Mercy Triumphant THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST ENLARGED Beyond the Narrow Bounds which have been wont to be set unto it By Edward Lane Minister of the Gospel BEING An Antidote against a Book lately come out of Doctor Du-Moulin's CALLED Moral Reflections upon the number of the Elect. WHEREIN The said Author will prove by Scripture that not one in a Hundred Thousand nay probably not one in a Million from Adam down to our Times shall be saved LONDON Printed for William Crooke at the Green Dragon without Temple-Barr 1680. TO THE READER Christian Reader A Certain Book hath lately been scattered among us Entituled Moral Reflections upon the number of the Elect proving plainly as it pretendeth from Scripture-Evidence that not one in a hundred Thousand nay probably not one in a Million from Adam down to our times shall be saved It is certainly a very bold Sally that is hereby made upon us all poor men the whole World over Tanto Hiatu to drive us like Sheep so furiously into such a dreadful Precipice from whence there can be no recovery The Commander of this Sally is it seems by the Word fixed upon the Front Dr. Lewis du Moulin late History-Professor in Oxford which the Printer as his Antesignanus carryeth before him that he might be the more formidable For as for the Word viz. proved plainly by Scripture Evidence I will not say it is a plain Lie though I might without any Offence before wise Men but it is a false Alarm as this following Discourse shall cleerely demonstrate Which Discourse though it was never intended to put a Stop to his Carriere for I had not so much as heard of it till about the time of writing this Epistle but it was only commended to the Inspection of an honest Judicious Friend a Minister of the Gospel in or about London with whom I have some Acquaintance and because I would not lean too much to my own Understanding nor yet rely upon the Judgment of one single man in a Matter of this Moment I did desire it might be imparted to others also by him that they might give their Opinion of it But assoon as I heard of this Furious Zealot that he had proclaimed the worst Defiance that can be imagined against the major part of mankind and that in such peremptory Terms not to be endured by any who are not void of all Humanity I could not be quiet in my Mind till I had caused this poor Scout armed some Months before to go with as much speed as might be to proclaim the Peace with which I had Entrusted it Not but that I like well of this Doctors Zeal in taking men off from their sinful Security of which there is great need in this Generation only we must not as good Job adviseth us speak wickedly for God but I utterly abhor his Wresting of Holy Scripture to make it a Patron to his Corrupt Phansy He considers not poor man how much Disservice he hath done to Jesus Christ by this Pestilent Book nor how much he hath gratified the Devil by it His Arguments are generally Vain and Childish which I could easily make evident But I doubt not some that are more able will undertake him who with a full strength both from Scripture and right Reason will sufficiently make the Folly of them manifest nor is it likely he should scape without a severe Check from our Universities which Will not I presume suffer our Church and Nation to be tamely Deluded in a Point that deeply concerns the Honour of our great Redeemer Jesus Christ and that by a French Foreiner He is indeed a Stranger unto me I knew I confess one of his Name about fifty Years past that was a Lecturer in a Church near London-Stone but for this Doctor I never so much as saw him that I know of nor heard of him till I heard of this Pamphlet of his so destructive to the precious Souls of Men and by which I would I had not had the Occasion now to know him but knowing him so far as I do I wish heartily he may have Grace to repent him of this his pernicious Tenet wherein he utters Words bordering upon Blasphemy viz. That what he writes of this Subject is as great a Truth as any can be in the World Os durum Apage Rather it may be said there can scarcely be found a grosser Untruth than this that he hath now published But as I have said I wish he may repent of it by a timely Retractation of it in publick that he may wipe off that soul Blot which he hath by it brought upon his Name and that he may himselfe escape thereby the Hazard he is in of running Headlong into the same Danger whereto he judges many Millions of People more dear it may be in Gods account than himself which Danger Mr. Baxter whom he so highly Extols was careful to avoid for thus he writeth in the second Part of his Defence of the Principles of Love Pag. 40. I confess saith he I Affect none of the Honour of that Orthodoxness which consisteth in Sentencing Millions and Kingdoms to Hell whom I am not acquainted with But this Doctors Ambition is to be the Chair-man amongst all the rest of these Judges of evil Thoughts viz. to pronounce the Sentence though the best of it is his Sentence will not be Enrolled in Heaven when his Rashness in pronouncing it will without Repentance be there upon Record against him He hath likewise it seems Ingratiated himself with a noble Personage to whom he Dedicates his Book and whom he humbly Beggs to lay at her Honours Feet for Protection But it is scarce to be believed that upon a diligent Searching into the Matter any of a noble Extraction Virtuous Disposition and Christian Education will so much as Countenance him in this his Unchristian Assertion Nevertheless should he so far prevail with his sly Insinuations as to obtain a Patronizing of it for my part my Resolution shall ever be this Floreat Evangelium ruat Caelum Farewel E. L. Mercy Triumphant THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST ENLARGED Beyond the narrow Bounds which have been wont to be set unto it IT hath been a Tradition a long time among all sorts of People Learned and Unlearned That because our Lord Jesus Christ in his Sermon on the Mount gave such strict Precepts that never any Lawgiver did the like adding withal a severe Warning to his Disciples in these words Enter ye in at the strait Gate for wide is the Gate Mat. 7.13.14 and broad is the Way that leadeth to Destruction and many there be which go in thereat Because strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way which leadeth unto Life and few there be that find it Meaning probably thereby that they should not take to themselves that Liberty which was commonly used by other People in the World but be very exact in observing those Rules of an elevated Nature which he had set them
Words immediately before which must reach to our very Enemies as appears Luke 6.27.31 Where this Rule is also prescribed viz. As ye would that men should do unto you do ye also to them likewise A Precept it is very difficult to corrupt Nature and the broad Road which is contrary thereto is the Common walk of worldly minded Men who are not willing to enter into any Course that may not agree with their Humour Interest and Advantage Which Road Christ would have all his Disciples to the end of the World carefully to shun 2. The Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is set in the beginning of this fourteenth Verse is not always Coniunctio Causalis but sometimes is a Note of Interrogation or admiration as it may be here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. How strait is the Gate and how narrow is the Way that leadeth to Life and how few there be that find it And accordingly our Translators as doubting of the Congruity of their Word because have in stead of it set in the Margine the Word How Which clearly signifies they were not so positive in their Determination here as they were before in the other Clause of the wide Gate and broad way 3. It is observable that Christ himself varyeth his Words here when he speaks of the strait Gate and narrow way from what he had said of the wide Gate and broad Way he saith not here of the strait Gate few there be that go in thereat for then indeed there had been some Colour for this Opinion of the small number of those that shall be saved No but few there be that find it And what finding is this The original Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies there are but few in the World that are so wise as they should be to come to the true knowledg and understanding of it meaning without the guidance of Gods gracious and good Spirit none shall ever find it For 4. This Caution must be understood according to the Tenour of the Gospel even as all the strict and elevated Precepts which Christ here giveth to his Disciples are viz. With a Restriction to the Grace of God so far as they concern those that are Interessed in this Grace And they are raised up to such a height to this very end that Grace might be the more exalted thereby True it is there is another reason besides this of the strictness in Christs Doctrine which is this Our beloved Saviour knowing the Jews and among them especially the Scribes and Pharisees of whom he speaks expresly Chap. 5.20 to be pertinaciously set upon the bare Letter of the Law and perceiving that his Doctrine would be cavilled at by them as not agreeable to that Law First that he might take away Occasion from those that desired Occasion he saith plainly he came not to destroy the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil And after that to shew the Vanity of their Pretensions to the Law he gives the right Sense of several of these Laws far surpassing the slender and jejune Imaginations of those Illegal Expositers of it As namely what is meant by the Law against killing what of that concerning Adultery what of Swearing what of loving our Neighbour c. In all which he far transcends those proud Boasters of the Law raising it up to that Elevation which the Lawgiver God himself intended by it And consequently it was necessary for these who would set up the Righteousness of the Law if it were but in a Rivallity with him to hear how strait the Gate should be and how narrow the way that leadeth to Life and how few should find it But to his Disciples his Doctrine hath another Lesson all whatsoever he had said or whatsoever he will say is to be understood according to the Terms of the new Covenant which he came to Seal and establish For as he came not to destroy the Law or the Prophets so much less did he come to alter or to digresse from the order and method of Salvation which he had received from the Father that is to save all those that repent and beleive This is the irreversible Law of Heaven nor was there any Word ever came out of the Mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ contradictory thereunto This Sermon as it is commonly called which he Preached on the Mount must not be stretched so far in the least Particle of it as to frustrate that Grace whereof he is by Order and Decree from the Father to be by the Holy Ghost the sole Dispenser and Administrator Away then with all that seeming Zeal which putteth Christ out of his Office as this undoubtedly doth which wresteth these words of his to such a sinister Sense as is here declared We alas consider not what Wrong we do unto our selves thereby for what are we the best of us all without Christ what but nothing Without him we can do nothing without him we can hope for nothing But as the Holy Apostle said so may every true Beleiver say I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me I can enter in at this strait Gate I can go upright and safely in this narrow way which how strait and narrow soever it be to impenitent Sinners or to those that are puffed up with their own Home-spun Righteousness I shall I doubt not find easie and sweet to my everlasting Happiness though all the Powers of Hell stood in my Way to hinder me So then let this Gate be strait and this Way narrow yet by Gods Grace and the special Assistance of Christs Spirit many shall find it and not only so but go in thereat 5. Our Saviour himself who is the best Interpreter of his own Words doth refer it as he doth other of his Sayings of the same kind v. g. Mat. 20.16 Luk. 12.32 Luk. 13.24 not to the Paucity of the Vessels of Gods Mercy which he had prepared unto Glory but to the small number of Beleiving Jews at his first coming unto them That this may be made evident let us single out the last cited place of Scripture viz Luk. 13.24 as being most pertinent to the matter in hand there doth Christ seem to declare his Sense in this particular repeating the very Words which he spake to his Disciples on the Mount Strive saith he to enter in at the streight Gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able It is an Answer we see given to a Question put by one a Jew about the number of those that shall be saved Lord saith he are there few that shall be saved To which Question no doubt Christ could have given him a punctual Answer for he knoweth his own such as are his Called and Chosen and Faithful being all written in his Book of Life he could therefore have resolved him whether they shall be few or many But instead of such an Answer he puts the Questionist upon his Duty strive saith
Brands out of the Fire may we not have good reason to beleive that the Number of them is not small yea that it may exceed the number of those who for the glory of his Justice are left to perish in their Infidelity because it is written his Mercies are over or upon all his Workes but especially upon the Souls of men of which he accounteth it a part of his Glory that he is the Creatour Es 57.16 and because it is not his Anger but his Mercy his Mercy his Mercy that endureth for ever True it is likewise God hath had a Church in this World ever since he made a Covenant with Abraham if not before and so will have to the end of it till his holy Purpose and Decree be fully accomplished in the Salvation of all his Elect and this visible Church he hath thus built and established for excellent Ends and glorious Designs according to his infinite Wisdom viz. 1. That his Name may be here publiquely and Solemnely called upon in the World 2. That his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased may as a Prince and a Saviour be exalted among the Children of men 3. That his People who are also dear unto him and are solemnely contracted in covenant with him may here live together in Unity Peace and Love whereby they may in some measure be Inured to that perfect State of Life which is to come and whereto it shall please God to bring them 4. That his great Wisdom in finding out a way to save mankind might be publickly made known to the World 5. Finally that the Powers of Hell may publickly also be disappointed and counter wrought in their Projects and Machinations which they devise against his Crown and Dignity and against the glorious work of Redemption which hath been accomplished in the Earth It is likewise commonly said that as of old all the World perished in the Flood of Waters who were not in the Ark So out of the Church there can be no Salvation for any Nevertheless we are not to set Bounds to this Church otherwise than God hath appointed and the Bounds that he hath set are determined upon those Persons of what Nation or Country or kindred soever they are whom he hath chosen to be Heirs of Salvation unknown unto us for it is the Invisible Church which will prove to be Christs Spouse in the end As for us I say again upon whom God hath in the Face of the World written his new Name we must wait upon him in his own way set before us that is in a diligent use of his ordeined means for Salvation and woe will be to us if we neglect them but undoubtedly the Grace of God is not so straitned neither is his Word bound 2. Tim. 2.9 but it shall run and be glorified in all places of his Dominion without Controul The great God hath an absolute soveraignty over all his poor Creatures is free to do unto them and with them whatsoever he pleaseth by the liberty of his own Will as to create them at first with one single Fiat so to uphold them yea to save them by the Word of his Power and with a look as he did upon Peter to reduce those that are gone astray from him And as he is not tyed with any Popish or Pelagian Thongs of necessity congruity or condignity so neither is his Presence shut up in any Donatistical Limits or Anabaptistical Conventicles nor is his Church bounded within the marches of any or of all the Kingdoms or Countreys which are usually called by the Name of Christendome be it Italy Spain France Germany England Scotland c. But it shall break forth on the right hand and on the left so saith the evangelical Prophet Es 54. and her Seed shall inherit the Gentiles wheresoever they be and make the desolate Cities even the most Barbarous in the World to be inhabited with those that shall be Heirs of Salvation for as the said Prophets words are the Desolate hath many more Children than she that hath an Husband that is than she that was solemnly contracted to the Lord by a matrimonial that is ecclesiastical Covenant But should any now be desirous to see this secret Indulgence of God towards his poor Creatures exemplified at large out of Scripture or to behold it commonly produced into Act before their Eyes I must tell them that were it commonly Visible it would not be accounted Secret but Secret it must be that the Order which by the divine Wisdom is appointed in the Church for the conversion of Sinners unto God and for building up his People in their most holy Faith may not suffer any prejudice by an ordinary variation from it nor be less esteemed by us as in all likelihood it would if we could trace the Footsteps of Gods grace and goodness in this kind nevertheless some such Examples I shall produce for their full Satisfaction in the Sequel of this Discourse Let that which we read in the 87th Psalme suffice for the present to give us some notice hereof There we find if we will understand how graciously God will be pleased to deal with a People who by their continued Aberrations from his righteous Law are estranged from him When the Prophet who ever he was had said glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God he presently addeth I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia and what mention alas can be made of Egypt called Rabab or Babylon A Robore et Superbia and the rest as they are there joyned together all of them Chips of the old Chammisn Block unless it be of their Enmity against God and his Church or to tell how foulely Polluted they were with most odious Abominations Well let it be so yet even this miserably depraved People shall also help to build up Sion and make it Glorious Multitudes shall be born there who shall be free of the Foundation built upon the holy Mountains and the Lord saith the Prophet will account of them as his freeborn when he writeth up the People like a King taking a Survey of his good Subjects whose Names are enrolled by him in his cense-Cense-Book But hath it ever been known I will not say that in those places and Countreys the true God hath been religiously Worshipped for that possibly hath been or shall be in process of time before the End cometh but that the Idolatrous Issue and Offpring of Cham and Canaan for of such doubtless is the meaning of the holy Ghost here did in any Age joyn together publickly and unanimously to make this holy City Glorious by their ready obedience to Gods Law this certainly hath never been done and I think it may be said nor is it likely now to be done while the World standeth If so how come they here to have a favourable mention made of them much rather will some usurping Judges among us say do they
and Holy Bishop Sanderson hath written in his third Sermon ad Aulam against this Pharisaical Arrogancy viz. these assume to themselves the Terms of Brotherhood of Professors or Christianity the Communion of Saints the Godly party as if none but they were to be owned either as Brethren or Professours or Christians or Saints or Godly Men. Such an abhorrency hath this destructive Opinion wrought in the Minds of pious men that have been before us And as it is destructive to the eternal Estate of many precious Souls so may it especially by keeping up these separating Distinctions tend to the overthrow of Nations and Kingdomes we here in this Nation have reason so to account of it Sure I am the said good Bishop did so long agone being about fourty Years past foretel in a manner the dismal Breaches which have since arisen among us thereby his Words are these viz. Who knoweth of what ill Consequence the Usage of such Appropriating and distinctive Titles may prove and what evil Effects they may produce in future Times But such hath been our Misery we may now say who knoweth it not the Experience that we have had hath taught us sufficiently to know it And we cannot but know that the same dividing Spirit still haunteth us in this Nation as if we had known nothing or at least as if we had forgotten the woful effects which this Spirit of Division and Delusion hath produced But that I may not doe them wrong these are not the only chief upholders of this Opinion there is another sort also that joyn with them that is the Romanishs both which as the same Reverend Bishop hath compared them are like Sampsons Foxes tied together by the Tailes to set all on Fire though their Faces look quite contrary wayes and albeit the former sort be too Phantastical and selfconceited yet may these latter likewise well be adjudged as they have been too Fanatical Do not these make their Church the only Suburbs of Heaven maintaining expresly that none can enter therein but only those that will pass through their Gates which in truth are too narrow for any yea for themselves to enter They contrary to all Truth and Reason make the Roman and the Catholick Church Termes convertible exacting eternal Communion with them and Subjection to their Bishop as a condition so essentially requisite for the qualifying any Person to be a Member of that Church of Christ out of which there is no Salvation as that they have inserted a Clause to that purpose into the very definition of a Church viz. Ecclesia est coetus hominum sub regimine Legitimoâ—um Pastorum ac praecipue unius christi Vicarii Romani pontificis Whereby they do in effect adjudge all that are not under the Popes Jurisdiction and Government to everlasting Perdition And now I beseech you are not both these sorts of People miserably deluded by Satan that whereas they speak of the Strait Gate and narrow Way that leadeth unto Life and that they have found it yea that they are the only Guides to all others that desire to find it they themselves both one and the other are extreamly mistaken in their way which without Repentance they will undoubtedly find in the end to their everlasting Confusion This Opinion therefore having such Authors and Abettors and producing such pernicious Effects to the overthrow not only of Christian Charity but of Humanity also yea to the lessening if not utter annulling of Gods infinite Goodness for besides what Papists foolishly boast of the Church of Rome that there can be no Salvation out of it I have heard a prime Leader among our Nonconformists Preaching in his Pulpit before a great Congregation in this manner what cares God if he throwes the greatest part of the World into Hell and being as it appears without any express Warrant from Holy Writ it should to speak modestly be the less regarded by us though it hath been and still is countenanced by those that have been and are at this day of good esteem among us A second Caution shall be this let no man mistake so far as to imagine that this preceding Discourse doth aim at any wider way that leadeth to Life than the Holy Scripture and the Church following the Rule of it will allow The way is plain which is set before us viz. Jesus Christ and he whosoever he be Christian or Heathen that will with Faith and Repentance keep stedfastly in this way looking upon Jesus to the last Gasp he shall undoubtedly be saved but no other of what Nation Rank or Condition or Perswasion soever he be shall ever be interessed in this Mercy Should I here maintain as an eminent Author of late hath Pablished in a Book called Theologia Veterum that the Heathen by the light of Nature without Christ may attain to such a Knowledge of God as is enough for their Salvation or as some of the Antients even in the primitive Times of the Church as our Bishop Mountague reports of them in his Acts and Monuments of the Church before Christs Incarnation Cap. 1. Sâ—ct 86. have held that the Heathen by following only the Rules of Philosophy may be saved or by Ethica Justitia and that Philosophy was necessary to Justification not alone antecedently by way of Allistance in promoting or furthering saving Knowledge but properly Primarily and of it self these are the Words of my Author the said Bishop or should I say Dr. Montague as others in these times that the sweet Disposition of good humoured men worthy indeed of all to be beloved is enough to commend and approve them unto God and bring them to Heaven I may justly fall under the premised Censure though my adherence to such Opinions would have added some Strength to my premised Position But for my part the Sense of my good Mother the Holy Church of England shall next to the Holy Scripture be my Guide herein and she in the eighteenth Article of our Confession entitled to eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ thus beleiveth They are to be held as Cursed who presume to say every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his Life according to that Law and the Light of Nature for the Holy Scripture doth set out unto us onely the Name of Jesus Christ whereby men must be saved Thus hath the Church given Judgment in this case and thus do I hereupon affirm that where there is nothing of Christ no Interest in him by Faith nor no Influence from him by his Spirit there can be no Salvation St. Austin is very punctual herein Serm. de verb. dom cap. 4. Qui cuiquam promittit salutem sine Christo nescio utrum ipse salutem habere possit in Christum i e whosoever he be that promiseth Salvation to any without Christ I question whether he himself may ever be saved by Christ A modern Divine renders