is a Dependent God a Made God What is this but a Contradiction A Dependent God is as true as Corpus infinitum God may give his Creature a Command to be obeyed of which Command he gives no reason nay the Command appears contrary to reason and yet his Creature is bound to obey that Command God commands Abraham to offer his Son Gen. 22.2 Whether it was his Intention Decree that Abraham should offer his Son was none of his duty to enquire into a Reason for this Command he gives none What reason Abraham could find out for this Command I cannot tell It appeared quite contrary to the light of natural Reason and as contrary to the Promise of God made to Abraham as could be Yet the Soveraign Authority of God was reason enough for Abraham to yield obedience to the Command Audeciam enistimo de bono Divini praecepti disputare neque enim quia bonum est idcirco ausecultare debemus sed quia Deus praecepit Tertul. de Panitentia If then the same Soveraign Authority gives me a Proposition or Article call it what you will to be assented to believed the Soveraign Authority of this Prima Veritas to whom Truth is essential who cannot lye Tit. 1.2 is as sufficient a ground for me to assent unto it believe it though I am not able to demonstrate the truth of it by my reason And I do assent to and believe the truth of it because he speaks it as strongly as if I could make never so clear demonstration of it this is so far from implying a Contradiction that it is a plain moral Contradiction not to believe it Must the Soveraign Law-giver reveal nothing for us to assent to and believe but what we can grasp with our reason Hath he said he will not Our Reason saith this is sufficient reason Thus saith the Lord And our Reason thinks it very well becoming that thrice dreadful Majesty our Soveraign Absolute Lord and Law-giver who is truth and cannot possibly lye to give to his Creature Propositions to be believed barely upon his Authority Yet a little further That which is Supra Captum Rationis what exceeds their reason that it cannot reach and comprehend this they will not believe nor receive for an Article of Faith upon this ground eight or nine of the chief Articles of our Faith are rejected by these Ministers of Reason Hence Socinus saith Although the Scripture it self should speak any thing that fights with or opposeth Reason their Reason it must be it must not be believed that the Scripture intends or means as it speaketh but there is some other hidden sense in that Scripture though Socinus speaks more broadly Etiamsi Scriptura dicat tamen non esse credendum quod cum ratione pugnat Hence come those torturings of the Scripture those corrupt and vile glosses which they put upon plain Texts while they tell us the hidden sense that lyes in those Scriptures which do plainly oppose their corrupt Doctrines That any thing in the Scripture is contrary to or fights with sound Reason we deny No more of that now But to return to Schlichtingius with his followers I ever thought and I am sure it is true that Christian or Divine Faith Nititur Testimonio Divino qua est Divinum I mean that Christian Faith Quae locum habet in intellectu it leans stayes rests and grounds upon Divine Testimony So that Divine Faith relates to Divine Testimony it looks no further when I assent to or believe a Proposition a Testimony of God because I see a Reason if you will have any other Reason than the Authority and Veracity of God Faith ceaseth Did I not believe God to be truth it self so true as impossible he should lye I would not believe the Testimony of God barely because he speaketh it But these men destroy all Faith they will believe no further than they can see with the eye of their reason and demonstrate the truth by their reason but this is not Faith Divine Faith doth not lean rest or stay upon my Reason but barely upon the Testimony of God The assent which the understanding giveth to any Truth for the Authority of the witness or him that speaketh this * I say properly because sometimes to believe is taken largely any way to assent to a thing to be true as we say I will believe my eyes properly is Faith If I give assent upon other grounds it is not Faith It may be perceptio experientia vel scientia vel opinio according as are the grounds or reasons of my assent but not Faith These Rationists know that Testimonium is Argumentum inartificiale hence they call for artificial Arguments they must see things in Artificio rerum else they will not receive them But with their favour we look upon the Almighty to be so faithful and true a Witness that Omnia Testimonia Divina sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnique artificiali argumento certiora omnique exceptione majora So that to me this great Rationist speaks but absurdly If a Divine Proposition be not above the reach of his reason but his reason can comprehend it then he will believe it and receive it for an Article of his Faith otherwise he will not For now it is not the Testimony of God which he believes and his Authority and Veracity for which he believes but the strength of his own reason is the cause why be assents to such a Proposition and receives it not as an Article of Divine Faith but an Article of Socinians Reason Whence the Socinians must either expunge that Topick of Argumentum inartificiale which Reason will not suffer or confound artificial and inartificial Arguments making the Membra divisionis which ought to be contraria at least to be the same which is good Logick for Argumen tum is distributed into artificiale and inartificiale Not that we wholly deny the use of Reason in the Divine Mysteries we will allow Reason a judicium Discretivum but not judicium Docisivum this we give wholly to the Scriptures Scriptura judicat de veritate sententiarum Theologicarum Ratio judicat de veritate connexionum regulae consequentiarum pertinent ad rationem But the Socinians make humane Reason the Judge of all Theological Controversies to conclude this Head If then God in the holy Scriptures reveals and teacheth me that the Divine Essence is singular or but one yet reveals again that this Divine Essence is predicated of three Suppositae or distinct Subsistences Father Son and Holy Ghost How can this be saith humane Reason I cannot reach it this is supra captum Rationis meae what then Must I not therefore believe it when God reveals it because I cannot demonstrate the Truth by my Reason Let God be true and humane Reason a Lyar. Essentia Divina licet sit singularis refert tamen naturam universalis in eo quod sicut universale de pluribus
believers it is impossible they should be sound Definition tells you quidres sit what is the essence of a thing where the Definition is not found the Definitum cannot be found Man is Animal rationale if you will have it as * De origine errat c. 3. de salfa Sap. l. 3. c. 10. de â—ra Dei c. 7. Lactantius he is Animal Religiosum he seemed to doubt whether the common definition would serve turn that he is a Rational creature because he saw so many sparks of Reason in other Creatures And truly if that definition he true abundance of men and those who seem to have in their own esteem most reason are no men for they are no Religious Creatures but plain Atheists but to keep to the common definition then a reasonable Soul must be found in all that are men else it is impossible there should be a man This definition agrees to the Child in the Cradle as well as to the Judge on the Bench to Solomon in his Nurses arms as well as to Solomon on the Throne though then his Acts of Reason were high So must this assurance or particular perswasion that Christ is mine be found in all believers though Infant-believers if sound else they are no believers The Minor is too clear this assurance is not found in all sound believers He that will cut off all from being sound believers that have not this particular perswasion and assurance that Christ is theirs must as David said in another case Psal 73.15 If I say I will speak thus behold I should offend against the generation of thy children so must these cut off the greatest part of the generation of sound believers they are but few in comparison of the unsound take them all in but if you exclude them who have not the assurance you will leave a pitiful remnant indeed This our holy ancient Divines saw in their experience and trading with Souls hence they were forced to make distinct sizes of Christians and degrees of Faith as Mr. Richard Rogers makes several degrees of Faith 1. The weakest and least measure The seven Treat p. 71. when there is no assurance in the believer and yet inseparable fruits and tokens of Faith 2. When there is some assurance wrought in the believer at some time but in a weak degree 3. Hath assurance for most part accompanying it though not all alike Yet in page 23. he had set out Faith by assurance and said that is the Faith which uniteth to Christ Now how can these things possibly hang together when as he and so holy Perkins will own many for sound believers in whom there was no assurance and yet it is that assurance as he saith by which men do apply Christ to themselves and which uniteth men to Christ where there is no assurance there can be no application of Christ and his benefits no union with Christ it is as possible as there can be a man and yet no reasonable soul Hence no assurance and yet a believer is near a contradiction for assurance makes a believer yet here is a believer and no assurance Fifth Argument That cannot be the essence of Faith which must have another Act of saving Faith to antecede it before it can exist But this particular perswasion or assurance that Christ is mine must have another act of saving Faith antecede it before it can exist Ergo It is not the essence of saving Faith The Major is plain For that is but the consequent of another act which must have another act antecede to its existence or it is but an effect of it then we must have our eye upon that act which gives the existence The Minor is plain Before this particular perswasion or assurance can exist in any man that Christ is mine there must antecede this act That I have received and embraced Christ as God doth offer him in the Gospel If this act doth not antecede and be true all my particular perswasions that Christ is mine are but so many delusions So that this particular perswasion is but a consequent or an effect of saving Faith which was in the heart before Sixth Argument That cannot be the essence of saving Faith which is not alwayes constant and abiding so long as man is a Believer But the particular perswasion and assurance that Christ is mine is not alwayes constant and abiding so long as I am a Believer Ergo It is not the essence of saving Faith The Major is plain For the essence of a thing cannot possibly be missing and yet the thing be the essence must be constant though there may be many changes in the thing Let a man be never so sick or let him have such sore eyes that his sight is so impaired that he cannot read yet he is a man still his essence is constant So though a believer may fall very sick spiritually as God knows we have sickly times let his eye be so dim that he cannot read his evidence Christ is mine but concludes the contrary thinks verily he reads other lines God hath written bitter things against him Doth he therefore cease to be a believer No verily that which is the essence of faith will be found in him at that time essences are not fluctuating come and gone but abiding so long as the things essentiated by them are The Minor is too plain Acknowledged by our ancient holy Divines sense hath proved it and doth prove it to Christians sad experience they cannot alwayes say Christ is mine my sins are forgiven some scarce all their lives they tremble they dread to speak it yet such as have truly received Jesus Christ the Lord if they can say it to day ask them to morrow they cannot say it then yet as sound a believer now when cannot say it though not so comfortable a believer as when he could say it Seventh Argument That cannot be the essence of saving Faith which is not pure Faith but at best a mixed act of faith and sense But the particular perswasion and assurance that Christ is mine is not pure Faith but a mixed act of faith and sense Ergo It is not the essence of saving Faith The Major is plain Faith and sense differ much Blessed are they who have not seen and yet believed saith Christ John 20 29. Faith leans upon a Divine testimony a Revelation of God meerly it bottoms upon that but sense looks into a mans self what it finds there therefore these being so different cannot make up the essence of faith The essence of Faith is not extracted out of a Syllogisme made up of a divine testimony and my sense The Minor is plain For whence riseth this particular perswasion and assurance that Christ is mine forgiveness mine Is it not the conclusion arising from two premises that went before of which one must be made up of sense spiritual sense He that believeth in Christ is justified or is united to Christ Christ is his This indeed
are bound that they must thus perform it give your Texts of Scripture We that were present thought that Scriptures might be easily produced and did so but upon serious examining of them we were convinced they were not clear enough to bind the practise as a duty incumbent upon Christians as the question was propounded yet for my part as he said it hath been is and shall be still my practise withall I called to mind that my own Father during the time I lived with him unless it were on the Lords day did not perform the duty what he did after I cannot well tell but yet he was a man who kept his secret communion with God had a heart for God and tongue for God as sometimes being a Gown-man in a Corporation he had occasion to appear for God while he lived in the world was above the world when he came to leave the world he would several times send up short prayers to his Father When wilt thou send thy Servant to fetch me home With a smiling countenance he entertained Death having some fore-tastes of what he was going to possess by that expression of his I shall have as much glory as ever I can bear When he was dead his Minister who wrote to us the news of his death said this of him He lived much desired he died much mourned for Yet this my godly Father would scarcely be esteemed for a serious Christian by some for not performing that duty according to the question though I suppose a year or two before his death he did take it up but then I was far distant from him This is that which I aim at in this example that when we urge duties upon Christians so to be performed and upon the performance of them after the manner we set down or non performance we will conclude them sound or unsound serious or slight Christians let us be sure to give clear Texts that prove God commanding the duty in that manner as we lay it down and urge Christians to the performance of it I grant Meditation is a duty that all Christians adult are bound unto yea so much a duty that I know not how a person adult can be a Christian without it I know not how a Christian can order his conversation without meditation how he can examine himself without meditation how he can improve the Sermons he hears and Books he reads without some meditation but the question is for such meditation set down after such a mode viz. That every day as duly as we pray so we set apart an hour or half hour for the duty of meditation and more especially in meditating of the Joyes of Heaven and making it for that time our whole work and intermix other matters with it no more than we would do with prayer This I see is the meditation strongly urged upon Christians a duty very hard I am sure and if our salvation lye upon this being performed after this manner as this learned and reverend Author hath set down then most Christians that I meet with forty to one and those whom I esteem good Christians must never come at Heaven but must to that dark place If I should humbly desire a Text or two from holy Writ to prove that is the meditation that God requires of Christians if the reverend Author will answer me it is a ridiculous question as he hath said in another case I must be silent For the object of this meditation the Joyes of Heaven it must be supposed as they must have a Title to Heaven so they must know and be assured of their Title to Heaven there must be no dark Cloud between them and Heaven but all clear who thus can daily have their meditations fixed upon Heavens joyes for one hour or half an hour together without any other thoughts intermixing themselves of this number I believe there are not half the Christians in England Heavens Joyes Good Lord say many poor Christians we meditate more upon Hells sorrows than Heavens joyes while we lye under the sense of our guilt and damned estate and though we pray and follow after God we think yet we can hear no good word from God we can apprehend nothing but anger no peace this sinks our hearts Others they have so much to do with the Hell of corruption they feel in their hearts and the daily conflicts they have with their lusts rising from thence which doth so press them down with sinking discouragements the seventh year and seventh again have not been a year of release to them that the Joyes of Heaven little affect them What tell you me of Heaven saith this person tell me of redemption applyed let me know Christ and him crucified experimentally let me feel and find a hard heart softened a proud heart humbled a filthy heart cleansed a froward heart meekened a slight heart awed with the reverence of God an hypocritical heart made upright a dead heart quickened a heart enslaved to and bewitched with the Creature set above the Creature let me feel my Bible the things we talk of written upon the fleshy tables of my heart this would be joy a heaven to me This would secure me in two things First That there is a Heaven which the Atheistical thoughts of my heart sometimes would question Secondly That I have a title to it Ministers may teach Christians what objects they should meditate upon but the thoughts of Christians will run there where they are most pinched Other Christians if they be not held down with the former yet they may be so oppressed with sad thoughts arising from debts debasements unequal yoak-fellow long sickness and pains with poverty attending it may be several Children about them and a grumbling Husband because the Wife doth not work to maintain them some from cold and hunger that these are like the Israelites when Moses told them comfortable things from God Exod. 6. from the 6. to the 9. ver but in ver 9. They hearkened not to him through anguish of spirit But oh say some this is their want of Grace want of Faith meditation of the joyes of Heaven Very well said and I hope you are one that have been in the same condition owed more than you were worth had a Family to maintain the Creditors called and you were one very careful that the Gospel should receive no dishonour by you you are one that have been aloft and now are low you are one who have been under long pains and sickness with poor Children about you a grumbling Husband and when you rose out of your sick bed had two or three small sticks to make a fire to warm you had nothing but a little oatmeal and water or some such mean thing to nourish you it may be your sick stomack did desire such a thing but had nothing to get it you have known what it is to have an unequal yoak-fellow that daily follows you with unhandsome carriages and you under
praedicatur sic Essentia Divina de pluribus distinctis suppositis aut personis contra ingenium aliorum singularium tamen manet singularis quia est de natura universalis ut in iis de quibus praedicatur natura ejus multiplicetur ut natura humana multiplicatur in Petro Paulo c. That the holy Scriptures are clear in asserting the Divinity as well as the Humanity of Christ the Disciples of Mahomet * Vide Hornbeck Sum. contro p. 131. will acknowledge if we own Paul's Epistles to be Canonical therefore in their Disputations with us Christians upon that Point about the Divinity of Christ they decline the Authority of Paul's Epistles and say they were adulterated by the Christians this is very strange that Mahumetans can see this and the Socinians that own these Epistles and dare not say they are adulterated yet cannot read this It is something that we have these Mahumetans determining for us that those who own those Epistles to be authentick must own Christ to be God Secondly There is no Article of our Christian Faith which the Socinians oppose that is seemingly so contrary to reason as is the measuring of an Infinite Essence by Finite Maximes 1. We deny that any Article of Faith which we maintain is contrary to sound Reason though it be above Reason therefore I put in the word seemingly contrary Let that which measures be able to contain the thing measured And is not this the Logick of the Socinians How do they judge of the Articles of our Faith how do they measure them the unity of the Essence in the Trinity of the Persons the union of the Divine and Humane Nature in one Person but by these Maximes by which they measure a finite Essence In a finite Essence it is impossible that one singular Essence should subsist in three distinct Persons therefore it is impossible it should be so in the Infinite Essence To have two distinct Natures unite in one Person this cannot be Therefore it cannot be in the second Person of the Trinity Yet the Misleto and the Apple-tree are united together and are distinct The sum of their Logick is this what cannot be found in a Finite Being must be denied in the Infinite Essence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we account a great piece of Sophistry in disputing Certainly a most gross absurdity to take Maxims fitted for finite Creatures and limit the Infinite Being unto them when as Infinite and Finite differ toto Coelo What use these Maxims may be of laying down first the Scripture for my Major to which I assent upon the Authority of God revealing I have touched in my former Head but cannot now insist upon it Thirdly To give Divine or Religious worship to a Creature is not only above Reason but is contrary to and repugnant against sound Reason But this is the Socinians practise Christ is but a Creature a meer man yet to Christ do they give Religious worship in so much that Socinus will not own him to be a Christian who will not worship Christ with Divine or Religious worship Let the Socinians name one Article of our Faith that is so contrary to reason as this I argue upon the Socinian Principle which is that all Articles of Faith all the Propositions in the Scripture must be brought to the Bar of our Reason yea Socinians Reason and there they must receive their sentence whether they be true or false whether they are to be rejected or received Hence the Doctrine of the Trinity the Eternal generation of the Son the Personality of the Holy Ghost the personal union of the two Natures in Christ the satisfaction of Christ Imputed Righteousness the corruption of our Reason and Will after the Fall the Resurrection of our Bodies the same bodies which we lay down these among others receive their sentence of condemnation at this Bar yea though the Judge Reason be dim sighted corrupted yet so it must be Why Because all these do not agree with Reason therefore they are all condemned If Reason then must judge all let us try this at the Bar of Reason I will only use one Argument that Christianus Francken used against Socinus being one of the same Opinion with Socinus as to the Divinity of Christ and therefore looking upon him as Man only would not have Religious worship given to him which Socinus did Several Arguments he hath to which Socinus gives miserable answers and truly we may sit still till we see how Socinus and his party can clear themselves from being Idolaters which Christianus Francken Francis David with their party who deny Christs Divinity also do prove Socinus and his followers to be for worshipping Christ with Religious worship whom they deny to be God and but a meer Creature His Argument is this How great is the distance between a Creator and Creature so great ought to be the difference between the honour which is given to the Creator and the Creature But between the Creator and the Creature is the greatest infinite distance whether you respect the Nature and Essence or the Dignity and Excellency Therefore there ought to be the greatest difference between the honour of God and the Creature But the honour which is chiefly due to God is Religious Adoration Therefore this is not to be given to a Creature Therefore not to Christ whom you confess to be a pure Creature This was his Argument and now let Reason judge I urged this Argument of giving Religious worship to a Creature against a Socinian The answer he gave me was this If it were the Pleasure of God to have it so as it was then it ought to be so and it was righteous and good it should be so To which Answer of his I reply This Pleasure of God leads us to another Question An beneplacitum Dei sit prima regula Justiciae which some affirm others deny The Socinian by this Answer did affirm it implicitely making this to be a duty and righteous act to give Divine worship to a Creature because it was the good pleasure of God to have it so invincible Arguments to prove that Thesss would have been acceptable Secondly What shall become of the Socinian Principle Now you Judge Reason may sit alone upon the Bench we shall carry away all the Court to another Tribunal the good Pleasure of God and to this we are willing to go Thirdly This good pleasure of his must be known by the holy Scriptures in which he hath revealed his pleasure as to our duty But then I will say with your Master Socinus If the Scripture doth say so it must not be believed because it is contrary to reason therefore there is some other hidden sense in that Scripture which must be searched out this is fair dealing I do but measure to Socinus in his own bushel for I am sure here is a Principle contrary to Reason and sound Reason Fourthly I utterly deny it that ever it
it off This doth the Spirit in the work of effectual Calling as I shall open hereafter Third Position The wayes of God in converting or drawing the soul to Christ are very secret and in preparatory works very varions What Bildad said to Job Job 8.8 10. Enquire I pray thee of the former age c. So may I say call to the Saints of old ask the children of Abraham in all ages I do not say enquire of painted Hypocrites but real Christians will they not utter words out of their hearts as Bildad said which will confirm this Position The wayes of God are first secret the union of the soul with Christ is set out by marriage Durandus p. 2. and it is called a mystery Ephes 5.32 Mysterium est sacrum secretum can you lay open this secret before the Sun Agur among the things that were too wonderful for him Prov. 30.19 reckons this the way of a man with a maid the mystical sense which Alapide gives I regard not Most interpreters I see understand this of a wicked man The next verse seems to confirm this sense who is enamoured with love or inflamed with concupiscence and so to note his witty sollicitations his artificial plots and cunning devices to win consent c. yet I see others do not take it so but think it may as well be understood of lawful love and said to be wonderful both in respect of the rare and wonderful uniting of his heart with the Maid whom he loves and also in respect of the wonderful means used by him for the getting and enjoying of her This is as true as the former as experience witnesses which is the true sense of the words I determine not but in allusion to it I can say the wayes of Christ with the soul in effectual Calling how he works in bringing of the soul from its former lovers how he wooes and draws it to himself and makes it so gladly to come up to married union with himself this is too wonderful for me and I think for any one else to lay open Knowest thou how the bones do grow in the womb of her who is with child Eccl. 11.5 we have our English Harvy's famous De generatione Animalium and we have our English Divines famous De regeneratione Animarum but did learned Harvy stand by and see how the God of Nature wrought in that dark shop when he carried on his work so far he could see his work wrought but could he see the working Is it not as true in regeneration though considering the term from which a man turns and the term to which he turns and that this is done in a rational Creature we may certainly conclude such and such things must be wrought before regeneration can be effected but how God works them is a great secret God hath his path which the Vultures eye hath not seen Job 28.7 Why then should we trouble our selves so much about the wayes of Gods working as look to the work wrought As God is secret so he is various in his working Various First For Time God is various in working Some who lived in a course of sin who walked in the wayes of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes as Solomon Ironically bids the young man Eccles 11.9 can tell the time the day the Text the Sermon the Minister when God put a stop to their course opening their eyes awakening their consciences made their sweet morsels turn bitter others can tell the signsl Providence of God with which he was pleased to work some sharp affliction it may be he sent and sealed instruction Job 33.16 But others cannot tell the time when God began to work and this have been to some a long time an objection against the truth of their regeneration because they cannot tell the time of their new birth as if all the regenerated persons in the Scripture knew the time when God began to work as if there were any ground in Scripture for such a Position All that are new born know the time of their now birth What Divine that did deserve the name of a Gospel-Minister did ever deliver such a Doctrine Doth not God many times in insancy in childhood cast in the immortal Seed which being watered by the instructions and care of godly Parents at home who are dropping upon their Children ever and anon and by the lively Word preached springeth and groweth up the poor Christian knoweth not how Mark 4.27 Some Christians finding at some time more stirrings and higher workings or new convictions of some sin under the Ordinances then they did before will from thence reckon the time of their new birth when they are much mistaken God had begun it before This is a meer vanity and devils delusion to trouble thy self about the time look to the work that it be soundly wrought but I would never trouble my self about the time Many can tell the time when God did awaken their Consciences and set home sin upon them with legal terrors they can tell the Minister and the Text but they could not tell of a sound work of conversion as the event hath proved Secondly Various as for the beginning of the time so for the length of time It is in the new birth as in the natural birth some are a long time in travel their pains not very strong some their pains are long and strong some are but a little while in travel like the Hebrew Women Exod. 1.19 and pains sharp but short others not so sharp neither If we look at the beginning of the Gospel preaching how quick were the souls in their new birth as I may say they were delivered and up again hail and strong in a few hours I cannot say that the Jaylor was above one hour if so much in his travel under the work of Compunction the Text saith Acts 16.33 The same hour of the night he took them and washed their stripes the Earthquake began at mid-night ver 25. before day ver 35. here is one new born and lusty for he was filled with joy ver 34 So those in Acts 2. how long were they in travel they must be but a very little time under the work of Compunction for to have three thousand souls added in one day ver 41. baptized and settled with comfort by night when Peter began his Sermon but about nine of the clock in the morning ver 15. we must allow but a very little time for Compunction In Acts 8. little of pain is mentioned among the Samaritans in their new birth ver 5 8. Now though the Lord for the honour of his Gospel the establishing and encouraging of souls and fitting of them for times of persecution at hand was quicker with them then with us yet we see the Lord is very various for the length of time even amongst us some are not a quarter the time under their pains that others are Thirdly Various in his method in some
the great gates no wider gate is opened for the rich Man then for Lazarus If this do not please you find a better way if you can but be assured the Almighty scorns your greatness as much as you can his straitness Hence since the work wrought is the same in all let not Christians so much perplex and trouble themselves because God wrought not so in them as he did in others or because they cannot tell how God wrought in them they cannot trace out his path for in his working there is much variety but look to that in which all must agree look to regeneration union with Christ that the work be done no matter how God did it Sixth Position To say of a man under Gods working that he is but under a preparatory work and no more is a difficult thing Who can say there is no more but preparation in such a person Mr. Shepherd makes his preparatory works to consist 1. In Conviction there he saith the light is clear real constant p. 32. 2. In Compunction fear sorrows separation from sin p. 65. 3. In Humiliation taken off from self-confidence c. p. 125. Is there a preparatory state in which the soul stands for a time not as yet in a converted state May not the Lord at the very first stroak convey an immortal seed of grace into the soul the light which is so clear constant and real as he saith may it not be as the Lightning which cometh out of the East and shineth even to the West Matth. 24.27 so this shines into the whole soul will and all affections be so bright and clear at the first darting in that the Spirit withall quickens the will We know grace at first lieth in a narrow compass a seed a Mustard-seed is but a small thing Seventh Position To work a man under preparatory works to be as good a Christian as he is when he is actually united to Christ seems very strange When Mr. Hooker preached those Sermons about the Souls preparation for Christ and Humiliation my Father-in-law Mr. Nath. Ward told him Mr. Hooker you make as good Christians before men are in Christ as ever they are after and wished would I were but as good a Christian now as you make men while they are but preparing for Christ But he told him the reason why he thought God let him thus preach because he saw he had not long to stand and so should do his work all at once Let but one observe well Mr. Shepherd's preparatory work and I think we shall find a Christian with a good measure of Grace in my Letter to him I said I thought it strange that such an Act of Grace or Obedience supposing it to be so which yet I do not till I see a Command for it should be performed by a person under a preparatory work to Christ then which I knew none greater could be performed by one who is in Christ for a man to be so subject to the Justice and Soveraignty of God that if he will deny him his love work no grace dispose of him to damnation he is yet quiet contented I knew no Act of self-denial in the Gospel like it yet this is under the preparatory work of humiliation To this he answers I do not think this is the highest measure of grace as you hint any further then as any peculiar work of the Spirit is high for upon a narrow enquiry it is far different from that readiness of Paul and Moses out of a principle of love to Christ to wish themselves anathematized for Israels sake which is a high pitch indeed To which I reply 1. As to the principle it is true there may be some difference formally the principle is not the same yet this is a principle of humble and gracious submission to the Justice and Soveraignty of God and that in such a point as there is not another like it Could I but get it in all other things I should think it an Act of Grace from God to give me such a frame though I be not content to be damned Secondly Whatever be the principle I am sure according to the sense which must be given of Paul and Moses by this holy man they and the prepared soul or preparing for Christ must all meet in the same end or place i. e. in Hell Thirdly But with humble respect to Mr. Shepherd are indeed the Acts of Paul and Moses supposing the sense of the words to be as he takes them such Acts of Grace as are required by God and we bound to imitate if they were Acts of grace performed in obedience to a Command then we are all bound to the same Of necessity then the sense of the words must first be made plain First If the book written Exod. 32.32 be understood of the Book of life i. e. of divine Predestination and if Anathema in Rom. 9.3 be taken in the proper sense and these must be so taken to make Mr. Shepherd's answer good then both these wishes are inconsistent with a man as man and with a Christian as Christian as I shall prove anon to talk of limiting Anathema the sense of it as some would because they saw what this included signifies nothing if you fall a limiting I will limit also Secondly To me it appears further it cannot be the sense because God in answer to Moses ver 33. tells him Whosoever hath sinned against me him will I blot out of my book What out of the book of Divine Predestination I am sure Mr. Shepherd nor those other Divines will admit blotting out of that book the 34. ver tells Moses he will visit their sin upon them and ver 35. he plagued the people Surely God spake in that sense which Moses did Cor. a Lapide indeed affirms upon the Text It is lawful for the salvation of many for a man to wish his own damnation As much as they are for the works of Supererogation I do not believe the Jesuit did ever heartily wish his own damnation upon this account yet if so these Jesuits are so crafty he makes his bargain so that he will get by it for saith he God will reward such a generous and liberal soul with heaps and increase of love grace and other gifts Yes God doth use to fill those who are blotted out of the book of eternal life and accursed from Christ with increase of Love and Grace Let him fry this Other Divines therefore do not understand the book of eternal life or Divine Predestination See Mr. Coryl on Job cap. 24. v. 20. but the Records of the Church or Records of the people of Israel The Jews were wont to number their families and take their names and God commanded a Record of the people of Israel to be written Thus we read David praying Psal 69.28 against his enemies Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous Would David pray to
have any blotted out of the book of Divine Predestination Therefore by the latter clause the Church must be meant they seemed once to be men of that Society but they have discovered themselves to be of another alliance blot them out let not their names live in the Church The 13. of Ezek. 9. seems to answer this of the Psalmist They shall not live in the Assembly of my people neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel To confirm this interpretation I add first In the tenth verse of this Chapter God bid Moses let him alone that his wrath might wax hot against the people and I will make of thee a great nation God is threatning to blot out the name of Israel cut them off and promiseth Moses to make of him a great nation Nay saith Moses I am so far from this ambition to be made a great nation upon this condition that I will let thee alone that thy wrath may cut this people off that I rather desire thee to blot my name out of the writing of Israel that my name may not stand in that Record as an head of thy people as now I am but let me not so much as be reckoned for an Israelite before thy Name shall suffer thus Secondly That God answers him ver 32. as I said before that he would blot out c. and did visit them and plagued them Thirdly From the Hebrew Text something may be gathered the word which our Translators render I pray thee is rendred Now (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Arias Montanus and Pagnin the word signifies both I pray thee and now I conceive our Translators render it I pray thee because now was once before in the beginning of the verse but the Chaldee Paraphrast renders it also now (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nunc So Jonatham Targum render it now (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blot me now out of the book of the just in midst of which thou hast written my name The Alexand. The Chaldee Paraph. hath the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the begining of the verse also Gr. Manuscr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blot me also out but neither the Septuagint nor this have the word I pray thee nothing that answers the Hebrew word The Samaritan Text hath not this word in it but it hath another word in the Text the Septuagint and that Text agree If the word be translated now which may well be Moses being now in a great passion his zeal raised for God then this sense doth much confirm the interpretation I am so little desirous to be a great nation that if thou wilt blot out the name of this thy people blot me now also out of that book thou hast written I do not desire to live any longer Munster comments thus upon the words De libro scilicet vitae vel ut Sepharadi exponit De libro legis dele nomen meum ne memoria nominis mei habeatur in eo To this sense also Gomarus (d) In explicat cap. 3. Apocal. de libro vitae assents I think there may be something in this the Text doth not say Blot me out of the book of life but out of the book thou hast written which to me hints a difference between the book of Divine Predestination and that book of which Moses speaks As to Paul's Anathema I think Mr. Caryl saith well That Moses and Paul were moved with the same spirit of zeal for the glory of God in both their wishes and as Moses so Paul wished himself to be an Anathema from Christ that is a person separated or excommunicated from the society or communion of the faithful and so no more to be remembred amongst the Saints or to have his name blotted out of the Church Records though he had been so great a planter and propagater of Churches thus Mr. Caryl Certainly Paul whose heart was so inflamed with love to Christ Could not wish himself accursed from Christ and so an enemy to him as anathematized persons are 1 Cor. 16.22 besides the impossibility of the wish in Moses and Paul as men there were great sin in the wish First with that sense which Mr. Caryl gives agreeth Grotius upon the Text accursed from Christ that is From the Church of Christ which is called Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 Gal. 3.27 As it was the manner among the Hebrews for the Wives to be called by the name of the Husband Isai 4.1 This he saith I would not only want the honour of Apostleship but also to be the most contemptible amongst the Christians as those who are excommunicated thus Grotius In Text. Nor much different is Gomarus who distinguisheth between a temporal and eternal Anathema between Anathema simply so and for ever And secundum quid or after a sort so shows it is a temporal Anathema and after a sort which Paul wisht not the eternal as Christ was an Anathema for us but not for ever He quotes a passage in Nazianzen Oratio 44. in Pentecost wishing the same upon himself in behalf of the Macedonians who judged right of the Father and Son but held the Holy Ghost to be a Creature his love and affection was so great towards them that upon condition they might joyn together and celebrate the Trinity in common 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. it is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianzen commends them for many things in that Oration he quotes this saying of the Apostle and doubts not to say with him as he did but yet limits it he will not take the extent of the word Learned Rivet saith Whatever be the sense we must not think that Moses and Paul did pray for any thing contrary to Gods will and absolutely and determinately contrary to their own salvation He inclines to that sense I have given In Exod. 31.32 thinking it doth sufficiently argue the ardent desire of the good and salvation of this people to chuse death rather then the Nation of the Jews should be rejected or blotted out Lipomanus whom he quotes looks on it as an Hyperbolical manner of speaking to express the greatness of his affection towards them as if saith Rivet a Son that is very dear to his Father should thus intercede for his rebellious Brother either pardon my Brother or kill me and deprive me of my inheritance To conclude before Mr. Shepherd's answer take me off it must be proved that this is the sense of Moses and Paul which he supposeth to be true but is denied Yet again suppose it were so I have not met with one Divine who will maintain that all Christians are bound to come up to Moses and Paul in their wish but both Mr. Hooker and Mr. Shepherd have made that whereof we now treat a part of the Souls humiliation and preparation for Christ and therefore must be found in all Eighth Position Those works which are called preparatory unto
a Wife so comely that few Women like her He answered Yea were she not my Wife I could love her It seems had she been his Whore he could love her he thought none like her but because she was his Wife hedged in by God now he did not care for her I do not say what a heart had he but good Lord what hearts have we Let God deal exceeding well with us better then that our corrupt hearts chuse yet if God hath by his holy Will tyed us up to that which is better and a mans own reason yield it to be better Sin takes occasion by the Law and works all manner of Concupiscence Rom. 7.8 that is best which is cross to God So true is that which that Divine Poet Herbert hath sung concerning this very Sin If God had laid all common certainly Man would have been the Incloser but since now God hath impal'd us on the contrary Man breaks the fence and every ground will plow O what were man might he himself misplace Sure to be cross he would shift feet and face Still we see God and we part only upon inordinacy So we may go on in any other Sin Profit Gain Riches are great things in mens eyes and doth God deny these likewise to his people It may be you will say few of these Precisians Puritans Fanaticks as now called thrive in the world we must not look for Riches amongst them in the way they take And what I pray do profit and riches follow all those who are strangers to God and follow after the world that make Mammon their God Do we not see the contrary How many of those who have kept close to God hath the Lord blessed and given them power to get wealth Deut. 8.18 when others have sunk and come to nothing If a mean condition be the common portion of his people yet a little that a righteous man hath is better then the riches of many wicked Psal 37.16 Sure I am The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and be addeth no sorrow with it Prov. 10.22 This is your Bible you say which we little regard we will believe our senses for all your Bible and you may believe your senses if you please and see if you do not feel the truth of what our Bible saith There was one in London a Broaker who was resolved for Gain and had it seems a secret and sinful way in his Trade to attain his end Coming under the ministry of one with whom I was acquainted and who told me the story it seems the Word met with him and set Conscience upon his back which made the man so troubled that he could not tell what to do to let go this secret way of gain he could not yield to that to follow it he could not with quiet his Conscience did so gall him he comes to the Minister oft-times and talks with him fain would he have found a way to conjure down his Conscience that he might have gone on quietly but could not for a long time he would follow the Minister sometimes in the street with these words Good Sir let me alone but one half year and then I will give up this course Friend said the Minister I meddle not with thee I speak not to thee But it seems the man found that true that it was not the blessing of God made him rich and he found sorrow with his Riches and so have many hundreds more while others have found Profit and Riches coming in with the enjoyment of God with them So that still God withholdeth no good thing from them that walk uprightly Psal 84 11. Fourthly May not a man be as well without these lusts as with them I appeal to any mans experience even thy self who makest this Objection let the corruption be what it will If a man be intemperate following his pot and companions one day the next day he keeps sober sollows his Calling is he not as well this day when sober as yesterday when intemperate Doth he not see intemperance may be spared without any dammage or hinderance to a mans content Take any other lust is not the chast person as well as he that is unclean Is not a man when meek as well as when he is passionate and froward Doth not experience teach us there is no need of these lusts How often have Christians and those that do not fall into sins to blemish their Profession been angry with themselves yea almost stampt with vexing must I cross the Will of so great and glorious a Majesty offend so sweet a Saviour trouble my peace hinder my comforts for that which I can as well spare as the dirt of my shooes have no more need of it and yet this body of death how it clogs me Fifthly We will grant it that thy lust or idol which thou so lovest doth give delight to thy corrupt heart but is the good so great that it countervails the evil that attends it We say and that truly a man may buy gold too dear so may men buy pleasures and profits too dear How quickly are the pleasures of sin over pass away in the act some of the strongest of them Pleasures of sin for a season Heb. 11.25 but the evil that attends sin hath the word Never attending it The Worm never dies Should a Prince give a Subject leave to fill himself with what pleasures his heart could desire his mind invent and enjoy them to the height the longest day in Summer but at night he must go lie in an Oven fiery hot would any man chuse the pleasures of one day upon this condition A plain similitude but illustrates the thing in hand If thou shouldest live the longest measure of time that any man hath done and spend all that time in nothing but pleasures which no man ever did but met with some crosses afflictions or sickness but at the evening of this life must take up thy lodging in the everlasting burnings and devouring fire Isa 33.14 were those pleasures answerable to these everlasting burnings An English Merchant that lived at Dantzick now with God told us this story and it was true A friend of his a Merchant also upon what grounds I know not went to a Covent and dined with some Fryars his entertainment was very noble after he had dined and seen all the Merchant fell to commending their pleasant lives Yea said one of the Friars to him we live gallantly indeed had we any body to go to hell for us when we die Were the evils that follow sin no other then what some feel even in this life and for many their lusts have brought them upon them yet he were a fool who would give up himself to the pleasures of any lust to lie under such evils at last What wants poverty and misery have some come to who had once good Estates but spent them in serving their lusts What torments do many feel in their bodies by the French
and convince men of the goodness and content that is to be found in the wayes of God None rejoyce more heartily then those who rejoyce in the Lord to which Christians are so much exhorted this joy is spiritual heavenly Yet there is another joy lawful as we are rational Animals have bodies as well as souls these bodies call for many things and whilst we do enjoy things that support and comfort them we may rejoyce in the goodness God conveyeth by them Some Christians that think we should rejoyce only in the Lord and are persons of a more sowr melancholy temper how offended are they if they see others laugh as if Risibility were an evil quality that befell us after our fall from God but surely being an essential property having its emanation from the rational Soul even in our creation it belongs to us as rational Animals and so Christians may laugh upon other causes provided no sin be mixed besides that joy they have in God Grave deportments especially of Ministers and men in places I honour but that a Minister must be alwayes so grave that he must speak nothing to make others laugh according to his Monkish Divnity as if gravity and chearfulness ordered with prudence were inconsistent receive this who will It was a notable answer old Mr. Richard Rogers gave to a Gentleman in whose company he was the Gentleman told him Mr. Rogers I like you and your company very well but you are so precise O Sir said he I serve a precise God It is very true but cannot Christian chearfulness stand with holy and due preciseness Austerity may awe inferiour persons but it will never take with persons of good breeding nor ever win to the Gospel I heard that the former * A Gentlewoman since told me it was his Son Mr. Daniel Rogers and indeed it was like him but I had it from one of his Relations and question whether he were so inward with Mr. Knewstubl Mr. Rogers and Mr. Knewstubs who preached his Funeral Sermon were once riding abroad Mr. Rogers riding before the other at some distance there meets him a person whom he knew one of a good estate but a carnal man Mr. Rogers rides by him takes no notice of him Mr. Knewstubs riding after meets him also and salutes him very courteously and talks with him a little space of time very affably and so parted when Mr. Knewstubs overtook Mr. Regers he asks Mr. Knewstubs Why do you shew so much familiarity to such a wicked man this is the way to harden him in his sinful course To whom Mr. Knewstubs answered Ah my Brother this kind of austerity he meant carriage is not the way to win wicked men to a liking of the Gospel and the wayes of God but rather to beat them off This was the sense of his answer though for the very words so many years since spoken there may be some difference That Gentleman I mentioned before at whom his Companions took such great offence when he was under the workings of God in Conversion being then sad who before in time of his vanity was as vainly merry after God had settled him in good hopes of his Love he proved an excellent Christian and now returned to his chearfulness again but purged from former sin and froth he grew so merry that he feared he was too merry so he and I rode to old Mr. John Rogers of Dedham and after the Lecture he puts his case to Mr. Rogers and relating what God had done for him and now he was afraid he was too merry to whom Mr. Rogers gave this answer take heed you mix nothing that is unsavoury with your mirth do not break in upon the Word of God or upon his Line and be as merry as you will for it is the chearful Christian that glorifieth God and commendeth his wayes unto men This I have observed and it was the fault of this Gentlemans Companions to make a Jest to provoke laughter they did not spare the Word of God Some so foolish they will loose their friend and God too but they will not loose their Jest and laughter The nature of man as man cannot but incline to chearfulness unless some predominant melancholy humor or cold distemper of body or other accidental evils keeps him under both as Risibility is proper to man flowing from the rational Soul per emanationem in its purest estate And as chearfulness especialy when not defiled with sin is the Sun-shine of a mans life A merry heart doth good like Medicine Prov. 17.22 and more good many times then many Medicines which sometimes do little good through Heaviness in the heart of man which maketh it stoop Prov. 12.25 Men are not alwayes taking of Medicines nor alwayes upon the merry pin Yet to conclude my answer to this Devils delusion I doubt not to affirm there have been and are many good Christians who have been and are more chearful in their Journey to Heaven then have been and are many who have stumbled at the wayes of God are offended with them looking upon them as good for nothing else but to make men mopish and sad Thus much in answer to the Objections which the carnal heart maketh against my Use which I draw from this Head of Illumination and Conviction only before I leave this Head I must leave one Caution This counsel which the carnal heart is shy of many poor Christians are forward enough to take it they are following this Position hard O that God would open their eyes to see sin they never yet saw sin enough they fear they shall prove rotten Hypocrites for want of this thorough discovery of sin yet examine them well and you will find a good work in them and it may be have their loads also yea some I have observed have such loads that they cannot lift up their heads or hearts in a day of darkness yet cry out they cannot see sin enough It is a meditation that I have thought of often and I judge it to be a truth God cannot discover sin too much if he will not discover his grace and Christ too little Let him please but to discover his grace and Christ and then discover sin what he please but without this the sight of sin is a dreadful sight Let therefore Christians take heed here and not teach God what he shall do lest you meet with the same answer that Mr. Leaver did in the same case mentioned by that Learned and Eminent Divine Doctor Sibbs p. 375. in his precious piece of the Souls Conflict God gave Mr. Leaver his request he did discover sin to him in the most ugly colours he had such a fight of sin that he saw no comfort in his following dayes and therefore thought it fitter to leave it to Gods wisdom to mingle their portion of sorrow then to be their own chusers More Uses I might make of this Head but I purposely break off to make haste to the
God in Christ to deal with Secondly We observe as these were external bodily and temporary judgments so the people were actually under them they were not under the threats of the judgments but the judgments themselves So Levit. 26.41 expresseth it plainly when they were in the Land of their enemies If then their uncircumcised hearts were humbled and they accept of the punishment What punishment This their scattering amongst their enemies So in the Lamentations and Micah Make this agree with our question the Soul must be actually given up to its lusts and actually damned Thirdly They were such evils that though they were actually under them yet they might have union with God and live in communion with him though strangers in an enemies Land yet not strangers to God Thus we read of precious Saints in captivity Daniel c. So The Lord is my portion saith my soul Lam. 3.24 My God will hear me Micah 7.7 God would be a Sanctuary to them Ezek. 11.16 though scattered among Heathen promise He will not cast them away nor abhor them Levit. 26.44 Fourthly These evils were means in the hand of God to bring them home to God when they tasted the fruit of their rebellion it helped to bring them to repentance in a strange Land they learned acquaintance with God when they were strangers to him in their own Land thus Ephraim found it or shall find it Jer. 31.18 19 20. Thus God promiseth Isai 27.9 Fifthly They were such evils as they had gracious promises of deliverance from them and they have been in part when the two Tribes and a few of the ten Tribes with them returned and shall be to the life fulfilled when the time of their ingrafting comes Rom. 11.15 24 26. When the Lord shall set his hand Again the second time To recover the remnant of his people Isai 11.11 When Judah and Israel shall be joyned one to another in one stock Ezek. 37.16 17. Sixthly It is very true many of those Saints did humble themselves and accept of that punishment Daniel 9. Ezra 9.13 Nehem. 9.33 And as they so have many of the people of God either attained or laboured to attain a humble submissive quiet spirit under such evils as these Texts speak of not quarrelling or murmuring if they do they repent of it are ashamed they can sometimes kiss the rod put their mouths in the dust profess it is mercy they are living men that God may deal worse with them yet not in Hell causeth blessing of God in all conditions But I pray apply these Texts and these things to our question in hand where the judgments are internal eternal where can be no union nor communion with God no means to bring home the Soul to God from which no deliverance when actually under them as they were of whom those Texts speak whence I see not how these Texts prove the thing in hand Now I come to his Reasons though one clear Scripture had been more then all his Reasons First Else the Lord should not advance the riches of his Grace the advancement of Grace cannot be without the humiliation of the Creature Answ Cannot the Lord advance his Grace unless the Soul now enlightened convinced broken with fears and sorrows emptied of it self apprehending nothing but hell and damnation in it self having neither money to give nor hands to work and finding nothing to fly to but the riches of Mercy and freeness of Grace with the Redemption of Jesus Christ which now the Soul prizes at a high rate cannot the Lord I say advance his Grace now unless this Soul be contented to have no Grace no Love of God but be damned for ever Hath the Lord said so then I shall believe it To what end was all that work of the Spirit was it not to make the Soul quite undone in it self that it might see nothing but Grace and Christ can save it Let us call to thousands and ten thousands of Saints who never heard of this Doctrine till these two Worthies preached it Let us call to those who reading it are much troubled and cannot yield to it as true that God requires it what do you feel within you Is it not Grace the free rich Grace of God glorious in your thoughts Do you not cry out Grace Grace as those Zech. 4.7 Are not the riches of his Grace and Redemption of his Christ the Jachin and Boaz of thy Soul the pillars that bear it up as they did Solomon's Porch 1 Kings 7.21 which if taken away all thy hopes and comforts come tumbling down as the house upon the Philistines heads when Sampson took away the pillars of it Speak O you troubled wounded Christians whose hearts have sunk at the reading of this Doctrine do you not advance and labour every day to advance and think you can never advance enough this freeness of his Grace with the Righteousness and Redemption of his dear Christ Are not these wonderful in your eyes Blessed be God we have our senses our feeling our experience of these things yet we cannot tell how to be content without Gods Love to be given to our lusts and damned eternally Doth not God advance his Grace when we feel we cannot live but are miserable undone damned worse then Toads without it We can never advance the riches of his Grace enough we do acknowledge therefore we desire to see our own vileness more and more daily that we may more speak the praises of this rich Grace If God doth not advance the riches of his Grace in this way I have mentioned I wish he had told us how God doth it though we are poor weaklings and fall short of that measure of Grace he had yet we shall set our sense and feeling against his lines unless he had brought us a word from God that he cannot advance his Grace unless his Creature after all his preparations of it be content quiet well apayed satisfied words Mr. Hooker several times uses without his Love Grace given up to lusts and damned we shall not believe it His second Reason Else the Lord should not be Lord and dispose of his own Grace but a sinful Creature will have the disposal of it Answ I deny the Consequence Unless I be content quiet well satisfied without the Lords Grace he is not Lord of his own Grace Doth Gods being Soveraign of his Grace depend upon my being content without it But I answer secondly That there is such a Truth that the Lord is Soveraign of his own Grace that he will have mercy ou whom he will have mercy we must acknowledge and tremble at it though we know many men cannot digest it but to teach that Soveraignty in this place to a Soul under this work brought now up to the great sense of the want and high prizing of it I think it immethodical To preach it I say in the calling of the Soul home to Christ under the work of Conversion which is our question
have it yet deny you have saving faith or are a believer Christians should be more careful in their denials Secondly That which all Christians are exhorted to that is a duty belonging to all Christians Exhortation implies a duty I ought to do what I am exhorted to But all Christians are exhorted to be assured of their state in Faith Vnion with Christ 2 Cor. 13.5 Effectual Calling and elation 2 Pet. 1.10 Therefore such Christians as the Question speaks of are bound to conclude and not left to their liberty whether they will conclude or not that Christ and pardon are theirs This also to me is clear that the Apostles giving such charge and exhortations to all the Corinthians and all the believing Jews by their examination self-probation diligence to make sure their calling election that Christ was in them and they in the faith the Apostles did not intend that mens assurances could not be had but by absolute promises and such as a Christian did not think of before set home or applyed by the Spirit in that way which some have found or by revelations secret whispers or what some have mentioned for self-examinations and proving of our selves and our diligence have no efficacy or tendency to produce such an effect that comes that way And it should seem by them as if these evidences or assurances though much differing in their strength and clearness should be more familiar with Christians though not alwayes alike but depending upon our humble and reverent walking with God and meet it is that it should be so that those who would enjoy that comfort should walk sutably to it Object But my duty is terminated in my examination proving of my self whether I conclude or not Answ That is not true you have not proved your self till you have concluded What are you Are you a believer or not Are you in Christ or not or is he in you which is all one This you must know and prove this you are bound to which must be by concluding upon your examination for then hath a man performed his duty in examination when he comes to the end of his examination you are to examine and prove your selves to this end to see whether you are not in the Faith Christ in you that you are called and chosen now you have performed your duty and not till now We will suppose as no doubt but there were such amongst them there were some unbelievers and Christless persons amongst the Corinthians they were bound also to examine and prove themselves now if these did not upon examination and proving themselves conclude themselves to be unbelievers and out of Christ and now look out for sound faith and interest in Christ these persons did not answer their duty nor perform what the exhortation called for though they did examine so on the other side nor did the true believer answer his duty till he concluded he was in the Faith and Christ in him that he was called and chosen Thirdly If Christians ought not to conclude their state accoridng to the Question then examination were a vain thing and Christians called and bound to that which is but a vain duty for there is nothing comes of it God hath given man a rational Soul set up his candle and light within him made able to reflect upon it self try and know what is in himself it is able to draw Conclusions from Premises hence when the Lord sets him upon examination he sets him about a rational work to which he hath fitted and enabled him If by it he be able to see the Minor proposition convinced so as he dare not deny but such a work of faith if this be true faith which you have opened as I am sure it is I do feel in me why then is he not as able and ought he not to infer the Conclusion and so perform the duty of examination which is very profitable and not vain as those Christians make it who can come to the Minor proposition and cannot deny it yet wave the Conclusion when as examination respects the Conclusion and hath not its scope and aim till it determines there Fourthly Rejoycing in the Lord thankfulness and praise are duties to which all Christians are bound the Scripture calls upon them in several places to perform these duties The drawing up this Conclusion upon the formentioned Premises is that which is the ground of all these duties when the Christian can say Christ is mine my sins are forgiven God and I are reconciled this Soul and only this Soul is fitted indeed to perform these duties Let once a Christian have his eyes opened to see and Conscience awakened to make him understand his misery let that man rejoyce in the Lord let his mouth be filled with thanks and praise if he can so long as he cannot tell but God is his enemy and Christ a stranger to him no singing of Sions Songs in Babylon the Harps then hang upon the Willows Not yet in Hell this I acknowledge is matter of thanksgiving to a Christian in this condition but if you name all other things outward in this world take other things in Church as Ordinances Church-priviledges these signifie nothing to him Reprobates and Hypocrites have enough of these such whom God will never love tell him of the Gospel a Redeemer manifested precious Promises the more is my torment saith he that there are such things and I have no part in them Let him have what he will he looks on all unless God be my God and Christ be my Christ and I am his but as husks of mercies and God hath but husks of praises If then Christians be bound to these duties then they are bound to this duty which only qualifies them makes them fit to perform them now the man rejoyceth in God now his high praises are in his mouth now for any mercy outward inward he can give thanks I have it in love I have God and Christ in it yea now for the Rod he can yet rejoyce in the Lord when under it while he seeth it is in his Fathers hand and knows he means him only good Conscience bearing him witness that he hath not broken with God to provoke his anger What advantage this is to all the course of a Christian whether in doing or suffering I do not instance I name only such as depend if not wholly yet chiefly upon this To conclude then since Christians are not left to their liberty to determine or not determine of their states certainly those Christians that upon serious examination of themselves do endeavour 1. Chedientially to draw up the sonclusion I say obedientially in conscience of the duty they owe to God as that person I mentioned before who told her Minister on her death-bed I did believe because I dare do no other 2. Humbly in sense of their own vileness baseness and unworthiness let the things be as great as they will if God will be like himself in