The Worlds Resurrection, Section 51 – Section 57
Ver. 21.If God spared not the naturall branches take heed he spare not thee.
Doctr.The sinnes and punishments of other men must bee our instructions, their affliction must bee our admonitions, and their woes our warnings: their foreign must bee our foreign their roddes our remembrances and sufferings our schoolemaisters; that we do not sin against God as they did, and so drawe and pull vppon our selues the same or the like punishments. Iude. 4.7. 1 Cor. 10. V. 5.6.7.8.9.10.11. Heb. 4. V. 11.
The first reason hereof, is, first because their sinnes and punishments hauehave a proportion and likenesse with our sinnes and punishments.
Secondly, God is as much displeased and offended with sinne and Apostacy now, as in time past, for hee neither doth nor can remitte ought of his zeale and iustice.
Vse. 1. We must learne to be wise-hearted and to make our election sure to our selues, and bee kept from negligence, vnbeleefe and security by the desertion and Apostacy not only of the Iewes, but also of the whole world [in a sort] for most are reuolted long agoe: the Easterne parts to the Turke and to his Alcoron, and ye Westerne parts to the Romish Antechrist and his superstition. It is not good for vsus to put in aduenture our saluation with the most and multitude, vnlesse wee would perish with them: it behoueth us to beware and be pure from their distast of the truth, from their carelesnesse and hypocrisie, least God in his iustice forsaking vsus, we fall into the like calamities and miseries both spirituall and bodily.
Vse. 2. Hereby are highly reproued all those that run to riot and swagger and sweare it out, & liue so loosely as though hell were broken loose, and God had dispensed with his iustice, and graunted a generall indulgence to sin & rebell against him, and yet those men beare themselues in hand that they shall neuer be moued or see euil. These men hauehave no feeling of Gods iudgements,Ezek. 9. V. 9. they are hidden from their eyes and therefore they abuse the Gospell to all carnall libertie,Psal. 50. V. 21. and doe and speake what they list.Psal. 10. V. 5. But the euer-watching eie of Gods iustice euer looketh vppon them, hee will one day summon them to iudgement &, accordingly, if they amend not, measure out and execute iudgement against them.
Behold therefore the bountifulnesse and soueritie of God: towards them which are falue, seueritie: but toward thee bountifulnesse, if thou continue in his bountifulnesse, or else thou shalt be cut of. Ver. 23.And they also if they abide not stil in vnbeliefe shal bee graffed in, for God is able to graft them in againe.
Ver. 2 4.For if thou wast cut of the Oliue tree, which was wilde by nature, and wast grafted contrary to nature in a right Oliue, how much more shall they that are grafted by nature, be grafted in their owne Oliue tree.
Paraph.Beholde .i. Consider O thou beleeuing Gentile, whosoeuer thou art, the bountifulnesse and seueritie of God. Viz. in the reprobation and casting off of the Iewes, and the election and calling of the Gentiles, that thou maist be preserued thereby in Gods feare; towards them truly that hauehave falne, that is toward the Iewes that hauehave Stumbled at Christ, the stone of offence, and are become vnbeleeuers, and cutte from the Church: seueritie, but towards thee bountifulnesse, which thou shalt inioy alwaies: if thou shalt continue in his bountifulnesse, namely in the fauor of God & in faith, and thou dost not by thine vnbeliefe and other heynous offences, make him vntounto thee of a most kinde father a seuere Iudge: Or else thou shalt be cut off .i. from ye Oliue tree of the Church and Gods people.
Ver. 23.And they also .i. the Iewes are cut from the Oliue by vnbeliefe shall be graffed, in the Church of Christ: for God is able to graft them in againe, Obiect.and to inlarge his Church by their addition.
For if thou, that hadst beene a Gentile in times past, was cut out. Ver. 24.Viz. as a graft out of the Oliue tree wilde by nature .i. out of the wilde and vndressed Oliue, and wast graft into a right Oliue, a garden and trimmed Oliue, frō whose nature in respect of especiall promises made to them, and in regard of their holy Auncestors, thy nature much differed, how much more shall they which are by nature .i. hauehave great affinitie with the Patriarches, and who in respect of their beginning did sometime (by reason of the promises) belong to Gods people: bee grafted in .i. againe by faith: in their owne Oliue .i. the Church of GOD wherein the holy Patriarches the Iewes fathers and Auncestors hauehave the first partes and places.
Beholde Gods bountifulnesse and Gods seueritie.
Ques. Is not God changeable in his promises & couenant seeing that he cast of the Iewes whom formerly hee chose and loued?
Ans. No, for first he speaketh of the nation in generall, which were his people onelyonly by outward profession, and not by secret election.
Secondly they were grafted in the Church, but neuer predestinate to life eternall, for then they could not hauehave falne away:2 Tim. 2.19. Eor the Election of God is a firme foundation and all the gates and powers of hell cannot shake it, much lesse preuaile against it.
Towards thee bountifulnesse,Ver. 22. if thou continue in his bountie.
Ques. Seeing that continuance and perseuerance in grace and faith seemeth to consist in our owne power and will, which is weake and changeable, cannot the elect and regenerate loose faith and so wholy fall away from God?
Ans. No, for first, constancy and perseuerance doth not consist in our owne power and will, but it is an effect of Gods election, & an especiall marke of a man regenerate. 1. Iohn 2.22.
Secondly by this manner of speaking, the holy Ghost intendeth to correct pride and presumption in men, and to stirre them vp to a godly indeauor, to maintaine and cherish their faith and to be workers and instruments of their owne saluation by vsing all the good meanes that God hath sanctified for that purpose.
Thirdly faith, albeit the flame and outward effects of it, may be quenched for a time, yet ye fire was neuer put out, but at the least blast of Gods word and spirit it is kindled againe, and breaketh forth into a bright flame. Lastly, that regeneration and the gift of faith is neuer wholy lost, it is most cleare and manifest by many testimonies of scripture, God putteth his feare into their hearts that they can neuer depart from him.
Luk. 8. v. 15They hauehave the seed of grace and of faith remayning in them, and they alwaies keepe it.
Ioh 4.14 Luk. 22.32 Ioh. 14.15The grace of God, in them is a Well of water springing vp into euerlasting life, Christ is alwaies a mediator for them, and praieth for them effectually; the comforter doth abide with them for euer, God doth neuer cast them off and they shall neuer perish. Ioh. 6. and 10.
They if they abide not still in vnbeliefe shalbe grafted in.
Q. How can predestination bee eternall and certaine, seeing that it dependeth vponupon mans beleefe or vnbeleefe?
An. Our beliefe or vnbeliefe dependeth vponupon predestination, for they that are elected to eternall life, beleeue. Act. 13.48. and they that are eternall refused, cannot beleeue nor obey the Gospell. Ioh. 8. and therefore predestination dependeth not on it, for the second causes hang on the first, that is the decree of God and not the first on the second.
Secondly our engrafting into the Church dependeth not vponupon our owne power and free-will, but onelyonly vponupon the power of God and his mercy.
Thirdly, wee must distinguish of the times. The Iewes that liue in one time or age, may bee generally reiected, but not so in another, (especially) when their fulnesse shall (as wee daily expect and pray for) come into the Church, and they bee by faith Abahams children.
Fourthly, the Apostle speaketh not of eueryevery perticular but of the people and nation in generall. Lastly, their duetie is shewed vsus that they ought not to please themselues in their ignorance and vnbeleife, but to desire to come to true vnderstanding and faith.
V. 22. Behold the bountifulnesse and seuerity of God.
The whole world is but a Theater of Gods merciemercy and iudgements,Doct. for whatsoeuer, is done in it, hee doth it either as the efficient cause, if it bee good, and so farre forth as it is good: or, if it be euill, he effectually permiteth it,Psal. 97. v. 1 2 3, 4. and most wisely, and to good ends, ordereth and gouerneth it, and that alwaies without any fault of his, as here we hauehave an instance in the Iewes reiection, & in the election of the Gentiles. Psal. 115.
The reason herof is, first because God is almighty, and therefore nothing is or can bee done in the world, but by his decree and knowledge, effectual working, or (at least) by his effectual permissiō: secondly God sitteth not idle in heauen, (as Epicures & others vainly imagin) but alwaies worketh & doth care for and order the things of men, preparing and propounding rewards to the Godly, and reseruing and prouiding punishments for the wicked. Gen. 6.5.6. Gen. 22.1. Deut. 8.2. & 13.3. Isa. 4, 1.20.21.22.23.
Vse. Let vsus attribute and ascribe nothing to chance or fortune, but ascribe all to Gods holy prouidence, who decreeth and fore-seeth, gouerneth ordereth and directeth all things, euen the least and most vile things, and that, in a most excellent maner, & to most excellent ends, and if nature nihil facit frustra, then the God of nature, who is wisdome it selfe doth nothing but to excellent purpose.
Towards them which hauehave fallen, seuerity.
We by other mens sinnes and falls must bee humbled and stand in feare,Doctr. least by our vnbeliefe and other sinnes that flow from it, wee draw Gods anger and iudgments vponupon vsus. We hauehave infinit spectacles hereof in scripture, as against the old world, yt in the daies of Noah was drowned: against the Sodomits yt were destroied with fire and brimston from heauen: of many thousand Israelits yt perished & were destroied in the wildernes, for murmuring for rebellion,1 Cor. 10 v 6 7.8.9.10.1 Rom. 15. v. 4 for fornication, for idollatry, and for tempting of God. Iud. Epist. v. 7. of the Iewes exiled their owne country and led once and againe into captiuity, and many other both generall and particular iudgements, recorded in scripture, both in the old testament and also in the new, yea all ages and our owne experience yeelde vsus store and variety of examples.
The reason hereof is, because God is mercifull vntounto vsus, and would not hauehave vsus perish,2 Pet. 3.9 but to come to the knowledge of the truth and to repentance and so to saluation. Secondly. God is iust and hateth sinnes alike in all, and if we will not take warning by others, God will censure and punish vsus sharpely.
Vse 1. Let vsus pitty and commiserate their wofull condition that hauehave prouoked Gods indignation against them, let vsus commend them to God in our praiers, and do out vttermost endeuour to recouer them.
Vse 2. Let vsus marke and meditate vponupon Gods seuerity against the Hungarians and the Greekes and other places of Europe, that hauehave beene captiuated and inthralled to the Godlesse and barbarous Turkes, together with Asia and Affrica.
Let vsus also consider the great and long Apostacy of Spaine, Italy and other countries in the West part of the world, from Christ to the Romish Antichrist, and withall behold Gods incomparable mercies so long and so strangely continued, vntounto vsus and our nation.
Let vsus acknowledge our owne vnworthinesse, and be alwaies thankefull vntounto God, for so great mercies, and beware least we contemne the ritches of his goodnesse and patience, that leadeth and prouoketh vsus to repentance, and take heed yt, that be not found in vsus which we taxe and condemne in others, least God receiue them againe into fauor, and withall disclaime and cast vsus off.
But towards thee bountifulnesse.
Doct.Here wee may obserue Gods gentlenesse and facility towards his children, hee is a most indulgent father to them; most sensitiue of their miseries, and one that is most ready and willing to helpe them (that truly serue him) in all their needs and extreamities And whereas he being debter to no man, might neglect, yea reiect all, yet he amongst many chooseth some (albeit of themselues altogether vnworthy and strangers from God and his couenant) who may both temporally and eternally, enioy his goodnesse, and alwayes praise and magnifie him for it.
The particulars hereof appeare towards the elect, and euidence them-selues especially in Gods constant louelove towards them through Christ,Rom. 8. v. 30. in their effectuall calling, in their iustification, and sanctification, in disposing and directing all things,Psalm. 73.1, yea euen their afflictions, Rom. 8.28. yea their very sinnes to their good,Isa. 57. v. 1.2. and by aduancing them in the time appointed to euerlasting saluation and happinesse.
1. Vse. Seeing that God is so good and bountifull to his elect, we that serue so good a Lord and maister, must be ashamed to offend him, and wee must thinke it an intollerable matter to requite his goodnesse with euill. And when God shall either in his iustice correct vsus for our offences, or else chastice vsus (thereby to produce and worke some greater good) wee must neuer repine and grudge against him; for he in wisdome and mercy manageth all things for our good and saluation, Hebr, 12.7. and 10. Rom. 8.28.
2. Wee must acknowledge that wee receiue all good things from God alone, wee must admire and esteeme them, and repose our whole trust and affiance in God for his goodnesse and bountie, and seeke and sue vntounto him by prayer and supplications in all our distresses and distractions; then will he delight to doe vsus good, and be a present succour and shelter vntounto vsus in time of neede. Psal. 46. v. 1. Hebr. 4. v. 16.
3. Vse. Lastly, wee must day and night, publikely and priuately, sound and set forth his mercies toward vsus, that whereas he might hauehave made vsus and left vsus to be vnbeleeuing Iewes, or blinded and idolatrous Papists or ignorant Atheists, or prophane and godlesse Painims, hee hath vouchsafed vsus the glorious light of his sauing truth, and hath taught vsus both outwardly and inwardly how to walke before him and so to attaine vntounto euerlasting rest and blessednesse.