:

were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life: and sure there is power in his life and reign to do it ;" and being brought back to him, as their head, and standing in him again as his members, sure none shall tear them from him. If they were but in his hands, as his sheep, he saith, none shall take them out of his hands, John x. 28, and if that be not enough, he adds, his Father is greater than all, and none shall pluck them out of his Father's hands. Will ye yield to this? Though as he immediately subjoins, He and his Father are one; his Father designed this recovery, and he the Son executed it.

fully with their relation to him, had no dark-, Rom. v. 10: "If when we were enemies we ness or enmity, no antipathy; there was no war, no fighting, no disorder; all which came in by sin; therefore he saith, Christ made peace by the blood of the cross. By the fall all things are fallen asunder, and disjointed, and in a war, not knowing their place and subordination, they justle one another, having east off their head and dissolved the sacred bond that held them all together; they move in no order, no harmony, but confusedly like atoms in the sun heaven and earth are mingled together as in the first chaos. This face of confusion dwells upon all things even the elect as well as the reprobate, the things in heaven as well as the things on earth, they are children of wrath by nature as well as others; they are without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world; and thus they continue till Christ appears, whom God sends forth to recover this shattered and disjointed creation to himself, and to make it whole again, one new piece in him; for he is their proper place and habitation; which the angels that fell forsook first, and ravished man with them, and man carried all things else with him; and He addressing himself to this work like a wise workman falls upon the root of the mischief and disorder to remove that, which their was no other way to do, but by his own death; taking all upon himself. For they were all his, his body, his fulness, his members, the shadowy image of Him who is the substantial image of God; and they could not make satisfaction but it would ruin them for ever, and all the enmity was on their part; it was they were to be reconciled. We no where read of reconciling of God, but God reconciles the world to himself by Christ, and the love of God in Christ bearing their sins and frowardness, and disorders on himself in his own body on the tree, slaying this enmity and recovering them all to God in the person of Christ; makes them all return again to their places, and to stand first in a slain and crucified image in his death. Wherein the love of God beholding them descends upon them with the greatest ardour, and so quickens them and carries them up into one glorious image in the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus. And this he doth for the things in earth as well as in heaven; for Christ contains both earth and heaven in him, and his kingdom consists of both a new heaven and a new earth.

Now the argument drawn from these Scriptures, lies in the generality and universality of the subject matter, upon which God thus designs, which is not only exprest generally by all things, but distributively, all things which are in earth, and which are in heaven. Now as the apostle argues in another case, without racking 1 Cor. xv. when he saith, "all things are put under him," he will not allow it to be a figurative speech, or a large speaking only, (but saith he) it is manifest that nothing is excepted that is not put under him. So if all things be reconciled, there is nothing but is reconciled, and if reconciled and that by his death, we know what follows,

This will be clearer, if we take in the other two Scriptures, Eph. iii. 9, " to make all men see what is the fellowship of the myste ry, which from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ," and Tit. ii. 11: The grace of God bringing salvation to all men hath appeared." Here in both places, the term is universal, all men; all men must see what is the fellowship of the mystery. What mystery? The mystery of the Gospel, which is the saving mystery, or the mystery of salvation, which hath been hid and cherished in the heart of God always from eternity, during this dark scene of things, from the beginning of the world, not only from the fall, but before. The first creation was but a shadowy image of it. In a shadow there is darkness as well as light; but since the fall, it was all dark. Not but that God did beam forth so much of this mystery, all along into the hearts of the elect, as sufficed to his end, and their salvation; yet in comparison, it was not revealed till Christ came, which is called the dispensation, Eph. i. 10: "The dispensation of the fulness of time," intimating to us, that there were several dispensations of this mysteryof God's will,and several other times for those dispensations; but that this gathering up of all things into one in Christ, was reserved for the dispensation of the fulness of times, the times of Christ. All the times before, things lay disjointed as they were by the fall, things were sinking from Adam to Moses, and death reigned openly: life was conveyed but secretly in the promised seed, and then with Moses came the law, when sin and death grew to their height, as the apostle shows to the Romans; and so the times before Christ were the times of the fulness of sin, (at least) of sins under the first Testament. Now as sin and death grew and reigned by the law, till they came to their fulness, so now grace and righteousness must come to their fulness under Christ, which will not be till Christ's second coming. For so it is said, we shall be saved by his life; when Christ who is our life shall appear, then we read of the fulness of the Jews. If the diminishing of them be the riches of the world, and the casting off them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness? And in the same chapter, we read of the fulness of the Gentiles also under the law; God took only the Jews, the seed of Abraham, for his people, and if

2dly. The foundation of this exaltation of every man is laid in Christ's suffering death for every man; which by the grace and favour of God he did; he tasted death for eveThis gradual revelation of grace sparing ry man, therefore if that can work out any at first, and more and more plentiful as the glory for men, we are sure of that; every time grew on, is prefigured to us by the man hath a share and interest in his sufferwaters issuing from the sanctuary, Ezek. ings, in his death; and this is assured so xlvii. which at first, for a thousand cubits are perfectly, that the apostle doth not use a gevery shallow, but the increase for the next neral word, that he tasted death for the thousand is to the knees, the third thousand world, nor the plural number, for all men, to the loins, the fourth thousand a river to which might have been looked upon as intiswim in, and otherwise unpassible: which mating a universalness, but not so strict a four thousand cubits, if they be understood of universality; but av, for every man; years, bring us to the times of Christ, when as if the apostle had studied to obviate and as sin had before abounded, so now was the prevent any such subterfuge or evasion. And time come for grace to superabound, and it is but according to the first design which those waters go down into the desert, and objected itself upon man, as man, and thereinto the sea, and being brought forth into fore every one that hath the nature of man the sea, it is said the waters shall he is under that gracious counsel and design; healed, ver. 8, and every thing wheresoever which sin breaking in to cross, Christ hath the river shall come, shall live, and Joel iii. again taken out of the way by his death, he 18, it is said of these waters, "a fountain, tasting death for every man, not a man, but

1

his death had an eye unto; and every man, as a man, hath a part in it by the designa-, tion even of the Father also, or the grace of God, and indeed the death of Christ being by God's ordination, the sole sufficient means of the reconciliation of men to God, if God bear ́ a good will to all men (as if it be good-will to men, as men, it must be to all) then this means must be intended for all; and if intended for all, it must be some time or other applied to all. For the intention of God as well as his word, must not be vain, nor return unto him empty, without effecting the thing intended. Therefore as it is the sole-suffcient, so it must be an all-sufficient means,

may this yield us for all men; when God hath not the righteousness of ten righteous persons to sustain him in his showing mercy to them, but hath the perfect obedience and great sacrifice of his own Son. That spotless Lamb, his own righteousness, which is more than ten thousand of us offered up for them; which may bring him off with indemnity to his justice as engaged by the law, though otherwise man is the subject alone that needs to be reconciled.

CHAPTER XI.

probation Considered.

and effectual to the bringing in of all men to The Objection grounded on Election and ReGod first or last; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of this saving mystery. And for this, among other reasons, might the resurrection of our Saviour, which was his rest and discharge from the painful work of our redemption, be cast, to be upon the first day of the week, as to take in all the works of God before him. How shall this make us admire the Lord! This is the use the apostle | makes of it, Rom. xi. 33. After that discourse of the council of God in the rejection of the Jews, and after a prospect taken of the gracious and glorious issuing thereof, in having mercy upon all, he breaks out, "O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out:" and concludes, "that of him, and through him, and to him are all things." And mark what he instances, not in his mercies, they are plain, but in his judgments; "how unsearchable are his judgments," viz. who would look to find mercy in judgment? yet so it is, the richest mercy lies at the bottom of the severest judgments; this makes mercy such a mystery.

How should this bring us in love with God, who is love, who is such a good throughout! What a ground of confidence is this to the elect, to believers, if God loves all his creatures, all men; sure then those that he hath chosen to be the first fruits of his creatures, are upon a great and happy advantage and security. This seems to be in David, when he so often reflects upon the goodness of God to all, Ps. cxlv. 9: "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works" and again, Ps. xxxvi. 5, 6: "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and thy faithfulness reacheth to the clouds," viz. it fills the whole space between heaven and earth. "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains, thy judgments are a great deep, thou preservest man and beast." And doth God take care of oxen? saith the apostle, ye are of much more value than many sparrows, saith our Lord. He that preserveth beasts, as who should say, will not lose man, will not lose so many souls; every one of which is more worth than the whole world of inferior creatures. What a strengthening might it be the faith of Abraham. Is the covenant grounded on Christ, that righteous one, and his perfect obedience? When if there had been but ten righteous persons in Sodom, God would have spared Sodom. What a hope

THIS doctrine may be judged to destroy election and reprobation, but unjustly. If it justle with any clear truth of the Gospel, the controversy is decided, this doctrine cannot be truth. Election and reprobation is as clear a truth of the Gospel, as redemption by Christ is; not an election of qualities and principles (as some) but of persons; not conditional but absolute and free; not subsequent, of works or inclinations, but antecedent and eternal before any good or evil done by them; this is my faith wherein I stand, and this decree of election is definite, certain, and irrevocable; so that they are known by name and have great and certain privileges and immunities; as not only certain and everlasting salvation, presently begun at their calling and perfected at death, and at the resurrection of the dead; but also certain preservation from all damnable errors of seducing spirits, and the contagious or deadly touch, or contagion of the evil one, and the sin unto death.

Yet all this doth no more deny the salvation of the rest of men, in their order or due times, than the resurrection of Christ, the first-fruits, doth hinder the resurrection of all that sleep in him; whereof it is indeed the earnest and pledge. For as Christ is in his resurrection become the first-fruits of them that sleep, and assurance that they shall rise also: so are the elect in their sanctification and salvation, the first-fruits of his creatares, and the pledge and assurance of their sancti fication and salvation; and that as the firstfruits of the Jewish Church, the seed of Abraham doth not deny the lump also of that nation to be visited with saving and effectual grace in due time, but as a pledge and assarance of it; as the apostle argueth, Rom. xi. 16, "for if the first-fruits be holy the lump also is holy," and if the root be holy so are the branches. Now as Christ is called the first-fruits of the elect, and the primitive church of the Jews were the first-fruits of that nation: so the election among Jews and Gentiles are called "a kind of first-fruits of his creatures," James i. 18; so also Jer. ii. 3; Rev. xiv. 4.

Now the ordinance of the first-fruits as you may see in the law, was this: they were to bring of the seven fruits of Canaan, mentioned Deut. viii. 8, (in which number is a mystery also;) and the design of it was to acknowledge the Lord's right to the whole

land and all the fruits thereof, as by the form | vessel of the house, the great house. This they used at the solemnity may be seen, Deut.great house is the great world, which is the xvi. 16, 17, which is the meaning of what the house of God, as even the bodies as well as apostle saith, if the first-fruits be holy, viz. if it be the Lord's, and given to the Lord, the lump is also holy: the lump is the Lord's, and shall be given to him, or taken by him in due time, when he takes to himself his great power and reigns.

souls of men are said to be the Lord's, and to be made by him, and their members to be his; members of Christ, though they make them members of an harlot, both mystically and literally; and they are said to have their bodies of him, and to be the temples of the Holy Ghost, and not to be their own. And the reason following carries it for the bodies of all men, "for ye are bought with a price;" all these are to be found in 1 Cor. vi. from ver. 16, to the end.

Now apply this first-fruits to men; for what are the fruits of the earth to God? "will he eat the flesh of bulls, and drink the blood of goats?" doth he feed on wheat, or barley, or pomegranates, figs, or dates, which were the first-fruits under the law? "The Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." Israel was the first-fruits of the nation till Christ came. The election issels of wrath are to commend the grace of God now the first-fruits of his creatures; who are all to be gathered in at Christ's second appearance, before he delivers up the kingdom to the Father.

But this will appear more fully, if we consider what is the use of those vessels to dishonour. We have it in part before, the ves

to the vessels of mercy: as misery sets off mercy, so wrath commends grace; grace would have been grace if wrath had never been, but grace would not have so appeared What is there in election against this? but grace; as the apostle saith, sin would not rather an argument for it, and a confirmation have been so exceeding sinful, if it had not of it; especially if we consider the form used been for the law. Light would have been at the first-fruits, where the Israelites con- light had there been no night, no darkness; fessed themselves to be as abject an interest but light would not have so appeared light, as any of the nations, till God looked uponnor have been so commended to us, who them. "An Assyrian ready to perish was need the help of one contrary to illustrate my father," referring to Jacob, serving another; and so I may say is sin and rightLaban, and keeping his sheep for twenty eousness, Christ and Belial. Therefore God years; and then oppressed and made bonds-that made the day to consist of evening and men in Egypt; of the same lump with the morning, a light part and a dark; he also ormeanest of the nations, till God exalted them dained the law as a foil to grace, wrath as a to that privilege by grace, even as the elect set-off to love. are by nature children of wrath, even as others; therefore by grace may others be raised as well as they. For as all the fruits of Canaan were the Lord's, as well as the first-fruits: so doth he not say, "all souls are mine," the soul of the son, as well as the fa-thus obtained. ther; the souls that sin and die, as well as the souls that are righteous and live?

Now then, if this be the end of wrath, when this end is attained and perfected, (as God's end must be sooner or later) else he should never rest, which is not to be imagined of omnipotency, then must wrath end, in its end

raised thee up, (to this eminency of subtlety and power) that I might show my power." Thus the Lord hath appointed all things for himself, even the wicked for the day of evil.

But the further use of these vessels to dishonour, 1 Cor. xi. 19, "For there must also But let us consider these decrees under be heresies among you, that they which are those other notions we meet with in Scrip-approved, may be made manifest among you," ture of vessels, vessels of honour and disho-The light manifests errors, and heresies maninour, vessels of wrath, and vessels of mercy.fest the truth, as contraries illustrate one The apostle, 2 Tim. ii. 20, speaking of some another. God hath built this world for these opinions and doctrines which he calls pro- contrarieties to display themselves: "For fane and vain babblings, that were very dan-this cause," saith God to Pharaoh, "have I gerous and contagious, eating as doth a canker, and overthrowing the faith of some, making the state of them that held and broached them dangerous enough; having shewed us the dark side of this cloud, yet to quiet us in the work of God in it gives us this placid account of it, which we may call the light side of the cloud, (for so is every dispensation of God, a dark and a light and hopeful side,that the saint may in nothing sorrow as those without hope) the account he delivers thus: "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of 3. Consider whose work it is, this differ wood and of earth, and some to honour andence of vessels and work; it is the Lord's; some to dishonour." Mark you how the ves- he owns it; "he hath mercy on whom he sels to dishonour are vessels, as well as the will have mercy, and whom he will he hardvessels to honour. For all vessels are useful, eneth." The hardening proceedeth from the and for use; no man makes a vessel merely same will as the mercy. Now the will of for destruction, but for use: though a disho-pleasure of God is the source or fountain of nourable use, yet it is a necessary use; and the highest pleasure. Man's will is called there is some honour in that, with the disho-his pleasure, but man may have pleasure in nour: yea, it is of use to the house, it is a unrighteousness, and in the misery and slave.

The wicked and his day too are both for the Lord himself." The wicked for the day, and the day for the Lord; and when the wicked and his day have both served their end, then there is another day wherein God will appear as he is; and he is love. This is the message that we have heard of him, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Then,

ry of others, as tyrants have; but God, who is not divided from his creatures and works, though he have the liberty to design and practice upon them for the illustration of his glory; yet he seeks not, serves not himself ultimately, but in and by the profit, the advantage of the creature. It is said in Jude iv, "There are certain men crept in unawares," that is, unawares to the Church, but not to God; for they were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is year, and it signifies conscripti, fore-written, or listed, as soldiers in a company. Answerable hereunto we meet with a word before, arquivo sic away, made up, or fitted to destruction. It is a dreadful destiny, but let us consider whose will and ordination this is, who it is that pricks down every name in this black roll. It is infinite goodness, infinite sweetness doth it, and this brings in some light into this dark shade. If you look on the ways of God towards his dearest children, and wait not for the end, you may see such dark shades, as in the case of Job; which therefore the apostle holds forth to us in the light of the end. You have heard of the patience of Job, and the end of the Lord., Finis coromat opus. If you say God doth not declare or reveal this end, I grant it is but sparingly hinted, because this scene of wrath, and of the conflict of contraries is not yet over, and we are blinded with the dust of it; but we see this end, though darkly in the nature of God, who is love; we see it in the mediation of Christ, who gave himself a ransom for all, who is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world; yea, for these very men ordained to this condemnation, and that do certainly bring upon themselves swift destruction, 2 Pet. ii. 1, he bought even them that deny him, and bring in those damnable heresies.

Obj. But you will say, doth not this make God the author of sin, that he ordains men to condemnation and punishment?

Answer. God is not tempted of evil, neither doth he tempt any man; he puts no evil into man, doth not positively influence him to evil; he needs not do that, design he never so much on the evil of the creature to draw forth good out of it; for the creature is a creature, is mutable, corruptible, hath a defectibility without confirming grace; but God withholds, according to the counsel of his will, that grace from the reprobate; and this is that which he may lawfully do for the illustration of his own holiness, purity, immutability; that the creature showing himself to be a creature, a mere dependency, God may appear to be God. "Thus he made all things for himself," saith Solomon; but where doth he find himself in the winding up, but in casting out this enemy that is gotten into man, and in restoring him to his own image, and embrace as at first. But to clear up this, I will show in two instances, the prerogative that God exerciseth justly and righteously in withholding grace from men.

1. In withholding the means.

2. In withholding the blessing upon the means.

1. The means: not that God hath left any of his creatures wholly without means, for whosoever he brings forth into the light cof this world, he furnishes them with the means of knowing him, as the apostle said, Rom. ii. 20, &c. and in Acts xiv. 17. Such and so sufficient means as shall leave them inexcusable, and stop their mouths at that great tribunal. But comparatively with the means he affords to others, he denies the means to the greatest part of the world. He hath not dealt so with every nation, saith the Psalmist, when he contemplates and surveys the goodness of the Lord to Israel, to whom he gave his statutes and his judgments. So saith our Saviour to the Jews of Corazin and Bethsaida, "If the mighty works which have been done in thee, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." Matth. xi. 21. And so he saith to Capernaum, "If the mighty works which have been done in thee, had been done in Sidon, it would have remained to this day."

2. But now the Jews had all these means and mighty works, yet repented not: here therefore the Lord denies not the means, but Deut. xxix. 4, withholds of blessing, yea more than this, he owns to blind their eyes and harden their hearts, and gives the means a commission to a quite contrary effect than their conversion, even to make their hearts fat, and their ears heavy, lest they should see and be converted, and he should heal them. John xii. 40; Rom. xi. 8. God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this day; mark that, (unto this day) that qualifies it: that day lasts still on the generality of the people; but it is not said it shall last for ever, and that they shall never see nor hear; nay, there are plentiful promises to the contrary, and in ver. 11, the apostle takes them up again, and shows the candid design God hath in this; "Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid! but rather, through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles." This is the light side of the design, which makes amends for the other at present; but the other and further purposes he breaks open afterwards, from ver. 52, to the end of the chapter which I have pointed at before.

Obj. But you may say, if God hath such a counsel, and it is his pleasure thus to illustrate his glory; the glory of all his attributes in such a way, to withhold his grace from the greatest part of his creatures: yet how can we reconcile such severe punishing of them, (not only with temporal, but especially with eternal damnation) I say, how can this be reconciled to such an universal sweetness and goodness as you hold forth in God?

Answer. One would think this was the objection that crost the way to this apostle in his discourse of this very point, Rom. ix. 19,

Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault, for who hath resisted his will?" and then I pray take his answer. "Nay, but