Samuel Willard - The Nature of Christ's Resurrection

Question 28. Wherein consists Christ's Exaltation? Answer. Christ's Exaltation consists in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up to heaven, and in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.


[This is the second of a five sermon series on this question from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.]


Leaving the general consideration of Christ's Exaltation, we will continue with a more detailed account. There are several steps to his Exaltation, which may be summarised under two heads: either those degrees of triumph, to which he is exalted already, or the manifestation of it which is reserved for the Day of Judgement. God has already highly lifted him up, but he will yet make his glory known more conspicuously at the end of the world. The saints in heaven see his face in glory and are happy in that sight. Believers on earth see him with an eye of faith and rejoice in it, 1 Pet. 1:8, "Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory." At that time his enemies also will see him. They had seen him dead and buried, that was the last sight they had of him: but they must see him glorified to their eternal confusion, Rev. 1:7 "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen."
Let us consider the glorification which Christ has received already. It consists in two things: his resurrection from death, and his taking possession of the kingdom of glory. We will begin with his resurrection because it was the first step of his glorification, after he had humbled himself in death.
This article is a main pillar of the Christian faith, and we need to be well established on it. As the apostles were appointed to be witnesses of the resurrection of Christ (Acts 1:22), so they preached it clearly in every place they came. We may take a brief account of it under several heads.

I. The precise nature of Christ's resurrection consists of two things: there is something internal, the reunion of his soul and body, and external, his coming out of the grave after that reunion. Both of these are implied by the words used in the New Testament to express resurrection. The word used in Matt. 28:6, egeirw [hegeiro], signifies both to wake out of sleep and to rise out of bed. When Christ's soul came into his body he awakened, and when he left his sepulchre, then he left his bed. Resurrection is also expressed by anastasiV [anastasis], which signifies rising from a fall and standing up again. Christ fell down into the dust when he died, and stood up again when he arose. The first of these was properly his resurrection, and the second the manifestation of it.

II. The subject of this resurrection may be considered in two categories.
1. The precise subject of the resurrection was the whole human nature of Christ. Christ is said to die and to rise again, 1 Cor. 15:14,15. It is attributed to his person in respect to his human nature because his divine nature is not in itself capable of either Humiliation or Exaltation. The resurrection may be attributed to his whole human nature in as much as both his soul and body were sharers in it. His entire humanity fell by death in some sense, and his soul therefore arose by a deliverance from the state of separation and its reunion, and his body arose by a restoration to life and being brought out of the grave.
2. The resurrection is ascribed to his body, his soul, and his person in various regards, as:
It was his body that was most strictly raised. That only fell down; while his soul went upward to paradise, Luke 23:43, "Today you will be with me in paradise." Only his body lay in the grave, his soul ascended to heaven. Only his body was completely deprived of its working, for his soul as it departed was actively happy in the presence of God.
1. Now, regarding his body:
a. It was the same body that fell, which was raised again. Matt. 28:5,6 "But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." He did not take upon himself another body to be exalted in, but the same in which he was humbled.
b. His rational soul came from heaven into the sepulchre, where his body lay, and was there reunited with it. Psa. 16:10 "For you will not leave my soul in Sheol." This must be understood as the state of separation.
c. His vital spirits, which had been dissipated by death, were again restored and helped to knit his soul and body together. For this reason he is said to be alive again, Rom. 14:9 "For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living."
d. His senses were also restored to his body. His organs of sensation had been deprived of their power by his death and had been useless, but now his eyes and ears and other organs of sensation received their power of operation. Thus they were prepared to serve his rational soul according to their natural use, and were evident proof of his being alive again, Acts 1:3.
e. The prison doors were opened and he came out of his grave. His body was raised a glorious body, Phil. 3:21, 1 Cor. 15:43. However, the glorious splendour of his body was veiled for a time as he thought it appropriate. This was for a few days while he abode with his disciples before his ascension, so that they might be able to have communion with him.
2. Regarding his soul, while it may not be quite correct to say that it arose, nevertheless a resurrection is connected with it.
a. It was reunited with his body after separation. Otherwise his body would not have arisen. Its death was effected by that separation, and therefore its resurrection required such a reunion.
b. In this way it was delivered from that separation which was contrary to its natural inclination and was made again to enjoy the desired company of the body. A separated soul, being only a part of the man, is not at rest until it is restored to the other part for which it was made, and so undergoes a sort of death while separate.
c. It came out of the sepulchre with and in his body, and so it joined with it in the second part of his resurrection. It was for this cause that his body was enabled to come forth, which before was lifeless.
d. It now enjoyed its previous freedom of exercising its operations upon and in his glorious body. It had again the use of all his senses and members, which had been for a while suspended.
e. Both together took possession of the glory which he had merited with both in his humiliation, Psa. 16:9-11. His mediatorial glory was not completed until he was thus raised.
3. Regarding his person, it is certain that he who arose was Christ, the second Person of the Trinity. As it was mentioned before, the divine nature of Christ, being unchangeable, could neither die nor rise. Nevertheless the declarative glory of his divine nature which was obscured in the days of his flesh began to radiate out and shine forth clearly in his resurrection. Therefore, Christ is "...declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead," Rom. 1:4. In this regard it was a declarative begetting of Christ, Acts 13:33, "God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that he has raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm: 'You are my Son, today I have begotten You.'" Christ as mediator was now glorified to fulfil the promise made to him in the Covenant of Redemption.

III. Christ really did rise again. The Scripture gives abundant testimony to this. Because it is a matter of historical fact, the historical witness alone should be a sufficient reason for faith to accept it; although there are also persuasive arguments to accept it, such as:
1. There is the testimony of the two glorious angels for the resurrection, Matt. 28:5,6 and Luke 24:45,46.
2. The testimony of the women that went to the sepulchre, where they saw him and spoke with him, Matt. 28:9.
3. The various appearances which he made to his disciples. Before his ascension he was seen by at least five hundred persons who had his resurrection confirmed by many tangible and convincing proofs, 1 Cor. 15:5-8.
4. In particular there is the testimony of the Apostles, who because they were to be bearers of this truth, and witnesses to the world, had frequent communion with him at times, for forty days after he had risen, Acts 1:3, during which time they "looked upon and handled" the "Word of life," 1 John 1:1,2. Therefore, Luke 24:39,40, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet." "Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing,'" John 20:27.
5. Indeed the very nature of the thing declares that he must be risen. If he was the Son of God and by his death satisfied for sin, and answered all the demands of justice in the place of his redeemed, it was impossible that the grave could hold him. Therefore when he had lain in it long enough to confirm the reality of his being dead, there was no reason for his lying there any longer. Thus the Scripture argues, "God raised [him] up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it," Acts 2:24.

IV. If it should be demanded, by what power did he arise, or who was the causative agent of his resurrection? It may be replied, that it was not any other outside power, but he himself was the author of his own rising from the dead. This he clearly prophesied beforehand, John 2:19 and 10:17,18. It is true that this work is ascribed to the Father, Acts 2:24. Being the Creditor, now fully satisfied in the discharge of the debt which his Son determined to pay, sent his angel as an officer to discharge him with glorious pomp and majesty. This work is also attributed to the Spirit, Rom. 8:11, because he was raised by a glorious and almighty power. This power did not manifest itself so much in the raising of his body from the grave (though nothing but omnipotent power could do that), as in releasing the chains of the second death which were upon him in his state of humiliation, and in discharging him from the sentence of the Law, by which he was condemned to die as our surety and representative. Indeed this work, being a divine work, belongs to the Deity and consequently to the Trinity. Yet Christ attributes this work to himself because his divine nature exerted itself mightily in his resurrection. As it was by a voluntary act that he laid down his life, and no one else could have taken it from him, so by an act of his mighty power he took it up again. Death himself could not stand against him, and he became a conqueror over it. In his own person Christ fulfilled the prophecy, Hosea 13:14 "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from my eyes." The angels who were present at the resurrection were not the instruments of it, but only waited on their Lord and honoured him in this phase of his Exaltation.

V. Christ's resurrection was on the third day after his death and burial, Luke 24:7. This was foretold by Christ himself, John 2:19. "And be raised the third day," Matt. 16:21. In this regard he claimed that Jonah was a type of himself, Matt. 12:39,40. He continued three days in a state of death, in order that there would be no question about his being truly dead. It was no longer in order that his disciples would not faint in their spirits and be discouraged by the corruption of his body, because it was foretold that it would not see corruption, Psa. 16:10. It is true, that he did not lay in the grave three whole days, but it was for some part of three successive days. He was buried on the sixth day (Friday) before sunset, and he lay in the grave the entire seventh day (Saturday) and the night of the first day (Sunday), considering the day to begin with the sunset.

VI. It was required that Christ should rise from the dead. Just as he had to die, he had to rise and live. This was necessary for several reasons:
1. He rose again to prove and declare that he was the Son of God, Rom. 1:4. During his Humiliation, and particularly in his death, Christ's divinity was obscured under a veil of the many infirmities of his humanity, but in his resurrection he proved his eternal power and Godhead. Indeed it is true that others were raised, and indeed shortly all shall rise; therefore merely to be raised from the dead is not proof of the divinity of the one raised. Yet, for someone to raise himself by his own power, that is sufficient proof of divinity. He gave evidence of divinity by raising others in his name, but he was required to raise himself by his own power to prove himself God.
There was a further proof of his divinity in the resurrection, in that he died according to the Law and justice of God, sentenced as our Surety to suffer the whole weight of the wrath of God. For him to be released from this sentence, after he had been born for that very purpose, and to live again having fulfilled all the demands of justice upon him, proves him to be God. The weight of wrath that he bore would have broken the whole of creation, and they would never have been released.
2. In this way he attested to his perfect victory over death and our spiritual enemies. It was not enough that Christ should die for us. In dying he must be a conqueror, otherwise his death would not profit us. Indeed, he suffered in order that he might overcome, Heb. 2:14, "That through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil." This was shown and proven by his resurrection. This is the reason why Paul, after he had demonstrated by many arguments that Christ was risen, and then shown what was the glorious cause of it, concluded the passage with a note of triumph, 1 Cor. 15:57, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." It is true that Christ conquered all on his cross: there the battle was fought and there the victory was gained. But that victory was made into a triumph in his resurrection. Now his enemies fled, quitting the field. Psa. 68:1, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those also who hate him flee before him." He made a conquest of death itself, and it lay dead at his feet. Christ would never be known as a conqueror, except for this. If death had held him as her captive, where would his victory be?
3. He rose for our justification. "Who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised because of our justification," Rom. 4:25. As he died to pay our debt, so he rose again to acquit or absolve us from it. Christ's resurrection was both his and our discharge: his, when he stood as our surety bond for us, and ours, as those for whom he was Surety. As Christ by dying was made virtually, so by rising he becomes actually the object of our justifying faith.
He became a sufficient object of faith not merely by undertaking to appear in our place, but by actually making an end of the transgressions on our account and paying our whole debt. If he had not made satisfaction for us, we could not in justice have been pardoned. If he had not fully reconciled us to God and completely answered the Law's demands, we could not have been saved. Therefore if he had continued on in death, it would have shown the continuing need for payment; which would have revealed its imperfection, and consequently its invalidity. Christ could not rise until justice acquitted him. His bond was submitted for our cause, and it must be accepted by the Judge, and that only by a full payment of the bond. When he arose, this bond was returned to him, and cancelled. Our debt is paid, our bond is returned. Therefore his resurrection stands in opposition to all that could be laid to our charge, Rom. 8:34. Therefore this is one of the arguments that the Apostle uses to prove that Christ must be risen, "And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!" 1 Cor. 15:17.
4. It was to put Christ into a proper condition for the completing of the work remaining in the execution of his offices. We observed in a previous sermon that Christ executes his offices in both states of Humiliation and Exaltation. As our Priest he was to satisfy justice for us, and afterwards to intercede for us, Heb. 7:25. As our Prophet, here he taught with his mouth, but there he sent forth his Spirit, and therefore he had to go to the Father, John 16:17. As our King, here he commanded his disciples and gave them laws, but he must also govern them by his power and wield the sceptre over the world. This was accomplished by his resurrection, Psa. 2:6 and following, cf. Acts 13:33. Indeed, there was the glory of a mediator promised to him as a reward for his obedience, and it was necessary for him to rise in order to take possession of it, Luke 24:26, "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"
5. It was necessary for him to rise, so he would be the first fruits of our resurrection, both spiritually and bodily. See 1 Cor. 15:20-23. By first fruits we are not to understand first in order of time, but in order of causation. Those who rose at Christ's death, as described in the Gospel, Matt. 27:52,53, rose by the power and influence of his resurrection. Furthermore it is a sure pledge of the resurrection of his members. When the first fruits were offered to God under the Law, he accepted them and gave his people an assurance of the harvest. The Apostle makes the same point in 1 Cor. 15 using the order of the covenants. Just as Adam in the first covenant, standing for us, procured death for us, so Christ in the new covenant, being our Surety, has purchased a resurrection for us. His resurrection is the earnest of ours, 1 Cor. 15:20.
To summarise, Christ as God is the efficient cause: Christ as our substitute satisfying for our sins is the meritorious cause: Christ rising from the dead is the continuing cause of our resurrection. "A little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also," John 14:19.

APPLICATION 1. Learn from this, that it is the concern of all those who desire a joyful, triumphant resurrection at last, to get and secure a claim to Christ's resurrection. There will be a general rising again of all who die, both just and unjust, but no one will rise in glory except those who are under the saving power of the resurrection of Christ.
Others shall rise only to receive an everlasting second fall into the bottomless pit of never-ending miseries. As long as men are out of Christ, thoughts of the resurrection may well be full of dread, for it is that which truly makes death to be a reason for terror. If death were to put an end to the being of men, it would not have such fearfulness in it, as it does when one considers that after death comes a dreadful judgement and then a resurrection to condemnation. To think that I must be restored to an incorruptible state for the purpose of being prepared to suffer eternal torments, and lie in everlasting burning, is a most confounding thought. Is it enough to cause us to seriously enquire how may we escape this doom, and be happy at the last day? The solution is, let us get the power of Christ's resurrection applied to us, first to raise us up from sin, which is done in this life, and then to raise us up to glory, which will be at the last day. The second depends upon the first. Let us make sure, then, that he rose for our justification by being in him by faith, and so we shall be both justified and glorified by him at that day.

APPLICATION 2. Let us labour to get our faith strengthened and established by rightly meditating on the resurrection of Christ. Let this satisfy us, that Christ has made a complete redemption, as the Apostle argues, Heb. 7:25. Justice had him in its hands, it put him to death, but it has released him. A risen Surety must be a sufficient Saviour: there can no longer be any reason to question whether the justice of God is satisfied. Let this encourage us to go to Christ to finish all that is lacking in our being prepared for eternal life. Remember, he is exalted for this very purpose, to complete what he began in his earthly life and death.
APPLICATION 3. Let the consideration of our interest in his resurrection help us to triumph over death and the grave. Christ is risen and gone to heaven: he is our forerunner to take possession in our name and make ready our accommodations. Let us cheerfully follow him, rejoicing in the hope of a happy rising, and being with him forever.

[Preached June 8,1697]

William Gouge - Preaching God's Word

How Preaching May be Called "The Word of God"

The subject matter to be preached is here called "the word of God." Although that which is spoken by ministers is only the sound of a man's voice, yet that which true ministers of God preach in exercising their ministerial function is the word of God. Thus it is said of the apostles, "They spoke the word of God," Acts 4:31, and it is said of the people of Antioch, that "almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God," Acts 13:44.

That which ministers do or ought to preach is called the word of God in four respects.

1. In regard to the primary author of it, which is God. God did immediately inspire extraordinary ministers, and thereby informed them in his will. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," 2 Peter 1:21. Therefore they would commonly use these introductory phrases, "The word of the Lord," Hosea 1:1; "Thus says the Lord," Isa 7:7; and an apostle says, "I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you," 1 Cor. 11:23. As for ordinary ministers, they have God's word written and left upon record for their use, "For all Scripture is given by inspiration of God," 2 Tim. 3:16. They therefore that ground what they preach upon the Scripture, and deliver nothing but what is agreeable to it, preach the word of God.

2. In regard to the subject-matter which they preach, which is the will of God; as the apostle exhorts, to "understand what the will of the Lord is," Eph. 5:17, and to "prove what is that good, that acceptable, and perfect will of God," Rom. 12:2.

3. In regard to the purpose of preaching, which is the glory of God, and making known "the manifold wisdom of God," Eph. 3:10.

4. In regard to the mighty effect and power of it, for preaching God's word is "the power of God unto salvation, Rom. 1:16. Preaching the word of God is "mighty through God to bring every thought to the obedience of Christ," 2 Cor. 10:4,5. For "the word of God is quick and powerful," etc., Heb. 4:12.

So close ought ministers to hold to God's word in their preaching, that they should not dare to swerve away from it in anything. The apostle pronounces a curse against him, whosoever he is, that shall preach any other word, Gal. 1:8,9.

Therefore we have just cause to avoid such teachers as preach contrary to this doctrine, Rom. 16:17, 2 John 10. The whole body of Roman Catholicism is to be rejected for this reason. So are the manifold errors and heresies which have been broached in former ages, and in this our age. The feigning of new light and immediate inspiration in these days is a mere pretence.

The Right Hearing of Preaching

by this subject matter of preaching the word of God, we may receive a good direction to observe two caveats enjoined by Christ concerning hearing:

The first is concerning the matter which we hear, "Take heed what you hear," Mark 4:24. We must hear nothing with approval except what we know to be the word of God. We must, therefore, be well acquainted with the Scriptures ourselves, and by them test the things which we hear, whether they are the word of God or not, as the men of Berea did, Acts 17:11.

The second caveat is concerning the manner of hearing, "Take heed how you hear," Luke 18:18. That which we know to be grounded upon the Scriptures we must receive, "not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God," 1 Thess. 2:13. We must with reverence attend to it; we must in our hearts believe, and we must in our lives obey it.

Preach the Pure Word

It is God's word that does convert, quicken, comfort, and build up, or, on the other side, wound and beat down. What is the reason that there was so great an alteration made by the ministry of Christ and his disciples, by the apostles and others after them, indeed, by Luther, and other ministers of reformed churches? They did not preach traditions of elders like the scribes; nor men's inventions like the Roman Catholics do. They preached the pure word of God. The more purely God's word is preached, the more deeply it pierces and the more kindly it works.

Thomas Goodwin - The Riches of God's Love to His Elect - Part 2

And let me add this to it, which may illustrate it more, it is invincible love. You will say, this is the same thing with being unchangeable. I confess it, but only with this difference, that to shew his love is unchangeable, he would have a world of difficulties to ran through, which yet his love should overcome. Saith he in Cant. 8:6,7,—and he speaks of his love, having set us as a seal upon his arm, having this seal, 'The Lord knows who are his,'—'Love is as strong as death. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.' They are therefore called the sure mercies of David. And you know how David put them to the trial, and how he put God to it. What difficulties doth the love of God overcome? Do but consider. The purposes of his secret will toward us do overcome all the difficulties of his revealed will, and those were enough. He had given a law of his revealed will, and he had said that heaven and earth should pass away before one tittle of that should perish; and that the soul that sinned should die; and all had sinned and transgressed this law. But now though all were fast locked up under this, yet love breaks open all, for it is an invincible love. That secret purpose of his, I say, overcomes that revealed expression of his, which had so many bolts and bars to it,—all the threatenings and curses of the law,—and finds out a way to reconcile all.

And the way whereby he did it, it was an infinite difficulty. For God to overcome his own heart! Do you think it was nothing for him to put his Son to death? When Christ came to die, what a difficulty did he overcome! Do you think it was nothing for him to give up himself and his soul to the wrath of his Father? 'Father,' saith he, 'if it be possible, let this cup pass;' save them, if it be possible, some other way. Why, God's love overcame it, and Christ's love overcame it; his love would not permit him to think of any other course; it was an invincible love. When he comes to call us, hath he no difficulties which love overcometh? A man hath lived twenty, thirty, forty years in sin; love overcomes it. We were dead in sins and trespasses; yet for the great love wherewith he loved us, he quickened us. When we have been dead, and dead forty years in the grave, that 'lo, he stinketh,' then doth God come and conquer us; it is an invincible love. After our calling, how do we provoke God? What a world of difficulties do we run through! Such temptations that, if it were possible, the elect should be deceived! It is so with all Christians. No righteous man but he is 'scarcely saved;' and yet saved he is, because the love of God is invincible, it overcomes all difficulties. Still, as the Apostle saith, in Rom. 8:35, 37, 'Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall life or death?' &c. In all these, saith he, 'we are more than conquerors.' There is an invincibleness; but how? 'Through him that loveth us,' so it follows; and mark that particle, it is because his love is an invincible love that doth thus make us to be conquerors: because that love is as strong as death, therefore neither death nor life,—it is as strong as hell, therefore neither hell nor devil, shall be able to separate.

Nay, where there is but a mention made by way of supposition, or by way of query, whether God will part with or cast off any of his people or no; you shall find that he throws it away with the highest indignation, his love is so great. Paul doth but put the question because he knew men would put it, in Rom. 11:1, 'Hath God cast away his people?' How doth the Holy Ghost answer it? 'God forbid,' saith he. He speaks with the highest detestation that there should be any such thought in God. Even as in another place in the same epistle, chap. 6:1, 'Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?' Oh, God forbid! He throws it away with all the indignation that can be; and God may allow the one as soon as do the other. He throws it away, I say, with the highest indignation that ever such supposition could be made, that God should have such a thought. He is so possessed with love to his people that he will hear nothing to the contrary. 'Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?' saith the Apostle; 'it is God that justifieth,' and it is their being elect that carries it. Yea, his love is so strong that if there be any accusation,—the Apostle makes the supposition, 'Who shall lay anything to their charge?' Sin or devil?—that if at any time sin or devil come to accuse, it moves God to bless. His love is so violent, it is so set, that he takes occasion to bless so much the more. In Deut. 23:5, when Balaam would lay something to the charge. of the elect people of God there, and accuse them and curse them, what saith the text? 'Nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam,' he would not hear of it; and, not only so, 'but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee.' And why? 'Because the Lord thy God loved thee.' His love was so strong as it overruled all the accusations Balaam could make, and all his curses. Even as a king that loveth his favourite, if any one comes to accuse him, it provokes him—his love doth—so much the more not only to pardon him, but to shew his love to him. My brethren, if that God be angry with us for our sins, it is for our good; and in the end they do provoke him to bless us so much the more. This must needs be invincible love. 'Who shall separate us from the love of God? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? In all this we are more than conquerors.' And so much now for the second thing which is proper to this love in God, which the Apostle calls his love, and to no creatures else in the world as it is in God, namely, to love thus invincibly and unchangeably as he doth.

Thirdly, His love is the same love werewith he loveth his Son; Yea, wherewith he loveth himself.

It is the same love wherewith he loveth his Son. For that you have a known place in John 17:23, 26. At the 24th verse, saith Christ, Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world, and hast therefore given me a glory, and thou hast united me unto thyself. Thou art in me, and I in thee, so ver. 21; and thou hast united a company of thine—so he calls them, ver. 6—unto me, I in them, and thou in me, so saith the 23d verse; and then what follows? 'That the world may know that thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.' As he is united to God, and we to him, so God loveth us with the same love wherewith he loved him.

And then again you have the like expression, ver. 26, 'That the love where with thou lovest me may be in them,'—that is, towards them, set upon them, derived to them. It is a phrase of kin to that in the text; 'the love wherewith he loved us,' saith the Apostle; 'the love wherewith thou lovest me,' saith Christ, to note a special love: but that which I quote it for is this, 'that the love wherewith thou lovest me may be in them,' or 'on them,' also. God loved all his creatures. He loved Adam, but not with that kind of love wherewith he loved Christ; but he loveth his elect with the same kind of love wherewith he loved him, the same love is set and pitched on them. He loveth him as his Son, and them as daughters married to him: as a father loveth his son, and a daughter married unto him, with the same kind of love, and differing from his love to the servants, or to any else that are about him. And therefore you shall find that still this love comes in with a distinction: Rom. 8:39, 'Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.' Mark it, he distinguisheth; there is a love indeed which men have been and are separated from, even Adam in innocency; but, saith he, if it be a love in Christ Jesus, if God loveth us with that kind of love wherewith he loveth Christ, nothing shall separate from that. For as we are said to be chosen in Christ, so we are said to be loved in him; for election, or the act of choosing, is expressed to us still by an act of love,—it is all one, they are convertible. Now, he is said to choose in Christ, so to love in Christ; and saith the Apostle, nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ. He speaks it by way of distinction from other love which men may be separated from; but from this, saith he, there is no separation.

Yea, let me go higher. God loving us in Christ, his love is in a manner the same wherewith he loveth himself. There is a union betwixt Jesus Christ and us, and there is also a union between God and us: John 17:23, 'I in them, and thou in me.' As our Lord and Saviour Christ loved his people so as that if his people be hurt, he takes it as if it were done to himself,— 'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?'—so you shall find that God himself speaks as if his people and he were all one. It is not only, as in John, 'thine they were,' and, 'God knoweth them that are his,'—and these are great words, they are deep words, and deep expressions,—but you shall find that God in the Old Testament speaks in the person of his people, as well as Christ doth in the New. Ps. 81:6, 'This he ordained in Joseph, for a testimony,' speaking of God, 'when he went out of Egypt,' meaning his people. And therefore, in Exod. 11:8, saith he to Pharaoh about midnight 'I will go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the first-born shall die,' &c. 'And after that I will go out,'—that is, my people shall go out. So that now, as the union between Christ and his people is such, and his love such, as that what was done to them, he reckons clone to himself; so between God and us also. 'Thine they were,' saith Christ, 'and thou gavest them me.' They are more God's therefore than Christ's, or first God's, and then given unto Christ. Therefore, in Isa. 63:9, in all their affliction he is said to be afflicted. Yea, the salvation of his people God accounts his salvation, Isa. 49:6: 'Thou shalt be,' speaking of Christ, 'my salvation unto the end of the earth.'

And though God loveth himself with a natural love, yet this his love to us is now in a manner naturalised, because be is become a father to us. He was happy in himself, and might be so without us for ever; yet now he speaks as if that the want of us would make him imperfect: 'Who shall separate us from the love of God?' The word implies a separation, like the rending of the soul from the body; and as the soul would be imperfect without the body, so the love that God bears us would make him so too, if there could be a separation. Therefore in Zeph. 3:17, he is said to 'rest in his love;' if he enjoyed us not, he would never be at rest else. To these kind of expressions, my brethren, doth the Scripture rise.

And so much now for having opened this, 'this great love wherewith he loved us.' His love, a love that is proper unto God, which therefore must needs be thus great, as you have heard it opened to you. The greatness of this love, in respect of his giving Christ to be our head, and carrying us to, and giving of us heaven, and the like; that follows after, and I shall speak to them in their season and order. I have done, you see, with that which is the main foundation, viz., 'for the great love wherewith he loved us.' I should have first handled the first clause in the verse, viz., 'But God, who is rich in mercy;' but you may remember, I told you that love was in this to have the pre-eminence, because it was an act of love first taken up, and this great love is that which guides and stirs up, manageth, and spends, and draws out all the riches of mercy that are in God towards us, when we were 'dead in sins and trespasses.' Now then there must be something said to that, that he is rich in mercy.

But God, who is rich in mercy.—These words, for the opening of them, may be considered two ways:

1. In their relation or reference, in the Apostle's scope here.

2. Simply as they are in themselves.

1. In their relation or reference, they do, first, hold forth, that to save us all the riches of mercy that are in God were necessary. Had not God been thus rich in mercy, and borne so great a love to us, we had not been quickened, such was our misery, and such was our condition. They do imply, secondly, that all the riches of mercy that are in God, and all in God, did move him thus to be merciful and to be gracious to us. And then, thirdly, that where God doth love, there he will shew forth to the uttermost all those riches of mercy that are in him, he will spend them all to save us, he hath engaged them all. 'God,' saith he, 'who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins and trespasses, hath quickened us, and saved us.'

2. If you take the words simply in themselves, they import two things

(1.) That God is of a merciful nature and disposition.

That there are riches of mercy in that nature of his.

The words imply both.

First, I say, that he is merciful in his nature and disposition; which I argue from two things in the text and in the context.

First, if you observe it, when he speaks of his love, he speaks of it as an act taken up by God, though he is of a loving nature, which is the foundation of that act. 'The love wherewith he loved us,' saith he. But when he speaks of mercy, he speaks of it as of a disposition which love stirred up, which love expendeth and commandeth, guideth and directeth. God, saith he, being in himself rich in mercy, and in his own nature, and having pitched an act of love upon us, for that great love wherewith he loved us, setting aside that nature of mercy that is in him, hath saved us, and quickened us. Secondly, though I do not much urge the participle, wn, God being rich, which being in God is his essence; for though that word wn, is not always taken for participium essendi, yet notwithstanding, look upon the words just before, he speaks of what we were by nature: we were by nature, saith he, and by our natural disposition, children of wrath; and so on the contrary, speaking of God: God, saith he, plousioV wn, who is in his nature, in his disposition merciful and 'rich in mercy, even when we were dead,' &c.

So that, I say, the words simply considered in themselves import, first, that God is in his nature and disposition merciful, which is the foundation of our salvation. And then, that the mercy that is in him is a rich mercy; there are riches of mercy in him.

I shall speak a word or two to the first. It is his disposition thus to be merciful. You have an expression in 2 Cor. 1:3, where God is said to be the 'Father of mercies;' which imports that as he is the spring of all mercy, so it is natural to him, as it is to a father to beget children. He is not only said to be a father unto us, and like a father to be merciful to us; but he is said to be the Father of all the mercies which he doth bestow upon us, more the Father of mercies than Satan is said to be the father of sin; yet he is said to be the father of sin, and when he sinneth, he sinneth of his own, John 8:44. I say, it is his nature, it is his disposition. 'God,' saith he, 'who is rich in mercy;' it is his being. We are by nature children of wrath, he is by nature merciful.

Mercy is his delight, and therefore natural to him, as in all acts of nature you know there is a delight, Micah 7:18, 'He retaineth not his anger for ever, because,' saith he, 'he delighteth in mercy.'

The mercies of God are called in Scripture his bowels; now there is nothing so intimate or so natural to a man as his bowels are. And they are called his bowels because they are his inwards; and all that is within him, his whole being and nature inclines him to it. Luke 1:78 'Through the tender mercy of our God;' so we translate it, look in your margins, it is the bowels of God.' So in James 5:11, he is called polusplagcnoV, full of bowels. You know the bowels are the most inward and the most natural, more than outward members. A man may lose an outward member and be a man still; but he cannot lose his inwards, his bowels. They are said to be his bowels, because all the mercy he sheweth, he doth it from within. Hosea 2:19, 'I will betroth thee unto me in loving-kindness and in mercies;' in the original it is, 'I will betroth thee unto me in mercy and in bowels;' yea, in the womb of mercy, as the word signifies. Now, as Sanctius well observes, he doth not only make a covenant to be a husband to us and to betroth us to himself in mercy; but, saith he, thou shalt have my bowels, thou shalt have the womb itself that conceives them, thou shalt have the mother of mercies, as he himself is said to be the Father of mercies, because that mercy is his inwards, and he begets it, he conceives it; he is both the womb of mercies and the Father of mercies. All these expressions the Scripture hath, to shew how natural they are to him as himself. 'God, who is rich in mercy,' saith he.

And then again; it is his nature and disposition, because when he doth shew mercy, he doth it with his whole heart. 1 Chron. 17:19, 'According to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness,' saith David, when he speaks of God's shewing mercy; that is, thou hast shewn mercy like thyself, like the great God, 'according to thine own heart.'

My brethren, though God is just, yet his mercy may be in some respect to be more natural to him than all acts of justice itself that God doth shew, I mean vindicative justice; in them there is a satisfaction to an attribute, in that he meets and is even with sinners; yet notwithstanding there is a kind of violence done to himself in it, the Scripture so expresseth it; there is something in it that is contrary to him. And so many interpret that place, 'I will not the death of a sinner;' that is, I delight not simply in it, I will not do it animi causa, for pleasure's sake, because I delight in the thing (as those that are of the Remonstrants' opinion slander the other party, that they make God to delight in the death of a sinner). No; when he exerciseth acts of justice, it is for a higher end, it is not simply for the thing itself; there is always something in his heart against it. But when he comes to shew mercy, to manifest that it is his nature and disposition, it is said that he doth it with his whole heart; there is nothing at all in him that is against it, the act itself pleaseth him for itself, there is no reluctancy in him. Therefore, in Lam. 3:33, when he speaks of punishing, he saith, 'He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.' But when he comes to speak of shewing mercy, he saith he doth do it 'with his whole heart, and with his whole soul;' so the expression is, Jer. 32:41. And therefore acts of justice, you know, are called opus alienum, his 'strange work,' and his 'strange act,' in Isa. 28:21. But when he comes to shew mercy, he rejoices over them, to do them good, with his whole heart, and with his whole soul; as it is in that Jer. 32:41.

Thomas Goodwin - The Riches of God's Love to His Elect - Part 1

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.—Eph ii. 4-6.

The scope of the Apostle in these words, as I have told you, is to magnify these three attributes in God—his love, mercy, grace, towards us; and these as they are the causes of our salvation.

In opening of these words, I have,

1. Shewn you the difference between love and mercy.

2. Shewn you why that the Apostle, when he would speak of the causes of our salvation, contented not himself to have said that God is rich in mercy, but that he addeth 'for the great love wherewith he loved us.'

3. Shewn you likewise that a great love, and an act of love, or a purpose of love, taken up towards us, is the foundation of his shewing mercy to us; and that act of love is especially that taken up from everlasting, which he took up to us before we were, and therefore preceded the misery we were fallen into; for he had engaged himself to us by so great a love, which stirred up his mercy.

The next thing I came to was this, the greatness of this love. I did profess not to handle this argument in the vastness of it,—which by the grace of God might arise to a volume, if it should be so handled,—but so far forth as the text doth give foundation to anything about it, so far I professed to handle it, because I would explain the text.

First, therefore, we considered the subject of this love, who it is that loved us. It is God, whose love therefore is as great as himself; and if God will be in love, how deep, how great will that love be! What a love will they possess with whom God professeth himself to be in love! Love, it is of all attributes the most commanding; it commandeth all in a man, and it commandeth all in God.

Secondly, we considered that this God, though of a loving nature and disposition, yet he took up an act of love. 'He loved,' saith the text.

There are two sorts of acts of love which God hath put forth towards us:

1. That immanent act, as it is called; that is, which is in God himself only, abideth in himself, in his own heart, that first act from eternity, which is the foundation of all; and this the Apostle here mainly intended in this 4th verse. But,

2. There are transient acts of love, which are the fruits of that first, which in the text here, as afterwards I shall shew you, are mainly these three:

(1.) Giving Jesus Christ to be a head for us, and to die for us; that is couched in these words, 'He hath quickened us together with Christ, and raised us up together with him;' which importeth both him to be a head for us and him to have died for us, as a fruit of this love.

(2.) The act of calling us to himself, which is expressed in these words: 'Even when we were dead in sins hath he quickened us.'

(3.) The glorifying of us hereafter, we being already 'set in heavenly places in Christ,' as an engagement of all that glory we shall have hereafter.

These three transient acts I must handle in their order, as I open the fifth and sixth verses; therefore now, in this fourth verse, I shall only speak of that immanent act in God, 'the love wherewith he loved us.' And concerning that, two things,

1. The greatness of that love in itself. And,

2. In respect of the time when this love began; for he speaks in the time past, 'he loved us.'

First, For the greatness of this act of love taken up towards us. It is so great, as all the acts of love, all the manifestations of love, the transient acts of love, the fruits of love, that God shews and manifesteth to eternity, they are not all enough to express that love which he took up in the first act, when be began to love us, and all serve but to commend and manifest that love. And then,

Secondly, For the time. If you ask when he first began to love,—which also sets out the greatness of it,—it was from everlasting. This word in the text, 'hath loved us,' or, 'he loved us,' reacheth to eternity; so in Jer. 31:3.

And then for the continuance of it ever since; he hath continued it every moment. Though we were children of wrath, and dead in sins and trespasses, yet he all that while, since the first time he began to love us, hath continued to love us with the same love; he hath reiterated the same thoughts again and again. And for this great love, wherewith he loved us from everlasting, and wherewith he hath continued to love us ever since, from everlasting, as we may so speak; 'for this great love,' saith he, 'he hath quickened us.'

I also opened in the last discourse the greatness of this love from the persons, 'us.' Us, saith he, not others. We were children of wrath as well as others, but 'for the great love wherewith he loved us,' and not others, for he hath not quickened all, but he quickeneth all that he loveth,—he hath 'quickened us together with Christ.' He loved us, not ours, nor for anything in us. He loved us, not indefinitely,—that is, 'I will love some of mankind,'—but he hath loved us distinctly, fixing his attention upon those persons he fixed his love upon, and laying forth all the mercies and all the fruits of love upon them, eyeing their persons.

There was likewise, I told you, another thing which sets out the greatness of this love, and that is the condition of our persons, 'dead in sins and trespasses,' and that follows in the fifth verse. But as I said then, I going over these words in a way of exposition, and not handling them as a subject, will not insist on everything in that artificial method, as if I were to write a tract upon it.

There is but one thing more, and it is a great thing, and I confess I did not observe it a long while in the text, but still took the words to have run thus, 'for the great love wherewith he loved us;' but I find it is, 'for his great love wherewith he hath loved us.' There is a great emphasis in that word his. He saith not simply, as he might have done, because that God greatly loved us, or, because of a great love he bore us; but he doubles it, 'for the great love wherewith he loved us;' and not only so, but, 'for his great love wherewith he loved us.' My brethren, there is a love proper to God, which is a differing kind of love from that in all the creatures; his love, as the text hath it here. As his goodness is another kind of goodness than what is in the creatures, so is his love. There is none that hath tasted of this love of his but say that it is a differing love from the love of all the creatures; and the difference is found more by tasting and by feeling of it than it is by setting of it forth; as it is in wines, 'Thy love is better than wine, and thy loving-kindness is better than life:' both of which are better discerned by taste and feeling than set out by any expression. Indeed, God doth compare his love to what is in the creature, to set it out to us, because we apprehend it by such comparisons; as when he saith, 'Like as a father pitieth,' or loveth, 'his children, so the Lord loveth them that fear him.' And, 'If a mother forget her child,' &c. But yet, notwithstanding, 'the love wherewith he loved us' is of another kind from all these. In I John 3:1, 'Behold,' saith the Apostle, 'what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us!'—he speaks in respect of one fruit of it,—such a love, for the kind of it, as no man, no creature, could bestow upon us. In Hos. 11:9, where, giving the reason why that he loving his people they are not destroyed, he saith, 'I am God, and not man.' It is spoken in respect of his love clearly, for it comes in there upon a conflict with himself; when he had been provoked beyond the bounds and measure of pardon, yet when he comes to punish, he finds his love not to be as the love of a man. 'My heart is turned within me,' saith he, ver. 8, 'my repentings are rolled together: I will not return to destroy; for I am God, and not man.' My love is of another extent, of another kind, than the love of man. And so when he speaks of mercy, in Isa. 55:8, 9, 'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord: for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.' It is his love, so saith the text here.

Now to speak a little of this, for it lies in the way in the text,

First, His love; it is a love for nothing in us. The love that one creature bears to another is still for something in them; but the love of God, if it be his love, a love that is proper unto him, must needs be free: and that not only for this reason, which is usually given, and is a true one too, because that his love is from everlasting, and nothing in the creature in time can be the cause of what is in God from everlasting; but for this reason likewise, because that only God can be moved by what is in himself, he can love no otherwise but from himself. The creatures love because things are lovely, and there must be motives to draw out that love that is in them; but when God loves, he loves as from his own heart. There is nothing in us, no, not in Christ, that should move God to love us; though indeed to bestow those things that God bestows upon us, so Christ is the moving cause. 'Jacob have I loved,' saith he, and that before he had done any good or evil. So that, as no evil in him did put God off from loving him, so no good did move God to love him. In 2 Tim. 1:9, there is one little particle that I establish this upon, 'Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before the world began.' Mark: 'according to his own purpose,' which is the thing I fix your attention upon in that place; that is, as the Apostle explains it, Eph. 1:9, 'which he purposed in himself,' or 'from himself'—a purpose merely taken up in or from himself. And therefore you shall find the phrase in Scripture to run, that as he loves us out of his own purpose, so for his own sake. 'Not for your sakes do I this, but for my own name's sake.' My brethren, there was a love which God did bear to man in innocency, the terms of which were such as, in a way of justice between the Creator and the creature, it became God, if he made him holy as he did in innocency, to bestow upon him. But because that this was a love that seemed to have a kind of justice in it, and something in the creature which it was founded upon, therefore he destroys that condition, that he might make way to manifest the love that was according to his own purpose and grace, and merely from himself. And that now is his love; for if God do love like God, this is the love that is his, that is proper unto him. And saith he, 'not according to our works'—that is, it is founded upon nothing at all in the creature. For by 'works' there, he understands all habitual dispositions of goodness, of what kind soever, as the Scripture usually doth; as when it saith, 'he will judge every man according to his works,' it is not only meant of the outward acts, but of the inward frame of heart. He looks to nothing in the creature, but to his own purpose. It is his love, therefore it is free.—That is the first.

Secondly, His love; it is a love that is firm and absolute, unchangeable and invincible; and such a love it became God to bear us, if he would love us, for that properly is his love. 'Put not your trust in princes,' saith the Psalmist; they will all fail; the men perish, and their thoughts perish; yea, sometimes their thoughts and affections die to their greatest favourites, before they die themselves. But his love is firm and absolute, it is unchangeable and invincible, and this because it is his love. Mal. 3:6, 'I am the Lord, I change not;'—that is, If I be God, and whilst I am God, I will not cease to love you, I will not change —'therefore it is that ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.' His love is as immutable as his being. I will not be God, if I be not your God, and love you; he secures it with his Godhead. 'I am the Lord,' saith he, 'I change not; therefore ye are not consumed.' In Rom. 9:11, speaking of the election of Jacob, he saith, 'that the purpose of God according to election might stand:' it is a great word that; he fixed it upon such a basis as might stand for ever. It is a true thing that all God's counsels do stand fixed and firm; look how he purposeth them, be they of what kind soever. That Adam should be holy, that counsel did stand firm; but how it stood firm for so long as he purposed it, which was till such time as he fell; it was but for a moment in comparison. And so, that Saul should be king, he purposed it, and it stood firm so far; but he repented that he made Saul king. But when he cometh to speak of election, he speaks of that as of such a counsel that not only standeth as all other his counsels do, but as that which is perpetuated to eternity. His purpose to love Adam was a firm purpose, for so he did; but how? Whilst he was in that state of innocency, and had the image of God upon him. But his purpose according to election, as the distinction is there, that stands, and it stands for ever. Therefore it is not of works, but, as was said before, of his own purpose, that it might stand, that it might have a rock of eternity, for the basis of it to stand upon. It is therefore, as by way of distinction from all purposes else as it were, called the 'purpose according to election.' If you will have this further confirmed, take that place also, which loadeth it with more epithets for the firmness of it, in 2 Tim. 2:19, 'The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.' He speaks of God's purpose in election, and of the persons elected; for he saith it is that which hath this seal, 'The Lord knoweth them that are his.' You have here all sorts of words to make it firm.

1. It is called a foundation; 'The foundation of God,' saith he, 'standeth sure.' There are two great foundations, and of the two, if we may make comparisons, this is the greater. Jesus Christ is a foundation, but the eternal love of God, that is the first foundation; it was the womb of Christ himself: I Cor. 3:11, 'Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' There you see Christ is a foundation, but here is a higher foundation,—'The Lord knoweth them that are his,' loved them and chose them, and so he did Christ himself.

2. It is not only called a foundation, but a sure foundation.

3. It is called the foundation of God, it is founded in him, it is founded upon him, it is as firm as himself; as he is God, he will stand to it, and therefore it must needs stand.

4. It is a foundation that remaineth, it standeth, it is steady.

5. It is sealed: 'having this seal,' saith he; so that it is never to be broken and altered. If the decrees of the Medes and Persians, when they had set their seals to them, were such as were not to be altered; much more God's. His seal is in this respect more than his oath. 'Him hath the Father sealed,' saith he, speaking of Christ. Now you have both his oath and his seal to this; that is, to the invincibleness and unchangeableness of his love. You have his seal in this place, 'The Lord knoweth them that are his;' and his oath you have in Heb. 6:17. And what doth this oath serve for? To shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel; and the immutability of his counsel respecting persons, and not things only, for it is an oath that God made to Abraham, when he swore concerning Isaac. And therefore the text hath it in Timothy; it hath this seal, 'The Lord knoweth them that are his.' If you will know whence the words are taken, that I may open them a little, you must observe this, that the Apostle handleth the doctrine of election and reprobation in the New Testament out of the speeches and types of the Old: as, 'Esau have I hated, Jacob have I loved,' in Rom. 9. And so, 'I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful;' it was spoken of Moses, in Exod. 33:19. And so likewise those words in Timothy, 'The Lord knoweth them that are his,' are spoken of Aaron and Moses in Num. 16:3, when Korah and his company gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron, saying, 'You take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,' and they may be all priests. No, saith he; God hath chosen Aaron and Moses to go before his people, and to-morrow the Lord will shew who are his. So we translate it, and the Septuagint reads it, and it comes all to one; 'The Lord knoweth who are his.'

Now this that was said in this respect of Moses and Aaron in a typical way, and indeed in a decree of election too,—for that God singled out Moses and Aaron, it was his everlasting love,—I say, these very words doth the Apostle here apply, and pertinently too, to the same occasion; for, speaking of divers that seemed to be holy, and yet fell away, however, saith he, 'the foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth who are his.' And the word 'knoweth who are his,' it is, whom he hath pitched upon to love; it is a knowledge of approval. Exod. 33:12, 'Thee have I known by name,' saith God unto the same Moses, which is all one and to say, 'Thee have I chosen;' for, ver. 19, speaking of Moses also, be saith, 'I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy,' which the Apostle quoteth in Rom. 9 as spoken of election. Now in respect of his love that is thus firm, and firm in respect that it is his love who is God and not man, and therefore changeth not; it is therefore said of the elect that it is impossible that they should be deceived. As I told you there are two foundations, so there are two impossibles made in Scripture; I know there are more, as it is impossible that God should lie, &c., but I speak of impossibles that relate to God's decrees. The one is, Matt. 26:39, 'If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.' It was not possible. Why? Because God's eternal love to his saints had decreed it otherwise, and God stuck firm to it. The other impossible is in Matt. 24:24, 'Insomuch that, if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect;' that is impossible too. And the truth is, the reason of this firmness is because it is the love of God, and because it is so great a love; that is the foundation of it. And, my brethren, it is well that love made God's decrees for us; no attribute else would have fixed them so unalterably upon the same persons, in themselves so changeable. Would wisdom alone have gone and obliged God to so fickle a creature as we are? No. But love knew what it did, for it meant to manifest itself to the uttermost; therefore it pitched upon no conditions why God loved us; and if he requires conditions before he saveth us, love shall work those conditions in us. Therefore out of his infinite love and wisdom, he was able to make absolute promises to love, and to love firmly. It is love that commandeth all in God, and if love will do it, it shall be done; for if all that is in God can keep us and preserve us, and work in us what God requires to make him love us, and continue to love us, it shall be done. It is firm love.

John Calvin - Institutes of the Christian Religion - Book 1 - Chapter 6

Book 1, Chapter 6: The need of Scripture, as a guide and teacher, in coming to God as a Creator.

Section 1. God gives his elect a better help to the knowledge of himself, viz., the Holy Scriptures. This he did from the very first.

Therefore, though the effulgence which is presented to every eye, both in the heavens and on the earth, leaves the ingratitude of man without excuse, since God, in order to bring the whole human race under the same condemnation, holds forth to all, without exception, a mirror of his Deity in his works, another and better help must be given to guide us properly to God as a Creator. Not in vain, therefore, has he added the light of his Word in order that he might make himself known unto salvation, and bestowed the privilege on those whom he was pleased to bring into nearer and more familiar relation to himself. For, seeing how the minds of men were carried to and fro, and found no certain resting-place, he chose the Jews for a peculiar people, and then hedged them in that they might not, like others, go astray. And not in vain does he, by the same means, retain us in his knowledge, since but for this, even those who, in comparison of others, seem to stand strong, would quickly fall away. For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any books however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly. God therefore bestows a gift of singular value, when, for the instruction of the Church, he employs not dumb teachers merely, but opens his own sacred mouth; when he not only proclaims that some God must be worshipped, but at the same time declares that He is the God to whom worship is due; when he not only teaches his elect to have respect to God, but manifests himself as the God to whom this respect should be paid.

The course which God followed towards his Church from the very first, was to supplement these common proofs by the addition of his Word, as a surer and more direct means of discovering himself. And there can be no doubt that it was by this help, Adam, Noah, Abraham, and the other patriarchs, attained to that familiar knowledge which, in a manner, distinguished them from unbelievers. I am not now speaking of the peculiar doctrines of faith by which they were elevated to the hope of eternal blessedness. It was necessary, in passing from death unto life, that they should know God, not only as a Creator, but as a Redeemer also; and both kinds of knowledge they certainly did obtain from the Word. In point of order, however, the knowledge first given was that which made them acquainted with the God by whom the world was made and is governed. To this first knowledge was afterwards added the more intimate knowledge which alone quickens dead souls, and by which God is known not only as the Creator of the worlds and the sole author and disposer of all events, but also as a Redeemer, in the person of the Mediator. But as the fall and the corruption of nature have not yet been considered, I now postpone the consideration of the remedy, (for which, see 2.6-17.) Let the reader then remember, that I am not now treating of the covenant by which God adopted the children of Abraham, or of that branch of doctrine by which, as founded in Christ, believers have, properly speaking, been in all ages separated from the profane heathen. I am only showing that it is necessary to apply to Scripture, in order to learn the sure marks which distinguish God, as the Creator of the world, from the whole herd of fictitious gods. We shall afterward, in due course, consider the work of Redemption. In the meantime, though we shall adduce many passages from the New Testament, and some also from the Law and the Prophets, in which express mention is made of Christ, the only object will be to show that God, the Maker of the world, is manifested to us in Scripture, and his true character expounded, so as to save us from wandering up and down, as in a labyrinth, in search of some doubtful deity.

Section 2. First, By oracles and visions, and the ministry of the Patriarchs. Secondly, By the promulgation of the Law, and the preaching of the Prophets. Why the doctrines of religion are committed to writing.

Whether God revealed himself to the fathers by oracles and visions[1], or, by the instrumentality and ministry of men, suggested what they were to hand down to posterity, there cannot be a doubt that the certainty of what he taught them was firmly engraven on their hearts, so that they felt assured and knew that the things which they learnt came forth from God, who invariably accompanied his word with a sure testimony, infinitely superior to mere opinion. At length, in order that, while doctrine was continually enlarged, its truth might subsist in the world during all ages, it was his pleasure that the same oracles which he had deposited with the fathers should be consigned, as it were, to public records. With this view the law was promulgated, and prophets were afterwards added to be its interpreters. For though the uses of the law were manifold, (2.7 and 2.8) and the special office assigned to Moses and all the prophets was to teach the method of reconciliation between God and man, (whence Paul calls Christ "the end of the law," Rom. 10: 4) still I repeat that, in addition to the proper doctrine of faith and repentance in which Christ is set forth as a Mediator, the Scriptures employ certain marks and tokens to distinguish the only wise and true God, considered as the Creator and Governor of the world, and thereby guard against his being confounded with the herd of false deities. Therefore, while it becomes man seriously to employ his eyes in considering the works of God, since a place has been assigned him in this most glorious theatre that he may be a spectator of them, his special duty is to give ear to the Word, that he may the better profit[2]. Hence it is not strange that those who are born in darkness become more and more hardened in their stupidity; because the vast majority instead of confining themselves within due bounds by listening with docility to the Word, exult in their own vanity. If true religion is to beam upon us, our principle must be, that it is necessary to begin with heavenly teaching, and that it is impossible for any man to obtain even the minutest portion of right and sound doctrine without being a disciple of Scripture. Hence, the first step in true knowledge is taken, when we reverently embrace the testimony which God has been pleased therein to give of himself. For not only does faith, full and perfect faith, but all correct knowledge of God, originate in obedience. And surely in this respect God has with singular Providence provided for mankind in all ages.

Section 3. This view confirmed, I. By the depravity of our nature making it necessary in every one who would know God to have recourse to the word; II. From those passages of the Psalms in which God is introduced as reigning.

For if we reflect how prone the human mind is to lapse into forgetfulness of God, how readily inclined to every kind of error, how bent every now and then on devising new and fictitious religions, it will be easy to understand how necessary it was to make such a depository of doctrine as would secure it from either perishing by the neglect, vanishing away amid the errors, or being corrupted by the presumptuous audacity of men. It being thus manifest that God, foreseeing the inefficiency of his image imprinted on the fair form of the universe, has given the assistance of his Word to all whom he has ever been pleased to instruct effectually, we, too, must pursue this straight path, if we aspire in earnest to a genuine contemplation of God; - we must go, I say, to the Word, where the character of God, drawn from his works is described accurately and to the life; these works being estimated, not by our depraved judgement, but by the standard of eternal truth. If, as I lately said, we turn aside from it, how great soever the speed with which we move, we shall never reach the goal, because we are off the course. We should consider that the brightness of the Divine countenance, which even an apostle declares to be inaccessible, (1Ti 6: 16) is a kind of labyrinth, - a labyrinth to us inextricable, if the Word do not serve us as a thread to guide our path; and that it is better to limp in the way, than run with the greatest swiftness out of it. Hence the Psalmist, after repeatedly declaring (Psa 93, 96, 97, 99, &c.) that superstition should be banished from the world in order that pure religion may flourish, introduces God as reigning; meaning by the term, not the power which he possesses and which he exerts in the government of universal nature, but the doctrine by which he maintains his due supremacy: because error never can be eradicated from the heart of man until the true knowledge of God has been implanted in it.

Section 4. Another confirmation from certain direct statements in the Psalms. Lastly, From the words of our Saviour.

Accordingly, the same prophet, after mentioning that the heavens declare the glory of God, that the firmament sheweth forth the works of his hands, that the regular succession of day and night proclaim his Majesty, proceeds to make mention of the Word: - "The law of the Lord," says he, "is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes," (Psa 19: 1-9) For though the law has other uses besides, (as to which, see 2.7.6, 10, 12) the general meaning is, that it is the proper school for training the children of God; the invitation given to all nations, to behold him in the heavens and earth, proving of no avail. The same view is taken in the 29th Psalm, where the Psalmist, after discoursing on the dreadful voice of God, which, in thunder, wind, rain, whirlwind, and tempest, shakes the earth, makes the mountains tremble, and breaks the cedars, concludes by saying, "that in his temple does every one speak of his glory," unbelievers being deaf to all God's words when they echo in the air. In like manner another Psalm, after describing the raging billows of the sea, thus concludes, "Thy testimonies are very sure; holiness becometh thine house for ever," (Psa 93: 5) To the same effect are the words of our Saviour to the Samaritan woman, when he told her that her nation and all other nations worshipped they knew not what; and that the Jews alone gave worship to the true God, (John 4: 22) Since the human mind, through its weakness, was altogether unable to come to God if not aided and upheld by his sacred word, it necessarily followed that all mankind, the Jews excepted, inasmuch as they sought God without the Word, were labouring under vanity and error.

[1] The French adds, "C'est a dire, temoignages celestes", - that is to say, messages from heaven.

[2] Tertullian, Apologet. adv. Gentes: "Quae plenius et impressius tam ipsum quam dispositionesn ejus et voluntates adiremus, instrumentum adjecit literaturae.

Joseph Alleine - An Alarm to Unconverted Sinners - Chapter 1

Chapter I

SHEWING THE NEGATIVE, WHAT CONVERSION IS NOT, AND CORRECTING SOME MISTAKES ABOUT IT.

Let the blind Samaritans worship they know not what, John iv. 22, let the heathen Athenians superscribe their altar unto the unknown God, Acts xvii. 23, let the guileful Papists commend the mother of destruction, Hos. iv. 6, for the mother of devotion: they that know man's constitution, and the nature of the reasonable soul's operation, cannot but know that the understanding having the empire in the soul, he that will go rationally to work must labour to let in the light here. Ignorantis non est consensus. And therefore, that you may not mistake me, I shall shew you what! mean by the conversion I persuade you to endeavour after.

It is storied, that when Jupiter let down the golden chaplets from heaven, all of them but one were stolen; whereupon (lest they should lose a relic of so great esteem) they made five others so like it, that if any were so wickedly minded as to steal that also, they should not be able to discern which was it. And truly, my beloved, the devil hath made many counterfeits of this conversion, and cheats one with this, and another with that: and such a craft and artifice he hath in this mystery of deceits, that (if it were possible) he would deceive the very elect. Now, that I may cure the damnable mistakes of some, who think they are converted when they are not as well as remove the troubles and fears of others, that think they are not converted, when they are; I shall shew you the nature of conversion, both negatively, or what it is not; and positively, what it is.

We will begin with the negative.

1. It is not the taking on us the profession of Christianity. Doubtless Christianity is more than a name. If we will hear Paul, it lies not in word but in power, 1 Cor. iv. 20. If to cease to be Jews and Pagans, and “to put on the Christian profession, had been true conversion, (as this is all that some would have to be understood by it) who are better Christians then they of Sardis and Laodicea? These were all Christians by profession, and had a name to live, but because they had only a name, are condemned by Christ, and threatened to be spewed out, Rev. iii. 1, 16. Are there not many that name the name of the Lord Jesus, that yet depart not from iniquity? 2 Tim. ii. 19, and profess they know God but in works deny him? Tit. i. 16. And will God receive these for true converts, because turned to the Christian religion? What! converts from sin, when yet they do live in sin? 'Tis a visible contradiction. Surely if the lamp of profession would have served the turn, the foolish virgins had never been shut out, Matt. xxv. 3, 12. We find not only professors, but preachers of Christ and wonder workers, turned off, because evil workers. Matt. vii. 22, 23. 

2. It is not the being; washed in the laver of regeneration or putting on the badge of Christ in baptism. Many take the press-money, and wear the livery of Christ, that yet never stand to their colours, nor follow their leader. Ananias and Saphira and Magus were baptized, as well as the rest. How fondly do many mistake here, deceiving and being deceived! dreaming that effectual grace is necessarily tied to the external administration of baptism, (which, what is it, but to revive the Popish tenet, of the sacrament's working grace ex opere operato?) and so every infant shall be regenerated, not only sacramento tenus, sacramentally, but really and properly. Hence men do fancy, that being regenerated already, when baptized, they need no farther work.

But if this were so, then all that were baptized in their infancy must necessarily be saved; because the promise of pardon and salvation is made to conversion and regeneration.

Acts iii. 19. 1 Pet. iii. 4. Matt. xix. 28, our calling, sanctification (as to the beginnings of it) or conversion, (which are but the same things, under different conceptions and expressions) is but the middle link in the golden chain, fastened to election at the one end, and glorification at the other; Rom. viii. 30, 2 Thes. ii. 18, 1 Pet. i. 3. The silver cord may not be broken, nor the connection between sanctification and salvation, between grace and glory, impiously violated. Matt. v. 8. If we were indeed begotten again, it is to an inheritance incorruptible reserved in heaven for us, and the divine power is engaged to keep us for it, 1 Pet. i. 5, And if the very regenerate may perish at last in their sins, we will no more say, that he that is born of God his seed remaineth in him, and that he cannot sin, 1 John iii. 9, i. e. unto death, nor that it is impossible to deceive the very elect, Matt. xxiv. 34.

And indeed, were this true, then we need look no farther to see our names written in heaven, than only to search the register, and see whether we were baptized: then I would keep the certificate of my baptism, as my fairest evidence for heaven, and should come by assurance of my gracious state with a wet finger: then men should do well to carry but a certificate of their baptism, under the register's hand, when he died, (as the philosopher would be buried with the bishops bond in his hand, which he had given him, for receiving his alms in another world) and upon sight of this there were no doubt of their admission into heaven.

In short, if there be no more necessary to conversion or regeneration, than to be turned to the Christian religion, or to be baptized in infancy, this will fly directly in the face of that scripture. Matt. vii. 14, as well as multitudes of others. For, first we will then no more say, Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way; for if all that were baptized, and of true religion, are saved, the door is become heavenly wide; and we will henceforth say, Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth unto life; for if this be true, whole parishes, yea, whole; countries and whole kingdoms, may go in abreast; and we will no more teach that the righteous is scarcely saved, or that there is need of such a stir in taking the kingdom of heaven by violence, and striving to enter in. Surely if the way be so easy as many make it, that there is little more necessary than to be regenerated in our baptism, and cry God mercy, and be absolved by the minister at our end; 'Tis more ado than needs to put ourselves to such running, and seeking, and knocking, and fighting and wrestling, as the word requires as necessary to salvation. Secondly, if this be true, we will no more say, Few there be that find it; yea, we will rather say, Few there be that miss it: we will no more say, that of the many that are called but few are chosen, Matt. xxii. 14, and that even of the professing Israel but a remnant shall be saved, Rom. xi. 5. If this doctrine be true, we will not say any more with the disciples, Who then shall be saved? but rather, Who then shall not be saved? Then, if a man be called a brother, (that is, a Christian) and be baptized, though he be a fornicator or a railer, or covetous, or a drunkard, yet he shall inherit the kingdom of God, 1 Cor. v. 11, vi. 9, 10.

But the Arminian will reply. Such as these, though they did receive regenerating grace in baptism, are since fallen away, and must he renewed again, or else they cannot be saved.

I answer, 1, That there is an infallible connection between regeneration and salvation, as we have already shewn, and I itch to be farther evidencing, but that 'tis against designed brevity. 2. Then men must be born again, which carries a great deal of absurdity in its very face. And why may not men be twice born in nature as well as in grace? why not as great an absurdity to be twice regenerated as to be twice generated? But 3. and above all, this grants, however, the thing I contend for, that whatever men do, or pretend to receive in baptism, if they be found afterwards to be grossly ignorant, or profane, or formal, without the power of godliness, they must be born again, or else be shut out of the kingdom of God. So then they must have more to plead for themselves than their baptismal regeneration.

Well, in this you see all are agreed, that be it more or less that is received in baptism, if (when men come to years) they are evidently unsanctified, they must be renewed again by a thorough and powerful change, or else they cannot escape the damnation of hell.— Friends and brethren, be not deceived; God is not mocked, Gal. vi. 7. Whether it be your baptism, or whatever else that you pretend, I tell you from the living God, that if any of you be prayerless persons, John xv. 14, or unclean, or malicious, or covetous, or riotous, or a scoffer, or a lover of evil company, Prov. xiii. 20, in a word, if you are not holy, strict, and self-denying Christians, Heb. xii. 14, Matt, xvi. 24; you cannot be saved except you be transformed by a farther work upon you, and renewed again by repentance.

Thus I have shewed, that it is not enough to evidence a man to be regenerate, that he hath been baptized, effectual grace not necessarily accompanying baptism, as some have vainly asserted. But I must answer one objection before I pass.,

Obj. The sacraments do certainly attain their ends, when men do not ponere obicem, or lay some obstructions, which infants do not.

Sol. I answer, It is not the end of baptism to regenerate. 1. Because then there would be no reason why it should be confined only to the seed of believers; for both the law of God, and the nature of charity, requires us to use the means of conversion for all, as far as we can have opportunity. Were this true, no such charity as to catch the children of Turks and Heathens, and baptize them, and dispatch them to heaven out of hand; like the bloody wretches that made the poor Protestants (to save their lives) to swear they would come to mass, and that they would never depart from it, and then put them forthwith to death, saying, They would hang them while in a good mind. 2. Because it presupposeth regeneration, and therefore cannot be intended to confer it. In all the express instances in scripture, we find that baptism doth suppose their repenting, believing, receiving the Holy Ghost, Acts viii. 37, Acts ii. 38, and x. 47, Mark xvi. 16. And to imagine that baptism was instituted for an end of which not one of the first subjects was capable, (for they were all adult persons, and supposed to have faith and repentance according as they professed, and their children were not baptized till after them, in their right) were no little absurdity. Were this doctrine true, baptism would make disciples: but we find it doth bespeak them such before hand. Matt, xxviii. 19. 3. Because baptism being but a seal of the covenant, cannot convey the benefits, but according to the tenor of the covenant, to which it is set.

Now the covenant is conditional, therefore the seal conveys conditionally. The covenant requires faith and repentance, as the condition of the grand benefits, pardon and life, Acts xvi. 31, and iii. 19, And what the covenant doth not convey, but upon these conditions, the seal cannot. So that baptism doth presuppose faith and repentance in the subject, without which it neither doth nor can convey the saving benefits; otherwise the seal should convey contrary to the tenor of the covenant to which it is affixed.

3. It lies not in a moral righteousness.–– This exceeds not the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, and therefore cannot bring us to the kingdom of God, Matt. v. 20, Paul, while unconverted, touching the righteousness which is in the law, was blameless, Phil. iii. 6. None could say. Black is thine eye. The self justiciary could say, I am no extortioner, adulterer, unjust &c. Luke xviii. 11. Thou must have something more than all this to shew, or else (however thou mayest justify thyself) God will condemn thee. I condemn not morality, but warn you not to rest here. Piety includes morality, as Christianity doth humanity, and grace reason; but we must not divide the tables. 

4. It consists not in external conformity to the rules of piety. 'Tis too manifest, men may have a form of godliness without the power, 2 Tim. iii. 5. Men may pray long, Matt, xxiii. 14, and fast often, Luke xviii. 12, and hear gladly, Mark vi. 20, and be very forward in the service of God, though costly and expensive, Isa. i. 11, and yet be strangers to conversion. They must have more to plead for themselves, than that they keep their church, and give alms, and make use of prayer, to prove themselves sound converts. No outward service but an hypocrite may do it; even to the giving all his goods to the poor, and his members to the fire, 1 Cor. xiii. 3. 

5. It lies not in the chaining up of corruption, by education, human laws, or the force of incumbent affliction. 'Tis too common and easy, to mistake education for grace; but if this were enough, who a better man than Joash? While Jehoiada his uncle lived, he was very forward in God's service, and calls upon him to repair the house of the Lord, 3 Kings xi. 2, 7. But here was nothing more than good education all this while; for when his good tutor was taken out of the way, he appears to have been but a wolf chained up, and falls on to idolatry. 

6. In short, it consists not in illumination, or conviction: in a superficial change, or partial reformation. An apostate may be a man enlightened, Heb. vi. 4, and a Felix tremble under convictions, Acts xxiv. 25, and a Herod amend many things, Mark vi. 20. 'Tis one thing to have sin alarmed only by convictions, and another to have it captivated and crucified by converting grace. Many, because they have been troubled in conscience for their sins, think well of their case; miserably mistaking conviction for conversion.— With these Cain might have passed for a convert, who ran up and down the world like a man distracted, under the rage of a guilty conscience, till with building and business he had wore it away, Gen. iv. 13, 14. Others think, that because they have given oft' their riotous courses, and are broken oft' from evil company, or some particular lust, and reduced to sobriety and civility, they are now no other than real converts; forgetting that there is a vast difference between being sanctified and civilized; and that many seek to enter into the kingdom of heaven, Luke xiii. 24, and are not far from it, Mark xii. 34, and arrive to the almost of Christianity, Acts xxvi. 28, and yet fall short at last. While conscience holds the whip over them, many will pray, hear, read, and forbear their delightful sins; but no sooner is this lion asleep, but they are at their vomit again. Who more religious than the Jews, when God's hand was upon them? Psal. Ixxviii. 34, 35, but no sooner was the affliction over, but they forgot God, and shewed their religion to be a fit, ver. 36, 37. Thou mayest have disgorged a trouble some sin, that will not sit in thy stomach, and have escaped those gross pollutions of the worlds and yet not have changed thy swinish nature all the while, 2 Pet. ii. 20, 32,

You may cast the lead out of the rude mass into the more comely proportion of a plant, and then into the shape of a beast, and thence into the form and features of a man; but all the while it is but lead still. So a man may pass through divers transmutations, from ignorance to knowledge, from profaneness to civility, thence to a form of religion; and all this while he,is but carnal and unregenerate, while his nature remains unchanged.

Application. Hear then, O sinners, hear as you would live, so come and hear, Isa. Iv. 3. Why would you so wilfully deceive yourselves, or build your hopes upon the sand? I know he shall find hard work of it, that goes to pluck away your hopes. It cannot but be ungrateful to you, and truly it is not pleasing to me. I set about it as a surgeon, when to cut off a putrified member from his well-beloved friend; which of force he must do, but with an aching heart, a pitiful eye, a trembling hand. But understand me, brethren, I am only taking down the ruinous house, (which will otherwise speedily fall of itself, and bury; you in the rubbish) that I may build fair, and strong, and firm for ever. The hope of the wicked shall perish, if God be true of his word, Prov. xi, 7. And wert not thou better, O sinner, to let the word convince thee now in time, and let go thy self-deluding hopes, than to have death too late to open thine eyes, and find thyself in hell before thou art aware? I should be a false and faithless shepherd, if I should not tell you, that you who have built your hopes upon no better grounds than these forementioned, are yet in your sins. Let your consciences speak: what is it that you have to plead for yourselves? Is it that you wear Christ's livery? that you bear his name? that you are of the visible church? that you have knowledge in the points of religion? are civilized, perform religious duties, are just in your dealings, have been troubled in conscience for your sins? I tell you from the Lord, these pleas will never be accepted at God's bar. All this, though good in itself, will not prove you converted, and so will not suffice to your salvation. Oh look about you, and bethink yourselves of “turning speedily nnd soundly. Set to praying, and to read-^ng, and studying your own hearts ; rest not, ill God hath made thorough work with you ; for you must be other men, or else you are lost men.

But if these be short of conversion, what shall I say of the profane sinner? It may be lie will scarce cast his eyes, or lend his ears to this discourse. But if there be any such reading, or within hearing, he must know from the Lord that made him, that he is far from the kingdom of God. May a man be civilized, and not converted? Where then shall the drunkard, and glutton appear? May a man keep company with the wise virgins, and yet be shut out? shall not a companion of fools much more be destroyed? Prov. xiii. 20. May a man be true and just in his dealing, and yet not be justified of God? what then will become of thee, O wretched man, whose conscience tells thee thou art false in thy trade, and false to thy word, and makest thy advantage by a lying tongue? If men may be enlightened, and brought to the performance of holy duty, and yet go down to perdition for nesting in them, and sitting down on this side of conversion; what will become of you, O miserable families, that live as without God in the world? and of you, O wretched sinneirs, with whom God is scarce in all your thoughts; that are so ignorant, that you cannot, or so careless, that you will not pray? O repent, and be converted!— break off your sins by righteousness; away to Christ for pardoning and renewing grace; give up yourselves to him, to walk with him in holiness, or else you shall never see God. Oh that you would take the warnings of God! In his name I once more admonish you. Turn you at my reproof, Prov. i. 23, forsake the foolish and live, Prov, ix, 6, Be sober, righteous, godly, Tit. ii. 12, Wash your hands, ye sinners; purify your hearts, ye double-minded, James iv. 8. Cease to do evil, learn to do well, Isa. i. 16, I7. But if you will on, you must die, Ezek. xxxiii. 11.