actually saved for if in Christ 1 Cor. 15.22 all are made alive that are alive and that he that is alive liveth unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.11 then as Christ himself such dye no more sin hath no more dominion over them Rom. 6.9 for they live unto the Lord Rom. 14.8 and 1 Joh. 3.9 his seed remaineth in him Being born again 1 Pet. 1.23 not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever Next And Christ rendreth the light of the Spirit of Grace to every man in the world It s true we have some expressions Ioh. 1.9 that Christ lighteth every man that cometh into the world but that is to be understood of the common light of nature or the actings of reason as the two next following verses do evince for the world knew him not and his own received him not they had not the spirit of grace and faith for 2 Thes 3.2 all men have not faith But how doth Christ tender the light of the Spirit of grace to every man surely after that ordinary manner that God hath sanctified to wit the preaching of the Gospel for Rom. 10.14 faith cometh by hearing and how shall they hear without a Preacher then that is apparently false for it is too well known that there are many thousand thousands in the world yea divers nations which never enjoyed the blessing to hear of Christ or the Spirit of grace but Ephes 1.12 lived without a God in this world and at last shall go Psal 49.19 unto the generations of their fathers and never see light If the meaning be that Christ tendreth the light of the spirit of grace inwardly and after an extraordinary manner this is but petitio principii as they say in the Schooles a plain begging of the question without any proof of Scripture or probability in common reason Nay it is flat against the Scripture for Luke 16.19 they have Moses and the Prophets they are to hear them Esa 8.26 to the law and to the testimony c. 2 Pet 1.19 We have a more sure word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place Next God also giveth a Talent to every man and power to improve it but man not improving it when received with a power is the cause of mans destruction Now what weight this talent bears with this Dictator or what power is given unto frail men to improve it and how far and to what or whom either of these talents or power is extended when he hath better studied the point and comes to understand his own meaning if he please then to communicate it he shall be sure to receive a further answer but in the mean time by way of Anticipation if his sense be as I conjecture through his clouded and dark expressions That God hath afforded sufficient means of grace and power to improve that means to every man whereby they may come to the knowledge of the truth and so be saved then I utterly deny it and my ground of such denial rests upon these ensuing Arguments 1. Arg. If God do purposely for the raising of his own glory harden some blind others and make fat the hearts of many then a sufficient means of salvation nor power to use the same is administred to all indifferently But God doth blind some hardens others and makes fat Therefore The major or first proposition is undeniable because blinding hardening and making fat is destructive to the use of means The minor or second proposition is proved from these express texts Ex. 4.21 and 7.3 and 14.4 Rom. 9.18 whom he will he hardeneth Ex. 9.16 and Rom. 9.17 even for this same purpose have I raised thee up Ioh. 12.40 he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts c. Esa 6.9 Rom. 11.7 election hath obtained it the rest are blinded Esa 6.10 make the hearts of this people fat 2. Arg. If God willingly suffers Nations to walk in their own wayes and winkes at or lets them alone in their sins and ignorance then God doth not exhibite a sufficiency of means nor inables them with a power of acceptation of life and salvation But the first is true therefore the latter For the proof of the major is unnecessary for the minor see Acts 14.16 and 17.30 3. Arg. If the preaching of Christ crucified in the doctrine of the Gospel be the onely ordinary sufficient means to bring men to life and to salvation and that many nations never enjoyed that means then God hath not afforded a sufficiency of means to all men but the first is true therefore the latter That the Gospel is the onely ordinary means Rom. 10.14 How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard c. Acts 4.12 there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Ioh. 14.6 No man cometh to the Father but by the Son 1 Ioh. 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 Tim. 2.5 One mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus Now that many nations want this means t is too evident and therefore no sufficiency The Seventh Position That Christ hath redeemed all men from the first transgression and crost the score of Adams sin I cannot well interpret what this dreamer means for if his sense should be by way of limitation in all men to all the elect of men then I imbrace his Position and should much enlarge it But I suspect worse that he covertly denies the being of original sin secretly insinuating that the death of Christ hath blotted out Col. 2.14 that hand-writing that was against us from any further imputation of Adams sin or obligation unto punishment onely the guilt and pollution thereof still remains inherent in us However it is I will shoot at rovers and adventure an argument or two in defence of the truth 1. Arg. That unto which the Scripture doth apply the name and nature of sin deserving punishment that without controversie must be sin indeed But unto original sin both the name and nature of sin are applyed in the Scripture Therefore For proof hereof see Psal 81.7 Rom. 5.12 14 16 19. Ioh. 3.6 Rom. 7.7 8. and 8.13 Iam. 1.14 2. Arg. If temporal death hath been the lot of every one which yet hath not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression then there is original sin still in being in respect of punishment for Rom. 6.23 the wages of sin is death and every sin is either actuall or originall but temporal death hath been the lot of many who yet have not sinned actually Rom. 6.14 and this we may see instanced in the death of Infants which die without actual sin Therefore The last Position is Christ hath laid his life and shed his bloud for
things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned No Sir it is the peculiar work of the Spirit to regenerate and convert Lydia's heart was opened Acts 16. Mat. 13.3 Rom. 1.16 before she so diligently attended to Pauls words The word of God that brought forth fruit did not make the ground good but it was so before by the special working of that Spirit The word which is the power of God to salvation doth not make believers but God first makes them so by sanctifying of their natures and giving them to believe Phil. 1.29 The word of God in Regeneration hath no greater force or power then the word of the Prophets and Apostles had in raising of the dead which had no other operation then to be tanquam signum as a sign of the thing done or as a moral instrument for there is no lesser power requirable in the recovery of a poor soul from a spiritual death to a spiritual life then there is from a natural death to a natural life And therefore as it is Gods peculiar to raise from death to life natural so it is his alone prerogative to raise from a spiritual death to a spiritual life The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Ioh. 5.25 Yea the same power is exerted in the work of Regeneration or the new creation as was at first in the work of the old creation 1 Cor. 4.6 no less then an hand of omnipotency in them both and therefore not communicable to any creature From all of which I shall hence infer that if it be Gods peculiar work to regenerate and not the word in the hearing of it and that Regeneration is principally necessary to give us ingress into heaven Joh. 3.3 Mat. 5.8 God may then as well regenerate infants by his secret power unsearchable to us though they neither hear nor understand as he doth those that are of riper years by so weak an instrument as the word and Gospel is which hath no such inherent power in and of it self Secondly this your assertion labours of another sickness viz. a false supposition that nothing but actual sins expose men to the danger of being cast into the lake of fire whereas the truth is That original sin or that hereditary pravity we brought with us into the world deriving it from our parents Psal 51.5 who conceived us in sin hath so much of filthiness and uncleanness in it that God may justly cast a new-born infant into the lake of fire for it unless it be washed clean by the blood of Jesus who is the alone way the truth the life Joh. 14.6 and through whose alone merits we have an access into the Holy of Holies into which place are admitted onely these whose names are written in the Lambs book of life Rev. 21.27 Luke 10.20 Rev. 20.15 whose names are written in heaven registred there in the eternal immutable decree of Gods election unto life all the rest whose names are not there recorded infants as well as others are cast into the lake of fire which is the second death But enough of this at present I shall be sure to meet you again more about this when you lay out your strength against original sinne Another thing which you give out in the nature of a reason why infants cannot be damned is viz. for that their not having of faith will never be charged upon them as sin Sir suppose I grant so much and so likewise what you produce out of Rom. 4.15 as a confirmation or rather as a reason of your reason for where no law is there is no transgression both may be very true as set disjunctively but as you have woven them both into one sentence they may not be true nor applicable to your purpose for herein you vary your terms that which you write takes notice of sin the text speaks of transgression wherein I conceive sin and transgression are not terms convertible for though every transgression of the law be a sin yet every sin is not a transgression of the law as in the case now before us for original sin though it be a sin properly and really yet it is not a transgression of the law as personally acted in and by the infants but as imputatively and as a defect of original righteousness So what you further say by way of illustration that there can be no law to infants as such and sin is not imputed where there is no law I grant you as to infants now in existence which law might require the exerting or putting out of any act or duty which their minority is uncapable to receive or to perform But I must withall tell you that as Adam as a publick person as a root and stock received Grace righteousness and holiness for him and his even for those in his loins so he received a law to him and his even the Covenant of works do this and live which law was incumbent not onely on Adam himself but likewise on all those that were in his loins So that infants now are born under a law and their want of original righteousness and that for the defect thereof their being conceived and born in sin and uncleanness shall be a deserving cause of their just condemnation What you bring forth in evidence to what you here aim at viz. Rom. 5.13 sin is not imputed where there is no law is so far from answering your desire that it cuts the throat of your assertion For the clearing whereof its expedient to search into the mind of the Spirit by the scope of the place The Apostle in this Chapter is prosecuting that grand point of Justification by faith in Christ and ver 11. laies down this that we have received attonement by him whence he makes this corollary ver 12. that as by the first Adam sin and death entred into the world so by Iesus Christ righteousness and life are restored to us But ver 13. he meets with an objection that sin is not imputed where there is no law where he argues after this manner If all have sinned in the loins of Adam then those likewise have sinned who lived before the law was given by Moses but before the law was given there could be no sin because where there is no law there is no transgression as Chap. 4.15 and therefore all have not sinned in Adam Now here the Apostle denies the assumption or minor proposition affirming the contrary that sin was before the law given by Moses constantly affirming that howsoever it was not imputed i. e. reckoned or accounted or reputed to be sin yet indeed and in truth sin was then in the world and this being of sin in the world before the law ver 14. he proves by the effect viz. death was then in the world and that all had sinned because that
all in their several generations had tasted of death and for a more full manifestation hereof he distinguisheth mankind into infants and those of ripe years wherein he affirms by the effect that not onely those that were of ripe years had died who had sinned in their own persons but even infants who had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression i. e. who had committed no actual sins in their own persons for which they should suffer death which is the wages of sin even they likewise had died Rom. 6.23 as having brought into the world with them the guilt of Adams transgression and therefore it could not be denied but that sin was likewise in them So that you that undertake to be a Proctor for all infants for ought you have proved from this text you will leave them all in a sad condition if a more sufficient Advocate may not be found to to plead their cause Another reason there is which you would fain have to be received from the authority of Christ himself Luke 18.16 Of such is the kingdom of God for the salving whereof I must open the words which do evidence that the Disciples had a prejudice and a cruell one too against infants thinking as the Anabaptists do that they understood nothing of Christ nor of the kingdom of Grace but Christ rebukes them and instates infants of believing parents as members of the visible Church Of such is the kingdom of God Now we cannot think that Christs meaning is of such as such is the kingdom of God as if all infants whether Jew or Gentile Turk or Pagan belonged as subjects to the visible Church for then the infants of all the heathens should be covenanted members of the Church visible and yet their parents are without the viâ—â—ble Church and when they should grow to age they should without any scandal be excommunicated which were monstrous to affirm much less can the invisible kingdom of God be of such as if all infants because infants were actually saved but all that our Saviour intends is Of such i. e. of such in covenant-relation is the kingdom of God of such subjects i. e. infants as well as others So that our Saviour did herein hold forth the common interest of the whole species of infants within the visible Church their common interest in Christ that he is a Saviour of them as well as a Saviour of the aged But to conclude thence of such Therefore all such is an unheard of non sequitur We find salvation entailed upon qualifications of Graces but not upon any age or period of life But that whether it be for matter of election or of reprobation young as well as old are lookt upon as in the corrupt lump and out of which some are elected the rest are left and so not elected which is to be Reprobated You have one reason more for the defence of your assertion that no child dying in infancy c. And that I conceive you offer by way of anticipation to what might be objected from Rom. 5.15 2 Cor. 5.10 16 17 18 19. concerning the imputation of Adams sin to all his posterity and thus you state it that when all shal appear before the judgement seat of Christ every one shall receive according to what he hath done in his body but not to receive any thing as a punishment for what hath been acted in the body of another And I pray Sir tell me you that are so accurate the reason of your limitation why none shall receive any thing as a punishment of that which hath been acted in the person of another but that we may receive a reward for the good which hath been acted in the person of another where if the text by you cited 2 Cor. 5.10 be that rule you walk by it should hold for good as well as bad But perhaps you foresaw the instance that would be given in against you in that man Christ Jesus from the acting of whose person in his own body all other bodies that do expect or hope for any reward of all their labours of love they do participate Joh. 1. Ezek. 16.14 for of his fulness have we all received and we all are made perfect through his comliness that he shall put upon us and by his obedience shall those that are justified be made righteous And therefore my good friends this is but gratis dictum Rom. 5.19 and you do herein grosly suborn and abuse that place of the Apostle to serve your base ends this sure is no better then the devils juggle Matth. 4. to mince so much of a text as will serve his turn and to leave out the rest so to delude the Readers I pray use fairer play in your next and deal above board The next thing I observe of your alike fair dealing is about that text 1 Cor. 15.22 that all die and go to the dust in the first Adam in that all have sinned or in whom all have sinned Rom. 5.12 and here sure the dust so flies in your eyes that all the skil and labour you can take will never wipe it away For first you do confess that all Infants as well as others sinned in Adam and why should you not alike confess from that very place Rom. 5.18 that therefore judgement upon all to condemnation should pass upon infants as well as others but probable it is that here your meaning is that Adams first transgression whereon I shall have occasion more fully to answer when I come to examine and resolve your postscript of Queries till when I shall dismiss this paradox and shall apply my self to enquire into the mind of God in that text by you cited Ezek. 18.20 the soul that sinneth it shall die the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father c. Upon which your comment is by death in this place is meant eternal death that which is the portion of the wiâ—ked for their wickedness for as for the temporal or natural death that is the portion as well of the righteous as unrighteous and therefore from this place you suppose it clear that no soul shall eternally be cast into the lake for the sin of another i. e. for Adams sin But I pray Sir what think you first of the sufferings of Christ both in his soul and body â—am 1.12 Isa 53.3 there was no sin inherent in himself neither of original nor actual sins yet was there never any sorrow or sufferings like unto his and therefore called a man of sorrowes which though they were not eternal in respect of duration yet were they eternal according to the nature and essence of them and in respect of the dignity of the person being God-man they were equivalent to any or all of those sufferings which are eternal for time and continuance and yet all this was undergone not for the satisfaction of any sin in himself but for what sins were acted in the
by a comparison of our righteousness and life received by Jesus Christ with sin and death contracted from Adam that as by the disobedience of Adam we were made sinners viz. sinners by imputation his sin being laid upon our account as much as if we our selves had eaten of the forbidden fruit So by the obedience of Christ we are made righteous i. e. righteous by imputation God being so pleased to accept of Christ his righteousness as though we in our own persons had fulfilled all righteousness either in doing or in suffering See for further satisfaction 1. Cor. 1.30 and 15.22 and 2 Cor. 5.15 The second thing considerable in original sin is a privation of the Image of God the glory of God or original righteousness of this see Rom. 3.23 Eccles 7.29 Ephes 4.24 which uprightness had been hereditary had man kept his first station but he failing in the breach of the holy law of God he lost that righteousness both to himself and all his posterity So that there unavoidably succeeding a defect of conformity to the law of God which sinless nature did enjoy necessarily must it draw with it the sin of that nature which it voluntarily had contracted viz. Original unrighteousness Whence I reason thus Every transgression of the law of God takes along with it the true and proper name and nature of sin and to have eternal death as the reward thereof 1 Ioh. 3.4 Rom. 3.23 But every defect of conformity with the law of God is such a transgression Therefore c. The Minor is proved from those places 1 Cor. 2.14 and 2 Cor. 3.5 Rom. 3.10 and Rom. 7.18 cum multis aliis The third thing considerable is a proneness aptitude and bentness to sin not by imputation but by inclination As the young Lion and the young Serpent have not the bloudy and stinging nature of the old Lion and the old Serpent by imputation but by natural and intrinsecal inherencie so it is with men from the womb they are sinners from the birth bringing into the world a body of sin and death Whence I argue thus Every evill concupiscence or proneness in man to sin or rebellion to the law of God or enmity to God carries with it the name and nature of sin But original sin Synecdochically taken for the habit of original unrighteousness is that evil Concupiscence or proneness to sin c. Therefore For the Major I presume none dare question it and for the Minor that is confirmed abundantly and that in a special manner in the greatest part of Rom. 7. where the nature of original sin is most lively represented and the Apostle not onely for himself but for all others bemoanes their sad estate in respect of the natural inherency of that depravation of our nature And whereas you Sir were pleased to supply me with places to prove what I intended as to original sin I must tell you it was not for want of stock that I had then in store but onely because I would not then in so short an epitome be tedious and troublesome to such dissatisfied persons for whose alone satisfaction I composed that breviary but never intending it should have been exposed to publick view it was onely your pleasure to bring it into the sun light naked and bare as it was And therefore that you may see that the subject is not any wayes lame or defective for want of sufficient authority to support it take these texts of Scripture ex abundanti for the confirmation of it Gen. 6.5 and 8.21 Iob 14.5 Psal 57.7 Isa 64.10 Ier. 17.9 Matth. 15.12 Ioh. 3.6 Rom. 5.12 c. and 6.16 c. and 8.6 7. c. Eph. 2.3 and 4.22 Col. 3.9 11. Tit. 3.3 Heb. 12.1 Iam. 1.14 15 c. For what you conclude this paragraph with that if sinners should repent confess and forsake their sins they should find mercy And if the elect should continue in sin and not repent c. they should be equally lyable to the decree of Reprobation I say Sir though to affirm this doth utterly interfere with your first position where you affirm that the elect cannot become reprobates neither can reprobates become elect And yet there is some truth in it according to the Gospel manner of expressions but this hath been fully spoken to already Your next encounter is to answer a place by me quoted where you write thus But yet lest it should be thought that there is some weight in that Scripture which he quoteth out of Ephes 2.1 2 3. Children of wrath even as others to prove that reprobation to the second death is for that sin in Adam or that infants dying in infancy should be cast into the lake of fire for the same I doubt not but by the help of my God I shall make it appear that there is no such thing in it for first consider that these words in ver 1. you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins cannot relate to their being in the corrupt mass or lump of Adams transgression for that is but one being in the singular number but that which is there spoken of is in the plural number or more than one to wit trespases and sins Secondly it doth appear that it doth not relate to that sin they had as they were new born infants because it relateth to their conversation or course of life as they had a being in this world ver 2.3 wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world amongst whom we all had our conversation in times past c. By which it doth appear that he doth not speak to the Ephesians of what they were as they first came into the world as Infants for they could not upon that account be said to walk according to the course of this world neither can new born Infants as such be said to have their conversation in times past in the lust of the flesh of the mind and therefore they were not children of wrath upon that account but the Apostle there speaketh of that course of life or conversation in which they lived in time past as they were grown persons in the lusts of the flesh and the mind fulfilling the desires thereof and being by nature the children of wrath even as others Answ What man are you so confident of this first fruits of your brain as to think that you have answered all things of weight in what I have formerly written to your positions Truly Sir if I have any judgement at all there is not one parcel of all that I have delivered that you have given the least colour of satisfaction to But let us examine the reasons you give in why those words were the children of wrath even as others cannot prove reprobation to the second death or expose infants to a desert of the lake of fire Your first reason is because those words ver 1. you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins cannot
17. God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Answ That God doth put forth acts of Grace of free and undeserved love unto his worthless creatures we have willingly acknowledged we further say that that love of God is no passion not proper affection in God who is not capable of such but onely a purpose in God of willing well and doing well unto the creature and that out of the wel-spring of that love did slow that good pleasure of his of the sending of his Son into the world But that either it was the purpose of God in sending or the intention of Christ in coming into the world to be a Redeemer of all and every particular person or to offer himself a sacrifice for all this text doth not evinâ—e Yet I say that this love here spoken of may be said to be universal in respect of the Elect and of believing persons answerable to that Rom. 3.22 Rom. 3.22 The righteousness of God which is of faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe and yet withall particular in respect of the whole mass and lump of mankind according to that Rom. 9.13 Rom. 9.13 Iacob have I loved and Esau have I hated and ver 18. he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth Neither doth Christ intend any other universality here then this mentioned first because that those for whom Christ came into the world are also saved for what shall be able to hinder his purpose or resist his will Secondly because believers onely are saved Rom. 8.19 Phil. 1.2 Mat. 13.11 and shall not be condemned onely to the Elect it is given that they shall believe Phil. 1.29 Matth. 13.11 And thirdly to what purpose was this pretended love and affection in God if it never did nor can take any gracious effect in saving any reprobate That which takes the fourth place is Rom. 5.18 As by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life Answ That by All men unto whom did slow the benefit purchased by Christ is not meant of all and singular men absolutely but all men that did appertain unto him who were given him of the Father i. e. the elect and believers For the Apostle here makes a comparison between the first Adam and the second Adam as being two roots either of whom do communicate unto their several branches i. e. unto a certain company descending from them what they have do or shall enjoy and therefore saith that as the first Adam by his carnal generation did communicate two pestilent evils Sin and Death unto all descending from him So Christ the second Adam by his spiritual generation did communicate two contrary blessings viz. Righteousness and Life to all that did believe in him The truth of this interpretation is clear from the scope of the Apostle which is to compare Christ the Authour of Righteousness and Life with Adam the Authour of Sin and Death from ver 12. to the end of the Chapter and therefore hereupon ver 19. repeating the same matter which in probability should be more clear the word all is interpreted by many For had it been otherwise the Apostle would have pulled down what before he had built up and clearly contradicted himself in that doctrine which he had before delivered in the third and fourth Chapters therein asserting the justification onely of believers and therefore here is but little advantage to be gotten from this Antithesis But you will say if more perished in Adam then are saved in Christ his Grace then should be weaker then Adams sin where is then the much more abounding grace spoken of ver 17. To which I answer that the greatness and power of grace above â—n ought not to be esteemed according to the multitude of those that are condemned in Adam and of those that are justified and glorified in Christ for so Grace should be equal onely and nothing at all stronger then sin if every of these should be made righteous in Christ as many as were born sinners in Adam But herein consists the extensiveness of Grace beyond what sin did First in that whereas sin brought forth death and grace righteousness and life now it s well known t is easier to destroy and condemn an innumerable company then to quicken and save one single person all the world compacted together could not save one but Adams single sin could make obnoxious the whole world Secondly In Adam all the whole world are involved and made liable to condemnation by his one only offence but Christ doth emancipate his little flock not onely from that one original sin contracted by stain and imputation but likewise from all actual sins wherein they themselves are personally culpable neither is there any Righteousness besides Christ as there be some sins besides the sin of Adam And how mighty is this gift which innumerable sinners cannot withstand and this is that which the Apostle hinteth ver 17. and not as c. And so I proceed to your fifth Text prest to give in evidence which is 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again True it is Christ is said here that he died for all but for what all therein lies the doubt truly then the resolve must be that Christ died first for those all to whom his death is imputed viz. such who through the virtue and efficacy of the death of Christ which he underwent for them are accounted as dead and secondly Rom. 13.14 for such as do repent i. e. whereas before they did indulge their pleasures and lived to the satisfying of the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof now they live no longer to themselves but do endeavour to live conformably to the will and honour of him that died for them Now whether this can be extended to any but believers let my adversary judge for it were blasphemy to think that Christ could not obtain the end of his death had it been intended by him for any else besides believers yea even those to whom he had purposed to give them power to believe and to become sons of God The sixth Text forced by you to give its vote is 1 Tim. 2.1 c. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and
a can or a will I mean power or desire that there is neither of them in professed Christians Phil. 2.13 but what is of Gods own working who giveth both to will and to do according to his good pleasure And as for the heathen instead of doing or any desires thereunto as to good there is nothing but backwardness indisposition aversness yea an enmity against any thing that is really good at least in a saving way But alas what persons or cause is there in the world that are so base and degenerate that cannot suborne some luxuriant tongues to plead their case though never so abominable I have now done with this and so proceed to hear what you can speak for your selfe in the defence of the position from the third absurdity which is this The third absurdity If the foresight of sin should be the cause of reprobation then the elect should be equally lyable to the decree of reprobation as the reprobates themselves they all being alike in the corrupt mass and lump of Adams transgression Answ See how he minceth his argument that he may bring forth absurdities from his own expressions and then father them upon us In the front of his argument he putteth in unbelief and the rejecting of the means but leaveth out the word continuing and now he hath thrust out all except it be this one single term Sin that he may bring reprobation to eternal destruction to the narrow scantling of Adams transgression but that shall never be granted by me until I see a better proof for it than he hath yet brought and I can allow him more Scriptures then he hath set down to his argument Iob 14.4 and 15.14 Psal 51.5 all which together with the Scriptures he bringeth do I confess prove that the whole lump of mankind is polluted with Sin and I deny not but that this pollution or corruption is in a measure from Adams transgression but that any ones being reprobated to everlasting destruction in the lake of fire which is the second death is for Adams transgression I deny for although all the fruits and effects of that sin in the first Adam do accompany us untill we come to the dust from whence we were taken which is Gen. 3.16 17 18 19. Womens sorrow being multiplyed and their conception and bringing forth children in sorrow together with the curse that is upon the ground for mans sake so as that man must eat of it in sorrow all the dayes of his life eating bread in the sweat of his face being accompanied with pain and sickness which are the companions of death till he return to the ground for out of it was he taken for saith God dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return and this was the sentence of that condemnation that God hath pronounced against the first Adam or 1 Cor. 15.27 earthy man and we being then in him when the sin was committed and the sentence pronounced we have our part with him in these things as our portion in this life for the original sin or first transgression But the holy Spirit in Scripture doth no where declare as I could ever yet find nor as any one could ever yet shew me that mans reprobation to the second death is for being in Adams sin nor for sin in their own persons no nor yet for unbelief simply so considered but for continuing in sin and unbelief For if they do repent confess and forsake their sins they shall find mercy and be saved as hath been already proved and if the elect should continue in sin and unbelief and not repent and believe or imbrace the means of Salvation they should be equally lyable to the decree of Reprobation as the reprobates themselves and there would be no difference but they in repenting believing and embracing the means of salvation fall under the unchangeable decree of Gods election so as they cannot miss of salvation as hath been already shewed Answ Truly Sir before this I did not rightly apprehend where the shooe did wring but now I find that it is Original sin that pinches you so sore that you cannot well endure the name of it which had I foreseen I would not have minced any thing in the Argument no not so much as the continuing in sin for howsoever it is that we affirm that Original sin is an hereditary disease which every soul brings with it into the world yet it leaves not a man suddenly no not when he is regenerate but continues to the end of a mans dayes It is the very last enemy of ours that death destroyes so that in respect of this Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet dici beatus Now what you have to say against our doctrine of Original sin I find not much in this your discourse for this you grant First that the whole lump of mankind is polluted with sin and which pollution as you say flows from Adams transgression And secondly that all the fruits and effects of that sin do accompany us till death there is onely then your bare denial that eternal death is not the reward or wages of this sinful pollution the contrary whereof is incumbent on me to prove to make my charge good against you with that third absurdity Now to prove that the first sin of Adam was ours not because he is our father by nature though that be a ground of the imputation also but because he is such a father by Covenant and law the law and Covenant of works being laid in pawn in his hand we are to understand that there be three parts in Original sinne 1. First a partaking of the first sin of Adam we all sinned in him Rom. 5.12 14 15. 2. Secondly the want of the Image of God Rom. 3.23 called the glory of God or original righteousness 3. Thirdly Concupiscence or a bentness or proneness of nature unto sin Rom. 7.7 14 17 23 24. As to the first Adams sin is ours really and truly not so much because it is ours as because it is imputed to be ours by God who so contrived the law of works as that it should be made with Adam not as a single father or person but with Adam as a publique person representing all mankind and having our common nature as a father both by nature and law which came from the meer free-will of God He was as the root and stock of all mankind Rom. 5.19 By one mans disobedience many were made sinners i. e. morally and legally but not physically and personally the fruit and effect of which is death and damnation for Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death not onely temporal or natural death but as the Apostles Antithesis necessarily carries it spiritual and eternal death in opposition to eternal life acquired by Jesus Christ the second Adam Yea and the whole series and purport of the Apostles discourse Rom. 5.12 to ver 19. carries this clear that every mouth may be stopped
perceives not the things of the Spirit nor is there any such power given them of God for unto you is given to know the secrets of the kingdome of heaven but unto them it is not given Joh. 15.5 and without Christ they can do nothing What then was become of this mans reason thus to bragg of men in their pure naturals which are so befogged that they are never able to extricate themselves I have done with the first reason and left it naked and bare I shall next proceed to your second reason which as it is by you worded is scarce common sense but such as it is take it thus 2. Because those that were given over of God to a reprobate mind being filled with all unrighteousness Rom. 1.28 are said ver 31. to to be without natural affections now if natural affections had been such an unrighteous thing as that it should lead them into sin and they being filled with all unrighteousness could not have been without it To which I answer First you mistake in your reading t is affection in the singular number and not affections Secondly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred by the Translators natural affection is yet by them in the margent rendred unsociable and if Scapulaes Lexicon be consulted with such are there denoted and so the word properly signifies in quo non inest affectus amoris illius mutui inter parentes liberos who are destitute of that reciprocal love that ought to be between husband and wise parents and children And now be judge your self what a sad reason you have brought upon the Stage for the advancing of nature that as you say it is so far from leading men to sin that the teachings of it are against sin because for such is the strength of your reason or else it is nothing such given over by God to a reprobate mind are without that reciprocal or mutual love that ought to be between husband and wife parents and children I pray Sir in the next look before you leap And now for the third and last reason which is of the same size the former were and this it is Because the Apostle himself directeth the Saints to the teaching of nature it self 1 Cor. 11.14 and certainly if Paul had been of that mind that nature had been such an evil principle as that it being followed would lead men into a wicked and filthy conversation he would never have mentioned it as a teacher unto them therefore the teaching of nature doth not lead men into sin but the contrary Answ The Apostle in this part of the Chapter is giving directions what suits best with decency and order in their Church-assemblies and in particular concerning prayer whether covered or uncovered and thereby occasionally of short hair and long hair and ver 14. Doth not nature it self teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him the doubt now is what is meant by nature here and first not any principle connatural to man in the state of innocency for thereof there is neither precept nor rule nor example either for long hair or short hair But secondly by nature is to be understood that which by a common consent was taken up and brought it into a custom or fashion and that especially among the Greeks for if we look upon other nations and take the pains to search Antiquity concerning their fashions you shall find that it was a long time before the Romans used any clipping of the hair neither was it practised in France or Germany till of later years nor would Lycurgus suffer it among the Lacedemonians and if it were unnatural why did Absalom were long hair 2 Sam. 18.9 or why was the law of the Nazarites permitted It is very apparent therefore that the Apostles meaning is that custome being as it were another nature it was not the manner custome and fashion of these parts at least among the Corinthians to weare long hair because it was an Argument of too much effeminacy And now Sir do but revise the strength of your reason as I have clothed it and see what weight it may bear which any man of common reason and thus it lies the teachings of nature lead not to sin because the Apostle directs the Saints what is fit for them to do about long hair from what the custome was then in use among the Grecians I pray Sir take more reason with you when you next offer any reason to a reasonable man Your next endeavour is to make a gloss upon this text but it is such a one as doth corrupt the text and thus it is But as the law written in tables of stone did discover or make known sin to the Jews so the law of nature did discover or make known sin to the Gentiles and so the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men as well the Gentiles as the Jews as appeareth Rom. 1.18 and as the law written doth work wrath to the Iews Rom. 4.15 when they sin against it so the law of nature doth work wrath to the Gentiles when they do that which is contrary thereunto and so the Ephesiaens which Paul directeth these words unto being Gentiles were not lead unto sin by nature but nature did in its measure and degree witness against sin and did by its teaching declare them to be the children of wrath when they lived in such an evil conversation which was contrary to the teaching of it Answ In answer to this paraphrase of yours it is not enough for me to unsay what you have said but rather to say that you cannot gainsay in giving of the genuine sense of the words we are all by nature the children of wrath i. e. we that are converted whether Jews or Gentiles all were alike children of wrath wherein there are two things to be opened first what it is to be a child of wrath secondly what it is to be so by nature First what it is to be a child of wrath First some by this do understand one that is guilty of and obnoxious to eternal death and condemnation because of sin but this though it be somewhat yet it is not the whole for Adam after his sin committed was made obnoxious to the wrath of God and guilty of eternal death and yet he could not be said to be a son or child of wrath for by this manner of speaking such an one is denoted as is born such and by his nature is such For the clearing whereof take notice of some such parallel places It is well known to those who are Divines indeed that these are Hebraismes to say one is a son or child of perdition as Ioh. 17.12 2 Thes 2.3 or that one is a child of disobedience Eph. 2.2 and 5.6 and Col. 3.6 and hence this manner of speaking doth a I se because whosoever is begotten or born of a man is a man that which is
being kinds of spiritual death and a degree of eternal death and so Adam was spiritually dead whiles he lived as the damned are said to live in death 1. Whether the scope of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 15. from v. 35. to ver 51. be not onely to shew with what manner of bodies we shall arise viz. incorruptible glorious powerful and spiritual but no mention at all either of natural or spiritual death 2. Whether that in that treatise of the resurrection he doth not prove by an Antithesis that as we have our animal or natural life from the first Adam by a natural generation so we have our spiritual life from the second Adam Jesus Christ by a spiritual regeneration but that the order and manner thereof is this we have and enjoy first our natural life by propagation but our spiritual life afterwards by infusion of the spirit 1. Whether the Almighty power of God is not as much exerted in raising of a sinner from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness as it was either in the bringing of Christ from the dead as Eph. 1.20 or in the raising of the body of dead Lazarus from the grave 2. Whether that in both those resurrections viz. either to a spiritual life or to a natural life such who are so raised are not alike passive in their resurection contributing nothing of themselves as to their resurrection 3. Whether that such as do ascribe a liberty to the will for the choosing of good when it is tendered in the outward proposalls of the Gospel do not attribute too much of power and strength and sufficiency to themselves contrary to these places 2 Cor. 3.5 Phil. 2.13 1. Whether God the Father had any other end or designe in giving of or sending his son into the world but onely that he should give eternal life to as many as were given to him of the Father Ioh. 17.2 who were not every mothers son in the world but a peculiar people Tit. 2.14 and to those he shewed his love being his own Ioh. 13.1 and for those he laid down his life Ioh. 15.13 and unto those did he manifest his fathers name Ioh. 17.6 and for those he prayed Ioh. 17.9 and for their sakes was he stricken Isa 53.1 and for their sakes did he sanctifie himself Ioh. 17.19 1. Whether any other than the elect can in any warrantable construction be understood under the term of this word world in these places following viz. Rom. 11.12 2 Cor. 5.19 1 Ioh. 4.14 Ioh. 1.29 Ioh. 3.16 17. Ioh. 4.42 Ioh. 6.33 51. 2. Whether can be understood any other than the reprobate of the world in these places following viz. Ioh. 14.17 22. Ioh. 15.18 19. and 16.20 23. and 17.9 14 25. 1 Cor. 11.32 2 Pet. 2.2 5. 1 Ioh. 3.11 13. 3. Whether the flesh of Christ when dead or Lazarus in the grave were able to resist the omnipotent power of God when either Christ was quickened by the spirit 1 Pet. 3.11 or when the word of command was spoken Lazarus come forth Ioh. 11.43 1. Whether the Scriptures by way of allusion do not make an alike proportion between the necessity of the putting forth an omnipotent power which cannot be resisted Rom. 9.19 in the converting of a sinner unto God or giving them to believe Phil. 1.29 and the raising of one from a natural death to a natural life See Eph. 1.19 20. Rom. 6.4 13. and 8.11 and 11.15 1. Pet. 1.21 2. Whether cannot Omnipotency which said at first let there be light and there was light and gave a creature being out of nothing say as well let there be a will unto conversion and there shall be such a will and by an invincible perswasion remove all reluctancies and oppositions in the will 3. Whether whatsoever God doth or permitteth to be done in time he did not decree to do or permit to be done in the same manner measure and circumstances of time place and persons as they are done before all time 4. Whether that upon a supposition that Peter Paul Iames Iohn c. are absolutely and actually justified and saved in time did not God decree absolutely and actually to justifie and save them before all time 1. Whether those words in the Gospel He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned was not a secret kept hid from the Angels themselves especially for the clear manifestation of it untill that Christ was manifested in the flesh 2. Whether those words are not held forth onely as a Gospel-declaration how a man may know himself capacitated for salvation viz. by believing and that it is no wayes mentioned as to be the substance of the decrees of God though whatsoever therein comes to pass was in reality decreed by God 3. Whether the foreappointing or determining of men to a certain end be not the substance of Predestination 4. Whether all men be not foreappointed or predestinated to a certain end 5. Whether there be any such decrees to be found in the whole Scripture he that believeth shall be elected or he that believeth not shall be reprobated 6. Whether believing be not the effect or part of the execution of the decree of election from eternity and not a cause or a condition drawing after it the decree of election 7. Whether not believing rejecting of the means of salvation and continuing in sin and unbelief be not faults voluntarily proceeding out of the wicked hearts of men who are reprobated from eternity not foreseen as causes of their negative reprobation but onely as causes of their positive reprobation or judicial condemnation 8. Whether that upon a supposition that there were no other decrees of election and non-election then this He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned might it not so come to pass there intervening no irresistible power of God but man left to the supposed liberty of his own will that either no man might be saved or else that no man might be damned 1. Whether God may not in righteousness judge such to blindness who have put out their own eyes 2. Whether God may not in righteousness expect a return of that talent to him which he at first committed to man and if man hath misimployed it or squandred it away may not God in righteousness judge and condemn man for it 3. Whether man in the state of innocency had not a power to do whatsoever God did require of him 4. Whether that power was not onely given to Adam himself but likewise in him to all his posterity had they continued in obedience to the command of God 5. Whether Adam lost not that power both to himself and all his posterity by eating of the forbidden fruit and therefore it is said that in him we have all sinned Rom. 5.18 19. 6. Whether are not the Saints carried on to believe by the Fathers drawing of them to Jesus Christ Iohn 6.44 yet such a
Ioh. 10.26 Ioh. 12.39 40. Rom. 9.18 33. Rom. 11.7 8. 1 Pet. 2.8 Whereunto you say To which I answer first by distingushing upon his Major proposition and to enquire into his meaning therein now if he mean by Reprobation the decree of God before time distinct from Reprobation in time or Rom. 1.28 Gods giving them over to a reprobate mind which is the execution of the decree then I deny that sin and unbelief is the effect of it for God is so far from decreeing and appointing men to commit sin or that sin is an effect that cometh to pass by his decree and appointment that he doth not so much as tempt any man to sin as we may see Iam. 1.13 yea the Apostle Iames is so far from laying sin upon Gods decree as if that should be the cause that should produce such an effect as sin and unbelief that he saith v. 14. that every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and inticed and then v. 15. he saith when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death By which we may see that the Apostle doth not make Gods decree the cause of sin but that indeed which is the cause which bringeth it forth is even lust Quem recitas meus est Sed male dum recitas incipit esse tuus Answ Here were matter for you to work upon indeed if I would own the Argument as it is by you thus mistated and truly I do not well know how this error crept in as you have thus translated my second Argument whether you lookt upon it with a squint eye or a wry neck and so had a mind to pervert both the words and sense of it but I am sure in mine own written paper which one alone and no more I ever had which is now in my custody where as your pamphlet hath it That which is the effect and consequent of Reprobation is and so should be That which is the efflux and consequent of Reprobation which one word of effect for efflux doth much vary the case and overthrows at least silenceth a great part if not all what you have said against it for I utterly disown the word effect I know sin followes negative Reprobation or non-election not as an effect the cause but as the consequent flowing from and following its antecedent and therefore I protest against the word as spurious and illegitimate and no brood of my brain But yet if cause may be lookt upon in the latitude it is many times used and taken for I see not but that in a large sense Reprobation may be said to be a cause of sin viz. causa sine qua non for had there not been such a negative reprobation or non-election as the mother sin at least actual sin had never been born nor brought into the world as the daughter Had God elected all at least had not God decreed to permit the sin of Adam and of his posterity he had not permitted it at all for whatsoever he purposed to do or permitted to be done in time the same he did decree before all time so to do or to permit to be done and if he had not permitted sin at all and so decreed to permit it sin would never have been but it must have been hindred But I insist not upon this but apply my self to that member of your distinction of Reprobation viz. that which is before all time Wherein for so much as is contended for by you in this paragraph if I may gratifie you in it I will sâ—bscribe unto it abating me but this that whereas you say lust is the cause of sin I say the devil combining with the corruption of mans nature which is originally and totally depraved and hath little of other proper and innate quality but to sin and so I come to the other member of your distinction which is worded thus Secondly if by Reprobation he meaneth the act or execution of Gods decree in time which is Gods giving up of people to their own hearts lust and to a Reprobate mind as aforesaid then also we find that Gods act in the first place is not the cause of mans sin but mans disobedience in the first place is the cause why God doth execute the same as his just and righteous judgement upon them for their continuance in sin c. as it is expressed in this Position as appeareth Psal 81.11 12. Rom. 1.22 23 24 25 26 27 28. and yet I do not deny but sin and unbelief may be the effect and consequence of Reprobation in this sense as mens delaying and not coming in while the door is open is the cause of the door being shut against them and the door being shut against them is the cause of their abiding still without Wherefore strive to enter in at the straite gate before the good man of the house be risen up and hath shut to the door Luke 13.24 25. While it is called to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3.13 Answ I wonder why you should think I meant it of Reprobation in time which is not in the decree about which our controversie is but onely the execution of the decree though this be your practise yet I use no such extravagancies as to run from the question which is onely about Reprobation before all time and therefore this requiring no other answer I proceed to that where you hit the nail on the head for thus you write But I do partly believe that his meaning by reprobation in his argument is that which is generally held amongst them That Gods will and decree before any thing was brought forth in order or before man had any being is the onely and alone cause of Reprobation and so consequently of sin and unbelief and the rejecting of the means of salvation and that no other fruits at any time can be brought forth by them notwithstanding all that they can do but that these things must unavoydably follow they being bound up thereunto by the decree of God and that which doth make me inclinable to believe that his meaning is so is because I find his Arguments tend much to the maintaining of such a thing Answ All this I stedfastly believe saving an ill-favoured expression that is interwoven viz. That being bound up thereunto by the decree of God which in my subsequent discourse shall be clearly refused But as though that in thus affirming I had maintained some formidable doctrine abhorrent to the Churches of the Saints he seems to bless himself from it thus But as I tender the honour and glory of God in the exaltation of his Psal 145.8 9. tender mercies over all his works and the purity of that truth and sincerity that is in himself together with his faithfulness in his upright and sincere dealings towards the sons of men and also when I think upon the excellency of
because it is a truth viz. that no child dying in infancy can possibly be reprobated for reprobation is the portion of such as have the means of the knowledge of God and his truth which is the means of salvation and so reject it which infants as such can never do as hath been already proved But for the former viz. that children dying in infancy before they have any being to act should be reprobated to everlasting destruction he shall never father it upon us for it followeth not from any principle that we hold neither will it agree with the tender mercies of our God who hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked and therefore not of an innocent dying infant for mercy rejoyceth against judgement Answ Sir this latter absurdity will stick to your skirts as long as ever you uphold this your position and that you do not recant it as hath been by me sufficiently proved and for the former it likewise hath been evidenced that children dying in infancy before they had the act and use of faith must unavoydably be damned were it not for the sole good pleasure of Gods most holy will who hath chosen some of them according to the election of Grace they being in the same lump with others And so I proceed to the second absurdity which is As 2. neither such Gentiles or Turks Indians and Savages that never heard of Christ who never enjoyed the Gospel c. Answ To which I answer first by demanding why he concludeth that there be some Gentiles that never heard of Christ c. The Apostle Paul delivereth doctrine contrary to this saying have they not all heard yes verily their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the end of the world Rom. 10.18 and chap. 16.25 26. Speaking of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the commandement of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith how then is it that this man saith that there be such Gentiles or Turks and the like that never heard of Christ if he hath been among such pretending himself to be a Minister of Christ he should have preached Christ unto them But I am perswaded that he groundeth what he saith upon a report of some History of Travellers or the like and from thence there is as good ground to conclude that they may hear of Christ and that there are Christians in this part of the world which worship that God that is the creator of al things by Jesus Christ as there is for us to conclude that there is a Mahomet which the Turk doth believe in and that there are Indians and Savages who are strangers from the life of God and that worship the creature more than the Creator for certainly they may as wel hear what we do as we can hear what they are and what they do and if they did but delight to retain that God in their knowledge whom we worship and to entertain the Lord Jesus Christ in their hearts in whom we believe without question they might know more of God and his Son Christ then they do and this doth appear from the words of Christ Luk. 16.10 11. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon who shall commit to your trust the true riches and therefore if they were faithful in the use of that means which they do enjoy from God without doubt they might know more of God then they do Answ Well fare you good Sir in your understanding you have already dispatcht infants even those of Pagans and sent them into Limbo infantum for there is no place in heaven for them I mean Pagan infants and to the Lake you say they must not go and now you are engaged to become an advocate for infidels and take heed at last you turn not proctor for the Devil and with Origen to be so charitable as to have some hopes of his salvation for truly for what yet appears by the word he is in as great a capacity for salvation as those infidels are Salvation according to Scripture-account is incompassed within the verge of the covenant and doth not go beyond it The Scripture leaves men out of covenant in a hopeless condition But against what I say that some Gentiles yet never heard of Christ you produce that of Rom. 10.18 and 16.25 26. that their sound i. e. of the preaching of the Gospel went into all the earth and their words into the ends of the world as it was made known unto all nations But my good friend you that mist before in your Chronography I believe you are here likewise out in your Cosmography for here the Apostle speaks of the ministers of the Gospel yea and of those not as sent to the Gentiles neither but to the Jews of whom he here treats and shews their inexcusableness for not obeying the Gospel whose sound went to the ends of the world But what ends of the world we know that the word world is sometimes straitned to Iudea onely as some are wont to construe that of the taxing of the world by Augustus Caesar Luke 2. onely of Iudea Now saith the Apostle the Iews cannot plead ignorance of the Gospel because the preachers of it have sounded it to them every where Have they not heard ver 18. did not Israel know ver 19. but to Israel he saith All the day long have I stretched out my hands ver 21. and you that are so indulgent over those pitiful Pagans how is it in right reason imaginable that when Paul writ this Epistle to the Romans that every mothers son under heaven should have been a hearer of the Gospel when as the compass of the earth is many thousand miles about and so many nations which have never been discovered till of late years yet that they then should have heard the Gospel and that in so short a time sure herein your pen did run before your wit in understanding those words in such a sense and therefore my friend if you mean to make a right construction of those words you must not extend them to such a latitude as that all the posterity of Adam had immediately upon the death of Christ the Gospel preached to them but you must interpret that place by comparing it with other such like universal expressions as Mat. 4.23 Christ healed all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases and Act. 10.38 healed all that were oppressed with devils and Act. 10.12 All manner of four footed beasts and wild beasts and creeping things and foules of the ayre appeared by Peter as in a great sheet and Mar. 1.5 All Iudea went out to Iohn Baptist and all were baptised in the river Iordan
run out as leaking vessels and 2 Tim. 2.21 purge themselves from error sin and uncleanness shall be vessels unto honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work And we do find in the Scripture that all those actings of God in a way of mercy in order to the everlasting good of his creature come from him with abundance of willingness freeness and delight for he is a God that delighteth in mercy Mich. 7.18 Answ Sir you onely speak here of Gods not consining himself to any subordinate power but you prosecute not the point as it is laid to your charge We with the Sctiptures do affirm Gods absolute purpose or the good pleasure of his most holy will is the alone cause of non-election or Reprobation and not the rejecting of the means to wit the free tenders of Christ in the Gospel and the continuing in sin and unbelief are not the causes as you assert pretending that if these be not assigned causes then God would be unjust or unmerciful to the creature hereupon we say that if God may not do with his creature what seems best to him in his own eyes without rendring a reason of his actings but that his attributes must be called into question this is to limit and confine the infinite soveraignty that God hath over all the creation and to suffer worms and dust to controll majesty But to this Sir hitherto you have said nothing To what you say of that place 2 Tim. 2.21 that it is the good will and pleasure of our God whosoever they be that delight to embrace the means of salvation and purge themselves from error sin and uncleaneness shall be vessels unto honour is very true and good in that sense it was intended by the Spirit of God but neither true nor good in that sense it is by you applied and made use of For first of all you suppose that it is in their own power to purge themselves from error sin and uncleanness whereas this is Gods peculiar work to purge us from our sins and purely to purge away our dross and to wash us with clean water and to turn us to himself and then we shall be sure to be turned all our strength to performe such a taske is else altogether insufficient Your second couchant error here is that you conceive this purging of themselves will hereby make them vessels of honour but I say this their purging was no cause at all of their being vessels of honour but it was onely a means of the discovery of it wherein they might have comfort and consolation Before even from all eternity by that decree of election they were out of that lump of perdition made vessels unto honour or vessels of mercy which God had afore prepared unto glory but when the times of refreshing come Rom. 9.21.23 Gal. 1.16 Heb. 9.14 and that the Lord is pleased to reveal his son in them and that such his secret decree comes to be put in execution in time by God his giving of faith and repentance and purging their consciences from dead dead works to serve the living God then they shall be vessels unto honour unto their own comfort and to the good example of others Such a manner of speech there is Ioh. 5.8 Herein is my father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my Disciples Now they were his Disciples before but the meaning is that by bearing of fruit they should approve themselves both to their own consciences and to the world besides that they were the Disciples of Christ Neither is that which follows altogether so sound where you write But on the other hand in respect of what he doth in the making forth of his justice in the punishment of his creature for sin and impenitency he doth it not until he is provoked thereunto even 2 Chron. 36.16 untill there is no remedy for the Lord is Psal 19.1 and 145.8 slow to anger and of great mercy and hath Ezek. 33.11 no pleasure in the death of the wicked And therefore although that the embracing of the means repenting and believing in Jesus Christ be no procuring ground or cause of any the least mercies we do enjoy yet the continuing in sin and unbelief and the rejecting of the means of salvation is a procuring of punishment see Ier. 2.17 Hast thou not procured this unto thy self in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God when he led thee by the way also ch 4.18 thy way and thy doings hath procured these things unto thee this is thy wickedness because it reacheth unto thine heart Answ Sir though it be very true that the continuing in sin and unbelief and the rejecting of the means of salvation be the procuring cause of punishment in time but not the cause of the decree of negative reprobation before time Yet where you say that God doth not make forth his justice in punishing until he be provoked Sir I cannot allow you so much to take this universally For tell me if you can how those infants had provoked God in the general deluge Gen. 7. when they were swept away with the rest of the wicked world or those infants in the combustion of Sodom Gen. 19. how had they communicated in pride fulness of bread and idleness with the rest of the citizens or what confederacy was there in those infants in the rebellion of Corah Numb 16. that they descended likewise with their fathers into the pit or how had those women been a provocation whose wombes were shut in the case of Abimelech Gen. 20. 2 Sam. 24.17 or those sheep the people of Israel what had they done when they suffered that havock by the pestilence when seventy thousand men were destroyed No Sir in many cases there is no visible provocation besides the original depravation of corrupt nature which through the want of original righteousness doth justly deserve wrath and punishment In some it is not for any sin either in them or their Parents but that the works of God should be made manifest in them Joh. 9.3 But for other cases take the rest and make the most of them And now to fill up your pamphlet and for want of better stuffe you obtrude upon us a leathern tale of your own observation and this it is And I can yet remember when I have been a hearer of these men which have taken unto themselves the title of Clergy as if they onely were the heritage of the Lord and none besides them speak much to this purpose that God was abundantly more prone to shew mercy than to execute wrath and have earnestly prest their hearers to the use of means calling upon them to be careful to come to Church as they call it and to heare sermons saying thou dost not know when Gods time is therefore give attendance to the means If thou art careless in coming and wilt come but now and then thou mayest be
he pleaseth and it shall prosper in the thing whereto it is sent Amen so be it Thomas Tazwels QUERIES Counter-questioned SIR when at first I surveyed over your bundle of Queries I was divided in my thoughts whether it was fittest for me to undertake an answer to them yea or no T is true I did not conceive that they were proposed by such a one that breathed after satisfaction for then I had been bound in conscience because directed to me to have given a direct account for the resolution of a troubled spirit but I was better acquainted with the temper of such Scepticks Seekers Queristers the top of whose Religion consists most what in abstruse Questions But that which caused this distraction in me was the calling to mind Solomons advice Prov. 26.4 5. Answer not a fool according to his folly lest thou also be like unto him And Answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit So that which way soever I did address my self I was sure to be gored by one of the hornes of that Dilemma Therefore I did the rather make choice of a middle way neither directly to answer to any of your queries nor yet to leave any of them unresolved but when I apprehended them as captious Questions more to try abilities then to expect satisfaction I thought it best to follow our Saviours example Mark 12.13 Who when the primates of the Pharisees had sent unto him certain of that sect with the Herodians to catch him and intangle him in his words they began first by insinuation Master we know that thou art true and carest for no man for thou regardest not the persons of men but teachest the way of God in truth Secondly by question Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not shall we give or shall we not give But Christ who was privy to the secret guil of their hearts desiring a penny to be brought him askes them this question Whose is this Image and superscription they say Caesars then saith he give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods so that he makes no direct answer but by a Question The like may you see Mark 11.28 29. when the chief Priests and Scribes askt of Christ by what authority dost thou these things Iesus answered I will also ask you one question and answer me and I will tell you by what authority I do these things c. The like course I shall take with you I have not positively delivered my judgement to any of your queries but for the resolution of them have set down antiquestions to which if you give a direct answer according to the Scripture you must then needs answer your self to all those of your own queries So that making Christ his practise a president to my self I shall both follow his example and withall observe the wise mans direction both to answer a fool in his folly and yet not to answer a fool in his folly viz. implicitly and consequentially to answer by a question but positively and directly not to answer to the words 1. Whether it can be proved from the word of God that the fall which we had in the first Adam were any further than to the dust from whence we were taken 2. Whether it be not improper to say that we died in the first Adam a spiritual death when the Scripture doth say that that was not first which was spiritual but that which was natural and afterwards that which is spiritual 1 Cor. 15. 3. Whether there need to be any talk at all of any wisdome power or strength of our own when it is by all granted that we have our life and being in Iesus Christ and have nothing that we have not received 4. Whether God the Father have any other end or designe in giving of or sending his Son into the world but onely that the world through him might be saved 5. Whether the elect are at all in the Scripture demonstrated under any such term as that word world 6. Whether the Lord Iesus Christ doth use or exercise any other power in bringing of men and women to believe to the saving of their souls but that which may be resisted or rejected 7. Whether Gods decree before the foundation of the world be any other thing but that believers should be saved and unbelievers should be damned 8. Whether God can be said to judge the world in Righteousness and yet condemn those for unbelief which never had power to believe 9. How can the Saints be said to judge the world righteously if they are carried on to believe by a power that they cannot resist and those that are to be judged by them cannot believe for want of the same power 10. Whether if the salvation of some and the condemnation of others be necessitated by the decree of God without any respect at all to obedience or disobedience then to what end is it said in the Scripture of truth that men did or might choose or refuse 11. Whether is unbeliefe the cause of Reprobation or Reprobation the cause of unbelief 12. Whether it be not sin to say that the secret will of God is not according to his revealed will 13. Whether that opinion which some men hold concerning God be not damnable namely to say that God declareth in his word that he would have all men to be saved by his Son and yet never intendeth that they should be saved 14. Whether there be any Gospel to be preached to that man or woman for whom God never intended salvation in the death of his Son and if there be any then I would know what Gospel it is and who they are that should preach it 15. Whether condemnation to the second death or lake of fire was ever threatned but for personal rejection of the means afforded 16. Whether those that perish to eternity might not have been saved had they in their day improved the means afforded 17. Whether any can believe that Christ dyed for him upon a Scripture-account except he believe that Christ dyed for all 18. Whether Gods opening a door of salvation to all the Sons of men will not make his righteousness appear glorious in judgement 19. Can man be said to refuse that which he never was in a possibility to receive 20. Doth Christs bemoaning persons in the state of unbelief plainly argue they might believe 1. Whether we did not all sin in Adam as Rom. 5.18 19. 2. Whether the desert and reward of that sin be not death eternal as well as temporal as Rom. 6.23 where eternal death from Adam is placed in opposition to eternal life by Jesus Christ 3. Whether there was not in Adam immediately upon the eating of the forbidden fruit inward terrors and feelings of Gods wrath and thoughts that he was cast off and forsaken of God as Gen. 3.10 wherein the truth of that threatning was really accomplished Gen. 2.17 these