time I deny this consequence for from hence it followeth only that Faith goeth before our justification in order of nature or in reason but not in time because a man is justified at the same instant that he layeth hold on Christ believeth in him But he denieth that Faith goeth before our justification in any respect at all his reason is because Faith is a part of our sanctification but there is no sanctification but it is after justification which indeed and in nature is before it The first of these Propositions I do willingly grant that Faith is a part of sanctification but whereas he assumeth that there is nosanctification but it is after justification I cannot assent unto him in this For many worthy Divines do hold that sanctification is before justification their judgment therefore I might oppose unto the learned Chamiers others that hold the contrary For the clearing of this matter I do distinguish of sanctification and say that it is either habitual and so God doth sanctifie us by infusing holinesse into us or actual and so we do sanctifie our selves by renouncing the works of sin and living holily Of both these Moses speaketh when he saith Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God and ye shall keep my Statutes and do them Lev. 20.7.8 for I am the Lord which sanctifie you When the Lord saith here Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy this must be understood of actual sanctification that is of holiness that is to be actually performed by us But whereas the Lord useth this as a reason to stir us up hereunto for I am the Lord which sanctifie you this is spoken of habitual sanctification For how doth the Lord sanctifie us but by infusing the habit or the internal grace of holinesse into us whereby we are inabled to perform the several acts of holinesse or to live holily the effectual excitation of Gods blessed Spirit herewith concurring But because these words of the Lord which I have alledged though they speak of a twofold sanctification are taken in another sense by very learned Divines than this that I have given for confirmation therefore of habitual sanctification I do alledge those words of St. Paul 1 Thess 5.23 where he prayeth that God would sanctify them wholly or throughly And those 1 Cor. 1.30 where he saith That Christ is made unto us sanctification See also 1 Pet. 1.2 Now of actual sanctification St. Paul speaketh when he saith This is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God Hereof also speaketh St. Peter in that precept of his Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts In these and in other places the Scripture speaketh of Sanctification both habitual wrought in us by God himself and of sanctification acted and wrought by us through the assistance of Gods Spirit exciting us unto holinesse Whereas then this most learned Divine saith That there is no sanctification but it is after justification this is true if it be understood of actual sanctication For we are first justified by Faith and then this Faith inflameth our hearts with the love of God and stirreth us up to glorifie him and to serve him in holiness and righteousness according to all his commandements Thus the several works of holiness and righteousness do proceed from Faith Etiamsi non elicitivè imperativè tamen though not elicitly yet imperatively Faith stirreth us up unto them For as St. Paul saith The end of the commandement is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience 1 Tim. 1.5 and Faith unfeigned It is true therefore that Faith and therefore justification which is thereby laid hold of and obtained is before actual sanctification For as this learned man saith well fides vera est fons et scaturigo omnium bonorum operum in fidelibus De sola fide justificante Lib. 22. cap. 12. True Faith is the fountain and source of all good works in the faithful But I cannot say that there is no sanctification but it is after justification for habitual Faith is a part of habitual anctification Now the infused habits of grace such as Faith is are before their acts If therefore it can be proved that adulti or such as are of capacity and understanding are not justified without or before actual Faith then it will inevitably follow that there is some sanctification that is not after justification Yea beside what hath been said already to prove that we are actually justified by Faith and not without it methinketh Chamierus himself doth as good as grant it when he saith Verum est proptereà nos factos in Christo justitiam Dei quòd Christo nos simus incorporati per fidem It is true that we are therefore made the righteousnesse of God in Christ because we are incorporated into him by Faith We are not then justified before Faith or before we do believe in Christ Again this most excellent Divine saith In adultis fatemur remissionem peccatorum ab inhaerente justitiâ nunquam sepaerari We confess that remission of sins is never separated from inherent righteousness in those that are grown in years But say I many of the Elect after they have the use of reason and understanding being well grown in years do yet live in sin for some time and do not serve God in righteousness until he by his grace doth afterward convert them According therefore to his own Doctrine it followeth that justification from sin at least in adultis in those that are grown in years doth not go before Faith But saith he Faith justifieth relativè as it hath for its proper peculiar object the mercy of God on which it relieth Whence as I conceive he would have it inferred That seeing the mercy of God is eternal therefore our justification is so also and therefore before Faith Now hereunto I answer that though Christs righteousnesse be materialiter the proper object of our justification or that which is imputed to us for our justification Yet I will not deny bur that Gods mercy considered as the internal cause moving God to justify us may thus be said to be the proper and peculiar object on which our Faith relyeth for justification But it doth not follow hereupon that we were justified ab aeterno from everlasting because Gods mercy is the cause of our justification no more than that we are sanctified and glorified eternally because our sanctification and glorification are wholly of Gods mercy Quest 7. Whether any previous dispositions preparations or qualifications be required of men in the Gospel that they may be partakers of salvation by Christ SECT I. The Preparations that go before our Regeneration and Conversion THose that take upon them to be the only Preachers of
although Repentance goeth before that act of faith whereby a man believeth that his sins are pardoned yet it doth not follow hereupon that it goeth before all faith in general no nor yet before justifying and saving faith For if I shall speak Logically and properly there are as I conceive no lesse then foure several acts of faith but I do make choyce rather to speak popularly and therefore I will contract two of them into one The first act of faith is for a man to believe that the whole word of God is true or that I may speak more particularly to the matter in hand it is for him to believe that Jesus Christ being sent of his Father hath perfectly wrought and accomplished our salvation and that he doth offer this salvation unto all those who do repent and believe in him This act of faith doth not only go before repentance but before all other acts of faith also For if a man do not believe both that Christ hath absolutely and perfectly accomplished our redemption and salvation and that he doth also offer the salvation which he hath purchased unto all that do repent and believe in him he will have no incouragement neither will it be possible for him either to repent or believe to rest and rely on Christ for salvation This is that faith which is commonly called fides dogmatica vel historica doctrinal or historical faith because it goeth not beyond the faith of the Doctrine or of the History of the Bible Now this though it be absolutely necessary unto salvation yet it is not saving faith because it justifieth no man nor giveth to any man any interest or right unto salvation 2. The second act of faith is That a man do not despair though his sins be never so many or never so great but believe or perswade himself that God of his mercy through Christ will pardon them and so cast himself upon Christ or that he do trust upon Christ for salvation according to the promises of the Gospel This is saving faith or it is that act of faith whereby we are justified and saved as St. Paul giveth us to understand in those words of his which I have already alledged Rom. 3.23 24 25. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Behold it is faith in Christs blood that is in his death and passion whereby God becommeth propitious that is gracious and merciful unto us and consequently whereby we are justified and saved Now this act of faith is in nature before repentance though in time it go with it I will make this plain by a familiar comparison Sol est natura prior lumine ex illo orto The Sun is in nature before the light that springeth and proceedeth from it because in nature the cause is alwayes before the effect but the Sun and its light are simul tempore together in time For as soon as the Sun was created and placed by God in the Firmament at the very same instant did it illighten the World And even so in like manner faith in Christ is in nature before repentance but they go together in time For seeing there is no promise of pardon made to any one in the Gospel while he continueth in sin it followeth necessarily therefore that true justifying faith cannot be separated from repentance no more then saving repentance can be without such a true faith And this as I take it is the cause why remission of sins and salvation are in some places of holy Scripture attributed to repentance and in some other to saith to wit because faith and repentance are as it were twisted and infolded the one in the other For neither can a man repent without faith nor can he believe in Christ for the pardon of his sins unless his faith did stir up repentance in him and a setled purpose to forsake all sin For as long as a man liveth in sin he hath no promise from God to ground his faith upon The true Christian therefore in believing repenteth and in repenting believeth these are two inseparable Companions and as it were twins that are bread and born together Although then that act of faith whereby we do believe in Christ is in nature before repentance as the cause is before the effect yet there is no priority nor posteriority of time between them Faith is the first wheel in the Clock that moveth all the rest Mr. Panb Vind. Grat. for a man cannot believe in Christ for salvation according to the promises of the Gospel unless this faith of his do excite and stir him up to the practise of repentance The third and last act of faith is that whereby a man believeth that his sins are blotted out and forgiven and that he is in the state of salvation The former is called a direct act because it maketh a man to look directly upon Christ and to cast himself upon him for salvation This latter is called a reflexed act because a Christian reflecting and looking back upon himself and his own soul seeth faith and repentance wrought in him and hereupon concludeth that his sins are pardoned and that he now is the Child of God and an Heire of Heaven This he believeth because he seeth the conditions accomplished in him to which God hath promised remission of sins and salvation that is to say faith and repentance Thus whereas the former act of faith whereby a man doth truly believe in Christ maketh him partaker of the remission of sins and giveth him right and a true title to the Kingdom of Heaven this latter assureth him of this and breedeth and begetteth great peace quietness and comfort in his heart and conscience Now this last act of faith whereby a man thus believeth that his sins are pardoned and is assured of his salvation doth not go before but followeth after repentance For until a man seeth and perceiveth that he hath forsaken sin and that he doth repent he cannot confidently believe that his sins are pardoned nor can he have any firm assurance of salvation because he hath no word of promise from God whereon to ground that faith and assurance of his Object Another stumbling-block which our Novellists have cast in the way of many good Christians is this whereas St. Paul telleth us 1 Tim. 1.15 that Christ came into the World to save sinners behold say these men he came to save sinners not repentant sinners and hereupon they infer and conclude that a man before he repenteth even at that very time when he liveth in sin ought to believe that his sins are pardoned and that he is in the state of salvation But I answer Answ That they do deceive both themselves and others fallacia consequentis with a fallacious consequence For when or how doth Christ save
tamen factam nostram Hence I infer these three Conclusions 1. That a man may have right to a thing and yet no right in it 2. That as long as he hath no right in it it is none of his 3. That it becometh his by being delivered unto him Now I demand Is not Christ delivered unto us by God the Father and by himself when in the Gospel he is preached and offered unto us and we by Faith do accept of him and not before These things being thus premised I will now by Gods gracious assistance examine Master S. his 7. Arguments whereby he endeavoureth to prove that Christ is not made ours by Faith Object It is an act of Omnipotency saith he to make Christ ours God only therefore doth this and no act of ours Answer Whereunto I answer that God only doth make Christ ours as the Author of this Divine Act and that Faith doth make him ours after a far inferiour manner that is as an instrument created by God in our hearts whereby we do lay hold of Christ and receive him being offered and given unto us of God Christ then is said to be made ours by Faith in the same sense as we are said to be justified by Faith that is Organice instrumentally For as Keckerman hath observed in his Logick the Act of the Author or Principal efficient cause is many times attributed to the Instrument Thus not only our justification but also our sanctification which is Gods proper Act an Act of his Almighty power is in holy Scripture attributed to Faith sometimes to the word of God and sometimes to the Ministers who do preach the word To Faith Acts 15.9 where St. Peter saith that God did purifie the hearts of the believing Gentiles by Faith to wit both from the guilt of sin in their justification and from the tyranny and dominion of sin in their sanctification To the word 1 Pet. 1.23 We are born again not of mortal seed but of immortal by the word of God Lastly to the Ministers of the word 1 Cor. 4.15 For St. Paul saith to the Corinthians I have begotten you by the Gospel And he calleth Onesimus his for and saith Philem. 11. that he begat him in his bonds He telleth us also that God sent him to the Gentiles to turn them from darkness to light Act. 26.18 and from the power of Satan to God Now in the same sense that we are said to be purified converted and born again by Faith the word and the Ministers that preach the word Is Christ said to be made ours and we to be justified by Faith to wit instrumentally as by means which it pleased God to use in our ingrafting into Christ and in our justification which are wrought only and altogether hy his Divine power and not by any power of the means which receive all their efficacy from him and can do nothing towards a sinners conversion of themselves The result of all thit I have said is this It is an Act of Gods Almightiness to make Christ ours by his own power and authority as the Author of this work But it is no Act of Omnipotency to make Christ ours instrumentally that is to receive him by Faith when he is offered to us of God A second Objection of M. S. is this Objection If Faith should give us our interest in Christ then as our Faith increaseth our interest should increase and we should be more and more justified and forgiven which none allow It is true indeed Answer if Faith did justifie us by any inherent virtue or dignity of its own then as M.S. saith the more we grow in Faith the more we should be interested in Christ be more more justified but he wel knoweth that the Protestant Doctrine is that Faith justifieth not as it is a vertue or any act of ours sed objectivè et correlativè but in regard of Christ the object thereof whereunto it relateth Even as a Chirurgion may be said to heal a man that is wounded with his own hands not that his hands had any vertue in them to heal but because by them he searched the wound and applyed a healing plaister unto it which drew out the purulent corruption and cured him For even so are we in like manner said to be justified and saved by Faith because we do by Faith lay hold of Christ and apply his merits to our souls So that it is not so much Faith as Christ in whom we believe by whom we are justified and saved that is who hath both merited our justification and doth actually acquit and absolve us from our sins And in like manner doth Faith interest us in Christ not for the dignity and worthiness thereof but because it is Gods Ordinance and appointment that we should receive Christ and have him dwelling in our hearts by Faith Wheresoever therefore there is true Faith to be found though never so weak and faint or feeble that man is a true member of Christ perfectly justified and absolved from all his sins Those of old amongst the Israelites that were stung with the fiery Serpents were perfectly cured if they did look up to the brasen Serpent and beheld it although their sight was never so dark and dim as well as the younger sort whose sight was most perfect so a weak Faith as well as a strong doth lay hold of Christ and of justification and salvation by him For as the Israelites were healed by beholding the brazen Serpent because it was Gods Ordinance that health which was otherwise wrought miraculously only by his own Divine power should hereupon follow and ensue so the same is to be said of Faith And therefore from hence an answer may be given to that question which Mr. S. asketh in his next words where speaking of some who call these other acts of Faith that is when it is grown and encreased Faith of assurance and Acts of manifestation he faith If Faith be thus in its other degrees of working Objection Why not in its first His meaning is as I take it if Faith when it is encreased doth only assure a man of his salvation and maketh the pardon of his sins manifest unto him why doth not the first and least degree of Faith also give us only an assurance and manifestation of our salvation by Christ but otherwise not any interest in him at all Answer Whereunto I answer First that a strong Faith doth give us that assurance and evidence or manifestation of our salvation by Christ which a weak Faith cannot because it doth lay firm hold on the promises of the Gospel that are the only ground of assurance which of a weak Faith are apprehended but weakly even as an Israelite with a quick sight could by that natural vertue that was in his eye more clearly behold the brazen Serpent then he that had a dark and dim eye sight But as he that did lift up his eyes and beheld
the brazen Serpent though never so weakly was through Gods Ordnance as perfectly cured as he that saw and beheld it most clearly and most evidently so Faith in the least degree through Gods Ordinance is as effectual to interest us in Christ and to make us partakers of salvation by him as the strongest Faith that is Thus I have shewed the cause or the reason why a weak Faith can give us an interest in Christ and the salvation which he hath purchased for us although it cannot so firmly assure us hereof But whereas he holdeth That Faith when it is increased and grown stronger by an addition of more degrees than it had at the first doth only give us a greater manifestation and assurance of salvation by Christ but no interest in him I cannot assent unto him in this for the interest which we have in Christ and his merits at the first by believing in him is continued by perseverance in the same Faith and therefore John 1.12 Eph. 3.17 as we are said to receive Christ by Faith so he is said to dwell that is to remain and make his abode in our hearts by Faith Consonantly whereunto the Apostle telleth us Heb. 3.14 that We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end And on the contrary he saith Heb. 10.38 If any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Thus Faith not only in the first act or beginning of it but in the continuance also and greatest height or strength thereof doth interest us in Christ and as the Apostle saith maketh us partakers of him as well as it doth evidence unto us and assure us hereof Here therefore I would know whether it be not a manifest contradiction to say as Mr. S. doth Christ is ours without Faith but we cannot partake of him as ours but by believing Thirdly he objecteth also and saith If Christ should be ours by Faith in this sense that is actually then when Faith ceaseth shall we cease to be justified Whereunto I answer That no such thing followeth hereupon but the contrary For upon our Faith and Repentance our sins are pardoned and forgiven us not for a time but for ever Ezek. 18.22 They shall never therefore be mentioned unto us that is imputed and laid to our charge any more no not when Faith ceaseth Neither needeth this to seem strange to Mr. S. or any other that Faith which is but temporal should obtain an eternal pardon for a salve which by its own inherent vertue doth in a few days heal a wound needeth afterwards to be used no more much less will there be any need of Faith in Christ or of repentance for the continuance of the remission of our sins and of our justification in the world to come seeing by Christs Promise and by his Ordinance which hath more force in it then the most Soveraign or precious balm or salve upon our repentance and Faith in Christ we are for ever acquitted and absolved from all our sins Whereas then Mr. S. in his next words demandeth and asketh Shall Faith begin our interest here and not be able to continue it hereafter John 3.46 I answer him No it shall not For he that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life His Faith indeed shall cease with this corruptible life of his 2 Cor. 13. but he himself shall be raised up by the power of Christ and not dye any more forever John 11.26 Fourthly Mr S. proceedeth and asketh Can a sinner be too soul for a Saviour and too wounded for a Physitian to heal and too filthy for a fountain opened to wash To all which several demands of his I will answer severally First Whereas he asketh whether a sinner can be too foul for a Saviour I answer No if he will carefully and conscionably practise and observe the means of salvation which he doth prescribe him which are Repentance Faith and new Obedience For as the Apostle telleth us Christ being in his passion made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 On the contrary therefore whosoever he is that doth not obey Christ but doth wilfully contemn or carelesly neglect the means of his salvation as many do it is in vain for him to look for salvation by Christ for as St. Augustine saith elegantly De verbis Apostoli Ser. 15. Qui fecit te sine te non te justificat sine te He that made thee without thee doth not justifie thee without thee His next demand is Can a sinner be too much wounded for a Physician to heal Surely no. Not for Christ our heavenly Physician but then he must take his Physick and observe such a Dyet as he prescribeth him that is he must receive Christ and his merits by Faith and live orderly according to his Gospel that is as St. Paul setteth it down He must deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly Tit. 2.12 and righteously and godlily in this present world On the contrary therefore as long as infidelity or incredulity possesseth his heart and lyeth putrifying and rotting in his carnal lusts it is in vain for him to think or to perswade himself that he is healed by Christ Lastly Whereas he asketh Can a sinner be too filthy for a fountain opened to wash Surely no not for that fountain of which Zachary speaketh That is opened to the house of David Zac. 31 12. and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleaness But did he ever hear that a fountain though never so limpid and clear did cleanse any unlesse they did wash themselves with the water of it And even in like manner shall none be purifyed and cleansed from their spiritual filthyness and uncleanness until they do by Faith-sprinkle their souls with the bloud of Christ For as we have heard St. Peter tell us Christ purifieth the hearts of sinnâ—rs by Faith As long therefore as Faith with the inseperable effects thereof are wanting it is in vain for any to imagine that he is purified from his sins Fifthly He that offereth Christ saith M. S. offers all the conditions in him both of Faith and Repentance for Christ is exalted to give repentance unto Israel Acts 5.31 Gal. 2.21 And Faith is called The Faith of the Son of God Here first of all it is to be observed that he acknowledgeth Faith Repentance to be conditions required of us in the Gospel that we may be saved by Christ which elsewhere he denyeth Secondly he saith That God in offering Christ doth offer these conditions in him Which words of his may receive a double construction or understanding First that Repentance and Faith are not in our power but that Christ hath merited these graces for us and that he doth work them in us by his spirit when the Gospel is preached This the places of
Deo definito not from eternity but at that time which God had determined Gal. 4.4 His Passion therefore either must not be the cause of our justification or if we shall say that it is as this most learned Divine and all other for any thing that I know to the contrary do we must needs grant that we were not actually justified ab aeterno from all eternity but in time Lastly Whereas St. Paul teacheth Rom. 3.24 25. that We are justified by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood from hence also it followeth that our sins are actually pardoned and we justified from them in time and not from all eternity For it cannot be said of our Election and there is the same reason of every other immanent and eternal Act of God that we were elected through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus as a cause thereof For our Election is immediatly of Gods grace and not effected by any external means or for any external cause extra Deum without God himself no more then are opera ulla ejus ad intrà any of his internal acts or works For as much therefore as the Apostle teacheth That we are justified by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood unto me it seemeth very evident that our justification can be none of the immanent and eternal works of God that are acted altogether within himself Object I know there are those that do object against this that I have said those words of St Paul 2 Thess 2.13 where he telleth them That God had from the beginning chosen them unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth But his meaning is not That sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the truth were any causes no nor means of their Election but of their salvation as if he should have said God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation to be enjoyed and possessed of you by being sanctified by Gods Spirit and by believing in Christ as by means leading thereunto Thus the Apostle in saying he hath chosen you unto salvation that is to obtain salvation by sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth maketh these means of their salvation not of their Election Yea not only the Orthodox Protestant Divines but Popish Doctors also do thus expound these words of St. Paul amongst whom Estius commenteth thus upon them The effects of Gods Election ordained unto salvation are hereby signified as if he should say God hath chosen you or hath taken you unto salvation by means thereunto allotted to wit through sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the truth Theophylact also alledged by him thus expoundeth these words God hath from the beginning that is from eternity chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit that is saith he he hath saved us in sanctifying us by the Spirit Thus our salvation is by means but our Election is the immediate work or act of God whereof there can no cause or reason be given nisi bene placitum Divinum but Gods own gracious good pleasure This that I have thus taught is the Doctrine of the most Orthodox Divines I cannot therefore but wonder what should move the most illustrious Chamier to say quòd amari mereamur à Deo per imputationem justitiae Christi et quôd inde diligamur et destinemur vitae aeternae that we deserve to be loved of God through the imputation of Christs righteousnesse and that thereupon we are beloved and allotted or elected unto eternal life This I say seemeth unto me a most strange assertion for hence it would follow that Gods Love and his Election were not free or altogether gratuitous But God speaking unto his Church and people saith dilexi te gratis I have loved thee freely And St. Paul teacheth that God hath predestinated us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will The same Apostle also saith that the Election of Gods people is of grace Now merit and free love and grace cannot stand together Christ indeed hath merited all the saving effects of Gods Love at dilectio ipsamet Dei est gratuitae but Gods love it self is not merited but free He loveth us meerly ex beneplacito suo of his good pleasure This love of his is the cause why he gave us his only begotten Son to work our salvation John 3.16 This love of his therefore must needs be the cause also of all Christs merits both of our redemption justification adoption sanctification and glorification Neither our justification therefore nor any other of these can be the cause of Gods love if we shall speak properly of his love and not of some one or other effects thereof But proceed we to the next thing wherein Chamierus dissenteth from that which is most commonly taught by other Protestants concerning our justification This learned man also teacheth contrary to the common Doctrine of the Protestants that there are no preparations unto our justification Now if it were as he saith that our justification is an eternal Act of God this would necessarily follow But seeing we are not actually justified until we do believe in Christ and are not ordinarily brought to renounce our selves and to put the whole confidence of our salvation in Christ until we be wrought upon and prepared thereunto both by the Law and the Gospel as is to be shewed in the next Question therefore seeing he produceth nothing that I have met with for confirmation of this his assertion I will leave the further examination and sifting of it unto its due place And so I come to the last thing that by the learned Chamierus is asserted in opposition to the common Doctrine of Protestants and that is That we are not justified by Faith in Christ for he speaketh expresly and saith falsum est fidem impetrare justificationem It 's false that Faith obtaineth justification For confirmation whereof he reasoneth thus If it were so then Faith should go before our justification both in reason and in time which may by no means be granted For Faith it self is by it self a part of our sanctification but there is no sanctification but it is after justification which in deed and in nature is before it Which is the cause why we do say that Faith doth no otherwise justifie but relatively that is because it hath for its peculiar object the mercy of God on which it relieth Now this is that properly that justifieth as the Church is built relatively upon the Faith of Peter that is upon Christ whom the Faith of Peter confessed That I may examine these things in order as they lie First whereas he saith If Faith should obtain our justification then Faith should go before our justification both in reason and in
to lead a godly life and yet our Saviour rejected their obedience saying Mat. 5.20 Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharises ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven For their righteousness was externa non interna justitia outward onely before men but the inward purity of the heart was wanting in them For which cause our blessed Saviour compared them to whited Sepulchres and told them that they did make clean the outside of the Cup and of the platter whereas their inward part was full of uncleanness Besides this Luk. 11.39 they tythed Mint and Annise and Cummin but neglected the weightier matters of the Law as our Saviour layeth this to their charge He is much mistaken therefore Mat. 23.25 when he saith that the Scribes and Pharises had a constant purpose to forsake all sin and to walk in all holiness But saith he St. Paul a Pharise saith of himself Object Phil. 3.6 that he before his conversion was as touching the righteousness which is of the Law blameless The answer hereunto is Answ that he speaketh only of the outward righteousness of the Law as his enemies the Pharises understood it His meaning therefore is that he was unblameable in the Opinion of the Jews who were seduced by the Pharises and did as much as they required of him or that he was unblameable in regard of his outward cōversation before men and what if St. Paul did think well of himself whilest he was a Pharise and did persecute the Church of God can none therefore no not those who have received the spirit of God whereby they know the things that are given them of God 1 Cor. 2.12 be assured that they do in truth serve God according to all his Commandements SECT II. Faith and Repentance are distinct Graces Object Confer p. 19 20. Answ Synop. purioris Theologiae BUt he telleth us wherefore he acknowledgeth true Repentance to be a sure mark of salvation to wit because Repentance includeth Faith as a part thereof Whereunto I answer as the learned professors of Leyden and other Protestants do that Repentance is sometimes taken generally for the whole conversion of a sinner from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God and so faith is a part of it but otherwise the holy Scripture speaketh of Faith and Repentance as of two distinct graces For so doth St. Paul when he saith that he kept back from the Ephesians Act. 20.21 nothing that was profitable for them but taught them repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Whence I reason thus Conf. p. 20. those vertues or those graces that are differenced by their objects are different vertues but so are repentance and faith therefore they differ really non sicut totum pars and not as the whole and the part Object Act. 2.37 38. the one whereof is included in the other But saith he when the Jews asked what shall we do to be saved Peter answered Repent and be baptized And when the Jaylor made the same Question Paul answered Act. 16.31 Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved therefore either repentance must include faith or else St. Peter giveth not a full answer yea rather say I or else Mr. D. is deceived for in that saying of St. Peter Faith is not included in the word Repent but in the words following And be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that is in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ Although otherwise as I have said before I do not deny but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Repentance when it is used alone and not opposed to faith may comprehend or include in it faith in Christ Jesus as a part of our conversion SECT III. That Charity doth not bind a man universally to give half his Goods to the poor as Zacheus did HE granteth also That Love to the Brethren is a sure and certain note of a true Child of God and of Salvation is plainly taught 1 Joh. 3.4 which place is vindicated from the false glosse which Mr. D. hath set upon it Pag. 234. Confer Pag. 7 8. that where unfained love to the Brethren is found it may be a testimony of grace received but addeth that a man cannot love them unless he do sell either the whole or half of his possessions and divide them among such of his Brethren as he knoweth to be poor But if this be an inseparable note of true charity as he teacheth I dare boldly say he by this Doctrine of his will much more trouble mens Consciences then we do by ours and give them lesse assurance of Salvation 1 Joh. 3.14 For he that loveth not his Brother abideth in death Now how many can he find in this Kingdom that with Zacheus do give half their goods to the poor or that having Lands and possessions do with those primitive Christians sell them and lay down at their Ministers Act. 4. or Pastors feet the price of them that it may be distributed amongst their Brethren as their necessity shall require doubtless he will find but a few if any that will do this Now what shall we exclude all the rest from the state of grace and consequently from all hope of salvation I dare not do so and yet I must needs say seeing the faith that is available to salvation worketh by love Gal. 5.6 the great want of love in many forward professors of the Gospel may give them just cause to doubt of their salvation Luk. 19. Act. 2.45 4.34 35. But that I may come nearer to Mr. D. although Zacheus at his conversion gave half his goods to the poor and those that were possessors of Lands sold them and laid down the money at the Apostles feet yet the Lord no where bindeth us by any precept to do the like neither do their examples bind all to imitate and follow them in this their practice For God distributeth his graces diversly to some he giveth very large hearts and stirreth them up to do more then others can ordinarily attain unto who have received an inferior portion of the spirit 1 Pet. 4.10 or gift of grace And hereupon it is that St. Peter exhorteth As every man hath received the gift so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold grace of God And St. Paul exhorting the Corinthians to be liberal in their contributions to the poor Saints at Jerusalem doth not call upon them to give half or any certain and determinate part of their goods unto them although they were in great necessity but saith he Every man as he purposeth in his heart so let him give not grudgingly or of necessity 2 Cor. 9.7 for God loveth a chearful giver There are sometimes more sometimes fewer poor to be relieved by us and sometimes their necessity is greater and
better Covenant which was established upon better promises to wit then the former covenant was which God by the Ministry of Moses made with the Israelites Now by this former covenant if he meaneth the covenant of grace as it was administred unto the Israelites of old under the Law of Moses and by this latter and better covenant the same covenant of grace as it is plainly laid down in the Gospel the promises of this latter covenant are better then those of the former First Because they are clearly delivered in express and plain words whereas those were darkly shadowed out under types and figures and dimly represented in obscure Prophecies Secondly Because there is a greater measure of the spirit and of the graces thereof both promised and exhibited now under the new Testament since the comming of Christ in the flesh then was formerly in the old Testament This may well be the meaning of the Apostle But if we shall say that he doth in these words of his compare together the covenant of works and the covenant of grace then I say that the promises of the Gospel are better promises then are the promises of the covenant of works First Because remission of sins is promised in the Gospel which is not to be had by the Law For whosoever fulfilleth not all the Commandements thereof Deut. 27.26 it shutteth him up under the everlasting wrath and curse of God without any hope of pardon Again The promises of the Gospel are said to be better then those of the Law because the Gospel promiseth grace whereby we are inabled to perform the conditions thereof which the Law doth not For the Law only forbiddeth sin and commandeth that which is holy and just and good but ministreth no power to perform that which it requireth but in the new covenant of the Gospel the Lord promiseth that he will write his Lawes in our hearts and put his spirit within us Heb. 8. and cause us to keep his Commandements and to do them Thus by the grace of God in Christ we are strengthened and inabled to keep the covenant of the Gospel whereas it is altogether impossible for us so to keep the Law as to be justified and saved thereby SECT VII The learned Protestants do hold the promises of the Gospel not to be absolute but conditional THere is one Objection more which I think good to remove and that is this The learned Protestants as by name Bucanus Locis Com. Theol. and some others make this main difference between the Law and the Gospel that the promises of the Law were conditional but the promises of the Gospel sunt gratuitae are free promises It may seem therefore that Mr. S. and those that teach as he doth do preach true Protestant Doctrine and that we which teach otherwise have revolted and departed from the Protestant Religion at leastwise in this particular Answ But I answer It is nothing so for Bucanus explaineth himself and sheweth what he meaneth by the conditions which he speaketh of to wit such as are causae causes of the blessings that are promised Whereas therefore the Gospel saith si credideris if thou shalt believe particula si non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this particle if is not a note of a cause but of a consequence saith he Now this we do willingly grant that remission of sins and salvation are freely promised in the Gospel and that our faith and repentance are no causes of them Bucanus therefore teacheth altogether as we do for in the next words he saith that our faith or our believing non est causa vel meritum sed modus vel instrumentum sine quo non potest fieri applicatio beneficiorum Christi is not a cause or merit but a meanes or instrument without which there can be no application of Christs benefits unto us And if this be not enough he saith afterwards in expresse words that Jeremy calleth the Law of Moses being considered by it self and in it self the legal and old Covenant because it was the covenant of our creation whereby the Lord required of us perfect obedience to be performed by our own strength but the Gospel a new or a free covenant sub conditione fidei ex gratuito favore ab ipso nobis donandae upon the condition of faith to be freely given us by him Thus Bucanus who in his common places hath abridged and drawn into a short sum both Calvin and the principal and best of the Protestant writers that were before him sheweth how we are to understand them if any of them any where or other do say that the promises of the Gospel are not conditional as those of the Law were And for further confirmation that the Protestants do teach that salvation is offered us in the Gospel non simpliciter absolute sed sub conditione fidei resipiscentiae not simply and absolutely but upon condition of our faith and repentance I will also alledge Volum 2. Thes Theol. Loc. 4. what Pisâ—â—tor and Pareus two of the most principal Protestant Doctors do write First of all then Piscator setting down the difference between the Law and the Gospel hath these words The covenant of the Law is whereby the Lord of old promised unto the Israelites all sorts of temporal blessings and eternal life it self upon condition of perfect obedience to be performed by them to his Law by their own strength and on the contrary threatned sundry and divers curses and eternal death it self to all that should transgress but even one Commandement of the Law and they on the other side promised that obedience unto God The sanction or ratification of this covenant is described Exod. 24. The covenant of grace is that whereby God hath promised his gratious favour for ever to all that believe in Christ upon condition indeed of that their faith and sincere piety or new obedience joyned with it notwithstanding of neither to be performed as by the believers own strength but as by that free favour to be bestowed on them by him and they on the other side being assisted by Gods grace do promise faith and obedience unto him â—olleg 1. de lvang et gratia p. 21. Pareus also setting down the difference between the Law and the Gospel amongst other things hath these words The Law promiseth life with condition of a mans own righteousness the Gospel promiseth the same with condition of repentance and faith in Christ This might be sufficient notwithstanding because the same Pareus doth excellently in another place express and unfold the conditions of the covenant of grace I will therefore here transcribe and translate that which he there saith into English that all those who are illiterate and unlearned amongst us as well as others may see and perceive that the Doctrine formerly taught by us here in England is the very same which the learned Protestants also beyond Sea have taught from which our new illuminated
to Heaven For our Saviour hath told us plainly Mat. 5.20 That except our righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharises we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven These things which I have thus alledged being rightly considered any one may see that they do not preach the Gospel rightly and truly who do not presse the necessity of good works on the Consciences of their hearers SECT III. Why the Gospel seeing it prescribeth and requireth works is not to be called a Covenant of works as well as the Law Or how it can be said to be the Covenant of Grace BUt not unlikely some one or other will here say what difference is there then in this particular between the Law and the Gospel if both do urge the necessity of good works or why is not the Gospel to be called a Covenant of works and not of grace as well as the Law I will shew you the reason hereof 1. The Law is called the Covenant of works because works are therein required as causes antecedent to our justification and salvation or as that whereby and for which we are to be justified now so are they not in the Covenant of the Gospel as hath been sufficiently shewed before 2. Again The Law is also called the covenant of works because works are therein commanded and required but no power nor ability is ministred and given to perform them but the Gospel is the ministration of the spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 For it doth not only command us to repent and to bring forth the fruits of repentance which are good works but sheweth how we may be inabled to do this to wit by faith in Christ who hath merited not only forgiveness of sins but the spirit of sanctification for all that do believe in him Gal. 3.14 The Gospel therefore is a Covenant not of works but of grace not only because it teacheth that we are justified not of works but of grace but because by faith in the promises thereof we do obtain grace to repent and to do all those things which it requireth of us Lastly The Gospel is truly said to be the covenant of grace because it is such a covenant as is not only begun and entred into but altogether ratified and consummated by grace For first It was meerly and only of grace and mercy that God after we had broken and dissolved the former covenant of works or of the Law was pleased to enter into a new covenant of salvation with us the form whereof is revealed in the Gospel Secondly as I said before it is meerly of his grace that God inableth us to perform the conditions of this new covenant to wit Faith and Repentance which otherwise would become impossible unto us for we are as unable of our selves to repent and believe in Christ as we are to fulfil the whole Law It s true Faith and Repentance are in themselves easier conditions than the universal and most perfect obedience which the Law requireth But otherwise As it is as impossible for a man when he is dead to lift up a straw as an Oxe so while we are dead in trespasses and sins as we are all by nature Eph. 2 3. and of our selves it is as impossible for us to believe and obey the Gospel as it is for us to fulfill the Law until we be quickened by the spirit of Christ Thirdly It is of grace that we are kept and upheld by the power of God from falling away from him or that he keepeth us firm and fast in his Covenant for otherwise if he should leave us to our selves but a day or an houre we should break and altogether dissolve the covenant of the Gospel as we did the legal covenant Lastly It is of grace and not for any merit or desert of ours that we are in part for the present Eph. 2 8. Tit. 3.5 and shall hereafter perfectly and fully be made partakers of the benefits and blessings that are conveyed and passed over unto us in the covenant of the Gospel that is to say of justification adoption sanctification and glorification or eternal happiness in Heaven Thus the new covenant of the Gospel is wholly of grace and therefore deservedly it is called the covenant of grace and not of works as is the Law Now seeing all these things are acknowledged professed and constantly taught by us what cause hath Mr. S. or any other to say that we turn the Gospel into a covenant of works or to alledge against us that saying of the Apostle Rom. 11.6 if it be of works it is no more of grace It s true indeed if we did make works any cause of our salvation then we should make the Gospel a covenant of works as the Law was but this we do not but require them as necessary conditions to be performed by us in way of thankfulness to God for our salvation by Christ and for other necessary uses and not to merit any thing by them Quest 15. Whether the Orthodox Protestant Ministers who teach men to believe in Christ and to repent that they may obtain remission of sins and salvation by Christ or those who offer Christ and Remission of sins to all without requiring any thing of them either Faith or Repentance or â—eâ— obedience do preach Christ the more truly and more to the edification and consolation of their hearâ—rs SECT I. Where is shewed which is the right way of preaching the Gâ—spel IT is most certain that those who preach the Gospel as Christ himself and his Apostles did are they who preach Christ not only most truly but most to the edification and consolation of their hearers Now so do not they who offer Christ and Salvation by him to sinners as sinners or to sinners without any condition either of Faith or Repentance but who teach men to repent and believe in Christ that they may be saved or which offer Christ and Salvation by him to all the greatest sinners not excepted if they will lay hold of him and his merits by Faith and turn from their sins and practise Repentance That our Saviour did thus preach the Gospel St. Mark assureth us Chap. 1.14.15 For there he saith that after John was put in prison Jesus came into Galilee preaching the â—ospel of the Kingdom of God and saying the time is at hand repent ye and believe the Gospel I know not what they will here reply Object except perhaps they will say that John had before preached the Gospel to the Galileans and that they had received it Now they do not deny but grant and teach that after that men have received the Gospel then Faith and Repentance and new obedience are to be pressed upon them but not when Christ is first offered and tendered unto them But Johns preachings may be a sufficient confutation of such conceipts and surmises as this Answ for he began his Ministry with the Doctrine of
your trespasses 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor adulterers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God Heb. 12.14 Without holinesse no man shall see the Lord. 1 John 3.14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren The Refinement of Zion Quest 1. Whether Christ and his righteousnesse be made ours by faith And whether we do put on Christ by faith Or rather whether He be not to be set forth freely in the preaching of the Gospel without any condition SECT I. A certain Authors Opinion concerning this Question SOme Protestants holy men The Doctrine of John Baptist saith this Author do say that Christ is made ours in the sight of God by faith alone Christ being the garment our Faith the hand that putteth this Garment on yet methinks saith he that here is Christ set forth upon some conditions not so freely given I must here saith he profess my Ignorance that I cannot conceive how faith should put on Christ apply Christ or make Christ ours in the sight of God I therefore professe my self openly to leane unto them that say that Christs righteousnesse is made ours before God by Gods imputation before the act of our faith and therefore necessarily without it Even as our sins were made Christs so is his righteousnesse made ours Now how were our sins made Christs Let the Prophet Esay speak The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all so that the Lord who calleth things which are not as though they were makes us righteous by His imputation of Christs righteousnesse Thus far this Author SECT II. Christs Righteousnesse is made ours by Faith NOw that I may examine these things It is true Christs righteousnesse is made ours by imputation ours who believe in him and hereupon we are said to be justified by faith But where in all the Scripture do you read that we are justified without faith or that God imputeth Christs righteousness consequently remission of sins to any Infidels or unbelievers Object But saith he Christs righteousness is made ours by imputation therefore not by Faith Answer I answer Subordinata non pugnant the latter of these is in some sort subordinare unto the former there is no repugnancy therefore between them for Christs righteousness is made ours ex parte Dei on Gods part by Imputation but ex parte nostra on our part by Faith whereby we receive both Christ and remission of sins John 1.12 Act. 10.43 26.18 and salvation by him offered unto us in the Gospel I do therefore retort this argument upon the Author of it thus As our sins were made Christs so is his righteousnesse made ours but our sins were made Christs not only by Gods imputation but by his voluntary taking them upon him therefore we also are made righteous not only by Gods Imputation but by our taking and receiving Christs righteousness by Faith Again saith he as Christ became sin for us so are we made the righteousness of God in him Confer p. 17. Isa 53.6 But say I Christ became sin for us not only by his Fathers imputation or as I say faith by his laying on him the iniquity of us all but by his own taking of our sins upon him to satisfie Divine Justice Joh. 10.15 18. Rom. 8.32 and to expiate them by his passion as these words of His bear witnesse I slay down my life for my sheep no man taketh it from me I lay it down of my self Again as St. Paul saith that God spared not his own Son but delivered him up Eph. 5.2 that is to death for us all So saith he also That Christ gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Wherefore seeing we are so made the righteousnesse of God in Christ as he became sin for us it followeth necessarily that together with Gods act in imputing Christs righteousness unto us there concurreth also our act in receiving his righteousness when in the Gospel it is offered unto us But of this more at large hereafter in the sixth question SECT III. Christ is made ours by Faith LEt us now in the next place examine and see whether Christ be made ours in the sight of God by faith Mr. D. thus expresses himself concerning this I must here professe my ignorance that I cannot conceive how Faith should make Christ ours in the sight of God It should seem he doth not altogether deny that Christ is made ours by Faith but will not yield that he is thus made ours in the sight of God Now what his meaning in this may be I do not certainly know unless perhaps it be that he is made ours by Faith declaratively only to our own consciences of which see Quest 6. But when those holy men of whom he speaketh do say that Christ is made ours in the sight of God by Faith they do not exclude neither God the Author and principal efficient of this work nor the word the external instrumental cause thereof but all our own works in opposition to faith Their meaning therefore is that Faith is the only internal instrument ex parte nostra on our part or the only hand as it were of the Soul whereby we do receive Christ and he according to his gracious promise unto all that do believe in him is made ours Again when they say that Christ is made ours in the sight of God by Faith alone they do oppose Gods judgement unto mans Men indeed judging according to the judgment of charity do hold him to be a good Christian and one that is interested in Christ who outwardly maketh profession of Christ and in the sight of man is unreproveable in his life and conversation But as Almighty God himself said unto Samuel The Lord seeth not as man seeth 1 Sam. 16.7 for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord seeth the heart In his sight therefore who seeth things and pronounceth of them as they are Christ is made ours not by an outward profession but by Faith alone I am induced to be of this judgment with these holy men good Protestants which Mr. D. here speaketh of by these Reasons following First Christ is not ours until we are made one with him and he with us no more then a woman can say that her husband is hers until they are made one by marriage 2 Cor. 11.2 It is their union or their being joyned together in marriage which maketh the husband to be his wives and the wife to be her husbands And even in like manner is Christ made ours when we are espoused unto him by faith and not before whereupon it is that Christs Spouse speaketh with great rejoycing and saith My well-beloved is mine and I am his Cant. 2.16 Again when it is said that Christ is ours what is the meaning
us therefore we do not receive him by Faith or he is not made ours by Faith for he therefore worketh Faith in us that by the same Faith we may lay hold on him and on his merits Posita primâ causâ non tolluntur secundae The working of the first cause doth not exclude the secondary and subordinate from acting that which appertaineth and belongeth unto them Christs apprehending therefore of us by his Grace and by his Spirit doth not exclude but necessarily inferreth our apprehending and appropriating of him to our selves by Faith For as St. Paul saith Phil. 3. we apprehend him or rather are apprehended of him His meaning is that we both apprehend him and he apprehendeth us but the firmness and certainty of our salvation consisteth rather in his apprehending of us then in our apprehending of him these two do alwayes go together and are never separated To make this yet more plain briefly thus it is Christ is made ours 1. On Gods part 1. By his eternal Decree of Predestination ordaining him to be ours in the due time appointed by him but not before 2. By his word wherein he offereth Christ and of his grace giveth him unto us when we do believe in him 3. By his Spirit whereby he regenerated us and infuseth into us the habit of Faith and exciteth the Act. 2. On his own part By meriting for us and working in us grace whereby we do believe in him and are made partakers of him and of his merits 3. On our part by Faith whereby we do receive Christ offered unto us in the Gospel and upon our hearing thereof do believe in him reposing and placing the whole confidence of our salvation in him as in our only Mediator I come now to Mr. S. his Conclusion of this matter which is this Question And now Why should any servant of Christ refuse to give out the blood of his Master which runs so freely to sinners Answer Whereunto I answer that Christs blood is to be offered and reached out to all sorts of sinners upon condition that they will leave their sins and lay hold of Christ by Faith and shew themselves thankful unto him for their salvation But as long as they continue in sin and incredulity they are to be taught and told that they have no part nor portion in Christ for he that believeth on the Son hath life John 3.36 but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Question Mr. S. moveth yet another question saying And why should any sinners refuse to receive Christs blood because their vessels are not clean enough for it when it is such a blood as makes the vessels clean for it self To this I answer That to receive Christs blood is not for a wicked sinner to believe while he continueth in drunkennesse and whoredome or in any other vile sins that he is reconciled to God by the blood of Christ as Mr. D. and he do understand it but it is to rely on Christs blood both for the pardon and purging away of his sins according to the promises of the Gospel which whosoever doth though he were never so unclean before his soul being thus sprinkled with the blood of Christ by a true and lively Faith will become pure and holy for neither shall his former sins be imputed unto him nor will he welter and wallow in the puddle of sin any more but will serve God in righteousness and holyness all his dayes SECT IIII. We do put on Christ and apply him unto our selves by Faith I Will now leave Mr. S. for a while and return to Mr. D. I cannot conceive saith he how Faith should put on Christ Can you conceive then what St Paul meaneth when he saith Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus for as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ to wit by that Faith of theirs whereof in their Baptism they made profession The meaning of this metaphorical speech of his is to teach us that if we do appear before God naked as we are of our selves our filthiness and deformity is such that God will loath and abhor us We must therefore put on Christ or cloath our selves with Christ as it were with a garment that we may be amiable in Gods eyes that is we must be united unto Christ as a mans garment which he putteth on is to his Body before we can find any acceptance with God For he hath made us accepted in his beloved Eph. 1.6 This was typified and presignred by Jacobs obtaining of his Fathers blessing by coming and appearing before him in the garments of his elder brother for so we do obtain the blessed inheritance of Heaven by being invested with Christs righteousness But contrary hereunto Mr. D. telleth us Reconcil of man to God pag. 57. That this is our receiving of Christ our putting on of Christ our living by Faith that Faith assureth us of Gods favour and good will towards as in Jesus Christ But who seeth not that he doth here confound things that differ For it is one thing to receive a thing and to put it on and another to be assured that we have done both these that is not only received it but put it on And in like manner to live and to be hereof assured are diverse things To receive Christ therefore and to put him on and to be assured that we have received him and put him on are divers things And our living by Faith and being hereby assured of Gods favour and good will towards us Objection are divers things But saith he I can not conceive how Faith doth apply Christ or make Christ ours in the sight of God The Reason of this his asserion is because as he conceiveth Christ was ours befor◠we did believe in him Now a man needeth not receive that which is his own already Answer But I answer That although Christ in Gods eternal counsel was given us before the foundation of the world was laid that is decreed to be given us and to be made ours yet he is not actually ours until we receive him For Christ is offered unto us in the Gospel as the gift of God John 4.10 But as we all know a gift when it is offered must be received before we can have any interest or propriety in it And hereupon it is that Christ when he came amongst his own Countreymen the Jews and offered himself unto them St. John saith that to as many as received him he gave power to be the Sons of God even to those that believed in his name giving us to understand who they were that received him to wit such as believed in him Now why doth the Evangelist speak thus if Christ be not received by Faith The Apostle telleth the Ephesians Eph. 2.12 that they in the dayes of their ignorance and infidelity were without Christ I
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
do not by Faith believe and receive those promises To say nothing that to be ingrafted into Christ is nothing but to believe in Christ For God by working Faith in us doth ingraft us into Christ I deny therefore his minor Proposition for we are not ingrafted into Christ at all untill the Spirit hath wrought Faith in us He alledgeth That the effects of righteousness is Assurance but to what purpose I know not Obiect Esay 32.17 unless it be against himself For if righteousness do alwaies bring assurance with it of Gods Love favour or of the forgiveness of sins and of our justification then it cannot be said that we are assured of our justification only by Faith as he teacheth Afterwards I finde him reasoning thus St. Peter saith Object That Christ bare our sins in his own Body on the tree that we being delivered from sin might live in righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 St. John tells us John 1.29 Christ takes them away Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world If the justice of God hath laid allour iniquities upon his back hath not his mercy taken them from us If the Lord Christ did take them away then they are no more Answ For answer hereunto I say first That they are taken away and are no more in regard of any satisfaction to be performed by us for so Christ bare them and took them away as I have shewed before Again I do here further add That the persons of whom both St. Peter and St. John do speak in these words are Believers Christ bare our sins that is ours who believe in him for of them St. Peter speaks and to them he wrote this and not to infidels So also when St. John saith Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world By the world here he meaneth all those throughout the world both Jews and Gentiles that do believe in him and receive him for their Saviour in the same sense as St. John the Apostle speaketh when he saith If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the just 1 John 2.1 and he is the propitiation for our sins ours of the Jewish Nation or of the Israelites who do believe in him and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world that is of all both Jews and Gentiles that do believe in him throughout the world SECT III. An Objection answered I Have done with Mr. D. And must now essay if I can give satisfaction to a stronger reason than any of his which I finde alledged by an acute and learned Divine for whom I am no fit match Vindic Gra. Lib. 1. Sect. 4. For thus doth he reason Justificatio est actus Dei immanens non transiens that is to say an internal not an external Act of God est ergo aeternus non temporaneus it is therefore eternal and not done in time as the outward works of God are Whereupon he inferreth and concludeth that when the Scripture saith We are justified by Faith the meaning hereof is that we are justified by Faith in tribunali conscientiae that is that God when we believe in Christ justifieth us in the tribunal which be setteth up in our own souls and consciences but that otherwise we were justified ab aeterno apud Deum eternally with God But methinks this exposition of his quite overthroweth the Doctrine of justification by Faith as it is taught by the Protestants For the Protestants Doctrine is First that our justification is actus individuus an individual act that is accomplished all at once in one and the same instant Secondly quòd non admittit majus et minus that it is not increased nor diminished by degrees as our sanctification is But this justification is not any such indivisible act For frequent and ordinary experience sheweth that those who are Believers and in the state of grace yea excellent Christians otherwise are somtimes confident that their sins are pardoned and that they are in Gods favour and at other times though they rely still upon God for the pardon of their sins and for salvation by Christ yet they cannot say that they are pardoned In a word the Children of God have sometimes a greater sometimes a lesser assurance of the pardon of their sins and of their salvation and sometimes hardly any at all The reason whereof in many of them is melancholy abounding which depraveth the fancy depresseth the heart and alwaies raiseth fears in opposition contrary to that which a mans heart is set upon and which it most desireth Somtimes again the Faith of the Believer is assailed with strong strange and hideous temptations which deprive him of that assurance which formerly he had or were it not for these temptations would have And sometimes also weakness of judgment in those whose hearts are upright with God is a great cause why they cannot lay hold of that comfort which belongeth unto them Now if we shall say that a man is justified by Faith when his Faith doth declare and evidence unto his conscience that his sins are pardoned then we shall exclude some of these good Christians from the state of justification and of others of them we shall say contrary to the common tenent of Protestants that they are sometimes more and sometimes lesse justified Object But how then shall we answer the aforesaid Reason which is alledged to prove the eternity of the justification of Gods Elect Answ I answer it thus That the Decree indeed of justifying or absolving Believers is an immanent and eternal Act of God Thus they are justified ab aeterno in mente Dei eternally in Gods counsel or in Gods mind and purpose even as those that are arraigned in Courts of justice here in this world are acquitted or condemned in animo et mente judicis in the Judges mind and decree or determination before he passeth sentence of judgment upon them But they are not actually judged until this sentence is pronounced and published Now the same is to be said concerning the actuall justification of those that do believe in Christ For justification as the Protestants do prove by the Scriptures est vocabulum forense is a judicial term and therefore is to be taken in sensu forensi in a judicial sense It importeth therefore an external judicial act of God that is to say his pronouncing or publishing of sentence of judgment For then is a Judge said to judge him that is arraigned before him when he giveth either sentence of absolution or condemnation upon him and even in like manner God the judge of all the world doth justifie those that believe in Christ by passing sentence of absolution upon them and condemneth all unbelievers and ungod y sinners by giving sentence of condemnation against them Object But it may be you will say unto me It is true Christ at his coming will judge the quick and the dead
and brethren what shall we do This is the very nature of the thing required For as in the naturall generation of a man there are many previous dispositions which go before the introduction of the form so also in the spiritual by many antecedent actions of grace do we come to our spiritual maturity This lastly is apparent by the instruments which God useth in regenerating men for he useth the ministery of men and the instrument of the word 1 Cor. 4.15 I have begotten you by the Gospel But if God would immediatly regenerate and justifie a wicked man prepared hereunto with no sorrow no desire no hope of pardon there would be no need neither of the ministery of men nor of the word preached for the effecting thereof neither need the Ministers to take any care to divide the word aright first by wounding the consciences of their hearers aptly and prudently with the terrours of the Law and afterwards by raising rhem up with the Promises of the Gospel and exhorting them to seek Repentance and Faith of God by prayers and tears Thus far those worthy Divines SECT II. The Preparations that are necessary to our future glorification and perfect salvation in Heaven THus I have shewed what qualifications are necessary to the receiving of saving grace and consequently to the first beginning of our salvation by Christ Now if we shall speak of our salvation as it shall be consummated and perfected in Heaven it is most true that we must also by Gods grace and by his Spirit be qualified renewed and prepared for it as our Saviour himself assureth us in these words Matth. 5.20 For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Heb. 12.14 Consonantly unto this the Apostle telleth us that without holinesse no man shall see the Lord that is in his kingdom and to his comfort For all unclean persons shall be excluded out of the new Jerusalem as St. John also beareth witness 1 Cor. 6.9 Revel 21.27 Whereunto St. Paul also subscribeth when he saith Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Wherefore if salvation be taken for our compleat salvation in Heaven so Sanctification Faith Repentance John 3.16.38 Luke 13.3 Rev. 19.7 and good works go before it although not as any meritorious causes thereof yet as preparations to it as we are given to understand when it is said The mariage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made her self ready and the next words shew how not by any natural power or ability of her own sed dono Dei but by Gods free gift or grace for so it followeth and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linnen clean and white for the fine linnen is the righteousness of Saints And that it is necessary for us thus subsidio gratiae divinae by the assistance of Gods grace to prepare our selves to meet Christ in his Kingdom of glory both the parable of the five wise Virgins Matth. 25. that prepared their lamps to meet the bridegroom sheweth and St. John also confirmeth it when he saith 1 Joh. 3.3 whosoever hath this hope in him that is to see Christ Jesus in his glory and to be glorified with him he purifieth himself as he is pure These things which I have thus alledged do manifest and make it evident that God sanctifieth prepareth and maketh his Elect fit for his Kingdom of Glory before he doth admit and receive them into it SECT III. An Objection answered Obiect BUt against this Doctrine Mr. H. Mr. S. and the rest of them do object and say That if such previous dispositions qualifications and preparations do go before our justification and salvation then our salvation shall not be of grace but of works Answ and so the Gospel will be a Covenant of works It 's true indeed if we did hold as the Papists do that we by such works of preparation do merit our salvation then it should be of works and not of grace but we are far from this For first we say that God of his grace by his Word and Spirit doth work these preparations in us and not we our selves by any strength or power of our own free will Secondly we therefore acknowledge and say that it is of his meer grace that he doth both justifie and sanctify us and after our warfare is ended crowns us with the glory of his Kingdom Over and besides all this we do also acknowledge that many of those in whom the common graces of the Spirit are wrought whereby the Elect are ordinarily â—ted and prepared for the work of regeneration 〈◊〉 through their own negligence and wickedness queâ—â— the Spirit and fall away from the grace which they 〈◊〉 thus received and so are never regenerated but juâ—â— rejected of God for their unthankfulness and neâ—â—r brought by him into the estate of salvation We do 〈◊〉 therefore say nor do we hold that the regeneration 〈◊〉 conversion of a sinner doth necessarily spring as it were or arise out of these previous dispositions as natura forms do out of the matter when it is rightly disposed for them for even the Elect themselves after they are thus wrought upon and disposed by the Word and Spirit of God do many times grow careless and do too much neglect the means of their salvation and so would utterly perish if God should leave them to themselves but hi Love towards them is such that he rouseth and raiset them out of their security and in due time by his wor and Spirit converteth them and bringeth them into th estate of grace This that we thus teach and acknowledge doth make it evident that our justification sanctâ—fication and whole salvation is of grace and not of aâ— works of ours It 's false therefore that we as they char us do by our Doctrine make the Gospel a Covenant works But hereof more at large Quest 14. SECT IIII. More Objections answered A Good while after I had thus answered the former Obiection in a private conference which I had with â—ne who denied all antecedent preparations to a sinners â—onversion he spake unto me to this effect Let Christ be offered unto sinners Object and let the riches â—f Gods grace be manifested and made known unto â—hem for that alone will be a sufficient means to make â—hem to receive Christ and to come in unto him yea â—nd to love and obey him Whereas on the contrary the preaching of the Law hath kept men from Christ and hath hindred the salvation of many souls Hereunto I replyed that no doubt many will be ready to come in unto Christ Answer and make a formal profession of his name when the Gospel is thus preached unto them but unlesse they be humbled by the Law and brought to see in what need they stand of Christ
that ye believe in him whom he hath sent we may very well conceive his meaning to be that it is Faith only and no other work whereby we do receive Christ and feed upon him to the salvation of our souls Lastly It may also be said that Faith is by our Saviour called the work of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu per modum eminentiae by way of excellency and eminency because it doth though not formally yet virtually contain all other good works in it Calv. in locum For as Calvin saith Faith excludeth not either charity or any other good work seeing it containeth them all in it For Faith is called the only work of God because we possessing Christ by it are made the Sons of God that he may govern us by his Spirit Because therefore Christ doth not separate Faith from its fruits non mirum est si in eâ constituat proram ut loquuntur et puppim it is no marvel if he do include all in it By this that hath been said it appeareth evidently that although faith in Christ be the only work of God which he requireth of us to our justification yet it is not the only work of God absolutely as if he required nothing else but Faith of us or as if he commanded us to practise none other good works in our life and conversation though otherwise in some sense or in some respect and to some purpose as hath been before shewed it may be said to be the only work of God Before I do proceed unto Mr. S. his second Objection I have thought good to demolish those other fortifications which he hath raysed and reared up to uphold his former assertion that Faith is the only work of the Gospel Object First He argueth thus Salvation is not a businesse of our working and doing it was done by Christ with the Father All our work is no work of salvation but in salvation We here receive all not by doing any thing that we may receive more but doing because we receive so much because we do not that we may be saved And yet we are to do as much as if we were to be saved by what we do because we should do as much for what is done already for us and to our hands as if we were to receive it for what we did our selves Answ That I may examine these things severally 1. Whereas he saith Salvation is not a business of our working and doing it was done by Christ with the Father Hereunto I answer That Christ only saveth us per modum meriti by his merits purchasing our salvation Secondly He also only saveth us tanquam author salutis nostrae as the author or principal efficient cause of our salvation by his Spirit regenerating us and by his power delivering us from the servitude of sin and Satan There is nothing therefore for us to do by way of merit neither can we do any thing that may any way conduce to our salvation virtute propriâ nostrâ by our own power or by our own strength Notwithstanding there are many things for us to do by the grace of God before we shall perfectly be saved even all those good works that God requireth of us which are as it were the way to Heaven Eph. 2.10 For as St. Paul saith VVe are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them In this regard we are not to be idle or to do nothing but as we are commanded we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling that is Phil. 2.12 we are to use the means which God hath appointed that we may come to Heaven and take possession of that salvation which Christ hath purchased for us In which regard St. Peter also counselled his hearers Acts 2.40 to save themselves from that untoward generation of the incredulous Jews amongst whom they lived to wit by departing from their infidelity and evil works 1 Tim. 4.18 And St. Paul exhorteth Timothy to attend unto himself and to doctrine and to continue therein telling him that in so doing he should both save himself by the faithful discharge of his duty those that did hear him by converting them to faith in Christ and leading them in the right way to Heaven But saith Mr. S. All our work is no work Of salvation but In salvation But I answer him It is both for the work of a Christian is to work out his salvation in that sense and in that manner as he is commanded by St. Paul as I have already sufficiently shewed And it is a work also In salvation because it is performed and done by those who are in statu salutis in the state of salvation or whose salvation is already begun in their Regeneration and Sanctification But saith he We here receive all not by doing any thing that we may receive more but doing because we receive so much because we do not that we may be saved What Mr. S. Do we here receive all that is if you speak consonantly to your self all our whole salvation I had thought that we had received only the a Rom. 8.23 first fruits of the Spirit as b 2 Cor. 1.22 Eph. 1.13.14 an earnest or a seal of our salvation to be perfected in Heaven as St. Paul teacheth and that we are in regard theteof only saved in c Rom. 8.24 hope and do here waite for d Rom. 8.23 24. the accomplishment of our adoption the redemption full and final of our body How then can you say that We are not to do any thing that we may receive more more then we have are actually possessed of already But say you We are not to do that we may be saved Is it so indeed Are we to do nothing that we may be saved This is new light or rather a new delusion of the Devil For when those Jews that were pricked in their hearts with sorrow and remorse at the hearing of St. Peter's Sermon Acts 2. said unto him and to the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren What shall we do Peter answered them not Ye need to do nothing Christ hath done all for you but Repent Acts 2.37 and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Thus St. Peter teacheth that there is something to be done of us for the obtaining of the forgiveness of our sins Acts 16.30 and consequently of salvation by Christ And in like manner when the Jaylor came trembling to Paul and Silas and said unto them Sirs what must I do to be saved St. Paul did not check him for this question of his he told him not that it savoured of grosse ignorance for him to ask what he was to do that he might be saved but answered him and said Beleive in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy
ones we are by sinners whom Christ professeth that he came to call to understand contrite and broken hearted sinners that being terrified with the judgements of the Law do acknowlege that they stand in great need of Christ the heavenly Physician and of every drop his blood which he shed for them But of this I have spoken enough before Object 7. He goeth on and saith All that ever received Christ Object 7 Corinthians Ephesians Colossians received him in a sinful condition when they were unwashen darkness dead in sins enemies in their minds by wicked works Answ Here also Mr. S. setteth up an adversaâ—y unto himself of his own devising and then dischargeth fiercely and furiously upon him For no Protestant teacheth that those that are only prepared for the preaching of the Gospel by the terrours of the Law are washed from their sins and do live the life of grace but on the contrary they hold That as yet they are dead in sin and if they proceed no further shall perish everlastingly Object 8. Object 8 Lastly He thus also objecteth God offereth Christ in time as God gave him God before all times gave him to us because we were sinners and now he is but offered as he was given Answ Hereunto I answer First That God neither before time gave Christ in his eternal decree because we were sinner nor in time doth he give us him because we are sinners For there is no cause in us at all of our salvation it is to be ascribed wholly to Gods grace As for sin it is in it self a cause of damnation not of salvation But if his meaning be that God before time considered us as sinners when he gave us Christ there followeth nothing more from hence but that God in time offered Christ unto us when we were sinners which we willingly grant But we add further that God before all time decreed not only to give Christ to sinners but that those sinners should by the power of his Spirit be brought in time to acknowledge their sins and spiritual misery and woful condition under sin and so be driven out of themselves and be made to fly unto Christ Seeing therefore whatsoever God decreed before time shall be fulfilled and accomplished in time hereupon therefore it followeth not that all sinners absolutely but that those only who do acknowledge their sins and their eternal misery by sin are they to whom Christ is offered in the Gospel and that do come unto him SECT 6. Two Objections of Mr. D. answered THere are two Objections of Master D. which I formerly passed over at my first reading of his Book whereunto I have thought good now to return an answer First Object he reasoneth thus against any qualification or preparation or other to be wrought in us before we be justified Reconcil of God to man pag. 16. Let us hear the Lord speaking of his own work upon the Creature Isa 57.18 He went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his wayes and will heale him I will lead him also and restore comforts to him and to his mourners Whom wilt thou heale O Lord Whom wilt thou restore Even him whose wayes I have seen What are those wayes Even frowardnesse and perversnesse He went on frowardly in the way of his heart See again Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my owne sake and will not remember thy sins Whose sins will the Lord blot out Look we back unto the 22. vers Thou hast not called upon me O Jacob thou hast been weary of me O Israel Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities verse 24. See Thou hast been weary of me Yea thou hast wearied me This is Iacobs qualification This is Israels preparation Then follows I even I am he that blotteth out thy trangressions As if the Lord should say unto his people as he speaketh by the prophet Ezek. 36.22 Say unto the house of Israel Thus saith the Lord God I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for my holy names sake which ye have prophaned among the heathen whither ye went See also Deut. 9.6 Isa 48.9 alleadged by him And then his conclusion is This is all the qualification we bring unto God to win his love and mercy Answer But I answer whereas the Lord saith he went on frowardly in the way of his heart c. This is not Jacobs qualification but a description of his perverse disposition being considered as he was in himself to the magnifying of Gods most rich mercy and superabundant grace towards him in pardoning his sins His qualification precedent to his justification was his humiliation and abenegation of himself wrought in him by Gods Spirit opening his eyes to see his sins and the great wrath that was due unto him for them This was that which through the gracious working of Gods Spirit drew him unto Christ the promised redeemer of his people when he was offered unto him that he might be saved through faith in him But it was not this nor any thing else that Jacob did or could do that merited the pardon of his sins or that moved made God to justifie him for we acknowledge that our justification is wholly of grace yea that this preparation is also of grace yet not necessitating our justification as if it did alway follow it But of this enough hath been said before Yet Mr. D Dr. C and others do so represent our doctrine as if we taught precedent qualifications to win Gods love to procure him to have mercy upon us to forgive us our sins Object Master D. second Objection against precedent qualifications not onely to our justification but to our Conversion and Sanctification Reconcil of God to man pag. 31. is this John Frith whose Learning was by his adversarie commended whose constancy and patience in his Martyrdome was admired writeth to this effect Thou maist preach Hell Damnation and the rendering of a terrible account to a severe Judge seven years together and yet not make one good Christian He that would make a good Christian let the love of God be the first stone which he layeth for the foundation Answ That which this holy man saith I acknowledge to be most true A minister may preach not only seven but seventy time seven years together and yet if he preach nothing else but Hell and Damnation not convert one soule For it are not the terrours of the law but the glad tydings of Salvation by Christ in the preaching of the Gospel whereby the Spirit of God worketh faith in us to our conversion and salvation and stirreth us up to love and thankfulness towards God Notwithstanding the terrours of the Law are necessary by way of preparation hereunto For how can a man se of apprehend the great love of God to him in giving his Son to death for his Redemption if by
Baals priest I think ten times over and Minister of the Devil Doct. of John Baptist Page 36. 37 38. did unto me that Christs Disciples at that time and all the servants of God under the Old Testament were to pray for the pardon of their sins because Christ had not then payd the price of our Redemption and purchased the pardon of our sins by his Passion Now here Mr. D. joyneth with them and confirmeth them in their errour For he saith that there was no pardon of sin in the Old Testament because Christ had not then redeemed us But against this Assertion of his I shall by Gods grace both prove that there was the same forgivnesse of sins in the Old Testament that is in the new and then afterwards I shall answer his Arguments which he alleadgeth to the contrary First the Scripture it self of the Old Testament sheweth not darkly nor obscurely but plainely and manifestly not in a few but many places that the sins of all that did in those dayes truly repent were blotted out and forgiven by God The truth of this is to be seen in David he no sooner repented of his sins of adultery and murther crying out in the anguish and bitternesse of his soul and saying I have sinned against the Lord but presently the Prophet Nathan pronounced his absolution and sayd 2 Sam. 12.13 The Lord hath put away thy sin He hath forgiven he hath put it away sayth Nathan not he will put it away when the Messiah shall come and lay down his life for thy Redemption The same also doth David himself acknowledge and professe saying I acknowledged my sin unto thee Psal 23.4 5. and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin But what do I stand upon a such particular examples The Lord himself speaking of and to his people in the Old Testament saith I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake Esa 43.25 and will not remember thy sins And by his Prophet Ezekiel he proclaimeth a generall pardon for all as well in those dayes as in these that would repent and turn unto him saying Ezek. 18.20 21. The soul that sinneth it shall dye but if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my Statutes and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall surely live he shall not dye Hereupon the Prophet Micah magnifieth the mercy of the Lord and saith Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage Micah 7.18 The Protestants do hold against the Papists that the souls of the ancient Patriarchs and of the godly and faithfull that died before Christs passion went after the dissolution of their bodyes not into limbus patrum but into Heaven But surely this could not be if their sins remained and were not forgiven them For it is nothing but sin that openeth Hell and shutteth Heaven Let Mr. D. therefore advise himself whether he will in this joyn with the papists or with the protestants Sure I am as many as took the protestation which was put out by the Parliament bound themselves by a solemne vow to defend the protestant religion against all popery popish innovations but how well this is performed â—y many of the Sectaries the event sheweth Thus have I manfested that there was remission of sins in the Old Testament SECT III. Objections Answered LEt us now examine Mr. D. reasons whereby he and divers Sectaries do think to prove the contrary It is not possible say both he and they that those who lived under the Old Testament Object could have their sins actually pardoned because Christ then had not purchased the pardon of them by his death and Passion But I answer Answ they are much mistaken For the sins of all the elect people of God that lived before Christs passion were pardoned because he had undertaken to satisfie the law and justice of God for them Whereupon it is that Christ is called the surety of a better Testament Heb. 7.22 that is then the Law was to wit because he became our surety to his Father and undertook to satisfie his justice for our sins and to bring us to God Wherefore as the debter is discharged from prison when the suerty taketh the debt upon him although he doth not pay it presently but bindeth himself to satisfie it at a set time agreed upon So seeing the eternall Son of God became surety unto his Father for us and took our spirituall debt upon him and bound himself to redeeme us by his death at that fulnesse of time which was decreed and agreed upon by his Father and him all those therefore that by faith did rely upon the alsufficient sacrifice satisfaction of Christ from the beginning of the World untill his passion had their sins pardoned and were saved by meanes of that their faith in him as well as we are who now believe in him after he hath suffered and paid our debt For this cause he is called The Lamb slain from the beginning of the world Rev. 13.18 not only because he was in Gods decree and counsell from all eternity appointed to be slain or because he was from the beginning of the World slain Mystically in the sacrifices that were offered But in this regard principally becauâ—e the validity and virtue of his death did extend it self unto Adam and to all the elect of God that lived at any time or other from the beginning of World Object But saith Mr. D. those that lived before Christ had by his death redeemed them were under the Bondage and curse of the law Answ therefore their sins were not pardoned and forgiven them I answer they were in bondage to the Ceremonies of the Law Gal. 5.1 which Paul called a yoak of bondage And St Peter saith That neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear it but they not were in bondage to sin and Satan Acts 15.10 For what godly heart can endure to hear that Abraham the Father of the faithfull or Isaac or Jacob or David and the rest of those holy Patriarchs should be said to be in bondage to sin or to be Satans bond-men As aborrent also it is to Christian piety to say as Mr. D. doth that they were under the curse of the law for then they should have been in the state of damnation and liable to Gods wrath We confesse indeed they were under the law but how under the paedagogie or School-Mastery not under the curse and condemnatory sentence of it for from that were they freed and delivered by their faith in Christ to come as we are now by our faith in the same Christ who is come But saith he Object St. Paul telleth us that as many as are under the law are under the curse
profession of faith in him as the true believers did Now they tell us that the Apostle speaketh of these counterfeit and not of true believers when he saith for this cause many are sick and weak among you and many sleep for say they could such impious and wicked Beasts be the members of Christ who came drunk to the Lords Table Answ I answer It is not impossible that a Child of God drinking Wine liberally with others at their love feasts might as well be overtaken with drunkenness as Noah was whom St. Peter calleth a righteous man But suppose that they were all wicked hypocrites that thus prophaned the holy Sacrament of Christs body and blood 2 Pet. 2. yet seeing the Church and people of God at Corinth tolerated them in their Communion and did not censure them for this foul fault therefore Gods judgement might break in among them all by an epidemical disease and take away some if not many of the better sort as well as all the Israelites fled before their enemies and divers of them were slain for the sin of A chan Josh 7. And that this was the case of the Corinthians whom God visited some of them with death and others with sickness and weakness the words immediately following in the Apostle do manifest when he saith for if we would judge our selves we should not be judged But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World Tâ—ese words do evince that St. Paul speaketh in this place of true beleeâ—ers and not onely of counterfeit hypocrites First This iâ— evident from his scope in uttering these words which was to comfort not onely those which were living and yet lying under Gods judgements but others also for the death of their dear friends who were thus taken away for prophaning the holy Sacrament of Christs blessed body and blood The former of these might think thus with themselves seeing this our sickness and weakness is a judgement of God upon us what hope can we have in him And the latter might say seeing God hath taken away our friends in judgement alas what is become of their souls The Apostle to comfort them against such sad thoughts as these telleth them that this was indeed a judgement upon them but a judgement onely of castigation for their reformation that so they might escape the judgement of eternal condemnation in the world to come Again St. Paul includeth himself in the number of those that are thus judged For he saith not that those men onely that came irreverently to the Lords Table were judged but when we are judged speaking of himself and all believers we are chastened of the Lord. Rom. 8.1 Thirdly He informeth us how happy the end and issue of this judgement of castigation is to all Gods children It becommeth a meanes God sanctifying it unto them for this end to free them from condemnation which is the portion and proper and peculiar priviledge of the godly and not common to them with the wicked 4. lastly Therefore he opposeth the persons that are thus judged unto the world It is not possible therefore that St. Paul should speak only of wicked hypocrites when he saith For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many sleep For such wicked ones belong unto the World and are no true members of Christ nor of his Church which consisteth of Saints that are gathered out of the World 3. lastly I would know of these men whether a Father doth not correct his children and a Schoolmaster his Scholars for their faults To deny this is to contradict all men and the truth it self For a Child when he groweth wanton and stubborn against his Father and a Scholar when he playeth the trevant and neglecteth his book do both of them deserve the Rod of correction Their faults which they have committed are causa meritoria the meriting cause of their correction though the final cause or the end of such correction is their reformation And even so also by a like reason do Gods children when they forget their duties and wax wanton against their heavenly Father deserve to be corrected by him for their amendment Object But here it may be said God correcteth his children in love for their good Answ Now what Can they by their sins be said to deserve good and not rather evil For answer hereunto I say that although the afflictions of Gods children are good unto them in their end and issue whereunto they are sanctified and directed by God In which regard Gods Children do say with David Heb. 12.11 It is good for me that I have been afflicted for before I was afflicted I went astray but now do I keep thy Law Psal 119. Notwithstanding as the Apostle saith and as we feel in our own experience our afflictions in themselves are grievous and bitter to the flesh And therefore as it is said of him that cannot rule his appetite that he deserveth to fall into the hands of the Physitian who by bitter Pills or potions purgeth away the ill-humors which his delicious Cups and sweet morsels bred in his body So when Gods children do satisfie their carnal lusts and surfet upon sin they deserve the bitter pills of affliction which when the heavenly Physitian of their souls shall administer unto them they have cause with Job not only to be patient and contented but thankfully to submit themselves unto his corrections and to say Job 2.10 Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil Ye see then that the afflictions of Gods Children are evil in themselves though good in their end The force of this reason Object our adversaries do think to avoid by saying that a Father is indeed angry with his children when they offend him and correcteth them for their faults But so doth not God to his children for he is never angry with any of them because Christ hath born all their sins and pacified his Fathers wrath for ever This Objection I shall not need here to answer Answ for I have removed it in the former Question where I shewed that Christ hath freed us from Gods revenging wrath which would have overwhelmed us in perdition and destruction everlasting but not from his paternal indignation which tendeth to the furtherance of our sanctification and salvation And therefore it would not be for our good but to our hurt if he should not thus cause us to feel his anger when we forget our selves and go a stray from him I would know also wherefore God calleth himself our Father and us his children but because he dealeth with us as a Father doth with his children as in other respects so particularly in nurturing us for our sins when we offend him by them as the Apostle expresly sheweth Heb. 12.5 6 7 8. This that I have said cannot but be of singular use unto the children of God when they
are visited with his corrections For if they believe that their sins are at least wise in part a cause of their afflictions 1. This will make them so much the more diligently to search and examine themselves that they may both find out their sins and purge them out by repentance saying with the Jews Lam. 3.40 Lam. 3.40 Come let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord. 2. It will make them also to humble themselves so much the more before the Lord saying with the Prodigal Luk. 15. Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee and I am no more worthy to be called thy Son 3. It will make them also to pray the more fervently and effectually to God for mercy and forgiveness as David did being afflicted in minde with the sight and sense of his sins when Gods judgements were upon him Psal 38. 4. It will make them to hate and abhorre sin so much the more and the more to shun it for the time to come 5. And lastly As he in the time of the Law that was pursued for murther which he had unwittingly and unwillingly committed did flie hard to the Alter or to the City of refuge to save his life so when a man acknowledgeth that it are his sins that do cause God to persue him with his judgements it will make him to flie the faster unto and to lay the firmer hold on Jesus Christ that he may obtain forgiveness and salvation by him But when men do deny that their sins are any cause of Gods corrections then when they lie under his judgements they will neither search out their sins nor humble themselves before God for them nor pray so much the more earnestly for the pardon of them nor repent and turn unto God from them But on the contrary such persons as we see it is both the Opinion and the practice of many now at this day will say that they need not neither to repent nor to pray for the pardon of their sins nor to make any confession of them and so they take a course to shut Heaven gates against themselves For as St. John telleth us If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us If we confess our sins 1 Joh. 1.8 9. that is with inward penitency compunction of heart and with a lively hatred and abhorring of them God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness To the same effect speaketh Solomon Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sins as every one doth who saith that he hath no sin shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy Quest 12. Whether a man may be assured of Salvation by his love to the Brethren Quest 12 and by other effects and fruits of Sanctification Or whether he can be assured of Salvation no otherwise but onely by Faith in Christ SECT I. A Man may be assured of his Salvation by his Repentance TO this Mr. D. answereth When the soul is loaden with the burden of sin and sense of misery Confer p. 18 it is sufficient for our assurance to believe God in his promises and we read of nothing else Act. 16.31 Beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved No doubt it is true that he who believeth in God according to his promises which in the Gospel he hath made unto us I find saith he but one onely condition of actual Reconciliation of man to God p. 56. that is as he explaineth himself whereby we know that God is reconciled to us p. 51. Confer between a sick man c. p. 5. shall obtain remission of sins and salvation but these promises are not made to any one that continueth in sin although he be never so much terrified and troubled with the fear of Hell but to those only that repent and turn unto God And hereupon it is that the true Christian in believing repenteth and repenting believeth Thus Faith and Repentance are twisted together as it were and indeed are never separated as he himself acknowledgeth Whereupon it followeth necessarily also that a man may be assured of his salvation by his repentance And this he dareth not deny but saith that it is a sure mark of salvation whatsoever faileth But he hath no sooner granted this but in the next words he laboureth to rob and bereave Christians of all the comfort which their Repentance will afford them for he saith That a man cannot know his Repentance to be true neither by his hearty sorrow for his sins past nor by his steadfast purpose to forsake all sin and to walk in all godliness First He saith that Reprobates as Esau Gen. 27.1 and Judas Math. 27.3 repented and sorrowed heartily for their sins And saith he doubtless all that do despair do heartily sorrow for their sins as they that are swallowed up with over much sorrow But I answered him that such do sorrow heartily in deed but nor for their sins but for the punishment and damnation of them which they are afraid of The Apostle therefore calleth this Worldly Sorrow 2 Cor. 7.10 and saith that it causeth death but in the next words he telleth us that godly sorrow which is when a man after a godly manner is sory for sin because it is sin or because it is an offence against God and a dishonour to him worketh repentance unto salvation 2 Cor. 7.10 never to be repented of Whosoever therefore findeth such godly sorrow in himself may thereby be assured of salvation The like is to be said of him that purposeth not by fits and flashes but steadfastly to forsake all sin and to walk in all godliness For seeing the heart that is the will tanquam Regina as a Queen commandeth all the inferior faculties of the soul and members of the body It is certain therefore that if a man be not diverted from his purpose * If he be constant in his purpose I say for many times sensual affections do rebel against the will and do lead it away captive with them Act. 11.23 Heb. 13. Psal 119.6 but be constant in it he will perform it whilest he is not letted by outward violence which the soul or the conscience in working holiness never is And hereupon it was that Barnabas when he saw the grace of God which he had bestowed upon the Brethren at Antioch exhorted them that they would with purpose of heart cleave unto the Lord. And the Apostle speaking of himself saith We know we have a good Conscience in all things willing that is resolving to live honestly And hereby also did David assure himself of Gods favour when he said Then shall I not be confounded when I have respect unto all Gods Commandements That which he alleageth to impeach this Object is frivolous and of no weight to wit that the Scribes and Pharisees had a purpose
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
out and that they may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Object What is this say these men but to teach and preach legally when you do thus tie men to conditions for the obtaining of salvation as the Law did Answ It s true indeed we should be legal teachers if we did require of men the same conditions for the obtaining of salvation and after the same manner that the Law doth but we are far from this for the Law requireth perfect obedience to all the Commandements thereof that is to say all manner of good works as that whereby we are to be justified before God or as the cause of our salvation Now we on the contrary do teach that we are saved only and altogether by the grace of God through the merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ And we say that works are necessary to our justification at leastwise to the continuance of it after a far inferior manner that is necessitate presentiae non efficientiae as duties necessarily accompanying it and going with it not as any causes meriting or working it Thus whereas the Law requireth works as causes of our justification and salvation we require Faith Repentance and such works or duties as the Gospel teacheth only as necessary conditions without which we cannot be saved For as I have proved in the former Question the Gospel indeed offereth salvation unto all by Christ but not absolutely but upon condition of their faith and repentance Where faith therefore in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance are wanting it is in vain for men to believe that they are reconciled unto God or that they are in the state of salvation which is the Doctrine now taught by Mr. D Mr. S. and many others Whereas these men then do think that all conditions are legal they are herein deceived For the difference between the Law and the Gospel is not that the one requireth conditions to be performed and the other none at all which were it so then the Gospel should be a Doctrine of licentiousness and carnal liberty but in this that the Law offereth salvation unto none but unto those that do perfectly fulfill it without failing in any the least duty therein required and commanded but the Gospel offereth pardon of all sins and transgressions unto all that believe in Christ and rise up out of their sins by repentance when they are fallen and do not still lie in them Thus the Law is a covenant of works because it promiseth salvation to none but to those that do the works therein prescribed and commanded Rom. 10.8 but the Gospel is a covenant of faith or as St. Paul calleth it the word of faith because it promiseth forgiveness of sins and salvation to all those that renouncing themselves and their own works do relie only upon Christ for salvation according to the promises of his Gospel SECT II. Both repentance and all manner of good works are commanded and required in the Gospel THis that I have already said might be sufficient for an answer unto this Question notwithstanding because many at this day by hearing of our late new Preachers and reading of their Books have their mindes and understandings so vitiated and depraved that whensoever they hear us teach the necessity of repentance unto salvation or hear us presse the practise and performance of good works upon mens Consciences presently they think that we are enemies unto the grace of God and do preach nothing but the Law For so indeed some few years since when one heard me tell my hearers that as long as any one of them did live in sin and not practise repentance it was in vain for him to believe that his sins were forgiven and that he should at the comming of Christ to judgement rise again in his own body to live eternally with Christ After he was returned home from the Church he spake aloud in the hearing of divers and said here is nothing but preaching of the Law preaching of Repentance Repent and ye shall be saved repent and Heaven Gates shall be set open for you To the intent therefore that such poor seduced souls may be brought to see their error I will handle this matter a little more fully First of all then It is certain that the Law requireth perfect obedience of us unto all the Commandements thereof and will not accept of any repentance if we fall but into any one sin or fail in any one duty but concludeth and shutteth us up under the curse of God The Doctrine of Repentance therefore as these men think is not legal Deut. 27.26 but meerly Evangelical And therefore when Christ taught the people repentance it is said that he preached not the Law but the Gospel Now it is manifest and evident also Mar. 1.15 that all manner of good works which are the fruits and effects of repentance are required and commanded in the Gospel as well as in the Law For St. Paul telleth us that we are Gods workmanship Eph. 2.10 created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he hath appointed that we should walk in them When St. Paul saith here that we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works it is certain that this is the voyce not of the Law but of the Gospel For the Law neither speaketh of our new Creation in Christ Jesus that is of our Regeneration neither maketh any mention of Christ at all Christus enim non est revelationis naturalis sicut est lex Rom. 2.14 sed supernaturalis It is not the Law but the Gospel that revealeth Christ unto us It is therefore the Gospel also and not the Law that informeth us and telleth us that Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 and purifie a peculiar people unto himself zealous of good works And seeing this is one end of Christs passion for as much as he hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness Luk. 1.74 75. before him all the dayes of our life And did therefore bear our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead to sin should live to righteousness hereupon St. Paul wrote unto Titus and said This is a faithful saying and these things I will 1 Pet. 2.24 that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God Tit. 1.8 might be careful to maintain good works And afterwards in that Chapter Vers 14. He writeth thus unto him Let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful In all these and many other places of the Gospel are good works required of us Yea I will say more they are required as necessary to our eternal salvation in Heaven though not by way of merit yet as a condition necessarily to be performed by us Eph. 2.10 and as the way wherein we are to walk