profession of faith in him as the true believers did Now they tell us that the Apostle speaketh of these counterfeit and not of true believers when he saith for this cause many are sick and weak among you and many sleep for say they could such impious and wicked Beasts be the members of Christ who came drunk to the Lords Table Answ I answer It is not impossible that a Child of God drinking Wine liberally with others at their love feasts might as well be overtaken with drunkenness as Noah was whom St. Peter calleth a righteous man But suppose that they were all wicked hypocrites that thus prophaned the holy Sacrament of Christs body and blood 2 Pet. 2. yet seeing the Church and people of God at Corinth tolerated them in their Communion and did not censure them for this foul fault therefore Gods judgement might break in among them all by an epidemical disease and take away some if not many of the better sort as well as all the Israelites fled before their enemies and divers of them were slain for the sin of A chan Josh 7. And that this was the case of the Corinthians whom God visited some of them with death and others with sickness and weakness the words immediately following in the Apostle do manifest when he saith for if we would judge our selves we should not be judged But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World Tâ—ese words do evince that St. Paul speaketh in this place of true beleeâ—ers and not onely of counterfeit hypocrites First This iâ— evident from his scope in uttering these words which was to comfort not onely those which were living and yet lying under Gods judgements but others also for the death of their dear friends who were thus taken away for prophaning the holy Sacrament of Christs blessed body and blood The former of these might think thus with themselves seeing this our sickness and weakness is a judgement of God upon us what hope can we have in him And the latter might say seeing God hath taken away our friends in judgement alas what is become of their souls The Apostle to comfort them against such sad thoughts as these telleth them that this was indeed a judgement upon them but a judgement onely of castigation for their reformation that so they might escape the judgement of eternal condemnation in the world to come Again St. Paul includeth himself in the number of those that are thus judged For he saith not that those men onely that came irreverently to the Lords Table were judged but when we are judged speaking of himself and all believers we are chastened of the Lord. Rom. 8.1 Thirdly He informeth us how happy the end and issue of this judgement of castigation is to all Gods children It becommeth a meanes God sanctifying it unto them for this end to free them from condemnation which is the portion and proper and peculiar priviledge of the godly and not common to them with the wicked 4. lastly Therefore he opposeth the persons that are thus judged unto the world It is not possible therefore that St. Paul should speak only of wicked hypocrites when he saith For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many sleep For such wicked ones belong unto the World and are no true members of Christ nor of his Church which consisteth of Saints that are gathered out of the World 3. lastly I would know of these men whether a Father doth not correct his children and a Schoolmaster his Scholars for their faults To deny this is to contradict all men and the truth it self For a Child when he groweth wanton and stubborn against his Father and a Scholar when he playeth the trevant and neglecteth his book do both of them deserve the Rod of correction Their faults which they have committed are causa meritoria the meriting cause of their correction though the final cause or the end of such correction is their reformation And even so also by a like reason do Gods children when they forget their duties and wax wanton against their heavenly Father deserve to be corrected by him for their amendment Object But here it may be said God correcteth his children in love for their good Answ Now what Can they by their sins be said to deserve good and not rather evil For answer hereunto I say that although the afflictions of Gods children are good unto them in their end and issue whereunto they are sanctified and directed by God In which regard Gods Children do say with David Heb. 12.11 It is good for me that I have been afflicted for before I was afflicted I went astray but now do I keep thy Law Psal 119. Notwithstanding as the Apostle saith and as we feel in our own experience our afflictions in themselves are grievous and bitter to the flesh And therefore as it is said of him that cannot rule his appetite that he deserveth to fall into the hands of the Physitian who by bitter Pills or potions purgeth away the ill-humors which his delicious Cups and sweet morsels bred in his body So when Gods children do satisfie their carnal lusts and surfet upon sin they deserve the bitter pills of affliction which when the heavenly Physitian of their souls shall administer unto them they have cause with Job not only to be patient and contented but thankfully to submit themselves unto his corrections and to say Job 2.10 Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil Ye see then that the afflictions of Gods Children are evil in themselves though good in their end The force of this reason Object our adversaries do think to avoid by saying that a Father is indeed angry with his children when they offend him and correcteth them for their faults But so doth not God to his children for he is never angry with any of them because Christ hath born all their sins and pacified his Fathers wrath for ever This Objection I shall not need here to answer Answ for I have removed it in the former Question where I shewed that Christ hath freed us from Gods revenging wrath which would have overwhelmed us in perdition and destruction everlasting but not from his paternal indignation which tendeth to the furtherance of our sanctification and salvation And therefore it would not be for our good but to our hurt if he should not thus cause us to feel his anger when we forget our selves and go a stray from him I would know also wherefore God calleth himself our Father and us his children but because he dealeth with us as a Father doth with his children as in other respects so particularly in nurturing us for our sins when we offend him by them as the Apostle expresly sheweth Heb. 12.5 6 7 8. This that I have said cannot but be of singular use unto the children of God when they
Secondly Grace is taken by a Metonymie for a supernatural gift of grace Eph. 4.7 2 Cor. 6.1 as in these places following Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ c. We beseech you that ye receive not the Grace of God in vain Under this latter signification of Grace are comprehended both Christ himself John 4.10 for he calleth himself the gift of God and all the several Acts also or parts of our salvation which he hath merited for us and worketh in us or bestoweth upon us as our justification adoption sanctification preservation in the state of Grace redemption from hell and eternal glorification and salvation in Heaven Now judge whether those can be enemies to Grace or whether they are justly charged not to preach free Grace who do thus ascribe our whole salvation to the Grace of God It is true indeed we do teach men to repent and believe in Christ that they may be saved by him but withal we do teach them that Faith and Repentance are Graces of God or dona ex gratiâ gifts of his Grace and that they cannot practise nor perform them viribus liberi arbitrii sui by their own free will or by any power of their own but must seek and sue unto God for them in the use of such means as he hath prescribed For God doth not force his graces upon us nor doth not work upon us as on stocks or stones but seeing he hath made us reasonable creatures he therefore speaketh unto us by his word and perswadeth and inableth us by his Spirit to do those things which he requirerh of us Thus he dealeth with us as with men but yet so that still our salvation is wholly of his grace both the beginning middle and the end thereof For though it bee we that do repent and believe and obey and not God yet we do all this not of our selves but by his grace Thus do we alwaies and in all things magnifie and extol the grace of God acknowledging it to be the only cause of our whole salvation by Christ Yet all this that I have said Objection Mr. S. thinketh to overthrow by saying That all sorts even Papists and Arminians do thus acknowledge grace in general as we do But who seeth not that we do more then so Answer For whereas they do divide the salvation of a sinner between mans Free-will and Gods free grace yea do terminate his conversion ultimately and leave it in the power of his own Free-will we ascribe it only to grace Quest 2. Whether a man when he is converted from Infidelity to Fayth do change his estate before God Reconcil of God to man pag. 32 MAster D. saith that a mans believing doth not change his estate before God Whereupon that I may passe my censure this I say that if before God he meaneth only according to that he is in Gods eternal predestination this may be admitted for so he is a believer that is decreed to be a believer from all eternity But if his meaning be that his estate before he believed and after his conversion is the same before God that is in Gods account or in reality and truth as well as in outward appearance in which sense Zachary and Elizabeth are said both to be righteous before God this may not be granted For upon Zacheus his conversion our Saviour spake unto him and said Luke 1. This day is salvation come unto this house He was not in the state of salvation therefore before Now the same is to be said of all other converts and true believers whereof is to be seen in the Ephesians Eph. 2.1 2. of whom St. Paul saith You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in times past ye walked and afterwards he speaketh unto them and saith Ye were sometimes darkness Eph. 4.8 but are now light in the Lord. Now I would know whether he doth not change his estate that passeth from death to life which our Saviour our in express words affirmeth of the believer John 5.24 and from darkness to light As manifest a change of their estate do those words of the Apostle import and imply when he saith unto them Remember that ye being in times passed Gentiles in the flesh that at that time ye were without Christ Eph. 2.11 12 13. being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world But now in Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ Can any thing be spoken more plainly to shew what a great difference there was between their former estate and condition whilest they remained in infidelity and their present since they were converted to the Faith of Christ To be without Christ and without God and to be nigh unto God and unto Christ that is to be the children of God and members of Christ must needs argue a great change in a mans spiritual estate Those words also of St Paul Col. 1.13 do evince as manifest a change of our spiritual estate when he saith That God the Father hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son For how is it possible there should be any such translation if our state remained unalterable and still the same It is false therefore that Mr. D. teacheth to wit Reconcil of God to man pag. 27.28 That our Faith only giveth us evidence and assurance of our salvation which we had before but that we are not to believe and to serve God that we may obtain salvation non per modum meriti not by way of merit I mean not so but that we may obtain by Faith both right unto and possession or fruition of that salvation in Heaven which Christ hath purchased for us In this he contradicteth the Scripture for St Peter calleth the salvation of our souls the end of our Faith Now I would know 1 Pet. 1.9 whether a man doth undertake or do any thing nisi ex intuitu et cum intentione finis but for some end or other which he propounds unto himself When we do therefore believe in Christ and Repent us of our sins past we do it with this intention and for this end That we may be partakers of eternal salvation in Heaven through Christ Whereupon when the Jaylor demanded of Paul Silas Sirs What must I do to be saved Acts 16.31 They said Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved thou and thine house He findeth fault with this question Reconcil of God to man pag. 34. If the Jaylor had asked this question of Mr. D. he in choâ—er scorn would have answered him What thou ignorant and impious man dost thou ask me what thou must do to be saved as if Christ had not throughly wrought and
the same but sometimes greater and sometimes lesser towards his children And in this sense David speaketh of Gods Love Psa 147.8 when he saith The Lord loveth the righteous and Solomon Prov. 8.17 where he bringeth in the Son of God the eternal wisdom of his Father speaking and saying I love them that love me that is them only and none else Now there was a time when the elect did not love God but the world and the things thereof a time when they were not righteous but wicked they were not at that time therefore loved of God in this sense as Solomon and David here speak of his Love that is so as to taste or to be made partakers of the comfortable effects thereof The Lord also speaketh of his Love tanquam de re futura as of a thing to be accomplished in time to come when he saith or his revolted people I will love them freely I will Hos 14.4 saith the Lord he did not therefore thus love them alwaies Now this also must be understood not of the internal Act of Gods love which is eternal but of the manifestation of his love in the saving effects thereof Thus also are we to understand St. Paul when he blesseth the Corinthians and prayeth for them saying 2 Cor. 13. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God be with you For his meaning is not that God would then first begin to love them as if he had hated them or had borne them no good will before but that he would multiply the effects of his Love upon them or that he would continue the gracious influence of his Love towards them in the most comfortable and saving effects thereof In the same sense also doth our Saviour speak of Gods Love John 14.21 He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them it is he that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him When Christ saith here He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him he speaketh as the next words do shew of the manifestation of his and his Fathers love by the saving effects thereof Tunc enim Deus novâ ratione suam exhibet dilectionem cum novo homines afficit beneficio For then doth God exhibit his Love after a new manner when he bestowetn on men a new benefit saith Jansenius Like whereunto are the words of Dionisius Carthusianus on this saying of Christ God loveth all that are predestinate eternally and simply even then when they do not love him but are wicked For he first loved us 1 John 4.19 He loveth them I say according to that he seeth them to be in his Decree of Predestination But when they are converted and do love God he bestoweth on them the effects of his Love which he doth fully and finally vouthsafe them when they obtain the inheritance of Heaven Peter Lumbard also Lib. 3. Sent. Dist. 32. doth excellently unfold this matter I will therefore shut up this discourse in his words The Love of God saith he is considered two manner of waies secundum essentiam et secunduÌ„ efficientiam according to the essence according to the efficiency of it It is neither more nor less according to the essence but according to the efficiency of it In which regard those may be said to be more loved for whom out of his love he hath from eternity prepared majus bonuÌ„ the greater good or a greater blessing and doth in time confer the same upon them and those lesse loâ—ed quibus non tantum for whom and on whom he hath from eternity prepared and in time bestoweth not so much good or not so great a blessing Thereupon also it is that some when they are converted and justified are said then to begin to be loved of God not that God can love any one nova dilectione with a new love yea he loved with everlasting love before the foundation of the world whomsoever he loveth But they are then said to begin to be loved of him when they receive the effects of Gods eternal love to wit grace or glory Whereupon Augustine saith Far be it from us that we should say that God loveth any one temporally as it were with a new love which was not in him before with whom nec praeterita transierunt neither the things that are past have passed away et futura jam facta sunt and those that are future are already present or are done Therefore he loved all his Saints before the foundation of the world sicut praedestinavit as they were predestinated by him But when they are converted and do find him then they are said to begin to be loved of him Ut eo modo dicatur quo potest humano affectu capi quod dicitur to speak after that manner that the thing which is spoken may be comprehended by mans capacity Thus also when God is said to be angry with the wicked and well pleased with the good the change is in them and not in Him as light is offensive to weak eyes but comfortable to strong to wit through the change that is in them not in it self so when any one begins to be Gods friend being justified he himself is changed not God Now if the Question be asked whether one may be said to be loved of God more at one time then at another distinguenda est dilectionis intelligentia that we may understand this aright we must distinguish of love for if it be referred unto the effects of love concessibile est it is to be granted that God doth love some more at one time than at another but if it be referred to the essence of Gods Lo e inficiabile est it is to be denied Hitherto Peter Lumbard And thus this deep mystery or matter is sufficiently cleared I 'le onely add two things more to preâ—ent the mistaking of this Doctrine The former is that all those quibus ab aeterno Deus bene vult whom God eternally loveth shall in time have all those good things that is those effects of grace wrought in them which he decreed for them As long therefore as men do live in sin they cannot conclude nor they cannot believe that God loveth them with any special love as he doth his Elect whom he hath appointed heirs of salvation because as yet no effects of Election do appear in them The other thing which I think good here to add is that Mr. D. hath no cause so sharply and bitterly as he doth to reproâ—e some of our Protestant Preachers and writers because they tell men that if they forsake sin and follow after Gods commandements and do that which is acceptable in his sight then God will love them For seeing they speak no otherwise of Gods Love than the holy Scripture doth Why should he so rack their words as if they taught that God were mutable in
in Christ by Gods Judgments 2 Chro. 33.12 13. Luke 15. wherewith he hath visited them and awakened their consciences and by meditating of the shortnesse and uncertainty of their life here in this world and by other the like morives and considerations And it is manifest that not a few but many have extraordinarily been prepared unto Faith in Christ by miracles and strange works Mark 16.20 John 11.45 20.31 which have been wrought by God for the confirmation of the Gospel Lastly It is not to be denied that God both can work Faith yea and that he hath extraordinarily and most marvellously wrought it in some without any precedent qualifications or preparations at all To teach the contrary is to deny Gods power Luke 1.44 and to contradict the holy Scripture Quest 8. Whether we are made the Sons of God by Faith in Christ or but declared so to be Reconcil of man to God pag. 66. Gal. 3.20 MR. D. his peremptory resolution is We are not made the Sons of God by Faith for we were before reconciled unto him and were his sons And whereas S. Paul saith ye are all the sons of God by Faâ—th in Christ Jesus he will have the sense and meaning hereof to be That we are declared to be the sons of God by Faith in Christ Jesus But the Apostle saith you are and not are declared to be the sons of God though that be true also He speaketh therefore of the essence of son-ship and not of the manifestation or appearance hereof only Object But here it will be said Were all the Galathians that made profession of the Faith of Christ the sons of God really Answ It is not likely they were St. Pauls words therefore must be understood per reduplicationem to wit thus you are all the sons of God that is all of you who are the sons of God are his sons by Faith in Christ Jesus Or else we are to say that he speaketh of them according to the judgment of charity when he saith ye are all the sons of God presuming them to be so and then specifieth the means how they came to be his sons when he addeth by Faith in Christ Jesus But if they he will not admit of this Exposition I would know of him what it is that maketh a man to be a son Is it not his parents begetting of him Sure I am that is fundamentum hujus relationis the foundation of this relation Now St James telleth us That God hath begotten us by the word of truth Jam. 1.9 1 Pet. 1.23 St. Peter also saith that we are renati born again not of mortal seed but of immortal by the word of God Whence it followeth necessarily that we are not the sons of God until we do hear his word and are thereby converted to the Faith and obedience of Christ But Mr. D. tâ—inketh to avoid and put off this also by saying that the Apostles do say Object that we are regenerated and born again by the word because we are declared so to be and not that we are in deed and in truth regenerated by the word But this will not serve his turn Answ for the word being made effectual by the spirit is that which begets faith in us for Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of of God Now it is absurd to say that a man is regenerated while he liveth in infidelity or incredulity and is void of Faith Again until men hear the word their minds are blined with ignorance and their lives are full of impurity and uncleanness And hereupon St. Paul saith that God sent him unto the Gentiles to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that is by his preaching Gods word unto them which they had not heard before Yea our Saviour's own Disciples were unclean as all men are by nature until they heard the word as those words of Christ do testifie Now ye are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you They were not so therefore before and how then could they be said to be regenerated without the word For by regeneration men are made partakers of a new nature which they had not before St. Paul also speaking of the whole Church of Christ in general saith that he sanctifieth and cleanseth it with the washing of water by the word All therefore generally and ordinarily without the word are unclean and unregenerated Object But let us see how Mr. D. endeavoreth to prove that we were the sons of God before we did believe The Holy Ghost saith he declareth son-ship to be the cause of giving the Spirit when he saith Because ye are sons Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father Seeing therefore a man cannot believe without the grace of the Spirit it followeth necessarily that we are the sons of God before we do believe Answ But hereunto I answer that the Spirit is given diversly First to regenerate us for we are born again not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man John 1.13 but of God by the powerful operation of his Spirit Even as our Saviour himself also teacheth when he saith Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit John 3.5 he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Thus the Spirit is not a consequent of our regeneration whereby we are born the sons of God but a precedent cause thereof 2. Again the Spirit is also given to increase Faith and holinesse in us and to strengthen and establish us in grace after we are regenerated For as Christ by his Spirit beginneth the good work of grace in us so doth he by his Spirit perfect the same Phil. 1.6 2 Cor. 3.5 and not we our selves by any power of our own Lastly After we are born again the Spirit is also given to comfort us and to assure us of our Adoption by crying in our hearts Abba Father Thus as Mr. D. saith son-ship is in some sort the cause of giving the Spirit But otherwise we are not sons before and without any work of the Spirit at all for he is the Author or principal efficient cause of our being regenerated and born again the sons of God Another of Mr. D's Objections is this The Apostle saith Object that God the Father hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself We were not therefore begotten in time by the word but it is an eternal grace Whereunto I answer that he might as well infer Answ and conclude that we are alteady glorified and in actual possession of Heaven For God hath predestinated us to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light It 's strange that he cannot distinguish between the Decree of Election it self which is eternal and the effects thereof that is to say the things whereunto we are Elected
No he doth not Gal. 3.10 but as many as are of the works of the law that is who seek and go about to be justified by the works of the Law Answ are under the curse But this did not the Fathers before Christs coming for as St. Peter saith Acts 15.11 As we do believe that we shall be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ so did they Object He alleadgeth also those words of the Apostle They received not the promise Heb. 11.39 as if the meaning of them were that those under the Old Testament were not made partakers of forgivenesse of sins and salvation before Christs coming Bur I have before proved Answ that there was the same remission of sins in those dayes that there is now For of those that lived at that time as well as now David speaketh plainely and saith Psal 32.1 2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity Whereas then the Apostle saith they received not the promise he speaketh of the promise of Christs incarnation and manifestation in the flesh and his meaning is that that promise was not then accomplished but differred untill the dayes of the New Testament wherein we see those things and hear those things which Abraham and the Prophets and faithfull people of God in those dayes desired to see and hear but could not God providing better things for us as the Apostle speaketh in the next words that they without us might not be made perfect that is in the knowledge and faith of the full Revelation of the Messiah but held in the state and condition as it were of children in their Minority Object He urgeth also against us those words of the Angel Gabriel unto Daniel Dan. 9.24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the holy City to finish the trangression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousnesse For from hence he inferreth and concludeth that the sins of the people of God were at that time remaining and that they were not reconciled to God Answ But hereunto I answer that the Angel in these words speaketh of the finishing of transgressions and making an end of sins and of making reconciliation for iniquity by way of satisfaction and Redemption which Christ was to do in his passion Isai 53.10 when as Isaiah saith he was to make his soul an offering for sin but not of taking away sin and making reconciliation by actuall remission and forgivenesse thereof For thus all those were reconciled to God and were discharged of their sins who before Christs passion did expect his coming and built the hope and confidence of their Redemption and salvation on him I do not remember for I have not his book by me any thing else that Mr. D. alleadgeth to infringe the force of my two former reasons I have nothing therefore more to say unto him in this Question SECT IIII. Two reasons more proving that the Children of God are to pray for the pardon of their Sins THirdly therefore I do reason thus against the aforesaid Reaso n 3 Sectaries If the Children of God are not to pray for the pardon of their sins then it will follow that pardon of sin is to be had without any prayer which is a great and grosse absurdity for we have no promise of any good thing from God unlesse we pray for it Math. 7.7 Ask saith our Saviour and you shall have Here the promise is made to him that asketh But on the contrary ye have not James 4.2 because ye ask not saith St. James James 1.7 Now when men are unregenerate they cannot pray in faith and therefore as St. James saith shall obtain nothing of the Lord. And after they are regenerated and do believe these men will not allow them to pray for the pardon of their sins According therefore to their doctrine pardon of sin is to be had without any true prayer The grossnesse and absurdity of which conceipt who seeth not that is not stark blind in spirituall things Fourthly it hath been Reaso n 4 constantly taught untill this time not only by others but even by those also that would not allow the Lords prayer to be used as a prayer that it is a platforme of prayer according whereunto we are all of us to frame and form all our prayers at least wise for the matter of our petitions Now as I have shewed already Christ therein taught his Disciples to pray for the forgivenesse of their sins It it a novellous conceipt therefore and upstart errour to hold That the Children of God ought not to pray for the pardon of their Sins SECT V. The severall Causes or reasons why the Children of God are to pray for the pardon of their sins Object But say these men when we believe in Christ our sins are pardoned we are therefore to praise God for this his mercy but not to pray for it seeing we have it already for then we should take Gods name in vaine Answ 1 But I answer them that the promise of pardon of sin at leastwise for the continuance of it is not made unto one individuall act of faith onely but to perseverance and continuance in the faith for so we are given to understand Heb. 10.38 Heb. 10.38 The just shall live by faith but if any man draw back my soule shall have no pleasure in him But saith the Apostle We are not of them that draw back unto perdition but of them that believe perseverantly to the saving of the Soul And before in the third Chapter the same Apostle hath told us See also Joh. 8.31 verse 14. that we are made pertakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence sted-fast unto the end After therefore we are justified and absolved from our sins yet we are to pray still for the pardon of them because as Amesius and other of the Learned protestants generally say Continuatio hujus gratiae est nobis necessaria the continuance of this grace is necessary for us For as it is not to one individuall act of faith onely so neither of repentance nor of prayer but to perseverance and continuance in all these that God hath promised and granted pardon This is to seen in David for after his sins were pardoned and he the true Child of God yet he prayeth still remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions And after David was pardoned for Nathan upon his repentance said unto him the Lord hath taken away thy sin 2. Sam. 12.13 yet he prayed most earnestly for pardon Psal 51. We are still to pray for the pardon of our sins Ut sensus et manifestatio hujus gratiae magis magisque percipiatur prout singularia peccata postulant that the sense and manifestation of this grace may be more and more
by the practice of other vertues as well as of Faith and consequently giveth us to understand that assurance of salvation is to be had not from Faith only but from charity also and from brotherly love and all those other Vertues and Graces that are joyned with it and by the Apostle in that place particularly rehearsed and reckoned up For it must needs be granted that those who are assured of their election are thereby also assured of their salvation seeing it is not possible that any of the Elect should perish Math. 24.24 For Gods decrees are immutable his counsel shall stand and he will do all his will and pleasure Isa 46.10 SECT VI. Objections answered and Doubts resolved THere remaineth nothing now but that I answer certain Reasons of Mr. D. which I have not yet touched whereby he goeth about to prove that our works of piety or charity cannot possibly assure us of salvation when faith lyeth hid that we cannot see that we believe by the inward testimony of our Conscience Object Convers J. Baptist p. 51. The first of them is this That which maketh me doubt of my Faith will make me doubt of the sincerity of my works No it will not for the cause many times lyeth hid when the effect discovereth it self and is obvious to sight and sense Answ 1 He that is shut up in a Dungeon or in a dark house cannot see the Sun when it is risen yet notwithstanding he may assure himself that it is not night but day and that the Sun is risen by those beams of light which do dart into the house through some little crevises or chinks that are in the wall and even so in like manner when a mans faith cannot be seen being over-clouded with tentations yet by the lively effects thereof by his love to God and to his word and Children and by the opposition which he maketh against all sinful lusts and tentations and by his constant purpose desire and endeavour to obey God and to please him in all things he may gather that he is not destitute of Faith though he cannot so clearly see it nor behold it directly and immediately in it self or in its own proper acts Again whereas he saith That which maketh him doubt of his faith will make him doubt not of his work but of the sincerity of it Answ 2 I further answer That there is a two fold sincerity the one agentis seu operantis of the person that doth the work the other operis of the work that is done 1. The sincerity of the person consists in the true intention of his minde or heart and so it is opposed to hypocrisie Now whether a man doth his works in sincerity and truth or but in hypocrisie his own Conscience will tell him 2. The sincerity of the work is when it is true and real and not imaginary or counterfeit Now if sincerity be taken in this sense there is apparent reason why many a believer doubteth more of the sincerity of his faith then of his works to wit because his faith is assaulted with strong yea and now and then with hideous and with fearful tentations which do shake it and make him to doubt of the truth of it whereas he may have no such cause to doubt of the truth of his works Even as though not the same man yet some other for the same cause may doubt more of the truth and sincerity of some of his vertues actions and works then of others As for example of his chastity rather then of his liberality and justice because lascivious thoughts do now and then rise in his minde although he taketh no delight in them but resisteth them and grieveth and condemneth himself for them Whereas he is not so assaulted in the exercise of other vettues which maketh him lesse to doubt of the truth and sincerity of them Lastly Whereas he saith That which maketh me Answ 3 doubt of my faith By retorning the Objection will make me doubt of the sincerity of my works I must tell him That if this reason of his be any thing worth then neither will his faith give him any assurance of his salvation when he doubteth of the sincerity of his works or of his love to God and Man Gal. 5.6 for the true justifying and saving faith worketh by love But contrary hereunto he telleth us as you heard before that when the soul is loaden with the burthen of sin and sense of misery it is sufficient for our assurance to believe God in his promises according to that Act. 16.21 Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Object A second Reason of his is this How is it possible I should judge my works sincere when I cannot see I believe Whatsoever is not of faith is sin Answ To this I answer It is one thing to be without faith another for a man to want the sense and sight or feeling of his faith No works in deed are any thing worth where faith is altogether wanting for without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 But as fire on the hearth cannot be seen when it lyeth covered under ashes so is the faith of Gods dear Children many times so covered by reason of doubts that arise in their minds or the dimness of their spiritual eye-sight that they cannot see it Yet I hope Mr. D. will not say that all their works in this case are unsound or that they or others shall do well to think so of them as long as their Consciences do tell them that whatsoever they do they do it in sincerity and in the singleness of their hearts and not as time-servers or men-pleasers Object Lastly He asketh What works are done in faith that the same acts may not be done in the spirit of bondage Answ I answer him That though the same acts that are done in faith may be done in the spirit of bondage He that is acted only by the Spirit of bondage doth love sin still and whatsoever good he doth Act. 15.9 it is only for fear and not out of love to God Heb. 9.14 that he may glorifie him quoad materiale according to the matter of them yet not quoad formale that is according to the purity and sanctity of them for it is faith that purifieth the heart as St. Peter saith And as another Apostle telleth us It is faith in the blood of Christ that purifieth the Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Men in deed may be restrained from acting sin for a time by the terror and fear of Gods judgements which the spirit of bondage worketh in them but when that fear is gone or when it is but forgotten as usually it is in their mirth and meriments then they break out again and commit the same sins which they did before with greediness The sum of all then is this it is faith and the filial fear of God and not the
He will not alwayes chide neither will he keep his anger for ever Psal 103.8 9. After the same manner speaketh also the Lord himself In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting mercy will I have compassion on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer It is evident that the Lord speaketh here of his own Children for his everlasting mercy belongeth to them and on them it is that his anger remaineth but a moment For on wicked reprobates it shall rest for ever according to that Joh. 3.36 He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Quest 11. Whether God do correct his Children for their sins This Question I thought good to add unto the former because it is of great affinity with it and the rather indeed have I done this because an Acquaintance of mine did lately long after I had finished this Treatise take upon him to maintaine that God doth never correct his Children for any sin that is committed by them against whom I reasoned thus God doth either correct his Children for sin or for righteousnesse for there is no mean betwixt these two For our actions although being considered simply as they are per se et sua natura in themselves and in their own nature are many of them indifferent that is neither good nor evil morally yet in actu exercito that is being clothed with such circumstances as they are when they are practised by us so they are all either good or evil Now said I God doth not correct any for righteousnesse or well doing therefore it is for their sins and for their evil doings that he correcteth his Children But hereunto he answered that it is for righteousnesse that God correcteth his Children for said he God correcteth them from their sins and maketh them to live righteously I perceived his meaning was as if he should have said God correcteth his Chiâ—dren for righteousnesse not that righteousnesse which they have done but which he would have them to do Now this I willingly yeelded unto him that the terminus á quo of Gods corrections or rather of our sanctification which he worketh in us by his corrections is sin and the terminus ad quem is righteousnesse that is to speak popularly and plainely God by his chastisments driveth us from sin unto righteousnesse For as the Apostle saith No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous Heb. 12.11 but grievous neverthelesse afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby Thus the end of our Heavenly Fathers Chastiâ—ements is to make us to leave our sins and to follow after righteousnesse But doth it follow hereupon that we are not corrected for our sins whereby we do provoke God and make him to afflict us If we should never be overtaken nor be at all defiled with any sin he would never correct us We may truely therefore be said to be corrected for our sins because sins are they that do pull down Gods corrections upon us But here mine adversary replyed and said Object Christ hath either born all the punishment of our sin or he hath born none of it at all Whereunto I answered that punishment is of two sorts either satisfactory to Gods justice Answ now all this Christ hath born For as I say saith He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities Isa 50.5.6 the Chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes are we healed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath layd on him the iniquities of us all Or else punishment is for the humiliation and reformation of the party offending and such are Gods corrections whereby he nurtureth his Children for his own glory and their amendment It is for our profit that we are thus corrected as the Apostle telleth us Heb. 12.10 Christ therefore by his passion hath not redeemed us from such Chastisements but sanctifieth them unto us After I had answered these Objections I proceeded and proved unto him that God correcteth his Children for their sins The arguments which I then used I shall now somewhat inlarge not tying my self strictly to the order in which they were propounded unto him First of all then I say that the holy Scripture in expresse words affirmeth that God correcteth his Children for their sins for thus speaketh the holy prophet David unto the Lord This Testimony is universal of all men of all times Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moath And presently he addeth surely every man is vanity in regard he meaneth of Gods corrections which do weaken and waste him He excepteth none out of this number not the Children of God more then others For it were his own afflictions that made him to utter these words For having said I am consumed by the blow of thine hand presently he inferreth When thou with rebukes dost chasten man thou makest his beauty to consume away David also bringeth in Almighty God speaking thus of his posterity whereof it cannot be denyed but many were Gods Children If his Children forsake my law and walke not in my judgments If they breake my statutes and keep not my Commandements then will I visit their transgression with the rodde and their iniquity with stripes Psal 89.30.31.32 Now what is this but to correct them for their sins And I pray you did not Josephs bretheren when they suspected that they were brought into great hazard and danger of their lives in the land of Egypt acknowledge that this was Gods punishment or correction on them for their sins for thus they spake one to another We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he sought us and we would not heare therefore they mean for their sin in oppressing and betraying their Brother is the distress come upon us Gen. 42.21 When Job also saith Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth what meaneth he but that God laid his hand heavy upon him and chastized him for the sins of his youth 2. Besides these and many other testimonies that might be produced I reason thus If the sins of Gods children be the cause of their corrections then they are corrected for their sins for what is it to correct one for his sins or for his faults but to correct him because of such faults and offences as are committed by him Now the holy Scripture testifieth that Gods children are corrected because of their sins which they have committed and not onely to keep them from sin pro futuro for the time to come therefore it cannot justly be denyed that God correcteth them for their sins That their sins are the cause of Gods corrections these places of holy Scripture do evidence first the Lord speaketh
to David by his Prophet Nathan and saith The Sword shall never depart from thine House because thou hast despised me and hast taken the Wife of Vriah See also Luk. 1.20 the Hittite to be thy Wife 2 Sam. 12 10. And afterwards he saith Because by this deed by the murther of Uriah thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die Vers 14. That the death of Davids child was a correction to him it cannot be denyed Now the cause of this correction is here said to be his evil deed or his sin which he had committed it followeth necessarily therefore that God correcteth him for his sins his sins past and not from sin onely that he might live righteously for the time to come for the end of Davids corrections was not onely his own humiliation and reformation and the restraining of others from the like sins through the terror of Gods judgements inflicted on him but the vindication of Gods glory in the execution of justice and the manifestation of his hatred against those sins of David whereby he had made the enemies of God to blaspheme his holy name These corrections of David as also the corrections of all Gods children sunt actus justitiae Divinae cum misericordia temperatae are acts of Gods justice tempered with mercy for God seeing he will not spare no not his dearest children such as David was but sharply chastizeth them hereby he openly declareth that he is a just God that will not wink at sin in any though otherwise this his justice is tempered with singular mercy towards the Elect because their afflictions are through Gods grace and goodness sanctified unto them and do turn to the furtherance of their salvation That one end of Gods correcting of his children is the manifestation of his justice and hatred against sin David himself acknowledgeth in his own particular when he saith Psal 51 4. Against thee thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified that is acknowledged to be just when thou speakest against me and reprovest me and be clear that is appear pure and clear from all fault when thou judgest me by thy punishment and corrections David also when Gods hand did lie heavy upon him by sore sickness did acknowledge that his sin was the cause of all this for thus doth he complain unto God Psal 38.7 3. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither any rest in my bones because of my sin But I shall not need to alledge any more testimonies to prove that David was corrected for his sins For those whose opinion I do now oppugne do grant that God did chastize David for his sins but they say that David in these his sufferings was a type of Christ They hold therefore Object that that which is testified concerning the cause of his sufferings is not to be applyed to all Gods Children generally as if they also when they are afflicted should be said to be corrected by their heavenly Father for their sins But this that they say is no solid answer but a meere evasion For first Though David were a type of Christ in his sufferings Answ as he was unjustly persecuted by Saul falsly slandered by Doeg and Sauls Courtiers and perfidiously and trayterously dealt withall by Achitophel and others whereof he complaineth in divers of his Psalms which the Evangelists do alledge as fulfilled in Christ Yet it is not enough barely to say but it would be as solidly proved that he was also a type of Christ in all those evils wherewith God visited him for his sins in numbering the people and for the wrongs which he did to Uriah What shall we say that whereas Davids Wives were defiled before all Israel and in the sight of the Sun that this befel him onely as he was a Type of Christ and not rather as a correction for his sin in defiling Vriahs Wife To hold therefore as these men do that David suffered onely propter rationem typicam that is that he might typifie Christs sufferings seemeth strange unto me for seeing he was one of Gods Children no doubt the Lord disciplined him as he doth the rest of his Children For what Sonne is he whom the Father chasteneth not saith the Apostle Heb. 12. David therefore was chastized for his sins not onely as he was a type of Christ as these men will have it but as the rest of Gods Children are for his humiliation and future reformation and repentance as also that God by scourging him might manifest and make known his hatred of those sins which he had run into and warn others to beware of them as I have before shewed But if I shall grant that all Davids afflictions befel him as he was a type of Christ what will these men say to the sufferings of Asa the King of Juda 2 Chron. 16 7 8 9. and of Miriam the Sister of Moses and Aaron for both these were chastened of God for their sins Asa because he trusted not in the Lord but relyed on the King of Syria for help against his enemies and Miriam because she murmured against Moses Will they say that both these were in this a type of Christ Indeed I do willingly grant that Asa was a type of Christ as he was the anointed King of Judah But that otherwise as he suffered for want of confidence in God and Miriam a woman in suffering for her murmuring should be a type of Christ seemeth as yet somewhat strange unto me until I shall by these men be better instructed And although I do grant that Moses was a type of Christ as he did in some sort perform the Office of a Mediator between God and the people yet I think it cannot be said that whereas he was excluded out of Canaan for his sin that he committed at the waters of Meribah that he was in this a type of Christ saving us by his sufferings but rather shadowed out the Law which bringeth none to Heaven In which regard Joshua that brought the Israelites into Canaan and not Moses who for his sin dyed in the Wilderness was a type of Christ But whatsoever is to be said of Miriam Asa Aaron and Moses I know they will not affirm that the Corinthians that came irreverently unto the Lords Supper without due examination and preparation of themselves were any type of Christ Notwithstanding St. Paul telleth us That for this cause many of them were weak and sickly and many of them did sleep that is the sleep of death It cannot be denyed therefore that these were scourged corrected for their sins This is so evident that they are inforced to grant it but they think to put it off thus Object They say that there were many hypocrites and wicked men in the Church of Corinth that did give their names unto Christ and made an open