perfect edition of the Covenant of Grace to those that have the Gospel And it continueth to the rest of the world unrepealed as to the substance of the mercies of it further than men deprive themselves of them by forfeitures as wicked men here do as to the mercies of the Gospel But as it is a promise of Christ's future incarnation it ceased by his coming 3. The third is ceased by performance and by the Jews apostacy Though some think still that it is in force and that a national conversion shall perform that promise to the full But Mr. Calvert a Learned young man hath lately written to prove that no such national conversion is to be expected but only such additions of particular mens conversion to the Catholick Christian Church as are of that kind which hath been more fully done on the Jews already 4. As to the rest it hath troubled Divines how far Moses's Law is abrogated or ceased partly as to the Judicials and chiefly as to the Decalogue And that we may not be too forward to call one another Legatists or Antinomians for this difference those now called Antinomians being rather Libertine denyers of the Law of Christ I will notifie to those that know it not that it is as much a difference among the Papists greatest Doctors who yet bear with one another in it and the Pope decideth it not Some say that the Decalogue now obligeth not as the Law of Moses but only as the Law of Nature and of Christ So Soto de Instit li. 2. q. 5. ar 4. concl 2. Medina 1. 2. q. 103. ar 3. quem aliqui moderni sequntur saith Suarez de Leg. l. 9. c. 11. p. 761. and Tolet. in Rom. 3. Anot. 15. Salmer ad Rom. 7. disp 6. Victor Relict de Matrim 2. p. n. 3. Barrad To. 1. li. 2. c. 21. Valent. To. 2. disp 7. q. 7. punc 7. To whom Suarez joyneth himself confessing pag. 764 765. that if as some hold Moses Law had been only a Declaration of the Law of Nature and not de novo preceptive it could not be said to cease But he truly holdeth it to be constitutive or preceptive also to those that it was by Moses delivered to And of this opinion I profess my self notwithstanding all that on other points I have written against the Antinomians Believing that Christ now is the Universal Law-giver and that the very Law of nature as Nature it self is now His Law and that he hath taken it in to his Gospel administration and so the Decalogue is materially in force but not formally as part of the proper Mosaical Law save only that as Declarative and ex paritate rationis we may collect that God who for such reasons so bound them doth bind us to the same things by the same natural Reasons But there are other Papist Doctors that hold that as to the Morals Moses Law as preceptive is still in force even as then by him delivered and that to all Christians so Bellarm. de Justif li. 4. c. 6. Lorin in Act. 15. Vasquez who with Durandus Paludan Paul Burgens And Suarez saith that Alph. a Castro and most so speak And Vasquez denyeth the Law of Nature as such to have properly a Divine Obligation saith Suarez which he confuteth de Leg. l. 9. c. 11. p. 764 765. But this controversie when examined containeth not much more than verbal disagreement and so their mutual forbearance doth confess 34. The Jews instead of excelling in Holiness proportionably to their priviledges did grow carnal and proud and 1. Much neglected the Law of Nature 2. Much over-looked the spiritual Covenant of Grace made with them and all the world 3. And misunderstood the chief part of the special Promise made to Abraham not understanding commonly the high spiritual or universal Office and Kingdom of the Messiah but dreaming that he was but to be their Monarch to make them great and to subject the world to them 4. And they misunderstood the Law of Moses or Covenant on Mount Sinai as if the design of it had been but by its special holy excellency to justifie the doers of it by and for the doing and to pardon all the spiritual and perpetual punishment of Sin upon those terms which it appointed for a Political pardon and to give life spiritual and eternal upon those bare conditions on which their Law gave them Political benefits Over-looking the great causes of Justification and life in the Messiah and the common Covenant of Grace and Promise of the Messiah made to Abraham And this is the error which Christ and his Apostles found them in Yet proudly boasting of their Law and Political priviledges and despising all the rest of the world as out-casts in comparison of them 35. Though the behaviour of all the rest of the world till Christ's coming be little notifyed to us yet this much is sure that they were commonly more Ignorant and Idolatrous than the Jews that yet they retained the common notices of nature that they remembred by Tradition those intimations of the necessity of propitiatory Sacrifice so as to keep up the custom of Sacrificing among them That many of them with exceeding diligence sought to find God or know him in the works of Nature and Providence and attained to great and excellent understanding especially in Greece and Rome And many of them lived very strict austere and laborious lives in great Justice and Love and in the practice of many excellent Precepts towards God For the Heavens declared the Glory of God and the firmament shewed his handy-work Day unto day uttered speech and night unto night shewed knowledge There was no speech or language where their voice was not heard Their liâ—e went through the earth and their words to the worlds end Psal 19. 1 2 3 4. For all Gods works do praise him and the Lord is good to all his tender mercies are over all his works Psal 145. 9 10 17. He is King in all the earth He was not the God of the Jews only but of the Gentiles also Rom. 3. 29. Because that which may be known of God was manifest in or to them for God had shewed it to them For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made his Eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful Rom. 1. 19 20 21. God left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave men rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness Act. 14. 15 16. Seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things and hath made of one blood all Nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation that they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel
him or that iâ— any part of righteousness but it is all out of us in Christ and therefore they are as justifiable as any But Conscience will not let them believe it as they desire 185. It is arrogant folly to divide the praise of any good act between God and Man and to say God is to have so many parts and Man so many For the whole is due to God and yet some is due to Man For man holdeth his honour only in subordination to God and not dividedly in co-ordination And therefore all is due to God For that which is Mans is Gods because we have nothing but what we have received But he that arrogateth any of the honour due to God or Christ offendeth 186. If all had been taken from Gods honour which had been given to the Creature God would have made nothing or made nothing Good Heaven and Earth and all the World would derrogate from his honour and none of his Works should be praised And the better any man is the more he would dishonour God and the wickeder the lesâ— But he made all Good and is Glorious in the Glory and honourable in the honour of all And to justifie the holiness of his Servants is to justifie him 187. If these Teachers mean that no man hath any power freely to specifie the Acts of his own will by any other help of God besides necessitating predetermining premotion and so that every man doth all that he can do and no man can do more than he doth They dishonour God by denying him to be the Creator of that Free-power which is essential to man and which God himself accounteth it his honour to create And they feign God to damn and blame all that are damned and blamed for as great Impossibilities as if they were damned and blamed for not making a world or for not being Angels 188. Thus also such men teach that Christ strippeth a Christian of two things His Sins and his Righteousness Or that Two things must be That all that are saved have inherent Righteousness or Holiness none of us all deny nor yet that in tantum we are Righteous by it Nor that a man accused as being an Infidel Atheist Impenitent ungodly an Hypocrite c. must be justified by pleading all the contraries in himself or else perish And all agree that this inherent Righteousness is imperfect and in us found with sin and therefore that no man can be justified by it without pardon of sin nor at all against the charge of being a sinner and condemnable by the Law of Innocency And what remaineth then but to trouble the world with contending de nomine whether this imperfect Righteousness shall be called Righteousness and the giving of it called Justifying or making us righteous so far cast away for Christ Sins and Righteousness But they should speak better if they would not deceive nothing is to be cast away as evil but Sin Righteousness truly such is Good and never to be cast away If it be no Righteousness why do they falsly say that we must cast away our Righteousness To cast away a false conceit of Righteousness is not to cast away Righteousness but Sin only Indeed besides Sin we are said justly to cast away that which would be the Object and Matter of Sin And the phrase is fitlyer applyed to a thing Indifferent than to a thing necessary least it seduce There is nothing so Good which may not be made the object of Sin not Christ or his Righteousness or God himself excepted But we must not therefore say that we must cast away God or Christ because we must not thus objectively abuse them So Holiness and true Righteousness Inherent or imputed may be objects of sinful pride and boasting But it is not edifying Doctrine therefore to say that we must cast away Inherent and Imputed Righteousness But yet true self-denyal requireth that we deny our Righteousness Inherent or Imputed to be that which indeed it is not And so when men accounted the Jewish observations to be a Justifying Righteousness in competition with and in opposition to Christ Paul counteth it as loss and dung and nothing in that respect when yet elsewhere he saith I have lived in all good Conscience to this day And Christ himself fulfilled that Law and Righteousness So if a man will conceit that his common Grace will justifie him without Holiness or his Holiness without Pardon and the Righteousness of Christ he must deny this Righteousness that is he must deny it to be what it is not and must cast away not it but the false conceits of it And so if any Libertine will say that Christs Righteousness imputed to him will justifie him without faith or be instead of Holiness to him he must deny Imputed Righteousness thus to be what indeed it is not 189. When we tell them that If we had fulfilled all the Law reputatively More against the wrong sence of Imputation confuting many Sophisms by Christ as our Legal person we could not be bound to further obedience to it They answer that we are not bound to obey to the same ends as Chhist that is for Righteousness or Justification or merit but in Gratitude But this is but to give us the cause and ignorantly to destroy At quis unquam e nostris nos per justitiam Christi imputatam formaliter justificari asseruit Prideaux Lect. 5 de Just cap. 4. their own For 1. This is but to say that when a man is reputed to have fulfilled all the Law yet it is to be reputed unfulfilled as to certain ends As if he fulfilled all the Law that fulfilled it not to all due ends 2. Or as if the Law obliged one man to fulfill it twice over for the same lifes time once simply and in all its obligations and another time for other ends 3. Or as if the Law required any more than absolute perfection 4. Or that absolute perfection had not been in Christ's holy The Papists concur with them that feign a middle state between Just and privatively unjust viz. not just negatively so Brianson in 4. q. 8. Cor. 3. fol. 145. at large But they can give us no instance but in a stone or other incapable creature that is not obliged And we confess that if a man can be found that is not obliged to be Just he is neither just nor Privatively but Negatively unjust But what 's this to our case And the Papists commonly joyn with them that say that God remitteth not only the Reatum vel Obligationem ad poenam but also the Reatum culpae in se But when they come to open it they mean but that God is not displeased with or hath not a punishing Will against the Sinner As if they knew not that as Gods Love is our chief reward so his displeasure is our chief punishment And that Remission doth make no change in God but by taking away Guilt of Gods
better than themselves Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Who made himself of no reputation 1 Cor. 1. 10 11 12 13 14. Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgement For it hath been declared to me of you brethren that there are contentions among you that every one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ Is Christ divided Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized into the name of Paul I thank God that I baptized none of you c. 1 Cor. 3. 1 2 3 4. I could not speak to you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal as to babes in Christ For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men See Eph. 4. 1 c. after John 17. 20 21 22 23. I pray for them which shall believe on me that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in Thee that they also may be One in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me Matth. 5. 9. Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God Rom. 12. 18. If it be possible as much as in you lyeth live peaceably with all men 2 Cor. 12. 20 21. I fear lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would lest there be debates envyings wraths strifes backbitings whisperings swellings tumults Lest God will humble me among you and I shall bewail many c. Gal. 5. 19 20. The works of the flesh are manifest hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envyings 1 Cor. 14. 33. God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace as in all Churches of the Saints Acts 20. 30. Of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Phil. 1. 15 16. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also of good will The one preach Christ of contention not sincerely Rom. 16. 17 18. Now I beseech you brethren Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Luke 9. 55. Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of The Angelical Gospel of the Ends of Christs Incarnation Luke 2. 19. GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST ON EARTH PEACE GOOD WILL TO MEN or WELL-PLEASEDNESS IN MEN. John 20. 26. Peace be unto you Grace Mercy and Peace with all that are in Christ and Love Gal. 6. 16. Eph. 6. 23. 1 Pet. 1. 2. 5. 14. 2 Pet. 1. 2. 1 Thess 5. 13. 2 Cor. 13. 11. Finally brethren farewell be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind Live in Peace and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you Amen 1. Assert THe BAPTISMAL COVENANT expounded in the antient CREED is the summ and Symbol of Christianity by which Believers were to be distinguished from unbelievers and the outward Profession of it was mens Title to Church-communion and the Heart-consent was their Title-condition of Pardon and Salvation And to these ends it was made by Christ himself Matth. 28. 19 20. Mark 16. 16. 2. All that were baptized did profess to Believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and devoted themselves to him with profession of Repentance for former sins and renouncing the Lusts of the Flesh the World and the Devil professing to begin a new and holy life in hope of everlasting glory 3. This form of Baptismal Covenanting and Profession begun with Christianity and called our Christening or making us Christians hath been propagated and delivered down to us to this day by a full and certain tradition and testimony and less alterations than the holy Scriptures 4. The Apostles were never such formalists and friends to ignorance and hypocrisie as to encourage the baptized to take up with the saying I believe in the Father Son and Holy Ghost without teaching them to understand what they said Therefore undoubtedly they expounded those three Articles And that exposition could be no other in sense than the Creed is And when Paul reciteth the Articles of Christ 1 Cor. 15. and mentioneth the Form of sound words we may be sure that they all gave the people one unchanged exposition as to the sense Christianity was one unchanged thing 5. Though I am not of their mind that think the twelve Apostles each one made an Article of the Creed or that they formed and tyed men to just the very same syllables and every word that is now in the Creed yet that they still kept to the same sense and words so expressing it as by their variation might not endanger the corrupting of the faith by a new sense is certain from the nature of the case and from the Agreement of all the antient Creeds which were ever professed at baptism from their dayes that cited by me Append. to the Reformed Pastor out of Irenaeus two out of Tertullian that of Marcellus in Epiphanius that expounded by Cyril that in Ruffinus the Nicene and all mentioned by Usher and Vossius agreeing thus far in sense And no one was baptized without the Creed professed 6. As Christ himself was the Author of the Baptismal Creed and Covenant so the Apostles were the Authors of that Exposition which they then used and taught the Church to use And they did that by the Holy Ghost as much as their inditing of the Scripture 7. Therefore the Church had a Summary and Symbol of Christianity as I said before about twelve years before any Book of the New Testament was written and about sixty six years before the whole was written And this of Gods own making which was ever agreed on when many Books of the New Testament were not yet agreed on 8. Therefore men were then to prove the truth of the Christian Religion by its proper Evidences and Miracles long before they were to prove that every word or any Book of the New Testament was the infallible perfect Word of God 9. Therefore we must still follow the same Method and take Christs Miracles to be primarily the proof of the Christian Religion long before the New Testament Books were written 10. Therefore if a man should be
ipsius Voluntatis rectitudinem Sic dicit Scotus quod licet non videatur aliqua ratio praedestinationis à parte praedestinati aliquo modo prior praedestinatione Reprobationis tamen est aliqua ratio propter quam scilicet ista actio terminatur ad hoc objectum non ad illud Cum Reprobare sit Velle Damnare Reprobatio habet ex parte objecti rationem scilicet peccatum finale praevisum Non videtur autem dicendum conformiter de Praedestinatione Reprobatione Quia Bona Deo principaliter attribuuntur Mala autem nobis Quia tamen Apostolus videtur totum hoâ— imperscrutabile relinquere Rom. 9. O altitudo c. ideo dicit Scotus quod eligatur opinio quae magis placet Dum tamen servetur Libertas Divina absque injustitia Hoc autem debet fieri absque assertione pertinaci Rationes namque particulares propter quas ex parte diversorum Divina inferuntur judicia sunt imperscrutabiles But note that as to the first part of Reprobation non velle dare gratiam Scotus Mayro c. hold it to be nothing or no act at all 702. And what D'Orbellis next addeth of Bonaventure setteth us at no further odds Bonav dicit quod licet non sit aliqua ratio Causalis seu meritoria praedestinationis à parte praedestinati quia siquis posset de condigno mereri primam gratiam tunc Gratia non esset Gratia Potest tamen esse aliqua ratio congruitatis condeoentiae praedestinationis Non quantum ad significatum quod est Volitio Divina sed quantum ad Connotatum quod est Gratia Gloria Potest enim dici quod Deus praedestinat istum proper praevisionem bonorum operum ut aliquo modo sunt à libero arbitrio Licet enim Gratificatio vel Justificatio sit principaliter à Divina Voluntate hoc tamen est cum cooperatione praeparatione liberi arbitrii quia ut Aug. Qui fecit te sine te non justificabit te sine te Unde cum peccator facit quod in se est meretur de congruo justificari seu secundum quid ex condecentia Divinae liberalitatis But the true meaning of this is no more than Protestants commonly hold that God giveth special Grace usually to such only as are prepared for it by more common Grace and so this preparation is quid praevisum in Gods decree but no Cause of his Act of Volition or decree 703. And in the next words he granteth that even this Preparation to special grace is not alwayes necessary Deus tamen sine aliqua praeparatione cooperatione aliquos justificat ut patet de sanctificatis in utero de parvulis post baptismum ad coelum evolantibus aliis sine baptismo decedentibus c. 704. And though they oft say that God would have all men saved quantum in se they mean not that God doth all to it that he can but that he maketh all capable of salvation and so far helpeth them that the failing shall not be on his part For so Bonavent ubi supra in 1. d. 47. a. 1. q. 1. explaineth it plainly adding that here Gods will connoteth not salvation it self but only the said Capacity and helps 705. Obj. But many say that Predestination doth not necessitate the eveâ— Answ Twisse told you before that we are agreed all in this It inferreth a Logical Necessity Consequentiae though not a physical Consequentis As Bonavent 1. d. 40. q. 2. Ex parte rei evenientis nullam ex parte Deâ— praescientis aliquam scilicet immutabilitatis certitudinem Yea as to grace and salvation it is certainly Causal as they confess 706. Obj. Many say that a predestinate person may be damned Answ Even as D'Orbellis in 1. d. 40. a. 2. Ista propositio Pradestinatus potest damnari est falsa in sensu composito vera in sensu divise Vide explicat It is unchristian and unmanly to revile men that say the same that we do meerly through distaste or because we will not be at the labour to understand them 707. Obj. We cannot be reconciled to them that give so much to mans free-will Ans How much do you mean It 's a dreadful thing to hear some good men ignorantly blaspheme God as the chief cause of every villany in the World meerly â—poh a factious prejudice and partial opposition to other men whom they never understood Would it please you to hear that God draggeth men into sin as by the hair of the heaâ— when the Devil himself can but allure them I know it would not Dâ— but make it plain as a granted thing that God doth not Will or Love sin and do more to Cause it than the Devil or the wickedest sinner himself doth and you can scarce tell how to differ from the greater part of the Schoolmen themselves or sober moderate Lutherans that are thought to be dissenters Let it be the Devils work and no good Christians to paint God in the shape of the Father of lies and all iniquity Our God is Holy and Holiness becometh all that draw near him and is the mark of all that shall see his face Dear Brethren let not us that daily and justly condemn our selves for sin and take such odious titles to our selves make our selves yet Holier than God and make God a far greater Lover and Causeâ— of sin than we are I will add one description of Free-will out of the last named Schoolman D'Orbellis a Scotist in 2. sent d. 25. dub 2. And tell me what the most rigid opposer of Free-will can desire more Q. Whether Free-will be equally in all that have it Ans Free-will may be compared 1. To that which it is free from 2. And to that which it is free to 1. In the first sense there is a threefold Liberty 1. From constraint 2. From sin 3. From misery Liberty from sin is not equally in good and bad nor in man on earth and in Heaven As Aug. Enchir. That 's the freest will that cannot at all serve sin And Liberty from misery is not equally in all But Liberty from constraint is equally in all because the will cannot be forced Though in God and the blessed there be a Necessity of Immutability yet not of Co-action And necessity of Immutability repugneth not Liberty For the will is called Free simply not because it so willeth this as that it can will the contrary but because that whatever it willeth it desireth it by its own Empire Because it so willeth any thing that it willeth to will it And therefore in the act of willing it moveth it self and useth dominion on it self And so far it is called Free though it be immutably ordained to it * * * But it were not so if it were immutably ordained and moved to sin 2. But if free-will be compared to that to which it is free viz. To do right for as Anselm saith It is a faculty or
a Liberty and not Gibieufs Amplitude It is not possible for a Creature to have any thing that 's good but of God nor any good from God but by meer free Gift as to the Good or Value though it be by rewarding Justice quoad ordinem conferendi and comparatively why this man hath it rather than that § 24. M. S. There is no stinting or determining unless you stop here at the first act An. I deny it There are three Opinions more that are all more probable The first which supposeth the Reward of life eternal due upon the over coming of the Devils first temptation which would have drawn from the Love of God And so Love and Conquer once was the Condition The second which supposeth that the Condition was the Conquest of this particular Temptation to eat of the forbidden Fruit and the after eating of the Tree of Life The third which supposeth the only Condition of life eternal to the personal perfect perpetual Obedience or perseverance till God of his own pleasure should translate Adam and end his life of trial I take this last to have far most probability for all the Reasons before given I am sure that the tenor of the Law of Nature made it Adam's Duty still to love God and obey him and resist all that was against it And I find no Promise that his Nature or the Law of Nature should be changed for this or that act or for conquering some one temptation I find that Christ's own Covenant-Condition was more than one act And the Condition of our Glory is overcoming and being faithful to the death and continuing in Christ And I will not add to the Covenant of God § 25. M. S. Arg. 4. From the nature of an obediental act which includeth the approving of the whole Law An. 1. Approving the things that are excellent is made consistent with wickedness Rom. 2. But I will suppose you to mean a full consent to the Covenant of Innocency But 2. How prove you that such consent was the whole condition of life and that it might not be fallen from and that Adam never did consent before his Fall and yet not sin 3. All the godly approve of Gods Law and consent to it and love it and yet merit not as keepers of it for they break it Rom. 7. 4. Yea Covenant-keeping to the last as well as Covenant-consent the first moment is now to us the condition of immutable Glory § 26. M. S. Adam would not obey at first but suspend while he looked about the World to see if there were any good sufficient for him below God Therefore he sinned not then An. This is before confuted He could not in that Integrity and after such divine Revelation be unresolved one hour whether he must first love and obey his Maker without sin § 27. God cannot freely give eternal life to a Creature without Reward for doing because the reasonable Creature was made for the Glory of Justice An. 1. You may say that God will not to man but not that he cannot nor that he doth not to any Angel For man was not made only for the Glory of Justice but of Power and Love or Goodness also 2. It 's certain that God as a free Benefactor giveth many good things freely and â—â— as a Reward for doing As 1. He so freely made all things good in the Creation and gave man all his antecedent good He so gave Adâ—â— his primitive Holiness and Helps and Paradise and all the Creatureâ— 2. He so gave Christ to the World without desert and so far pardoned the first sin as that cometh to 3. He so far gave man the Covenant of Grace 4. He so gave all Christ's Miracles Resurrection Doctrine the Scripture c. 5. He so gave Apostles and Ministry to the World 6. He so sendeth the Gospel to some Nations and Persons above others 7. He so giveth to many the first special Grace as he did to Paul 8. He so giveth to many Kingdoms and Persons Wealth and Health and Strength and such other mercies above others 9. He so giveth greater measures of Grace to some than to others 10. And it seemeth that he so in part giveth the same Glory to some that came in but at the last hour of the day It is certain that all in quantum tale is from God only as a free Benefactor or as the Amor primus And the order of distributing it is two-fold Some antecedent to mans merit or acts and independent on it And this is no Reward though sometime it is an antecedent act of Justice such as is the making of a good Law or Promise And some consequent juxta morman legis And these are Rewards And though God hath assured us now that no man shall have Heaven but by rewarding Justice yet that may be because he thought meet to place man first on Earth in a life of trial and undetermined Liberty But that he hath no Angel that was made Immutable or that Christ was not made immutably holy let them say that can prove it for I cannot § 28. M. S. It 's like that the Angels that stood and they that fell had unequal help for unequal Effects are of an unequal Cause But Adam and the Devils had sufficient Grace and God forsook them not till they forsook him An. 1. This last I accept as true and more than some will grant 2. The first is above our reach only we can say both that God giveth more Grace to some than to others freely 3. And yet he himself is simple and immutable in causing of various and mutable Effects § 29. M. S. By Christs passive Obedience imputed we are pardoned and â—ustified and by his active imputed we deserve the Reward and are under Gods approving Will. An. 1. By the merit of his habitual active and passive that is of his performing all his mediatorial Covenant with the Father we are pardoned and justified and adopted to eternal life principally as a Reward to Christ not to us as meriting by him and subordinately according to Gospel-Justice or Order as a Reward to Believers for their Faith and Obedience by him who will Reward every man according to his Works and will be glorified in his Saints and admired in Believers because they believed 2 Thess 1. 6 to 12. We are under Gods approving Will principally as united to Christ reconciled justified adopted and subordinately as sanctified and obedient For the Father loveth us because we have loved Christ and believed Joh. 16. 27. And it is life eternal to know the Father and the Son Joh. 17. 3. And because we do those things that are pleasing in his sight what-ever we ask we receive 1 Joh. 3. 22. § 30. M. S. By Christs imputed suffering we are but where we were For the Law to have nothing against us will not justifie us unless it have something for us An. This great question needeth distincter handling Adam's Law doth not
without using the memory and imagination to the Act and this deep insensible Act is such as that a man may doubt whether it be not the very thing which we call a habit I say now all these ten things being presupposed which yet are none of them commonly taken to be the habit of Grace How hard is it to us to know what a habit is indeed beyond all these and what it is that it addeth to these We are sure that it is a Disposition Propensity and Aptitude to holy Action in Specie But what that Disposition and Propensity is besides all this fore-named it is not easie to understand And yet undoubtedly it is the Operation of the Holy Ghost XVIII How hard then must it be to know how much Power or what kind of Power and in what sense so called it is that this superadded habit containeth beside all the ten fore-mentioned excitations and propensities And whether it be properly called Power and how it differeth from the potentiae naturales XIX But yet our great Disputes being more about the first act of Faith which antecedeth the habit than about any of the acts that follow the habit the case will be yet harder what that Power is which the Holy Ghost giveth before the habit of Faith as to the performance of that particular act That it suscitateth the natural â—aculty to act is certain Therefore in order of nature it must be disposed or inclined to that act before it act That the Soul receiveth the Divine influx is certain But no mortal man knoweth what that is We commonly conclude that ex parte Dei it is nothing but God himself By God himself is meant his Act By his Act is meant his Essence as in Act But how his Essence is always immutably in equal Act and yet produceth a world in time which it produced not from eternity and how the equal Act or Agency of the Essence is natural necessary and eternal and the Effect free How the Volition is necessary in se and yet free in every termination and effect ad extra How a natural-equal-eternal Agency can produce such wonderful diversity of Effects And how Souls are said to receive Gods Influx if it be nothing but his Agent Essence All these are past the reach of Mortals XX. And it addeth to these difficulties that we are uncertain what use it is that God maketh of Angels in operating on the Soul They are ministring Spirits for the good of them that are Heirs of Salvation about the matters of their Salvation It is absurd to think that Devils whose very powerful Operations on our imagination we surely feel have more power to put evil thoughts into us and stir up evil passions in us than Angels good ones And seeing a Spirit is more active than a Body they that take the Sun to be a Body and perceive that its Beams and Virtue of Light and Heat and Motion is extended to this Earth and incomparably further in a minuite should not take an Angel to be like a stone or staff that moveth no where but where it corporally toucheth and is no where but where it moveth XXI And all Motion and Action hath so many impediments in the world and all Active Natures as fire have so strong a natural inclination to act when they are not hindred by a greater Power that we little know how much of the action of the Soul is promoted by removing impediments internal and external As they that dam up the water all ways save one do force it to rise if it be a stream till it flow that one way Embittering all other things to a Soul doth much to turn its thoughts towards God and dispair of any delight or felicity on Earth maketh Heaven regarded XXII Seeing all naturally-necessary Concauses Objects Media are supposed to the Ratio formalis of Power which is Relative ad possibile he that giveth or taketh away any one of those necessaries doth give or take away Power though he never change the Soul or faculty at all And this is called A moral collation or causation of Power not a moral Power As when a man bringeth a Light into a dark Room he enableth us to see or if he bring in a Book he enableth me to read that which else I could not have read If he open the Windows or if he cure me of blindness by cutting a Suffusion c. So he that preacheth the Gospel to them that had not heard it and God when he gave Christ and the Gospel to be an Object of Faith did make the natural faculty to be more in sensu naturali potentiam ad hoc to which before it was no power but hypothetically only XXIII The Will is not a Power of choosing or willing an unknown good Therefore it may be truly said to be naturally unable to will that which the Intellect perceiveth not to be good And he that giveth knowledge to such a Mind doth truly give more power to the Will as the loss of knowledge is its loss of power Though the Will it self should receive no habitual alteration by it XXIV We must not conceive of the suscitation of an active nature as we do of the motion of dead matter which is meerly passive But as of that which is passive indeed from God and superior Causes but active in it self and on inferiors And I think like the Sun beams passive from no lower nature save by stop or resistance of its own activity XXV As the Scotists distinguish Passive Receptive Power into natural which is naturally disposed to the form received and violent which is averse or opposite to the form or neutral which is indifferent and affirm the Soul to have the first sort of passive power natural to the love of God and supernatural felicity so the distinction is sound and their assertion is true as to the nature of the Soul in it self considered for it was made to love God But accidentally by reason of adventitious pravity it is but potentia passiva violenta for the the carnal mind is enmity to God and neither is nor can be subject to his Law So that it is both natural and violent in several respects XXVI As for the great question what is a moral Power I answer 1. Power may be called Moral ab objecto because it is ad mores and so our natural power is moral and actus humanus and actus moralis are oft put for Synonima's 2. Power may be called moral from the way of effecting it And so our natural Powers also are moral not in the Essence of the Soul but in the Relative form of the power in specie vel individuo ad hoc objectum For he that causeth or revealeth the Object doth by moral causation give us a natural power ad hoc 3. Power is called moral formally In that of it self it is a moral Virtue or Vice Good or Evil which yet could not be true if it were
sincerity to desire more For if the Regenerate have not Grace enough surely the Unregenerate have not 2. But in this Controversie the Dominicans and Jesuites by sufficient mean that which giveth the posse agere that is so much as is of absolute necessity to the act without which it cannot be done and with which alone it can or may be done And in this sense the Protestants generally and the Synod of Dort particularly deny not that there is such a thing as sufficient Grace I have oft told you that 1. They confess it in the instance of Adam 2. They confess it in the case of common Grace enabling men to common preparatory duty which many are able to do and do not as I have evinced before in many instances and the Synod and specially the British and Breme Divines assert 3. And as to the point of Faith it self whether any unregenerate man have sufficient Grace to believe which is not effectual I find few medling much with it 4. But they commonly I think agree that all regenerate men themselves have sufficient Grace for many an act of Faith Love Obedience which they never do Is it not one of the Opinions which at Dort and frequently these Divines reject as falsly imputed to them that a man can do no more good and forbear no more evil than he doth And if he can do more he hath power to do more And power to act is that which is called sufficient Grace Therefore I need not trouble you any more with this Controversie seeing under both the notions of Power and Liberty it is decided and confessed by you to be so before Remember that all sufficient Grace is effectual but not effectual to the act It doth efficere potentiam enableth men to act but doth not cause the act it self unless it be efficax ad actum as well as ad potentiam How ordinarily do they profess the possibility of doing more than is done by godly and ungodly and that all the power that men have is not reduced into act Yea when some assert Predetermination it self they say that it doth not destroy Liberty or Power ad contrarium but only determine it A. It is bad enough that they deny all sufficient Grace to believe that is not effectual though not to other acts B. You wrong them They do not so Have I not told you now that they commonly grant that even the godly themselves have sufficient Grace to believe which is not effectual as to many an act of Faith And as to Unbelievers 1. They say that all have not Grace sufficient or necessary to believe And so say the Arminians 2. But whether any one have or no who believe not they rather leave it to the Searcher of hearts as an unknown thing to them than deny it But they seem to infer that it is most likely to be so in that 1. It is so with the godly themselves 2. And with all other men as to other acts of common Grace And they all agree as I said before that no man is denied power to believe savingly but for not using as he could his antecedent commoner Grace And I think neither Party knoweth more than this and in this both are agreed And he that will assert his uncertain Conjectures and then pretend that this is a Church-Controversie is the maker but not the ender of Controversies A. Some of them stick not to say that Adam himself had not Grace sufficient to stand or forbear sinning and if so then there is none such B. We have nothing to do with any odd persons words Who is it that never speaketh amiss I confess Dr. Twisse Vind. Grat. l. 1. par 3. de Reprob sect 2. pag. Vol. minor 306. saith Gratiam ad peccatum vitandum necessariam duplicem esse dicimus aliam ad posse vitare peccatum aliam ad pecatum actu vitandum illa est Gratia Regenerationis Altera non in est homini per modum habitus sed per modum passionis est motio quaedam gratiosa in voluntatem influens ad omnem sanctam actionem extimulans And so one or two say that Adam had Grace necessary ad posse stare non autem ad actum But this is but a few mens odd Opinion contrary to plain truth I mean If by necessary ad actum be meant in the proper School-sense not all that is conducible to ascertain it but that sine quo esse non potest it is a contradiction to say that men have the power to Act and yet want that which is necessary to the Act that is that without which they cannot Act. It is plainly They Can and They Cannot For we talk not de potentia passiva which a Stone Tree or a Beast or a mad Man have This distinguishing of things that differ not must be detected as well as confusion avoided To say a man can believe or hath power to believe and yet wants that without which he cannot believe is palpable contradiction And where he maketh Regeneration to give the posse before the Act he speaketh obscurely or unsoundly Gods active Influx on the Will exciting it to Act is at least part of his Regenerating Grace A man is not Regenerate before he ever actually believed or repâ—nted though he first receive the Divine Influx ad agendum Nor can he prove that any proper habit goeth before the first act And whether it do or not most certainly the nature faculty and the habit and all together is truly and formally no power ad hoc to believe or love God or do any good without Gods necessary Influx Concurse or exciting Grace No more than a Plant hath a power to fructifie without the Sun or Earth Of Gods help ad bene esse we speak not But to say that Gods exciting Grace is necessary ad actum without which the Act cannot be and yet that we have a power to do that Act without that Grace is still a contradiction This is potentia hypothetica aequivoca a term fit to play with But it is true power where nothing of absolute necessity sine quo non esse potest is wanting which our Divines do commonly confess that Adam had and that all men good and bad have to more good than they do Therefore I find not that you are in that disagreed And Dr. Twisse as I told you oft and vehemently professeth Vindic. Grat. de Amis Grat. Cont. Bellar. pag. Vol. Minor 230. c. 2. 232. that man hath no necessity of sinning ex decreto but logical consequentiae But if it were true that we wanted that Grace which is absolutely necessary to avoid sin it must needs follow that such are under an absolute present necessity consequentis also of sinning as much as of dying when God ceaseth to continue life And if he mean that the Decree necessitateth not sin but the denying of necessary Grace doth he should have said so Andr. Rivet Disput 7. de
Children and not to strive by needless disputes I pray you be you the Teacher and I will be the Learner and tell me what you would have us believe in these particulars which you have named And first of the first Lib. I. Men must be taught to come presently to Christ without staying for Preparations and not discouraged delayed or kept off The first Charge P. By Coming I suppose you mean Believing and Accepting I pray you teach me further then Quest 1. Must men believe in Christ before they Hear of him Lib. No How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard P. Quest 2. Must they Believe that he is the Mediator between God and man before they have learned that there is a God and that this God is True and Just Quest 3. Or before they have learnt that man is a sinner and deserveth death and what sin is Quest 4. Or before they have learnt that we cannot redeem and save our selves Lib. No That were a contradiction P. Quest 5. Must men Believe that Christ is the Son of God and the Saviour of his Church before they have learnt what it is to be the Son of God or what a Saviour is and what is the salvation which he hath wrought and will vouchsafe us before they understand the Articles of the Christian faith that he was conceived born suffered was buried rose ascended is glorified and the like Lib. No man can Believe that which he doth not Understand P. Quest 6. Must men take Christ for their Saviour before they heartily peâ—ceive that they want a Saviour through sin and misery and that they are lost for ever if he save them not and that no other can do it Lib. No this is an impossibility and contradiction P. Quest 7. Must a man take Christ for his Saviour before he is willing to be saved Lib. Yes He must come to Christ to make him willing and not think that he must bring willingness with him This is your Legal doctrine P. Quest 8. Is not Accepting Christ an Act of the will a willingness that he shall be my Saviour And do you say that a man must be willing to have Christ before he is willing and not stay till he is willing Lib. You would make me ridiculous I say not that he must take Christ before he is willing But he must come to Christ for a will P. In despight of edification you will stick in the Metaphor Come to Christ What mean you by coming Lib. Poor blind soul If you had been taught of God you would have known what it is to Come to Christ But you will not come to him P. With such exclamations you cheat the ignorant Cannot you tell your own meaning What mean you by Coming to Christ Lib. I mean Believing in him and casting my self wholly on him P. Still you stick in Metaphors Can you cast your self upon him for a will before you are Willing Is not that casting your self the act of your will which we call Trust or Affiance Lib. You would hide your Lyes with words You teach that men must have good desires before they come to Christ as if they must bring with them good desires of their own or by Preparatory Grace P. Quest 9. Can a man Accept of Christ as a Saviour to save him from sin and punishment and Gods displeasure and to justifie sanctifie and glorifie him before he hath any desire to be saved from sin or punishment or Gods displeasure or to be justified sanctified or glorified Lib. He that hath no such Desires must come to Christ for them and believe P. Still Coming must hide your sense Doth Christ give these Desires to be saved before we Take him for our Saviour by Consent Or after Lib. You are catching me by craft If I say Before you will say Then it is Preparatory to our Consent If I say After you will say that it is impossible to consent to the Means till a man desires the end and to Accept a Saviour before he is willing to be saved But besides this you tell men that they must not come to Christ till they are broken hearted and sorrow for their sins You heat the Winâ— of the Gospel so hot that it shall burn mens lips and then invite them to it P. Quest 10. Is it possible for a man Heartily to perceive that he is a heinous sinner and hath displeased God abused mercy hilled Christ undone his soul and wronged others and not be sorrowful for it nor be vile in his own eyes or feel that he is a lost sinner Lib. No but all this he must come to Christ for or Believe for P. Do you mean that he must first Believe that the Gospel is True and that Christ is an Offered Saviour or else do you mean that he must first Accept him as offered for a Saviour or do you mean that he must first Believe that he is his Saviour accepted or do you mean that he must first Trust in him as his Saviour All these are different acts Lib. You would confound us with your distinctions to keep out the light This is the trick of such carnal Sophisters P. Saul You hear what this man hath to say against us You hear that when he hath cryed out against Preparations to Believing that here are ten several Preparations which he cannot deny I will now tell you what is our Doctrine and the truth about Preparations We hold that Christ is the True Light who lighteth every man that cometh to God but in various degrees by various means He is the Lord of Nature as its Restorer Rom. 14. 9. All power in Heaven and Earth is given to him and all things put into his hand Matth. 28. 18 19. John 17. 2 3. John 5. 22. He teacheth those that have not the Gospel and those that have it first by the Light of Nature many Natural Truths as that there is a God who is Almighty Wise and Good that we owe him our Love and duty that he is Just c. As the Sun enlightneth the earth at its rising before it appear it self so doth Christ the world By the Gospel he teacheth us more even supernatural truths about himself and our Redemption c. Some commoner co-operation of his Spirit goeth along with the Gospel convincing and moving many that are not yet or at all converted Those that Christ converteth savingly are first in order brought to understand the Meaning of the word and next to Believe the Truth of it and so to Believe what Christ is and what he hath done and suffered for us and what need we have of him by sin and misery and how freely he is offered to our salvation And they are moved so seriously to consider all this till it prevail with their wills first to desire not only their own deliverance from Hell and misery as all men may do but also from a state of sin and then to desire
and freely giveth him Christ and Life 5. Doth not God praise his Servants more than the Devil or wicked men do And will you not please the Devil and Malignants to tell them the contrary And is it not the mark of a just man that a vile person is contemned in his eyes but he honoureth them that fear the Lord Psal 15. 4. Doth not God himself praise Abel Enoch Noah Abraham Moses Joshua David Job c. Wrangle not against the unresistible Light Our light must so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our heavenly Father Matth. 5. 16. Christ will come at last to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that do believe because the Gospel was believed by them 2 Thess 1. 10 11. No man hath seen God at any time in his Essence but we see him here in a glass and that is in his Works and Image in which it is that his glory shineth And to say that Gods Works and holy Image are not worthy or Morally fit to be praised is to deny God his praise and glory on earth He that despiseth you despiseth me saith Christ and consequently him that sent me Luke 10. 10. Lib. Faith Love Holiness Obedience Patience are worthy that God should be praised for them but not Man for they are worthy as Gods works but not as ours P. 1. They are none of our works as the chief agents but only second causes under God And are not second causes to be praised in their places and degree Will you not praise Sun and Moon and Stars and all Gods works that he may be praised for them Do you not praise a good Servant a good Horse or Dog a good House or Land yea and your Friend or Teacher Do you not praise your own party when you say that they are wiser and better than others 2. Believe and regard the Word of God Do none of these Texts following speak of Praise as due to men in subordination to God Deut. 26. 18 19. The Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people and to make thee high above all Nations in Praise and in Name and in Honour and that thou maist be an holy people to the Lord thy God Prov. 27. 21. As is the fining pot for Silver and the furnace for Gold so is a man to his praise Isa 62. 7. Give him no rest till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth Zeph. 3. 19 20. I will get them praise in every land c. I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth Rom. 2. 29. Whose praise is not of men but of God John 12. 43. They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God 1 Cor. 4. 5. Then shall every man have praise of God 2 Cor. 8. 18. The brother whose praise is in the Gospel c. Phil. 4. 8. If there be any praise think of these things 1 Pet. 2. 14. Governours are sent by him for the praise of them that do well See Prov. 27. 2. 28. 4. 31. 30 31. 1 Cor. 11. 2. Prov. 29. 23. Honour shall uphold the humble in spirit 21. 21. He findeth life righteousness and honour Psal 149. 4. This honour have all his Saints Prov. 3. 16. 4. 8. 8. 18. 15. 33. 20. 3. 22. 4. Eccles 10. 1. John 5. 44. Rom. 2. 7 10. They that by well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life Glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good 9. 21. 12. 10. 13. 7. 1 Tim. 5. 17. The Elders that rule well are accounted worthy of double honour 1 Tim. 6. 1. 1 Sam. 2. 30. Them that honour me I will honour Psal 91. 15. John 12. 26. If any man serve me him will my Father honour 1 Pet. 2. 17. Prov. 13. 18. Do you believe and regard no one of all these words of God Lib. I grant that God will praise the good but not because we are worthy of it P. 1. Have I told you that he himself calleth his servants worthy and will you contradict Gods Word 2. Dare you yet deny any thing to be worthy to be called what it indeed is Is not a Christian worthy to be called a Christian and a sober man to be called a sober man and an honest man to be called an honest man Must humility make us lyars Tell me Are you worthy your self to be accounted and called an Infidel a Heathen an Apostate a Heretick a wicked ungodly man that never repented nor did good Lib. That were to lye or slander to call one what he is not P. Are you not worthy then to be called contrarily that is what you are Lib. â—â—ought so to be called but not for my worthiness P. Must God and man account you such as you are not fit or worthy to be accounted And will you go on to accuse and contradict Gods Word Your fancy hath got some harsh conceit of the sense of the word Worthy and that cometh still into your mind as if it meant a worthiness which supposed not that all that we have is of mercy and grace when the Scripture meaneth no such worthiness but such as is that of a loving dutiful thankful Child of the inheritance A moral fitness Lib. Well suppose that our actions and we are worthy of Praise that is to be called as they are yet they are worthy also of dispraise that is to be accounted as menstruous rags defiled with sin and deserving Hell and is not this a pittiful praise P. Did you ever hear us deny any of this Why talk you of that which we are all agreed in But 1. It is not holiness but the faulty imperfections of it and the sin that is contrary to it which deserveth Hell 2. And the faults of sincere believers deserve not Hell according to the Law of Grace by which we are to be judged so as to be lyable to it but only so as to be accounted condemnable had we not been pardoned Lib. But if our faith and holiness deserve some praise what 's that to the deserving of salvation or being worthy of Heaven P. All these words your obstinacy hath put me to use to convince you that Faith and Holiness is worthy of any thing at all and that the word Worthy which God himself useth of them is not abused by God nor false But what it is that God will account the righteous worthy of the Scripture must determine where I have shewed you before that the words are plain They are counted worthy of God 1 Thess 2. 12. and of his Kingdom 2 Thess 1. 5. Worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection Luke 20. 35. They shall walk with Christ in white for they are worthy Lib. Still I grant it in the Scripture sense but not in yours P. To end this tedious talk with one that seemeth loth to understand say Yea