they were allowed yea invited upon occasion to recreate themselves and one another with Psalms and Hymns and spiritual songs Eph. 5.19 Col. 3.16 In their publick Assemblies they had constantly some variety of Ordinances as Prayer and the Ministry of the word Acts 6.4 this word being sometimes read and expounded and sometimes if not at the same time preached and applied also yea besides these they had sometimes Psalms and Hymns sung amongst them 1 Cor. 14.26 Mat. 26.30 Yet did not God it seems judge all this variety of Ordinances competent or sufficient to answer that imbred desire in the mindes of men to be often shifting and changing their imployments and actings even in matters appertaining to himself and his Worship and therefore hath condescended further to their satisfaction herein by making the variety yet greater and enlarging it with Sacramental institutions in consort with them the exercise and engagement of their mindes and souls about these in their several administrations being much differing from their actings in and about other Ordinances and so the more contentful and pleasing to them Quest 30. What is your eight and last reason for which you conceive God might judge it meet that the Gospel should be accompanied with Sacramental Ordinances in his Churches Answ That the Jewes who upon the coming of Christ into the world were to incorporate and make one body or spiritual building with the Gentiles might be the better and in a rational way prepared and induced to entertain and believe it For the Sacraments being a kind 〈◊〉 Ceremony or typical transaction attending the Gospel render it symbolical in part and of some affinity with the Levitical or Mosaical Law in the observation whereof the Jewes had been trained up all their dayes and from which by reason of their conscientious and high esteem of it and most zealous addiction unto it it was next to that which is impossible to withdraw them unto any other way of worshipping and serving God especially unto any such way which should not in some sort or degree sympathize and accord with it And if there had been nothing of Ceremony or ritual observance enjoyned in the Gospel and to be practised by men in the profession of it it would in all likelihood have ben such a stumbling block in the way of this people that few or none of them would ever have hearkened unto it or submitted to the Doctrine and Discipline of it yea by what we read in the Acts of the Apostles and especially in the writings of the Apostle Paul it appears that very many of them even a good time after they had believed and made open profession of the Gospel were much subject to qualmes and shaking fits of Conscience through the remembrance of their old Ceremonies and ever and anon looking back towards them Now the Apostle amongst other means used by him to compose and settle them under such distempers remindes them that even the Gospel hath its Ceremonies also and particularly such which answer two of the greatest and most considerable in their own Law Circumcision and the Passeover Baptisme in the Gospel the former and the Supper of the Lord the Latter Col. 2.11 12. 1 Cor 5.7 8. Quest 31. You lately either said or implied that God formerly wrought greater and more wonderful effects by causes or means of a Sacramental nature then he was wont to work by those that are natural proportioned to their effects What then may be the reason why he worketh at so low a rate by Sacraments themselves as it seemeth he doth those who partake of them seldom finding any great or sensible effect of them or benefit by them Answ First it is to be considered that those Sacramental causes by which God wrought the miraculous effects mentioned were taken up and used by him only once and in reference to those particular ends or effects respectively produced by them Whereas the Sacraments themselves are intended by him for standing constant and ordinary causes and means in the Church and so in this respect are of like consideration with causes and means that are natural So that as such natural causes whose property is to work softly silently and in a secret way do not produce their effects with a bluster or with much observation although under their proper and due applications they work constantly in their way in like manner God by the Sacraments may work at a good rate of efficacy and power in and upon those who regularly and duly partake in their Administrations although the effects wrought by them be not conspicuous or easily discernble no not by him in whom they are wrought at least for a time whereof some account may be given upon another question The effect of the Sacraments in conjunction with other causes or means is spiritual growth as in Grace in Faith in Love in Holiness c. Now growth in Nature is not at all discernable or perceptible in the motion progress or in every division or degree of it when or as soon as it is attained but only after some space of time and when many degrees have successively advanced and brought it forward No person ever diserned or felt himself growing but only that he had grown Secondly the least increase of Grace Faith Holiness or of any thing that is saving in the soul is a greater and more considerable effect then the removing of Mountains or then any of those miraculous productions which we found ascribed in the Scriptures unto the Sacramental causes mentioned So that the Sacraments in excellency of working or greatness of effects come not behinde any of those Sacramental causes which the Scripture as we heard honoureth with those great and wonderful performances specified Thirdly it is in my eye to a very great degree probable that the counsel and design of God in working at the high rate of efficacy and power in and by Sacramental causes which the Scriptures record as was lately signified was to bring his Sacraments into the greater esteem and higher respects with men and to insinuate unto them that in a regular and diligent use of them they may confidently expect from him great and gracious things to be wrought in them and for them For as he that hath injured one hath as the Civil Law saith threatned many So God having once and again and ten times over done great things for men using such or such a kinde of means which he appointed and directed them to use hath hereby constructively promised that he will do great things for all those who shall duly use the like means appointed by him Our Saviour himself argueth upon such a principle as this and strengtheneth the hand of men to pray upon rationality of it Mat. 7.7 8. Fourthly for men to come to Sacramental administrations with an erroneous opinion or conceit of the Ordinances as when they conceive of them either above or beneath what is meet and agreeable to the Counsel of God in them
they were written in the Tables in that order wherein they are from place to place rehearsed Yea from the two distinct Natures and Relations of the Commandments some of them more particularly and immediately respecting the deportment of men towards God others their deportment towards one another and every mans towards himself which distinction is taken notice of and approved by Christ himself in the Gospel Mat. 22.37 39. Mark 12.29 30 31. It is next to unquestionable that those of the first sort more directly respecting God were written by themselves in one the former of the Tables and the rest in the other The assignment of the four first unto the first Table and the six remaining unto the latter which is the division commonly received amongst us hath nothing in it as far as I can judge that needs offend or scruple any man For though the fourth Commandment seems to be of a mixt nature and requires of Masters of Families that they permit that indulgence or respite from bodily labour unto their servants and those under their power which God hath judged meet to be allowed unto them as well as their own attendance upon the worship of God yet in as much as that rest from labour is imposed by God upon a Spiritual account and for Religious ends the Commandment I take it may without errour pass in the retinue of those that stand in special relation unto God and so be adjudged to the First Table The Papists to accommodate as it seems their Doctrine and Practice of Image-Worship Of the First and Second Commandment as we account and distinguish make but one and because they know themselves ingaged to find and acknowledg the number of Ten therefore to heal their absurdity of Addition they apply a greater of Multiplication importunely rending and making two of the Tenth So that they have but three Commandments to dispose of to the First Table Quest 15. Why doth the Apostle Paul affirm the Law to be Spiritual saying For we know the Law is Spiritual Rom. 7.14 Answ Because as Spirits are little of substance or bulk of Matter but of incredible activity force and power extending their operative vigor unto very many effects which ordinary causes cannot reach or produce so the Law of God being a very brief Systeme of Doctrine and consisting of few words is of a very fiery active and penetrating nature it is called a fiery Law Deut. 33.2 intermedling continually and having to do with all the world and this not only in respect of all they do or forbear to do outwardly but in respect likewise of all that stirreth or moveth though never so softly or secretly within them with their thoughts purposes intentions desires hopes fears yea with their habits dispositions inclinations propensions even whilest they are asleep and move not yea it hath to do with all these whether they be regular and good or whether inordinate and sinful and this upon very authoritative and high Terms commanding and approving the former as excellent and worthy judging and condemning the latter as deserving no lesser or leighter punishment then Death In respect of this so vast a comprehensiveness of the Law David addresseth himself unto God in this Meditation I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandement is exceeding broad or large as the former translation read it Psal 119.96 Meaning that he was able tp estimate and compute the sum total of all that excellency and worth of wisdom and goodness and other perfections which he had at any time met with in the greatest highest and most worthy actings of men but in the Commandement or Law of God he descried such a vastness of wisdom righteousness and goodness what in the frame matter and substance of it what in the design and projection of it that he was put past his Arithmetique and was not able to give either unto himself or others a just or full account of them The Jewish Doctors have such a saying as this amongst them The Holy Blessed God left nothing in the world wherein he gave not some Commandement to Israel And whereas Moses himself recordeth that the two Tables of Stone in which the Law was written by God were written on both their sides even on the one side and on the other Exod. 32.15 some conceive that hereby it was signified that the Law pierceth quite through and through a man and taketh hold not only of the outward behaviour of men as well in words as in deeds but of the most inward close and least perceptible motions and stirrings of the heart or mind within them Yea doubtless that which the Apostle speaketh concerning the Word of God Heb. 4.12 is meant chiefly if not only of the Law of God in conjunction with those explications and interpretations of it which upon occasion have been given by the holy Ghost and are found scattered here and there in the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament For the Word of God saith he is quick and powerful and sharper then any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing a-sunder of the soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an exquisite or accurate discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Now the intents of the heart are in Solomons Metaphor the most inward or nethermost parts of the belly Prov. 20.27 the deepest waters in the hearts and souls of men beyond or beneath which there is nothing bred or conceived in them The Law of God then piercing and passing through and searching all along that vast tract and region of the Soul where there are things innumerable of smaller and greater consequence appertaining to the cognizance and judicature of It having an authoritative and righteous saying to every thing without exception that is found here even to the most secret and retired intentions of the soul yea and commanding and calling for such things which are yet wanting in this numberless retinue may well be called Spiritual Quest 16. But how must the Decalogue or Law be interpreted and understood that such a spiritualness as you have described may be asserted unto and found in It in as much as the meer letter of it seemeth not to promise or to imply any such thing the thousandth part of things commanded or forbidden not being here mentioned or exprest Answ The just sense of the Law and meaning God in it is to be gathered and inferred from the writings both of the Old and New Testament where the holy Ghost hath in several places and upon several occasions declared sometimes one part or precept of it and sometimes another by the diligent observing and comparing of which together certain general Directions Rules may be framed as several have been by learned men studious and expert in the Scriptures by the light and guidance of which it may be so interpreted and understood and this with truth that the spirituallity of it in
preached by men I can ill believe the full and through conversion of any person without it But securely confident I am that there is no other ordinance or means designed or assigned by God wherein or whereby the saving conversion of any man ought to be or reasonably can be without this hoped or expected It is not probable and the sense of some of the best expositors is the same that the conversion of Paul was perfected by all that which passed between Christ and him on the way to Damascus or until he had heard and learned more of the minde of Christ from Ananias who in the judgement of some Ancient Writers was one of the seventy Disciples whom Christ himself ordained and sent forth to preach the Gospel Luke 10.1 or as Calvin conceiveth was upon this occasion and in the present vision wherein Christ appeared unto him made a Minister of the Gospel by him Secondly there is this reason evincing the Sacraments not to be converting Ordinances namely because persons unconverted and unbelieving are not regularly capable no not of that Sacramenct which is most like to be converting I mean Baptisme This clearly appears from the answer which Philip made to the Eunuch desiring Baptisme of him in these words See here is water what doth hinder me to be Babtized Philip answereth him if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest Acts 8 37. plainly implying that otherwise viz. in case he did not thus believe he might not or ought not to be Baptized This had been a very uncharitable and unchristian answer in case he had not so believed if to Baptize him had been so much as a probable or likely means to make him a believer For to require that of a man which he hath not but stands in great need of as a condition for the imparting of that unto him which would supply him is extreamly disingenuous and importune especially when we may impart such a thing unto him without any trouble or damage to our selves which had been Philips case in refusing to Baptize the Eunuch because of his unbelief supposing he had been an unbeliever if Baptizing him had been a means to heal his unbelief and to turn him unto God by believing This which hath been argued concerning Baptism from the Text lately cited might be demonstrated from several others if need were Concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper that persons un-converted are altogether as if not rather more uncapable of this and consequently that neither can this be looked upon as a converting Ordinance appears from the nature or import of it or the â—ounsel of God in it as the Apostle describes whether the one or the other 1 Cor. 10.16 17. The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ that is was not the drinking of it instituted ordained and appointed by Christ that the Communion which believers have in his Blood that is in the great benefit of Redemption purchased by his Blood should hereby be both professed and declared by them openly and likewise nourished strengthened and confirmed in them inwardly Therefore they that are duly capable of drinking this cup must have communion in the Blood of Christ with believers and consequently must be converted before they drink it otherwise in drinking it they shall act hypocritically and make profession of having that which they have not Now doubtless to act hypocritically is no means of conversion or if it were then the most wicked and Prophane persons who stand in most need of conversion ought rather to be invited incouraged and freely admitted to the drinking of the cup we speak of then to be debarred or kept off from the opportunity or to be cast out from amongst those that orderly drink it by a sentence of Excommunication in case they had fellowship with them in the business before their wickedness break out which yet we know was the Discipline of the Primitive Churches injoyned them by the Apostles themselves This likewise plainly evinceth that the meaning of the words mentioned The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the Blood of Christ is not as some weakly pretend as if the Apostle did imply that the Cup he speaks of was the means of any mans first obtaining or bringing into the communion of the Blood of Christ Such a sense of the words as this as it is opposed by the discipline planted as hath been said by the Apostles and practised in the Primitive Christian Churches so is it inconsistent with the scope of the context and other expressions herein as might be shewed more at large if it were needful or proper to our present undertaking Thus then it is as clear as the Sun rising in his might both by the light of the Scriptures and of grounds in reason attested by them that Sacramental Ordinances are not converting Quest 21. Whether do Sacramental administrations produce any real effects in or upon the hearts and souls of men that do partake of them or work any real alteration in them Answ If answer be made in Scripture language according to the manner of speaking here the effects of Sacramental actions are or may be not simply real but sometimes very great and excellent For this frequently asscribeth even miraculous effects to such causes or means which are of a Sacramental nature Thus the dividing of the waters of the Red Sea when the Israelites passed through o're dry land is by God himself attributed unto Moses his lifting up his Rod and stretching out his hand over it But lift thou up thy Rod saith he to Moses and stretch out thine hand over the Sea and DIVIDE it c. Exod. 14.16 So likewise the reducing of this Sea unto its former course after it had been thus divided and whilst Pharoah and all his Host was in the midst of the Channel of it is ascribed unto the same cause And the Lord said unto Moses stretch out thy hand over the Sea that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians ver 26.27 In like manner the bringing of water out of a Rock is promised by God unto Moses and Aaron their speaking to it Take the Rod and gather thou the assembly together thou and Aaron thy Brother and speak ye unto the Rock before their eyes and it shall give forth its water and TH0U SHALT BRING FORTH to them water out of the Rock c. Numb 20.8 Thus the dividing of the waters of Jordan through which they passed into the land of Canaan seems in like manner to be ascribed to the Priests bearing the Ark before them Isa 3.15 16. So the falling down flat of the walls of Jericho to the sounding of the Trumpets made of Rams Horns by the Priests before the Ark together with the performance of some other like things prescribed unto them by God in order to the same effect Josh 6.13 14 15 c. There are several other instances of like
he gave himself a ransome for all men 1 Tim. 2.6 And Christ himself saith that he would give his flesh for the life of the World Joh. 6.51 Elsewhere it is said of him that he was made a little lower then the Angels by suffering of death that he by the grace of God might tast death for every man Heb. 2.9 And of God it is said that he will have all men to be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 and again that he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and so be saved 2 Pet. 3.9 Quest 9. But if Christ dyed for all men and God intendeth or willeth the Salvation of all men by him How cometh it to passe that all men are not saved Or Shall all men be saved by him Answ The Scripture plainly declareth that all men will not be saved yea that far the greater part of men will perish Mat. 7.13 14. Luk. 13 24. But the reason why any man perisheth or is not saved is not because Christ dyed not for him as well or as much as he dyed for those that are saved but because he believed not in him or on God by him with such a Faith as those others did viz. which worketh by love Quest 10. Doth then the Faith of men give efficacy or vertue to the Death of Christ so that with it it is able to save them but without it it is not able Answ The death of Christ is able to save men that is hath a complete saving efficacy in it whether men believe or no. Yet this saving efficacy of it taketh place in no man unless he believeth if by years and discetion he be capable of believing Neverthelesse that which giveth unto it the actual efficacy of saving those that do believe is not their Faith or believing but the authority of the gracious Decree or appointment of God wherein he hath ordained that all those shall be saved by the death of Christ that shall believe Quest 11. But if God intendeth the Salvation of all men in or by the death of Christ Will not his intentions in this kind be made frustrate unlesse all men be saved Answ No The reason is because though he really intendeth the Salvation of all men in the death of Christ yet he intendeth it not nor indeed the salvation of any man any otherwise or upon any other terms then only in case they shall believe Therefore his intentions of the Salvation of all men by the death of Christ cannot be made frustrate but only by the non-salvation of all men in case or although all men should believe Quest 12. But if Christ by his death satisfied for the sins of all men is not God unjust to punish any man for that for which he hath received full satisfaction Answ If the Intent and Agreement of him that made or gave the Satisfaction was that the benefit of this satisfaction should not inure or accrue unto any person but onely unto such who should owne and acknowledg the same by believing which clearly is the case in hand then is not God unjust to punish unbelievers notwithstanding the satisfaction made for them He should in this case rather be unjust in case he should discharge any of the debtors contrary to the will and desire of him that hath tendered the satisfaction or contrary to the Covenant which he hath made with him Quest 13. But was it necessarie for the work of Redemption or expiation of sin that Christ should suffer death would not lesser or lighter sufferings susteyned by him in respect of the dignity of his person have been sufficiently availeable thereunto Answ It was not simply and barely the Redemption of the World or the expiation of sin which God intended by Christ but the effecting of both upon the most honourable terms both for his wisdome righteousnesse and severity against sin Therefore though it might be a question or matter of doubt whether some under-sufferings of Christ might not have effected the Redemption of the world simply considered or without any breach made upon equity yet it can be neither but that the death it self of Christ was necessary hereunto in that way of effecting or procuring it which was only pleasing in the sight of God And it is a clear case that God's just severity against sin could not have been so fully manifested by any lighter sufferings of Christ as now it hath been by his Death Quest 14. What manner or kind of death was it that Christ suffered Answ The death of Crucifying or of hanging nailed upon a Crosse untill he were dead Quest 15. Why did he suffer this kind of death rather then any other Answ This was that kind of death which the Romans under whose jurisdiction Christ suffered usually inflicted upon their Malefactours being both ignominious and painful And besides there was a special hand of Gods providence in Christ's suffering this kind of Death for by this it was the more lively declared that he was made a Curse for those that were under the curse of the Law According to the saying in the Law it self Deu. 21.23 he that is hanged is accursed of God See Gal. 3.13 Quest 16. But if Christ by his death fully satisfied the justice of God for the sin of man or of mankind how cometh it to passe that men themselves yea believers as well as others are punished by him with death and with many other afflictions notwithstanding this Satisfaction Answ Although Death with the sad retinew of other Sufferings at first came into the world upon the account and by means of sin already committed and came in the nature and notion of punishments for it yet Christ by his satisfaction hath so altered the property of them that they are not now properly punishments for sin committed though sin committed may occasion or cause them to be inflicted by God as 1 Cor. 11.30 but chastisements to prevent the commission of sin and so to prepare and render them meet for salvation being inflicted though justly yet not out of justice but out of love and mercy by God See and compare Heb. 12.5 6 7 8 9 10 11. 1 Cor. 11.32 2 Cor. 6.9 Revel 3.19 Deu. 8.5 Esa 26.16 Psal 94.12 Jer. 31.18 with some others yea Death it self is and may in this respect be called a Chastisement and not a punishment viz. because it prevents further sinning and makes way for the Saints into their Glory Notwithstanding because chastisements are like unto punishments and the same in the letter and substance with them they may sometimes according to the rule Similiae similium nominibus gaudent Things alike are oft expressed by the same names be called Punishments as Levit. 26.41.43 Lam. 3.39 Am. 3.2 and elsewhere So likewise because when they are very grievous and sore they are like unto the effects of wrath and anger they are sometimes ascribed to these passions in God as the cause of them Esa 12.1 Psal 79.5 Zech.
But when once the person to who many such promise is made shall really and firmly believe his promise it is but natural and as it were matter of course for him to hope for all the good contained in such a promise And if he that shall at first or for a time believe such a promise as we speak of but before the time wherein the promise is to be performed shall upon any suggestion or occurrence cast away or let go such his believing his hope must needs at the same time and by means of the failing of his belief fall to the ground Only this would be here mentioned by way of caution that although a promise of good things be made unto such or such a particular person in common with many others and as well and with equall intention of good unto him in him that maketh this promise as unto any of the rest yet if this person shall either be ignorant that or doubtful whether this promise be made unto him as well as unto others he may believe the said promise with the greatest certainty and stedfastnesse of Faith and yet remain without all hope of the good things contained in this promise Quest 35. You have shewed how and wherein Faith and Hope differ Can you shew likewise how or wherein they agree Answ Their Agreement standeth chiefly in these three things First in the Causes or Means producing them Secondly in the Effects produced by them Thirdly in the Subjects in which they are found Quest 36. What are the Causes or means producing them wherein they agree Answ They are chiefly these three First the word of God or the great and precious promises of the Gospel together with the Arguments and grounds here hinted or delivered why they should be believed Secondly the hearing of this word as it includeth the understanding and consideration of it Thirdly and lastly the gracious operation or interposure of the Holy Ghost opening the hearts of men to attend unto this word when it is preached or otherwise presented or set before them Act. 16 14. It is expresly said Rom. 10.17 that Faith commeth or is by hearing and hearing that hearing by which Faith cometh by the Word of God If Faith cometh by hearing and Hope as hath been shewed proceedeth from Faith then must hope also proceed from or come by the word of God and Hearing as the remote Causes at least or means thereof Quest 37. What are the effects which are common unto Faith and Hope and wherein they agree Answ They are principally four Quest 38. What is the first of them Answ A cleansing and purifying of the heart and consequently of the lives and waies of Men. That Faith or which is the same God by Faith purifieth the heart appears Act. 15.9 And because of this property or effect of it it is elsewhere called Holy yea most Holy Jud. v. 20. See also 1 Pet. 1.22 Again the same or the like property of cleansing or purging is ascribed unto Hope also 1 Joh. 3.3 where it is said And every man that hath this hope in him purgeth himself even as He is pure See 2 Cor. 7.1 Quest 39. What is a second effect wherein they agree Answ The inabling working or disposing of the heart to a patient and humble waiting upon God for such help or supplies from him in every kind whereof men stand in need See and compare Esa 28.16 Rom. 8.25 Psal 119.81 27.13 14. Lamen 3.26 1 Thess 1.3 Quest 40. What way be a third effect wherein Faith and Hope agree Answ They are both Joy-makers in the hearts and souls of men See and compare Rom. 15.13 2 Cor. 1.24 Philip. 1.25 1 Pet. 1.8 1 Thess 2.19 Rom. 5.2 Heb. 3.6 Rom. 12.12 Quest 41. What is the fourth and last property or effect wherein they communicate Answ They each of them never fail to deliver their respective Subjects from disappointment in their greatest expectations and consequently from such shame confusion which are wont to accompany frustratiōs especially in matters of moment great concernment Concerning Faith it is thus conteyned in the Scripture Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone elect preacious He that believeth on him shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2.6 Concerning Hope it speaketh And hope maketh not ashamed See further and compare Psal 22.4 5. Jer. 17.7.8 Heb. 6.19 Phil. 1.20 Psal 33.20.21 Quest 42. How do they agree in their Subject Answ Hope as hath been said being a kind of naturall result from Faith where this is that must needs be also And the Scripture frequently placeth them in the same person 1 Pet. 1.21 Rom. 4.18 5.2 with some other He that believeth a promise of good things made unto him if he knows or believeth this promise to have been indeed made to him cannot but hope for all the good things conteined in this promise Review the case proposed towards the latter end of the Answer to the 34 Question in this Chapter Quest 43. You have declared many things concerning Faith Can you yet further declare what the first great priviledge or benefit is which floweth from this grace or work of Faith more immediately and upon which many others depend Answ This priviledg is the great and high dignity of Adoption or being made the Sons of God The wisdome goodnesse and love of God to the Children of men have together consulted and decreed this great honour and happinesse unto them that as many of them as shall joyn themselves by an unfeigned Faith unto his Natural and in that respect only Begotten Son Jesus Christ shall partake with him in his glorious relation of Son-ship unto God as farre as their nature and line of creation will admit This the Scripture declareth in several places But as many as received him meaning by Faith as it is explained in the end of the verse to them he gave power or prerogative as the former translation had it or else right priviledg as the margent of the last hath it to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his name Joh. 1.12 For ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.26 See also Rom. 8.14 15 16. Gal. 4.4 5 6 7. 1 Ioh. 3.1 2. Quest 44. What is the great benefit of Adoption or of Son-ship unto God Answ By vertue hereof there accrueth unto us a right and title unto that immortal and undefiled inheritance which fadeth not away and which is reserved in the Heavens for those who believe 1 Pet. 1.4 Yea Believers by vertue of their Adoption become joynt-heirs with Christ But ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self beareth witnesse with our Spirit that we are the Children of God And if Children then Heires Heires of God and joynt-Heires with Christ Rom. 8.15 16 17. But when the fulnesse of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem
them against their sufferings otherwise by suggesting to them that had they in the days of their flesh done their uttermost yet could they not have escaped the coming into that place of torment whither they have been sent by the irrevocable and irresistable eternal Decree of God Any circumstance which qualifieth the guilt of the offence for which a man is punished easeth the bitternesse or evil of the punishment proportionably Quest 16. What is your sixth Reason Answ If wicked men could truly plead that God gave them not power whereby to believe to sanctifie to make themselves new hearts c. we generally to do all things absolutely necessary for their Salvation they might wash their own hands in Innocency from the bloud of their Souls and resolve their destruction into the will and pleasure of God as the principal yea in effect the sole cause of if For he that can without sinning himself prevent the sinning of another who cannot but sin unlesse he be kept from it by the interposure of the other and shall refuse or neglect to do it is more justly chargeable with the sin committed in such a case then the actor in it and he that committeth it how much more when he might without the least trouble losse or inconvenience to himself have prevented the committing of it He that shall build an House with rotten or insufficient Timber especialiy when he might have built it as cheap with that which is found and substantial is more the cause of the downfal of it then the crazinesse or insufficiency of the Timber This would be the case between God and wicked men if it should be supposed that he sets them forth into the world lamely and defectively provided of strength and means whereby to do what he peremptorily and indispensably imposeth on them for their Salvation at least if it be not supposed withal that he supplyeth them afterwards with what is sufficient in this kind Nor is it either true or pertinent to plead that God gave unto men that sufficiency of power which we contend for in Adam and that they deprived themselves of it by sinning in his loyns For first It is not like that God should furnish a creature being in an Estate of Righteousnesse Innocency and Purity with means and abilities sufficient and proper to recover and save it self in a sinful and lapsed estate Secondly neither doth God now treat with Men one or other upon the terms of the Covenant made with them in the loyns of their Father the first Adam and so not according to those abilities which they received in him for the performance of that Covenant but according to those abilities wherewith he hath furnished them in the second Adam for the performance of that second or new Covenant which in him he hath made and established with the World according to the tenor and terms whereof he will judge the World as our Saviour plainly enough implyeth in his Doctrine Joh. 3.19 And this is the Condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darknesse rather then light because their deeds were evil See also very expresse to this point Mark 16.16 Joh. 3.18 with may others Quest 17. What is your seventh and last Reason Answ To teach men that God requireth of them Sanctification Regeneration Mortification Self-denyal c. and all this as peremptorily necessary unto Salvation and yet to teach them withall that they have no sufficient power given them whereby to perform or attain unto any of these directly tends to beget a very dishonourable and hard notion and conceir of God in the hearts and minds of men as that he is an hard Master reaping where he hath not sown and gathering where he hath not strawed add in this respect as in some others also must needs be a doctrine of expresse consequence to quench and stifle all thoughts purposes and inclinations in men towards seeking the face of God and exercising themselves in duties of Piety and Religion and using the means of Salvation yea a doctrine very plausibly comporting with and indulging that carnal slothfulnesse and indisposition unto spiritual and heavenly things which are so generally found in men This is apparent from that passage in the Parable Matth. 25. ver 24 25 c. where the Servant that was so hardly perswaded of his Master as that he was an hard man reaping where he sowed not c. is charged with being both sloathful and wicked v. 26. Therefore that opinion which denyeth a sufficiency of power to be given by God unto men whereby to sanctifie regenerate themselves c. is very dangerous and an open Enemy to all Godliness especially in persons who are at present ungodly although it be true likewise that the evil influence and tendency of it in this kind may be and in some is over-balanced with other principles of a better and more pious inspiration Quest 18. But how can the truth of such an opinion for which you have pleaded by the seven Arguments last recited consist with the truth of all those places of Scripture which attribute the Sanctification Regeneration Conversion of men and every saving work wrought in them unto God and his Spirit or grace Places of this import are these with many other like unto them And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed that thou mayst love the Lord thy God c. Deut. 30.6 that ye may know that I the Lord do sanctifie you Exod. 31.13 And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever c. Jer. 32.39 But I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me ver 40. Which are born not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh not of the will of man but of God Joh. 1.13 Of his own will begat he us with the Word of Truth Jam. 1.18 Answ These with all other Texts and passages of like import are well and clearly consistent with that Doctrine which asserteth a sufficiency of power vouchsafed by God unto men whereby to sanctifie regenerate and deny themselves to mortifie the deeds of the body and generally to act and do every such thing which God hath declared to be of absolute necessity for their Salvation The fair consistency between this Doctrine and the Texts of Scripture mentioned with their fellows may be well understood by these and such like considerations 1. It is one thing to be able or to have a sufficient power for the performance or doing of a thing an other to exercise or make use of this power for the actual performance thereof Christ had a sufficiency of power to save himself from death Matth. 26.53 Joh. 10.17 18. but he made no use of this power for such a purpose Men may be inabled by God to make themselves new hearts and new spirits c. and yet not be made willing by him no nor of nor by
themselves nor by any other creature to do it Power to do that which is good without a will to imploy it accordingly is a just ground and the only just ground of condemnation and punishment 2. Though it be supposed that men have a sufficiency of power to make themselves new hearts and further that their hearts are made new yet it doth not necessarily follow from hence either that these new hearts are made by themselves by the improvement of that power or that they are not made by God For God can do all things which he hath inabled the creature to do yea and is many times pleased to do such things himself which the creature inabled by him to do them neglecteth notwithstanding and doth them not 3. It is not unusual in other Writers nor in ordinary discourse nor in the Scriptures themselves elsewhere to ascribe an atchievement or exploit as well nay rather to him that shall command incourage order the method and means for the performance and accomplishment of it as to him that shall act it with his hand In this respect every saving work that is found in men may be in sufficient propriety of speech ascribed unto God because he commandeth it gives incouragement unto men to endeavour it prescribes methods and means for the performance of it although it be supposed that men themselves are the workers of it and this out of those abilities which they have received from him by the use of such and such means vouchsafed likewise unto them to perform it 4. It is not improper nor any uncouth Dialect to ascribe that which is actually done and performed by another unto him that shall furnish and accommodate him with all the strength power and means by which be doth accomplish it yea that which is performed and done in this case is principally to be attributed unto him and secondarily only and in a meaner respect unto the other 5. And lastly When the production of one and the same effect depends upon the joynt-operations or contributions of different causes the effect may in good propriety of speaking be ascribed sometimes to the one of these causes and sometimes to the other The Apostle Paul ascribeth the Spiritual birth or begetting of believers unto himself or his Ministry For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel 1 Cor. 4.15 which yet the Apostle James as we heard ascribeth unto God Of his own will he begat us with the Word of Truth Jam. 1.18 The reason why this effect is and reasonably and truly may be ascribed as well unto Paul as unto God is Because Paul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a joynt-worker as himself speaks with God in it Many instances of this kind of speaking are found in the Scriptures Therefore it is no argument or proof at all that because the works of Sanctification Regeneration c. are so frequently in the Scripture attributed unto God therefore they are not attributable unto men themselves also or that men have not a sufficiency of power from him to do all those things by and upon the doing whereof they shall certainly attain them and find them wrought in them Quest 19. You have declared briefly the general and common nature of these four great Ornaments or important Qualifications in a Christian Profession Sanctification Regeneration Mortification and Self-denyal you have likewise more largely shewed and proved that God hath endued men with sufficient abilities in conjunction with such a concurrence of his own which he is graciously pleased to afford unto all men to possess themselves of them and to adorn their hearts and lives with them Can you now further declare the particular and distinct natures or properties of every of them respectively Answ I shall endeavour by the assistance of God to do this also being not without hope but that he hath in some measure enabled me hereunto Quest 20. What then is that Sanctification which according to the Scriptures alwayes accompanieth a true Faith and the state of Justification into which men are as hath been formerly said translated by it Answ Sanctification in that notion and sense of the Word which as I conceive your question intendeth importeth such an impression work or disposition in the heart or soul of a man by which he is as it were consecrated and set apart for God and for his service in works and words in thoughts and purposes of righteousnesse and holinesse being separated and taken off both in will and deed from the common sinful and profane practises and doings of the flesh and of the world about him Or else which cometh much to the same It is a serious and affectionate alienation of the Soul from whatsoever is sinfully base impure or unclean springing from an high approbation love and liking of things that are spiritually clean that is which are comely and honourable to them that shall do and delight in them whether they be God Angels or Men. Quest 21. Why doth God require Sanctification of Men as a qualification or condition without which he will not save them Answ Because he finds it repugnant to his Wisdom and to his interest of Glory to take any Creature which hath actually sinned into that near communion and fellowship with himself in his Glory and Blessednesse which the state of Salvation importeth unlesse it shall first have quitted it self with an excellent and worthy behaviour and demeanour of it self Now there is no carriage better becoming a creature which hath received life and breath and all things of present enjoyment from God and yet further expecteth from him far greater things then these then to estrange and separate it self from all things of a sinful and unclean nature as being contrary to his will and pleasure and to devote and appropriate himself to serve and please him in all things that are clean and pure as well thoughts as words and deeds Quest 22. How or by what means may a man with the ordinary assistance and blessing of God upon his endeavours raise that great and happy work of Sanctification in his soul Answ By a diligent and frequent urging pressing and importuning his Soul from time to time with such Arguments and Motives which are proper to perswade to a setting apart all the faculties and powers both of Soul and Body from all polluted and unclean doings for the serving and pleasing of God in wayes that are pure and undefiled together with frequent and fervent applications of himself by Prayer unto God to assist and prosper him in his way Quest 23. What are the Considerations or Motives or some of the principal of them that are most effectual and proper to prevail with a man to sanctifie himself in such a sense as you have declared Answ The principal of them are seven Quest 24. What is the first of them Answ God himself is Holy yea most transcendently Holy Esa 6.3 that is alienated and estranged in his mind and will to a greater
property of its relation unto him and causeth him to look upon it as none of his according to these declarations of his minde in this behalf Ye shall not adde unto the word that I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it that you may keep the commandment of the Lord your God which I command you clearly implying that they which either adde any thing unto or diminish ought from any command or ordinance of his alter the property of it and make it no longer his but their own Deut. 4.2 So again What thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not adde thereto nor diminish from it meaning that if they should either adde to it or diminish from it they should not observe or do the thing which he commandeth Deut. 12.32 Now then it is no wayes like that God should bless strange Ordinances or such which he cannot own or acknowledge for his with the same or the like blessing wherewith he honoreth his own and thereby sealeth and confirmeth them for his own It is much more like that he should curse then bless such ordinances of men which obtrude themselves in the name and place of his and consequently that they should edifie men rather to destruction then salvation Quest 32. What may be the reason why many yea the greatest part of those whom we cannot reasonably but judge do reap benefit by Sacramental administrations are yet little sensible of any benefit received by them in this kinde Answ Two reasons hereof were insinuated about the beginning of the Answer to the next preceding question One was because the proper and chief benefit of our conversing with God and Jesus Christ in the Sacraments is spiritual and inward growth or the nourishing or battleing of the new man or hidden man of the heart as the Scripture speaketh Now growth generally or rather growing that is the motion or progress in growth is like the moving of the shadow which the style or cock projecteth upon a Sun-Dial the motion whereof by reason of the leasurableness or flowness of it is imperceptible only after some competent advancement and progress of it it may be perceived that it hath moved Such is the nature and property of augmentation from an inward principle which we call growth it is discernable not as in making but as having been made And as we are little sensible that our young children being daily present with us increase in stature till after some considerable time or by making tryal by some mark or measure so is the spiritual growth of the inner man the less discernable because we are ever and anon looking upon it and this with a cursory and little observant eye few being able to make an exact or satisfactory experiment in the case and fewer willing to bestow so much time and pains in making this experiment as it requireth Another reason why the benefit or blessing accrusing unto men upon their attendance on God in his Sacraments is not so sensible unto them may be this viz. because when an effect ariseth from a plurality of causes joyntly operating and contributing towards the production of it it is very hard at least in most cases to assign unto every of these causes their proper efficiency or to apprehend what it is that is severally and apart afforded by them towards the raising of it As for example the health or strength of the body is the effect of meats and drinks and sleep and exercise as also of all those natural faculties residing in several members or parts of the body which act joyntly with these though severally towards the one and the other of these effects But now how few are there so throughly acquainted with the secret and mysterious wayes of nature as to be able especially on the sudden or without study and much intense speculation to determine what every of the said causes severally and appropriately conferreth towards either of the mentioned effects In like manner there being a great variety of causes or means by the co-efficiency and co-working of which spiritual growth edification or increase in grace are produced in the soul as reading hearing meditating of the Gospel or Word of God Communion of Saints Prayer Sacraments minding and studying providences in the world communing with our own hearts c. It is no easie matter to be clearly sensible what it is which the Sacraments in particular cast into this treasury as Peter thought it was a strange question of Christ to ask who touched him when great multitudes of people thronged him on every side This briefly for the latter reason why we are for the most part little sensible of the good we receive from the Sacraments though it be much Quest 33. How many Sacraments are there Answ Only two properly so called as was formerly intimated viz. Baptisme and the Supper of the Lord. As for the five which the Doctrine of the Church of Rome addeth unto these they are only such I mean Sacraments in the general signification of the word viz. as it signifieth either a sign or pledge of something that is holy or else something in matters appertaining unto God that is in some degree mysterious or remote from common apprehension for in both these significations the word is sometimes used in the writings of the ancient Fathers as well as to signifie a Sacrament properly and strictly so called Quest 34. Why are not the other five accounted Sacraments by the Papists as well as Baptisme and the Lords Supper as truly and properly Sacraments as they Answ Because their institutions or respective precepts upon which they are built are not Sacramental as those of Baptisme and the Lords Supper are on all hands acknowledged to be A Sacramental institution requireth these things 1. Something that is elementary natural and visible usually called the matter of the Sacrament 2. Some spiritual good thing which is invisible signified by the other this some call rem Sacramenti meaning I conceive the thing intended either to be exhibited and given or else to be ratified and confirmed in or by the Sacrament 3. Some proportion or resemblance between these two I mean between that which is natural and visible and that which is spiritual and invisible 4. An external action or something to be outwardly done whereby the elementary part or matter of the Sacrament is exhibited or applied unto men 5. and lastly A form of words of a Divine prescription wherein as well the said proportion or resemblance between the elementary and spiritual parts of the Sacrament is declared as also the said applicatory action directed and enjoyned All these particulars are easie to be found in the respective institutions of Baptisme and the Lords supper but the Pontifician Rabbies are not able to produce an Institution of any of their five superadded Sacraments of like Character with them Yea their Institutions have all of them so little of the face or feature of that which
same respects of love and hatred unto all Infants especially that he putteth no such vast difference between one infant and another as his eternally-saving love and his everlastingly-destroying hatred do import For in respect of any reasonable or equitable cause either of love or hatred all Infants are every wayes equal all of them being equally involved in the guilt of Adams transgression and hereby equally liable to the judgement of God all of them equally prone in respect of their natures and of themselves unto all evil all of them equally distant from and equally nigh unto Faith Righteousness Holiness and every other saving qualification Therefore if God loveth some of them with a love unto salvation and hateth others with an hatred unto condemnation he must needs be a respecter of Persons there being no difference at all in or between the cause of the one and of the other whereon to build that different award of affection For that the affection whether of love or of hatred which God beareth unto Infants is not an affection of meer pleasure or will but as we may call it for want of a better term a judiciary affection I mean such an affection which essentially includeth in it a judiciary sentence or an award either of reward or punishment to be irrevocably passed upon the persons of these Infants dying such may be easily proved For the Counsel and Intent of God in the Gospel and restauration of the world by Jesus Christ was in a regular and formal process of judgement to declare his goodness and bounty in rewarding those highly who by the Law of the Gospel should be found capable and meet to be rewarded by him and on the other hand to shew the severity of his just displeasure against sin when found in conjuction with stubbornness and impenitency in the punishment of obdurate and final unbelievers This is a truth visible enough in the very superficies of the Gospel from place to place So then the case and cause of all Infants in reference to their final judgement being as we have seen in every respect one and the same if God should pass a sentence of absolution and reward upon some of them and a sentence of condemnation and death upon others it must needs proceed from his respects unto the meer persons of the former above the later His intendments of more of the good things of this present world into some of them then unto others as in health wealth prosperity natural endowments c. do not argue any such affection either of love to the one or hatred unto the other as that we now speak of and lately called judiciary because the largest measure of temporal good things given unto men otherwise at least then after and for some special service performed is not given unto them by way of reward or by a judiciary award as neither is a scanter measure in these things dispensed in a way of judgement unto those to whom this dispensation is made unless haply it be after some sinful provocatiand with relation hereunto but both the one dispensation and the other are acts of will and good pleasure in God and proceed from him not as he is the judge but as he is the sovereign Ruler of the world and at full liberty to do with his own what he pleaseth And though sometimes in Scripture he is said to love those to whom he intends more liberally in outward things and on the other hand to hate where he intends more sparingly as in the case of Jacob and Esau Mal 1. v. 2.3 Rom. 9.13 yet evident it is upon the account lately given that for such love and hatred as these with their different fruits and effects there is no colour why accepting of persons in the dishonourable notion of the words should be imputed unto God because accepting of persons in this sense hath place only in matters of judicature between men and men whereas both those affections in God with their respective expressions import only matter of liberty and what he standeth not ingaged unto by any Rule or Law no not of his own as hath been already declared Hereunto this may be added as not altogether irrelative to the business in hand Although love and hatred be figuratively and after the manner of men ascribed unto God as contrary affections or rather indeed at least sometimes as the same affection diversified only by degrees an inferior degree in love being frequently expressed by hatred in the Scriptures in respect of their seemingly contrary effects the more bountiful and the more sparing collations or donations of the good things of the world yet according to the true estimate of the case and this ruled by the Scriptures themselves there is not more of that love which is saving or of a saving tendency in the one of those dispensations then in the other For upon this account doubtless it was that the wise man Agur desired Riches of God no whit more then Poverty Give me neither poverty n r riches Prov. 30.8 Certainly if he had apprehended the least degree of Gods saving love towards him in his casting riches upon him above what he conceived in his sending him either poverty or food convenient he would have desired it before either of them But this by the way However the argument propounded stands firm upon its basis if God loveth any young children savingly he loveth them all upon the same terms because he is no accepter of persons and amongst them there is nothing of cause to be found why any of them should be differenced in judgement from others or be justified when others are condemned or which is the same in effect why any should be loved with such an affection which carrieth a sentence of justification in it more then others This is one reason demonstrating the truth of this Doctrine that Infants may lawfully be baptized I shall at present only subjoyn another upon the same account If God before and under the Law judged it meet that men whilst they were yet Children should be admitted into the profession of his Name and Worship or into his Church by the door of a Sacramental solemnity and hath no where declared any alteration or change of his minde or pleasure touching this then is it his will and pleasure that children should be baptized under the Gospel as it was that they should be circumcised under the Law But the Antecedent in this Argument is true therefore the consequent also and so children are by the will of God to be baptized The former part of the Antecedent is unquestionably true For men both before and under the Law were whilst they were yet Children admitted into the Church of God by Circumcision or by being circumcised and this by the express order and command of God Gen. 17.10 11. c. Levit. 12.3 Nor is this I suppose denied by any The latter part is no less certain FINIS