essentially one and the same act and both proper Efficients of the effect If one strike with a rod he strikes and the rod strikes though less principally yet both truly If a man promise he gives right and the promise gives right properly 3. Christ's Death and Merits justifie as a Satisfaction to God's Justice that he might pardon with safety to his honour and government 4. The faith of Christ or true Christianity as the condition Now a condition is a causa sine quâ non and it is agreed that a causa sine quâ non is no cause but only so necessarily called for want of a better word just as we are forced to speak always of non-entities as if they were entities whenever we speak of them as Tenebrae sunt Nihil fuit So I was wittingly forced sometimes before to use the word of Faith's influence into right And it is almost impossible to speak otherwise but any intelligent man may see though the performance of the Gospel-condition seemeth at the first view to have something like influence into right like causality yet it hath not but that influence which it seemeth to have is to be ascribed in propriety only to God and the Promise When a Felon reads it was not his reading that pardoned him but the Legislators by the Law upon his reading So that they err that use to tell us that Faith is a cause of Justification and not other graces for it is no cause it doth not in propriety justifie and pardon our sins at all If Faith did merit then it would be a moral efficient of our right Methinks none should say Faith is an Instrument of Justification for then it would be a true proper saying in the strictest sense Faith pardoneth our sins Faith acquitteth us You have seen upon what honourable terms God hath dispensed with his Law in not executing it however not fully executing it upon offenders 1. He doth execute some of it in this life upon his pardoned ones pardoned as to the great matters for Christ did not bargain that the curse should in every part be taken off immediately upon their believing No God makes sin evil and bitter to them in this life many ways and they must dye and their bodies rot in the grave for a time God told Moses he had pardoned the Israelites that is so as not to cut them off from being a people but as truly as I live all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord their carkasses shall fall in the wilderness And I doubt not but this tends to the honour of God's Justice to leave some drops of this curse upon us in this life and we ought to take notice of his righteousness as well as mercy in afflicting us Some will object But the Sufferings of Believers are not satisfactory Ans I know they are not in the strict sense of the word for that signifieth compensation enough for the fault or in the sense the Papists use the word For little Sufferings buying off other Sufferings yea the great or eternal suffering And some object They are not vindictive and when they explain the word they mean they are not eternal or totally destructive which is true indeed But if any by the words Satisfactory or Vindictive mean that they are not inflicted by the Rector by virtue of the Law for a fault in token of his displeasure and for the honour of his Justice and warning of others I must deny it and say So far as they are for sin they are satisfactory and vindictive in this sense and can plainly prove it 2. That which God hath and will take off as indeed all will be clear taken off at the great full executive Redemption the Resurrection of the body Christ hath paid deer for it 3. Though Christ hath paid this great Price yet we shall have this benefit by it only upon such terms of honour to God as acknowledging in deep sense of our unworthiness God's righteousness if he had condemned us and turning from sin accepting the Redeemer Methinks we should be so far from quarrelling at that we should see high reason for and admire the wisdom of God in this whole Transaction and while we see some of his ways are rational conclude all are so and our ignorance is the cause they appear no more amiable to us Here is no shadow of injustice in the Universal Magistrate of the World neither to Christ nor to Christians nor to the Commonwealth of the World nor to his old Law that was not executed 1. No wrong done to Christ for he underwent it willingly Et violenti non fit injuria No wrong can be done to a mind willing of the damage 2. Not to Christians The highest praises are due to God from them and given by them for this very transaction 3. Not to the World It was to reform it and lay a new foundation of Religion in it 4. Not to his Law For the repute of that hath been as well secured and kept as inviolable by the revelation of this to be adored Justice of God as if it had been executed upon all offenders to all Eternity I will answer but one Objection more before I come to apply all Some will expect to hear how this whole Doctrine is consistent with Election and Special Grace If you ask men of different perswasions concerning general and special Grace How it comes to pass that any of the degenerate sons of Adam are saved They will answer Only by Grace and Mercy through Christ If you ask them further How comes it about that some are saved and some perish notwithstanding this Grace They will further answer Because some believe perform the Gospel-condition others not If you demand How comes this that some perform the Gospel-condition and not others They will still concent in answering Some will and some will not some chuse mercy on the terms of it and others chuse rather to perish than to accept Christ and Mercy on the Gospel-terms Thus far they agree commonly so that it doth not properly concern me to speak in this Discourse of the things wherein they differ both granting all that I affirm But if you enquire further of them How comes it to pass that some are thus willing and others not Here they disagree Some will say this of man's willingness it is to be ascribed to man himself or give such answer that it inevitably follows from it and that God doth no more in this case for one than for another helps one as much as another and then consequently it follows that a man converted is not a jo◠more beholden to God than one not converted God doing no more for him than the other And some doctrinally hold That God giveth men only free-will and the Gospel or objective Evidence and will go no further with any I cannot understand how such can pray for Grace or for God's giving them to improve the Gospel and his
meant of those that are actually Believers or fore-seen and looked on as such by him for he saith they shall come unto me shall believe on me and this belief and coming is named as the effect of God's giving men to Christ and so the giving is antecedent to the coming in all consideration So Ver. 44. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Ver. 45. It is written They shall all be taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father commeth unto me Ver. 65. No man can come unto me except it be given him of my Father This he said knowing that there were some that believed not Such is the wilful wickedness of the world that all would reject Christ yea and they cannot do otherwise in some sense though they can in another sense which senses I could make plain to you but it would take up too much time and be too large a digression so that the working the Condition the first Grace the first difference is to be ascribed to Election 4. Though the common saying is That Christ's death merited no Volitions no Decrees and so his fore-seen death merited not that God should will such and such things and the most build much upon Aquinas his saying Deus vult hoc propter hoc sed non propter hoc vult hoc meaning there are reasons and motives causes of the things willed but not of the willing of those things yet I look upon this saying as meer words and void of truth and we ought to have other conceptions or else we shall have conceptions unworthy of God Yet many go in such a method in speaking of God's Decrees that they make this such a main Pillar of their Fabrick that for one to hold that God's love or pity or man's misery was any motive to God to send his Son to dye which God forbid any should deny would destroy their whole method for it is impossible that any thing should be or be considered as ratio rei volitae a reason of the thing willed but it must be and must be considered as ratio actus voluntatis as the reason of the willing For a reason or motive is essentially a motive to the will of the principal Agent for what can it possibly be conceived to move but the Will Can it be a Motive and move nothing or can it be actually a prevailing-reason and not prevail with the Will What ever God doth in time for the Merits of Christ he decreed and willed from eternity to do it in time for the Merits of Christ for whatsoever God doth now in time for any end whatsoever or upon any motive whatsoever he decreed and willed for that end and upon that motive from eternity to do it If God in time created rain to make the earth fruitful then the reason why he decreed and willed to cause rain was that the earth might be fruitful And for us to conceive otherwise of God would be for us to conceive him to act irrationally as willing things for no end and would put a stop to all admiration of the wisdom of God seen in his Providence and therefore such a conception of him would be offensive to him for we ought to conceive of him in the most honourable way we are able and that is the most pleasing to Him who is above our best conceptions If he condemn men in time for their refusal of Christ then he decreed to condemn them because he foresaw that they would refuse Christ If he save none justifie none in time but for their believing then he willed and decreed from eternity to save none with any decree or violence that we are to conceive of as distinct from his Will or Decree to work the Condition in men that they might be justified and saved but those he foresaw should believe And it seems plain that as he absolutely and without condition justifieth and saveth none so neither did he absolutely and without condition decree to justifie and save any But God foreseeing what an order and concatenation of things he would make and was bound in Honour to make notwithstanding Christ's death As in time without Condition though not without means He worketh Faith and Repentance worketh the Condition in the Elect that they may be justified and saved by Christ So he willed and decreed absolutely and without condition to work the condition the first Grace that they might be justified and saved by Christ 5. Though Christ's death as a satisfaction expiation was the cause of no more to us than this That if we repent and believe we shall be justified and saved Satisfaction and Propitiation being only for sin yet considering this suffering of Christ as a highly pleasing meritorious act as a worthy voluntary undertaking for the Honor of God we may say Christ did merit that God should give this Faith work this Condition and keep it in the Elect for all would notwithstanding this and the easie reasonable terms made of their interest in it through their own wilful wickedness have perished and he deserved that his blood should not thus far be lost as water spilt on the ground but that he should have some fruit of the travel of his soul in seeing a Seed actually to honour venerate and adore their Redeemer Though I must say for the honour of our Redeemer in this great affair He will have some reward in those that perish in that he did a wonderful kindness for them it being only through their own chosen refusal that they had no benefit by it His Goodness and Grace is not therefore no Grace because men reject it And to do a good and gracious act is a reward and satisfaction in it self And you may as well maintain That except God be ignorant and know not that men will reject his mercy he cannot be righteous and just in punishing them for it which is contrary to the knowledg of the whole world as to say Except God be ignorant and know not that they will through their wicked wilfulness refuse his Mercy his Grace and Mercy is no Grace and Mercy If one of you take a long tedious and hazzardous journey to disswade your friend from something you hear he designs to do which you know will undo him though he wilfully persist and will not be perswaded by you and so is undone by it yet he is bound to thank you all his life after and your kindness ceaseth not to be kindness and you have this satisfaction and reward You did a kind act though he reap no benefit And suppose you might have prevailed with him if you had there stayed longer with him and taken more pains yet your kindness ceaseth not to be a kindness because you did no greater kindness since that which you did would have been enough had it not been for his wilful obstinacy And his after-ruing of his own folly bears a loud testimony to
uncharitable as to deny this of those Ancients Ecclesiastical History tells us of But however let it be granted that this cannot be as it is indeed certain it cannot be in ordinary cases for it would be ordinarily a wilful knowing refusal to submit to Christ's rule and dominion which indeed is perfectly inconsistent with performing the Gospel-condition yet this doth not oppose this hypothesis for it speaketh only on supposition If a man were a truly believing and sincerely obedient one who should thus refuse to comply with these beneficial commands he would be justified and saved And by the way you may observe that which may be very helpful to you for the understanding these and many other things viz. this the difference between that which is necessary as a condition of a promise and that which is not a condition but is necessary upon some other account you may say of any performance that is not a condition of a promise That if he perform it not he will yet have right so he do but perform the condition though he cannot perform the condition without performing this thing And consequently if any should deny sincere obedience to be a condition of justification he must say or he ignorantly contradicts himself That if a man should believe though he did resolve never to obey he must be justified and saved though it should be granted he cannot believe without obeying The Apostle here hath proved That Circumcision is so far from being meritorious as the Jews held that it was not so much as a condition necessary to justification And though it might be objected here by the Jews But why are not the believing-Gentiles then circumcised upon those other accounts Yet here is enough said for the present scope in proving justification may be had without it and this is answered by the Apostle in other places and also they might easily answer themselves knowing there was another seal instituted instead of it viz. Baptism called the circumcision of Christ Col. 2. 11. I am sensible that I have let my Pen run out of my designed short method thinking these words needful to be understood to rectifie many vulgar mistakes and to give light to these and other controversies If any dislike what is here spoken or do not understand me or think I contradict my self they may pass this over as being something alien and only read this following which is enough to my main design What pretence have any from this place to maintain That repentance or obedience are not necessary to justification or right to Heaven or that they are not included in the word Faith May we not say of Circumcision that it was as Baptism is a seal of remission of sins upon repentance and faith was it not a seal of this promise He that repenteth believeth and obeyeth walketh in the steps that Abraham walked in shall be saved Yet that you mistake not some words I have here used take notice That when I use these words such a kind of faith as Abraham ' s an operative faith I grant I speak vulgarly customarily and improperly and not naturally and strictly using the word Faith for that which is properly so called for I know that it is not of the essence of faith to be operative or not operative the effect is no part of the cause nor doth ingredi definitionem it is not the division generis in species suas but subjecti per adjuncta or causae per effectus So when we speak of operative knowledg we mean by it something more than knowledg yea something that is not knowledg but that knowledg produceth For all that is strictly and properly knowledg that is understood in this phrase operative knowledg may be in a wicked man If you shall object But not so clear a knowledg or faith Let that be as it will true or false the degree doth not alter the species So that if I would have spoken strictly and properly I should have said He that believeth and obeyeth with that kind of faith and obedience that Abraham did shall be justified This I could make plain but it is not my business here to prove but my design is only to answer thinking I have proved sufficiently already But to proceed with the words That he might be the father of all them that believe though * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non obstante praeputio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 huic simile 1 Pet. 3. 20. Octo animae servatae sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per medias aquas vel non obstantibus sorsan illud 1 Tim. 2. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 servabitur non obstante puerperio nec absimile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3. 25. not circumcised that righteousness might be imputed to them also That he might be the Father c. These words seem to have reference to the words before the exegetical parenthesis viz. these and he received the sign of circumcision The meaning is his faith and then or and afterward he received the honour from God to have this sign first given to him to use himself for his comfort and to transmit to others viz. his posterity and those that should concorporate with them to seal this that whosoever should do as he did should be justified that he might be the father that is an eminent example or prime pattern of the justification of others for in this the Apostle seemeth in this place to lay the stress of his Fatherhood in his being a copy of the justification of others as appears by these words following viz. That righteousness might be imputed to them also whether circumcised or not If we shall go further and say There may be included this also That God's testification of his being justified on his believing and his having this honour to have this Ordinance first given to him to seal that whosoever walked in his steps should be justified and the great exemplariness of his faith that all these together are as a moral Cause objectively influential to make him a foecund causative exemplar to bege◠many children of his faith to cause them to walk in his steps that they may be justified as he was This is a truth but either is no part of his meaning or if it be also connoteth in the phrase as it is likely it is it seemeth not to be insisted on here by the Apostle as his chief meaning of his being a father but this only or chiefly his being a prime first pattern of the justification both of the Gentile and Jewish believers I think I could shew you great inconsistencies and inconveniencies in any other explication of this verse setting the present controversie aside And because I use to think I cannot speak very intelligibly in such things without an instance I will here give you one Suppose a great King should give to an offender that hath pleased him by some exploits a Livery to be worn by him and his Family in
Christ never agreed for the salvation of final impenitent Unbelievers never satisfied for that though he did for impenitency and unbelief and rejection of Christ for a time provided they came in at last He obtained of God not to take every denial every rejection for an utter loss of all for then we had all perished but obtained that God would wait and be long-suffering to sinners and accept them to righteousness and life provided they come in before death They that have a mind to it notwithstanding Christ's bearing their sins may bear them themselves and many will do so even they that knowing the terms of Justification and Salvation by Christ do chuse rather his eternal wrath and displeasure than to accept him on the condition of his love and favour They agreed that they and they only shall have benefit by this Propitiatory death of Christ that shall in this life perform the conditions whereon it is offered and if they finally refuse it on these terms they shall have no benefit by it but the wrath of God shall abide on them yea and they shall perish with heavier perdition with soâ—â—r punishment because of their treading under foot the blood of the Covenant slighting of it as not worthy their acceptance upon the terms of it Which is this new Covenant this second Covenant made in the blood of Christ So that I may say Though immediately and antecedently to the consideration of fixing the terms and making this second Covenant Christ dyed as I told you before that God might be just though he should pardon sinners yet he dyed eventually and the new Covenant being considered that God might be just and the justifier of him that is of the faith of Jesus He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believed c. And for this cause he is the Mediator of the new Covenant that by means of death for the redemption of Transgressions they which are called that is Heb. 9. 15 effectually called converted might receive the promise of the eternal Inheritance Now it is necessary for your instruction herein that I make out to you these three things 1. What Justification is 2. What the Covenant 3. What the Condition First What Justification and to justifie â—s If you know what Condemnation is you may by it know what Justification is for contraries are mutually known by one another Now Condemnation is contrary to Justification Who shall lay any thing to Rom. 8. 33 the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth If there be a controversie between men Deu. 25. 1 and they come unto judgment that the Judges may judg them then they shall justifie the righteous and condemn the wicked Now there is a two fold Condemnation viz. by the Law and according to the Law that is by the Law and by the sentence of the Judg. A man that transgresseth a Law is immediately condemned by the Law Adam in the very moment he transgressed the Law was condemned in Law that is made guilty the death threatned was made due to him And again when an offender is proceeded against according to the Law and by the sentence of the Judg sentenced according to the Law then he is Sententially condemned First the Law condemns him and then the Judg according to the Law So there is a Justification in Law and a Justification by the Sentence of the Judg. And these two senses of the word can only challenge any kind of propriety one is called Sentential Justification by the sentence of the Judg pronouncing him righteous and one that ought to be acquitted according to the Law The other is called * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constitutive Rom. 5. 19 Justification or Justification in Law which is of one that hath right to be acquitted when accused When the Scripture speaketh of Justification by Christ by faith or to life it constantly useth it in one of these senses He that is a believer that hath performed the Gospel-condition is justified immediately ipso jure in Law-title by the Law of Grace he is constitutively justified by that Covenant or Gospel-grant He that believeth shall be saved hath right to not-perishing and a right to eternal life by this promise though he is not sententially justified till the day of Judgment The Lord grant he may find mercy at that day saith the Apostle By the Law of Grace or Promise immediately the sinner upon his believing hath right to impunity as to Hell and right to the Inheritance by Promise and at the last day shall be adjudged to it to the immediate possession of all those Immunities which were given by the Law of Grace or Promise Not the hearers but the doer of the Law shall be justified In the Gal. 5. 5. day when God shall judg the secrets of all men according to my Gospel We through the spirit do wait for the hope of righteousness by faith that is for justification by faith at the last day But this Sentential justification is to come Therefore whensoever the Scripture speaketh of justification in this life as for the most part it doth being justified by faith we have peace with God But you are sanctified you are justified it is to be understood of justification in Law-title and in this sense it is to be understood here We may say of a man whose case is good according to the Law that ought to be acquitted when it cometh to trial The Law justifieth him the Law acquits him he is justified already in Law and so are believers in this life There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit The justification here spoken of is expressed by another word in the Text viz. Remission of sins And the Scripture constantly useth Justification in the Gospel-way and pardon or remission of sins as equipollent terms and the Apostle proveth there is no justification now by works but by pardon of sins Rom. 4. 7 8. citing it out of the Psalms Blessed are they whose iniquities are pardoned and whose siâ—â— are covered Blessed is the man to whâ—â— the Lord doth not impute iniquity Observe the place and you will see he useth imputing righteousness without works and not imputing iniquity as the very same Again in the Text justified freely by his grace through the 〈…〉 pt 〈…〉 â—hat is in Christ is thâ—s 〈…〉 Scriptures Redemption through his Eph. 1. 7. blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace And redemption through his blood even Col. 1. 14. the remission of sins Be it known unto Acts 13. 38 39. you therefore brethren that through this Man is preached unto you the remission of sins and by him all that believe are justified from those things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses The blood of the Matt. 26.
the Law for us in this sense so as it is to be imputed to us as if we had fulfilled the Law our selves then we should be freed altogether from any obligation from the Law to obedience just as we are freed from the condemnation of the Law because Christ underwent it as a Satisfaction for us we should not then sin in not-obeying the Law and we could not be pardoned by Christ for our sins in not obeying the Law for they are no sins according to this Hypothesis If there be a Law That if a servant hired for a year shall refuse to serve his year's service if his Master require he shall lye in the prison a year Suppose one hired did not serve a year but another served a year good and faithful service for him Must this hired man also serve a year for himself or he is to blame and Must this man accepted to serve a year for him also lye in prison for him What if I did not serve a year yet another served for me and better service than I can perform What need is there may he say that I should serve it my self Do I think I can mend his work do it better my self than I have done it in him I am almost ashamed to lay open the weakness of them that hold these things after such multitudes of learned Protestants have shown their absurdity How much clearer is the Scripture way of God for Christ's sake justifying and pardoning us for Christ's Satisfaction Propitiation than to talk of our fulfilling the Law yea or which is not so ill our satisfying in Him suffering in Him or redeeming our selves in Him or God accounting us to have satisfied in Him These are Phrases the Scripture is a stranger unto though if they will say as some They mean no more by such speeches but that God for Christ's Satisfaction gives us all these Gospel-mercies I shall only say They might speak plainer And our satisfying in Him is true in a figurative sense though not in a proper sense and so God's accounting us to have satisfied in Him yet in no possible sense is our fulfilling the preceptive part of the Law in Him true for this would make Christ's satisfaction needless Now since I have defined Justification by pardon of sin it is necessary that I tell you what Pardon is Pardon is a dissolution or discharge from the obligation to punishment It is none of these four things that only pretend to come in competition 1. Pardon of sin is not A making sin cease to be for that is to be ascribed to Sanctification which is a real change in opposition to relative 2. It is not making that it should be said that the sin was never committed this is impossible 3. It is not making sin that it do not in its own nature deserve damnation 4. It is not the executive taking off the penalty for this is a consequent of pardon by virtue of justice and faithfulness Yet sometimes it is used in this improper sense in Scripture But it is A dissolution of the obligation to punishment the dueness of the penalty is taken away immediately by pardon and so remotely and ultimately the penalty God being just and faithful will not inflict what is not due what he hath made not due by his Law of Grace So that Justification actively taken for God's act is an act of God whereby he pardoneth our sins or dissolveth the obligation to punishment And then Justification when taken passively for the effect of Justification is A dissolution of or discharge from the obligation to Hell and Punishment or a right to Salvation or a right to be free from Condemnation which is nothing else but a right to salvation It doth not in this Discourse concern me to speak of the further degrees of Happiness superadded for Justification of it self comprehendeth no more than right to what would have been due to us if we had been righteous without pardon had never transgressed the Law for Justification is from some thing as well as to some thing Yet this on the by Greater things than we fell from do come to man by the same Law of Grace by the same blood of Christ and upon the performance of the same condition that Justification or pardon of sin doth As for the meritorious cause of this Justification I have spoken very largely of it already for whose sake merit Cujus intuitu I told you that he justifies us through the redemption that is in Christ and I dare not ever and anon return to speak of it here lest I should confound your understandings I shall after this speak of God's working Faith in us that we might be justified and Christ's meriting of it Therefore do not in your too forward thoughts over-run me as if I denied any thing I come not yet to speak of Now I will tell you what this act of God is how God dischargeth the sinner and dissolveth this obligation to Punishment and so giveth right to salvation which we lost by our sins It is by some new Law or Constitution by some Covenant or Promise founded in Christ's Satisfaction It is some judicial juridical act and therefore by some Law-act I thus prove it 1. It is impossible that a man that is a sinner should have right to be freed from condemnation but it must be by some Law of Grace some legal discharge Such a jus or right cannot possibly pass but by some Law-act If a Rector should refuse to inflict the penalty on a man guilty or condemned this is not Pardon or Justification You may call it Suspension Impunity but the offender hath no right to the Impunity the obligation to punishment is not dissolved by it Yea suppose God should have resolved within himself never to inflict the penalty yet he might inflict it when he would without injustice though I confess not without mutability the offender hath no right to impunity by such an intention no jus the obligation is not dissolved till some lex remedians some remedying Law some Rectoral Law of Oblivion some Act of Pardon and Oblivion else it is only forbearance but no acquittance no discharge no pardon no justification 2. God will be true to his own Laws and will not leave a man unpunished to whom punishment is due by his own Constitutions all things considered but his judgment and execution will be according to Truth and Law He that condemneth Prov. 17. 15. the righteous and justifieth the wicked they both are an abomination to the Lord. He will sentence men according to his own Laws and he will not justifie or condemn pro libitu but according to his own declared Laws He will not sententially hereafter justifie nor will he account justified here any sinner but whom the new Law of Grace the Gospel founded in the blood of Christ justifieth which only justifieth Believers 3. Condemnation is by some Law therefore Justification must be by some Law for
Providences while they mean only Give us Free-will which I grant in some sense they have though I utterly dislike the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that some plead for and the Gospel and objective evidence which they have already and hold that God will do no more for any whereas God only disowns respecting of persons in Rectoral and Judicial Acts as punishing and rewarding as will appear upon view of those places but no where the doing that for the working the Condition in some which he doth not for others but owns the contrary I dread to affirm That a man in this sense makes himself to differ though man's sin and unwillingness and so destruction is plainly of himself yet not his willingness And though I may well excuse my self from intermedling in these Controversies yet I will in short give you an account of my thoughts concerning them Though I doubt some will say which I cannot much contradict that I had better have said nothing of this nature than speak so little All that I shall say of this Difficulty shall be in answer to this following Objection Object Is not the Condition it self of Justification and Salvation and the working the Condition it self the fruit and effect of Christ's Death Ans I shall endeavour to shew you how it is and how it is not in these Propositions 1. The death of Christ foreseen undertaken or undergone as a Propitiation Expiation Satisfaction was only for sin and so for pardon of sin that God might with safety to his Justice not execute the penalty but might shew kindness and favour to offenders notwithstanding the Threat and therefore as a Satisfaction with this kind of causality causeth no more and then it being agreed between the Father and Son that only Believers in the Scripture-sense should have the benefit of it for salvation We can only say setting aside the comfortable reprieval and the objective evidence and whatever other common helps and assistances of the Spirit there are which were necessary in order to trial He gave his Son and Christ himself that whosoever repented believed on him should not perish but have eternal life 2. This death and satisfaction and the benefit of them offered to sinners on these terms are as a moral cause in their own nature influential to work the Condition Faith and Repentance The death of Christ this promise being made with it is an object aptum natum a thing objectively naturally influential to work this effect and so being the cause of this cause of Faith it is the cause of the thing caused for there would have been no foundation of Religion and turning to God but for God's being made so far pacified as to accept sinners on these terms and make it known to men But this is nothing singular but common to all that enjoy the Gospel and it means no more but this It would have this effect if men did their duty and improved it a right 3. The working the Condition the making the Gospel actually efficacious for the working the Condition is to be ascribed to God's Decree and his execution thereof as most properly its effect and useth therefore to be ascribed to the Father rather than the Son Take this account of it A foundation being laid or foreseen as laid in the blood of Christ that God might with safety to his Honour and Justice return into favour with sinners and that he could as Rector and so would pardon repenting returning sinners and that this was all he could do as Rector with Honour and Justice he could descend no lower than to make this Law of Grace this act of Oblivion He that repenteth believeth returneth shall be saved and he must be true to his own Laws it would not stand with his Honour to pardon any but upon these terms Now these things and this Law being foreseen and also fore-seeing that all men would yet perish by refusing Christ rejecting Mercy through the wilful chosen wickedness of their own hearts notwithstanding the death of Christ for them and the objective evidence of the Gospel He doth this other act I am now speaking of as Dominus Lord Proprietary For as saving and justifying them that believe is actus justitiae the Law being considered The 17th Article of our 39 Articles of Religion can mean no less than what is here affirmed a Rectoral act so as Lord Proprietary he decreed resolved from eternity to and doth in time make and cause such particular men by setting home Truths in evidence and softning their hearts by his spirit in a way to us possibly much unknown and not fit to be insisted on here to believe repent return or accept Christ on his own terms whom otherwise he fore-saw would reject Christ even as others I look upon this Election which is ascribed to the Father as the foundation of the first difference of one differing from another For as being regenerate converted maketh a difference maketh men actually choice men executively elect men differing men the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour So this Decree to give such men grace to convert them is the foundation of this first difference as having the condition of the Promise maketh the first difference so the Decree to work it is the first foundation of it This is that the Apostle speaketh of as a depth to be admired that God should condemn men or decree to condemn men for their sin that reject Christ and Grace this he doth not wonder at he could and we can give sufficient reason for that neither doth he wonder that God should save or decree to save by Christ those that repent and believe and not others there is a congruity in the thing a Satisfaction being that he may do it with Honour But that when all would have rejected Christ and Mercy that he should harden some that is leave them to the hardness of their own hearts and soften others make some repent believe that would have refused grace this was his wonder and the thing unaccountable to the Apostle and so ir is to us Thâ—se are said to be drawn by the Father and given to Christ by the Father and this of drawing men to Christ making them to accept Christ is ascribed you see rather to the Father than the Son All that the Father giveth me shall come Joh. 6. 37. unto me and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast off and I will raise him up at the last day He seemeth to refer to that giving mentioned Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance that is I will make that Christ shall be their Lord actually like that Isa 55. and they subject to his Laws actually I will bring them to the obedience of Faith which God doth in giving Faith and Repentance in giving the first Grace in working in them the condition of the Covenant which is the fruit of Election for this giving cannot be