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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B06542	A brief, and plain apology written by John Wheelwright: wherein he doth vindicate himself, from al [sic] those errors, heresies, and flagitious crimes, layed to his charge by Mr. Thomas Weld, in his short story, and further fastened upon him, by Mr. Samuel Rutherford in his survey of antinomianisme. Wherein free grace is maintained in three propositions, and four thesis [sic] ...	Wheelwright, John, 1594-1679.	1658 (1658)	Wing W1604; ESTC R186427	40,565	36

a sense as the words seem to carry considered by themselves without any Relation to that which goes before or follows You dis-member wrest torture by putting upon the rack some broken Notes of an extemporary Sermon and make them speak what you think good against the Preacher and where they are altogether silent and speak not one word you put in words of your own which makes for your purpose Let such dealings pass for current what Sermon can be Preached by any Minister of the Gospel which ye may not arraign accuse condemne banish as guilty of Heresie contempt of Authority Sedition and what not No man can say with a good Conscience That I did at any time in publick or private in Old England or in New deny true Sanctification to be a good evidence I look at Works of Sanctification to be no dubious nor litigious evidence but demonstrative and infallible without which the imagined spirits witness is delusory and al supposed Faith is vain The Sanctification which I denyed to be any good evidence are certain effects of the spirit of bondage and works of the law and I taught That an act of Faith founded upon them is not saving and according to the Gospel but legal against them who never knew their inward call or hear and learn of the Father and so by Faith come unto Christ The inward witness of the Spirit in a simple promise of grace is not immediately and in it self discerned by them but by their legal Reformation going under the name of sanctification These are my apprehensions concerning our evidencing a good estate The immediate foundation of that act of Faith by which we are perswaded That Christ and his benefits is ours and by which we do receive him is the free simple absolute promise of grace applied by the spirit in our effectual call which is called throughout the Gospel by way of excellency the promise and therefore al Gods children are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the children of the promise Rom. 9 8. This Promise indeed is indefinite yet is it determined to every Elect person in his efficacious call The indefinite Promise with a commandment to believe and make it particular comes not in word only but also in Power and in the holy Ghost from whence he can thus conclude I am perswaded to believe by Christ not only outwardly in his words but inwardly by his Spirit in my heart that the promise and Christ promised belongs unto me therefore Christ with al his benefits is mine The medium of the particular Application of the general Promise is the inward witness of the spirit of Adoption who as Mr. Perkins saith in his Sermon entituled Christ the true and perfect gain beareth witness to our consciences of such things as God hath given us in particular and are only in general manner propunded in the Promise The Apostle Paul grounded his Faith upon this simple promise The indefinite runs thus Christ loved the world and gave himself for the world Christ came into the world to save sinners Paul applies it and makes it particular according to Christs command for thus he expresseth himself He loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.20 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of which I am chief 1 Tim. 1.15 How came Paul to make this application Because he was perswaded thereunto not only outwardly in the word but inwardly by the spirit in his heart 1 Cor. 10.12 The Apostle John saith That he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself 1 Joh. 5.10 Believing on the Son of God is the effect the witness in himself the cause Mr. Calvin thus expounds it Non dicit Deum extra loqui sed unumquemque fidelem intus in seipso sentire fidei suae authorem If it be objected That our first act of Faith cannot be a perswasion that Christ is ours because he is not ours antecedently to our act of believing that seems to me easily to be answered Christ unites himself unto us by his Spirit in our effectual call infusing the seed of Faith and al other saving graces is in us novo modo operandi gives us a new heart and puts his spirit within us Ezek. 36.26 27. Christ is ours by a passive Reception antecedently in order to our act of believing Christ unites himself unto us by his spirit before we joyn our selves to him by an act of believing Phil. 3.12 Faith being thus founded upon the free simple promise of grace applied by the spirit of promise is confirmed divers wayes 1. First by works of Sanctification the immediate proper effects thereof For though the habit of Faith be not the cause of the habits of other Christian vertues yet is the act of faith the spirits instrument to produce al acts of sanctity as being apprehensive of Gods grace mercy love in Christ and other motives and perswasives to induce to good works receiving strength from Christ enabling us to perform them So that true faith works by love which love with other Christian vertues wherein we do resemble Christ to whom we are united are unto us a seal of that fellowship we have with him according to that of the Apostle In whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of Promise Ephes 1.13 The spirit in sealing of us imprints in some measure the very image of Christ upon us consisting in righteousness and true holiness being not only holy in his essence and nature but in regard of his gracious effects in us All these works of Sanctification are so many arguments of the truth of our Faith 1 John 2.3 3.14 They are distinguishing marks and put a manifest difference between the children of God and the children of the Devil 1 John 3.10 They who do not know God to be their God as wel by putting his law in their inward parts and writing it in their hearts as by forgving their iniquities were never truly taught of God Jer. 31.33 34. This is one end of the spirits giving that holy spirit that spirit of sanctification not only to work sanctification but to teach us to know it amongst other things which are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 This hath been practised by Job David Hezekiah Paul and the whole Church of the Elect believers and saints from time to time in al generations who after that they had built their Faith upon Christ revealed offered given in the free promise did under-prop confirm strengthen the same by works of sanctification 2. Secondly by the immediate testimony of the holy Ghost There is an inward testimony of the spirit common to al true Christians Rom 8.16 which I take to be an act of the spirit applying the Gospel with such power as we perceive it is the spirit who speaks and it be gets in us an affured Faith 1 Thess 1.5 This is immediate in and by the word of grace for of his own wil begat he us

A Brief and PLAIN APOLOGY Written By JOHN WHEELWRIGHT Wherein he doth vindicate himself From al those Errors Heresies and Flagitious Crimes layed to his charge by Mr. Thomas Weld in his short story And further Fastened upon him by Mr. Samuel Rutherford in his Survey of Antinomianisme Wherein Free Grace is Maintained in three Propositions and Four Thesis VIZ. Prop. 1. That the Faith of Gods Elect whereby they do believe on Christ is not grounded upon a conditional Promise made to gracious qualifications previous to Faith Prop. 2. That the first evidence of our Justification is not any work of Sanctification Prop. 3. That an act of Faith which is grounded upon gracious Qualifications previous to Vnion and Works as first evidences is legal Thes 1. That Assurance of Justfication from Works of Sanctification is not our Assurance of Faith Thes 2. That Justification goes in order before our Beleeving Thes 3. That the Faith of Gods Elect whereby they do beleeve on Christ is grounded upon a free simple absolute promise of Grace Thes 4. That all Promises proper and peculiar to the Gospel are absolute He that is first in his own cause seemeth just but his neighbor commeth and Searcheth him Prov. 18.17 The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4.18 LONDON Printed by Edward Cole Printer and Book-seller at the Sign of the Printing-Press in Cornhil near the Royal Exchang 1658. To the Christian Reader IF that old Maxime of Jeroms be true In suspicione haereseas nolo quanquam esse patientem surely there is no reason I should suffer what is written against me by Mr. Thomas Weld and Mr. Samuel Rutherford without any reply The Montanists Priscilianists Gno●ticks Borboritae Caenosy that dirty sect Thomas Munsterus Jo●annes Leidensis Kniperdolingus have not many more marks of infamy and reproach drawn upon them then these my adversaries have imprinted upon me They bring me upon the Stage present me unto the worlds view Stigmatize me for an Arch-Familist Antinomian Li●ertine seducer lay me under the guilt of Contempt of Authority and ●edition relate me to an hundred and eleven errors nine unsavoury spee●●s make al the heresies and enormous crimes in the Country to center ●●●e My conscience doth acquit me with such cleer evidence against al ●●●se horrible accusations that I could willingly pass by al in silence were 〈◊〉 not true which Augustine saith qui fidens conscientiae suae negligit fa●●●m suam crudelis est I am no stoick but very sensible of al indigni●●●s and injuries put upon me yet should I not in this case have opened 〈◊〉 mouth did not the Loud and strong cal of Mr. Weld and Mr. ●utherford constrain me to publish my Defence Should I consent by ●●●ful silence to what they charge upon me not only to the great dishonor of 〈◊〉 self Ministry and my relations here upon earth but of my Lord and Master in heaven Christ Jesus I should grievously sin against the Law 〈◊〉 God Nature and Grace The best way to cleere up things is to follow that rule of Aristotles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The truth I not only evidence it self but discover falshod Veniat veritas ut posfalsitas de●●ehendi John Wheelwright Free Grace maintained c. THE chief Cause of all my sufferings in New England so far as I know was certain Doctrine with its Application which I delivered in the Church of Boston concerning the grounds of a special Faith the substance whereof is contained in these three following Propositions which I shall confirm PROPOSITION I. That the Faith of Gods Elect whereby they do believe on Christ is not grounded upon a conditional Promise made to gracious qualifications previous to Faith 1. First There are no such gracious qualifications precedent to union for then should that which is born of the flesh be Spirit a man dead in trespasses and sins put forth acts of spiritual life an evil tree bring forth good fruit an enemy to God do his Will a person without union do something he must act graciously who hath no formal principles of such acts then may a man please God without Faith and qualifie himself by sin 2. The setting up of antecedent gracious qualifications as a ground of our Faith is quiet opposite to the clear revelation of Gods free grace and the ministration of his power in our conversion and the Lord walks in a contrary way towards his Elect. He cryes down all flesh all power in our selves to act graciously that the glory of his power may be revealed Isa 40. He puts out the light of seeming gracious qualifications and cals us out of darkness making us sensible of the palpable darkness of sin and misery wherein we are inthraled that the light of his grace and mercy in Christ may appear unto us as it is in it self marvellous 1 Pet. 2.9 The almighty power of God the marvellous grace and mercy of God towards us in Christ could never be so apprehended of us in our effectual call did we look at our selves as precedently gracious 3. They who ground their Faith upon these gracious qualifications can never be at any certainty By what light do such being in the state of nature discern that they are rightly qualified having performed as they call it the Condition of Faith It is not the light of the Spirit Faith and Word 4. They who are of this judgement build their Faith upon an imaginary foundation a Work and a Word The Work is done out of Christ the Word is a supposed promise made to this Work unto which the free promise of Grace hath no respect Object 1. The Lord invites such as thirst and are gracciously qualified to come unto him Answ If it be meant of Evangelical thirsting it presupposeth union and a formall principle of life dead men thirst-not They are not called upon firstly to believe but to renew Faiths act Neither is it their grace but their want of grace which is used as an Argument to perswade them to come Object 2. By gracious qualifications and preparations for Christ is not meant qualifications formally gracious but only such as effect or have relation to true Grace which doth necessarily follow them Answ It is acknowledged that some Writers thus express themselves They raise up these qualifications to a very great height and assert that they are proper to Gods Elect not to be found in any reprobate calling them the Condition of Faith and that the Soul thus prepared sees that the promise belongs unto her yet deny that they are works of Sanctification I cannot see but they who affirm that they are works distinguishing between Elect and Reprobates and Arguments that the promise belongs unto them and yet will not have them to flow from a formal principle of saving Grace do imply a contradiction Whether these qualifications and preparations for Christ be denominated gracious formally efficiently or relatively in order to true

Grace it cannot be shewed out of Gods Word That any promise runs thus If you be thus or thus prepared for Christ then he belongs unto you ye have performed the condition and the benefit conditioned is yours I do acknowledge that the formal object of an efficacious Call are Elect persons prepared by the Law being sick lost dead sinners to their own apprehensions to the end that sin may abound and grace abound and that to their sense and feeling Rom 5.20 But there ate no preparations wrought either by Law or Gospel which so qualifie the Soul as a man may conclude from thence That God cals with a purpose to save Mr. Culverwel in his Treatise of Faith much bewailes the cordition of such who build their Faith upon the change of their lives affirming That they can never have sound and stedfast Faith but an unconstant and staggering opinion at the best This grounding of Faith upon gracious qualifications before union is much oppugned by Mr. Coltan in his New Covenant and by Mr. Norton in his Orth. Evang. Surely this is a doctrine which hath too much affinity with that of the Jesuites and Arminians who imagine that God makes a promise that he will give super-natural Grace to men upon condition they will use well their common grace PROPOSITION II. That the first evidence of our Justification is not any work of Sanctification 1. All good works are to be done in Faith Heb. 11.4 Rom. 14.23 Heb. 11.8 We must as ●●rsinus saith be perswaded that both our persons and our actions are accepted in and through Christ If this perswasion be the cause of good Works there must be a ground of this perswasion precedent to our Works Good Works are the effects of a former evidence therefore not our first evidences 2. All Moral Duties are comprehended under this general Precept of Love by which Faith works Gal. 5.6 as being either the elicite or imperate acts of Love but we cannot truly love God or our neighbor before we know and believe the love that God hath to us 1 Joh. 4.16 17 18 19 20 21. Who is righteous saith Bernard but he that requiteth the love of God with love again Which is never done except the Holy Ghost reveal unto a man by Faith Gods eternal purpose concerning his future Salvation Epist 107. If all our acts of evangelical love flow from the apprehension of Gods love to us they cānot be procreant causes of this apprehension nor our first evidences 3. All that the Gospel requires of us is to believe and repent We cannot evangelically repent before we perceive in some measure that God is reconciled unto us in Christ Zach. 12.10 Ezek. 16.63 Wherefore it is not our repentance nor any work of Sanctification which is our first evidence A man cannot earnestly apply himself to Repentance unless he know himself to be of God Cato Inot 3.3.2 4. All Works of Sanctification are so many acts of gratitude which hath ever relation to some former known benefit and especially our Redemption through Christ 1 Cor. 6.20 This benefit must be known by some Argument precedent to our works Therefore Sanctification is not our first evidence ursinus makes Gratitude the third part of his Catechism and placeth it after mans misery and freedom through Christ 5. All good works must be done in the name of Christ our Mediator Col. 3.17 in obedience to God our Father Then are we to know Christ to be our Mediator and God our Father and so by consequence our justification by some Argument antecedaneous to our works 6. The appearing of Gods grace which brings Salvation and of the kindness and love of God our Saviour justifying of us by his grace is the cause of all our good works Tit. 2 3. If the appearing of Justification and Salvation to the eye of Faith be the cause of all our Sanctification then is not Sanctification our first evidence 7. All good works from the first to the last are to be done without a servil fear Luk. 1.74 This sear is never removed but by a precedent sight of our deliverance from our spiritual enemies wherefore our Redemption and Justification is made known unto us by some other means which goes in order before all works of Sanctification 8. To begin to evidence a good estate from works is opposite to the method prescribed by the Apostle Peter He did write to Christians who knew and believed their justification for believing they rejoyced in joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 He exhorts them to add unto their Faith Vertue c. 2. Pet. 1.5 This Faith was existent out of its causes not to be grounded upon works but only confirmed by them He doth not say Add unto your works faith of assurance but add unto your faith works Therefore this Faith of assurance is not founded upon sanctification as a first evidence 9. We have two distinct witnesses of our good estate which in order do precede our sanctification 1 Our inward call of the spirit 2 Our act of believing on the Son of God The spirits inward call accompanying the outward begets this act of Faith 1 Joh 5.10 1 Thess 1.5 This act of Faith brings forth works of Sanctification Gal. 5.6 Sanctification is in order the last of the three witnesses of a good estate as being the effect of the two former wherefore it is not our first evidence Hoc est initium salutis nostrae quod in nobis sentimus efficax interna vocatio Dei fides nostra assentiens Zanchie De Certâ salute Ecclesiae Mr. Calvin with other learned and godly Divines living in that age wherein the light of the Gospel did abundantly break forth defined justifying Faith not only by an act of the Will whereby we receive Christ and his benefits but also by an act of the Mind by which we are certainly perswaded of Gods love to us in Christ and he doth constantly deny sanctification to be our first evidence and in his Commentaries upon Peter and John calls Works after-proofs Faiths props Both he and Zanchie do acknowledge with all sound Divines and the whole Church that good works evidence but with this caution There must be a former evidence Mr. Calvin thus expresseth himself But forasmuch as of the fruits of Regeneration the Saints gather an Argument of the Holy Ghosts dwelling in them they do thereby not slenderly strengthen themselves to look for the help of God in their necessities when by experience they find him their Father in so great a matter And even this also they cannot do unless first they have conceived the goodness of God sealed with no other assuredness than that of the promise for if they begin to weigh it by good works nothing shall be more uncertain or more weak Inst 3.14.19 Zanchie doth declare his judgement in the same expressions Loco 11. De Justificatione Calvin upon this text 1 Joh. 3.19 And hereby we know that we are of

the truth and shall assure our hearts before him doth thus Comment Semper autem me minerimus non habere nos ex charitate notitiam quam dicit Apostolus quasi inde petenda sit salutis certitude certe non aliunde cognoscimus nos esse filios Dei nisi quia gratuitam suam Adoptionem cordibus nostris per spiritum suum obsignat Et nos certum ejus pignus in christo oblatum fide amplectimur This is the question here determined by Mr. Calvin How we come first to know that we are the Children of God and by the like reason justified He denies that it is by any argument taken from our love How then By the inward witness of the Spirit perswading us of our Adoption What use then are we to make of our love to the Brethren in point of evidencing It under props saith he and strengthens our perswasion These are his words Est igitur charitas accessio vel adminiculum inferius al sidei fulturam non fundamentum quo nititur Zanchie upon Ephes 5.1 draws this as an inference from that text Sciamus ergo pro fundamento christianae Pietatis teneamus hoc primum principium fidem i. certissimam perswasionem de remissione peccatorum ex solâ paterna clementia condonatorum causam esse omnium virtutum omnium bonorum operum omnisque verae obedientiae They who stand for the first evidencing of Works overthrow this fundamental principle The Answer which Mr. Cotton gives to this Question Whether some saving qualification may be a first evidence of Justification is thus set down by himself in terminis A man may have an Argument from thence yea I doubt not a firm and strong Argument but not a first evidence In his Answer to Mr. Baylie Object 1. Keeping Gods Commandments and love to the Brethren are brought in by the Apostle John as first evidences of Justification 1 John 2.3 3.14 Answ These and the like Scriptures strongly argue That works of Sanctification are cerrain evidences of a good estate which is a truth so clearly held forth in Gods Word as if it were written with a beam of the Sun But can it be concluded from hence That John and the Christians to whom he wrote amongst which they of the lowest rank did know the Father had received an unction from the holy One and knew all things had no former evidence of their justification Did they never hear the inward witness of the Spirit nor see their Falth by which they did receive this witness Did they conclude a good estate by reflecting upon their keeping Gods Commandments and love to the Brethren without any immediate discerning of their inward Call or their act or acts of believing as precedent in order to their works Whether was this keeping Gods Commandments and love to the Brethren the procreant cause of their knowing and believing the love of God to them or the contrary The Apostle puts it out of doubt 1 Joh. 4.16.20 We know and believe the love that God hath to us What effect doth this produce We love him because he first loved us It is our knowing and believing that God loved us first even from eternity that makes us love him This is then the Apostles meaning We who have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father we who are believers are confirmed in our Faith because it is operative and works causing us to keep Gods Commandments and this special Commandment of loving the Brethren What is the keeping of Gods Commandments but charity out of a pure heart and Faith unfeined 1 Tim. 1.5 Faith whereby we are truly perswaded of Gods mercy towards us in Christ is the mother of a good Conscience and charity What is love to the Brethren but an holy affection wrought in us by the Holy Ghost whereby upon the apprehension of Gods love to us in Christ we do from our very hearts wish well unto them and study to do them all the good we can 1 Joh. 4.16.19 20. Truly we should neither love God nor the Brethren nor his Commandments did he not first make known his love in Christ to us Mr. Calvin upon these words 1 Joh. 2.3 And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his Commandments writes thus Notandus est hic orde quum dicit nos cognoscere quod noverimus Significat Dei obedientiam sic conjunct am esse scientiae ut tamen haes ordine fit prior ●cuti necesse est causam effectu suo esse priorem Object 2. An Effect argues the Cause as well as the Cause doth its Effect Why may we not begin with keeping Gods Commandments and love to the Brethren to evidence a good estate and make them our first evidences We can know by fruit that there is a tree upon which it did grow and by streams that there is a fountain from which they did flow though we never see the tree or the spring Answ The tree doth naturally bring forth its fruits and the fountain sends out its streams without any act of ours whether we see them or not But Justification which is a gracious act of God acquitting of us from our sins and accepting us as just for the righteousness sake of Christ received by Faith doth not cause us to bring forth works of Righteousness and true holiness by a meer Physical force but as apprehended by Faith which works by love Gal. 5.6 The perswasion that Mary Magdalene had of the pardon of her many sins made her love much Luk. 7.46 If a tree did not bring forth fruit nor a fountain send out water but by our looking on them as the instrumental cause surely we should see the tree as going before the fruit and the spring-head before the streams Good works are such effects as are caused by our apprehension of Gods mercy towards us in Christ Object 3. No man can limit God to what evidence he shall first bring into the Conscience of a justified estate Answ True yet can God limit himself He can do more by his absolute power than he doth by that which is actual If the Lord wil have all works of sanctification to be done in Faith out of love without a slavish fear as so many acts of gratitude for our Redemption through Christ they who deny sanctification to be the first evidence do not limit God but are limitted by God The Gospel is as immutable in the order as in the substance of its parts being an everlasting Gospel Rev. 14.6 Object 4. Many of Gods Children can evidence to themselves a good estate by their love to God his children and commandments who never were perswaded of Gods love to them by any argument taken either from the inward testimony of the holy Ghost or their act or acts of beleeving Answ This is asserted gratis but not proved How did those Children of God come unto Christ Surely they were taught of God and heard the spirits inward call He

terminis but in sense These are frequent Gospel expressions We are justified by Faith Faith is taken as well for the habit as the act When Faith is said not to fail that is to be understood of the habit When we are commanded to Beleeve that is meant of the act Bucer saith Zanchy is not ashamed to say That we beleeve sometimes in act sometimes only in habit There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Let a man be in Christ whether by the act or by the habit of Faith he is justified Which way soever Christ and his righteousness is made ours this righteousness is counted to us for ours by God who counts things as they are Object 3. He that beleeveth not is condemned already Joh. 3.18 We are not then justified but consequently to our act of beleeving Answ The act of Faith doth ever follow the habit and in order of time they can scarce be distinguished the one from the other But in order of causality Gods work goes before ours A Christian is in the order of nature in the state of grace before Faiths act though not in time In a word when it is said He that beleeveth not is condemned already it must be understood thus He that beleeveth not either actu secundo or actu primo else what will become of us when we are asleep and put forth no act of beleeving Object 4. If we be justified antecedently to our act of Faith then justification goes before vocation contrary to that Rom. 8.30 And whom he called them he also justified Answ That doth not follow Vocation is a gracious act of God by which we are brought into fellowship with Christ 1 Cor. 1.9 We are in our effectual call drawn into union with Christ by a Physical act of God in our passive conversion precedently to our act of beleeving Faith goes in order before justification both in our passive and active conversion the habit in the one and both habit and act in the other THESIS III. That the Faith of Gods Elect whereby they do beleeve on Christ is grounded upon a free simple absolute promise of Grace The Question is Whether God in the Gospel do first reveal his special love to his Elect in giving of them Christ and blessing through him in a conditional promise or in an absolute promise I say in an absolute These are my Arguments 1. Almighty God himself the Prophets Angels John Baptist Christ and the Apostles in the publishing of the Gospel have ever propounded Christ to be beleeved on in an absolute promise of Grace Gen. 3.15 15.5 Isa 9.6 Hos 2.19 20. Luk. 2.10 11. Matth. 3.2 4.17 10.7 2. The Elect have alwayes founded that act of Faith by which they did beleeve on Christ upon this principle Abraham beleeved on the Lord and it was counted unto him for righteousness Upon what promise did he ground his Faith Upon this absolute promise Thus shall thy Seed be Gen. 15.5 6. This Faith of Abraham is made a patern for all the spiritual seed of Abraham to follow Rom 4.23 24 25. Paul describeth the Faith by which he spiritually lived Gal. 2.20 In what Promise was Christ revealed Even in this absolute Declaration of Gods good Will towards him who loved me and gave himself for me The Apostle tells us That all the Elect are born as Isaac was Now we Brethren as Isaac was are the children of the Promise Gal. 4.28 In what form runs the Promise This is the word of Promise At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a Son Rom 9.9 The children of this absolute Promise are counted for the seed vers 8. 3. The proper immediate effects of justifying Faith do strongly argue That it is built upon an absolute promise powerfully applyed by the spirit in our effectual call How comes Faith to work by Love It apprehends Gods love to us in Christ How doth it cause Rejoycing It beholds Christ given for us and to us out of Gods eternal love Abraham rejoyced to see Chrtsts day and he saw it and was glad Joh. 8.56 How doth it beget Peace It looks at God as reconciled unto us in Christ How doth it cause Repentance It makes us apprehensive that we have sinned against our Saviour Omnium appetitivorum motuum causa est bonum vel malum apprehensum 4. As in Conjugal Contracts amongst us the Husband doth first make known his Love and express his absolute consent so doth Christ when he doth betroth the Church of his Elect unto himself in their effectual Call I will say unto them that were not my People Thou art my People and they shall say thou art my God Hos 2.23 5. If our Faith be not founded upon an absolute Promise then is not the Covenant of Grace established upon better Promises for form than the Covenant of Works contrary to that which is affirmed by the Apostle Heb. 8.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. The New Covenant Promises are better than the Old in this respect amongst the rest That they are absolute or upon conditions absolutely promised 6. The absolute Promises are either only to be propounded to Beleevers antecedently or else also to Unbeleevers for the begetting of Faith But they are not only to be propounded to Beleevers antecedently They were no Beleevers to whom the Lord by the Prophet Hosea applies the absolute Promises Hos 2.19 20. being such as were unmarried and not betrothed to what end did he propound them if not to build faith upon 7. There is no conditional Promise or Grant in all the Word of God wherein Christ doth convey himself over to us for the beginning of Salvation Christ doth absolutely promise to give us a new heart inhabit in us his Spirit Ezek. 36.26 27. What ever the Remonstrants say to put in any condition is against Scripture and Reason Wherefore we must beleeve on Christ and receive him as given in an absolute Promise of Grace This very Doctrine which teacheth us to ground our faith whereby we are perswaded of Gods Love to us in Christ upon an absolute Promise is maintained by Zanchy in his Miscellanies against Marbuchius who objects against it as one of Zanchy's Errors and new Revelations but he doth earnestly contend for the truth hereof affirming of it to be the Judgment of Bucer and that conformable to the Scriptures Which he could not but imbrace proving it by Four Arguments and Answers three Objections The Definition of Justifying Faith given by Dr. Zanchy and Mr. Calvin declares them to be of this mind Faith say they is a stedfast and assured knowledg of Gods kindness towards us which being grounded upon the truth of the free Promise in Christ is both revealed to our minds and sealed in our hearts by the Holy Ghost They make two Essential parts of Faith 1. An apprehension of Gods Love to us in Christ which is an act of the Intellect 2. A receiving and imbracing of Christ which is