manifest unto them when God shall reveale them unto his Saints by making such a cleare evidence of his grace to appeare so that they may discerne the same worke of grace in others that is in themselves For it is impossible that true grace should alwayes lye hid but it will be manifested at one time or other to the comfort and rejoycing of the rest of the Saints Quest But by the parable of the Draw-net in the thirteenth of Mathew it doth appeare that there may be wicked men in the Church undiscovered and not knowne to be hypocrites untill the great day of the Lord Answ It is true there may bee such for I doe not say that all hypocrites may be discerned and knowne but that it is possible for the Saints to know one another even in this life Quest If all the Saints may be discerned and knowne then those that are not discerned to bee Saints are to be judged hipocrites Answ We cannot so conclude of them for though they bee nor as yet discerned and knowne yet afterwards they may be or they may be Saints and depart this life undiscerned through want of the fellowship of the Saints who onely are able to discern the truth of grace in the Saints Quest But how may we discern and know others to be Saints Answ It is very hard to set down any particular notes whereby they may be knowne because the graces that do demonstrate them to be Saints are inward and therefore are better conceived then can be expressed in word by us neverthelesse if we can upon good ground assure our selves that we are Saints let us see and observe wherein we go beyond an hypocrite in the injoying of any speciall and peculiar grace and then let us expect and look for the same grace in others and wheresoever we find that blessed worke of grace and fruit of the good tree ingrafted into Christ by a lively faith we may certainly conclude he is a good tree because he bringeth forth good fruit Quest But the most holy and righteous do daily sinne and do that which is evill and hypocrites may also do many good things even works which are very good in outward appearance Answ It is true indeed but yet notwithstanding the evill which the Saints do is none of their fruit nor the good that hypocrites do is none of their fruit It cannot properly be called their fruit for the fruit is that which doth discover the tree either to be good or evill Matth. 7.16.20 Rom. 7.19 Quest What is then the fruit of the good tree that doth discover it self and prove him to be a good tree Answ The fruit of the good tree ingrafted into Christ is manifold but principally it is love which hath its first beginning from the apprehension of Gods love to them and is first returned to God again and to the Lord Jesus Christ next to their brethren the begotten of God to all men even to their very enemies doing good even to them that hate them Mat. 5.44 1 Joh. 4.19 Chap. 5.1 Quest What is the fruit of the evil tree Answ It is also manifold but principally it consists in the contrary to this fruit of the good tree as contempt of God and despising and hating of his truth and children Quest But hipocrites may dissemble a love unto God and to his truth and children Answ It is true but yet they cannot so dissemble to make the children of God believe and account them for Saints yet they will hope the best of them untill their dissimulation be made manifest and they discovered to be evill trees Quest But is it possible to know them to be Saints of a sudden assoon as they come to converse with them Answ No certainly especially in these times wherein we live for no doubt corruption doth beare great sway in many that no doubt are Saints and the power of Grace doth not manifest it self in many by reason of many discouragements that they meet with and for want of examples to go before them to incourage them and therefore it is very hard to discern them hence it comes to passe that it is held an impossible thing to know them in this life Quest How are the company of Saints called in the Scriptures Answ They are called by many honourable names and titles as the Church of Christ his body his spouse his habitation his Temple Sion Jerusalem the pillar and ground of truth and many such like Ephes 5.30 1 Cor. 12.27 Cant. 4.8.9.10 2 Cor. 6.16 Gal. 4.26 Quest When is this Church and company of Saints to be found Answ This Church is dispersed over the whole world even amongst the very heathen Quest How can it be that there should be any Saints in such places seeing they are ignorant of Christ and there is no name under Heaven whereby we may be saved but onely by the name of Iesus Christ Acts 4.12 Answ It is true neither are they saved by any other name under heaven but by Christ alone Quest How can they be saved by him who never came to know him either to come or come in the flesh Answ It may well be notwithstanding for there is left in man even since his fall a certaine knowledge of God and that he is to be feared and served and there is also a law written in their hearts condemning of them for disobeying the law of God whereby they come to see themselves miserable and to be lyable to the wrath of this just God though they know not how they came to be so at the first and also they see the goodnesse of God extended towards them manifested in his creatures God also working in them by his spirit perswading them that if they will seek mercy at his hands he will be mercifull to their souls as well as to their bodies and this mercy of God is extended unto them for Christ his sake though they know not by whose meanes and for whose sake they receive it Rom. 2.14 15.26 Acts 14.17 Rom. 1.19 20. Qu. Is there not a communion and fellowship amongst the Saints although they be thus dispersed Answ Yes verily they have a spirituall communion and fellowship all partaking of the same grace all being begotten by one father all born of water and spirit all partakers of one precious faith all ruled and governed by one and the same holy spirit who worketh in them a love to one another though they never beheld the faces one of another and do joy and rejoyce in the happinesse and prosperity one of another and for that end are dayly sutors to God in prayer one for another Ephes 2.14 Chap. 4.4.5.6 Quest What is the duty of the Saints being made known one to another Answ Their duty is to assemble themselves together in the name of Christ to worship God to pray unto him and to praise him to exhort comfort and build up one another and to rejoyce in the fellowship one of another
nothing Answ But this is more then order in setting it downe in the first place for I say it is required in the first place and the holy Ghost doth not require that first of us which it pleaseth him to worke last but requires that first which he pleaseth first to worke Quest VVhat is your next Reason Answ Because untill we have true Repentance wrought in us we have no right unto any speciall promise for the speciall promises of Grace and Mercy are made only to the Penitent and Broken-hearted and therefore before Repentance they cannot have faith in any of those speciall promises Esay 61.1 2 3. Acts 3.19 Quest VVhat is your next Reason Answ Because no man before he have Repentance truly wrought in him can receive the forgivenesse of his sinnes for Repentance is required that men may have their sinnes done away and therefore forgivenesse of sinnes doth follow Repentance and so consequently Faith doth follow Repentance Acts 2.38 and 3.19 Quest But doth it follow that because Remission of Sinnes doth follow Repentance that therefore Iustifying Faith doth follow Repentance Answ Yes it doth because whosoever is Justified by Faith his Sinnes are forgiven at the same instant but no mans Sinnes are forgiven untill he have true Repentance wrought in him therefore no Man is Justified by Faith before his heart be broken and true Repentance be wrought in him Rom. 5.1 Quest What other reason have you for to prove this point Answ Because whosoever is Justified by Faith is at peace with God Rom. 5.1 But no Man is at peace with God untill he have truly repented therefore no Man is Justified by Faith untill he have truly repented Quest But are not Men first at peace with God and assured of his love and afterwards come to true Repentance for their former Sins Answ No certainly it cannot be for the speciall thing that the party repenting doth seeke for is the pardon of Sinnes and peace with God and to be assured of his love and therefore it cannot be that he doth enjoy peace seeing it is that which above all other things he so earnestly seeketh and desireth Luke 15.18.19 Quest Doth not this seeking of peace with God and desire to be reconciled unto him argue that he doth enjoy peace and that he is reconciled unto God Answ No certainly for the desire of a thing doth argue the want of the thing desired and not the having of it and so this desire of peace doth plainly shew the want of it Quest What is Repentance Answ Repentance is a powerfull worke of Gods Spirit wrought in the hearts of such as shall be saved whereby the heart is broken and turned from the pleasing delights of Sinne into a great feare and sorrow for them and Confession of them unto God and into an exceeding desire of peace and reconcilliation with God Luke 15. Acts 11.18 2 Tim. 2.25 Ioel 2.12.13 Heb. 6.1 Proverbs 28.13 Quest Is this Repentance that you have here described of necessity to salvation Answ It is of absolute necessity as Christ himselfe testifieth where he saith except ye repent you shall all perish Luke 13.5 Quest But is it of necessity that all those parts described in the definition of Repentance should be effected before a Man can be capable of the promise Answ This is that constant order which God hath and ever will keepe in effecting this great worke of his to humble them for their Sinnes to cause them to see and to confesse and acknowledge their misery and also earnestly to long and desire after peace and reconcilliation with God which are indeed the very substance and severall parts of Repentance Quest But is not leaving of all knowne evill and doing of all knowne good the parts of Repentance Answ No it is not these are indeed the efects of fruits ever following Faith and commonly called by the names of mortification and vivification which is a dying unto Sinne and a rising to newnesse of life Quest What reason can you give to proove that this is not Repentance Answ Because Repentance must of necessity alwayes goe before Justifying Faith as is formerly proved but this leaving of all evill and doing of Good ever followes after Justifying Faith Quest But it may seeme that if that be repentance which you have described then Iudas had true repentance for he was both sorowfull and also confessed his Sin Answ No he never had that Repentance for then he should have been received to mercy for although he was sorrowfull and confest he had sinned he never attained that broken heart nor he never sought or desired pardon and reconciliation with God for hee knew it was in vaine for he had sinned against the holy Ghost Quest But is not Repentance and Faith wrought both at one and the same instant of time Answ No for Repentance is that worke of the Spirit which prepares the heart and makes it fit to receive the assurance of grace and peace which is by faith and therefore that which is a preparation to a thing must alwaies goe before the thing for which the preparation is made Quest But is there any distance of time betweene Repentance and justifying faith Answ There is not any thing passeth betweene Repentance and Faith for they do not cease repenting and bewailing their lost condition nor seeking and desiring after Grace and mercy untill such time as they be satisfied But where God doth bestow this grace of faith he doth alwaies find them Repentant and repenting sinners Quest VVhat is Justifying faith Answ It is a gracious worke of Gods Spirit wrought in the hearts of such as are penitent whereby they are assured of the free pardon and remission of all their sinnes and of peace and reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ Rom. 5.1.5 Quest VVhy doe you in your definition of Faith adde these words wrought in the hearts of such as are penitent seeing they are not of the definition of Faith Answ I adde those words to shew forth the only objects in whom it pleaseth the Lord to worke this excellent worke of Faith Quest Doth Iustifying faith give assurance to the Penitent and broken heart of peace with God Answ Yes it doth as St. Paul testifieth Romans the fift and the first verse being Justified by Faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ Quest But may not this Faith bee lost at no time after the receiving of it An. It cannot be lost but it may be greatly weakned through carelesnesse by falling into sinne as David did Psal 51. Quest But may they not be deprived of the Assurance of Gods love for a time Answ Yes they may want the comfortable assurance thereof but they have then a promise to rest upon which is That whom the Lord loveth he loveth to the end and therefore David in his extremity said hee remembred the Lords mercies of old Quest But is not the beleeving of a mans sins to be pardonable justifying faith Answ No it
upon them any speciall benefit tending that way Quest Wherefore doth God call and exhort all men to repent seeing all cannot attaine thereunto Answ Hee doth it for these Reasons First because his elect are mingled amongst others and therefore he doth send his Word and call upon all men to repent Secondly he doth it to manifest to all the freenesse of his grace that he is ready to receive all that come to him Thirdly to leave all men without excuse and that their condemnation might more manifestly appeare to be just seeing that grace and mercy was offered them and they willingly refused and rejected it and at that great day of Judgement every mouth shall bee stopped and every one appeare culpable before God Quest But seeing that God hath elected sonne and rejected others is it not therefore in vaine to heare or reade the word of God to pray unto him or to use any meanes to come to the knowledge of the way of life and salvation Answ No verily for seeing these things are required of all men all are bound to take knowledge thereof and to reject or refuse them is to reject and refuse God who offers his grace therein and doth by them worke grace in his elect now seeing some there are that reape benefit by the use of them and that no man can conclude of himselfe that God hath not elected him it is not in vaine to use the meanes but it is meere madnesse and folly to refuse and reject them Quest But by this meanes men may come to such a measure of knowledge and to bee so farre inlightned that they may be in danger to commit the sin against the holy Ghost and so make their condemnation the greater Answ This commeth not by the carefull use of the meanes but by the abuse thereof and light esteeme of the grace offered and therefore they are to take heed of those things that may be any occasion thereunto Quest Is it necessary that this doctrine concerning Gods Predestination should bee made knowne seeing that it may bee hurtfull to many making some secure and carelesse in using any meanes of salvation and also causing others to despaire Answ It is necessary to bee knowne and therefore hath the Lord beene pleased to reveale it and doubtlesse no hurt shall come thereby to any of the elect but exceeding much good for it serves greatly to humble them and to let them see that it is no defert of theirs but the free grace of God who might have chosen others and rejected them And as for the rest they will abuse every truth though it be never so good and profitable and therefore seeing God hath been pleased to reveale it the Elect are not to be deprived of this Benefit because of the abuse of them by the Reprobate Quest Wherefore is it that in Scripture our Justification is attributed unto Faith Answ We are said to be justified by Faith not that Faith justifieth of it selfe but because it is a gift of God whereby man believeth that which the Spirit declareth and evidenceth to the conscience namely the pardon of sinne and assurance of grace through the blood of Christ Secondly because all our owne workes are excluded in the matter of Justification before God and there is no cause of boasting for our salvation is onely of the Lord Hosea 13.9 Quest If good workes doe not justifie before God to what end are they so often required Answ They are required for divers ends First because by them we shall glorifie God and adorne our holy profession Math. 5.16 Secondly we shall by them be a means to win others to love our profession and give good examples to others to doe the like and to follow us 1 Pet. 2.12 Thirdly by this means we shall stop the mouthes of the adversaries 1 Pet. 2.15 Fourthly we shall have comfort if we be brought to suffer and be accused as evill doers wrongfully 1 Pet. 2.19 Fifthly we shall by them make tryall of the truth of our faith and of the graces that are in us by the exercise of them as occasion is offered Quest But doe not good workes deserve nothing at the hands of God Answ No certainly no workes that we can doe can possibly deserve any thing at the hands of God for when we have done all that we can we may truly say we are unprofitable servants Luke 17.10 Quest If good workes deserve nothing wherefore is it that so many promises are made in Scripture unto good workes Answ God hath thereby set forth his bounty to stir us up who are backward of our selves adding thereunto promises of reward But such is our weakenesse and great imperfections in our best workes that we haue cause rather to be humbled for our wants in the performance of them then to challenge any thing at the hands of God for the same yet certaine it is that the good workes of Gods Children shall be rewarded though not for the worthinesse of the worke yet for the truth of the promiser who hath promised to reward the gift of a cup of cold water to one of those that belong to him so that we have no cause to be backward in good workes but to be forward in the doing of them Math. 10.42 Quest Are all men rewarded for their good workes Answ Yes certainly the righteous God rewardeth all either here in this life or after this life but he in a more especiall manner rewardeth the good workes of his Children even those workes of love and mercy extended towards the Saints their Brethren Math. 25. Quest Are there Saints now upon the earth Answ Yes verily there have been are and ever shall be Saints upon the earth Psal 16.3 Quest But seeing all men are corrupted and even after regeneration the remnants of Sinne still continue in them can the name of Saints be properly given unto them Answ Yes it may be well given unto them for God so accounts of them as being without Sinne beholding no iniquity in them Numbers 23.21 Canticles 4.7 Ephes 5.27 Quest If God behold all things and nothing be hid from his all-seeing eye how can it be but that he should see those Sinnes which his elect doe daily and continually fall into Answ It is true that God beholdeth all things and cannot be ignorant of those Sinnes which they fall into yet notwithstanding God doth looke upon them in Christ and beholds them all righteous and holy in him imputing the rigteousnesse of Christ unto them Rom. 4.6.7 1 Cor. 1.30 2 Cor. 5.21 Quest What is that righteousnesse of Christ which is imputed unto the Saints and for which they are accounted holy Answ All the righteousnesse of Christ whatsoever his active obedience performed to the law his passive obedience in suffering whatsoever was due unto them for Sinne and what the Justice of God could require at their hands yea all the holinesse that is in Christ either of his nature as hee was man or of his