after this out of Paradise from taking of the Tree of life and in cursing the ground for his sake and laying such a burthen of labour and toyle upon him and pain of travaile upon the woman that in sorrow shee should bring forth her children Especially considering that the promise was made in Paradise while they were in it and before the curse was pronounced except only against the Serpent as by Genesis 3. appeareth And then if it were that Adam was so restored and all children ever since so conceived and born I ask the reason Why they did not from that day wherein the promise was made keep themselves in that estate of blessednesse by depending on the promise with their good and holy wills rather then fall so soon to commit actuall sin and lose all again which they might more possibly have done then they can now recover and be restored a second time seeing there is but one sacrifice for sin as it is written Heb. 10. And if their case bee not much worse now then it was before the promise was made And every child that dieth before it commit actuall sinne farre more happy than any of them If they answer and say as they use to teach and publish that the same sacrifice of Christ being included in the promise extended and doth still since Christ actually suffered to all sinne and sinners in the world of what kinde soever Which they would seem to prove by the words and example of Paul 1 Tim. 2.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe And so argue and say If Paul were the chief sinner in the world and was received to mercy then so may any other how great a sinner soever But Paul was chiefe of sinners as he saith and was received to mercy Therefore so may any other Ans Here this free-will teacher propounds a very false position at the first in saying That the Sacrifice of Christ extendeth to all sin and sinners in the world of what kind soever And in the next place hee wrongs the Apostle exceedingly in charging him upon his owne words to be the greatest or chiefe of all sinners For although it be true that Christ came into the world to save sinners and that hee died for the ungodly and justifieth the ungodly and the sinner as it is written Rom. 4.5 and 5.6 8. And as Christ saith Ali sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men Matth. 12.31 And that the Sacrifice of Christs death did and doth extend so farre and that Paul was such a chiefe sinner and blasphemer injurious c. and caused others to blaspheme as he saith yet was hee not the greatest or chiefe sinner in the world neither was his sinne and blasphemy the greatest neither doth hee so speake or mean But there was and is a greater sin and blasphemy then his which Christ nameth The blasphemy against the Spirit and saith that it shall not be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come Matth. 12.31 32. And the Apostle Iohn saith that it is not to be prayed for 1 Joh. 5.16 And Christ came not into the world for to save any of these kind of sinners neither dyed he for these nor doth his Sacrifice extend to any of them neither was Paul such a one But as he saith I was received to mercy for I did it ignorantly in unbeliefe Implying plainly that if he had knowne so much as they who set him aworke to persecute knew he could not have been received to mercy They knew what they did as Cain that slew his brother because his own workes were evill and his brothers good and as Judas that knew he betrayed innocent blood And therefore Christ when they crucified him prayed onely for those that knew not what they did Luk. 23.34 And so it is true that Paul was chief of those sinners whom Christ came into the world to save and that he prayed and died for but not of the other If the free will teacher shall say that Peter had knowledge of Christ when he denied him and cursed and sware that he knew him not and yet was forgiven though Christ had said Whosoever shall deny me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven This is true But there are two things to be considered in the unpardonable sinne which wee all ought to understand that is willingnesse of the heart as well as knowledge which was not in Peter he did it of weaknes through feare very unwillingly in his heart and was forgiven And Paul he sinned wllingly and with his heart but very ignorantly and was received to mercy And therefore in describing that great sin unto death he saith by way of exhortation For if we sinne willingly after wee have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinnes but a certain fearfull looking for of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries Heb. 10.26 27. So that where willingnesse of the heart and knowledge of the truth are both together in persecuting or denying of Christ or his truth that mans sin cannot bee forgiven and Christ will deny him before his Father which is in heaven Such a one was Cain and Esau also that despised his birth-right wherein the promise lay who afterward could find no place for repentance and Iudas who therefore hanged himselfe And such were those Scribes and Pharisees unto whom Christ spake and said Fill ye up the measure of your Fathers yee Serpents ye generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of hell Matth. 23. And those who though they knew of the great works which he did and how he had raised Lazarus from the dead yet sought to kill him and Lazarus also and did soon after crucifie him and many more such have been and are So that then there is no such generally Redemption as the free-willer teacheth nor is originall sinne cut off by the promise nor by Christs actuall sufferings nor by the new birth from above But Adam remained wholly polluted by his sinne in respect of nature soule and body and all his posterity are deeply stained therewith unto this day And although children do not presently so soon as they are born act the evill yet the seed is in them which soon sprouts up and brings forth fruit even in the holiest regenerate mens children as experience hath long proved and are under the law of sinne and death else why should God destroy so many thousand thousands of them by the flood and all the children in Sodom of which place he saith If ten righteous be found there I will not destroy it forâ—tenâ— sake Every child therefore must be regenerate from above or it cannot be saved It is true Adam having eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evill which hee was forbidden upon pain of death to eat of or touch
and hee lying bound to death by that his sinne and by the justice of the law of God which now he knew that stood up as a fiery two-edged sword turning every way against him convincing him more and more of sinne and of death hee being not able possibly to doe the works thereof that from the very first houre after the promise was made he and all in his loines were set out of that unrecoverable estate wherein they lay bound without any remedy and a way prescribed and set before them in and through the same promise whereby to live again so gracious and faire as could not be more That whosoever would but confesse his sinnes unto God and ask mercy like the similitude of the lost Sonne hee should have his sinnes forgiven and bee saved Such a generall Redemption as this was from that houre and so gracious and fair a way was set before all mankinde in generall no one excepted And what sonne in the world could or can desire more of his father against whom he had so rebelliously sinned yet no man by his own wil or power in nature would or could doe this and live again It is true that Adam and Abell and all the children of the promise did attain thereunto but not by their own wills or power And though oftentimes since the promise was made God renewed the same his covenant of mercy and called upon man saying Whosoever is athirst let him come and whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely Yet where is the man that of himselfe so thirsteth that of himselfe so willeth and cometh and taketh of the water of Life or was there ever such a man No doubtlesse not one But on the clean contrary such is the hardnesse and stoutnesse of mans heart since hee is become so wise by eating the forbidden fruit that rather then hee will stoop so low as to mourn and weep for his sinnes and confesse them unto God with teares from a truly sorrowfull broken heart and defire mercy and forgivenesse he will doe any thing else take up and submit to any forme of religion though never so strict and painfull entertain any opinion or doctrine that shall come to his eares in pretence of truth though never so erronious perform any outward work of the Law or of the Gospel so farre as Cain and Iudas went or as a Pharisee and hypocrite can goe some way to quiet his guilty conscience and to shun that straight way of the Lord it is so disagreeing to his lofty and prudent minde stubborn and hard heart so naturally given to pride and carnall pleasure as we may see by the experience of the many Sects of religious and sorts of opinions that are amongst us at this day as well as by the superstitions and idolatries that have been and are in the world that so his minde being quieted hee may pleasantly passe his time without repentance and without that faith of Christ which purifieth the heart the birth of water and of the Spirit So that if God should not by his speciall power from heaven like the husbandman that breakes up his fallow ground and then soweth his seed so turn the heart of man from his sinfull pleasures and fulfilling his owne will and doing his own works take away his hard and stony heart and give him a heart of flesh a soft and tender heart and write in the same by his Spirit his covenant of mercy and love as he did unto Adam his first lost sonne and Abell whose sacrifice therefore hee accepted Adam and all his posterity would have perished for ever But God foreseeing all things and having before the foundation of the world chosen of the fore-seen fallen lump of mankind a certain compleat number to save and glorifie did destinate them to be conformed to the image of his Sonne Jesus Christ his first borne and whom he so predestinated them he in his due times called giving them repentance and whom he so called them hee justified through faith and whom he justified them he glorified as it is written Rom. 8.28 29. And as God did thus call and justifie his chosen to Pauls time so hath hee done ever since and will doe to the end of the world that his number may be filled And they that are so predestinated and born of God shall certainly bee saved and none else as Christ hath absolutely affirmed Ioh. 3. What then Shall wee therefore say that God did predestinate the other to doe wickedly and so to perish Nay that followeth not neither did he so any more then he did decree the fall and sinne of Adam and so mans destruction for then God must bee the authour and cause thereof as he is of grace and salvation which may not once be thought Neither have we any more reason to charge God with unmercifulnesse in not saving all men by the new birth from above in and through Christ then we have for his not keeping Adam from falling and saving all that way It is true and it must be acknowledged that God could have done so and that he could also have kept those Angels which fell if it had been the good pleasure of his will as it was not shall wee therefore charge God with unmercifulnesse because he did not keep them and so have saved all both men and Angels Or shall wee make his not keeping them the cause of their fall sinne and destruction Who dares do so or have such a thought Nay Satan himselfe knoweth it to be otherwise and that their fall and destruction is of themselves and mans also of themselves thorough his eavie against them his malice and lies Neither did God ever harden the heart of any man that he should not repent and beleeve the Gospel and be saved or bind their wills or power therefrom by any decree or worke of his at any time nay let all men feare to think such a thing and know that it is his own hardnesse of heart and evilnesse of will that hinders him But this is true that God doth give some men up to their own hardnesse of heart such as having known God and tasted of his bountifulnesse and goodnesse which led them to repentance and reject the same as they whom the Apostle Paul speaketh of Rom. 1.19 20. to verse 32. And so is God said to harden the heart of Pharaoh in giving him up to hisown hardnesse of heart he having seen and known so much of the power and goodnesse of God and rejecting the same and still oppressing his people to fill up the measure of his wickednesse that God might declare his power as Paul saith Rom. 9. And according to this are the words of Christ to those Scribes and Pharisees of the Jewes the generation of them that killed the Prophets Matth. 23. Fill ye up the measure of your Fathers ye Serpents ye generation of Vipers c. Now what is there in any thing of
all this that may give occasion for any man justly to say or think that God the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ should bind any mans legges and then command them to goe and to doe this or that as the Free-will teacher would inferre But I wish that he would tell us plainly the cause why some men doe repent and beleeve and are saved and not all If he shall say as some doe that it is because some men will and some will not Then I ask him the reason or cause of this great difference of will in man that one should have a will to will unto life eternall and another to will unto death eternall If he say it is by Gods worke of creation in the womb or in Adam then he makes God to bee the author of the evill as well as of the good which he would seem by his Doctrine to avoid If he say it is by the operation of the Heavens Sunne Moon or Starres which Mathematickes say cause severall dispositions in men some to evill and some to good Then hee makes those creatures the cause which were very heathenish Neither can they cause such a difference in mens wills as to life and death eternall nay then may those people be excused who adore them as Gods Therefore we say there is no such difference of will but all mens hearts are by Nature since the first fall of Adam and because thereof hard and their wills stubborn and bent to ill whose fruit is death And it is by the speciall operation of God from heaven that any mans heart and will is brought to repent and beleeve unto life eternall to be so born of water and of the Spirit without which no man can be saved no nor child how young soever And it is true God doth not effect or bring this to passe in every man neither did hee so determine any more then hee did to keep those Angls that fell or Adam from falling for then must all have been saved And where had been then the glory of the power of God in respect of his justice and the riches of his mercies whereof Paul speaketh Rom. 9.22 23. and which sundry other Scriptures doe so often make mention of and declare to the glory of God and comfort of his chosen And it is also true that as God did not decree or will to save all men so neither did he decree or will the destruction of all nor of any man but upon those just grounds and causes in themselves before declared which he foresaw And so men are said to be ordained of old to condemnation and Esau to he hated before hee had done good or evill yet did he not ordain sinne nor make death nor did he ever break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoking Flax nor will or desire the death of a sinner but rather that hee should return and live as it is written And so it is true and cleare that the salvation of man is meerly and freely of GOD through Jesus Christ and his destruction is of himselfe And this shill all men and Angels know assuredly in that day when God shall judge the secrets of all men by him even Jesus Christ and shall justifie God in all things both in respect of his justice on them that perish and in respect of his mercies on them that are saved And every thing in the estate of that world it being the end for which all things were created shal be so much to the praise and glory of God and to the joy and rejoycing of his chosen as nothing that can bee thought of or wished could be more And as comcerning the Free-willers doctrine of falling away from all graces and gifts of the Spirit regeneration and whatsoever which they would seem to ground on those Scriptures which speake of some excellent gifts that men may be made partakers of and fall away from them and perish as Mat. 12.43 44 45. Heb. 3.12 14. Heb. 6.5 6. Heb. 10.26 27 28. 2 Pet. 2.20 21 22. Ezek. 8. and other places Herein also they are much deceived and erre exceedingly not discerning things that differ nor knowing to distinguish between those gifts of the Spirit which are common to all men and those that are more speciall and peculiar onely to a few Which is one main cause of their erring so much in every thing And doubtlesse the cause of the same cause is hardnesse of heart and unbeliefe the contraries to the baptisme or birth of water and of the Spirit without which no man can have the faith of Abraham nor know the mysteries of the kingdome of heaven And was the case of him unto whom Christ spake and said Joh. 3. Art thou a Master of Israel and knowest not these things For although it bee true that men may be made partakers of those common gifts in the places mentioned and fall away from all as there it saith yet it followeth not neither is it true that any of those that are born of water and of the Spirit who have that faith in Christ whereby they eat his flesh and drink his blood that have their sins washt away therewith and their heart sanctified ever did or can fall away and perish And the reason is because they are kept not by their own wills but by the will and power of God and of Christ as Christ himself saith Joh. 6. And this is the Fathers wil which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lese nothing but should raise it upagain at the last day v. 39.40 And again My sheep heare my voyce and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternall life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand My Father which gave them me is greater then all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand Joh. 10. They are kept by the will and power of God as Peter also saith of such faithfull ones Blessed be the God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead or an inheritance incorrupible and undefiled that fadeth not not away reserved in heaven for us who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation c. 1 Pet. 1.2 3 4 5. And John saith whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God 1 Joh 3.9 Meaning not willingly in his minde for hee had said before If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Joh. 1.8 He may through temptation be led captive to sin as Peter was but he never in his mind becomes a servant to sinne more hee therein serveth the Law of God and so it is no more he that sinneth but sin that dwelleth