by the practice of other vertues as well as of Faith and consequently giveth us to understand that assurance of salvation is to be had not from Faith only but from charity also and from brotherly love and all those other Vertues and Graces that are joyned with it and by the Apostle in that place particularly rehearsed and reckoned up For it must needs be granted that those who are assured of their election are thereby also assured of their salvation seeing it is not possible that any of the Elect should perish Math. 24.24 For Gods decrees are immutable his counsel shall stand and he will do all his will and pleasure Isa 46.10 SECT VI. Objections answered and Doubts resolved THere remaineth nothing now but that I answer certain Reasons of Mr. D. which I have not yet touched whereby he goeth about to prove that our works of piety or charity cannot possibly assure us of salvation when faith lyeth hid that we cannot see that we believe by the inward testimony of our Conscience Object Convers J. Baptist p. 51. The first of them is this That which maketh me doubt of my Faith will make me doubt of the sincerity of my works No it will not for the cause many times lyeth hid when the effect discovereth it self and is obvious to sight and sense Answ 1 He that is shut up in a Dungeon or in a dark house cannot see the Sun when it is risen yet notwithstanding he may assure himself that it is not night but day and that the Sun is risen by those beams of light which do dart into the house through some little crevises or chinks that are in the wall and even so in like manner when a mans faith cannot be seen being over-clouded with tentations yet by the lively effects thereof by his love to God and to his word and Children and by the opposition which he maketh against all sinful lusts and tentations and by his constant purpose desire and endeavour to obey God and to please him in all things he may gather that he is not destitute of Faith though he cannot so clearly see it nor behold it directly and immediately in it self or in its own proper acts Again whereas he saith That which maketh him doubt of his faith will make him doubt not of his work but of the sincerity of it Answ 2 I further answer That there is a two fold sincerity the one agentis seu operantis of the person that doth the work the other operis of the work that is done 1. The sincerity of the person consists in the true intention of his minde or heart and so it is opposed to hypocrisie Now whether a man doth his works in sincerity and truth or but in hypocrisie his own Conscience will tell him 2. The sincerity of the work is when it is true and real and not imaginary or counterfeit Now if sincerity be taken in this sense there is apparent reason why many a believer doubteth more of the sincerity of his faith then of his works to wit because his faith is assaulted with strong yea and now and then with hideous and with fearful tentations which do shake it and make him to doubt of the truth of it whereas he may have no such cause to doubt of the truth of his works Even as though not the same man yet some other for the same cause may doubt more of the truth and sincerity of some of his vertues actions and works then of others As for example of his chastity rather then of his liberality and justice because lascivious thoughts do now and then rise in his minde although he taketh no delight in them but resisteth them and grieveth and condemneth himself for them Whereas he is not so assaulted in the exercise of other vettues which maketh him lesse to doubt of the truth and sincerity of them Lastly Whereas he saith That which maketh me Answ 3 doubt of my faith By retorning the Objection will make me doubt of the sincerity of my works I must tell him That if this reason of his be any thing worth then neither will his faith give him any assurance of his salvation when he doubteth of the sincerity of his works or of his love to God and Man Gal. 5.6 for the true justifying and saving faith worketh by love But contrary hereunto he telleth us as you heard before that when the soul is loaden with the burthen of sin and sense of misery it is sufficient for our assurance to believe God in his promises according to that Act. 16.21 Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Object A second Reason of his is this How is it possible I should judge my works sincere when I cannot see I believe Whatsoever is not of faith is sin Answ To this I answer It is one thing to be without faith another for a man to want the sense and sight or feeling of his faith No works in deed are any thing worth where faith is altogether wanting for without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 But as fire on the hearth cannot be seen when it lyeth covered under ashes so is the faith of Gods dear Children many times so covered by reason of doubts that arise in their minds or the dimness of their spiritual eye-sight that they cannot see it Yet I hope Mr. D. will not say that all their works in this case are unsound or that they or others shall do well to think so of them as long as their Consciences do tell them that whatsoever they do they do it in sincerity and in the singleness of their hearts and not as time-servers or men-pleasers Object Lastly He asketh What works are done in faith that the same acts may not be done in the spirit of bondage Answ I answer him That though the same acts that are done in faith may be done in the spirit of bondage He that is acted only by the Spirit of bondage doth love sin still and whatsoever good he doth Act. 15.9 it is only for fear and not out of love to God Heb. 9.14 that he may glorifie him quoad materiale according to the matter of them yet not quoad formale that is according to the purity and sanctity of them for it is faith that purifieth the heart as St. Peter saith And as another Apostle telleth us It is faith in the blood of Christ that purifieth the Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Men in deed may be restrained from acting sin for a time by the terror and fear of Gods judgements which the spirit of bondage worketh in them but when that fear is gone or when it is but forgotten as usually it is in their mirth and meriments then they break out again and commit the same sins which they did before with greediness The sum of all then is this it is faith and the filial fear of God and not the
Deo definito not from eternity but at that time which God had determined Gal. 4.4 His Passion therefore either must not be the cause of our justification or if we shall say that it is as this most learned Divine and all other for any thing that I know to the contrary do we must needs grant that we were not actually justified ab aeterno from all eternity but in time Lastly Whereas St. Paul teacheth Rom. 3.24 25. that We are justified by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood from hence also it followeth that our sins are actually pardoned and we justified from them in time and not from all eternity For it cannot be said of our Election and there is the same reason of every other immanent and eternal Act of God that we were elected through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus as a cause thereof For our Election is immediatly of Gods grace and not effected by any external means or for any external cause extra Deum without God himself no more then are opera ulla ejus ad intrà any of his internal acts or works For as much therefore as the Apostle teacheth That we are justified by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood unto me it seemeth very evident that our justification can be none of the immanent and eternal works of God that are acted altogether within himself Object I know there are those that do object against this that I have said those words of St Paul 2 Thess 2.13 where he telleth them That God had from the beginning chosen them unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth But his meaning is not That sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the truth were any causes no nor means of their Election but of their salvation as if he should have said God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation to be enjoyed and possessed of you by being sanctified by Gods Spirit and by believing in Christ as by means leading thereunto Thus the Apostle in saying he hath chosen you unto salvation that is to obtain salvation by sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth maketh these means of their salvation not of their Election Yea not only the Orthodox Protestant Divines but Popish Doctors also do thus expound these words of St. Paul amongst whom Estius commenteth thus upon them The effects of Gods Election ordained unto salvation are hereby signified as if he should say God hath chosen you or hath taken you unto salvation by means thereunto allotted to wit through sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the truth Theophylact also alledged by him thus expoundeth these words God hath from the beginning that is from eternity chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit that is saith he he hath saved us in sanctifying us by the Spirit Thus our salvation is by means but our Election is the immediate work or act of God whereof there can no cause or reason be given nisi bene placitum Divinum but Gods own gracious good pleasure This that I have thus taught is the Doctrine of the most Orthodox Divines I cannot therefore but wonder what should move the most illustrious Chamier to say quòd amari mereamur à Deo per imputationem justitiae Christi et quôd inde diligamur et destinemur vitae aeternae that we deserve to be loved of God through the imputation of Christs righteousnesse and that thereupon we are beloved and allotted or elected unto eternal life This I say seemeth unto me a most strange assertion for hence it would follow that Gods Love and his Election were not free or altogether gratuitous But God speaking unto his Church and people saith dilexi te gratis I have loved thee freely And St. Paul teacheth that God hath predestinated us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will The same Apostle also saith that the Election of Gods people is of grace Now merit and free love and grace cannot stand together Christ indeed hath merited all the saving effects of Gods Love at dilectio ipsamet Dei est gratuitae but Gods love it self is not merited but free He loveth us meerly ex beneplacito suo of his good pleasure This love of his is the cause why he gave us his only begotten Son to work our salvation John 3.16 This love of his therefore must needs be the cause also of all Christs merits both of our redemption justification adoption sanctification and glorification Neither our justification therefore nor any other of these can be the cause of Gods love if we shall speak properly of his love and not of some one or other effects thereof But proceed we to the next thing wherein Chamierus dissenteth from that which is most commonly taught by other Protestants concerning our justification This learned man also teacheth contrary to the common Doctrine of the Protestants that there are no preparations unto our justification Now if it were as he saith that our justification is an eternal Act of God this would necessarily follow But seeing we are not actually justified until we do believe in Christ and are not ordinarily brought to renounce our selves and to put the whole confidence of our salvation in Christ until we be wrought upon and prepared thereunto both by the Law and the Gospel as is to be shewed in the next Question therefore seeing he produceth nothing that I have met with for confirmation of this his assertion I will leave the further examination and sifting of it unto its due place And so I come to the last thing that by the learned Chamierus is asserted in opposition to the common Doctrine of Protestants and that is That we are not justified by Faith in Christ for he speaketh expresly and saith falsum est fidem impetrare justificationem It 's false that Faith obtaineth justification For confirmation whereof he reasoneth thus If it were so then Faith should go before our justification both in reason and in time which may by no means be granted For Faith it self is by it self a part of our sanctification but there is no sanctification but it is after justification which in deed and in nature is before it Which is the cause why we do say that Faith doth no otherwise justifie but relatively that is because it hath for its peculiar object the mercy of God on which it relieth Now this is that properly that justifieth as the Church is built relatively upon the Faith of Peter that is upon Christ whom the Faith of Peter confessed That I may examine these things in order as they lie First whereas he saith If Faith should obtain our justification then Faith should go before our justification both in reason and in
time I deny this consequence for from hence it followeth only that Faith goeth before our justification in order of nature or in reason but not in time because a man is justified at the same instant that he layeth hold on Christ believeth in him But he denieth that Faith goeth before our justification in any respect at all his reason is because Faith is a part of our sanctification but there is no sanctification but it is after justification which indeed and in nature is before it The first of these Propositions I do willingly grant that Faith is a part of sanctification but whereas he assumeth that there is nosanctification but it is after justification I cannot assent unto him in this For many worthy Divines do hold that sanctification is before justification their judgment therefore I might oppose unto the learned Chamiers others that hold the contrary For the clearing of this matter I do distinguish of sanctification and say that it is either habitual and so God doth sanctifie us by infusing holinesse into us or actual and so we do sanctifie our selves by renouncing the works of sin and living holily Of both these Moses speaketh when he saith Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God and ye shall keep my Statutes and do them Lev. 20.7.8 for I am the Lord which sanctifie you When the Lord saith here Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy this must be understood of actual sanctification that is of holiness that is to be actually performed by us But whereas the Lord useth this as a reason to stir us up hereunto for I am the Lord which sanctifie you this is spoken of habitual sanctification For how doth the Lord sanctifie us but by infusing the habit or the internal grace of holinesse into us whereby we are inabled to perform the several acts of holinesse or to live holily the effectual excitation of Gods blessed Spirit herewith concurring But because these words of the Lord which I have alledged though they speak of a twofold sanctification are taken in another sense by very learned Divines than this that I have given for confirmation therefore of habitual sanctification I do alledge those words of St. Paul 1 Thess 5.23 where he prayeth that God would sanctify them wholly or throughly And those 1 Cor. 1.30 where he saith That Christ is made unto us sanctification See also 1 Pet. 1.2 Now of actual sanctification St. Paul speaketh when he saith This is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God Hereof also speaketh St. Peter in that precept of his Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts In these and in other places the Scripture speaketh of Sanctification both habitual wrought in us by God himself and of sanctification acted and wrought by us through the assistance of Gods Spirit exciting us unto holinesse Whereas then this most learned Divine saith That there is no sanctification but it is after justification this is true if it be understood of actual sanctication For we are first justified by Faith and then this Faith inflameth our hearts with the love of God and stirreth us up to glorifie him and to serve him in holiness and righteousness according to all his commandements Thus the several works of holiness and righteousness do proceed from Faith Etiamsi non elicitivè imperativè tamen though not elicitly yet imperatively Faith stirreth us up unto them For as St. Paul saith The end of the commandement is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience 1 Tim. 1.5 and Faith unfeigned It is true therefore that Faith and therefore justification which is thereby laid hold of and obtained is before actual sanctification For as this learned man saith well fides vera est fons et scaturigo omnium bonorum operum in fidelibus De sola fide justificante Lib. 22. cap. 12. True Faith is the fountain and source of all good works in the faithful But I cannot say that there is no sanctification but it is after justification for habitual Faith is a part of habitual anctification Now the infused habits of grace such as Faith is are before their acts If therefore it can be proved that adulti or such as are of capacity and understanding are not justified without or before actual Faith then it will inevitably follow that there is some sanctification that is not after justification Yea beside what hath been said already to prove that we are actually justified by Faith and not without it methinketh Chamierus himself doth as good as grant it when he saith Verum est proptereà nos factos in Christo justitiam Dei quòd Christo nos simus incorporati per fidem It is true that we are therefore made the righteousnesse of God in Christ because we are incorporated into him by Faith We are not then justified before Faith or before we do believe in Christ Again this most excellent Divine saith In adultis fatemur remissionem peccatorum ab inhaerente justitiâ nunquam sepaerari We confess that remission of sins is never separated from inherent righteousness in those that are grown in years But say I many of the Elect after they have the use of reason and understanding being well grown in years do yet live in sin for some time and do not serve God in righteousness until he by his grace doth afterward convert them According therefore to his own Doctrine it followeth that justification from sin at least in adultis in those that are grown in years doth not go before Faith But saith he Faith justifieth relativè as it hath for its proper peculiar object the mercy of God on which it relieth Whence as I conceive he would have it inferred That seeing the mercy of God is eternal therefore our justification is so also and therefore before Faith Now hereunto I answer that though Christs righteousnesse be materialiter the proper object of our justification or that which is imputed to us for our justification Yet I will not deny bur that Gods mercy considered as the internal cause moving God to justify us may thus be said to be the proper and peculiar object on which our Faith relyeth for justification But it doth not follow hereupon that we were justified ab aeterno from everlasting because Gods mercy is the cause of our justification no more than that we are sanctified and glorified eternally because our sanctification and glorification are wholly of Gods mercy Quest 7. Whether any previous dispositions preparations or qualifications be required of men in the Gospel that they may be partakers of salvation by Christ SECT I. The Preparations that go before our Regeneration and Conversion THose that take upon them to be the only Preachers of
in Christ by Gods Judgments 2 Chro. 33.12 13. Luke 15. wherewith he hath visited them and awakened their consciences and by meditating of the shortnesse and uncertainty of their life here in this world and by other the like morives and considerations And it is manifest that not a few but many have extraordinarily been prepared unto Faith in Christ by miracles and strange works Mark 16.20 John 11.45 20.31 which have been wrought by God for the confirmation of the Gospel Lastly It is not to be denied that God both can work Faith yea and that he hath extraordinarily and most marvellously wrought it in some without any precedent qualifications or preparations at all To teach the contrary is to deny Gods power Luke 1.44 and to contradict the holy Scripture Quest 8. Whether we are made the Sons of God by Faith in Christ or but declared so to be Reconcil of man to God pag. 66. Gal. 3.20 MR. D. his peremptory resolution is We are not made the Sons of God by Faith for we were before reconciled unto him and were his sons And whereas S. Paul saith ye are all the sons of God by Faâ—th in Christ Jesus he will have the sense and meaning hereof to be That we are declared to be the sons of God by Faith in Christ Jesus But the Apostle saith you are and not are declared to be the sons of God though that be true also He speaketh therefore of the essence of son-ship and not of the manifestation or appearance hereof only Object But here it will be said Were all the Galathians that made profession of the Faith of Christ the sons of God really Answ It is not likely they were St. Pauls words therefore must be understood per reduplicationem to wit thus you are all the sons of God that is all of you who are the sons of God are his sons by Faith in Christ Jesus Or else we are to say that he speaketh of them according to the judgment of charity when he saith ye are all the sons of God presuming them to be so and then specifieth the means how they came to be his sons when he addeth by Faith in Christ Jesus But if they he will not admit of this Exposition I would know of him what it is that maketh a man to be a son Is it not his parents begetting of him Sure I am that is fundamentum hujus relationis the foundation of this relation Now St James telleth us That God hath begotten us by the word of truth Jam. 1.9 1 Pet. 1.23 St. Peter also saith that we are renati born again not of mortal seed but of immortal by the word of God Whence it followeth necessarily that we are not the sons of God until we do hear his word and are thereby converted to the Faith and obedience of Christ But Mr. D. tâ—inketh to avoid and put off this also by saying that the Apostles do say Object that we are regenerated and born again by the word because we are declared so to be and not that we are in deed and in truth regenerated by the word But this will not serve his turn Answ for the word being made effectual by the spirit is that which begets faith in us for Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of of God Now it is absurd to say that a man is regenerated while he liveth in infidelity or incredulity and is void of Faith Again until men hear the word their minds are blined with ignorance and their lives are full of impurity and uncleanness And hereupon St. Paul saith that God sent him unto the Gentiles to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that is by his preaching Gods word unto them which they had not heard before Yea our Saviour's own Disciples were unclean as all men are by nature until they heard the word as those words of Christ do testifie Now ye are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you They were not so therefore before and how then could they be said to be regenerated without the word For by regeneration men are made partakers of a new nature which they had not before St. Paul also speaking of the whole Church of Christ in general saith that he sanctifieth and cleanseth it with the washing of water by the word All therefore generally and ordinarily without the word are unclean and unregenerated Object But let us see how Mr. D. endeavoreth to prove that we were the sons of God before we did believe The Holy Ghost saith he declareth son-ship to be the cause of giving the Spirit when he saith Because ye are sons Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father Seeing therefore a man cannot believe without the grace of the Spirit it followeth necessarily that we are the sons of God before we do believe Answ But hereunto I answer that the Spirit is given diversly First to regenerate us for we are born again not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man John 1.13 but of God by the powerful operation of his Spirit Even as our Saviour himself also teacheth when he saith Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit John 3.5 he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Thus the Spirit is not a consequent of our regeneration whereby we are born the sons of God but a precedent cause thereof 2. Again the Spirit is also given to increase Faith and holinesse in us and to strengthen and establish us in grace after we are regenerated For as Christ by his Spirit beginneth the good work of grace in us so doth he by his Spirit perfect the same Phil. 1.6 2 Cor. 3.5 and not we our selves by any power of our own Lastly After we are born again the Spirit is also given to comfort us and to assure us of our Adoption by crying in our hearts Abba Father Thus as Mr. D. saith son-ship is in some sort the cause of giving the Spirit But otherwise we are not sons before and without any work of the Spirit at all for he is the Author or principal efficient cause of our being regenerated and born again the sons of God Another of Mr. D's Objections is this The Apostle saith Object that God the Father hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself We were not therefore begotten in time by the word but it is an eternal grace Whereunto I answer that he might as well infer Answ and conclude that we are alteady glorified and in actual possession of Heaven For God hath predestinated us to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light It 's strange that he cannot distinguish between the Decree of Election it self which is eternal and the effects thereof that is to say the things whereunto we are Elected
Baals priest I think ten times over and Minister of the Devil Doct. of John Baptist Page 36. 37 38. did unto me that Christs Disciples at that time and all the servants of God under the Old Testament were to pray for the pardon of their sins because Christ had not then payd the price of our Redemption and purchased the pardon of our sins by his Passion Now here Mr. D. joyneth with them and confirmeth them in their errour For he saith that there was no pardon of sin in the Old Testament because Christ had not then redeemed us But against this Assertion of his I shall by Gods grace both prove that there was the same forgivnesse of sins in the Old Testament that is in the new and then afterwards I shall answer his Arguments which he alleadgeth to the contrary First the Scripture it self of the Old Testament sheweth not darkly nor obscurely but plainely and manifestly not in a few but many places that the sins of all that did in those dayes truly repent were blotted out and forgiven by God The truth of this is to be seen in David he no sooner repented of his sins of adultery and murther crying out in the anguish and bitternesse of his soul and saying I have sinned against the Lord but presently the Prophet Nathan pronounced his absolution and sayd 2 Sam. 12.13 The Lord hath put away thy sin He hath forgiven he hath put it away sayth Nathan not he will put it away when the Messiah shall come and lay down his life for thy Redemption The same also doth David himself acknowledge and professe saying I acknowledged my sin unto thee Psal 23.4 5. and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin But what do I stand upon a such particular examples The Lord himself speaking of and to his people in the Old Testament saith I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake Esa 43.25 and will not remember thy sins And by his Prophet Ezekiel he proclaimeth a generall pardon for all as well in those dayes as in these that would repent and turn unto him saying Ezek. 18.20 21. The soul that sinneth it shall dye but if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my Statutes and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall surely live he shall not dye Hereupon the Prophet Micah magnifieth the mercy of the Lord and saith Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage Micah 7.18 The Protestants do hold against the Papists that the souls of the ancient Patriarchs and of the godly and faithfull that died before Christs passion went after the dissolution of their bodyes not into limbus patrum but into Heaven But surely this could not be if their sins remained and were not forgiven them For it is nothing but sin that openeth Hell and shutteth Heaven Let Mr. D. therefore advise himself whether he will in this joyn with the papists or with the protestants Sure I am as many as took the protestation which was put out by the Parliament bound themselves by a solemne vow to defend the protestant religion against all popery popish innovations but how well this is performed â—y many of the Sectaries the event sheweth Thus have I manfested that there was remission of sins in the Old Testament SECT III. Objections Answered LEt us now examine Mr. D. reasons whereby he and divers Sectaries do think to prove the contrary It is not possible say both he and they that those who lived under the Old Testament Object could have their sins actually pardoned because Christ then had not purchased the pardon of them by his death and Passion But I answer Answ they are much mistaken For the sins of all the elect people of God that lived before Christs passion were pardoned because he had undertaken to satisfie the law and justice of God for them Whereupon it is that Christ is called the surety of a better Testament Heb. 7.22 that is then the Law was to wit because he became our surety to his Father and undertook to satisfie his justice for our sins and to bring us to God Wherefore as the debter is discharged from prison when the suerty taketh the debt upon him although he doth not pay it presently but bindeth himself to satisfie it at a set time agreed upon So seeing the eternall Son of God became surety unto his Father for us and took our spirituall debt upon him and bound himself to redeeme us by his death at that fulnesse of time which was decreed and agreed upon by his Father and him all those therefore that by faith did rely upon the alsufficient sacrifice satisfaction of Christ from the beginning of the World untill his passion had their sins pardoned and were saved by meanes of that their faith in him as well as we are who now believe in him after he hath suffered and paid our debt For this cause he is called The Lamb slain from the beginning of the world Rev. 13.18 not only because he was in Gods decree and counsell from all eternity appointed to be slain or because he was from the beginning of the World slain Mystically in the sacrifices that were offered But in this regard principally becauâ—e the validity and virtue of his death did extend it self unto Adam and to all the elect of God that lived at any time or other from the beginning of World Object But saith Mr. D. those that lived before Christ had by his death redeemed them were under the Bondage and curse of the law Answ therefore their sins were not pardoned and forgiven them I answer they were in bondage to the Ceremonies of the Law Gal. 5.1 which Paul called a yoak of bondage And St Peter saith That neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear it but they not were in bondage to sin and Satan Acts 15.10 For what godly heart can endure to hear that Abraham the Father of the faithfull or Isaac or Jacob or David and the rest of those holy Patriarchs should be said to be in bondage to sin or to be Satans bond-men As aborrent also it is to Christian piety to say as Mr. D. doth that they were under the curse of the law for then they should have been in the state of damnation and liable to Gods wrath We confesse indeed they were under the law but how under the paedagogie or School-Mastery not under the curse and condemnatory sentence of it for from that were they freed and delivered by their faith in Christ to come as we are now by our faith in the same Christ who is come But saith he Object St. Paul telleth us that as many as are under the law are under the curse
better Covenant which was established upon better promises to wit then the former covenant was which God by the Ministry of Moses made with the Israelites Now by this former covenant if he meaneth the covenant of grace as it was administred unto the Israelites of old under the Law of Moses and by this latter and better covenant the same covenant of grace as it is plainly laid down in the Gospel the promises of this latter covenant are better then those of the former First Because they are clearly delivered in express and plain words whereas those were darkly shadowed out under types and figures and dimly represented in obscure Prophecies Secondly Because there is a greater measure of the spirit and of the graces thereof both promised and exhibited now under the new Testament since the comming of Christ in the flesh then was formerly in the old Testament This may well be the meaning of the Apostle But if we shall say that he doth in these words of his compare together the covenant of works and the covenant of grace then I say that the promises of the Gospel are better promises then are the promises of the covenant of works First Because remission of sins is promised in the Gospel which is not to be had by the Law For whosoever fulfilleth not all the Commandements thereof Deut. 27.26 it shutteth him up under the everlasting wrath and curse of God without any hope of pardon Again The promises of the Gospel are said to be better then those of the Law because the Gospel promiseth grace whereby we are inabled to perform the conditions thereof which the Law doth not For the Law only forbiddeth sin and commandeth that which is holy and just and good but ministreth no power to perform that which it requireth but in the new covenant of the Gospel the Lord promiseth that he will write his Lawes in our hearts and put his spirit within us Heb. 8. and cause us to keep his Commandements and to do them Thus by the grace of God in Christ we are strengthened and inabled to keep the covenant of the Gospel whereas it is altogether impossible for us so to keep the Law as to be justified and saved thereby SECT VII The learned Protestants do hold the promises of the Gospel not to be absolute but conditional THere is one Objection more which I think good to remove and that is this The learned Protestants as by name Bucanus Locis Com. Theol. and some others make this main difference between the Law and the Gospel that the promises of the Law were conditional but the promises of the Gospel sunt gratuitae are free promises It may seem therefore that Mr. S. and those that teach as he doth do preach true Protestant Doctrine and that we which teach otherwise have revolted and departed from the Protestant Religion at leastwise in this particular Answ But I answer It is nothing so for Bucanus explaineth himself and sheweth what he meaneth by the conditions which he speaketh of to wit such as are causae causes of the blessings that are promised Whereas therefore the Gospel saith si credideris if thou shalt believe particula si non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this particle if is not a note of a cause but of a consequence saith he Now this we do willingly grant that remission of sins and salvation are freely promised in the Gospel and that our faith and repentance are no causes of them Bucanus therefore teacheth altogether as we do for in the next words he saith that our faith or our believing non est causa vel meritum sed modus vel instrumentum sine quo non potest fieri applicatio beneficiorum Christi is not a cause or merit but a meanes or instrument without which there can be no application of Christs benefits unto us And if this be not enough he saith afterwards in expresse words that Jeremy calleth the Law of Moses being considered by it self and in it self the legal and old Covenant because it was the covenant of our creation whereby the Lord required of us perfect obedience to be performed by our own strength but the Gospel a new or a free covenant sub conditione fidei ex gratuito favore ab ipso nobis donandae upon the condition of faith to be freely given us by him Thus Bucanus who in his common places hath abridged and drawn into a short sum both Calvin and the principal and best of the Protestant writers that were before him sheweth how we are to understand them if any of them any where or other do say that the promises of the Gospel are not conditional as those of the Law were And for further confirmation that the Protestants do teach that salvation is offered us in the Gospel non simpliciter absolute sed sub conditione fidei resipiscentiae not simply and absolutely but upon condition of our faith and repentance I will also alledge Volum 2. Thes Theol. Loc. 4. what Pisâ—â—tor and Pareus two of the most principal Protestant Doctors do write First of all then Piscator setting down the difference between the Law and the Gospel hath these words The covenant of the Law is whereby the Lord of old promised unto the Israelites all sorts of temporal blessings and eternal life it self upon condition of perfect obedience to be performed by them to his Law by their own strength and on the contrary threatned sundry and divers curses and eternal death it self to all that should transgress but even one Commandement of the Law and they on the other side promised that obedience unto God The sanction or ratification of this covenant is described Exod. 24. The covenant of grace is that whereby God hath promised his gratious favour for ever to all that believe in Christ upon condition indeed of that their faith and sincere piety or new obedience joyned with it notwithstanding of neither to be performed as by the believers own strength but as by that free favour to be bestowed on them by him and they on the other side being assisted by Gods grace do promise faith and obedience unto him â—olleg 1. de lvang et gratia p. 21. Pareus also setting down the difference between the Law and the Gospel amongst other things hath these words The Law promiseth life with condition of a mans own righteousness the Gospel promiseth the same with condition of repentance and faith in Christ This might be sufficient notwithstanding because the same Pareus doth excellently in another place express and unfold the conditions of the covenant of grace I will therefore here transcribe and translate that which he there saith into English that all those who are illiterate and unlearned amongst us as well as others may see and perceive that the Doctrine formerly taught by us here in England is the very same which the learned Protestants also beyond Sea have taught from which our new illuminated
although Repentance goeth before that act of faith whereby a man believeth that his sins are pardoned yet it doth not follow hereupon that it goeth before all faith in general no nor yet before justifying and saving faith For if I shall speak Logically and properly there are as I conceive no lesse then foure several acts of faith but I do make choyce rather to speak popularly and therefore I will contract two of them into one The first act of faith is for a man to believe that the whole word of God is true or that I may speak more particularly to the matter in hand it is for him to believe that Jesus Christ being sent of his Father hath perfectly wrought and accomplished our salvation and that he doth offer this salvation unto all those who do repent and believe in him This act of faith doth not only go before repentance but before all other acts of faith also For if a man do not believe both that Christ hath absolutely and perfectly accomplished our redemption and salvation and that he doth also offer the salvation which he hath purchased unto all that do repent and believe in him he will have no incouragement neither will it be possible for him either to repent or believe to rest and rely on Christ for salvation This is that faith which is commonly called fides dogmatica vel historica doctrinal or historical faith because it goeth not beyond the faith of the Doctrine or of the History of the Bible Now this though it be absolutely necessary unto salvation yet it is not saving faith because it justifieth no man nor giveth to any man any interest or right unto salvation 2. The second act of faith is That a man do not despair though his sins be never so many or never so great but believe or perswade himself that God of his mercy through Christ will pardon them and so cast himself upon Christ or that he do trust upon Christ for salvation according to the promises of the Gospel This is saving faith or it is that act of faith whereby we are justified and saved as St. Paul giveth us to understand in those words of his which I have already alledged Rom. 3.23 24 25. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Behold it is faith in Christs blood that is in his death and passion whereby God becommeth propitious that is gracious and merciful unto us and consequently whereby we are justified and saved Now this act of faith is in nature before repentance though in time it go with it I will make this plain by a familiar comparison Sol est natura prior lumine ex illo orto The Sun is in nature before the light that springeth and proceedeth from it because in nature the cause is alwayes before the effect but the Sun and its light are simul tempore together in time For as soon as the Sun was created and placed by God in the Firmament at the very same instant did it illighten the World And even so in like manner faith in Christ is in nature before repentance but they go together in time For seeing there is no promise of pardon made to any one in the Gospel while he continueth in sin it followeth necessarily therefore that true justifying faith cannot be separated from repentance no more then saving repentance can be without such a true faith And this as I take it is the cause why remission of sins and salvation are in some places of holy Scripture attributed to repentance and in some other to saith to wit because faith and repentance are as it were twisted and infolded the one in the other For neither can a man repent without faith nor can he believe in Christ for the pardon of his sins unless his faith did stir up repentance in him and a setled purpose to forsake all sin For as long as a man liveth in sin he hath no promise from God to ground his faith upon The true Christian therefore in believing repenteth and in repenting believeth these are two inseparable Companions and as it were twins that are bread and born together Although then that act of faith whereby we do believe in Christ is in nature before repentance as the cause is before the effect yet there is no priority nor posteriority of time between them Faith is the first wheel in the Clock that moveth all the rest Mr. Panb Vind. Grat. for a man cannot believe in Christ for salvation according to the promises of the Gospel unless this faith of his do excite and stir him up to the practise of repentance The third and last act of faith is that whereby a man believeth that his sins are blotted out and forgiven and that he is in the state of salvation The former is called a direct act because it maketh a man to look directly upon Christ and to cast himself upon him for salvation This latter is called a reflexed act because a Christian reflecting and looking back upon himself and his own soul seeth faith and repentance wrought in him and hereupon concludeth that his sins are pardoned and that he now is the Child of God and an Heire of Heaven This he believeth because he seeth the conditions accomplished in him to which God hath promised remission of sins and salvation that is to say faith and repentance Thus whereas the former act of faith whereby a man doth truly believe in Christ maketh him partaker of the remission of sins and giveth him right and a true title to the Kingdom of Heaven this latter assureth him of this and breedeth and begetteth great peace quietness and comfort in his heart and conscience Now this last act of faith whereby a man thus believeth that his sins are pardoned and is assured of his salvation doth not go before but followeth after repentance For until a man seeth and perceiveth that he hath forsaken sin and that he doth repent he cannot confidently believe that his sins are pardoned nor can he have any firm assurance of salvation because he hath no word of promise from God whereon to ground that faith and assurance of his Object Another stumbling-block which our Novellists have cast in the way of many good Christians is this whereas St. Paul telleth us 1 Tim. 1.15 that Christ came into the World to save sinners behold say these men he came to save sinners not repentant sinners and hereupon they infer and conclude that a man before he repenteth even at that very time when he liveth in sin ought to believe that his sins are pardoned and that he is in the state of salvation But I answer Answ That they do deceive both themselves and others fallacia consequentis with a fallacious consequence For when or how doth Christ save
Secondly Grace is taken by a Metonymie for a supernatural gift of grace Eph. 4.7 2 Cor. 6.1 as in these places following Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ c. We beseech you that ye receive not the Grace of God in vain Under this latter signification of Grace are comprehended both Christ himself John 4.10 for he calleth himself the gift of God and all the several Acts also or parts of our salvation which he hath merited for us and worketh in us or bestoweth upon us as our justification adoption sanctification preservation in the state of Grace redemption from hell and eternal glorification and salvation in Heaven Now judge whether those can be enemies to Grace or whether they are justly charged not to preach free Grace who do thus ascribe our whole salvation to the Grace of God It is true indeed we do teach men to repent and believe in Christ that they may be saved by him but withal we do teach them that Faith and Repentance are Graces of God or dona ex gratiâ gifts of his Grace and that they cannot practise nor perform them viribus liberi arbitrii sui by their own free will or by any power of their own but must seek and sue unto God for them in the use of such means as he hath prescribed For God doth not force his graces upon us nor doth not work upon us as on stocks or stones but seeing he hath made us reasonable creatures he therefore speaketh unto us by his word and perswadeth and inableth us by his Spirit to do those things which he requirerh of us Thus he dealeth with us as with men but yet so that still our salvation is wholly of his grace both the beginning middle and the end thereof For though it bee we that do repent and believe and obey and not God yet we do all this not of our selves but by his grace Thus do we alwaies and in all things magnifie and extol the grace of God acknowledging it to be the only cause of our whole salvation by Christ Yet all this that I have said Objection Mr. S. thinketh to overthrow by saying That all sorts even Papists and Arminians do thus acknowledge grace in general as we do But who seeth not that we do more then so Answer For whereas they do divide the salvation of a sinner between mans Free-will and Gods free grace yea do terminate his conversion ultimately and leave it in the power of his own Free-will we ascribe it only to grace Quest 2. Whether a man when he is converted from Infidelity to Fayth do change his estate before God Reconcil of God to man pag. 32 MAster D. saith that a mans believing doth not change his estate before God Whereupon that I may passe my censure this I say that if before God he meaneth only according to that he is in Gods eternal predestination this may be admitted for so he is a believer that is decreed to be a believer from all eternity But if his meaning be that his estate before he believed and after his conversion is the same before God that is in Gods account or in reality and truth as well as in outward appearance in which sense Zachary and Elizabeth are said both to be righteous before God this may not be granted For upon Zacheus his conversion our Saviour spake unto him and said Luke 1. This day is salvation come unto this house He was not in the state of salvation therefore before Now the same is to be said of all other converts and true believers whereof is to be seen in the Ephesians Eph. 2.1 2. of whom St. Paul saith You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in times past ye walked and afterwards he speaketh unto them and saith Ye were sometimes darkness Eph. 4.8 but are now light in the Lord. Now I would know whether he doth not change his estate that passeth from death to life which our Saviour our in express words affirmeth of the believer John 5.24 and from darkness to light As manifest a change of their estate do those words of the Apostle import and imply when he saith unto them Remember that ye being in times passed Gentiles in the flesh that at that time ye were without Christ Eph. 2.11 12 13. being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world But now in Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ Can any thing be spoken more plainly to shew what a great difference there was between their former estate and condition whilest they remained in infidelity and their present since they were converted to the Faith of Christ To be without Christ and without God and to be nigh unto God and unto Christ that is to be the children of God and members of Christ must needs argue a great change in a mans spiritual estate Those words also of St Paul Col. 1.13 do evince as manifest a change of our spiritual estate when he saith That God the Father hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son For how is it possible there should be any such translation if our state remained unalterable and still the same It is false therefore that Mr. D. teacheth to wit Reconcil of God to man pag. 27.28 That our Faith only giveth us evidence and assurance of our salvation which we had before but that we are not to believe and to serve God that we may obtain salvation non per modum meriti not by way of merit I mean not so but that we may obtain by Faith both right unto and possession or fruition of that salvation in Heaven which Christ hath purchased for us In this he contradicteth the Scripture for St Peter calleth the salvation of our souls the end of our Faith Now I would know 1 Pet. 1.9 whether a man doth undertake or do any thing nisi ex intuitu et cum intentione finis but for some end or other which he propounds unto himself When we do therefore believe in Christ and Repent us of our sins past we do it with this intention and for this end That we may be partakers of eternal salvation in Heaven through Christ Whereupon when the Jaylor demanded of Paul Silas Sirs What must I do to be saved Acts 16.31 They said Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved thou and thine house He findeth fault with this question Reconcil of God to man pag. 34. If the Jaylor had asked this question of Mr. D. he in choâ—er scorn would have answered him What thou ignorant and impious man dost thou ask me what thou must do to be saved as if Christ had not throughly wrought and
the same but sometimes greater and sometimes lesser towards his children And in this sense David speaketh of Gods Love Psa 147.8 when he saith The Lord loveth the righteous and Solomon Prov. 8.17 where he bringeth in the Son of God the eternal wisdom of his Father speaking and saying I love them that love me that is them only and none else Now there was a time when the elect did not love God but the world and the things thereof a time when they were not righteous but wicked they were not at that time therefore loved of God in this sense as Solomon and David here speak of his Love that is so as to taste or to be made partakers of the comfortable effects thereof The Lord also speaketh of his Love tanquam de re futura as of a thing to be accomplished in time to come when he saith or his revolted people I will love them freely I will Hos 14.4 saith the Lord he did not therefore thus love them alwaies Now this also must be understood not of the internal Act of Gods love which is eternal but of the manifestation of his love in the saving effects thereof Thus also are we to understand St. Paul when he blesseth the Corinthians and prayeth for them saying 2 Cor. 13. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God be with you For his meaning is not that God would then first begin to love them as if he had hated them or had borne them no good will before but that he would multiply the effects of his Love upon them or that he would continue the gracious influence of his Love towards them in the most comfortable and saving effects thereof In the same sense also doth our Saviour speak of Gods Love John 14.21 He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them it is he that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him When Christ saith here He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him he speaketh as the next words do shew of the manifestation of his and his Fathers love by the saving effects thereof Tunc enim Deus novâ ratione suam exhibet dilectionem cum novo homines afficit beneficio For then doth God exhibit his Love after a new manner when he bestowetn on men a new benefit saith Jansenius Like whereunto are the words of Dionisius Carthusianus on this saying of Christ God loveth all that are predestinate eternally and simply even then when they do not love him but are wicked For he first loved us 1 John 4.19 He loveth them I say according to that he seeth them to be in his Decree of Predestination But when they are converted and do love God he bestoweth on them the effects of his Love which he doth fully and finally vouthsafe them when they obtain the inheritance of Heaven Peter Lumbard also Lib. 3. Sent. Dist. 32. doth excellently unfold this matter I will therefore shut up this discourse in his words The Love of God saith he is considered two manner of waies secundum essentiam et secunduÌ„ efficientiam according to the essence according to the efficiency of it It is neither more nor less according to the essence but according to the efficiency of it In which regard those may be said to be more loved for whom out of his love he hath from eternity prepared majus bonuÌ„ the greater good or a greater blessing and doth in time confer the same upon them and those lesse loâ—ed quibus non tantum for whom and on whom he hath from eternity prepared and in time bestoweth not so much good or not so great a blessing Thereupon also it is that some when they are converted and justified are said then to begin to be loved of God not that God can love any one nova dilectione with a new love yea he loved with everlasting love before the foundation of the world whomsoever he loveth But they are then said to begin to be loved of him when they receive the effects of Gods eternal love to wit grace or glory Whereupon Augustine saith Far be it from us that we should say that God loveth any one temporally as it were with a new love which was not in him before with whom nec praeterita transierunt neither the things that are past have passed away et futura jam facta sunt and those that are future are already present or are done Therefore he loved all his Saints before the foundation of the world sicut praedestinavit as they were predestinated by him But when they are converted and do find him then they are said to begin to be loved of him Ut eo modo dicatur quo potest humano affectu capi quod dicitur to speak after that manner that the thing which is spoken may be comprehended by mans capacity Thus also when God is said to be angry with the wicked and well pleased with the good the change is in them and not in Him as light is offensive to weak eyes but comfortable to strong to wit through the change that is in them not in it self so when any one begins to be Gods friend being justified he himself is changed not God Now if the Question be asked whether one may be said to be loved of God more at one time then at another distinguenda est dilectionis intelligentia that we may understand this aright we must distinguish of love for if it be referred unto the effects of love concessibile est it is to be granted that God doth love some more at one time than at another but if it be referred to the essence of Gods Lo e inficiabile est it is to be denied Hitherto Peter Lumbard And thus this deep mystery or matter is sufficiently cleared I 'le onely add two things more to preâ—ent the mistaking of this Doctrine The former is that all those quibus ab aeterno Deus bene vult whom God eternally loveth shall in time have all those good things that is those effects of grace wrought in them which he decreed for them As long therefore as men do live in sin they cannot conclude nor they cannot believe that God loveth them with any special love as he doth his Elect whom he hath appointed heirs of salvation because as yet no effects of Election do appear in them The other thing which I think good here to add is that Mr. D. hath no cause so sharply and bitterly as he doth to reproâ—e some of our Protestant Preachers and writers because they tell men that if they forsake sin and follow after Gods commandements and do that which is acceptable in his sight then God will love them For seeing they speak no otherwise of Gods Love than the holy Scripture doth Why should he so rack their words as if they taught that God were mutable in
will be said So also did Christ reconcile us unto his Father by his death Object therefore we were reconciled before we did believe in Christ It is true we were reconciled to God by his death Answer 1 quoad meritum vel quoad pretium redemptionis et reconciliationis nostrae in regard of the merit or price of our Redemption and Reconciliation but we are not actually reconciled until by Faith we do believe in Christ 1 John 5.11 12. and are united unto him For he that hath the Son hath life but he that hath not the Son hath not life but the wrath of God abideth on him And hereupon it was that St. Paul accounted all he had but as dung that he might win Christ Phil. 3.8 Math. 17.4 and be found in him For why Christ is the beloved Son of the Father in whom it is that he is well pleased with us As long therefore as we are out of Christ and remain in our sins we are liable to Gods displeasure and therefore had need to be reconciled unto him For though God loveth us ab aeterno from everlasting amore complacentiae with a love of complacencie and delight secundum intuitum praedestinationis suae that is as he beholds us justified and sanctified in his Decree of predestination yet being considered as we were of our selves when we remained in our sins and were aliens from Christ he could take no pleasure in us If this answer do not give full satisfaction then I say Answer 2 further that although God loves his elect eternally yet he suspendeth the saving effects of this his love towards them until they do believe in Christ In that regard therefore they may be said to be reconciled unto him when they are converted and do believe because he then taketh off this suspension by working in them the saving effects of his love and not only declaratively For first God works these effects in them and then by them declares and manifests his Love unto them and assures them thereof Answer 3 Lastly Though God loved us eternally as we were elected of him in his eternal Decree of Predestination that is in regard of the felicity and happiness which he alwaies intended us notwithstanding we were by God in his word bound over unto eternal punishment and condemnation for our sins while we lived in them but when we did return unto God and believe in Christ then we were justified and absolved from our sins and from the sentence of condemnation and consequently were actually reconciled unto God for there is no reall difference between the justification and reconciliation of a sinner When a sinner by Faith in Christ obtainerh pardon of his sins then he is reconciled to God St. Paul therefore useth the words justification and reconciliation promiscuously Rom. 5.9.10 and indifferently as importing the same thing being justified by the blood of Christ saith he we shall be saved from wrath through him This he proveth thus for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son where you see he putteth reconciled for justified implying there is no real difference between them much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life See this proved afterwards Question 6. Now we are not actually justified from the sentence of condemnation which God in his word hath denounced against us for our sins until we do believe in Christ It follows necessarily therefore that we are not actually reconciled unto God until we do believe in Christ and are united unto him Quest 5. Whether the Doctrine of Reconciliation as Mr. D. hath propounded it be a better means of comfort to distressed consciences then our Protestant Doctrine is FIrst He teacheth that God was reconciled to us that is as he understandeth it that he loved us ab aeterne from all eternity without any precedent dispositions or qualifications which he found or fore-saw in us or any conditions to be performed by us to gain His love and His favour Now whatsoever comfort this can afford to any if it be a means to keep those that are great sinners or such as are troubled with the apprehension of their own unworthinesse from despair our Doctrine will do the same also For there is no judicious nor no orthodox Protestant who teacheth not that God loved us freely from everlasting and that His love is the cause of our loving Him and of all the goodness that is in us as St. John saith We love him because he loved us first 1 John 4.19 and not that he loveth us because we love Him to speak properly of his Love as it is in it self though otherwise when we speak of Gods Love according to the influence it hath upon us or according to the gracious effects thereof we say as the holy Scripture doth that the Lord will love those that love him and keep his commandements In this sense our Saviour speaketh of Gods Love If a man love me he will keep my words John 14.23 and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And John 16.27 The Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me have believed that I came out from God Where we must not so understand our Saviour as if he made his Disciples loving of him and believing him to be the cause why God did first set his Love upon them for he loved them erernally but to be the cause why God did aboundantly testifie his Love towards them by many gracious rare and most comfortable effects thereof rather than to the world We may say therefore as Dionysius Carthusianus doth That our Saviour in these words setteth down the cause of Gods Love à posteriori that is he cause of the effects of Gods Love and so maketh his Disciples loving of him and believing in him a sign and an assurance unto them that his Father loved them Reconcil of man to God pag. 49 50 52 57. Secondly speaking of our Reconciliation to God that is as he expresseth himself of the declaration or manifestation of Gods Reconciliation to us he teacheth that we are thus reconciled to God by Faith only but maketh joy in the Holy Ghost and the Love of God and of our Brethren and new Obedience inseperable Companions of this our Reconciliation Now it a man cannot finde these graces in himself What great comfort can he take that Gods Love is eternal without any conditions on our par◠to be performed Or how can this encourage men against desperation more than our Doctrine which is That Gods Love may be known by the inseparable effects thereof For he will not say that God loves all or that he was from all eternity reconciled unto all but only unto the Elect. Until therefore a man shall finde in himself the undoubted effects of his Election he can take no great comfort in this that Gods Love is free and without
only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have eternal life John 3.16 And this offer is an offer of Gods love wherewith he loved us from everlasting Answ So he but to the contrary I say That Gods eternal love is not here offered to all as he would have it there can no such thing be deduced and drawn from either of these places for in the former St. Paul sheweth what manner of persons believers were in themselves when Christ out of his love died for them they were not righteous but sinners in the latter our Saviour himself sheweth what it was that moved God to give his Son to death for us it was his surpassing and incomparable love and nothing else Now how Mr. S will frame an Argument either from the Apostles or from our Saviours words against preparations before Faith I know not unlesse it be thus God loved all equally loved them to make them partakers of Christ and of salvation by him therefore in preaching the Gospel nothing is to be required of any but all are to believe that they shall be saved by Christ whether they be penitent for sin or rejoyce and delight in sin and whether they purpose and resolve to leave sin or to live in sin Now I grant indeed That this Conclusion were to be admitted if the antecedent whence it is deduced were true that is if God did love all absolutely unto their eternal salvation and had no purpose to work any change or alteration in them while they live here But this is palpably false for whom God loveth eternally and before all time they receive in time through the gracious operation of his Spiit the necessary effects of this his love that is contrition and compunction of heart for sin Faith in Christ for the forgivenesse of sin conversion to God from all sin and all other saving graces to the accomplishment of their their salvation It 's false therefore that sinners are only to believe that God loveth them and that they are reconciled unto him by Christs death as Mr. D. and Mr. S. do teach and that nothing else but such a bare Faith is to be required of them that they may thereby know and be assured that they are justified and partakers of Christ For God loveth not all unto salvation but the Elect only whom in time he bringeth by degrees to the possession of that salvation by preparing them for it in that manner as the Gospel teacheth and letteth none lie still rotting in their sins without any true Faith or Repentance but only wicked reprobates whom he suffereth to walk in the broad way that leadeth unto destruction Object 3. It exalteth Grace more to receive broken hearted than Object 3 obdurate sinners He farther urgeth It exalteth Grace more to receive a sinner who hath no mony no price no righteousness His meaning is That it maketh more to the glory of Gods grace that he receive sinners as sinners without any sorrow for or sense and feeling of their sins rather than humbled and broken-hearted sinners that see and perceive how miserable they are in themselves and in what great need they do stand of a Saviour But I answer him That maketh most to the magnifying and exalting of Gods grace which he himself requireth and prescribeth and not which sinful men in their carnal and fleshly wisdom do fancy and like best or which they judge to be most for the setting forth of his grace Now it is evident that God offereth Christ to none but to those that acknowledge their sins and feel the burden of them Matth. 11.5.28 Isa 61.1 2. Yea even that very place which Mr. S. alledgeth proveth against him that some preparations go before Faith in Christ to wit a thirsting after him and his graces which cannot be unlesse a man feel his misery by sin and see in what need he standeth of Christ even as a man never thirsteth corporally until he is pained with heat and drynesse and feeleth in what need he standeth of drink These very words therefore of the prophet Isay Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no mony come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without mony and without price are produced by him against himself For all are not here invited to come to Christ and to be made partakers of his graces not sinners as sinners as he will have it that is sinners continuing in their sins without any purpose to leave them yea not so much as acknowledging their sins and their misery by means of them but first such sinners who feeling their great need of Christ do thirst after him and secondly such as have no mony and therefore do offer no price for him that is who do acknowledge that they have no merits of their own nor can do any thing to purchase or procure Gods favour Having thus wrested his weapon out of his hands and turned it against himself I must now tell him that whereas he saith That it exalteth grace more to receive a sinner that hath no money no price no righteousnesse that is in his sense all sorts of sinners though they do not so much as feel nor acknowledge their sins rather then those that being cast down with the sight and sense of their sins do acknowledge they have no money no price nor no righhteousnesse of their own I must I say tell him that he is much deceived in this for first it standeth not with Gods justice and his hatred of sin to pardon sinners without working any change in them at all but suffering them to continue and remain still in their sins The holy Prophet David disclaimeth this and speaketh against him when he saith Psal 5.4 Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickednesse neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity Again I say further Gods grace is most exalted when sinners do most acknowledge the riches of his grace and are most thankful to him for it Now so are they who do most feel the burden of their sins and do most apprehend their spiritual misery as it is to be seen in the penitent woman Luke 7. Luke 7.47 the sight and sense of whose many and great sins made her greatly to love Christ But on the contrary if God should pardon those that feel not their sins but are whole in their own conceit they would either with the Pharisees ascribe their salvation more to their own works then to Gods grace or turn the grace of God into lasciviousnesse and wax wanton against Christ as Libertines and carnal Gospellers do who rely so much on the grace of God that they have no care to live holily and righteously to the glory of Gods grace but by their wicked works and deeds of darknesse do cause the name of God to be blasphemed Rom. 2.24 1 Tim. 6.1 Object 4.
No he doth not Gal. 3.10 but as many as are of the works of the law that is who seek and go about to be justified by the works of the Law Answ are under the curse But this did not the Fathers before Christs coming for as St. Peter saith Acts 15.11 As we do believe that we shall be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ so did they Object He alleadgeth also those words of the Apostle They received not the promise Heb. 11.39 as if the meaning of them were that those under the Old Testament were not made partakers of forgivenesse of sins and salvation before Christs coming Bur I have before proved Answ that there was the same remission of sins in those dayes that there is now For of those that lived at that time as well as now David speaketh plainely and saith Psal 32.1 2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity Whereas then the Apostle saith they received not the promise he speaketh of the promise of Christs incarnation and manifestation in the flesh and his meaning is that that promise was not then accomplished but differred untill the dayes of the New Testament wherein we see those things and hear those things which Abraham and the Prophets and faithfull people of God in those dayes desired to see and hear but could not God providing better things for us as the Apostle speaketh in the next words that they without us might not be made perfect that is in the knowledge and faith of the full Revelation of the Messiah but held in the state and condition as it were of children in their Minority Object He urgeth also against us those words of the Angel Gabriel unto Daniel Dan. 9.24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the holy City to finish the trangression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousnesse For from hence he inferreth and concludeth that the sins of the people of God were at that time remaining and that they were not reconciled to God Answ But hereunto I answer that the Angel in these words speaketh of the finishing of transgressions and making an end of sins and of making reconciliation for iniquity by way of satisfaction and Redemption which Christ was to do in his passion Isai 53.10 when as Isaiah saith he was to make his soul an offering for sin but not of taking away sin and making reconciliation by actuall remission and forgivenesse thereof For thus all those were reconciled to God and were discharged of their sins who before Christs passion did expect his coming and built the hope and confidence of their Redemption and salvation on him I do not remember for I have not his book by me any thing else that Mr. D. alleadgeth to infringe the force of my two former reasons I have nothing therefore more to say unto him in this Question SECT IIII. Two reasons more proving that the Children of God are to pray for the pardon of their Sins THirdly therefore I do reason thus against the aforesaid Reaso n 3 Sectaries If the Children of God are not to pray for the pardon of their sins then it will follow that pardon of sin is to be had without any prayer which is a great and grosse absurdity for we have no promise of any good thing from God unlesse we pray for it Math. 7.7 Ask saith our Saviour and you shall have Here the promise is made to him that asketh But on the contrary ye have not James 4.2 because ye ask not saith St. James James 1.7 Now when men are unregenerate they cannot pray in faith and therefore as St. James saith shall obtain nothing of the Lord. And after they are regenerated and do believe these men will not allow them to pray for the pardon of their sins According therefore to their doctrine pardon of sin is to be had without any true prayer The grossnesse and absurdity of which conceipt who seeth not that is not stark blind in spirituall things Fourthly it hath been Reaso n 4 constantly taught untill this time not only by others but even by those also that would not allow the Lords prayer to be used as a prayer that it is a platforme of prayer according whereunto we are all of us to frame and form all our prayers at least wise for the matter of our petitions Now as I have shewed already Christ therein taught his Disciples to pray for the forgivenesse of their sins It it a novellous conceipt therefore and upstart errour to hold That the Children of God ought not to pray for the pardon of their Sins SECT V. The severall Causes or reasons why the Children of God are to pray for the pardon of their sins Object But say these men when we believe in Christ our sins are pardoned we are therefore to praise God for this his mercy but not to pray for it seeing we have it already for then we should take Gods name in vaine Answ 1 But I answer them that the promise of pardon of sin at leastwise for the continuance of it is not made unto one individuall act of faith onely but to perseverance and continuance in the faith for so we are given to understand Heb. 10.38 Heb. 10.38 The just shall live by faith but if any man draw back my soule shall have no pleasure in him But saith the Apostle We are not of them that draw back unto perdition but of them that believe perseverantly to the saving of the Soul And before in the third Chapter the same Apostle hath told us See also Joh. 8.31 verse 14. that we are made pertakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence sted-fast unto the end After therefore we are justified and absolved from our sins yet we are to pray still for the pardon of them because as Amesius and other of the Learned protestants generally say Continuatio hujus gratiae est nobis necessaria the continuance of this grace is necessary for us For as it is not to one individuall act of faith onely so neither of repentance nor of prayer but to perseverance and continuance in all these that God hath promised and granted pardon This is to seen in David for after his sins were pardoned and he the true Child of God yet he prayeth still remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions And after David was pardoned for Nathan upon his repentance said unto him the Lord hath taken away thy sin 2. Sam. 12.13 yet he prayed most earnestly for pardon Psal 51. We are still to pray for the pardon of our sins Ut sensus et manifestatio hujus gratiae magis magisque percipiatur prout singularia peccata postulant that the sense and manifestation of this grace may be more and more
profession of faith in him as the true believers did Now they tell us that the Apostle speaketh of these counterfeit and not of true believers when he saith for this cause many are sick and weak among you and many sleep for say they could such impious and wicked Beasts be the members of Christ who came drunk to the Lords Table Answ I answer It is not impossible that a Child of God drinking Wine liberally with others at their love feasts might as well be overtaken with drunkenness as Noah was whom St. Peter calleth a righteous man But suppose that they were all wicked hypocrites that thus prophaned the holy Sacrament of Christs body and blood 2 Pet. 2. yet seeing the Church and people of God at Corinth tolerated them in their Communion and did not censure them for this foul fault therefore Gods judgement might break in among them all by an epidemical disease and take away some if not many of the better sort as well as all the Israelites fled before their enemies and divers of them were slain for the sin of A chan Josh 7. And that this was the case of the Corinthians whom God visited some of them with death and others with sickness and weakness the words immediately following in the Apostle do manifest when he saith for if we would judge our selves we should not be judged But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World Tâ—ese words do evince that St. Paul speaketh in this place of true beleeâ—ers and not onely of counterfeit hypocrites First This iâ— evident from his scope in uttering these words which was to comfort not onely those which were living and yet lying under Gods judgements but others also for the death of their dear friends who were thus taken away for prophaning the holy Sacrament of Christs blessed body and blood The former of these might think thus with themselves seeing this our sickness and weakness is a judgement of God upon us what hope can we have in him And the latter might say seeing God hath taken away our friends in judgement alas what is become of their souls The Apostle to comfort them against such sad thoughts as these telleth them that this was indeed a judgement upon them but a judgement onely of castigation for their reformation that so they might escape the judgement of eternal condemnation in the world to come Again St. Paul includeth himself in the number of those that are thus judged For he saith not that those men onely that came irreverently to the Lords Table were judged but when we are judged speaking of himself and all believers we are chastened of the Lord. Rom. 8.1 Thirdly He informeth us how happy the end and issue of this judgement of castigation is to all Gods children It becommeth a meanes God sanctifying it unto them for this end to free them from condemnation which is the portion and proper and peculiar priviledge of the godly and not common to them with the wicked 4. lastly Therefore he opposeth the persons that are thus judged unto the world It is not possible therefore that St. Paul should speak only of wicked hypocrites when he saith For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many sleep For such wicked ones belong unto the World and are no true members of Christ nor of his Church which consisteth of Saints that are gathered out of the World 3. lastly I would know of these men whether a Father doth not correct his children and a Schoolmaster his Scholars for their faults To deny this is to contradict all men and the truth it self For a Child when he groweth wanton and stubborn against his Father and a Scholar when he playeth the trevant and neglecteth his book do both of them deserve the Rod of correction Their faults which they have committed are causa meritoria the meriting cause of their correction though the final cause or the end of such correction is their reformation And even so also by a like reason do Gods children when they forget their duties and wax wanton against their heavenly Father deserve to be corrected by him for their amendment Object But here it may be said God correcteth his children in love for their good Answ Now what Can they by their sins be said to deserve good and not rather evil For answer hereunto I say that although the afflictions of Gods children are good unto them in their end and issue whereunto they are sanctified and directed by God In which regard Gods Children do say with David Heb. 12.11 It is good for me that I have been afflicted for before I was afflicted I went astray but now do I keep thy Law Psal 119. Notwithstanding as the Apostle saith and as we feel in our own experience our afflictions in themselves are grievous and bitter to the flesh And therefore as it is said of him that cannot rule his appetite that he deserveth to fall into the hands of the Physitian who by bitter Pills or potions purgeth away the ill-humors which his delicious Cups and sweet morsels bred in his body So when Gods children do satisfie their carnal lusts and surfet upon sin they deserve the bitter pills of affliction which when the heavenly Physitian of their souls shall administer unto them they have cause with Job not only to be patient and contented but thankfully to submit themselves unto his corrections and to say Job 2.10 Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil Ye see then that the afflictions of Gods Children are evil in themselves though good in their end The force of this reason Object our adversaries do think to avoid by saying that a Father is indeed angry with his children when they offend him and correcteth them for their faults But so doth not God to his children for he is never angry with any of them because Christ hath born all their sins and pacified his Fathers wrath for ever This Objection I shall not need here to answer Answ for I have removed it in the former Question where I shewed that Christ hath freed us from Gods revenging wrath which would have overwhelmed us in perdition and destruction everlasting but not from his paternal indignation which tendeth to the furtherance of our sanctification and salvation And therefore it would not be for our good but to our hurt if he should not thus cause us to feel his anger when we forget our selves and go a stray from him I would know also wherefore God calleth himself our Father and us his children but because he dealeth with us as a Father doth with his children as in other respects so particularly in nurturing us for our sins when we offend him by them as the Apostle expresly sheweth Heb. 12.5 6 7 8. This that I have said cannot but be of singular use unto the children of God when they
are visited with his corrections For if they believe that their sins are at least wise in part a cause of their afflictions 1. This will make them so much the more diligently to search and examine themselves that they may both find out their sins and purge them out by repentance saying with the Jews Lam. 3.40 Lam. 3.40 Come let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord. 2. It will make them also to humble themselves so much the more before the Lord saying with the Prodigal Luk. 15. Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee and I am no more worthy to be called thy Son 3. It will make them also to pray the more fervently and effectually to God for mercy and forgiveness as David did being afflicted in minde with the sight and sense of his sins when Gods judgements were upon him Psal 38. 4. It will make them to hate and abhorre sin so much the more and the more to shun it for the time to come 5. And lastly As he in the time of the Law that was pursued for murther which he had unwittingly and unwillingly committed did flie hard to the Alter or to the City of refuge to save his life so when a man acknowledgeth that it are his sins that do cause God to persue him with his judgements it will make him to flie the faster unto and to lay the firmer hold on Jesus Christ that he may obtain forgiveness and salvation by him But when men do deny that their sins are any cause of Gods corrections then when they lie under his judgements they will neither search out their sins nor humble themselves before God for them nor pray so much the more earnestly for the pardon of them nor repent and turn unto God from them But on the contrary such persons as we see it is both the Opinion and the practice of many now at this day will say that they need not neither to repent nor to pray for the pardon of their sins nor to make any confession of them and so they take a course to shut Heaven gates against themselves For as St. John telleth us If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us If we confess our sins 1 Joh. 1.8 9. that is with inward penitency compunction of heart and with a lively hatred and abhorring of them God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness To the same effect speaketh Solomon Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sins as every one doth who saith that he hath no sin shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy Quest 12. Whether a man may be assured of Salvation by his love to the Brethren Quest 12 and by other effects and fruits of Sanctification Or whether he can be assured of Salvation no otherwise but onely by Faith in Christ SECT I. A Man may be assured of his Salvation by his Repentance TO this Mr. D. answereth When the soul is loaden with the burden of sin and sense of misery Confer p. 18 it is sufficient for our assurance to believe God in his promises and we read of nothing else Act. 16.31 Beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved No doubt it is true that he who believeth in God according to his promises which in the Gospel he hath made unto us I find saith he but one onely condition of actual Reconciliation of man to God p. 56. that is as he explaineth himself whereby we know that God is reconciled to us p. 51. Confer between a sick man c. p. 5. shall obtain remission of sins and salvation but these promises are not made to any one that continueth in sin although he be never so much terrified and troubled with the fear of Hell but to those only that repent and turn unto God And hereupon it is that the true Christian in believing repenteth and repenting believeth Thus Faith and Repentance are twisted together as it were and indeed are never separated as he himself acknowledgeth Whereupon it followeth necessarily also that a man may be assured of his salvation by his repentance And this he dareth not deny but saith that it is a sure mark of salvation whatsoever faileth But he hath no sooner granted this but in the next words he laboureth to rob and bereave Christians of all the comfort which their Repentance will afford them for he saith That a man cannot know his Repentance to be true neither by his hearty sorrow for his sins past nor by his steadfast purpose to forsake all sin and to walk in all godliness First He saith that Reprobates as Esau Gen. 27.1 and Judas Math. 27.3 repented and sorrowed heartily for their sins And saith he doubtless all that do despair do heartily sorrow for their sins as they that are swallowed up with over much sorrow But I answered him that such do sorrow heartily in deed but nor for their sins but for the punishment and damnation of them which they are afraid of The Apostle therefore calleth this Worldly Sorrow 2 Cor. 7.10 and saith that it causeth death but in the next words he telleth us that godly sorrow which is when a man after a godly manner is sory for sin because it is sin or because it is an offence against God and a dishonour to him worketh repentance unto salvation 2 Cor. 7.10 never to be repented of Whosoever therefore findeth such godly sorrow in himself may thereby be assured of salvation The like is to be said of him that purposeth not by fits and flashes but steadfastly to forsake all sin and to walk in all godliness For seeing the heart that is the will tanquam Regina as a Queen commandeth all the inferior faculties of the soul and members of the body It is certain therefore that if a man be not diverted from his purpose * If he be constant in his purpose I say for many times sensual affections do rebel against the will and do lead it away captive with them Act. 11.23 Heb. 13. Psal 119.6 but be constant in it he will perform it whilest he is not letted by outward violence which the soul or the conscience in working holiness never is And hereupon it was that Barnabas when he saw the grace of God which he had bestowed upon the Brethren at Antioch exhorted them that they would with purpose of heart cleave unto the Lord. And the Apostle speaking of himself saith We know we have a good Conscience in all things willing that is resolving to live honestly And hereby also did David assure himself of Gods favour when he said Then shall I not be confounded when I have respect unto all Gods Commandements That which he alleageth to impeach this Object is frivolous and of no weight to wit that the Scribes and Pharisees had a purpose