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
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 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
God If therefore he whom God loveth must not be guilty of sin and there is none but he is guilty of fin unless sin be pardoned remitted unto him that is unless he be justified Hence he leaveth it to be inferred and concluded that a man is not loved of God until he is justified Answer Here are many Propositions linked together which I shall examine in order And first whereas he saith Gods love is opposed to hatred To this I answer That Love and hatred in God as also the rest of his Attributes are the same single and undivided essence of God they are not therefore opposite as they are in God but in their Effects or in their Objects in quibus contrarie operantur in which they work those things which are contrary one to another For example justification and condemnation are opposite Effects of Gods Love and of his hatred But it doth not follow hereupon that because God damneth none but obstinate sinners whom he hateth that he loveth no man unlesse he be first justified from his sins For though God doth not condemn any nor hate any but for their sins yet he doth gratis freely justifie as many as he justifieth through his grace without any merits of theirs yea contrary to the merit of their sins as St. Paul teacheth Rom. 3.23 24. And this indeed the most Learned Chamier not only acknowledgeth but abundantly confirmeth by most valid testimonies of holy Scripture Probat enim justificationem effici per charitatem Dei tanquam efficientem causam For he proveth that our justification is through the love of God as the efficient cause thereof After that the kindness love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3 4 5. God commendeth his love to us that whereas we were yet sinners Christ died for us Being justified therefore by his blood we shall much more be saved now by his life Rom. 5. Seeing these things are thus alledged and delivered by Chamierus himself I wonder that he could so far forget himself as after a few lines to say Deum non amare aliter nisi remissis peccatis that God doth not loâ—e us unlesse our sins be first forgiven us For if it were so How could Gods Love be said to be the efficient cause of our justification For sure I am he will not say Causam effectu suo posteriorem esse that the Cause is after its Effect In the next place whereas he saith the hatred of God is for the guilt of sin therefore as long as the guilt of sin remaineth so long must we needs be hated of God I grant that God hateth none but for sin but it doth not follow hereupon that every one is hated of God as long as the guilt of his sins doth remain For then seeing the guilt of sin in all the Elect doth go before the remission thereof Quod enim non est non remittitur for that which is not cannot be said to be forgiven it would follow that the Elect themselves as well as others were once hated of God and not beloved of him whereas the Lord himself saith That he loved them with an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 Thus then it is God hateth sin in all yea in the Elect themselves but he pitied their persons and loved them from all eternity as they were his Creatures and out of this his love provided for them a Saviour Whereas then this most worthy Divine concludeth thus If therefore it behoveth him whom God loveth not to be guilty of sin but there is no man but he is guilty of sin unlesse his sin be pardoned and forgiven him that is unlesse he be justified and so leaveth it to be inferred that we must be justified before we can be loved of God That which I have said already doth sufficiently manifest the inconsequence hereof Whereunto this I add further that where thre is alike guilt we cannot alwaies infer a necessity of like condemnation As for example a Soveraign Prince or King when many of his Subjects are risen up against him in rebellion and are all alike guilty of death doth of his mercy and free grace pardon some of them but others he as freely maketh examples of his justice for terrour unto the rest of his Subjects and causeth them to be put to death Even thus it is in this present case for whereas all of us for our sins have deserved eternal death God of his grace converteth absolveth and justifieth some and others he leaveth in their sins and condemneth them according to their demerits Thus Gods love or his grace is the cause of our justification and not our justification the cause of Gods loving us as hath been shewed before and shal now by Gods grace be further proved tum ex concessis Chamieri both from that which Chamier granteth and delivereth for truth and from other places of Scripture beside those which I have already produced Lib. 22. cap. 12. de sola fide justificante Mat. 26.28 Mors Christi est vera causa justificationis saith he The death of Christ is the true cause of our justification And this indeed is most truly spoken of him for our blessed Saviour himself telleth us That he shed his blood for the remission of our sins Now how is this to be understood but that he shed his blood to purchase the pardon of our sins Eph. 1.7 For thus St. Paul also saith that we have redemption through his blood even the forgivenesse of our sins And St. John likewise saith that the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sins 1 John 1.7 Now what is this but for him to say that the forgiveness of our sins is an effect of Christs blood which he shed for us Or that I may speak in Chamier's words that Christs death is the true cause of our justification Now from hence I do first inferr that our justification cannot be the cause why God loveth us Quicquid enim est causa causae est causa causati For whatsoever is the cause of the cause is also the cause of that which is caused by that cause Now Gods love was the cause why he sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 1 John 4.10 Our propitiation therefore and consequently our justification which is therewith necessarily connexed or which is involved in it Rom. 3.25 cannot be the cause of Gods love for then Gods love should both be the cause and the effect of our propitiation and justification by Christ Again if Christs death be as it is indeed the true cause of our justification then we cannot be actually justified ab aeterno from all eternity Temporale enim non est causa aeterni for that which is in a definite time cannot be the cause of that which hath been for ever But Christ suffered for our sins non ab aeterno sed tempore Ã
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
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
the same but sometimes greater and sometimes lesser towards his children And in this sense David speaketh of Gods Love Psa 147.8 when he saith The Lord loveth the righteous and Solomon Prov. 8.17 where he bringeth in the Son of God the eternal wisdom of his Father speaking and saying I love them that love me that is them only and none else Now there was a time when the elect did not love God but the world and the things thereof a time when they were not righteous but wicked they were not at that time therefore loved of God in this sense as Solomon and David here speak of his Love that is so as to taste or to be made partakers of the comfortable effects thereof The Lord also speaketh of his Love tanquam de re futura as of a thing to be accomplished in time to come when he saith or his revolted people I will love them freely I will Hos 14.4 saith the Lord he did not therefore thus love them alwaies Now this also must be understood not of the internal Act of Gods love which is eternal but of the manifestation of his love in the saving effects thereof Thus also are we to understand St. Paul when he blesseth the Corinthians and prayeth for them saying 2 Cor. 13. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God be with you For his meaning is not that God would then first begin to love them as if he had hated them or had borne them no good will before but that he would multiply the effects of his Love upon them or that he would continue the gracious influence of his Love towards them in the most comfortable and saving effects thereof In the same sense also doth our Saviour speak of Gods Love John 14.21 He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them it is he that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him When Christ saith here He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him he speaketh as the next words do shew of the manifestation of his and his Fathers love by the saving effects thereof Tunc enim Deus novâ ratione suam exhibet dilectionem cum novo homines afficit beneficio For then doth God exhibit his Love after a new manner when he bestowetn on men a new benefit saith Jansenius Like whereunto are the words of Dionisius Carthusianus on this saying of Christ God loveth all that are predestinate eternally and simply even then when they do not love him but are wicked For he first loved us 1 John 4.19 He loveth them I say according to that he seeth them to be in his Decree of Predestination But when they are converted and do love God he bestoweth on them the effects of his Love which he doth fully and finally vouthsafe them when they obtain the inheritance of Heaven Peter Lumbard also Lib. 3. Sent. Dist. 32. doth excellently unfold this matter I will therefore shut up this discourse in his words The Love of God saith he is considered two manner of waies secundum essentiam et secunduÌ„ efficientiam according to the essence according to the efficiency of it It is neither more nor less according to the essence but according to the efficiency of it In which regard those may be said to be more loved for whom out of his love he hath from eternity prepared majus bonuÌ„ the greater good or a greater blessing and doth in time confer the same upon them and those lesse loâ—ed quibus non tantum for whom and on whom he hath from eternity prepared and in time bestoweth not so much good or not so great a blessing Thereupon also it is that some when they are converted and justified are said then to begin to be loved of God not that God can love any one nova dilectione with a new love yea he loved with everlasting love before the foundation of the world whomsoever he loveth But they are then said to begin to be loved of him when they receive the effects of Gods eternal love to wit grace or glory Whereupon Augustine saith Far be it from us that we should say that God loveth any one temporally as it were with a new love which was not in him before with whom nec praeterita transierunt neither the things that are past have passed away et futura jam facta sunt and those that are future are already present or are done Therefore he loved all his Saints before the foundation of the world sicut praedestinavit as they were predestinated by him But when they are converted and do find him then they are said to begin to be loved of him Ut eo modo dicatur quo potest humano affectu capi quod dicitur to speak after that manner that the thing which is spoken may be comprehended by mans capacity Thus also when God is said to be angry with the wicked and well pleased with the good the change is in them and not in Him as light is offensive to weak eyes but comfortable to strong to wit through the change that is in them not in it self so when any one begins to be Gods friend being justified he himself is changed not God Now if the Question be asked whether one may be said to be loved of God more at one time then at another distinguenda est dilectionis intelligentia that we may understand this aright we must distinguish of love for if it be referred unto the effects of love concessibile est it is to be granted that God doth love some more at one time than at another but if it be referred to the essence of Gods Lo e inficiabile est it is to be denied Hitherto Peter Lumbard And thus this deep mystery or matter is sufficiently cleared I 'le onely add two things more to preâ—ent the mistaking of this Doctrine The former is that all those quibus ab aeterno Deus bene vult whom God eternally loveth shall in time have all those good things that is those effects of grace wrought in them which he decreed for them As long therefore as men do live in sin they cannot conclude nor they cannot believe that God loveth them with any special love as he doth his Elect whom he hath appointed heirs of salvation because as yet no effects of Election do appear in them The other thing which I think good here to add is that Mr. D. hath no cause so sharply and bitterly as he doth to reproâ—e some of our Protestant Preachers and writers because they tell men that if they forsake sin and follow after Gods commandements and do that which is acceptable in his sight then God will love them For seeing they speak no otherwise of Gods Love than the holy Scripture doth Why should he so rack their words as if they taught that God were mutable in
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
house Both these Apostles do inform us that there is something to be done of us that we may be saved that is that we must repent and believe in Christ and be fruitful in all good works which are inseparable effects of Faith and Repentance Whereupon St. Paul exhorteth us not to be weary of well doing Gal. 6.9 and to incourage us hereunto he telleth us that in due time we shall reap if we faint not There is something then to be done or us contrary to Mr. S. his assertion that we may receive more then we have already For as we are here by the Apostle given to understand this present life of ours is but the seed time wherein we are to sow the seeds of virtue and good works and hereafter at Christs appearing the harvest cometh when we shall reap a crop of glory This is the expectation of all true believers for as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 15.19 had we hope in Christ only in this life we were of all men the most miserable Lastly Whereas he saith 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 Hereunto I answer That seeing Gods glory is to be preferred before our own salvation therefore we ought both to desire and to endeavour were it possible to do not as much but more for what is done for us already as if we were to be saved by what we do our selves But otherwise I must tell him that if we would obtain our salvation for our own works then we must look to it that they be pure and perfect and that we do all that the Law requireth without fayling in any thing But he that shall challenge such perfection to himself is to be ranked amongst proud Pharisees and deserveth not the name of an humble and lowly hearted Christian For a farewel therefore to this first reason of his I would know how Faith can be the only work of the Gospel if the Gospel do teach us to do as much in way of thankfulnesse to God for our redemption and salvation as if we were to redeem and save our selves Obiect 2 I come now to his next Reason whereby he endeavourete to prove That Faith is the only work of the Gospel Salvation saith he is a short work Believe and thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.10 Answ But I must tell him As short as he maketh it there will be work enough for the believer all his life long for the Faith which St. Paul speaketh of will not suffer a believer to be idle or unfruitful but as he himself telleth us Gal. 5.6 1 Cor. 15.58 it worketh by love yea it stirreth up believers alwaies to abound in the work of the Lord. Mt. S. his Faith therefore if it be without works and do set all upon Christs score as if he had repented for us and done all for us that we our selves should do is no better as St. James telleth us Jam. 2.17 then a dead Faith Obiect 3 Now whereas he saith It is the Gospel way of dispensation to assure and passe over salvation in Christ to any that will believe Answ I grant it is so but must tell him that true Faith as our Saviour himself teacheth us is to believe the Gospel Mark 1.15 The Faith therefore that is not founded on the Promises of the Gospel but a mans own fancie as is the Faith which Mr. S. requireth is not a true but a false Faith Obiect 4 But saith he There needs no more on our sides to work or warrant salvation to us but to be perswaded that Jesus Christ died for us because Christ hath suffered and God is satisfied Now suffering and satisfaction that great work of salvation How Christ by his Passion hath wrought the great work of our salvation I have already shewed But it followeth not hereupon that there is nothing to be done by us in a lower way for we must walk in that narrow way of which our Saviour speaketh Matth. 7.14 Matt. 7.14 that leadeth unto life or else we shall never come to Heaven nor have any part in that salvation which is there purchased and prepared by Christ for his Saints It 's therefore not only a false but a most impious and most dangerous assertion to say as here Mr. S. doth That there needs no more on our sides to work or warrant salvation to us but to be perswaded that Jesus Christ died for us If this were so then indeed salvation would be a short work For not only all those must needs be saved who are perswaded that Christ died for all men absolutely and therefore for themselves in particular but also the most loose and licentious Libertines and carnal Gospellers that are for even those if not all yet many of them do perswade themselves that Christ died for them as well as for any other but this Faith of theirs is nothing else but most deadly and damnable presumption as is shewed in the 15. Question Lastly Whereas he objecteth and saith They only Obiect 5 are justified who believe Rom. 1.17 Acts 13.39 And that we are justified by grace not of works Rom. 3 2â— Answ This we willingly grant but tell him that there is more required to our salvation than to our justification For as Bernard saith excellently well Bona operae De gratiae et libero arbitrio sunt occultae praedestinationis indicia futurae glorificationis praesagia via regni non causa regnandi Good works are tokens of our predestination that otherwise lieth hidden from us fore-tokens of our future glorification the way to the Kingdom but not the cause of the crown Whosoever therefore liveth here idly and worketh not nor imployeth the talent which he hath received of his heavenly Lord and Master shall never come to Heaven Matth. 25.30 but be cast into utter darknesse where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Again whereas he saith They only are justified who believe We acknowledge this true but tell him that no man believeth until he seeth his own misery by sin and in what great need he standeth of Christ as hath been already shewed Albeit then we are justified by Faith only yet this Faith is not ordinarily to be had without some precedent qualifications such as are the hearing of the word denial of a mans own self and of his righteousnesse and a belief of perswasion that salvation is to be had by Christ only Object 2. Gods love is not offered to all equally and indifferently or to all absolutely Object 2 Secondly He alledgeth also these sayings of holy Scripture against us as if they excluded all preparation to Faith God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 God so loved the world that he gave his