. FINIS A Catalogue of what Books are Printed and Publish'd written by Sir Matthew Hale Kâ— sometime Chief Justice of the King's Bench and are to be Sold by Will. Shrowsbery at the Sign of the Bible in Duke-lane THE Primitive Origination of Mankind considered and examined according to the Light of Nature Folio Contemplations Moral and Divine in Two Parts Octavo An Essay touching the Gravitation or non-Gravitation of Fluid Bodies Octavo Difficiles Nugae Or Observations touching the Torricellian Experiment Octavo Observations touching the Principles of Natural Motions especially touching Rarefaction and Condensation Octavo The Life and Death of Pomponius Atticus with Observations Political and Moral Committed to the Press since his Death viz. 1. Pleas of the Crown or a Methodical Summary of the principal Matters relating to that subject Octavo 2. A short Treatise touching Sheriffs Accounts Octavo 3. Several Tracts 1. Three Discourses of Religion viz. 1. The Ends and Uses of it and the Errours of men touching it 2. The Life of Religion and Superadditions to it 3. The Superstructions upon it and Animosities about it 2. A short Treatise touching Provision for the Poor 3. A Letter to his Children advising them how to behave themselves in their Speech 4. A Letter to one of his Sons after his recovery from the Small Pox. Octavo * Of this the Author hath written more largely in his Origination of Mankind * All which and divers others the Author hath largely prosecuted in another Work in the 6. first Parts This he hath likewise more largely handled in the 7. Part of the same Work. Of the Law of Nature the Author hath written a particular tract * That the Willing still continues the same shall be and is and hath been are the several relations of the thing willed which is capable of these successions of duration they are not relations that may fall upon that will which is incapable of them or upon the acts of it V. Originat 1. c. 2. * Of this the Author hath written a large Tract which he finished but a little before his Death and it was the last Work he meddled with This the Author hath elsewhere considered in two or three several little Tracts upon this Subject Of thiâ— the Author hath pâ—oâ—â—ssâ— and more largely wâ—â—tten in other Works Jam. 1.17 Mal. 3.6 〈◊〉 Rom. 2.26
determine his being in as much as all things else are his productions and cannot have any causality upon him Secondly End is inconsistent with Eternity for that is a permanent and fixed indivisible and takes in all past present and to come without any difference of notion The present subsistence of the First Cause was the same numerical instant that he had a thousand years since So that End as well as Succession is but of those things that are measured by time not of an indivisible being To suppose him to have an end were to suppose him not ever to have been because past and present and to come are all indivisibly conjoyned in his duration This indivisibility of duration is proper only to the First Cause for nothing else can upon any sound ground be said to be of indivisible duration though it may be of a perpetual Suppose we the Being of an Angel or the Soul though admitted to be Everlasting yet that is rather a multiplyed extension of duration than any indivisible duration for of the First Cause I may say truly the instant of the duration that is now and that was a thousand years since or a thousand years after is the same but I do not think the same may be affirmed of any other thing whatsoever 1. because their essence is not indivisible and simple as is that of the First Cause for it is evident they are perfectible compounded of Act and Power not pure Acts 2. because some things might be affirmed of them in a time past which cannot now be affirmed of them as the creation continuance in the Body separation re-union c. 3. their being is dependent II. From this admission of a First Cause doth necessarily follow Immensity which includes three things 1. Exemption from Circumscription or bounds of his being There is a twofold exemption from Circumscription 1. That which ariseth from the disproportion between the thing that should circumscribe and be circumscribed thus a Spirit of what kind soever is not circumscribed nor is in any determinate place for that is proper to a Body that hath extension of parts yet though we cannot say It is here yet we are sure we cannot say It is every where There is 2. another exemption from circumscription which ariseth from Infinitude that it exceeds all place and circumscription Now that it is thus with the First Cause is evident for if he had a Being before any thing else nothing then could bound his Being if it should then he could not be the First Cause there being something else that had limited him which had a pre-existence to his causation and it is impossible for any thing to have a limited or bounded Being unless it were so limited or bounded by something without it That which is without a cause of his being must needs be without bounds of his being Neither could those effects which he after produced straiten the extent as I may call it of his Being or shut him out from them From whence follows 2. His Omnipresence not only vertually and potentially but essentially in and with all things though the manner of it be incomprehensible because a consequence of his Infinitude This is Exemption from Exclusion for it is not possibly imaginable that the production of new Effects should exclude or straiten that indivisible extent which that being had before those Effects were produced 3. Exemption from Succession or Division of Parts for otherwise he could not be Immense for whatsoever hath Succession of Parts as his Parts are measurable so is the whole and therefore cannot be actually Infinite in Extension as I may call it And this doth consequently exempt him from Materiality Succession of Parts being an affection of a material substance and therefore it is an indivisible Immensity What is said of the Soul may explain it Tota in toto tota in qualibet parte III. Hence it follows that the First Cause is Indivisible and that in a double opposition 1. In Opposition to Divisibility which is partly touched before and though this be common to all things that are incorporeal for Divisibility is an effect of Quantity yet it is most eminently to be affirmed of the First Cause 2. In Opposition to Multiplicity and this is the Vnity of the First Cause viz. that there is but one First Cause of all things for if there were two or more First Causes either all must be infinite in Being and consequently in Operation and that is impossible viz. that there should be two Infinites because one must of necessity bound and limit the other both in Being and Power 2. or else both must be finite and then of necessity each must have a Cause of his Being for what is it that should prescribe the bounds to these Beings unless the Cause of their Beings if so they can neither be the First Cause or 3. one must needs be Infinite and the other Finite and Subordinate and then of necessity those Finite Beings cannot be the First Causes but meerly Second Causes depending upon that Infinite Being both in their Essence and Operation for nothing can have limits of his being but what hath causes of his being which should prescribe those limits IV. From hence likewise follows that the First Cause is Ens Simplicissimum and excludes all Composition of what kind soever either of Power and Act of Substance and Accident or Matter and Form for every mixture doth of necessity suppose some pre-existing Cause to joyn these together and indeed the very membra componentia have in nature a pre-existence to the being so compounded and so the admission of any kind of Composition is inconsistent with a First Cause And from hence it is evident that all things that are affirmed concerning this First Cause are but improper and serve only as notions to render him unto our Understandings 2. From hence it also follows that whatsoever is affirmed of the First Cause is the same with his Essence and one the same with another though they are conceived by us under different notions and conceptions as for instance we see an effect of the First Cause which in case of a Man we derive from that habit in Man which we call Mercy and another effect which in Man we would conclude to come from such a quality or habit which we know by the name of Justice hence we stile the First Cause Merciful and Just yet in truth neither of these are proper for they signifie Qualities neither if they were proper were they distinct for they are the same one with another and both the same with his Essence otherwise it is impossible he should be Simple for should his Being and Attributes be several he should be compounded of Substance and Accident or should the same thing which we call Justice be the same with his Essence and not the same with his Mercy he must needs consist of several beings divided one from another the like for all the rest
by one Spirit unto the Father CHAP. VII Of the Efficacy of the Satisfaction of Christ and the Congruity of it to right Reason THUS for the settling of our Minds in the Truth of Christ we have considered of those clear Prophecies and Types of Christ in the Old Testament We now come to consider some Particulars concerning this great work of our Redemption 1. Wherein consists the Efficacy and Virtue of Christ's Mediation and Sacrifice 2. How it was effected Wherein we shall consider 1. His Satisfaction 2. The Application of this Satisfaction in reference to the Father his Intercession in reference to us his Word and Spirit 3. The Effects and Consequents of it 1. The Efficacy of this Satisfaction consists in that free Acceptance by God of this Sacrifice of Christ as a Satisfaction for the Sins of his Elect and to be the price of the Inheritance thereby purchased for them by an eternal Contract between the Father and the Son for otherwise it were impossible of its own nature that the Sacrifice of one could expiate for the sin of another The tenor of this great Covenant between God and Christ was that the Son should take upon him Flesh should fullfil the Law of our Creation should suffer death and rise again and that Almighty God would accept this as the satisfaction for the sins of the righteous and as the price of Eternal Life for as many as should believe in him This is effectually set forth by the Word of Truth it self John 6.37 38 39 40. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out for I came down from heaven not to do my own Will but the will of him that sent me and this is the Father's will that hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day And this is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day It is the Will of God which is nothing but the Acceptaton of God 1 John 4.10 He sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins his sending was his Acceptation Isa 53.10 When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin there was the Acceptation of the Father Again on the Son's part Psal 40.6 â— Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not reâ—uired then said I Lo I come And the same Word of Truth that tells us John 3.16 That God gave his only begotten Son tells us again John 10.17 18. I lay dâ—wn my life that I may take it up again And this susception of Christ and acceptation of God though we represent it to our selves under several Notions yet it was one indivisible and eternal Counsel of the Divine Majesty Acts 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore knowledge of God And this Purpose and Counsel of his only the proceed of his eternal and free Love So God loved the world John 3.16 In this was manifested the love of God towards us because he sent c. But could the Pardon of Man's Sin and his attaining of Happiness be had at no lower a rate could not God have freely forgiven the one and given the other without this great mixing of Heaven and Earth in this wonderful Mystery of the Sacrifice of the Son of God As the original Resolution of all the Works and Counsels of God must be into his own good pleasure so especially of this Ephes 1.5 He hath predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his Will. Yet we do find some Congruity of Right Reason in this course of Man's Redemption 1. To magnifie to all the World the Glory of his free Grace Ephes 1.6 and to take away all possibility of boasting in the subject of this Redemption Ephes 2.8 By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast 1 Cor. 1.29 That no flesh should glory in his presence The Dependence that all Creatures especially Man have upon the Creator both in their Being and Perfection doth most justly and reasonably challenge from the reasonable Creature a free Retribution of Acknowledgment of his Dependence upon the Goodness of God and it is an affection of the greatest Congruity that is imaginable yet we see how soon Man forgot that duty and would be independent upon his Lord. Now when Man had concluded all his Posterity under sin then for God freely to give such a Price of Redemption as it magnifies the Freeness and Bounty of his Goodness so it doth ingage lapsed Man to the everlasting Acknowledgment of the Free Grace of God in restoring him that so God may be all in all 2. To magnifie the Exquisiteness of his Justice In that dreadful Proclamation of the Name of God Exod. 34.6 7. we find a strange mixture of his Mercy and Justice Forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin and that will by no means clear the guilty and both parts essential to his Name Such a way then must be for Man's Restoration that may evidence his Mercy in pardoning as well as his Justice in punishing Sin Christ was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 And being made Sin for us was likewise made a Curse for us Galat. 3.13 Here we have him pardoning Iniquity Transgression and sin of Men and yet not sparing his own Son when he bore the imputed guilt of our sins 3. To magnifie the glory of his Wisdom The admirable Fabrick of the World speaks abundantly the Wisdom of our Creator but all this was inferiour and subservient unto this great Business 1 Cor. 1.24 Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God 1 Pet. 1.22 A Business for the inquiry and speculation of Angels Ephes 3.10 The manifold Wisdom of God the end of the Creation Colos 1.16 All things created by him and for him Colos 1.20 to reconcile all things to himself whether they be things in Heaven or things in Earth Ephes 1.10 That he might gather together in one all things in Christ The sum of this Mystery we have 1 Tim. 3.16 God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached to the Gentiles believed on in the world received into glory In this great frame of Man's Redemption we see the Counsel of God strangely executed his ancient Promises fulfilled the Shadows and Types of the Law unveiled the breach of the righteous Law of God punished the Righteousness thereof fulfilled the Justice of God satisfied his Mercy glorified his Creature pardoned justified glorified all those difficulties intricacies and confusions which came into the world by the sin of Man extricated ordered and salved the
a guilty and condemning Conscience when I look behind me I see the avenger of blood pursuing me and ready to overtake me when I look before me I see nothing but a Hell to receive me in my flight when I look upward I behold an offended and angry God aâ—med with Power and Justice to condemn me 〈◊〉 is true he is a Merciful and Bountiful God but that aggravates my Misery What Comfort can the thought of a neglected an abused Mercy add unto 〈◊〉 so that now as my Misery is intolerable so it is inextricable as I cannot help my self so I can see nothing without me but storms but trouble and darkness and dimness and anguish Isa 8.22 and a guilt within me still telling me worse is to come and to prevent my despair I turn me to the Creatures to Friends to Pleasures but alas they have no more taste in them than the white of an Egg like Drink in a Fever they increase my Torment In the midst of all this tempest of the Soul the Love of God like the Dove to the drowning Ark le ts fall an Olive Branch a 〈◊〉 a Message and Promise of Life and Deliveâ—â—â—â— an invitation to Peace and Salvation Let any 〈◊〉 judge now whether a Soul sensible of his own Condition will not greedily and even before it hath leisure to contemplate the Mercy lay hold upon it rest upon it get unto it so that the condition of the Soul and the sense of it doth even drive the Heart in the first act of its Illumination to coming unto Christ and resting upon him And then the Soul hath more opportunity to discover and contemplate and value the Goodness of God whereby the Love of the Soul to God is more and more excited and increased And thus we see how the Believer is united unto Christ not corporeally nor yet substantially yet really and spiritually these motions of the Soul being met and entertained with Objects suitable to their utmost latitude Our motion unto him by Faith and Adherence finds not only an invitation before it come Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy ladâ—n and I will give you rest But a rest when it doth come Our motion unto him by our Love finds an entertainment with Fruition John 14.23 If a man love we he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Our Hope entertained with Assurance and the Prepossession of our Expectation John 14.2 I go to prepare a place for you 1 Pet. 1.4 An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled reserved in Heaven In the creation of Man as likewise of Angels God placed in them Powers suceptive and able to receive a great measure of his Truth Glory and Goodness And when he had furnished them with Vessels as I may say of this Capacity he filled them with his Light and Goodness And herein consisted that great Union between God and his Creature and consequently his great Happiness And in Man's Restitution the same course is taken to make him happy again Here is the difference and our accession of Happiness that this Mercy 〈◊〉 put into our own hands but into the hands of our Mediator for our use For as in him dwells the fulness of God so every true Believer dwells in him and makes up that Body which is the fulness of him that filleth all in all Ephes 1.23 And is thereby filled with the Fulness of God Ephes 3.19 CHAP. XII The Effects of our Vnion with Christ NOW we come to consider the Effects of this our Vnion with Christ more distinctly 1. Remission of Sins Ephes 1.7 Colos 1.14 In whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins For by virtue of our Union with him the Father looks upon us as having made that Satisfaction for Sin which in truth his Son made 2. Justification For as by virtue of our Union with him his Satisfaction is ours so is his Righteousness And hence that Righteousness by which we are made righteous in the sight of God is called the Righteousness of God 2 Cor. 5.21 That we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Phil. 3.9 That I may be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith And therefore Jer. 23.6.33.16 he is called The Lord our Righteousness And indeed without this though it were possible that we could have our sins forgiven yet without this Righteousness we could not actually attain Happiness Christ therefore must present us Holy as well as unblameable Colos 1.22 So then being one with him as our sins by imputation were his and his Satisfaction ours so was also his Righteousness 3. Peace and Reconciliation with God For as God from Heaven proclaimed himself well pleased in his Son so if we are one with him he is consequently well pleased with us And this Conclusion follows naturally from our Justification in the sight of God The controversie between God and his Creature was Sin and when Christ took up that Controversie there must needs follow peace Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through Christ Colos 1.20 Having made Peace through the blood of his Cross Eph. 2.14 For he is our Peace And the consequent of this Peace with God is Peace with the Creature who when Man became Rebel to God became Rebel to Man unuseful vain full of vexation but by our Peace restored with our God our Peace with the Creature is part of our Portion Godliness having the Promise of this Life as well as that to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Matt. 6.33 and peace with our own Consciences Conscience was God's Vicegerent in Man and when her Lord is angry the Conscience will chide It is a Glass wherein a Man may by reflection see the face of Heaven and of his own Soul. But when once the Heart is sprinkled from an evil Conscience by the Blood of Christ Heb. 10.2.22 the Conscience is quiet for Heaven is quiet As Peace was the Proclamation of an Angel at the Birth of Christ Luke 2.14 so Peace was the Legacy of Christ when he was leaving the World John 14.27 My Peace I leave with you And the Fruit of this Peace must needs be Joy When a Man upon sound grounds doth find that his Peace is made with Heaven there cannot chuse but be a Joy answerable to the sense of so beneficial a Peace Therefore Rom. 14.17 The Kingdom of God is Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 15.13 The God of Hope fill you with all Joy and Peace in believing Where there is Faith there will be Peace and where Peace Joy and therefore when Christ had finished the work of our Redemption that Spirit which he sent into the World is called the Comforter John 15.26 4. The Spirit of Christ and that
fitted for that occasion strikes effectually upon the Heart and works upon it whether it be an Affliction or a Blessing or a Deliverance or a Word of God. Thus when Nathaniel was under the Fig tree Christ saw him and prepared his Heart to entertain the call of Philip John 1.48 2. The concomitant act of the Spirit of God especially with the Word of God and some other extraordinary acts of his Providence And herein it hath a double work 1. Of Strength to drive on this Word and hence it is called the Sword of the Spirit The Spirit of God is that Arm that manageth this Sword Ephes 6.17 To the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit Heb. 4.12 When thou seest therefore a tumultuous disorderly Heart filled with Pride and obstinacy yet brought upon his Knees by a seemingly weak Admonition Reproof or other passage of the Word of God wonder not at the change for the powerful and mighty Arm of the Spirit of God hath shaken this little dart between the joynts of his harness even into the midst of his Soul. What ailed thee O thou Sea that thou fleddest c. Tremble thou Earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob Psal 114.5.2 Of Life to go along with it into the Spirit of a Man John 6.63 The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life The passage between the Sense and the Spirit of a Man is of a great distance and full of many turnings and hence the words of Men for the most part die and lose their efficacy before they come at the Spirit of a Man sometimes they die in the Ear sometimes they get into the Brain and die there in a Speculation sometimes they strike a little but yet live not long there for the words have no Life in them But with this Word there goes a Life which goes along with it even to the uttermost corner of thy Soul even thy Spirit and there it continues alive 1 John 3.9 His seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin and hence it is that the Commands of God even to us that are dead are not incongruous when God pleaseth that his Work shall be wrought in the Heart for a Spirit of Life goes along with the Command even to the penetralia animae John 5.25 The time is that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live And as thus the Spirit of God carries the Word of God with Life and Vigour into the choicest parts of the Soul so doth it with all other Dispensations of Divine Providence If thou hast an outward Blessing given thee it will along with the Sense of thy Blessing carry in the Sense of the Goodness of God and teach thee Thankfulness and Moderation If an Affliction it will get along into thy Soul with that Affliction and teach thee to examine thy self and to search and try thy ways and having discovered thy sin it will teach thee Humiliation and Repentance and if upon thy search thou find thine Integrity yet it will teach thee Humility Thankfulness Contentedness Dependance upon God it will with every Dispensation of Providence go along with it into thy Soul and carry that message with it that God by this his Dispensation intends to send thee And thus it is a Sanctifying Spirit by way of concomitance with the Word and Providence 3. The Spirit of God sanctifies the Heart by its own immediate and Continual Assistance It contests with thy daily Temptations that are from without and conquers them and with thy hourly Corruptions that are within thee and wasts and subdues them In the midst of thy Difficulties it will be thy Counsellor a secret voice behind thee saying This is the way walk in it In the midst of thy Temptations it will be thy Strength and a Grace sufficient for thee In the midst of thy Troubles it will be thy Light and thy Comfort In the midst of thy Corruptions it will be thy Cleanser a Spirit of burning to consume those swarms of Lusts that cover and fill thy Heart In thy Failings and Falls it will be thy Remembrancer and teach thee to repent and humble thy self This was that Monitor that furnished Joseph with an answer to a most importunate and advantageous Temptation How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39.9 that furnished Job with silencing Answers to all those temptations to Insolence Pride Self-confidence and Injustice Job 9.1 that after David's Sin smote David's Heart before David's Heart smote him and taught him Confession and Sorrow and to beg a Pardon 2 Sam. 24.10 Only beware thou neglect not the Voice of this Spirit of God It may be thy neglect may quench it and thou mayest never hear that Voice more or at least it will certainly grieve it and canst thou think of grieving that Spirit without a Tear which is content to descend into thy impure polluted Heart to make it a Heart fitted for Glory Thy folly is great and thy ingratitude greater When God speaks once and twice and Man perceives him not Job 33.14 it sometimes falls out that he never speaks to that Man more Ephraim is set upon Idols let him alone Hos 4.17 and that is the saddest Condition in the World but if he do his Mercy will be a severe Mercy he will speak louder Job 33.22 when the still Voice is not heard his Soul draweth near to the grave and his Life to the destroyers The observation of the secret Admonition and Reasonings of the Spirit of God in the Heart as it is an effectual means so it is a calm and a comfortable means to cleanse and sanctifie thy Heart and the â—oâ—eâ—itâ—i attended unto the more it will be conversant with thy Soul for thy Instruction Strength and Comfort Prov. 6.22 When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee CHAP. XXVI Of the Means of Sanctification 2. On Man's part viz. Faith Love Fear Hope ON our part the Instruments of our Sanctification are those supernatural acts or habits of the Soul wrought by the finger of God Faith Hope and Love. 1. Faith Acts 15.9 God also purifying their Hearts by Faith. And this it doth as it is an Act receiving into the Soul the Word of God and subscribing to the Truth and Goodness of it receving it not as the word of Man but as the Word of the just and true God. 1. It therein finds and believes the great Debt of Duty that the Creature owes to his Creator What can be unjust for God to require of that Being which he gave and made As the Gift of a Being is an infinite Gift because it is an infinite Motion there being no greater disproportion imaginable than between not being and being so the engagement of Obedience and Conformity from that Creature to the Will and good Pleasure of