part of that wonderful prudence, whereby Christ makes all these that are outwardly called to be without excufe, and at the same time, fishes out the elect from the sea of fin and mifery, when the reft perifh: of which prudence fpeaks God by the prophet, Ifa. lii. 13. "Behold my Servant fhall deal prudently, and profper, and be extolled." O but this wisdom of God, then, in converting the elect, for whom the promife is especially defigned, without giving caufe of ftumbling to the relt, is rather to be admired and praised, than difputed against ! Rom. xi. 33. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfearchable are his judgments, and his ways paft finding out! God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. Say not you, why does he yet find fault? for, who hath refifted his will? nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" Rom. ix. 18, 19, 20. If you be difputing for the devil and the reprobate against God's righteous decree, you must be left with all fuch proud and prefumptuous unbelieving despisers of plain doctrine, to reckon with your Judge, who can well anfwer for all his decrees and defigns; mean time you cannot answer for your prefumption. Withal, know, that God hath discharged all men to meddle with his fecret counfel; "Secret things belong to the Lord our God, but to us the things that are revealed," Deut. xxix. 29. Our great inquiry, therefore, fhould be, not what is God's fecret will and promise, but rather who poffeffes it, and how we may be poffeft of it. Therefore, 2. Who are the objects of the promise, by whom it is poffeft? Why, even all believers; for, He that believeth, bath everlafting life, fays Chrift, John vi. 47. Believers are in covenant actually, and the promife of the covenant is in their poffeffion, the begun poffeffion of eternal life is commenced with refpect to them, and the charter of the promife is delivered to them, and established in their perfon, they being actually members of the myftical body of Chrift; They, as Ifaac was, are children of the promife.-Of which more afterwards. 3. Who are the objects of the promife, to whom it is prefented, that they may take poffeffion, and build 0 4 . their their faith and hope thereupon? And here, as the firft queftion related to the object of the promife, with refpect to God's eternal deftination; and the fecond, to the object of it with refpect to the Spirit's internal faving operation; fo this third concerns the object thereof with refpect to the gofpel external difpenfation: the firft fhews us by whom the promise fhall be poffeft; the fecond, by whom it is poffeft; and the third, by whom it may be poffeft. Here, I fay, the promise is prefented and given in the external gofpel difpenfation unto finners; particularly, (1.) To finners of mankind: not to fallen angels, but to fallen men: thefe are the only kind of finners that God defigned to fave, and for whofe behoof, Chrift, the promifed feed, was fent, came, died, and fuffered; 1 Tim. i. 15. "This is a faithful faying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jefus Chrift came to fave finners:" and fo the promife is made, and the call to believe the fame is given to them; "To you, O men, do I call, and my voice is to the fons of men ;" and the minifter's commission is, "Go preach the gofpel to every creature." (2.) To finners in Zion, or the visible church. As the promife of Canaan was made to the whole people of Ifracl; fo the promife of Chrift, and all bleffings in him, even the everlasting reft above, of which Ganaan was a type; that fuch a promife is given forth to the visible church, fee Heb. iv. 1, 2, 3. And hence, whereas these that are without the church are faid to be aliens to the commonwealth of Ifrael, and strangers to the covenant of promife, Eph. ii. 12. fo the members of the visible church are thefe to whom the protifes are faid to belong, as it was with the Jewish church, and much more with the Chriftian New-Teftament church, where the privileges are not leffened but enlarged, fee Acts ii. 39. "For the promife is to you and to your children; yea, even all that are afar off, even to as many as the Lord our God fhall call," namely, external call; for the apoftle is there ufing this as a motive to their faith, who were yet only pricked in their hearts, and not believers with the heart. Compare ver. 37, 38. 41. This was the common privilege of the Jews; "To them belonged the promise," Rom. Rom. ix. 4. ; and fo do they belong to us. Here is a foundation of faith laid in Zion, Ifa. xxviii. 16. you have all a right of accefs, and warrant to come and take poffeffion. Yea, I will certify you, in refpect of the external gofpel-difpenfation, there is not a foul here but hath as good a right to the promife, as ever any believer had the moment before he believed. Yea, (3.) It is to great finners that the promife is presented and given forth; "The promife is to you," Acts ii. 39. To whom was the apoftle speaking? Even to the crucifiers of Chrift; to the murderers of the Lord of glory; and to whom he had faid immediately before, Him you have taken, and by wicked hands crucified and flain," ver. 23. It is prefented as a ground of faith to enemies, rebels, fools, mockers, and fcorners: Prov. i. 22, 23. "The fcorners that delight in fcorning, fools that hate knowledge, turn ye at my reproof." And what is the motive? Juft a promife, a glorious promife prefented to them; "Behold, I will pour out my Spirit upon you; and will make known my words unto you.' (4.) It is given not only to humbled and penitent finners, that fee their need, and are convinced of their fin and mifery, but even to the unhumbled and impenitent though none indeed will flee to the promise, or to Chrift therein, except they be convinced of their need. And though the promise is given forth to fuch, preaching good-tidings to the meek, for binding up the broken-hearted, Ifa. Ixi. 1.; yet, because these that are humbled are ordinarily the perfons that complain, faying, Alas! I am neither humbled nor convinced; therefore I must tell you, that the promise is prefented, and given out, not only to the humbled and legally penitent, but to the most unhumbled, impenitent, unconvinced, and hardened finner that hears this gofpel; even fuch as fee nothing of their need, but think they are well enough without Christ. See Rev. iii. 17, 18. "Because thou fayeft, I am rich, and increafed with goods, and have need of nothing; and knoweft not that thou art wretched;" where their very want of conviction and knowledge of their own fad ftate, is made the reafon of the gospel-offer by Chrift; "I counfel thee to buy of me gold tried in the the fire that thou mayeft be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed; and that the fhame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyefalve, that thou mayeft fee." See also, Ifaiah lv. 1, 2. where these that are thirsting after vanity, are called to look to the free promife of life in Chrift; "Ho, every one that thirfteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye; buy and eat; yea, come; buy wine and milk, without money, and without price." What fort of thirfters they were, the challenge in the fecond verfe fheweth; "Wherefore do ye fpend your money for that which is not bread; and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your foul delight itfelf in fatuefs." Hence the gofpel-promife is given out to thefe, whofe hearts are hardened against God, and all that is good; "Hearken unto me, ye ftouthearted, and far from righteoufnefs; I bring near my righteousness, it fhall not be far off, and my falvation fhall not tarry: I will place falvation in Zion for Ifrael my glory," Ifa. xlvi. 12, 13. Thus you fee the promife is given forth to all finners in the vifible church, in a general indefinite way and manner, in the external difpenfation of the word, which names no particular perfon of any finner, but speaks to all, without diftinction of nation, ftate, or condition, and under fuch names and characters as are applicable to all alike, in their natural, loft, dead, and undone circumftances. Thus run all the promifes of the new covenant, both in the Old and New Teftament, Gen. iii. 15. and xxii. 18. Gal. iii. 8. Jer. xxxvi. 25, 26. and xxxi. 31. 33, 34. compared with Heb. viii. 9, 10, 11, 12. where you fee the promises come directed to all nations. that shall hear of them, and to all perfons indefinitely, and fuppofes them to be in a curfed, condemned, dead, and wretched ftate, to whom they are thus directed, prefented and offered; and this makes it indeed to be the joyful found of glad news to all people, Luke ii. 10.But here feveral queftions may be propounded, and a folution of them attempted. QUEST. QUEST. 1. You will perhaps fay, If the free and abfolute promise be thus given forth to all in a gofpel-difpenfation, then, what need of the use of means? I anfwer, I. In favour of the fovereign grace of God, which is a thing, that is neither furthered by our good, nor hindered by our evil, that God will have his elect faved and brought within the covenant, though they were even living in the contempt and neglect of good means and therefore, I afk, What was Manaffes deing, when God apprehended him in the briars and thorns of Babylon? And what was Paul doing, when God first took hold of him by his converting grace; I fuppofe he was furioufly perfecuting all that were ufing any good means; yea, breathing out threatenings and flaughter against the church of God, and perfecuting the Son of Ged: yea, no mean will be used rightly by any, till God begin the work, and pour fome grace out of the abfolute promife, which is indefinitely difpenfed; and therefore, not knowing but this fame fovereign grace may take hold of fome gofpeldefpifers, who are yet flighting all the means of grace, this doctrine of grace, abfolutely free grace, must be preached, though reprobates fhould break their neck upon it. Yet, 2. In favour of the holiness of God, who hath appointed the use of means as the ordinary channel wherein his grace runs. I must tell you, that this doctrine carries no prejudice against the ufe of means, but rather fortifies the fame; for the promises are abfolute, in oppofition to all conditionality on our part, but not in oppofition to the diligent use of means: even as the decree of God in election is free and abfolute, and yet does not exclude, but include God's executing and accomplishing his decree by fuch and fuch means, and ordering our use of them; even fo the promife of God is abfolute, yet it does not exclude the ufe of means, no more than the abfolute promise that Paul got, that none in the fhip fhould die, did exclude the mean, which was their abiding in the fhip, Acts xxvii. 24. 31. And therefore, tho' the natural use of means, which is all the ufe that can be made of them by natural men, is not con |