Peradventure they will save us a live So do ye although ye have but a May be we shall be hid Zeph 2. 3. Minde your Duty and leave the issue to God Believe above hope and against hope Follow God in the dark as your father Abraham did Not knowing whether He would lead him Thus to do is To give Glory to God Therefore Fear the Lord and Obey the voice of His Servant even then when ye are in Darkness and have noe light Namely of His special Favour and love to you in perticular And though never so great discouragements are afore you from the Guilt of sins Committed the power of Indwelling Corruption and your present Aversness to Beleiveing and hear withall That Faith is the Great Commandment let your heart answer Is it my Duty my Duty to believe Nay then I must Remember His Greatness His absolute Dominion The â—ncontrollableness of His Matters That He hath concluded All in unbelief That He might have mercy upon All Rom. 11. 32. that is That the Salvation of Those who shall be saved might appear to be of Mercy and be so acknowledged To him therefore Commit your Cause and Commit it to Him as your Sovereign Lord and so leave it with Him And see that you take it not out of His hand again by your doubting the issue of it And know that then is your Soul nearest to Peace and settle ment when brought to this Submission Be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits Heb 12. 9. and live But let not the Word be misconstrued I do not mean by Submission That you should be satisfied under a denial of Mercy on the accompt of God's Absolute Dominion I cannot think That a Necessary term or qualification in your â—reating with God for Salvation For 1. I do not find That God requires such a Submission as the Condition of obtaining Mercy Nor that He hath made any Promise to give such a Submission in order to that end Nor any Instance in scripture of Mens having or indeavouring such a frame of spirit in that business Nor yet That Men are any where tax'd for-Not attâ—ning to it They are blamed indeed and that worthily For not submitting to the Righteousness of God that is For not Renouncing their own and flying to That of Christ And this blame-worthiness you cannot escape if finding your self lost and undone you will not presently run to Christ without first finding in your self Something that may seem to commend you to him 2. Such a Submission seems Repugnant to God's revealed Will For if this be the Will of God even our sanctification That we should believe in His Son and love Him with our whole heart Then it cannot be his Will That we should be willing to Remain in an unsanctified estate in unbelief and enmity against Him which are the inseperable Conjux of Willingness to be Seperated from God 3. Because the promise of Ease and Rest is made to the Weary and Laden coming to Christ Not to a Contentedness to be divided from him And the promise of Satisfaction is to your bungring and thirsting after Righteousness Not to the Câ—ssation of your desire without the Thing which onely can satisfie 4. Because To be satisfied without obtaining Mercy is to be satisfied with an utter incapacity to Glorify the Grace of God and to enjoy Communion with Him which are the principal End and Duty of Men. 5. It is Crosse to the Genius and Concreated Principle of the Reasonable Creature which is to seek its own happiness In any thing short of which it ought not to acquiesce 6. Such a submission cannot be Requisite in Preparatory work because That would suppose the highest pitch of Grace attain'd if yet it be a Grace and attainable before you beleive and consequently That it is not a Grace out of Christ's fullness for ye are supposed to have it before ye go to Him And therefore when I say ye must submit without Capitulating or making terms my meaning is ye are not to Treat upon terms of your own Making Nor propound any thing to God but What Sovereign Mercy propounds to you as the Way and Means of obtaining your Great End And great Reason ye have for this Submission for herein lies your Interest Those being in truth the onely Terms by which a lost and sinfull Creature can be rendred salvable or capable of being saved as may further appear in the Sequel of this discourse I think with humble Submission That if any Point of time may be supposed before the Decree It was Then that Absolute Dominion borâ— sway But ever since Election came in It is Grace that Reignes Not That Sovereignty is Ceased but Transferr'd Before it was in Power but Now in Grace In Grace as touching the Elect and in Justice as touching the Rest Grace is the Attribute God delights to honour And all the Other are if I may so speak Subjects of This Even Christ Himself was made a Servant to perform the pleasure of His Grace So then That you are to Submit unto is the good pleasure of God's will as held forth in the Covenant of Grace undertaking for and perfectly able to save you and as having His Sovereign Power engaged to make it good Which seems the scope of that passage in Moses his prayer for the people Numb 14 17 18 19. when they had highly provoked God Let the power of my Lord be Great according as Thou â—ast spoken c. It was to pardon and still Own them for His people And to this agree all those Scriptures which hold forth the Power of God as the ground of Faith as that by which He is Able to pardon sin Isa 27. 5. To subdue miquity and to hold your Souls in life you are therefore directed If ye will have peace with God to take hold of His strength Which cannot be meant of Contentedneâ—sâ— in having that strength put forth to destroy but as being perfectly Able and engaged by His Covenant to Save you As to the time When He will manifest His love to you As also touching the manner and measure of His dispensing it the good pleasure of God's Will is expressly and with all quietness of spirit to be Submitted unto But as to the Thing it self You ought not to be said Nay but as he who had power with God and prevail'd Hos 12. 14. Gen. 32. 26. He wept and made supplication but still resolv'd I will not let thee 〈◊〉 except thou bless me 2. As for the other nearest Concernment touching your Children deal in like manner for them by submitting them to the same Mercy It is true That next to your own personal salvation there cannot be a greater evidence of God's love to you than to Choose your Children after you Nor any thing more desireable to you Therefore Command them Gen. 18. 19. and Instruct them to keep the way of the Lord That He may bring on them the
you all the service it can even the whole of what it was ordained-for But shall I say That Faith will then be dissolv'd and go-to-nothing I would rather express it as the Apostle doth the state of the saints that shall be found alive at Christ's coming 1 Thes 4. 17. They shall not die but they shall be changed Faith shall Then be turned into Sight and we shall have the Real presence Full possession and Perfect immixed fruition of that Blessedness we have believed and hoped-for 7. Gather hence Phil. 1. 23. both the Reason and Rationality of the Saints desires to be dissolv'd They knew that when this Earthly Tabernacle went-down 2 Cor. 5. 1 2. they had a better and more capacious building in Heaven They also found That spirits whiles dwelling in Flesh are too-much streightned and infirm either to bear the Glory they were made-for or to express an answerable thankfulness for it And for this they groned Not to be unclothed as weary of their present state but to be Clothed-upon with their House from Heaven 1 Joh. 3. 2. They were NOW the sons of God but what they should be and fain would be-at did not appear to them Nor could till the vail were Rent which hung as yet twixt them and the Holy of Holies Rom. 8. 23. 2 Cor. 1. 22. Eph. 1. 14. Rom. 8. 21. The first-fruits of the Spirit which were both an Earnest and Foretast of future Glory inspired them with servent desires of liberty that glorious liberty which belong'd to them as being the Sons of God They had by faith laid-hold on Eternal life This they had still in their eye and earnestly pursued And so intent they were upon it that they even forgot what was behind tho very Memorable in its time The Much they had attain'd they counted for Nothing to what was coming Nor reckon'd for any Cost to gain that inestimable Pearl viz. The prize of the high Calling of God in Christ Phil. 3. 14. This they knew was a thing too-big for Mortal senses tho as highly Refin'd and sublimated as capable of whiles Mortal and therfore long'd for that day when Immortality should be their clothing The love of God shed-abroad in their hearts had given such a Divine Tincture Rom. 5 5. Cant. 5. 4. and so Transform'd and Wid'ned their souls as nothing could satisfie but that Immense Deep from whence it came Coll. 3. 4. They knew That when Christ their life should appear they should see Him as He is Not under shadows as of old Nor in a state of humiliation as when upon earth nor as since under Memorials and Representtations but in His state of glory The sight of which would make them like himself till Then they could not say It is enough They knew that the very Quintessence of Heavenly beatitude consists in the vision of God and that Heaven it self with all that Innumerable company of Angels and spirits of just Men made perfect tho' a very glorious and desirable society would not satisfie Heaven-born Souls if their Lord Himself were not there in His Glory Hence those holy exclamations and out-cries Psal 73. 25. Psal 42. 2. Whom have I in Heaven but Thee and When shall I come and appear before God! Good Jacob would go and see his Beloved afore he died and These would die to go and see Theirs This is the second time that the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence from the heirs of Salvation Math. 11. 12. They know it is theirs and that they were wrought for that self same thing 2 Cor. 5. 5. and being theirs they might lawfully take it by force 8. Infer VIII 2 Pet. 3. 12. And for a close of all ye have seen what Paul and others did Go you and do likewise Hasten to the day of God and wait for it as they that watch for the Morning 1. Affectionately as a thing greatly desirable especially after a dark and toilsom night 2. Patiently and with Quietness Not precipitating but as knowing it will come and that in the duest season 3. Attentively as not willing to loose the smallest sound of your Master's feet 4. With Diligence also and Preparedness that neither Oyl nor Lighting may be to-seek when the Cry is made Be always Ready and Then Grone Grone I say for that day of Glory when life and Immortality shall be brought to light in Perfection When your self with all the Elect of God meeting in that Great and General Assembly Heb. 12. 23. the Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven may be intirely vniversally and everlastingly taken-up in admiring Electing love which so gloriously and happily shall have wrought all our works for us and brought us to the ultimate End it designed us for which was To be ever with the Lord To see Him as He is and to experiment the sum of that great Petition in the 17. Joh. 17. 21. Iohn That they may be One in us And in your way thither Carry this assurance still afore you That the same hands which laid the Foundation will also lay the Top-stone and that with shoutings And you shall lift-up to Eternity Zach. 4. 7 9. Deut. 33. 29. that loud and joyfull acclamation Grace Grace unto it Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O People saved by the Lord the shield of thine help and the sword of thine Excellency 2 Sam. 22. 1 7. All thine enemies shall be found lyars unto thee and thou shalt tread upon their high places And which is more than Angels and Men can utter besides GOD shall be all in All 1 Cor. 15. 28. To proclaim which was the End of this work Amen FINIS
which when he slighted the spirit of God left him and he became as other Men and recovered not his strength until it was grown again 3. As touching the Providences of God Observe them and Submit to them look not upon them as Empty things The least may yield you Instruction as also the Most unlikely Out of the Eater comes forth Meat and out of the strong sweetness Though the thing be a â—iddle to an heart uncircumcised Plough with His Heifer and ye shâ—ll find it Neither look on them as Things Impertinent But say rather Is there not a Cause though I see it not The Lord does nothing in vain Neither yet look on them as Things Contingent Math. 10 29 30 A sparrow falls not without His will and the hairs of your head are all Numbred Ps 39 9. David was Dumb and opened not his Mouth why Because Thou Lord didst it And Shimei's Cursing he beares patiently 2 Sam. 16. 10. on the same account It may be the Lord hath bidden him There may be Such a Mixture and Confusion of things and your expectation so delayed and frustrated That your froward untamed heart may be ready to Wrangle it out Eccles. 8. 14. Why falls it alike to All Why to the Just according to the Work of the wicked and to the wicked according to the work of the Righteous Or why One event to them All This is not to Enquire wisely you should rather conclude and say as the Disciples in another Case The Lord hath need of them That is He hath occasion to use such a Providence to fullfil a Word If ye would Cast so as to lye by your Mark this Attribute of Sovereignty gives you the best Ground Search and Observe as much as ye will so you take Faith along with you Without which ye can do Nothing Warrantably Faith is a Sworn Officer to the Great king and has a key for every lock that is fit to be opened It forces Nothing but where it cannot Enter it stands without and Waits a fitter season Let Faith also be Chief Speaker in all your Debates And then the Result will be That Carnal Reason and Present Sense though very Tenacious and Stubborn shall yield the Cause and let you goe The Summ of all is this That though ye be not Conscious to your self of any particular Cause or Miscarriage besides what is Common to Men which was the Case with Job Lay your hand upon your Mouth as Job did The Most High doth according to His Will Dan. 4. 34 35. This even the proudest of Kings acknowledged when his understanding returned to him and so do you And know That if your spirit be out of frame in your present Condition it would not be better in any other Secondly Our Faith also is highly concerned in the Sovereignty of God For It both obligeth to Believe in Him and also affords Matter for Faith to work upon To these Ends the Lord holds it forth to Abraham Once and Again Gen. 17 1. I am God Almighty c. This was it enabled him to believe he should have a Son even whiles the Deadness of his own Body Rom. 4. 19. and of Sarah's Womb wrought strongly against it This also was that made him so readily assent to the offering up of this Son when he had him He had as much to say against it as could well be supposed For the Promise was That in Isaac all families of the Earth should be blessed which Promise and this Command Abraham's Reason could not Reconcile The Contradiction would surely have Run him down had not his faith in this Great Attribute held fast and guided the Reignes Suggesting to him That He who gave Isaac a being from a Withered Stock was able also to raise him from the dead Heb. 11. 19. Abraham there fore disputes it Not Stands not so much as to consider upon 't but up he gets him Early to do it And hence he obtained that honourable title James 2. 23. to be called The friend of God Ye have seen Now what Abraham did Go ye and do likewise Take hold of Gods Sovereignty as your own and to be improved for your good Faith gives a Propriety in any Attribute it looks upon and drawes out the virtues and Influence thereof for it self And therefore What ever difficulties are in your way be not disheartened by them but call in this Sovereignty of God by faith to your help Remember the ready subjection which all Creatures do pay to his Word By which alone without Creatures service He can level the Mountains and make Crooked things streight Restraâ—â— Alter Invert and Turn upside down the very Course of Nature so that That which is death in it self shall be life to you New Cords and Wyths when touch'd by his word are as flax and tow when touch'd by the fire Iron shall be as straw and brass as rotten wood Therefore lengthen the Cords and strengthen the stakes of your faith you cannot beleive for greater things or better than God can do for you Even sin it self which is the Great and in truth the onely evil It is His enemy as much as yours And you may be sure He would not have suffered its being in the World if He had not a Power to Correct and Curb it yea and to destroy it too at His pleasure Take hold of His sovereign strength and your work is done But here also a Caution or two may be seasonably added 1. That if death in the pot have once been healed and your borrowed Ax-head sunk once past hope of Recovery have been brought again to your hand look that Remissnes grow not upon it Beware ye gather not Wilde Gourds a second time Nor persume to throw the helve after the Head The Divine Power is too great a thing to be trifled with or Made to serve with the â—ollies of Men. 2. That you never look on this Great Attribute of Sovereignty without your Mediator As without whom it would be matter of Terror and Amazemeut to sinners It is He onely can render It Propitious to you As Nothing is pleasing to God but in and through Christ So Nothing in God is Comfortable to Men or for their Eternal Good but as it comes to them through Him As Waters out of the Sea immediately are not potable unless they be first exhaled by the Sun or pass through some vein of Earth which makes them Congruous to our Nature I shall mention two particulars of Nearest Coâ—cerment to us wherein we are in a special manner to have respect unto the Sovereignty of God 1. As touching your own Condition your everlasting Condition Submit to Mercy to Sovereign Mercy that is yeild your self to God without Capitulaâ—ing or Makâ—ing terms with him Those Syrians well under stood the Meaning of this They put Ropes on their heads and themselves in the Conquerors hands 1 K. 20. 31. upon an uncertain Conjecture
blessing you most desire for them But be not Over-solicitous and east down because you see not yet the Marks of Election upon them The Lord doth not indeed bind himself to take all a Believers Children Nor doth He limit Himself from taking any others There is Nothing declared â—ouching His Purpose to Take All the One â—â—est they should from thence take occasion to be Remiss in their Duty which still Conversion is very natural to us nor doth He exclude the Children of others For that â—ight discourage and weaken their hands to that as is good In this various dispensing of His everlasting love He is pleased 〈…〉 His liberty and sovereign Prerogative That 〈◊〉 greatly manifests his love to Believers in so frequent 〈◊〉 Choosing of their Seed And the Freeness of His Grace in Not-rejecting altogether the Seed of Others Inference 3. Thirdly How happy and sovereignly blessed are Those who have an Interest in this Great and Sovereign Lord Which Every One is blessed with that has in truth taken hold of His Covenant For That takes in all between the Two Eternities and Eternity it self withall And the spirits or strength of the Whole lies in those few but very Compendious Words I will be your God When the Lord would comfort His People to purpose and pâ—t on their Eagles wings What a glorious Narrative doth he make of His Power and Sovereign Greatness in Isa 40. from v. 12. to v. 26. And then tells them That all this is Theirs v. 27. And if God be yours All things are yours Who and where is he that can supplant you of His blessing yâ—u may rejoyce in His Highness the thoughts whereof are Matter of terroâ—r to other Men. After the rehearsal of all the happiness and Glory that Men or Angels are capable of it shall all be comprised in this as the Original thereof and summ of the whole Blessed are they whise God the Lord is Psa 144. 15. Inference 4. Fourthly We may see here the Reason Why God doth sometimes defer to Answer the Doubts and Querie's we stick at and most desire to be Resolv'd about It is not only to shew His Sovereignty But to bring our hearts to a submiss and practical acknowledgment of it Moses was very unwilling to go on his Message to Bharaoh Many pretences he had to put it by when as the danger he might be in for killing the Aegyptian was the bottom-Objection though he speaks it not Out Indeed the men who sought his life were now dead Which if the Lord had told him of at first all those excuses had probably been spared But He was pleased to conceal it from him until He had brought him to a full compliance with His Will Exod. 3. 11. with Ch 4. 10 13 19 and then reveals it to Him Vnask'd So likewise He would not take off His hand from Iob until He had well learn'd him this lesson Job 42. 2 6 7. Say not therefore because you hear not from God so soon as you would The Lord hath â—orsaken me My Lord hath forgotten Me But follow that good Resolution recorded in Isaiah I will wait upon the Lord who hâ—deth his face for the present from the House of Jacob Isa 49. 14. and I will look for Him v. 17. Inference 5. Fifthly Let no Man then who will Say The Lord He is God presume to intrench on His Sacred Royalty by seeking a Reason of His Decrees beyond or besides the Good pleasure of His Will Even Sovereigns of dust will not admit it in Subjects though of the same Mould with themselves It is an Imperial Secret The Chief of the wayes of God It belongs to himself alone to know it and the knowledg thereof would not profit us Now. Besides There is enough revealed of great importance to us at present On which to imploy the utmost of our time and strength By Over-grasping we may sprain our hands and unfit them for service which lies within their Compass But we gain Nothing Therefore go not about to fathom this Great Deep Who but one of shallow understanding would think to measure the Sea by handfulls or to give a Demonstrative Reason of its various and convertible Courses Remember That you Magnifie His Work Job 36. 24. but lessen it Not by pretending to Comprehend it Eccles 8. 17. Sanctifie the Lord in your heart and fear before Him Inference 6. Sixthly This gives a Reason why Men of the largest Capacity for Learning and Natural understanding are so mightily Puzzelled and Labyrinth'd in Spiritual Matters particularly The Doctrine of Election Why they do so strongly oppose it and are so hardly Reconcil'd with it They are not in truth subdued to the Doctrine of God's Sovereignty And therefore whiles in discussing those points of Faith they judge as their Natural Optick represents them they lose both themselves and the Truth Which yet in some degree is made known unto Babes Men of low stature to them whose spirits the Lord hath subdued to rest contented with what their Father is pleased to tell them And for the Rest as namely the Manner and Reason of God's Disposements and Dispensations they live by Faith in His Righteousness Waiting for the day that shall Reveal all things when the Tabernacle of God which yet is in Heaven shall be let down among Men or They taken up into it and these hidden things of Sovereignty shall be more openly known amongst them Inference 7. Lastly This Doctrine of God's Absolute Dominion Clears away all that Made-ground and Rubbish which the Principles of Free-Will-Grace do found their Election upon and shews us the only true and Proper foundation of Scripture Election with those other Important Truths which hold upon it or are Consequents of it All which have their Head in the Sovereignty of God and Derived thence as Rivers are from the Sea As through his blessing and Grace may appear afterwards And so I shall close up this first particular with that holy Rapture of the Psalmist Be thou Exalted Lord in thy own strength so will we sing and praise thy Power The Lord hath prepared His Throne in the Heavens and His Kingdom ruleth over all Bless the Lord ye His Angels that Excel in strength Bless the Lord all ye His Hosts ye Ministers of His that do His pleasure Bless the Lord all His works in all places of his Dominion Bless the Lord ô my Soul OF THE RIGHTEOVSNESS of GOD. HAving founded this Discourse on the Sovereignty of God as the best and most natural ground of Satisfaction or captivation to Reason touching Election So now as a means to qualifie our Spirits and Reconcile them with the Doctrine of Sovereignty it seemeth expedient to annex that of His Righteousness and I think there is not a more evident Proposition than That there is no Vnrighteousness with God Prop. This as we are indispensably bound to believe So to be well grounded in the faith of it
Persecutor in the Company Paul was a Chosen Vessel And this in brief was the Reason of it as you have it recorded in Acts 22. 14 The God of our Fathers hath chosen thee That thou shouldest know His will The Jews had many Means of knowing the Messiah and Inducements to believe in him which the Gentiles had not And yet These embrace the Gospel whiles the Jews Reject it Those who sought after Righteousness fell short of it Rom. 10. 20. when Those who sought it not attain'd it For the bottom-Reason of which different Dispensation We are referr'd to Election Rom. 11. 7 The Election hath obtained and the Rest were blinded How variously are several Men affected in hearing the same word The Sheep and the Rest have both the same Outward means One Neglects it attends not at all or Regards not what he hears A second quarrels it as the Jews often did A Third is perswaded almost as Agrippa was and those that would hear Paul agen of that Matter A Fourth is Pricked in the heart and called effectually It 's a stumbling-block to some Foolishness to Others And to some 't is the Power of God Acts 2. 39. And these some are such as were Elected of Those to whom the Promise was made and are therefore termed The Called according to His Purpose Rom. 8. 28. Rom. 8. And agen in 2 Tim. 1. 9 They are said to be Called according to His own Purpose and Grace which was given them in Christ before the World began They are first Chosen Ps 65. 4. and then Caused to approach unto God There is almost no end of Scriptures to this purpose I shall instance one more so close up this Particular All the blessings which the Saints are blessed with in time are all bestowed according to God's Decree of Election before time as is manifest from Eph. 1. ver 3 4 5. Where I observe 1. That Election goes afore the Actual Donation of Spiritual blessings 2 Tim. 19. For These are given in time That was afore time And That which comes After cannot be the Cause of That which went Afore it One Effect may be the Cause of another but not the Cause of That which caused it self 2. That the Actual Donation of Spiritual blessings is according to Election i. e. Election is the Rule by which the Dispensation is guided It is Adequate with Election and Answerable thereto even as the Impression is to the Printing-Types Or as the fashion of Davids body to the platform thereof in God's book and the Tabernacle to the patern shewn in the Mount According to which all things were made as well in respect of Number Weight and Measure as Form and Figure Spiritual blessings are not given to One More or Fewer or in other manner but just as Election hath laid it forth Which also is further confirm'd by Rev. 21. 27 Where we finde That None are admitted into the Holy City but whose Names were written in the book of life And Whosoever was not found written in that book was cast into the lake of fire chap. 20. 15. Which shews That at the latter day Acts 13. 48. it will be taken for granted That as many as were ordained to Eternal life believed And that all and every One without the list of Election dyed in Unbelief That the Election obtained Rom. 11. 7. and the Rest were blinded Therefore Faith and Holiness are not the Cause but the Certain effect and inseparable Consequent of Election IV. Our last Enquiry is Of the Way and Manner of God's Dispensing spiritual Blessings And that is Effectually and Freely I. Effectually The Soul is not turned to God by a Twyne-Thread Nor doth the Lord content Himself with Wishing and Woulding that it might be so after the manner of Men who either are Indifferent in the thing Or have not Wherewith to Effect their desires Nor merely by propounding Moving and striving by Moral Suasions Instructions Threatnings and the like which are of little avail with a dark Understanding and fixed enmity which every Natural Man is acted by But by the putting-forth of a Power Invincible A Power that will not be said Nay but what it Wills That it will doe What it undertakes it goesthorow with To doe a thing Effectually is to doe it Perfectly Thorowly Successfully that is So to use and apply the Means that the End designed is surely brought-to-pass And this Notwithstanding all the Weakness Aversness and Repugnancy of the Carnal Mind against it I might produce Instances not-a-few touching God's Effectual Working to bring-about things of lesser Moment How unwilling was Moses to be His Messenger to Pharaoh Exod. 3 4. So opposite to it That when he had no farther plea nor excuse to make chap. 4. v. 13. he carries it Perversly towards the Lord send by the hand of him whom thou shouldest send But having designed him for the Work He leaves him not until He had won him to it ver 18. So Pharaoh resolv'd he would not let the people goe But I will stretch out my hand saies God and he shall let you goe ver 20. Much more will He make His Arm bare for the salvation of His Chosen And it must be so done I. Because otherwise the Elect should be in no better condition than Other men For until conversion Satan hath as fast hold of them as of the Rest Adam's fall was the Devil's Master-peece To bring men into his own condemnation is the Trophee he glories in and being a Prince both proud subtile and Imperious you may not think he will be Baffled or Complimented out of his hold Intreaties Menaces and force of Arguments are of no weight with him He laughs at your strong Reasons and Counts them but rotten wood Mark 5. 4. Jesus I know and His Spirit I know but what are these No this kind goes not forth by consent Nothing will move him but that Power which Heaven and Earth do bow under He that made him and he onely can cause his sword to approach unto him and take the Prey from this Terrible One And for this it was that our Saviour tells the Apostles when he sends them to turn Men from Satan unto God That all power in Heaven and Earth was committed to him Math. 28. 18. And that in this power He will be with them to the end of the World Which was indeed but Needfull For they had surely gon on a sleeveless errand a weak and fruitless design if Christ himself thus impower'd had not gone with them And for the Elect themselves They are of themselves no better disposed to this work than those that Never shall be wrought-upon They are Enemies in their minds Darkness Dead in sins and Children of wrath even as Others And this they are by Nature Their State therefore could never be changed if a Power Invincible and Invincibly Resolved in what It undertakes were not engaged in
spilt on the ground But though this Promise of Christ be virtually a Promise of all Grace yet because of our slowness of heart to believe and to win us off from our legallizing Notions the Lord condescends to gratify His People in Words as well as Substance And therefore V. To make it expresly evident that all Spiritual blessings are perfectly free He hath put them all into Absolute Promises Not that all Promises run in that tenor Many of them have Conditions annex'd which also in their place are of very significant usefullness Gen. 22. 12-18 Joh. 3. 16. chap. 14. 6. Math. 5. 8. 2 Cor. 7. 1. Mark 16. 16. Joh. 10. 9. 1. As proofs of our willing Subjection to God 2. Directives by what Mediums we must get-to the Blessedness design'd us 3. How we must be qualified for the enjoyment of it 4. As Marks and Evidences of our being in the way to it and of those to whom it doth belong But this Annexion of Conditions does not imply a power in Men to perform them tho' perform'd they must be before we enjoy the promised Good Nor does the effect of those Promises depend upon any Act to be done by us which some other Promise doth not provide us with But That Great Fundamental Promise on which is founded our hopes of Eternal life Tit. 1. 2. was Absolute 't was given afore the world Though dearly conditional to Him with whom the Compact was made yet perfectly free and Absolute to us And therefore the adding of Conditions to After-Promises may not be taken as invalidating that First Promise Or as a Defeazance to it It 's a Scripture Maxim That the Covenant which was before confirmed of God in Christ Gal. 3. 17. the Law which was Four hundred and thirty years after cannot disannul that it should make the Promise of none effect The like may be said of Promises made in Time viz That the Conditionalness of Some does not make-void the Absoluteness of Others As the Law was to Christ such are Conditional Promises to the Absolute They shew what we should be and do and by consequence that we can neither be nor do as we should and thence Inferr The Necessity of Divine Grace to undertake for us And then indeed is the Freeness of Grace adorable which promiseth help in terms of an Absolute tenor And accordingly we find That whatever is in one Scripture made the Condition of Acceptance with God and Eternal life In other Scriptures those very Conditions are promised without Condition Some of which we have a Prospect of in the following ballance Conditional Promises Wash ye make you clean Cease to doe evil learn to doe well Come now and tho' your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow Isa 1. 16 18. Repent and turn so iniquity shall not be your ruin Ezek. 16. 30. Make you a new heart and a new spirit v. 31. Hear and your Soul shall live Isa 50. 3. If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find Him if thou seek Him with thy whole heart Deut. 4. 29. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart Deut. 10. 6. Return O backsliding Children Jer. 3. 14. If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land Isa 1. 19. I will yet for this be enquired of by the House of Israel Ezek. 36. 37. He that endureth unto the end the same shall be saved Math. 24. 13. Promises of the Condition Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean From all your filthiness will I cleanse you Ezek. 36. 25. I will forgive your iniquity and your sin I will remember no more Jer. 31. 33. I will put a new spirit within you Ezek. 11. 19. A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you chap. 36. 26. Thou shalt return and obey the voyce of the Lord Deut. 30. 8. They shall return unto Me with their whole heart Jer. 24. 7. I am found of them that sought me not Isa 65. 1. The Lord thy God will Circumcise thine heart Deut. 30. 6. I will heal their Backslidings Hosea 14. 4. Thy People shall be willing Psal 110. 3. I will cause you to walk in my Statutes Ezek. 36. 27. Phil. 2. 13. I will pour upon the House of David the Spirit of Grace and Supplications Zach. 12. 10. They shall not depart from me Jer. 32. 40. Who shall confirm you unto the End 1 Cor. 1. 8. Jer. 3. 19. These are some of those Many exceeding-Great and Precious promises 2 Pet. 1. 4. by which we are made partakers of the Divine Nature And if duly consider'd would much conduce to establish the present Truth which asserts the Absolute free-giving of All things pertaining to life and Godliness ver 3. And this nothing more plainly contradicts than to make the Dispensments of Grace to depend on the Wills and improvements of Natural Men To shut-out which is a principal scope of Absolute Promises 1 Cor. 1. 29. Ch. 12. 6. Phil. 2. 13. That no flesh should glory in His presence Since it is God that worketh all in all and That of His own good pleasure Now If any should ask by the way Wherein the special love of God to Elect persons discovers it self before their Conversion I cannot assigne any plain or Open discoveries of it by which the Elect may be known from other Men All outward things fall alike to all The heir whiles a Child differs nothing from a Servant altho' he be Lord of all by Election Gal. 4. 1. Yet there are divers gracious operations of that love towards them even in common providences Albeit they are not perceiv'd till afterwards As 1. In keeping-alive the Root or Stem they were to grow from which might be a principal cause of His adding 15. years to Hezekiah's life viz. for Josiah's sake who was to come of his lineage Manasseh his grandfather not being yet born So those dayes of tribulation were shortened and many of the Jewes kept alive by the Providence of God for the Elect's sake that should be of their progeny perhaps two thousand years after 2. In preserving the Elect themselves from many a death which they were obnoxious to before their Conversion As He also did Manasseh And this was the Cause when Satan had them in his Nett and had drag'd them to the pits brink That the Lord sent from Heaven and saved them Psal 57. 3. Job 33. 24. Deliver him I have found a Ransom He is Mine and I have designed him to another end 3. In keeping them from the unpardonable Sin Thus Paul being a Chosen Vessel was kept without that knowledg of Christ which some of the Pharisees had For otherwise his persecuting the Church of God had bin uncapable of pardon as appears by 1 Tim. 1. 13. I obtained Mercy because I did it ignorantly 4. In casting the lot of their habitation where He hath planted
of thy self in carrying-on the work afterwards All our Sufficiency is of God Even all the Strivings of the Saints are according to the Workings of God in them Gal. 2. 8. Col. 1. 29. 'T is true indeed That a good Tree will bring-forth good fruit but not without Sun Ayr Dew and other Heavenly influences For if separate from these the Tree it self will dye So without a continual Communication of virtue from Above Cant. 4. 16. the New Creature can neither Act nor live Depend therefore on that Radical Grace i. e. On the God of all Grace for Preserving and Actuating the Grace He hath given you Gal. 4. 9. Rest not in this That you know God but rather That you are known of God I shall close this head as John the Apostle doth his first Epistle where having asserted the Divinity of Christ he presently subjoyns Little Children keep your selves from Idols So say we 1 Joh. 5. 21. of Electing love which was indeed the Root and Cause of Christ Himself as a Mediatour What-ever you lean-upon besides and without respect to That you make an Idol of it OF Perseverance OR The certain and effectual Progress of Election FOR the firmer support and comfort of Believers notwithstanding the present weakness of their Faith As also to allure and bring-in Others who are hankering about the door or yet in the high-wayes and hedges It hath pleased the Holy and only Wise God to indulge us with plain and positive assurance of the certain continuance and going-on of All who have once believed and received the Grace of God in truth Albeit that many concern'd in this assurance attain not to it That Faith and Holiness do inseperably follow Election is shewn afore Our business now is to shew that Faith and Holiness are of an abiding nature and shall never be lost And this is that we call PERSEVERANCE Which being the Crown and Glory of all the former Points and that as secures to us the comforts arising thence being also as much impugned as any of Those the proof and confirmation thereof is apparently necessary and tending to profit And I trust it shall not onely appear that the Doctrine is True but also replete with Arguments promotive of Holiness by which the contrary opinion will best be contradicted For so it is in the Wisdom of God that every Truth has that in it as properly tends to its own defense and establishment It 's the property of Men truly wise to enterprise onely attainable things and things worthy their wisdom as also so to frame and module the means as not to miss their intent Much more must it become and be incumbent upon Him who is Wisdom it self so to do If then the Ultimate End of all things be the Glory of God and the second great End the Salvation of His Chosen It may well be concluded that the properest means for attainment are pitched upon and those such as will compass his End Hence also we may be satisfied that all intermediate Occurrences However improper in their own nature and casual to us were all fore-appointed of God and that by a Decree most wise and fixed and consequently are and shall be so dispensed as not to hinder but help-on and bring-about the thing principally design'd which therefore shall not cannot miscarry nor be finally disturbed However therefore 2 Cor. 2. 17. Men of corrupt minds may stumble at the Word Change the Truth of God into a lye and turn his Grace into lasciviousness and some others not of design but by mistake and unacquaintedness with the true state of the Question may disapprove and object against it Yet may not the Truth be discarded nor its friends be shy to Own it But strive the more industriously by their Sobriety Meekness Holiness and all good fruits to make the World know that To the Pure all things are pure whiles to other Men through the impurity of their own spirits all things are defiled and turned into sin And in particular that the Doctrine of God's unchangeable love to his Chosen and their Endless abiding therein is no way an inleâ—â— or Encouragement to sin or Remissness in Duty but is indeed the powerfullest strengthner against Apostacy and most effectual quickner to Gospel obedience As touching this Doctrine the substance of what I intend is reduced into this Proposition viz. That all and every one of God's Elect Prop. being once Regenerate and Believing are and shall invincibly be carried on to the perfect obtainment of Blessedness and Glory Towards the Evidenceing of this Truth 1. let us take-in things of a lower consideration than that of Eternal Salvation and see how those persons formerly instanced being destined of God to eminent service in the World were carried thorow and that completely to the end of their work Notwithstanding the greatest difficulties and natural impossibilities that stood in their way to impede it By which will appear the sure effect of God's Purposes even in the midst of all intervenient Obstructions and will contribute not a little to illustrate the Truth in hand 1. I begin with Abraham's seed In Gen. 12. 7. The land of Canaan is given them by Promise Isaac in whom this Seed should be called was not yet born Nor yet untill both his Parents were past age Gen. 18. 11. To help this the Lord bringsback the Sun many degrees makes it a new spring-time with them and gives them Isaac When Isaac was Married his wife proves barren chap. 25. 21. verse 23. After twenty years waiting the Lord in answer to prayer gives her Conception Now two Children they had the Elder of which the Lord rejects and the other to whom the Promise belong'd in danger every day to be killed by his Brother and so the line of the Promise in danger of failing chap. 27. 41. chap. 28. 2. chap. 31. 41. v. 23. and 24. Jacob to save his life flies to Padan-Aram there Laban deals hardly with him and when he made homewards follows him with evil intent But the Lord in a dream takes him off No sooner is he escap'd from him chap. 32. 6. but Esau comes against him with four hundred Men full bent to revenge the old grudge The Lord turns his heart in a moment chap. 33. 4. v. 12. and melts him into brotherly affection that instead of destroying Jacob he proffers himself to be his Guard and Convoy When Simeon and Levi had so highly provoked the Canaanites chap. 34. 25. chap. 35. 5. that it was a Thousand to One but they would come and cut off Jacob's family at once the Lord causes a terrour to fall upon them that they do not so much as look after them When a seven years Famine was coming on the land ch 37. 28. with chap. 41. 54. likely enough to eat up poor Jacob and his house the Lord by a strange Providence sends an Harbinger to make provision for
walked the more humbly and warily all his dayes He was also the more intent on that great duty of Teaching sinners the way of God Psal 51. 13. Peter he also got ground by denying his Master Thereby he came to see his own weakness the need he had of Christ's support and continuall prayer for him and we hear no more of his carnal confidence after that But What a clamour and out-cry does he make against our adversary the Devil 1 Pet. 5. 8. to warn others by his own example what danger they are in And doubtless what the Tempter got by Peter's fall he lost the double of it by the after-watchfulness of Others For that 's the designed end Luke 2â— 32. viz. To strengthen stablish settle them ver 10. Paul had a Messenger of Satan let looss upon him to buffet him The end of which was to humble him and To shew him the sufficiency of the Grace of Christ 'T is likely also That he got as much by that thorn in his flesh as by his Rapture and Revelations To be sure they did well together and poized him the better for his work Job 23. 10 with ch 40. 4. ch 42. 6. The like effect upon Job Mary Magdalen the remembrance of the seven devils that once possess'd her and of that love which cast them out How did it heighten her love to Christ and keep her heart in a melting frame She loved much because much was forgiven her The People's fourty years travel thro' that great and terrible wilderness Deut. 8. 15 16. among fiery Serpents and scorpions It was To prove them and to doe them good in the latter end They were also sent into captivity for their good Jer. 24. 5. Isa 27. 9. This was all the fruit intended To take away their sin and to make them partakers of His holiness Heb. 12. 10. I grant indeed These things are Physick which Nature desires not Yet let me say They are as needfull in their season as our food and in very Faithfullness we must have them which also appears by the scope of the new Covenant Of which more afterwards Upon all which It is safely inferred That all these things worketh God with Man Not to destroy him but To bring-back his soul from the pit Job 33. 29. 30. They are all made to turn to their Salvation They have alwaies triumphed over them Rom. 8. 37. and been more than Conquerors through Him that loved them And if this be the fruit and Result of all that doth or can befall a Believer whiles in this World and ther 's no more of evil or danger when this is done then welcom let them be as another Demonstration of their INVINCIBLE PERSEVERANCE Ps 107. 43. Who so is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. IV. A fourth Argument for the Saints Perseverance Arg. IV. is built on their Union with Christ Which is of that Intimateness that the Scripture sets it forth by terms of nearest Relation as Foundation and Building Vine and Branches Father and Children Husband and Spouse Head and Members Yea They are both called interchangeably by the same Name He is called Jacob Psal 24. 6. And they are called Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. And which is more if more can be He communicates to them that title which one would think Incommunicable viz. The Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23. 6. with chap. 33. 16. And this Union is such as can never be broken It is no more possible than for the Union which is between God and Christ to be dissolv'd For the same Oneness for kinde is between Christ and them as between the Father and Christ which is plain by that passage of His prayer in the 17 John ver 21. That they all may be One How one as thou Father art in Me and I in Thee That they may be One in Vs They are so near to Him that they are said to be Of His flesh and of His bones Eph. 5. 30. as also That they are one Spirit i. e. 1 Cor. 6. 17. He and They are Actuated by the same Spirit as the head and members of the same Body are by One Soul And this is the true reason why Believers cannot walk after the flesh because The Spirit of life which is in Christ Iesus as their root rules in them Rom. 8. 2. Jude ver 2. They are preserved in Christ as Noah was in the Ark or as branches in their own stock For this difference is still to be Noted That Believers have not this life in themselves as Christ hath but they have it in him which is better for them than if in their own keeping For being in Him as in a Root It is natural to Him to Communicate and as natural to them by virtue of the Divine Nature communicated to them to Derive from Him And so Because and whiles He lives Joh. 14. 19. 1 Joh 5. 12. They shall live also He that hath the Son hath life and they have it in a way of Right as he that is possest of the soil has right to all that grows upon it All that is Christ's is theirs There is a happy Commutation of Interests Their debts with the consequences thereof are devolv'd upon Him and all that was His in imputed to them And His care of them is such that He will be able to say at the latter day Of All that Thou hast given Me I have lost nothing Joh. 18. 9. 17. 12. Jer. 22. 24. He will not leave an hoof behind The signet on his right hand Men of shineing outsides may possibly be plucked thence but the least joint of His finger shall not No man who is Compos mentis will suffer the meanest part of himself to Gangrene and perish if it be in his power to help it How then should our Lord Christ Eph. 5. 25. Who besides the naturall affection He hath to those of His own Body hath also received a Commandment from the Father Joh. 6. 40. to keep them safe and is perfectly qualified in all respects to make it good On this account Col. 2. 10. as well as others they are complete in Him Believers are so One with Christ that whatsoever he did they are said to doe it with Him vers 11. Rom. 6. 6. ver 4. 5. Eph. 4. v. 8. Chap. 2. 6. Gal. 2 20. Circumcised with Him Crucified with Him Buried with Him Rose with Him Ascended with him And they sit in Heaven with him It is no more possible for Believers to miscrary finally than for Christ Himself to be held under the power of the grave There is one law for them both It 's a faithfull saying 2 Tim. 2. 11. If we be dead with Him Rom. 8. 17. Chap 6. 9. we shall also live with him If we suffer with him
Balaam's curse into a blessing to Israel Phil. 1. 19. and Paul's afflictions to his salvation Luke 21. 28. They are to Them a Cause of lifting up the head And if it were not so the Apostle would never exhort us To count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations Jam. 1. 2. In the midst whereof 1 Sam 2. 9. He keepeth the feet of His Saints For surely sayes God They are my People Children that will not lye Isa 63. 8. i. e. They are of Those I have Chosen and set apart for my self and therfore they shall not frustrate my Purpose in Choosing-them which seems implyed in that word So So He was their Saviour q. d. I will Save them because I have made them my People And for further confirmation take Notice That this Sovereign Decree is alwaies Regnant Dan. 2. 44. It is that Kingdom which Ruleth over all and shall never be broken Psal 89. 34. My Covenant will I not break Nor alter the thing that is gon out of my lips and v. 18. My Covenant shall stand fast with him It is meant of the Covenant made with David and his house Or rather with Christ and His Spiritual Seed Of whom David was a Type And that we might have strong Consolation the Lord binds it with an Oath Once i. e. Once for all and Once for ever it was so full and perfect that it needed no Alteration Amendment or Repetition Once have I sworn by my Holiness That I will not lye unto David v. 35. And how Impossible it was That this Covenant should be over-ruled or broken appears also in Jer. 33. 20 21. where speaking in the Name of God he delivers it thus If you can break my Covenant of the Day and my Covenant of the Night that there should not be Day and Night in their Season Then may also my Covenant be broken with David my Servant Here note by the way That Day and Night take their turns but still it is in their Season And David himself sayes of it That it is a Covenant Everlasting â— Sam. 23. 5. Ordered in all things and sure i. e. What ever might possibly fall-in to Interrupt it There was that Order observed in the composition of the Covenant such a Power layd up within it as should certainly over-run and bear-down those Impediments triumph over them all and hold on its way As all the Tempests and tumults that may happen in this lower World can in no wise Obstruct the course of superiour Orbs He therefore declares in high yet humble expressions He desired no other or better security for his Salvation And it is not unlikely That David and Solomon were both of them left to those great backslidings to give a proof of the Sureness of this Covenant which indeed was sufficiently done by them and tryed to the utmost For they both broke the Covenant on their part yet the Covenant was not Null'd No thanks to them but to that Sovereign Grace that had laid-in Provision afore to prevent it by making it Absolute and Vnrepealable Yet the Lord will not Connive at their miscarriages but If his Children forsake my law and break my Statutes I will visit their transgressions with the Rod Ps 89. 31 32. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him Nor suffer my Faithfulness to fail ver 29. It must be granted There was at times a seeming to make-void this Covenant and great complaints are made upon it But it revives again and joy comes in the Morning as is evident by the Close of that 89 Psalm Blessed be the Lord for evermore Amen and Amen It s return was the more welcom for its temporary absence and therefore he meets it with a double Gratulation Amen and Amen! It was but in a litle wrath that He hid His face from them and that but for a Moment too but with everlasting kindness will I have Mercy on thee Isa 54. 8. saith the Lord thy Redeemer The Mountains shall depart and the hills be removed ver 10. But my kindness shall not depart from thee Neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath Mercy on thee In Jer. 31. 37. another Impossibility is instanced in to shew the Eternal Validity of this Covenant Thus saith the Lord If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the Earth searched out beneath I will also cast off all the seed of Ifrael for all that they have done saith the Lord. The Lord Himself you see is both the Alpha and Omega of this great sentence To shew That both ends of the Covenant are in His own hands By these Scriptures with many others it is apparent that there shall be no Faileur on God's part and if so Then there shall be None at all because He hath taken on Himself the performance of the whole Believers therefore shall invincibly be carried-on Notwithstanding all kind of impediments unto the End of their Faith the Salvation of their Souls Yet doth not this Doctrine go free of Contradiction And truly considering how cleer and pertinent the Scripture is for it It seems to me That if the first Impugners of Perseverance had not found themselves in a Toyl and so Necessitated to oppose it for the maintenance of other principles they had before taken up and espoused and which would not consist with this They would never have set themselves against it But Errours like Truths in that doe hang on a string Or as links in a Chayn The first Mover draws the rest after But I trust thro help from Above all the objections that are laid against this Doctrine shall prove a further confirmation of it by one hand or other The chief that I have met with are these that follow The Doctrine of Absolute Perseverance deprives Men of the sharpest bit which God hath given them to Curb the unregenerate part of the Soul We mean the fear and dread of Eternal fire The Law is good if a Man use it lawfully So is Fear in its time and place Out of which it is as a Bone out of joint The Law works by Fear as a School-Master unto Christ It is ordinarily the first occasion of our motion towards believing The heir whilst a Child may be under the tutorage of fear But when Faith is grown-up then cast-out the Bondwoman and her Son Fear shall not be heir with Faith For tho' it be a good servant 't is an ill Master For Fear to predominate Faith is for servants to ride Eccles 10. 5. 7. whiles Princes walk on the Earth which is an Errour the Earth cannot bear Believers who know themselves so to be receive not the spirit of bondage agen to fear They are acted Now by another principle as a horse that is throughly broke and well-wayed is better Managed by a gentle hand than a biting Curb Faith works by love It is not
henceforth the fear of wrath but the sense of Christ's love in delivering from wrath that both Curbs the unregenerate part and carries to higher acts of obedience than fear is capable of Altho' at times all sorts of Motives may be needful to keep them going 2 Cor. 5. 14. And the Lord for exercise of their Graces and other holy ends may let the dearest of His Children long conflict with their Fears Under which He yet supports them and brings them forth like Gold at last See Ethan's complaint and the Close he makes in the 89 Psam See also that excellent Treatise A Child of light c. But as touching this Fear in the sense objected which supposeth it the best Curb to Sin and promoter of Perseverance it ought to be rejected How far it may influence a Man that is wholly Unregenerate as a Curb to His lusts is not the Question here But if Saul and Judas ran headlong to hell with this bit in their mouths then is not this sharpest bit the most Effectual Curb That which weakens and tends indeed to destroy the Root of Sin must needs be more effectual as to the main end than That which onely Restrains some puttings-of-it-forth Acts 15. 9. But God purifies the heart by Faith 1 Joh. 3. 3. And Every one that hath this hope purifieth himself as He is pure There is no such virtue given to Fear but on the Contrary The spirit of Fear is put in opposition to the Spirit of Power of Faith and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1. 7. But what ever influence this fear may have upon persons unregenerate they are not deprived of it by the Doctrine of Perseverance for This concerns onely Believers The Objection lyes further open to divers Exceptions As 1. Because it puts an indignity on the Wisdom and Grace of God as if He had taken from Believers some expedient help to Perseverance by his giving them Absolute Promises whereas we should rather suspect our own understandings and Renounce those opinions which Necessitate such unnatural Inferences to support them For do but separate the Promises from their Absoluteness and their strength is gon Rom. 8. 2. They would prove as the law Weak through the weakness of the flesh The Lord knowes that Beleivers have both the difficultest work and deepest sense of their own insufficiency and that nothing more weakens their hands than doubtings and fears And for this cause hath made His Promises absolute Thus we find He Armed Joshua to the battel There shall not any Man be able to stand before thee Josh 1. 5. all the dayes of thy life I will not leave thee nor forsake thee And hence he draws him an Argument to be strong and of a Good Courage ver 6. In like manner Samuel when the People were greatly preplexed because of God's displeasure against them To confirm them in their duty he Comforts them against their Fears Fear not sayes he ye have done all this wickedness yet Turn not aside from following the Lord And what 's the strong Reason by which he fixes them For the Lord will not forsake His People The Objectors and Samuel were not both of a Mind Paul likewise Exhorting Believers to that great duty of keeping-down Sin Rom. 6. 12. that it might not Reign Because the sharpness and heat of the Conflict might otherwise make them Recoyl He gives them as an high Cordial Assurance of Victory tells them in plain and express terms That Sin shall not have Dominion over them ver 14. Here they are at variance with Paul Nor do they better Accord with Peter and John The One directs us To give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. And this as a principal means to keep us from falling And the Other makes it the Scope and End of his whole Epistle That Believers may know they have Eternal life 1 Joh. 5. 13. and that they might goon in Believing Which kind of Arguments had been very unduly applyed if Giving them assurance touching the Event had not been a strengthening of them in their Duty and much more if it would have proved an Iudulgence to the Unregenerate part 2. Let Fear be considered in its Ordinary and natural effects and 't will easily appear That Nothing is less pleasing to God or more unapt for the Service of Perseverance As a Man's principle is such will be his obedience Slavish observance is the best that slavish fear can produce which is no way acceptable to an Ingenuous Spirit God loves a Cheerfull Giver not Samaritan-Worship for fear of Lyons Such service wil also be weak and wavering for Nothing so unsettles the Mind as Fear It enervates the Soul and takes away its Strength 1 Sam. 25. 37 Nobal's heart dyed within him for fear of David Matt. 28. 25. and the Soldiers who kept the Sepulchre were as dead Men for fear The obedience therefore which comes from thence can be but a dead obedience The Effect cannot rise higher then the Cause Pharaoh let Israel go because of the plagues Exod. 14. 5. which being a litle removed Isa 33. 14. he Repents his obedience and chides himself for it And those hypocrites though Fearfulness surprized them Remained hypocrites still This Fear also will consist with the greatest impieties Those very Samaritans who thus feared the Lord 2 King 17. 41. did also worship their graven Images 3. Fear puts upon using unlawful Means Gen. 26. 7. 1 Sam. 21. 13. Gal. 2. 12 13. Hos 7. 11. 1 Sam. 28. 7. Isaac to deny his wife David to feign himself mad Peter and other holy Men to dissemble It sends men to Egypt for help as it did the Jews yea to hell as it did Saul Therefore both Satan and wicked Men are still endeavouring to put God's people in fear Neh. 6. 14 19. Zach. 2. 2. as they would Nehemiah whereby his work had ceased And Satan stood at Joshua's right hand to resist him that is to accuse him and so to put him in fear because of his filthy garments Thereby to discourage him in the work of his office 4. Let Fear be compar'd with its Contrary viz. Faith This removes the Mountain whiles fear fixes it yea makes it to be where indeed is no such thing Fear made the unbelieving spies to bring up an evil Report of the good land and to fancy impossibilities of obtaining it Faith made Caleb and Joshua Magnanimous Num. 13. 30. Let us go up at once say they and possess it ch 14. 9. For we are well able to overcome it yea they shall be bread for us These two who feared no Miscarriage under an absolute Promise were Carried-in All that doubted Mat. 14. 29 3â— were shut out Peter whiles confident walked on the Waves when he began to doubt he began to sink Josh 23. 10. It was Faith made those Worthies valiant in