this Subject of Perseverance In the entrance of his disputation he layes down the same Principles with the Former concerning the necessity of the Peculiar Grace of Perseverance to this end that any one may persevere Disput 103. Then Disp 108 He further manifests that this gift or Grace of Perseverance does not depend on any Conditions in us or any Cooperation of our wills His position he layes down in these words Donum perseverantiae in ratione Doni perseverantiae efficacia illius nullo modo dependet effectivè ex libera Cooperatione nostri Arbitrii sed à solo Deo atque ab efficaci absoluto Decreto Voluntatis ejus qui pro suâ misericordiâ tribuit illud Donum cui vult In the further proof of this proposition he manifests by clear Testimonies that the Contrary Doctrine hereunto was that of the Pelagians and Semi-pelagians which Austine opposed in sundry Treatises And in all the Arguments whereby he further confirmes it he still presses the absurdity of making the Promise of God concerning Perseverance Conditional and so suspending it on any thing in and by us to be performed And indeed all the Acts whereby we persevere flowing according to him from the Grace of perseverance it cannot but be absurd to make the Efficient Cause in it's Efficiency and operation to depend upon it's own effect This also is with him Ridiculous that the Grace of perseverance should be given to any and he not persevere or be promised and yet not given yet withal he grants in his following Conclusions that our wills secundarily and in dependency do cooperate in our Perseverance The second Principle this learned School-man insists on is that this gift of perseverance is peculiar to the Elect or praedestinate Disput 104. 1. Con Donum perseverantiae est proprium Praedstinaterum ut nulli alteri conveniat And what he intends by Praedestinati he informes you according to the Judgment of Austin and Thomas Nomine praedestinationis ad Gloriam felùm 〈◊〉 praedestinationem intelligunt Augustinus Thomas quâ Electi ordinantur efficaciter transmittuntur ad vitam aeternam cujus effectus sunt vocatio Justificatio perseverantia in gratiâ usque ad Finem not that or such a Conditional predestination as is pendent in the ayre and expectant of men's good final Deportment but that which is the eternal free fountaine of all that grace whereof in time by Jesus Christ we are made Partakers And in the pursuit of this proposition he further proves at large that the persverance given to the Saints in Christ is not a supplement of Helps and advantages whereby they may preserve it if they will but such as causes them on whom it is bestowed certainly actually so to do and that in it's efficacy and operation it cannot depend on any free cooperation of our wills all the Good Acts tending to our perseverance being fruits of that Grace which is bestowed on us according to the absolute unchangeable Decree of the will of God This indeed is common with this Authour and the Rest of his associates the Dominicans and presâ—â—â— Jansenians in these controversies together with the residue of the Romanists that having their Judgments wrested by the abominable figments of implicite Faith and the efficacy of the Sacraments of the new Testament conveying really exhibiting the grace signified or sealed by them that they are inforced to grant that many may be are Regenerate made True Believers who are not predestinate that these cannot persevere nor shall eventually be saved Certaine it is that there is not any Truth which that Generation of men do receive admit but more or less it suffers in their Hands from that gross ignorance of the free Grace of God in Jesus Crhist the power whereof they are practically under what the poor Vassailes and Slaves will do upon the late Bull of their Holy Father casting them in sundry maine Concernements of their Quarrel with their Adversaries is uncertaine otherwise setting aside some such deviations as the above mentioned whereunto they are enforced by their Ignorance of the Grace and Justification with is in Jesus Christ there is so much of Antient Candid Truth in opposition to the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians preserved and asserted in the writings of the Dominican Fryers as will rise up as I sayd before in Judgment against those of our Dayes who enjoying greater Light Advantages do yet close in with those and are long since Cursed Enemies of the grace of God To this Dominican I shall only adde the Testimony of two famous Jesuites upon whose understandings the light of this glorious Truth prevailed for an Acknowledgment of it The first of these is Bellarmine whose disputes to this purpose being full and large and the Authour in allmens hands I shall not transcribe his assertions arguments but only referre the Reader to his l. 2. de Grat. l. Ar. Cap. 12. Denique ut multa alia Testimonia c The other is Suarez who delivers his thoughts succinctly upon the whole of this Matter Lib. 11. de perpetuitat vel Amis Grat Cap. 2. Sect. 6. saith he de praedestinatis verum est Infallibiliter quòd gratiam finaliter seu in perpetuum non amittunt unde postquam semel gratiam habuerant ita reguntur proteguntur à Deo ut vel non cadant vel si ceciderint resurgant licèt saepius cadant resurgant tandem aliquando ita resurgunt ut amplius non cadant in which few words he hath briefly comprized the summe of that which is by us contended for It was in my Thoughts in the last place to have added the concurrent witness of all the reformed Churches which that of the most eminent Divines which have written in the defence of their Concessions but this Trouble upon second considerations I shall spare the Reader my selfe for as many other reasons lye against the Prosecuting of this Designe so especially the uselesness of spending-Time and paines for the demonstration of a thing of so evident a truth prevailes with me to desist Notwithstanding the Indeavours of Mr. Goodwin to wrest the words of some of the most antient Writers who laboured in the first Reformation of the Churches I presume no unprejudiced Person in the least measure acquainted with the systeme of that Doctrine which with so much paines diligence piety and Learning they promoted in the world with the clearness of their Judgments in going forth to the utmost compass of their Principles which they received and their constancy to themselves in asserting of the Truthes they embraced owned by their Friends and Adversaries until such time as Mr. Goodwin discovered their selfe Contradictions will scarce be moved once to question their Judgments by the Excerpta of Mr. Goodwin Cap 15 of his Treatise so that of this discourse this is the Issue There remaines only that I give a brief account of some concernments of the
that Believers receive the spirit of Adoption to cry Abba Father which being a worke within them cannot be wrought and effected by Adoption it selfe which is an extrinsicall Relation Neither can Adoption and the Spirit of Adoption be conceived to be the same He also farther affirmes it 1 Cor 2. 12. we have received the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given us of God We have so received him as that he abides with us to teach us to acquaint our hearts with Gods dealing with us bearing witnesse with our spirits to the condition wherein we are in reference to our Favour from God and Acceptation with him and the same he most distinctly asserts Gal. 4. 6. God hath sent forth the spirit of his Sonne into our hearts crying Abba Father The distinct Oeconomy of the Father Sonne and Spirit in the work of Adoption is clearly discovered He is sent sent of God that is the Father That name is Personally to be appropriated when it is distinguished as here from Sonne and Spirit That is the Fathers work that work of his Love he sends him He hath sent him as the spirit of his Sonne procured by him for us promised by him to us proceeding from him as to his personall subsistence and sent by him as to his office of Adoption and Consolation Then whether the Father hath sent the spirit of his Sonne where he is to abide and make his residence is expressed it is into our Hearts saith the Apostle there he dwells and abides And lastly what there he doth is also manifested he setts them on worke in whom he is gives them priviledges for it Ability to it Incouragement in it causing them to cry Abba Father Once and againe to Timothy doth the same Apostle assert the same truth 1 Epist. 3. 14. the good thing committed unto thee keep by the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in us The Lord knowing how much of our Life and Consolation depends on this Truth redoubles his Testimony of it that wee might receive it even wee who are dull and slow of heart to believe the things that are written 3. Whereas some may say §. 3. it cannot be denyed but that the Spirit dwels in Believers but yet this is not personally but only by his Grace though I might reply that this indeed and upon the matter is not to distinguish but to deny what is positively affirmed To say the Spirit dwells in us but not the Person of the Spirit is not to distinguish de modo but to deny the thing it selfe To say the Graces indeed of the Spirit are in us not dwell in us for an Accident is not properly said to dwell in its subject but the Spirit it selfe doth not dwell in us is expressly to cast downe what the word sets up If such distinctions ought to be of force to evade so many positive and plaine Texts of Scripture as have been produced it may well be questioned whether any Truth be capable of proofe from Scripture or no. Yet I say farther to obviate such Objections and to prevent all quarrellings for the future the Scripture it selfe as to this businesse of the Spirits indwelling plainely distinguisheth between the Spirit it selfe and his Graces He is I say distinguished from them and that in respect to his indwelling Rom. 5. 5. The Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that is given to us The Holy Ghost is given to us to dwell in us as hath been abundantly declared and shall yet farther be demonstrated Here He is mentioned together with the Love of God and his shedding thereof abroad in our Hearts that is with his Graces is as clearely distinguished and differenced from them as Cause and effect Take the Love of God in either sence that is controverted about this place for our Love to God or a sence of his Love to us and it is an eminent Grace of the Holy Spirit If then by the Holy Ghost given unto us yee understand only the Grace of the Holy Ghost He being said to be given because that is given then this must be the sence of the place The Grace of the Holy Ghost is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Grace of the Holy Ghost that is given to us Farther if by the Holy Ghost be meant only his Grace I require what Grace it is hereby the expression intended Is it the same with that expressed the Love of God This were to confound the efficient cause with its effect Is it any other Grace that doth produce the great worke mentioned Let us know what that Grace is that hath this power energie in its hand of shedding abroad the Love of God in our Hearts So Rom. 8. 11. He shall quicken your mortall bodyes by the Spirit that dwelleth in you This quickning of our mortall bodies is generally confessed to be and the scope of the place inforceth that sence our Spirituall quickning in our mortall bodyes mention being made of our bodyes in Analogie to the body of Christ by his death we have life and quickning Donbtlesse then it is a Grace of the Spirit that is intended Yea the habitual principle of all Graces And this is wrought in us by the Spirit that dwelleth in us There is not any Grace of the Spirit whereby he may dwell in men antecedent to his Quickning of them Spirituall Graces have not their residence in dead soules So that this must be the Spirit himselfe dwelling in us that is here intended and that personally or the sence of the words must be The Grace of quickning our mortall bodyes is wrought in us by the Grace of Quickning our mortall bodyes that dwels in us which is plainely to confound the Cause and Effect Besides it is the same Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead that is intended which doubtlesse was not any inherent Grace but the Spirit of God himselfe working by the exceding greatnesse of his Power Thus much is hence cleared Antecedent in order of nature to our Quickning there is a Spirit given to us to dwell in us Every efficient Cause hath at least the precedency of its effect No Grace of the Spirit is bestowed on us before our Quickning which is the preparation and fitting of the subject for the receiving of them the planting of the Roote that containes them vertually and brings them forth actually in their order Gal. 5. 22. All Graces whatsoever come under the name of the fruit of the Spirit that is which the Spirit in us brings forth as the Roote doth the fruit which in its sodoing is distinct therefrom Many oher instances might be given but these may suffice 4. There is a Personallity ascribed to the Holy Ghost in his dwelling in us and that in such a way §. 4. as cannot be ascribed to any Created Grace which is but a Quality in a subject and this the Scripture doth three wayes 1. In
That is they cannot-have any goodnesse in them beyond that which is entitative And so farre are we now arrived All efficacious working of the Spirit of God on us must be excluded or all we do is good for nothing Away with all Promises all Prayers yea the whole Covenant of Grace they serve for no other end but to keepe us from doing good Let us heare the Scripture speake a little in this cause Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule that thou maist live Jere. 31. 33. the 32. 39. This shall be the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their Hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people Chap. 32. 39. I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever for the good of them and their Children after them Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walke in my statutes and ye shall keepe my Judgements and do them Act. 16. 14. God opened the heart of Lydia that shee attended to the things spoken of Paul Phil. 1. 29. It is given to you in the behalfe of Christ not only to Believe on him but also to suffer for his sake and Chap. 2. 13. For it is God which worke the in you both to will and to do of his owne good pleasure as also Ephs. 1. 19. That ye may know what is the exceeding greatnesse of his power to us ward who Believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and 2 Thess. 1. 11. We pray alwayes for you that our God would fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodnesse the worke of Faith with power So also in 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature for Ephes. 2. 4 5. God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he Loved us even when we were dead in sinnes hath quickned us together with Christ Causing us Chap 4. 24. to put on that new man which after God is Created in Righteousnesse and true Holinesse with the like Assertions John 3. 3 James 1. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 23. John 5. 21. 2 Cor. 3. 5. c What may be thought of these and the like expressions §. 28. Do they hold out any reall effectuall internall Worke of the Spirit and Grace of God distinct from Morall perswasions or do they not If they do how comes any thing so wrought in us by us to be Morally good If they do not we may bid farewell unto all Renewing Regenerating Assisting Effectuall Grace of God That God then by his Spirit and Grace cannot enable us to act Morally and according to a Rule is not yet proved VVhat followes Saith he So farre as Exhortatious are meanes to produce these Acts §. 29. they must be Morall for Morall causes are not capable of producing Naturall or Physicall effects But if Mr Goodwin think that in this Controversy Physicall and Necessary as applyed to effects are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is heavenly wide Physicall denotes only their being Necessary a manner of being as to some of them which have Physically a beeing The tearme Naturall is ambiguous and sometimes used in the one sence sometimes in the other sometimes it denotes that which is only sometimes that which is in such a kind By a Physicall effect we understand an Effect with respect to t is reall existency as by a Morall effect an effect in respect of its Regularity And now why may not a Morall cause have an influence in its owne kind to the production of a Physicall effect I meane an influence suited to its owne Nature and manner of operation by the way of motive and perswasion What would you think of him that should perswade you to lift your hand above your head to try how high you could reach or whether your Arme were not out of joynt Secondly §. 30. It hath been sufficiently shewed before that with these Exhortations which worke as appointed meanes Morally God exerteth an effectuall power for the reall production of that wherento the Exhortation tends dealing thus with our whole soules suitably to the Nature of all their faculties as every one of them is fitted and suited to be wrought upon for the accomplishment of the End he aimes at and in the manner that he intends Briefely to every Act of the VVill as an act in genere entis there is required a really operative and Physicall concurence of the Providentiall power of God in its owne order as the first Cause To every Act as good or gracious the operative concurrence and influence of the Spirit of Grace which yet hinders not but that by Exhortations men may be provoked and stirred up to the performance of Acts as such and to the performance of them as good and gracious This being not the direct Controversy in hand §. 31. I do but touch upon it Concerning that which followes I should perhaps say we have found Anguem in herba but being so toothlesse and stinglesse as it is to any that in the least attend to it it may be only tearmed the padde in the straw Physicall and Morall are taken to be tearmes it seemes Equipollent to Necessary and Not-necessary which is such a wresting of the tearmes themselves and their knowne use as men shall not likely meet withall Hence is it that Acts Physicall and Necessary are the same Every Act of the most free agent under Heaven yea in Heaven or Earth is in its owne Nature and Being Physicall Acts also are Morall i. e. good or evill consequently in order of Nature to their existence of which Necessary or Not-necessary are the Adjunct manner in reference to the Rule or Law whereunto their conformity is required How Morall and Not-necessary come to be tearmes of the same import Mr Goodwin will declare perhaps heareafter when he shall have leisure to teach as much new Philosophy as he hath already done Divinity In the meane time we deny that any influence from God on the wills of men doth make any Act of them Necessary as to the manner of its production And so this first Argument for the Inconsistency of the use of Exhortations with the reall efficiency of the Grace and Spirit of God is concluded That which followes in this Section to the end §. 32. is a pretended Answer to an Objection of our Authors owne framing being only introduced to give farther Advantage to
of Truth then others and the more effectual improvment of what he doth so receive shall labour night and day dispending the richest treasure and furnishment of his â—bule for the rooting out defacing and destruction of the Truth for the turning men out of the way and pathes that lead to rest and peace I never think of the uncomfortable drudgery which men give up themselves unto in laying the hay and stubble of their vaine and false Conceptions upon the foundation and heaping up the fruit of their soules to make the fire that consumes them the more fierce and severe but it forces compassionate thoughts of that sad Condition whereto man-kind hath cast it selfe by it's Aposâ—acy from God And yet there is not any thing in the world that men more willingly with more delight and greediness consecrate the flowre of their Strength and Abilities unto then this of promoting the delâ—sions of their own minds in opposition to The truth waies of God It is a thing of obvious observation and dayly experience that if by any meanes what ever any one closeth with some new and by opinion off from the faith delivered to and received by the generality of the Saints that be it a thing of never so small concernment in our walking with God in Gospel obedience and in love without dissimulation one towards another yet instantly more weight is layd upon it more paines laid out about it and zeale dispended for it's supportment and propagation then about all other most necessary points of Christian Religion Have we not a deplorable cloud of Examples of men contending about some Circumstance or other in the Administration of an ordinance biting and devouâ—ing all that stand in their way roving up and down to gaine Proselytes unto their perswasion and in the meane time utterly ignorant or negligent of the great doctrines and commands of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which are as in him the head Life of Soules How many a man seemes to have no manner of Religion at all but some one errour That is his God his Christ his worship that he preaches that he discourseth of that he labours to propagate until by the righteous judgment of God it comes to pass that such men in all other things wither dye away all the sap and vigour of their spirits feeding that one monstrous excrescency which they grow up dayly into Desire of emerging and being notable in the world esteem and respect in the hearts and mouthes of them whom peculiarly they draw after them with the like unworthy aimes of selfe advancement may without evill surmizing when such attempts are as in too many accompanied with irregularity in Conversation be supposed to be Advantages given into the hands of the envious man to make use of them for the sowing of his tares in the field of the poor seduced world That this procedure is also furthered by the burdensomeness of sound doctrine unto the generality of men who having itching eares as farre as they care for these things do spend their time in Religion in nothing else but either to tell or to heare some new thing cannot be denyed Besides to defend improve give and adde new light unto old truths a worke which hath so abundantly and excellently been labour'd in by so many worthies of Christ especially since the Reformation in any eminent manner so as to bring praise and repute unto the undertakers which whether men will confess or no it is evident that too many are enslaved unto is no easy taske and for the most part of what is done that way you may say Quis leget haec The world sayes every one is burden'd with discourses of this nature How many have we in our dayes who might have gone to the grave in silence among the residue of their brethren and their names have remained for a season in the voisinage where they might have done God the service required of them in their generation would they have kept themselves in the forme of wholsome words and sound doctrine that have now delivered their names into the mouthes of all men by engageing into some singular opinions though perhaps raked out of the ashes of Popery Socinianisme or some such fruitful heap of errour and false notions of the things of God I desire not to judge before the time the day will manifest all things and the hidden secrets of the hearts of men shall by it be layed open when all the waiâ—s causes and occasions of their deceiving and being deceived shall be brought to light and every man according to his work shall have praise of God Only I say as to the present state of things this is evident not to speake of those locusts from the bottomless pit that professedly oppose their strength to all that is of God his name word worship or truth will and commands rasing the foundation of all hopes of eternity nor of Him and His Associates who exalteth himselfe above 〈◊〉 but is called God being full of names of blasphemy sealed up to destruction very many â—ongst our selves of whom we hoped better things do some in greater some in lesser matters give up themselves to that unhappy labour we before mentioned of opposing the truths of God and exalting their own darkness in the roome of his glorious light Vtjugulent homines surgunt de nocte latrones Vt teipsum serves non expergisceris Reverend Brethren if other men can rise early go to bâ—d late and eate the bread of carefulness spend their lives and strength to do their own work and propagate their own conceptions under a pretence of doing the work of God if the envious man watcheth all night and waites all advantages to sow his tares how will you be able to lift up your hands with joy and behold your Masters face with boldness at his coming if having received such eminent Abilities endowments and furnishments from him for his service and the service of his sheep and lambs as you have done you gird not up the loines of your minds and lay not out your strength to the uttermost for the weeding out of the field and vineyard of the Lord every plant which our heavenly Father hath not planted and for feeding the flock of Christ with sincere milk and strong meat according as they are able to beare what you have received more then others is of free grace which is God's way of dealing with them on whom he layes the most unconquerable and indespensable obligation unto service Flesh and blood hath not revealed unto you the truth of God which you do profess but our Father which is in heaven you do not upon any endeavour of your own differ from them who are given up to the sore Judgment and ever to be bewailed condition before mentioned It hath not been from your own endeavours or watchfulness that you have been hitherto preserved under the hour of temptation which is come to try the men that live
being the object of any ordinary thoughts or expressions Nothing not great not considerable not some way eminent is by any spoken of him either consencing with him or dissenting from him To interpose my Judgment in the crowd on the one side or the other I know neither warrant or suffcient cause We all stand or fall to our own masters And the fire will try all our workes This only I shall crave Liberty to say that whether from his own genius and acrimony of Spirit or from the provocations of others with whom he hath had to do many of his Polemical Treatises have been sprinkled with Satyrical Sarcasmes and contemptuous rebukes of the persons with whom he hath had to do So that were I not relieved in my thoughts by the consideration of those Exacerbations and exasperations of spirit which upon other accounts besides bare difference of opinion in religious things have fallen out in the dayes and seasons which have passed over us all of them labouring to exert something of themselves in every undertaking of the persons brought under their power I should have been â—â—terly discouraged from any contests of this nature Much indeed of his irregularity in this kind I cannot but ascribe to that prompt facility he hath in putting abroad every passion of his mind and all his conceptions not only decently clothed with language of a full and choice significancy but also trim'd and adorn'd with all manner of signal improvements that may render it keen or pleasant according to his intendment or desire What the Latine Lyrick said of the Grecian Poet may be applyed to him Monte decurrens velâ—t amnis imbres Quem super notas aluêre rìpas Fervet immensusque ruit profundo Pindarus ore And he is thereby plainly possessed of not a few advantages It is true that when the proof of his opinion by Argument and the orderly pursuit of it is incumbent on him a course of all other wherein â— soonest faileth the medium he useth and insisteth on receiveth not the least contribution of real strength from any dress of words and Expressions wherewith it is adorned and accompanied yet it cannot be denyed but that his Allegorical amplifications illustrations and exaggerations of the things he would insinuate take great impressions upon the minds of them who are in any measure intangled with the seeming probabilities which are painted over his Arguments by their sophistry and pretence of Truâ—h The Apostle giving that Caution to the Collossians that they should take heed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manifesteth the prevalencie of false reasonings when in Conjunction with Rhetorical perswasions The great store also of words and expressions which for all occasions he hath lying by him are of no little use to him when being pressed with any Arguments or testimonies of Scripture and being not able to evade he is forc't to raise a cloud of them wherewith after he hath a while darkned the wisdome and Councel of that wherewith he hath to do he insensibly slipps out of the cord wherewith he appeared to have been detained and triumphes as in a perfect Conquest when only an unarticulate sound hath been given by his trumpet but the charge of his Adversaries not once received or repelled But not any where doth he more industriously hoist up and spread the sailes of his luxurient Eloquence then when he aimes to render the opinion of his adversaries to be monstrum â—orendum informe ingens cui lumen ademptum a dark dismal uncomfortable fruitless death-procuring doctrine such as it is marveilous that ever any poor soul should embrace or choose for a Companion or guide in it's pilgrimage towards heaven Rolling through this feild his expressions swell over all bounds and limits metaphors similitudes parables all help on the current though the streames of it being shallow and wide a little opposition easily turnes it for the most part aside a noise it makes indeed with a goodly shew and appearance Herculeâ non mole minor Agylleus Sed non ille rigor patriumque in corpore robur Luxuriant artus effusaque sanguins laxo Membra natant This as I said prompts I feare the learned person of whom we speak to deale so harshly with some of them with whom he hath to do And it is still feared that parata tollit cornua Qualis Lycambae spretus infido Gener Aut acer hostis Bupalo It might indeed be the more excusable if evident provocation were alwaies ready at hand to be charged with the blame of this procedure if he said only An si quis aâ—ro dente me petiverit Multus ut slebo puer But for a man to warme himselfe by casting about his own pen until it be so filled with indignation and scorne as to blur every page and almost every line is a course that will never promote the praise nor adorne the Truth of God For what remaines concerning him do illi ingenium do eloquentiam industriam fidem veritatem utinam colnisset The Course Condition of my procedure with him whether it be such as becometh Christian modesty and sobriety with an allowance of those ingredients of zeal in contending for the trut hwhich in such cases the Holy Ghost gives a command for is referred to the Judgment of all who are concerned and account themselves so in the things of God As to any bitterness of expression personal reflections by application of Satyrical invectives I know nothing by my selfe and yet I dare not account that I am hereby justified The calme and indifferent Reader not sensible of those commotions which the discovery of Sophistical evasions pressing of inconsequent consequences bold Assertions c will sometimes raise in the most candid and ingenuous mind may and especially if he be an observer of failings in that kind espie once and againe some signes and appearances of such exasperations as ought to have been allayed with a spirit of meekness before the thoughts that stirred them up had been turned out of doores in the expressions observed Although I am not conscious of the delivery of my selfe in any termes intimating a Captivitie under the power of such a snare for a moment yet what shall to the Christian Reader occurre of such a seeming tendency I humbly refer it to his judgment being content to suffer loss in any hay or stubble what ever that I may have layd upon the foundation of truth which I am sure is firmly fixed by God himselfe in the business in hand For what further concernes my manner of dealing in this Argument I have only a few things to mention Reverend Brethren and you will be discharged of the trouble of this prefatory address unto you The matter in hand I hope you will find attended and pursued without either Iocular or historical diversions which are judged meet by some to retaine the spirits and intice the minds of the Readers which are apt to faint and grow weary if alwaies bent to the
improvement of their writings of the several Considerations that are to be had and exercised by them who would read them with profit and Advantage after many disputes and contesâ—s between the Papists and Divines of the Reformed Churches the whole concernment of that Controversy is so clearely stated Mannaged and resolved by Mounseiur Dalie in his Book of the Right use of the Fathers that I suppose all farther labour in that kind may be well spared Those who intend to weigh their Testimony to any head of Christian Doctrine doe commonly distinguish them into three greater periods of time The first of these is comprehensive of them who lived and wrote before the Doctrine concerning which they are called out to give in their thoughts and verdict had received any signal opposition and eminent discussion in the Church on that acccount Such are the Writers of the first 300 years before the Nicene Counsel in reference to the Doctrine of the Trinity and so the succeeding writers before The stating of the Macâ—donian Eutichian and Nestorian Heresies In the next are they ranked who bare the burthen and heat of the Opposition made to any Truth and on that Occasion wrote expresly and at large on the controverted doctrines Which is the Condition of Athanasius Basil Gregory and some others in that Arian Controversy And in the last place succeed those who lived after such concussions which are of less or more esteem according as the Doctrines enquired after were less or more corrupted in the general Apostacy of the latter dayes According to this order Our first period of time will be with the Rise of the Pelagian Heresy which gave Occasion to the through full and Cleare discussion of the whole doctrine concerning the grace of God whereof that in whose defence we are engag'd is no small portion The next of those whom God raised up to make head against that Subtil opposer of his Grace with his followers during the space of an 100 yeares and somewhat onwards ensuing the promulgation of that heresy What have been the thoughts of men in the latter Ages until The Reformation and of the Romanists since to this day manifested in a few pregnant instances will take up the third part of this designe Of the Judgment of the Reformed Churches as they are commonly called I shall speak particularly in the close of this discourse For the first of these not to insist on the paucity of writers in the first 300 yeares sundry single persons in the following Ages haveing severally written three times as much as we have left and remaining of all the others the names of many who are said to have written being preserv'd by Eusebius Eccles Hist and Hierome lib de script their writings being perished in their dayes nor in general of that corruption whereunto They have almost every one of them been unquestionably expos'd I must be forced to preface the nomination of them with some Considerations The first in that known passage of Hegesipus in Euseb Hist Eccles lib 3. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So far Hel setting out the corruption of the Church even as to doctrine immediatly after the Apostles fell asleep whereof whosoever will impartially and with disingaged Judgments serach into the writings that of those days do remaine will perhaps find more Cause than is commonly imagined with him to Complaine 2 The maine work of the writers of the first Ages being to contend with Heathenish Idolaters to convince them of their madness and folly to write Apologies for the worship of God in Christ in General so to disswade their Rulers from persecution or in contesting with Heriticks for the most part appearing to be men either corrupt in their lives or mad and brainsick as we say as to their Imaginations or denying the Truth of the person of Christ what can we expect from them as delivered directly and on set purpose to the matter of our present contest Some principles may in them possibly be discovered from whence by a regular deduction some Light may be obtained into their thoughts concerning the points in difference Thus Junius thinks and not without cause that the whole business of Predestination may be stated upon this one principle that faith is the free Gift of God flowing from his Predestination and Mercy and concerning this saith he Hoc autem omnes patres uno consensu ex Christo Paulo agnoverunt Ipse Justinus Martyr in Apolog 2 Gravissime verâ— Clemens Alexandrinus in hâc alioquin palestrâ non itaexercitatus ut sequentia secula Hom lib 2. Basilâ—i Valentini dogma esse dicit quòd fides a naturâ sit Consid. Senten Pet. Baroni without this what Advantage can be taken or what use can be made for the discovery of the mind of any of the Antients by cropping of some occasional expressions from their occasions and aimes I know not Especially would I more peremptorily affirme this could I imagine any of them wrote as Hierome affirmes of himselfe that he sometimes did Epist. ad August which is among his 892. Itaque saith he ut simpliciter fateor legi haec omnia in mente meâ plurima coacervans accito notario vel mea vel aliena dictavi nec ordinis nec verborum interdum nec sensuum memor should any one say so of himselfe in these days he would be accounted little better then a mad man much then on this Account or at least not much to the purpose is not to be expected from the fathrers of the first Ages 3. Another observation to our purpose lyes well expressed in the beginning of the fourteenth chapter of Bellarmin's second Book de Grat lib Arb. Praeter Scriptur as adferunt alia Testimonia patrum saith he speaking of those who opposed God's free Predestination to which he subjoynes Neque est hoc novum Argumentum sed antiquissimum Scribit enim S. Prosper in Epistola ad S. Augustinum Gallos qui sententiam ejâ—sdem Augustixi de Prede stinatione calumniabantur illud potissimum objicere solitos quòdea sententia doctrine veterum videbatur esse contraria Sed respondet idem Augustinus inl ibâ— de bono perseverantiae veteres patres qui ante pelagium floâ—uerunt quaestionem istam nunquam accurate tractasse sed incidenter solum quasi per transitum illam attigisse Addit vero in fundamento hujus sententiae quod est gratiam dei non praevenire ab ullo opere nostro sed contra ab illâ omnia opera nostera praveniri it a ut nihil omnino boni quod attinct ad salutem sit in nobis quod non est nobis ex des convenire Catholicos omnes ibidem citat Cyprianum Ambrosium Nazianzenum quibus addere possumus Basilium Crysostomum To the same purpose with Application to a particular person doth that great and holy doctor discourse de doctrin Christianâ lib 3 cap 33 saith he non erat expertus
hanc haeresin Tychoniâ— quae nostro tempore exorta multum nos ut gratiam dei quâ per dominum nostrum Jesum Christum est adversus eam defenderemus exercuit secundum id quod ait Apostolus oportet haereses esse ut probati manifesti fiunt in nobis multò vigilantiores diligentioresque reddidit ut adverteremus in Scripturis Sanctis quod istum Tychonium minus attentum minusque sine hoste solicitum fugit That also of Hierome in his second Apologie against Ruffinus in reference to a most weighty Article of Christian Religion is known to all fieri potest saith he ut vel simpliciter erraverint vel alio sensu scripserint vel à librariis imperitis corum paulatim scripta corrupta sint vel certe antequam in Alexandria quasi Daemonium meridianum Arius nasceretur innocenter quaedam minus â—ante locuti surt quae non possunt perversorum hominum calumniam declinare And what he spake of the writers before Arius in reference to the person of Christ we may of them before Pelagius in refernce to his Grace Hence Pererius in Rom. c. 8. disput 22 tells us how truly ipse viderit I am not altogether of his mind that for those Authours that lived befofe Austin's time that all the Greek Fathers and a considerable part of the Latine were of opinion that the cause of Predestination was the foresight which God had either of man's good works or of their faith either of which opinions he assures us is manifestly contrary both to the Authority of the Scriptures and particularly to the doctrine of Saint Paul I am not as I said wholy of his mind partly upon the account of the observations made by his fellow Jesuite out of Austin before mentioned partly upon other accounts also Upon these and the like Considerations much I presume to the buisness in hand will not be produced on either side from the Fathers that wrote before the Rise of the Pelagian Heresy And if any one of the parties at this day litigant about the Doctrines of the Grace of God should give that advise that Sisinniuss and Agellius the Novatians somtimes gave as Zozomen reports of them Hist. Eccles lib. 7. cap. 12 to Nectarius by him communicated to the Emperor Theodosius to have the quarrel decided by those that wrote before the Rise of the Controversy as it would be unreasonable in it selfe so I perswade my selfe neither party would accept of the conditions neither had the Catholicks of those dayes got any thing if they had attended to the advise of those Novatians But these few observations premised something as to particular Testimonies may be attended unto That we may proceed in some order not leaving those we have nothing to say to nor are willing to examine whilest they are but thin and come not in troopes unsaluted The first writings that are imposed on us after the Comical Scriptures are the eight books of Clement commonly called the Apostles constitutions being pretended to be written by him at their appointment with the Canons ascribed to the same persons These we shall but salute for besides that they are faintly defended by any of the Papists disavowed and disclaimed as Apocryphal by the most learned of them as Bellarmine de script Eccles. in Clem who approves only of 50. Canons of 85 Baronius An. Dâ—m 102. 14 who addes 30 more and Binius with a little inlargement of Canons in Tit. Can. T. 1. Con. pi 17 and have been throughly disproved and decryed by all Protestant writers that have had any occasion to deale with them their folly and falsity their impostures and triflings have of late been so fully manifested by Dallaeus de pseudepigrapis Apostol that nothing need be added thereunto Of him may Doctor H. H. learne the Truth of that Insinuation of his dissert de Episcop dis 2da cap 6. Sect. 3. Canone Apostolico secundo semper inter genuinos habito but of the confidence of this Author in his Assertions afterwards This indeed insisted on by Daellaus and the Learned Usher in his notes upon Ignatius is childishly ridiculous in them that whereas it is pretended that these constitutions were made at a convention of the Apostles as l. 6. c. 14 they are brought in discoursing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They they are made to informe ns lib. 2. cap. 57. That the Acts written by Luke and read in the Churches are theirs and the foure books of the Gospel Whereas the story of the death of James here said to be together with the Apostles is related Act. 12 and John by the consent of all wrote not his Gospel untill after the dissoluton of his Associates Also they make Stephen and Paul to be together at the makeing of those constitutions Const lib. 8. cap. 4. whereas the Martyrdome of Stephen was before the convesiron of Paul and yet also mentions the stoning of Stephen lib. 8.46 They tell us whom they apointed Bishops of Hiesalem after the death of James and yet James is one of them who is met together with them l. 7. c. 48 nay mention is made of Cerinthus and that Marke the heritick Menander Basilides and Saturnilus were known and taken notice of by the Apostles who all lived in the second Century abought the Raigne of Hadrian as Eusebius manifesteth and Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. 7. But to leave such huskes as these unto them who loath Manna and will not feed on the bread that our heavenly Father hath so plentifully provided for all that live in his family or any way belong to his house let us look onward to them that follow of whose Truth and Honesty we have more assurance The first Genuine piece that presents it selfe unto us on the Roll of Antiquity is that Epistle of Clemen's which in the name of the Church of Rome he wrote to the divided Church of Corinth which being abundantly testified to of old to the great contentment of the christian world was published here at Oxford some few yeares since A writing full of antient simplicity humility Zeal As to our present business much I confesse cannot be pleaded from hence beyond a negative impeachment of that great and false clamour which our Adversarie have raised of the consent of the primitive Christians with them in their by paths and and waies of errour It is true treating of a Subject diverse from any of those heads of Religion about which our contests are it is not to be expected that he should any where plainly directly evidenty deliver his judgment unto them This therfore I shall only say that in that whole Epistle there is not one word iota or sillable that gives countenance to the tenent of our adversaries in the matter of the Saints perseverance but that on the contrary there are sundry expressions asserting such a foundation of the Doctrine we maintain as will with good strength inferre the Truth of it Pag. 4. Setting
must fall and be of none effect because the Jewes beleived not whereof he gives a full account afterwards when he expresly takes up the objection and handles it at large Cap. 9 10 11. The summe of the Answer he there gives as a Defensative of the faithfullnesse of God with a non obstante to the Infidelity of some of the Jewes amounts to no more nor lesse then what is here argued by us asserted viz. that notwithstanding this their incredulity and Rejection of the Gospell the Foundation of God standeth sure God knoweth who are his that the Promise his Faithfullnesse wherein came under Debate was not made to all the Jewes but to them that were Chosen according to his Purpose as he expresly disputes it at large beyond all possibility of Contradiction Cap. 11. As shall afterwards be further argued and hath in part been already discovered I verily believe never did any man produce a Testimony more to the disadvantage of his owne cause both in generall and in particular then this is to the Cause Mr Goodwin hath in hand Neither doth he advance one step further in the confirmation of the sence imposed on the Apostles words §. 42. by comparing them with the words of the same Apostle v. 13. of the same Chapter If we Believe not yet he continues Faithfull he cannot deny himself wherein againe contrary to the whole drift of Mr Goodwins Discourse the Faithfullnesse of God in the Accomplishment of his Promises is asserted to be wholy independent upon any Qualification whatever in them to whom those Promises are made Though we are under Sufferings Temptations and Tryalls very apt to be cast downe from our Hope of the great Things that God hath prepared for us and Promised to us yet his Purpose shall stand however and our uubeliefe shall not in the least cause him to withdraw or not to goe through with his ingagement to the utmost The faithfullnesse of his owne nature requireth it at his hand He cannot deny himselfe What remaines Sect. 14. §. 43. Wherein he labours further to give strength unto or rather more largely to Explicate what he formerly asserted is built upon a criticall Consideration of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which without any one example produced from any approoved Author we must believe to signifie a bond or instrument of security given between men by the way of Contract And what then suppose it doe Why then contrary to the whole scope of the place and constant signification of the word in the Scripture it must be interpreted according to the Analogy of that sence Why so Doth it remove any difficulty on the other hand Doth it more suite the Objection for its removeall whereunto it is given that we should warpe from the first Genuine Native usuall signification of the word to that which is Exotick and Metaphoricall Yea but we are enforced to embrace this sence because that here is a seale set to this Foundation and men use not to set Seales to the foundation of a House And is it required that Allusions should hold in all prticulars and Circumstances even in such as wherein their teaching property doth not consist The tearmes of Foundation Sealing are both figurative neither will either of them absolutely be squared to those things in Nature wherein they have their Foundation The Purpose of God is here called his Foundation because of its Stability Abidingnesse Strength and Vse in bearing up the whole Fabricke of the Salvation of Believers not in respect of its lying in or under the Ground or being made of wood or stone And in this sence why may it not be said to be Sealed Spirituall Sealing holds out two things Confirmation and Conforming by impression and in them consist the cheife politicall use of the Word and thing not in being a Labell annexed to a writing And why may not a Purpose be confirmed or be manifested to be firme as well as a Contract or Instrument in Law Having also its conforming virtue and Efficacy which is the naturall effect of Sealing to implant the Image in the Seale on the things impressed with it in rendering them concerning whom the Purpose of God is answerable to the Image of his Sonne in whom the Purpose is made and that patterne which he hath Chosen them to and appointed them for What followeth to the end of this Section is but a new expression of what Mr Goodwin pretends to be the sence of this place The Foundation of God is the Gospell or the Promise of God to save Believers the Seale is his taking notice of them to save them and to condemne them that Believe not and therefore questionlesse Believers need not feare that they shall fall away though there be not the least intimation made of any thing that should give them the least comfortable or chearing security of preservation in Believing only 't is said he that believeth shall be saved which yet is not an absolute Promise of Salvation to Believers and he that believeth not shall be damned which one disjunctive Proposition declarative of the connexion that is between the Means and the End Mr Goodwin labours to make comprehensive of all the Purposes of God concerning Believers it being such as wherein no one person in the world is more concerned then another If the Foundation here mentioned be only God's Purpose or rather declaration of his Will for the Saving of Believers and the Damning of Unbelievers what Consolation could be from hence administred in particular unto persons laboring under the Scruple mentioned formerly hath not as yet been declared Let us then proceed to further proofe of the Truth in hand and the vindication of some other places of Scripture whereby it is confirmed That which I shall next fix upon §. 44. is that eminent place of Ioh. 6. 37 38 39 40. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out for I came downe from Heaven not to doe mine own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should loose nothing but should raise it up againe at the last day and this is the will of him that sent mee that every one which seeth the Sonne and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day Our Saviour acquaints us with the designe wherewith he came from heaven it was not to doe his owne will that is to accomplish or bring about any private purposes of his owne distinct or different from them of his Father as he was Blaspheamously charged by the Jewes to doe but he came to doe the will of God the Will of him that sent him The Will of God which Christ came to fulfill is sometimes taken for the Commandement which he received from the Father for the Accomplishment
Upon the engagement of the Name of God on his peoples behalfe Moses carefully pleads this latter or part thereof Num 14. 17 18 19. God hath given his Name unto his people and this is wrapt up in that mercy that he will lay out his Power to pardon heale and doe them good in his preserving of them and abiding with them Let thy Power be great according as thou hast spoken the Lord is long suffering and as when he workes for his name the way whereby he will doe it is according to the greatnesse of his Power so the fountaine and rise from whence he will doe it is 2. His Goodnesse Ioh. 17. 3 26 Kindnesse Love Patience Mercy Grace Faithfulnesse in Jesus Christ. Psal. 22. 22. And thus under the title of his Name doth he call poore afflicted Psal. 63. 4. darke hopelesse helpelesse Creatures upon any other account in the World persons ready to be swallowed up in disconsolation and sorrow Psal. 69. 30. to rest upon him Isa 50. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voyce of his Servant that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God When all other holds are gon when flesh failes and heart failes then doth God call poore soules to rest upon this Name of his So the Psalmist Psal 73. 26. My flesh and my heart faileth all strength naturall and spirituall faileth and is gone but God is the strength of my heart saith he and my portion for ever Now this is the sole motive also of Gods continuance with his He will doe it because he himselfe is good gracious mercifull loving tender and he will lay out these Properties to the utmost in their behalfe that it may be well with them lifting up exalting and making himselfe Gracious in so doing This the Lord emphatically expresseth five times in one verse Isa. 46. 4. â—ven to your old age I am he even to hoary haires will I carry you I have made and I will beare I will carry and will deliver you this then I say is the reason and only ground This the principall aime and End upon the account whereof the Lord will not forsake his People 3. The Rise of all this Goodnesse §. 7. Kindnesse Faithfulnesse of God to his People as to the exercise of it is also expressed and that is his own good pleasure because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his People This is the spring and fountaine of all the goodnesse mentioned God is essentially in himselfe of a good gracious and loving nature but he acts all these properties as to works that outwardly are of him according to the Counsell of his Will Eph 1. 11. according to the Purpose which he purposeth in himselfe and his Purposes all of them have no other rise or cause but his own good pleasure Why did the Lord make us his People towards whom he might act according to the Gracious Properties of his nature yea and lay them forth and exercise them to the utmost on our behalfe Was it because we were better then others did his Will walked with him Did he declare we should be his People upon condition we did so and so Not on any of these or the like grounds of proceeding doth he doe this but meerely because it pleaseth him to make us his People Mat 11. 26. and shall we think that he who took us to be his People notwithstanding our universall alienation from him on the account of his own good pleasure which caused him to make us his People that is obedient believing separated from the World will upon any account being himselfe Unchangeable not perserve us in but reject us from that Condition Thus is God's Mercy in not forsaking his People resolved into its originall principle viz. his owne good-pleasure in choosing of them carried on by the Goodnesse Unchangeablenesse of his own Nature to the appointed Issue This then is the summe of this Argument What worke or Designe the Lord entereth upon meerly from his own good pleasure or solely in answer to the Purpose which he purposeth in himselfe and engageth to continue in Mercy for his Name sake thereby taking upon him to remove or prevent what ever might hinder the accomplishment of that Purpose Work or Designe of his that he will abide in unchangeable to the end But this is the state of the Lords undertaking to abide with his People as hath been manifested at large Let us adde in the next place that of the Psalmist §. 8. Ps. 23. 4 6. Though I walke through the vally of the shaddow of death I will feare none evill for thou art with me thy rod thy staffe doth comfort me Surely Goodnesse mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever The Psalmist expresseth an exceeding confidence in the middest of most inexpressible troubles and pressures He supposes himselfe walking through the vally of the shadow of death as death is the worst of evills and comprehensive of them all so the shaddow of death is the most dismall and darke Representation of those evills to the Soule and the vally of that shaddow the most dreadful bottome and depth of that Representation This then the Prophet supposed that he may be brought into a condition wherein he may be overwhelmed with sad apprehensions of the comeing of a confluence of all manner of evills upon him and that not for a short season but he may be necessitated to walke in them which denotes a state of some continuance a conflicting with most dismall evills and in their owne nature tending to death is in the supposall What then would he do if he should be brought into this estate Saith he even in that condition in such distresse wherein I am to my owne and the eyes of others hopelesse helpelesse gone and lost I will feare none evill A noble resolution if there be a sufficient bottome foundation for it that it may not be accounted rashnesse groundlesse confidence but true Spirituall courage and holy Resolution Saith he it is because the Lord is with me But alas what if the Lord should now forsake thee in this Condition and give thee up to the power of thine enemies and suffer thee by the strength of thy Temptations wherewith thou art beset to fall utterly from him Surely then thou wouldest be swallowed up for ever the waters would go over thy Soule and thou must for ever lye downe in the shades of death Yea but saith he I have an assurance of the contrary Goodnesse and Mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life But this is say some a very desperate perswasion If thou art sure that Goodnes Mercy shall follow thee all the dayes of thy life then live as thou pleasest as loosly as flesh can desire as wickedly as Sathan
Christ thus brake the power of Satan that he shall not lead those alwaies captive at his pleasure nor rule in them as Children of disobedience in the behalfe of whom his power was so broken 1. First He subdues him by taking away all that Right and Title which he had by sinne to rule over them I speake of the Elect of God By the entrance of sinne the Divell entred upon a two fold rule in reference to sinners First A Rule over them with the terrour and dread of death and Hell they are in bondage by reason of death Heb. 2. 14. all their daies Heb 2. 15. And the Divell hath the power of that death upon the World whereunto they are in bondage The death that is in the Curse is put into his hand to manage it to the dread and terrour of sinners and by it he hath alwaies kept many and to this day doth keep innumerable soules in unexpressable bondage putting them upon Barbarous Inhumanities to make Attonement for their sinnes and forcing some to inflict revenge and destruction upon themselves thinking to prevent but really hastening that which they feare As of old this power of his lay at the bottome of all the Abominations Diat de Just. Divin wherewith men provoked God when they thought to Attone him as by burning their Children in the fire and the like Mic. 6. 7 8. So at present is it the principle of all that superstitious Will-worship Levit. 18. 21. and Religious drudgery which is spread over the Antichristian World Deut. 18. 10. 2 yea the inventions of men Kings 21. 6. 23. 10. ignorant of the Righteousnesse of God and convinced of their own insufficiency to performe worke out 2 Chr. 33. 6. and establish a Righteousnesse of their owne Jer. 32. 35. that shall perfectly answer the exact holy demands of the Law as far as to them is discovered to deliver themselves from under this dread of Death wherewith he that hath the power of it terrifies them all their daies are indeed the foundation and spring the summe and substance of all Religions in the World and the darling of all Religious Persons in and with whom Christ is not all and in all And herein have the Papists gon one notable step beyond all their predecessours in superstition and devotion for whereas they universally contented themselves with sacrifices purifications purgations lustrations satisfactions recompenses to be in this life performed these latter more refined sublimated mercuriall wits observing that nothing they could here invent would settle and charme the spirits of men haunted with the dread of death we speake of but that instantly they came againe with the same disquietnesse as formerly renewed mention of sinne upon the insufficiency of the Attonement fixed on for its expiation they found out that noble expedient of the future Purgatory which might maintaine the soules of men in some hopes in this life and secure themselves from the cryes complaints of men against the insufficiency of their Remedy which they doe prescribe 2. As he rules over men by death and hell that followes after so also he rules in men by sinne he ruleth in the children of disobedience Eph. 2. 2. And to this end to secure men to himselfe he being that strong man armed who hath the first possession Math. 12. 39. and labours to keepe what he hath got Mark 3. 27. in peace he sets up strong holds Luk. 11. 21. Imaginations and highthings against God 2. Cor. 4. 5. Now this twofold power of Sathan over men and in men do both arise from sinne whereby men are first cast out of Gods Love and care becoming obnoxious to death And secondly are alienated from God in willing subjection to his Enemy And both these parts and branches of his dominion are in reference unto the Elect cast downe and destroyed and taken away For First §. 17. Christ by his Death Casheires the Title and Claime that Sathan lay'd to the exercise of any such power in reference unto the Elect. When men cast downe any from Rule they may interrupt and put by their exercise of any power but they cannot take away their Title unlesse it be of their owne giving Christ by his Death takes away the very bottome foundation and occasion of the whole power of Sathan Gen. 3. 3. All the power of Sathan in the first sence Deut. 27. 29. consists in death Rom. 5. 12. and those things that either conduce to it or do attende it Heb. 2. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. Now death entred by sinne and there withall the power of Sathan The Lord Jesus taking away sinne and puting an end thereunto as was manifested the whole Title of Sathan falls and comes to nothing And this was really done in the Crosse Col. 2. 15. its manifestation by the Gospell ensuing thereupon according to the appointment of God Tit. 1. 3. Secondly he takes away the exercise of his power §. 18. and that to the utmost For 1. He bindes him with bonds He binds the strong man Armed Math. 12. 19. And he breaks his head Gen. 3 15. Then leades him captive Psal. 68. 18. Triumphs over him Col. 1. 16. Treads him downe under the feet of his Rom. 16. 20. as the Kings of Canaan were trod downe under the feet of the Children of Israel John 10. 24. then destroyes him Heb. 2. 14. What exercise of power is left to a conquered bound wounded captived triumphed over trodden downe destroyed Caytife Think yee this wretch shall ever wholy prevaile against any one of them for whose sake all this was done to him Neither can this with any colour of reason be said to be done for them or with respect unto them towards whom the power of Sathan remaines entire all their dayes whom he leades captive and rules over at his pleasure untill death take full dominion over them 2. As he destroyes Sathan so he doth his workes For this cause was he manifested even to destroy the workes of the Divell 1 John 3. 8. He doth not only binde the strong man armed Luk. 12. 21. but also he spoiles his Goods Whatsoever is in men that followes from that corrupted principle of nature is reckoned to the worke of Sathan being the issue of his seduction Whatsoever his temptations draw men out unto the Lord Christ came to destroy it all to make an end of it and he will not faile of his end but certainely carry on his undertaking untill he hath utterly destroyed all those workes of Sathan in the hearts of all that are his He redeemes us from our vaine Conversation 2 Pet. 1. 18 19. from the power of our lusts and corruptions leading us out to a vaine Conversation The Apostle tells us Rom. 6. 6. that by his death the old man is crucified and the body of sinne destroyed The craft of sinne the old man and the strength of
Believers is evident from the Context It is of all that are called according to the Purpose of God sanctifyed and justified the proper description of all and only Believers that the Apostle affirmes these things and to whom he ascribes the condition mentioned Now that this is the state and condition of those persons the Apostle manifesteth from the causes of it viz. the Oblation and Intercession of Christ in their behalfe For those for whom he Died and doth Intercede are on that account exempted from any such charge as might be of prevalency to separate them from God M. Goodwin attempts indeed once more to reinforce the triumphed over Enemies of the Saints §. 7. and to call them once more to make head against the Intercession of Christ but with what ill successe the consideration of what Arguments he useth with them and for them will demonstrate thus then he addresseth himselfe to his taske Ch. 11. Sect 33. pag. 248. I answer It is no where affirmed that Christ Intercedes for the Perseverance of the Saints in their Faith or they who once believed should never cease Believing how sinfull and wicked soever they should prove afterwards But Christ Intercedes for his Saints â—s such and so continuing such that no accusation from any hand whatsoever may be heard against them that no afflictions or sufferings which they meet with in the World may cause any alienation or abatement in the Love of God towards them but that God will protect and preserve them under them and consequently that they may be maintained at an excellent rate of Consolation in every state and condition and against all interposures of any Creature to the contrary This Answer hath long since ceased to be new to us §. 8. It is that indeed which is the shield behinde which Mr Goodwin lyes to avoide the force of all manner of Arguments pointed against himselfe though it be the most weake and frivolous that ever I suppose was used in so weighty a matter It is here cast as he hath many moulds and shapes to cast it in into a denyall of the Assumption of our Syllogisme and a Reason of that deniall First he denies that Christ intercedes for Believers that they may Persevere in their Faith he prayes not for their Perseverance 2. His Reason of this is two fold 1. A supposall that they may prove so wicked as not to continue Believing 2. A description of what Christ Intercedes for in the behalfe of Believers viz. that they may continue in Gods Love if they doe continue to Believe notwithstanding all their affictions Homo homini quid interest Whether men will or no these must passe for Oracular Dictates 1. First for the first Let what hath been spoken already be weighed and see if there be not yet hope left for poore soules that Christ prayes for them that their Faith faile not And by the way who will not embrace this comfortable Doctrine that will assure him in his Agonies Temptations and Failings that all help and supplies are made out to him from and by the Lord Jesus in whom is all his hope and that he receives of his Father upon his Intercession all the fruits of his Death and Bloudshedding in his behalfe But that he should Believe or being tempted should be preserved in Believing of that Christ takes no thought nor did ever intercede with his Father for any such end or purpose Such consolation might befit Jobs friends miserable Comforters Physitians of no value But of this before 2. For that supposall of his of their proving wicked afterwards to an inconsistency with believing it hath often been corrected for a sturdy Begger and sent away grumbling and hungry and were it not for pure necessity would never once be owned any more by its Master Christ Intercedes not for Believers that they may Persevere in the Faith upon such foolish supposalls whose opposite is Continuance in the Faith and so is coincident with the thing it selfe interceded for To Intercede that they may continue Believing is to Intercede that they may never be so wicked as Mr Goodwin supposeth they may be The end of Christs Intercession for the Saints asserted is that they may never wickedly depart from God Doth Mr Goodwin indeed take this to be the tenor of the Doctrine he opposeth and of the Argument which he undertakes to Answer viz. That the Faith of Believers and the continuance of that is interceded for without any reference to the worke of Faith in Gospell Obedience and communion with God in Christ Or if he thinks not so why doth he so often insist on this calumnious evasion 3. In giving the aime of Christ in his Intercession for believers we have this new cogent Argument against our Position Christ Intercedes for the things here by me mentioned therefore he doth not Intercede for the Perseverance of the Saints But why so Is there any inconsistency in these things any repugnancy in termes or contrariety of the things themselves Christ Intercedes that Believers may enjoy the Love of God therefore he doth not Intercede that they may be established in Believing 2. The summe of all that is here ascribed to the Intercession of Christ at the best is that God will confirme and ratify that everlasting Law that Believers continuing so to the end shall be saved which whether it be the summe of Christs Intercession for his Church or no that Church will judge If there be any thing farther or of more importance to them in what is assigned to it by M. Goodwin it is wrapt up in the knot of c. which I am not able to untye 3. Those words of the Apostle who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect do not denote this is that the Intercession of Christ for them that no accusation be admitted against theÌ„ whilst they belive which is no more but the confirmation of that generall Proposition of the Gospell before mentioned But it is the Conclusion which they make upon the Account of the Intercession of Christ in the Application of the Promise of the Gospell to their owne soules Neither is there any more weight in that which followes that there be no abatement or alienation of the Love of God from them upon the account of their sufferings and afflictions which for the most part are for his sake what Saints of God were almost so much as once tempted with a conceit that Gods Love should be abated or alienated from them because they suffered for him And this is the Foundation of that excellent rate of Consolation at which the Saints upon the account of the Intercession of Christ may be maintained Into Afflictions Temptations Tryalls they may fall but if they continue in Faith and Love they shall not be rejected No Creature shall be heard against them that Christ takes care for But for the worst enemies they have their owne Lusts Corruptions and Unbeliefe the fiery Darts of Sathan
Truth and Mistery calculated contrived and framed by God with a singular aptnesse and choicenesse of ingredients for the advancement of Godlinesse in the world therefore what particular Doctrine is of the same Spirit tendency and import must needs be a naturall branch thereof and bath perfect accord with it this Proposition then it unquestionable Ans. According to the principles formerly laid downe I have something to say though not to the proposition it selfe § 3. as in the termes it lyeth but only as to the fixednesse and stayednesse of it that it may not be a nose of max to be turned to and fro at every ones pleasure to serve their turnes for what sort of men is there in the world professing the name of Christ that do not lay claime to an intrest in this Proposition for the confirmation of their Opinions It is but as a Common Exordium in Rethoricke a uselesse flourish The Doctrine which is according to Godlinesse that is which the Scripture teacheth to be true and to serve for the promotion of Godlinesse not what Doctrine soever any darke brainesicke Creature doth apprehend so to do in the state and Condition wherein the Saints of God walke with him is a branch of the Gospell I adde in the state and condition wherein we walke with God for in the state of innocency the Doctrine of the Law as a Covenant of Life was of singular aptnesse and usefulnesse to promote Obedience which yet is not therefore any branch or part of the Gospell but opposite to it and destructive of it All the advantage then Mr Goodwin can expect from this Argument to his cause dependeth upon the proofe of the minor Proposition which also must be effected in aswerable proportion to the restrictions and qualifications given to the Major or the whole will be void and of none effect That is he must prove it by the Testimony of God to be according to Godlinesse and not give us in by a pure begging of the thing in Question that it is so in his Apprehesion and according to the principles whereon he doth proceed in the teaching and asserting of Godlinesse Mr Goodwin knowes that there is no lesse difference btween him and us about the nature and causes of Godlinesse then there is aboute the Perseverance of the Saints and therefore his asserting any Doctrine to be suited to the promotion of Godlinesse that Assertion being proportioned to his other Hypothesis of his owne wherein we accord not with him and in particular to his notions of the causes and nature of Godlinesse with which conceptions of his we have no communion it cannot be of any weight with us unlesse he prove his affirmation according to the limitations before expressed Now this he attempteth in the words following What Doctrine saith he can there be more proper and powerfull to promote Godlinesse §. 4. in the hearts and lives of men then that which on the one hand promiseth a crowne of Blessednesse and eternall Glory to those that live Godlily without declining and on the other hand threatneth the vengeance of Hell fire eternally against those that shall turne aside into profanenesse and not returne by repentance whereas the Doctrine which promiseth and that withall possible certainty and assurance all fulnesse of Blessednesse and Glory to those that shall at any time be Godly though they shall the very next day or hour degenerate and turne loose and profane and continue never so long in such a course is most manifestly destructive to Godlinesse and encouraging above measure unto profanenesse Ans. There are two parts of this Discourse the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or confirmatory of his owne Thesis §. 5. the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or destructive of that which he opposeth For the first it is upon the matter all that he produceth for the confirmation of his Minor Proposition wherein any singular concernement of his opinion doth lye Now that being in a sould sence the common Inheritance of all that professe the Truth under what deceits or mistakes soever the summe of what is here insisted on is that the Doctrine he maintaineth concerning the possibility of the Saints defection promiseth a crowne to them that continue in Obedience and threatneth vengeance of fire to them that turne to profanenesse which taken as a proofe of his former assertion is lyable to some small exceptions As 1. That this doth not at all prove the Doctrine to be a branch or parcell of the Gospell it being is it standeth severally by it selfe the pure tenor of the Covenant of Workes which we confesse to have been of singular importance for the propagation of Godlinesse Holinesse in them to whom it was given or with whom it was made being given and made for that very end and and purpose but that this alone by its selfe is a peculiar branch or parcell of the Gospell or that it is of such singular importance for the carrying on of Gospell-Obedience as so by it selfe proposed that should here have been proved 2. As it is also a part of the Gospell declaring the Faithfulnesse of God and the End and Issue of the proposall of the Gospell unto men and of their receiving or refusing of it so it is altogether forraigne to the Doctrine of Mr Goodwin under contest he might as well have said that the Doctrine of Apostacy is of singular import for the promotion of Holinesse because the Doctrine of Justification by Faith is so for what force of consequence is betwixt these two that God is a rewarder of them that Obey him and a punisher of them that rebell against him is an incentive to Obedience therefore the Doctrine that true Believers united to Jesus Christ may utterly fall out of the Favour of God and turne from their Obedience and be damned for ever there being no Promise of God for their preservation is also an incentive to Holinesse 3. What virtue soever there may be in this truth for the furtherance and promotion of Holinesse in the world our Doctrine laieth as cleare claime to it as yours that is there is not any thing in the least in it inconsistent therewith all we grant God threateneth the vengeance of Hell fire unto those that turne aside from their profession of Holinesse into profanenesse the Gospell it selfe becoming thereby unto them a savour of death unto death the Lord thereby proclaiming to all the world that the wages of sinne and infidelity is death and that he that believeth not shall be damned but that any thing can hence be inferred for the Apostacie of true Believers or how this assertion cometh to be appropriated to that Doctrine we see not The latter part of this Discourse § 6. whereby its Author aimeth to exclude the Doctrine hitherto asserted by us from any claime laid to usefulnesse for the promotion of Godlinesse is either a mistake of it through ignorance of the opinion he hath undertaken to
good pleasure what validity there is in these inferences will be easily discerned God worketh Grace in men as men and as men impotent and corrupted by sinne As men he workes upon them by meanes suited to their Rationall being by Precepts and exhortations but as men impotent and corrupt by sinne they stand in need of his effectuall power to worke that in them which he requireth of them Of the termes wherewith his arguing in this case is clowded and darkened enough hath been remarked already His second Argument to this purpose §. 22. viz. That the Inclination of the will to good and to persevere in a Saint must be after his being made a Saint is as weake and no lesse Sophysticall than the former That inclination is radically wrought in every Believer at his Conversion the Spirit being bestowed on him which shall abide with him for ever and the Seed of God laid in his heart that shall remaine and never utterly faile with an habituall inclination to the exercise of all those Graces wherein their persevering doth consist Actually this is wrought in them according to the particular dutyes and actings of Grace that are reqnired of them which they are carryed forth unto by the daily influence of Life Power and Grace which they receive from Christ their head without whom they can do nothing Neither is the third Exception of any more validity being only a Repetition of what was spoken before rendred something more impedite darke and intricate by the termes of Physically Irresistibly and Necessitated which how farre and wherein we doe allow hath been frequently declared The summe of what is spoken amounts to this Gods reall worke in and upon the Soule by his Spirit and Grace is inconsistent with the exhortations to Obedience which we have before disproved and do reject it as an Assertion destructive to all the efficacy of the Grace of God and the whole worke of it upon the Soules of Men. What his Fourth Argument also is but a Repetition of the same things before crudely Asserted in other termes let them apprehend that can If God worke Faith and Love in the hearts of his Saints and support them in them to the end what place is left for Exhortations I say their own proper place the place of meanes of meanes appoynted by God to stirre up his to Perseverance and which himselfe makes by his Spirit and the immediate efficacy thereof effectuall to that end and purpose And I know no use of that Query Are exhortations effectuall to perswade men to Persevere after the end being built only on his false Hypothesis and begging of the thing in Question viz. That if God worke Faith and Love and continuance of them in our hearts effectually by his Grace there is no need no use of exhortations though God so work them by and with those exhortations And this is his first Attempt upon the first member of the Division made by him selfe wherein what successe he hath obtained is left to the judgement of the Reader And but that I shall not having now the part of one that Answers incumbent on mee turne aside unto the proofe of things denied I should easily confirme what hath been given in for the removall of his Objections from the Testimony of God by innumerable places of Scripture He proceeds then Sect. 6. and saies §. 23. Secondly Neither can the latter of the said consequences stand God doth not make use of the said Exhortations to influence or effect the Wills of the Saints upon any such termes as hereby to make them Infallibly Infrustrably Necessitatingly willing to Persevere or to do the things upon which Perseverance dependeth For first If so then one and the same act of the Will should be both Physicall and Morall and so be specifically distinguished in and from it selfe for so farre as t is produced by the irresistible force or power of the Spirit of God it must needs be Physicall the said irresistible working of the Spirit being a Physicall action and so not proper to produce a Moralleffect Againe as farre as the said Exhortations are meanes to produce or raise this Act of the Will or contribute any thing towards it it must needs be morall because Exhortations are Morall causes and so not capable of producing Physicall Naturall or Necessary effects Now then if it be impossible that one and the same Act of the Will should be both Physicall and Morall that is Necessary not Necessary impossible also it is that it should be produced by the irresistible working of God and by exhortations of this joynt efficiency It may be Objected they who hold or grant such an influence or operation of the Spirit of God upon the Will which is frustrable or resistible do or must suppose it to be a Physicall action as well as that which is irresistible If so then the act of the Will so farre as t is raised by the meanes of this action or operation of God must according to the tenor of the former Arguments be Physicall also and so the pretended Impossibility is no more avoided by this opinion then by the other I Answer Though such an operation of God upon the Will as is here mentioned be in respect of God of the manner of its proceeding from him Physicall yet in respect of the Nature and Substance of it t is properly Morall because it impresseth and affecteth the Will upon which t is acted after the manner of Morall causes properly so called that is Perswadingly not Ravishingly or Necessitatingly When a Minister of the Gospell in his preaching presseth or perswadeth men to such such dutyes or actions this act as it proceedeth from him I meane as 't is raised by his naturall abilityes of under standing or speaking is Physicall or Naturall but in respect of the substanceo◠native tendency of it 't is clearely Morall viz. because it tendeth to incline or move the wills of men to such or such Elections without necessitating them thereunto and so comports with those Arguments or Exhortations in their manner of efficiency by which he presseth or moveth them to such things By the way to prevent stumbling and quarrelling it no way followes from the Premises that a Minister in his preaching or perswading unto duty 's should doe as much as God himselfe doth in or towards the perswading of men hereunto it only followes that the Minister doth cooperate with God which the Apostte himselfe affirmes in order to one the same effect i.e. that he operateth in one the same kind of efficiency with God Morally or perswadingly not necessitating for where one necessitates another only perswades they cannot be said to cooperate or worke the one with the other no more than two when the one runnes the other walkes a soft pace can be said to goe or walke together But when two perswade in one and the same action one may perswade more effectually by many
degrees than the other may have a peculiar Act or method of perswading above the other That which is now undertaken to be proved is §. 24. That God doth not make use of Exhortations as meanes for the establishing of the Saints in believing and confirming their Perseverance This is that which by us is assigned unto them and this all that the Nature of them doth require that they should be used unto the certainty of the event whereunto they are applied depending not on their Nature as such meanes but on the purpose of God to use them for that end which he hath designed and promised to bring about and accomplish Before he ventures on any opposition to the intendment of this Assertion he phraseth it so as either to render it unintelligible to himselfe and others or if any thing be signified by the expressions he useth to divert it wholly from the mind of them and their sence with whom he hath to doe Who ever said that God by Exhortations doth influence the Wills of men upon such termes as to make them Infrustrably and necessitatingly willing to Persevere Or can he tell us what 's the meaning of those termes Infrustrably Necessitatingly willing to Persevere Though t is easy to guesse at what he here intends yet t is farre above my shallow capacity to reach the sence of these expressions How any of these termes relating to the event and issue of things and in what sence they may be used I have often shewed As relating either to the manner of Gods operation in and upon the Will or the Wills elicitation of its own act any farther then by relation to that Axiome Vnumquodque quod est dum est necesse est they expresse neither our sence nor any bodies else that I know That which I shall make bold to take up for M. Goodwins intendment is That God doth not by Exhortations effectually cause the Saints to Persevere To be willing to Persevere is to Persevere to be Necessitatingly willing is I know not what Now if such an efficacy be ascribed to Exhortations as teaches the certainty of the effect so that the certainty of the effect as to the event should be asserted to depend on them as such meanes this is nothing to us we ascribe an efficacy to them in proprio genere but the certainty of that event to whose production they concurre we affirme as hath been abundantly declared to depend on other causes But the proofe of what is here Asserted outrunnes for uncouth strangenesse §. 25. the Assertion it selfe equis albis as they say For saith he if this be so that is as you have heard above how neither he nor wee know then the same Act of the Will should be both Physicall and Morall And First Why so Because Physicall Morall meanes are used for the producing of it as though sundry causes of severall kinds might not concurre to produce one uniforme effect farre enough from a necessity of receiving so much as a Denomination from each of them In the concurrence of severall causes whereof some may be Free and Contingent others Naturall and Necessary the Effect Absolutely followes its next and immediate cause alone God causes the Sunne to shine freely yet is the shining of the Sunne a necessary Effect of the Sunne and not any way free or contingent God determined the peircing of Christs side and so as to the event made it necessary but yet was the doing of it in then that did it free as to the manner of its doing no way necessary But Secondly §. 26. suppose the same act of the will should be said to be both Physicall and Morall upon severall accounts And what if every Act of the will in and about things good or bad be so And it be utterly impossible it should be otherwise Yea But then the same Act should be specifically distinguished in and from it selfe Yea but who told you so The tearmes of Physicall and Morall as related to the Acts of the will are very farre from constituting different kinds or species of Acts being only severall Denominations of the same individuall acts upon severall regards and accounts The acts of the will as they flow from that Naturall faculty or are elicited thereby are all Physicall but as they relate to a Law whence they are good or evill they are Morall the one tearme expresseth their beeing the other their regularity and conformity to some Rule whereunto their Agents are obliged Quid dignum tanto If by Physicall and Morall Mr Goodwin intends Necessary and Free being the first that ever abused those words and in that abuse of them not consistent with himselfe affirming afterwards the act of a Ministers preaching as proceeding from his Abilityes of Understanding and speaking to be Physicall or Naturall which yet he will not averre to be Necessary but Free he should have told us so and then though we would not grant that the same Act may not in severall respects be both Necessary Free the latter in respect of the manner of its performanee and nature of its imediate cause the former in respect of the Event the determination of its first Causes yet its consequent is so palpably false as to the advancing of his former Assertion that t' would have been directly denyed without any farther trouble But he adds §. 27. It must needs be Physicall because it is produced by the Physicall working of the Spirit of God which being a Physicall Action cannot produce a Morall effect Ans. By Physicall Operation of God on and with the will we understand only that which is really and effectually so as different from that which is only Morall and by way of motive and perswasion Now this we say is twofold The first consisting in the Concourse of God as the first cause and Author of all Beeings to the producing of every entity such as the acts of the wills of men are this in such a way as is not only consistent with the Liberty of the VVill in all its Acts and Actings whatever but also as is the Foundation of all the Liberty that the will hath in its actings And in respect of this Influence of God the effect produced is only Phisicall or Naturall having such a being as is proper to it as also t is in respect of the will it selfe and its concurrence in operation The other is that which Mr Goodwin here calls The irresistible force or power of the Spirit destinguishing the efficacy of the Spirit and Grace of God in their working in us to will and to do producing those effects as they are good and Gracious in reference to their Rise End and Rule whereunto they are related This then is that which by Mr Goodwin is here asserted That if there be such an effectuall reall working of the Spirit and Grace of God in us to the producing of any act of the VVills of men they cannot be Morall
kind of efficiency well said And that when one workes Necessitatingly and another by Perswasion they cannot be said to cooperate no more then one that runnes or another that walkes can be said to walke together Certainly our Author never dreamed that any man whatever would put himselfe to the trouble of examining these dictates or he would have been more wary of his asserting them and we had not had so much not only new and strange Divinity but new and uncouth Philosophy heaped up without any considerable endeavour of proofe or confirmation First §. 38. That two Agents cannot concurre or cooperate to the producing of the same effect but with the same kind of efficiency is a rare notion indeed Was he never perswaded to doe any thing in his life What thinks he of David's the Amorites killing of Vriah of a Judge an Executioner slaying a Malefactor of God Satan moving David to number the People of God Iosephs brethren sending him to Egypt But what need I mention Instances Who knowes not that this so confounds all causes Efficient that principall Instrumentall Materiall Finall Formall which in their production of effects have all their distinct efficiency and yet their cooperation Secondly The proofe from the Scripture mentioned extends only to the interesting of Ministers in the great honour of Cooperating with God in the work of begetting increasing Faith in their own spheare according to the work to them committed But that God and they do work with the same kind of efficiency 't is the maine intendment of the Apostle in the place cited 1 Cor 3. to disprove He tells you indeed there is a work of Planting and watering committed to the Ministers of the Gospell but the giving of increase a peculiar working with a distinct kind of Efficiency that is alone to be ascribed to God It is I say his designe who every where abundantly informes us that Faith is the gift of God wrought in us by the exceeding greatnesse of his Power to prove in this place that though the dispensation of the Word of the Gospell be committed unto men yet their whole Ministry will be vaine and of none effect unlesse by an immediate efficacy or working of his Spirit giving bestowing Faith on his Elect God do give an increase Thirdly For the terme of Necessitating put upon the reall effectuall work of Gods Grace on the wills of men giving them power assistance and working in them to will and to do as different from that which is purely Morall or Perswasive only which communicates no strength or power I shall need no more but to reject it with the same facility wherewith 't is imposed on us The similitude of one walking and another running wherewith the inconsistency of a Reall efficient work of Grace with perswasions so farre as that they should be said to cooperate to the producing of the same effect doth not in the least illustrate what 't is intended to set off for though one runne and another goe softly as suppose one carrying a little loafe another a great burthen of meat for a supper and both going to the same place Why may not they be said to cooperate to the providing of the same supper Must all Agents that cooperate to the producing of the same effect be together in one place You may as soone bring Heaven and Hell together as prove it And why must reall efficiency be compared to running and Perswasion to soft walking As though one were supposed to carry on the work faster than the other when we say only That in the one there is a distinct power exerted from what is in the other which that it may be done might be proved by a thousand instances and illustrated by as many similitudes if any pleasure were taken to abound in causâ facili God or man then cooperate in respect of the tendency of their working unto the event not in respect of the kinds of their efficiency Of the seventh Section whereon we shall not need long to insist § 39. which in the entrance frames an Objection and pretends an Answer to it there are three parts In the first he sayes that we affirme That though the will be necessitated by God yet 't is free in her Election which how it may be he understands not But if this were all the inconvenience that Mr G. could not understand how to salve the Operation of God in man with the Liberty of his will seeing as wise men as himselfe have herein beene content to Captivate their Vnderstandings to the Obedience of Faith it were not much to be stumbled at but the truth is the Chimaera whose nature he professeth himselfe unacquainted withall is created in his owne imagination where 't is easy for every man to frame such notions as neither himselfe nor any else can bring to a consistency with Reason or Truth Of Necessitating the Will to Election wee have had occasion more than once already to treat and shall not burthen the Reader with needlesse Repetitions In the second division of the Section §. 40. he gives you his judgement of the manner of the worke of God upon the soule unto the doing of that which is good and the effect produced thereby Whereof the one as was said before consists in perswasions which he sayes are thus farre irresistible that they who are to be perswaded cannot hinder but that God may perswade them or exhort them though he prevaile not with them Which doubtlesse is a notable Exaltation of his Grace Thus Mr Goodwin workes irresistibly with one or other perhaps every day And the effect of this perswasion is that is when it is effectuall that impression which it leaves upon the soule to the things whereunto it is perswaded As the case is in the dealing of men one with an other for my part I see no reason why our Author should so often so heedfully deliver his Judgment concerning this thing especially without the least attempt of any Scripturall proofe or indeavour to answer those innumerable cleare and expresse places of Scripture which he knowes are every where and on all occasions produc'd and insisted on to prove a real efficient acting of God in and with the wills of men for the producing working and accomplishing that which is good in a way distinct from that of perswasion which contributes no reall strength to the Person perswaded concurring only Metaphorically in the producing of the effect Let this at last then suffice we are abundantly convinced of his deniall of the worke of Gods Grace in the Salvation of soules §. 41. In the third place we have a Rhethoricall flowrish over that which he hath been laying out his strength against all this while being a meere repetition of what hath been already tendered and given into consideration over and over If God cause the Saints effectually to persevere his tearmes of irresistibly and Necessitating have been long
and all the wayes of it and all the fruits thereof and the Spirit lusteth against the flesh with all its wayes and fruits Fourthly it appeares then that this being the description of a Regenerate man which the Apostle gives as to indwelling sinne and all the fruits thereof that it is most ridiculous to exempt his frame in respect of such sinnes as they may fall into by surprisalls of temptations from this description of him and so to frame this distinction to the Apostles generall Rule that it holds in cases ordinary but not in extraordinary when nothing in the whole Context gives the least allowance or continuance to such a limitation It appears then notwithstanding any thing offered here to the contrary upon due consideration of it that Believers sinne not with their whole wills and full consents at any time §. 26. nor under the power of what temptation soever they may fall for a season and that because of the Residence of this principle of a contrary tendency unto sinne in their wills which is allwayes acting either directly in inclining unto good or in taking off or making remisse the consent of the will to sinne not withstanding the prevalency of the principle opposite thereunto by its committing of sinne And hence have we sufficient Light for the weakning of the Argument proposed in the beginning of this Chap. §. 27. For though it is weak in its Foundation as shall be shewed concluding to what the Saints may do from what is forbiddē them to do that prohibition being the Ordinance of God certainly to preserve thē from it yet taking it for granted that they may fall into the sin intimated yet seeing they do it not customarily not maliciously not with the full and whole consent of their wills that there is a principle in them still opposing sin though at any time weakened by sinne and the conclusion of that Argument concernes them not I say then First to the Major proposition they who are in a capacity and possibility that is an universall possibility not only in respect of an internall principle but of all outward prohibiting causes as the purpose and Promise of God of perpetrating the workes of the flesh not of bringing forth any fruits of the lusting of the flesh which are in the best willingly and ordinarily with the full and whole consent of their wills in which sence alone such workes of the flesh are absolutely exclusive from the Kingdome of Heaven they may posibly fall out of the favour of God and into destruction This proposition being thus limited and the termes of it cleared for to cause it to passe I absolutely deny the minor that true Believers do or can so sinne that is so bring forth the workes of the flesh as to leave no roome for the continuance of Mercy to them according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace But now frame the Proposition so as the Assumption may comprise Believers we shall quickly know what to judge of it Those who are in a capacity or possibility of falling into such sinnes as deserve rejection from God or of perpetrating workes of the flesh though they do so overborne by the power of temptation nilling the things they do not abiding in their sinnes may fall totally and finally from God but Believers may so do As the matter is thus stated the Assumption may be allowed to passe upon Believers but we absolutely deny the Major Proposition in the sence wherein it is urged I shall only adde that when we deny that Believers can possibly fall away it is not any absolute impossibility we intend nor an impossibility with respect to any principle in them only that in and from it selfe is not perishable nor an impossibility in respect of the manner of their acting but such an one as principally respecting the outward removing cause of such an actuall defection will infallibly prevent the event of it And thus is the cloud raised by this fifth Argument dispelled and scattered by the light of the very first consideration of the difference in sinning that is between Regenerate and unregenerate men so that it will be an easy thing to remove take a way what afterwards is insisted on for the reinforcement and confirmation of the severall Propositions of it The Major Proposition he confirmes from Gal. §. 28. 5. 21. Eph. 5. 5 6. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. All affirming that neither whoremongers nor adulterers nor idolaters nor the like have any inheritance in the Kingdome of God or can be Saved That the intendment of the Apostle is concerning them who live in a course of such sinnes who sinne with their whole wills and from an evill roote with whose sappe they are wholly leavened tainted throughout not them who through the strength of temptation and the surprisalls of it not without the renitency in their wills unto all sin any sin the sinne wherewith they are overtaken may possibly fall into any such sinne as did David and Peter was before declared and in that sence we grant the Proposition For the proofe of the Minor Proposition which should be that Believers may perpetrate the Workes of the flesh in the sence intended in the places of Scripture before mentioned he insists on two things First the direction of those Scriptures unto Believers Secondly the Experience of the wayes of such persons that is of Believers The Apostle tells Believers that they who commit such and such things with such and such circumstances in their commitment cannot be saved therefore Believers may commit those sinnes in the manner intended What hath been said before of the use of threatnings and denunciations of judgements on impenitent sinners in respect of Believers will give a sufficient account if there be need of any for our deniall of this consequence and for the Second that the experience of such mens waies and walking evinceth it it is a plaine begging of the thing under debate and an assuming of that which was proposed to be proved a thing unjustly charged by him on his Adversaries as though they should confesse that Believers might sinne to the extent of the lines drawn out in the places of Scripture mentioned and yet not loose their faith when because they cannot loose their Faith they deny that they can sinne to that compasse of excesse and riot intimated I cannot see then §. 29. to what end and purpose the whole ensuing discourse from the beginning of this Argument to the end of the 21. Sect. is It is acknowledged that all those places doe concerne Believers The intendment of the Holy Ghost in them being to discover to them the nature of the sinne specified and the end of the committing of them in the way intended and that God purposes to proceed according to the importance of what is threatned to those sinnes so committed with all that doe them that so they may walk watchfully and carefully avoiding not only those things
import any such thing as is aimed at from the Text nor the word abide but to the whole proposition the seed of God abideth in him as produced to confirme the former assertion of the not sinning of the Persons spoken of there is nothing spoken at all I shall therefore briefely confirme the Argument in hand by the strength here communicated unto it by the Holy Ghost and then consider what is answered to any part of it or objected to the interpretation insisted on That he that sinneth not neither can sinne in the sence explained shall never fall away totally or finally from God is granted That Believers sinne not nor can sinne so or in the manner mentioned besides the Testimony of the Holy Ghost worthy of all acceptation in the cleare assertion of it we have the Reason thereof manifested in the discovery of the causes of its truth The first Reason is Because the seed of God abideth in them A tacite grant seemeth to be made that fruit sometimes may not visibly appeare upon them as the case is with a Tree in winter when it casts its leaves but its seed remaineth Grace may abide in the habit in and under a winter of Temptation though it doth not exert its selfe in bearing any such actuall fruit as may be ordinarily visible The Word of God is sometimes called seed incorruptible seed causatively as being an instrument in the hand of God whereby he planteth the seed of Life and holinesse in the heart That it is not the outward word but that which is produced and effected by it through the efficacy of the Spirit of God that is by seed intended is evident from the use and nature of it And it is abiding in the Person in whom it is Whatever it is it is called seed not in respect of that from whence it cometh as is the cause and Reason of that appellation of other seed but in respect of that which it produceth which ariseth and insueth upon it and it is called the seed of God because God useth it for the Regeneration of his Being from God being the principle of the Regeneration of them in whom it is abiding in them even when it hath brought forth fruit and continuing so to doe it can be no other but the New Creature New Nature inward Man new principle of Life or habit of Grace that is bestowed upon all Believers whence they are Regenerate quickned or borne againe of which we have spoken before This seed saith the Holy Ghost abideth §. 67. or remaineth in him Whatever falling or withering He may seeme to have or hath this seed the seed of God remaineth in him The principle of his new life abideth some exceptions are made as we shall see afterwards to the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remaineth and instances given where it signifyeth for to be and denoteth the essence of a thing not its duration That to abide or remaine is the proper signification of the word I suppose will not be questioned That it may in some place be used in another sence is not dispuited All that lyeth under consideration here is whether the word in this place be used properly according to its genuine and first signification or no It supposeth indeed to be also but properly signifieth only to abide or remaine Now if nothing can be advanced from the Text ot context from the matter treated on or the paralell significancy of some expression that is in conjunction with it that should inforce us to carry it from its proper use and signification the instancing of other places if any such be wherein it is restrained to denote being and not duration is altogether impertinent to the businesse in hand When an Argument is urged from any place of Scripture to pick out any word in the Text and to manifest that it hath been used improperly in some other place and therefore must be so in that is a procedure so farre from an ingenious Answer that it will scarce passe for a tolerable shift or evasion To remaine then or to abide is the proper signification of this word nothing is in the least offered to manifest that it must necessarily in this place be diverted from its proper use According to the import of the word the seed of God remaineth in Believers now that remaining of the seed is the cause of their not sinning that sinne or in that manner as the Apostle here denyeth them to be liable to sinne For that is the Reason he giveth why they cannot sinne even because the seed of God remaineth in them Mr Goodwin granteth that this seed remaineth in Believers alwayes unlesse they sinne by a totall defection from God Of not sinning the sinne of totall deâ—ection from God the remaining or abiding of this seed is the cause Whilst that abideth they cannot sinne that sin for it is an unquestionable cause uncontrouleable of their not so doing This seed therefore must be utterly lost and taken away before any such sinne can be committed Now if the seed cannot be lost without the commission of the sinne which cannot be committed till it be lost neither can the seed be lost nor the sin becommited The same thing cannot be before and after its selfe He that cannot go sucha journey unlesse he have such a horse cannot have such a horse unlesse he go such a journey is like to stay at home In what sence the words cannot sin are to be taken was before declared That there are sins innumerable whereinto men may fall notwithstanding this seed is confessed Under them all this seed abideth so it would not do under that which we cannot sin because it abideth but because it abideth that sin cannot be committed The latter part of the Reason of the Apostles assertion §. 68. is for he is borne of God which is indeed a driving on the former to its head and fountaine What it is to be borne of God we need not dispute It was sufficiently discovered in the mention that was made before of the seed of God God by his Holy Spirit bestowing on us a new Spirituall Life which by nature we have not and in respect of whose want we are said to be dead is frequently said to beget us James 1. 14. And we are said to be borne of God He is the Soveraigne disposer dispenser and supreme fountaine of that Life which is so bestowed on us which we are begotten againe unto and are borne with and by And Jesus Christ the Mediatour is also said to have this Life in himselfe Joh 5. because he hath received the spirit of the father to give to his for their quickning who taketh of his and thereby begeteth them a new And this Life which Believers thus receive and whereby indeed radically they become Believers is every where in Scripture noted as Permanent and abiding In respect of the originall of it it is said to be from above
forbearance of the allowance of temporall things from them to whom he Preached which was due to him by all right whereby any claime in any kind whatever may be pursued together with the expresse institution of the Lord Jesus Christ by him before laid downe In this course he behaved himselfe with wisdome zeale and diligence having many glorious aimes in his eye as also being full of a sence of the duty incumbent on him v. 6. to whose performance he was constrained by the Law of Jesus Christ as he also here expresses Among other things that provoked him to and supported him in his hard labour and travaile was the Love he bare to the Gospell and that he might have with others fellowship in the propagation and declaration of the glorious message thereof This is his intendment v. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For the Gospells sake or the love he bare to it he desired with others to be partaker of it that is of the excellent worke of preaching of it for of the benefit of the Gospell he might have bin partaker with other Believers though he had never bin set a part to its promulgation In his whole Discourse he still speaks accommodately to his businesse in hand for the describing of his worke of Apostleship in preaching the glorious Gospell of Jesus Christ and as to the end of this worke he acquaints us that there was proposed before him the incorruptible Crown of his Masters approbation upon his lawfull running and striving in the way of the ministry whereto he was called the peculiar Glory of them whom he is pleased to imploy in this service and though the cause of his fighting at that rate as he did was not wholly the feare of non approbation in that worke a necessity of duty being incumbent on him which he was to discharge yet he that knowes how to value the crowne of approbation from Christ the holy Angels and the Church of having Faithfully discharged the office of a Steward in dispensing the things of God will think it sufficiently effectuall to stirre up any one to the utmost expence of Love paines and diligence that he may not come short of it And of Mr Goodwins proofe this is the issue His next is from Heb. 6. 4 5 6 7. with Chap. 10. 26 27. which he brings in attended with the ensuing Discourse §. 26. Sect. 18. The next passage we shall insist npon to evince the possibility of a finall defection in the Saints openeth it selfe in these words For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the Heavenly guift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away to renew them againe nnto repentance seeing they crucify to themselves the sonne of God afresh and put him to an open shame For the earth which drinketh in the raine that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbes meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which beareth thornes and briers is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned Answerable hereunto is another in the same Epistle For if wee sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sinnes but a certaine fearefull looking for of Judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaryes He that despised Moses Law dyed without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Bloud of the Covenant where with he was Sanctifyed an unholy thing and hath done despight unto the Spirit of Grace Evident it is that in these two passages the Holy Ghost after a serious manner with a very pathetique moving straine of Speech and discourse scarce the like to be found in all the Scriptures admonisheth those who are at present true Believers to take heed of relapsing into the wayes of their former ignorance impiety This caveat or admonition he presseth by an argument of this import that in case they shall thus relapse there will be very little or no hope at all of their recovery or returne to the Estate of Faith and Grace wherein now they stand Before the faces of such sayings and passages as these rightly understood and duely considered there is no standing for that Doctrine which denies a possibility either of a totall or finall defection of the Saints But this light also is darkened in the Heavens by the interposition of the vailes of these two exceptions 1. That the Apostle in the said passages affirmes nothing positively concerning the falling away of those he speakes of but only conditionally and upon supposition 2. That he doth not speake of true and sound Believers but of Hypocrites and such who had Faith only in shew not in substance The former of these exceptions hath been already nonsuited and that by some of the ablest Patrons themselves of the cause of Perseverance where we were taught from a pen of that Learning that such conditionall sayings upon which Admonitions Promises or Threatnings are built doe at least suppose something impossible however by vertue of their Tenor and forme they suppose nothing in being But 2. As to the places in hand there is not any Hypotheticall signe or conditionall Particle to be found in either of them as they come from the Holy Ghost and are carried in the Originall Those two Iffs appearing in the English Translation the one in the former place the other in the latter shew it may be the Translators inclination to the cause but not their faithfulnesse in their engagement an infirmiâ—y whereunto they were very subject as we shall have occasion to take notice of the second time ere long in another instance of the like partiality But the Tenor of both the passages in hand is so ordered by the Apostle that he plainly declares how great and fearfull the danger is or will be when Believers doe or shall fall away not if or in case they shall fall away Ans. Of the two Answers which as himselfe signifyeth are usually given to the objections from these places of Scripture that Mr Goodwin doth not fairely acquit his hands of either will quickly appeare 1. To the first that the forme of speech used by the Apostle in both places is conditionall whence there is no arguing to the event without begging the thing in question or supposall that the condition in all respects may be fulfilled where it requires only to the coÌ„stitution of it as a condition in the place of arguing wherein it is used that it be possible in some only he opposeth That some of them who have wrote for the Doctrine of the Saints Perseverance have disclaimed the use of it as to its application to the place in Ezechiel