infidelity and doubting and have so much Belief of the truth of Scripture as prevaileth with them to resolve to trust their everlasting happiness only on that bottom though with the forsaking of all earthly things yet are they far short of a full assurance or certainty of the truth of the Gospel and are principally in doubt of the sincerity of this act of their faith Now I would know what Mr. Blake would have these Godly persons do that are not assured of their Dogmatical faith but are oft ready to say I shall one day perish by this Unbelief If he would have them receive the Sacraments without assurance of a Dogmatical faith we have reason to think that they may receive them without assurance of a justifying faith though we make this the condition of their Title as they do the other 3. It is a great controversie among the Reformed Divines whether an unconverted man can have that faith which we call Dogmatical I know but two or three Divines to be of Mr. Blake's opinion though its like enough there may be more And one of them thinks that the nature of justifying faith lieth only in Assent another I have heard in conference maintain that wicked men or the unconverted do not indeed Believe God nor that the word of God is true And if this be so then sure a Dogmatical faith is a justifying faith and he that must be sure of the one must be sure of the other when it is not really another but the same or an essential part of the same This also is the judgement of many Protestant Divines as Bishop Downam Camero and his followers and many more viz. that faith lieth in Assent or a perswasion of the truth of the word and the common opinion of Protestants is that this Assent is one essential part of justifying faith and that it is in the understanding as well as the will I remember scarce any of note besides Amesius that placeth it in the will only and make the act of the Intellect to be but Integral or preparatory And if there be any such thing as Grace or Holiness and Rectitude in the Intellect I do not yet conceive wherein it can consist if not in Light procuring knowledge of and Assent to the truth And how much of this jure vel injuria Mr. Blake yields to the unregenerate see him on sacr pag. 179. As in these words And therefore though the wicked match the Regenerate in assent in their understandings it will not follow that their understandings therefore are truly sanctified I am far from believing that the wicked do match the Regenerate in assent in their understandings But if he can prove this I would fain know what the Rectitude or Sanctity of the understanding is seeing he supposeth that this is not it He that with a deep habitual assent doth Believe that God is the chief good and that for him and that Heaven is more desirable than earth and that there is no salvation but by Christ received as our Priest Prophet and King c. I think he hath a sanctified understanding or else I know not who hath nor what it is But in such great points as this if Mr. Blake have made any new discovery of the nature of sanctity or rectitude in the intellect as a thing differing from assent he might have dealt charitably to have told us what it is and not to have left the world at a loss 4. And I still think that at best if the wicked have a true Dogmatical Belief of the essentials of Religion it is as hard or harder for them to attain assurance of the truth of that Dogmatical Belief in its kinde as it is for the Regenerate to attain assurance of the truth of saving faith in its kind Therefore if the wicked may lawfully claim a Right in both Sacraments without assurance that they are sincere in their kind of faith why may not the Godly claim a Right without assurance of sincerity in their kind of faith And if Mr. Blake will say that neither assurance nor perswasion that we have either the one or the other is necessary to a claim or Right but only a promise of them for the future then Heathens and Infidels have right and may lay a claim For they can promise to be Christians and yet remain Heathens Obj. 3. If you take none to have such a right as may warrant their claim and receiving but only sound Believers then you make election and the covenant and seals to by commensurate which is not to be done Answ. The terms are ambiguous Supposing that we understand each other as to the sence of the word Election I say of the word Covenant that it may mean three differing things 1. If you mean the conditional promise of Christ and life to all that will Believe I say that this is not commensurate with Election For as to the tenor it belongs to all the world and as to the promulgation to all that hear it This is sometime called a covenant in the sense as all Divine constitutions be about our life and sometime as it is the offer of a mutual covenant and sometime as it is seemingly accepted But still God is but conditionally obliged And this is no sufficient Title to the seal For then it were due to open Infidels if not to all 2. If by the word Covenant you mean mans own promise to God or consent to his offer so I say it is either sincere or not sincere Sincere consent to Gods offer is commensurate with election unless you can prove that such fall away totally and finally But unsincere consent as when it only to half the offer or unsincere promising with the tongue without the sincere consent of the heart is not commensurate with election nor doth it warrant the Hypocrite to claim the Sacraments though it may warrant me to give them if he claim them 3. If by the Covenant you mean Gods actual obligation which followeth mans acceptance which is the performance of the condition of Gods promise then I say it is commensurate with election unless you could prove the foresaid doctrine of Apostacy For when God hath promised us Christ and life on condition of our acceptance or consent and we hereupon do sincerely consent then Gods promise doth induce on him as we may speak after our manner an actual obligation and give us an actual Right to the benefits and is equivalent as to that present benefit to an absolute promise And it is only this that will warrant our claim to any of the benefits Obj. 4. Saith Mr. Blake pag. 121. And whereas he so peremptorily determines that though wicked men oblige themselves yet God still remaineth disobliged let him consider whether God be not some way obliged to all that he voucheth to be his people If this be denyed there will be found no great happiness to a people to have the Lord for their God But God avoucheth
not that he hath forgotten that he promised or engaged to be purged from his old sins but that he was purged from them Pareus in loc saith A veteribus peccatis purgatum h. e. se esse baptizatum seu se accepisse in Baptismo purgationis signaculum Omnes enim baptizati debent purgari à peccatis sicut dicuntur induere Christum Gal. 3. mori cum Christo Rom. 6. sensus est Qui se volutant in sceleribus non recordantur se baptizatos esse Abnegant ergo Baptismum suum 1 Cor. 6 11. The Apostle saith of the visible Church of Corinth such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified c. where it is evident that all the visible members of the Church are visibly washed sanctified justified of which Text I shall speak more anon And I thik it is clear that by Washing here he hath some respect to their Baptism I shall not stand now to add any more texts because we shall have occasion anon to do it but may hence conclude that till one text of Scripture be produced from whence it may be proved that Christ did institute such a thing as Baptism which was not for the present signal Remission of sin we must take the contrary for granted because we have so many texts that tell us that his Baptism was for Remission of sin I shall only here add that the very sign it self which is the washing of the body by water doth plainly shew that the washing of the soul by the blood of Christ is the thing signified and the present actual use of the sign is to signifie the presence and actuality of the thing signified So that I conclude that there is no Baptism to be administred without a Profession of saving faith and Repentance fore-going because there is no Baptism that ever Christ appointed but what is for the obsignation of Remission of sin which is the consequent Mr. Blake page 171. reciteth some words of mine containing this Argument thus that faith to which the promise of Remission and justification is made must also be sealed to Or that faith which is the condition of the promise is the condition in foro Dei of the Title to the seal But it is only solid true faith that is the condition of the promise of Remission therefore it is that which gives Right in foro Dei to the seal Who would think now but Mr. Blake had given some substantial answer to this and other Arguments when himself and some others are so confident of the sufficiency of them His answer is this To this I have answered faith is not sealed to but Remisâ—ion of sins or salvation upon condition of faith and when I come to speake of the sealing of Sacraments I shall God willing make this more evident that the sacrament quâ seal immediately respects our priviledges not duties Reply 1. Is here one word of answer to any real part of the Argument Is not this answer as little to the matter as if he had talk't of another subject I think it my Duty to say that Ministers of the Gospel do but proclaim to the Church the matter of our common lamentation and the enemies joy when some confidently publish such kind of Disputations and others are satisfied with them And I must say if all were such they should never more be angred with one word of mine in opposition to their assertions though they would maintain that the Crow is white 2. To that useless touch that he hath on a word whose following explication might have spared him his labour I may say that our Divines have ordinarily maintained hitherto that there is a mutual covenanting between God and us and no man more then Mr. Blake and that in the Sacrament there is a mutual sealing the receiving being our seal as the Act is Gods Arg 6. If Baptism be instituted to be a seal of the Righteousness of that faith which we have being yet unbaptized then must we Baptize none that profess not a justifying faith and their seed But the Antecedent is true therefore so is the consequent The reason of the consequence is evident in that we must use Baptism only according to its nature and to it s instituted ends The Antecedent is proved thus Circumcision was instituted to be a seal of the righteousness of that faith which they had being yet uncircumcised therefore Baptism is instituted to be a seal of the righteousness of that faith which we have yet unbaptized the consequence will not be denyed by them whom we now deal with Because they confess that Baptism succeedeth Circumcision The Antecedent is evident in Rom. 4.11 It being so expresly said of Abraham to whom circumcision was first given I cannot imagine what they will say unless it be by recourse to the Anabaptists shift to say that Circumcision was instituted to this end indeed to Abraham himself and others that were sincere but not to all that had right to it But God here tels us the established use and end of his Ordinance and in such Relations the end is inseparable And as God hath not made many sorts of Baptisms or Circumcisions so neither many neerer inconsistent ends or separable And we are likest to know the true end of the institution where the institution and first example are reported to us Calvin in loc saith Hic porrò habemus insignem locum de commum sacramentorum usu sunt enim teste Paulo sigilla quibus Dei promissiones cordibus nostris quodammodo imprimuntur sancitur gratiae certitudo Quare maneat hoc fixum sacra symbola esse â—l est monia quibus gratiam suam Deus cordibus nostris obsignat Gratuita Reconciliatio in Deo in signo illo inclusa fuit Duae deniqâ—e ut Baptismi hodie sunt ità olim Circumcisionis erant partes nempe tam vitae novitatem quà m peccatorum Remissionem testari But he shews next that all the circumcised had not Justice that is actual faith and sanctity first giving instance in Isaac an Infant Saith Aritius in loc Hanc Justitiam obsignavit hoc est illuÌ„ certum reddidit de faedere inito acceptatione gratuita Saith Piscator in loc Sicut olim Circumcisio signum fuit federis gratiae sigillum quo credentibus obsignata fuit Justitia fidei hoc est quo illi certiores sunt redditi sibi remâ—ssâ— esse peccata prepter futuram satisfactionem Christi ac proinde se habere DeuÌ„ prepituÌ„ ac saventeeÌ„ itâ—â—ctera quoque sacrameÌ„ta c. similiter finis seu scopus omnium sacramentorum unus idemque est viz. Obsignatio justitiae Fidei quae vulgo dicitur fidei confirmatio Paraeus in loc saith Ita signum fuit dantis accipientis respectu c. Et justitia fidâ—i est Remissio peccatorum fide accepta propter redemptionem Christi Et sic sacramenta non sunt instituta justificandis
was in them that must judge Angels ver 3. was a special saving sanctification But such did this seem to Paul which he speaketh of as is exprest in the Text therefore there must needs be at least a Profession of this And because Mr. Blake tells me pag. 14â— how well I know that he hath proved his assertion I shall peruse all those Texts which he citeth to that end in his Book of the Covenants pâ—g 207 208. And first we must observe that the persons that he there himself speaketh of are Visible Professors as distinct from the Elect and Regenerate yea from those that are really Saints and shall be for heaven And he calleth them men separate for God and Dedicated to him But this is unedifying slippery dealing to confound two distinct causes toâ—â—ther He that is professedly Dedicated to God is a Professor of saving Faith He that is really and heartily Dedicated to â—od shall certainly be saved Here Mr. Blake pleadeth the cause that I do maintain and not that which he hath undertaken against me and the common truth I confess as well as he that Profession maketh Saints visible or by profession as hearty Dedication to God by faith maketh real or heart-Saints But how angry is he himself afterwards at this distinction of Real and Professed Saints as if that none but the justified were real Saints But what is all this to a Saint-ship consisting in the Profession of a faith short of that which is Justifying I shall take these last to be Mr. Blake's Saints and no Scripture Saints I mean Saints of his denomination till he have better proved that ever Scripture so calleth them The Texts cited by him are these Frst Psal. 16.3 Saints on earth And I yield to him that there are Saints on earth Then 1 Cor. 16.1 Heb. 16.10 where we read of Collections for the Saints and Administration to the Saints By these I doubt not but he may prove that more than the heart-Saints are called Saints but that is because they profess and seem to be heart-Saints These Texts are far from proving that there are any Saints that profess not saving sanctity I shall anon tell Mr. Blake who they were that Calvin and other Protestants do expound the word Saints of in such Passages as these though he hath already told us that he abhorreth the Doctrine which they maintain But this is a Practical case that Mr. Blake hath here put us upon the Communion of Saints doth not only consist in Conjunction in God's Worship but also in mutual relief and free communication of outward things as the Text which he here citeth doth declare Those therefore that are of his mind must communicate as well to the Professors of a common Faith as of a saving Faith But hear who they be that Pareus supposeth Paul to mean in loc Docemur vero ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sanctorum quam credimus etiam huc pertinere ut necessitatibus fratrum mutuò tangamur pro virili succurramus prompte fideliter sumus enim unius Corporis membra c. Nam Fidei charitatis unitas omnes in Christo Capite conjungit It is then the Members of Christ united in him and joyned in Faith and Love And those that Profess to be such are so to us Acts 26.10 Acts 9.2 When Paul shut up many of the Saints in prison and did much evil against them he knew no other way of distinction than an outward Profession c. saith Mr Blake Answ. Nor do we know means hearts nor think that Paul knew them But the Question is What they professed Whether saving Sanctity or a common Sanctity and Faith short of it He addeth We read of Churches of the Saints 1 Cor. 14.33 and they were taken in to be Church-Members as soon as they made profession as they ceased to be Jews or Pagans and took them to the way of Christianity as we see Act. 2. Act. 8.12 13 38. Ans. 1. They renounced the way of ungodliness and wickedness in general by a Profession of repentance as well as the way of Paganism and Judaiism in particular There were no Christians that Professed not Repentance towards God from dead works 2. We believe that there were Churches of the Saints and therefore that none should be of the Church that Profess not to be true Saints But prove if you can that there was ever either Church or Church-member called Saints in Scripture that had no either special Sanctity or a Profession of it You say nothing to prove that any were called Saints upon the Profession of a Faith short of saving Faith Emphaticum est saith Calvin in loc quod exprimit sanctorum acsi Ecclesias rite compositas à sinistra nota subduceret Of which see him fully on 1 Cor. 1.2 And as for those Acts 8. you cannot prove that any of them were either called Saints or Baptized without a Profession of a Justifying faith as shall further be shewed afterward M. Blake addeth The Epistles wrote to particular visible Churches are inscribed to Saints among which what some are read both the Epistles to the Corinthians yea what almost all are in some Churches read the Epistle to the Church of Sardis Answ. 1. No man in any of these Churches is called a Saint upon the Profession of any lower kind of faith but only on the presence or profession of saving faith 2. I have not heard a proof that the worst of these Churchâ—s had many members if any that were impenitent and obstinâ—te in any error or sin after admonition and so that were visibly destitute of the saving Sanctity which they did Profess 3. If such there were the Churches are commanded to cast them out and then they will be no longer numbred with the Saints 4. The Apostles may well call the whole Society Saints when part are really so in heart and the rest Profess it We commonly tell both Papists and Separatists that the Scripture thus denominateth the whole from the better part as a field is called a Corn-field though theree be more Tares then Corn and yet you will not call the Tares Corn No more will I call the ungodly Saints when I know them though I will call the Church Saints where they are and them while they Profess themselves Saints and I know not but they are so 5. If you can with patience but read what Clavin saith on 1 Cor. 1.2 and Peter Martyr to name no more now you will see that Doctrine which you abhor maintained by the Protestants and in what current it is that your opinion floweth Mr. Blake adds The Apostle tells us of the faith once delivered to the Saints Jude 3. the doctrine of Faith as is agreed on all hands all that profess that Doctrine are Saints Answ. All that cordially entertain that Doctrine are Saints in Heart All that profess so to entertain it are Saints by Profession while that Profession hath any validity But all that barely
necessarily as the other And I would fain know of him how meer Dogmatical believers are sure that they have a Dogmaticall faith 1. Many of them know not what that faith is nor what the essentials of Christianity are nor know not those essentials themselves as I before said from sad experience They might therefore be sure that they have not a true Dogmatical faith but not that they have it and yet they are as confident they have it as other men 2. Many that believe the same truths as others believe them but side humanâ and not divinâ and therefore have no true Dogmatical faith 3. Many do but half believe them and think they may be true they may be false and cannot tell whether they may believe them or not but indeed do not their unbelief being more predominant and therefore from it must be denominated 4. Many true saving believers are sorely tempted about the Truth of the Gospel and troubled with doubts and their Dogmatical or Historical faith is but weak and mixed with much unbelief so that they cannot tell whether their belief or unbelief be predominant and consequently whether they believe or not And for my part I see no reason but that it should be as hard to a true Christian to know whether he truly believe the Dogmata Christiana the Articles of Faith the truth of the Gospel as to know whether he truly rest upon Christ or love God above all And I know many learned wise and godly men to all appearance that are in doubt and long have been of the truth of their assent to the Gospel and are troubled with no other doubtings of their sincerity in any great measure but only as the doubts of this doth cause them Some of the ablest men that ever I knew have groaned out many a complaint O I am afraid I am an Infidel I cannot believe the Word of God! I know not whether I believe it or not A Turk may have some thoughts or motions that it may be true but if he be more perswaded of the falsness than of the Truth he is not to be denominated a believer Now if Mr. Blake will but tell us plainly how he would deal with these that doubt of their very historical faith and what he would have them do then I will tell him the like by them that doubt of their saving faith 5. Nay see what a desperate plunge he puts his believers to He requireth them to perform impossibilities They must engage to believe savingly that is they must profess a consent so to do And this they must know that they do sincerely or else they cannot do it in faith as the Objection saith when as it is a thing that no unregenerate man can do sincerely If he engage to believe savingly he doth it not sincerely but ignorantly or dissemblingly At least few of them know that they do it sincerely as themselves will here confess what then must these do in such a case 6 At least let the heart and light of a godly man and an ungodly be compared and I will appeal to Mr. Blakes own judgement whether a Godly man be not as likely to know his sincerity in saving faith as an ungodly man to know that he haâ—h truly a Dogmatical faith and doth truly engage to believe savingly I could soon shew such disadvantages that a wicked man hath to know his own heart even in this point that me thinks might easily determine this Controversie if it were needfull to stand upon it 7. It is the duty of the godly to give God thanks for his saving Grace for converting them giving them the Holy Ghost Justifying Adopting them c. Must none perform this duty but they that have attained Assurance of their Conversion Justification Adoption c Then it is not many that must perform it But if others may and must do this on the same ground they may and must perform the other It is the duty of every child of God to pray and praise God in the relation of a child in a special sense and to call God Father in a special sense and to plead those Promises with him that are the proper portion of his Children And must all omit this that have no assurance or subjective Certainty It it the duty of each member of the mystical body of Christ to love the Saints and assist them as fellow-members Must none do this that is not certain of his own member-ship If I should instance in all the particulars of Christian Duty that this case extendeth to you would see that this your principle reduced to practice would make buâ— unhappy work in the Church and would do much to the extirpation of a very great part if not the far greatest of the service of God 8. In all such Cases our Actions must follow the smallest prevalent perswasions of our Judgement though far short of full Assurance If a true Believer do think himself to be such he may profess himself such When so far as he knoweth his own heart he doth believe and repent he may profess that he doth believe and repent implying or expressing that he speaketh according to the knowledge he hath of his own heart We are so strange to our selves that if only Certainty must move us to Action I think we should sleep out the most of our lives He speaks sincerely that speaks according to his perswasion and as he thinks though he be not certain 9. In such cases it condemneth not to act in doubting but the same man that doubteth may act in faith Indeed if the doubting be so predominant that a man is more perswaded that he doth not believe than that he doth whether dogmatically or savingly then he may not profess that he doth believe that is he may not think one thing and speak another and speak or do against his Conscience And also if it be in an indifferent thing as about meats or drinks or indifferent daies where he is certain to be innocent if he forbear and uncertain to be innocent if he act then he must take the safer side and therefore forbear And the Apostles words will reach no further than to these two points He that hath unbelief and therefore doubing may say Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief 10. The thing that is necessarily required to the Sacramental participation is not an Assurance that our faith is sincere and saving but that it be really that Faith which is sincere and saving whether we know it so to be or not Many a man knoweth that he hath that faith which is saving and yet knoweth not that it is saving And many one knoweth that he performeth the saving act but through vain scruples understandeth not whether he do it sincerely And many think or hope they are sincere that yet doubt of it I have met with many that have lived in deep distress for want of perceiving the truth of their faith that have cried out
seal of the righteousness of that faith which they had or professed to have being yet uncircumcised Gen. 17.11 12. Rom. 4.11 That is the Parent for himself and his child professed a true consent to the Covenant And this Consent I have before proved to be saving faith or inseparable from it And so Covenanting was then as strictly required as Circumcision Object But every male was to be cut off that was not circumcised Answ. I shall not now stand to enquire into the meaning of that cutting off But whatever it was it is certain that there is as much threatned to them that did not covenant with the Lord. Obj. But that cannot import a sincere Covenanting in saving Faith For then how great a part of the people must be cut off Answ. It plainly speaks of the profession of sincerity in Covenanting 2. Chron. 15.12 13. And they entred into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their Fathers with all their heart and with all their soul that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman Obj. But saith Mr. Blake though they covenant to believe savingly yet they do not profess that they do so and it is not covenanting that proves men in a state of justification and salvation but keeping the Covenant Answ. He that covenanteth from that time forward to take the Lord for his God sincerely doth by that Covenant at present express that he consenteth to have the Lord for his God upon the Covenant terms but he that professeth such a Consent doth eo nomine profess saving faith which is nothing else but Assent and that consent producing affiance There is no act proper to saving faith if Consent be not 2. As therefore faith which is or is inseparably joyned with as others confess the hearts consent doth justifie a man before he express it in works of actual obedience so it is but the same thing which we say that heart-covenanting or consent doth justifie or prove a man justified before he do any further keep that Covenant by any positive effects of it For it is the performance of the conditions of Gods promise that first prove us justified and God promiseth Christ and Justification with him to all that believe or receive Christ or accept him as offered And this receiving or accepting is the same thing with consent or heart-covenanting So that all that we oblige our selves to for the future in our sincere covenanting with Christ are not any means of our Justification as begun but only of the continuance or not losing of it 3. Yet still we easily grant that or all covenanting without the hearts consent will save none Ob. Is it credible that all Israel must be forced to profess themselves true believers when many were not Answ. God required them first to be such and upon pain of damnation and then to profess themselves such and seal it by his Sacrament He warranteth no man to profess a falshood but that they truly consent and then profess it Though Asa and the other Rulers could search no deeper then an External Profession or Covenant and their practice in seeking God because they did not know the heart And that it was indeed no other then that which then was saving faith which was professed and so required in that Covenant doth appear in the terms of it It was to take God to be their only God and to give up themselves to be his people and the mention of their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage and the nature of Circumcision shew that it was in Deum Misericordem Redemptorem they that professed to believe with such respect to the blood of the Messiah as those darker times required The terms in Deut. 26.16 17 18. do plainly express that faith which then was proper to the saved The Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgements thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thy heart and with all thy soul Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his wayes and keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgements and to hearken to his voice And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee c. Sincerely to take the Lord for our God is the sum of all Religion and the very nature of Sanctification For it is not the bare Name of God but God himself that is here meant And this can be no less in any tolerable sense then to take him by Assent and Consent for our absolute Lord and Soveraign and chief Good or End And that the Jews themselves thus understood the Covenant of Circumcision Ainsworth on Gen 17. sheweth out of their Rabbies in these words Ex lib. Zohar At what time a man is sealed with this blessed seal of this sign thenceforth he seeth the holy blessed God properly and the holy soul is united with him If he be not worthy that he keepeth not this sign what is written By the breath of God they perish Job 4.9 For that this seal of the holy blessed God was not kept but if he be worthy and keep it the Holy Ghost is not separated from him And after v. 12. ex Maimonid By three things did Israel enter into the Covenant by Circumcision and Baptism and Sacrifice c. And so in all ages when an Ethnick is willing to enter into the Covenant and gather himself under the wing of the Majesty of God and take upon him the yoke of the Law he must be circumcised and baptized and bring a Sacrifice c. When a man or woman cometh to joyn a Proselite they make diligent enquiry after such lest they come to get themselves under the Law for some riches that they should receive or for dignity that they should obtain or for fear If he be a man they enquire whether he have not set his affection on some Jewish woman or a woman her affection on some young man of Israel If no such like occasion be found in them they make known unto them the weightiness of the yoke of the Law and the toil that is in the doing of it above that which people of other Lands have to see if they will leave off If they take them upon them and withdraw not and they see them that they come of love then they receive them as it is written When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her then she left speaking unto her Ruth 1.18 Therefore the Judges received no Proselites all the dayes of David and Solomon Not in David's dayes left they should have come of fear Nor in Solomon's lest they should have come because of the Kingdom and great prosperity which Israel then had For who so cometh from the Heathens for any thing of the vanities of this world he is no righteous Proselite Notwithstanding there were
all that I could to have confuted the Arguments for it and was very willing to have found the truth on Mr. Blakes side but it was too hard for me and overcame me after some such reluctancy For besides many other Reasons which I have mentioned I find that there is no footing for a man in his way He that will not take up with the bare name of a Dogmatical Faith knows not for ought I can find what to take up with I despair of ever prevailing with Mr. Blake let him write never so much more on the subject to give us a true Definition or Description of that Faith short of Justifying which entitleth to Baptism and to prove it from Gods word or to agree with himself Commonly he calls it a Dogmatical Faith one would think now you might know the truth by this plain Name but when I tell him that if it be meerly Dogmatical then it is only in the understandings Assent and importeth no consent of the Will and that this is in the Devils and may be in those that say We will not have this man reign over us nor be our Saviour because he will not let us have our lusts And would he Baptize those that should say so Hereupon Mr. Blake will take some consent of the Will or else it cannot become a covenanting but sometime he only describes it negatively that it is not such as comes up to Justifying Faith but who knows by this what it is though he tell us what it is not sometime he makes the expression of it to contain those two parts 1. Confession of the necessity of justifying Faith 2. An engagement or promise to Believe with a Justifying Faith But when I interpret this promise to be that he will so believe de futuro he asketh me how comes de futuro in as if every promise were not de futuro Is it de praesenti Doth he promise that he doth at the present so believe why this is not to promise but to profess and is the thing that I plead for as necessary which Mr. Blake resisteth sure then it is de futuro or it is not intelligible by common capacities Well if it must be de futuro either it s at the next moment or some time at longer distance To say I consent not now but I will the next moment or tomorrow is ridiculous partly because as I have proved to him such a person is not capable of making such a promise so as should be rationally accepted in a covenant and partly because we may end the controversie by forbearing his Baptizing one moment longer or one day till he do indeed Believe and consent as he promiseth But what time soever it be as I told him upon these terms a man may say I believe the Creed and Scripture to be true but because I know that I cannot serve God and Mammon nor have Christ to justifie me and live in my sins I will not yet have God for my God or Christ for my Lord and Saviour nor the Holy Ghost for my Sanctifier because I will not yet leave my sins but hereafter I will would Mr. Blake Baptize such a man as this In answer to such a question he saith pag. 133. I think it will be nothing hard for any honest Christian to say that a man not justified may believe every fundamental Article as to Assent and that he may be convinced of the necessity of such Repentance and accordingly to make profession of it as Johns Converts were Baptized into c. And pag. 147. he saith Seeing Mr. Baxter calls upon me further to declare my self further in this thing I do believe and profess to hold that he that upon hearing the Gospel preach't and the truth of it published and opened shall professedly abjure all other opposite waies whatsoever and choose the Christian way for Salvation promising to follow the Rules of it is to be Baptized and his seed c. And are these Descrptions of his Dogmatical faith the same with the former Is not Repentance ever concomitant with Faith John's Baptism was the Baptism of Repentance for Remission of sins and if our Divines mistake not when they maintain to be the same with Christs sure Faith was to go with that Repentance and that Repentance which is for Remission of sins is not common but saving and special If therefore saving Repentance must not only be promised de futuro but professed de praesenti then doubtless so must that Faith which is inseparable 2. And would Mr. Blake have us so Censorious as to say that those men that Abjure all other waies whatsoever and choose the Christian way for Salvation promising to follow the Rules of it if they do this sincerely are not yet justified or have not justifying faith and that if they do it not sincerely that is not yet justifying faith which they profess For my part I am past doubt of it If this be Mr. Blakes Dogmatical Faith he and I are not much at distance about the Qualification of the Baptized but about the nature of justifying Faith For that 's justifying in my judgement which is but Dogmatical in his Christ is the way to Salvation the Sanctifying work of the Spirit and the holy Love and Obedience of the Saints in this way in subserviency to Christ all these are the Gospel way to Salvation the false belief of Erroneous men and the many by-paths of the unregenerate are the contrary which Satan perswades them to and makes them believe may serve the turn That man that Abjureth all other waies than that are opposite to the Christian way and doth choose the Christian way for Salvation is certainly a true Penitent and believeth to justification or else I can have no hopes of being saved Election is that term by which Amesius will needs express the proper formal act of justifying Faith Not one of all these acts that Mr. Blake mentions either 1. To Abjure all other opposite waies whatsoever 2. To choose the Christian way of Salvation 3. To promise to follow the Rules thereof I say not one of these can be uprightly and unfeignedly done by the unregenerate by any that hath not true Repentance and justifying saith Much less altogether Judge then whether the profession of this be not the profession of saving faith and whether Mr. Blake know where to fix himself and how to describe his Dogmatical faith and whether he do not yield the cause that I am maintaining And whereas he takes it for an egregious piece of affected nonsence to say that Justifying faith is a promise and still saith that Justifying faith with him is the thing promised or the thing whereto we do restipulate pag. 171. I say that he can never prove that the Church of Christ did know such a Baptismal covenant wherein the first justifying faith was the thing promised though the continuance may And should I so Baptize any person at age or an Infant in