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
his Love as man is and not rather understand them to speak popularly of the Love of God as the Scripture it self doth in those places which I have before alleadged that is not in regard of the essence but of the efficiency and influence thereof in its gracious and most comfortable effects He hath the more reason thus candidly to inrerpret their words because they are at least some of them no such babes that they can be thought to be ignorant of the eternity and immutability of Gods Love being considered simply as it is in it self any more then of his other Attributes Quest 4. What is meant by our Reconciliation to God SECT I. Wherein is shewed What it is Reconcil of man to God pag. 48. Reconcil of God to man pag. 34. MR. D. distinguisheth hereof and saith That it is twofold 1. Gods Reconciliation to us 2. Our Reconciliation to God Of which he speaketh thus We have not one jot not one apex in all the new Covenant to be found of reconciling God to us but of our reconciliation to God Why then doth he write so much of Gods reconciliation to us not well weighing what he saith For Reconciliation importeth precedent enmity or at least some distast and displeasure taken for some fault committed or offence given For as Zanchius In Epistolam ad Coloss Davenantius and other learned do say Reconciliare nihil aliud est quà m amicitiam offensione aliqua diremptam resarcire et sic inimicos in pristinam concordiam reducere To reconcile is nothing else than to repair friendship after it hath been broken off by some offence and so of enemies to make them agree again as they did formerly In this sense our Saviour himself speaketh of Reconciliation when he saith If thou bringest thy gift to the altar Matth. 5.23 and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee that is that he is offended with thee for some fault or offence or other which thou hast committed against him leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way and be reconciled to thy brother that is go and confesse thy fault to him and give him that satisfaction which is meet and so regain his favour Now thus cannot God be said to reconcile himself unto us seeing there is no need thereof nay seeing it is altogether impossible there should be any such thing It is therefore but an improper or an abusive speech to say that God was alwaies reconciled unto us And this indeed Mr. D. ingenuously acknowledged Reconcil of God to man pag. 5. for because God alwaies loved his elect therefore saith he he cannot properly be said to reconcile himself unto them And may not I say further Because he never wronged them nor gave them any just cause of offence therefore in propriety of speech he cannot be said to reconcile himself unto them But I have no intent to carp at words so that no wrong sense be couched under them For I know th at good Divines other good Authors do now and then speak of Reconciliation as common to both parties See Estius in Lib. 4. Sent Dâ—st 35. Sect. 7. Uxor marito reconciliatur quae offensa est Erasmus annot in 1 Cor. 7. I come therefore to the other branch of his distinction that is Our reconciliation unto God In remissione igitur peccatorum cum primis consistit haec reconciliatio in quit Zanchius in haec verba Pauli ab illo citata ad Eph. cap. 2. Reconcil of man to God p. 48. 50. St. Paul sheweth us wherein this doth consist when he saith that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them For hereby he giveth us to understand that our reconciliation to God consisteth in his pardoning of our sins and accepting of Christs Passion as a satisfaction unto his justice for them But Mr. D. taketh it in another sense For he distinguisheth of mans reconciliation to God and saith that it is either Original whereby our nature was reconciled unto God by the death of his Son without any condition or qualification wrought in us or Actuall which he calleth the reconciliation of our persons or consciences and saith that it is wrought within us although not by our own power Now he understandeth hereby nothing else Reconcil of man to God pag. 51. but that I may use his own words the manifestation of Gods reconciliation to us and of the reconciliation of our nature to God in Jesus Christ But surely not only our natures but our persons are reconciled to God by the death of Christ Heb. 9.14 Yea the blood of Christ as the Apostle saith doth purge our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God because Christ by his death hath purchased not only the pardon but the purging away of our sinful corruptions By Christs death then we are reconciled to God in regard of merit but we are actually reconciled unto God when by Faith we do receive Christ and do apply his merits unto our souls Of the former the Apostle speaketh 2 Cor. 5.19 20. viz. Rom. 5.10 Eph. 2.16 when he saith God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and in the other places alledged by Mr. D. Of the latter when he saith We pray you in Christs stead that ye be reconciled unto God Now how the former can be said to be Original and the Reconciliation of our Nature I cannot see nor conceive seeing it was wrought for us by Christ without us and is not originally neither propagated to us nor inherent in our Nature as Original sin is Again what reason hath he to call the manifestation of our Reconciliation to our consciences by the name of actual Reconciliation For though nothing doth appear or shew it self unto us until it doth actually exist Yet many things do actually exist and have being though they are not presently discerned of us SECT II. Objections answered Object BUt saith Mr. D. We were never out of Gods favour he alwaies loved us by our actual Reconciliation therefore unto God can be meant nothing else but the manifestation of Gods Reconciliation to us and of the Reconciliation of our Nature to God in Christ and not any actual bringing of us into Grace and favour with God Answer Hereunto I answer That although we were never absolutely out of Gods love and favour to speak of his Love as it is in it self yet notwithstanding he did not approve of us but disliked us and was offended and displeased with us while we continued in our sins we were in this regard therefore reconciled unto God until we were converted unto him and did by Faith lay hold on Christ even as David though he alwaies loved and favoured Absolon yet when he had slain his brother Ammon was offended and displeased with him and would not admit him into his presence until Joab wrought the means of his reconciliation But here it
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
tamen factam nostram Hence I infer these three Conclusions 1. That a man may have right to a thing and yet no right in it 2. That as long as he hath no right in it it is none of his 3. That it becometh his by being delivered unto him Now I demand Is not Christ delivered unto us by God the Father and by himself when in the Gospel he is preached and offered unto us and we by Faith do accept of him and not before These things being thus premised I will now by Gods gracious assistance examine Master S. his 7. Arguments whereby he endeavoureth to prove that Christ is not made ours by Faith Object It is an act of Omnipotency saith he to make Christ ours God only therefore doth this and no act of ours Answer Whereunto I answer that God only doth make Christ ours as the Author of this Divine Act and that Faith doth make him ours after a far inferiour manner that is as an instrument created by God in our hearts whereby we do lay hold of Christ and receive him being offered and given unto us of God Christ then is said to be made ours by Faith in the same sense as we are said to be justified by Faith that is Organice instrumentally For as Keckerman hath observed in his Logick the Act of the Author or Principal efficient cause is many times attributed to the Instrument Thus not only our justification but also our sanctification which is Gods proper Act an Act of his Almighty power is in holy Scripture attributed to Faith sometimes to the word of God and sometimes to the Ministers who do preach the word To Faith Acts 15.9 where St. Peter saith that God did purifie the hearts of the believing Gentiles by Faith to wit both from the guilt of sin in their justification and from the tyranny and dominion of sin in their sanctification To the word 1 Pet. 1.23 We are born again not of mortal seed but of immortal by the word of God Lastly to the Ministers of the word 1 Cor. 4.15 For St. Paul saith to the Corinthians I have begotten you by the Gospel And he calleth Onesimus his for and saith Philem. 11. that he begat him in his bonds He telleth us also that God sent him to the Gentiles to turn them from darkness to light Act. 26.18 and from the power of Satan to God Now in the same sense that we are said to be purified converted and born again by Faith the word and the Ministers that preach the word Is Christ said to be made ours and we to be justified by Faith to wit instrumentally as by means which it pleased God to use in our ingrafting into Christ and in our justification which are wrought only and altogether hy his Divine power and not by any power of the means which receive all their efficacy from him and can do nothing towards a sinners conversion of themselves The result of all thit I have said is this It is an Act of Gods Almightiness to make Christ ours by his own power and authority as the Author of this work But it is no Act of Omnipotency to make Christ ours instrumentally that is to receive him by Faith when he is offered to us of God A second Objection of M. S. is this Objection If Faith should give us our interest in Christ then as our Faith increaseth our interest should increase and we should be more and more justified and forgiven which none allow It is true indeed Answer if Faith did justifie us by any inherent virtue or dignity of its own then as M.S. saith the more we grow in Faith the more we should be interested in Christ be more more justified but he wel knoweth that the Protestant Doctrine is that Faith justifieth not as it is a vertue or any act of ours sed objectivè et correlativè but in regard of Christ the object thereof whereunto it relateth Even as a Chirurgion may be said to heal a man that is wounded with his own hands not that his hands had any vertue in them to heal but because by them he searched the wound and applyed a healing plaister unto it which drew out the purulent corruption and cured him For even so are we in like manner said to be justified and saved by Faith because we do by Faith lay hold of Christ and apply his merits to our souls So that it is not so much Faith as Christ in whom we believe by whom we are justified and saved that is who hath both merited our justification and doth actually acquit and absolve us from our sins And in like manner doth Faith interest us in Christ not for the dignity and worthiness thereof but because it is Gods Ordinance and appointment that we should receive Christ and have him dwelling in our hearts by Faith Wheresoever therefore there is true Faith to be found though never so weak and faint or feeble that man is a true member of Christ perfectly justified and absolved from all his sins Those of old amongst the Israelites that were stung with the fiery Serpents were perfectly cured if they did look up to the brasen Serpent and beheld it although their sight was never so dark and dim as well as the younger sort whose sight was most perfect so a weak Faith as well as a strong doth lay hold of Christ and of justification and salvation by him For as the Israelites were healed by beholding the brazen Serpent because it was Gods Ordinance that health which was otherwise wrought miraculously only by his own Divine power should hereupon follow and ensue so the same is to be said of Faith And therefore from hence an answer may be given to that question which Mr. S. asketh in his next words where speaking of some who call these other acts of Faith that is when it is grown and encreased Faith of assurance and Acts of manifestation he faith If Faith be thus in its other degrees of working Objection Why not in its first His meaning is as I take it if Faith when it is encreased doth only assure a man of his salvation and maketh the pardon of his sins manifest unto him why doth not the first and least degree of Faith also give us only an assurance and manifestation of our salvation by Christ but otherwise not any interest in him at all Answer Whereunto I answer First that a strong Faith doth give us that assurance and evidence or manifestation of our salvation by Christ which a weak Faith cannot because it doth lay firm hold on the promises of the Gospel that are the only ground of assurance which of a weak Faith are apprehended but weakly even as an Israelite with a quick sight could by that natural vertue that was in his eye more clearly behold the brazen Serpent then he that had a dark and dim eye sight But as he that did lift up his eyes and beheld
will be said So also did Christ reconcile us unto his Father by his death Object therefore we were reconciled before we did believe in Christ It is true we were reconciled to God by his death Answer 1 quoad meritum vel quoad pretium redemptionis et reconciliationis nostrae in regard of the merit or price of our Redemption and Reconciliation but we are not actually reconciled until by Faith we do believe in Christ 1 John 5.11 12. and are united unto him For he that hath the Son hath life but he that hath not the Son hath not life but the wrath of God abideth on him And hereupon it was that St. Paul accounted all he had but as dung that he might win Christ Phil. 3.8 Math. 17.4 and be found in him For why Christ is the beloved Son of the Father in whom it is that he is well pleased with us As long therefore as we are out of Christ and remain in our sins we are liable to Gods displeasure and therefore had need to be reconciled unto him For though God loveth us ab aeterno from everlasting amore complacentiae with a love of complacencie and delight secundum intuitum praedestinationis suae that is as he beholds us justified and sanctified in his Decree of predestination yet being considered as we were of our selves when we remained in our sins and were aliens from Christ he could take no pleasure in us If this answer do not give full satisfaction then I say Answer 2 further that although God loves his elect eternally yet he suspendeth the saving effects of this his love towards them until they do believe in Christ In that regard therefore they may be said to be reconciled unto him when they are converted and do believe because he then taketh off this suspension by working in them the saving effects of his love and not only declaratively For first God works these effects in them and then by them declares and manifests his Love unto them and assures them thereof Answer 3 Lastly Though God loved us eternally as we were elected of him in his eternal Decree of Predestination that is in regard of the felicity and happiness which he alwaies intended us notwithstanding we were by God in his word bound over unto eternal punishment and condemnation for our sins while we lived in them but when we did return unto God and believe in Christ then we were justified and absolved from our sins and from the sentence of condemnation and consequently were actually reconciled unto God for there is no reall difference between the justification and reconciliation of a sinner When a sinner by Faith in Christ obtainerh pardon of his sins then he is reconciled to God St. Paul therefore useth the words justification and reconciliation promiscuously Rom. 5.9.10 and indifferently as importing the same thing being justified by the blood of Christ saith he we shall be saved from wrath through him This he proveth thus for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son where you see he putteth reconciled for justified implying there is no real difference between them much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life See this proved afterwards Question 6. Now we are not actually justified from the sentence of condemnation which God in his word hath denounced against us for our sins until we do believe in Christ It follows necessarily therefore that we are not actually reconciled unto God until we do believe in Christ and are united unto him Quest 5. Whether the Doctrine of Reconciliation as Mr. D. hath propounded it be a better means of comfort to distressed consciences then our Protestant Doctrine is FIrst He teacheth that God was reconciled to us that is as he understandeth it that he loved us ab aeterne from all eternity without any precedent dispositions or qualifications which he found or fore-saw in us or any conditions to be performed by us to gain His love and His favour Now whatsoever comfort this can afford to any if it be a means to keep those that are great sinners or such as are troubled with the apprehension of their own unworthinesse from despair our Doctrine will do the same also For there is no judicious nor no orthodox Protestant who teacheth not that God loved us freely from everlasting and that His love is the cause of our loving Him and of all the goodness that is in us as St. John saith We love him because he loved us first 1 John 4.19 and not that he loveth us because we love Him to speak properly of his Love as it is in it self though otherwise when we speak of Gods Love according to the influence it hath upon us or according to the gracious effects thereof we say as the holy Scripture doth that the Lord will love those that love him and keep his commandements In this sense our Saviour speaketh of Gods Love If a man love me he will keep my words John 14.23 and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And John 16.27 The Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me have believed that I came out from God Where we must not so understand our Saviour as if he made his Disciples loving of him and believing him to be the cause why God did first set his Love upon them for he loved them erernally but to be the cause why God did aboundantly testifie his Love towards them by many gracious rare and most comfortable effects thereof rather than to the world We may say therefore as Dionysius Carthusianus doth That our Saviour in these words setteth down the cause of Gods Love à posteriori that is he cause of the effects of Gods Love and so maketh his Disciples loving of him and believing in him a sign and an assurance unto them that his Father loved them Reconcil of man to God pag. 49 50 52 57. Secondly speaking of our Reconciliation to God that is as he expresseth himself of the declaration or manifestation of Gods Reconciliation to us he teacheth that we are thus reconciled to God by Faith only but maketh joy in the Holy Ghost and the Love of God and of our Brethren and new Obedience inseperable Companions of this our Reconciliation Now it a man cannot finde these graces in himself What great comfort can he take that Gods Love is eternal without any conditions on our par◠to be performed Or how can this encourage men against desperation more than our Doctrine which is That Gods Love may be known by the inseparable effects thereof For he will not say that God loves all or that he was from all eternity reconciled unto all but only unto the Elect. Until therefore a man shall finde in himself the undoubted effects of his Election he can take no great comfort in this that Gods Love is free and without
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
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
in Christ by Gods Judgments 2 Chro. 33.12 13. Luke 15. wherewith he hath visited them and awakened their consciences and by meditating of the shortnesse and uncertainty of their life here in this world and by other the like morives and considerations And it is manifest that not a few but many have extraordinarily been prepared unto Faith in Christ by miracles and strange works Mark 16.20 John 11.45 20.31 which have been wrought by God for the confirmation of the Gospel Lastly It is not to be denied that God both can work Faith yea and that he hath extraordinarily and most marvellously wrought it in some without any precedent qualifications or preparations at all To teach the contrary is to deny Gods power Luke 1.44 and to contradict the holy Scripture Quest 8. Whether we are made the Sons of God by Faith in Christ or but declared so to be Reconcil of man to God pag. 66. Gal. 3.20 MR. D. his peremptory resolution is We are not made the Sons of God by Faith for we were before reconciled unto him and were his sons And whereas S. Paul saith ye are all the sons of God by Faâ—th in Christ Jesus he will have the sense and meaning hereof to be That we are declared to be the sons of God by Faith in Christ Jesus But the Apostle saith you are and not are declared to be the sons of God though that be true also He speaketh therefore of the essence of son-ship and not of the manifestation or appearance hereof only Object But here it will be said Were all the Galathians that made profession of the Faith of Christ the sons of God really Answ It is not likely they were St. Pauls words therefore must be understood per reduplicationem to wit thus you are all the sons of God that is all of you who are the sons of God are his sons by Faith in Christ Jesus Or else we are to say that he speaketh of them according to the judgment of charity when he saith ye are all the sons of God presuming them to be so and then specifieth the means how they came to be his sons when he addeth by Faith in Christ Jesus But if they he will not admit of this Exposition I would know of him what it is that maketh a man to be a son Is it not his parents begetting of him Sure I am that is fundamentum hujus relationis the foundation of this relation Now St James telleth us That God hath begotten us by the word of truth Jam. 1.9 1 Pet. 1.23 St. Peter also saith that we are renati born again not of mortal seed but of immortal by the word of God Whence it followeth necessarily that we are not the sons of God until we do hear his word and are thereby converted to the Faith and obedience of Christ But Mr. D. tâ—inketh to avoid and put off this also by saying that the Apostles do say Object that we are regenerated and born again by the word because we are declared so to be and not that we are in deed and in truth regenerated by the word But this will not serve his turn Answ for the word being made effectual by the spirit is that which begets faith in us for Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of of God Now it is absurd to say that a man is regenerated while he liveth in infidelity or incredulity and is void of Faith Again until men hear the word their minds are blined with ignorance and their lives are full of impurity and uncleanness And hereupon St. Paul saith that God sent him unto the Gentiles to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that is by his preaching Gods word unto them which they had not heard before Yea our Saviour's own Disciples were unclean as all men are by nature until they heard the word as those words of Christ do testifie Now ye are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you They were not so therefore before and how then could they be said to be regenerated without the word For by regeneration men are made partakers of a new nature which they had not before St. Paul also speaking of the whole Church of Christ in general saith that he sanctifieth and cleanseth it with the washing of water by the word All therefore generally and ordinarily without the word are unclean and unregenerated Object But let us see how Mr. D. endeavoreth to prove that we were the sons of God before we did believe The Holy Ghost saith he declareth son-ship to be the cause of giving the Spirit when he saith Because ye are sons Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father Seeing therefore a man cannot believe without the grace of the Spirit it followeth necessarily that we are the sons of God before we do believe Answ But hereunto I answer that the Spirit is given diversly First to regenerate us for we are born again not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man John 1.13 but of God by the powerful operation of his Spirit Even as our Saviour himself also teacheth when he saith Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit John 3.5 he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Thus the Spirit is not a consequent of our regeneration whereby we are born the sons of God but a precedent cause thereof 2. Again the Spirit is also given to increase Faith and holinesse in us and to strengthen and establish us in grace after we are regenerated For as Christ by his Spirit beginneth the good work of grace in us so doth he by his Spirit perfect the same Phil. 1.6 2 Cor. 3.5 and not we our selves by any power of our own Lastly After we are born again the Spirit is also given to comfort us and to assure us of our Adoption by crying in our hearts Abba Father Thus as Mr. D. saith son-ship is in some sort the cause of giving the Spirit But otherwise we are not sons before and without any work of the Spirit at all for he is the Author or principal efficient cause of our being regenerated and born again the sons of God Another of Mr. D's Objections is this The Apostle saith Object that God the Father hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself We were not therefore begotten in time by the word but it is an eternal grace Whereunto I answer that he might as well infer Answ and conclude that we are alteady glorified and in actual possession of Heaven For God hath predestinated us to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light It 's strange that he cannot distinguish between the Decree of Election it self which is eternal and the effects thereof that is to say the things whereunto we are Elected
better Covenant which was established upon better promises to wit then the former covenant was which God by the Ministry of Moses made with the Israelites Now by this former covenant if he meaneth the covenant of grace as it was administred unto the Israelites of old under the Law of Moses and by this latter and better covenant the same covenant of grace as it is plainly laid down in the Gospel the promises of this latter covenant are better then those of the former First Because they are clearly delivered in express and plain words whereas those were darkly shadowed out under types and figures and dimly represented in obscure Prophecies Secondly Because there is a greater measure of the spirit and of the graces thereof both promised and exhibited now under the new Testament since the comming of Christ in the flesh then was formerly in the old Testament This may well be the meaning of the Apostle But if we shall say that he doth in these words of his compare together the covenant of works and the covenant of grace then I say that the promises of the Gospel are better promises then are the promises of the covenant of works First Because remission of sins is promised in the Gospel which is not to be had by the Law For whosoever fulfilleth not all the Commandements thereof Deut. 27.26 it shutteth him up under the everlasting wrath and curse of God without any hope of pardon Again The promises of the Gospel are said to be better then those of the Law because the Gospel promiseth grace whereby we are inabled to perform the conditions thereof which the Law doth not For the Law only forbiddeth sin and commandeth that which is holy and just and good but ministreth no power to perform that which it requireth but in the new covenant of the Gospel the Lord promiseth that he will write his Lawes in our hearts and put his spirit within us Heb. 8. and cause us to keep his Commandements and to do them Thus by the grace of God in Christ we are strengthened and inabled to keep the covenant of the Gospel whereas it is altogether impossible for us so to keep the Law as to be justified and saved thereby SECT VII The learned Protestants do hold the promises of the Gospel not to be absolute but conditional THere is one Objection more which I think good to remove and that is this The learned Protestants as by name Bucanus Locis Com. Theol. and some others make this main difference between the Law and the Gospel that the promises of the Law were conditional but the promises of the Gospel sunt gratuitae are free promises It may seem therefore that Mr. S. and those that teach as he doth do preach true Protestant Doctrine and that we which teach otherwise have revolted and departed from the Protestant Religion at leastwise in this particular Answ But I answer It is nothing so for Bucanus explaineth himself and sheweth what he meaneth by the conditions which he speaketh of to wit such as are causae causes of the blessings that are promised Whereas therefore the Gospel saith si credideris if thou shalt believe particula si non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this particle if is not a note of a cause but of a consequence saith he Now this we do willingly grant that remission of sins and salvation are freely promised in the Gospel and that our faith and repentance are no causes of them Bucanus therefore teacheth altogether as we do for in the next words he saith that our faith or our believing non est causa vel meritum sed modus vel instrumentum sine quo non potest fieri applicatio beneficiorum Christi is not a cause or merit but a meanes or instrument without which there can be no application of Christs benefits unto us And if this be not enough he saith afterwards in expresse words that Jeremy calleth the Law of Moses being considered by it self and in it self the legal and old Covenant because it was the covenant of our creation whereby the Lord required of us perfect obedience to be performed by our own strength but the Gospel a new or a free covenant sub conditione fidei ex gratuito favore ab ipso nobis donandae upon the condition of faith to be freely given us by him Thus Bucanus who in his common places hath abridged and drawn into a short sum both Calvin and the principal and best of the Protestant writers that were before him sheweth how we are to understand them if any of them any where or other do say that the promises of the Gospel are not conditional as those of the Law were And for further confirmation that the Protestants do teach that salvation is offered us in the Gospel non simpliciter absolute sed sub conditione fidei resipiscentiae not simply and absolutely but upon condition of our faith and repentance I will also alledge Volum 2. Thes Theol. Loc. 4. what Pisâ—â—tor and Pareus two of the most principal Protestant Doctors do write First of all then Piscator setting down the difference between the Law and the Gospel hath these words The covenant of the Law is whereby the Lord of old promised unto the Israelites all sorts of temporal blessings and eternal life it self upon condition of perfect obedience to be performed by them to his Law by their own strength and on the contrary threatned sundry and divers curses and eternal death it self to all that should transgress but even one Commandement of the Law and they on the other side promised that obedience unto God The sanction or ratification of this covenant is described Exod. 24. The covenant of grace is that whereby God hath promised his gratious favour for ever to all that believe in Christ upon condition indeed of that their faith and sincere piety or new obedience joyned with it notwithstanding of neither to be performed as by the believers own strength but as by that free favour to be bestowed on them by him and they on the other side being assisted by Gods grace do promise faith and obedience unto him â—olleg 1. de lvang et gratia p. 21. Pareus also setting down the difference between the Law and the Gospel amongst other things hath these words The Law promiseth life with condition of a mans own righteousness the Gospel promiseth the same with condition of repentance and faith in Christ This might be sufficient notwithstanding because the same Pareus doth excellently in another place express and unfold the conditions of the covenant of grace I will therefore here transcribe and translate that which he there saith into English that all those who are illiterate and unlearned amongst us as well as others may see and perceive that the Doctrine formerly taught by us here in England is the very same which the learned Protestants also beyond Sea have taught from which our new illuminated
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
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