The Worlds Resurrection, Section 58 – Section 60
If thou shalt continue in his bountifulnesse.
Doctr.It sufficeth not once to hauehave intertained the grace & Gospell of God, to hauehave made a gay and goodly profession of it, and to hauehave gotten credit and esteeme by it, except with a perpetuall tenour we follow our vocation,Heb. 3.14. except we keepe a setled and continued course in godlynesse and hold fast the beginning of our substance whereby we are vpholden vntounto the end,Luke 9.2. hauing set our hand to the plowgh, we must not once looke backe, we must perseuer vntounto the end,Math. 24.13. if we will be saued: If wee would winne and weare the Crowne of righteousnesse, wee must with blessed Paul fight a good fight, 2 Tim. 4.7.8.finish our cou…se, and keepe the faith.
The reasons hereof, are (especially) these; first God is a bountifull Lord and vnchangeably good, therefore wee must serue him willingly and with all our heartes, and that for euer if we would be rewarded by him. Secondly except we persist and abide in Gods louelove, truth and seruice, all our former labour is but lost, al our righteousnesse shall be forgotten;Ezech. 18.24. if we fall and part away from God, we are the instruments of our owne destruction, & shall die and be damned in our sins.
Vse. 1. Seeing that many that only in shew and neuer in good earnest imbraced Gods goodnes and his promises, are iustly depriued of them, let vsus while wee hauehave time and meanes, labour & contend to go forward in piety and religion to the end, and to make our election sure (vntounto vsus) by good workes. 2. Pet. 1.10.
Vse. 3. Here are iustly reproued those yt serue GOD only by star…s and brunts, by accompt of daies, yeares and moneths, and so are soone whot and soone cold, soone ripe, soone rotten, their zeale and religion vanisheth away like a cloude or a morning dew. Hosea. 6. V. 4.
VsUs. 3. We must not in this heauenly course consult with flesh and bloud,Gal. 1 V. 16. nor bring a fleshly mind to religion, nor any worldly respect & sinister aimes of procuring honour, authority, credit, riches, praise: for when we speed of our desire, then our religion determineth and endeth, and when our ends faile, then our godlinesse goeth away with them, or if the sincerity of the gospell shall condemne and crosse vsus in our vices and vanities, profits and pleasures, then we bid adewe to religion, and will desire it to depart out of our coasts as the Garge…its did our Sauiour. Wherefore we must alwaies be aduised by Gods word, we must louelove it and delight in it and with all our soules, serue the Lord of heauen: then shall we continue in Gods goodnesse and neuer be confounded.
Or else thou shalt be cut of .i. because thou art vnthankefull, or but an Hipocrite, God will take his kingdome and Gospel from thee,Doctr. or he wil leaue thee to thy selfe, or giuegive thee ouer to Sathan, for to be seduced & hardned by him.
It is expedient and necessary for the ministers and preachers of the word sometimes, (especially) in time of a generall security, and corruption of maners when they see and espy there people and hearers to grow secure and proud,Esa. 58. Heb. 6.10. 1. Cor. 10.11.12. to contemne other, and to rest onelyonly in titles shewes & outward appearances to vse argumen…ts, of terrour and to denounce the heauy iudgements of God that hang ouer their heads, Heb. 6.10. 1. Cor. 10.11. 2, Tim 4.2.3.4. Iud. 23.
The first reason hereof is, because without this rough dealing, the conceited Hipocrite, the glosing Gospeller, and the drowsie professour cannot possibly be throughly couninced, much lesse awaked and conuerted.
Secondly there is often in the best Christians a kind of be-nummednesse, a kind of worldly drowsinesse, and a kind of spirituall pride and conceitednesse, therefore for the finding out & redresse of these infirmities and faults they hauehave need of daily and sound admonition,Apoc. 3 17. and the more that faith is corrupted and mens manners infected, the more need to plye them with admonitions.
1. Vse. Let vsus labour and endeuour to serue God in singlenesse of heart, and in godly sinceritie, without any by respects or sinister aimes; for then shall we cleare our selues from hipocrisie, and in the time of distresse and in the agonie of death, finde and feele euerlasting and vnspeakable comfort.
2. Vse. It behoueth vsus, if we would approue the soundnesse of our conscience, or bee raised from the sleepe and slumber of negligence and securitie, and bee kept from Apostacie, and the custome and sway of sinne, to endure and admit of wholsome reprehensions and sharpe admonitions. If we do so, they will bee but warnings vntounto vsus, nay, purgations to purge vsus of many superfluous humors, of pride; false opinions, and euill conuersation, yea and a notable restoratiue to recouer vsus, and a preseruatiue to keepe vsus in good plight, being once cured & recouered.
They shall be grafted in.
Wee learne here not to deny all hope of pardon, euen to men that fall and offend most greeuously, but to put them in some hope of obtaining mercy,Acts. 8. v. 22. Dan. 4 24. Ephes. 2. so long as they do not by manifest signes declare themselues to be altogether desperate and incorrigible. Amos. 5. But it must bee so propounded, that still their sinne may bee beaten downe, their securitie remoued, and their minde (in sense of their damnable downefall, into which they are cast) more stirred vp to seeke the face and fauour of God.
Reasons. For, first Gods power is infinite, and his mercies bottomlesse, & therfore he can & may conuert them. Secondly, if there be no hope and comfort left of merciemercy and forgiuenesse, men will neuer seeke to bee reconciled vntounto God, by true repentance, but either will bee swallowed vp of despaire, or else persist and proceed on in their obstinacie and blindnesse.
Vse. This meeteth with the error of the Donatists and Nouatians, who did denie repentance, and receiuing in againe into the fellowship of the Church to those that shrunke from the profession of faith in time of persecution, or fell into manifest offences after Baptisme, whereas the word of God is flatly against it in many places,Ier. 3.1. Iohn. 21.5.10.17. and in many particulers, 2. Cor. 2. v. 6 7.8. Math. 18.22.
2. Vse. Let no man (albeit he hauehave beene neuer so great a sinner, or neuer so often fallen and offended) despaire of Gods mercy, but onelyonly acknowledge and bewaile his sinnes before God, labour and resolue to forsake his sinnes, and to leade a new life, and wholy and perfectly relie himselfe vponupon Gods mercies in Christ, and by the hand of faith apply them continually to his soule, and then though his sinnes were as crimson, Isay. 1. v. 18.they shall he as white as snowe: though they were as redde as Scarlet they shall be as wooll, for Christ his satisfaction is of infinite validitie and vertue: our sinnes finite, but his mercies are infinite.
For God is able to graft them in againe.
Seeing that God is omnipotent, and that nothing is impossible vntounto him, of those things which hee will, that his power doth in nothing more shine out, then in the iustification and sauing of men:Doctr. we must not rashly despaire of a mans conuersion, nor deny pardon to those that hauehave falne, or debarre them of the meanes of sal… uation, for the very Iewes shall bee grafted in againe, when they shall returne vntounto the Lord,2. Cori. 3.1…. Luke 21.24. and when by faith they shall embrace the Messias.
1. Reason. For God often-times conuerteth the most wicked,Luk. 23. v. 30. and of whom (in mans iudgement) there is none or the least hope. Examples hereof we hauehave in Manasses, the Niniuites,Apoc. 3.9. Mary Magdaline, Paul, and the Theefe vponupon the crosse, and of those of the Synagogue of Sathan in Saint Iohns time▪ Secondly, we shall hereby much detract and derogate from Gods greatnesse and goodnesse, and foster an vncharitable opinion of others, whereas charitie must hope and beleeue all things.1. Cor. 13. Thirdly, Gods power is not idle and included in heauen, but actiue, effectuall and shewing his effects in all places, and in all persons.
1. Vse. Let vsus by this doctrine be humbled and giuegive the glory vntounto God; for that recouery and conuersion commeth from his power and mercy onelyonly, and other-wise man in matters of his saluation, wanting faith, can doe no more then a boughe or branche broken off can grow greene before that it bee by the Gardiners or Planters hand grafted into the Tree.
2. Vse. Let vsus in all dangers, all outward difficulties and impossibilities, and in the performance of all Gods promises build vponupon his powre and omnipotencie, (viz. so farre forth as it standeth with his reuealed will) and this will notably stay and support our faith in all temptations and triall. Iob. 19.25.26. Math. 22.29. Rom. 4. v. 20. Dan. 3.17.