to come are taken away by Christ Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect c. and so Rom. 4. 23. Isa 35. 8. The Lord hath laid upon him the Iniquity of us all and 1 Pet. 2. 24. himself bore our Sins on his Body c. and what I said I will say that tho the Elect may sin as well as others yet their God in Christ will never un-son them nor yet touching their Justification and eternal Salvation will he love them ever a whit the less yea tho they commit never so many and great Sins For this is a certain Truth that as no Good in them or done by them did move him to elect and justify them and to give them eternal Life so no Evil in them or done by them can move him to take that away when once given Philad This is like that which is in the Mouth of some Be in Christ and sin if thou canst what pity is it that Men pretending to Wisdom and Sobriety and Professors of Godliness should fall into such Raptures as are next to Madness What a bundle of Errors are here wrapt up together and that under Scripture-guize but surely you do not read the Scripture in that Spirit in which it was wrote or else you might see notwithstanding the Apostle's triumphing that till Persons repent of their Sins and turn to God they stand charged with many things as I have told you from Eph. 2. and from Paul who was before his Conversion a Persecutor a Blasphemer and confess'd himself the chief of Sinners yea before the Apostle comes to this Triumphing he was long exercised with Frights Terrors within and Frightnings without and tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 2. 3. that his Preaching among them was in great fear and trembling so that we must Fight before we Triumph and Mourn before the Lord Comfort us And how clearly doth 1 Pet. 2. 24. shew that the proper intention of Redemption is Dominion eternal Redemption is an eternal Obligation to Service Ye are bought with a price ye are not your own your Bodies and Spirits are the Lord's 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. Rom. 14. 9. You may see that one end of Christ's being a Redeemer was that he might be a Sovereign Lord over his Purchase yea this is one great end of the Lord 's entering into Covenant with his People promising to do great things for them Ezek. 11. 19 20. I say the end of all is that they might serve him Hockins on God's Decree p. 93. Can we entertain so ignoble a belief that the eternal Son of God should suffer for any less end than to advance our Human Nature to the greatest height of Piety and Purity of Life and to raise our Souls to the most refined and sublimate goodness What did Christ take our Nature upon him and become Surety for us and pay such an infinite price for us that we might spend more freely and daringly on the Stock of our Surety's Satiffaction Ah! Who can with-hold their Eyes from Tears to think that any should make use of Mercy to damn them For many had not been guilty of so many Sins nor persisted in them without Repentance had it not been for their false hope in Christ not considering Christ came to redeem from all Iniquity as well as from all Wrath. Philet But Christ dying for the Elect hath thereby fulfilled all Righteousness satisfied Divine Justice and purchased Heaven for them Philad And what then Philet Why then there 's no doubt but they shall be saved for in the very moment of Election they were pardoned of all Sins past present and to come Philad What as if now nothing could endanger their Souls they have enough for Heaven Pray what should hinder them from bidding all Sin welcom Why may they not kill whore c. and commit all Abomination and if impleaded for it bring in this as an Evidence that they were in the very moment of Election pardoned of all Sins past present and to come they have a Gracious God that will forgive them and a Surety who hath paid for all Philet I perceive what you are driving at You hold that Faith and Obedience in us to be the cause of God's Electing or Chusing us to Life and Salvation Doth not the Scripture prove that Election is not according to foreseen Faith not because Men do or will believe but because they should believe Rom. 9. 11. 1 Pet. 1. 2 3 4. 2 Tim. 1. 9. Tit. 1. 1. Now if Faith and Obedience be the cause of God's loving us then here is Merit this eclipses the Glory of God's free Love and renders Salvation of Debt and not of Grace Mar. This is down-right Popery nay I affirm that Faith and Repentance are no more a means to go to Heaven by than prophane Cursing and Swearing Philad That Faith in Christ and Obedience to the Lord is a cause without which God chuseth none to Life and Salvation is a Truth unless you can prove that God hath designed his Son to die to save such as will neither repent of their Sins believe nor obey him but live and die in open Rebellion against God and do despight to the Spirit of Grace and trample under foot the Blood of the Son of God c. but that it is the cause for which God chuseth any I disown as well as you For the Love of God the Father to the Sons of Men as they were Sinners and Enemies to him was the essential cause of our Salvation John 3. 16. Rom. 5. 6 8 10. 1 Pet. 3. 18. and Jesus Christ the meritorious and procuring cause of Man's Salvation and should we admit of any thing else but Christ to be the matter of our Justification or the meritorious Cause of Eternal Life this would be injurious to the Perfection of Christ's Righteousness and overthrow the freeness of Divine Grace and Love But you and all Men ought rightly to divide and distinguish between the Cause and Condition of our Salvation that Christ may be owned as the Cause and Author of it and Faith and Obedience as the way and means to attain to it for as God Almighty hath prepared a Heaven for Men so he hath appointed the way and means to fit and prepare them for it as Christ is the Way so if I should say that Faith and Obedience is a way to come to enjoy it I might say it was advancing Nature above Grace or setting up our own Righteousness in the room of Christ's Righteousness and so robbing him of his Honour or asserting Merits surely Eternal Happiness hereafter hath some dependance upon Holiness here Mod. I like this well and do believe that God that hath appointed the end hath also appointed the means as in the Case of Paul Acts 27. 22. though God had promised to save Paul and all that were in the Ship yet they were to use the means otherwise they could not be safe I would have
the Flesh partake of the real Virtue of his Death as if he had been already slain So also Christ came into the World not to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved John 3. 17. and came to seek and to save that which was lost to shed his Blood to bear unutterable dolours not only for them that were saved but for those also who through their unbelief and impenitency were not saved their unbelieving and rejecting of Gospel-Grace rendred them obnoxious to just punishment for saith the same Apostle the Gospel was preached to them that were dead 1 Pet. 4. 6. tho they had not the Letter of the Gospel preached to them as with us at this day yet they had the spiritual Substance and Effect of the Gospel preached to them and therefore 't is said that Christ went by his Spirit and preached to them and their unbelief and rejection was a Sin against the Covenant of Grace for those before Christ and those since Christ came are for the main under one and the same Covenant yea essentially and for substance the same the same Christ exhibited thro Types and Shadows which we have revealed in the Gospel with open face and the same substantial Duties as Repentance Faith and Obedience with the same spiritual Blessings as pardon of Sin Justification and Eternal Life So that all Persons being under one Covenant of Grace made with all Mankind in the Promised Seed and this Covenant the same for Substance both before and since Christ's coming and all Persons that were saved before Christ being saved by a Covenant of Grace and through believing on him that was to come it necessarily follows that the want of Faith and Obedience to the Lord Jesus according to their measure of knowing him and believing on him was the cause of their condemnation see Heb. 4. 2. compared with Chap. 3. 18 19. So that I cannot see how it should sound more harshly in the Ears of all Christians that Christ should sweat drops of Blood and bear the Curse of the Law for those that were in Hell if you will have it so when he died than that he should sweat drops of Blood c. for those that after his coming in the Flesh shall go to Hell notwithstanding all that Christ hath done for them so that Christ did really intend the Good and Benefit of those that perished through unbelief before his coming in the Flesh as well as after if not so I know not how any could use potent Arguments to perswade them to love and live to him Moderat Come Philadelphus the thing to be proved is this whether Christ died equally for all and every Man this I suppose you will not easily grant for if Christ died equally for every Man they would have equally the means of Salvation granted to them Philad This is but a lame proof that Christ died not for all Men equally c. as if difference of Means vouchsafed to Men should argue different Intentions in God touching their Salvation You may as well prove by this Rule that Christ died not equally for the Elect themselves as the other they do not equally alike injoy the Means of Grace nay by this a Man but meanly read in the Scriptures may prove that God bore more good-will to many that perish than towards many of the Elect for many perish under more excellent and greater means of Salvation than are vouchsafed to many that are saved stretching out his hands all the day long to a disobedient People Isa 65. 2. Mat. 15. 28. 11. 20 21. 8. 10. 1 Pet. 3. 20. And in Mat. 22. 3. our Saviour by that Parable holds forth to us these two things 1. That the Death of Christ signified by the Oxen and Fatlings slain was provided by the King for those that never came to partake of the Feast but were rejected because they made light of the Invitation and went away one to his Farm c. yet Jesus Christ with the Blessing accruing thereby to Mankind was equally intended for those that perish through their unworthiness as well as for those that are saved for they did neglect so great a blessing and when there was a prize put in their Hands they had no heart to use it Pro. 17. 16. yet notwithstanding the neglect on their part God was not wanting one his paâ—… to provide good things for them The 2d Thing observable is this the King's Servants took more pains with those that never came to partake of the Supper than with those that came for those that rejected the Invitation were again and again called whenas the other came at the first Philet but if the Feast had been provided for all and God had called them in good earnest they would have come or been compelled to it as those were that tasted of it Philad If the King had intended that those who were invited should never have tasted of his Supper questionless he would never have invited them for it 's but mockage to use Arguments to perswade Persons to accept of a Feast that was only and wholly provided for another with as intent to exclude those that were invited Thus do you make the God of Truth a meer Deluder of poor miserable Mankind to cause his Ministers to proclaim throughout the World the glad tidings of Grace and Salvation prepared for all Flesh and by the Gospel open the Bosom of his Love to all poor Sinners and by sweet loving and gracious words offer to them forgiveness of Sins Life and Salvation and yet never intend to bestow it upon them what is this but to represent God as hollow-hearted But it is clear that in the ministry of the Word God doth as well perswade the obstinate and many of those that never believe as he doth those that do as it is said 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. That the Lord God of their Fathers sent to them by his Messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his People c. But they mocked the Messengers despised his Word and misused his Prophets till the Wrath of the Lord rose up against them And thus doth the Lord in this Gospel-day being every way as serious in his pressing the Gospel upon those that remain obdurate to the last as upon those that in time come to believe as Paul preached the same Gospel at Athens to those that mocked as to those that clave to him and believed Acts 17. 32 34. so that difference of Means doth not argue different Intention in God touching their Salvation Yet it is not denied but that God doth in his providential Dispensations put a difference between one man's spiritual Opportunities and another's all do not injoy equal Conveniencies and Opportunities nor have Ministers the same efficacy and power for conversion and edification c. Nor are Men equally free from or subject to temptations and occasions of Sin with many such I do not say
which God's Spirit had upon many others as Job Melchizedeck c. And how did the Lord secretly teach and instruct Abimclech Nebuchadnezzar Cyrus Darius in the Old Testament And the Heathens have at this day and before Christ's coming in the flesh had some glimpse of his coming into the World as may be seen in the Sibyls Verses and many others nay they came to injoy in some measure the Doctrine of Christ's coming and hath not the Gospel-sound gone thro the World and Paul saith that the Gentiles who did by Nature the things contained in the Law Rom. 2. were counted the Circumcision yea the Law should judg those that are circumcised in the Flesh if they broke it and so tho many boast of the Word and Sacrament of the Gospel amongst them and despise others tho the Means of Grace be abused the Gospel-Call neglected the Grace of God turned into wantonness and seek Gain by pretending Godliness yet those that have less means and yet have obeyed them shall be received and others rejected for many are called but few chosen And I beseech you all that set light by them take heed lest you become guilty of as great a Sin as the Heathen Nations are in worshiping false Gods by imputing that to the true God which is proper only to the Devil for it was the saying of a very Learned Man Mr. Withers in his Paraphrase upon the Lord's Prayer page 94. speaking something of the Doctrine of Reprobation without respect to Sin That whatsoever opinion others may have of it I conceive that all the Idolatries of the Heathens heretofore in communicating to Men Beasts or Devils the Honour and Attributes which are due to God only yea and the crucifying of Christ added thereunto amount not to so hainous an Offence as their Crimes who are knowingly guilty of this Sin because it seems to me more pardonable to ascribe to a base Creature part of that Honour which is due to God than to impute that unto him which is proper to none but the Devil And in his Parallello-Grammaton p. 61. he saith That it is an extraordinary high affront put upon God and more heinous than Murder Adultery and all other mere carnal Sins whatsoever yea more heinous than those the Jews committed by their Idolatries killing the Prophets and crucifying Christ in the Elesh for the last was but a Sin against his Humanity and their Idolatries but the ascribing some part of that Honour to the Creature which is due to God only whereas the limiting God's Universal Grace in Christ with the concomitant Doctrine and the Consequences thence arising and the imputing to God an eternal Reprobation of the greatest part of Mankind before they had done good or evil for those Sins which they blasphemously say he necessitates them to commit to shew his Justice and manifest his hatred to Sin is a despoiling him of his Divine Nature and ascribing unto him that which belongs only to the Devil Mar. That which the Gentiles receive is but common Grace and the improvement of any common Gift will not save any and should the Gospel be preached to them it would be of no saving use to them unless there be special Grace in the Soul Philet That 's true the Gospel may be preached a thousand times over and yet without the mighty Power of God none can receive it 't is not the Power of God to Salvation 't is but the external Offers of Grace or the external Dispensation of Grace by the Word Philad Here 's off and one sometimes Christ died for all that the Gospel might be preached to all and those that the Gospel is not sent to you look upon them Castaways and yet at last whether it be sent or not 't is all one there 's nothing in it but a dead Letter but pray tell me is not the Gospel called the Ministry of the Spirit Philet Yea in opposition to the Law Philad Well then I must tell you that there is such a power of the Spirit accompanying of it where it is faithfully preached as is sufficient for the conversion of Sinners or to leave them without excuse if they believe it not yea to judg them at the last day tho 't is true 't is but the instrumental Means to beget Souls to God for the original cause of our conversion is the Love of God the Father John 3. 16. Rom. 5. 6 8 10. 1 Pet. 3. 18. The Blood of Christ is the meritorious Cause the efficient or working Cause is the Power of God's Grace or Spirit the Ministerial Cause is the preaching of the Gospel Rom. 10. so tho God alone decrees it Christ alone meriteth it the Spirit sealeth it yet the Gospel revealeth it Faith apprehendeth it and so persons come to be justified and saved So tho God Christ and the Spirit are the efficient Cause of Righteousness and Salvation yet the instrumental Means of Salvation is not to be cast away Philet But there must be special Grace in the Soul before God calls any by the Gospel or else they could not give consent to his Call No there must be a Principle of Grace infused into the Souls of Men or they could not consent To say the stony Heart dead Man old Nature gives consent is very incongruous the Tree must first be good before it can produce good Fruit there must be first a Sun then a Beam first a Fountain then a Stream Philad It seems by what you say a Man must be a spiritual Man before the Lord calls him and before he hears or receives the Word which is a mistake for there is no Man but is carnal before he receiveth the teaching of the Almighty and by receiving the teachingof the Lord becomes spiritual for Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Mr. Brown in his Scripture Redemption saith James 1. 18. Of his own Will begat he us by the Word of Truth 't is a Life-Creating Word John 6. 63. and therefore called the Word of Life Phil. 2. 16. because through and by the word Life is wrought in us John 5. 25. and Faith wrought in us Rom. 10. and is a glorious Instrument of God's saving Power Rom. 1. 16. and called the Grace of God Acts 13. 47. that comes to us by his Grace Heb. 12. 1. 1 Pet. 5. 12. and this way are we to expect Grace from him and where the Word of Life is preached there and then God seeks and sues to us to receive his Grace yea and through the Spirit bestows so much Grace upon all Men when the Word of Faith is preached as is sufficient to beget Faith in them and to carry on their saving Conversion gradually unto the end Mat. 11. 21. Titus 3. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 23. 2. 9. James 1. 18. 2 Cor. 3. 6. Heb. 4. 12. observe Acts 26. 18. Dr. Holmes upon the Golden Chain of Salvation page 158. upon the Question How shall I come by the gift
I have already shewed it cannot still that of the Apostle will stand good Ephes 2. 8. By Grace you are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God So that all boasting is excluded since we cannot change our Hearts cannot repent of our Sins or believe on him by virtue of our own natural Abilities but by the aid and assistance of Divine Grace Man's Perfection and Felicity is derived from God and we live daily in a necessary dependance upon him for his Grace and the Aid of his Holy Spirit to repair our Strength and assist our Faculties and every way to enable us to perform those Duties which are due to so Sovereign a Lord and as it becometh Creatures to do Yet still we are to remember that his assisting Grace doth not destroy our Endeavours for as we can do nothing without God so he will do nothing for us without our selves and as God works in us to will and to do c. so Persons are to work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling and not think to sit still and take their ease and live in a carnal state without improving those means that God hath vouchsafed them to repent and believe till the Lord by an irresistible Power pluck them out of their Sins This we are not to expect neither are we to thank our selves if we be saved but God's free Love and Bounty is to be acknowledged the sole cause of our Salvation neither can it be any diminution to Divine Goodness to say that unless Man doth concur with the first Cause the End cannot be obtained since Faith Repentance and Obedience to the Lord is made a condition with reference to Eternal Life Suppose a Prince should see one that has riotously mispent his Portion in great want and he out of his free Bounty should profer him a Sum of Money sufficient to supply all his Wants discharge all his Debts free him from all fear of Arrestments and enrich him for ever in this World provided he will but come to him and put forth his hand to receive this Treasure he shall have it if he will not he will give it to those that will Will any say that this was no free act of Love because it had such Conditions propounded with it or if any one should refuse so kind an Offer tho upon such terms as these and will not come to him nor put forth his hand to receive any of his Gold or Silver but will rather pine away or rot in a Goal unless he will force it into his Pocket whether he will or no would not all People look upon this as the greatest folly and imprudence in the World What be loaded with Bags of Gold and Silver and discharged from all Wants and Fears and yet not so much as reach out the hand to receive them Well suppose he should put forth his hand to receive this Treasure is it the act of receiving the Money or the Money received that enricheth him surely tho his putting forth his hand was a means yet it was the Mony received that inriched him and he had cause for ever to be thankful to him and admire his Love and Bounty and free Gift here would be no cause for such a poor Wretch to pride up himself as if by his own power and towardliness he had merited such Grace and Favour but rather the contrary so in spirituals O here will be enough for Souls to admire and that to Eternity the signal Acts of God's free Grace and Favour in that he has provided such effectual Means and afforded them so powerful Aids and Assistances in order to make them holy and to bring their Wills into a compliance with his own And I desire you to consider whether it will not be an aggravation to the damned to think that they might have been happy as well as others but that they wilfully refused Grace and Mercy when it was tendered to them 1. Now if Conversion is to be wrought only by the irresistible and unfrustrable Power of Grace why is it said that some resisted the Holy Ghost and made void the Counsel of God against themselves and would not hear come nor obey his Voice but closed their Ears and hardned their Hearts as may be seen Acts 7. 51. Luke 7. 30. Acts 13. 46. 7. 39. Prov. 1. 24 25. Zac. 7. 11 12 13. Jer. 5. 7. and of others that they heard the word readily and received it chearfully and obeyed it from the heart as Acts 2. 41. 13. 47. 6. 7. 17. 11. Rom. 6. 17. Now how can any of these be attributed to those who either can no ways believe and obey it being wholly above their power or could not but believe and obey by the force of Grace no ways resistible 2. But again if God by a strong hand of irresistible Grace works conversion in all then all the Exhortations Threatnings and Promises made unto Sinners in order to their repentance and believing are made in vain yea bootless and ridiculous The Divine Decree doth not impose any real and fatal necessity on any in respect of their eternal safety or ruin for the Voice of Reason must needs proclaim those Laws and Constitutions unjust which plainly forbid and prohibit that which a Man cannot possibly assume or avoid nor can no more be changed by our most earnest endeavours than we can stay the course of the Heavens or fly in the Air. Mr. Hockins on God's Decree p. 122. 3. If we have not a sufficiency of Means vouchsafed by the Lord to repent believe and obey him then doth the Lord deal more severely with Men under the Covenant of Grace than under the Covenant of Works now I say I suppose you will not deny but that the Lord endued Adam with sufficient Means for the persormance of that Covenant and so to obtain the Reward of that Covenant but now if the Lord should under the Covenant of Grace require of Persons a ready submission to his holy commands and yet pass a Decree that they should not move one step forward in the way of Obedience and wholly deny his Grace to them doth he not deal more severely with most of Adams off-spring under the Covenant of Grace by Christ than under the Covenant of Works in Adam requiring only possible things in the first and impossible things in the latter And saith Hockins on God's Decree pag. 189. If a Master should be so severe to require as much work of his Servant when his hands are fast tied as when he is at liberty this would argue an unheard of Cruelty joyned with the greatest Severity 4. Nay if Persons be not enabled by Grace to repent and believe the Gospel they are thereby laid under an absolute necessity of despising it thereby making themselves more the Children of Wrath and Death than before Heb. 2. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation clearly implying that
very injurious to his Goodness yet directly and immediately opposite to his very Nature which is meer Goodness and Happiness and hath no Affinity with Rigour Cruelty or Misery Read Psal 34. 6. Psal 86. 5. Joel 2. 13. Jonah 4. 2. Micah 7. 18. If God doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men without just cause Lam. 3. 33. how can we in reason think that God in his eternal Purpose and absolute Pleasure should affect the extream Misery of any of his Creatures for the shewing of the absolute Soveraignty he hath over them If so he may as well damn them as create them How can we think that he should send them one after another into this World to enjoy some of the good things of this Life and after this short Life is over to torment them with Devils and damn'd Spirits for ever to shew his Power over them without just cause in the Creature What saith Abraham Gen. 18. 25. when he was interceding with God for Sodom with respect to a temporal Judgment Wilt thou destroy the Righteous with the Wicked that be far from thee Shall not the Judg of all the World do right If to destroy the Righteous with the Wicked was far from God in Temporals shall we think that God resolved to punish the Innocent in Hell with wicked Spirits For pray you observe if God hath from Eternity reprobated the greatest part of Mankind it must be understood that he look'd on them as Persons that would in time prove sinful or else he reprobated them simply as Men. If the first then was their Sinfulness wherein he beheld them the cause of their Rejection if the second then the pure and perfect Workmanship of his Hands yea that which was very good Gen. 1. 31. must be the Object of his Reprobation which cannot be it was a saying of one of the Ancients Aug. Lib. 3. Cont. Julian Cap. 31. Pag. 164. God is Good and God is Just he may without any desert free Men from Punishment because he is Good but he cannot without Evil desert and condemn any Man because he 's just And again Aug. Epist 106. ad Bonifac. If God be believed to damn any man that by Sin deserveth it not he is not to be believed to be free from Injustice And therefore for any to say that God hath irrevocably reprobated the greatest part of the World to eternal Misery before they had a being in this World or any possibility of doing Good or Evil he speaks more like a Mahumetan than a Christian however more harsh of the God of Love than he ought to speak and reflects dishonour upon him making him to be the Prime Principal and Irresistable Cause of the Damnation of Millions of Souls appointing them to Destruction of his own voluntary Will antecedent to any desert in them No Martha there is nothing can proceed from the God of Love that is unjust nothing unequal nothing hard nothing that any ways inclineth to the hurt of any of his Creatures considered as innocent and therefore no irreversible decreeing or ordaining of Men to everlasting Destruction as you pretend Mar. But doth not the Apostle Rom. 9. 20. 21. shew 't is no unrighteous thing no unequal or hard thing in God to reprobate or predestinate to Destruction which or how many of his Creatures he pleaseth 'T is his lawful and just Prerogative as he is absolute Lord of all Who art thou that repliest against God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power over his Clay to make one Vessel to honour and another to dishonour Phil. I know this 9th Chapter to the Romans is the great Magazine and Fortress wherein all your imaginary Strength lieth and those Verses are the Weapons which you draw to silence those that question your horrid Notions about Personal Election and Reprobation Pray do you think that Paul was about to prove personal Election and Reprobation in these Verses Mar. Yes what else but to prove that God hath Power to create and appoint Vessels of Honour and Dishonour and consequently of Wrath as the Potter hath to make Vessels at his Pleasure without contradiction of the same Lump of Clay Phil. You are under a great mistake the great Controversy lay about the Terms of Justification whether by the Law or Faith and not about personal Election and Reprobation so that the Prerogative which the Lord claims to himself as a Royalty annexed to the Crown of Heaven and Earth in this 9th of the Romans or elsewhere in respect to the Condemnation and Eternal Destruction of his Creatures stands not in leaving what Persons he pleaseth to eternal ruin but in making the condition of Life and Death Salvation and Damnation as he pleaseth according to the Counsel of his own Will Eph. 1. 1. Now the Apostle was shewing the Way and Method that God will take in saving Sinners and that it is not the purpose of God that men should be justified by the Law but by Grace and through Faith and tho the Jews much boasted of their being Abraham's Seed and Moses's Disciples and their observing of the Law and judged it an equal thing that God should make that Law to be the Law of Life and Salvation to Men and the neglect of it the Law of Death and Damnation yet it being the good Pleasure of God to do otherwise and to ordain Faith in his Son Christ Jesus to be the way of Justification and Life and Unbelief the way to Condemnation and Death this Choice or Election shall stand whatever Men may think meet and fitting for him to do Therefore saith he Verse 15. I will have Mercy upon whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion upon whom I will have Compassion Men shall not prescribe unto me Laws or Terms of shewing Mercy my Will shall not be bounded by Man's Will neither will I be obliged by them what manner of Persons or how qualified I shall justify and save I mean to keep close to the Counsel of my own Will in that which concerns the Life and Death the Salvation or Destruction of my Creatures and so in this 21st Verse Hath not the Potter power over his Clay c. meaning that God Almighty hath the like Power over the whole Lump of Mankind in Adam to make what Laws of Life and Death he pleased and to appoint what manner of Persons should be saved or condemned which the Potter hath over the Lump of Clay to make what Vessel he pleaseth for Honour or Dishonour Now at best this Scripture is but an Allusion and should we suppose that the Apostle doth compare the Lord to a Potter as we often in Scripture find him compared to Persons and Things and human Actions Affections and Members of a Man attributed to God and divine Things because God in his Word descends as it were to our Capacities expressing heavenly Matters after
are sanctified an unholy thing and make all the Precepts of the Gospel uncertain whether they be the Will of God or not or whether Christ when he prayed to his Father for his People or for Sinners prayed as a Mediator or as Man only yea give footing to that Opinion which begins to evidence it self too much in many even denying the personal Union of God and Man in Jesus Christ in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily Col. 2. 9. which did influence and give a value and worth to all things done for us by the Manhood and therefore his Righteousness and his Blood was called the Righteousness and Blood of God Acts 20. 28. 1 John 3. 16. Rom. 10. 3. Christ as he was God-Man and our Mediator what he did upon this account in the Flesh he did in the Spirit also Now in this place where Christ bewailed Jerusalem's state with tears either they flowed from true inward compassion or they did not if the first then Christ in the Flesh and in the Spirit willed one and the same thing and had no distinct Will for Jerusalem's Salvation as Man different from his Will as God but if the second then his tears were only feigned and his bewailing nothing but dissimulation which is a capital Sin to affirm And tho the Lord was resolved to bring Jerusalem to desolation by delivering them into the hands of their Enemies yet as you say and say truly it was an effect of their Sins the neglect of the Day of their Visitation mocking his Messengers and stoning them that were sent to her to have drawn her from the evil of her ways and for crucifying the Lord of Life thereby filling up the measure of her Iniquity So tho the Lord brought her to desolation yet Punishment is rather his refuge than his choice and his defence against Sin than the hurt of his Creatures and the Sinner with his own hands most cruelly pulleth down punishment upon his own head for the evil of Sin and the evil of Suffering are Twins or rather Sin gives birth and being to the other God never inflicted the least punishment on any merely as Men but as workers of Evil as continuing sinful and disobedient So that it was Jerusalem's actual Sins and her refusing to be healed that brought her to ruin and not any irresistible Decree of the Almighty for you may as well deny the Being of a God as entertain a belief that he takes pleasure in the death and destruction of his Creatures His Nature is perfect Goodness and he is a stranger to Cruelty and all the expressions of Love and Good-will in Christ to poor Sinners are such that they neither admit nor are consistent with fraud or falshood so that yet you have not told me where the Attribute of God merely takes place upon those that God is resolved against all means possible to be used to punish by his Decree as you use to say But before I leave this let me ask you one Question more which is this Ought not or do not all Men stand ingaged to love God Philet To love God yea who should they love if they do not love God Philad Ay but I ask you for what Reason Mar. There may be many Reasons given the receiving the good things of this Life may engage all Men to love God Philad Yea but you will not own that God gives the good things of this Life with any good intention to the greatest number but rather gives them to them to heighten their misery doth God intend any good to the Souls of such by what he gives Mar. No yet are they to be accountable for the abuse of them Philad But you hold that God did decree they should abuse them accordingly and for that end were they given to them that so the abuse of them might heighten their misery this is but like the Proverb Give a Man Roastmeat and beat him with the Spit Can any Man become grateful or be tied in the Bonds of Love and Gratitude to such a Man that should feast him for a while yet after condemn him to Death and Destruction Philet The Apostle saith 1 John 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us but this is meant of the Elect only Philad Why should you go about to confine the Lor'd Mercy which is altogether Infinite and as incomprehensible as his Divine Essence why should you thus contract the Divine Goodness whose Mercies are not only exalted above our Conceptions but also above and over all his Works Therefore do not presume to measure the Lord 's Mercys by your narrow conceit nor labour to make it run into a lesser Channel than the Lord intended But God's great Love to all Men in giving his Son to die for them is the ground and cause of their Love to God again True love must first spring from the knowledg of God's Love to them neither can I think that any Men in the World will ever heartily and cordially love God unless they believe that God Almighty had designs of Love to them yea so far loved them as to send his Son to die for them otherwise instead of loving and living to God it would tend to a most horrid and desperate alienation of the Hearts of poor Creatures from their dear and ever-blessed Creator For how is it possible that the poor Creature should devest himself of those Delights and Pleasures of this Life and intirely love and delight himself in God and his blessed Will if he knew or had strong grounds of fear that before he made him or without respect to his Sins or unworthy carriage in the least he so far hated him as to resolve against all Mediation whatsoever to cast him out of his sight and to doom him to suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire You may preach up God's Sovereignty pronounce Justice and Judgment as some have done till they have brought Despair and Hell into the Souls of many and beget more Fear than Love make God feared as a Tyrant but 't is the making known Christ's meek Condescension Long-suffering and the superexcellent Amiableness of free Love and tender Mercy that soonest and most effectually works in us Repentance of our Sins and inclines us to love him that first loved us Wither's Paraphrase upon the Lord's Prayer Who is able to perswade Men by Arguments or move them by Threatnings to love God whose love to them in particular is doubtful Do you think it can or ever will be a motive for Persons to love God to tell them That before all Worlds or before they were born or there were any possibility of offending him in any manner it was decreed that the greatest number of Adam's Off-spring should be eternally reprobated and damned And tho he had provided means whereby Man might have been saved and that the worth and value was so great that it was sufficient for the Redemption of thousands of Worlds yet then it was
Christ died for all so that all should injoy all these equally alike but that God did really truly and cordially intend the Salvation of one Man as well as another considered as Men in and by Christ's Death What tho there be great disparity of Means and of Grace also according to the Divine Will yet sufficient Grace is afforded to all both to those that do not actually believe nor are really converted as well as those that are Ezek. 18. Pro. 1. 24. Mat. 23. 37. Luke 8. 12. for whomsoever God calleth to Faith and Salvation he doth it sincerely and with unfeigned Intentions of saving them John 5. 34. and 10. 20. Tit. 2. 11 12. 2 Tim. 1. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 20. and 6. 1. From all I conclude that Christ in dying for Man intended nothing but that which was real and saving in the proper nature and tendency of it But as to your third Moderatus you say Christ died for all Men so far that the Gospel might be preached unto all Now if you mean that in the Gospel terms of Reconciliation are offered to all poor Sinners and that the Word preached is by the Lord appointed an instrumental means to make Men new Creatures and that the Lord by sending the Gospel and his Ministers upon the Gospel errand doth not thereby intend the Obduration and Destruction of any but the Conversion and Salvation of all if this be your meaning I and you are no more two but one and I will say in the words of Abraham to Lot Let there be no strife between thee and me for we are brethren But if with Calvin in his Institut Lib. 3. Chap. 24. you say that God sendeth his Word to Reprobates that they may be made more deaf he setteth a Light to some Men that they may be so much the more blind and offers them Instruction that they may be the more ignorant and he useth a Remedy but to the end they may not be healed Or what Maccour in his disputation 14. Page 11 12. That Christ knocketh at the heart of Reprobates who he knoweth neither can nor will open unto him not that he may enter in but that he might upbraid them for their Impotency and increase their Damnation c. therefore did God speak to them by his Son that by the contempt and hatred of his Son they might procure the greater damnation If this be your Opinion produce some word to evince such a Decree and I 'll cease contending with you Philet Do not the Scriptures say Mat. 13. 13 14. and John 12. 39 40. in both places you have it expresly said that they could not believe because that Esaias said he hath blinded their Eyes c. and Deut. 29. 4. And doth not Simeon say of Christ Luke 2. 34. that he was set for the rising and falling of many in Israel 2 Cor. 2. 16. Christ is there said to be the savour of Death to some as well as of Life to others And our Saviour in John 9. 39. expresly saith That for Judgment am I come into the World that they that see not might see and those that see might be made blind Do not these Scriptures shew that tho the Gospel is preached to all yet for the blinding the Eyes and hardning the Hearts of those that believe not Philad Do not we look upon the Gospel the greatest Blessing next to Christ that we can injoy or receive But if the choicest Blessings are intended as Snares to intrap our Souls we have little cause to be thankful to God for them These Scriptures speak not of the primary and direct Intention of God in sending Christ into the World but of the Event and that which many times is effected by it through Mens voluntary Rebellion Christ was not sent into the World with any intent on God's part nor came with any intention of his own to make those that see to become blind but with an intent to heal the blindness of all to their Peace and Glory so that if any be blind ignorant and foolish 't is merely accidental and tho the glorious Light of the Gospel should equally shine on all Men as the natural Sun doth diffuse his Beams to all Places yet it hath not an equal effect on all alike for the same Beams that cause the Flowers to smell make the Dunghils stink yet this is but accidentally as it finds matter to work on no fault being in the Sun so in Mat. 13. we read of several effects the Word hath not from any defect in the Seed sown the Seed being one and the same but from the badness or goodness of the Soil it shews that some hearers of the Gospel would hear so that their hearing would turn to a blessed account others would hear without reaping any Soul benefit thereby So that these Scriptures speak not any thing of God's intention of sending Christ and so the Gospel into the World but they shew how unworthily some Men will behave themselves towards Christ and the tenders of Salvation by the Gospel and what will be the end and effects the Gospel will have upon those that despise and reject it for it is with the Gospel preached and the Gifts of Nature and Grace also as it is with the good things of this Life which are by the Lord given to the Children of Men that so his bountifulness and goodness might lead them to repentance but if their Table be a Snare and their Prosperity their Ruin 't is through their own perversness and horrid impieties so if the Gospel hardens or blinds any 't is through the ill temper of Mens Hearts and their desperate obstinacy to refuse such means of Salvation and the severity of God who giveth up obstinate Men to their own hearts lust and in his just Judgment permits them to dash against Christ and other means of Salvation What saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. If our Gospel be hid 't is hid to them that are lost whom the God of the World hath blinded their Eyes that are alienated from the Life of God through the ignorance that is in them and so give up themselves to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness and despise the Light of the Gospel cavil and quarrel at it no wonder then that God withdraws his Spirit from striving with them and gives them up to their own hearts lust and if ever the Lord restrains the heavenly Influences of his Spirit and withdraws his Blessing that usually accompanies the faithful and sincere preaching of the Gospel a stupid blindness must needs follow so tho there be Preaching and Prayer and other Ordinances yet when the presence of God is not with them there is no Milk in the Breast and to such 't is all one as if there was none nay as some the Gospel enlightens these it smites with blindness as it softens some so it hardens these as Isa 6. 10. Acts 28. 26. make the Hearts of this People
if Men by means of the Gospel and the Grace offered to them therein be not brought to repentance and forsaking of Sin those Sins which they commit under the Gospel will turn to a more dreadful account to them so that it is clear that in case Men be not through Grace inabled to repent and believe the Gospel they are in a worse condition under the Covenant of Grace than they could have been were there no such Covenant made or tendered to them nay and by this Persons sin by necessity this is to make God the Author of all the Unbelief and Sin in the World Mar. All we say is that he never purposed to bestow that Grace upon them who perish which of his good pleasure he purposed to bestow upon others but to leave them to their Sins and to Condemnation for them Philet God is not the Author of Sin in any for tho Sin will infallibly follow this Preterition or non-Election with a sufpension of assisting Grace it follows not as an Effect from its true Cause but as a Consequence upon its Antecedent Hence he is no more the Author of Sin than the Sun is of the Darkness which follows after its departure for this Preterition respects Man lying in the corrupt Mass and God ows nothing to him but Justice Grace comes down from Heaven but Sin and Iniquity grows at home in the Sinner's own Heart neither was God any ways obliged to give restituent Grace to fallen Man God may do what he will with his own may not the Supreme Lord deny a free Benefit without being the Author of Sin God indeed permitteth it but he doth not work it Philad I shall not trouble my self about the distinction of God's Will into Antecedent and Consequent being made use of more to shew Scholarship than to Edification yet it is likely it may be found in sundry places of Holy writ for Grace and the means of Salvation are always in the first place vouchsafed unto Men before Salvation or Condemnation is actually conferred or inflicted upon any God's Antecedent Will is that every Man should repent that they may not perish it is his consequent Will that every one shall perish that will not repent yet is the Antecedent and consequent Will or Intention of the Lord both equally Eternal equally Honourable and worthy of him But now what you hold in this case is not so it being contrary to right Reason and the tenour of God's Word and notwithstanding your distinction God must become the proper and direct cause of Sin for Sin and Disobedience must unavoidably follow God's detaining Grace necessary for the avoiding of Sin as the Effect doth its Cause Now if God withhold Grace needful for the avoiding of Sin and knowing infallibly what will follow upon it must needs be the true moral Cause of Sin for the withdrawing of Divine Grace you hold is the Antecedent then Sin and Impiety must needs be the Consequent as the Sun by withdrawing its Light Darkness consequently follows so if God be the chief Cause of that which is the Cause of the Reprobates Sin which you do not deny he thereby becomes the true and proper cause of their Sin as you have it in God's Love to Mankind p. 115 116. That which withholdeth a thing which being present would hinder an Event is the Cause of that Event As for Example He that cutteth a string in which a Stone hangs is the cause of the falling of that Stone and he that withdraweth a Pillar which being put to would uphold a House is the true cause in Mens account of the falling of that House and so if God withholdeth from Reprobates that Power which being granted them might keep them from falling into Sin he doth thereby become a true moral cause of their Sins in whose Power it is that a thing be not done to him it is imputed when it is done saith Tertullian Yea and by this Sin if it was Sin could not become worthy of Eternal Punishment for certainly God will not inflict Punishment upon Man for that which he himself was Author of and which Man could not possibly avoid being necessitated thereunto by a fatal Decree I do grant you God owes nothing to any Man I also grant you that Grace comes down from Heaven Jam. 1. 17. and that Sin and Iniquity grows at home in the Sinners own Heart yea the best of Men are exceeding prone to Sin by the pravity of their Natures yet none are compelled to Sin from any withdrawings of Divine Grace unless first abused neither doth the Lord deny his Grace to any but to those who too often and presumptuously abuse it neither can you prove in God's Revealed Will that he hath either antecedently or consequently passed any Decree upon any Man personally considered there by excluding him from Salvation before he voluntarily excludes himself by such sinful miscarriages which render him utterly uncapable thereof But to return to what we were upon And 5. If Persons be not by Grace put in a capacity to believe and obey the Lord they thereby become excusable if they do not obey because the Plea of insufficiency or want of Power to believe is an excuse possible but surely the Means and Power which through Grace the Lord hath vouchsafed to Men will leave them without excuse if they prove wicked and unbelievers they will have nothing to plead for themselves when they come to stand before the Tribunal Seat of Christ but will be as speechless as the Guest was without a Wedding Garment for if the Heathens be without excuse in that they did not glorify the Lord by the means vouchsafed to them how inexcusable shall all those be that under greater Mens and Light shall prove wicked and ungodly which could not be if the Lord had not granted a power to do better And I desire you to consider whether you believe any Man shall be condemned for not doing of that which was unpossible for him to do 6. If such as die in their Sins through unbelief have not through Grace a sufficient power to repent and believe in order to their Salvation then doth God in his most earnest inviting them to believe rather insult over them in their weakness and misery than intend any real benefit to them which to conceive is most unworthy of him and not far from blasphemy for doth not this your Opinion represent God full of guile 1. In his passionate Wishes Deut. 5. 29. Psal 81. 11. Isa 48. 18. Jer. 44. 4. 2. In his mournful Expostulations Isa 5. 3. Jer. 2. Ezek. 33. 11. 3. In his commiseration of poor Sinners Hos 11. 18. and O Jerusalem c. Mat. 23. Now thus to profess Love to Man and be earnest with him to do that for his safety which he knows to be impossible for him to do looks too much like Guile disguised under a Mask of Candor and Goodness which is far from him to be guilty of
those that walk after their detestable things may bring ruin upon themselves Philet John 10. 29. there you have the Omnipotent God ingaging himself to preserve the Saints or sheep of Christ from either total or final Apostacy Philad John 10. 27 28. My Sheep hear my Voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish c. Now I believe that those that are the Sheep of Christ which hearing his Voice follow him perseveringly to the end he will give unto them Eternal Life there 's no danger of perishing so long as they remain the Sheep of Christ Philet This cavil is cut off in the next Words neither shall any pluck them out of my hands therefore neither Sin the Devil the World nor Flesh can by any Temptation draw the Sheep of Christ from their Faith Philad How who told you so I give them Eterual Life neither shall may be able to pluck them out of Christ's hands when once they are landed upon the Celestial Canaan they may then say Now Sin Satan and wicked World do your worst But if you would have it respect the Saints as to this Life yet here is not the least shew of the great power of God ingaged for the compelling or necessitating of them to continue such to the end of their days and that they cannot cease from following him or any promise made to those that for the present hear his Voice and follow him yet if they shall quit the Faith and draw back from him they shall never perish how sinful and wicked soever they be Neither is it to be conceived as if Sin Wickedness Looseness and Profaneness could not unsaint Persons or pluck them from under the Lord's protection or separate them from the Love of God but that Sin will separate between Men and their God is evident from Isa 49. 2. But this rather shews That those that continue following of Christ shall be safe under the protection and safeguard of the Lord so as no Creature whatsoever shall be able to separate them from God Martha As God the Father looks for nothing from Man to partake of Christ so it is not Sin nor Evil that can debar any true Believer from a part in Christ It is a desperate thing in any so much as to serve a Writ of Damnation upon a Believer for in doing so they injure the Lord Jesus overthrowing the fulness of his Grace Philad That God hath made an assurance to any of injoying his Love and Favour but upon condition of their Love and Loyalty to him I suppose the Scripture is wholly silent nay such assurance is not honourable for God to make nor meet for a Creature to expect or desire for who can imagine that an infinitely wise and righteous God should ever ingage himself to any People to be their God unless they be also willing to be his People to love and live to him or what ingenuous Soul that truly loves God doth desire to be pardoned and protected and delivered from eternal Misery and injoy all the Blessings of his Child and yet pay nothing of that love and reverence that is due to him for such Mercys And whereas you speak as if it were not Sin and Evil that can make him that was once a Believer less beloved of God the Lord having once loved him he cannot cease to love him this I have answered before But such Expressions as these cannot be short of Blasphemy to put such a Saying as this in the Mouth of the Lord Tho thou addest Drunkenness to Thirst tho thou committest Whoredom Adultery Incest Murder and every ways cast my Commandments behind thy back yet shalt thou be precious in my Eyes and my heart shall be towards thee in the greatest Love and dearest Affection for ever And tho this may seem harsh yet your opinion leads directly to such horrid conceits of God For if Christ be not given Covenant-wise but the Promise of Life is made absolutely without any condition or proviso at all of Persons Love and Loyalty to him then it follows that the obstinate and resolved Sinners the loosest and most debauched Persons may as well lay claim to the Promise of Eternal Life as the most faithful and virtuous in the World and if you say 't is not Absolute it follows that it is Conditional for the wit of Man cannot shew a Medium between these two Philet We do not say that no Believers can fall into Sin fall they may fearfully but not totally and finally Philad Who ever said that the Elect such that believe and persevere to the end ever fell away finally I know none that say any such thing the Question is Whether the Grace of God may not be so resisted Isa 5. 4. Acts 7. 51. Mat. 23. 37. as to cause the Lord to take away his Holy Spirit from them and to suffer them to fall into a state of Perdition I would know why our Saviour hath told us that from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have if it be not for this reason because he hath lavished out his Talent and hath rejected the Power of doing well which was offered him surely there is no better arguing than that Man can resist the Grace of God because he doth and 't is a wonder that such as you are are not confuted by your own experience that Grace is resistible unless you will deny your self to be of the number of the Elect. Surely David had Grace to have done better than he did in the matter of Vriah but he resisted it and lay in his Sin a long time which shews that the precious Vessels of Election may fall away from Grace whether we take it for a gracious Life or for the Love and Favour of God for had he been taken away in his Sin without Repentance he might have perished Philet Ay but David being an elected Person tho he did fall into Sin God almighty decreed that David should repent and return neither could he die until he had repented Philad By these words you seem to hold that had David died before he had repented he had perished which he could not have done if he had not fallen from Grace Mar. The Apostle John 1 John 3. 9. saith Whosoever is born of God cannot commit Sin for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God he that cannot sin cannot fall either totally or finally Philad What cannot sin at all what then saith the same Apostle That if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves Chap. 1. 8. And so James 3. 2. In many things we offend all we Apostles that are born of God which are regenerate and have the Seed of God abiding in us as much as any yet in many things all of us offend Mar. I do not say commit no act of sin but they sin not as wicked Men