on the wills of men M. G. discourse and judgement 24. Considered 25. Effects follow as to their kind their next causes 26. The same Act of the will Physicall and Morall upon severall accounts Those accounts considered 27. God by the reall efficacy of the Spirit produceth in us Acts of the will morally good that confirmed from Scripture 28. Conclusion from thence 29. Of the termes Physicall Morall and necessary and their use in things of the nature under consideration Morall causes of Physicall effects 30. The concurrence of Physicall and Morall causes for producing the same effect the efficacy of Grace and exhortations 31. Physicall and necessary how distinguished Morall and not necessary Confounded by M. G. 32. M. G. farther progresse considered 33. What operation of God on the will of man he allowes All Physicall operation by him excluded 34. M. G's sence of the difference between the working of God and a Minister on the will that it is but graduall 35. Considered and removed All working of God on the will by him confined to perswasion perswasion gives no strength or ability to the person perswaded 36. All immediate acting of God to good in men by M G. utterly excluded 37. Wherein Gods perswading men doth consist according to M. G. 1 Cor. 3. 9. considered 38. Of the concurrence of diverse Agents to the production of the same effect 39. The summe of the 7 Section of Gh. 13. The will how necessitated how free 40. In what seuce M. G. allowes Gods perswasions to be irresistible 41. The dealings of God and men ill compared 42. Pauls exhortation to the use of meanes where the end was certaine Acts 24. câ—dfâ—dered God deals with men as men exhorting them and as corrupted men assisting them 43. Of Promises of Temporall things whether all conditionall 44. What condition in the Promise made to Paul Act. 27. 45. Farther of that Promise its infallibility and meanes of Accomplishment 46. The same considerations farther prosecuted 47. 48. Of Promises of Perseveranâ—e and what relations to performe in conjuction 49. M. G. opposition hereunto 50. Promises and protestations in conjunction 1 Cor. 10. 12 13. discussed An absolute Promise of Perseverance therein evinced 51. Phil. 1. 12 13. to the same purpose considered M. G. Interpretation of that place proposed removed 52. Heb. 6. 4 5 9. to the same purpose insisted on 53. Of the consistency oâ— Threatnings with the Promises of Perseverance 54. M. G. opposition hereunto 55. Considered and removed What Promises of Perseverance are asserted how absolute and infrustable Feare of Hell and punishment twofold The feare intended to be ingenerated by threatnings not inconsistent with the Assurance given by promises 56. Five Considerations about the use of Threatnings the first c. 57. Hipocrites how threatned for Apostasy of the End and Aime of God in Threatnings 58. Of the proper End and Efficacy of Threatnings with reference unto true Believers 59. Feare of Hell and punishment how farre a principle of Obedience in the Saints 60. Of Noahs feare Heb. 11. 7. 61. M. G's farther arguings for the Efficacy of the feare of Hell unto Obedience in the Saints proposed considered removed 62. 1 Ioh. 4. 18. consâ—dered 63. Of the Obedience of Saints to their heavenly Father compared to the obedience of Children to their naturall Parents M. G's monstrous conception about this thing 64. How Feare or Love and in what sence are principles of Obedience That which is done from Feare not done willingly not chearfully 65. How Feare and what feare hath torment 66. Of the nature and use of Promises Close of the Answer to this Argument IT will be needlesse to use many words unto the Discourse of the first Section §. 1. seeing it will not in the least prejudice our Cause in hand to leave Mr Godwin in full possession of all the Glory of the Rethoricke thereof For although I cannot close with him in the Exposition given of that expression 1 Tim. 6. 16. God inhabiteth Light inaccessible some thing in my weake apprehension much more glorious divine being comprised therein then what it is here turned aside unto Neither am I in the least convinced of the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the former Discourse in the close of the whole asserting a deliverance to be obtained from our thoughts of the Doctrine of the defection of the Saints which he intimateth to be that it is anti-evangelicall tormenting and bringing soules under bondage by a narrow and unprejudicate search into it finding my selfe every day more and more confirmed in thoughts of that kind concerning it by my engagement into such an enquiry which hath been observed in this present Discourse as farre as my weakenesse will permit yet it being not in the least Argumentative but for the whole frame and intendment of it Commune exordium and that which any man of any opinion in the world might make use of I shall not insist upon it His second Section containeth his first Argument §. 2. drawne forth in the defence of his Doctrine of the possibility as he calleth it but indeed what it is we have heard of the defection of Believers Of this I presume he intended no more use but as a forlorne to begin a light Skirmish with his Adversaries ordering it to retreat to his maine Body advancing after or desperately casting it away to abate the Edge of his Combatants Weapons it is so weake and feeble and therefore I shall be very briefe in the consideration of it thus then he proposeth it That Doctrine which rendreth God free from the unrighteousnesse which the Scripture calleth the respecting of persons of men is a Doctrine of perfect consistence with the Scripture and the truth The Doctrine which teacheth the possibility of the Saints declining and this unto death is a Doctrine of this import Ergo. Ans. 1. §. 3. The first proposition must be supposed Vniversall of else the whole will quickly be manifested to be unconclusive If it be only Indefinite and so equivalent as it lieth to a particular the conclusion is from all particulars and of no force as Mr Goodwin well knoweth Take it universally and I say it is evidently false and might easily be disproved by innumerable Instances Not that any errour or falsehood can indeed give God the Glory of any one of his Attributes but that they may be fitted and suited for such a service were not their throates cut and their mouthes stopt by the Lies that are in them which Mr Goodwin's Doctrine is no lesse lyable to then any other and not at all exempted from that Condition by its seeming subserviency unto Gods Aprosopolepsia Doth not the Doctrine of Justification by Workes even in the most rigid sence of it according to the tenor of the old Covenant absolutely render God free from the Unrighteousnesse of Accepting of Persens And yet for all that it hath not one jot the more of Truth in it nor is it the
degrees than the other may have a peculiar Act or method of perswading above the other That which is now undertaken to be proved is §. 24. That God doth not make use of Exhortations as meanes for the establishing of the Saints in believing and confirming their Perseverance This is that which by us is assigned unto them and this all that the Nature of them doth require that they should be used unto the certainty of the event whereunto they are applied depending not on their Nature as such meanes but on the purpose of God to use them for that end which he hath designed and promised to bring about and accomplish Before he ventures on any opposition to the intendment of this Assertion he phraseth it so as either to render it unintelligible to himselfe and others or if any thing be signified by the expressions he useth to divert it wholly from the mind of them and their sence with whom he hath to doe Who ever said that God by Exhortations doth influence the Wills of men upon such termes as to make them Infrustrably and necessitatingly willing to Persevere Or can he tell us what 's the meaning of those termes Infrustrably Necessitatingly willing to Persevere Though t is easy to guesse at what he here intends yet t is farre above my shallow capacity to reach the sence of these expressions How any of these termes relating to the event and issue of things and in what sence they may be used I have often shewed As relating either to the manner of Gods operation in and upon the Will or the Wills elicitation of its own act any farther then by relation to that Axiome Vnumquodque quod est dum est necesse est they expresse neither our sence nor any bodies else that I know That which I shall make bold to take up for M. Goodwins intendment is That God doth not by Exhortations effectually cause the Saints to Persevere To be willing to Persevere is to Persevere to be Necessitatingly willing is I know not what Now if such an efficacy be ascribed to Exhortations as teaches the certainty of the effect so that the certainty of the effect as to the event should be asserted to depend on them as such meanes this is nothing to us we ascribe an efficacy to them in proprio genere but the certainty of that event to whose production they concurre we affirme as hath been abundantly declared to depend on other causes But the proofe of what is here Asserted outrunnes for uncouth strangenesse §. 25. the Assertion it selfe equis albis as they say For saith he if this be so that is as you have heard above how neither he nor wee know then the same Act of the Will should be both Physicall and Morall And First Why so Because Physicall Morall meanes are used for the producing of it as though sundry causes of severall kinds might not concurre to produce one uniforme effect farre enough from a necessity of receiving so much as a Denomination from each of them In the concurrence of severall causes whereof some may be Free and Contingent others Naturall and Necessary the Effect Absolutely followes its next and immediate cause alone God causes the Sunne to shine freely yet is the shining of the Sunne a necessary Effect of the Sunne and not any way free or contingent God determined the peircing of Christs side and so as to the event made it necessary but yet was the doing of it in then that did it free as to the manner of its doing no way necessary But Secondly §. 26. suppose the same act of the will should be said to be both Physicall and Morall upon severall accounts And what if every Act of the will in and about things good or bad be so And it be utterly impossible it should be otherwise Yea But then the same Act should be specifically distinguished in and from it selfe Yea but who told you so The tearmes of Physicall and Morall as related to the Acts of the will are very farre from constituting different kinds or species of Acts being only severall Denominations of the same individuall acts upon severall regards and accounts The acts of the will as they flow from that Naturall faculty or are elicited thereby are all Physicall but as they relate to a Law whence they are good or evill they are Morall the one tearme expresseth their beeing the other their regularity and conformity to some Rule whereunto their Agents are obliged Quid dignum tanto If by Physicall and Morall Mr Goodwin intends Necessary and Free being the first that ever abused those words and in that abuse of them not consistent with himselfe affirming afterwards the act of a Ministers preaching as proceeding from his Abilityes of Understanding and speaking to be Physicall or Naturall which yet he will not averre to be Necessary but Free he should have told us so and then though we would not grant that the same Act may not in severall respects be both Necessary Free the latter in respect of the manner of its performanee and nature of its imediate cause the former in respect of the Event the determination of its first Causes yet its consequent is so palpably false as to the advancing of his former Assertion that t' would have been directly denyed without any farther trouble But he adds §. 27. It must needs be Physicall because it is produced by the Physicall working of the Spirit of God which being a Physicall Action cannot produce a Morall effect Ans. By Physicall Operation of God on and with the will we understand only that which is really and effectually so as different from that which is only Morall and by way of motive and perswasion Now this we say is twofold The first consisting in the Concourse of God as the first cause and Author of all Beeings to the producing of every entity such as the acts of the wills of men are this in such a way as is not only consistent with the Liberty of the VVill in all its Acts and Actings whatever but also as is the Foundation of all the Liberty that the will hath in its actings And in respect of this Influence of God the effect produced is only Phisicall or Naturall having such a being as is proper to it as also t is in respect of the will it selfe and its concurrence in operation The other is that which Mr Goodwin here calls The irresistible force or power of the Spirit destinguishing the efficacy of the Spirit and Grace of God in their working in us to will and to do producing those effects as they are good and Gracious in reference to their Rise End and Rule whereunto they are related This then is that which by Mr Goodwin is here asserted That if there be such an effectuall reall working of the Spirit and Grace of God in us to the producing of any act of the VVills of men they cannot be Morall
5. Heb. 10. 22. universall habituall uncleannesse to holinesse from d Rom. 6. 10. Eph. 2. 12 13 14 15. Col. 1. 21. Heb. 12. 22. a state of enmity stubbornnesse rebellion c. into a state of love obedience delight c. and as to their relative condition whereas they were e Eph. 2. 3. Galat. 3. 13. 4. 4 5 6 7. Rom. 8. 1. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Col. 2. 10. Rom. 5. 1. 8. 32 33. 1 Ioh. 3. 1 2. Ephes. 3. 15. children of wrath under the curse and condemning power of the law they are upon the score of him who was made a curse for them and is made righteousnesse to them accepted justified adopted and admitted into that family of heaven and earth which is called after the name of God These alone are they of whom we treat of whose state and condition Perseverance is an inseparable adjunct wherein and in what particulars they are differenced from and advanced above the most glorious Professors whatever who are lyable and obnoxious to an utter and everlasting separation from God shall be afterwards at large insisted upon And though M. Goodwin hath thought good to affirme that that description which we have Heb 6 of such as is supposed may be Apostates is one of the highest and most eminent that is made of believers in the whole Scripture I shall not doubt but to make it evident that the Excellency of all the expressions there used being extracted and laid together doth yet come short of the meanest and lowest thing that is spoken of those concerning whom we treat as shall be manifest when through Gods assistance we arrive unto that part of this contest That the other terme to wit Perseverance may be more briefely explicated §. 23. I shall take the shortest path For Perseverance in generall he came neere the nature of it who said it was in ratione bene fundatâ stabilis ac perpetua permansio The words and termes whereby it is expressed in Scripture will afterwards fall in to be considered The Holy Ghost restraines not himselfe to any one expression in spirituall things of so great importance but using that variety which may be suited to the instruction supportment and consolation of Believers Rom. 15. 4. this grace as is that of Faith it selfe in an eminent manner is by him variously expressed 2 Sam. 7. 14 15. To walke in the name of the Lord for ever to walke with Christ as we have received to be confirmed or strengthened in the faith as we have been taught Psal. 1. 3. 23. 6. 37. 24. 52. 10. 89. 31. 125. 1 2. 3 128. 5. to keep the waies of Gods commandements to the end to runne stedfastly the race set before us to rule with God to be faithfull with the Saints to be faithfull to the death to be sound and stedfast in the precepts of God to abide or continue firme with Christ in Christ in the Lord in the word of Christ in the doctrine of Christ in the faith in the love and favour of God in what we have learned and received from the beginning Isa. 46. 4. 54. 10. to endure to persist in the Truth to be rooted in Christ Ierem. 31. 3. 32. 39 40. to retaine or keepe faith and a good conscience to hold fast our confidence and faith to the end Zech. 10. 12. to follow God fully to keep the word of Christs patience Math. 7. 24 25. 12. 20. 16. 18 24. 24. Luk. 8. 5. 22. 23. Ioh. 6. 35 39 56 57. 8. 12. 10. 27 28 29. 14. 16 17. 17. 20 18 28. Rom. 8. 1. 16. 29. 34. 36 37. 1 Cor. 3. 8 9 10 13. 15. 58. to be built upon and in Christ to keep our selves that the wicked one touch us not not to commit sinne to be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Ioh. 5. 17. 3. 9. to stand fast as mount Syon that can never be removed to stand by faith to stand fast in the faith to stand fast in the Lord to have the good work begun 1 Pet. 1. 5. Rom. 11. 20. 1 Cor. 16. 13. perfected to hold our profession that none take our crowne These I say and the like are some of those expressions whereby the holy Ghost holds forth that doctrine which we have in hand Phil. 4. 1. Phil. 1. 6. Ephes. 1. 13 14. which is usually called the Perseverance of Saints regarding principally their abiding with God through Christ in faith and obedience which yet is but one part of this truth The reasons causes investing this proposition 4. 39. that Saints such as we have described Gal. 2. 20. Phil. 1. 6. shall so Persevere with a necessity of consequence and on which the truth of it doth depend 1 Thes 5. 24. both negatively considered and positively with the limitation of Perseverance 2 Tim. 2. 12. what it directly asserts what not with what failing 1 Pet 1. 2 3 4. backsliding declensions on the one hand and other it is consistent and what is destructive of the nature and being of it 1 Joh. 2. 19 27. c. the difference of it as to being and apprehension in respect the subject in whom it is with the way and manner whereby the causes of this Perseverance have their operation on § 24. and effect in them that persevere not in the least prejudicing their liberty but establishing them in their voluntary obedience will afterwards be fully cleared And hereon depends much of the life and vigor of the Doctrine we have in hand it being oftner in the Scripture held forth in its fountaines and springs and causes then in the thing it selfe as will upon examination appeare As to what is on the other side affirmed §. 25. that Believers may fall totally finally away something may be added to cleare up what is intended thereby to enquire how it may come to passe We doe suppose which the scripture abundantly testifieth that such believers have a Ezek 36. 27. Isa 59. 21. Luk 11. 13. Psal. 51. 11. Rom. 8 9 11 15. 1 Cor 2. 12. Gal 4. 6. 1 Tim 1. 14 Rom 5. 5. Gal 5. 22. Ioh 14. 16 17. Ioh 16. 13. 1 Cor 3. 16. 1 Cor 6. 19. the holy Spirit dwelling in them by his implanting a b Math 12. 33. 2 Cor 5. 17. 2 Pet 1. 4 Gal 5. 22 23 Ephes. 4. 23 24. new holy habit of Grace the enquiry then is how believers may come utterly to loose this holy spirit to be made naked of the habit of Grace or new nature bestowed on them That and that only whereunto this effect is ascribed is sinne Now there are two wayes whereby sinne may be supposed to produce such effects in reference to the Soules of Believers 1. Efficiently by a reaction in the same subject as frequent acts of Vice will
antecedently to all the Grace which he worketh in us whether the Spirit be bestowed on men on the account of Christ's undertaking for them none can question but they must withall deny him to be the Mediator of the new Covenant The Spirit of Grace is the principall Promise thereof Isa. 59. 20 21. We are blessed with all Spirituall Blessings in Christ Ephes. 1. 3. Surely the holy Spirit himselfe so often Promised to us of God is a Spirituall Blessing God's bestowing Faith on us is antecedent to our Believing this also is given upon the account of Christ. Phil. 1. 29. It is given to us on the behalfe of Christ to Believe on him If then God for Christs sake antecedently to any thing that is good that is not enmity to him that is not iniquity in men do bestow on them all that ever is good in them as to the root principle of it surely his quarrell against their sins is put to an Issue Thence Christ being said to make Reconciliation for the sins of the people Heb. 2. 17. God as one pacifyed and attoned thereupon is said to be in him reconciling the world unto himselfe 2 Cor. Eph. 2. 13 24 5. 19. And in the dispensation of the Gospell he is still set forth as one carrying on that peace whose foundation is laid in the blood of his Sonne by the Attonement of his Justice and we are said to accept or receive the Attonement Rom. 5. 10. We receive it by Faith it being accepted by him Thus his death and Oblation is said to be a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5. 2. that wherein God is abundantly delighted wherewith his soule is fully satisfyed so that as when he smelt a sweet savour from the Sacrifice of Noah Gen. 8. 21. he sware he would curse the Earth no more smelling this sweet savour of the Oblation of Christ on the account of them for whom it was Offered John 17. 19. he will not execute the Curse on them whereof they were guilty Rom. 5. 10. I might also insist on those Testimonies for the further proofe of the former Assertion Rom. 6. 6. where an immediate efficacy for the taking away of sinne 2 Cor. 5. 21. is ascribed to the death of Christ Eph. 5. 25. 26 But what hath been spoken may at present suffice Titus 2. 14. The Premises considered § 14. some Light may be brought forth to discover the various mistakes of men Heb. 9. 14. about the effects of the Death of Christ Heb. 10. 14. as to the taking away of sinne 1 Pet. 2. 24. if that were now the matter before us Some having truly fixed their thoughts on the efficacy of the death of Christ 1 Joh. 1. 7. for Abolition of sin Revel 1. 5 6 doe give their Lusts and darknesse leave to make wretched inferences thereupō as that therefore because we are so compleatly justified accepted before without our believing or the consideration of any thing what ever in us that therefore sinne is nothing nor at all to be accounted of And though they say we must not sinne that Grace may abound yet too many by wofull experience have discovered what such corrupt Conclusions have tended unto Others againe fixing themselves on the necessity of Obedience and the concurrence of actuall Faith to the compleating of justification in the soule of the sinner with a no lesse dangerous reflection upon the Truth do suspend the efficacy of the death of Christ upon our believing which gives life vigour virtue unto it as they say is the sole originally discriminating cause of all the benefits we receive thereby without the antecedent accomplishment of that condition in us or our Actuall believing it is not say they nor will be usefull yea that the intention of God is to bestow upon us the fruits and effects of the death of Christ upon condition we do Believe which that we shall is no part of his purchase and which we can of our selves performe say some of them others not Doubtlesse these things are not being rightly stated in the least inconsistent Christ may have his due and we bound to the performance of our duty which might be cleared by an enlargement of the ensuing Considerations 1. First That all good things that are spirituall whatsoever that are wrought either for men or in them are fruits of the death of Christ. They have nothing of themselves but nakednesse bloud and sinne guilt and impenitency so that it is of indispensable necessity that God should shew them favour antecedently to any Act of their Believing on him Faith is given for Christs sake as was observed 2. Secondly That all the Effects and Fruits of the death of Christ antecedent to our Believing are deposited in the hand of the Righteousnesse and Faithfulnesse of God 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. to whom as a ransome Heb. 2. 17. it was paid as an Attonement it was offered before whom as a price and purchase it was laid downe It is all left in the hands of Gods Faithfulnesse 2 Cor. 5. 18 19. Righteousnesse Mercy and Grace to be made out effectually to them 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. for whom he died in the appointed time or season So that 3. Thirdly The state or condition of those for whom Christ died is not actually and really changed by his death Eph. 2. 1 2 3 4 5. in its selfe but they lye under the curse whilest they are in the state of nature unregenerate and all effects of sinne whatever John 3. 36. That which is procured for them is left in the hand of the Father They are not in the least intrusted with it untill the Appointed time do come 4 Fourthly That Faith and Beliefe are necessary not to adde any thing to compleat the procurement of forgivenesse of sins any or all but only to the Actuall receiving of it when upon the account of the death of Christ it pleaseth God in the Promise of the Gospell to hold it out and impart it unto the soule thereby compleating Covenant-justification And thus the whole businesse of Salvation may be resolved into the mediation of Christ and yet men carried on under an orderly dispensation of Law and Gospell into the enjoyment of it Acts 13. 38 39. Of the whole these degrees are considerable 1 Gods eternall purpose of saving some Rom. 5. 10. in and by the mediation of Christ Joh. 3. 16 that mediation of Christ being interposed between the purpose of God Rom. 5. 7 8. and the accomplishment of the thing purposed 1 Joh. 4. 10. as the fruit and effect of the one Heb. 2. 17. 9. 14. the meritorious procuring cause of the other This Act of the Will of God Eph. 1. 4 5. 6 7 8 9. c. the Scripture knowes by no other name then that of Election or Predestination or the Purpose
That is they cannot-have any goodnesse in them beyond that which is entitative And so farre are we now arrived All efficacious working of the Spirit of God on us must be excluded or all we do is good for nothing Away with all Promises all Prayers yea the whole Covenant of Grace they serve for no other end but to keepe us from doing good Let us heare the Scripture speake a little in this cause Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule that thou maist live Jere. 31. 33. the 32. 39. This shall be the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their Hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people Chap. 32. 39. I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever for the good of them and their Children after them Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walke in my statutes and ye shall keepe my Judgements and do them Act. 16. 14. God opened the heart of Lydia that shee attended to the things spoken of Paul Phil. 1. 29. It is given to you in the behalfe of Christ not only to Believe on him but also to suffer for his sake and Chap. 2. 13. For it is God which worke the in you both to will and to do of his owne good pleasure as also Ephs. 1. 19. That ye may know what is the exceeding greatnesse of his power to us ward who Believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and 2 Thess. 1. 11. We pray alwayes for you that our God would fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodnesse the worke of Faith with power So also in 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature for Ephes. 2. 4 5. God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he Loved us even when we were dead in sinnes hath quickned us together with Christ Causing us Chap 4. 24. to put on that new man which after God is Created in Righteousnesse and true Holinesse with the like Assertions John 3. 3 James 1. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 23. John 5. 21. 2 Cor. 3. 5. c What may be thought of these and the like expressions §. 28. Do they hold out any reall effectuall internall Worke of the Spirit and Grace of God distinct from Morall perswasions or do they not If they do how comes any thing so wrought in us by us to be Morally good If they do not we may bid farewell unto all Renewing Regenerating Assisting Effectuall Grace of God That God then by his Spirit and Grace cannot enable us to act Morally and according to a Rule is not yet proved VVhat followes Saith he So farre as Exhortatious are meanes to produce these Acts §. 29. they must be Morall for Morall causes are not capable of producing Naturall or Physicall effects But if Mr Goodwin think that in this Controversy Physicall and Necessary as applyed to effects are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is heavenly wide Physicall denotes only their being Necessary a manner of being as to some of them which have Physically a beeing The tearme Naturall is ambiguous and sometimes used in the one sence sometimes in the other sometimes it denotes that which is only sometimes that which is in such a kind By a Physicall effect we understand an Effect with respect to t is reall existency as by a Morall effect an effect in respect of its Regularity And now why may not a Morall cause have an influence in its owne kind to the production of a Physicall effect I meane an influence suited to its owne Nature and manner of operation by the way of motive and perswasion What would you think of him that should perswade you to lift your hand above your head to try how high you could reach or whether your Arme were not out of joynt Secondly §. 30. It hath been sufficiently shewed before that with these Exhortations which worke as appointed meanes Morally God exerteth an effectuall power for the reall production of that wherento the Exhortation tends dealing thus with our whole soules suitably to the Nature of all their faculties as every one of them is fitted and suited to be wrought upon for the accomplishment of the End he aimes at and in the manner that he intends Briefely to every Act of the VVill as an act in genere entis there is required a really operative and Physicall concurence of the Providentiall power of God in its owne order as the first Cause To every Act as good or gracious the operative concurrence and influence of the Spirit of Grace which yet hinders not but that by Exhortations men may be provoked and stirred up to the performance of Acts as such and to the performance of them as good and gracious This being not the direct Controversy in hand §. 31. I do but touch upon it Concerning that which followes I should perhaps say we have found Anguem in herba but being so toothlesse and stinglesse as it is to any that in the least attend to it it may be only tearmed the padde in the straw Physicall and Morall are taken to be tearmes it seemes Equipollent to Necessary and Not-necessary which is such a wresting of the tearmes themselves and their knowne use as men shall not likely meet withall Hence is it that Acts Physicall and Necessary are the same Every Act of the most free agent under Heaven yea in Heaven or Earth is in its owne Nature and Being Physicall Acts also are Morall i. e. good or evill consequently in order of Nature to their existence of which Necessary or Not-necessary are the Adjunct manner in reference to the Rule or Law whereunto their conformity is required How Morall and Not-necessary come to be tearmes of the same import Mr Goodwin will declare perhaps heareafter when he shall have leisure to teach as much new Philosophy as he hath already done Divinity In the meane time we deny that any influence from God on the wills of men doth make any Act of them Necessary as to the manner of its production And so this first Argument for the Inconsistency of the use of Exhortations with the reall efficiency of the Grace and Spirit of God is concluded That which followes in this Section to the end §. 32. is a pretended Answer to an Objection of our Authors owne framing being only introduced to give farther Advantage to
expresse himselfe against any reall efficiency of the Spirit or Grace of God in the hearts or on the wills of men Not to insist upon his darkening the Discourse in hand from his miserable confounding of those tearmes Physicall and Morall formerly discovered I shall as neare as I can close with his aime in it for the more cleare consideration thereof First he tells us That the operation of God on the will of man is in respect of its proceeding from him Physicall but in respest of its nature and substance t is properly Morall But First § 33. if a man should aske Mr Goodwin what he intends by this Operation of God on the will of man to the end intended I feare he would be very hard put to it to instance in any particular It is sufficiently evident he acknowledgeth none in this kind but what consists in the Exhortations of the VVord Secondly having told us before that Physicall is as much as Necessary and Morall as Not-necessary How comes it about that the same operation of God the same Act of his Power is become in severall regards Physicall and Morall That is Necessary and Not-necessary is Mr Goodwin reconciled to the Assertion That the same thing may be said to be Necessary and Not-necessary in sundry respects Thirdly how comes the same Act or Operation in respect of its manner of proceeding from its Agent to be Physicall and in respect of its Substance to be Morall Or is any act Morall in respect of its substance or is its Morality an Adjunct of it in respect of the regard it hath to some Rule farther End It is an easy thing for any to heape up such crude Assertions in the meane time not to know what they say nor whereof they do affirme But the reason why the Acts of God intimated are Morall is because they perswade the Will only or work perswadingly not ravishingly or necessitatingly that is in plain termes There is no operation of the Grace or Spirit of God in the working of any good in the Heart or Wills of men but only what consisteth in perswasion of them thereunto For any reall efficiency as to the communication of strength inworking in us to will and to do t is wholly excluded God only perswades men have the power in themselves and of themselves they do it let the Scripture say what it will to the contrary For those termes of Ravishingly or Necessitatingly which are opposed to this Morall perswasion whereunto the operations of God for the production of any good in us are tied up and confined wee have been now so inured to them that they do not at all startle us When M. Goodwin shall manifest That God cannot by the greatnesse of his power work in us to Will without ravishing our wills if we guesse aright at the intendment of that expression he will advance to a considerable successe in this contest not only against us but God himselfe But an objection presents its selfe to our Author §. 34. which he sees a Necessity to attempt the removall of least an Apprehension of its truth should prove prejudiciall to the receiving of his dictates And this it is That if it be so that God worketh on the will of man by the way of perswasion only he doth no more then the Ministers of the Gospell do who perswade men by the Word to that which is good To this he tells you That it indeed followes that God Ministers work on the Will of man in the same way with the same kind of efficiency but yet in respect of degrees God may perswade more effectually than a Minister That all really efficient §. 35. internall working grace of God was denied by M. Goodwin was before discovered there only t is more plainely asserted All the workings of God on the Wills of men unto good are meerely by perswasion Perswasion we know gives no strength addes no power to him that is perswaded to any thing it only provokes him and irritates him to put forth exert and exercise the power which is in himselfe unto the things whereunto he is perswaded upon the motives grounds of perswasion proposed to him and the whole effect produced on that account is in Solidum to be ascribed to the really efficient cause of it howsoever incited or stirred up whereas then men by Nature are dead blind unbelieving enemies to God he perswades them only to exert the power that is in them thereby to live see believe and be reconciled to him And this is to exalt the free grace of God by Jesus Christ We know full well who have gone before you in these paths but shall heartily pray that none of the Saints of God may follow after you into this contempt of the work of his Grace But Secondly If nothing but Perswasion be allowed to God in the work of mens Conversion § 36. in the carrying on of their obedience to the end Wherein doth the Perswasion of God consist in distinction from the Perswasion used in from the Word by Ministers which it is pretended that it may excell though t is not affirmed that it doth many degrees Let it be considered I say in what Acts of the will or power of God his perswasion so distinct as above mentioned doth consist Let us know what Arguments he useth by what Meanes he applies them how he conveyes them to the Wills of men that are not coincident with those of the Ministry I suppose at last 't will be found that there is no other operation of God in Perswading men as to the ends under consideration but only what lies or consists in the perswading of the Word by the Ministers thereof God looking on without the exerting of any efficacy whatever which is indeed that which is aimed at is really exclusive of the Grace of God from any hand in the Conversion of sinners or Preservation of Believers 3. He doth not indeed assert any such Perswading of God § 37. but only tels you that from what he hath spoken it doth not follow that God doth no more then Ministers in Perswading men And that when two perswade to one and the same Action one may be more effectuall in his perswading than another but that God is so or how he is so or wherein his peculiar perswasions do consist there is not in his discourse the least intimation Fourthly There is in men a different power as to Perswasion some having a faculty that way farre more eminent and effectuall than others according to their skill and proficiency in Oratory and Perswasive Arts this only is ascribed to God that he so excells us as one man excells another But how that Excellency of his is exerted that 's not to be understood But there is proofe tendered you of all this from 1 Cor 3. 9. Where Ministers are said to cooperate with God which they cannot do unlesse it be with the same
So that notwithstanding these Exceptions the Exposition of the words is cleare as before given in And yet this is all M. G. produceth as his ground and foundation whereon to stand in denying ths proposition he that is borne of God sinneth not that is falleth not under the power of raigning sinne sinneth not to death as the Children of the wicked one which I shall leave under that consideration wherewith it is educed from the scope of the Text and the paralell place of Chap. 5. 16 17. The truth is there is not much need to contend about this expression M. G. granting that the intendment of it is that such as are borne of God do not walke ordinarily customarily in any wayes of known sin Sect 28. Which as he saith is the import of that Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the contrary whereof might yet be easily evinced he maketh no trade or occupation of sinning that is he doth not sinne in an inconsistency of communion with God in the Covenant of his Grace Now in this sence he granteth this Proposition he that is borne of God sinneth not i. e. ordinarily or customarily that is so as not to be accepted of God that is no Believer sinneth at such a rate as not to be accepted with God Adde now hereunto the ground reason of this Assertion viz. His being borne of God the abiding of the seed in him we have obtained all that we desire to evince from this place Because such an one is borne of God which is a Reason which holdeth good to Eternity being an act irrevocably past and because the seed abideth in him he cannot sinne ordinarlly or customarily which kind of sinning alone as is supposed can eject the abiding seed that is he sinneth not beyond the rate of sinnes of infirmity nor in any such way as should render him uncapable of communion or acceptance with God The Apostle nextly advanceth farther with his designe and saith He that is borne of God cannot sinne that is That sinne which he sinneth not he cannot sinne §. 64. He cannot fall under the power of raigning sinne unto death I confesse the words can cannot are variously used in the Scriptures some kind of impossibility in one respect or other for things may be in some regard impossible that are not so absolutely it alway denoteth The whole of the variety in this kind may be referred to two heads 1. That which is morally impossible Of that it is said that it cannot be done 2 Cor. 13. 8. Saith Paul we can do nothing against the Truth And Acts 4. 20. Say the Apostles we cannot but speake the things we have seen and heard It was morally impossible that ever any thing should have been done by Paul against the truth or that the Apostles having received the Spirit should not speak what they had seen and heard of Christ. And of many things that are thus morally impossible there are most certaine and determinate causes as to make the thing so impossible as in respect of the event to be absolutely impossible It is morally impossible that the Divell should do that which is Spiritually good and yet absolutely impossible There is more in many a thing that is morally impossible than a meere opposition to Justice as we say Illud possumus quod jure possumus The causes of morall impossibility may be such as to tye up the thing which it relateth unto in an everlasting nonfuâ—urition There is also 2. An impossibility that is Physicall from the nature of the things themselves So Jerem. 13. 23. % Can the Aethyopian change his skin that is He cannot Mat. 7. 18. % A good tree cannot bring forth evill fruit neither can an evill tree bring forth good fruit That is nothing can act contrary to its owne naturall principles And as we shall see afterwards there is of this impossibility in the cannot here mentioned They cannot do it upon the account of the new Spirituall nature wherewith they are indued Now there may be a third kind of impossibility in Spirituall things arising from both these which One hath not ineptly called Ethico-physicall or morally-naturall partaking of the nature of both the other It is morall because it relateth to duty what is to be done or not to be done And it is Physicall because it relateth to a cause or principle that can or cannot produce the effect So our Saviour telleth the Pharisees How can ye being evill speake good things Or ye cannot Mat. 12. 34. % You cannot heare my words John 8. 43. It was morally impossible they should either speake or heare that is either believe or do that which is Spiritually good having no principles that should enable them thereunto having no root that should beare up unto fruit being evill trees in themselves and having a principle a root continually universally uninterruptedly inclining and disposing them an other way to acts of a quite contrary nature Of this kind is that impossibility here intimated The effect denyed is morally impossible upon the account of the internall Physicall cause hindring of it However then the word in the Scripture may be variously taken yet here it is from adjacent circumstances evidently restrained to such a signification as in respect of the event absolutely rejecteth the thing denyed The gradation of the Apostle also leadeth us to it He sinneth not nay he cannot sin He cannot sin riseth in the Assertion of that before expressed He sinneth not which absolutely rejecteth the glosse that some seeke to put upon the words namely that cannot sinne is no more but cannot sinne easily and cannot sinne but as it were with difficulty such is the Antipathy habituall opposition which they have to sinne which Mr Goodwin adhereth unto For besides That this is in it selfe false there being no such Antipathie in any to sinne but that they may easily fall into it yea and with great difficulty and labour do restraine from it as the Apostle argueth at large Rom. 7 So is it also flatly contradictory to the words themselves the Apostle saith He that is borne of God sinneth not cannot sinne He can sinne saith this Glosse though difficultly now he that can sinne difficultly can sinne can sinne and cannot sinne are flatly contradictory He cannot then sinne at all the sinne that is intended in the place of whom it is said he cannot sinne Thus we have cleared the first Proposition in the words both as to the Subject every one that is borne of God and the Predicate sinneth not cannot sinne Which last expression taken in its only proper and most usuall signification denoteth an Impossibility of the event plainely confirmeth in direct termes the position we insist on from the words Mr Goodwin knoweth not well §. 65. If I am able to gather any thing of his thoughts from his expressions to the Argument in hand what to say to this Assertion of the Apostles The Argument he intendeth
from Heaven of the will of God of God As to its principle to be not of flesh or bloud or of the will of man or of any thing done by us but of the seed of God incorruptible seed seed that abideth in respect of its duration to be eternall and that it may so be to be safeguarded being hid in God with Christ. In this place Receiving this Life from God is placed as the cause and cannot sinne as the effect He cannot sinne for or because he is borne of God The connexion that is between this cause and effect or wherein the causality of Being borne of God to a not sinning doth consist needs not be inquired into That it hath such a causality the holy Ghost hath asserted and our Argument resteth thereon If that be the nature of Regeneration or being borne of God that it doth exclude Apostacy then he that is Regenerate or borne of God as every Believer is cannot so sinne as to Apostatize or fall totally from God But that such is the nature of Regeneration whereby any one is borne of God the holy Ghost here declareth For he denyeth Apostacy upon the account of Regeneration He cannot sinne because he is borne of God which is that which we intended to demonstrate from this text of Scripture To evade the force of this Argument §. 69. M. Goodwin as hath been declared undertaketh to give an Exposition of this place of Scripture turning every stone and labouring to wrest every word in it The severall significations of the words in other places are set out and suppositions made of taking them this way or that way but in what sence the scope of the matter treated on the most usuall known common acceptations call for their Vse in this place nothing is spoken neither is any cleare Answer once attempted to be given to the words of the Text speaking out and home to the conclusion we intend or to the Argument thence deduced What I can gather up from Sect. 31. and forwards that may obstruct the thoughts of any in closing with the Interpretation given I shall consider and remove out of the way 1. Then he giveth you this Interpretation of these words sineth not or cannot sinne Every one that hath been borne of God sinneth not i. e. Whosoever hath by the Word and Spirit of God been made partaker of the Divine nature so as to resemble God in the frame and constitution of his heart and soule doth not under such a frame or change of heart as this make a trade or practice of sinning or walking in any course of inordinatenesse in the world Yea saith he in the latter Proposition every such person doth not only or simply refraine sinning in such a sence but he cannot sin i. e. He hath a strong and potent disposition in him which carryeth him an other way for he hath a strong Antipathy or aversenesse of heart and soule against all sinne especially all such kind of sinning Ans. 1. What is meant by being borne of God the way whereby any come so to be the Vniversality of the expression requiring a necessary cause of its verity with the like attendencies of the Proposition have been before declared 2. What M. Goodwin intendeth by such a frame and constitution of spirit and soule as may resemble God with his deniall of the bestowing on us from God a vitall principle of Grace wherein the Renovation in us of his image should consist hath in part also been already discovered will yet farther be so in our consideration of his rare notion of Regeneration its consisting in a mans returnall to the innocent and harmelesse estate wherein he was borne 3. That sinneth not is sinneth not that sinne or so sinneth not as to break his Relation to God as a child hath been already also manifested and the Reader is not to be burthened with Repetition 4. In the interpretation given of the latter phrase he cannot sinne I cannot so sinne against the light of the Text as to joyne with M. Goodwin in it It is not the Antipathie of his heart to sinne but the Course of his walking with God in respect of sinne that the Apostle treateth on His internall principaling against sinne he hath from being borne of God and the abiding of his seed in him of which this that he cannot sinne is asserted as the effect He cannot sinne that is he cannot so sinne upon the account of his being borne of God Thence indeed he hath not only a potent disposition another way and Antipathie to evill but a vitall principle with an everlasting enmity and repugnancy to and inconsistency with any such sin or sinning as is intimated and that he cannot sinne is the consequent and effect thereof and is so affirmed to be by the Holy Ghost Nextly §. 70. M. Goodwin giveth you the Reason of this Assertion used by the Apostle why such an one as of whom he speaketh sinneth not and cannot sinne Now the Reason saith the Apostle why such a person committeth not sinne in the sence explained is because his seed the seed of God by whom of which he was borne of him remaineth in him i. e. is or hath an actuall and present being or residence in him and that in this place it doth not signify any perpetuall abiding or any abiding in relation to the future is evident because the abiding of the seed here spoken of is given as the Reason why he that is borne of God doth not commit sinne i. e. doth not frequently walke in any course of known sinne now nothing in respect of any future permanency or continuance of being can be looked upon as the cause of an effect but only in respect of the present being or residence of it The Reason why the soule moveth to day is not because it will move or act the body to morrow or because it is in the body to day upon such termes that it will be in it to morrow also much lesse because it is an immortall substance but simply because it is now or this day in the body So the Reason why Angels at this day do the will of God is not because they have such a principle of holinesse or Obedience in them which they cannot put off or loose to eternity but because of such a principle as we speake of residing in them at present therefore when John assigneth the remaining of the seed of God in him that is borne of him for the reason why he doth not commit sinne certaine it is that by this remaining of the seed he meaneth nothing else but the present residence or abode thereof in this Person and if his intent had been either to assert or imply a perpetuall residence of this seed in him that is borne of God it had been much more proper for him to have saved it for a reason of the latter proposition he that is borne of God cannot sinne then to have subjoyned it
from any Love of God whether it be from the common Love of God to man as men and if so why are not all men endowed with those qualifications If from his peculiar Love how come they to be the effects and causes of the same thing Or whether indeed this assertion be not destructive to the whole Covenant of Grace and the effectuall dispensations of it in the bloud of Christ And to his second Testimony I shall adde no more The third place insisted on is that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 9. 27. Hence he thus argueth §. 21. If Paul after his conversion unto Christ was in a possibility of being or becoming a Reprobate or cast away then may true Believers fall away both totally and finally for finally ever includes totally But the Antecedent is true Paul after his conversion was in the possibility mentioned ergo the Major Proposition I presume will passe without controle Ans. That Mr Goodwin is not able to make good eitheir of the Propositions in this syllogisme will evidently appeare in the conclusion of our examination of what he drawes forth new and old to that purpose of the Major he gives you only this account It will passe I presume with out controulc but by his favour unlesse cleared from ambiguity of expressions and fallacy it is not like to obtaine so faire a passage as is presumed and fancyed Though the terme of possibility in the supposition and may be in the inference seeme to be equipollent yet to render them of the same significancy as to the Argument in hand they must both be used in the same respect but if a possibility of being a reprobate that is one rejected of God by a metonymy of the effect be ascribed to Paul in respect of himselfe and the infirmity of his owne will as to abiding with God in which case alone there is any appearance of truth in the Assumption of this supposition and the terme of may be in respect of Believers falling totally finally away respects the event purpose decrees or Promise of God concerning it in which sence alone it is any step to the purpose in hand I deny the inference and thereby at the very entrance give checke and controule to Mr Goodwin's procedure That which is possible to come to passe that terme possible affecting the end or comming to passe must be every way and in all respects possible this is the intendment of the inference That which is possible in respect of some certaine causes or principles the termes of possibility affecting the thing it selfe whereof it is spoken in its next causes may be impossible on another account in this sence only is there any colour of truth contained in the supposition so that the Major Proposition of this Syllogisme is laid up and secured for doing any farther service in this case The Minor is §. 22. But Paul after his conversion was in a possibility of becoming a Reprobate or cast-away Ans. He was not in respect of the event upon the account of the purpose and promises of God of him and to him made in Christ though any such possibility may be affirmed of him in respect of himselfe and his own will not confirmed in Grace unto an impossibility of swerving Now this Proposition he thus farther attempts syllogistically to confirme That which Paul was very sollicitous industrious to prevent he was in a possibility of suffering or being made But Paul was very sollicitous and industrious to prevent his being made a cast-way as the Scripture in hand plainely avoucheth he kept under his body and brought it in subjection in order to prevent his becoming a cast-away Ergo He was in danger or possibility of being made a cast-away The reason of the consequence in the Major Proposition is because no man of understanding will be sollicitous to prevent or hinder the coming to passe of such a thing the comming to passe whereof he knowes to be impossible Ans. Once more The major is questioned Paul might and ought to labour in the use of meanes for the preventing of that which in respect of himselfe he might possibly run into God having appointed those meanes to be used for the prevention of the end feared and avoided although in respect of some other preventing cause it was impossible he should so do He who complained that in him that is in his flesh dwelleth no good that he had a law in his members leading him captive to the Law of sinne and sinne working in him all manner of concupisence for whose prevention from running out into a course of sinning God hath appointed meanes to be used might use those meanes for that end notwithstanding that God had immutably Purposed and Faithfully Promised that in the use of those meanes he should attaine the end aymed at And the Reason Mr Goodwin gives for the confirmation of the consequence is no other but that which we have so often exploded viz. That a man need not ought not to use meanes for attaining of any end though appointed and instituted of God for that end and purpose if so be the end for which they are ordained shall certainely and infallibly be compassed and accomplished by them Our Saviour Christ thought meet to use the ordinary wayes for the preservation of his life notwithstanding the Promise of keeping him by the Angels and Hezechiah neglected not the meanes of Life notwithstanding the infallible promise of Living so long which he had received Paul was carefull in the use of meanes to prevent that which inhimselfe it was possible for him to runne into though he had or might have assurance that through the faithfulnesse and power of God in the use of those meanes as an antecedent of the consequent though not the conditions of the event he should be preserved certainely and infallibly from what he was so in himselfe apt unto So that whatever be the peculiar intendment of the Apostle in this place taking the terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the largest sence possible and in a significancy of the greatest compasse yet nothing will regularly be inferred thence to the least prejudice of the Doctrine I have undertaken to maintaine And this may suffice as to the utmost of what Mr Goodwins Argument from this place doth reach unto §. 23. There is another and that a more proper sence of the place and accommodated to the context and scope of the Apostle wherewith the Doctrine indeavoured to be confirmed from hence hath not the least pretence of communication And this ariseth as was before manifested from the scope of the place with the proper native signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated a cast-away The businesse that the Apostle hath in hand from v. 15. of the chapter and which he presses to the end is a relation of his own principles wayes and deportment in the great worke of the preaching of the Gospell to him committed in the