to come are taken away by Christ Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect c. and so Rom. 4. 23. Isa 35. 8. The Lord hath laid upon him the Iniquity of us all and 1 Pet. 2. 24. himself bore our Sins on his Body c. and what I said I will say that tho the Elect may sin as well as others yet their God in Christ will never un-son them nor yet touching their Justification and eternal Salvation will he love them ever a whit the less yea tho they commit never so many and great Sins For this is a certain Truth that as no Good in them or done by them did move him to elect and justify them and to give them eternal Life so no Evil in them or done by them can move him to take that away when once given Philad This is like that which is in the Mouth of some Be in Christ and sin if thou canst what pity is it that Men pretending to Wisdom and Sobriety and Professors of Godliness should fall into such Raptures as are next to Madness What a bundle of Errors are here wrapt up together and that under Scripture-guize but surely you do not read the Scripture in that Spirit in which it was wrote or else you might see notwithstanding the Apostle's triumphing that till Persons repent of their Sins and turn to God they stand charged with many things as I have told you from Eph. 2. and from Paul who was before his Conversion a Persecutor a Blasphemer and confess'd himself the chief of Sinners yea before the Apostle comes to this Triumphing he was long exercised with Frights Terrors within and Frightnings without and tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 2. 3. that his Preaching among them was in great fear and trembling so that we must Fight before we Triumph and Mourn before the Lord Comfort us And how clearly doth 1 Pet. 2. 24. shew that the proper intention of Redemption is Dominion eternal Redemption is an eternal Obligation to Service Ye are bought with a price ye are not your own your Bodies and Spirits are the Lord's 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. Rom. 14. 9. You may see that one end of Christ's being a Redeemer was that he might be a Sovereign Lord over his Purchase yea this is one great end of the Lord 's entering into Covenant with his People promising to do great things for them Ezek. 11. 19 20. I say the end of all is that they might serve him Hockins on God's Decree p. 93. Can we entertain so ignoble a belief that the eternal Son of God should suffer for any less end than to advance our Human Nature to the greatest height of Piety and Purity of Life and to raise our Souls to the most refined and sublimate goodness What did Christ take our Nature upon him and become Surety for us and pay such an infinite price for us that we might spend more freely and daringly on the Stock of our Surety's Satiffaction Ah! Who can with-hold their Eyes from Tears to think that any should make use of Mercy to damn them For many had not been guilty of so many Sins nor persisted in them without Repentance had it not been for their false hope in Christ not considering Christ came to redeem from all Iniquity as well as from all Wrath. Philet But Christ dying for the Elect hath thereby fulfilled all Righteousness satisfied Divine Justice and purchased Heaven for them Philad And what then Philet Why then there 's no doubt but they shall be saved for in the very moment of Election they were pardoned of all Sins past present and to come Philad What as if now nothing could endanger their Souls they have enough for Heaven Pray what should hinder them from bidding all Sin welcom Why may they not kill whore c. and commit all Abomination and if impleaded for it bring in this as an Evidence that they were in the very moment of Election pardoned of all Sins past present and to come they have a Gracious God that will forgive them and a Surety who hath paid for all Philet I perceive what you are driving at You hold that Faith and Obedience in us to be the cause of God's Electing or Chusing us to Life and Salvation Doth not the Scripture prove that Election is not according to foreseen Faith not because Men do or will believe but because they should believe Rom. 9. 11. 1 Pet. 1. 2 3 4. 2 Tim. 1. 9. Tit. 1. 1. Now if Faith and Obedience be the cause of God's loving us then here is Merit this eclipses the Glory of God's free Love and renders Salvation of Debt and not of Grace Mar. This is down-right Popery nay I affirm that Faith and Repentance are no more a means to go to Heaven by than prophane Cursing and Swearing Philad That Faith in Christ and Obedience to the Lord is a cause without which God chuseth none to Life and Salvation is a Truth unless you can prove that God hath designed his Son to die to save such as will neither repent of their Sins believe nor obey him but live and die in open Rebellion against God and do despight to the Spirit of Grace and trample under foot the Blood of the Son of God c. but that it is the cause for which God chuseth any I disown as well as you For the Love of God the Father to the Sons of Men as they were Sinners and Enemies to him was the essential cause of our Salvation John 3. 16. Rom. 5. 6 8 10. 1 Pet. 3. 18. and Jesus Christ the meritorious and procuring cause of Man's Salvation and should we admit of any thing else but Christ to be the matter of our Justification or the meritorious Cause of Eternal Life this would be injurious to the Perfection of Christ's Righteousness and overthrow the freeness of Divine Grace and Love But you and all Men ought rightly to divide and distinguish between the Cause and Condition of our Salvation that Christ may be owned as the Cause and Author of it and Faith and Obedience as the way and means to attain to it for as God Almighty hath prepared a Heaven for Men so he hath appointed the way and means to fit and prepare them for it as Christ is the Way so if I should say that Faith and Obedience is a way to come to enjoy it I might say it was advancing Nature above Grace or setting up our own Righteousness in the room of Christ's Righteousness and so robbing him of his Honour or asserting Merits surely Eternal Happiness hereafter hath some dependance upon Holiness here Mod. I like this well and do believe that God that hath appointed the end hath also appointed the means as in the Case of Paul Acts 27. 22. though God had promised to save Paul and all that were in the Ship yet they were to use the means otherwise they could not be safe I would have
none think that God will do all our Works for us while we sit still and do nothing For as God must blow upon the Spark of Grace by his Spirit so we should be storing up Holy Endeavours God will not bring his People to Heaven sleeping but praying in the use of Means and Holy Ordinances yet may Means and Duties be greatly abused if we be not careful Philad Yea they are abused when we do not look through them all to Jesus or when we make them as Mediators set them in the room of Christ or when Christ is not eyed sought to admired and trusted in Alas What can poor Sinners do without a Jesus There is no Salvation in any other the highest measure of Believing Doing or Suffering cannot turn away God's Wrath for the least Sin All our Prayers Tears Alms Duties do not pacifie God no we must with Holy Paul count all as nothing to win Christ so that had not Christ perfectly fulfilled the Law and have been made a Curse for us Gal. 3. 13. the exactest Christian could have no grounded hopes of Heaven there is no escaping the Curse but by Christ so that all that do or have escap'd the Curse have cause to say that not their own Graces nor their own Works but Christ hath delivered them from Wrath to come 'T is Christ's precious undertaking that gives us a right to Heaven but yet our walking in the Holy Commands of God fits us for it For without holiness none shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. Rev. 21. 27. Philet If Christ be our Righteousness and Sanctification as 1 Cor. 1. what need we have any Righteousness of our own Nay there is no Qualification or Condition in the New Covenant required on our part 't is all free 't was free Love in God to send his Son to die for his People and free Love in Christ to lay down his Life for the Elect neither is it the Elect but Christ that stands engaged to God by the New Covenant free Grace wholly excludes Self or any thing we can do as a Cause procuring or as a Condition qualifying us for the receiving of it Here 's a comfortable difference between the New Covenant and the Old the Old was such that in case Man did fail to perform his Condition the Covenant was broke and God was free from giving Life but in the New Covenant Man is tied to no Condition that he must perform which if he doth not it will make the Covenant void to him and those that teach otherwise detract and lessen the free Grace of God and attribute something to the Creature Philad Tho' the Love Grace and Mercy of God in our Redemption be wholly free no one sought out to him for a Saviour but he alone was moved by his own Love to a poor lost Creature and first sought after him when he was fallen God was not bound to bring forth a Saviour for any he was not laid under any necessity to cast an Eye of Pity upon Man it was an Act of free Grace to save Sinners by the Obedience and Suffering of Jesus Yet is nothing to be accounted free Grace without the Lord for the sake of Christ pardon the Sins of the most Impure and Impenitent and bring them to Heaven whether they will or no Was not God at liberty to pardon Sinners in what way and upon what terms he pleased such as he in his Wisdom should judg most meet and most consistent with his Justice Mercy Truth and Holiness God hath no where promised to save Men by Jesus Christ that I know of but by Repentance Faith and Obedience as the means as you may see John 3. 16 36. Mark 16. 16. Luke 13. 3 5. Mat. 4. 17. Acts 3. 19. Rev. 22. 14. Rom. 2. 7 8 9 10. and in Heb. 5. 9. Christ is there said to be the Author of Eternal Salvation To whom To those that continue in their Rebellion and Impenitency No but to such as obey him 't is true Christ came into the World that the Sentence of Eternal Death might not be executed upon us yet 't is ungrateful wickedness and no better than to tread under foot the infinite price of Forgiveness to think because his Blood hath purchased a Pardon therefore we are freed from our Duty to him And whereas you say that in the New Covenant Man is tied to no Condition that he must perform c. and that not Man but Christ stands engaged to God c. methinks 't is a very sine way to acquit your self of all Sins and consequently of all punishment for Sin but if Christ stands ingaged to repent believe and obey the Gospel how comes it to pass that Persons are exhorted to them and charged with Sin upon the omission of them Surely then all the Sins of the Elect for they sin as well as others must be charged upon Christ and he stands guilty of all the breaches of the New Covenant how an you endure to speak this without abhorrence But is there no Condition no Qualification required on our parts in order to come to partake of the Great and Gracious Promises Then what 's the meaning of all these Scriptures John 15. 10. Prov. 4. 5. Rom. 8. 13. Mic. 7. 21. prov 28. 13. Rom. 2 8 9. and what are all those Blessed and most Gracious Promises in Mat. 5 Do they not include Conditions something to be done on our parts if we would find acceptance with the Lord Pray read Luke 13. 3. John 6. 53. Mat. 18. 3. John 3. 5. Mat. 5. 20. John 15. 20. Nay view those many Expressions which you find in the Word of God in the Commands Exhortations Instructions Threatnings and Promises and then see whether we come to injoy the great Blessings of the Gospel without conditions Mar. Doth not the Scripture say Isa 64. 6. That all our Righteousnesses are as filthy Rags yea as a menstruous Cloth Philad I am satisfied that this Scripture is greatly abused for want of a right understanding and rightly distinguishing between that Righteousness which doth justisie us at the Bar of God's Justice and that Righteousness which is God's Requirement and so the Creatures Duty now taken in one Sense they are no better than filthy Rags and in the other they are now if we expect to merit Heaven and obtain Eternal Salvation for well doing this is to overthrow the blessed undertaking of Jesus Christ and lessen the free Grace of God as if Persons could go to Heaven without being beholden to Jesus And here it is that they are no better in the sight of God having no worth or value but are rejected of the Lord as filthy Rags but now as they are the Holy Commands and Appointments of the Lord and the Creature 's Duty who dare say that they are in the sight of God as filthy Rags or as stinking Carrion What hath God required his Creatures to perform such and such Duties and hath promised
are sanctified an unholy thing and make all the Precepts of the Gospel uncertain whether they be the Will of God or not or whether Christ when he prayed to his Father for his People or for Sinners prayed as a Mediator or as Man only yea give footing to that Opinion which begins to evidence it self too much in many even denying the personal Union of God and Man in Jesus Christ in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily Col. 2. 9. which did influence and give a value and worth to all things done for us by the Manhood and therefore his Righteousness and his Blood was called the Righteousness and Blood of God Acts 20. 28. 1 John 3. 16. Rom. 10. 3. Christ as he was God-Man and our Mediator what he did upon this account in the Flesh he did in the Spirit also Now in this place where Christ bewailed Jerusalem's state with tears either they flowed from true inward compassion or they did not if the first then Christ in the Flesh and in the Spirit willed one and the same thing and had no distinct Will for Jerusalem's Salvation as Man different from his Will as God but if the second then his tears were only feigned and his bewailing nothing but dissimulation which is a capital Sin to affirm And tho the Lord was resolved to bring Jerusalem to desolation by delivering them into the hands of their Enemies yet as you say and say truly it was an effect of their Sins the neglect of the Day of their Visitation mocking his Messengers and stoning them that were sent to her to have drawn her from the evil of her ways and for crucifying the Lord of Life thereby filling up the measure of her Iniquity So tho the Lord brought her to desolation yet Punishment is rather his refuge than his choice and his defence against Sin than the hurt of his Creatures and the Sinner with his own hands most cruelly pulleth down punishment upon his own head for the evil of Sin and the evil of Suffering are Twins or rather Sin gives birth and being to the other God never inflicted the least punishment on any merely as Men but as workers of Evil as continuing sinful and disobedient So that it was Jerusalem's actual Sins and her refusing to be healed that brought her to ruin and not any irresistible Decree of the Almighty for you may as well deny the Being of a God as entertain a belief that he takes pleasure in the death and destruction of his Creatures His Nature is perfect Goodness and he is a stranger to Cruelty and all the expressions of Love and Good-will in Christ to poor Sinners are such that they neither admit nor are consistent with fraud or falshood so that yet you have not told me where the Attribute of God merely takes place upon those that God is resolved against all means possible to be used to punish by his Decree as you use to say But before I leave this let me ask you one Question more which is this Ought not or do not all Men stand ingaged to love God Philet To love God yea who should they love if they do not love God Philad Ay but I ask you for what Reason Mar. There may be many Reasons given the receiving the good things of this Life may engage all Men to love God Philad Yea but you will not own that God gives the good things of this Life with any good intention to the greatest number but rather gives them to them to heighten their misery doth God intend any good to the Souls of such by what he gives Mar. No yet are they to be accountable for the abuse of them Philad But you hold that God did decree they should abuse them accordingly and for that end were they given to them that so the abuse of them might heighten their misery this is but like the Proverb Give a Man Roastmeat and beat him with the Spit Can any Man become grateful or be tied in the Bonds of Love and Gratitude to such a Man that should feast him for a while yet after condemn him to Death and Destruction Philet The Apostle saith 1 John 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us but this is meant of the Elect only Philad Why should you go about to confine the Lor'd Mercy which is altogether Infinite and as incomprehensible as his Divine Essence why should you thus contract the Divine Goodness whose Mercies are not only exalted above our Conceptions but also above and over all his Works Therefore do not presume to measure the Lord 's Mercys by your narrow conceit nor labour to make it run into a lesser Channel than the Lord intended But God's great Love to all Men in giving his Son to die for them is the ground and cause of their Love to God again True love must first spring from the knowledg of God's Love to them neither can I think that any Men in the World will ever heartily and cordially love God unless they believe that God Almighty had designs of Love to them yea so far loved them as to send his Son to die for them otherwise instead of loving and living to God it would tend to a most horrid and desperate alienation of the Hearts of poor Creatures from their dear and ever-blessed Creator For how is it possible that the poor Creature should devest himself of those Delights and Pleasures of this Life and intirely love and delight himself in God and his blessed Will if he knew or had strong grounds of fear that before he made him or without respect to his Sins or unworthy carriage in the least he so far hated him as to resolve against all Mediation whatsoever to cast him out of his sight and to doom him to suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire You may preach up God's Sovereignty pronounce Justice and Judgment as some have done till they have brought Despair and Hell into the Souls of many and beget more Fear than Love make God feared as a Tyrant but 't is the making known Christ's meek Condescension Long-suffering and the superexcellent Amiableness of free Love and tender Mercy that soonest and most effectually works in us Repentance of our Sins and inclines us to love him that first loved us Wither's Paraphrase upon the Lord's Prayer Who is able to perswade Men by Arguments or move them by Threatnings to love God whose love to them in particular is doubtful Do you think it can or ever will be a motive for Persons to love God to tell them That before all Worlds or before they were born or there were any possibility of offending him in any manner it was decreed that the greatest number of Adam's Off-spring should be eternally reprobated and damned And tho he had provided means whereby Man might have been saved and that the worth and value was so great that it was sufficient for the Redemption of thousands of Worlds yet then it was
very injurious to his Goodness yet directly and immediately opposite to his very Nature which is meer Goodness and Happiness and hath no Affinity with Rigour Cruelty or Misery Read Psal 34. 6. Psal 86. 5. Joel 2. 13. Jonah 4. 2. Micah 7. 18. If God doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men without just cause Lam. 3. 33. how can we in reason think that God in his eternal Purpose and absolute Pleasure should affect the extream Misery of any of his Creatures for the shewing of the absolute Soveraignty he hath over them If so he may as well damn them as create them How can we think that he should send them one after another into this World to enjoy some of the good things of this Life and after this short Life is over to torment them with Devils and damn'd Spirits for ever to shew his Power over them without just cause in the Creature What saith Abraham Gen. 18. 25. when he was interceding with God for Sodom with respect to a temporal Judgment Wilt thou destroy the Righteous with the Wicked that be far from thee Shall not the Judg of all the World do right If to destroy the Righteous with the Wicked was far from God in Temporals shall we think that God resolved to punish the Innocent in Hell with wicked Spirits For pray you observe if God hath from Eternity reprobated the greatest part of Mankind it must be understood that he look'd on them as Persons that would in time prove sinful or else he reprobated them simply as Men. If the first then was their Sinfulness wherein he beheld them the cause of their Rejection if the second then the pure and perfect Workmanship of his Hands yea that which was very good Gen. 1. 31. must be the Object of his Reprobation which cannot be it was a saying of one of the Ancients Aug. Lib. 3. Cont. Julian Cap. 31. Pag. 164. God is Good and God is Just he may without any desert free Men from Punishment because he is Good but he cannot without Evil desert and condemn any Man because he 's just And again Aug. Epist 106. ad Bonifac. If God be believed to damn any man that by Sin deserveth it not he is not to be believed to be free from Injustice And therefore for any to say that God hath irrevocably reprobated the greatest part of the World to eternal Misery before they had a being in this World or any possibility of doing Good or Evil he speaks more like a Mahumetan than a Christian however more harsh of the God of Love than he ought to speak and reflects dishonour upon him making him to be the Prime Principal and Irresistable Cause of the Damnation of Millions of Souls appointing them to Destruction of his own voluntary Will antecedent to any desert in them No Martha there is nothing can proceed from the God of Love that is unjust nothing unequal nothing hard nothing that any ways inclineth to the hurt of any of his Creatures considered as innocent and therefore no irreversible decreeing or ordaining of Men to everlasting Destruction as you pretend Mar. But doth not the Apostle Rom. 9. 20. 21. shew 't is no unrighteous thing no unequal or hard thing in God to reprobate or predestinate to Destruction which or how many of his Creatures he pleaseth 'T is his lawful and just Prerogative as he is absolute Lord of all Who art thou that repliest against God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power over his Clay to make one Vessel to honour and another to dishonour Phil. I know this 9th Chapter to the Romans is the great Magazine and Fortress wherein all your imaginary Strength lieth and those Verses are the Weapons which you draw to silence those that question your horrid Notions about Personal Election and Reprobation Pray do you think that Paul was about to prove personal Election and Reprobation in these Verses Mar. Yes what else but to prove that God hath Power to create and appoint Vessels of Honour and Dishonour and consequently of Wrath as the Potter hath to make Vessels at his Pleasure without contradiction of the same Lump of Clay Phil. You are under a great mistake the great Controversy lay about the Terms of Justification whether by the Law or Faith and not about personal Election and Reprobation so that the Prerogative which the Lord claims to himself as a Royalty annexed to the Crown of Heaven and Earth in this 9th of the Romans or elsewhere in respect to the Condemnation and Eternal Destruction of his Creatures stands not in leaving what Persons he pleaseth to eternal ruin but in making the condition of Life and Death Salvation and Damnation as he pleaseth according to the Counsel of his own Will Eph. 1. 1. Now the Apostle was shewing the Way and Method that God will take in saving Sinners and that it is not the purpose of God that men should be justified by the Law but by Grace and through Faith and tho the Jews much boasted of their being Abraham's Seed and Moses's Disciples and their observing of the Law and judged it an equal thing that God should make that Law to be the Law of Life and Salvation to Men and the neglect of it the Law of Death and Damnation yet it being the good Pleasure of God to do otherwise and to ordain Faith in his Son Christ Jesus to be the way of Justification and Life and Unbelief the way to Condemnation and Death this Choice or Election shall stand whatever Men may think meet and fitting for him to do Therefore saith he Verse 15. I will have Mercy upon whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion upon whom I will have Compassion Men shall not prescribe unto me Laws or Terms of shewing Mercy my Will shall not be bounded by Man's Will neither will I be obliged by them what manner of Persons or how qualified I shall justify and save I mean to keep close to the Counsel of my own Will in that which concerns the Life and Death the Salvation or Destruction of my Creatures and so in this 21st Verse Hath not the Potter power over his Clay c. meaning that God Almighty hath the like Power over the whole Lump of Mankind in Adam to make what Laws of Life and Death he pleased and to appoint what manner of Persons should be saved or condemned which the Potter hath over the Lump of Clay to make what Vessel he pleaseth for Honour or Dishonour Now at best this Scripture is but an Allusion and should we suppose that the Apostle doth compare the Lord to a Potter as we often in Scripture find him compared to Persons and Things and human Actions Affections and Members of a Man attributed to God and divine Things because God in his Word descends as it were to our Capacities expressing heavenly Matters after
believe is an Error presently they are ready to say I cannot see it because God hath purposely blinded my Eyes and am such a one as is cast out of the Love and Favour of God and when this is once settled in their Hearts how can I expect Love from them unless I can believe they can be better to me than they represent God to be to the greatest part of Mankind Mar. I see that which is uppermost will out you still are of the same mind you was you hold fast your Error and will not let it go Philad Truly I am much of Rawlin the Martyr's Mind when the Bishop after he had read Mass ask'd him if he would revoke his Opinion answered my Lord Rawlin you left me and Rawlin you find me and by God's Grace Rawlin I will continue and tho I may seem to you to err yet I have considered every Particular and it seemeth so pleasing an Error if it be one and so comfortable a Doctrine to poor Mankind and doth so much exalt the Justice and Mercy of God that I think I shall never be of a contrary Mind Yea and if for any thing in the World I could suffer the Loss of all that 's dear to me methinks it should be to witness to this great Truth Mar. I know that natural Reason seems to stand on your side but you must know and allow Faith to be above Reason and God may have and questionless hath Ways and Actions which are known only to himself past finding out by Man neither doth he give an Account or Reason of any of his Matters Job 33. 13. You must have a care of searching into God's Decrees they are not to be fathomed by Man's weak and shallow Capacities what Eye looks upon the Sun doth not by that dazle So while Men would by the Eye of Reason see a Cause in God's secret Will they stumble and fall Pray ye what Reason can be given concerning the Mystery of the Trinity or that the second Person should take our Flesh upon him and be conceived of a Virgin or that the same Bodies after dissolved to Dust should be restored to a Spiritual Immortal and Incorruptible State These things are the object of Faith and are above our Reason to comprehend or define yet are we to believe these things to be Truth because revealed to us by God in his Word So tho it be beyond the Reason of Man to define how God whose Ways are all equal and just should from Eternity predestinate the greatest part of Adam's Offspring to Everlasting Misery or freely and unchangeably ordain the coming to pass of every thing in the World and yet he himself neither guilty of Cruelty or the Author of Sin yet we ought to believe it is so when declared to us by the Word of the Lord. Mod. These are great Mysteries which we ought not to pry into Secret things belong unto God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our Children Deut. 29. 29. Philad This is true but surely Moderatus This wretched Opinion of God's positive Reprobation doth not carry the Nature of Divine Mysteries along with it It is not accompanied with so great Awe and Majesty as that it should be only obeyed and no way disputed For God himself denies it to be any Decree of his Ezek. 3. 11. And as Calvin saith We should not be ashamed to be ignorant of some of the Nature of Divine Predestination Yet as Eusebius saith 'T is an Argument of great Sloth and Idleness not to seek unto that whereof we may justly make inquiry Hockins on God's Decrees Page 126 190. Now I do not pretend to draw the Curtain to look into the wonderful and astonishing Mystery of the Holy and Blessed Trinity or of the Incarnation of the Son of God God manifest in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. which is so great a Mystery that infirm Man with all the strongest Faculties of his Soul cannot reach unto I also freely grant that whatsoever God hath revealed in his Word must needs be a Truth and meet and worthy to be believed of us all But where do you find that God hath revealed in his Word that he hath appointed the greatest part of the World to Everlasting Misery and tho there may be many things above Reason quite out of the Apprehension of it yet not altogether against Reason How is it contrary to Reason that God the first Being of all things being Infinite should have a manner of subsisting far different from all created and finite Beings Neither is it contrary to Reason that God should be able to make a Virgin to conceive in a way beyond the Course of Nature or ordinary Providence for the accomplishing of so great and glorious a Work as the saving poor lost and undone Mankind Neither ought it to be look'd upon no not in the Eye of Reason as a thing incredible that God should raise the Dead Act. 16. 8. Is it not every way as easy for God to restore a Body dissolved to Dust and give a Perfection and Glory to it as to restore a dry Hand to Life and Activity in the Body or cause Aaron's dry Staff to blossom and bare Almonds Can Man burn a Tree into Ashes and change it into shining Glass And cannot God cause that Dust that was once Flesh to become Flesh again and to restore it to a Spiritual Immortal and Incorruptible State But to let this pass are these Friends of yours to whom you say you have imparted the Substance of our Discourse c. of your Mind Mod. There is some Difference for what I hold you have heard But Philetus looks upon Mankind as lying in the Fall under the Guilt of Adam's Sin so that God looking upon Man as fallen did decree the greatest Number of Men to Eternal Misery for the Declaration of his Justice without affording them a Saviour which is the only Way and Means of their Recovery or without sufficient Grace for the avoiding of Sin Philad Truly I see little difference between you you both place the Sin and Damnation of the greatest part of Mankind upon the alone absolute Will and Pleasure of God you looking upon it from Eternity he as lying in the Fall But surely God never left any Man in that State whereunto Adam brought him but as I have said hath graciously provided means whereby both Sin and Misery might be prevented or removed if timely embraced seeing Christ hath abolished that Wrath and Death and hath brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel and God hath so far reconciled all Sinners to himself that thro the Sacrifice and for the sake of that Lamb of God that takes away the Sins of the World he is graciously pleased to be reconciled to them and to open a Door of Hope for all the Sons of Adam And tho it is a great Truth that Adam in breaking the Law of his God brought not
of Grace made with Adam till they come to abuse the Grace of the Covenant For God hates none till they first hate him leaves none till they first forsake him makes none Partakers of Everlasting Burning till they kindle his Wrath by their actual Sins for he doth not so delight in the Blood of Souls as by his pure and naked Will to decree Man to Eternal Death before they enjoy any Life or commit the least Sin Infants are accounted Innocent and our Saviour tells us 't is not the Will of his Father that any of those little ones perish Philet This is a strange assertion to say That all Infants come into World in a state of Innocency and that if they die in Infancy they die in a state of Innocency Alas there is a universal depravedness in the Soul of an Infant which if it live to express it will discover it self A young Cub of a Fox or Wolf doth not presently discover its ravenous nature but it is inherent in it bred with it and Men kill those young Cubs though they never did any mischief because it is their natures to be ravenous and mischievous So an Infant hath the Seed of all Sin a corrupt Nature though it doth not act as it doth when Age comes on and I say God may for the guilt of Adam's sin and because there is such Rebellion and Wickness in Man's nature against him glorifie his Justice upon them though they should die in their Infancy they are far from dying in Innocency Philad It seems by what you hold because Man may slaughter Beasts of Prey without any cruelty or injustice therefore God may as well nay more appoint as many of poor Infants to the Torments of Hell if he pleaseth and yet be just and good notwithstanding May we not as well reason thus God without any injustice appointed brute Creatures to be slain for Man's use therefore he may ordain Men to be cast into Hell Torments for ever Though God permitteth nay appointeth Man to slaughter Beasts that they might be Meat for his use and so giveth him power to kill them yet it would be look'd upon barbarous injustice and cruelty to prolong the Life of a Beast to vex and torture it to shew what Power and Sovereignty he hath over it So I do not doubt but God may when he pleases take away the Life of an Infant or Man yea resolve them to nothing without any cruelty or injustice Yet he cannot without both these decree to keep them alive in Hell there to torment them without end to shew his Sovereignty without just cause in the Creature Some poor Infants never so much as saw the Light of this World or receiv'd the least Good and yet must be punished with Devils to Eternity O wretched Doctrine Philet I do not think God would have destroy'd the Old World and called them the World of ungodly and destroy'd Sodom and Gomorrah and made them suffer the vengeance of eternal Fire amongst whom no doubt were many Infants if all Infants were innocent I will not meddle to determine the eternal State of those that die in Infancy to be sure you go too far to assert what you do you are not the Sovereign and Judg of all Philad All Infants through the Grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ are discharged from the condemning Power of Original sin and they having no actual sins 't is not the infirmity of their Nature shall damn any neither can it I hope enter into the heart of a Christian to believe that God should create any Infants on purpose to damn them and though it be true that Original sin is come upon Infants and Death by sin yet this is as true that Original Sin was not committed against the Covenant of Grace and seeing that you cannot prove any Infant hath sinned against the Covenant of Grace they cannot come into Condemnation of Hell Torments for our Gracious God will condemn none but those that first destroy themselves by sinful courses though 't is true they many times suffer the first Death for the sins of others as those you mention Mar. All Infants are under a Sentence of eternal Damnation only such Infants that are elected and have the Principles of Grace infused in them shall be sav'd Philad What then is become of that Gracious Speech of the Almighty God Ps 145. His tender mercy is over all his works sure damned Infants have no share in hs Mercy no not so much as a Toad by a thousand degrees And thus by your Doctrine you not only most dreadfully preach Millions of poor harmless Souls to Hell but also represent the Father of Mercy and God of Goodness more like a Tyrant that destroys his Subjects for will and pleasure though they never provok'd him by breaking the least Law in their own Persons only to shew his Power over them Would not such dealing be look'd upon amongst Men meer Cruelty when acted by bare Prerogative and Power not being attended with Equity Justice and Mercy Would this be Cruelty in Man and shall we think that the Infinite God who is Goodness and Truth it self will harbour it or that he will proceed with Man according to his Absolute Power and Sovereignty without being accompany'd with Justice and tender Mercy Or do we think the Lord will fall below man and suffer himself to be out-done in Justice Mercy and Goodness by any of his Creatures Surely no so though the Nature of man is too sadly depraved by the sin of our first Parents yet it must needs be a contradiction to the Divine Goodness Mercy and Justice of God to say that any suffer for their Fathers sins Mar. You talk of God's Justice as if God could not punish one for the fault of another and yet be Just you do not know what you talk of I 'll give you an instance to the contrary 't is that of Saul utterly destroying of the Amalekites 1 Sam. 15. 2 3. he was to slay both man and woman Infants and Sucklings and the reason was because Amalek laid wait for Israel when he came up from Egypt ver 1. Exod. 17. 8. But now what had this People done that was so many Generations remov'd from Israel coming out of Egypt Or what had the poor Infants and Sucklings done Or how can it stand with Justice that the Fathers committed the fault and the Children are punished for it Philad This was only to a Temporal Death I hope you will not say that it was the Decree of God after Saul had destroy'd those Infants and Sucklings Bodies that he would send their Souls to Hell for their Fathers faults sure it was not the sin of Infants that caused the Lord to plead in such wrath with them no more than the Cattle which was to be destroy'd as well as they Was God offended with the Beasts of the Field But come I believe it was no unjust thing in God to take away by
Esau being the Elder of Right the Blessing did belong to him but he undervaluing of it sold it to his Brother So that now the Blessing as well as the Birth-Right was his Brothers and so after Isaac had blessed Jacob Esau could by no Means cause his Father to repent or reverse his Blessing tho he sought it carefully with Tears Heb. 12. 17. but said Gen. 27. 33. I have blessed him and he shall be blessed he could not recal it again Yet this Rejection as to his being the Person from whom the Messiah should come or with respect to temporal Blessings gives no one Ground to aver that he was reprobated in respect to the Salvation of his Soul or these Words might be spoken with regard to what they would do in time God certainly knew what Esau would do in time and might thereby shew what would in time be done unto him or rather with respect to the Works of the Flesh and the Spirit Esau being a Type of the one and Jacob of the other so the Works of the Spirit are pleasing to God and always beloved of him and so the Works of the Flesh are abominable to him so that these two may be but two Types as Sarah is said to be of the Gospel and Hagar of the Law and Isaac and Ishmael Types of the two Covenants Gal. 4. 21 to 31. Besides it is very plain that it is not Jacob and Esau personally to be understood in this Text but two distinct Nations or People which should proceed from them as may be seen if you read Gen. 25. 23. Rebekah being with Child and finding a strange strugling in her Womb went to inquire of the Lord and received this Answer Two Nations are in thy Womb and two manner of People shall be separated from thy Bowels and the Elder shall serve the Younger and the one People shall be stronger than the other People You see the Lord did not tell this good and godly Mother that one of those she went with should be damned to all Eternity but speaks of them as two Heads of two Nations for we do not find these Words the Elder shall serve the Younger ever fulfilled in Jacob and Esau personally Where do you find that Esau was subser vient to Jacob but rather the contrary Jacob calling Esau Lord so that this Text speaks not of single Persons but of Nations and so the Love and Hatred there spoken of is National as you may see by comparing this Verse with Obadiah and Psal 44. 4. where the Edomites are called Esau and the Jews Jacob and the cause why the Lord hated the Posterity of Esau was for their Wickedness and Enmity against the Israelites the Seed of Jacob Verse 1 to 12. and so Malachi 1. 2 3 4. I loved Jacob and hated Esau and laid his Mountains waste but this could not be before Esau was born or had any Mountains to lay waste so that it cannot be here understood a personal Hatred for 't is plain that what is here said is upon a national Account Now for the better understanding this Rom. 9. we must take notice what was the main thing the Apostle was carrying on Now the main thing that he was upon was not to maintain absolute and personal Election and Reprobation this was not the way to convince the Jews of their Sin in rejecting and crucifying the Lord of Life and Glory and their slighting the Gospel for this would have been the way to establish them in their Error of being the only elect People in the World because Abraham's Seed to whom the Promise was at first made and therefore their State safe enough tho they did not believe in Christ And saith Mr. Loveday p. 224. It is known for a Truth that there was no People under Heaven more cordially principled in personal Election than they they took all but themselves to be reprobated and forbad the Gospel to be preached to the Gentiles that they might be saved 1 Thess 2. 16. The Jews the Elder Brother could not bear to see the kindness shewed by the Father to the Prodigal Luke 15. Nay Peter himself greatly questioned his Lawfulness of going to preach to the Gentiles till convinced of it by a Vision from Heaven Act. 10. And when Peter came to Jerusalem they contended with him about his going and conversing with the Gentiles Act. 11. 1 2. Yea and for some time after the death of Stephen many preached the Word of God to none but the Jews only It appears that notwithstanding Christ had given a Commission to preach the Gospel to the whole World yet they were ignorant of the calling of the Gentiles to partake of Mercy through Christ Now if the Jews had understood that personal Election and Reprobation had been the thing Paul was about to prove they would never have quarrelled with him about it for they believed that if any People in the World was beloved of God it must needs be themselves for they above all other were chosen to be a peculiar People and beloved for their Father's sake and unto them pertained the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenant Rom. 9. 12. but this was not the Point but the great Controversy between Paul and the Jewish Rabbies was about the Terms of Justification whether by the Law or by Faith or upon what account a Sinner might be justified and saved and who was the Person to whom the Blessing belonged Now the Apostles Business is to assert and maintain Justification and Salvation to come in by Christ alone without the Works of the Law and that there was an absolute Necessity of believing in Jesus Christ where God hath afforded the Means both by the Jews as well as Gentiles which will appear if you look Chap. 3. 4. and Chap. 10. 30. and in Gal. 2. 10. he shews that a Man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by Faith And this he proves from the Example of Abraham who was not justified himself by Works but by Faith and tho the Jews boasted much of their being Abraham's Seed yet he tells them Abraham's Seed was many one by Hagar another by Sarah Now if the Promise was made to Abraham's natural Seed then Ishmael as well as Isaac and Esau as well as Jacob had inherited the Promise but the Promise was not made to Seeds as of many but to a Seed which Seed was those that believe and walk in the steps of Abraham Rom. 4. 12. These whether Jews or Gentiles were truly and only to be the reputed Children of Abraham Gal. 3. 7. and Heirs of the Promise Verse 29. so that it is neither Birth nor Works was perferred by God nor any thing should be challenged by Birth or Works but only through Faith in Christ and so the Elder serve the Younger that is the Jews the Elder which seek Salvation by the Works of the Law or according to the Flesh shall not have it but the Gentiles the Younger