The Application of Redemption, Book 1 · Section · Subsection 7
The Arguments now follow.
The First is taken from the nature of this Work:Argu. 1. his work of Evidencing is a work of Application, … to be referred, and according to that to be …, for the Priviledges themselves Justification, Adoption, &c. carry the marks of Distinction and … from the World, and do appertain only to such as the Lord hath taken for his own, Deut. … last, Who is like unto thee O Israel, a people … by the Lord? And in this regard they are called … peculiar, taken in from the Common of the … Acts 26. 18. He turns them from Satan to God, and then they receive forgiveness of sins and … among them that are sanctified by Faith in him: When the Soul is called, and turned to God, … there is an Application of all spiritual good.
Hence the Reason follows thus:
No work of Application is without respect to a Qualification; but Evidencing is a work of Application: without an act of Receiving there is no Application, for the applying of any thing to another, ever in common sense, implyes some to whom it must be applyed, and who must receive it; But … … to a Qualification there is no act of receiving … Priviledges, therefore without respect to a …, there is no application of them: If the very act of Receiving be performed by a Qualification, then without respect to this, there is no Receiving: But the very act of Receiving is done by a Qualification, 1 Cor. 2. 14. The Natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God, therefore there must be more than Nature. Joh. 1. 12. To. … many as Received him he gave this Power and Priviledge to be the Sons of God, even to as many as beleeve on his name; Receiving and Beleeving are all one. Thus then, Without a Qualification of Faith, there is no Receiving; and without Receiving respected, there is no applying of any Priviledges; … without applying, no Evidencing; therefore … respect to a Qualification there is no Evidence … by the Spirit, nor enjoyed by the Soul.Argu. 2.
If the Spirit of God give immediate Evidence of these Priviledges without respect to the Condition … Qualification, … it gives in Evidence … the Word.
But the Spirit never Evidenceth without the Word …. 14. 26. When the Comforter is come he will teach … all things, and bring to your remembrance … I have said unto you: but he will teach …, nor evidence nothing else but what Christ hath … in his Word. If there be no Word but the Word … a Conditional Promise by which the having of … Priviledges of Justification and Adoption is …: Then the Spirit witnesseth without a … if it evidence without respect to a …. But there is no Word, but that of a … Promise (viz. wherein the Condition is either … or understood) wherein our Justification … Adoption is Evidenced. Mark 16. 16. the … … the Gospel is cleer, He that beleeveth shall be …. As it is Rom. 3. 30. God is one and the same, … the manner of Justification is one and the same, … never justifies any but by Faith; and … … certain there is no Promise in the Scripture but … it doth express or imply a Condition. Isa. 43. …. I will blot out thy sins sor my names sake; Here … no Qualifications, you'l say, whereas if you … but look into some Verses of the Chapter going …, as vers. 20. he speaks to his People, His …, these are said …. 21. to be such as he had … for himself: and vers. 22. he calls them Jacob … Israel; that is, The Israel of God (as the Apostle … them, Gal. 6. 16.) true beleevers. Hos. 14. 4. I … love them freely; therefore here's no … because none expressed? But mark the 1, 2, and … verses, you shall find who those are that the Lord … freely, such as having fall'n by their iniquitie, Return to the Lord, saying, Take away all iniquity, … shall not save us, in thee the fatherless sind mercy: that is, Those that have such Qualifications as these, they are the Persons whom the Lord … freely. It is impossible it should be … Rom. 4. 23. As Abraham was justified so must we but he was justified by Faith, and therefore there … no Promise revealing Justification or Adoption, but either it doth expres or imply this condition of ….
When the Spirit doth Evidence my JustificationArgu. 3. or Salvation out of the Word, it doth it one or these Two wayes; Either by the Application of some general Promise in which each Particular, and so myself as a particular am included; Or … there … some special Word appointed, appropriated to me alone, and is spoken to none but me; as Isa. 45. …. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus, &c. None was here intended but Cyrus. This second, … a Familistical Dream, and forceth men to Revelations without the Word; because there is no such expression to be found in the Word, … therefore sober-minded men who have their senses about them dare not entertain it, perceiving indeed (as the … is) that such a Conceit is little better than a Frenzy: The first way then of Evidencing must needs be taken. Whence I Reason,
Whatever is testified to the Soul by way of Application of the General to the Particular, or by way of Collection of the Particular from the General, that is ever done with respect to a Condition. As it thus appears by Induction, the Evidence must needs run in this manner. Either
All men are Justified, but thou art a man, therefore thou art justified. Or,
All Sinners are justified, but thou art a sinner, therefore thou art justisied. Or,
All Self-denying beleeving sinners are justified, but thou art such a one, therefore thou art justified. The Two First here are false; only this Third … last is true, and that carries a Qualification … it. If a man fly to Election, and say,
All the Elect are justified, that's false. Or thus, … the Elect shall be called and justified, that is no … of Evidencing neither, for (as was shewed …) there can be no Evidence (i. e. Science and … of Faith) of the working of the first … before it be wrought: therefore there is no … way but the applying of a General, including a … to my self in particular; as, All that … (as Abraham) are justified; but I am one … them. This is good.
To make the Spirit testifie a falshood, and myArgu. 4. … to receive it, is unlawful: to charge untruth … the Spirit is blasphemous; to bring my self into … by-path, that is erroneous. But to make the … testifie that Pardon and Adoption belongs to any … falls upon any subject, without respect to a …, is to make the Spirit testifie a falshood: … it is to make it testifie cross to a rule of Truth which the Spirit of God hath given in the Word. For the Rule of Truth is plain, Rom. 8. 30. Whom … called, them he justified; and them, he glorified. Therefore to say the Spirit will witness to one … … not called, is to make him witness against … Rule, Joh. 1. 12. To them that receive him, he gave … to be the Sons of God: Its a staple Rule. Therefore no man is a Son before he receive Christ, therefore to make the Spirit to witness to a man … … is a Son of God when he hath not received Christ, would make him speak Cross to this Word of Truth.
Look how the Covenant of Grace testifies a mans…. good estate, and the interest he hath to any spiritual good in Christ, so the spirit of Grace doth … it; fo the Spirit of Grace, and the Covenant of … go hand in hand; and otherwise how could it … true, That the Gospel should be sufficient to make … man perfect and compleat in the spiritual … of his Soul, as well as in those things, which … mainly and meerly Essential to eternal life, 2 … 3. 16. And here is the limits and bounds of that comfort the Spirit is sent to bring, its confined … this compass, Joh. 14. 26. I will send the …, and he shall bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you: when he comes … a Comforter, when that is the main scope of … Commission to make known all the grounds of Comfort to the Saints, and to let in the good of them into their Souls when he remembers them of all … and teacheth all things appertaining thereunto, … ads no more, but recals what Christ hath said: Besides that testimony which is beyond the Gospel should not be tryed by the Gospel, for that which … beyond the measure, cannot be measured by it: … Gospel is the Rule of our Faith and of our Comfort, and if this testimony was beyond the reach of the Gospel, it could never be judged by it: This would not only set open a Gap to all Delusions, but break down the banks, that the sea of all sottish Imaginations may break in upon the mind and apprehensions of a man, and carry them away with mighty violence without controul.
But the Covenant of Grace doth … our interest in these Priviledges, ever with an eye and respect to some spiritual …. It is the tenure of the Gospel according to the very letter, and naked terms of it, Mark. 16. 16. Go preach the Gospel, … that beleevs shall be saved, they, and they only, and none but they, therefore it follows he that … not shall be …: Jer. 31. 33. This is the … that I will make with the house of Israel, I will … my laws in their hearts, and in their inward … will I put them. Look to the Covenant as made … Adam, Gen. 3. 15. as renewed with Abraham, He beleeved and it was counted for righteousness, Gen. 15. 6. And so it is in the whole frame of the …, still the Covenant of Grace gives witness to … mans good estate with respect to Faith, therefore … the Spirit of Grace doth testifie also.
If God the Father intended these Priviledges … Argu. 6.to such under such a respect or Condition, Christ … all these benefits for such alone, and the … applyed them only unto such, then the … witnesseth the Possession of those spiritual … unto such only. Because the witnessing of … Spirit is of equal extent with Gods intent in … these, with Christs intent and purpose in … these with its own work in applying …. Whatever respect makes a thing an adequat … of a work in such a kind, all works of that … are ever applyed to that thing under that …. The King gives a Charter in His Royal Grant … such who are Free-men of such a Corporation, … that bought it Purchased only for such, there is … ground in true right and reason why they should … bestowed upon any but such; nor can any apply Priviledge aright unless he do apply it with an eye … such a Condition that must stear the whol course … a righteous proceeding in that kind. That which … the Formalis ratio of the subject in Application … must needs be attended in every work of … either of Comfort or Priviledge if … the Rule aright. But it hath appeared in brief …, That such who shall be the seed of the … to them God the Father intended these … Priviledges, Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever should … in him should not perish but have eternal life: … them as such Christ Purchased these. Joh. 17. … I pray not for the World, but for them that shall …. And so the Spirit applyes, as when Paul … appointed to … the Gentiles, this was his …, He was to turn men from Satan to God, that … they might receive remission of sins and … So the Spirit by the Ministry of the Word makes … of these Priviledges, and never otherwise and therefore never gives other witness.
Upon what ground the Evidence of Science … Argu. 7.Knowledg of my Justification and Adoption … according to truth, upon that ground ariseth my … of Faith; for both these (I told you in … Explication) were included, and must be … in the work of Evidence; and its as … out of the Principles of right Reason, and Experience, and Scriptures also: that alone which my … judgeth, my … embraceth: there is nothing … come to the Wil, but by the Understanding: what … Eye sees not, the Heart affects not. No light come into this Room, but by this Window: Look therefore, what the Understanding apprehends, and … it apprehends it, so is it presented to the Heart, … so by the Heart is it entertained, Joh. 4. 10. … thou known thou wouldst have asked him water, … he would have given thee water of life: So the …, Joh. 4. 42. Now we beleeve, because … have heard him, and know that this is the … of the World: this is cleer.
But now, My Knowledge and Science if true … sound, it ever issues out of the Concurrence and … together in my Apprehension, of a … Qualification … the Priviledges, and … Priviledges received thereby: For its a ruled … … the common Course of Reason, That Knowledge … Science, (that is) sound judgment of a truth, ever issues out of a simple term, or one thing as one, … it self ….
Instance: I express in word, or attend in my …, Pardon; (that word or term) Adoption … …: take them several and asunder: Here … no Judgment can be …, nor can any that hear, … or conclude … the having or not … of any of these. So again, Sin, Faith, …: I cannot judge what these are, or in whom … are, there is neither Knowledge, nor …, nor Comfort comes hence. But dispose and … them together; As,
[An Unbeleever is Pardoned:] I judge this … now, because … things are joyned together … natures agree not, and the expression is not as … things be, … i s a false Proposition, or … cross to the Scripture, He that beleeves not … condemned, Joh. 3. 18. [A Beleever is …:] The … Answers the nature of the …, and … truth a d meaning of the …, and therefore its true: I so judge it, and so … it, and so only, if I either know it aright, or … it aright. And (mark) this knowledge issues … the right apprehension of both parts as they … together, which … be but only by a … Qualification.
The Sum then is, If the right and true Knowledge of the Application of any spiritual Priviledges … from the attendance of the … subject and quality with which it is disposed, then my Evidence and Assurance must arise so too.
But so my Knowledge ariseth, therefore so my Assurance must arise also.
The like you may say, (and it will be seasonable and exceeding useful to consider it) No … or witness can be attended without the thing …, and that according to the mind of the … or …; you must take one with another to make up an Evidence: to look upon those simple expressions; Pardon, Mercy, Redemption, and run away with them, and the sweetness in them, and … look at the right disposition of them according to the witness of the Spirit, and mind of the testifier, its not possible to have either sound Faith or … in this way, because I cannot have true Knowledge thus,
Thou Unbeleever, Uncalled, Art Pardoned. … false: Before thou knowest the right disposition … these together, thou canst not pass a right Judgment, or have a right Evidence, Christ came to … sinners, beleeving, humbled sinners: That is true.
To come to an End, Hold these Principles in the Severals, and so you shall be able to see the frame … the … how it lies.
1 None but Parties Qualified, viz. …, are the subjects of these …, Joh. 3. 16. Joh. 3. last.
2 The Spirit never witnesseth these … but according to this meaning: He alwayes means those who are … true subjects of these Priviledges, and … only; according to the meaning of the Word.
3 We cannot know the Testimony of the Spirit-unless we know it according to … meaning.
Therefore we must of necessity know the qualification of the Person Receiving as … as the Priviledge and Blessing Received: I must know my self [a Beleever] as well as [Justified, Adopted] because this is the meaning of the Word and Spirit.
This may suffice for Arguments to confirm the truth propounded: We shall now remove a stumbling stone or two out of the way: and omitting all others, I shall only Answer Two Objections which carry either … or seeming probability with them.
From that of 1 Joh. 5. 7, 8. There be three that Object. 1… record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and … Spirit, and these three are one: And there are … that bear witness in Earth, the Spirit, Water, and Blood, and these three agree in one.
Here (say some) are several sorts of …, one distinct from another, one before another, and one more excellent than the other, and therefore … one may be without respect to the other, the witness of the Spirit without attending either Water or Blood, either Sanctification or any saving Work.
If there were no Doubt moved, no QuestionAnsw. Controverted, by way of any seeming Collection from the place, the very Mysterious depths of the … herein delivered drives all Interpreters to a stand, and puts the most Judicious beyond their thoughts: so that there is more … to … the mind of God in the words, then to make Answer to the Objection hence collected: We will … Shortly open the meaning of the Words. 2 Then … what may be truly Collected from them; and … it will appear that the Objection fetched from … will find no footing in this place.
The scope of the Apostle in vers. 4, 5. is, That … Christ is the Son of God, and that Faith which … the world, must look to him, and rest … him.
This he … to me to prove and explicate in both the parts of it in vers. 6. And secondly amplyfieth it in the following 7. and 8. verses. His proof is taken from … type of his Priestly-Office, the truth whereof he accomplished in the great Work of Redemption.
He that comes by water and blood, he is the son of God: But Jesus Christ came by water and blood. His comming implys, 1 His Fathers Sending, 2 … Own Undertaking that great Work of our Recovery not only by Water, as the Levites who were washed, Numb. 8. 6. 7. but by Blood also as the Priests, Levit. 8. 6. 22, 23, 24. By [Water] I conceive is meant, The Holiness of his Nature, in which he was Conceived, and for which end he was overshad owed by the Spirit. By Blood is meant that Expiation and Satisfaction he made to the Law of God by shedding his Blood: So that He, that had all that, and … all that, which was shadowed by the Priests, He is that Jesus the son of God for ….
And the Spirit bears witness, because the Spirit is Truth] This seems to me, to be the fairest sense, and to be preferred before all that I can see brought. By Spirit] in the First place is meant Gods … the Holy Ghost. By Spirit] in the Second place I do think … is meant: For so you shall find the word used, 2 Cor. 4. 13. Having the same Spirit of Faith. So that the Spirit of God comming from the Father and the Son would testifie by the aspertion of this Water and Blood that my Faith is true, when it assures my heart that this Jesus is the Son of God.
2 He amplifies this proof by bringing in the number of witnesses, and the manner of their witnessing: For their number they are Six; The Father sending; The Son coming; The Spirit certifying, in this … manner of working they are distinct, and herein appear to be distinct witnesses; and this their witness is from Heaven, signifying where they are, and from whence they express their witness: The Father speaks from Heaven, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, Mat. 3. last: The Son professeth so, often of himself, That he came out of the bosom of the Father, John, 1. 18. John, 3. 13. No man can ascend to Heaven, but the Son of man, who came down from Heaven: John, 6. 38. I came down from Heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent …: Lastly, in Mat. 3. last, The Spirit of God descended down upon him in the likeness of a Dove: these speak from Heaven, and their expressions are … in the word without us whether we beleeve or no. Three again speak and witness from Earth, for Christ dwels in us here on Earth: the Spirit, Water, and Blood: There is no doubt but by Water is meant Sanctification; by Blood, Justification; all the Question lies upon the third, What is meant by Spirit? Under correction, I take it, It's meant of Faith: for (besides that 2 Tim. 1. 7. all graces are called the Spirit, we have received the Spirit of Power, of Love, and of a sound mind) this is expresly so named 2 Cor. 4. 13. we having the same Spirit of Faith: this is most safe, and most sutable to the analogy of Faith, and the intendment of the Text.
There are but Three great Works unto which all the rest may be referred, Vocation, Justification, Sanctification: all these in us give in witness and evîdence, That Jesus the Savior of the World, must be the Son of God, sent of him, who sends also his Spirit into our hearts, to work thus in us, and by these works to evidence to us, Himself, and his Office.
The Truths then which according to the right meaning of the words, may hence be collected, are these:
There be six Witnesses.
Three of these witness from Heaven, and their Testimony is left in the word without us. The other three from Earth, from the operation of the work of Grace, and these are within us.
Al these agree in this as the thing winessed: … Jesus the Saviour of his People is the Son of God.
The witness of those from Heaven is greater than that which is on Earth.
But touching the witnessing of my good … without respect to a gracius disposition or qualification, there is not a syllable in the Text that sounds that way, or carries any appearance to that purpose.
If every Work of Grace, or the truth of a graciousObject. 2 qualification be witnessed by the Spirit, and is lastly resolved therinto, So that I Beleeve the work of Grace in me to be true, because the Spirit witnesseth it, then I must have an absolute ground to Beleeve the Spirit.
I wil open this Phrase: [the witness of the SpiritAnsw. on an absolute ground] Either its meant … the witness of the Spirit is attended without any respect to a work that is witnessed, then its false and absurd, that I should discern the witness of the Spirit without any respect to the thing witnessed … made known to me by it: for (as hath been … before) witness and the thing witnessed go both together.
Or its meant thus: That when I have received the witness of the Spirit to my self, then I … prove it upon an absolute ground.
Hath Christ purchased al spiritual good for His,Use 2 for Beleevers? Hence then we may see the … of the faithful, and the priviledg of those that …, above all people upon earth: To you the Father intended al the treasuries of grace and glory: in your stead Christ suffered, performed all that the Law required and Justice exacted; for you it is, he hath purchased al that good that you need, doth not that please you? al you can desire doth not that quiet you? nay all that you can receive through al eternitie doth not that satisfie? There is none like unto you, never the like was done for any as for you: It was Moses Collection, and caused his wonderment in the Consideration thereof, Deut. 33. 29. When he had recounted, the wonderful Preservations the Lord had wrought, Priviledges he honoured them with and bestowed upon them, he breaks forth into these expressions: Blessed art thou O Israel, who is like unto the O People! Saved by the Lord. That was in the Type & Resemblance only, but here is the Truth and Substance of Shadowes those Shadowes, Accomplished in the Purchase of Christ, or his faithful ones who are: Saved, not from the Oppression of a Pharaoh, but from the Power of Darkness, and Dominion of the Divel, not delivered from the house of Bondage but from the bottome of Hell: Blessed are ye, O ye beleeving Souls, your Excellencie is incomparble, your Privilidges are inconceivable. Who is like unto you O People! thus blessed and saved by the Lord. The Wicked are not, the World is not, it is not so with them they have the Gleanings, you have the Harvest, they may have Rivers of Oyl, but you the Rivers Psal. 16. 11.of Pleasures at the right hand of the Lord: Nay, now while you are in this World, Al is yours, All1 Cor. 3 22, 23. that the Obedience of Christ could procure , Al that the Blood (the precious Blood) of Christ couldPsal. 8. 7 3. Purchase, precious Grace and Peace, precious Comfort and Assurance, precious Holiness and Glory, Excellent things are not only spoken of you, but done for you, you blessed Beleeving Soules. Hence it is when Moses would plead the Priviledges of the Saints, he stands upon terms of comparison … challengeth al the World to shew the like Eminency of Gods love upon Earth, again Deut. 4, 33 34 35 36 37. Did ever People partake of such Good as … Purchased for you? hath God essayed to go and take … himself a Nation from among the Nations shal I say by Tempations, Signs, and Wonders to bring … out of Egipt? No no: it was not from the house of Bondage, from the tyranny of Pharaoh nor from Death and Miseries outward, but from the bottom of Hel the tyranny of Sin, the power of the Devil from everlasting Death and Condemnation; … this (not by making Water become Blood, but) by making Happiness to become Misery, God to become Man, and Life it self (Christ Jesus the … of Life) to die, that he might restore thee to Life and Glory: Go therefore ye blessed Beleeving Servants of the Lord go on comfortably, and the blessing of Heaven go with you, know your Priviledges and be for ever quieted and contented …. Fret not you at the prosperity of the Wicked be … troubled at their Pomp, since your portion is far …, and of incomparable Excellencie: When theLuk. 15. 27, 28. Father had entertained his prodigal Son after … return with a Gold Ring, change of … and … fatted Calfe, the elder Son began to mutter … … shew his …, the answer was reasonable … exceeding satisfactory, Son, thou art ever with … and all that I have is thine, Luke 15. 31. So here Suffer the Dogs to gnaw the bones, and … to have their scraps, let … have the Gold Ring to adorne them and the fatted Calfe to feed and … upon, but know, (al you Beleevers) al that is … Earth, al that is in Heaven; al that the Father …, that … hath; al the Mercy of a Father, the edemption of a Jesus, the Consolations of the …, al these are yours, you cannot have more, you … be better: me thinks you should not be, I … almost said you cannot, but be for ever … and Contented.
And now, al you that sit by, and here of al this: … thinks your hearts should sink within you, … that never knew what it was to be Humbled, … to be Called, and to Beleeve in Christ: …, al is gone before you; Beleevers have al; … therefore, and arise to follow hard after … Lord that you also may be Humbled, that you … may be Called. and Comforted and for ever … by Jesus Christ. This wil be the plague ofLuk. 1 28. … damned in Hell. They shal see Abraham, and … and Jacob, and all the Saints of God in Heaven, … themselves cast out, You shal see al those poor … whom you have known in the Townes and … where you have lived, you wil see them go to Heaven, and your selves cast out; O therefore … you would give God no rest nor your owne … no quiet, til you have got a beleeving heart; Why have Beleevers al this? have they Christ and … and Pardon and Peace and Glory and … and all? say, Lord why not I a Beleever too? … I see no reason but you may, God affords you …, and you may be wrought upon by the Means … ought I know, therefore seek earnestly to the … that you also may be brought in amongst the … of Beleevers, for whom al this good is Purchased by Jesus Christ.Use. 3.
The Doctrine delivered dasheth that dream, and … that false opinion, wherewith many carnal hearted men are easily and willingly taken …, who fondly perswade themselves, that Christ died for al: and Purchased both Grace and Glory mankind indifferently, for Cain as wel as Abell, Esau as wel as Jacob, for Judas as wel as Peter, that al that spiritual good that any of the Saints ver share in, it was al intended to them, al … sed for them al provided for their good; but the out of the perversness of their own wills, … that Physick that would have cured them, … upon the blood of the Covenant that was shed … their Redemption; A conceit cross to the … formerly delivered and thereby confuted and … demned: but an opinion it is which … derogates from the Justice of God, the … of the Lord Jesus: the glory of his Free … which is Childrens bread, and appoynted ouly … peculiar kindness for his own People; & yet by … erroneous imagination is prostituted under the … of a company of prophane beasts.
This universalitie of Redemption, makes way … universalitie of Corruption: and these sensual … deceiving men make the gate of Mercy and … so wide, that so they find room not only … themselves, but to carry their sins to Heaven … them also. But such shal one day find by … experience they befooled themselves, and fel … of their hopes and expectations, when they … know to their terrour, that the Lord Jesus was … so lavish of his blood as to spil it in vain, … he should miss of his end or they of their good … whom it was shed: though they ery never so … knock never so hard, Lord Lord open … … they … have no other answer but that, … from … Mat. 7. 23.know you not … workers of iniquitie. Math. 7. 23. I never prayed for you, I never dyed for you. … is that which will sink the hearts and dash the … of al unbeleeving self deceiving Creatures: Is there … rich Grace, plentiful Redemption, abundant …, Merits unvaluable in the Lord Jesus? True, … that's thy misery, thou shalt see it, but never be … partaker thereof. Thou shalt not tast of those … dainties the Lord hath provided for his … Luk. 14 24.as long as thou remainest in that unbeleeving …; thy doom is set, thy sentence is past. … 3. 18. He that beleeves not is condemned already, is cast in al the Coutrs of Heaven and Earth, the … cannot the Gospel wil not save thee; a body … appeal from Justice to Mercy, but if Mercy … him, who shal comfort, who can releeve …? what ever he doth where ever he is the wrath God abides upon him, thou art not within the … of Mercy nor the compass of that Redemption … Lord hath wrought. Nay that thou mayest see … thou art, and what to hold to; the Lord … hath sealed up thy destruction by a sollem oath … can never be repealed; He hath sworne he that … beleeves shal never enter into his rest. Heb. 3. …. That which God saies barely he many times …, so the first Covenant Do and live, a man may … do himself and yet live, but he that wil not …, God swears (and his oath is unchangable) … he shal never enter into life. That a man may … with reverence God himself cannot save a man … never shal Beleeve, because he cannot deny … and his oath. Rest thou mayest in thy vain … in thy carnal confidence, sit down secure in … self-pleasing humor, but thou shalt never enter to Gods rest of Pardon Peace Comfort and …: but shalt be in a restless fear and dread, … and discouragement which wil pursue the … endless disquiet, and the powers of Heaven … a fford thee releif in this condition if thou … herein. There is no peace (saith God) to the …. Isay. 57. last,
But if this be so: and you pale in the precious … Object. 1demption of Christ, into such a narrow … you wil straiten it, and the comforts of sinners … much: and extend as much mercy to Devils … Unbeleevers: for by this means you make the … probates in as desperate a condition as the … themselves, being wholly voyd of al help and … of Salvation, either in themselves or any … they cannot save themselves and the Lord wil … save them. A Blasphemous Cavil.
I Answer: The consequent part of the reasonAnsw. unsound and blasphemously false as shal appear … sundry Considerations.
The merits of our Saviour, and the compleat … ture of his sufferings, is made up, or issues out two principles, without either of which there new had been any satisfaction to divine Justice. … Divinity cannot suffer, the Humanitie canot … without blood there is no Redemption: Justice … quireth death, and unless it be the death of … that is God there is neither value nor vertue … to the infinite wrong done, and therefore … satisfaction. In that nature therefore the Lord … offended in that he must he satisfied; for the … of Angels may be annihilated but die or be … ved they cannot, therefore the nature of man … assumed, therefore Redemption and Purchase … longs to that nature, because sufficient … was only tendred for that.
Hence al that Beleeve of this nature may be … ved; there is not an impssibilitie in the nature … the thing.
To many Persons of this nature God afford means, so that if they wil but submit to the … and be content to receive Grace they shal not … and that Adam could do and we in him.
The Gospel doth not require a Man should … of his own power, but that he should be … and content to be made able to Beleeve and … of that Grace he is called unto.
But the fallen Angels differ in al these regards.
For theirs being the sin against the Holy Ghost … Lord provided no remedy for them. For Christ no case took upon him the nature of Angells. Heb, 2 …. foreign in no wise, it was in no case comely or … enient.
Their nature not assumed, for them no … was made, as the Apostle disputes purposely, …. 2. 11 12. &c. And therefore no possibility they … receive any good by Christ if possibly they … Beleeve.
Therfore the Lord neither provides nor offers any … to convert them; so that there is a broad and … difference in al these.
That which is only true in the objection is this, at the wicked being dead in sins and trespasses, it no more possible for them to help themselves by … own power ont of this condition, than it's … for a Devil, For with Man there is no …, no more than there is with Devils: and … negation admits no degrees in regard of the … of their nature. But the riches of Gods … on His part in taking our nature entering into … with His in it, providing means, and … with Men for their good by the Covenant, and … no more but the bare receiving of that …, al these shew great ods.
But Christs merit is infinite, and of infinite …,Object. 2 therefore is able to save al Angels and al Men, it not?
The consequence of the reason is false, which wilAnsw. appear by the right understanding how Christs … rits are infinite, and how the sufficiencie of … can reach all.
Christs merits are said to be infinite, then, … ther properly in regard of the Person of the … head whence that virtue comes; or in regard of … Persons to whom it is applyed as that it should … infinite Creatures: and this is very improper and ….
The merit of him who is an infinit God, and of … finit vertue, is not sufficient for infinite … for then had he taken any nature he had been a … ficient Saviour which the Apostle contradicts. … 2. 11, 12.
Then had he suffered any outward evil as … cution, the spilling of some drops of his blood … would have sufficed, for that had been the … of a partie who is infinit, and yet justice … that which requires not only payment from an … nit Person, but in the same kind and nature also, … that upon such conditions as the Covenant … red, before agreed and now exacted.
Merits from such an infinit Person performed … such a kind and nature have an infinit vertue to … swer an infinit justice, for al such for whom such Person shal undertake. And according to this … pass it must be conceived that Christs death is … cient for all; else the phrase wil not bear a rigid ….
That which I would leave to your thoughts … be expressed in two things thus,
1. Christs death is sufficient to save al … they shall Beleeve.
2. It's not sufficient to save one Man … … Beleeve.
Its sufficient to save al if they Beleeve; and … … to be the meaning of that phrase which is … amongst judicious writers, That if God had …, and Christ intended to save many … more, he needed not nor intruth should have … any other or any more punishment: so … he must have suffered for the substance of the … and second death to save one sinner; and no … he needed to have suffered if he should save al … World, or another World of Men. The ground … is this, Because our Saviour being the head the second Covenant as Adam of the first, a … Person in the room of al such whose persons he …; His merits, the very same individual …, death and obedience are apylyed and do … appertain unto al, as Paul had al, so Adam, …, Noah, had al, and the same death and … belongs to any other Beleever as wel as to …. For as Adams actual sin was equally imputed … al, his original equally convayed: So Christs … and righteousness to al His. Adam must … sin before he can condemne one, and if … it condemnes many thousands as wel as one. Christ dies to save one, and no more to save … thousands. For the sufficiencie of our … … must be … as we do the sufficiencie of … cause, which is ever considered according to … end at which it looks, and for which it …, … that it doth not exceed: it is not to be attended … to the thing in which it doth appear: … end of our Saviours sufferings and merits was save his seed, and such for which he had … and should beleeve whether never so many never so few, but for al that come within that …. As a ful tide or stream is sufficient … … al Vessels that come upon it & yet not … to carry one Vessel that is not …: So here: The Ocean of Gods love and Sea of Redemption … Christ is sufficient to carry and convay al that … unto eternal Salvation, but not sufficient … save one that doth not Beleeve. And therefore … any Orthodox Divine the meaning of this … Sufficient for all Is the sufficiencie of Christs … in the room of al? Is the sufficiencie of … death intended and performed for the spiritual … of al? they wil al renounce both the sences: … what reason they wil put upon these words … than that I have now expressed, I cannot tel: … only looking at the internal virtue of Christs … with this condition, there is value enough in it … save al that come within this condition of … ving: As the sin of the first Adam was sufficient … infect Milions of Worlds, if they should … of him by natural generation, and yet not … to infect one if he did not so proceed.
But why then are Reprobates commanded … … Object. 3leeve, and punished for not Beleeving? … which any is bound to Beleeve that is a truth, … each Reprobate that hears the Gospel … … to Beleeve that Christ dyed for him: … … that is a truth.
This is an old deceit, which hath much … Answ.the World and wherein the enemies of Gods … have seemed to triumph: and yet in truth it … fallacie, a false form of reasoning. But to let … pass, we shal examin whether the … of it … true.
The first part [That which any is bound to … is true] may admit many sences.
A man is bound to Beleeve upon a … ground: Either 1. Of Charitie, Or 2. Of … taintie, I am bound sometimes to Beleeve that … Charity which in it self is not, and in the issue … … true: But upon Certainty things revealed and …: here I am bound to Beleeve nothing but … is a truth.
Again, another sence is this: The object upon … my faith is placed is a truth or true ….
But to the second part: That Christ dyed for me: …, the Pronoune is in place of a Noune, for me … Reprobate. And then it is a falshood, Its not … in any Gospel that I know, nor required in … Scripture of God, that I should beleeve this for … truth, that Christ dyed for Reprobates.
If it be replyed, that therefore a Reprobate is … bound to Beleeve.
I Answer, the consequence hath no colour of …: I am not bound to beleeve this falshood … I am not bound to Beleeve. The command to … carries two things with it, First that I must … al means appointed by God to get faith, … when I have got it I must put forth the act … in resting upon and receiving from the Lord what … need. The sum is: Because a Reprobate is bound … use al means appointed by God to get Faith, and … he hath got it, he is bound also to exercise … faith by resting upon Christ, therfore he is … also to Beleeve this proposition that Christ … for Reprobates: this consequence is cross to … and in truth to common sence.
What ever therefore can be said to the contrary, … it is that unbeleif makes a man uncapable of … of the spiritual good which Christ hath … and is willing to communicate unto His. So the … determins this cause Jer. 17. 5, 6. Cursed … the Man that trusteth in the arm of flesh, and … heart … from the living God: he shall be … the heath in the Wilderness he shal never see when good comes. Art thou such a one? set thy heart at … then; There is merciemercy enough, saving good … in Christ, and its comming to this and that … thy Neighbour, thy Child, thy Servant who …, they shal have it, they shal partake in it, … thou shalt never see it, never share in it, Rom. … 32. Its that which the Apostle describes the condition of such Men by, They are shut up under …, so that there's no way for any means to … upon them, to come at them, or to do good … them: al the passages are not only stopped but … tercepted by the power of Satan and infidelity … the Soul: the soul being shut up under that, … shuts out the power of the Word, it works not, … motions of the spirit they perswade not, al … al judgments, al ordinances, al means, they … not come at the Soul, and therfore its not … that any spiritual good either Pardon or Peace … or Comfort should ever come in.
Exhortation. 1 To provoke our hearts to … Use 4.Faith: 2 How to carry our selves when we … it.
First this should whet our desires and provoke … endeavours. since there is al good Purchased … Christ, and al for those that … Beleeve; … would not now be a Beleever? above al our … get Faith since we are sure to gain so much by … be the time, trouble, or prayers, pains what … wil be, its worth our labour though it cost … so much in the getting, it wil quit cost when … we have it, first or last you wil find it.
It was said when the Jews prospered and … led in the time of Mordecai, they had joy and … ness and a good day and many became Jewes; … Esther, 8. 16. 17.would undergo the same condition that … might have the same comforts. And its an … … which nature hath left upon the minds and hearts … all Men, the places which have Priviledges Profits … Endowments annexed to them carry the … of … Men after them, good is the Loadstone of a Mans … and labour, and where most of that appears, our … go thither with most earnestness and …. So you know, how the Chief Captain spake … Paul concerning the Roman Liberties, with a Acts, 22. 28.… sum obtained … this freedome, that deliverance … this fredome, they were little, not the dust of the … if they be compared with freedome from Hell … Death, Sin and Guilt; and with those … unconceivable benefits of Grace and Glory; hast … but Faith, thou hast interest in all these; … give no sleep to thy eyes nor flumber to thy …, give God no rest, nor thy own Soul no quiet, get … though it be with a great sum, great diligence, … endeavours, vehement desires, leave not before … hast it, and then be sure to keep it thine … welfare lies upon it.
Each Man hath his aime, and there he is eager, but … others look at what they like, labour thou for this; … the coverous Man have the World, the loose Man … Pleasures, and the ambitious Man his Honours, … do thou say, Lord give me Faith. If thy … heart conceive it wil cost the setting on, the loss of … eye or a hand, some darling content that must be … and cast away before thou canst come to it; … thy self, and help thy soul over all these … difficulties, with the dayly eying of that … … that is to be had in Christ, whom thou shalt have … Faith. As Hamor and Shechom his son … and prevailed with the Shechemites to cut off the … of their flesh, (though it carryed an … Gen. 34. 20, 21, 22, 23.of harshness and difficulty,) upon this plea, … nor their Cattle their Substance and every Beast of theirs be ours; only let us consent to them in this, and they hearkened to him, though it was hard. Gen. 34, 23. So deal thou with thy own soul, shall not the blood and Merits of Jesus, shall not that Pardon and acceptance he hath procured, that great Redemption he hath wrought, the Glory he hath … be ours? shall not every grace of Christ be ours to sanctifie and adorne us? every Comfort and those Joyes unspeakable and glorious be ours torefresh our hearts? only consent O my soul to Beleeve: … be thou wilt say, this work is …, passing thy power, and beyond thy strength, true, be it never … hard to thee and not possible, yet it is not hard to him who hath hardness at command, he hath done it for others, who can tel but he may do it for thee? only let others experience provoke thee and their success encourage thee to seek for it. As … did for the blessing when he knew it was in his Fathers hand to give, and that Jacob had received it, see how he presseth onCen. 37. 34. with earnestness and tears, that he might not go away empty, O my Father saies he blesse me also. So lay thou, Lord I know thou hast done it for others, I know thou canst do it for me, such proud ones have been humbled, such unbeleeving ones have been converted, setled, comforted and for ever saved; O bless me also, convert me also, call me effectually, and cause me also to Beleeve.
That which was the command of Christ to that man in Mark. 5. 36. Is the exhortation to thee, only beleeve, let this be the pearle in thy eye and pursuit; thou seest how comfortable it would be to have those scores of thine quit, thy sins pardoned, & thy heart setled in peace, only Beleeve and it's done, thou surveyest the great Redemption that Christ hath Purchased, the Kingdome immortall undefiled and that fadeth … away, … the Lord hath prepared for His: only Beleeve and it's thine; thou findest the power the plague of those noysom distempers and hellish temprations which unfit thee for any work, make thee wearish in it, nay weary of thy life, only Beleeve in Christ, and they are conquered and for ever subdued.
… thus: Were there an engine of that use and strength that were it but skilfully handled it would performe al things which otherwise were impossible to be accomplished: there need no reasons to press, no arguments to perswade men to get it: I can do nothing without it, I can do every thing if I have it; So it is with Faith, Mark 9. 23. All things are possible … … that beleeves, thou thinkest that the wrath of God is so fierce, his justice so strict, they can … … suffered it is not possible they should be undergone, corruption is so strong, discouragements so great, It's … possible to overcome; but Faith saith, nay, to that; All things are possible to him that can beleeve, because he hath Christ to whom all things are possible … therefore as blind Bartimaeus said touching his sight (Mark 10. 48, 51.) say thou touching thy Faith, … the Lord should put that question to thee, What … thou have? say, O Lord that I may beleeve, that I may receive the grace of Faith, whereby I may … able to receive Christ and all Spirituall good in ….
The second part of the Exhortation; Is to provoke … how we should carry our selves towards Christ when we have Faith, Christ hath Purchased all for His, how should they be to him? what should they … for him then? why truly they should lay out … and all they have received for him, who hath … so much for them; and our Saviour seems to … a prerogative royall and that in a kind of peculiar … in our services as touching the order in which … should be tendered, 1 Cor. 2. 18. All are yours, … you are … and Christ is Gods: all … … through Christ to us, all from us by Christ … … returned again to God. And the duty is double.
1. Have all at his command; 2. Lay out all to his prayse.
1. First have al at his command, all the graces, all the abilities we have received, all the blessings of this … we do possess, they should all be laid up, and reserved for the Lords use that they may … hand in … to … his good pleasure when ever he … call for them. As the spowse Cant. 7. last. At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits new and … which I have laid up for thee O my beloved. … the Lords propriety upon them, and … his Image and superscription upon them, as they in … …, 44. 5. One shall say I am the Lords &c. So … … the Lords and these graces, these abilities, … liberties, these conveniences they are all the Lords. So Christ he assumed our nature, took upon him the … of a servant he did all and suffered all, and … gives the reason and shews the aime at which he looked in all that he did: John, 17. 19. For their … I sanctifie my self: So do thou say, I have all, I do all I get these I keep these good things … Christs sake that I may more and … … to him without destraction.… Cor. 7. 35.
2. As we should lay up all for him, so we should lay out all for his praise, when ever … occasion … …, any … … it, that we may … 2 Cor. 5. 15. So the … we live no more … selves, labour … for … … but live only to … who hath … all Spirituall good for Us.