more Again see the like dealing with David 2 Sa. 11.12.8 9. I anointed thee King over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul and if that had been too little I would have given thee such and such things wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of God c. Must not this pierce into the very bowels of David Shall God upbraid his people falling into sin spread before their eyes the manifold mercies he hath bestowed upon them and all this while see no sin in them Therefore when it is said Iam. 1.5 That God upbraideth not that is to be understood in respect of his frequent and liberal giving as men use to say I have given thus often and I will give no more which kinde of giving Seneca cals panem lapidosum but if men walk unworthy of the benefits received he doth then upbraid as Mar. 16.14 He is said to upbraid the Disciples because of their unbelief Thirdly The Scripture applieth the threatnings of God to believeâ—s as well as to others making no difference between them unless they repent Indeed we say against the Papists that all the sins of justified persons are venial and not mortal that is such as in the event will have pardon but that is because the seed of grace will be operative in them so that they shall either habitually or actually repent of their sins Neither when the Orthodox say That Election is absolute do they exclude the media instituta means appointed by God in which the fruit of Election is accomplished but conditions antecedanâ—ous as if that decree did remain suspense and uncertain till the will of man had determined 1 Cor. 6.9 10. The Apostle laieth down an universal rule such and such grosse offenders shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven that is those who live so and do not repent and this is to be extended not only to those who are habitually so but actually likewise unlesse they are reformed Therefore no godly man falling into any of those grosse sins may deceive himself and think he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven without a change Godly or ungodly yet if found in the committing of such a gross sin unless they do repent God will not accept one or the other As repentance is appointed for the wicked man as a duty without which he cannot be saved so confession and forsaking of sin is prescribed a godly man fallen into sin without which he cannot have remission 1 Jo. 1.9 There is no such free grace or Gospel as faith to a believer if fallen into a foul sin whether you repent or no your sins shall be pardoned to you Hence 1 Cor. 11. the Apostle makes every man that receiveth unworthily and yet some of them were godly to receive their damnation that is their eternal damnation without repentance and reformation and after repentance their judgement though not of condemnation yet affliction and castigation How terrible likewise is Paul He. 12.29 where speaking to the godly that are to receive a kingdom that is eternal he exhorteth them to duty Let us have grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Let us retain and keep grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Ro. 15.4 and observe the manner with reverence and godly fear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is such a fear as relateth to punishment compare this place with Ps 2.12 and thus the words following suppose for our God is a consuming fire this is taken out of Deu. 4.24 and the meaning is God is no less angry with Christians sinning against him then formerly with the Israelites it is as easy for him to destroy whom he is offended with as for the fire to destroy stubble How directly doth this place overthrow that Antinomian assertion God saw sin in believers in the Old Testament and therefore afflicted them but it is not so under the New Now when it s said God is a consuming fire this denoteth the great anger of God compare it with Deu. 9.3 Deu. 32.22 Fire is most efficacious and least capable of transmutation as other elements are for which reason the Persians worshipped fire for a god but fire might be extinguished whereas God is such a fire as consumeth all and remaineth immutable Know then brethren that as there are places in the New Testament which speak of the riches of his grace so also of his consuming anger As therefore the promises of the Scripture are for consolation hope to the godly so are the threatnings for a godly fear Between these two milstones a Christian is made dulcis farina as Luther once said and neither of these milstones may be taken for a pledge as the Law was in the Old Testament because one cannot work without the other Therefore for a man to take only those places of Scripture which speak of the goodnesse of the promises and to reject the terrors of the threatnings is spiritual theft in an high degree Doth not Paul 2 Cor. 5 excite himself to run like a Gyant in his ministerial race because of the terror of the Lord at the day of Judgement See ver 10. We must all appear so to appear as to be seen through and made manifest before the judgement-seat of God as those that are to plead a cause in an eminent place before a Judge to receive a reward sutable to his life nâ—w knowing this saith the Apostle we perswade it may relate to himself and to those whom he perswadeth Yet this apprehension of the Lords terror did not exclude love for v. 14. he saith The love of Christ constraineth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either an expression from those who had a spirit of prophecie upon them that was very powerfull whereby they could not but speak or else from women in travell Heb. 12.15 which through pain cannot but cry out so efficacious was love in Paul 4. The sins of godly men cease not to be sins though they are justified We may not say that in Cain killing of another is murder but in David it is not We may not say denying of Christ in Judas is indeed a sin but in Peter it is not No priviledge they have by justification can alter the nature of a sin He that receiveth unworthily is guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord whether he be a wicked man or a Beleever It is not with a Beleever and a wicked man as with a man and a beast comparatively If a beast kill a man it is not sin because the subject is not reasonable but a man if he do so whether godly or ungodly it is a sin because against Gods Law It is not safe to say that God doth with the Beleever and wicked as if a Magistrate should make a Law that whosoever committeth such a crime if he be a free-man he shall only be imprisoned but if a servant he shall be put to death so God whosoever murdereth or committeth adultery
and gripes he had within because of sin and no wonder he did not confess it and bewail it before God If therefore God keeps thy heart in many doubts and fears giving thee no rest consider whether thou hast cast all that leaven out of thy house whether every Achan within thee be stoned or no. It is in vain to cure the wound as long as any splint of the poisoned arrow lieth within it or if thou finde no sin unrepented of search whether thy formal lazy duties be not the cause of all the blackness that is in thy heart We reade in the Canticles that the Churches laziness and her not opening the doors to Christ when he knockt was the cause of that spiritual desertion she was plunged into seeking up and down for her Beloved but not finding of him The standing pool begets the croaking Frogs not the running stream and it is the dull negligent Christian whose heart is filled with sad fears and doubts whereas the hidden Manna and white stone is promised to him that overcometh 3. Though thy soul walk thus in darkness yet exercise acts of dependency and recumbency upon Christ howsoever As David many times cals upon his soul to trust in God and not to be sinfully dejected How is that woman of Canaan commended for her faith who though our Saviour called her Dog and did in effect tell her she was excluded from pardon did yet earnestly pursue him and gave him no rest till he gave her rest And certainly this is the noblest act of Faith this is indeed to give glory to God when in the midst of all thy fears and guilt thou canst relie upon him for pardon as in wicked men who are filled with Satan as Ananiaâ— was there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a desperate boldness whereby they dare venture upon sin So in the godly there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a confidence of Faith whereby maugre the devil and our consciences we dare throw our selves into the arms of a Promise Thus by frequent putting forth of strong fiducial applicative acts of Faith we shall at last enjoy obsignative Howsoever hereby thou wilt shew thy heavenly courage in enduring a kinde of spiritual Martyrdom As that Love is the highest Love which is carried out to enemies so those are the strongest acts of Faith which make us depend on God though he seem to kill us yea to damn us LECTURE XXIV MAT. 6.12 And forgive us our Debts ANother Question which is also of great use we are to dispatch at this time viz. Whether a Believer repenting and suing for pardon is to make any difference between a great sin and a lesse For if a man should be perswaded of the negative then would gross and notorious sins which Tertullian cals Devoratoria salutis whirlpools and gulfs wherein the party offended is plunged be no more then those sins which Austin cals Quotidiana levia daily infirmities which continually flow from the most sanctified person Again on the other side A Christian falling into such a gross sin may so far be swallowed up with sorrow as that he shall think the whole bond of friendship is dissolved between him and God that he is cast out of that spiritual Paradise he was in and that God is no more his Father nor he his childe It is therefore necessary to have a pillar of fire to guide us in this wilderness And that the whole truth of this matter may be understood observe these Propositions First Every sin even the least sin doth deserve eternal death As appeareth by those general places Cursed is every one that abideth not in all things the Law commands Gal. 3.10 Now every sin is a transgression of the Law This the Apostle speaks universally of all sin without any exception Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death And indeed this must needs be so if you consider the least sinne is an offence against an infinite God and in this respect because God is not a little but a great God so every sin is not little but a great sin Again if you consider the necessity of Christs bloud to expiate this no sinne can be thought little for if a man had no sin in the world but one of these little ones he could not escape eternall wrath without Christs mediation Therefore we cannot say any sin is venial either from its kinde and nature as Papists distinguish such they make to be officious or jesting lies or from the imperfection of the act such they make those that are committed indeliberately or out of ignorance without full consent or knowledge Or from the smalness of the matter as to steal a farthing or the like None of these sins are so small but that they deserve hell because they are the transgression of the Law of an holy and great God and our Saviour confirmeth this when he saith Of every idle word a man shall give an account Mat. 12.36 and that phrase of giving an account is not a diminutive but aggravative expression Our Saviour doth there argue from the less to the greater Thus If a man must give an account for every idle word much more for blasphemy against the holy Ghost Take we heed therefore how we bring down the weight and guilt of the sinne here also we may see why Paul found such a mountain upon him by sinful motions only arising in his heart There are two places that seem to import such a difference between sins as if some only deserved hell and others not The first is Mat. 5.22 where our Saviour speaking of three degrees of sin doth proportionably assign three degrees of punishment and the last only is guilty of hell fire But the clear Answer is That our Saviour speaks allusively to those three Courts of Judicature among the Jews the least punishment whereof was death so that the first Court punished with death the second death with a more grievous torment The third with a most grievous For that our Saviour doth only allude to these Courts and not speak of what faults the Courts punished is plain for none can think that the Court put any to death for calling his brother fool It was murder and such â—ins that they punished with capital punishments The other place is 1 Joh. 5.15 17. where the Apostle makes a difference between a sin unto death and a sin not unto death but that is clearly to be understood either of the sin against the holy Ghost which in those times when the spirit of discerning was frequent might easily be known or of such sin that did plainly discover obstinacy and impenitency accompanying of it otherwise no man might pray for another man that hath committed a mortal sin if by a sin unto death the Papist will mean every mortal sin Lay therefore this foundation That every sin is mortal in respect of its desert and guilt howsoever to the godly believing and repenting no sin is mortal
make little or nothing of it as it were a great fault in a childe to slight or make nothing of his fathers corrections Now let all the world judge whether the Antinomian Doctrine doth not open a wide gate to despise Gods afflictions this makes them cry down Fast-daies repentance humiliation and confession of sin yea they make it Popery and hypocrisie what is done this way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we may say with Homer 6. If God hath commanded Magistrates to execute outward evils upon some godly men that have hainously offended then its Gods will to afflict them for sin but he hath done so If a godly man being through the Dalilah of some corruption perswaded to have his hair cut off his spirituall strength gone and so he fall into the sin of murder is it not Gods will that the Magistrate should put him to death for this sin and what God would have the Magistrate do is it not as much as if God himself had done and must not all say this is a chastisement upon him because of his sin Thus have I brought reasons to prove that which I think was never denied before till this age which every day like Africa bringeth forth some Monster And certainly the Doctrine of afflictions upon the godly is so sweet and wholesome a truth that none but a Spider could suck out such poison from it as the Antinomian hath done LECTURE V. ROM 3.24 25. Being justified freely by his grace c. WE come now to consider how the Antinomian can make good that Paradox of his God chastiseth not believers because of their sins and indeed the Author forementioned doth much sweat and tug in bringing in severall absurdities which he conceives will follow upon the truth asserted by us But before we examine them let us take notice of the Authours great contradiction to himself in this point and that within very few Pages Falshood is not only dissonant from truth but also from it felf for whereas in the forequoted place he makes his assertion universal that Ged seeth not sin in persons converted and therefore there are no afflictions befall them because of sin Now see how flat contrary that same Authour speaks in the same book pag. 117. for there making an opposition between the condition of believers in the Old Testament and those in the new he expresly gives this difference God saith he saw sin in them as they were children that had need of a rod by reason of their non-age but he seeth none in us as being full-grown heirs and again God saw in them and punished them for it as they were under the Schoolmaster of the Law but he seeth none in us Hence pag. 99. he makes it peculiar to the time of the Law that Moses for an unadvised word was strucken with death and Vzzah and Jonah and Ely with others temporally corrected Therefore it was saith he came those terrible Famines whereby mothers were driven to eat their own children all was because they were under the severity of the Law that if they did but a little step awry they were sharply scourged for the same Now how great a contradiction is this to his other assertion for were not the godly under the Old Testament actually converted had they not Christs righteousnes made theirs were they not elected how cometh it about then that they were afflicted for sin and not believers under the New Testament when a man can bring the East and West together then may he reconcile these assertions but self contradiction is no strange thing in that book But I come to his Arguments The first place he urgeth is Ro. 5.1 2 3. Being justified by faith we have peace with God that is all beating blows and anger are ceased saith he and hence it is that we glory in our afflictions but now if they were for our sins we had no more cause to glory in them then the childe hath in his whippings for his faults For the opening of this place consider these things some ancient Commentators reade the word imperatively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let us have instead of we have and thus they have interpreted it Being justified by Faith let us take heed how we sin again but preserve our peace with God The words taken this way would much confirm rather then debilitate our assertion but I doe not judge this so suteable to the scope of the Apostle in this verse we will take them as they are indicatively or assertively and first we may mean by peace either that reconciliation which is made with God or the sense and feeling of this which is nothing but tranquillity and security of conscience through the perswasion of Gods favour to us Now these may be separable one from the other a believer may be reconciled with God and in the state of friendship with him yet he not feel this or know this as many passages in Davids Psalms do witnesse even as the childe in the womb knoweth not the great inheritance and rich Revenues it shall be possessed of or as Agar did not see the well of water by her but thought she must perish till God opened her eyes There is a seal of the pardon of sin when yet the proclamation of it is not made in the conscience If we take peace in the first respect it is an absolute universal proposition and true of every justified person but in the latter sense it is true only of some persons and at some times for the sense of Gods favour is a separable priviledge from those that are in it If by peace we should understand the sense of Gods favour and the declaration of it in our consciences as by their arguments they must do then it proveth against their opinion as well as any others for they hold that a believer needeth to pray for pardon in the declaration or sense and feeling of sin though not for the pardon it self of sin now there cannot be at the same time a want of the feeling of pardon of sin and the tranquillity of conscience together so that this place must needs be a thorn in their side But 2ly the true and direct answer to this place is that there is a twofold peace one which is opposite to the hatred of God as he is a terrible enemy to sinners unreconciled with them in which sense he is often described in Scripture The other as it is opposite to that fatherly anger and displeasure whereby though for the main reconciled yet he may for some particular faults be displeased now the Apostle speaks of the former kinde of peace Being justified that is God being once reconciled with us in Christ he hath no more hostile enmity against us and if we do sin afterwards he will not become an enemy to us or satisfie his justice by punishing of us but as a father he may in his displeasure chastise us
if he be a Beleever the wages due to his sin is only temporal chastisements but to a wicked man it 's eternal death I say this is not safe for although a Beleevers sin shall not actually damn him yet God hath made the same Law to both and repentance as a means is prescribed so that we may by supposition say If the wicked man repent his sin shall not damn him If the justified person do not his sin will damn him It 's true it is not proper to say of sin in the abstract it shall be damned no more then that grace shall be saved but we are to say the person shall be damned or saved Yet the guilt of the sin will cause the guilt of the person if not taken off by Christ as the meritorious and faith as the instrumentall cause The sins then of Beleevers and ungodly are both alike only that the guilt of them doth not redound upon the persons alike is because the one takes the way appointed by God to obtain pardon and the other doth not Not that the godly man makes himself to differ from the wicked but all is the work of grace In some respects the sins of godly men are more offensive to God then those of wicked men because committed against more light and more experience of the sweetnesse of Gods love and the bitternesâ—e of sin What is the cause Heb. 10.28 29 30. the Apostle maketh the condition of a wilfull Apostate to be so dreadfull but because of the excellency of the object in the Gospel above that in the Law If he that despised Moses his Law died without mercy of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy c. Observe that interposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 think ye do you not easily think that such sins offend God more Now although the truly sanctified can never fall into such a condition totally and finally yet their sins committed wilfully against the Gospel are gradually and in some measure of such a nature and therefore they fall terribly into the hands of the living God when they so sin against him and consider how that the Apostle speaks these things even to them of whom he hoped better things and things that accompany salvation Heb. 6. If therefore we see a godly man who hath tasted much of Gods favour play the prodigall walk loosely we may and ought notwithstanding Antinomian positions powerfully and severely set home these places of Scripture upon his conscience And observe how in the New Testament the Apostle alledgeth two places out of the Old Vengeance belongeth to me Deut. 32.35 and the Lord will judge his people Psal 135.14 To judge is to avenge so that the people of God have those considerations in their sins to provoke God which wicked men cannot have and therefore have the same motives to humble them as the Apostle argueth To which of the Angels said he Sit at my right hand c. so may we To what wicked man hath God poured out his love revealed himself kindly as unto the godly therefore do they neglect the greater mercies LECTURE X. JEREMIAH 50.20 In those daies and at that time the iniquity of Iudah shall be sought for c. LEt us in the next place consider the particulars wherein Gods eye of anger doth manifest it self upon his own children if sinning against him The effect of his wrath may be considered in that which is temporal or spiritual or eternal in all these Gods anger doth bring forth in one respect or other For the temporal objects take notice of these particulars first When they sin against God they are involved in the common and ordinary afflictions which do usually accompany sin in the wicked Thus 1 Cor. 11.30 for their unworthy receiving of the Sacrament and some even of those were godly as appeareth v. 32. many were weak and sickly weak were such as did languish and sickly is more such as had diseases on them now these were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strokes from God and therefore came from his anger for their sins Though the Lords Supper consist of a twofold bread the one earthly for the body the other heavenly the bread of life for the soul yet both body and soul did miserably decay because of unworthy receiving This Table being as Chrysostom said mensa Aquilarum not Graculorum food for Eagles not Jaies As therefore those children who have fainting diseases upon them and do secretly eat salt oatmeal c. though they have never such excellent food at their fathers table yet thrive not but look pale and consuming so it was with the Corinthians by reason of their corruptions they inclined to death though they fed on the bread of life Now that these bodily diseases are the common issue and fruit of sin appeareth Lev. 26.16 Deut. 28.22 grace therefore of justification can give no Supesedeas to any disease that shall arrest a believer offending but are the wicked in Consumptions Agues Feavers for their sins so are the godly yea the people of God are in these calamities before the wicked Amos 3.2 You only have I known of all the Families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities I have known you that is acknowledged ye for mine see what that is Exod. 19.5 A peculiar treasure unto me above all people The Hebrew word signifieth that which is dear and pretious and to be desired of all This is aggravated by what followeth for all the earth is mine that is seeing there are so many nations in the world over whom I have full power and dominion how great is Gods goodnesse in taking you for his above others now mark the Prophets reason because I have done this therefore I will visit you for your iniquities for to all your other wickednesses you adde an ingratefull heart So there is another place 1 Pet. 4.17 where God is said to judge them before others and this hath been a great offence to the godly It is time that is a seasonable opportunity by the decree and appointment of God for judgement that is chastisements for former sins which are called judgements because they are publique testimonies and manifestations of Gods anger against sins and are to put the godly in minde of their sins only it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the original The word is used even of the godly 1 Cor. 11.31 32. 1 Pet. 4.6 By the house of God he meaneth the true Members of the Church and whereas he saith it begins in them he thereby intimates that the godly in this life are more exposed to afflictions for sin then the wicked are and this made David and Jeremy so expostulate with God in this matter so that the godly in their afflictions ought to say as that widow of Sarepta 2 Kin. 17.18 This is to call my sin to remembrance It is thought the Apostle though he doth not
That men in debt and distresse followed him hoping thereby to be freed from their Creditors hands so let us follow Christ who only is able to take off this heavy burden from us and know the longer we lie in our debts the more they will encrease upon us Now in two respects spiritual debts do exceed wordly debts 1. In the danger of non-payment Suppose the highest punishments that we reade of in Histories against perfidious debtors yet that doth not amount to the punishment of our spirituall debts In some Laws they were bound to sell their children yea themselves to become slaves Exodus 21.7 Exodus 22.2 2 Kings 4.1 Thus God commanded in the Jewish Laws This was very miserable to have children sold for parents debts Valentinian the Emperour would have such put to death that were not able to pay their debts but above all that Law in the 12. Tables that who was in debt the Creditors might take him and cause him to be cut alive in as many peeces as the Creditors pleased This cruelty saith Tertullian was afterwards erased out by publike consent Suffudere maluit homini sanguinem quam effundere but what is this to that Mat. 18.30 His master was wroth and delivered him to the tâ—rmentors till he had paid all that was due so then chains and imprisonments are the worst of worldly debts but the eternall wrath of God falleth upon spirituall debtors 2. In the impossibility of escaping this punishment In these debts death will free a man but then is the beginning of our misery by spirituall debts So Mat. 5.26 Thou shalt by no means come out till thou hast paid the utmost farthing and because we are never able to do that therefore must our condemnation be eternall We pity the indebted prisoners that out of their grates cry Bread bread But how more doleful is that cry of Dives out of hell for a drop of water and none giveth unto him This is some mitigating consideration to the worst troubles here that they are not eternal and it is the aggravation of the least in hell that they are eternal Therefore in that the Scripture cals our sins by these names and we have an innumerable heap of them let us mourn under the weight of them and bewail their burden aud this is to be done with all speed not knowing how soon justice may take us by the throat saying Pay that thou owest The use may be of instruction to the godly that notwithstanding their Justification and forgivenesse of sins past yet they run into debt daily and such debts as for the pardon of them they must renew daily sorrow and confession as also sue out continual pardon for certainly our Saviour did not direct us to say this Petition humiliter only for humility sake as some of old thought but also veraciter truly and if it be true then we are not in a cold customary way of luke-warmnesse to beg this pardon but with the same deep sense conflict and agony of spirit as we see malefactors importune the Judge for a pardon Now if there were a malefactor that thought the Judge saw no crimes nor matter of death in him but on the contrary that he was altogether righteous and free how could this man with any deep remorse and acknowledgement bewail himself so that this Petition containeth excellent Doctrine as well as practice Tertullian called the Lords Prayer Breviarum Evangelij a breviary or sum of the Gospel for legem credendi adde operandi lex statuit supplicandi said another The Law or Rule of Prayer teacheth the rule of faith and practice and this is very true in this Petition which teacheth both Doctrine and Practice against the Antinomians It is true they make glosses upon this Text but such cursed ones as do wholly corrupâ— it do not therefore think that Justification giveth thee such a quietus est that new sins daily committed by thee should be no matter of humiliation or confession certainly our Saviours command is That we should desire this forgivenesse as often as we do our daily bread LECTURE XIV MAT. 6.12 And forgive us our debts WE have already considered the object in this Petition viz. sins which according to the Syriak Idiotism are called debts as alms are called righteousnesse ver 1. in an Hebraism The next thing to be treated of is the Petition it self forgive us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this word is most commonly used by the Apostles to signifie pardon of sins they have it about seven and twenty times but more of this when we shew what remission of sins is The work I have for the present to do is to shew how comprehensive this Petition is and what it is we pray for herein Bellarmine opposing the Doctrine of the Protestants holding a special and peculiar faith appropriating pardon of sin mistaking the question as if we maintained justifying faith to be that whereby we believe our sins are certainly forgiven us in Christ chargeth this absurdity upon us lib. 1. de Just c. 10. That we take away this Petition in the Lords Prayer For saith he If I be bound certainly to believe my sins are forgiven already it would be as absurd to pray that God would forgive us our sins as to pray Christ might be incarnated seeing we believe he was incarnated already And l. 4. de notiâ— ecclesiae c. 11. He makes this opinion of the Protestants holding we are righteous before God for Christs sake and the believing of this with a special faith to be comparable with any Paradox in the world as not being above or besides but plainly contrary to all reason and as that which makes it impossible for us to say Forgive us our sins unlesse we lye It is true according to the Antinomian Divinity which saith there is no sin now in the Church this Prayer doth no more belong to us then to the Angels in heaven therefore the Antinomian makes not the meaning of this Prayer to be as if we prayed for the forgiveness which we had not before but only for more full and rich assurance of it Honey-Comb p. 156 But the Sequel will shew the falshood of both these assertions Obser It is the duty of justified persons to pray for the forgivenes of their sins To understand this we will shew first what is the expresse meaning of this Petition and then what is the implied sense of it In the first place our meaning in this Petition is That God would not require of us the payment and satisfaction of his justice for our sinnes We have a Parable Luke 16.8 Of an unjust Steward who called his Lords debtors who bid him that owed an hundred measures of oyl set down fifty but if God should condescend thus far to us instead of millions of sins we owe to set down but an hundred yea should we come down as low in the number of sins as Abraham of
it self it is plain by all those places of Scripture which make repentance requisite to pardon Ezek. 14.6 Ezek. 18.30 Mat. 3.2 Luk. 13.3 The learned Dr Twisse Vind. grat p. 18. confesseth that there are Arguments on both sides in the Scripture Sometimes he saith Pardon of sin is subjoyned to confession and repentance of which sort he confesseth there are more frequent and expresse places but yet sometimes remission of sin already obtained is made an argument to move to repentance and he instanceth in David and Mary Magdalen who did abundantly and plentifully break out into tears upon the sense of pardon But these instances are not to the purpose for David repented of his wicked ness before Nathan told him That his sin was taken away and his penitential Psalm was not made so much for the first pardon of his sin as the confirming and assuring of him in his pardon Thus it was also with Mary Magdalen But more of this in time 4. There is a necessity of Repentance if we would have pardon both by a necessity of precept or command as also by a necessity of means and a way Whatsoever is necessary Necessitate medii by a necessity of means or a way is also necessary by a necessity of command though not è contra That repentance is necessary by way of a command is plain by the places fore-quoted and in innumerable other places I do not handle the case Whether an actual or explicite repentance be necessary to salvation of every sinner but I speak in the general It is disputed Whether it be a natural precept or a meer positive command and if it be a natural or moral command to which command it is reduced Those that would have it under the command of Thou shalt not kill as if there were commanded a care of our souls that they should not be damned are ignorant of the true limits and bounds of the several Commandments It s disputed also When this time of repentance doth binde It is a wonder that some should limit it only to times of danger and fear of death Certainly this command binds as soon as ever a man hath sinned Venenata inducias non patiuntur A man that hath swallowed down poison is not to linger but presently to expell it And one that is wounded who lieth bleeding doth presently dispatch with all readinesse for Physitians to have his bloud stopt and thus ought men to take the first opportunity Hence in that famous miracle wrought at the pool of Bethesda not the second or third but he that stept first into it was the only man that was healed As repentance is thus necessary by way of command so also by way of means for the Spirit of God worketh this in a man to qualifie him for this pardon So that although there be no causality condignity or merit in our repentance yet it is of that nature that God doth ordain and appoint it a way for pardon So that the command for repentance is not like those positive commands of the Sacraments wherein the will of the Law-giver is meerly the ground of the duty but there is also a fitnesse in the thing it should be so even as among men nature teacheth That the injurious person should be sorry and ask forgivenesse before he be pardoned 5. Concerning this duty of repentance there are two extream practical mistakes the one is of the prophane secure man who makes every empty and heartlesse invocation of mercy to be the repentance spoken of in the Scripture whereas repentance is a duty compounded of many ingredients and so many things go to the very essence yea the lowest degree of godly sorrow that by Scripture-rules we may say Repentance is rarely to be seen any where for if you do regard the nature of it it is a broken and a contrite heart Now how little of the heart is in most mens humiliations Men being Humiliati magis quam humiles as Bernard said humbled and brought low by the hand of God rather then humble and lowly in their own souls Again if you consider the efficient cause it is from the Spirit of God the spring of sorrow must arise from this hill Zech. 12. Rom. 8. Further if you consider the motive it must be because God is displeased and offended because sin is against an holy law and so of a staining and polluting nature Lastly If you consider the effect and fruit of repentance it is an advised forsaking and utter abandoning of all those lusts and iniquities in whose fetters they were before chained so that a man repenting and turned unto God differs as much from himself once a sinner as a Lazarus raised up and walking differs from himself dead and putrifying in the grave Do not thou then whose heart is not contrite who dost continually lick up the vomit of thy sin promise to thy self repentance No thou art far from this duty as yet On the other side There is a contrary mistake and that is sometimes by the godly soul and such as truly fear God They think not repentance enough unlesse it be enlarged to such a measure and quantity of sorrow as also extended to such a space of time and by this means because they cannot tell when they have sorrowed enough or when their hearts are broken as they should be they are kept in perpetual labyrinths and often through impatience do with Luther in such a temptation Wish they never had been made men but any creatures rather because of the doubts yea the hell they feel within themselves Now although it be most profitable bitterly to bewail our sins and to limit no time yet a Christian is not to think Pardon doth not belong to him because his sorrow is not so great and sensible for sin as he desireth it David indeed doth not only in his soul but even bodily expresse many tears yea rivers because of his sin and other mens sins yet it is a good rule That the people of God if they have sorrow in the chiefest manner appretiativè though not intensivè by way of judgment and esteem so that they had rather any affliction should befall them then to sin against God if this be in them though they have not such sensible intense affections they may be comforted When the Apostle John makes this argument He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how shall he love God whom he hath not seen implieth That things of sense do more move us then matter of faith David made a bitter out-cry upon the death of Absolom with sad expressions Would to God I had died for thee O Absolom my son my son c. But when Nathan told him of his Adultery and Murder though he confessed his sin yet we reade not that he made such sensible lamentation Thus Hierom writeth of a godly woman Paula that at the death of her children would be so dejected that she did hardly escape death yet
Gods grace are to be effected Thus Rivet vind Apol. p. 127. If therefore any of our Orthodox Authors have acknowledged a remission of sins before faith it hath been in a particular sense to oppose the Arminians who maintain a reconciliability and not a reconciliation by Christs death and not in an Antinomian sense as is more largely to be shewed in answering of their Objection brought from Christs death for enemies and sinners Indeed some learned and worthy men speak of a Justification before faith in Christ our head as we are accounted sinners in the first Adam or common person Thus Alstedius in his supplement to Chamier pag. 204. when Bellarmine arguing against the holiness of the Protestants Doctrine and bringing this for a paradox above all paradoxes That I must be justified by faith and yet justifying faith be a believing that I am just and righteous which is saith Bellarmine besides and against all reason He answereth among other things That Christ and the elect are as one person and therefore an elect man is justified before faith in Christ as the principle of righteousnesse before God and then he is justified by faith as an instrument perceiving his justification in that righteousnesse of Christ So that faith as it goeth to the act of justification is considered in respect of that passive application whereby a man applieth the righteousnesse of Christ to himself not of that active application whereby God applieth to man the righteousnesse of Christ For this application is only in the minde of God To this purpose the learned Zanchy in his Explication of the second Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians upon those words vers 5. And you being dead in sin he hath quickned together with Christ doth in the first place distinguish of a two-fold quickning One whereby we are freed from the guilt of sinne and invested with a title or right to eternal life The other from the power of sinne whereby we are made spiritually alive to God The former is Justification the later Sanctification Now saith he this two-fold blessing is to be considered in Christ and in our own persons In the first respect God did quicken us in Christ when by his death sinne being expiated he freed from guilt all the elect that have been and shall be considering them as members in Christ their head In the later respect God doth it when having given us faith he gives us also remission of sins and imputeth Christs righteousnesse to us And afterwards the fore-quoted Author making this Objection to himself How Christ could be said to be freed from the guilt of sinne who had no sin He answereth The person of Christ is considered two wayes First in it self as God-man and so Christ was not bound by any guilt Secondly as appointed head and so representing our persons In this respect as God laid our iniquities upon him Isa 55. So when they were expiated by his bloud then was he released from the guilt of those sins We might instance in other Authors but these may suffice to certifie that some orthodox and learned Divines do hold a Justification of the elect in Christ their head before they do believe yet so as they acknowledge also a necessity of a personal Justification by faith applying this righteousnesse to the person justified Therefore although this Doctrine passe for true yet it will not strengthen the Antinomists Although even the truth of this opinion may modestly be questioned unlesse by being justified in Christ our head we mean no more then that Christ purchased by way of satisfaction our Justification for us and so virtually we were justified in Christs death and resurrection But the learned men of that opinion speak as if God then passed a formal Justification upon all though afterwards to be applied that are elected even as in Adam sinning all his posterity were formally to be accounted sinners Now this may justly admit a debate and there seem to be many Arguments against it First If there were such a formal Justification then all the elect were made blessed and happy their sins were not imputed to them for so in Adam when accounted sinners they are wretched and miserable because sin is laid to their charge And if the elect before they believe or repent were thus happy how then at the same time could they be children of wrath and so God imputing their sins to them Can God impute their sins to them and not impute them to them at the same time It is true if we say That Christ by his sufferings obtained at Gods hand that in time the elect should beleeve and be justified this is easily to be conceived but it is very difficult to understand how that all our sins should be at the same time done away in Christ who is considered as one person with us and yet imputed to us Secondly I do not see how this Doctrine doth make our justification by faith to be any more then declarative or a justification in our conscience only and not before God and so by believing our sins should be blotted out in our sense only when they were blotted out before God by Christs death already And so our Justification by faith shall be but a copy fetcht out of the Court roll where the sentence of Justification was passed already whereas the Scripture speaks to this purpose That even before God and in his account till we do believe and repent our sins are charged upon us and they are not cancelled or blotted out till God work those graces in us Therefore this opinion may symbolize too much with the Adversary and indeed none of the meanest Antinomians speaks of an original reconciliation which was wrought by Christ on the cross without any previous conditions in us and urgeth that parallel of the first Adam in whom we all sinned before we had any actual being as also that Text Col. 3.1 where we are said to be risen with Christ Thirdly It is difficult to conceive how Christ should represent any to his Father thereby to partake of the heavenly blessings which come by him till they do actually beleeve and are incorporated in him for they are not his Members till they do believe and till they are his Members he cannot as an head represent them It is true God knoweth whom he hath elected and to whom in time he will give faith whereby they may be united to Christ and so it 's in Gods purpose and intention to give Justification and Sanctification to all his elect but these being mercies vouchsafed in time and limited to such qualifications in the subject I see not how they can be said to be justified in Christ before they do believe otherwise then virtually and meritoriously It is true we are all condemned in Adam because that was a Covenant made with him and his posterity so that the issues thereof fell upon them by a natural and necessary way but