Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A36515
|
A friendly debate between Satan and Sherlock containing a discovery of the unsoundness of Mr. William Sherlocks principles in a late book entituled A discourse concerning the knowledge of Jesus Christ &c., by this only medium, that they afford the Devil the same grounds for his hope of salvation that they do mankind, and so subvert the Gospel and transform Christianity into Mahumetanism / by an hearty enemy of Mahumetanism.
|
Danson, Thomas, d. 1694.
|
1676
(1676)
|
Wing D213; ESTC R24867
|
29,839
|
72
|
him with it but he says This is the natural Interpretation of Gods loving all his creatures according to the capacity of their Natures and of Gods fetching the Reason of his Love to them from their holiness and that imperfect too and of making the creatures ground of hope of pardon and acceptance to be not an offer'd Saviour or a Promise but Gods gracious Nature which obliges him to receive a penitent sinner and to reward all his good actions which are sincerely though not perfectly good and the like Doctrines of a late date which Mr. Sherlock puts in the place of the whole mystery of the Gospel till Christs Incarnation as the Dialogue will more particularly inform the Reader And what is this by the by to retort Mr. Sherlocks unjust charge upon his Antagonists most justly upon himself but to renounce Christs Mediation and trust to the goodness of his Nature as God and to set up a new Religion which hath no Covenant and no Promise As for the choice odious enough of a Dialogist to hold Mr. Sherlock in Discoursâ— The Author could not avoid it in regard of the Medium he insists upon For who can be imagined a fitter Person to debate the Point with him whether there be any ground of hope for the Devils Salvation than the person concerned Satan himself 3. The last thing that some Readers may fault is That this Dialogue detracts from the Devils abilities of managing a Controversy For he is commonly introduced as acquiescing in Mr. Sherlocks grounds which are liable enough to exception To that the Author replies that there is a Fitness and a Necessity of representing the Devil as a mean Disputant A Fitness There being nothing so dishonourable to himself which the Devil will not submit to to attain his mischievous end the involving mankind into the same irreparable misery with himself as dayly experience assures us Satan may be presumed to be well enough contented to seem overcome by Mr. Sherlocks argumentation That sinful men may be induced to lean upon an house which will not stand to take up strong hopes upon weak grounds which will certainly fail them when they most need them A Necessity in regard of the deficiency of Mr. Sherlocks Book to which the Dialogue is confined which affords not answers to multitudes of exceptions which might have been put into Satans mouth against the Principles therein contained And perhaps some Readers may find a fourth fault that the Author brings in Satan as playing upon Mr Sherlock But hath not Mr Sherlock taken the same liberty with his Antagonists Yes and made an Apology for it The Author is content to do so too and to undergo the censure of a Fool Qui maluit culpam excusare quum non committere i. e. who had rather commit a fault and get a pardon by an Apology than to be innocent and so stand in need of neither And one Apology will serve us both only changing the persons Where he pretends to argue gravely I have examined his Arguments with all possible gravity and solemnity where he plainly toys and trifles I have so far complied with his humour as to smile sometimes though as modestly as any Man can desire Pref. p. 3. But the Reader hath been too long detained in the Porch he may now with the Authors good leave go into the House it self if he thinks there is any thing within that is worth the seeing A Friendly-Debate BETWEEN SATAN and SHERLOCK SHerlock Well met Satan I am sorry to see you look so sad pray What 's the matter Satan Sure Sir you cannot be ignorant of the cause of my sadness Alas I am a miserable creature and see no hope of mending my condition Sherlock I had thought you had understood your self better then to be so causelesly dejected The light of nature and works of Creation and Providence assure us that God is so good that he designs and desires the happiness of all his creatures according to the capacity of their Natures p. 42. Either therefore thou art none of his Creatures or thy Nature uncapable of happiness or God designs and desires thy happiness as well as of other of his Creatures Satan What assurance the light of Nature and works of Creation and Providence gives you I know not But to me it gives none of Gods pardoning Mercy to sinners I have heard That the Love of God to sinners and his pardoning Mercy eould never have entred into the heart of Man or Angels but by Christ And the Scripture which I believe against my will seems to countenance the assertion for this love is called a mystery hid in God and made known to Gentiles and to Principalities and powers That is to Angels Sherlock What! I perceive you have been an hearer at some Conventicle one J. O. tells us so indeed but I say He is a confident Man to tell us so when the experience of the whole World confutes him For whatever becomes of his new Theories both Jews and Heathens who understood nothing at all of what Christ was to do in order to our recovery did believe God to be gracious and merciful to sinners And these natural Notions the Heathens had of God and all these discoveries God had made of himself in the works of Creation and Providence did assure them that God is very good and it is not possible to understand what goodness is without pardoning Grace p. 44. You remember that passage I suppose for I doubt not but you read our Books as well as hear the Fanaticks Preachments Satan I am willing to resign up my self to your conduct seeing your design is so favourable to my interest or otherwise I might start a small objection against the last clause of your Discourse That it seems then that if Angels and Men had never sinn'd it had not been possible for either of them to understand what the goodness of God is But to let that pass I have read in your Bibles that God will be gracious to whom he will be gracious and will shew mercy on whom he will shew mercy It seems to me then by these passages that notwithstanding the graciousness of Gods Nature he uses a Soveraignty in the exercise of Grace and is not induced thereto by any reason out of himself Sherlock I confess the Calvinists make strange work with such passages But I am of opinion that it is a strange notion of an Independent being that he must have no other reason for what he does but his own arbitrary will which is so far from being a perfection that it destroys all other perfections of his Nature p. 402. The excellency of Christs Love consists in this that he loves for no Reason in their sense who make him love the Person of a Believer without considering any other Qualification than that he is such an Individual Person Now I confess this is a wonderful Love But wherein the excellency of a consists I cannot see I am
says unawares Sherlock Never fear that but hear me out And I think no man will deny that God was very highly pleased with the perfect obedience of our Saviours life p. 330 331. Satan No I dare say not Socinus himself Enough enough I see what you would be at Christ by his obedience satisfecit voluntati divinae non justitiae i. e. satisfied Gods will not his justice I am past doubt now that J.O. and W.S. are not like to be very good friends in haste Sherlock Verbum sat sapienti A word is enough to the wise Now to answer your Queries which too hastily you concluded you were prevented in I will tell you what Faith is not requisite to the participation of the benefits of Christs Righteousness There is not a plainer Argument how apt men are to pervert the Scriptures to reconcile them to their own prejudices and preconceived Opinions than to observe what work they make with Abrahams Faith as if that Faith which was imputed to him for righteousness were a fiducial reliance and recumbency on Christ for salvation upon which the righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith was imputed to him p. 247. Satan If Abrahams Faith was not a fiducial reliance and recumbency on Christ for Salvation then to be sure nor any of his Childrens For they walk in his steps and imitate his Example But pray what Faith is requisite to make Christ our Saviour seeing a Saviour you will have him to be I care not if I hear you out Sherlock Our Faith in Christ must signifie such a stedfast belief of all those revelations which Christ both made to the World as governs our lives and actions p. 255. Satan Then I perceive I am one half of a Believer already for I stedfastly believe all those Revelations which Christ hath made to the World and I am not without hopes of being the other half in good time of having my life and actions governed by my Belief Sherlock You have no cause of despair for besides what I have told you already that God produces not what he loves by an Omnipotent Power but does good to his Creatures in such a way as is suitable to their natures Righteousness is called a gift because it is not owing solely to humane endeavours but is wrought in us by supernatural means by those powerful arguments and motives and divine assistances which God in infinite love and goodness has afforded the world by Jesus Christ p. 335. Satan I understand you right well That Righteousness or the good government of life and actions is called Gods gift because he gives one half but hardly the better half would a Fanatick say the arguments and motives which are very powerful in genere morali to induce the world to make it self-righteous and them you call divine assistances because God assists the World by them that is by those Arguments and Motives perswades men to use the power they have for to give them any power they wanted were for God to produce what he loves by an Omnipotent Power in genere Physico Sherlock There 's no need of any Omnipotent Power in the Fanatick sense For that righteousness which Goâ—â—equires under the Gospel must be an inward principle of love and obedience which changes our natures and transforms us into the Image of God as much as if we were born again and made new creatures p. 265. Satan You mean Sir that a stedfast Belief of Gods revelations does excite that love and obedience which changes our natures c. and so makes a new Birth needless but Mr. Sherlock some cavelling Fanatick would bâ— so perverse I dare say were you discoursing with him as to tell you that our natures are changed before they can put forth a Belief stedfast enough to excite love and obedience And as they will be fooling with Scripture-metaphors though you have corrected them for it p. 281. they would tell you that the Childs motion does not give it life but its life gives it motion Sherlock And as for that union that you mentioned between Christ and Believers the Fanaticks commonly explain it by first a Legal union such as is between the surety and debtor p. 281. some insist most upon the notion of a Surety others of a Mediator which come much to one but yet have some peculiar absurdities belonging to each of them p. 287. As first for the notion of a Surety Satan You need not tire your self with the repetition of them I can easily guess at them the imparity between Christs being a Surety and sureties among men As to that you know the Rule Similitudo non currit quatuor pedibus Similitudes do not hold in every thing It will be thought enough that they agree in the main that as the Debtor and Surety are so far one person in the eye of humane law that the payment of the Surety is the Debtors discharge so Christ and a Believer are so far one person in the eye of the Divine Law that Christs undergoing the punishment of the Law discharges the Believer from it and Christs active obedience to the Law disobliges the Believer from obeying it to that end for which it was originally intended and for which Christ obeyed it viz. that it might be the material and meritorious cause of our justification Sherlock Let us now try whether the notion of a Mediator can do any better service than the notion of a Surety p. 296. The notion of a Mediator includes no such thing as the fulfilling of all righteousness for them whom one is Mediator to p. 296 297. Satan Sir Your Antagonists answer will be the same in effect that though a Mediator is one who interposes between two differing parties and his Office is not to perform the conditions himself as you well observe p. 297 yet the difference between God and man could not be accommodated you will be told by this Mediator but by performing the conditions himself For the reason why God would not enter into a Covenant with sinners without the intervention of a sacrifice p. 297 was because his Law being broken till the penalty due to that breach was undergone and his honour thereby vindicated he could not right his Mercy without wronging his Justice Sherlock I have done with the Legal Vnion There is secondly a Mystical Vnion by vertue of which they imagine that we receive Grace from Christs person just as we do water out of a Conduit p. 197 204. Whereas a Mediator as Mediator ought not to be considered as the Fountain but as the Minister of Grace p. 209. Satan I have always understood that they mean no more by their Mystical Vnion than an union Analogical to natural union such as that of Vine and Branches Head and Members by vertue of which they suppose they are passive in receiving grace from Christ as the Branches in receiving sap from the Root and the Members spirits from the Head But this I perceive is an imagination