The Arguments

The First is taken from the nature of this Work: his work of Evidencing is a work of Application, [illegible] to be referred, and according to that to be [illegible], for the privileges themselves — Justification, Adoption, etc. — carry the marks of Distinction and [illegible] from the World, and do appertain only to such as the Lord has taken for his own (Deuteronomy 33, last): Who is like to you O Israel, a people [illegible] by the Lord? And in this regard they are called [illegible] peculiar, taken in from the Common of the [illegible] (Acts 26:18): He turns them from Satan to God, and then they receive forgiveness of sins and [illegible] among them that are sanctified by Faith in him. When the Soul is called, and turned to God, [illegible] 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, implies some to whom it must be applied, and who must receive it. But [illegible] to a Qualification there is no act of receiving [illegible] privileges, therefore without respect to a [illegible], 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 Corinthians 2:14): The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, therefore there must be more than Nature. John 1:12: To as many as received him he gave this Power and Privilege to be the Sons of God, even to as many as believe on his name; Receiving and Believing are all one. Thus then, without a Qualification of Faith, there is no Receiving; and without Receiving respected, there is no applying of any privileges; [illegible] without applying, no Evidencing; therefore [illegible] respect to a Qualification there is no Evidence [illegible] by the Spirit, nor enjoyed by the Soul.

If the Spirit of God give immediate Evidence of these privileges without respect to the Condition [illegible] Qualification, [illegible] it gives in Evidence [illegible] the Word.

But the Spirit never evidences without the Word (John 14:26): When the Comforter is come he will teach [illegible] all things, and bring to your remembrance [illegible] I have said to you; but he will teach [illegible], nor evidence nothing else but what Christ has [illegible] in his Word. If there be no Word but the Word [illegible] a Conditional Promise by which the having of [illegible] privileges of Justification and Adoption is [illegible]: then the Spirit witnesses without a [illegible] if it evidence without respect to a [illegible]. But there is no Word, but that of a [illegible] Promise (namely, wherein the Condition is either [illegible] or understood) wherein our Justification [illegible] Adoption is Evidenced. (Mark 16:16) The [illegible] the Gospel is clear: He that believes shall be [illegible]. As it is (Romans 3:30): God is one and the same, [illegible] the manner of Justification is one and the same, [illegible] never justifies any but by Faith; and [illegible] certain there is no Promise in the Scripture but [illegible] it does express or imply a Condition. (Isaiah 43:[illegible]): I will blot out your sins for my name's sake; here [illegible] no Qualifications, you will say, whereas if you [illegible] but look into some verses of the chapter going [illegible], as verse 20, he speaks to his People, His [illegible], these are said [illegible] verse 21 to be such as he had [illegible] for himself: and verse 22, he calls them Jacob [illegible] Israel; that is, The Israel of God (as the Apostle [illegible] them, Galatians 6:16) — true believers. (Hosea 14:4): I [illegible] love them freely; therefore here is no [illegible] because none expressed? But mark the first, second, and [illegible] verses, you shall find who those are that the Lord [illegible] freely — such as having fallen by their iniquity, Return to the Lord, saying, Take away all iniquity, [illegible] shall not save us, in you the fatherless find mercy: that is, those that have such Qualifications as these, they are the persons whom the Lord [illegible] freely. It is impossible it should be [illegible] (Romans 4:23): As Abraham was justified so must we — but he was justified by Faith, and therefore there [illegible] no Promise revealing Justification or Adoption, but either it does express or imply this condition of [illegible].

When the Spirit does evidence my Justification or Salvation out of the Word, it does it one of these two ways: either by the Application of some general Promise in which each particular, and so myself as a particular, am included; or [illegible] there [illegible] some special Word appointed, appropriated to me alone, and is spoken to none but me — as (Isaiah 45:[illegible]): Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, etc. None was here intended but Cyrus. This second [illegible] a Familistical Dream, and forces men to Revelations without the Word; because there is no such expression to be found in the Word, [illegible] therefore sober-minded men who have their senses about them dare not entertain it, perceiving indeed (as the [illegible] is) that such a Conceit is little better than a Frenzy. The first way then of Evidencing must needs be taken. From which 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.

All men are Justified, but you are a man, therefore you are justified. Or,

All sinners are justified, but you are a sinner, therefore you are justified. Or,

All self-denying, believing sinners are justified, but you are such a one, therefore you are justified. The two first here are false; only this third [illegible] last is true, and that carries a Qualification [illegible] it. If a man fly to Election, and say,

All the Elect are justified — that is false. Or thus: [illegible] the Elect shall be called and justified — that is no [illegible] of Evidencing neither, for (as was showed [illegible]) there can be no Evidence (that is, Science and [illegible] of Faith) of the working of the first [illegible] before it be wrought: therefore there is no [illegible] way but the applying of a General, including a [illegible] to myself in particular; as, All that [illegible] (as Abraham) are justified; but I am one [illegible] them. This is good.

To make the Spirit testify a falsehood, and my [reconstructed: soul] to receive it, is unlawful: to charge untruth [reconstructed: upon] the Spirit is blasphemous; to bring myself into a [reconstructed: crooked] by-path, that is erroneous. But to make the [reconstructed: Spirit] testify that Pardon and Adoption belongs to any [reconstructed: who] falls upon any subject, without respect to a [reconstructed: condition], is to make the Spirit testify a falsehood: [reconstructed: for] it is to make it testify against a rule of Truth which the Spirit of God has given in the Word. For the Rule of Truth is plain (Romans 8:30): "Whom he called, them he justified; and them, he glorified." Therefore to say the Spirit will witness to one [reconstructed: who] is not called, is to make him witness against [reconstructed: that] Rule. John 1:12: "To them that receive him, he gave [reconstructed: power] to be the Sons of God" — it is a staple Rule. Therefore no man is a Son before he receives Christ, therefore to make the Spirit to witness to a man [reconstructed: that he] is a Son of God when he has not received Christ, would make him speak contrary to this Word of Truth.

Look how the Covenant of Grace testifies a man's good estate, and the interest he has to any spiritual good in Christ, so the Spirit of Grace does [reconstructed: confirm] it; for the Spirit of Grace, and the Covenant of [reconstructed: Grace] go hand in hand; and otherwise how could it [reconstructed: be] true, that the Gospel should be sufficient to make [reconstructed: a] man perfect and complete in the spiritual [reconstructed: health] of his Soul, as well as in those things, which [reconstructed: are] mainly and merely essential to eternal life (2 [reconstructed: Timothy] 3:16). And here are the limits and bounds of that comfort the Spirit is sent to bring — it is confined [reconstructed: to] this compass (John 14:26): "I will send the [reconstructed: Comforter], and he shall bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you." When he comes [reconstructed: as] a Comforter, when that is the main scope of [reconstructed: his] 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 [reconstructed: things] and teaches all things pertaining to it, [reconstructed: he] adds no more, but recalls what Christ has said. Besides, that testimony which is beyond the Gospel should not be tried by the Gospel, for that which [reconstructed: is] beyond the measure, cannot be measured by it. [reconstructed: The] 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 control.

But the Covenant of Grace does [reconstructed: witness] our interest in these privileges, ever with an eye and respect to some spiritual [reconstructed: qualification]. It is the tenure of the Gospel according to the very letter, and naked terms of it (Mark 16:16): "Go preach the Gospel, [reconstructed: he] that believes shall be saved" — they, and they only, and none but they; therefore it follows, he that [reconstructed: believes] not shall be [reconstructed: damned]. Jeremiah 31:33: "This is the [reconstructed: covenant] that I will make with the house of Israel, I will [reconstructed: put] my laws in their hearts, and in their inward [reconstructed: parts] will I put them." Look to the Covenant as made [reconstructed: with] Adam (Genesis 3:15), as renewed with Abraham — "He believed and it was counted for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). And so it is in the whole frame of the [reconstructed: Gospel] — still the Covenant of Grace gives witness to [reconstructed: a] man's good estate with respect to Faith, therefore [reconstructed: so] the Spirit of Grace does testify also.

If God the Father intended these privileges [reconstructed: only] to such under such a respect or condition, Christ [reconstructed: purchased] all these benefits for such alone, and the [reconstructed: Spirit] applied them only to such, then the [reconstructed: Spirit] witnesses the possession of those spiritual [reconstructed: privileges] to such only. Because the witnessing of [reconstructed: the] Spirit is of equal extent with God's intent in [reconstructed: giving] these, with Christ's intent and purpose in [reconstructed: purchasing] these, with its own work in applying [reconstructed: them]. Whatever respect makes a thing an adequate [reconstructed: object] of a work in such a kind, all works of that [reconstructed: kind] are ever applied to that thing under that [reconstructed: respect]. The King gives a Charter in His Royal Grant [reconstructed: to] such who are free-men of such a Corporation, [reconstructed: he] that bought it purchased only for such; there is [reconstructed: no] ground in true right and reason why they should [reconstructed: be] bestowed upon any but such; nor can any apply a privilege aright unless he does apply it with an eye [reconstructed: to] such a condition that must steer the whole course [reconstructed: of] a righteous proceeding in that kind. That which [reconstructed: is] the Formalis ratio of the subject in Application [reconstructed: must] needs be attended in every work of [reconstructed: application] either of Comfort or Privilege if [reconstructed: we follow] the Rule aright. But it has appeared in brief [reconstructed: above], that such who shall be the seed of the [reconstructed: woman] — to them God the Father intended these [reconstructed: spiritual] privileges (John 3:16): "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever should [reconstructed: believe] in him should not perish but have eternal life." For them as such, Christ purchased these. John 17:[reconstructed: 9]: "I pray not for the World, but for them that shall [reconstructed: believe]." And so the Spirit applies, as when Paul [reconstructed: was] appointed to [reconstructed: turn] the Gentiles — this was his [reconstructed: charge]: he was to turn men from Satan to God, that [reconstructed: thereby] they might receive remission of sins and [reconstructed: inheritance]. So the Spirit by the ministry of the Word makes [reconstructed: use] of these privileges, and never otherwise, and therefore never gives other witness.

Upon what ground the evidence of science [reconstructed: or] knowledge of my Justification and Adoption [reconstructed: arises] according to truth, upon that ground arises my [reconstructed: assurance] of Faith; for both these (I told you in [reconstructed: the] Explication) were included, and must be [reconstructed: considered] in the work of evidence; and it is as [reconstructed: clear] out of the Principles of right Reason, and Experience, and Scriptures also: that alone which my [reconstructed: understanding] judges, my [reconstructed: will] embraces; there is nothing [reconstructed: that can] come to the Will, but by the Understanding — what [reconstructed: the] Eye sees not, the Heart affects not. No light comes into this Room, but by this Window. Look therefore, what the Understanding apprehends, and [reconstructed: how] it apprehends it, so is it presented to the Heart, [reconstructed: and] so by the Heart is it entertained. John 4:10: "[reconstructed: If] you had known, you would have asked him [for] water, [reconstructed: and] he would have given you water of life." So the [reconstructed: Samaritans] (John 4:42): "Now we believe, because [reconstructed: we] have heard him, and know that this is the [reconstructed: Savior] of the World" — this is clear.

But now, my knowledge and science if true [illegible] sound, it ever issues out of the concurrence and [illegible] together in my apprehension, of a [illegible] qualification [illegible] the privileges, and [illegible] privileges received thereby: For it is a ruled [illegible][illegible] the common course of reason, that knowledge [illegible] science, (that is) sound judgment of a truth, ever issues out of a simple term, or one thing as one, [illegible] itself [illegible].

Instance: I express in word, or attend in my [illegible], Pardon; (that word or term) Adoption [illegible][illegible]: take them several and asunder: Here [illegible] no judgment can be [illegible], nor can any that hear, [illegible] or conclude [illegible] the having or not [illegible] of any of these. So again, Sin, Faith, [illegible]: I cannot judge what these are, or in whom [illegible] are, there is neither knowledge, nor [illegible], nor comfort comes hence. But dispose and [illegible] them together; As,

[An Unbeliever is Pardoned:] I judge this [illegible] now, because [illegible] things are joined together [illegible] natures agree not, and the expression is not as [illegible] things be, [illegible] is a false proposition, or [illegible] cross to the Scripture, He that believes not [illegible] condemned (John 3:18). [A Believer is [illegible]:] The [illegible] answers the nature of the [illegible], and [illegible] truth and meaning of the [illegible], and therefore it is true: I so judge it, and so [illegible] it, and so only, if I either know it aright, or [illegible] it aright. And (mark) this knowledge issues [illegible] the right apprehension of both parts as they [illegible] together, which [illegible] be but only by a [illegible] qualification.

The sum then is, If the right and true knowledge of the application of any spiritual privileges [illegible] from the attendance of the [illegible] subject and quality with which it is disposed, then my evidence and assurance must arise so too.

But so my knowledge arises, therefore so my assurance must arise also.

The like you may say, (and it will be seasonable and exceeding useful to consider it) No [illegible] or witness can be attended without the thing [illegible], and that according to the mind of the [illegible] or [illegible]; 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 [illegible] look at the right disposition of them according to the witness of the Spirit, and mind of the testifier, it is not possible to have either sound faith or [illegible] in this way, because I cannot have true knowledge thus,

You Unbeliever, Uncalled, Are Pardoned — [illegible] false: Before you know the right disposition [illegible] these together, you cannot pass a right judgment, or have a right evidence, Christ came to [illegible] sinners, believing, humbled sinners: That is true.

To come to an end, hold these principles in the several parts, and so you shall be able to see the frame [illegible] the [illegible] how it lies.

- 1 None but parties qualified, namely [illegible], are the subjects of these [illegible] (John 3:16; John 3, last verse). - 2 The Spirit never witnesses these [illegible] but according to this meaning: He always means those who are [illegible] true subjects of these privileges, and [illegible] only; according to the meaning of the Word. - 3 We cannot know the testimony of the Spirit unless we know it according to [illegible] meaning.

Therefore we must of necessity know the qualification of the person receiving as [illegible] as the privilege and blessing received: I must know myself [a Believer] 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 [illegible] or seeming probability with them.

From that of 1 John 5:7-8: There be three that [illegible] record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and [illegible] Spirit, and these three are one: And there are [illegible] that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, Water, and Blood, and these three agree in one.

Here (say some) are several sorts of [illegible], one distinct from another, one before another, and one more excellent than the other, and therefore [illegible] 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 question controverted, by way of any seeming collection from the place, the very mysterious depths of the [illegible] herein delivered drives all interpreters to a stand, and puts the most judicious beyond their thoughts: so that there is more [illegible] to [illegible] the mind of God in the words, than to make answer to the objection hence collected: We will [illegible] shortly open the meaning of the words. 2 Then [illegible] what may be truly collected from them; and [illegible] it will appear that the objection fetched from [illegible] will find no footing in this place.

The scope of the Apostle in verses 4-5 is, that [illegible] Christ is the Son of God, and that faith which [illegible] the world, must look to him, and rest [illegible] him.

This he [illegible] to me to prove and explicate in both the parts of it in verse 6. And secondly he amplifies it in the following verses 7 and 8. His proof is taken from [illegible] 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 coming implies, 1 his Father's sending, 2 [illegible] own undertaking that great work of our recovery not only by Water, as the Levites who were washed (Numbers 8:6-7) but by Blood also as the priests (Leviticus 8:6, 22-24). By [Water] I conceive is meant, the holiness of his nature, in which he was conceived, and for which end he was overshadowed 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 [illegible] all that, which was shadowed by the priests, he is that Jesus the Son of God for [illegible].

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 God's [illegible] the Holy Ghost. By Spirit] in the second place I do think [illegible] is meant: For so you shall find the word used (2 Corinthians 4:13): Having the same Spirit of Faith. So that the Spirit of God coming from the Father and the Son would testify by the aspersion 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 [illegible] 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 where they express their witness. The Father speaks from Heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3, last verse). The Son professes 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" [illegible]. Lastly, in Matthew 3, last verse, the Spirit of God descended down upon him in the likeness of a dove: these speak from Heaven, and their expressions are [illegible] in the word without us whether we believe or no. Three again speak and witness from Earth, for Christ dwells 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 Timothy 1:7) all graces are called the Spirit, "we have received the Spirit of Power, of Love, and of a sound mind") this is expressly so named (2 Corinthians 4:13) "we having the same Spirit of Faith": this is most safe, and most suitable to the analogy of Faith, and the intent of the text.

There are but three great works to which all the rest may be referred, Vocation, Justification, Sanctification: all these in us give in witness and evidence, 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.

All these agree in this as the thing witnessed: [illegible] Jesus the Savior 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 [illegible] without respect to a gracious 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 gracious qualification be witnessed by the Spirit, and is lastly resolved therein, so that I believe the work of grace in me to be true, because the Spirit witnesses it, then I must have an absolute ground to believe the Spirit.

I will open this phrase: [the witness of the Spirit on an absolute ground] Either it's meant [illegible] the witness of the Spirit is attended without any respect to a work that is witnessed, then it's false and absurd, that I should discern the witness of the Spirit without any respect to the thing witnessed [illegible] made known to me by it: for (as has been [illegible] before) witness and the thing witnessed go both together.

Or it's meant thus: That when I have received the witness of the Spirit to myself, then I [illegible] prove it upon an absolute ground.

Has Christ purchased all spiritual good for His, for believers? Hence then we may see the [illegible] of the faithful, and the privilege of those that [illegible], above all people upon earth: to you the Father intended all 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 has purchased all that good that you need — does not that please you? All you can desire — does not that quiet you? Indeed, all that you can receive through all eternity — does not that satisfy? There is none like you, never the like was done for any as for you. It was Moses' collection, and caused his wonderment in the consideration thereof (Deuteronomy 33:29). When he had recounted the wonderful preservations the Lord had wrought, privileges he honored them with and bestowed upon them, he breaks forth into these expressions: Blessed are you, O Israel, who is like you, O people! Saved by the Lord. That was in the type and resemblance only, but here is the truth and substance of those shadows, accomplished in the purchase of Christ, for his faithful ones who are: saved, not from the oppression of a Pharaoh, but from the power of darkness, and dominion of the Devil, not delivered from the house of bondage but from the bottom of Hell. Blessed are you, O you believing souls, your excellence is incomparable, your privileges are inconceivable. Who is like 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 oil, but you the rivers of pleasures at the right hand of the Lord. Indeed, now while you are in this world, all is yours — all that the obedience of Christ could procure, all that the blood (the precious blood) of Christ could 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 believing souls. Hence it is when Moses would plead the privileges of the saints, he stands upon terms of comparison [illegible] — challenges all the world to show the like eminence of God's love upon earth (Deuteronomy 4:33-37). Did ever people partake of such good as [illegible] purchased for you? Has God essayed to go and take [illegible] himself a nation from among the nations — shall I say by temptations, signs, and wonders to bring [illegible] out of Egypt? 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 Hell, the tyranny of sin, the power of the Devil, from everlasting death and condemnation — [illegible] this (not by making water become blood, but) by making happiness to become misery, God to become man, and life itself (Christ Jesus the [illegible] of life) to die, that he might restore you to life and glory. Go therefore, you blessed believing servants of the Lord — go on comfortably, and the blessing of heaven go with you, know your privileges and be forever quieted and contented [illegible]. Fret not at the prosperity of the wicked, be [illegible] troubled at their pomp, since your portion is far [illegible], and of incomparable excellence. When the Father had entertained his prodigal son after [illegible] return with a gold ring, change of [illegible] and [illegible] fatted calf, the elder son began to mutter [illegible] [illegible] show his [illegible], the answer was reasonable [illegible] — exceeding satisfactory: Son, you are ever with [illegible] and all that I have is yours (Luke 15:31). So here — suffer the dogs to gnaw the bones, and [illegible] to have their scraps, let [illegible] have the gold ring to adorn them and the fatted calf to feed and [illegible] upon, but know (all you believers) all that is [illegible] earth, all that is in heaven, all that the Father [illegible], that [illegible] has — all the mercy of a Father, the redemption of a Jesus, the consolations of the [illegible] — all these are yours, you cannot have more, you [illegible] be better. I think you should not be — I [illegible] almost said you cannot — but be forever [illegible] and contented.

And now, all you that sit by and hear of all this: [illegible] thinks your hearts should sink within you, [illegible] that never knew what it was to be humbled, [illegible] to be called, and to believe in Christ. [illegible], all is gone before you; believers have all. [illegible] therefore, and arise to follow hard after [illegible] Lord that you also may be humbled, that you [illegible] may be called, and comforted and forever [illegible] by Jesus Christ. This will be the plague of the [illegible] damned in Hell — they shall see Abraham, and [illegible] and Jacob, and all the saints of God in heaven, [illegible] themselves cast out. You shall see all those poor [illegible] whom you have known in the towns and [illegible] where you have lived, you will see them go to heaven, and yourselves cast out. O therefore [illegible] you would give God no rest nor your own [illegible] no quiet, till you have got a believing heart. Why have believers all this? Have they Christ and [illegible] and pardon and peace and glory and [illegible] and all? Say, Lord, why not I a believer too? [illegible] I see no reason but you may — God affords you [illegible], and you may be wrought upon by the means [illegible] ought I know. Therefore seek earnestly to the [illegible] that you also may be brought in among the [illegible] of believers, for whom all this good is purchased by Jesus Christ.

The doctrine delivered dashes that dream, and [illegible] that false opinion with which many carnal-hearted men are easily and willingly taken [illegible], who fondly persuade themselves that Christ died for all: and purchased both grace and glory for mankind indifferently, for Cain as well as Abel, Esau as well as Jacob, for Judas as well as Peter — that all that spiritual good that any of the saints ever share in, it was all intended to them, all [illegible] for them, all provided for their good. But out of the perverseness of their own wills, [illegible] that physic that would have cured them, [illegible] upon the blood of the covenant that was shed [illegible] their redemption. A conceit cross to the [illegible] formerly delivered and thereby confuted and [illegible] condemned. But an opinion it is which [illegible] derogates from the justice of God, the [illegible] of the Lord Jesus, the glory of his free [illegible] which is children's bread, and appointed only [illegible] peculiar kindness for his own people. And yet by [illegible] erroneous imagination it is prostituted under the [illegible] of a company of profane beasts.

This universality of Redemption makes way for [reconstructed: a] universality of corruption: and these sensual [reconstructed: and] deceiving men make the gate of mercy and [reconstructed: grace] so wide, that so they find room not only [reconstructed: for] themselves, but to carry their sins to heaven [reconstructed: with] them also. But such shall one day find by [reconstructed: sad] experience they befooled themselves, and fell [reconstructed: short] of their hopes and expectations, when they [reconstructed: shall] know to their terror, that the Lord Jesus was [reconstructed: not] so lavish of his blood as to spill it in vain, [reconstructed: or] that he should miss of his end or they of their good [reconstructed: for] whom it was shed: though they cry never so [reconstructed: loud,] knock never so hard, Lord, Lord, open [reconstructed: to us,] they [reconstructed: shall] have no other answer but that, [reconstructed: Depart] from [reconstructed: me,] I know you not [reconstructed: you] workers of iniquity (Matthew 7:23). I never prayed for you, I never died for you. [reconstructed: This] is that which will sink the hearts and dash the [reconstructed: hopes] of all unbelieving self-deceiving creatures: Is there [reconstructed: such] rich grace, plentiful redemption, abundant [reconstructed: merit,] merits invaluable in the Lord Jesus? True, [reconstructed: but] that's your misery, you shall see it, but never be [reconstructed: a] partaker thereof. You shall not taste of those [reconstructed: sweet] dainties the Lord has provided for his [reconstructed: own,] as long as you remain in that unbelieving [reconstructed: state;] your doom is set, your sentence is past. [reconstructed: John] 3:18: He that believes not is condemned already, is cast in all the courts of heaven and earth, the [reconstructed: law] cannot, the Gospel will not save you; a [reconstructed: man may] appeal from justice to mercy, but if mercy [reconstructed: rejects] him, who shall comfort, who can relieve [reconstructed: him?] Whatever he does, wherever he is, the wrath of God abides upon him; you are not within the [reconstructed: reach] of mercy nor the compass of that redemption [reconstructed: the] Lord has wrought. Indeed, that you may see [reconstructed: where] you are, and what to hold to; the Lord [reconstructed: himself] has sealed up your destruction by a solemn oath [reconstructed: that] can never be repealed; he has sworn that he that [reconstructed: not] believes shall never enter into his rest (Hebrews 3:[11]). That which God says barely he many times [reconstructed: confirms by oath,] so the first covenant, Do and live — a man may [reconstructed: indeed] do himself and yet live, but he that will not [reconstructed: believe,] God swears (and his oath is unchangeable) [reconstructed: that] he shall never enter into life. That a man may speak with reverence — God himself cannot save a man [reconstructed: who] never shall believe, because he cannot deny [reconstructed: himself] and his oath. Rest you may in your vain [reconstructed: hopes,] in your carnal confidence, sit down secure in [reconstructed: your] self-pleasing humor, but you shall never enter to God's rest of pardon, peace, comfort, and [reconstructed: glory;] but shall be in a restless fear and dread, [reconstructed: terror] and discouragement which will pursue [reconstructed: you in] endless disquiet, and the powers of heaven [reconstructed: cannot] afford you relief in this condition if you [reconstructed: remain] herein. There is no peace (says God) to the [reconstructed: wicked] (Isaiah 57, last).

But if this be so: and you [reconstructed: pen] in the precious [reconstructed: re]demption of Christ into such a narrow [reconstructed: compass,] you will straiten it, and the comforts of sinners [reconstructed: very] much: and extend as much mercy to devils as [reconstructed: to] unbelievers: for by this means you make the [reconstructed: re]probates in as desperate a condition as the [reconstructed: devils] themselves, being wholly void of all help and [reconstructed: hope] of salvation, either in themselves or any [reconstructed: other;] they cannot save themselves and the Lord will [reconstructed: not] save them. A blasphemous cavil.

I answer: The consequent part of the reason is unsound and blasphemously false as shall appear [reconstructed: by] sundry considerations.

The merits of our Savior, and the complete [reconstructed: na]ture of his sufferings, is made up, or issues out of two principles, without either of which there never had been any satisfaction to divine justice. [reconstructed: Pure] divinity cannot suffer, the humanity cannot [reconstructed: satisfy;] without blood there is no redemption: justice re[reconstructed: quires] death, and unless it be the death of [reconstructed: one] that is God there is neither value nor virtue [reconstructed: equal] to the infinite wrong done, and therefore [reconstructed: no] satisfaction. In that nature therefore the Lord [reconstructed: was] offended, in that he must be satisfied; for the [reconstructed: souls] of angels may be annihilated but die or be [reconstructed: resol]ved they cannot, therefore the nature of man [reconstructed: was] assumed, therefore redemption and purchase be[reconstructed: longs] to that nature, because sufficient [reconstructed: satisfaction] was only tendered for that.

Hence all that believe of this nature may be sa[reconstructed: ved]; there is not an impossibility in the nature [reconstructed: of] the thing.

To many persons of this nature God affords means, so that if they will but submit to the [reconstructed: terms] and be content to receive grace they shall not [reconstructed: fail,] and that Adam could do and we in him.

The Gospel does not require a man should [reconstructed: act] of his own power, but that he should be [reconstructed: willing] and content to be made able to believe and [reconstructed: partake] of that grace he is called to.

But the fallen angels differ in all these regards.

For theirs being the sin against the Holy Spirit, the [reconstructed: Lord] provided no remedy for them. For Christ in no case took upon him the nature of angels (Hebrews 2:[16]). [illegible] in no wise, it was in no case comely or con[reconstructed: venient].

[reconstructed: Their] nature not assumed, for them no [reconstructed: satisfaction] was made, as the Apostle disputes purposely (Hebrews 2:11-12, etc.). And therefore no possibility they [reconstructed: could] receive any good by Christ if possibly they [reconstructed: could] believe.

Therefore the Lord neither provides nor offers any [reconstructed: means] to convert them; so that there is a broad and [reconstructed: plain] difference in all these.

That which is only true in the objection is this: that the wicked being dead in sins and trespasses, it is no more possible for them to help themselves by [reconstructed: their] own power out of this condition, than it is [reconstructed: possible] for a devil, for with man there is no [reconstructed: power,] no more than there is with devils: and [reconstructed: this] negation admits no degrees in regard of the [reconstructed: weakness] of their nature. But the riches of God's [reconstructed: grace] on his part in taking our nature, entering into [reconstructed: covenant] with his [reconstructed: people] in it, providing means, and [reconstructed: dealing] with men for their good by the covenant, and [reconstructed: requiring] no more but the bare receiving of that [reconstructed: grace,] all these show great odds.

But Christ's merit is infinite, and of infinite [reconstructed: worth,] therefore is able to save all angels and all men, is it not?

The consequence of the reason is false, which will appear by the right understanding of how Christ's me[reconstructed: rits] are infinite, and how the sufficiency of [reconstructed: them] can reach all.

Christ's merits are said to be infinite, [reconstructed: ei]ther properly in regard of the person of the [reconstructed: God]head from where that virtue comes; or in regard of [reconstructed: the] persons to whom it is applied, as that it should [reconstructed: save] infinite creatures: and this is very improper and [reconstructed: false].

The merit of him who is an infinite God, and of [illegible] finite virtue, is not sufficient for infinite [illegible], for then had he taken any nature he had been a [illegible] sufficient Savior, which the Apostle contradicts (Hebrews 2:11-12).

Then had he suffered any outward evil as [illegible] persecution, the spilling of some drops of his blood [illegible] would have sufficed, for that had been the [illegible] of a party who is infinite, and yet justice [illegible] that which requires not only payment from an infinite person, but in the same kind and nature also, [illegible] that upon such conditions as the Covenant [illegible] before agreed and now exacted.

Merits from such an infinite person performed [illegible] in such a kind and nature have an infinite virtue to [illegible] answer an infinite justice, for all such for whom such person shall undertake. And according to this [illegible] it must be conceived that Christ's death is [illegible] sufficient for all; else the phrase will not bear a rigid [illegible].

That which I would leave to your thoughts [illegible] be expressed in two things thus,

- 1. Christ's death is sufficient to save all [illegible] they shall believe. - 2. It's not sufficient to save one man [illegible] believe.

It's sufficient to save all if they believe; and [illegible] to be the meaning of that phrase which is [illegible] among judicious writers, that if God had [illegible], and Christ intended to save many [illegible] more, he needed not nor in truth should have [illegible] any other or any more punishment: so [illegible] he must have suffered for the substance of the [illegible] and second death to save one sinner; and no [illegible] he needed to have suffered if he should save all [illegible] the world, or another world of men. The ground [illegible] is this: because our Savior being the head of the second Covenant as Adam of the first, a [illegible] person in the room of all such whose persons he [illegible]; his merits, the very same individual [illegible], death and obedience are applied and do [illegible] appertain to all, as Paul had all, so Adam, [illegible], Noah, had all, and the same death and [illegible] belongs to any other believer as well as to [illegible]. For as Adam's actual sin was equally imputed to all, his original equally conveyed: so Christ's [illegible] and righteousness to all his. Adam must [illegible] sin before he can condemn one, and if [illegible] it condemns many thousands as well as one. Christ dies to save one, and no more to save [illegible] thousands. For the sufficiency of our [illegible] must be [illegible] as we do the sufficiency of [illegible] cause, which is ever considered according to [illegible] end at which it looks, and for which it [illegible], [illegible] that it does not exceed: it is not to be attended [illegible] to the thing in which it does appear: [illegible] the end of our Savior's sufferings and merits was to save his seed, and such for which he had [illegible] and should believe, whether never so many or never so few, but for all that come within that [illegible]. As a full tide or stream is sufficient [illegible] for all vessels that come upon it, and yet not [illegible] to carry one vessel that is not [illegible]: so here: the ocean of God's love and sea of redemption [illegible] Christ is sufficient to carry and convey all that [illegible] to eternal salvation, but not sufficient [illegible] to save one that does not believe. And therefore [illegible] any orthodox divine — the meaning of this [illegible] 'sufficient for all' — is the sufficiency of Christ's [illegible] in the room of all? Is the sufficiency of [illegible] death intended and performed for the spiritual [illegible] of all? They will all renounce both the senses: [illegible] what reason they will put upon these words [illegible] than that I have now expressed, I cannot tell: [illegible] only looking at the internal virtue of Christ's [illegible] with this condition, there is value enough in it [illegible] to save all that come within this condition of believing. As the sin of the first Adam was sufficient [illegible] to infect millions of worlds, if they should [illegible] of him by natural generation, and yet not [illegible] to infect one if he did not so proceed.

But why then are reprobates commanded [illegible] to believe, and punished for not believing? [illegible] which any is bound to believe that is a truth, [illegible] each reprobate that hears the Gospel [illegible] to believe that Christ died for him: [illegible] that is a truth. Object 3.

This is an old deceit, which has much [illegible] the world and wherein the enemies of God's [illegible] have seemed to triumph: and yet in truth it [illegible] a fallacy, a false form of reasoning. But to let [illegible] pass, we shall examine whether the [illegible] of it [illegible] true. Answer.

The first part — 'that which any is bound to [illegible] is true' — may admit many senses.

A man is bound to believe upon a [illegible] ground: either 1. of charity, or 2. of [illegible] certainty. I am bound sometimes to believe that [illegible] by charity which in itself is not, and in the issue [illegible] true: but upon certainty, things revealed and [illegible]: here I am bound to believe nothing but [illegible] is a truth.

Again, another sense is this: the object upon [illegible] which my faith is placed is a truth or true [illegible].

But to the second part: 'That Christ died for me' [illegible] — the pronoun is in place of a noun, 'for me' [illegible] the reprobate. And then it is a falsehood. It's not [illegible] in any gospel that I know, nor required in [illegible] Scripture of God, that I should believe this for [illegible] truth, that Christ died for reprobates.

If it be replied, that therefore a reprobate is [illegible] not bound to believe.

I answer, the consequence has no color of [illegible]: I am not bound to believe this falsehood [illegible] — I am not bound to believe. The command to [illegible] carries two things with it: first, that I must [illegible] all means appointed by God to get faith; [illegible] when I have got it I must put forth the act [illegible] in resting upon and receiving from the Lord what [illegible] I need. The sum is: because a reprobate is bound [illegible] to use all means appointed by God to get faith, and [illegible] when he has got it, he is bound also to exercise [illegible] faith by resting upon Christ, therefore he is [illegible] also bound to believe this proposition that Christ [illegible] died for reprobates: this consequence is contrary to [illegible] and in truth to common sense.

Whatever therefore can be said to the contrary, [illegible] it is that unbelief makes a man incapable of [illegible] of the spiritual good which Christ has [illegible] and is willing to communicate to his own. So the [illegible] determines this cause (Jeremiah 17:5-6): Cursed [illegible] the man that trusts in the arm of flesh, and [illegible] heart [illegible] from the living God: he shall be [illegible] the heath in the wilderness, he shall never see when good comes. Are you such a one? Set your heart at [illegible] then; there is mercy enough, saving good [illegible] in Christ, and it is coming to this and that [illegible] your neighbor, your child, your servant who [illegible], they shall have it, they shall partake in it, [illegible] you shall never see it, never share in it (Romans [illegible] 32). It is that which the Apostle describes the condition of such men by: they are shut up under [illegible], so that there is no way for any means to [illegible] upon them, to come at them, or to do good [illegible] them. All the passages are not only stopped but [illegible] intercepted by the power of Satan and infidelity [illegible] the soul. The soul being shut up under that, [illegible] shuts out the power of the Word — it works not, [illegible] motions of the Spirit they persuade not, all [illegible] all judgments, all ordinances, all means, they [illegible] not come at the soul, and therefore it is not [illegible] that any spiritual good, either pardon or peace [illegible] or comfort, should ever come in.

Exhortation: 1. To provoke our hearts to [illegible] faith; 2. How to carry ourselves when we [illegible] it.

First, this should whet our desires and provoke [illegible] endeavors. Since there is all good purchased [illegible] Christ, and all for those that [illegible] believe, [illegible] who would not now be a believer? Above all our [illegible] get faith, since we are sure to gain so much by [illegible] — be the time, trouble, or prayers, pains whatever [illegible] will be — it is worth our labor, though it cost [illegible] so much in the getting. It will repay the cost when [illegible] we have it; first or last you will find it.

It was said when the Jews prospered and [illegible] led in the time of Mordecai, they had joy and [illegible] and a good day, and many became Jews [illegible] — who would undergo the same condition that [illegible] might have the same comforts. And it is an [illegible] which nature has left upon the minds and hearts of all men: the places which have privileges, profits, and endowments annexed to them carry the [illegible] of [illegible] men after them. Good is the loadstone of a man's [illegible] and labor, and where most of that appears, our [illegible] go there with most earnestness and [illegible] (Esther 8:16-17). So you know how the chief captain spoke [illegible] Paul concerning the Roman liberties: with a [illegible] sum he obtained [illegible] this freedom. But that deliverance [illegible] this freedom — they were little, not the dust of the [illegible] if they be compared with freedom from hell and death, sin and guilt; and with those [illegible] inconceivable benefits of grace and glory. Have you but faith, you have interest in all these; [illegible] give no sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your [illegible], give God no rest, nor your own soul any quiet (Acts 22:28). Get [illegible] though it be with a great sum — great diligence, [illegible] endeavors, vehement desires — leave not before [illegible] you have it, and then be sure to keep it; your [illegible] welfare lies upon it.

Each man has his aim, and there he is eager, but [illegible] others look at what they like — labor you for this. [illegible] Let the covetous man have the world, the loose man [illegible] pleasures, and the ambitious man his honors, [illegible] but do you say, Lord give me faith. If your [illegible] heart conceives it will cost the setting on, the loss of [illegible] eye or a hand — some darling content that must be [illegible] and cast away before you can come to it — [illegible] brace yourself, and help your soul over all these [illegible] difficulties, with the daily eyeing of that [illegible] that is to be had in Christ, whom you shall have [illegible] by faith. As Hamor and Shechem his son [illegible] and prevailed with the Shechemites to cut off the [illegible] of their flesh — though it carried an [illegible] of harshness and difficulty — upon this plea, [illegible] 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 (Genesis 34:23). So deal you with your own soul: shall not the blood and merits of Jesus, shall not that pardon and acceptance he has procured, that great redemption he has wrought, the glory he has [illegible] be ours? Shall not every grace of Christ be ours to sanctify and adorn us? Shall not every comfort and those joys unspeakable and glorious be ours to refresh our hearts? Only consent, O my soul, to believe. [illegible] But you will say this work is [illegible], passing your power, and beyond your strength — true, be it never [illegible] hard to you and not possible, yet it is not hard to him who has hardness at command. He has done it for others — who can tell but he may do it for you? Only let others' experience provoke you and their success encourage you to seek for it. As [illegible] did for the blessing when he knew it was in his father's hand to give, and that Jacob had received it — see how he presses on with earnestness and tears, that he might not go away empty: O my father, says he, bless me also. So say you: Lord, I know you have done it for others, I know you can do it for me; such proud ones have been humbled, such unbelieving ones have been converted, settled, comforted, and forever saved. O bless me also, convert me also, call me effectually, and cause me also to believe (Genesis 37:34).

That which was the command of Christ to that man in Mark 5:36 is the exhortation to you: only believe. Let this be the pearl in your eye and pursuit. You see how comfortable it would be to have those scores of yours quit, your sins pardoned, and your heart settled in peace — only believe and it is done. You survey the great redemption that Christ has purchased, the kingdom immortal, undefiled, and that fades [illegible] away, [illegible] the Lord has prepared for his own — only believe and it is yours. You find the power, the plague of those noisome distempers and hellish temptations which unfit you for any work, make you weary in it, indeed weary of your life — only believe in Christ, and they are conquered and forever subdued.

[reconstructed: The argument runs] thus: Were there an engine of that use and strength that were it but skillfully handled it would perform all things which otherwise were impossible to be accomplished: there need no reasons to press, no arguments to persuade 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 [reconstructed: to him] that believes, you think that the wrath of God is so fierce, his justice so strict, they can [reconstructed: never be] suffered — it is not possible they should be undergone, corruption is so strong, discouragements so great, it's [reconstructed: not] possible to overcome; but Faith says, no, to that. All things are possible to him that can believe, because he has Christ to whom all things are possible. [reconstructed: And] therefore as blind Bartimaeus said touching his sight (Mark 10:48, 51), say you touching your Faith, [reconstructed: if] the Lord should put that question to you, What [reconstructed: would] you have? Say, O Lord that I may believe, that I may receive the grace of Faith, whereby I may [reconstructed: be] able to receive Christ and all spiritual good in [reconstructed: him].

The second part of the Exhortation is to provoke [reconstructed: us as to] how we should conduct ourselves towards Christ when we have Faith. Christ has purchased all for his own — how should they be to him? What should they [reconstructed: do] for him then? Why truly they should lay out [reconstructed: themselves] and all they have received for him, who has [reconstructed: done] so much for them. And our Saviour seems to [reconstructed: assert] a prerogative royal, and that in a kind of peculiar [reconstructed: order] in our services, as touching the order in which [reconstructed: they] should be tendered (1 Corinthians 2:18): All are yours, and you are [reconstructed: Christ's] and Christ is God's. All [reconstructed: comes] through Christ to us, all from us by Christ [reconstructed: to be] returned again to God. And the duty is double.

1. Have all at his command. 2. Lay out all to his praise.

First, have all at his command — all the graces, all the abilities we have received, all the blessings of this [reconstructed: life] we do possess; they should all be laid up and reserved for the Lord's use, that they may [reconstructed: be] at hand in [reconstructed: readiness] to [reconstructed: fulfill] his good pleasure whenever he [reconstructed: shall] call for them. As the spouse says (Song of Solomon 7, last verse): At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits new and [reconstructed: old], which I have laid up for you, O my beloved. [reconstructed: Acknowledge] the Lord's propriety upon them, and [reconstructed: stamp] his image and superscription upon them, as they in [reconstructed: Isaiah] 44:5: One shall say I am the Lord's, and so on. So [reconstructed: say] I am the Lord's, and these graces, these abilities, [reconstructed: these] liberties, these conveniences — they are all the Lord's. So Christ — he assumed our nature, took upon him the [reconstructed: form] of a servant, he did all and suffered all, and [reconstructed: he] gives the reason and shows the aim at which he looked in all that he did (John 17:19): For their [reconstructed: sakes] I sanctify myself. So do you say: I have all, I do all — I get these, I keep these good things for Christ's sake, that I may more and [reconstructed: more be devoted] to him without distraction. As we should lay up all for him, so we should lay out all for his praise, whenever [reconstructed: the] occasion [reconstructed: calls, and] any [illegible] it, that we may [reconstructed: fulfill] (2 Corinthians 5:15). So that we live no more [reconstructed: to] ourselves, labor [illegible], but live only to [reconstructed: him] who has [reconstructed: purchased] all spiritual good for us.