Two Treatises, Treatise 1 · Section 3
SECT. 3.
Firſt, Gods promiſes diſtingu… ſhed: ſome are of the End, or of Happ… neſſe. Acts 16.21 Re. 2.10. And theſe are condition all. Pſal. 1.1. Pſal. 119.1.2. Ich. 20.19. Ro. 4.7.8. Pſal. 32.1. 2. Mat. 24.26.Conſider that God promiſes in Scripture a… either of the End, or … the meanes leading to th… end.
Now firſt the promiſe concerning the End, as eſpecially concerning Salvation and bleſſedneſſe, an… with Condition, as: Believ… and thou ſhalt be ſaved; … thou faithfull unto death, an… I will give thee a Crowne … Life; Or becauſe here i… mention of bleſſedneſſe, thi… happineſſe is promiſed with Condition of Doing and o… Evangelicall obedience … Happy are yee if you doe them. So elſewhere upon the condition of obedience, negative; Bleſſed is the man that walketh not in the counſell of the ungodly, &c.
2. Affirmative: Bleſſed are the undefiled in the way, who walke in the Law of the Lord. So it is promiſed upon the condition of Faith; Bleſſed are they that have (not ſeene and yet have) beleeved; of the pardon of ſinne: Bleſſed are they whoſe iniquities are forgiven, and whoſe ſinnes are covered; And of perſeverance and conſtancy untill the day of Jeſus Chriſt; Bleſſed is that ſervant whom his Lord when he commeth ſhall finde ſo doing.
Now theſe promiſes being conditionall, all partake not of the End (which is Salvation) becauſe all (partake not of, nor) keepe the condition, none indeed being able of himſelfe to keepe any of thoſe conditions; It is not in mans power to doe good, to believe, Repent, Perſevere, as of himſelfe, (the proofe of this wil… follow anon) and God is not now bound to give thi… power to all, but to whom only he pleaſeth.
2. But now God hath alſo made promiſes, Some are of the Meanes, and they are abſolute.which are moſt free and abſolute, of giving where and to whom hee pleaſeth all the Conditions and Meane… themſelves of Life, which he himſelfe worketh in us▪ that ſo by theſe meanes we might attaine to the End, as Deut. 30.6. The Lord thy God will circumciſe thy heart, and the heart of thy Seed to love the Lord thy GOD, with all thy heart and with all thy ſoule, that thou mayſt live.
Where the end promiſed …s life, Suffrag. Britannor… de 5. Artic. Theſ. Heterodoxa. 1.which the Iſraelites ſhall never attaine, unleſſe …his Condition of loving God were kept; But God doth here abſolutely pro…niſe, that hee himſelfe will give unto them this Condition, and accordingly wil circumciſe their hearts to love the Lord.
So, in like manner as we have heard, God promiſeth Bleſſedneſſe, to weldoing, to Faith, Repentance, Perſeverance, &c. which are alſo Conditions required of us; And this is the tenor of the Goſpell, yet hee alſo promiſeth to give Faith, Repentance, power to doe well, with the act of weldoing and perſeverance, with all other Meanes and Conditions, and that without Condition, without Iffs and Ands, and abſolutely.
So that theſe Graces and Meanes of ſalvation are no… gifts given or promiſed, and offred upon Condition but abſolutely; Gods promiſes concerning theſe Meanes of ſalvation and bleſſednes▪ as is ſaid, are abſolute, and are of ſuch gifts and graces as which God (ſeeing ou… impotency and inability to attaine the End without the meanes, as alſo to performe the Conditions, and to uſe the Meanes as of our ſelves, and by our owne ſtrength and power) doth promiſe to performe, or wi… enable us to performe. This will alſo bee more evident anon in the particular inſtances.