4. they shall commit iniquity c. all the righteousnesse that they have done formerly shall not be mentioned i. e. as Calvin Himself interprets shall not come into any account as to matter of reward a Cum autem satis liqueat non venire justiciam ejus qui defecit in rationem ut quicquam mercedis sperare debeat c. Calv. in Ezek. 18. 24 evident it is that if it shall not come into any account at all as for example to obtaine from God so much as the reward of a temporall deliverance much lesse shall it turne to any such account as to be rewarded with that great recompence of reward Salvation Againe that Death which God here threateneth against that double or two fold iniquity of backsliding is opposed to that life which is promised to Repentance and Perseverance in well doing But this life is confessed by all to be eternall life therefore the death opposite to it must needs be eternall or the second death When the Apostle saith the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternall life through Christ Iesus our Lord b Rom. 6. 23. is it not evident from the antithesis or opposition in the sentence between the death and life mentioned in it that by that death which He affirmes to be the wages of sin is meant eternall death How else will the opposition stand Yet againe when God in the Scriptures threatens impenitent Persons with Death for their sins doubtlesse He intends and means eternall Death or that Death which is the wages of sin Otherwise we have no sufficient ground to believe or think that Men dying in their sins without Repentance shall suffer the vengeance of eternall fire but only a temporall or naturall Death which the righteous and truly penitent themselves suffer as well as they Therefore to say that God threatens impenitent Apostates in the place in hand with a temporall Death only when as elsewhere He threatens impenitency under the lightest guilt of all with eternall Death is in effect to represent him as vehement and sore in his disswasives from ordinary and lesser sins but indifferent and remisse in disswading from sins of the greatest Provocation Once more if it be only a temporall Death which God here threatneth against the Sons of Apostasie dying under the guilt of their Apostasie and of all the sins they have committed therein without Repentance then may Men under the guilt of the greatest and foulest abominations remaine in the greatest love and favour of God as just and righteous Men yea and without Repentance not only escape damnation but also inherit eternall life And where then is the God of judgement c Mal. 2 17. Or what will become of that great voyce of the Scriptures which every where calleth Men to Repentance for the forgivenesse of sins That comparative allusion of the Leper under the Law wherewith the §. 5. Synod of Dort it seemes much pleased themselves and others also since of the same judgement with them reacheth not the case nor administers any relief at all to their cause against the Scripture in hand The Leper say they among the Jews was enforced for a time meaning whilest his leprosie was upon Him to want His House but yet He did not in this time lose the right of Title which He had to this House because upon His healing or cleansing He might againe possesse it a Leprosus siquidem apud Judaeos cogebatur pro tempore domo caâ—ere non tamen jus ad domum amisit quia sanatus potuit illam rursus possidere Dr. Prid. Lect. 6. De Persever Sanct. p. 202. This comparison I say squares not with the businesse in hand For 1. The reason why the Person leprously affected did not lose the right He had to His House before He was leprous by His becomming a Leper was because there was no Law by which any Mans right or title to His House was disabled or made voyd by Leprosie whereas in the case of Apostasie there is a plaine Law or rather many Lawes established and declared by the great Law-giver of Heaven by which backsliders from wayes of righteousnesse into wayes of sin and abomination are without Repentance cut off from all right of title or claime to the inheritance of Heaven For this yee know saith the Apostle as we heard lately that no Whore-monger or uncleane Person nor covetous Man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance i. e. any right of inheritance or to inherit for otherwise no righteous Person yet living in the flesh hath any actuall inheritance in the Kingdome of Christ and of God b Eph. 5. 5. To object that this Law or Decree of Heaven holds good against such sinners in every kinde Whoremongers covetous c. who never were righteous not against such who have been righteous though now lapsed into these wayes of abomination is not only to declare a Law without the sence or authority of the Law-maker but against that Declaration which he hath made of it who still declareth those the worst and greatest of sinners who with the lapsed Angells which we call Devils revolt from his service and wayes to walke in wayes that are an abomination to Him Be astonished O yee Heavens at this and be horribly afraid be yee very desolate saith the Lord. Why what is it that causeth the Glorious God to appeare in such an extasie of Passion For my People saith He have committed two evills they have forsaken Me the Fountaine of living Waters and hewed them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no water c Jer. 2. 12 13. The Scripture is full of such Declarations from God as this against Apostates So that the Dort comparison palpably faulters in that circumstance which should have rendered it apposite to their Purpose 2. The leprous Person they speak of was cureable before his Death and §. 6. so as they say being healed might re-enter and possesse His House againe But the Revolter from Righteousnesse of whom Ezekiel speaks is supposed as we heard before to die under the guilt of his revolt without healing and consequently to be without all Possibility of cure being dead Therefore as the Leprous Person they speak of though whilest he lived had a right to His House no Law as was said depriving Him of this yet during His leprosie upon Him He had no right to enter take Possession or dwell in His House the Law disabling him hereunto in respect of his leprosie and in case he had been leprous untill his Death he should have had no more Power or Right to Possesse His House then if his title to it had been wholly lost in like manner should it be granted or supposed that the spirituall Leper of whom Ezekiel speaks had a right to the Kingdome of Heaven during his Leprosie yet supposing the cleaving of this Leprosie to him untill death which is the Prophets supposition he could never
from death which by the Law of God ought to die with many the like which have proved snares of dishonour and of danger unto them otherwise in like manner some men desirous to commend themselves unto God as men zealous for his glory more then others study and invent Notions and Senses of some Scripture expressions to bestow upon him in the name of Prerogatives which they presume are much for his honour and glory in the World which yet upon due consideration are found most unworthy of him and of a broad inconsistency with his glory indeed For what relish or savour of honor or glory unto God can there be in bringing him upon the great Theater of the World speaking thus I will cast out of my favour and devote to everlasting burnings to torments Endlesse Easlesse Intolerable Insupportable thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousands of my most excellent Creatures Men Women and Children though they never offended me otherwise then Children may offend many thousands of yeers before they are born yea though I thus in the secret of my Counsell intend to leave them irrecoverably to the most exquisite torments that can be endured and these to be suffered by them to the dayes of eternity without all possibility of escaping though they shall do the uttermost they are able to please Me and to reconcile themselves unto Me yet will I in words speak to their hearts Proclaime and Professe my Self unto them to be a God mercifull and gracious long suffering and abundant in Goodnesse and Truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sinne a Exod. 34. 6 7. I will entreate them with bowells and great compassions and Professe my Self aggreived in Soul because of their impenitency I will allure them to Repentance with all my great and Precious Promises of Pardon of sin of life and glory and all the Great things of the World to come yea I will most seriously and solemnly Protest and Sweare unto them by the greatest Oath that is even by my own Life and Being that I desire not their Death b Ezek. 33. 11 Can Men indued with reason and understanding or that know in the least what belongeth to matters of honour and glory resent or savour any thing in such Proceedings as these that is like to make a Prerogative worthy the Name Glory and Super-Transcendent Holinesse and Excellency of God Most certaine it is that there is nothing in God nothing that proceeds from him but what is both Divisim and Conjunctim and that according to the Principles of Reason and that light of understanding which Himself shineth in the hearts and consciences and inward Parts of Men just matter of Praise Honour and Glory unto Him of which more ere long But 2. That Prerogative or Prerogative-Will as some call it which §. 36. God stands upon in the Scriptures and claimes to Himself as a Royalty annexed to the Crown of Heaven and Earth either in the ninth to the Romans or elsewhere in reference to the condemnation and eternall destruction of his Creature standeth not in any Liberty or Power claimed by him to leave what Persons he pleaseth to inevitable ruine only upon consideration of Adams sin much lesse before or without any such consideration but to make the Lawes Terms and Conditions as of life so of death as of Salvation so of Condemnation and these indifferently and equally respecting all Men not such as Men are apt to think meet and fitting for him to doe but what Himself Pleaseth i. e. Such as the Counsell of his own Will adviseth and leadeth Him unto For He is said not to act or Worke all things or any one thing simply according to his own Will but to work all things according to the Counsell of his own Will c Eph. 1. 11. So that in whatsoever God acteth or willeth we are to look not only for Will but Counsell i. e. Wisdom and Tendency unto ends worthy of him and these discernable enough as was lately said by Men to be such if they were diligent and impartiall in the consideration of them As for example the Jewes thought it most equall reasonable and best becomming God that he should constitute and ordain the observation of Moses his Law to be the Law of Justification Life and Salvation unto Men and the neglect or non-observation of this Law to be the Law of condemnation and of death God here interposeth with his Prerogative and declares to them that his Will and Pleasure is otherwise and that he Constitutes and Ordaines Faith in his Son Jesus Christ to be the Law of Justification and Life whether joyned with the observation of Moses Law or without it and on the other hand unbelief to be the Law of condemnation and of death though in conjunction with the strictest observation of Moses Law This Prerogative indeed God Himself pleads and asserts to Himself with a majestique and God-like authority speaking thus to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion an whom I will have compassion a Rom. 9. 15. as if he should say Men shall not prescribe unto Me Lawes or Terms of shewing Mercy I will not be advised or obliged by them whom i. e. what manner of persons or how qualified I shall justifie and save I mean to follow and to keep close to the Counsell of mine own Will in these great and most important affaires which concern the Life and Death the Salvation and Destruction of my Creature The same prerogative The Apostle also vindicateth unto him afterwards in the same Chapter in the similitude of a Potter Hath not the Potter power over the Clay of the same lump to make one Vessell unto honour and another unto dishonor b Rom. 9. 21. meaning that God had a like equitable Power or Prerogative over the great masse of Man-kind in Adam to make what Lawes of Life and Death unto them he pleased and to appoint who or what manner of persons should be saved and what manner of persons should be condemned which the Potter hath over the lump of Clay which is before him to make what Vessells he pleaseth for honour and what again he pleaseth for dishonour But of this passage as also of that vers 18. we shall speak more at large towards the close of the Discourse where we intend an intire Explication of the 9th to the Romans from the beginning of vers 6. to the end of the 23. In the mean time let this be taken along by way of caution about what hath been delivered in this Section viz. that though the Jewes thought it most equitable and most beseeming God to justifie Men by the works of the Law rather then by Faith in Jesus Christ which notwithstanding was the Counsell and good pleasure of God about Justification yet this Counsell and good pleasure of God especially being from time to time so signified unto them by
should be meant such as were naturally or corporally dead viz. because such only are to be buried with that kinde of buriall whereof our Saviour had occasion to speak as appears from the former verse Again why by the dead in the beginning of the said passage should be meant those that are spiritually dead and not those that are corporally dead there is this reason every whit as plain as the former viz. because those that are naturally or corporally dead are not capable of burying those that are dead either with one kinde of buriall or other So why the word WATER in the latter of the passages mentioned should in the first place signifie materiall or elementary water in the latter spirituall water or the Holy Ghost reasons are obvious and neere at hand we shall not need to name them But why the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all men in the place of the Apostle under debate being twice used should be conceived so far to vary in their significations as in the former clause to signifie All men without exception in the latter very few men no like reason nor indeed any competent can be given 3. Though All men doth in some places signifie only a greater number §. 21. of Men not All men simply or universally yet it never signifieth a small number of Men either in opposition to or in comparison with a greater least of all with the greatest number that is as they must make it signifie in the Scripture in hand who will have no more signified by it in the latter of the two clauses where it is used then only those who come in time to be actually saved by Christ For these are a very small number few there be saith Christ that finde it speaking of the straite gate which leadeth unto Life in comparison of those upon whom condemnation came by Adam 4. If condemnation should come upon all Men simply by the offence §. 22. of Adam and righteousnesse only upon some Men and these but a few neither comparatively by the obedience and gift of Christ then where sin abounded Grace should not superabound as the Apostle saith it did nay sin should superabound and Grace be confined to a narrow compasse comparatively To say that the superabounding of Grace above sin here spoken of is to be considered in the intensivenesse of it i. e. in its prevalency over sin where it is vouchsafed not in the extensivenesse of it as if it extended to more Persons is thus far acknowledged for a saying of truth Grace doth not extend to more Persons then sin at least not to more Persons of Men because sin extendeth unto all and Grace cannot extend to more then all But if we shall straiten and limit Grace in respect of the extent of it to a small number of Persons as viz. unto those only who are or shall be actually saved the glory of the superabounding of Grace above sin in respect of the Prevalency of it where it is in such a sence given will be fully match'd or rather overcome and swallowed up by the prevailing extensiveness of sin above Grace 5. The Apostle both before and after as viz. Verse 15. and Verse 19. §. 23. computeth the condemned ones of Adam and the justified ones of Christ by one and the same numericall expression He tells us in both places of many dead by Adam and of no fewer then many justified and redeemed by Christ. Now what the Holy Ghost makes equall for Men to dis-equalize especially to such a Proportion or Degree that the one number shall be inconsiderable and as nothing in comparison of the other is to lift up themselves above their line and so take hold of vanity in stead of Truth The Apostles expression Verse 15. is somewhat more emphaticall For if through the offence of one many be dead much more the Grace of God and the gift by Grace which is by one Man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many If it shall be supposed that many more millions of Men are dead through the offence of Adam then are justified or made alive by the Grace of God in Christ Pauls glorying over the Grace of God in Christ as much more abounding to the justification of many must fall to the ground For if by the offence of Adam all became dead and a few only be made alive by the gift of the Grace of God in Christ who will not judge but that the offence of one much more abounded to the death of many then the Grace of GOD to the Justification or Life of many 6. And lastly the Apostle having said Verse 20. That where sinne abounded Grace superabounded he adds Vers 21. that as sinne hath reigned unto Death so did Grace reigne through righteousness unto eternall Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now evident it is from Verse 14. and Verse 12. that sinne reigned over all Men without exception unto Death therefore Grace must have a proportionable reigne unto life i. e. must by a strong and over-ruling hand put all Men into a capacity or estate of life and salvation If so it undeniably followes that Christ Died for all Men without exception of any because otherwise all Men could not be put into an estate of Grace or Salvation by Him Nor was this interpretation counted either hereticall or erroneous by the §. 24. most Orthodox Expositors of old Chrâ—sostome himself commenting upon the place makes the Apostle to speake thus If all Men were punished through the offence or his offence meaning Adams they i. e. these all Men may doubtlesse be justified from hence a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. by that over-abundance of grace and righteousnesse as he there speaketh which is given in Christ The former part of his commentary is more full and Pregnant to this purpose but because the transcription would be somewhat long I leave it to be read in the author himself Nor are there wanting amongst our late Reformed Divines sirnamed Orthodox Men of eminent Learning Piety and Worth who subscribe the said Interpretation That our Reparation Restauration saith Mr. Bucer upon the place is made by Christ and that it is more efficacious then the sinne of Adam and that it is of LARGER EXTENT is that which the Apostle argueth in this and the following Section b Reparationem nostri factam per Christum esse Adae noxâ â—ffica cioreÌ„ pa tere latius est id quòd Apostolus hâc sequenti Sectione pertractat Intelligit gratiam Christi bominum generi profuisse amplius quà m nocuerit lapsus Adae Again upon those words Sed non ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thus The Apostle here meaneth that the Grace of Christ did more profit MAN-KINDE then the sinne of Adam damnified it Doubtlesse if all Men without exception were brought into a condition of misery by the sin of Adam and but an handfull only in comparison made happy by the
observing the difference between Sin reigning and not reigning of the former speaketh thus Sin reigning is all or every Sin in Men unregenerate or in Men regenerate an error contrary to the Articles of Faith or against conscience excluding out of the heart actuall belief of remission of sins and making the sinner liable to eternall Death unlesse he should be forgiven In one word Sin reigning is to obey the lusts of the flesh Even those that are regenerate sometimes fall into this sin as David Peter and this the Apostles exhortation witnesseth b Regnans est omne peccatum in non renatis aut in renatis error contrà articulos fidei aut conscientiam excludens ex corde actualem fiduciam remissionis peccatorum obnoxium faciens peccantem exitio aeterno nisi fiat remissio uno verbo est obedire cupiditatibus carnis Renati etiam aliquando incidunt in tale peccatum ut David Petrus quod testatur hortatio Apostoli c. Par. ad Rom. 6. ver 13. Hi enim etiam mortaliter contrà dictamen conscientiae aliquando ruentes ut Aaron David Petrus c. ibid. in Dub. 7. And afterwards speaking of Regenerate Men and true Believers he grants that they may mortally and against the dictate of their consciences rush into Sin as Aaron David Peter did and saith moreover that when they thus sin they lay waste their Consciences disturb the Holy Ghost lose the joy of their heart and incur the wrath of God Doubtlesse these are not the symptomes or effects of sins of infirmity though the Author is pleased to say that which I think pleaseth few Men to believe that the sins of Aaron David Peter were not committed by them ex contemptu Dei out of any contempt of God but out of a preoccupation with or through the infirmity of the flesh Concerning the Sin of David certaine I am that the Prophet Nathan by the Word of the Lord chargeth it upon his despising or contempt of the Commandement of the Lord 2 Sam. 12. 9. Ursine is yet more cordiall and through in the point The most sad falls saith he of holy Men as of Aaron making the golden Calf for which God being angry was minded to slay him and of David committing Adultery and Murther to whom Nathan said Thou art a Man of Death doe plainely shew that even Regenerate Men may rush or fall headlong into reigning sin a Quòd etiam renati possunt ruere in peccatum regnans satis ostendunt lapsus tristissimi etiam Sanctorum hominum ut Aaronis vitulum aureum facientis quem Deus iratus propterea voluit perdere Et Davidis committentis adulterium homicidium cui Nathan dixit Tu es vir mortis Ursinus vol. 1. pag. 207. And those of the Contra-Remonstrancie in the Conference at the Hague held Anno 1613. confesse and teach that true Believers may fall so far that the Church according to the Commandement of Christ shall be obliged to pronounce that she cannot tolerate them in her externall Communion and that they shall have no part in the Kingdome of Christ except they repent b Deinde respondemus ad miâ—orem fieri posse ut verè fideles eò prolabantur ut Ecclesia ex mandato Christi cogatur pronunciare se eos in externâ communione tolerare non posse neque eos partem in regno Christi habituros nisi resipiscant Coll. Hag. p. 399. Therefore certainly their sence was that true Believers may sin above the rate of those who Sin out of infirmity in as much as there is no Commandement of Christ that any Church of his should eject such persons out of their externall Communion who Sin out of infirmity onely So that by the confession of our Adversaries themselves even true Believers may perpetrate such Sins which are of a deeper demerit then to be numbred amongst Sins of infirmity yea such Sins for which the Church of Christ according to the Commandement of Christ stands bound to judge them for ever excluded from the Kingdome of God without Repentance From whence it undeniably followes that they may commit such Sins whereby their Faith in Christ will be totally wreck'd and lost because there is no condemnation or exclusion from the Kingdome of God unto those that are by Faith in Christ Jesus whether they repent or not And therefore they that stand in need of Repentance to give them a right and title to the Kingdome of God are no Sons of God by Faith for were they Sons they would be heires also c Rom. 8. 17. and consequently have the clearest right and title to the inheritance that is So that to pretend that however the Saints may fall into great and grievous Sins yet they shall certainly be renewed againe by Repentance before they die though this be an Assertion without any bottome of Reason or Truth yet doth it no wayes oppose but suppose rather a Possibility of the totall defection of Faith in true Believers Some to maintaine this Position that all the Sins of true Believers are §. 24. Sins of infirmity lay hold on this Shield Such Men as these they say never Sin with their whole wills or with full consent Therefore when they Sin they never Sin but through infirmity That they never Sin with full consent they conceive they prove sufficiently from that of the Apostle For the good that I would I doe not but the evill which I would not that I doe Now if I doe that I would not it is no more I that doe it but Sin that dwelleth in me d Rom. 7. 19 20. I answer 1. That the Saints oft Sin with their whole wills or full consents is undeniably proved by this consideration viz. because otherwise there should be not only a plurality or diversity but even a contrariety of wills in the same person at one and the same instant of time viz. when the supposed act of Sin is produced Now it is an impossibility of the first evidence that there should be a plurality of acts and these contrary the one unto the other in one and the same subject or agent at one and the same instant of time It is true between the first moving of the flesh in a Man towards the committing of the Sin and the compleating of this Sin by an actuall and externall patration of it there may be successively in him not onely a plurality but even a contrariety of volitions or motions of the will according to what the Scripture speaketh concerning the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh but when the flesh having prevailed in the combate bringeth forth her desire into act the spirit ceaseth from his act of lusting otherwise it will follow that the flesh is greater and stronger in her lustings then the Spirit of God in his and that when the flesh lusteth after the perpetration of such or such a Sin the spirit as to the hindering of it
the defilement of sin and whatsoever polluteth unto the World In what degree the Nature of a Man abhorreth any thing and apprehendeth a contrariety in it either to its Being or well-being He riseth proportionably in His care and use of means for the prevention of it The Devil it seems had made observation of this Principle in Men when He said Skin for skin or rather skin after skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life h Job 2. 4. Death being as Bildad stileth him the King of Terrors i Iob 18. 14. i. e. a thing which men generally are more afraid of then any thing then all things in the World besides engageth the generality of men proportionably to withstand His approaches and to do the uttermost they are able to deliver themselves out of His Hand Now that which Death is to Men in Point of abhorrency Sin is unto God and therefore it ought not to seem strange unto or offend any man that He should make the strongest and sharpest bridle He could for the restraint of it in the World or consequently that He should impose by Law a Penalty as deep and dreadful as the vengeance of Eternal fire it self upon the Perpetrators of it Any thing beneath this doth not answer the degree or rather the degreeless Infinity of His Hatred and Abhorrency of Sin 3. The severity of that Punishment of sin which is now under consideration will be found the more equitable and just if we consider on the one hand how graciously and bountifully above measure God dealeth with men in order to their escape and deliverance from it and on the other hand how wilfully how desperately and with what senceless irrationality men must go to work and act to bring themselves into the suffering of it 1. God hath discovered unto men as by a Vision of the Noon day the §. 6. great deformity foulness filthiness and most detestable abominableness of Sin The Devil was never presented to any mans sight minde or imagination in any such monstrous uncouth horrid affrighting form or shape as Sin is exhibited to the Judgments and Consciences of men in the Scriptures 2. He hath discovered likewise upon the same terms that most viperous violent that most pernicious and keen antipathy which Sin carryeth in it against the Peace Comfort well-being and soveraign Blessedness of men Poverty Shame Sickness Pains Tortures and Torments in the flesh Death the Grave Putrifaction Rottenness c. are but as the hummings of a gnat or bitings of a flea of light and inconsiderable enmity to the Comfort and Happiness of men in respect of that most enormous execrable devouring and confounding contrariety thereunto which the Word of God informeth the World to be in Sin 3. As concerning those accommodations to the Nature of Man as in Pleasures Profits or Contentments otherwise by the Promise whereof Sin is wont to commend Her self and Her service to the Children of Men and to draw them aside into folly God hath undertaken and engaged Himself partly by Promise partly by Oath to confer the same either formally or eminently upon them in ways of Righteousness and of Honor if they will be perswaded to walk in them 4. In case Men either through ignorance in any degree hard to be overcome and expelled by coming to the knowledg of the Truth or through humane frailty or incogitancy shall be prevented with sin or intangled in any sinful course God hath as it were at the cost and charge of his Son Jesus Christ in most bitter Sorrows and Sufferings reared up a golden Altar I mean that of Repentance for them to flee unto and to take hold of from whence He hath most magnificently promised never to take or pluck any man to destroy him how unrighteous wicked or unworthy soever His ways have been 5. That Law by the observation and keeping whereof Men may and shall be free from sinning and so from guilt contracted hereby is in all the respective branches and parts of it holy and just and good Holy i. e. Honorable to those that keep it it requires nothing no act of obedience from men which is any ways ignoble servile base or reflecting disparagement upon them Just i. e. tempered framed and fitted to such Principles which God hath planted in the Natures of Men so that there is nothing commanded in it which either crosseth or thwarteth any impression disposition or inclination which is natural to them or which God hath planted in them or which requireth any other any further strength to perform it then what God either hath actually conferred upon them or is ready to confer upon such an application of themselves unto Him for the obtaining hereof of which they are very capable Lastly The said Law is in all parts of it good also i. e. commodious and beneficial to the Observers according to that of David In keeping of them there is great reward k Psal 19. 11. So that Sin especially such sin or sins which in the end bring the vengeance of Hell fire upon them if men be not extreamly careless negligent and slothful may very well be prevented 6. God hath plainly forewarned men of that eternal Wrath and Vengeance which He is determined to bring and execute upon all Persons that shall be found finally impenitent whereby He hath taken a very gracious and effectual course not onely to bring sin especially continuance in sin out of credit and request with the hearts of men but to make it as the shadow of death unto them the dread and first-born of abhorrings to their Consciences and Souls 7. Unto all those who shall be found obedient unto His Laws refraining ways of sin and of unrighteousness He hath promised and that upon such terms that men may very well come to be fully satisfied upon clear and evident grounds of the reality and truth of these Promises the most magnificent bountiful and glorious reward of life and immortality and all the desirable and great things of the world to come By this He hath taken a like gracious and effectual course to exalt righteousness and sinlessness of life and conversation in the Hearts and Souls and Consciences of Men. 8. To put Himself into a capacity of making such Promises as these as also of performing and making them good unto Men and so generally of treating with them so graciously as now He doth about the great things of their Peace He hath delivered up unto Death the most bitter and ignominious Death of the Cross His onely begotten Son in whom His Soul greatly delighted Hereby He hath given all possible evidence and assurance unto men with what height and ardency of affection and desire He seeketh their Salvation and eternal Happiness how transcendently great his Love how tender above measure his Compassions are towards them 9. And lastly Over and besides all these gracious Administrations and expressions of himself towards them he vouchsafeth unto
Act or Decree of His Election freely and of His meer good will and pleasure irrevocably assign adjudg make over and give to His Elect Justification Salvation Glorification and what not in this kinde And if so Christ could not dye to purchase or procure these things for them because they were truly properly and by right of free donation theirs before It were ridiculous for any friend of mine to go and lay down a great sum of money to purchase or procure that on my behalf which I have already assured unto me by the free and stable and irrevocable gift and donation of him that hath a full right and power to give it unto me Therefore whereas many amongst us cry out of Socinianism as a most dangerous Heresie and the great abomination of their Souls the truth is that themselves teach and hold as rank and right-down Socinianism in their Opinion about Election as the greatest Socinians themselves can do For what is the master-veyn in the body of this Heresie but to deny that Christ truly satisfied or made any attonement for sin and that upon this ground because God freely and of His meer grace gives forgiveness of sins unto men without any satisfaction And how little doth this differ from that Doctrine of Election which passeth for currant amongst us teaching that forgiveness of sins and all the great things depending hereon are assigned and decreed unto men in their Election without any consideration had of Christs dying for them or their beleeving in him If it be here said that they who hold Election in the most absolute and §. 5. peremptory way do not say or hold that God intends actually to confer Remission of sins or eternal Life upon the Elect otherwise then for and through the satisfaction made by Christ for them in His Death though they hold that He intends without any respect had to the consideration of Christs Death actually to confer them upon them They exclude the satisfaction of Christ from having any thing to do in Gods Purpose of Election not from having any thing to do in the execution of this His Purpose here they acknowledg it to have much to do to be upon the matter all in all To this we answer That this Distinction or Explication of the Opinion doth no ways relieve it but rather burthens it more and more For 1. Certain it is that God doth not purpose or project one way and act or execute in another but His executions do exactly answer the tenor purport and form of His Purposes or Intentions Men who are subject to oversights and consequently to repentance may and many times do vary from their model or platform when they come to action because some better thing it may be hath come in their way then they thought upon in the first projection of their work But nothing can come in Gods way either more satisfactory or better pleasing unto Him then what was present with Him in the first contrivance or projection of His affairs Therefore if in point of execution He actually confers Remission of sinâ— and Salvation upon men because of and with respect unto the Death and Satisfaction of Christ it is a certain sign that He purposed this collation of them in His Purpose of Election upon no other terms and consequently that in Gods very Purpose of Electing men unto Salvation He had respect unto the Death of Christ yea and to their ingraffing into Him by beleeving and that He never purposed Salvation unto any without interâ—ssing the Death of Christ in His Intentions in this kinde as well as in His Executions of what He thus intâ—â—ds 2. If God might intend and purpose Salvation unto men without the consideration of the Death of Christ certainly He may as well actually confer and give this Salvation without any respect had thereunto For this is a general and plain Rule that whaâ— a man may lawfully will or intend to do without such or such a consideration he may as lawfully act or do it without this consideration For there iâ— every whit as much required to justifie a man in his will or purpose of doing a thing as to justifie him in his act or deed according to this will Certainly that which a man may lawfully will or purpose he may lawfully do In like manner iâ— God might lawfully I mean with the consistence of His Wisdom and Justice purpose will or decree Forgiveness of sins and Salvation unto men without considering them as Beleevers in Christ He â—ay as well actually confeâ— these things upon them without any such consideration and if so the Death of Christ is no ways necessary either to justifie oâ— commâ—nd either the Justice or the Wisdom of God in the actual Justification or Salvation of Men. So that evident it is that the Doctrine of Election as it is ordinarily entertain'd amongst us doth abrogate the Grace of God in Christ and makes His Death to be in vain But the Scripture teacheth this Doctrine upon other terms and maketh Christ i. e. the consideration of Christ and of Faith in Him the foundation of Election and that upon which God raised as it were and built it Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ saith the Apostle who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly pâ—aces or things in Christ according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy a Eph. 1. 3 4. c. Observe these words according as He hath chosen us in Him Here are two things very considerable as to our purpose in these words The first lies in that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according as or even as Who hath blessed us i. e. actually and de facto blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ according as or even as He hath châ—sen us this clearly shews that Gods actings His actual and present Dispensations are adequately and exactly conformable unto His Purposes or Projections God saith the Apostle to them in effect in all that He hath done for us by the Gospel and by Christ as in the enlightening of us in sanctifying of us in justifying of us in comforting of us c. hath but acted that which He had model'd and form'd out for us in His Purpose or Counsel of Election before the World began The second thing to be observed in the words is that God is here said to have chosen us in Him i. e. in Christ before the foundation of the world How or in what sence is God here said to have-elected or chosen us in Christ First I suppose the Apostle here speakâ— not of the Act buâ— of the Purpose or Decree of Election or chusing So the sence oâ— the words according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world is this according to that Model Platform or Purpose of Election which upon the happy advantage or opportunity
set a quite contrary way as viz. to multiply soment and encrease those evil and hard thoughts of God which the sense of sin and guilt as hath been said are marvelously apt to ingender in the hearts and spirits of Men must needs be Anti-Evangelical and of another inspiration much differing from that whereby the Gospel was given unto the World So that to cloath this Proposition with light we shall not need to labor or spin Nor need we be put to much trouble for proof of the latter Proposition had not the adverse Doctrine gotten the advantage of possession against the clear Truth in the Judgments of Men. For what can be more apparant then that such a Doctrine which manifestly importeth the causless peremptory irremediable and unremovable hatred of God against far the greatest part of Men and this burning to the bottom of Hell the Persons also against whom this Hatred is supposed to be lodged in Him being unknown What I say can be more apparant then that such a Doctrine as this directly and with open face tends to a most sad horrid and desperate alienation of the Heart and Soul of the poor Creature Man from his dear and ever-blessed Creator God Or is it possible that such a Creature should truly cordially or entirely love or delight in Him that made him in case he either knows or otherwise hath strong grounds of jealousie and fear that before he made him and without any offence taken at or respect had unto any of his future sins or unworthy carriages in the least he so far hated and abominated him as to resolve against all mediation whatsoever to cast him out of his sight to devote and doom him to suffer the vengeance of eternal sire Or doth not that Doctrine which denyeth that God intended the Death of Christ for the Salvation of all Men manifestly import and suppose that God to such a degree hated and abhorred or however purposed and decreed to hate and abhor the far greatest part of Men from Eternity as to resolve against all means possible to be used by them or purposed to be used by himself for prevention to pour out the fierceness of his Wrath upon their heads in flames of unquenchable fire The Holy Ghost teacheth us that the Love of God i. e. Love towards God must or ought to be kindled in the Hearts of Men by a sense or apprehension of a precedency of this affection in him towards them We love Him saith John because He first loved us 1 Iohn 4. 19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as the Original will indifferently bear as Calvin himself observes and grants Let us love Him because He loved us first According to either of these constructions of the words the intimation is pregnant that the Love of God towards Men apprehended and beleeved is and ought to be the proper seed of a reciprocal affection in Men towards Him And the Scripture most frequently conjures Men to love God upon the account of his great Love towards them manifested by the gift of his Son Jesus Christ unto them Now if Love declared and resented be the natural and proper seed of the same affection in another then Hatred discovered and apprehended must needs be a seed of a contrary import and of like aptness to beget in its own likeness also For though God chargeth Men to love their enemies and those that hate them yet he doth it upon the account of that great and signal Love which he hath first shewed unto them in the gift of his onely begotten and dear Son And we see notwithstanding this great Commandment imposed by God upon Men and that upon the advantage of such a rational and equitable ground or motive for the performance of it yet with what difficulty and renitency of the flesh even in Men truly sanctified yea and with what rareness of example it is effectually if at all performed How unpossible then must it needs be that Men should truly love God whilest they apprehend him as an Enemy bent in an unplacable and unappeasable manner to destroy them and that with the most formidable destruction they are capable of enduring and this to the days of Eternity Especially considering that they have no advantage or motive of any love shewed unto them by another any ways considerable whereby to be strengthened or enabled to love him against so sore a stumbling block and obstruction in the way of this affection as a Reprobating of them from Eternity This Demonstration is so pregnant of Proof and Conviction that certain I am nothing can with any strength scarce with any face of Reason be alledged against it But meet it is that the Poor should be hear◠in his cause as well as the rich Therefore 1. To the Argument now urged it may be replyed That the Doctrine §. 13. Object which affirmeth that Christ dyed onely for the Elect and not for all Men in general hath no such tendency or aptness in it as the said Argument chargeth upon it to separate between God and any of his Creatures because it leaveth an hope to every Person of Mankinde distributively considered that they may be of the number of the Elect and consequently of those for whom Christ dyed There is no man or woman but may the said Doctrine notwithstanding be of a good and comfortable hope that Christ dyed for them and so have no ground to conceive hardly of God or to be alienated in their mindes or hearts from him To this I answer Be it granted that the Doctrine we blame leaveth a degree of hope to every Answ Person that he is one of those for whom Christ dyed yet it is an hope very faint and feeble and which must needs be sick at the heart as being over-ballanced many degrees by contrary jealousies and fears and so can at no hand be termed a good or comfortable hope or give any advantage by way of motive unto the Creature to think well and honorably of God The truth is it is rather a possibility of conceit then any well-grounded Hope that such a Doctrine leaveth or affordeth unto any man being yet in his unregenerate estate that he is one of those for whom Christ dyed Suppose fourty or an hundred men should be arraigned and found guilty of High Treason against their Prince and He should declare without naming any of their Persons that he would graciously pardon the Offence of one or two of them but was resolved against all possible interveniencies whatsoever to inflict in the most severe manner the Penalty of Death upon all the rest would such an hope of escape or of finding favor in the eyes of their Prince as should be afforded or left unto these men in this case be any considerable encouragement or ground of motive unto them respectively to conceive honorably of their Prince for clemency goodness and mercy Or would not the severity and peremptoriness of his resolutions to take away the
Men. 2. By Nature cannot signifie by natural Birth nor by communion in the humane Nature nor by descent from Adam or the like because then it would follow that all Children whatsoever dying Infants or Children should perish everlastingly at least if by children of wrath be meant in an estate of Condemnation or under the actual displeasure of God because all partake alike of the natural Birth of the Nature of Man are of a like descent from Adam c. 3. Some ancient Expositors interpreted the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Nature prorsus i. e. utterly or altogether Theophylact and Oecumenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verè seu germane i. e. truly or indeed 4. Chrysostoms Interpretation of the Place is of much affinity with that first mentioned The Apostle saith he saith we have provoked God and made Him wroth that is we were wrath and nothing else For as he that is the childe of a man is by nature a man even so we also were children of wrath even as others that is none was free but we all did things deserving wrath o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. And lastly By children of wrath the Apostle may very probably mean Persons that had been lost and were worthy wrath or deserving death And thus Calvin interprets By children of wrath saith he understand simply such as were lost and worthy of eternal death p Per filios irae simpliciter intellige perditos ac morte aeternâ dignos According to the import of this Interpretation of the phrase children of wrath all Men may truly be said to be by nature i. e. by natural Propagation or by their descent from Adam children of wrath and yet be born in an estate of Justification or in an actual and immediate capacity of Salvation by Christ. As it is with those who having arrived at years of discretion and actually beleeve they carry original defilement still about with them they were in respect of what was derived unto them from Adam in their natural conception and birth wholly lost and are still notwithstanding their Faith in the rigor and strictness of Justice worthy of eternal death and yet by means of their Faith and the gracious Compact and Covenant which God hath made with those that beleeve they are not in an estate of Condemnation or liable to eternal Death In like manner Children may possibly be conceived and so born into the world with original sin and yet not with or under the guilt of it this may be dissolved and taken away by the superabounding Grace of God vouchsafed unto the World by Jesus Christ though the sin it self remaineth So again Children as soon as conceived or born may be and are in strictness of account worthy of eternal Death by Reason of that communion they had in Adams sin being in his loyns when he sinned and yet this worthiness may not be imputed unto them or charged upon them being as we suppose it clear from the Scriptures expiated or attoned by the great Sacrifice of Christ in His Death This Interpretation of the Apostles saying We were by nature children of wrath even as others is I conceive of all the rest least liable to any material exception But we have gone beyond the line of our late intentions in following this chase We retire with a purpose to conclude this Chapter with the addition onely of one Argument more for the confirmation of our main Doctrine Therefore In the thirteenth and last place The Universality of Redemption purchased §. 41. Argum. 13. by Christ I further argue and demonstrate from the consideration of some of the Principal Types under the Law by which the compass and unlimited extent of it was prefigured I shall insist onely upon two the Brazen Serpent and the Feast of Jubilee First Concerning the Brazen Serpent our Saviour himself owneth and asserteth a typical correspondency in the erection and usefulness hereof with himself in respect of that great and gracious Design and Purpose of God in sending Him unto the World And as Moses saith He lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up That whosoever beleeveth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life q Ioh. 3 14 15 A Type being a kinde of Similitude and the property or condition of this not being in the Proverbial expression to run on all four i. e. to answer or hold proportion in all Particulars indeed many times not in more then one onely therefore our Saviour to prevent all misunderstanding in the interpretation or application of the Type mentioned particularizeth that very respect or consideration in himself and his sending into the World which was prefigured and expressed in the Type alledged by him in these words That whosoever beleeveth in Him should not perish c. To understand clearly what there was in the Type answering in a way of pre-signification that consideration in Christs coming or sending into the World which himself here insists upon as presignified hereby we must have recourse to the History concerning the erection of the Brazen Serpent unto which also himself sendeth us in that Particle of comparison or resemblance As As Moses lifted up c. The original of this Brazen Serpent together with the Counsel and Intention of God in his Erection Moses recordeth thus Make thee saith He to Moses a fiery Serpent viz. in similitude or form and set it upon a pole and it shall come to pass that EVERY ONE THAT IS BITTEN when He looketh upon it shall live r Numb 21 8 From which words it is most evident that this fiery Serpent in form as Christ came in the similitude of that sinful flesh whose sting is so mortal to the World was not intended by God as a means of healing or preservation to a certain definite or determinate number of Persons or that such and such by Name and no other should look upon it in order to their healing or that whosoever in the event did look upon it and no other but these should be healed by it but that whosoever would might look upon it for which end also Moses was commanded to set it up on high upon a pole where it might be readily visible unto all and that whosoever should or did look upon it being bitten or stung with any fiery Serpent might be healed thereby Now all Men without exception being as we all know and confess stung and that mortally with the fiery Serpent Sin unless Christ should be lifted up upon the Cross i. e. suffer Death with an Intent on Gods part 1. That every man if he pleased might beleeve in Him And 2. That every man that should beleeve in Him should be saved by Him He should altogether dis-answer that famous Type we speak of and that in that very consideration and respect wherein He pleads a special conformity to it If it be replyed The correspondency between Christ and the Brazen
of particular Redemption is countenanced with this Argument Unto all those for whom God spared not but delivered up his own Son for them he will freely give all things But there are many thousands in the World unto whom God will not give all things Ergo for none of these did God deliver up his Son As to these Arguments and Deductions pretending legitimacy of descent §. 3. from the recited Scriptures respectively we shall clearly demonstrate the nullity of such their claim and prove that they have neither footing nor foundation in any the Premisses But Secondly Besides the recited Pleas against the Doctrine of General Redemption claiming such an immediate interest as hath been represented in the Scriptures there are many others seemingly confederate with some unquestionable Principles and Grounds both of Reason and Religion and bearing themselves upon the Scriptures also though in somewhat a more remote way The most considerable and those insisted upon with greatest importunity by the Adversaries of the said Doctrine are these following Such of them as I finde in the Writings of men of Worth and Name I shall set down with their respective Authors or Abettors noted in the Margent If Christ by his Death merited for us i. e. for those for whom He dyed 1 Reason against Gen Redemption the Reconciliation it self of our persons with God and that Grace should actually and really be communicated unto us which if he should not have done he should not have benefited those that are his to such a degree as Adam damnified those Acta Synodi Dordrect part 2. p. 82 that are his then did he not dye for all men without exception But the Antecedent is true therefore the Consequent also The Reason of the Consequence in the Proposition is because certain it is both from the Scriptures and by experience that the persons of all Men are not truly reconciled with God nor is Grace actually communicated unto them The Minor presumeth of it self If Salvation being the thing promised in the New Covenant be not promised 2 Reason but onely upon condition of beleeving and all men do not will not beleeve then Acta Synodi Dordr part 2 p. 82 certain it is that Christ by his Death obtained not Salvation for all men but for Beleevers onely But the former of these is true therefore the latter also The Consequence in the Proposition is presumed to be undenyable If the Death of Christ procured Restitution unto Life for all Men then 3 Reason were all Men restored hereunto either when Christ from Eternity was destinated unto Death which must needs be false because then no man should be born a child of wrath nor should original sin hurt any man in as much as this according to such an opinion should have been pardoned from Eternity nor should Infants or others stand in need of the Laver of Regeneration which is contrary to the assertion of Christ Joh. 3. 5. Or else they were restored in the Person of their first Parent Acta Synodi Dordr part 2 p. 82 83 when the Promise concerning the seed of the woman was promised which also is false because our first Parents themselves were not restored to an estate of Grace but by Faith in Christ therefore neither their posterity and so not All whether Beleevers or Unbeleevers Or else they were restored when Christ Himself suffered Death upon the Cross but this also is false For so none should have been restored before this moment of time which no man hâ—ldeth nor are all Men restored since this time for without all doubt the Wrath of God burned at the same instant of time and afterwards against some of the Accusers Condemners Crucifiers and Mockers of Christ If the Impetration and Application of the Benefits of Christ be never separated §. 4. 4 Reason or dis-joyned in their subjects then did He not impetrate these Benefits for All Men and consequently not dye for all Men because certain it is that Acta Synodi Dordr part 2 p. 87. vid. p. 94 97 113 c. there is not an Application of them made unto all Men. But the Impetration and Application of these Benefits are never separated the one from the other in their subjects Ergo. They for whom Christ by His Death actually procured and obtained Reconciliation 5 Reason with God Forgiveness of sins Righteousness and Eternal Life are made Acta Synodi Dordr part 2 p. 89 113 c. real Partakers of these Benefits The Reason is because nothing can be said to be procured and obtained by Christ for any man which at one time or other he doth not partake and enjoy But Unbeleevers who perish eternally never come to be Partakers of these Benefits Reconciliation with God Forgiveness of sins c. Ergo. They who by the Death of Christ are reconciled unto God are saved by His 6 Reason Life This Proposition beareth it self upon the Authority of Rom. 5. 10. But Acta Synodi Dordr part 2 p. 89 90 not All Men but onely the Elect and Beleevers are saved by the Life of Christ Ergo. They unto whom Christ was not ordained or given for a Mediator He 7 Reason did not reconcile unto His Father by His Death nor purchase Remission of Acta Synodi Dordr part 2 p. 90 sins or Eternal Life for them But Christ was not ordained or given for a Mediator unto Reprobates persevering in Unbelief c. Ergo. The Assumption presumeth to lean on the brest of Rom. 8. 32. a place already specified upon a like account If Reconciliation with God Remission of Sins and Eternal Life be 8 Reason obtained for all Men without exception by the Suffeâ—ings and Death of Christ then it will follow that all those who have not by actual Incredulity Acta Synodi Dordr part 2 p. 90 rejected the Merits of Christ remain truly reconciled unto God have their sins remitted and shall be eternally saved But this Consequent is absurd Therefore the Antecedent also If Christ by His Death made Satisfaction for all Men then might all 9 Reason Men upon the performance of the Condition of the New Covenant be saved and again upon an universal non-performance of this Condition all Acta Synodi Dordr part 2 p. 9â— ex pâ—â—te Men might be damned But as well the one as the other of these are and were impossible Ergo. The Reason of the Consequence as to the first branch of it is because satisfaction being made for any mans sins there remains nothing further necessary to his actual discharge or Salvation but onely the performance of the Condition upon which the application of the said Satisfaction is suspended The Reason of the latter branch of the Consequence is because if Satisfaction was made by Christ upon none other terms for some then it was for all it clearly follows that in case there be a possibility of a non-application of
their consciences with the guilt of such Unchristian misdemeanours as these must needs carry a strong antipathy in it and be full of enmity against the inward Peace and Comforts of their deer soules And what Doctrine lightly can there be of a more apparant and notorious tendency this way then that which promiseth unto Men and that with heigth of assurance under what loosenesse or vile practises soever exemption and freedome from that punishment the feare and dread whereof is the strongest and sharpest bridle which God Himself hath to put into the lips of the unruly flesh in Men to restraine it from sin yea and which the strength and sharpnesse of it notwithstanding the flesh many times despiseth and laughs to scorn and disdains to be reclaimed or held in by it And is not that Doctrin of perseverance comonly taught and believed amongst us of this very calculation tendency and import If it be said yea but they who teach the Doctrine of perseverance teach §. 4. withall yea urge and presse the necessity of the use of such meanes which God hath appointed to inable Men to persevere I answer It is in vaine to perswade or presse Men unto the use of such meanes in any kinde which are in themselves distastfull and unpleasing unto them when they are ascertained and secured before hand that they shall not faile of the end howsoever whether they use such means or no. If it be replied that the Teachers I speak of do not promise perseverance in Faith unto the end but only unto those who shall use the meanes appointed by God for the obtaining of it I answer if this indeed be the tenor of their Doctrine mine and theirs are no more two but one and the same I am as willing and free as the most zealous of them in their way to give that great Pledge of Heaven the Word of the living God unto the Saints to secure them of their standing unto the end upon the use of the meanes which God hath prescribed in order thereunto But I feare this is not the clear and simple tenour of their Doctrine we now speak of they blind it with some such additionall ingredient as this that as God requires the use of the meanes of perseverance at the hand of the Saints and will give it unto none but those who shall use them yet he hath certainly universally and irreversibly decreed that they shall all use them accordingly and that he himselfe will interpose by the power of his spirit that not a Man of them shall miscarry at this point I have but a word to say to this let them produce such a decree as this and it shall be an end of all strief between me and them as to this point immediately But how little there is to evince any such decree in all that they are wont to alledge and argue to that purpose will sufficiently appeare upon the examination whereunto we shall bring it in due time 2. As that Doctrine of perseverance whereof Professors make such a §. 5. treasure is deeply accessary to the greatest part of those feares those wringings and gripings of conscience wherewith their peace is interrupted and their comforts appal'd and shaken so is it exceedingly to be feared that it hath a potent and pernicious influence of causality into those frequent daily and most sad apostasies and declinings from wayes of holinesse unto loosenesse and prophanesse which are found amongst them For when the flesh or that which is corrupt carnall and sensuall in a Man a Principle not only in being but even vigorous more then enough in the greatest and best Believers shall be intoxicated with such a luscious and fulsome conceit as this that it hath goods layd up for the dayes of eternity hath it not the temptation of that foolish man as he is called upon it who upon a conceit that he had goods laid up for many yeares incouraged his Soule unto vanity Soule take thine ease Eate Drink and be Merry a Luke 12. 19 When a man that stands is in any capacity of falling is it not the only way to educe that power or capacity into act and to cause him to fall indeed to perswade him that he is in no possibility of falling Agag being full of this conceit Surely the bitternesse of Death is past b 1 Sam. 15. 32. came as the Text saith unto Samuel delicately When the flesh shall be taught to say Surely the bitternesse of eternall death is past I am out of all danger all possibility of suffering the vengeance of eternall fire is it not a secret and bewitching incouragement unto it to wax wanton against Christ and to feed foule upon the sinful delicacies of this present World Not only the distinct sound but any confused blast of such a trumpet as this is sufficient to prepare the flesh to the battell of sence and sensuality Nor doe they seem to be much acquainted with at least not much to consider the genius of that Principle in men we now speak of I meane the flesh who thinke there is any other meanes so proper or probable to hamper it to break the heart and strength of it as the Iron yoke of the feare and dread of the Worme that never dieth If it be said yea but it cannot be proved that any of those who decline §. 6. from Religious courses unto loosenesse how many soever they be that thus miscarry ever were true believers or if such that they continued in their declinings without an holy recollection of themselves before the end To this I answer 1. Be it supposed which yet will never be proved that all they who fall away from a Profession of Faith and Holinesse without rising againe or returning were never true Believers yet it cannot be denied and it is commonly granted by men of contrary judgement but that many of them were or might be in a very faire probable and hopefull way of obtaining true Faith of being made sound Believers Now that Doctrine whose native and proper tendency is to take men off from the meanes or to turne them aside out of the wayes of Life and Peace or which is the same of sound Believing is every whit as much if not more Anti-evangelicall as that which directly occasioneth such miscariages in those who do truly believe So that there is nothing gotten by that pretense howsoever But 2. If there be any Persons under Heaven who may upon sufficient grounds §. 7. and justifiable by the Word of God he judged true Believers many of those Apostates we speak of were to be judged such All the visible lineaments of a true Faith were in their faces As far as the eye of man is able to pierce they lived godlily righteously and soberly in this present World Doth any true Believer act zealously for his God So did they Is any true Believer fruitfull in good works So were they yea there were found in those
whatsoever opposeth the happiness of it being so built and adhering constantly and perseveringly unto him For the Pronounce Relative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it doth not Relate to the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will build but to the Substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Church 2. Whereas in the said Proposition Christs building of His Church is expounded by the constant adhering of this Church unto him that which is the Principall thing in question is taken for granted which is very in-argumentative For the matter in question is whether the Church of Christ in all the members of it once built upon the Rock must or doth necessarily so adhere to him 3. And lastly the said exposition renders a sence very preposterous and importune For upon this account Christ should speak at no better Rate of of Reason then thus The Gates of Hell shall not prevaile i. e. the Subtilty Policy and Machinations of Satan shall not be able to seduce those that are built upon the Rock i. e. that constantly adhere unto Christ Which amounts to no more then if he should have said the Devill shall not be able to make those inconstant who shall be and remaine constant or to cause those who shall firmly adhere unto Christ not to adhere firmly to him Which strain of discourse whether it becomes him who spake as never man spake I leave unto sober men to judg Another Argument urged by some against the interpretation given is §. 8. this If by the prevailing of the Gates of Hell be meant nothing else but the eternall condemnation of or perpetuall prevailing of Death against the Church then Christ here promiseth nothing but only in the behalf of those that are Dead and consequently nothing but what may stand with a totall defection of his Church on Earth But this seems to be contrary to his intention in the place Ergo. I answer 1. It is no inconvenience to suppose or grant that Christ in this place and in the Promise here mentioned doth not insure the perpetuall continuance or Residence of a Church on Earth no more then he doth in many other Promises which yet are of very high and blessed importance in their Respective kinds In that great Evangelicall Promise whosoever believes shall be saved there is nothing but what may possibly stand with an universall defection of a Church on earth yet is the Promise great and Precious It were easie to instance many others of like nature But 2. As in the Promise last mentioned though there be nothing which necessarily includes an un-interrupted succession of Believers in the World yet is there that which exceeding much conduceth towards the propagation and raising of such a succession as viz. a promissory proposall of the greatest reward that is unto whosoever shall believe even no lesse then that of eternall life so may it be said concerning this Promise of Christ And the Gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it Here is enough said if Men would but consider and quit themselves like Men to replenish the Earth with a Generation of Believers like unto the Waters of a River which fayle not Therefore 3. And lastly It is not truly said that this Promise And the Gates of Hell shall not c. in the sence asserted relates only to those that are dead The truth is that if we speak properly neither this nor any other promise whatsoever relates only if at all unto the dead or is made only on the behalf of the Dead the Dead in propriety of Speech are utterly uncapable of Promises though not of performances of Promises But cleerly this and all other Promises are made to the living and for their accommodation and comfort though for the letter and reality of the performance of them they are not to be partakers hereof untill they have undergone the state and condition of Death It is just matter of joy unspeakeable and glorious to him that is yet living to know and consider that though he dieth yet death shall not have any such dominion over him but what he shall shake off and that with a blessed advantage and conquest in due time But this exception against the exposition asserted is but like a moat in the Sun which darkeneth not at all the Rayes or light thereof but only gaines by being here a discovery of it felf to be a thing inconsiderable and next to nothing Another passage of Scripture compell'd to bear the Crosse of the same service §. 9. with the former is that Mat. 24. 24. For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible they shall or should deceive the very elect From hence it is inferr'd that the deceiving or seducement of those who truly believe is a thing impossible But whether the drawing of such conclusions as this from such Scriptures as that be not a drawing of darkness out of light the considerations ensuing will be competent enough to determine 1. In their Notion who trie to fetch the Water of Perseverance out of the Flint of the Scripture mentioned the word Elect doth not signifie Saints or true Believers but such as they suppose to have been in a personall consideration chosen by God from eternity out of the great body of mankinde with an intent to save them against all possible interveniencies or oppositions whatsoever Now that such as these at least before their calling are as liable to be deceived or seduced as other Men is their own confession without feare And the Apostle Paul to whom questionlesse they will not deny the grace of their Election acknowledgeth himself with Titus to have sometimes been foolish disobedient and DECEIVED a T it 3. 3. Yea 2. It is frequently confessed by the same party that such Elect as they meane and we lately described may even after they are called and have believed by the Just and Wise sufferance of God fall into Heresie and this in fundamentall Points yea and into that fearfull sin of an abnegation and abjuration of Christ and Christian Religion If so then certainly there is no impossibility of their seduction Yea the great Patrons of the Doctrine of Perseverance which managed the Conference at the Hague about these Questions Anno. 1611. acknowledged that even true Believers may fall so far as that the Church according to the command of Christ shall be compelled to testifie against them that they cannot beare or tolerate them in their outward communion and that they shall have no part in the Kingdome of Christ except they repent or be converted b Dâ—inde respondemus ad minorem fieri posse ut vere fideles eo prolabantur ut Ecclesia ex mandato Christi cogatur pronunciare se in externa sua communione tolerare non posse neque cos partem in regno Christi habituros nist resipiscant Collat. Hag. p. 399. Doubtlesse they who having once truly believed become
was before yea and may still love the Persons of these Men whom he hath condemned to die considered as Men as much as he did before their delinquency In like manner in case God shall destroy with eternall death such Men or Women whom he sometimes truly loved and respected deerly this doth not necessarily argue the least change or alteration in any attribute of his whatsoever as either Love Goodnesse Mercy c. viz. in case these Persons having been formerly faithfull and obedient unto him have since apostatized and died impenitently Nay if God should not destroy such persons in such cases or upon such a supposition it would argue a manifest change in some of his Attributes as Severity hatred of sin truth c. yea haply if the matter be narrowly considered even in his Love or Goodnesse it self For if we judge it any part or property of the Love or goodness of God towards goodness and good Men to put so great and gracious a difference between them and between wickedness and wicked Men as to reward the former with eternall glory the latter with eternall shame and misery and that he hath at any time expressed his love and goodness in this kinde evident it is that in case he should at any time not punish persevering Apostates which are the wickedest of Men with eternall Death it would argue an alteration or change in those Attributes of his we speak of Therefore to reason thus if God should love a Man to day and hate him to morrow it would argue a strange inconstancy or mutability in God or in His Love is a very inconsiderate and weak reasoning For the constancy or unchangeablenesse of the Love of God doth not stand in His constant loving the same Person or Ob 〈…〉 materially considered but only as considered formally i. e. as rem 〈…〉 the same morally or in lovelinesse which it was when he first loved it Julian the Professor and Julian the Apostate are the same Person or Object materially considered but in a formall consideration they are two and these very different In like manner the Angells in the integrity of their Creation and in the guilt of their transgression are one and the same Object materially considered but formally they differ as much as light and darknesse And to argue that unlesse God should alwayes love the same Persons materially considered whom He once or at any time loved he should be mutable in his love necessarily supposeth either that God hated the lapsed Angells whilest they were yet Holy and in the glory and beauty of their Creation or else that he now loves them in their apostacy The truth is that should God alwayes love the same Person or Persons though morally distinguished from themselves and of righteous become wicked and abominable this would cleerly argue a mutability in his affection as it would in the affection of such a Man who should love good Men as good Men or good Men only to day and wicked Men to morrow So that Men who were sometimes loved by God may now be hated of Him without any the least change or alteration in Him or in His affection only by means of a change and alteration in themselves The third and last Particular wherein the unchangeableness of God is to be considered are His Decrees These truly stated and understood are all absolute and unchangable shall and will take place and be fulfilled against all contradictions and oppositions whatsoever But of this formerly a Cap 3. Sect. 18. 20 c. And that unchangeableness assumed by God Himself unto Himself in the words in hand I am the Lord I change not is I conceive that which is found in him in respect of His Decrees The reason is because it is assigned by him as the reason why they were not utterly destroyed I am the Lord I change not therefore yee Sons of Jacob are not consumed In the beginning of the Chapter he had declared unto him his Purpose and Decree of sending His only begotten Son whom he there calls the Messenger of the Covenant unto them He predicteth Verse 3. 4. the happy fruits or consequences of that his sending in Reference to their Nation and Posterity To the unchangeableness of this His Decree He assigns that patience which he had for a long time exercised towards them under their great and continued Provocations whereby he implies that if he could have been turned out of the way of His Decree concerning the sending of His Son unto them in their Posterity they would have done it by the greatness of their Sins But in as much as this His Decree or Himself in this His Decree was unchangeable and yet must have been changed in case they had been all destroyed for the Decree was for the sending him to their Nation and Posterity hence saith he it comes to passe that though your sins otherwise abundantly have deserved it yet I have spared you from a totall ruine Therefore in these two Scriptures last argued there is every whit as much or rather more against then for the common Doctrine of Perseverance Another parcell of Scripture sought out for the service of this Doctrine §. 42. is that which riseth in these words And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to His Purpose For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of His Son that He might be the first borne amongst many Brethren Moreover whom He did predestinate them He also called and whom He called them He also justified and whom He justified them He also glorified a Rom. 8 28 29 30. From this Contexture of Scripture it is frequently argued to this effect that when Men once love God and are effectually called i. e. are Regenerate and doe Believe they are fastened to one end as it were of a certaine Chaine consisting of severall Decrees of God like so many Links indissolveably fastened one unto another and hereby are infallibly and irresistibly drawn unto glory and consequently cannot fall away or perish finally To all this I answer 1. That in as much as this passage of Scripture is impressed also for the service of the Doctrine of absolute Personall Election we shall reserve the further consideration of it till our Method hath carried us on to that subject and for the present examine it only in relation to the Point in hand Therefore 2. Whereas it is argued from this place that persons once Regenerate are infallibly drawn and carried on to glory by a Series or Chaine of Divine acts or Decrees un-interruptedly suceeding or taking hold of one another I answer That no such conclusion as this can reasonably be drawn out of these words For the Scope of the Apostle in the sequell of this passage is cleerly this as that ratiocinative Particle for in the beginning of Verse 29. plainly sheweth to prove and
own Heart the workings reasonings and debates thereof seconded with that long observation which I had made of the Spirits Principles and wayes of Men in the World together with their ebbings and flowings their risings and fallings their advancings and retreats their firstings and lastings in matters of Religion in conjunction with that light of Reason and Understanding which I have in common with other men these together were sufficient to teach me and that to a plenary satisfaction in most cases what Doctrines what Opinions are of the richest and most cordiall Sympathy and compliance with godlinesse and what on the other hand are but faint and loose in their correspondency with her or otherwise secret enemies unto her That that Doctrine which asserteth a Possibility even of a finall defection §. 2. from Faith in true Believers well understood riseth up in the cause of Godliness with a far higher hand then the common Opinion about their Perseverance hath been sufficiently though but in part proved already b Cap. 9. the further demonstration hereof sleepeth not but only awaiteth its season Our present tasque is to argue the letter of the Scripture for confirmation of the said Doctrine and to evince the truth thereof from the Oracles of God This done we shall God willing advance some grounds of reason also built upon the Scriptures for the further countenance and credit hereof And because security upon security will not we suppose be unacceptable in a businesse of such grand concernment and import we shall afterwards produce some examples upon the same account and then conclude our Discussions of this subject with an enterview of some sayings wherein it will appeare that the God of Truth hath drawn a confession and acknowledgement of that Truth of His which we now maintaine from the judgements and consciences of some of the greatest Adversaries thereof or at least so esteemed First for the sence of the Holy Ghost Himself in the Question depending §. 3. we cannot lightly desire any account more satisfactory then that given by Himself in the Old Testament But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked Man doth shall he live All his righteousnesse that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespasse that he hath trespassed and in his sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die Yet yee say the way of the Lord is not equall Heare now O House of Israel is not my way equall are not your wayes unequall When a righteous Man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and dieth in them for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die a Ezek. 18. 24. 25 c. What more can the understanding Judgement Soul or Conscience of a Man reasonably desire for their establishment in any truth whatsoever then is delivered by God Himself in this passage to evince the possibility of a righteous Mans declining from his righteousnesse and that unto Death The latter words of the passage are conclusive hereof against and above all contradiction When a righteous Man turneth away c. and dieth in them i. e. repenteth not of them forsaketh them not before his Death for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die viz. the second Death or perish everlastingly For that this Death is meant at least included in this latter clause is evident because otherwise we shall both make an unsavoury tautology in the sentence and destroy all congruity of sence besides For without such a supposition the Prophet must be supposed to speak thus when a righteous Man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and dieth in them i. e. leaveth his naturall life under the guilt of them and without Repentance for them for the iniquity that he hath done shall He leave his naturall life or have his naturall life taken from him When a Man dieth in or under the guilt of His sin He shall die for His sin or because of the guilt of His sin the same death which He dieth in His sin Who tasteth not a palpable absurdity and incoherence of sence in such a construction as this whereas if by dying in the latter clause we shall understand dying or perishing for ever the sentence will run cleer and in full consonancy with the generall current of the Scriptures the sence rising thus when a righteous Man shall forsake the wayes of righteousness wherein he hath formerly walked and turn aside into wayes of wickedness and not repent of these wayes before His death this Man shal die the death of the impenitent and unbelievers which is the second Death In this sence the sentence perfectly accords for substance of matter with such passages as these Know yee not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God B◠not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers c. shal inherit the Kingdome of God b 1 Cor. 9. 10. And againe For this yee know that no Whore-monger or unclean person or covetous Man which is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdome of Christ and of God Let no Man deceive you with vaine words for because of these things commeth the Wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience c Eph. 5. 5 6. And to omit many others with that of the same Prophet Therefore thou son of Man say unto the Children of thy People The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver Him in the day of His Transgression when I shall say to the righteous that He shall surely live if He trust His own righteousnesse and commit iniquity all His righteousness shall not be remembred but for His iniquity that He hath committed He shall die for it d Ezek. 33. 12 13. If the righteousnesse which an Apostate or back-slider from wayes of righteousnesse hath wrought whilest He was yet righteous shall not deliver Him when He turns aside unto wickednesse what can be imagined should deliver Him Doubtlesse His wickednesse whereunto He hath turned aside from His righteousnesse will not befriend Him with a deliverance Nor can it any whit more reasonably be said that though His former righteousness will not deliver Him from a temporall death yet it may deliver Him from eternall death then in the case of a true Repentance it may be said that though such a Repentance will deliver a Man from a temporall death yet will it not deliver Him from eternall death For as the truest Repentance that is though continued in will not deliver a Man from a temporall or naturall death but will most certainly deliver him from eternall death in like manner though Apostasie and backsliding from wayes of righteousnesse persevered in doe not alwayes expose a Man to a temporall death or bring this death upon Him yet they alwayes render Men obnoxious to eternall death Besides when God threateneth such backsliders as we speak of that when §.
according to the terms of the comparison have any right to enter or to be admitted thereunto and consequently his Leprosie I meane his apostasie had been finall and so unto death Therefore there is nothing gained to the Dort cause by this Similitude though it should be allowed a Preheminence above similitudes and permitted to run on all four And whereas they say and grant that a truly righteous man may for a time viz. from his turning aside into ways of wickedness until his renewing by Repentance lose though not Jus his right unto yet aptitudinem his fitness or meetness for the Kingdom of Heaven they argue quite besides the Argument levyed against them from the Passage in hand For in this reasoning they take it for granted that their righteous man never dyeth in those ways of wickedness into which he turneth aside but always cometh to be â—enewed again by Repentance before his Death whereas Ezekiel expresly and in terminis supposeth a possibility at least that his righteous man may dye in or under his Apostacy from Righteousness and in his committing of iniquity When a righteous man saith he turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity AND DYETH IN THEM for His iniquity that He hath done shall He dye a Ezek. 18. 26 Therefore all this while the Prophet of God and the Synod of Dort are two Nor is that Distinction made choyce of by Dr Prideaux to arbitrate and §. 7. umpire the difference between them able to set them through or make them friends There is saith He a double Righteousness one inherent or of Works by which we are sanctified another imputed or of Faith whereby we are justified A righteous man may turn aside from His own Righteousness viz. from His Holiness and fall into very heinous sins but it doth not follow from hence thaâ— therefore He hath wholly shaken off from Him or out of Him the Righteousness of Christ b Duplex enim est Iusticia inhaerens sive opâ—rum qâ—â saÌ„ctificamur imputata Christi seu fidei quâ justificamur Quibus positis ex â—copo Prophetae respondeo justum posse se a vertere à Justiciâ suâ suâ nimirum sanctitate et in atrocia incidere peccata non inde tamen sequitur illum justicâ—am Christi seu fidei penitus excussisse Dr Prid. Lect. 6. de Persever Sanctorum But 1. The Doctor here presents us with a piece of â—ew Divinity in making Sanctification and Justification no more intimate friends then that one can live without the company and presence of the other Doubtless if a mans Justification may stay behinde when his Holiness is departed that assertion of the Apostle will hardly stand Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord c Hebr. 12. 14 And if they that are Christs i. e. who beleeve in Christ and thereby are justified have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts another assertion of the same Apostle how their relation unto Christ should stand and yet their Holiness sink and fall I understand not But I leave his friends to be his enemies in this 2. He seems by his word penitùs wholly throughly or altogether to be singular also in another strain of Divinity and to teach magis and minus in Justification For in saying that from a mans apostaâ—izing from his own righteousness it doth not follow that therefore he hath WHOLLY or ALTOGETHER shaken off the imputed righteousness of Christ doth he not imply that a man may shake off some part of the righteousness of Christ from him and yet keep another part of it upon him or else that by sinning he may come to wear the intire garment or clothing of it so loosely that it will be ready to drop or fall off from him every hour and consequently that the righteousness of Christ sits faster and closer upon some then upon others yea upon the same person at one time then another 3. And lastly Were it granted unto the Doctor that from a mans turning aside from his own Holiness it doth not follow that therefore he hath wholly devested himself of the Righteousness of Christ imputed yet from Gods determination or pronouncing a man to be in an estate of condemnation and of death it follows roundly that therefore he is devested of the Righteousness of Christ imputed if ever he were invested with it before because no man with that Righteousness upon him can be in such an estate Now we have upon several grounds proved that the Righteous man under that Apostacy wherein Ezekiel describes and presents him is pronounced by God a childe not of a temporal but of eternal death and condemnation This indeed the Doctor denies but gives no Reason of his denial for which I blame him not Onely I must crave leave to say that the Chair weigheth not so much as one good Argument with me much less as many So that all this while he that spake and still speaks unto the World by Ezekiel is no friend to that Doctrine which denyeth the possibility of a righteous mans declining even unto death Notwithstanding some formerly it seems in favor of this Doctrine attempted §. 8. an escape from that sword of Ezekiel lately drawn against it by pretending that by the righteous man mentioned in the Passages in hand is not meant a person truly and really righteous but a kinde of formal Hypocrite or outside Professor of Righteousness But this shift had so little colour in the face of it that it caused the after-Patrons of the Doctrine to blush and be ashamed of it The Synod of Dort it self though it accepted of many helps in other cases of every whit as little strength as this yet judging it self better provided at that point where this was offered to relieve it it was rejected by the Members of this Synod and that with some kinde of disparagement put upon it I will not say with any such intent or eye that they who thus rejected it might be looked upon as men who would own nothing but what was solid and substantial The fore-mentioned Doctor also rewards the Synod of Dort with his approbation for refusing to entrust their cause in the hand of such a sorry Advocate as this So that we shall not need to cause this Interpretation to pass through the fire for the tryal of it in as much as it hath been publiquely stigmatized for reprobate silver by the greatest Masters of that cause for the maintenance whereof it was devised And indeed the whole series and carriage of the Context from Vers 20. to the end of the Chapter demonstratively evinceth that by the righteous man all along is meant such a man as was or is truly righteous and who had he persevered in that way of Righteousness wherein he sometimes walked should have worn the Crown of Righteousness and received the reward of a righteous man As by the wicked man all along opposed to him is meant not a person
there are who being loth to see the cause of their long-magnified §. 10. Doctrine of Perseverance dying by the Hand of the Scripture yet before us and despairing of help for it by any or by all the fore-mentioned applications have thought it not amiss in a case of such imminent and extream danger to try conclusions by administring this Antidote unto it When God threatens say they the righteous man apostatizing that for the iniquity which He committeth He shall dye He speaks neither of the first Death properly so called nor yet of the second Death but of Afflictions Judgments and Calamities oft signified in Scripture by the word Death as Prosperity is by the word Life which God often brings upon truly good and righteouâ— men when they greatly provoke Him by their sins To this I answer 1. That this mist hath been already scattered and dispel'd by the strength of that light which shineth in Sect. 3. of this Chapter by which it clearly appeareth that by the Death threatened by God against a righteous man backsliding and persevering in His backslidings unto death which we there shew to be the case put by God in the Scripture in hand is meant Eternal Death Therefore not any temporal Judgments or Afflictions at least noâ— onely or principally these Yet here we add 2. That it ill becomâ— an Interpreter of Scripture to recede from the plain proper and best known signification of words save onely when necessitated by the exigency either of the Context and scope of the Place in hand or else of the nature and condition of the matter as viz. when the sence which the common signification of the word raiseth and exhibiteth is inconsistent either with the course of the Scriptures or with Principles of Reason Neither of which can be reasonably pretended in this Place 3. The express Tenor of the Context it self riseth up like an armed man against this Interpretation For the execution or infliction of that Death which is here threatened against the righteous man that shall apostatize is not threatened but upon his dying under His Apostacy in which case there is no opportunity for God to inflict any temporal Judgments upon men When a righteous man turneth away from His Righteousness and committeth iniquity and DYETH IN THEM for His iniquity that He hath done shall He dye a Ezek 18 26 4. When God threateneth at any time such and such sins or such and such sinners in one kinde or other with Death it is of very dangerous consequence and tending to allay and break the energy and Power and consequently to hinder the operation of such Threatenings upon the Consciences of men for any Man to put a qualified or mitigating sence upon the word death especially not being authorized by God Himself so to do 5. And lastly the Authors themselves of this Interpretation seeme to be half heartlesse and hopelesse of doing any great matters for their cause by it and in their Explication of themselves about it they distinguish themselves quite besides that which should relieve them The word Death they say in the Prophet doth not IN THE FIRST SENCE of it signifie eternall Death as neither doth the word life in the opposite part of the sentence signifie eternall life But what though the word Death doth not in the controverted Passage signifie eternall Death in the first sence or signification of it yet if it signifieth it in the second third or fourth sence or if it signifieth it at all it is of one and the same consideration for the eviction of what is claimed by us from the place which is that a Man truly righteous may so degenerate and Apostatize that God will inflict eternall Death upon Him I omit to demand of these Interpreters by what Authority or Confidence of genius they undertake thus particularly to range and marshall the severall sences which they say God intended in such and such words giving the Preheminence to such or such a sence and saying to another stand back or come behinde If we had meere ignorance or nescience of the Truth to encounter or satisfie §. 11. though in conjunction with the greatest parts of judgement and understanding on the one hand and with the greatest warinesse and scrupulousnesse of circumspection on the other hand the traversing of the Scripture already insisted upon were sufficient I conceive without any further labour of arguing to gaine credit and fullnesse of consent to that Truth which is now upon the advance But Prejudice and Paâ—tiality are hydropicall and hardly satisfiable and these are our chiefe adversaries in the businesse in hand Therefore to reconcile if Possible the diaffections of these with the truth we shall shew them more visions from Heaven of the same light and truth with the former And first upon this account we shall remember them of a Passage formerly argued and gather up at present onely so much of the substance of the Discussion and that with what brevity may be as we judge serviceable for our present Purpose referring the Reader to a review if he please of the largeâ— examination The tenor of the place is this Then His Lord after He had called Him said unto Him O thou wicked servant I forgave thee all the debt because thou desiredst Me shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee And his Lord was wroth and delivered Him to the Tormentors till He should pay all that was due to Him So likewise shall My Heavenly Father doe also unto you if yee from your Hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses a Mat. 18. 32 33 c. Evident it is from our Saviours reddition or application of the Parable So likewise shall my Heavenly Father doe also unto you if c. speaking unto His Disciples Ver. 1. and to Peter more particularly Ver. 21. that Persons truly regenerate and justified before God for such were they to whom in speciall manner he addresseth the Parable and the application of it and indeed the whole carriage of the Parable sheweth that it was calculated and formed onely for such may through high misdemeanors in Sinning as for example by unmercifulnesse cruelty oppression c. turne themselves out of the justifying grace and favour of God quench the spirit of Regeneration and come to have their portions with Hypocrites and Unbelievers If Men will make any thing at all of the Parable in a clear and direct way without troubling or obscuring without wresting or straining the carriage scope and pregnant tendency of it such an inference cannot be avoided Further satisfaction herein may be had for the Price only of so much Paines as the Perusall of the 54. and 59. Sections of the 8. Chapter of this Discourse will require Nor doth the reversall of such acts of grace in God as we speak of argue §. 12. the least mutability or shadow of change in Him either in
suffer Persecution a while before â—heir Faith expired So that the Faith of those who in the Parable are called Temporaries can by no argument or allegation be â—victed of any degenerateness or unsoundnesse in kinde but onely of a deficiency in point of rooting or firme fixation in the Soul Nor doth our Saviour any wayes blame or reprove it but upon this account onely Yea in blaming it upon this account onely and reproving those who had it for being no more diligent and carefull in the use of means for confirming and establishing themselves better in it He plainely gives testimony unto it in Point of truth and soundness in as much as no Man deserveth blame for not consulting or endevouring the Perpetuation of an Hypocriticall Faith in his Soul or such which though Persevered in would yet have left Him in the hand of eternall Death These Considerations and Discussions are so full of Light Evidence and Power that were not the foot of our Adversaries held in this snare to judg of the truth and Soundness and so of the Hollowness and Unsoundness of Faith by the issue and event of it as viz. the Perseverance or non-Perseverance of it unto the end they could not lightly stand in the way of their present judgements before them And yet this Rule or Method of judging is not of any good accord with their own Principles otherwise Concerning those helps or assistances of grace say our English Divines present in the Synod of Dort which are afforded by God unto Men we are to judge of them meaning in point of sufficiency or efficaciousness by the nature of the benefit offered as attainable by them and by the most manifest Word of God NOT BY THE EVENT or abuse of them a Ex naturâ benefiâ—ij oblatâ— verbo Dei â—pertissimo iudicandum est dâ— illis Gratiae auxilijs quae hominibus suppeditantur non autem ex eventu aut abusu Synod Dordr Act. Pag. 128. The last proof from the Scriptures which we shall at present insist §. 39. upon and urge for the confirmation of the Doctrine under Protection shall be that passage which holds forth these things unto us For when they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonnesse those who were CLEANE ESCAPED from those who live in error While they promise them liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a Man is overcome of the same he is brought in bondage For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are againe intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them then the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousnesse then after they have known it to turne from the holy Commandement delivered unto them But it is happened unto them according to the true Proverbe the Dogg is turned to his own vomit againe and the Sow that was washed to his wallowing in the mire b Pet. â— 18 19 c. The Possibility of a totall and finall defection in true Believers lieth as large and full in these quarters as truth lightly can be lodged in words the Holy Ghost here plainely supposing that which is clearly consistent with yea and equipollent thereunto viz. that they who by the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ have cleane or truly or really 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 escaped the pollutions of the World being againe intangled therewith may be overcome so as that their spirituall state and condition will be worse at the last then it was at the first or before they believed What is this being interpreted but that true Saints or Believers may possibly apostatize from their believing condition so as to perish everlastingly But here also our Adversaries attempt to hide the Truth shining in the recited §. 40. passage under that old covering or veyle which hath been rent in twaine already both in this Chapter and elsewhere Thâ—se expressions say they who were clean escaped from those who live in error who have escaped the pollutions of the World through the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ to have known the way of righteousnesse c. doe not suppose the Persons spoken of to have had true Faith nor import any thiâ—â— but what may very possibly be found in Hypocrites But with how little truth yea or semblance of truth these things are asserted hath been already exposed to open view when we traversed the Scripture in hand upon another occasion a Cap. 8. Sect. 4 5 46 c. Neverthelesse we here add 1. If the said expressions import nothing but what Hypocrites and that in sensu composito i. e. whilest Hypocrites are capable of theâ— may those be Hypocrites who are separated from Men that live in error 〈◊〉 from the pollutions of the World and that through the knowledge of Jesus C 〈…〉 and on the other hand those may be Saints and sound Believers who wallow in all manner of filthiness and defile themselves daily with the pollutions of the World This consequence according to the Principles and known Tenets of our Adversaries is legitimate and true in as much as they hold that true Believers may fall so foule and so far that the Church according to Christs institution may be constrained to testifie that they cannot bear them in their outward communion and that they shall have no part in the Kingdome of Christ except they repent b Repondemus posse quidem verè credentes eousque prolabi ut Ecclesia juxtà constitutionem Christi cogatur â—esta 〈…〉 ipsos in externâ ipsorum communione non posse tolerare neque habituros partem ullam in regnâ— Christâ— nisi convertantur Contr-Remonstr in Coll. Hag. p. 399. c. But whether this be wholesoâ—â—â—nd sound Divinity or no to teach that they who are separate from sinnâ—â— and live holily and blamelesly in this present World and this by means of the knowledge of Jesus Christ may be Hypocrites and children of perdition and they on the other hand who are companions with Theeves Murtherers Adulterers c. Saints and sound Believers I leave to Men whose judgements are not turn'd upside down with prejudice to determine 2. The Persons here spoken of are said to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly or really escaped from those who live in error Doubtlesse an Hypocrite cannot be said truly or really but in shew or appearance at most to have made such an escape I mean from Men who live in error considering that for matter of reality and truth remaining in Hypocrisie he lives in one of the greatest and foulest errors that is 3. An Hypocrite whose foot is already in the snare of Death cannot upon any tolerable account either of reason or common sence be said to be allured i. e. by allurements to be deceived or overcome by the pollutions of the World
according to the true intent and minde oâ— God in them I shall not contend against the appellation But for any such Promise of Perseverance which should import an impossibility of the Saints falling away either totally or finally the Scriptures cited are so far strangers unto that if they were narrowly examined with their respective Contexts they would be found clearly to import that unless the Saints shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quit themselves like men in comporting with the Grace of God exhibiâ—ed unto them in order to their Perseverance the Great Evil of Apostacy will be their Ruine And thus we have abundantly evicted the truth of this Position that the Received Doctrine of Perseverance absolutely overthrowes all the usefulnesse necessity and rationall congruity of such Admonitions and Exhortations unto Perseverance wherein the Holy Ghost addresseth Himself in the Scriptures unto the Saints There is the same consideration of all those moâ—t serious and Affectionate Desires Obtestations Wishes and Complaintâ— wherein God expresseth Himself in the Scriptures unto His Sâ—ints either as desirous of their Perseverance whilest yet they stand or as aggrieved in Himself for their backslidings when they fall That God should seriously exhort or intreate a Man to do that which he hath promised unto Hâ—m that Himself will infallibly worke in Him or necessitate Him to â—oe and withall hath commanded Him to rest assured with the greatest confidence that may be upon the. Truth of this Promise and much more that Hâ— should affectionately wish that this Man would doe that which He shall be necessitated and that by God Himself to do are dispensations or deportments of so notorious an asystasie and incomportment with an infinite wisdom that consideration must needs cease from Men whilest they ascribe them unto God What we have asserted and proved at large concerning Exhortations §. 12. unto Perseverance viz. that these are dis-senced by such promises of Perseverance as are commonly formed in the Minds and Writings of Men a mongst us we shall now with what brevity we can shew concerning such comminations or threatnings also wherein God threatneth all those with eternall Death who shall not persevere and shall prove that these also are infatuated and rendered unsavoury by the Principles of the said Doctrine or at least uselesse and vain in respect of any efficiency contributable by them towards the effecting of Perseverance in the Saints This I demonstrate by the light of this Argument If the Principles of the Doctrine we speak of dissolve the efficiency of the said threatnings towards the end for the accomplishing whereof they are given then they render them unsavoury uselesse and vaine But the Principles of this Doctrine are guilty of this offence Ergo. The terms of the Major Proposition are sufficient witnesses of the Truth thereof In order to the proof of the Minor we suppose 1. That which is evident enough viz. that the end intended by God in such threatnings which threaten those that shall Apostatize with eternall Death is to prevent Apostacy in the Saints and to work or cause them to Persevere 2. That this is one of the Principles of the common Doctrine of Perseverance God hath absolutely promised finall Perseverance unto the Saints and this another God will certainly infrustrably and infallibly work this Perseverance in the Saints These two things onely supposed the light of the truth of the said Minor Proposition breakes forth from between them with much evidence and power For 1. If the said threatnings be intended by God for the prevention of Apostasie in the Saints and consequently to effect their Perseverance the way or manner wherein this end intended by God is to be effected by them must needs be by their ingenerating or raising a feare or apprehension in the Saints of eternall death it being the native property of feare mixed with Hope to awaken and provoke Men to the use of such meanes which are proper to prevent the danger or evill feared There is no other way imaginable how or wherein the Threatnings we speak of should operate towards the Perseverance of the Saints or the prevention of their Apostasie but that mentioned viz. by working in them a feare or dread of the evill Threatened Therefore 2. Evident it is that such promises made and made known unto the Saints by which they are made uncapable of any such feare are absolutely destructive of that efficiency which is proper to the said Threatenings to exhibite towards the prevention of Apostasie in the Saints or for the causing of them to persevere 3. And lastly it is every whit as evident that such promises wherein God should assure the Saints that they shall not Apostatize but persevere are apt and proper to render them uncapable of all feare of eternall Death and consequently are apparantly obstructive of and destructive unto the native tendency and operativenesse of the said Threatenings towards and about the perseverance of the Saints These Threatnings can doe nothing contribute nothing towards the perseverance of the Saints but by the mediation of the feare of evill in them upon their non-persevering Therefore whatsoever hardens them from this fear or renders them uncapable of it supersedes all the vertue and vigor which are to be found in these threatenings for or towards the effecting of their perseverance If it be said that the intent of God in the threatenings we speak of is not §. 13. to draw the Saints by fear of the punishment or evill threatened to doe the things which accompany perseverance but that they are moved and drawn hereunto by a more Heavenly principle as viz. the pure and meere love of God I answer 1. By demanding what other intent can it be imagined that God should have in the threatenings specified but onely that asserted Evident it is as was lately observed that they are not directed unto Hypocrites or unsound Believers these are not threatened with the losse of Salvation or with eternall Death in case they shall not Persevere unto the end They are in danger of losing the one and gaining the other by persevering in the way they are in unto the end not by non persevering or by departing from it Besides Hypocrites and counterfeit Believers being at present in a state of wrath and in a way of perishing it is no wayes agreeable with the Wisdome of God that He should threaten them with perishing upon the account of such a sin under the guilt whereof they were never like to come And evident it is from Heb. 6. 4 5 6. 9. and so from Heb. 10. 26 27. 29. and other places that such threatenings as are now under consideration were directed and administred unto such as were at present true Believers and in a state of life If then the threatnings we speak of be directed by God unto true and sound Believers it must consequently be conceived that they were directed unto them for good or with an intent on Gods Part to accommodate and
by keeping under his Body c. He should prevent His being a cast-away and remaine for ever in the love and favour of God upon the account of which assureance notwithstanding his feare he rejoyced that joy unspeakable and glorious who shall separate us from the love of Christ For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord e Rom. 8. 35. 38 39. So that that feare and trembling with and out of which the Children of God not onely lawfully may but of duty ought to worke out their own Salvation f Phil. 2. 13 or which is the same deliverance from condemnation are not of those kinds of feare and trembling which have torment or expectation of evill or doubtfulnesse of safety and well doing attending them but of those which are quickning and provoking to the use of means for safety upon an apprehension of danger coming upon the negligent and sloathfull and accompanied with a peaceable and blessed confidence of obtaining safety thereby So that we may safely conclude that the threatnings of eternall death in the Scriptures which are bent against the faces of Apostates and Backsliders are a means graciously vouchsafed by God for the preserving of His Saints from Apostasie and this by raising a feare of Hell within them in case they shall neglect His Counsell for their Perseverance and consequently that all such threatnings are turned into stubble and rotten wood in the Dialect of the Almighty Job 41. 27. I meane are made powerlesse and uselesse by the Principles of that Doctrine which teacheth any absolutenesse of Promise made unto the Saints for their finall Perseverance Thirdly and lastly as this Doctrine evacuateth all the Exhortations §. 17. and Comminations which the Scripture holdeth forth as means to preserve the Saints in Faith and Holinesse unto the end so doth it all the Promises also which are here given in order to the procurement of the same end the Vertue Efficacy and Power whereof are meerly nullified by such a supposition as this that Believers stand bound to believe an absolute impossibility of their finall declining or falling away to Perdition For when Men are secured and this by the infallible security of Faith that the good things promised are already theirs by the right and title of Faith and that they shall certainely Persevere in Faith unto the end what need or occasion is See more of this Sect. 33. of this Chap. there to perswade or move these Men to doe that which becomes them in order to their Perseverance by any argument drawn from the Promise of such things A promise made to a Man of having or keeping that which is His own already and which he certainely knowes shall not cannot be taken away from Him can have no manner of influence upon Him by way of excitement or inducement to labour for the obtaining of it or to doe the things by which it is to be obtained For as the Apostle reasons in somewhat the like case hope that is not seen is not hope i. e. that which sometimes was the object of Hope when it comes to be seen or injoyed is no longer the object of Hope for what a Man seeth why or how doth he yet hope for g Rom. 8. 24. So may we argue in the case in hand a Promise of what is already injoyed and possest is no Promise hath not the nature property or operation of a Promise in it especially not of a Promise ingaging unto action in order to the obtaining of the good promised A promise of this import I meane that is any wayes likely to ingage unto action must be of some good thing so conditioned in relation to Him to whom the promise is made that he hath no ground to expect the injoyment of it but upon condition of the performance of such or such an action one or more For if such actions and wayes which are proper and requisite for the obtaining of the good promised be otherwise and in themselves desirable and would howsoever be chosen by him to whom the promise is made evident it is that the promise we speak of doth not in this case work at all upon Him or raise such an election in Him Againe if those actions and wayes which are proper and necessary for the obtaining of the good promised be in themselves unpleasant and distastfull unto the Person we speake of to whom the Promise is supposed to be made it is a clear case that he will not lift up his Heart or Hand unto them but onely for the obtaining of such a good and desireable thing which he hath reason to judge will never be obtained by Him but only by the performance of such things For who will trouble Himself to run for that which He knowes He may and shall obtaine by sitting still Thus then it every way appeares that the common Doctrine of absolute and certaine Perseverance makes nothing but winde and vanity of all those most serious and weighty Exhortations Threatnings and Promises in the Scriptures which concerne the Perseverance of the Saints and are directed by God unto them for this end and purpose that by them they may be inabled i. e. made willing watchfull and carefull to Persevere and consequently the very face and spirit of the said Doctrine is directly set and bent against that high concernment of the Saints I meane their Perseverance For whatsoever nullifieth the means is clearly destructive unto the end And thus we have done with our second Argument for the confirmation of that Doctrine which teacheth a possibility of the Saints defection and this unto Death A third Argument is this That Doctrine which representeth God as §. 18. Argum. 3. weake incongruous and incoherent with Himself in His applications unto Men is not from God and consequently that which contradicteth it must needs be the Truth But the Doctrine of Perseverance opposed by us putteth this great dishonor upon God representeth Him weake incongruous c. Ergo. The Major Proposition in this Argument is too great in evidence of Truth to be questioned The Minor is made good by this consideration viz. that the said Doctrine bringeth God upon the great Theater of the Scriptures speaking thus or to this effect in the audience of Heaven and Earth unto His Saints You that truly believe in my Son Jesus Christ and have been once made partakers of my Holy Spirit and therefore are fully perswaded and assured according to my Will and Command given unto you in that behalfe yea according to that ensealing of truth within you which you have from me that you cannot possibly no not by all the most horrid sins and abominable practises that you shall or can commit fall away either totally or finally from your
Pardon of His Sins Therefore Justification or Pardon of Sin may according to the Doctrine of this Father be lost yea so lost as never to be found again The same Author elsewhere saith That Solomon and Saul and many others had power were able to retain the Grace that had been given them whilest they walked in the ways of the Lord but when the Instruction or Discipline of God departed from them His Grace departed also Therefore it stands us in hand to hold out in the strait and narrow way of praise and glory c Solomon denique Saul caeteri multi quamdtù viis Domini ambulaverunt datam sibi gratiam tenere potuerunt recedente ab ipsis disciplinâ divinâ recessit gratia Perseverandum nobis est in arcto in angusto itinere laudis gloriae Idem Ep. 7. ad Rogat caeteros confess c. c. Yet again The very same spiritual Grace which in Baptism is equally received by those that believe is afterwards in our conversation and acting either diminished or increased as in the Gospel the seed whereof our Saviour speaketh is equally sown but according to the diversity of the ground part of it is consumed or comes to nothing another part of it bringeth forth fruit in abundance yet in a different proportion some thirty some sixty some an hundred fold c Planè eadem gratia spiritalis quae aequaliter à credentibus in Baptismo sumitur in conversatione atque actu nostro postmodùm vel minuitur vel augetur ut in Evangelio dominicum semen equaliter seminatur sed pro varietate terrae aliud absumitur aliud in multiformem copiam vel tricesimi vel sexagesimi vel centesimi numeri fructu exuberante cumulatur Idem Epist 76. ad Magnum A little after Oft-times it comes to pass that some of those who are spiritually sound when baptized if afterwards they fall to sin are shaken with the unclean spirit returning unto them so that manifest it is that the Devil is by the Faith of the Believer excluded in Baptism and that in case this Faith of his afterwards fails that he returneth d Et contrà saepé nonnulli de illiâ— qui sani baptizantur si postmodùm peccare coeperint spiritu immundo redeunte quatiuntur ut manifestum sit Diabolum in Baptismo Fide credentis excludi si Fides postmodùm defecerit regredi Ibid. Chromatius who according to some Writers had his time of mortality §. 12. allotted unto him about the year 350. though others bring it down much lower having upon those words Mat. 6. 12. And forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors affirmed That unless we forgive our debtors we make our selves guilty of eternal death before God with our own words subjoyneth a little after thus This the Lord Himself elsewhere doth most plainly make manifest producing the example of the Servant who had been a Debtor to whom though he ought much yet upon his intreaty his Lord forgave him the whole This servant after his debt had been freely remitted unto him denying the like favour in a smaller matter to his fellow-servant was cast into prison and condemâ—ed to punishment e Hoc autem alio in loco ipse dominus apertissimé manifestat proferens servi illius debitoris exemplum cui plurimum debenti rogatus Dominus debitum omne concesserat qui cum post indultum debitum conservo suo debenti sibi nollet ipse dimittere in carcerâ—m traditus damnatus in poenâ est Chromatius in Mat. 5. 6. Macarius who lived about the year 370. is a diligent and frequent Assertor of the Doctrine maintained in our present Digression in his Writings After the same manner saith he the Spirit admonisheth the Soul which by grace knoweth God and is purified from her former sins and is endowed with the ornaments of the Holy Ghost and hath tasted the divine and heavenly meat or nourishment yet because she doth not walk in this knowledg with that diligence which is meeâ— nor preserveth that good affection and love which she oweth to her heavenly Husband Christ as becometh her she IS CAST OFF AND DRIVEN AVVAY FROM THAT LIFE OF WHICH SHE DID PARTAKE Not long after Wherefore we must strive and take heed with the greatest wisdom that we work out our Salvation with fear as it is written Whosoever therefore of you are made partakers of the Spirit of Christ see that in nothing neither small nor great you behave your selves carelesly nor reproach the Spirit of Grace LEST YOV BE BANISHED FROM THAT LIFE WHICH YOV HAVE NOVV OBTAINED f Eodem modo etiam Spiritus admâ—net animam quae per gratiam cognoscit DeuÌ„ purificata est à pristinis peccatis ac ornamentis spiritús sancti dotata et prâ—gustavit divinuÌ„ ac coelosteÌ„ cibuÌ„ ob id tamen quòd non sicuti decebat deligenter in eâ noticiâ versata est nec decenter bene volentiaÌ„ ac dilectioneÌ„ Christo Sponso coelesti debitaÌ„ conservavit projicitur expellitur à vitâ cujus erat facta particeps Macar Hom. 15. Et paulò post Quapropter certanduÌ„ est suÌ„ma prudentiâ nobiâ— cavenduÌ„ ut cuÌ„ timore saluteÌ„ nostraÌ„ operemini operemur sicut scriptuÌ„ est Quicunque ergo participeâ— facti estis Spiritus Christi in nullo pusillo vel magno contemptim vos geratis neque gratiam spiritus contumeliâ assiciatis ne exuletis à vitâ quam jam adepti estis c. Yet again a little after But when the Soul hath obtained Grace now is there need of much understanding and perspicacity in discerning which things themselves God also gives unto the Soul asking them of Him that so this Soul may serve Him in that Spirit which she hath received with all acceptation and in nothing be overcome of evil or deceived through ignorance turning aside through rashness and sloth and falling to do all things besides or contrary unto the comely Order of the Divine Will For PVNISHMENT DEATH AND MOVRNING ABIDE SVCH A SOVL which in effect the divine Apostle Himself also saith lest when I have preached unto others I my self should be a castaway You see after what manner or at how great a rate He feared notwithstanding He was an Apostle of God The same Father in the same place speaketh words to this effect For man is of that nature or frame that though He be fallen into a deep gulf of vice and is become the Servant of Sin yet He may be converted or turned to that which is good and on the contrary being the bond-man of the Holy Ghost and overcome with the drunkenness of spiritual and Heavenly things He may be turned back to that which is evil g Et paulò post Caeterum ubi anima gratiam est adepta tuÌ„ intellectu multo atque perspicatiâ opus est quae etiaÌ„ ipsa largitur Deus animae ab eo
supposed the act of beleeving in men is no ground of admiration at all no more then it was under the Law to see a man making haste to his City of Refuge being hotly and closely pursued by the Avenger of Blood or then now it would be to fee a young Infant a mile from Home being carryed along in the Parents arms However to add this by the way I incline to think that the reason of our Saviours marvâ—lling upon the Centurions Answer was not simply and absolutely the excellency or greatness of his Faith discovering it self thereby but in part the strangeness of the stupidity and unmanlikeness of spirit in those of Israel which He was occasioned to reminde and consider by the notableness of that Faith which shined in a man who was and had been in all likelyhood a Pagan and a Soldier and an Officer of rank amongst Soldiers all which in their respective Natures and according to common experience which still follows the Natures of things and discovers them are disadvantages to Beleeving The words mentioned have a breathing of such an import When Jesus heard it He marvelled and said I have not found so great Faith NO NOT IN ISRAEL If Beleeving depends upon the Omnipotent Exertions of God after any such manner as our Adversaries imagine our Saviour could have no competent reason to marvel either that it should be found where it was or not found where it was not unless this should be a ground of marvelling unto Him that God by His Omnipotency should be able to work Faith in whom He pleaseth or that Man should not act and do more then He hath Power to do yea or then all the Creatures in Heaven or in Earth can enable Him to do I mean beleeve Fifthly If they who beleeve not have no sufficiency of Power vouchsafed §. 31. by God to beleeve then is the Faith of those who do beleeve no reasonable or just matter of reproof or shame unto those who beleeve not But the Scripture often puts those who beleeve not to rebuke and shame by mentioning unto them the examples of those who do beleeve Ergo. This latter Proposition needs no other Proof but onely the sight and consideration of these and such like Passages For John came unto you in the way of Righteousness and ye beleeved Him not but the Publicans and Harlots beleeved him And ye when ye had seen it repented not afterwards that ye might beleeve him a Mat. 21. 32 The men of Niniveh shall rise up in Judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold a greater then Jonas is here b Mat. 12. 14 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his House by which He condemned the World c Heb. 11. 7 c. From such places as these it is evident that the Faith Repentance and Obedience of the Saints or of such persons who do beleeve repent and obey are just matter of Condemnation unto those who beleeve not repent not obey not and represent them as inexcusable But now to make good the sequel in the Major Proposition these worthy actings and deportments of those in whom they are sound would be no ways considerable for any such end or purpose as the shaming or condemning of unbeleeving impenitent and disobedient Persons unless it be supposed that these have or had or at least might have had and this upon the same terms with those other the like power and abilities whereby to Beleeve Repent and Obey as they did or do The casting great matters into the Treasury by rich men was no disparagement or matter of shame to the poor widow that cast in two mites onely because these two mites were her whole substance she was not able to cast in more in which respect our Saviour Himself gives her this testimony that she had cast in more then they all Their casting in great matters would have been matter of just disparagement unto her in case she had been as wealthy as they and should have cast in her two mites onely Nor is the flying of a fowl in the ayr any disparagement to a man in that he doth not the like nor is the speaking of Greek and Hebrew by him who hath been seven years at School to learn these Tongues and hath had the help of men expert and skilful in them to direct him any matter of disparagement to an Infant of days who is not as yet capable of such education though he speaketh them not And generally where there is not an equality of strength means and abilities for the performance of an action that is commendable the performance of it by him or them who have the advantage of strength and means in this kinde doth no ways reflect disparagement upon the others though they perform it not If those who do beleeve have the Omnipotency of Heaven to assist them in beleeving nay to necessitate them to beleeve certainly their beleeving is no matter of disrepute or disgrace unto those who beleeve not especially if it be supposed that they have no Power at all to beleeve Sixthly If Gods Purpose and Intent be to stop the mouths of all such §. 32. Persons and to leave them without excuse who shall prove wicked ungodly unbeleeving c. then doth He vouchsafe sufficiency of Power and of Means to Repent and Beleeve and so to be saved But the Consequent is true and most unquestionably evident from the Scriptures Therefore the Antecedent is true also viz. that God doth vouchsafe a sufficiency of Power or Means unto all Men whereby to beleeve c. That Gods Purpose is and that He maketh Provision accordingly to stop the mouths of all wicked and ungodly men so that they shall have nothing with any colour of Reason or Equity to plead for themselves why the Sentence of Eternal Death should not pass upon them when they come to appear before His Tribunal is for truth as clear as the Light at Noon-day from these and such like places For the invisible things of Him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even His eternal Power and Godhead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to the intent they should be without excuse a Rom. 1. 20 as our former Translators rendered meaning in case they should neglect the glorifying of God by depending upon Him serving and obeying Him Our last Translation maketh no difference as to our purpose rendering the words thus so that they are without excuse For if they the Heathen be without excuse by the means vouchsafed unto them by God whereby to glorifie Him certainly it was His Intent to render or make them so by the said means So again Now we know that whatsoever the Law saith it saith to them that are under the Law THAT EVERY MOVTH MAY
not look upon them or consider them as being in himself nor yet as being righteous and holy in Adam but as men that would in time prove corrupt sinful and abominable And for God to decree to leave men thus considered to irrecoverable destruction is no ways unworthy of him I answer 1. If God in his Decree of Reprobation considered men as sinful and wicked then He passed over and took no knowledg or notice of them whilest they were yet righteous and innocent or if he did take knowledg of their righteousness yet this notwithstanding and as it were with the neglect and contempt of it He passed that most dreadful Doom or Decree of an eternal Reprobation against them Whereas the Scriptures every where commend and highly magnifie the constant love care and respects of God towards the righteous The righteous Lord saith David loveth righteousness and His countenance doth behold the upright a Psa 11. 7 And again For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield b Psa 5. 12 So again The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous c Psa 34 15 To omit many other places of like assertion From whence it evidently appears 1. That God beholds and sees and cannot but behold and see those that are righteous 2. That seeing and beholding them such He always loves them and delights in them Therefore it is unpossible that God at any time should not see and behold the persons we speak of being righteous and whilest righteous And 2. that seeing and beholding them such that He should not love them and intend graciously to them and consequently that all this while He should intend or decree the extremity of all evil and misery against them 2. It is altogether inconsistent with the Righteousness and Equity of Gods Proceedings to neglect or pass by the present condition or ways of men either of righteousness or unrighteousness and to respect them or measure out unto them either Grace or Displeasure either Reward or Punishment according to their future condition or according to what He foresees their ways will be afterward All Gods Purposes and Decrees relate unto men according to the nature and exigency of their present conditions not of their future If a man be at present in a condition of Righteousness he is under the gracious influence and benediction of that Decree of God whereby He hath decreed Life and Peace and Blessedness to righteous men And suppose it be known unto God that this man righteous at present will afterwards forsake his righteousness and turn aside into ways of unrighteousness yet whilest he remaineth righteous he is not under the dint or danger of that Decree of God which respects unrighteous men and whereby Wrath and Judgment are decreed against them That Disposition or Principle which we now ascribe unto God is most clearly asserted in the Scriptures by Himself and that by way of vindication of his Righteousness from the unworthy conceits of those who judged otherwise of Him If a man BE JVST and DO that which is lawful and right And hath not eaten upon the Mountains neither hath lift up his eyes to the Idols of the house of Israel c. He IS just He shall surely live saith the Lord God d Ezek. 18. 5 6 9 q. d. During this posture or course of righteous walking he is under the blessing of that gracious and unchangeable Decree of mine wherein Life and Peace are decreed unto righteous men But when the righteous TVRNETH away from his righteousness and COMMITTETH iniquity and DOTH according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his Trespass that he hath trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned in them shall he dye e Verse 24 i. e. perish for ever viz. unless he repents and turns back again to his former course of righteousness So again Therefore thou Son of man say unto the children of thy people the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his Transgression As for the wickedness of the wicked he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live if he trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity as many being in an estate of grace upon a presumption that they cannot possibly fall away too frequently do all his righteousness shall not be remembered but for his iniquity that he hath committed he shall dye for it Again when I say unto the wicked Thou shalt surely dye if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right If he restore the pledg give again that he had robbed walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity he shall surely live he shall not dye f Ezek. 33. 12. 13 14 15 c. By these and very many more places of like consideration in reference to the business in hand which might be added it is fully evident that particular men or the persons of men from time to time come under the eternal Decrees of God either of Life or Death of Salvation or Condemnation not according to the nature exigency or import of their potential or future but of their actual and present conditions respectively and consequently that if the generality of men were either from Eternity righteous and righteous they must needs be whilest they were in God and in him onely and were nothing but God or at any time after their Creation as they were in Adam during the time of his innocency they must needs whilest they were in these capacâ—ties or conditions be under that eternal Decree of God by which or wherein Life and Peace and Happiness are decreed unto righteous men and so could not be from Eternity under a Decree of Reprobation 3. And lastly If God from Eternity looked upon the far greater part of men all those I mean who are Reprobates so called as Persons that would in time prove sinful or as Persons in time proved sinful and under this prospect of them passed a Decree of Reprobation upon or against them then was this sinfulness wherein He beheld them the ground or cause of this Decree of Reprobation or not If not to what purpose is it pleaded or stood upon in reference to the said Decree And why is it not plainly and right-down affirmed that God reprobated them out of his meer Will and Pleasure without the interveniency of any consideration of sin to incline or move him thereunto And if this be so He need not in his Decree of Reprobation look upon them as sinful but simply as men If He looked upon them simply as men then he looked upon them as the pure and perfect workmanship of his
Therefore without controversie the sence of the Nicene Fathers in the mentioned Passage of their Creed was that Christ became Man and suffered death for all Men without exception Now this Nicene Creed as is well known to those that are a little versed in Ecclesiastical History was attested and subscribed by the three Oecumenical Councils next following the first at Constantinople the second at Ephesus the third at Chalcedon Nor do I remember that it was ever censured or rejected by any Council or Synod esteemed Orthodox I shall not insist upon that Epistle of Cyril of Alexandria an Author lately mentioned written to Nestorius the Heretique approved by three General Councils in which Epistle Christ is expresly termed the Saviour of us all g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gerardus Johannes Vossius a late Protestant Writer of good Note a diligent Searcher into and unpartial Relator of matters of Antiquity reporteth that by a Synod assembled at Mentz in the year 848 of which Rabanus Maurus was President and at which Haymo was present Goteschalcus the Monk was condemned who amongst other erroneous Opinions held That they who perish although they sometimes beleeved and were baptized yet were not redeemed by Christ but onely Sacramentally or as far as the sign of Redemption reacheth nor ever separated from the mass of perdition h Cujus inter dogmata erat eos qui pereunt â—t si prius credi derint baptizati suerint non nisi signo tenus redemptos fuisse à Christo nec unquam à perditionis massâ fuisse secretos Gerar. Joh. Voss Hist Pelag. lib. 6. Thesi 12. The same Author addeth further that soon after this Moguntine Synod there followed a Council of the Church of Rhemes and of many other Bishops in France whereof Hincmarus a learned man in these times was President this Council He saith approved the Judgment of the former touching their censure of Goteschalcus Yea He proceedeth and saith yet further that the Church of Lyons although in many things it rather inclined to Goteschalcus then to the two late mentioned Synods yet in the Particular in hand it approved the Sentence of the said Synods In a large Transcription which he exhibiteth from the Acts of this last Synod he citeth words to this effect How then when they are baptized in the Death of Christ and are washed from their sins in HIS BLOOD is that true Renovation and true Purgation wrought if they yet remain in the mass of Damnation and Perdition concrete and not severed i Quomodo ergo in eis perficitur dum in Morte Christi baptizaÌ„tur in ejus Sanguine à peccatis abluuntur vera innovatio vera muÌ„datio si adhuc in damnationis perditionis massâ concrâ—ti non discreti detinentur Ibid. He speaketh as appears all along the Discourse of such Persons who finally apostatize and perish Therefore the clear sence of this Council also was that those who are washed from their sins in the Blood of Christ and consequently who were redeemed by Him may notwithstanding perish The same Doctrine as the same Author reporteth was approved and further established by another Synod held at Valentia in France consisting of the Bishops or Ministers of the fore-mentioned Church of Lyons and of two other Churches who professed that they did beleeve it as a thing meet to be held with the firmest belief that as some of those who are truly regenerate and truly redeemed are eternally saved by means of their continuance through the Grace of God in their Redemption so that others OF THEM because they would not abide in the safety of that Faith which they once received and chose rather whether by embracing corrupt Doctrine or by wickedness of life to reject and MAKE VOYD THE GRACE OF REDEMPTION then to preserve it are never able to arrive at the fulness of Salvation or to attain eternal Happiness k Item firmissimé tenendum credimus quòd omnis multitudo fidelium ex aquâ spiritu regenerata ac per hoc veraciter Ecclesia incorporata juxta DoctrinaÌ„ Apostoli in Morte Christi baptizata in ejus sanguine á peccatis abluta quia nec in eis potuit esse vera regeneratio nisi fieret vera Redemptio cum in Ecclesiae Sacramentis nihil sit cassum nihil ludificatorium sed prorsus totum verum ipsâ sui veritate ac sinceritate subnixum Ex ipsâ tamen multitudine Fidelium RedemptoruÌ„ alios salvari aeternâ salute quia per gratiam Dei in suâ RedeÌ„ptione fideliter permanent alios quia permanere noluerunt in salute fidei quam initio acceperunt Redemptionisque gratiam potiús irritam facere pravâ Doctrinâ vel vitâ quà m servare elegerunt ad plenitudinem salutis ad percaptionem aeterna Beatitudinis nullo modo pervenire c. If my Library would hold out it is like I might be able to produce other §. 14. Councils and Synods besides these insisted upon interessed in the same Doctrine which these as we have heard avouched for Orthodox But the joynt Testimony of those which have been produced is I suppose matter enough and proper enough to stop the mouth of that whether ignorant or worse-conditioned Calumny which traduceth the Opinion or Doctrine of General Redemption as if it were an old rotten Popish Opinion that had been from time to time rejected and thrown out of the Church by all orthodox and sound Men. The truth is I have not in all my reading which I confess is of no considerable compass for my years to my best remembrance met with the censure or rejection of the said Doctrine in the Acts or Records of any one Council or Synod whatsoever unless haply it be in the Acts of the nuperous Synod of Dort For to a man of an erect Judgment and whose spirit hath more of God and of a man in it then to suffer it self to be yoked with prejudice or base partiality reading and weighing some Passages in the Records of this Synod it cannot lightly but be a matter of some difficulty and which will cost him some of his thoughts to resolve himself clearly what the Resolutions of this Synod were touching the extent of the gracious Intentions of God in or about the Redemption purchased by Christ at least in case these Resolutions of theirs be onely estimated by their expressions Do not such Sayings as these distinctly sound Universal Attonement by Christ God commiserating MANKIND being fallen sent His Son who gave Himself a price of Redemption FOR THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD And a little after Since that Price which was PAYD FOR ALL MEN and which will certainly benefit all that beleeve unto Eternal Life yet doth not profit all Men c. Again So then CHRIST DYED FOR ALL MEN THAT ALL AND EVERY MAN might by the mediation of Faith through the vertue of this Ransom obtain Forgiveness of sins and eternal Life I know
no Remonstrant that holds more or otherwise in the Point now under Contest Yet again they say that Christ by His Death did not onely found the Evangelical Covenant between God and Man but also obtained of His Father that wheresoever this Covenant should be preached there should ordinarily such a measure of Grace be administred or given with it which is sufficient to convince all Impenitents and Unbeleevers of contempt or neglect at least in their non-performance of the condition l Deus lapsi generis humani miseratus misit FiliuÌ„ suum qui seipsum dedit PretiuÌ„ RedeÌ„ptionis pro peccatis totius Mundi Act. Syn. NatioÌ„ Dordrect part 2. p. 78. Paulò pòst Quando illud Pretium quod solutuÌ„ est pro omnibus quod omnibus credentibus certò proficiet ad vitam aeternaÌ„ non proficit tamen omnibus c. Et mox Sic ergo Christus pro omnibus mortuus est vt omnes singuli mediante fide possint virtute 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hujus remissionem peccatorum vitam aeternam consequi Et mox Christus suâ Morte non tantum Evangelicum Foedus fundavit sed insuper impetravit à Patre vt ubicunque annunciatuÌ„ fuerit illud Foedus unà etiam ordinariè ea mensura gratiae supernaturalis administretur quae sufficiat ad convincendos omnes impenitentes incredulos contemptûs vel salutem neglectûs ob non impletâ— conditionem Questionless if men be duly and sufficiently convinced or be in capacity of this conviction that negligence is or was the onely reason or cause why such or such a thing is not or was not performed by them it must be supposed that such men have or had sufficient strength or means to have performed it For if men certainly know that they have not or had not a sufficiency of means or strength for the performance of a thing it is unpossible that they should ever be convinced that onely negligence was the cause of their non-performance of it The Reason is because a knowledg or perswasion that the performance of a thing is unpossible in respect of a mans weakness or want of strength to perform it is a certain cause of his non-attempting it and consequently of his non-performing it So that negligence in this case cannot be the onely cause of his non-performance nay the truth is that negligence is no cause hereof at all Suppose a man doth neglect to try or to use means that he may fly like a bird in the ayr yet this neglect of his cannot reasonably be looked upon as any cause of his not-flying but his inability to fly in conjunction with a certain knowledg of such an inability in him and of the invincibleness hereof is the adequate and sole cause of his not-flying The same Synod elsewhere by other of its Members expresseth it self thus §. 15. using the distinction of Antecedent and Consequent without the knowledg whereof the true state of the controversie in hand can hardly be understood But when we say saith the Synod that Christ dyed for Beleevers and for his Friends this is to be understood CONSEQUENTLY so that the term i. e. the event of his Death for what else they should mean by terminus I understand not is hereby signified as on the contrary He is said to have dyed ANTECEDENTLY for His Enemies and Unbeleevers the word Unbelief being taken negatively m Caeterum quando dicimus Christum esse mortuum pro credentibus pro amicis suis hoâ— intelligendum est consequenter ita ut denotetur terminus ad quem sicut e contrario antecedenter dicitur mortuus pro hostibus suis pro infidelibus negative accepto infidelitatis vocabulo Act. Syn. Nation Dordr part 2. p. 99. What the mystery of their meaning should be in these last words wherein they restrain their sence in what they had said to a Negative Unbelief is above the reach of my understanding But when they say that Christ dyed consequently for Beleevers and antecedently for Unbeleevers they speak the whole Heart of their Adversaries the Remonstrants touching the Intentions of God in and about the Death of Christ as far as so few words can express it For neither do they in any of their Writings that ever came in my way any where affirm or say that Christ dyed consequently for Unbeleevers i. e. with any such Intention that Unbeleevers continuing such unto the end should be saved And for such who though Unbeleevers at present yet shall afterwards Repent and Beleeve these Synodians themselves will not deny but that Christ dyed consequently Concerning the distinction of Antecedent and Consequent as it relates to the present Controversie we spake formerly n Cap. 6. §. 16. cap. 17 Sect. 8 9. But how that Assertion of the men we speak of wherein they grant that Christ dyed antecedently for His Enemies and Unbeleevers will finde quarter at the hand of their own Thesis soon after subjoyned wherein they say that Christ dyed ADEQUATELY FOR all and ONLY THE ELECT o Sicut Christus pro omnibus solis Electis adaequate est mortuus c. I leave to themselves and their Friends to consider I speak it with all simplicity of heart and without the least touch or tincture either of prejudice or partiality impressions to which I am far from being a Debtor for any part of my contentment that to the best of my memory and understanding I never met with a piece of Discourse from the hand of any judicious or learned man fuller of broad and pregnant inconsistencies then the Decisions of this Synod in the Points cognizâ—nced by them Only the Writings and Preachings of men interessed in the same Principles with them I finde deeply baptized into the same spirit of self-digladiation whereof we shall God willing give instances by way of proof to a sufficient proportion before the close of this Chapter Another Member of the said Synod whose sentence and award in the Controversies there agitated is I suppose Synodical justified I mean and approved by the body of the Synod otherwise no man can tell by the printed Acts of this Synod what the Judgment hereof was but onely what was the Judgment of the particular Members thereof in petty Consorts apart by themselves and not in conjunction with the intire body asserteth this Position that there is a certain common Philanthropy or Love of Men in God towards all Mankinde being fallen and He SERIOUSLY WILLETH or hath willed THE SALVATION OF ALL MEN p Est coÌ„munis quaedam Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quâ dilexit totuÌ„ genus humanum lapsum seriò omnium salutem voluit Act. Syn. Dordr par 2. p. 103 Afterwards speaking of the Condemnation of those who beleeve not he saith This event is not of it self intended by God but follows by accident upon the default of man q Hic autem eventus per se non intenditur