accordingly once and again already or that this Covenant is not made upon the same terms and conditions with all those interessed or included in it which is a conceit of no whit better an accord either with Reason or Truth Secondly If all Men have not a sufficiency of Means granted unto them §. 28. by God then God dealeth with the generality or far greatest part of Men more rigorously and with less mercy and this under the Covenant of Grace then He doth with the Devils themselves The Reason is plain because in case Men have not a sufficiency of Means whereby to be saved they have onely Means given them whereby to increase their Condemnation yea such means and so and upon such terms given them that they cannot but use them to their greater and more heavy Condemnation then that whereunto they should or could have been liable had no such Covenant of Grace been made with them or tendered unto them For if they be not enabled by God to Repent and to beleeve the Gospel they must needs be subjected to an absolute necessity of despising or neglecting it there being no medium between accepting the great Salvation brought unto them therein which is done by Faith and the neglecting of it which is always accompanied with Unbelief Now a neglect of the Gospel and of the great Salvation tendred therein by God unto men is the first-born of Provocations in the sight of God and maketh men sevenfold more the Children of Wrath and of Death then otherwise they would have been How shall we escape saith the Apostle if we NEGLECT so great a Salvation z Heb. 2. 3 c. implying that this sin is unquestionably more exasperating incensing enraging the Almighty against His Creature Man then any other sin or sins whatsoever Yea if a man by means of the Gospel and the Grace offered unto him therein be not brought to Repentance and to a forsaking of ways and practices of sin the sins themselves which he shall commit under the Gospel will turn to a far deeper and more dreadful account in condemnation unto him then the like sins without the Gospel would have done So that it is clear on every side that in case men be not enabled by God to Repent and beleeve the Gospel the exhibition and tender of the Gospel unto them must needs be an heaping of coals of fire upon their heads by God a project and design â—o render them two-fold or rather an hundred-fold more the Children of Hell Misery and Torment then otherwise they had been Whereas most certain it is that God hath designed nothing acted nothing in one kinde or other to increase the Punishment or Condemnation of the Devils especially in any way of an unavoydable Necessity above the demerit of their first sin Thirdly If God doth not vouchsafe sufficient means unto all Men whereby §. 29. to repent beleeve and so to be saved then will He condemn and destroy or at least increase the Condemnation and Destruction of far the greatest part of Men for that which is no sin I mean Impenitency and Unbelief For 1. I suppose that it is no sin at all in the Creature not to perform or do any such act which is proper onely for God Himself to do or which requires the lighting down of His Omnipotent Arm to effect it 2. I suppose that which hath been both lately and formerly proved that God doth and will condemn and destroy men for Impenitency and Unbelief So then if to Repent and to Beleeve be such acts or works in the Soul which cannot be produced raised or performed by men by means of that strength or those abilities which are vouchsafed unto them but absolutely require the Omnipotent Power of God to effect them it is no ways more sinful in the Creature not to exert or perform them then it is not to be God and consequently if God should punish men for the non-performance of them He should punish them for that which in such a case and upon such a supposition would be no sin Yea if God should punish men for not endevoring or not doing that which is in their power to do in order to Repenting and Beleeving He should punish them for not attempting to make themselves equal in Power unto God Fourthly If God hath not vouchsafed a sufficiency of Power to beleeve §. 30. unto those who notwithstanding do not beleeve then did our Saviour without any ground or cause in the least wonder at the Unbelief of many in the Gospel yea and at the Faith of others And He could there do no mighty work save that He layd His Hands upon a few sick folk and healed them And He MARVFLLED BECAVSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF a Mark 6. 6 On the other hand When Jesus heard it i. e. the Answer of the Centurion He MARVELLED and said unto them that followed Verily I say unto you I have not found so GREAT FAITH no not in Israel b Mat. 8. 10 First there is not the least cause or occasion why any man should marvel that Creatures or second Causes should not act above their sphere yea though there be the greatest conjunction of such means which are proper and helpful unto them in order to such actings which lie within their sphere As for example though the year be never so seasonable and fruitful yet there is not the least occasion to marvel or think it strange that the Thorn should not bring forth grapes or the Thistle figs. So in case there be twenty great lights shining in a room it is no matter of wonder at all that a blinde man seeth nothing at all that is before him In like manner in case it be supposed that men are utterly destitute of a Power of Beleeving there is not the least ayr or colour of an occasion why any man should think it strange that they should not beleeve what helps or advantages soever for oâ— towards beleeving they have otherwise So again when causes or means which are known â—o act necessarily uniformly and constantly in their way do move and act accordingly there is not the least occasion given why any man should marvel or wonder at it When the Sun shineth or fire burneth when birds fly or fishes swim no man is tempted or provoked to the least degree of admiration Nor is there any whit more reason or cause of marvel that any Person at any time should beleeve though under the greatest disadvantages for beleeving in case it be supposed and known that that Cause which worketh or produceth Faith in Men as viz. the Power of God by which Faith is always produced in Men when they do beleeve should always work or act necessitatingly or irresistibly in the production of it Possibly the Grace of God by which men under signal disadvantages are according to our Adversaries Principles necessitated to beleeve may be just matter of admiration unto men but the vouchsafement of such grace
rather importeth he implyeth not only that all our vitall actions and motions are exercised and performed by the gracious concurrence and compliance of God with us as well as our lives themselves and Principles of action preserved but further that there is a further and appropriate concurrence of God required and by him accordingly exhibited to enable men to act those very Principles of action and motion that are in them distinct from that by which their lives and Principles of action in every kind are preserved Insomuch that though men be never so well appointed or provided for action in one kind or other in respect of suitable proper and sufficiently-disposed Principles thereunto yet upon a suspension of that particular influence or concurrence by God which is appropriate and necessary both for the leading forth unto and for the supporting of these Principles in and under their proper actions there is none of them will go forth into action nor is able to maintain or support it selfe in acting But whether such a concurrence of God supposed and actually granted as is sufficient both for the leading forth unto and for the support of the Principles we speak of in their proper actings these Principles notwithstanding at least such of them whose actions lie under the command of the will may not refuse or forbear to act is another Question wherein more may be said hereafter In the mean time that God may at any time separate between Principles §. 7. and their actings even those that are most proper and connaturall to them only by with-holding that compliance of his with them which is appropriate and necessary for their conducting unto action is evident from severall passages in the Scriptures Doubtlesse the heat of the fire in Nebuchadnezzars furnace being het seven times hotter then ordinary was as proper as likely a means to have consumed Shadrach Meshach and Abednego being cast into the midst of this furnace as those who were imployed by the King only to cast them into it Nor can it reasonably be said That God separated the heat or burning property from the fire or annihilated it all the time that these three men were in the furnace For 1. unlesse we shall suppose the subject it self I mean the fire to have been destroyed or annihilated we cannot suppose that heat or a burning property being â— property inseparable from such a subject should be taken from it 2. It appears by the story that those who cast the three Servants of God mentioned into the furnace were consumed by the fire of it whilst the Servants of God remained in the furnace Therefore certainly there was true fire and true heat in the furnace whilest the three men continued in it 3. And lastly The story saith That the Princes Governors and Captains c. being gathered together saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power * Dan. 3. 27. So that there is not the least question but that there was reall fire and reall heat and that in abundance in the furnace which notwithstanding had no power no not so much as over the hair of their heads or the garments they wore What now was the Reason why this fire and this heat prevailed not over those that were cast into the midst of them as they did over those who cast them in Was it any other then this The Lord of hoasts his withdrawing the wonted conjunction of himselfe from the heat of the fire and refusing to comply with it in that expedition or attempt which it naturally inclined to make upon these men as well as upon any others to destroy them whereas he kept his naturall and accustomed union with this heat in that attempt which it made upon those other men who cast these into the furnace by means whereof it suddenly prevail'd upon them and consumed them There was the same Reason why the Bush which Moses saw burning with fire was not consumed by it The Reason likewise in all likelihood why the men of Sodom could not find the door of Lots house was because God withdrew his usuall concurrence from their visive faculty in order to the discerning of that object For that other things were all this while visible enough to them appears from their continued endevours even unto weariness in seeking this door If they had bin wholy blind so that they could have seen nothing at all it is no ways credible but that they would have desisted their enterprize at the very first This withdrawing or suspension of the wonted Presence of God with the Seeing faculty of men is called the holding of their eyes Luk. Luke 24 16. 24. 16. But their eyes were holden that they could not know him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were mightily or powerfully held they could not act or perform that which otherwise was most naturall and proper for them to do in receiving and representing to the Sensus Communis or adjudging faculty of the Soul the true species and shape of a Person standing visibly before them and neer to them through the want of that accustomed co-operative Presence of God with them in order to this act which untill now it is like had never failed them upon the like occasion Other instances we have in Scripture of such like impotencies and deficiences as these in naturall faculties through the suspension of that soveraign presence with them upon which all their motions and actions depend See Ioh. 20. 14 15. 2 Kings 6. 17 18 c. When God threatned his People of old That the wisdome of their wise men §. 8. Esa 29. 14 should perish and the understanding of their prudent men he hid Isai 29. 14. he doth not I suppose threaten an utter annihilation of those Principles or habits of wisdome and understanding in these men but only an intercision or failing of such interposals and actings from and by these Principles in order to the safety and preservatioâ—â—oth of themselves and their state which might reasonably and accordinâ— to the common course of second Causes be expected from them which wonder as he calls it was I conceive to be effected only by the hiding of his face from them without the beholding whereof no second Cause whatsoever is able to move no not in those ways of acting which are most appropriate to them This manner of execution of the judgment here threatened seems to be implyed in those latter words And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid i. e. shall not be conspicuous or discernable in any fruits or effects worthy of it not that the Principle it self should be absolutely destroyed or devested of Being This Liberty or great Interest of God which we speak of I mean to suspend the proper and most accustomed effects of second Causes by refusing to joyn in action with them causeth that time and chance as the wise man calleth them which happen now and then in those occurrences of humane affairs as
viz. when the race is not to the swift nor the battell to the strong c. Eccles 9. 11. Eccles 9. 11. §. 9. If it be here demanded In as much as second Causes and created Principles especially in men act notwithstanding such a substraction of the Divine Presence from them as hath been declared though not according to the perfection of their natures but in a troubled and miscarrying manner the eyes of the two Disciples we spake of though they were so held that they knew not Christ viz. to be the person which he was yet they represented him unto them as a man c. Whether do such actings as these proceed from their Principles without any such presence of the first Cause with them as that which we have asserted to be simply necessary for and with second Causes whensoever they go forth into action Or what manner of presence of this first Cause or how differing from that which is constant and more agreeable to their natures shall we suppose they have with them when they act irregularly or deficiently To this I answer 1. Whensoever second Causes move into action whether they act congruously to their respective natures and kinds or whether defectively they still have and must have a presence of the first Cause with them as hath beene already argued But 2. When they faile or faulter in their motions or actings if their motions be such which are not morall or commanded by the will of which kind the mis representation of the person of Christ by the eyes or visive faculty of the two Apostles was I conceive that the presence or concourse of the first cause with them is attempered and proportioned in order to the deficiency of the action I mean as well to the degree as kind of this deficiency and is not the same with it selfe in the ordinary and proper actings of these faculties The reason hereof is because faculties meerly naturall act determinately and uniformly after one and the same manner unlesse they be troubled and put out of their way by a superior power But in morall actions and such whose deficiency proceedeth from the wills of men or other creatures indued with the Whether or how the concurrence of God with the wils of men in good actions dister from that which is afforded unto them in evill actions shall God willing be taken into consideration in the second part of this work same faculty the presence and concourse of the first Cause with the Principles producing them is not at least ordinarily different from that which is naturall and proper to them and by vertue whereof at other times they act regularly or at least may The Reason hereof is because the nature and intrinsecall frame and constitution of the will importeth a liberty or freedom of chusing its own motions or acts this being the essentiall and characteristicall property of it whereby it is distinguished from causes meerly naturall Now then if this faculty when it moves or acts inordinately should be so influenced by the first Cause as hereby to be determined or necessitated to the inordinacy of its actings 1. That distinguishing property we speak of should be dissolved or destroyed and the will it selfe hereby reduced to the Order and Laws of Causes meerly naturall 2. The inordinatenesse or sinfulnesse of the motions and actings of it could not be resolved into it selfe or its own corruption but into that over ruling and necessitating influence of the first Cause upon it which it was not able to withstand nor to act besides or contrary unto the determinating exigency thereof And thus God shall be made the Author of Sin which is the first born of abominations even in the eye of Reason and Nature it selfe But of these things more hereafter Though all the motions and actings of the creature and created Principles §. 10. or faculties are absolutely suspended upon the association of the first Cause with them in their actings yet do they very seldom suffer any detriment or actuall suspension of their motions or actings hereby God never denying suspending or withdrawing that concurrence or conjunction of himself with them without which they cannot act but only upon some speciall design as for example now and then to be a Remembrancer unto the world that Nature and Second Causes are not autocratoricall i. e. do not perform what ordinarily they do perform independently and of themselves but that he is the soveraign Lord of them and hath all the strength and operations of them in his hand The battell commonly is to the strong and the race ordinarily to the swift and bread most frequently to men of understanding c. But more of this also in the following Chapter The Apostle affirming That in God we live and move in the sence declared §. 11. passeth the sentence of condemnation against two opinions which yet condemn one the other also being two extreams leaving the Truth between them in the middle The former denies all co-operation of the first Cause with the second affirming That God only communicateth that operating virtue unto them which they respectively exert and put forth and preserveth it but doth not at all co-operate with it The latter affirmeth That it is God only who acteth or worketh at the presence of Second Causes and that these do nothing but stand by act not at all The former of these opinions wâ—â— held by Durandus the Schoolman and by some others far more ancient then he against whom Augustin disputeth Lib. 5. dâ— Geâ— ad lit c. 20. The latteâ— by Gabriel Biel a School man also and some others of that Learning The Apostles assertion That we move in God in the sence asserted is visibly attended with these two consequentiall Truths 1. That God doth associate himselfe and communicate with Second Causes and all created Principles in their respective motions and operations and consequently contributes more towards their motions and operations then only by a collation and conservation of a sufficient strength or virtue in their respective causes to produce them 2. That the ordinary effects acts and operations produced in these sublunary parts are not so or upon any such terms attributable unto God but that they have their Second Causes also respectively producing them whereunto they may as truly and perhaps more properly be ascribed as unto God CHAP. II. Though there be as absolute and essential a Dependance of Second Causes upon the first in point of motion action and operation as of simple Existence or Being yet are not the motions actions or operations of Second Causes at least ordinarily so immediately or precisely determined by that Dependance which they have upon the first Cause as their respective Beings are THe simple Existences or Beings of things may be said to be determined §. 1. by God the first Cause three ways 1. In respect of their Natures or constituting Principles of their respective Beings 2. In respect of their
we are not to conceive that upon the multiplication or new production of Entities or Beings the acts of God are multiplied for or in their production but that whatsoever is produced by him or receives being from him as all things that have being do when or at what time soever they receive this being they receive it by vertue of that one creative act of his by which at once in the beginning as the Scripture phrase is he gave being to all things Past Present and yet to Come Nor are we to conceive that when Moses reporteth the History of the Creation thus And God said let there be light a Gen. 1. 3. and afterwards viz. after a dayes space that he said Let there be a Firmament b Gen. 1. 6. and again after the same distance of time Let the waters under the Heaven he gathered together into one place c Gen. 1. 9. c. that he spake these things at three severall distinct times or that he waited the just space of a day between speech and speech but that Moses his intent in this description or relation was to declare by what successive spaces or distances of time that one Creative Word of God which he spake at once took place and gave being to the severall and respective parts of the Universe So that for example when by way of Preface to the second dayes worke he writeth thus And God said let there be a Firmament c. His meaning only was to signifie what that one creative Word of God once and at once spoken did produce or give being unto towards the compleating of the Universe the second day after the Creation was begun not that God rested or kept silence for a dayes space and then fell to work again This truth I mean that all temporary and successive effects in the World §. 16. whether produced by the intervening and concourse of second Causes or without are produced by the impression and vigour of that one great act of God we speak of and not by any new act exercised or exerted by him in order to their severall and particular Productions is frequently insinuated in the Scriptures themselves yea and is demonstrable by ground of reason and nothing but what hath been the judgement of severall learned men and of Augustine by name The context of Moses Gen. 2. 4. tenoureth thus These are the generations of the Heavens and of the Earth when they were created IN THE DAY that the Lord made the Earth and the Heavens and every plant of the field BEFORE IT WAS IN THE EARTH and every herb of the Field BEFORE IT GREVV Here he plainly affirmeth that God created the Earth and the Heavens in the same day and every Plant of the Field BEFORE it was in the Earth c. Cleerly implying that though the Earth and the Heavens received their respective beings on two severall dayes successively yet that which God acted or did towards their Productions was done by him in one and the same day i. e. at once and again that although no Plant of the Field was actually produced before it was in the Earth for no Plant was made out of the Earth and afterwards by God put into it yet that on Gods part and in respect of what he contributed towards their actuall Production they were produced before viz. by that one Creative act we spake of Consonant to this deduction from as also to the exposition lately given unto the context of Moses is this passage of Augustine When thou hearest that all things were then made when the day was made conceive if thou beest able that six or seven fold repetition which is made or to be made without any intervalls of delayes or spaces of time or if thou beest not able so to conceive of it leave it for those to conceive who are able and go thou forward with the Scripture which forsaketh not thy infirmity but walketh a Mothers pace slowly with thee and which so speaketh that with her height shee laughs at the proud with her depth shee amazeth the considerate with her Truth shee feeds the strong or well-grown and with her affability nourisheth little ones a Et cum audis tunc facta omnia cum factus est dies illam senariam vel septenariam repetitionem sine intervallis moraâ—um spaciorumque temporalium factam si possis apprehendas si autem non possis haec relinquas conspicienda valentibus tu autem cum Scriptura non deserente infirmitatem tuam materno incessu tecum tardius ambulante proficias quae sic loquitur ut altitudine superbos irrideat profunditate attentos terreat veritate magnos pascat affabilitate parvos nutriat Aug. de Gen. ad lit l. 5. c. 3. The same Author elsewhere For God saith he made all time with all corporall Creatures together or at once which visible Creatures are signified by the Name of Heaven and Earth b Fecit enim Deus omne tempus simul cum omnibus creaturis corporalibus quae creaturae visibiles nomine coeli terrae significantur Aug. lib. 1. de Gen. contra Manich. c 3. Quod futurum est jam factum est Idem Soliq cap. 26. This to have been his positive and cleer judgement many other passages in his writings give plenary and pregnant testimony and more particularly his 105th Tractate upon John and his Books upon Genesis But to returne to the Scriptures Those words Psal 115. 3. He God hath done whatsoever he pleased in the best sence and interpretation of them and that which is closest to the letter are thus to be understood viz. that whatsoever God willeth or hath willed should at any time come to passe he hath already done viz. all that he meaneth or which is any wayes necessary for him to do towards the effecting of it In this sence also that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 30. with many other places of Scripture of like Phrase and consideration is to be understood Moreover whom he hath predestinated them also hath he called and whom he hath called them hath he also justified and whom he hath justified them hath he also glorified God is said to have already called justified glorified all those whom he did foreknow ver 29. i. e. preapprove viz. as lovers of God Vers 28. and so predestinated to be conformed to the Image of his Sonne because he hath already done whatsoever is requisite for him to doe for the procurement and effecting of them in due time By the way lest the Table of this Doctrine should prove a snare of error §. 17. or mistake unto any foure things are diligently to be minded First that that one great Act of God by which he gave Being in time unto the World and unto all things that either have been or ever shall be produced or done in it was not exercised or acted by him in time but from or in eternity The reason hereof is
4. they shall commit iniquity c. all the righteousnesse that they have done formerly shall not be mentioned i. e. as Calvin Himself interprets shall not come into any account as to matter of reward a Cum autem satis liqueat non venire justiciam ejus qui defecit in rationem ut quicquam mercedis sperare debeat c. Calv. in Ezek. 18. 24 evident it is that if it shall not come into any account at all as for example to obtaine from God so much as the reward of a temporall deliverance much lesse shall it turne to any such account as to be rewarded with that great recompence of reward Salvation Againe that Death which God here threateneth against that double or two fold iniquity of backsliding is opposed to that life which is promised to Repentance and Perseverance in well doing But this life is confessed by all to be eternall life therefore the death opposite to it must needs be eternall or the second death When the Apostle saith the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternall life through Christ Iesus our Lord b Rom. 6. 23. is it not evident from the antithesis or opposition in the sentence between the death and life mentioned in it that by that death which He affirmes to be the wages of sin is meant eternall death How else will the opposition stand Yet againe when God in the Scriptures threatens impenitent Persons with Death for their sins doubtlesse He intends and means eternall Death or that Death which is the wages of sin Otherwise we have no sufficient ground to believe or think that Men dying in their sins without Repentance shall suffer the vengeance of eternall fire but only a temporall or naturall Death which the righteous and truly penitent themselves suffer as well as they Therefore to say that God threatens impenitent Apostates in the place in hand with a temporall Death only when as elsewhere He threatens impenitency under the lightest guilt of all with eternall Death is in effect to represent him as vehement and sore in his disswasives from ordinary and lesser sins but indifferent and remisse in disswading from sins of the greatest Provocation Once more if it be only a temporall Death which God here threatneth against the Sons of Apostasie dying under the guilt of their Apostasie and of all the sins they have committed therein without Repentance then may Men under the guilt of the greatest and foulest abominations remaine in the greatest love and favour of God as just and righteous Men yea and without Repentance not only escape damnation but also inherit eternall life And where then is the God of judgement c Mal. 2 17. Or what will become of that great voyce of the Scriptures which every where calleth Men to Repentance for the forgivenesse of sins That comparative allusion of the Leper under the Law wherewith the §. 5. Synod of Dort it seemes much pleased themselves and others also since of the same judgement with them reacheth not the case nor administers any relief at all to their cause against the Scripture in hand The Leper say they among the Jews was enforced for a time meaning whilest his leprosie was upon Him to want His House but yet He did not in this time lose the right of Title which He had to this House because upon His healing or cleansing He might againe possesse it a Leprosus siquidem apud Judaeos cogebatur pro tempore domo caâ—ere non tamen jus ad domum amisit quia sanatus potuit illam rursus possidere Dr. Prid. Lect. 6. De Persever Sanct. p. 202. This comparison I say squares not with the businesse in hand For 1. The reason why the Person leprously affected did not lose the right He had to His House before He was leprous by His becomming a Leper was because there was no Law by which any Mans right or title to His House was disabled or made voyd by Leprosie whereas in the case of Apostasie there is a plaine Law or rather many Lawes established and declared by the great Law-giver of Heaven by which backsliders from wayes of righteousnesse into wayes of sin and abomination are without Repentance cut off from all right of title or claime to the inheritance of Heaven For this yee know saith the Apostle as we heard lately that no Whore-monger or uncleane Person nor covetous Man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance i. e. any right of inheritance or to inherit for otherwise no righteous Person yet living in the flesh hath any actuall inheritance in the Kingdome of Christ and of God b Eph. 5. 5. To object that this Law or Decree of Heaven holds good against such sinners in every kinde Whoremongers covetous c. who never were righteous not against such who have been righteous though now lapsed into these wayes of abomination is not only to declare a Law without the sence or authority of the Law-maker but against that Declaration which he hath made of it who still declareth those the worst and greatest of sinners who with the lapsed Angells which we call Devils revolt from his service and wayes to walke in wayes that are an abomination to Him Be astonished O yee Heavens at this and be horribly afraid be yee very desolate saith the Lord. Why what is it that causeth the Glorious God to appeare in such an extasie of Passion For my People saith He have committed two evills they have forsaken Me the Fountaine of living Waters and hewed them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no water c Jer. 2. 12 13. The Scripture is full of such Declarations from God as this against Apostates So that the Dort comparison palpably faulters in that circumstance which should have rendered it apposite to their Purpose 2. The leprous Person they speak of was cureable before his Death and §. 6. so as they say being healed might re-enter and possesse His House againe But the Revolter from Righteousnesse of whom Ezekiel speaks is supposed as we heard before to die under the guilt of his revolt without healing and consequently to be without all Possibility of cure being dead Therefore as the Leprous Person they speak of though whilest he lived had a right to His House no Law as was said depriving Him of this yet during His leprosie upon Him He had no right to enter take Possession or dwell in His House the Law disabling him hereunto in respect of his leprosie and in case he had been leprous untill his Death he should have had no more Power or Right to Possesse His House then if his title to it had been wholly lost in like manner should it be granted or supposed that the spirituall Leper of whom Ezekiel speaks had a right to the Kingdome of Heaven during his Leprosie yet supposing the cleaving of this Leprosie to him untill death which is the Prophets supposition he could never
according to the terms of the comparison have any right to enter or to be admitted thereunto and consequently his Leprosie I meane his apostasie had been finall and so unto death Therefore there is nothing gained to the Dort cause by this Similitude though it should be allowed a Preheminence above similitudes and permitted to run on all four And whereas they say and grant that a truly righteous man may for a time viz. from his turning aside into ways of wickedness until his renewing by Repentance lose though not Jus his right unto yet aptitudinem his fitness or meetness for the Kingdom of Heaven they argue quite besides the Argument levyed against them from the Passage in hand For in this reasoning they take it for granted that their righteous man never dyeth in those ways of wickedness into which he turneth aside but always cometh to be â—enewed again by Repentance before his Death whereas Ezekiel expresly and in terminis supposeth a possibility at least that his righteous man may dye in or under his Apostacy from Righteousness and in his committing of iniquity When a righteous man saith he turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity AND DYETH IN THEM for His iniquity that He hath done shall He dye a Ezek. 18. 26 Therefore all this while the Prophet of God and the Synod of Dort are two Nor is that Distinction made choyce of by Dr Prideaux to arbitrate and §. 7. umpire the difference between them able to set them through or make them friends There is saith He a double Righteousness one inherent or of Works by which we are sanctified another imputed or of Faith whereby we are justified A righteous man may turn aside from His own Righteousness viz. from His Holiness and fall into very heinous sins but it doth not follow from hence thaâ— therefore He hath wholly shaken off from Him or out of Him the Righteousness of Christ b Duplex enim est Iusticia inhaerens sive opâ—rum qâ—â saÌ„ctificamur imputata Christi seu fidei quâ justificamur Quibus positis ex â—copo Prophetae respondeo justum posse se a vertere à Justiciâ suâ suâ nimirum sanctitate et in atrocia incidere peccata non inde tamen sequitur illum justicâ—am Christi seu fidei penitus excussisse Dr Prid. Lect. 6. de Persever Sanctorum But 1. The Doctor here presents us with a piece of â—ew Divinity in making Sanctification and Justification no more intimate friends then that one can live without the company and presence of the other Doubtless if a mans Justification may stay behinde when his Holiness is departed that assertion of the Apostle will hardly stand Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord c Hebr. 12. 14 And if they that are Christs i. e. who beleeve in Christ and thereby are justified have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts another assertion of the same Apostle how their relation unto Christ should stand and yet their Holiness sink and fall I understand not But I leave his friends to be his enemies in this 2. He seems by his word penitùs wholly throughly or altogether to be singular also in another strain of Divinity and to teach magis and minus in Justification For in saying that from a mans apostaâ—izing from his own righteousness it doth not follow that therefore he hath WHOLLY or ALTOGETHER shaken off the imputed righteousness of Christ doth he not imply that a man may shake off some part of the righteousness of Christ from him and yet keep another part of it upon him or else that by sinning he may come to wear the intire garment or clothing of it so loosely that it will be ready to drop or fall off from him every hour and consequently that the righteousness of Christ sits faster and closer upon some then upon others yea upon the same person at one time then another 3. And lastly Were it granted unto the Doctor that from a mans turning aside from his own Holiness it doth not follow that therefore he hath wholly devested himself of the Righteousness of Christ imputed yet from Gods determination or pronouncing a man to be in an estate of condemnation and of death it follows roundly that therefore he is devested of the Righteousness of Christ imputed if ever he were invested with it before because no man with that Righteousness upon him can be in such an estate Now we have upon several grounds proved that the Righteous man under that Apostacy wherein Ezekiel describes and presents him is pronounced by God a childe not of a temporal but of eternal death and condemnation This indeed the Doctor denies but gives no Reason of his denial for which I blame him not Onely I must crave leave to say that the Chair weigheth not so much as one good Argument with me much less as many So that all this while he that spake and still speaks unto the World by Ezekiel is no friend to that Doctrine which denyeth the possibility of a righteous mans declining even unto death Notwithstanding some formerly it seems in favor of this Doctrine attempted §. 8. an escape from that sword of Ezekiel lately drawn against it by pretending that by the righteous man mentioned in the Passages in hand is not meant a person truly and really righteous but a kinde of formal Hypocrite or outside Professor of Righteousness But this shift had so little colour in the face of it that it caused the after-Patrons of the Doctrine to blush and be ashamed of it The Synod of Dort it self though it accepted of many helps in other cases of every whit as little strength as this yet judging it self better provided at that point where this was offered to relieve it it was rejected by the Members of this Synod and that with some kinde of disparagement put upon it I will not say with any such intent or eye that they who thus rejected it might be looked upon as men who would own nothing but what was solid and substantial The fore-mentioned Doctor also rewards the Synod of Dort with his approbation for refusing to entrust their cause in the hand of such a sorry Advocate as this So that we shall not need to cause this Interpretation to pass through the fire for the tryal of it in as much as it hath been publiquely stigmatized for reprobate silver by the greatest Masters of that cause for the maintenance whereof it was devised And indeed the whole series and carriage of the Context from Vers 20. to the end of the Chapter demonstratively evinceth that by the righteous man all along is meant such a man as was or is truly righteous and who had he persevered in that way of Righteousness wherein he sometimes walked should have worn the Crown of Righteousness and received the reward of a righteous man As by the wicked man all along opposed to him is meant not a person
in case he had not continued to keep it under he might be a Reprobate Nay as in case Christ had not died there had not been a Possibility onely but even a certainty of their perishing who now by believing on him are saved in like manner in case Paul had deserted his exercise of keeping under his Body there had been more then a possibility and no whit lesse then a certainty of his proving a Reprobate though now by means of his persevering therein unto the end as we have cause in abundance to judge concerning him he be saved So that the Argument recoyles as we see upon the Author himself and the cause which he seekes to maintaine by it Our English Annotators upon the place are very tender of admitting any §. 17. such sence of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which should imply any uncertainty in the Apostle of his Election or of obtaining the prize But the truth is that that sence of the Word for which we have contested doth no wayes imply the former nor yet if by uncertainty be meant any thing grievous or discourageing to the Apostle the latter For 1. He might notwithstanding a possibility of becoming a Reprobate afterwards know certainly that for the present He was elected in as much as know He might with the greatest certainty and doubtlesse did that He did believe And that all those who truly believe are elected our Adversaries themselves will not deny 2. Notwithstanding such a possibility as we suppose of his becoming a Reprobate He might have as much certainty of obtaining the prize as He desired or was any wayes meet or reasonable for him either to desire or enjoy This certainty He might have and questionlesse had upon his continuance in well doing and for any Man to be certaine of obtaining the prize though He should apostatize and decline into wayes of wickednesse is not a certainty either meet for God to give or for any Man to receive Somewhat more was said upon this account in the nineth Chapter The next passage we shall insist upon to evince the possibility of a finall §. 18. defection in the Saints openeth it self in these words For it is unpossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the Heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the World to come If they shall fall away to renew them againe unto Repentance seeing they Crucifie to themselves the Son 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 Herbs 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 a Heb. 6. 4 5 6 7 c. Answerable hereunto is another in the same Epistle For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sins But a certaine fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose yee shall he be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite to the Spirit of Grace b Heb. 10. 26 27 c. Evident it is that in these two passages the Holy Ghost after a most serious manner and with a very pathetique and 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 and impiety This Caveat or admonition he vehemently 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 they now stand Before the faces of such sayings and passages as these rightly understood and duly considered there is no standing for that Doctrine which denies a possibility either of a totall or finall defection in the Saints But this light also is darkened in the Heavens thereof by the interposition of the vailes of these two exceptions 1. That the Apostle in the said passages affirms nothing positively concerning the falling away of those he speaks of but only conditionally and upon supposition 2. That he doth not speak of true and sound Believers but of Hypocrites and such who had Faith onely in shew not in substance The former of these exceptions hath been already non-suited and that by some of the ablest Patrons themselves of the cause of Perseverance c Cap. 11. Sect. 9. where we were taught from a pen of that learning That such conditional sayings upon which Admonitions Promises or Threatenings are built do at least suppose something in possibility however by vertue of their Tenor and Form they suppose nothing in being But 2. As to the Places in Hand there is not any Hypothetical sign or conditional Particle to be found in either of them as they come from the Holy Ghost and are carried in the Original 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 faithfulness in their engagement an infirmity whereunto they were very subject as we shall have occasion to take notice of the second time ere long in another instance of like partiality But the Tenor of both the Passages in hand is so ordered by the Apostle that He plainly declares how great and fearful the danger is or will be when Beleevers do or shall fall away not if or in case they shall fall away To the latter exception which pretends to finde onely Hypocrites and §. 19. not true Beleevers staged in both Passages we likewise answer that it glosseth no whit better then the former if not much worse considering that the Persons presented in the said Passages are described by such characters and signal excellencies which the Scriptures are wont to appropriate unto Saints and true Beleevers and that when they intend to shew them in the best and greatest of their glory What we say herein will I suppose be made above all gainsaying by instancing Particulars 1. The Persons spoken of are in the former of the Passages said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. enlightened meaning with the knowledg of God and of Jesus Christ in the Gospel How frequently is this Grace of illumination or enlightening attributed unto the Saints or true Beleevers The Apostle having said that the god of this world had blinded the eyes of those who beleeve nor lest the light
doth not invite or occasion any Man to judge concerning any Saint or true Believer that he will or that he is likely so to fall but onely that it is possible for him so to fall Nor is such a judgement or thought as this concerning any Man yea or Creature whatsoever any jealousie or suspicion at all concerning him nor hath it any thing reflective or disparaging in it to the Worth Honour or Repute of that Creature how great and worthy soever he be concerning whom it is conceived it being no disparagement at all no not to the first borne of Creatures I mean to the Angels themselves not to partake or not to be thought to partake in any incommunicable property of God such as his unchangeablenesse is To look upon a Saint or a true Believer as one who may possibly Apostatize is but to looke upon him as being a Creature and not God nor would such an eye as this offend the greatest Angell in Heaven considering that he never gave nor is capable of giving any competent ground or reason unto any Man to look upon him with any other But to looke upon a Saint or true Believer especially when he hath given all the Christian satisfaction that reasonably can be desired or expected of his uprightnesse and sincerity as one that for ought we can tell or have any sufficient ground to judge the contrary may be an Hypocrite and rotten at the core is an high straine of Unchristian unworthinesse and what reason it selfe competently informed cannot lightly but abhor The Premisses concerning the subject yet in hand the Doctrine of Perseverance duly considered it fully appeares that that Doctrine which for these many yeares last past hath magnified it self in the Tongues and Pens of Men not onely or simply for a Truth but with many great Elogiums and titles of Soveraigne dignity as that it is a fundamentall Article of the Reformed Religion one of the principal Points or Heads of Christian Religion wherein the Reformed Churches have purged themselves from the Errors of Popery that it is the foundation of all true assurance of Salvation without which true Faith it self cannot stand that it contains that Promise of God which all Ministers of the Gospel stand bound to commend and inculcate with all diligence into all true Beleevers for their comfort with many such like studied and strained-for commendations this Doctrine I say in whose praises the Friends of it have risen up so early and lifted it up so neer unto the Heavens as hath been shewed upon a strict and unpartial enquiry and examination hath been found a meer Impostor an appearance of Satan in the likeness of an Angel of Light a Tenent which cannot stand in Judgment with the sound and wholesom Doctrines of the Gospel We shall further God willing shew unto you in how little request the said Doctrine of Perseverance was with those who are to this day counted Pillars of the Christian Faith in the Primitive and most exemplary times and likewise how unstable and uncertain if not unsatisfied also the greatest Friends and learnedst Abettors of it in latter times or at least those who are commonly taken for such have been in their Judgments about it In the interim we shall onely in order to the further clearing up of the truth against the mist of the said Doctrine give you a brief account from the Scriptures themselves of some Examples who with their own Declinings sealed the truth of that Doctrine which hath been maintained hitherto concerning the possibility of a total Declining in the Saints CHAP. XIV Exhibiting from the Scriptures some Instances of a Total Declining or Falling away from the Grace and Favor of God in true Beleevers THe Contents and undertaking of this Chapter is a surplussage or over-measure §. 1. to the Demonstration of the Doctrine under defence For to prove a possibility that true Beleevers may totally fall away it is not necessary to prove either that any such will so fall away this would be a very prâ—sumptuous engagement nor that any such are wont to fall away though this be extreamly probable and a borderer to that which is evident and unquestionable nor yet that any have actually and de facto so fallen away which is our present engagement but onely to evince the truth of such Grounds and Reasons whether from the Scriptures or from the nature and consideration of the things themselves from which being granted the said Possibility perfectly appeareth and becomes visible to the eyes of the judgments and understandings of men Nevertheless since the eviction of this assertion that some formerly Saints and true Beleevers have de facto totally fallen away is so pregnant a Proof of the Possibility that such may so fall away I judged it both worth my labour and the Readers consideration to present what the Scriptures hold forth upon that account Let us first insist upon the Example of David concerning whom no man I presume questioneth but that He was as true and real a Saint and Beleever before the Perpetration of those two horrid sins one upon the neck of another Murther and Adultery as He was after His Repentance of or for those Perpetrations For 1. that signal testimony of being a man according to Gods own Heart was given unto Him by God Himself before He committed these sins as appears from Acts 13. 22. compared with Psal 89. 20. 1 King 14. 8. In the first of these places it is said And after He had taken Him away He raised up David to be their King of whom He witnessed saying I have sound David the son of Jesse a man after mine own Heart which will do all things that I will This with the other places mentioned clearly speak of the frame and temper of Davids Heart and of the acceptableness of His Person unto God at the time of His anointing and investiture into the Kingdom whereas it is evident that the two great sins specified were committed by Him many years after he had been King Besides there are many pregnant Arguments in the Scripture of Davids integrity and uprightness before God before that great eclipse of the glory of them whereof we spake But we shall not need to insist upon any thing in this kind our Adversaries themselves in the cause depending generally acknowledg him to have bin a man truly godly and regenerate before the guilt of the two enormous sins mentioned clavâ— unto Him The Question is Whether He continued such truly Godly under the guilt of the said sins viz. from the time of the Perpetration of them until the time of His Repentance They affirm I deny and give this account of my Denyal in opposition to their Affirmation He that commits Murther and Adultery not onely against the clear light of His §. 2. Conscience but with delâ—beration and premeditated contrivance and remains under the pollution and guilt of these sins without Repentance is not a man truly godly or
necessary Rule viz. That those Promises of God are to be understood with reference to the present state and condition of things b Promissiones itaque illae Dei pro statu praesenti rerum intelligendae sunt with those to whom they were made And Lorinus writing upon Acts 1. 16. reports it as the probable opinion of Cyrill Jerom Tertullian Ambrose Chrysostom Basil Ammonius Leontius Olympiodorus Anastasius Leo Euthymius c. that Judas when he was chosen by Christ to be an Apostle was a good man and so continued for some time afterwards and withall mentioneth the grounds upon which some of the said Authors so conceived of him We shall not need to argue the case of Demas Alexander Hymeneus and several others whose revoltings from the Faith are recorded in Scriptures Concerning the two latter of the three now mentioned Hymeneus and Alexander it is expresly said that they were delivered up unto Satan by the Apostle Paul c 1 Tim. 1. 20 Which plainly sheweth 1. That they were judged meet by the Saints to be received as Church-members by them For otherwise the Apostle demands What have I to do to judg them that are without d 1 Cor. 5. 12 meaning to inflict any Ecclesiastical or Church-censure upon those who were not Members of some Christian Church or other And if they were judged meet by the Saints of that Church who admitted them into Christian communion with them they were judged true Beleevers by them and their judgment of them as being true Beleevers is a far better ground for us to judg them to have been such also then their Apostacy is to judg them to have been Hypocrites at that time when they judged them true Beleevers 2. Their delivering up unto Satan by the Apostle sheweth that he judged them totally fallen from their faith and so dismembered from Christ for otherwise he shouâ—â— have delivered up unto Satan such persons whom he judged true Members of Christ There is the like consideration of the Incestuous Person in the Church of Corinth His receiving into this Church is more then a probable argument that he was at this time a true Beleever Nor is there the least intimation given of any difference between him and the rest of the Members of this Church whom the Apostle termeth Saints by calling and sanctified by Christ Jesus And if he were not a true Member of Christ before the committing of the sin for which he was delivered up unto Satan by the Apostle He sustained no great loss in his spiritual condition either by committing the said sin or by being so delivered up for it For upon this supposition he was no better then an Hypocrite before and worse he could not lightly be afterwards And besides the tenor and import of the sentence of Excommunication is not declarative that the person sentenced never was a sound Beleever or true Member of Christ but that now by his sinful misdemeanor whereby he incurreth that sentence he hath dismembered himself from Him Nor can the said sentence be duly stiled a delivering up unto Satan if it must be still supposed that the persons justly sentenced herewith had been always before the said sentence as much under his power as they are or can be afterwards So that all circumstances considered it cannot reasonably be judged but that the person now in instance had sometimes been a true Member of Christ and Beleever But that he sinned away this his blessed Relation by that sin for which he was delivered up unto Satan needs no other proof but the Apostles express order for this sentence to pass upon him 1 Cor. 5. 3 4 5. For I verily as absent in body but present in spirit have determined already as though I were present that he that hath done this thing when ye are gathered together and my spirit in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that such an one I say by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ be delivered unto Satan c. Doubtless this Apostle who professeth that he could do nothing against the truth but for the truth never consented much less commanded that any true Member of Christ should be delivered unto Satan But as hath been said the cause in hand standeth in no need of confirmation from these examples the serviceableness whereof for such a purpose may possibly be evaded with more plausibleness of pretence then the former Any one instance of a total declining in him who hath at any time been a true Beleever is sufficient to prove the truth of the Doctrine under maintenance yea as was said in the beginning of this Chapter though no such instance could be produced yet may the said Doctrine receive demonstrative evidence and this in abundance otherwise and I trust hath received it from the Premisses in this Discourse Yet give me leave to add one instance more Concerning the Galatians unto whom the Apostle Paul writeth any man §. 16. that shall diligently peruse the Epistle written unto them cannot lightly but conclude that certainly these men I mean the generality of them and more particularly those for whose sake especially the Epistle was written were sometimes viz. when Paul left them after he had preached the Gospel for a while unto them true Beleevers and persons justified in the sight of God and afterwards viz. when he wrote the Epistle unto them had suffered a total loss of their Faith and of Justification by it That they were sometimes true Beleevers these passages compared and layd together are sufficiently pregnant I conceive to give satisfaction unto any duly considering man I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the Grace of Christ unto another Gospel a Gal. 1. 6. Their removal from him that called them c. plainly supposeth that sometimes they had cleaved unto him viz. in the cordial imbracement of that Gospel which he had sent amongst them and by which he had called them So again Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith b Chap. 3. 2 5 The receiving of the Spirit is still appropriated unto true Beleevers This he spake of the Spirit which they that BELEEVED in Him should receive c John 7. 39. And elsewhere And God which knoweth the Heart gave them witness viz. that they beleeved as appears from the former verse in giving unto them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us to omit other places Again And my tryal which was in my flesh ye despised not neither abhorred but ye received me as an Angel of God yea as Christ Jesus What was then your felicity For I bear you record that if it had been possible ye would have plucked ouâ— your own eyes and have given them unto me d Gal. 4. 14 15 If our Saviours words be true He that receiveth a Prophet in the Name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward and He that receiveth a
out their silver for that which is not bread from leaning upon broken reeds from expecting Rain from Clouds without water from putting their trust in things that cannot help or profit c. it is at no hand to be beleeved that He will counsel or command any man to buy gold or white rayment of Jesus Christ unless He knew that He had both the one and the other for them to depend upon Him for Salvation unless this great and blessed commodity were in his Hand ready for them Yea it is the manner of God and so of the Lord Christ also to take men off and turn their expectations and dependencies aside even from himself in respect of a receiving such things from Him which He finds them inclined to expect from him and himself in no posture of minde or will to give them Upon this account He speaketh unto Jeremy thus Therefore pray not thou for this people neither lift up cry or prayer for them neither make intercession to me for I will not hear thee e Jer. 7. 16 The emphasis of all this variety of expressâ—on pray not lift not up cry nor prayer make no intercession c. standeth I conceive in this viz. to declare that when He is fully purposed and resolved not to do a thing He would not have any thing at all little or much in one kinde or other done by the Creature for the obtaining of it at His hand He expresseth himself once and again to the same Prophet in words of like effect and almost of the same tenor f Jer. 11. 14 14 11 So when He perceived that Amaziah and the men of Judah expected and depended upon his presence with those hundred thousand men of valor which they had hired with a great sum of money out of Israel to assist them against the Edomites and He was fully purposed not to be present with them or to prosper them in Battel He gave knowledg unto Amaziah and those with him accordingly and by an express from himself by the hand of a Prophet advised him to discharge this Army which accordingly he did and prospered g 2 Chron. 25 6 7 c. In like manner our Saviour in the Gospel knowing that the Scribe who came unto him with this profession Master I will follow thee whither soever thou goest h Mat. 8. 19 expected some great accommodations by him in the World quenched his expectations in this kinde with this water cast upon them The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the ayr have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay His Head i Mat. 8. 20 That passage also of his to his Disciples savors much of the same spirit In my Fathers House are many Mansions IF IT WERE NOT SO I WOVLD HAVE TOLD YOV k John 14. 2 c. Clearly implying that his disposition and spirit stood to deal clearly and plainly with them about such things which they might and might not expect from him and that he would not suffer them to look for more from him then what he was fully able and provided of and withall ready and willing to confer upon them And it being as we all know the determinate Counsel and most fixed Will and Purpose of God not to give Salvation unto final Impenitents and Unbeleevers he hath openly and aloud proclaimed the thing accordingly in the hearing of all the World that Men might not be deceived frustrated or undone by any their expectations from him in this kinde So that we may without the least regret of minde or thought conclude that God enjoyneth no man requireth no man to beleeve on Jesus Christ for Salvation or to expect Salvation by him but onely those for whom he hath purchased or provided Salvation and is accordingly ready and willing to give it unto them Therefore if the Doctrine of our Adversaries be Orthodox which teacheth that Christ dyed not for all Men but for the Elect onely certain it is that none but the Elect are enjoyned by God to beleeve on him for Salvation and consequently no other Person who beleeveth not on him transgresseth any Commandment of God in this his non-beleeving and so cannot be liable unto any Condemnation at all thereby much less to the Condemnation of Hell This for Proof of the Major Proposition in the Argument last proposed The Tenor of the Minor was this But there are many that will be found §. 23. liable to Condemnation yea that will be actually condemned for Unbelief This Proposition hath I conceive such pregnant affinity with the express and unavoydable letter of the Scripture that the mention of a place or two speaking to the point will be proof in abundance He that beleeveth on Him is not condemned but He that beleeveth not viz. in case this Son of God hath been declared or preached unto him for it is a non-beleeving in this case onely of which he here speaketh is condemned already because He hath not beleeved in the Name of the onely begotten Son of God l Iohn 3. 18 Is condemned already i. e. his Sin in not beleeving is so notorious and so provoking in the sight of God that it carries Condemnation as it were in the very face of it and renders the Person guilty as good as condemned before the sentence of Condemnation passeth from the mouth of the Judg upon him according to the ancient saying Illo nocens se damnat quo peccat die i. e. The self same day wherein He sinneth The Person guilty Himself condemneth Yea the Scripture it self the better to set forth the greatness and great danger of the sin of Unbelief speaketh of it much after the same manner It was necessary say Paul and Barnabas with great boldness unto the Jews that the Word of God should first have been spoken unto you but seeing ye put it from you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. and judg or adjudg decernitis your selves unworthy of eternal life i. e. saith Beza by this your own fact pass sentence as it were and give Judgment against your selves m Hoc vestro facto que si sententâ—a in vos lata stâ—tuitis deccraitis lo we turn to the Gentiles n Acts 13. 46 Their rejecting or non-beleeving in Christ revealed by the Ministry of the Gospel unto them is interpreted by the Holy Ghost as a sentence of Condemnation pronounced against themselves by themselves So again He that beleeveth not shall be damned o Mark 16. 16 meaning not onely if so much for his other sins as for his non-beleeving as is fully evident from other places where the high-provokingness of the sin of Unbelief in the sight of God is very plainly and significantly asserted For if the Word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Which at first began to be spoken by the Lord
p Heb. 2. 2 3 c. When he saith if we neglect so great a Salvation he expresseth or points at Unbelief in the ordinary and most proper cause of it viz. negligence or contempt of the Gospel and of the Grace therein offered by God unto the World which neglect or contempt are sins highly-offensive and displeasing unto Him This appears yet more plainly in the Parable of the marriage feast or great Supper where upon the report of the servant sent forth to invite the guests of their slight pretences for their not coming the Master of the Feast is said to have been angry and in the heat of His Anger to have said that none of those men that were bidden should taste of His Supper q Luk. 14. 21 24 Besides the sin of Unbelief is interpreted by the Holy Ghost Himself as a giving of the lye to God or which is the same the making of Him a lyar and in this respect it must be a sin highly exasperating and provoking Him and consequently must needs be a sin exposing the sinner unto Condemnation He that beleeveth not God hath made Him a lyar because He beleeveth not the record that God gave of His Son r 1 Iohn 5. 10 This Proposition then being unquestionable viz. that Unbelief and that by way of demerit as well if not rather as any other sin and not by the meer pleasure or appointment of God onely rendereth men justly obnoxious unto Condemnation the Argument of the last Proposal stands impregnable against all assaults and therefore Christ dyed for all Men without exception and not for the Elect onely The Truth of this Conclusion I evince by this Demonstration also If §. 24. Argum. 8. Christ dâ—ed not for all Men but for the Elect onely then did God put the World I mean the generality of Mankinde into a far better and more desirable estate and condition in the first Adam and under the Law of Works then He hath donâ— in the second Adam or under the Law of Grace But this is not so the World was not at first put by God into a better condition in the first Adam or under the Law of Works then it is in the second Adam and under the Law of Grace Ergo. In this Argument I do not apprehend what according to the Principles of our Adversaries themselves can reasonably be denyed The Consequence in the Proposition opposeth none of these Principles For doubtless none of them gainsayeth any of these Positions Either 1. That it is a better and more desirable condition to be in a capacity or under a possibility of being saved then to be in an utter incapacity or under an absolute impossibility of obtaining this Blessedness Or 2. That in the first Adam all Men were alike salvable being all furnished with gracious abilities for the doing of the Will of God and for the observing of that Law upon the observation whereof their Life and Peace depended even as Adam himself was furnished in this kinde with whom all Men stood in one and the same condition Or 3. and lastly That the generality or far greatest part of Mankinde are not brought into a capacity of Salvation by the second Adam no satisfaction or attonement being made for their Sins by Him They who grant these three Conclusions if they be willing to be led by their own light cannot stumble at the Consequence in the Major Proposition Nor can I conceive wherein the Minor should offend them For it is the uncontroverted sence of all Divines as far as yet I understand that the second Adam is far a greater Benefactor to Mankinde then the first Adam was even whilest his innocency remained with him and that the condition of men in general is much better under the second Covenant the Covenant of Grace then it was under the first the Law or Covenant of Works Nor is it at any hand worthy belief that God should put the World into a better estate or posture of well-being in the first Man who was from the Earth earthy then in the second Man who is the Lord from Heaven especially considering that it is the constant method of the Almighty in His Works and Dispensations to begin with that which is less perfect to proceed unto that which is more and to conclude with that which is most perfect of all First the blade saith our Saviour and then the ear and after that in the last place the full corn in the ear s Mark 4. 28 And the Apostle tells us in another case that when that which is perfect is come that which is in part or unperfect shall be done away t 1 Cor. 13. 10 So that it seems that which is perfect is still hindmost in the retinue of Gods Proceedings as Rachel and her children were in Jacobs march when He went to meet his Brother Esau u Gen 33 2 Thus God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by Prophets in these last days hath spoken unto us by His Son x Heb. 1. 1 2 But the path we now speak of hath been so much occupyed and beaten with the feet of the Providence of the most wise God that it is visible enough to all the World As to the Particular in hand viz. that the Grace of God abounds to the World much more in the latter the new Covenant which He hath struck with it in Jesus Christ then it did in the former Covenant made with it in Adam appears as in general by those glorious things that are every where spoken of the latter Covenant above any thing so much as intimated concerning the former so more particularly from that Consideration which the Apostle suggests unto us in this Passage And not as it was by one that sined so is the gift for the Judgment was by one unto Condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto Justification y Rom. 5. 16 Whereas he saith that the Judgment was by one i. e. by reason of or upon the commission of one sin onely as appears from the antithesis in the latter clause but the free gift is of many offences unto Condemnation He plainly informeth us that the first Covenant made with the World in the first Adam was so narrow peremptory and strict that in case any Person of Mankinde should at any time and though but once have tript or step'd aside from any thing commanded therein He became presently a dead man hereby wholly bereft of all hope or possibility of being ever recovered or restored to the Favor of God by means of this Covenant according to that cited by the same Apostle Cursed is every one THAT CONTINVETH not IN ALL things which are written in the book of the Law to do them z Gal. 3. 10 Whereas the Covenant of Grace made with the World in Jesus Christ is as we are taught in the words but the free Gift is
personal consideration whatsoever altereth their Natures or essential Properties Again 2. If the intent of God were to express or signifie His Approbative Will of the Repentance and Salvation of his Creature or the agreeableness of these to His Nature Minde and Goodness He would rather have expressed it in applications of himself unto such persons or subjects whose Repentance and Salvation he really intendeth and desireth then in addressments made to those whose Repentance and Salvation he desireth not nay whom he was resolved from Eternity for this is the voyce of the Oracle consulted by our Adversaries to destroy for ever It were very unproper and hard for a Judg or Prince to make a feeling and affectionate Discourse of their clemency goodness and sweetness of Nature their great averseness to acts of severity c. unto such persons whom they had been of a long time resolved and before any cause administred by these persons of such a resolution against them to put to a terrible torturing and ignominlous death especially at or neer the time when this most severe execution is intended to be done upon them 3. And lastly The Argument propounded by us and with whose vindication we are yet in labor doth neither suppose that God will work Repentance as our Adversaries call working Repentance in the persons there spoken of i. e. that he will work it upon any such terms that it shall necessarily or infallibly be effected nor yet that the persons themselves can repent without God That which it supposeth is this that God is so far moving and assisting the Hearts Wills and Consciences of these men in order to their Repentance that if they were but willing to do what he enableth them to do in reference and order to the same their Repentance would be effected and they saved upon it In which case I mean if they should repent this Repentance were most justly ascribable unto God not to themselves in as much as it is he that 1. Giveth them power and abilities to repent 2. That secretly forms and fashions their Wills so as to make them willing actually to repent 3. That supports their Wills thus framed to and in the production of the act it self of Repentance Whereas that which men themselves do in towards or about their Repentance is so inconsiderable in comparison of what God doth that the greatness of his Grace and interposure herein deserves in a manner all the praise and honor that belongs unto the action although it be true also that the person himself who repenteth or in whom Repentance is wrought must of necessity be so far or to such a degree interessed and active in the work that the work it self may be as truly and properly ascribed unto him or called His as it is ascribed unto God and termed his For it is man that repenteth not God though what he doth in repenting he doth by the operating and assisting Grace of God in which respect it is said to be his gift But concerning the conjuncture and respective interests of the first and second Causes in the production or raising of one and the same act we shall God willing discourse more particularly in the second part of this Work where also we shall clear and discharge all those Passages and Texts of Scripture from their hard service which are compelled by some to serve against this great Truth of that high importance for the glory as well of the Grace as Justice of God That all Men without exception have a sufficiency of power vouchsafed unto them by God whereby to Repent and to beleeve unto Salvation and that it is through want of Will or rather willingness not of Power that any man perisheth At present to the further confirmation of the main Doctrine commended in this Discourse we argue thus In the eleventh place If God intended not the Death of Christ as a Ransom §. 37. Argum. 11. or Satisfaction for all Men then are there some Men whom He never intended to save but to leave irrecoverably to everlasting destruction and perdition This Proposition I suppose stands firm and strong upon its own basis and needs no Prop of Proof or Argument to support it For God intending to save no man but by the Death of Christ evident it is that if there be any man or number of men for whose Salvation he did not intend this Death that he never intended their Salvation Therefore I assume But there are no such Men or number of Men whose Salvation God never intended or whom He intended to leave irrecoverably to everlasting perdition Ergo. The Reason of this Proposition is partly because whatsoever God at any time intends he intended always yea from Eternity partly also because there was a time when all Men were righteous and holy viz. during the whole time of Adams integrity in whose loyns all Men then were and so must needs be Partakers of the same Holiness and Integrity with him So that unless we shall say and hold that God never intended the Salvation of just and holy men but to leave them irrecoverably to everlasting perdition we cannot say that there are or were any men or any number of men whose Salvation he never intended or whom he intended to leave irrecoverably to everlasting destruction Yea all Men had a Being in God himself before they received or had a Being in Adam in which respect Adam himself is called the Son of God a Luke 4. 38 viz. because he received his Being from him as though not after the manner that children receive their Beings from their Parents or Fathers Now wheresoever or in what estate and condition soever Adam was there were all Men in the same estate and condition with him So then all Men considered as being in God were nothing but God himself according to the common and most true Maxim of Divines Quicquid in Deo est est Deus whatsoever is in God is God The truth of this Maxim was clearly evinced by us Cap. 4. of this Discourse where we argued the absolute simplicity of the Divine Essence or God Therefore if God purposed from Eternity to leave any man or number of men irrecoverably to eternal destruction this Purpose was conceived or taken up by Him against these men whilest they were yet onely in His Will and Power and consequently whilest they were nothing but Himself But that God should peremptorily resolve and decree never to save nor to intend to save but to design and consign over irrevocably irreversibly irrecoverably to eternal misery and destruction millions of men whilest they were yet perfectly righteous and holy yea whilest they were yet nothing but Himself is doubtless a Notion hardly incident to the judgment or thoughts of any man who trembles to think irreverently or unworthily of God It is like it will be here pleaded that God in His Purpose or Decree to §. 38. leave the men we speak of to everlasting perdition doth
then we may truly be called the Redeemers or Saviours of the World replyeth thus The Righteousness of Christ then is not imputed for example unto Peter as or as it is the general PRICE OF REDEMPTION FOR ALL MEN but as the Price wherewith His Soul is redeemed in particular h Non igitur Petro imputatur Iusticia Christ vt generale pretium RedeÌ„ptionis pro omnibus sed vt pretium quo illius anima in particulari redimitur c. Joh. Davenantius in Praelect De Justiciâ Habit. p. 331. In which words he plainly enough supposeth the said Righteousness of Christ to be a general Price for the Redemption of all Men. Kimedontius a great Professor of the way and Doctrine of Calvin in the present Controversies yet complains of those as injurious to him and his party and no better then false Witnesses who clamor against them as if they denyed that Christ dyed for ALL MEN and was not the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole WORLD i Injuriam nobis faciuÌ„t et falsi testes reperiuntur qui nos clamitant negare Christum esse mortuum pro omnibus Propitiationem esse pro peccatis totius Mundi Kimedont Synops De Redempt Because I would not over-charge the Readers Patience above measure I §. 26. shall omit the Catechisms and Confessions of many Reformed Churches as of the Palatinate Bern Basil Tigurum Schaffhusen with divers others in which there are very plain and pregnant Assertions of the Doctrine of Universal Attonement by Christ and shall conclude the Demonstration of what we lately observed viz. that the Doctrine of General Redemption is a Principle or Notion of that soveraign use and necessity that the professed Enemies thereof cannot forbear it or make any rational earnings in many their Theological Discourses without it with a Passage or Testimony from no fewer then fifty two Ministers of the City of London and these non de Plebe virum which I finde in a small Pamphlet lately subscribed and published by them and that for this very end as themselves profess to give Testimony against Errors and Heresies In this their Testimony bewailing the prevailing of Errors and Heresies so by them called they bemoan the case of many of those whom yet otherwhile they judg the happiest men in the World those I mean for whom Christ dyed thus Thousands and ten thousands of poor Souls which Christ hath ransomed with His Blood shall hereby be betrayed seduced and endangered to be undone to all Eternity k A Testimony to the Truth of Jesus Christ c. subscribed by 52 London Ministers page 32. No sence rationality or truth can be made of this Saying but by the mediation of this Hypothesis or ground viz. that such Persons who have been ransomed with the Blood of Christ may be undone i. e. perish for ever For whatsoever men may be brought into danger of suffering doubtless there is a possibility at least that they may suffer as we have reasoned the case further elsewhere l Remedy of Unreasonableness p. 13 14 where also we put to rebuke that Distinction of a Possibility in respect of Second Causes and in respect of the first Cause or Decree of God evincing from express grounds of Scripture truth in this Assertion That there is not the least danger of suffering inconvenience by any such means or causes how likely or threatening soever in themselves simply considered to bring the inconvenience upon us which we know to be throughly mated and over-ballanced by means and causes of a contrary tendency and import I here add that should the meaning of the Authors of the said Passage be that those ransâ—med with the Blood of Christ are endangered in respect of second Causes or means onely but are in the mean time perfectly secured by God or His Decree from suffering the danger there had been no such cause of taking up that most solemn and pathetique Lamentation over them which they do but rather of rejoycing on their behalf that being so ransomed they are in no danger or possibility through any betraying or seduction by any Error or Heresie whatsoever of losing that grace or blessing of Salvation which was purchased by the Blood of Christ for them I shall not I trust need here to re-inculcate that which hath been and §. 27. this more then once so plainly expressed formerly viz. that my intent in citing Calvin with those other late Protestant Writers which we have subjoyned in the same suffrage of Doctrine unto Him in favor of the Doctrine of General Redemption is not to perswade the Reader that the habitual or standing Judgment either of Him or of the greater part of the rest was whole and entire for the said Doctrine or stood in any great propension hereunto though this I verily beleeve concerning sundry of them much less to imply that they never in other places of their Writings declared themselves against it but onely to shew 1. That the truth of this Doctrine is so neer at hand and 2. That the influence of it is so benign and accommodatious unto many other Truths and Doctrines in Christian Religion that it is an hard matter for those that deal much in these affairs not to assume and assert it ever and anon and to speak and argue many things upon the account of the Authority of it yea though extrà casum necessitatis on the one hand and incogitantiae on the other hand they are wont to behold it as God doth proud men afar off Let us draw up the Sum total of the Chapter in a very few words and so end it First we have seen the roots of that Doctrine held forth in our present Discourse throughly watered with the fairest streams of the Judgment Learning Approbation and Authority of the Primitive Times Secondly concerning Times of a later date we have found that the Judgment and Faith of that party of Protestant Churches and Writers which is known by the Name of Lutheran do more generally if not universally accord with the same Doctrine Thirdly and lastly that the other party of these Churches and Writers viz. those who incline more to the Sence and Judgment of Calvin in matters of Christian concernment together with Calvin himself doth very frequently attest the same Doctrine yea and cannot well want the service and assistance of it in the managing and carrying on many of their affairs The result of all is that no considering or conscientious Person whatsoever hath the least occasion to decline or keep aloof off in Judgment from the said Doctrine for want of company so great a number as we have seen of the best and most desirable for Companions in the way of Faith of those that have dwelt with flesh and blood since the Apostles days having given the right hand of fellowship unto it in their respective generations CHAP. XX. The Conclusion exhibiting a general Proposal or Survey of Matters intended for