that which none denyeth namely that a Beleever is dead to sin before Marriage-union between Christ and the Soul that is before the act of faith for Marriage-union is not without the act of faith on our part which also is acknowledged by them with whoÌ„ this discours argueth But it doth in no case affirm which must be carefully attended to that we are dead to sin before the grace of faith The death of sin is in order after the grace of faith in Vocation The infusion of faith and grace infers the death of sin the immediate effect thereof as the income of life expelled death in the Shunamites child 2 King 4. The Sum is That before our Marriage union with Christ I mean before in order of nature not in time there is first The grace of faith 1. The death of sin 3. The act of faith and this last according to your own grant before the act of faith is both the grace of faith and the death of sin Before the death of sin is the grace of faith Before the grace of faith nothing that is saving Obj. 2. Matth. 13.44 Selling all is placed before buying But by selling we are to understand parting with sin By buying believing Therefore there is a saving Qualification viz. Selling of all or parting with sin before faith Ans In answer to this Objection it will be convenient First to distinguish the terms viz. selling of all or parting from sin which may be applicable and useful for the resolving of sundry other occasional objections and afterwards speak to the Text. The souls selling of all or parting from sin is either before faith viz. Preparatory or Legal so called not always from the means namely the Law by which such a parting with sin is wrought but also from the state of the soul still continuing under the Law notwithstanding any Gospel-work And it is nothing else but such a measurable conviction of the impotency and unprofitableness of all lusts and carnal confidences which the soul before counted gain as that novv it letteth them all go as loss so far as it ceaseth to live upon them any longer Rom. 11.24 Philip. 3.8 Matth. 18.25 Luke 15.14 17. It is the same in effect with a lost estate This preparatory parting from sin is either external consisting in the conforming of the outward man unto the practise of known duties and the restraint of the outward man from knovvn sin Philip. 3.6 2 Pet. 2.20 Or Internal consisting in the legal restraint of the invvard man from sin for this Restraint being understood savingly and properly is in appearance only but not in truth whether to our selves or others together with such spiritual gifts and enlargements as are wrought by the common Gospel-work of the Spirit Or else the souls parting with sin is after faith viz. saving which is threefold 1. Habitual namely the death of sin or destroying of the body of death Rom. 6.6 Chap. 7.14 which is wrought by the infusion of the Spirit of life in Vocation herein the soul is passive it being the immediate effect thereof as the in-come of life was the expelling of death in the Shunamites child Or as the cessation of darkness is the effect of light coming into the air Here is the cessation of the reign of sin 2. Repentance viz. Evangelical part of which consists in sorrow for sin as sin and aversness from sin as sin in which the soul is active 3. Mortification which is a part of Sanctification wherein the soul is also active The Distinction premised the Text remains to be spoken to vvhich being a parable it is seasonable in the interpretation thereof to make use of that generally received and commanded Rule viz. That the principal Scope is to be attended the Metaphors not to be urged above what is consonant to other Scriptures where the same truth is taught in proper and simple terms Calvin Cartwright Junius Chemnitius Piscator Pareus in their Commentaries upon the place seem not to understand conversion to be the Scope of this Parable but rather that it intends the constancy of such who are already converted in the profession of the truth of the Gospel though they should be called to suffer the loss of all yea of life it self in testimony thereunto But be it supposed That Conversion is the Scope of this Parable and so the main intent thereof to be that the soul must part with all that maketh it preparatorily uncapable of believing before it can believe yet selling of all is to be understood of a preparatory not of a saving selling of all 1. Because Selling preparatorily fully answereth the Scope of the place 2. Because Selling savingly is the act of a living spiritual man vvhich none can be vvithout faith as selling civilly is the act of a natural living man Adde hereunto That it being supposed that by buying vve are to understand the first act of faith wherein the soul is active and by selling all a saving parting with sin which yet with due submission to better Judgements appeareth not to be the true meaning of the place yet even this interpretation concludes only a saving selling of all or parting with sin before the act of faith according to the sence of the distinction and as you may please to see therein which is not the matter here controverted but it doth not conclude any saving selling of all or parting with sin before the grace of faith which is the question The Sum of this Ansvver is The Text in that it is a Parable through our infirmity is the more apt to suffer by a mis-interpretation If it be taken in the first sence according to the Commentators above-mentioned it concerns not the question If taken in the latter sence whether selling of all be interpreted preparatorily or savingly it doth not conclude the question that is It doth in no sence hold forth a saving parting with sin before the grace of faith Obj. 3. Salvation is promised unto hungering thirsting poverty of spirit seeking repentance c. which are qualifications preceding faith therefore salvation may be promised to some qualification before faith Ans All Objections raised from these and the like promises vvhereof there are many in the Scriptures may receive a full answer by the right application of the distinction of qualifications into Preparatory or Legal vvhich go before faith And Saving or Evangelical vvhich follow faith intimated before in the beginning of the Answer to the second Objection Accordingly there is a Poverty Luke 4.18 Revel 3.17 A Hunger Luke 15.14 Isai 65.13 A Thirst Isai 65.13 A Seeking Luke 13.24 A Repentance Mark 1.15 Matth. 27.3 All without faith and in judgement of charity before faith viz preparatory poverty Poenitentia Legalis Poenitentia Evangelica Bucan loc 30. Poenitentia Interna salutaris Poenitentia Externa disciplinaris Spanh Exc. de grâ—â—â— Sect. 32. Sitis totalis indigentiae fruitionis complacentiae partialis Ames Coron Art 5. Recipiscentia
electione fides electorum tantū Spanh exer de grat resp ad erot 24. Nam in Dei Decreto haec reciprocātur Christus mortuus est pro credentibus soli sunt credentes pro quibus Christus mortuus est Rhetorf de grat ex 2. c. 2 Twiss de erratis lib. 3. errat 8. S. 2. that is in this present general defection of the whole Nation there is a remnant a portion of Jews made the people of God by effectual vocation according to the Election of grace Faith and vocation in which is faith are expresly mentioned as the effects of election And as many as were ordained to Eteraal life believed Acts 13.48 Called according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 Other faith will not save the many who are only otherwise called are not amongst those few that are chosen Gods willing the futurition of all things is the cause of all things therefore Election which is his will to have mercy of which mercy faith is a part must needs be the cause of mercy which is the whole and consequently of faith which is a part of the whole 1 Pet. 1.20 I obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful 1 Cor. 7.25 2 Tim. 1.9 Redemption is the meritorious cause of faith God according to Order of Justice hath bound himself for Christs sake to give faith unto the Elect Iesa 53.10 Because the active and passive obedience of Christ was not only satisfactory but meritorious both of grace and glory But redemption is the effect of election that which is the cause of the cause is the cause of the effect following from that cause In Gods Decree those two Propositions reciprocate that is they are true both ways for Wards and Backwards Christ died for believers and believers only that is such as are or shall be believers are those for whom Christ died The Elect and Believers are reciprocated that is All that are elected do or shall believe And all that do or shall believe are elected CHAP. XI What is the first saving gift actually applied unto an Elect Soul THe Person of Jesus Christ Mediator together with his Spirit whereof Faith is a principall part is the first saving gift actually applyed unto an elect person All Beleevers have received both the Person of Christ and the Spirit of Christ The Person of Christ Job 1.12 Col. 2.6 1 Joh. 5.12 Rom. 8.32 1 Cor. 6.15 Heb. 3.14 The Spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 10. 2 Cor. 13.5 They receive not his Person without his Spirit nor his Spirit without his Person but both his Person and his Spirit together For the clearing of this Proposition consider 1 What the Person of Christ is 2 What the Spirit of Christ is 3 Why it is called the Spirit of Christ 4 Why Faith is called a principal part of the Spirit of Christ 5 What it is to receive the Person of Christ and what it is to receive his Spirit 6 The Arguments concluding the Proposition By the Person of Christ we are to understand God viz. What the Person of Christ is The second Person in the Trinity and man Mediator in one and that an increated Person By the Spirit of Christ What the Spirit of Christ is we are to understand the universal habitual created frame of inherent saving grace The whole body of renewed saving qualities The saving gifts of the Spirit And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us 1 Joh. 3.24 It is called life Rom. 8.10 The Spirit is Life because of Righteousnesse The Spirit of the command and promise is Life The Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 i.e. The divine qualities of the mind resembling the Nature of God The seed remaining 1 Joh. 3.9 The Image of God consisting of righteousnesse and true holinesse i.e. Of conformity of the understanding and will or the spirit of obedience unto both Tables Eph. 4.24 Col. 3.10 Created in the soul the second time The new man Eph. 4.24 The new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 Here distinguish between the increated Spirit which is the Author the created transient gracious motion of the Spirit which is the efficient cause and saving grace which is the permanent effect thereof It is called the Spirit of Christ Why is it called the Spirit of Christ First Because the Holy Spirit to which the work of saving grace is eminently ascribed notwithstanding it be equally wrought by all the three Persons of the Trinity proceedeth not only from the Father but also from the Son Joh. 14.26 15.26 Gal. 4.6 Secondly Because the motion of the Spirit upon the soul is from Christ as a Head the same individual action proceeds both from the three Persons whose works upon the creature are undivided and from Christ as a Head In the actions of Christ as a Head the whole person acts in way of office the Divine nature principally the Humane nature instrumentally Thirdly Because Christ hath merited the effectual operation of the Spirit Joh. 16.14 15. Fourthly Because the Spirit works according to the wil of Christ Joh. 5.21.26 Joh. 15.26 Fifthly Because the Spirit which we receive in measure is the same in kind with the Spirit which Christ as man received out of measure 1 Cor. 6.17 The soule by faith receiveth the person really and objectively but not personally it were blasphemy so to affirm that is How the soul by faith receiveth the Person of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it apprehends the Person of Christ the immediate object of faith is Christ himself the Divine nature is in the three Persons essentially The second Person of the Trinity dwelleth in the Manhood personally The Spirit is in the Beleever energetically or operatively that is by its saving effects That by faith the soule receiveth the Person of Christ appeareth thus from the nature of Faith whose very being consists in receiving of Christ To receive Christ Jesus as our Lord and Saviour is of the form of faith and principally differenceth it from other saving grace wherewith in respect of its next matter it agreeth we may as well deny a man to be a reasonable creature as deny that the soul by faith receiveth Christ hence faith is called a receiving of Christ John 1.12 Col. 2.6 As therefore by the act of faith the soule actively receiveth Christ so by the habit of faith the soul passively receiveth Christ This appears yet further from the nature of Relates Fides per se est qualitas sed ratione respectus ad objectum vecatur relatio Keck Log. Lib. 1. Sect. 1 cap. 12. faith and the object of faith that is Christ are Relates faith in it selfe considered is a quality but in respect of Christ the object thereof it is a Relate Relates necessarily affirm one the other they are together not onely in time and nature but in knowledge also the one cannot be known without the other as it is impossible to be a Son without an actuall respect unto a
the passive voyce as being received by Christ before he makes mention of himselfe in the active voyce as having actively received Christ Receptie respeciu hominis est vel passiva vel activa Medulla l. 1. c. 26. Upon this Text Doctor Ames grounds that Spiritual and profitable distinction of a double receiving of Christ Passive and Active Passive whereby the Spiritual principle of grace is ingenerated Active proceeding from that ingenerated habit of grace and the operation of God fore-going and exciting thereunto we are received of Christ before we doe receive Christ Christ in working the grace of faith receiveth us by the act of faith we receive him Christ taketh the Soul before the Soul taketh him A third place to the same purpose is Ephes 2.1.5 And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins even when we were dead in sins he hath quickned us together with Christ The infusion of the habit of Faith or Grace into the Soul is the quickning of the Soul until then the Soul is dead as a dead body so a dead Soul is passive in respect of its quickning or being made alive That the infusion of saving faith or saving grace is the infusion of Life appeares thus The Spirit of the Command and Promise viz. that infused grace which inclineth us to obey the Command and receive the Promise is Life the Image of God in Adam which consisted in a conformity to the Command was his spiritual life the spirit of Faith is the spirit of the Command 1 Joh. 3.23 this is his Commandement That we should beleeve on the name of his Son Jesus Christ that it is the spirit of the Promise is out of doubt Joh. 3.33 As the Image of God in Adam which consisted in conformity to the command was his Spiritual life so the Image of God created anew in the Soul is life either this is life or what can be life As the spirit of sinne is the spirit of death so by the rule of contraries the spirit of effectual saving grace is Spiritual life He that hath the Sonne hath life 1 Joh. 5.12 But every Beleever hath the Sonne From the nature of the grace of faith receiving of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour being of the essence and form thereof as a natural principle of natural sense motion and action is natural life so a supernatural principle of supernatural sense motion and action is supernatural life But such a Principle is saving faith and each other saving grace No Life-lesse principle can enable the Soul to a Life-act it cannot be reasonably conceived how a Beleever as a Beleever should not be alive The summe is this text holds forth an Active-quickning Christ enlivening a dead passive Soul So from Scripture the Arguments follow First from the supernatural nature of the Habit of saving faith or of the habitual frame of the New Creature In receiving a supernatural Habit Theologi vocant habirum infusum per se quiaper se sua natusra postulat ita non alitèr fieri suarez Meraph Tom. post disp 44. sect 13 n. 6. or Principle the Soul is passive saving faith or the habitual frame of the New Creature is a supernatural Habit or Principle therefore in receiving saving faith or the habitual frame of the New Creature the Soul is passive Supernatural is that which exceeds the power of Nature and is received of the Soul by way of inspiration only as the gift of Prophecy or both by inspiration and infusion as the habits of grace such habits the Schools call Habits infused of themselves their very nature denying them to be otherwise attained either by acts or any created cause whereby they are distinguished from Habits infused by accident such as are the gifts of Tongues and the gifts of healing which though they are ordinarily acquired and gotten by acts of study and practise yet have sometime been infused as in the Apostles time In receiving that supernatural saving habit or principle before which the soul hath received no supernatural saving habit or principle the soul is passive But the grace of saving faith is such a supernatural saving habit or principle received before which the soul hath received no supernatural saving habit or principle Therefore in receiving the supernatural saving habit or principle of faith the soul is passive From the nature of the subject of saving faith which is wholly unable to confer any causative power towards the producing of such an effect In receiving a miraculous impression the soule is passive but the infusion of the habit of faith or principle of life in Vocation or Conversion is a miraculous impression Vocation is a miracle it being no lesse a miracle to raise a soul from spiritual than a body from natural death therefore in receiving the infused habit of faith the soul is passive notwithstanding God oft-times makes such use as he pleaseth of men in working a miraculous effect in them yet because in such works the whole efficiency alwayes flows from God and none from man Men are passive in receiving such miraculous effects or impressions Moses putting his hand into and plucking it out of his bosome Exod. 4.7 Naamans dipping himself seven times in Jordan 2 King 5.14 conferred no more power to the curing of their Leprosie nor the womans touching the hem of Christs garment Mark 5.28 29. to the healing of her issue of blood than if they had done nothing In receiving that saving power to do before which there is no such active saving power the soul is passive we cannot do any thing whilst we are but yet receiving power to do but in receiving the habit of faith we receive that saving power to do before which there is no such active saving-power Therefore in receiving the habit of faith the soul is passive Vocation is compared to Circumcision of the heart Deut. 30.6 to Creation to powring out of the Spirit so is the habit of faith there called Tit. 3.6 to quickning or making alive As therefore the person circumcised was passive in Circumcision the creature in its creation the subject quickned in its vivification and the subject into which precious water is powred is passive in respect of the water powred thereinto So the soul in Vocation which is all these spiritually as being that work wherein the heart is circumcised quickned hath inherent saving grace created in it and powred out into it by the Spirit must needs be passive The contrary tenet makes us in the creation of faith to be our own creators in part An assertion as full of pride as empty of reason it makes us in part authors of our faith a high degree of spiritual facrilege against the glory of Christ and grace of the Gospel Obj. 1. The Soul before and in receiving of grace is active in respect of the use of means therefore not meerly passive Sol. Passive is taken either absolutely for that which is simply passive and
it selfe Oneness is an affection immediatly flowing from the meer being of a thing whereby it is individed in it selfe and divided from all other beings or things Union is the conjunction of two ones or more into a third being for example sake Ens unum unio take a man consisting of Body and Soul the Soul first hath a being then this singular being and not another then it is united unto the body in a third being namely the person of a man the like is true of the body In Vocation we receive our being in Union is the manner of our being In Vocation we are made Beleevers in Union is considered the order between Christ and Beleevers In Vocation is the foundation of our union in Union is the relation built upon that foundation Inter illa quae convertuntur secundum essendi consequentiam illud est prius quod habet rationem subjecti Alsted Metaph. par 1. cap. 25. In Vocation is the spirit of grace infused in Union this infused spirit is made an in-dwelling spirit Without Union there can be no Communion This necessarily pre-supposeth that things cannot act one upon another that doe not reach one the other they cannot give and take one from another that doe not some way meet together yet here we must know that the contact or mutual touch of things is not alwayes Local when their substances or Bodies doe immediatly touch one another but often-times vertual only when notwithstanding they doe not immediately touch one the other yet they reach one the other in their efficacy Instances whereof we have many in Natural causes as the Loadstone and Iron separated in place yet act one upon another that by attracting this by following In Political matters persons though distant in place one from another yet exercise civil communion in the affairs of this life In Spiritual things as namely in the Sacrament the Body and Blood of Christ is united to the Elements vertually that is by vertue of Divine institution and promise not Locally to deny that were to deny the Sacrament to be a Sacrament to say the last were to affirm Ubiquity whether Transubstantiation with the Papists or Consubstantiation with the Lutherans So here the Person of Christ who in respect of his Body is in Heaven and the persons of his Militant members who in respect both of Souls and Bodies are upon the earth are united to and doe Spiritually touch one another I am the Vine yee are the Branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me yee can doe nothing Joh. 15.5 For the better discerning the order of the dependence of Communion upon Union The order of the dependence of Communion upon Union from whence it floweth we may consider in Union as is also to be done in other relations these foure particulars First The subject of the Relation the person of Christ and the person of the Beleever Secondly The foundation of it on Christs part the Divine institution absolutely considered on our part faith considered only as an infused saving quality in the Soul Thirdly A mutual reference on Christs part superadding a respect to Divine institution whereby according to the appointment of God he looks at the Beleever as his Member superadding also on the Beleevers part a respect unto faith whereby faith which in it selfe is but a quality hath now adhering to it an order to its object whence it looks at Christ as its head In relatis spectanda Subjectum Fundamentum Mutuus ordo Efficacia This mutual order between Christ and the Beleever is the relation it selfe Fourthly The efficacie of the relation The efficacie of a Relation springeth from its foundation the foundation then of this being firstly the absolute grace of God in election and thence flowing downe in the Promise according to the merit of Christ by the effectual operation of the Spirit Needs must the River of life be full ever-flowing Tametsi relatis est ens debilis entitatis tamen est magnae efficaciae and quickning that ariseth from and is mantained by such fountains the influence of the Occan into water-springs of the Sun and Heaven into inferior bodies is not to be compared thereunto Next to the increated Communion of the Trinity in the Divine Essence and the communicated influence from the Divine nature to the Man-hood is the influence of the Lord Jesus Christ unto the members of his mystical body And thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures for with thee is the fountain of Life In thy light we shall see light Psal 36.8 9. As the union between Christ and the soul The excellency of this communion flowing from union so the communion flowing from this union is mystical a glimpse of whose excellency as it readily shineth forth in this place in respect of the subject object and nature thereof so cannot but be of precious and vigorous use to the serious and spiritual Reader as he passeth along The subject thereof is the Catholick Church or body of Christ The Mystical body of Christ is a spiritual Totum The my stical body of Christ what or Whole consisting of the Person of Christ and all the persons of the Elect effectually called both Angels and Men orderly united by the Spirit unto Christ as their Head and in him one unto another after the manner of the body of a man So as from him is supplied grace suitable to their seveveral relations therein for the effectual and perfect communion both of all the members with the Head and of themselves one with another unto the increasing it self with the increase of God The Militant part of the Mystical body of Christ consisting both of Jews and Gentiles make one new man Eph. 2.15 The Mystical body Triumphant is compared to one perfect man Eph. 4.13 Christus omnia ejus membra constituunt unam personam my sticam Tho. quaest disp de gr ch art 7. ad 11. Davenan Coloss 1.24 Christ and all his members are one Mystical Person This innumerable number as they are but one mystical body so they all have but one soul viz. The Spirit of Christ whence they are united in this life sincerely in the life to come perfectly In point of judgement Eph. 4.13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God c. In point of affection 1 Cor. 12.12 Of perfect communion Joh. 17.22 23. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me Stay yet a little and look upon this spiritual and glorious body walk about Christ mystical go round about him tell the Members mark ye well the
there is no Blessednesse God is not God Heaven is not Heaven the Creature according to the best namely the Gospel-dispensation of God is capable of no more needs no more can have no more God in Christ doth no more for Man man needs no more from God Hereby the Soul enters into joy Mat. 25.21 23. which is the rest of the wil in its utmost and perfecting end In this Life joy enters into us the Soul here being larger than its joy in the Life to come we are said to enter into joy as into that whereby our Soul is exceeded and wherein as it were we are contained If in the state of faith the Soul is full of joy unspeakable and full of glory how much more shal it be full and running over in the state of fruition Faith is the best Rhetorick to walk so as whether present or absent we may be accepted of him is the best Elocution to admire is short of the cause a holy astonishment answereth not the object The Apostle telling us the good things laid up for the godly in this life exceed our thoughts 1 Cor. 2.9 we must needs grant that those much better things reserved for us in glory doe farre super-exceed our words The Soul separated Consid 3. The Soul separated upon the instant of its dissolution from the Body enjoyeth c. upon the instant of its dissolution from the Body enjoyeth Blessedness in the presence and sight of God and Christ before the eyes of the dead body are closed the Soul with open eyes beholds the face of Jesus Christ then viz. at death shal the dust return to the earth as it was and the Spirit shal return to God who gave it Eccles 12.7 When Christ giveth up the Ghost he commendeth his Spirit into his Fathers hand Luk. 23.46 When the body of Stephen falleth asleep the Lord Jesus receiveth his Spirit Act. 7.59 This Christ saith and that with an asseveration to the Thief upon the Crosse Luk. 23 43. Verily I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise If our earthly house of this Body be dissolved the Soul enters into a house not made with hands No sooner is the cloathing of Mortality put off but the cloathing which is from Heaven is put on Paul dissolved is with Christ Phil. 1.23 the Souls of those Martyrs and Confessors departing during the persecution of Antichrist who came out of great tribulation and have washed their Robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb are before the Throne of God serving him in his Temple Rev. 7.14 15. that is in his immediate presence For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it Rev. 21.22 The Servants of God may rest assured should Antichrist prevail against them unto death their death should afford them an immediate passage unto happinesse And I heard a voyce from heaven saying unto me Write blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from hence-forth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works dâ—â— follow them Revel 14.13 Christ is in the presence of God Heb. 9.24 Sits upon the Throne with his Father Revel 3.21 The Souls of the Saints departed are with Christ Phil. 1.23 therefore the Souls of the Saints departed are in the presence of God The Angels behold the face of God Mat. 18.10 The Souls departed are with the Angels Revel 4.8 and 5.8 7.9 Heb. 12.22.23 and like the Angels Mat. 22.30 For if their Bodies at the Resurrection are expresly said to be as the Angels we may wel inferre the same concerning their spirits much more agreeing with the nature of Angels therefore the Saints departed see the face of God They that are in the third Heaven are in the presence of God the Saints departed are in the third Heaven they are in Paradise Luk 23.43 which is the third Heaven 2 Cor. 12.2 4. therefore As the Souls of the wicked depart immediately to the place of Torment so the Souls of the Saints depart immediately to the place of Blessedness Lazarus Soul is as soon in Abrahams bosome Luk. 16.22 that is in the Kingdome of Heaven Mat. 18.11 as Dives his Soul is in Hel. Luk. 16.23 For the fuller understanding hereof Bellar. de Beat. Sanct. lib. 1. c. 2. consider these four following Propositions Prop. 1 The Soul considered in it self is a subject capable of happiness It is a subject capable either of Blessedness or Misery the Promise or the Curse Heaven or Hel. It was a good answer of him that upon the proposal of the Question What the Soul was replied I know not Man since the Fall being lesse than himself understands not himself nor wil he fully til he be fully restored to himself in glory yet as a help to our apprehension we may conceive of it after this or the like manner The Soul is a Spiritual substance created after the Image of God indued with the faculties of Understanding Wil Memory and Affections with a power of reflex acting upon it self whereby it knoweth that it knoweth according to the Latitude of the whole revealed Wil and Works of God infused into the body as the form thereof and being separated there-from subsists by it self to be re-united thereunto at the Resurrection to abide as the form thereof for ever More briefly The Soul of the Saints is a Spiritual and Immortal substance created after the Image of God and renewed after the immortal Image of God in Christ The Soul is a Spirit not a Body consisting of matter Luk. 24.39 It is a real and very being as the body is only of a higher kind the Body is of the Earth the Soul is immediately from God It should not prejudice the being of the Soul because it is not visible to our eyes we may as wel question the being of God himself or of the Angels who are invisible or our own selves to be Men for from the Soul it principally is that we are Men or Women It is a substance not depending in respect of its being upon any other Fellow-creature as accidents doe whose being is by having their in-being in another Fellow-creature as their subject It s subsistence exceeds that of the Body the Soul can subsist without the Body but the Body continueth not a Body without the Soul Hence we read of separated Souls but not of separated Bodies The Soul is compared to a large vessel Rom. 9.22 23. as high as Heaven as deep as the earth Prov. 25.3 more capacious than the world Eccles 3.11 As the capacity of a vessel may be learned by the quantity it is able to contain so the understanding of the word of command which considered alone is exceeding broad Psal 119.90 Promise and Curse together with the works of God helps us to conceive of the largeness of the Soul Solomon in respect of his exceeding much understanding is said to have largeness of heart even as the
sand which is by the Sea shore 1 King 4.29 yet Solomons heart compared with Adams innocency or his own Soul now in glory was but a narrow heart Between Pauls Soul in the body and in glory there is as great a disproportion as between a childe and Solomon 1 Cor. 13.11 Prop. 2. The Soul separated dependeth not upon the Body in respect of its operations It dependeth not upon the body for the knowledge either of immaterial or material objects both being present to the Soul either by the essence of things themselves or by their intelligible species or by the Divine essence supplying all species Three things are required to the operation of the understanding 1. An intelligent faculty 2. Light to illustrate the understanding 3 The presence of the object with the understanding whatsoever is understood must be united with and touch the understanding which is done either by the eminent presence of things in the Divine Essence Zanch. de operibus Dei part 3. l. 2. c. 2 so the soul understands in glory or by the formal presence of the very things so the Angels understand themselves and so we as some conceive see the Light or by the similitude or image of the thing commonly called a Species so we understand intelligible objects in this Life The soul whilst it is in the body dependeth not upon any corporcal organ phantasie inward or outward sense as an instrument whereby it understands but as an instrument to represent the object to be understood which representative faculty of the phantasie being performed and that in a more eminent manner either by the Divine Essence it self supplying those Species or by way of infusion of them at or immediately upon the instant of its separation after the manner of the concreated Species of things in Angels or by occasional abstraction of them from objects The soul separated remaineth free to its operations without the use of the body Angels understand material and immaterial objects Angeli cognoscunt materialia per hoc quod sunt in iis per suas spocies intelligibiles The par 1. q. 57. art 1. Piscat praesatin Ezech. by the SPECIES or that which answereth the species of such objects without Corporeal organs In an extasie rapture or trance of which some reckon about five thirty in the Scripture which are spiritual Visions of the soul during that space retiring as it were out of the body or at the least not making any use of the body therein so far is the soul from not understanding at all or from not understanding so well as that it then understandeth best in this life Paul is taken into the third Heaven heareth unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter all which we must needs grant might be done without corporeal organs he himself telling us once and again That whether it was in the body or out of the body he could not tell 2 Cor. 12.2 3. Conimb de de anima l. 3. c. 8. q. 8. art 2. Tollet q. 21. Immaterial Objects may be understood by the soul in the body without corporeal organs or sensible species The soul in its separation from the body undergoeth a privative not a positive change It suffereth a change in respect of its information of the body and operations by the instruments of the body It informed the body before but not now It exerciseth the same operations now that it exercised before though not in the same manner then with but now without the body In the state of glory Tho. 2.2 qu. 175. art 4. Conim de anima l. 3. c. 8. qu. 8 art 3. the soul is free to contemplate materiall objects either in themselves by intelligible and sensible species according to the use of corporeal organs glorified or according to their representation in the Divine Essence As grace doth not destroy but help so glory doth not destroy but perfect nature The soul glorified and reunited to the body at its pleasure useth but dependeth not upon the phantasie for the understanding of material objects Prop. 3. The condition of the body in the state of death prejudiceth not the blessednesse of the soul The soul may be blessed though the body be dead We look too much upon the dead carkass and too little upon the living soul Christs body in the grave interrupts not the happinesse of his soul in Paradise As the body in the grave doth neither good nor evil so it feeleth neither good nor evil It is as if it were not Joseph is not Ger. 42.36 The bodies of the Saints at death cease for ever from sin and from all suffering that is felt there is neither sin nor tear in the grave And from suffering it self at the Resurrection The body is neither sensible of the want of the soul nor doth the soul feel any misse of the body The body is neither sensible of good or evill concerning it self nor concerning the soul the soul though it be not touched with any evill yet it is affected with good concerning the body whilst it looks at it as sown 1 Cor. 15.43 As at rest Isa 57.2 As fallen a sleep 1 Cor. 15.6 As in Covenant with Christ Matth. 22.32 all which phrases are proper to the bodies of the Saints The soul hath no grievance for the absence of the body yet it hath contentation in its Rest and a glad expectation of its future meeting Such is the condition of the body in the grave which yet we must so mind as not forgetting the soul in glory The body is at rest the soul is in blessednesse that the one is at rest hindreth not the blessednesse of the other the body is asleep but the soul putteth forth its perfect operations The body is asleep in the custody of Jesus 1 Cor. 15.18 The soul beholds the face of Jesus Jacobs sleeping body troubleth not his communion with Christ and his Angels Gen. 28. Pauls soul in the third heavens misseth not his body though as may be supposed for the time soul-lesse upon earth 2 Cor. 12.2 The condition of the soul dissolved in the Lord is as it were a blessed rapture lasting from our dissolution to our resurrection though the grave be a land of darkness as darkness it self and of the shadow of death without any order where the Light is as darkness Job 10.22 yet is not that long-home of the body so dark and disorderly as the everlasting home of the soul is light and beautiful The godly soul prepared should be no more afraid of death in regard of the body than of its fall into a kindly sleep after weary labour and as glad of dissolution in respect of it self as of going to be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1.23 Prop. 4. The soul from the instant of its dissolution is freed from all imperfections of sin sorrow and infirmity God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes Rev. 7.17 The spirits of just men
17.2 Luk. 9.31.33 Mar. 9.6 The power of the Body containeth vigor activity strength Dos Agilitatis and aptnesse for the Soul to act by Their vigor shal always last in the flower height and excellence of it always in its most absolute and perfect efficacy that which we read of Moses Deut. 34.7 and which Joshua speaks of himself Chap. 14.11 shal be verified concerning glorified Bodies in a more excellent manner Eliah is as lively and fit for action now as at the first moment of his entring into glory Their activity and aptness to action exceeds what we can wel conceive all the Saints in Heaven are such as Pharaoh enquired after Gen. 47.6 persons of activity Much is the activeness which at times God hath been and is pleased to give to Mortal bodies Eliah the hand of God being upon him runneth and out-runneth Ahabs Charriot making haste as is likely that the rain stopt him not 1 King 18.46 Asael was as light of foot as a wild Roe 2 Sam. 2.18 They in their immortal estate shal be like the Sun in respect of its brightness why not in respect of its motion which the Learned allow to move a Million and one hundred sixty thousand miles in an hour if so swift may be the motion of Natural Bodies how swift the motion of Glorious Bodies shal be we shal know when we come to make use of it Vbivolet Spiritus ibi protinus erit corpus August Haec igitur Dos erit facultatis quod potuerunt facere se movere momento quodcunque quocunque volunt Paraeus in 1 Cor. 15 43. out of the Scripture it appears that Angels in their assumed Bodies have moved very swiftly Elias when departing out of the Disciples sight toward Heaven not by assumption that is by extrinsecal help as in fiery Chariot but by the ascension according to the inherent Principle and vertue of his glorified Body Luke 9. goeth up to the cloud easily and quickly and Christ is quickly out of their sight Act. 1.9 As is their condition so also is their strength Sampson yet in a Mortal body makes no more of Cords about his arms than of Flax burnt with fire takes the doors of the Gate of the City and the two Posts Barre and all and put them upon his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the hil Judg. 16.3 breaks the Wit hs as a thread of Towe is broken when it toucheth the fire ver 9. goeth away with the pin of the Beam and with the Web c. May we not wel conclude that the weakest in glory shal be stronger than Sampson in his great strength the Bodies subjection to the Soul is its exquisite aptness and readiness as an instrument for the Soul to operate by with all dexterity and promptness without all retarding and hinderance The distribution of the Body into Natural Dos Subtilitatis Animal and Spiritual is a distribution of the subject in respect of the Adjuncts concerning the manner of the living of the Body before and after the Resurrection and is as if you should say Here it liveth an Animal life after the manner of Sensitive Creatures maintained by Meat Drink Sleep and the like in the necessary observation whereof a great part of our little time if not neer the one half is spent and from the use whereof Adams body in innocency was not exempt but hereafter the Body shal live after the manner of Spirits having no need or use of these things Jesus said unto them You doe erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God for in the Resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the Angels of God in heaven Mat. 22.29 30. Moses though in a corruptible body liveth without bread whilst he is with God in the Mount Que. Consider 6. Whether the blessedness of the Soul shal be greater after the Resurrection than it was before Ans The blessedness of the Soul is considered either Extensively in regard of the extent thereof reaching unto the Body the glory of the Body being an addition of joy unto the Soul in which sense the Soul may be said to be more blessed after the Resurrection than before Or intensively consisting in the Vision of God Valentia To. 2. p. 1. q. 4. punct 2. which is the Essence of Blessednesse it self In this respect the blessedness of the soul is the same both before and after the Resurrection there being the same principle namely the glorified understanding with the concurrence of the light of glory The same subject viz. The blessed soul the same object viz. God and Christ Blessednesse is either essential which consists in the Beatifical Vision it self or accidental comprehending together with Essenital blessednesse those adjuncts of blessednesse which are both antecedent and consequent to the Resurrection in the latter sense the soul may be said to be more blessed after the Resurrection than before The Essential blessednesse of the soul is the same after the Resurrection with that which was before the Resurrection but the joy of the soul after the Re-union of the body and those Adjuncts of blessednesse which are consequent thereunto will be greater than it was formerly We may distinguish between the blessednesse of the person and the blessednesse of the soul the blessedness of the person which consists both of soul and body shall be greater though the Essential blessedness of the soul be the same The frequent consideration of the state of the blessed is useful many wayes Amongst others 1 To provoke us to labour to be such as may be made meet for this inheritance of the Saints that is in light 2 To endeavour to attain and retain the earnest of the Spirit whence we may alwayes be able to say We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 3 To fill the soul with strong consolation against the sufferings of life and the fear of death 4 To work an answerable conversation That whether absent or present we may so walk as we may be accepted of him 5 To dispose us to a patient waiting for and longing expectation of our change which draweth on apace Here it may not be unworthy the labour to reminde the strong impression which the contemplation of immortality hath left upon the hearts of Heathen Good Authors report of some Indians so affectionately moved with the immortality of the soul separated from the body as that impatient of staying for their dissolution by a natural death they with their own hands built those piles of wood wherein their bodies were to be burned and then behold them set on fire accounting them wisest that dyed soonest The hearers of one Hegesias of Cyrene reading of his Oration touching the state of the soul after death were so taken with it that they looked at death as a thing to be desired Socrates at the point of suffering death
THE Orthodox Evangelist OR A TREATISE Wherein many Great EVANGELICAL TRUTHS Not a few whereof are much opposed and Eclipsed in this perillous hour of the Passion of the Gospel Are briefly Discussed cleared and confirmed As a further help for the Begeting and Establishing of the Faith which is in Jesus As also the State of the Blessed Where Of the condition of their SOULS from the instant of their Dissolution and of their Persons after their Resurrection By JOHN NORTON Teacher of the Church at Ipswich in New England For I determined not to know any thing amongst you save Jesus Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 Moreover I will endeavour that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance 2 Pet. 1.15 LONDON Printed by John Macock for Henry Cripps and Lodowick Lloyd and are to be sold at their shop in Popes head Alley neer Lombard street 1654. Norton's Orthodox Evangelist To the Church and Inhabitants of Ipswich in New-England Grace and Peace in our Emanuel Worshipful Reverend and dearly beloved in our Lord and Saviour PAuls desire to make known nothing but Christ unto the Corinths his Travail until Christ was formed in the Galatians with other like speeches of him that breathed nothing but Christ What were they else but the effects of that Savior-like disposition wherewith the Lord Jesus still inspires the Instrumental Saviours of Mount Sion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Ministerial Spirit rested not only upon that great Doctor of the Gentiles but also rests and acts in its measure in all the Ministers of the Gospel for the calling and compleating of the Elect until we all come to be a perfect man So as there is not to be found a more vigorous effusion of the Bowels of Jesus in any of the hearts of the children of men then is in the souls of the Ministry no bowels either of civil or natural relations exceed theirs the love of them is wonderful surpassing the love of Ionathan that passed the love of women By the unbosoming hereof as with a key the Apostle in his Epistle opens the heart of the Reader whilst the Colossians behold the spirit of the writer Col. 2.2 I would to God ye knew what great conflict I have for you Hence I hope in its measure is this present labor for the truths sake for your sake for the sake of any that in the Lord shall accept thereof and for conscience sake To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world to bear witness unto the truth So our Lord Jesus notwithstanding the Truth was that which the Jews then maligned and Pilate derided see the Spirit of Christ an Hypocrite and a Moralist the difference between piety Malignity and neutrality concerning the truth Nothing is more contended for nothing more contended against then the truth The Gospel truth as it is most dear to God so is it most oppugned by Satan As the Attribute of the Holy One is the Spirit of truth So the wicked one is called a lyar from the beginning Concerning it are the greatest thoughts of heart the most intense endeavors of Tongues Pens and Swords It being much more beloved of its followers then Life and more hated of its opposers then death Truth is the excellency of things where truth is there may be a bad action but where truth is not there cannot be a good action Paul supposeth a man may give his Body to be burned in a good cause and it profit him nothing 'T is not the suffering and the cause alone both suffering cause and Spirit must concur to make a Martyr In a bad cause it holds universally Who hath required these things at your hand Mans interpretation of the Scripture is not Gods mind but mans mistake To confess and suffer in testimony to an error is to be a false-witness not truths witness Pleaders for error not Pillars of the truth To add to the profession of error suffering for it is to add sin unto sin The latter error worse then the first Such sufferers are so far selfe-vassals not Christs Martyrs Such sufferings unto spoyling of goods bonds exile the wilderness or whatsoever are worse then lost a dead birth after sore travel is a double wo Such tears must be wept for again this ungodly sorrow is not to be undone without godly sorrow We may build and work but if it be Wood Hay Stubble we shall suffer loss our work must be burnt though our selves be saved yet as by fire The Scripture mentions Little children Children young-men men Fathers and a perfect man in Christ as concerning your selves unto whom the dreadful bond of office hath endebted me the weakest of many to make known unto you the truth of the Gospel what hath my soul longed or labored for more after your birth in Christ then that you should be not only Babes but men both sound and strong in the faith Sincere and distinct that Christ might not only be formed but perfected That you might not onely have a saving but a satisfactory knowledg of him in whom you beleeve The end of the Gospel is to be known the duty and disposition of the Beleever is to know Even Fundamental Truths which have been the same in all generations have been and shall be transmitted more clear from age to age in the times of Reformation until that which is perfect is come and that which is imperfect be done away Vid. Greynaei praefat locis com Zeged praefix pag. 5. The truth held forth is the same though with more of Christ and less of man Such addition is no innovation but an illustration not new light but new sight The looking glass slurred and cleared more or less is the same glass Columbus did not make a New World when he made a new discovery of the old World Truth wants so much of its glory as it is unseen The understanding wants so much of its perfection as it is short in seeing thereof The Members of the New man have their joynts joynts not fully set are painful and less useful All unbeleif is presumption not faith which hinders nourishment and genders humor Grace Glory and Glorification hold proportion with the truth Though knowledg may be without grace yet there can be no grace without knowledg According to the measure of our approach to an exact total and Adequate Union of the understanding with the truth of the Gospel So is the glory of the truth beleeved and the Communion of the Soul beleeving Men need strong meat at well as Babes need Milk though he who is but a Babe hath not the knowledg of a man yet he that is a Babe labours after the knowledg of a man Babes rest not in being Babes I have endeavored to say something that might entertain the stronger yet so as I hope I have scarce said any thing that weaker capacities may not with due attention attain unto Solid meat
Being of himself and also his giving Being to all creatures and to his Word both Promises and Threatenings 2. Iah Psal 68.4 signifying that God is an absolute Being of himself and gives Being to all creatures 3. Ehjeh asher Ehjeh Exod. 3.14 I am that I am or I will be that I will be It signifieth Gods eternal and unchangeable Being in himself and that he is now and will be for ever that which he was before to Abraham Isaac and Iacob To this Name Christ alludeth Iohn 8.58 Before Abraham was I am 4. El Isai 9.6 signifying that God hath all Power in himself and giveth to all creatures the power which they have 5. Eloah Psal 18.32 of the same signification 6. Elohim Gen. 1.26 signifying that he is the Object of divine Worship he that alone hath power to make happy and miserable it is a word of the plural number aptly pointing us unto a plurality in the divine Essence and so may note the mystery of the Trinity or three Persons of the divine Essence 7. Adonai Psal 2.4 Lord it is also of the plural number and signifieth the absolute Lordship of God also that God sustaineth and upholdeth all things and so holdeth forth the proof of his Providence 8. Shaddai Gen. 17.1 signifying the Alsufficiency of God or that God is he who is alsufficient wanting nothing and able to provide for all 9. Iehovah Tsebaoth Lord of Hoasts who as is well observed hath two general Troops as his Horse and Foot the upper and the lower Troop or the creatures above and beneath already prest and ordered waiting for the word to do him service 10. Ghnel-jon Psal 9.2 translated the most High signifying that God in his Being and Glory is far above all creatures The first three come from Being Pasor in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The second three from Power The third three from Government The last is from Eminence In the New Testament two Names are more especially observable Theos Mat. 4.7 God signifying a Being that is to be feared of all which disposeth of all things and beholdeth all things Kurios Col. 4.1 Lord or Master signifying that God is the only Lord and hath absolute power over all creatures The divine Attributes are certain essential Properties which God is pleased in Scripture to ascribe or attribute unto himself they are also called the Perfections of God or divine Predications or Titles They are not distinguished from the Essence really but notionally that is they are not distinguished at all in God but only to us-ward according to our manner of conceiving All the Attributes in God are one and the same Perfection It is better said of God that he is his Attributes then that he hath Attributes The Attributes are not distinguished in God but in our manner of understanding Est inadequatus conceptus sed non falsus See Weemse Of the Image of God in man cap. 13. who being unable to comprehend that meer act at once do conceive thereof after the manner of many acts The Sun when it is perpendicular had it an eye would behold all that at once which we by reason of the inadequateness and unproportionableness of our sight are necessitated to view by parts In God all things are one and the same according to the Nature of God though out of God many and divers according to their own proper and created nature The same heat in the Sun produceth divers effects according to the various disposition of the objects Hardness in Clay softness in Wax Life in Insects and Plants c. The same lines are one in the Center but distinguished and multiplyed in the Circumference Water that is the same in the Sea out of the Sea is variously and diversly qualified sweet bitter Sulphureous c. The matter in the Liver is the same but the four humors of Blood Choller Melancholy and Flegm that proceed from thence are very divers The Soul which is one and the same produceth very differing effects as appears in the operations of the understanding will and affections The sum is The Attributes as was said before are not distinguished in God that is from the divine Essence or one from another really but only notionally or virtually in our conception and in their objects in respect of the various effects thereupon For every and all the Attributes are the divine Essence it self according to that received Proposition Fenner Theol lib. 1. c. 3. Alsted Theol. sect 3. loc 2. Zanch. de Nat. Dei lib. 2. cap. 5. qu. 2. Whatsoever is in God is God And this is the reason why some well describe the Attributes from the Essence of God which manner of description besides many useful notions clearly intimated thereby doth in the describing of the Relative Attributes principle and fortifie the understanding against that perilous Tenet of Arminianism concerning the Decree passing upon good or bad foreseen with the evil consequences following thereupon The divine Attributes though they can neither exactly be numbered or distributed yet for our better understanding we may consider of them as Negative Relative Positive Negative Attributes are such as remove from God all imperfection Negative Attributes by these we help our understanding in our meditation of God by way of Negation The more principal of them are in number five viz. Simplicity Eternity Immensity Immutability Infiniteness to which or some of which any other of like nature may conveniently be referred Simplicity is God one meer and perfect act without all composition God calleth his Name I am Exod. 3.14 that is meer Essence wherein is nothing past nor to come Because spirits are immixt in respect of bodies to shew that he is not compounded he saith he is a Spirit Iohn 4.24 When we say that God is a meer and perfect Act the meaning is that God is a Cause without any Cause a Being that is not from any Being not compounded of an Act by which he is and Possibility by which he might not have been or may not be of whom it never could nor can be said that any thing was to be in him which was not or cannot be that is That God is a pure and simple Act without all composition is evident Because of his Perfection all composition supposeth imperfection because he is the first Being Were there any composition in God it would follow there were first and second in God Something in God that were not first or that there were more first Beings Because God is a Being of absolute necessity Deus est ens necesse esse Smising de Deo uno tr 2. disp 2. n. 49. Composition implyeth either that there must be more Beings of absolute necessity or that there is something in God that may not be Composition supposeth Succession i. e. something past or to come in God contrary to his Name I am Nay it supposeth that not-being is not repugnant to the Nature of God Where there is Composition
there may be Dissolution Dissolution is the way to not-being It much helps us in the contemplation of the Simplicity of God to look upon it as opposed to Composition all the ways whereof the Learned have referred to these seven Heads Composition is either of 1. Parts which are bounded by quantity as a body having one part upon another 2. Matter and Form as a man of body and soul these two compositions are only found in corporeal things 3. General and special Nature as every species whose common nature is to be found in some other thing where the special nature is not as a living creature and a man 4. Dicimus deum esse bonum justum veracem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 creaturam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alsted Metap Part. 1. cap. 23. A Subject and an Accident as every created substance There are no accidents in God he is wise holy just essentially there is not a substance and a quality in him When God is said only to have Immortality 1 Tim. 6.16 it is to be understood by way of Eminency he so hath it as none hath besides him he hath it originally not derivatively and by participation 5. An Act and a Possibility objective that is to be if the thing looked at as yet is not in being or passive that is not to be though that not-being never shall be if the thing be looked at as in actual being this composition holds concerning Angels 6. A Person and Nature as Christ compounded of the divine Person and humane nature which yet is not properly composition of parts but of number 7. Being and Individuation that is that by which we have such a particular Being as humanity and Peter Obj. Where there is a Plurality there is not Simplicity But in the divine Nature there is a Plurality therefore Ans The Objection holds where there is a plurality of Essences Beings or things but not where there is only a plurality of Subsistences In the divine Nature though there be a Trinity therefore a plurality of Subsistences or Persons yet there is but one Essence In the Trinity there is distinction but not composition Obj. 2. The Attribute of Simplicity concludes that all the Attributes are God himself and consequently that there is no inequality amongst them yet we read that his tender mercies are over all his works so as it may seem Mercy exceeds the other Attributes Ans The meaning is that his mercy is over that is upon all his works not that Gods Mercy exceeds all his other Attributes as if one Attribute were greater then another for all the Attributes of God are equal not one higher or greater then another because they are all God himself From the Simplicity of God it followeth 1. That whatsoever is in God is God 2. Whatsoever God willeth he willed from Eternity and always willeth 3. Whatsoever God willeth he willeth simply absolutely and independently 4. God is Justice Wisdom Love c. essentially although he be said to have them eminently yet he hath them not derivatively Eternity is God without beginning without end and without all manner of succession there is nothing past nor to come It was well said of him who unto the question Quid autem sit aeternitas quaerat aliquis Hîc si respondeam per verbum modestiae nescio recta ingenia per se intelligent a byssum esse What was Eternity answered by that word of modesty I know not It is the measure without measure of the duration of God according to our apprehension Three things are requisite thereunto viz. to be without Beginning without End and without all Change An unalterable and independing Duration It is all at once where there is nothing past nor to come A remaining NOW Duration is either increated viz. Eternity proper to God or created viz. Eviternity the duration of the blessed in Glory or Time which is the duration of the corruptible creature Eternity is a Duration consisting of an eternal NOW without beginning and without ending there is nothing past nor to come Eviternity is a Duration having a continuing NOW with a beginning but without ending The duration of Angels and of the Blessed in respect of their persons and substances admit of no instant concerning which it can be said that it is past but in regard of their operations and other accidents their duration admits of succession Time is a successive Duration having a beginning and ending without any remaining NOW Immensity is God present every where neither included in Deus est sphaera cujus centrum est ubique circumferentia nusquam Enter proesenter Deus â—ic â—bique potenter nor excluded from any place or thing Psal 139.7 Isai 60.1 God is a Sphere whose Center is every where the Circumference no where God is no where and God is every where he is no where in that he is not contained any where he is every where in that he containeth all Hence God in respect of his Omnipresence is compared to an infinite Point God is in every place by his Essence as the universal Cause of the Being and operation of all things by his Presence beholding all things and by his Power upholding all things Besides that Omnipresence of God whereby he is always present with all creatures there are certain peculiar ways of his presence with divers creatures In Christ he dwelleth bodily that is personally Col. 2.9 and filleth the Manhood with the Spirit out of measure Iohn 3.34 In the Saints he dwelleth as in his Temple by the presence of his indwelling Spirit the effect of his special grace 1 Cor. 3.16 He is said to dwell in Heaven because it is the place wherein he is pleased to manifest his glory immediately and in most excellent manner unto the blessed God is said to come to us and depart from us not in respect of his universal Presence or change of place but in respect of the degrees of his in-dwelling Spirit assisting grace and other special effects of his favour towards his people The same also holds true in respect of the common effects of the Spirit in regard of others Bodies are in places circumscriptively bounded by their dimensions without penitration Angels are in places definitively that is though they are not bounded by dimensions of height bredth and depth as bodies yet they are not in two places at once whilest they are in this place they are not in another God is in every place always Immutability is God without any alteration in respect of Being Will or any Accidents Psal 102.27 28. Mal. 3.6 Jam. 1.17 With whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning Obj. God might have willed or not willed the being of the creature else he were not free He that may both will and not will is mutable The sum is the liberty and immutability of God seem not to consist together Ans That immutability and liberty consist together Vide Smisin Tr. 2. disp
that nothing shall separate as Sarcerius came to Camerarius his wife when she had been exercised with a long and tedious conflict and read to her the latter end of the eighth of the Romans she brake out in triumph using Pauls words Nay in all these things we are more then Conquerors Oh Christians neither sin nor Devil nor world can divide you from Christ for he * Rom. 16.20 did not only tread down Satan but under your feet 3. In times of great danger and defection either through error and persecution as Saunders trembled to think of the fire especially when others fall fearfully who were before us in knowledg and profession of zeal and piety when the first become last when glorious Luminaries are eclipsed and leave their orb and station as the Martyrs were troubled to hear of the revolt of some great Scholers that had appeared for the Gospel When Hymeneus and Philetus two eminent Professors fell there was a great shaking 2 Tim. 2.18 But the foundation of the Lord standeth sure c. that 's the comfort the Apostle opposeth in such a case 4. In times of disheartening because of the difficulties of Religion when the use of means groweth troublesom to quicken you in your Christian course think of the unchangeableness of Gods love all graces rise according to the proportion and measure of faith loose hopes weaken endeavors 1 Cor. 9.26 I run not as one uncertain Those that ran a race gave over when one had far out-gone them as being discouraged and without hope When hope is broken the edg of endeavors is blunted Go on with confidence you are assured of the issue God will bless you and keep you to his everlasting Kingdom 5. In the hour of death when all things else fail you God will not fail you this is the last brunt do but wait a little while and you will find more behind then ever you en joyed death shall not separate as Olevian comforted himself with that * Vide Scultetum in Isai 54. Isai 54.10 The hills and mountains may depart but my loving-kindness shall not depart from you being in the agonies of death he said Sight is gone speech and hearing is departing feeling is almost gone but the loving-kindness of God will never depart The Lord give us such a confidence in that day that we may dye glorying in the Preservation of our Redeemer VERSE II. Mercy unto you and Peace and Love bemultiplyed VVE are now come to the third thing in the Inscription and that is the form of salutation delivered as all Apostolical salutations are in the way of a prayer In which we may observe 1. The matter of the prayer or blessings prayed for which are three Mercy Peace and Love 2. The manner or degree of enjoyment be multiplyed I begin with the matter or blessings prayed for It will not be altogether unuseful to observe that diversity which is used in salutations In the Old Testament peace was usually wished without any mention of grace as Psal 122.8 For my brethrens and companions sake I will say Peace be within thee and ◠an 6.25 Peace be multiplyed unto you But in the times of the Gospel grace being more fully delivered that was also added and expressed in the forms of salutation but yet in the times of the Gospel there is some variety and difference Sometimes you shall meet with a salutation meerly civil as James 1.1 To the twelve Tribes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 greeting so Acts 15.23 which was the usual salutation among the Heathen but most usually 't is * Rom. 1.17 grace and peace and in other places grace mercy and peace as 2 John 3. and 1 Tim. 1.2 and here it differeth from them all for 't is mercy peace and love And Causaubon observeth that the Greek Fathers if they wrote to a carnal man they would wish him grace but not peace if to a godly man they would wish him grace and peace too To touch upon these things is sufficient From these Blessings mentioned in this place I shall observe something in general and then handle them particularly and apart First In the general Consideration you may observe 1. Observat 1. That spiritual blessings are the best blessings that we can wish to our selves and others The Apostles in their salutations do not wish temporal felicity but spiritual grace Gods people pray for one another out of the communion of the Spirit and for themselves out of a principle of the divine Nature and therefore they do not seek wealth and honour for themselves or one another but increase of Gods favour and Image 'T is true Nature is allowed to speak in prayer but grace must be heard first our first and chiefest requests must be for mercy peace and love and then * Mat. 6.33 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an additional supply like paper and pack-thread which is given over and above the bare gain other things shall be added to us the way to be heard in other things is first to beg for grace Psal 21.4 He asked life of thee and thou gavest him length of days for ever Solomon sought wisdom and together with it found riches and honour in great abundance Well then if thou prayest for thy self make a wise choyce beg for spiritual blessings so David prayeth Psal 106.4 Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thine own people nothing less would content him then Favorites mercy other blessings are dispensed out of common pity to the generality of men but these are mercies privilegiate and given to Favorites now saith David of this mercy Lord no common blessing would serve his turn So Psal 119.132 Look upon me and be merciful to me as thou usest to do to those that love thy Name Surely that which God giveth to his people that 's a better mercy then that which God giveth to his enemies Again these are mercies that cost God dearer they flow to you in the Blood of his own Son yea they are mercies that are better in themselves wealth and honour may become a burden yea life it self may become a burden but not mercy not grace not peace of Conscience and therefore they are better then life Psal 63.3 then wealth then honour none ever complained of too much mercy of too much love of God These are blessings that swallow up other miseries yea the loss of other blessings grace with poverty 't is a * James 1.9 preferment peace of Conscience with outward troubles is an happy condition if there be a †2 Cor. 1 5. flowing of spiritual comforts as there is an ebbing of outward comforts we are not much wronged therefore first seek these blessings Again If you pray for others pray for grace in the first place that 's an evidence of spiritual affection Carnal men wish such things to others as they prize and affect themselves so also do gracious men and therefore their thoughts run more
of himself as it is a great sin for the greatest sinner to be without hope in respect of Christ Carnal presumption of mercy because our sins are comparatively little lessens the demerit of sin Despair of mercy because our sins are great lessens the Merit of Christ A mans nearness unto or remoteness from the participation of grace according to Gods ordinary Dispensation is not to be judged according to his Commission of more or fewer sins but according to his proceeding in the preparatory work A man may have committed many sins yet being Ministerially disposed in respect of the receiving of Grace he is near to salvation A man may have committed fewer sins yet being without the preparatory Work of Law and Gospel he is far from salvation 'T is not a mans former commission of sin but his continuance in sin that keeps him far from salvation For the fuller clearing the description of Free-grace some Objections are to be removed the former whereof concern the Freeness of grace in respect of Election the other in respect of the Application of the good of Election i.e. that good whereunto we are elected Obj. 1. Ephes 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the world Here the Apostle seemeth to make Christ the Cause of Election therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though it be be rendred through in English 'T is in in the Greek Election is not a free act Ans The Particle In is not always taken causally 2 Thes 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth i. e. in sanctification and belief of the truth as the way not as the cause of salvation True the Apostle saith We are elected in Christ but he saith not That we are elected for Christ We are said to be elected in Christ because Christ is the Meritorious cause of the Application of the good of Election so that in Christ in this place is the same with by Christ 1 Thes 5.9 For God hath appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ 'T is here said We are saved for Christ because Christ is the cause of our salvation but 't is not said We are elected for Christ because Christ is not the Cause of Election To be elect in Christ and to be elect for Christ are not to be confounded * Est quaedam Dei Dilectio erga nos unde profecta est Missio Christi John 3. Twiss vind grat de elect lib. 1. part 2. deg 3. Sect. 1. Etenim ex dicto Petri constat ChristuÌ„ ut MediatoreÌ„ qualis hic consideratur non esse praedèstinationis causam sed effectum 1 Pet. 1.20 Pisc de praedest N. 97. Meritum Christi nonest absolutum Cham. To. 3. l. 9. c. 1. S. 7. That we may rightly discern this truth of so spiritual and high a nature we must carefully distinguish between Election and the Application of the good of Election between Gods Act of willing grace and glory to be applyed and the actual application of grace and glory willed by God God electeth that is he willeth grace and glory to be applyed unto his people without any respect of the Merit of Christ as a Cause or Motive of that volition but the actual Donation and Application of that grace and glory is for the Merit sake of Jesus Christ Christ is the Effect of Election or of the Love of God but he is the Cause of the salvation of the Elect. He is the Effect of Election therefore called a Servant and said to be elect of God Behold my Servant whom I uphold my Elect in whom my soul delighteth Isai 42.1 His Incarnation Heb. 10.5 His Office John 6.27 His Acceptation in that Office Jes 53.10 all proceeds from the Love of God Election is God himself electing according to that received and regulating Proposition Whatsoever is in God is God To say then That Christ is the Cause of Election or of the Love of God were to say There might be given a Cause of God yea that God is an Effect and consequently that God is not God God hath ordained that the Merit of Christ should be the cause of our salvation but he hath not ordained that Christ should be the Meritorious cause of his so ordaining which implyeth a manifest contradiction Christ then is the Cause of the gift of Eternal life but not of Gods Will to give Eternal life unto us Christ is the Cause of salvation but not of Gods Decree to save Christ Ephes 1.4 is made the Cause of Sanctification And 1 Thes 5.9 he is made the Cause of Salvation but he is no where made the Cause of our Election Christ is the Meritorious Cause the Application of all spiritual Benediction in Heavenly places but not of Election Obj. 2. Ephe. 1.6 To the prayse and glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved If accepted in Christ then loved only in Christ therefore Christ is the cause of Gods Love Ans The Love of God is taken for the Act of Love it self viz. Election or for the effect of his love viz. Vocation Justification c. Christ is the cause of the latter not of the former By Acceptation in this place we are to understand Justification of which Christ is the cause He is the cause why we are justified but he is not the cause of Gods Decree to justifie us Gods special Love is his Will to bestow all saving good upon us All which good he willeth to us without Christ as a cause of his volition but not without Christ as a cause of the application thereof 'T is the same Volition or Act of Willing in God by which he willeth the Being of a Mediatour and the Salvation of the Elect for the Merits sake of this Mediatour The Salvation of the Elect is not the last end of the Merit of Christ but Gods Supream end is the Manifestation of the glory of his grace in a way of mercy tempered with justice whereunto both the Merit of Christ and the Salvation of the Elect conjoyned are the means and make one fit Medium thereunto Like Objections from some other Texts of like nature may receive the like answer Notwithstanding it be a truth That Christ is not the cause of Election yet it is also a fundamental Truth That Christ is the Meritorious cause of the Application of the good of Election 1 Thes 5.9 2 Cor. 1.20 Acts 4.12 Particulo gratis excludu tur merita nostri non Christi Bucan loc 31. quest 16. Foedus graetiae nullaÌ„ propriè dictam aut antecedentem conditimem requirit Med. cap. 22. th 19 Ex tali inquam conditione si pendereÌ„t promissiones Dei actum esset de salute nostra Coron artic 4. cap. 3. Cham. Tem. 3. lib. 15. c. 3. 5. Si feceris hoc vives parâ—icula si est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Father so it is impossible there should be faith without an actuall I say not active receiving of Christ As it is a truth That he that hath the Son that is the Person of the Son hath Life so it is a truth That he that hath Life hath the Son because he that hath not the Son hath not Life Joh. 5.12 But every Believer as a Beleever hath Life for it were a strange thing even in notion to suppose a dead Beleever Therefore every Beleever hath the Son He that hath Christ for his Head hath the Person of Christ But every beleever hath Christ for his Head because every beleever is a member of Christ now a member cannot be without a Head therefore every beleever hath the Person of Christ As when God actually makes us his people he actually makes himselfe our God so when the Lord Christ actually makes us his people he makes himself our Lord and Head But in vocation he makes us his people It is a confessed truth that beleevers are not made partakers onely of the gifts of Christ but also of the Person of Christ It holds forth a sweet correspondence with that truth Col. 1.18 That in all things he Christ might have the preheminence that we should not be made partakers of any of his saving gifts before we are made partakers of his Person How shall not he with him give us all things Rom. 8.32 Not any saving thing given from him without the gift of him The soule rests not in saying Vocation is mine Justification is mine Sanctification is mine but in saying Christ is mine Ruth had refreshing in Boaz his kindnesse Ruth 2.14 but not Rest chap. 3.1 untill she had Boaz himself It is a Harlots practice first to have conjugal communion and then to be united and married to the Person But we first must be married to the Person and then have conjugal communion In Vocation we receive Christ in union we are joyned with Christ in the same spiritual third Being by communion we receive from Christ and returne unto Christ now being ours and united unto us By Vocation Christ is in us by union Christ dwelleth in us by communion he communicates the benefits of a Head unto us As we receive the Person of Christ objectively so we receive the Spirit of Christ formally What it is to receive the Spirit of Christ For the soul to receive the Spirit of Christ is for the soul so to be made partaker thereof as to become the formal subject of that universal habitual created frame of inherent saving grace or whole body of renewed saving qualities of which before in the second Particular whereby we are made Evangelically conformable to the revealed will of God This body of renewed saving qualities is infused by the Spirit of grace in receiving whereof the soul is passive as a vessel is a passive receiver of oyl powred thereinto The Arguments concluding the Proposition The habit of faith due Reverence premised to any godly learned that may herein dissent seemeth not to be infused alone before the other habits of saving grace The universal frame of saving grace or of the new creature is infused into the soul at once as one general habit To affirme the presence of faith though but notionally in signo rationis i.e. for a moment of reason though not for a moment of time with the totall absence of all other graces implyeth these improbabilities if not impossibilities 1 It affirmes the Soule under that conception to be dead in part where Christ is for where faith is Christ is as was shewed before but where there is a totall absence of all other graces there the Soule is wholly dead in respect of all the members of the Old man unbelief excepted 2 It affirmes Sin to reigne where Christ is since where faith is Christ is and where many graces are not there the many contrary sins reigne except we should suppose a middle estate of the Soule wherein neither sin nor grace reignes 3 It affirmes the Soule to be both dead and alive at the same instant in eodem momento rationis for this also necessarily followeth in that it is alive in respect of faith and dead in respect of the absence of the life of all other graces and presence of the contrary reigning sins 4 It affirmes also the Old man to be both alive and dead at the same instant dead in respect of unbelief alive in respect of his other members 5 It affirmeth that the Soule is both converted and not converted in the same instant or moment converted because it beleeves not converted because all sinne reignes in it except unbelief Now all contraties being repugnants in Nature are uncapable of meeting together in the same subject in their strength for a moment of reason as well as for a moment of time 6 It affirmes either that the habitual alteration of the Soule in all respects that of its change from unbelief to faith excepted is not conversion which is against reason or else that the Soule is active in respect of this alteration and consequently in respect of so great a part of its conversion which is so farre contrary to the generally received Doctrine of the passiveness of the Soule in conversion The Image of God in Adam a part whereof was his faith in God according to the nature of that Covenan was infused to him at once Faith in Christ was not formally though vertually in the Angels till after the habit of universal obedience but we no where read that justifying faith was in any sense infused into any before the habitual frame of obedience The universal habit as it were of corruption seized upon the Soule at once not first unbeleefe then the principle of universall disobedience why may we not in like manner think the whole frame of inherent saving grace is insused into the Soule at once Grace comes into the Soule as Life into Lazarus dead body infused into and giving life unto every part at once or as Light into the Aire before Dark which is illuminated all at once Obj. 1. If the universall frame of inherent saving Grace the New Creature or whole body of renewed saving qualities be infused into the Soule at once it would thence follow that Sanctification should precede Justification but not so therefore Ans Sanctification may be taken largely or habitually for the universal habitual frame of inherent saving grace or strictly and practically for the exercise of this grace in the latter sense Sanctification followeth Justification because our actions cannot be accepted until our persons be accepted But in the former sense what hinders why Sanctification may not goe before Justification since by Sanctification is understood only the habitual saving grace insused into the Soule together with faith in vocation which the Reasons before argue Vocation precedes Justification Rom. 8.30 't is manifest that this infused grace is sanctifying grace Faith by the Learned and godly Orthodox
nothing of any causal vertue towards the working thereof Contrary to the Doctrine of the Arminians teaching that Christ and Free-will are partial causes of Conversion No otherwise than as a Boy drawing of the ship with his father is a cause of the motion thereof whence according unto them like as Free-will without the grace of Christ is insufficient so the grace of Christ without the co-working of Free-will sufficeth not to the working of the grace of faith in the soul A Teret empty of Reason and full of pride making us in part our own Creators in respect of saving grace the most excellent creature a Tenet repugnant to the grace of the Gospel making us sharers with Christ in the work of Vocation the glory of the alone working whereof by vertue of his special grace is one of the Crown-Jewels of the Lord Jesus a Tenet fundamentally perillous unto souls directly tending to make them rest in a false Conversion and so without a new work fall short for ever of falvation Vocation Peter Mart. in Rom. 7. v. 4 Regeneratio fit in instanti Ames coron art 4. c. 4. Polon Syntag. Conversion or Regeneration is wrought in an instant God in saying Live makes alive In this respect it is in the first as it shall be in the second Resurrection In a moment in the twinkling of an eye whilst God speaks the word the dead shall rise Because Vocation or the infusion of Life is the introduction of a form which is done in an instant The form consists in an indivisibility it is an indivisible thing t is not infused successively Et quemadmodum in Christum credere non est motus successivus sed instantaneus ita insitio nostra in Christum non est motus successivus sed mutatio instantanea Twiss vind grat l. 3. errat 8. Sect. 1. Spanhem de grat vin resp ad exot. 28. n. 4. or by parts as natural life so spiritual life consists in an indivisibility i. e. it hath its being all at once and is uncapable of division into parts Because Vocation inferreth an essential change in the subject There is a change in a subject or of a subject change in a subject is either of quantity or quality this is called an accidental change Change of a subject is an essential change which in natural things is called Generation in spiritual Regeneration Now that every essential change whether Physical i. e. natural or spiritual is in a moment is thus evident Generation is taken improperly for the way and preparation or previous alteration which tendeth to the essence i. e. the union of the form with the matter so we say the Infant in the womb is generating some certain months space this is an accidental change or properly for the essential change viz. the introduction of the form so the Infant is generated in a moment after that the matter is now sufficiently altered and prepared to receive the form An essential mutation that is the mutation or change of the subject both in Nature and Divinity is wrought in an instant because it is rather the determination of a motion than the motion it self As Generation properly taken is a passive mutation of a natural body whence from the union of the form with the matter the body beginneth to be that which it was not So Regeneration is a passive mutation of an elect soul whence by reason of the union of grace with the soul the person beginneth to be that which he was not In that Generation is the acquiring of a new and corruption is the laying down of an old form therefore generation and corruption cannot be effected divisibly and successively or gradually otherwise it would follow that in the same thing and in the same instant there were either no form or two forms i. e. that some one thing were nothing or two things In the moment of Conversion God works that blessed work which shall never be undone that is wrought in an instant which shall remain for ever CHAP. XIII Of the Vnion of the Belcever with Christ FOr the better proceeding herein let us 1 Shew out of the Scripture That there is an Union between Christ and the Beleever 2 Consider what this Union is 3 The order of Union 4 The necessity of Union in order to Communion 5 The order of the dependence of Communion upon Union 6 The excellency of this Communion Of all other Unions three are most eminent the Union of the three Persons in one Essence this is the Mystery of all mysteries The Union of the two Natures in one person in Christ this is a great mystery 1 Tim. 3.15 The Union of a Beleever with Christ and in him with God This is a Mystery Eph. 5.32 The Union of the Mediator with the Father who as God is one with him both in respect of Essence I and my Father are one Joh. 10.30 and in respect of will Whatsoever the Father doth that doth the Son likewise Joh. 5.19 And as man is one with him in respect of their agreement as concerning the thing willed Not as I will but as thou will Mat. 26.39 is the example and pattern of Beleevers Union with Christ and in him one with other Joh. 17.11 That they may be one as we are one and verse 21. that they may all be one as thou Father artin me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Of this mystical Union between Christ and beleevers we read often in the Scripture sometime in proper and plain termes That they may be one as we are Joh. 17.11 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 Sometimes in elegant and lively Metaphors first of a Vine and branches Joh. 15.1 2. I am the true Vine and my Father is the Husbandman Every branch c. 2 Of Implantation Rom. 6.5 For if we have been planted together in the likenesse of his death we shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection Christ here is represented under the similitude of a Plant for as a Plant that is set into the earth seemeth to lye dead and is unmoveable for a time but after springs up and flourisheth so as other Plants sprout forth grow up and are nourished thereby as we see in Ivie and Misselto So Christs body lay dead in the grave for a while but afterward sprung up and re-flourished in his Resurrection as that Plant of renown with whom we being planted together grow up by his grace 3 Of Ingrafting Rom. 11.17 19 23 24. where Christ is tacitly compared unto the Stock the beleever unto the Graft or Cyon for notwithstanding Abraham be the instrumental root good Olive tree and stock there expresly spoken of in whom his seed that is all beleevers for he is called the Father of all that beleeve Rom. 4.11.16 both the Nation of the Jewes first then the Gentiles and then the Jewes againe for the promise sake made unto him Gen.
17.7 I will be the God of thee and of thy seed after thee are sanctified and accordingly in due time actually ingrafted into him Beleevers in profession but not really so only externally real beleevers both externally and internally yet Christ is not there excluded whom we are to look at as the Root good Olive and Stock principally and effectually into which Abraham himselfe with all other Beleevers are ingrafted 4 Of incorporation into one mystical body whereof Christ is the Head Beleevers are the Members 1 Cor. 12.12 13. 5 Of a Spiritual conjugal estate wherein Christ is the Husband Beleevers are his Spouse Eph. 5.32 Lastly Of a Building wherein Christ is compared to the foundation or corner Stone Beleevers to a House or living Stones built or layed thereupon Matth. 7.25 and 16.18 1 Pet. 2.4 5. Union is the conjunction of the Person of Christ What Union is and the Person of the Beleever into one third being whence ariseth an everlasting relation and answerable communion of Head and Members between Christ and the Beleever for ever As in Marriage the type of this Union the consent of Parents and Parties is the efficient cause So here the will of God the Father the will of Christ and the voluntary consent of the Beleever caused by the operation of the Spirit are the efficient cause of this Marriage God the Father from all eternity hath willed the Incarnation and Marriage of his Son unto the Elect. The will of Christ is conformable unto the will of his Father Hos 2.19 20. The Elect by beleeving give their consent to be married unto Christ The Ministers of the Gospel are the instrumentall cause Joh. 3.29.2 Cor. 11.2 The matter of this union is the whole person of Christ on the one part and the whole person of the Beleever on the other part Mark it diligently that the whole person of Christ and the whole person of the Beleever are united together The whole Person of Christ is united unto the Beleever else we were not united unto Christ for neither the Divine nor Human nature considered apart is Christ Christ is God-man in one person Christ is not our Head as God alone nor as Man alone but as God-man Secondly Deitas est fons unde fluunt omnia bona vita salus Humanitas est caualis per quem ad nos derivantur omnia haec bona It would else follow that our union would be unprofitable the Humanity profits nothing without the Divinity it is the Spirit that quick neth the flesh profiteth nothing Joh. 6.63 the Divinity wil profit nothing without the Humanity Joh. 6.53 Then sayed Jesus unto them Verily verily I say unto you except yee eat the flesh of the Sonne of Man and drink his blood yee have no life in you The Divinity is the fountaine from which all good things flow the Humanity is the chanel by which all good things are derived unto the Elect. As the whole Person of Christ is united unto the Beleever so the whole person of the Beleever is united unto Christ we are not only one with Christ in respect of our Souls 1 Cor. 6.17 but we are also one with Christ in respect of our bodies For we are members of his Body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 One flesh If man and wife by vertue of their Marriage union which is but the Type become one flesh then Christ and the Beleever by vertue of their Spiritual union which is the Antitype must needs be one flesh vers 31. our person being in the same Mystical body with his person our flesh must needs be in the same Mystical body with his flesh where yet we must observe that this conjunction of our flesh with the flesh of Christ is not Corporal but Spiritual and to be understood of our flesh not simply but sanctified As our flesh hath spiritual Communion with the flesh of Christ in the Sacrament so our flesh hath union with the flesh of Christ in regeneration Such as is our Communion such is our Union but our commun on is from the whole person of Christ to the whole person of the Beleever therefore our union is between the whole person of Christ and the whole person of the Beleever Neither is our Soul alone joyned with the Soul of Christ alone Neque anima nostra sola cum sola Christi anima neque caro nostra sola cum sola Christi carne sed tota cujusque fidelis persona cum tota Christi persona verè conjungitur Zanchi Imo tota cujusque fidelis persona anima corpore cum tota per sona Christi verè conjungitur Buc. loc 48. quest 110. nor is our flesh alone joyned with the flesh of Christ alone but the whole person of every Beleever is joyned with the whole person of Christ See the Theses of Zanchy upon Eph. 5.32 treating largely and profitably of this subject See Bucanus also to the same purpose the whole person of every Beleever Soul and Body is truly conjoyned with the whole person of Christ The form of this union is the actual conjoyning of the person of Christ and the person of the Beleever in some third being Of the form of Union by the bands on either part For the better understanding the form of this union three things are to be attended 1. That third being or thing wherein Christ and the Beleever are united 2. The bands on Christs part and on the Beleevers by which they are united 3. The manner of this union Concerning the third being or thing which for readinesse sake in this discourse may be called a tertium wherein Christ and a Beleever are united it being premised and remembred that all union is of two ones or more into a third one arising out of and distinguished from both we are carefully to observe that the Scripture mentions divers Tertiums or third ones whence also so many kinds of union may not unprofitably be collected wherein Christ and the Beleever are united foure whereof are these The first Tertium or third being wherein Christ and the Beleever are united is Sameness of spirit but he that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit the created grace which is in the Beleever is the same in kinde with the created grace that is in the Manhood of Christ Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 Joh. 4.13 Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 The second is One Mysticall body For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so is Christ For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12.12 13. The third is the Spiritual Marriage estate Eph. 5.32 This is a great Mysterie but I speake concerning Christ and the
same Mystical Body or the manner of their meeting together sweetned with more affecting ingredients and circumstances than the meeting of Jacob Joseph and Benjamin together with their ability unity complacency c. and all this mixed with the immediate presence of Christ If Peter but for a smal time seeing and hearing the faces and discourse of Christ Moses and Elias breaks out It is good for us to be here much more cause is there for them so to doe being not only Spectators and Auditors but also Interlocutors with them and the residue of this ful and blessed Society and that for ever As the communion of the Sanits in this life is a great part of our comfort on earth so the communion of the Saints in glory is no little part of the joys of Heaven The duration of this Blessednesse is for ever 3. The Duration of all Duration is Either increated viz. eternity properly so called this is the duration of God Or created viz. eviternity the duration of the Blessed in glory Or time the duration of the Creature in this world Between Eternity Eviternity and Time some who have more accurately considered the natures thereof distinguish thus Eternity is without beginning without end without succession Eviternity is without end but not without beginning and though without succession in respect of the duration of their Persons yet not without succession in respect of their operations and other accidents Time hath both a beginning succession and end In Eternity all is present nothing past nor to come In Eviternity in respect of the duration of their Persons there is nothing past but in other respects there is both past and to come that is the instant that was in some respect passeth not away but alwayes remaineth but in other respects there are instants to be which are not yet come In Time there is both past present and to come Eternity is a Duration consisting of an eternal Now without beginning or ending Eviternity is a Duration having a continuing Now with a beginning but without an ending Time is a successive Duration having a beginning and ending without any remaining Now. The Body is not so miserable under the Curse Consid 5. Of the condition of the Body after the Resurrection as it is blessed in the Promise as in the state of Corruption it is abased lower than all created Bodies so in the state of glory it is exalted higher than all other Bodies Christs excepted The excellency of the glorified Body consists especially in two things 1 In that we shal see Christ as he is Man with these eyes 2 In certain inherent Caelestial qualities That we shal see Christ as he is Man with these eyes Job manifestly testifieth For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold him and not another cap. 19.25 26 27. The sight of Christ as Man is the next object unto the Beatifical Vision it self as the created grace which the Man-hood received was out of measure Joh. 3.34 yet not simply for being a creature it is bounded but respectively in regard of us we being unable to measure it so the glory of the Manhood is out of measure The Humanity of Christ in respect of its personal union farre exceeds all the glory of Angels and glorified Souls The glory of the Man-hood is as much as the Creature is capable of the glory of the Body is derived both from the Divinity and the glory of his Soul The fulness of the God-head dwelling in him bodily doth as it were radiate through his body hence there must needs arise great joy unto the beholder both from the eminency of and our interest in this object Christ in glory and Christ in glory ours as much of the Creator as is possibly visible in the nature of man wil be to be seen in Christ as much contentation as the Creature can be made partaker of by the sight of any one visible object wil be the portion of the beholders of Christ as he is Man The inherent caelestial qualities of the Body at the Resurrection are principally four viz. 1 Impassibility called Incorruption Clari Subtiles Agiles Impassibilesque omnes quadruplici pollebunt dote Beati Estius Sent. lib. 4. dist 44. Vide Scot. Richard c. in lib. 4. d. 49. 1 Cor. 15.42 43. 2 Clarity called Glory 1 Cor. 15.42 43. 3 Agility called Power 1 Cor. 15.42 43. 4 Subtilty called A Spiritual body 1 Cor. 15.42 43. Impassibilitie doth not only exclude Corruption for the bodies of the Damned cannot dye but it freeth the body from all hurtful passions Dos Impassibilitatis either of grievance or infirmity Rev. 21.4 As it was in an extraordinary manner with the bodies of the three Children in the Babylonish Furnace for a time so shall it be with the bodies of the Saints for ever the Fire hath no power upon their bodies neither can the smel of fire passe upon them neither heat nor cold can trouble them nor the Sword pierce them Darts are not counted so much as stubble they laugh at the shaking of the Speare Dos Claritates Glory is a shining brightnesse a resplendent lightsomness or a Caelestial sparkling splendor of the Body whereby it may be thought to exceed all the beauty and splendor of Gems Pearls Heavens Sun Moon and Stars yea even of the Heaven of Heavens though all were put together The third Heavens though exceeding all inferiour Creatures as we saw before are but the place of these Bodies which shall be like unto his glorious Body Philip. 3.21 The joy of the Spirit shineth in the countenance no wonder if the faces of those shine whose spirits are filled with joy by beholding the face of God the Sun radiates and shews it self thorough the Window the Fire sends forth a bright lustre thorough Chrystal Stephens Face in this life was seen as it were the face of an Angel Act. 6.15 behold how Moses his face shone upon a little speech with God in the Mount what then may be concluded from the perpetual and perfect vision of him so as Aaron and all the Children of Israel were afraid to come nigh him Exod. 34.30 but Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father he that hath cars to hear let him hear Mat. 13.43 not that they shal not out-shine the Sun but because there is no more shining body visible to us therefore are the Bodies of the Saints in glory compared thereunto When Christ upon the Mount put on the apparition of that glory for a little time which now he wears for ever Peter and James and John were unable to bear the sight of that transfiguration and of Moses and Elias appearing with him in glory Mat.
are made perfect Heb. 12.23 The soul shall be in a better estate than it was when it first came from God being now in Christ and having attained perfection in him both in respect of Kind and Degrees Adams soul in Christ is a more excellent spirit than it either was or was capable of being under the first Covenant the Angels in Christ are more blessed than they had been in their first blessed estate without Christ The soul from the moment of its dissolution untill the Resurrection is like to the soul of Christ in Paradise whilst his body lay in the Grave The place of the Blessed is usually known by the name of the third Heaven Consider 4. Of the Adjuncts of blessednesse where first of the place The third Heaven is a simple and shining body created immediately of God to be the Throne of his special presence and of the gracious manifestation of his perfections and the habitation of the Blessed both Angels and Men. The whole Region of the Air unto the Moon is in Scripture called the first Heaven from the Moon to the highest Stats inclusively the second Heaven That which is above these the place of happiness the third Heaven 2 Cor. 12.2 This third Heaven is also called A house not made with hands 2 Cor. 5. A City whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11.10 The City of the living God Heb. 12.22 Christs Fathers house Joh. 14.2 That better and heavenly Country of the Saints Heb. 11.13 14. Paradise Luke 23.43 Heaven the Heaven of heavens 1 King 8.27 The world to come The School-men call it Empyreum from its splendor and shining brightness this third Heaven we have only from the Scripture Aristotle was ignorant therof it being invisible It s place is far above all visible Heavens Eph. 4.10 Christ ascending thereinto Caelo beatorum proprie competit nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia terminus est sinis ultimus supre nusque mundi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is said to be made higher than the heavens Heb. 7.25 Hence it is called the third Heaven and the Greek word turned Heaven intends such a place as is the supreme term and bounds of this present world It is probably thought to be created the first day there being no inconvenience to include the third Heaven in those Heavens mentioned Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Also because the Angels whose habitation is the third Heaven were created the first day Job 38.6 7. It was created immediately of God not of any pre-existing principle and as it is for a more excellent use so doth it consist of more excellent matter distinguished from and excelling of the matter of the other Heavens Gemmes Metals precious Stones or what ever material creature in this visible world It excelleth the quintessence of the Chymists namely that spirit which they extract from Herbs and Metals for those spirits though never so subtile yet are elementary and mixed bodies It excelleth the quintessence of the Philosophers who understand thereby a material substance diverse from the matter of the four Elements whereby all things are compounded In which sense some learned men after Aristotle will have these visible heavens to be quintessential which notwithstanding yet the third heavens are more subtile and pure than they all being not onely immixed Keck Phys◠l. 2. c. 1. but invisible and having its natural place above all these bodies and not descending It is incorruptible because having no principle out of which according to order of nature it did arise there is no principle into which according to the order of nature it can be returned It is uncapable of a Physical change into any other body It is impassible by any creature and as by nature its Maker hath freed it from corruption so by a superadded act of his good pleasure he hath freed it from annihilation It is an house not maile with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 It is clear and shining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 totus lucidus The City hath no need of the Sun or Moon to shine in it it is all as a most glorious Sun and therefore called by the Learned as was intimated before Empyreum not from its heat but from its resplendence and most pleasant light All the lustre and shining beauty in these visible Heavens Gems Metals precious Stones c. could it be united into one object were not to be compared to it As the place of the damned is the place of the greatest and most grievous darknesse So the place of the blessed is a place of the greatest and most pleasant light It is spacious containing in it all invisible and visible creatures and consequently this visible world This is the great City of the great King He measured with the reed twelve thousand furlongs the length and the breadth and the height of it are equall Rev. 21.16 It is the Court of God and Christ wherein are habitations for innumerable company of Angels and for the spiritual seed of Abraham which are as the sand of the Sea-shore which is innumerable In my Fathers house there are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you it Joh. 14.2 As it is said of Topheth though in a contrary sense It is large and deep for the King it is prepared So may it be said of Heaven It is large and high for the blessed it is prepared It is most pleasant free from all evil and full of all good a proportionable object to glorified eyes and a suitable place to glorified bodies The light of it is fitly compared to the light of a Jasper stone Rev. 21.11 which is not darkned by clouds neither doth hurt our eyes but the more we look on it the more it pleaseth us neither doth it leave shining when the Sun shineth nor doth the brightnesse of it go out at any time Solomons Temple was a magnificent building for which Solomons expence excepted David prepared in silver and gold seven hundred millions 1 Chron. 22.14 besides brasse iron without weight about which were occupied seventeen thousand Labourers thirteen thousand and three hundred Over-seers Solomons and Hyrams Builders 1 King 5. together with Hyram and the cunning Artificers of David and Solomon I have sent unto thee a cunning man c. skilful to work in gold and in silver in brasse and in iron in stone and in timber and purple in blew and in fine linnen and crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning-men and with the cunning-men of my Lord David thy Father 2 Chron. 2.14 All which help notwithstanding the Temple was seven yeers in building 1 King 6.38 The house which I build is great for the house which I am about to build is wonderful great 2 Chron.