Profession of such a Faith and Repentance as is saving in order to his Admittance to the Church or Sacraments though he on his own part be required to examine himself and to see that his Grace be sound when he comes to them The Reason being because if his Faith be but true so far as makes him Willing to Come in and Joyn with us it gives him title to the Ordinances when unless his Faith be so True also as to be Saving he is like to reap no other Fruit by it but the Outward Enjoyment And this is the very Vse we are to make of this Doctrine That no Person be discouraged in his attending on the Means seeing Regenerate and Vnregenerate may have Title and yet none be Secure but Piously sollicitous how they Come as knowing that it is One thing that gives a Man title to the Ordinances and Another to the Effectual Benefits which can be attain'd by the Sincere only It may be askt by the way But what then is That I count Necessary to the Government and Covenant which I press taken Precisely I mean what is the Terms or Conditions thereof If the Covenant for Life and This Covenant be distinguished the Terms of them must be diverse Now the Terms of this Covenant may be discovered by knowing what That was chiefly which God accounted the Breach thereof And this we find very frequent both in regard to the Single Jew and the Whole Body If there be found within thy Gates a Man or Woman that hath wrought Wickedness in the Sight of the Lord in transgressing his Covenant and hath gone and served other Gods then let that Person be stoned Deut. 17.2 7. You see what God calls Transgressing his Covenant He was their King and the serving Another God was Crimen laesae Majestatis and therefore Capital Let us look into 2 King 17. and we shall find there the whole Ten Tribes at once carried away and given up of God for being any longer his People And what is the matter They Rejected it is said his Statutes and his Covenant and followed Vanity What Vanity Why they Went after the Heathen concerning whom they were charged not to do like them and they made them molten Images and worshipped Baal c. and therefore God was angry with them and removed them out of his Sight Vers 10 12 15 16 18. They did many other things which was Against their Covenant and He bare with them but Idolatry and False-Worship was such Breaking of it as Whoredom and caused their Divorce and his writing Loammi upon them And this Event we find Prophesied of even so long before as Moses who tells of the Nations asking why God dealt thus with his People Then Men shall say Because they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord which he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt Here we have Our Covenant and Government And what was the Forsaking of it Why they Served other Gods and worshipped them Vers 24 25. So again Chap. 31. Vers 20. Jer. 22.19 with other Places Well now if going after other Gods and False-Worship was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Breaking this Covenant then must the Terms of this Covenant be mainly the Owning the True God and his Worship in opposition to all False Gods and False Religion and consequently a Subjection to the Ordinances of that Worship Himself hath appointed unto which they were admitted under the Old-Testament by Circumcision and Now by Baptism Upon what is already said I know the Way I go is not the Road when yet there are Some that go the Road do seem to me to seek Mine but Miss it The Church with them is the Company of the Faithful and the understand by the Faithful such only whose Faith is Saving that engrasis them in Christ makes them his Members or Members of his Mystical Body For Others whom they call Members of the Church Visible if they be Visible Members only are Christians but in Appearance not Members of Christ indeed and so no Church-Members with them but in Shew or the Account of Men. And the Result of this Divinity which goes for the Orthodox comes to This That nothing less than such a Faith that is Saving gives a Man Right as to his Own Part to come and the Profession of no less than of a Faith and Repentance which is Such gives a Man Right of Reception on the Part of the Admitter into the Church and unto Baptism I have several Arguments to add therefore to what I have said already against this Opinion Only I will yet say a little more to the Explaining my Own before I give them The Church according to the common Opinion must be taken for a Corporation of Regenerate Persons that is of such Believers only as are already all Sincere Converts But I would have it rather in my Opinion be lookt on as a School wherein such Persons as are Wrought upon by the Gospel to Believe so far only as to be Willing to Come into it and be Baptized may There by the Use of the Ordinances as the Means of Grace be brought up to that Sincerity of Heart and Life which yet they have not and which God hath made the Condition of their Salvation There is a Conversion from Heathenisme to Christianity that brings Men into the Church must be One thing and a Conversion unto the Life and Power of Grace called Effectual Conversion is Another That the Latter of these Conversions is wrought in the Church ordinarily though not Confined to it is to be doubted of no Body Let the Commission of our Lord which ordinarily I think is overlookt be consulted Go ye and disciple all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you I pray mark it They are here to Call by their Preaching all them that will Come in and make them Disciples by Baptism and then after they are Discipled they are to be Instructed in the Things that Christ hath Commanded that is they are to Learn in his School when they are there their farther Duty which is the walking up Fully to the Precepts of the Gospel And in the first sixt sound Act of Resolution thereof I mean of doing so in Sincerity whensover a Man is wrought up to it does lie the Essence of that Work which we call Effectual Conversion If the School of all Christ's Disciples the Church of all Believers the Kingdom of all God's People were so narrow as to hold the Regenerate only how comes there to be a Proclamation for all the World to come into it even all that Will for it is not a Kingdom of such as are brought in by Force but of a Willing People Psal 110.3 over whom the Word prevails from one end of the Earth to the other If any Man will have Christ this is certain God offers Him Whosoever Will May have Him
Whosoever Will be saved May be saved God Wills it and it is Man only Will not And shall we think that if any would come in to these External Means whereby his Grace is Communicated that they are to be Refused It is a strange thing that Divines should be able to see how Christ how the Spirit it self or its Help can be the Fruit of Vniversal Grace and yet their Eyes be holden as not to see the External Ordinances to be so while they make the Church to consist of the Regenerate only I pray let us consider a little of other Societies What is it makes a Man the Member of any other Society which he may be of if he will Is it not his Consent only to be of it his Coming-in it self that which gives him his Right and makes him one of that Company And why is it otherwise with the Church or Society of Christians It is the Will of a Man upon his Hearing the Gospel Preached or his Receiving the Gospel Preached so as to be Willing is the Foundation I should say Condition to speak exactly of his Right to be Received If he will be Baptized upon it he may be Baptized without more terms It is his Consent to it is the Ratio fundandi in This as in other Voluntary Relations It is true that the Nature of Christian Society is such as requires that a Man be one that hath Received the Christian Doctrine that is to be a Believer and that he lives not in any open gross Sin seeing that would Excommunicate from it if he were In But supposing him such a one that believes that Christ is the Son of God I mean it according to the Articles of the Creed for how shall he be Baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost if he Believe not the Trinity and stands not actually Guilty of any such notorious Sin as if the were in the Church he must to be turn'd out for it there is nothing but his Willingness enjoyned of God nor ought to be required of us to the Receiving Him There are some says St. Austin that Put on Christ so far as to come into the Church and be Baptized Vsque ad Sacramentorum receptionem in his Words and some that put Him on ad vitae Sanctificationem unto that Sanctification of Life as brings them to Heaven I add so much because there are Many Saints or Sanctified Men says Mr. Richard Baxter that shall never come thither There are Saints by Separation from Paganism unto Fellowship with the Political Body of Christians which yet are not so by Separation from all Vngodliness into Fellowship with the Mystical Body of Christ The Door of the Church says that Learned and Pious Author is incomparably wider than that of Heaven and the Gospel is a free Offer to All. If any Man will come quite over in Spirit to Christ they shall be welcome if they will come but only to a Visible Profession He will not deny them Admittance there because they intend to go no farther but will let them come as near as they will and that they come no farther shall be their own fault Saints Rest Part 4. Sect. 3. Let me make bold to set this right and as I have put in before Political Body of Christians instead of his terms Visible Church and also left out the word Visible so instead of Visible Profession let me say Participation of Ordinances as St. Austin but now hath it and I take it to be very happily spoken As for the terms Visible and Invisible which our Divines use ordinarily when they distinguish the Congregate and Mystical Church I do avoid them they are a Snare to us The Sense of the term Visible can have no Place with God who Judges always according to Truth and hath no footing therefore neither in Scripture There is indeed the Outward Jew and Inward Jew in Scripture but the Outward Jew was a Real Jew or really a Jew in God's and Man's Account alike who had thereby ex intentione Dei Ordinantis a Right to be Circumcised and consequently to the Priviledge of all the Ordinances of Israel But a Visible Christian a Visible Member according to our common Notion of Visible is one that is not a Christian or Member Indeed but one only that Appears to be a Christian or Member and as None hath no Right therefore to the Ordinances at all in God's Sight A Visible Profession must be consequently an Hypocritical Profession that hath nothing in it but a Lie and Falshood altogether And can Mr. Baxter indeed say That if any will come to Such a Profession he is welcome No no God Almighty indeed is willing that All should come in to Him and They may come as Far as they will if but to be Baptized or Circumcised they are Welcome But I am against that Doctrine and Practice which depends upon this ensnaring Distinction I am for a Believing in Earnest the Gospel Preached and a Man's Coming-in thereupon and being Willing to be Received or to be Baptized and then I say whosoever Will he May. Whosoever would be Circumcised or Take hold of the Covenant Isa 56.4 6. he might Whosoever will be Baptized under the New-Testament he may Whosoever will come in to Christ so far as ever he Will Come this must be held for certain He will in no wise cast him out But no Man must nor be suffered to say He Believes he Repentâ— if he does Not at least in any Sense otherwise than he Does We must have none of this fame Visible Profession whatsoever comes of it We must see our Way clear how we can admit the Vnregenerate as well as the Regenerate into our Mixt Churcher without a Lie or we must allow none but Gathâ—red ones and turn all Independents unless we should Preach One thing and Pâ—actisâ— Another which no honest Man but must hate to do The People of Samaria are all said to believe Philip Preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and were Baptized and Simon himself believed also Here we have none of this Visible Faith or Visible Profession but a Real Belief of what was Preached and that Belief prevailing upon the Will their Willingness to be Baptized is the Ratâ—o Baptizandi the Ground of their Baptism and Fight to be Admitted Simon Magus believed What is that Is it a Profession that he Did when he did Not No such matter his Faith and That of the City was Real and shewn by the Deed in their being Baptized A Man must Believe Indeed and his Faith be True as True does signifie Vndissembled or else he cannot be Baptized But his Faith may be far from True as Simon 's was as True does signifie Saving and yet so far as he can come in with any Truth he hath his Warrant from the Gospel SECT II. I Proceed now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to my Arguments If the common Opinion be received and a
Soul It is not so easie a thing with every Good Man as with So good a One to assume to himself so much as but amounts to All that is necessary to make a Man a Christian when he speaketh but as he thinks upon faithful Endeavours to avoid Deceit There may be Thousands of the Temper of Holy Mr. Bradford who the more tender they are of their Duty the more sensible they are of their Defects and more fearful of Hypocrisie And God forbid but many of them whose Consciences do condemn them should yet be acquitted by Him who is Greater than their Consciences and who Does and Will do it while they are secretly yet borne up in their Desponding Dependence on his Goodness and Mercy It was more fairly said once to me by a Chief Pastor of the Anabaptists That the Way they went was not Thus but the Person that offers himself to their Church said he was only to declare what Work of God there is on his Heart and the Church are to make Judgment of it So that though the Man himself should profess he did Not believe his own Sincerity and yet the Church Did they could Receive him This I told him I liked well but it was to depart so much from the received Rule of Profession and to verge towards Mine that is towards an Admission of the Willing who are to come as I cannot chuse but think to the Vse of the Means for Grace if they have it Not as well as for farther Edification if they Have In the Last place to come home I have in my fore-going Discourse delivered my Thoughts about the Church and Covenant And though it be true that no Man can Enter or be in Covenant with God in that Sense which signifies the Performing the Condition but he must be Regenerate and a Member of Christ's Mystical Body or Church taking the Covenant whether Abstractly or Complexly for the Covenant of Life Yet as for Admitting Men and Women into the Society of Christians which is the Congregate Church or Christ's Political Body and Entring them into the Covenant of Peculiarity whereby they obtain only the Advantage of the Ordinances as Means for the bringing them up to the Terms of Salvation if they are not Effectually Converted already whereof I have all the way before been speaking I apprehend the Scene is as it were quite changed and I must stand still upon this That if any one Receives the Gospel and Believes it but so far Let not any one then say foolishly That when I let those That Will come into the Church I let in Turks Jews Infidels for by Receiving the Gospel i. e. the Doctrine or Creed of it I do suppose them turn'd Christians as to be Willing to come in and be Baptized whether he makes any other Profession or not This is sufficient hereunto and there is nothing Else I find required of him unless we doubt whether a Man be In Earnest and a Christian in his Heart when he comes and then are we to Put the Question to him and he is to own the Faith Or unless he be a Profligate Scandalous Sinner who then must make his open Confession and declare his Repentance or be kept out I see not but the Owning the True God in opposition to all false Religions and other Gods was the main Intendment of the Jews Covenant and that a Common Faith left the word Dogmatical be too short which is less than Saving did suffice to the Entring it or Taking hold of it and that the Vnregenerate consequently as well as the Regenerate were in the Intention of God to be Members of that Church And I do think that the same Latitude ought to be maintained in regard to the same Kingdom as it is now Enlarged over the Nations and put into Christ's Hands which belonged to it before when a Theocracy of the Jews Indeed it must be confessed lest I seem Deficient in waving That before though once touch't upon which was needless till Now That besides their taking God to Worship Him only there was a Consent in the Generality likewise to all that Political Ceremonial Moral External Obedience which was required in that Covenant according to those Words of theirs All things that the Lord hath commanded we will do Only this must be known withal that these All Things which they were to do as the Matter of that Covenant in Observing all the Commandments thereof was short of the Righteousness of a Regenerate Man or of that Righteousness that justifies a Christian This appears expresly by St. Paul who was a Pharisee of the chiefest Sect of the Jews and Touching the Righteousness of the Law he says blameless but yet in point of Justification he tells us He Counted it but Loss desiring to be Found in Christ not having his own Righteousness but the Righteousness which is of God by Faith The Apostle by his Own Righteousness understands the Righteousness which he had as a Jew the Righteousness of Moses's Covenant described by him thus And it shall be our Righteousness if we observe to do all these Commandments Deut. 6.25 24.13 It shall be Our Righteousness that is so as the Law hath nothing against Such but that they shall live in the Land and be Blessed or that God as Rector shall Reward them with the Temporal Blessings promised in that Covenant But it was never intended by God for such a Righteousness as should Justifie a Man to Life Everlasting for how then should Enoch Job Melchisedeck and those Good Men that lived before the Law have been Justified Were they Justified any other ways than we If Righteousness come by the Law then is Christ dead in vain The Jews indeed generally that were not Saducees thought to obtain Salvation by their Works according to this Covenant which proved so deadly to them For they being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to Establish their own Righteousness did not submit to the Righteousness of God This Righteousness of Theirs and Paul's Own which he calls so I say as a Jew for his Own as a Christian he must have and be Judged according to it is that Righteousness whereof Christ speaks when He tells his Disciples that were Jews Vnless your Righteousness exceeds the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you cannot be saved There is a Conformity to the Law or Covenant of Moses which is the Righteousness of the Jew and so of the Scribes and Pharisees And there is a Conformity to the Law or Covenant of Grace and This is the Christian Righteousness that exceeds the Other The One consists in External Obedience in the Political Ceremonial Moral External Obedience I say of That Covenant The Other in Sincerity of Heart and Life accepted through Christ which is That which exceeds the Former As Abraham's Walking Vprightly before God exceeded his being Circumcised This Righteousness is called the Righteousness of God as of his Inventing Appointing Accepting instead of
First-Born which are enrolled in Heaven Heb. 12.23 the Church that is so washed in Christ's Blood as to be without Spot or Wrinkle which none are but those that enter into Glory Ephes 5.27 So we read of that Chain of the Apostle Whom he did Predestinate them he also Called and whom he Called them he also Justified and whom he Justified them he also Glorified Rom. 8.30 Nevertheless when the Scripture speaks of the Church to the Purpose which concerns us which is as it is that Corporation of Christians unto which the World is to be brought in by Preaching of the Gospel it must consist of Regenerate and Vnregenerate that is of Multitudes whereof the Elect are but few only The whole Body of the Israelites brought out of Egypt are expresly called the Church The Church in the Wilderness Act. 7.38 The whole Body of them Man Woman and Child enter into that Covenant which denominated them God's peculiar People Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. It is yet more significant with me that it was the Outward Jew and not the Inward only unto whom belong'd that Advantage which the Jew is accounted to have above the Gentile Rom. 3.1 that is the Advantage of the Oracles of God and consequently those Ordinances whereby that People were distinguished as by Tokens from other People There is the Mystical Church then and Congregate Church or Church Political It is not the Regenerate and Elect but the Congregate Church which according to the Contexture of this Discourse is and must be the immediate Recipient of the Outward Ordinances It is in regard to his Voluntary Government which I call Conventional that God did institute any or give any Laws at all but what are of Nature And those Persons who are the Subjects of that Government must be the Recipients of these Appointments Neither is it a Man's being Born again but his Willingness to come under this Government that is a Willingness to come in and joine with the Church that gives him title to the Institutions thereof This Priviledge of the Congregate Church is One thing and the Priviledge of the Regenerate or the Church Mystical is Another The External Ordinances are the Privilege of all Christians as they were of all the Jews the Outward Jew and Christian as well as the Inward unto whom they belong in opposition to the Gentile and Heathen But the Privilege of the Inward Christian and Mystical Church is not the Ordinances being common to them with the Vnregenerate but the saving Benefits of the Ordinances which I say is another Matter There is the General and Special Grace of the Gospel The Church of Christians in the first Notion of it should not be defined by the Participation of the Special but the General Grace of the Gospel And it is the Number of the Called into Christ's Kingdom or under the Conventional Government of God to the Participation of those Ordinances which He hath appointed as Means of Grace and Exercises of Piety by way of Advantage above others as the Jew is said to have above the Gentile in order to their obtaining or farthering their Eternal Salvation That there is the General Grace of God and of the Gospel as well as Special is received by Eminent Divines But how this General Grace accordingly is also to be defined I find not many that can tell That Christ died for All as for his Sheep and that God would have All to be saved as well as his Elect is express in Scripture But is this General Grace What if a Man Repent not and Believe not will God have such to be saved Not so certainly There is thus much more therefore must come into the Definition if they Repent if they Believe Christ hath died and God would have Christ to die for All so that if they Believe and Repent they shall be Saved Well! Is this the Definition then of General Grace No it is not this is not yet enough Dr. Twisse indeed and all Men grant This but it is short by Two Steps For as God is said to will all Men's Salvation so is He said that He would have all Men to Repent and come to the Knowledge of the Truth This then is also to be taken in But hath He given Christ to die for All that they may Repent By no means This would bring in Origen's Vniversal Grace that All at last must be Saved When God then is said to Will that any should Repent it must be understood without doubt as to the Means which He offers them for Repentance And thus does the Lord expostulate with his People What could I have done more for my Vineyard than I have done There is one Mr. Cottier a French Protestant seems to have studied this Point of General Grace more accurately than others who thus defines it Gratia Vniversalis est nobis actus liberrimus quo eligendo eos quos praecognovit simul alios respexit uti Creaturas suas Sathanae malignitate seductas quousque fas jura tulêre pari jure seu invitandos seu vocandos ad Dei cultum consequentiâ cultus Here is One Step farther then towards the Definition of Vniversal Grace That God does not only Will the Salvation of All in giving Christ to die for them upon condition but that He does also vouchsafe the Means to All so far as is meet for their Performance of that Condition The Other Step is To lay down the Specifical Difference it self wherein this Vniversal Grace does consist as it is distinguished from Special for without the Specifical Difference of any thing there can be no exact Definition I will therefore humbly offer this full Definition The Vniversal Grace of God is that free Act Love or Favour of his whereby together with his Elâ—cting some to be infallibly saved by Him He does respect all others as his Creatures with the Vouchsafement of the same Means of Salvation so far as Right and Equity requires Quousque fas jura tulère says that cautious Divine which I must therefore six and establish as that alone which is wanting to compleat the Definition and that is so far as they will Behold When there are no Means of Salvation which God does vouchsafe his Elect but He vouchsafes the same to the Non-Elect and so to All according to the State they are in if or as they will who can deny this Grace to be indeed Vniversal If Christ hath Died for all Men if God would have all Mâ—n Return and Live and if according to the State they are in they have their Means of Return and if any Know and Desire more they are not Refused who can deny I say this Grace to be Vniversal And when this Grace is adjusted according to Men's Will who does not see the true Difference between that Grace which is Special and This Vniversal Grace is God's vouchsafing the same Means to All Hâ—ct and Reprobaâ—â— so far as they Will Special Grace is
Live but were Dead Rev. 3.1 Some that had Defiled their Garments Vers 4. Some Luke-warm and so to be Spewed out of God's Mouth Vers 16. Some that Minded earthly things Phil. 3.19 Some Carnal 1 Cor. 3.4 One that was Incestuous 1 Cor. 5.1 Many if the Apostle's Fear was not vain who had Sinned and not Repented of their Vncleanness Fornication and Lasciviousness which they had committed 2 Cor. 12.31 Such finally whose God was their Belly and whose End was Destruction Phil. 3.19 And if This be the Complexion of the Primitive Christian Churches who does not see but this Matter is Mixt Matter these Churches even under the Gospel Mixt Churches Who is there I say unless he cannot see Wood for Trees but must see it It is true when the Scripture stiles them Elect Sanctified Justified and the like that which is Divinitùs dictum must be So and some of them must be Such But when the same Scripture says these things of them likewise both must be true and some of them must also be otherwise The Church of Christ while 't is on Earth is must and will be Mixt and the Objection shall be Answered farther in its place And again yet look I pray where do we find any such thing as imports Regeneration to be required of God to the Admittance of Persons unto Membership in the Old Testament so that for want of that Qualification they were not Admitted Nay where do we find any one Man put off on that Account in the New 'T is true that Repentance and Faith and such as is Sound is required of those that come and that as necessary to Remission of their Sins by Baptism But is it of Necessity to Baptism If it be then must the Baptism of those Persons whose Faith and Repentance is unsound be invalid null and no Baptism If a due Subject be not of the Essence of Baptism what is But is there any of our Divines think such Baptism void Is there any will re-Baptize such if they come after to be Savingly Converted And if there be none then let no Man I say until he can prove that Wood is more than Trees or Trees are less than Wood go to impose upon me That which they have Devised but acknowledge that what Christ only hath Appointed must be the Rule of Church-Admission The Truth is That the Matter of Christ's Church or Kingdom upon Earth is made up of Good and Bad is so open in the Scripture so even under Sight and pronounced to be so by the Blessed Mouth of our Lord in several Parallels on purpose that I should not need to write a Book to tell any This but only for the Difficulties that attend it And they are either in respect to the Nature of the Church as called out of the World to a Peculiarity in God which hath caused my chief Labour therefore in the Stating and Explication of our CAUSE in the First Section Or in respect to the Darkness and Sophisticated Notions that are on our Vnderstandings about the same which I have endeavoured to Obviate and Heal in the Second Section now Finished Or in respect to the many Scruples and Objections that are raised and agitated concerning it which are to be Answered and Satisfied and that brings me to the Last Part of my Work which remains now on my Hands in the Section ensuing SECT III. THUS much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Stating our CAUSE and Confirming it I descend now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Answering Objections But how can an Vnregenerat Man be Admitted Into the Church that is not Of it How can he that is not In Christ be Received as a Member or into his Body How can he that is Out of Covenant be Admitted to Enter Covenant How can a Sealed Pardon be delivered to him whose Faith is not sound and Repentance sincere How can one be a Christian that hath no Grace These Objections and the like which are multiplied do receive their Solution by the Preceding Thread of this Discourse If the Government and Covenant we have been speaking of be understood aright and that the Church is the Number of those directly that be brought under That Government and into That Covenant we see all the way how the Vnregenerate as well as the Regenerate may be of it and that they who say That Such are only In the Church and not Of it do but mistakingly allude to St. John's Words in this Case We see how the Vnregenerate may be In Christ as they are of his Political Body and as Christ himself says expresly That there are Branches in Him that bring forth no Fruit. We see how the Vnregenerate may Enter into the Covenant of Peculiarity when yet he hath not brought his Soul to a Full Decree and Purpose of Constant and Entire Obedience which is required of him also in the Covenant of Life We see how he may Enter it in the Precise though he does not as he ought to do also in the Complex Consideration thereof We may understand also how that Vniversal Conditional Pardon which God hath passed in the Gospel may be Delivered or Sealed to a Man though a Simon or a Judas as well as to a Philip himself or to a John We see likewise how that a Man who hath not one Spark of that Grace that is Saving may have his Share in the General Grace of God or of the Gospel as well as others The Acute and Profound Mr. Baxter in one of his Books hath these Words You must first believe that Common Grace and Love mentioned Joh. 3.16 2 Cor. 5.19 20 14 15. 1 Tim. 2.6 Heb. 2.9 And you must believe your Interest in this that is that God hath by Christ made to All and to You an Act of Oblivion and free Deed of Gift that you shall have Christ and Pardon and Eternal Life if you will believingly accept the Gift and not finally â—â—ject it And the Belief of This even of this Common Love and Grace must first perswade your Hearts accordingly to accept the Offer and then you have a Special Interest Life of Faith pag. 152. Mark here There is the General Grace of God and a Particular Interest in that General Grace the Belief whereof is the orderly way to a Special Interest that is to the putting a Man upon the Performance of the Condition that he may have Interest in the Benefit Let me ask then Whether the Confirming and stirring up this Belief of a Man's Particular Interest in God's General Grace is not to be endeavoured in order to this End the getting the Special Interest And if it be how shall the Word Baptism and the Lord's Supper which are Ordinances that do indeed directly and immediately nothing else howsoever People may mistake but Declare Seal and Confirm the Particular Interest of every Man in this General Grace of the New-Testament and so are delivered to all alike