the goats on the left and so on as you may read in the Text. But why tremblest thou Oh humble gracious Soul Cannot the enemies and slighters of Christ be foretold their doom but Thou must quake Do I make sad the Soul that God would not have sad Doth not thy Lord know his own sheep who have heard his voyce and followed him He that would not lose the family of one Noah in a common deluge when him onely he had found faithful in all the earth He that would not over-look one Lot in Sodom nay that could do nothing till he were forth Will he forget thee at that day Thy Lord knoweth now to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust to the day of Judgment to be punished He knoweth how to make the same day the greatest for terror to his foes and yet the greatest for joy to his people He ever intended it for the great distinguishing and separating day wherein both Love and Fury should be manifested to the highest Oh then let the Heavens rejoyce the Sea the Earth the Floods the Hills for the Lord cometh to judg the Earth With Righteousness shall he judg the World and the People with Equity But especially let Sion hear and be glad and her children rejoyce For when God ariseth to judgment it is to save the meek of the Earth They have judged and condemned themselves many a day in heart-breaking confession and therefore shall not be judged to condemnation by the Lord For there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect Shall the Law Why whatsoever the Law saith it saith to them that are under the Law but we are not under the Law but under Grace For the Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the Law of sin and death Or shall Conscience Why we were long ago justified by faith and so have peace with God and have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and the Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of God It is God that justifieth who shall condemn If our Judg condemn us not who shall He that said to the Adulterous woman Hath no man condemned thee neither do I condemn thee He will say to us more faithfully then Peter to him Though all men deny thee or condemn thee I will not Thou hast confessed me before men and I will confess thee before my Father and the Angels of Heaven He whose first coming was not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved I am sure intends not his second coming to condemn his people but that they through him might be saved He hath given us Eternal Life in Charter and Title already yea and partly in possession and will he after that condemn us When he gave us the knowledg of his Father and himself he gave us Eternal Life And he hath verily told us That he that heareth his word and beleeveth on him that sent him hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life Indeed if our Judg were our enemy as he is to the world then we might well fear If the Devil were our Judg or the Ungodly were our Judg then we should be condemned as Hypocrites as Heretiques as Schisinatiques as proud or covetous or what not But our Judg is Christ who dyed yea rather who is risen again and maketh request for us For all power is given him in Heaven and in Earth and all things delivered into his hands and the Father hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of man For though God judg the world yet the Father immediately without his Vicegerent Christ judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father Oh what inexpressible joy may this afford to a Beleever That our Dear Lord who loveth our Souls and whom our Souls love shall be our Judg Will a man fear to be judged by his dearest friend By a Brother By a Father Or a Wife by her own Husband Christian Did he come down and suffer and weep and bleed and dye for thee and will he now condemn thee Was he judged and condemned and executed in thy stead and now will he condemn thee himself Did he make a Bath of his blood for thy sins and a garment of his own Righteousness for thy nakedness and will he now open them to thy shame Is he the undertaker for thy Salvation and will he be against thee Hath it cost him so dear to save thee and will he now himself destroy thee Hath he done the most of the work already in Redeeming Regenerating and Sanctifying Justifying preserving and perfecting thee and will he now undo all again Nay hath he begun and will he not finish Hath he interceded so long for thee to the Father and will he cast thee away himself If all these be likely then fear and then rejoyce not Oh what an unreasonable sin is unbelief that will charge our Lord with such unmercifulness and absurdities Well then fellow Christians let the terror of that day be never so great surely our Lord can mean no ill to us in all Let it make the Devils tremble and the wicked tremble but it shall make us to leap for Joy Let Satan accuse us we have our answer at hand our surety hath discharged the debt If he have not fulfilled the Law then let us be charged as breakers of it If he have not suffered then let us suffer but if he have we are free Nay our Lord will make answer for us himself These are mine and shall be made up with my Jewels for their transgressions was I stricken and cut off from the earth for them was I bruised and put to grief my Soul was made an offering for their sin and I bore their transgressions They are my seed and the travel of my Soul I have healed them by my stripes I have justified them by my knowledg They are my sheep who shall take them out of my hands Yea though the humble Soul be ready to speak against it self Lord when did we see thee hungry and feed thee c. yet will not Christ do so This is the day of the Beleevers full Justification They were before made just and esteemed Just and by Faith justified in Law and this evidenced to their consciences But now they shall both by Apology be maintained Just and by Sentence pronounced Just actually by the lively voyce of the Judg himself which is the most perfect Justification Their Justification by Faith is a giving them Title in Law to that Apology and Absolving
is utterly taken away This is not such a Come as we were wont to hear Come take up your Cross and follow me though that was sweet yet this much more Ye Blessed Blessed indeed when that mouth shall so pronounce us for though the world hath accounted us accursed and we have been ready to account our selves so yet certainly those that he blesseth are blessed and those whom he curseth onely are cursed and his Blessing shall not be Revoked But he hath Blessed us and we shall be Blessed Of my Father Blessed in the Fathers Love as well as the Sons for they are one The Father hath testified his Love in their Election Donation to Christ sending of Christ accepting his Ransom c. as the Son hath also testified his inherit No longer bond-men nor servants onely nor children under age who differ not in possession but onely in title from servants But now we are heirs of the Kingdom Jam. 2.5 Coheirs with Christ. The Kingdom No less then the Kingdom Indeed to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords is our Lords own proper title But to be Kings and reign with him is ours The fruition of this Kingdom is as the fruition of the light of the Sun each have the whole and the rest never the less Prepared for you God is the Alpha as well as the Omega of our Blessedness Eternal Love hath layd the foundation He prepared the Kingdom for us and then prepared us for the Kingdom This is the preparation of his Counsel and Decree for the execution whereof Christ was yet to make a further preparation For you Not for Beleevers onely in general who without individual persons are no body Nor onely for you upon condition of your beleeving But for you personally and determinately for all the Conditions were also prepared for you From the foundation of the world Not onely from the Promise after Adams fall as some but as the phrase usually signifieth though not always from Eternity These were the eternal thoughts of Gods love towards us and this is it he purposed for us But a great difficulty riseth in our way In what sence is our Improvement of our Talent our well doing our overcoming our harboring visiting feeding c. Christ in his little ones alledged as a Reason of our Coronation and Glory Is not it the purchased possession and meet fruit of Christs blood If every man must be judged according to his works and receive according to what they have done in the flesh whether good or evil and God will render to every man according to his Deeds and give eternal life to men if they patiently continue in well doing and give right to the tree of Life and entrance into the City to the doers of his Commandments and if this last Absolving Sentence be the compleating of our Justification and so the doers of the Law be justified Why then what 's become of Free Grace of Justification by Faith onely of the sole Righteousness of Christ to make us accepted Then the Papists say rightly That we are Righteous by our personal Righteousness and Good Works concur to Justification I did not think to have said so much upon Controversie But because the difficulty is very great and the matter very weighty as being neer the foundation I shall in another Book add to what is said before certain brief Positions containing my thoughts on this Subject which may tend to the clearing of these and many other difficulties hereabouts But that the plain constant language of Scripture may not be perverted or disregarded I onely premise these Advertisements by way of caution till thou come to read the full Answer 1. Let not the names of men draw thee one way or other nor make thee partial in Searching for Truth Dislike the men for their unsound doctrine but call not doctrine unsound because it is theirs nor sound because of the repute of the Writer 2. Know this That as an unhumbled Soul is far apter to give too much to Duty and personal Righteousness then to Christ So a humble self-denying Christian is as likely to err on the other hand in giving less to duty then Christ hath given and laying all the work from himself on Christ for fear of robbing Christ of the honor and so much to look at Christ without him and think he should look at nothing in himself that he forgets Christ within him As Luther said of Melancthons self-denying humility Soli Deo omaia deberi tam obstinaté asserit ut mihi plané vidcatur saltem in hoc errare quòd Christum ipse fingat longiùs abesse cordi suo quam sit reverâ Certé nimis nullus in hoc est Philippus He so constantly ascribes all to God that to me he seems directly to err at least in this that he feigneth or imagineth Christ to be further off from his own heart then indeed he is Certainly he is too much Nothing in this 3. Our giving to Christ more of the work then Scripture doth or rather our ascribing it to him out of the Scripture way and sence doth but dishonor and not honor him and depress but not exalt his Free Grace While we deny the inward sanctifying work of his Spirit and extol his free Justification which are equal fruits of his merit we make him an imperfect Saviour And thus we have by the line and plummet of Scripture fathomed this four-fold stream and seen the Christian safely landed in Paradise and in this four-wheeled fiery Charet conveyed honorably to his Rest. Now let us a little further view those Mansions consider his priviledges and see whether there be any Glory like unto his Glory Read and judg but not by outward appearance but judg Righteous Judgment CHAP. VI. This Rest most Excellent discovered by Reason SECT I. THe next thing to be handled is The excellent properties of this Rest and admirable Attributes which as so many Jewels shall adorn the Crown of the Saints And first before we speak of them particularly let us try this Happiness by the Rules of the Philosopher and see whether they will not approve it the more transcendently Good Not as if they were a sufficient Touchstone but that both the Worldling and the Saint may see when any thing stands up in competition with this Glory for the preheminence Reason it self will conclude against it Now in order of good the Philosopher will tell you that by these Rules you may know which is Best SECT I. 1. THat which is desired and sought for it self is better then that which is desired for something else or the End as such is better then all the Means This concludeth for Heavens preheminence All things are but means to that end If any thing here be excellent it is because it is a step to that and the more conducible thereto the more excellent The Salvation of our Souls is the end of our Faith of our
some of those Kingdoms of Infidels would have harkened to the spirits teaching and being taught would have taught others especially if there be a sufficiency in that grace for the obtaining of its end Therefore how to apprehend a verity in their doctrine of universal sufficient grace to believe I know not Yet will I not affirm that the faith that is absolutely necessary among poor Indians is of the same extent in all its acts and dimensions with that required among us no more then that required of the world before Christs coming was Upon what tearmes then God will deal with those dark parts of the world I cannot yet reach to know The scripture speaks of no other way to life but Christ and of no way to Christ but faith But we are not their Judges they stand or fall to their own master But sure that great difference betwixt them and us must arise from Gods own pleasure For they have not abused Christ and Gospel which they never heard of nor can it be that they should be judged by that Gospel which neither before nor since the fall was taught them Christ himself saith plainly that if he had not come to them and spoke the words that no man else could speak and done the works that no man else could do they had not had sin He saith not as some would pervert the sense your sin had not been so great But none at all not speaking of their other sins but their unbelief which he had now in hand teaching us clearly That where there is not competent meanes to convince men of the truth of the Gospel there not believing is no sin For it was to them never forbidden nor the contrary duty ever required And the Apostle tells us those that have sinned without Law shall be judged without Law That place therefore Rom. 2.16 seemeth abused while they would make the sense to be that God will judg the secrets of all men according to the Gospel as the sentencing Law when the Apostle seems to intend but thus much According to my Gospel that is as I have in my preaching the Gospel taught you respecting the verity of what he speak Yet I think that they will be Judged according to Gospel-indulgence as they have been partakers of some mercies from Christ in this life 2. That these people of God are but a Part of those that are thus externally called is too evident in Scripture and experience Many are called but few chosen But the internally effectually called are all chosen For whom he called them he justified and whom he justified them he glorified The bare invitation of the Gospel and mens hearing the Word is so far from giving title to or being an evidence of Christianity and its priviledges that where it prevailes not to a through-Conversion it sinks deeper and casts under a double damnation 3. The first differencing work I affirm to be Regeneration by the Spirit of Christ taking it for granted that this Regeneration is the same with effectual Vocation with Conversion with Sanctification understanding Conversion and Sanctification of the first infusion of the principle of Spiritual life into the soul and not for the addition of degrees or the sanctifying of the conversation in which last sence its most frequently taken in Scripture It s a wonder to me that such a multitude of Learned Divines should so long proceed in that palpable mistake as to divide and mangle so groundlesly the Spirits work upon the soul to affirm that 1. precedes the work of vocation 2. this vocation infuseth faith only say some but faith and repentance say others 3. then must this faith by us be acted 4. by which act we apprehend Christs person and by that apprehension we are united to him 5. from which union proceeds the benefits 1. Of Justification 2. Of Sanctification 6. this Sanctification infuseth all other gracious Habits and hath two degrees 1. Regeneration 2. Renascentiam or the new birth What a multifarious division is here of that one single intire work which is called in Scripture the giving of the Spirit of holiness of the seed of God in us Which seed or life doth no more enter by piecemeal into the soul then the soul into the body And though to salve the Absurdity they tell us the difference is in nature and not in time yet that is impossible For there is mans act of believing intervenes who must have time for all his actions besides the division in order of nature is groundlesly asserted It much perplexeth them to resolve that doubt whether in sanctification faith and Repentance be infused over again which were before infused in vocation or whether all other graces are infused without them Dr. Ames seemes to resolve it in the Affirmative that they are infused again but with this difference 1. That faith in our vocation is not properly considered as a quality but in relation to Christ. 2. Nor is Repentance there looked at as a change of the disposition but as a change of the purpose and intent of the minde but in sanctification a reall change of qualities and dispositions is looked at Answer Strange doctrine for an Anti-Arminian However you consider it sure the habit or disposition is infused before those Acts are excited Act. 26.18 Or else what need we assert any habits at all If the spirit excites those holy acts of faith and repentance in an unholy Soul without any change of its disposition at the first why not ever after as well as then and so the soul be disposed one way and act another and so the Libertines doctrine be true That it is not we that believe and repent but the Spirit Or if these two solitary habits be infused in vocation why not the rest And why again in sanctification Doubtless that internal effectual Call of the spirit metaphorically so called is properly a real operation and that work hath the understanding and will for its object both being the Subject of faith in which the Habit is planted and faith now generally acknowledged to be an act of both And surely an unholy understanding and will cannot believe nor is faith an act of a dead but of a living soul Especially considering that a true spiritual knowledge is requisite either as a precedent act or essential part of true faith All which doth also warrant my putting of this Renewing work of the spirit in the first place and placing Sanctification in the sense before explained before justification The Apostle placeth clearly vocation before justification Rom. 8.30 Which vocation I have shewed is the same thing in a metaphorical term with this first Sanctification or Regeneration Though I know the stream of Interpreters do in explaining that Text make Sanctification to be included in Glorification when yet they can shew no real difference between it and effectual vocation before-named Certainly if Sanctification precede faith and faith precede Justification then
Sanctification must needs precede Justification But if we may call that work of the spirit which infuseth the principle of life or holiness into the soul Sanctification then sanctification must needs go before faith For faith in the habit is part of that principle and faith in the act is a fruit of it Gods order is clearly set down in Acts 26.18 He first opens mens eyes and turnes them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God and if they be yet unholy I know not what holiness is that they may receive remission of sins there 's their Justification and inheritance among the sanctified that which before was called opening their eyes and turning them is here called Sanctifying by faith that is in me the words by Faith is related to the Receiving of Remission of Sins and the Inheritance but not to the word Sanctified so also 2 Thes. 2.13 God hath before chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience obeying the Gospel is faith and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ there 's Justification so that you see to make faith precede sanctification and to bring in the habits of all other graces and for Justification to go between faith and them is quite against the Scripture order Indeed if Grevinchovius say true that there 's no Habits infused and the spirit work only as the Arminians affirm by an internal and external Swasion and no real physical alteration or infusing of new powers and habits then all this must be otherwise ordered In ascribing this Regeneration to the Spirit I do not intend to exclude the word yet I cannot allow it to be properly the Instrumental cause as the common opinion is Were it an instrument the Energy or Influx of the principal efficient must be first received into it and by it conveyed to the soul but that is an impossibility in Nature The voyce of the Preacher or Letters of the Book are not subjects capable of receiving Spiritual Life to convey to us the like also may be said of Sacraments None of the conditions of an Instrumental efficient cause are found in them The Principal and Instrumental produce one and the same effect But the word works not in the same way of causality with the Spirit yet doth it not follow that it is therefore useless or doth nothing to the work for both kindes of causality are necessary The Spirit works as the principal and onely efficient and hath no intervening instrument that can reach the soul but doth all his work immediately seeing it self alone can touch its object and so work by proper efficiency But the Word and Sacraments work morally onely by propounding the object in its qualifications as a man draws a Horse by shewing him his Provender And though there be some difficulty in resolving whether the propounding the object to the understanding by instruction and to the will and affections by perswasion do work under the efficient or under the final cause yet according to the common Judgment we here take the last for granted The Word then doth sanctifie by exciting of former principles to action which is a preparation to the receiving of the principle of Life and also by present exciting of the newly infused gracious principle and so producing our Actual converting and believing But how it can otherways concur to the infusing of that principle I yet understand not Indeed if no such principle be infused then the Word doth all and the Spirit onely enable the speaker or if any more its hard to discover what it is For whether there be any internal swasion of the Spirit immediately distinct from the external swasion of the Word and also from the Spirits efficacious changing Physical operation is a very great question and worth the considering But I have run on too far in this already This Spiritual Regeneration then is the first and great qualification of these People of God which though Habits are more for their Acts then themselves and are onely perceived in their Acts yet by its causes and effects we should chiefly enquire after To be the people of God without Regeneration is as impossible as to be the natural children of men without Generation seeing we are born Gods enemies we must be new-born his sons or else remain enemies still O that the unregenerate world did know or believe this In whose ears the new birth sounds as a Paradox and the great change which God works upon the soul is a strange thing Who because they never felt any such supernatural work upon themselves do therefore believe that there is no such thing but that it is the conceit and fantasie of idle brains Who make the terms of Regeneration Sanctification Holiness and Conversion a matter of common reproach and scorn though they are the words of the Spirit of God himself and Christ hath spoke it with his own mouth That except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Alas how preposterous and vain is it to perswade these poor people to change some actions while their hearts are unchanged and to amend their ways while their natures are the same The greatest Reformation of Life that can be attained to without this new Life wrought in the Soul may procure their further Delusion but never their Salvation That general conceit that they were regenerated in their Baptism is it which furthers the deceit of many When there is an utter impossibility that Baptism should either principally or instrumentally work any Grace on the Soul of an Infant without a miracle for if it do it is either by a Physical and proper efficiency or else morally Not Physically which is more perhaps then the Papists say Because then first the water must be capable of receiving the Grace secondly And of approaching the soul in the application and conveyance both which are impossibilities in Nature Nor can it work morally where there is not the use of Reason to understand and consider of its signification The common shift is apparently vain to say That it works neither Physically nor Morally but Hyperphysically for though it may proceed from a supernatural cause and the work be such as nature cannot produce yet the kinde of operation is still either by a proper and real efficiency which is the meaning of the phrase of Physical operation or else improper and moral So that their Hyperphysical working is no third member nor overthrows that long received distinction if it were yet is not the water the capable instrument of this Hyperphysical operation God is a free agent and by meer concomitancy may make Baptism the season of Regenerating whom he please but that he never intended that Regeneration should be the end of Baptism I think may be easily proved and those two empty Treatises of Baptismal Regeneration as easily answered For men of age the matter
review of which intire work there is no doubt but his soul may take comfort And it is not to be made so light of as most do nor put by with a wet finger That Scripture doth so ordinarily put Repentance before Faith and make them joyntly conditions of the Gospel Which Repentance contains those acts of the Wills aversion from sin and Creatures before exprest It is true if we take Faith in the largest sense of all then it contains Repentance in it but if we take it strictly no doubt there is some acts of it go before Repentance and some follow after Yet is it not of much moment which of the acts before mentioned we shall judg to precede Whether our aversion from sin and renouncing our Idols or our right receiving Christ seeing it all composeth but one work which God doth ever perfect where he beginneth but one step and layeth but one stone in sincerity And the moments of time can be but few that interpose between the several acts Yet though the disposition to all gracious acts be given at once I conceive in our Actual turning the term from which in order of nature is considerable before the term to which we turn If any object That every Grace is received from Christ and therefore must follow our receiving him by Faith I answer There be receivings from Christ before believing and before our receiving of Christ himself Such is all that work of the Spirit that brings the soul to Christ There is a passive receiving before the active Both power and act of Faith are in order of Nature before Christ actually received and the power of all other gracious acts is as soon as that of Faith Though Christ give pardon and Salvation upon condition of believing yet he gives not a new heart a soft heart Faith it self nor the first true Repentance on that condition No more then he gives the Preaching of the Gospel the Spirits motions to believe c. upon a pre-requisite condition of believing SECT V. 4. ANd as the Will is thus averted from the fore-mentioned objects so at the same time doth it cleave to God the Father and to Christ. Its first acting in order of Nature is toward the whole Divine Essence and it consists especially in electing and desiring God for his portion and chief Good Having before been convinced That nothing else can be his happiness he now findes it is in God and there looks toward it But it is yet rather with desire then hope For alas the sinner hath already found himself to be a stranger and enemy to God under the guilt of sin and curse of his Law and knows there is no coming to him in peace till his case be altered And therefore having before been convinced also That onely Christ is able and willing to do this and having heard this mercy in the Gospel freely offered his next act is Secondly to accept most affectionately of Christ for Saviour and Lord. I put the former before this because the ultimate end is necessarily the first intended and the Divine Essence is principally that ultimate end yet not excluding the humane nature in the second person But Christ as Mediator is the way to that end and throughout the Gospel is offered to us in such terms as import his Being the means of making us happy in God And though that former act of the soul toward the Godhead do not justifie as this last doth yet is it I think as proper to the people of God as this nor can any man unregenerate truly chuse God for his Lord his portion and chief good Therefore do they both mistake They who onely mention our turning to Christ and they who onely mention our turning to God in this work of Conversion as is touched before Pauls preaching was Repentance toward God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. And life eternal consists first in knowing the onely true God and then Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17.3 Though Repentance Assent Good works c. are required to our full Justification as subservient to or concurrent with Faith yet is the true nature of this justifying Faith it self contained in this most affectionate accepting of Christ for Saviour and Lord. And I think it necessarily contains all this in it Some plead it is the Assenting act some a Fiducial adherence or recumbency I call it Accepting it being principally an act of the Will but yet also of the whole soul. This Accepting being that which the Gospel presseth to and calleth the receiving of Christ I call it an Affectionate accepting though Love seem another act quite distinct from Faith and if you take Faith for any one single act so it is yet I take it as essential to that Faith which justifies To accept Christ without Love is not justifying Faith Nor doth Love follow as a Fruit but immediately concur nor concur as a meer concomitant but essential to a true accepting For this Faith is the receiving of Christ either with the whole soul or with part â—â—t with part onely for that is but a partial receiving And 〈◊〉 clear Divines of late conclude That justifying Faith resides â—â—rn in the Understanding and the Will therefore in the whole soul and so cannot be one single act All those Affections that are for the receiving and entertainment of Good called the concupiscible must receive and entertain Christ. I adde it is the most affectionate accepting of Christ because he that loves Father Mother or any thing more then him is not worthy of him nor can be his Disciple and consequently not justified by him And the truth of this Affection is not to be judged so much by feeling the pulse of it as by comparing it with our affection to other things He that loveth nothing so much as Christ doth love him truly though he finde cause still to bewail the coldness of his Affections I make Christ himself the Object of this Accepting it being not any Theological Axiom concerning himself but himself in person I call it an Accepting him for Saviour and Lord. For in both relations will he be received or not at all It is not onely to acknowledg his sufferings and accept of pardon and glory but to acknowledg his soveraignty and submit to his Government and way of saving and I take all this to be contained in justifying Faith The work which Christ thus accepted of is to perform is to bring the sinners to God that they may be happy in him and this both really by his Spirit and relatively in reconciling them and making them sons and to present them perfect before him at last and to possess them of the Kingdom This will Christ perform and the obtaining of these are the sinners lawful ends in receiving Christ And to these uses doth he offer himself unto us 5. To this end doth
that they may well be said to Witness Together Not one laying down the intire Conclusion of it self That we are the Children of God and then the other attesting the same entirely again of it self But as concurrent Causes to the same Numerical Conclusion But this with Submission to better Judgments and further Search By this also you may see that the common distinction of Certainty of Adherence and Certainty of Evidence must be taken with a grain or two of salt For there is no Certainty without Evidence no more then there is a Conclusion without a Medium A small degree of Certainty hath some small glimpse of Evidence Indeed 1. the Assent to the truth of the promise 2. and the Acceptation of Christ offered with his benefits are both before and without any sight or consideration of Evidence and are themselves our best Evidence being that Faith which is the Condition of our Justification But before any man can in the least Assurance conclude that he is the Child of God and Justified he must have some Assurance of that Mark or Evidence For who can conclude Absolutely that he shall receive the thing contained in a Conditional Promise till he know that he hath performed the Condition For those that say There is no Condition to the New Covenant I think them not worthy a word of confutation And for their Assertion That we are bound immediately to Believe that we are Justified and in special Favour with God It is such as no man of competent knowledg in the Scripture and belief of its truth can once imagine For if every man must believe this then most must believe a lye for they never shall be Justified yea all must at first believe a lye for they are not Justified till they believe and the believing that they are Justified is not the faith which Justifieth them If only some men must believe this how shall it be known who they be The truth is That we are Justified is not properly to be Believed at all For nothing is to be Believed which is not written but it is no where written that you or I are Justified only one of those premises is written from whence we may draw the Conclusion That we are Justified if so be that our own hearts do afford us the other of the Premises So that Our Actual Justification is not a matter of meer Faith but a Conclusion from Faith and Conscience together If God have no where promised to any man Justification immediately without Condition then no man can so believe it but God hath no where promised it Absolutely therefore c. Nor hath he declared to any man that is not first a Believer that he loveth him with any more then a common love Therefore no more can be believed but a common love to any such For the Eternal Love and Election is manifest to no man before he is a Believer SECT V. 2. HAving thus shewed you what Examination is and what Assurance is I come to the second thing promised To shew you That such an Infallible Certainty of Salvation may be attained and ought to be laboured for though a Perfect Certainty cannot here be attained And that Examination is the means to attain it In which I shall be the briefer because many writers against the Papists on this point have said enough already Yet somewhat I will say 1. because it is the common conceit of the Ignorant Vulgar That an Infallible Certainty cannot be attained 2. and many have taught and printed That it is only the Testimony of the Spirit that can assure us and that this proving our Justification by our Sanctification and searching after Marks and Signs in our selves for the procuring of Assurance is a dangerous and deceitful way Thus we have the Papists the Antinomians and the ignorant Vulgar conspiring against this doctrine of Assurance and Examination Which I maintain against them by these Arguments 1. Scripture tells us we may know that the Saints before us have known their Justification and future Salvation 2 Cor. 5.1 Rom. 8.36 Joh. 21.15 1 Joh. 5.19 4.13 3.14 24. 2.3 5. Rom. 8.15 16 36. Ephes. 3.12 I refer you to the places for brevity 2. If we may be certain of the Premises then may we also be certain of the undenyable Conclusion of them But here we may be certain of both the Premises For 1. That whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but shall have everlasting life is the voyce of the Gospel and therefore that we may be sure of That we are such Believers may be known by Conscience and internal Sense I know all the question is in this Whether the Moral Truth or Sincerity of our Faith and other Graces can be known thus or not And that it may I prove thus 1. From the natural use of this Conscience and internal Sense which is to acquaint us not only with the Being but the Qualifications of the Acts of our Souls All voluntary Motions are Sensible And though the heart is so deceitful that no man can certainly know the heart of another and with much difficulty clearly know their own yet by diligent observation and examination known they may be for though our inward Sense and Conscience may be depraved yet not extirpated or quite â—â—â—â—inguished 2. The Commands of Believing Repenting c. were in Vain especially as the Condition of the Covenant if we could not know whether we perform them or not 3. The Scripture would never make such a wide difference between the Godly and the Wicked the Children of God and the Children of the Devil and set forth the happiness of the one and the misery of the other so largely and make this Difference to run through all the veins of its doctrine if a man cannot know which of these two estates he is in 4. Much less would the Holy Ghost urge us to give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure if it could not be done 2 Pet. 1.10 And that this is not meant of Objective Certainty but of Subjective appeareth in this That the Apostle mentioneth not Salvation or any thing to come but Calling and Election which to Believers were Objectively Certain before as being both past 5. And to what purpose should we be so earnestly urged to examine and prove and try our selves Whether we be in the Faith and whether Christ be in us or we be Reprobates 1 Cor. 11.28 and 2 Cor. 13.5 Why should we search for that which cannot be found 6. How can we obey those precepts which require us to Rejoyce always 1 Thes. 5.16 to call God our Father Luk. 11.2 to live in his Praises Psal. 49.1 2 3 4 5. and to long for Christs Coming Rev. 22.17 20. 1 Thes. 1.10 and to comfort our selves with the mention of it 1 Thes. 4.18 which are all the Consequents of Assurance Who can do any of these heartily that is not
oculis mentibus hominum objicitur destitutum est icta vi Spiritus quae sola potest homines abducere a peccato ad vitae spem efficaciter revocare Amyrald Defens Calvin p. 154. Whether the Spirit without means do call In what sense the Spirit enlighteneth Quomodo causa illa supernaturalis intellectum liberet a nativis quibus occupatur tenebris mens humana non comprehendit Effectum summo Dei beneficio persentiscimus rationem operationis non tenemus Amyrald defens Doctr. Calvin pag. 200. Some confidently do with Grotius appeal to Antiquity in the points of universal sufficient Grace and Free-will and natures integrity Concerning which see Chamier Bogermans Annotations on Grotij Piet. and Vshers Eccles. Brittan Primord What the ancient Church thought and did against Pelagius So Johan Latius de Pelag. Comment Nichol. Bodicher in Socin Remonstr Videlius c. What is the meanes of this call Whether nature and Creatures be sufficient Object from Rom. 2 16. Answered John 15.22.24 expounded 2 They are but part of the externally called Rom. 8.30 3 They are Regenerate by the spirit of Christ This Regeneration effectual Vocation the first Conversion and first Sanctification are all one thing proved See Bishop Downams appendix to the Covenant of Grace in Confutation of Mr. Pemble where this division is asserted See Ames medul cap. 26. § 8. Doctor Ames against Grevincho hath fully confuted himself pag. 260.261 c. The whole tenth Chap. is exceeding well worth the reading to prove the vitall seed or habit to go before the Act of Faith See Pemble vind Grat. pag. 10 11 12 13 14. c. The first Sanctification is before Justification and threfore mentioned first in the Description See Mr. Rich. Hooker in his Discourse of Justification asserting this same order And Pet. Martyr on Rom. c. 3. p. 157. sheweth fully how the spirit goeth before faith and yet in the increase followeth after it Act. 26.18 explained 2 Thes. 2 13. opened * Which controversie I pretend not here to determine acknowledging its difficulty requires a better judgment for its explication then mine yet I hitherto judge it an error In ascribing Regeneration to the spirit I include the word But not as the proper instrumental cause of Regeneration Different way of working of the Spirit and Word If any had rather say that the Word is Causa efficiens minus principalis procatarctica I contend not See Dr. Twisse Vind. Grat. p. 231. l. 1. part 2. l. 2. part 1. p. 160. Whether Word and Sacraments work in genere causae efficientis vel finalis The Word how it sanctifieth Vide Paâ—keri Theses de Traductione peccat de hoc dubio * And that onely by a way of swasion which is properly by the Word or by the first work of Nature giving him Reason Necessity of this Regeneration John 3.3 * I mean that this is not a sufficient way to their salvation but yet it may conduce to the good of others to restrain their vicious actions and somewhat more b Mens conceit that they are all Regenerate by their Baptism confuted Baptism can be no means of an Infants Regeneration Nam signa corporea in animas incorporeas agere signum imprimere ex vulgatissima regula Physicà non possunt Lamb. Danaeus Cont. Bellar. ad Tom. 2. Cont. 4. p. 238. Regeneration not the end why Christ would have men baptized * Dr. Burgâ—s and Mr. Tho. Bedford of Baptismal Regeneration * The Institution being supposed Though some Question whether Christs Baptism was a legal Ceremony or a Gospel Ordinance Aaron and his sons were to be washed at the entering upon the Priesthood And Christ saith Iâ— becomes us to fulfil all Righteousness and it was the Righteousness of the Law that he came to fulfil and not the Righteousness or Condition of the Gospel And we finde not that he himself received the Sacrament of his Supper But these are doubtful Vid. Grotti votum ad Artic. 9. § 3. 1 The Soul is convinced â— e. 1 Knoweth 2 Assenteth to the Truth of Scripture-threats And knows its own sin and guilt and misery Therefore not any other but this Knowledg is the first Grace in regard of the order of their acting though in the viâ—al Seed they are together 2 The Soul is sensible of what it is convinced Necessity of sensibility What the Soul is convinced and sensible of 1 Of the evil of sin Nallâ— offensa Dâ—i est venialis de se nisi 〈◊〉 per respâ—ctum ad divinam miserecordiam quae non vult de facto quamlibet offensam imputare ad mortem cum illud posset justissime Et ita concluditur quod peccatum mortale veniale in esse tasi non distinguuntur intrinsecè essentialiter sed solum per respectum ad divinam gratiam c. Gerson de vita Spirit Corol. 1. So Papists then confess the damning merit of every sin 2 Of its own misery by reason of sin Quisquis desolationem non novit nec consolationem agnoscere potest Et quisquis consolationem ignorat esse necessariam superesâ— ut non habeat gratiam Dei Inde est quod homines seculi negotiis flagitiis implicati dum miseriam non sentiunt non attendunt misericordiam Bernard Serm. XXXI de temp Whether this be the work of the Law or Gospel Necessity of this sense of sin and misery ☜ Why some gracious souls can scarce perceive and others scarce remember this work of Humiliation 3 Of the Creatures vanity and insufficiency Every natural man is an Idolater and doth not indeed take the Lord for his God ☜ Pride is the great sin against the first and great Commandment Man naturally is his own Idol Regeneration works back the heart to God again It convinceth fiâ—st That the Creature cannot be our God secondly Nor our Jesus Providences and especially Affliction do â—sually much further this Conviction 4 Of the need of Christ and his sufficiency and worth Quest. Are not all the forementioned works common till this last Answ. No. 1 Of the necessity of Christ. Phil. 3 7 8 9. Revel 5.3 4 5 6. Heb. 9.22 13.12 Acts 4 1â— 2 Of Christs sufficiency John 11.42 Heb. 7.25 3 And of his excellency § 4. Now of the change of the Wiâ—â— and Affection 1 It turneth from sin with abhorrency 2 Abhorreth and lamenteth its miserable state 3 Renounceth all his former Idols and Vanities Sin is first Directly against God as God Secondly Directly onely against his Laws Of the first sort is onely gross idolatry In what sense we turn from the Creature A twofold Error in the descriptions of Conversion Our turning from sin is as essential to true Conversion as our believing in Christ. Heb. 11.6 * Besides though the person please not God nor his actions so as for God to justifie them or to take delight in them as gracious yet some actions of wicked men tending to Reformation
may please God in some respect secundum quid as Ahabs Humiliation A flat necessity both of coming to God as the End or our chief Good and to Christ as the way to the Father * Viz. As it is put for all obedience to the Commands proper to the Gospel Which part of this turning goes first The terminus a quo considerable before the terminus ad quâ—m in order of nature Object Answ. § 5. As the Will turns from evil so at the same time to God and the Mediator 1 To the Godhead in order of Nature 2 To the Mediator as the way which is by Faith John 14.6 Acts 20.21 5.31 11.18 26.20 What justifying Faith is It s proper Act is the Acceptation of Christ offered * So Doctor Prestons judgment is and Master Woollis against the Lord Brook p. 94. It is an Accepting of Christ offered rather then the belief of a Proposition affirmed So that excellent Philosopher and Divine Love to Christ whether it be not Essential to justifying Faith See more of this in the Positions of Justification Love to Christ must be the strongest Love Luke 14.26 Doctor Sibbs Souls Conflict Justifying Faith is the Accepting Christ both for Saviour and Lord. So that our Subjection to Christ as our Lord is part of that Faith which justifieth How this differs from the abhorred doctrine of the Socinians you may see in the Aphorisms of Justification What Christ doth for us upon our Acceptance Covenanting with Christ is an essential part of our actual Conversion and of our Christianity Next Christ delivereth himself to the sinner and he delivereth himself up to Christ. Lastly The believer persevereth in this Covenant and all the forementioned grounds of it to the death Heb. 10.29 Matth. 24.13 Revel 2.26 27. 3.11 12. John 15.4 5 6. 8.31 15.9 Col. â— 23 Rom. 11.22 § 6. The Application of this Description by way of Examination Whether thy Infant Baptism will serve or no I am sure thy Infant Covenant will not now serve thy turne But thou must Actually enter Covenant in thy own person John 15.4 5 6. Matth 24.13 Heb. 10.38 39. * I speak not this to the dark and clouded Christian who cannot discern â—hat which is indeed within him Deut. 32.29 § 7. Why called People of God 1 By Election 2 Special Redemption 3 Likeness to him 1 Pet. 1.16 4 Mutual Love 5 Mutual Covenanting 6 Neer Relations 7 Future Cohabitation ☜ §. 1. Confirmation from other Scriptures The Truth confirmed from other Scriptures 1 Affirming the Saints to have been predestinate to this glory Isa. 14.24 2 That it is procured for them by the blood of Christ. Paul Hobson * I confesse the later is the more proper expression and oftner used in the Scriptures Exod. 23.22 Psal. 11.5 Psal. 5.5 Isa. 63.10 Lam. 2.5 Paul Hobson Iâ—a 53.11 § 3. 3 It is promised to them § 4. 4 The means and motions towards it do prove that there is such an end * Mr. Burroughs thinks this is meant of the violence of persecution but Lukes phrase coâ—â—uteth that § 5. 5 So do the beginnings fâ—â—â—tasts earnests and seals 2 Cor. 1.22 5.5 §. 6. 6 Some have entered it already § 1. ☜ a I mean not an absolute necessity as if what is said were not convincing b I believe Mr. Eliot in New England will have more comfort in his work for those Indians then we in England in our controversies and contentions about inferiour things c By Testimony I mean not the cure of the understandings disability for that 's necessary either by common grace to work a common Faith or by speciall grace for speciall Faith Doct. Presion on Attributes pag. 57. d I mean it is now to us the onely ordinary sufficient means of revealing Christ. Religio 〈◊〉 Chiâ—â—â—â— pâ—r Apostâ—los tradiâ—a Scripta est super scripta Prophetarum Apostolorum fundata Dr. Sutlive Contra Bellarm. de Monach pag. 11. See Dr Jackson of Saving Faith Sect. 2. cap. 2. pag. 143. c. See this more fully in Dr. Preston on the Attributes pag. 61 62 63 64. Yet we acknowledg it belongs to the Church first To be a Witness and Keeper of the Scriptures secondly To judg and discern betwixt Scriptures which are true and genuine and which are false and supposititious or Apocryphal thirdly To divulge and preach the Scriptures fourthly To expound and interpret them Dr. Whitaker De Sacra scriptura Q. 3. contr 1. cap. 2. pag. 203 204. * I would fain know of any Papist why their Church believes the Scripture to be the Word of God If the Laiety must believe it upon the authority of the Church and this Church be the Pope and his Clergy then it followeth that the Pope and Clergy believe it on their Authority As Paraeus in Thâ—mat Seculari xv Et quia Papa solus vel cum praelatis est Ecclesia ideo Papa praelati Scripturis credunt propler seipsos lâ—icos voluit crâ—dere Scripturis propter Papam praelatos a Sicut in Poloniá ubi non solum preces recitant â—ala criminosa contra Christianos corum magistratus continentes sedetiam aâ—dacter sâ—â—e on â—â— christianorum metu imprimunt quaecunque volunt ut testatur Buxtorsius Synagogae Judaicae c. 5 p 170. 1 Pet. 3.15 b As Graserus when he saw his legs begin to swell with a Dropsie said Euge Deo sit laus gloria quod jam mea instet liberatio horula gratissima Melch. Adam in vita Graseri § 2. Impias argumentationes si ratio refutare non possit fides irridere debet quae ratiocinationes evertit in captivitatem redigit omnem intellectum in Christi obsequium August * Though 〈◊〉 extend 〈…〉 far as 〈…〉 a Sequor te non quâ— duâ—is sed quo trahis inquit Scaliger ad Câ—rdanum in Exercit * He that doubts of this let him see Dr. Jackson of Saving Faith pag. 146.147 And Mr Pinkes Sermons of the Sincerity of Love to Christ * Articulus 6. fidei Judaicae sic se habet Credo perfectâ fide quod omne quodcunque prophetae docuerunt locuti fuerunt veritas sincera sit Oâ—tvus autem sic Credo perfecta fide quod lex tota perinde ut ea bodierno tempore in manibus nostris est it a per Deum ipsummet Mosi tradita sit vid. Buxtorf Synagogae Judaicae cap. 1. pag. 4.5 § 1. § 2. The word Foundation being a Metaphor is to be banished dispute till first explained a Ad benè esse fidei perfectionem b Necessitate praecepti * Primario propter se Secundario propter aliud A facto ad jus ad licitum vel debitum non valet Argum. As Peter Gal. 2.11 12.13 § 1. 2 Tim. 3.16 * Donum Miraculorum linguarum dandarum fuisse extraordinarium et a solis Apostolis peculiari privelegio dato a Christo
4. punct 4. * That it is not properly any act of faith at all much less the Justifying Act to Believe that my sins are pardoned or that Christ dyed in a special sence for Me or that I am a Believer or that I shall be saved Besides what I have said in the Appendix to my Aphorisms of Justification I refer you for satisfaction to Judicious Mr Anth Wotton de Reconciliat Part. 1. Lib. 2. Cap. 15. N. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Pag. 87 88 89 90 c. * I use the word Evidence all along in the vulgar sence as the same with Signs and not in the proper sence as the Schools do * Therefore that saying of Cajetane is not so much to be valued as by some of our Divines it is Certitudine fidei quilibet scit certo se habere donum infusum fidei idque absque formidine alterius partis Except he take Certitudo fidei in a very large improper sence * Read Gataker Shadows without Substances pag. 83 84. * The distinction in the Schools used of Certitudo fidei Certitudo Evidentiae I deny not But that hath a quite different sence from this as it is used * Therefore I say not that our first Comfort much less our Justification is procured by the sight of Evidences But our Assurance is * Their common Error That Justifying faith is nothing else but a perswasion more or less of the Love of God to us is the Root of this and many more mistakes To Justifie us and to Assure us that we are Justified are quite different things and procured by different ways and at several times usually Vid. Aquin. ad 1. Sent. dist 17. art 1.2 3. q. 112. Scotum ad 3. Sent. dis 23. q. unicâ Bonavent 1. Sent. q. 17. Biel in 2. Sent. dist 27. q. 3. §. 5. * Yet I believe that their divines have some of them made the difference betwixt us and the Papists seem wider then it is as do these words of one of them Ex hoc unico articulo quantumvis minutus a plerisque reputari queat universus Papatus Lutheranismus dependet Martinus Eisengrenius initio Apolog. de Cert Salv. And so have some of our Divines on the other side as Luther in Gen. 41. Etiamsi nihil preterea peccatum esset in doctrina pontificia just as habemus causas cur ab ecclesia infideli nos sejungeremus §. 6. Hindrances of Examination 1. Satan Judg. 4.19 21. Judg. 16.21 §. 7. Read on thâ—s Subject Mr. Young his Books which handle it fully Luke 13.24 2 Cor. 13.5 2 Pet. 1.10 1 King 22.5 6 §. 8. * Or as Mr. Saltmarsh saith every man is bound to believe but no man to Question whether he believe or no. p. 92 93 And this Faith he saith is a being perswaded more or less of Christs love p. 94. So that by this Doctrine every man is bound to believe that Christ loveth him and not to question his belief If it were only Christs common love he might thus believe it but a special love to him is no where written §. 9. Hinderances which keep many that do Examine from attaining strong Assurance cause many to be deâ—ceived Mat. 19.20 §. 10. Some further Hinderances which keep some Christians without Assurance and Comfort Remedy §. 11. You sit poreing â— searching for pillers of hope within you be-bestow much pains to answer your own fears but the ready way to make the business clear is by going to Christ. Stand not so much upon this Question Whether you have believ'd in truth or no but put al out of doubt by a present faith The door is open enter live You may more easily build a new fabrick of comfort by 〈…〉 then repair your old dwâ—lling and clear all suits that are brought against your tenure Simonds Deserted Soul pag. 554. Flowings of Christs Blood c. pag. 95. §. 12. Mr Paul Bayne I think one of the holiest choicest men that ever England bred yet describeth the temper of his spirit thus I thank God in Christ sustentation I have but Su vâ—ties Spiritual I taste not any In his Letters §. 13. In watchfulness and dâ—ligence we sooner meet with comfort then in idle complaining Our Care therefore should be to get sound Evidence of a good estate then to keep those Evidences clear Dâ— Sibbs Preface to Souls Conflict As if a poor man should complain for want of money when a chest full stands by him and he may take what he wil Is it not better take it out then lie complaining for want §. 14. God wil keep the rich store of consistent and abiding comforts till the great day that when all the family shall come together he may pour out the fulness of his hidden treasures on them We are now in the morning of the day the feast is to come a breakefast must serve to stay the stomack till the King of Saints with all his friends sit down together Simonds Deserted Soul pag. 507. §. 15. So some think they are Gods people because they are of such a party or such a strict opinion and when they change their opinion they change their comfort Some that could have no comfort while they were among the Orthodox as soon as they have turned to such or such a Sect have comfort in abundance partly through Satans delusion and partly because they think their change in Opinion hath set them right with God and therefore they rejoyce So many Hypocrites whose Religion lieth only in their Opinions hâ—ve their Comfort also only there §. 16. §. 17. When men dally with sin and will be playing with snares and baits allow a secret liberty in the heart to sin conniving at many workings of it and not setting upon mortification with earnest endeavors though they be convinced yet they are not perswaded to arise with all their might against the Lords enemies but do his work negligently which is an accursed thing for this God casteth them upon sore straits Simonds Deserted Soul c. pag. 521.522 Some would have men after the committing of gross sin to be presently comfortable and believe without humbling themselves at all Indeed when we are once in Christ we ought not to question our state in him c. But yet a guilty conscience will be clamorous and full of Objections and God will not speak peace to it till it be humbled God will let his best children know what it is to be too bold with sin c. Dr Sibbs Souls Conflict Preface §. 18. See Dr Sibs Souls Conflict pag. 480 481. ☜ Souls Conflict pag. 480 481. Men experimentally feel that comfort in doing that which belongs unto them which before they longed for and went without Dr Sibbs Souls Conflict pag. 45. * Preface to Souls Conflict §. 19. Non est mirum si â—imenâ— Melancholici quia causam timoris continuo secum portant Anima enim estiâ—voluta cum caligine tenebrosa et
received as a Saviour Mediator Redeemer Reconciler Intercessor c. And all the precepts of Scripture being backed with so many promises and threatenings every one intended of God as a motive to us do imply as much If any think they should be distinguished as two several ends and Gods glory preferred so they separate them not asunder I contend not SECT X. 5. IN the Definition I call a Christians Happiness the end of his Course thereby meaning as Paul 2 Tim. 4.7 the whole scope of his life For as Salvation may and must be our end so not onely the end of our faith though that principally but of all our actions for as whatsoever we do must be done to the glory of God whether eating drinking c. so must they all be done to our Salvation That we may beleeve for Salvation some will grant who yet deny that we may do or obey for it I would it were well understood for the clearing of many controversies what the Scripture usually means by Faith Doubtless the Gospel takes it not so strictly as Philosophers do but in a larger sence for our obedience to all Gospel precepts To beleeve in his name and to receive him are all one but we must receive him as King as well as Saviour therefore beleeving doth not produce subjection as a fruit but contain it as an essential part except we say that Faith receives Christ as a Saviour first and so justifies before it take him for King as some think which is a maimed unsound and no Scripture faith I doubt not but the Soul more sensibly looks at Salvation from Christ then Government by him in the first work yet whatever precedaneous act there may be it never conceives of Christ to Justification nor knows him with the knowledg which is eternal life till it conceive of him and know him for Lord and King Therefore there is not such a difference between Faith and Gospel-obedience or Works as some judg Obedience to the Gospel is put for Faith and Disobedience put for Unbelief usually in the New Testament 6. Lastly I make Happiness to consist in this end obtained for it is not the meer promise of it that immediately makes perfectly happy nor Christs meer purchase nor our meer seeking but the Apprehending and obtaining which sets the Crown on the Saints head when we can say of our work as Christ of the price payd It is finished and as Paul I have fought a good fight I have finished my course henceforth is layd up for me a crown of Salvation 2 Tim. 4.7 8. CHAP. III. What this Rest presupposeth SECT I. FOr the clearer understanding yet of the nature of this Rest you must know 1. There are some things necessarily presupposed to it 2. Some things really conteined in it 1. All these things are presupposed to this Rest. 1. A person in motion seeking Rest. SECT II. 2. AN End toward which he moveth for Rest Which End must be sufficient for his Rest else when 't is obtained it deceiveth him This can be onely God the chief good SECT III. 3. A Distance is presupposed from this End else there can be no motion towards it This sad distance is the woful case of all mankinde since the fall It was our God that we principally lost and were shut out of his gracious presence Though some talk of losing onely a temporal earthly felicity sure I am it was God we fell from and him we lost and since said to be without him in the world and there would have been no death but for sin and to enjoy God without death is neither an earthly nor temporal enjoyment Nay in all men at Age here is supposed not onely a distance from God but also a contrary motion For sin hath not overthrown our Being nor taken away our Motion but our well-being and the Rectitude of our motion When Christ comes with Regenerating Saving Grace he findes no man sitting still but all posting to eternal Ruine and making hast towards hell till by conviction he first bring them to a stand and by conversion turn first their hearts and then their lives sincerely to himself SECT IV. 4. HEre is presupposed a knowledg of the true ultimate End and its excellency for so the motion of the Rational Creature proceedeth An unknown end is no end it is a contradiction We cannot make that our end which we know not nor that our chief End which we know not or judg not to be the chief Good An unknown Good moves not to desire or endeavor Therefore where it is not truly known That God is this End and containeth all good in him there is no obtaining Rest. SECT V. 5. HEre is presupposed not onely a distance from this Rest but also the true knowledg of this distance If a man have lost his way and know it not he seeks not to return If he lose his gold and know it not he seeks it not Therefore they that never knew they were without God never yet enjoyed him and they that never knew they were naturally and actually in the way to Hell did never yet know the way to Heaven Nay there will not onely be a knowledg of this distance and lost estate but also affections answerable Can a man be brought to finde himself hard by the brink of hell and not tremble or to finde he hath lost his God and his Soul and not cry out I am undone Or can such a stupid Soul be so recovered This is the sad case of many thousands and the reason why so few obtain this Rest They will not be convinced or made sensible that they are in point of title distant from it and in point of practice contrary to it They have lost their God their Souls their Rest and do not know it nor will beleeve him that tells them so Who ever travelled towards a place which he thought he was at already or sought for that which he knew not he had lost The whole need not the Physician but they that are sick Mat. 9.12 SECT VI. 6. HEre is also supposed A superiour moving Cause and an influence there-from else should we all stand still and not move a step forward toward our Rest no more then the inferiour wheels in the Watch would stir if you take away the spring or the first mover This primum movens is God What hand God hath in evil Actions or whether he afford the like influence to their production I will not here trouble this Discourse and the Reader to dispute The case is clear in Good Actions If God move us not we cannot move Therefore is it a most necessary part of our Christian Wisdom to keep our subordination to God and dependance on him To be still in the path where he walks and in that way where his Spirit doth most usually move Take heed of being estranged or separated from God or of slacking your
sinner hear and hath learned by it this great lesson This is the reason why affliction doth so ordinarily concur in the work of Conversion These real Arguments which speak to the quick will force a hearing when the most convincing and powerful words are slighted When a sinner made his credit his God and God shall cast him into lowest disgrace or bring him that idolized his riches into a condition wherein they cannot help him or cause them to take wing and flie away or the rust to corrupt and the thief to steal his adored god in a night or an hour what a help is here to this work of Conviction When a man that made his pleasure his god whether ease or sports or mirth or company or gluttony or drunkenness or cloathing or buildings or whatsoever a raging eye a curious ear a raging appetite or a lustful heart could desire and God shall take these from him or give him their sting and curse with them and turn them all into Gall and Wormwood what a help is here to this Conviction When God shall cast a man into languishing sickness and inflict wounds and anguish on his heart and stir up against him his own Conscience and then as it were take the sinner by the hand and lead him to credit to riches to pleasure to company to sports or whatsoever was dearest to him and say Now try if these can help you can these heal thy wounded conscience can they now support thy tottering cotage can they keep thy departing soul in thy body or save thee from mine everlasting wrath will they prove to thee eternal pleasures or redeem thy Soul from the eternal flames cry aloud to them and see now whether these will be instead of God and his Christ unto thee O how this works now with the sinner When sense it self acknowledgeth the truth and even the flesh is convinced of the Creatures vanity and our very deceiver is undeceived Now he despiseth his former Idols and calleth them all but silly Comforters Wooden Earthen Dirty gods of a few days old and quickly perishing He speaketh as contemptuously of them as Baruck of the Pagan Idols or our Martyrs of the Papists god of Bread which was yesterday in the Oven and is to morrow on the Dunghil He chideth himself for his former folly and pitieth those that have no higher happiness O poor Craesus Caesar Alexander thinks he how small how short was your happiness Ah poor riches base honors woful pleasures sad mirth ignorant learning defiled dunghil counterfeit righteousness poor stuff to make a god of simple things to save souls Wo to them that have no better a portion no surer saviours nor greater comforts then these can yield in their last and great distress and need In their own place they are sweet and lovely but in the place of God how contemptible and abominable They that are accounted excellent and admirable within the bounds of their own calling should they step into the throne and usurp Soveraignty would soon in the eyes of all be vile and insufferable 4. The fourth thing that the Soul is convinced and sensible of is The Absolute Necessity the Full Sufficiency and Perfect Excellency of Jesus Christ. It is a great Question Whether all the forementioned works are not common and onely preparations unto this They are preparatives and yet not common Every lesser work is a preparative to the greater and all the first works of Grace to those that follow so Faith is a preparative to our continual living in Christ to our Justification and Glory There are indeed common Convictions and so there is also a common Believing But this as in the former terms explained is both a sanctifying and saving work I mean a saving act of a sanctified Soul excited by the Spirits special Grace That it precedes Justification contradicts not this for so doth Faith it â—elf too Nor that it precedes Faith is any thing against it for I have shewed before that it is a part of Faith in the large sense and in the strict sense taken Faith is not the first gracious act much less that act of fiducial recumbency which is commonly taken for the justifying act Though indeed it is no one single act but many that are the condition of Justification This Conviction is not by meer Argumentation as a man is convinced of the verity of some inconcerning consequence by dispute but also by the sense of our desperate misery as a man in famine of the necessity of food or a man that hath read or heard his sentence of condemnation is convinced of the absolute necessity of pardon or as a man that lies in prison for debt is convinced of the necessity of a surety to discharge it Now the sinner findes himself in another case then ever he was before aware of he feels an insupportable burden upon him and sees there is none but Christ can take it off he perceives that he is under the wrath of God and that the Law proclaims him a Rebel and Out-law and none but Christ can make his peace he is as a man pursued by a Lyon that must perish if he finde not present sanctuary he feels the curse doth lie upon him and upon all he hath for his sake and Christ alone can make him blessed he is now brought to this Dilemma either he must have Christ to justifie him or be eternally condemned he must have Christ to save him or burn in Hell for ever he must have Christ to bring him again to God or be shut out of his presence everlastingly And now no wonder if he cry as the Martyr Lambert None but Christ none but Christ. It is not Gold but Bread that will satisfie the hungry nor any thing but pardon that will comfort the condemned All things are now but dross and dung and what we accounted gain is now but loss in comparison of Christ. For as the sinner seeth his utter misery and the disability of himself and all things to relieve him so he doth perceive that there is no saving mercy out of Christ The truth of the threatning and tenor of both Covenants do put him out of all such hopes There is none found in Heaven or Earth that can open the sealed Book save the Lamb without his blood there is no Remission and without Remission there is no Salvation Could the sinner now make any shift without Christ or could any thing else supply his wants and save his soul then might Christ be disregarded But now he is convinced that there is no other name and the necessity is absolute 2. And as the Soul is thus convinced of the necessity of Christ so also of his full sufficiency He sees though the Creature cannot and himself cannot yet Christ can Though the fig-leaves of our own unrighteous righteousness are too short to cover our nakedness yet the Righteousness of Christ is large enough Ours is
sincerely shall be Justified and Saved there is requisite in us 1. A Certainty of Knowledg That such a Proposition is written in Scripture 2. A Certainty of Assent or Faith That this Scripture is the Word of God and True Also in respect of the Minor Proposition But I do sincerely Believe or Love c. there is requisite 1. A Certainty of the Truth of our Faith in point of Being 2. And a Certainty of its Truth in point of Morality or Congruence with the Rule or its Right-being And then followeth Assurance which is the Certainty that the Conclusion Therefore I am Justified c. followeth necessarily upon the former Premises Here also you must carefully distinguish betwixt the several degrees of Assurance All Assurance is not of the highest degree It differs in strength according to the different degrees of Apprehension in all the forementioned Points of Certainty which are necessary thereunto He that can truly raise the foresaid Conclusion That he is Justified c. from the Premises hath some degree of Assurance though he do it with much weakness and staggering and doubting The weakness of our Assurance in any one point of the premises will accordingly weaken our Assurance in the Conclusion Some when they speak of Certainty of Salvation do mean only such a Certainty as excludeth all doubting and think nothing else can be called Certainty but this high degree Perhaps some Papists mean this when they deny a Certainty Some also maintain That Saint Paul's Plerophory or full Assurance is this Highest degree of Assurance and that some Christians do in this life attain to it But Paul calls it Full Assurance in comparison of lower degrees and not because it is perfect For if Assurance be perfect then also our Certainty of Knowledg Faith and Sense in the â—â—â—mises must be perfect And if some Grace perfect why not all and so we turn Novatians Catharists Perfectionists Perhaps in some their Certainty may be so great that it may overcome all sensible doubting or sensible stirrings of Unbelief by reason of the sweet and powerful Acts and Effects of that Certainty And yet it doth not overcome all Unbelief and Uncertainty so as to expel or nullifie them but a certain measure of them remaineth still Even as when you would heat cold water by the mixture of hot you may pour in the hot so long till no coldness is felt and yet the water may be far from the highest degree of heat So faith may suppress the sensible stirrings of unbelief and Certainty prevail against all the trouble of uncertainty and yet be far from the highest degree So that by this which is said you may Answer the Question What Certainty is to be attained in this Life and what Certainty it is that we press men to labour for and expect Furthermore you must be sure to distinguish betwixt Assurance it self and the Joy and Strength and other sweet Effects which follow Assurance or which immediately accompany it It is possible that there may be Assurance and yet no comfort or little There are many unskilful but self-conceited Disputers of late fitter to manage a club then an Argument who tell us That it must be the Spirit that must Assure us of our Salvation and not our Marks and Evidences of Grace That our comfort must not be taken from any thing in our selves That our Justification must be immediately believed and not proved by our Signs or Sanctification c. Of these in order 1. It is as wise a Question to ask Whether our Assurance come from the Spirit or our Evidences or our Faith c as to ask whether it be our meat or our stomack or our teeth or our hands that feed us Or whether it be our Eye-sight or the Sun-light by which we see things They are distinct Causes all necessary to the producing of the same Effect So that by what hath bin said you may discern That the Spirit and Knowledg and Faith and Scripture inward Holines and Reason and inward Sense or Conscience have all several parts and necessary uses in producing our Assurances which I will shew you distinctly 1. To the Spirit belong these particulars 1. He hath indited those Scriptures which contain the promise of our Pardon and Salvation 2. He giveth us the habit or power of Believing 3. He helpeth us also to Believe Actually That the Word is true and to receive Christ and the priviledges offered in the promise 4. He worketh in us those Graces and exciteth those Gracious Acts within us which are the Evidences or Marks of our interest pardon and Life He helpeth us to perform those Acts which God hath made to be the Condition of Pardon and Glory 5. He helpeth us to feel and discover these Acts in our selves 6. He helpeth us to compare them with the Rule and finding out their qualifications to Judg of their Sincerity and Acceptation with God 7. He helpeth our Reason to Conclude rightly of our State from our Acts. 8. He enliveneth and heighteneth our Apprehension in these particulars that our Assurance may accordingly be strong and lively 9. He exciteth our Joy and filleth with comfort when he pleaseth upon this Assurance None of all these could we perform well of our selves 2. The Part which the Scripture hath in this Work is 1. It affordeth us the Major Proposition That whosoever Believeth Sincerely shall be saved 2. It is the Rule by which our Acts must be tryed that we may Judg of their Moral Truth 3. The Part that Knowledg hath in it is to Know that the foresaid Proposition is written in Scripture 4. The Work of Faith is to Believe the Truth of that Scripture and to be the matter of one of our chief Evidences 5. Our Holiness and true Faith as they are Marks and Evidences are the very Medium of our Argument from which we Conclude 6. Our Conscience and internal Sense do acquaint us with both the Being and Qualifications of our inward Acts which are this Medium and which are called Marks 7. Our Reason or Discourse is Necessary to form the Argument and raise the Conclusion from the Premises and to compare our Acts with the Rule and Judg of their Sincerity c. So that you see our Assurance is not an Effect of any one single Cause alone And so neither meerly of Faith by Signs or by the Spirit From all this you may gather 1. What the Seal of the Spirit is to wit the Works or fruits of the Spirit in us 2. What the testimony of the Spirit is for if it be not some of the forementioned Acts I yet know it not 3. What the Testimony of Conscience is And if I be not mistaken the Testimony of the Spirit and the Testimony of Conscience are two concurrent Testimonies or Causes to produce one and the same Effect and to afford the Premises to the same Conclusion and then to raise our Joy thereupon So
it If in case of his bodily distress you must not bid him go and come again to morrow when you have it by you and he is in want Prov. 3.27 28. how much less may you delay the succor of his Soul If once death snatch him away he is then out of the reach of your Charity SECT VI. 3. LEt thy Exhortation proceed from Compassion and Love and let the manner of it clearly shew the person thou dealest with that it hence proceedeth It is not jeering or scorning or reproaching a man for his faults that is a likely way to work his reformation Nor is it the right way to convert him to God to rail at him and vilifie him with words of disgrace Men will take them for their enemies that thus deal with them And the words of an enemy are little perswading Lay by your Passion therefore and take up compassion and go to poor sinners with tears in your eyes that they may see you indeed believe them to be miserable and that you do unfeignedly pity their case Deal with them with earnest humble intreatings Let them see that your very bowels do yearn over them and that it is the very desire of your hearts to do them good Let them perceive that you have no other end but the procuring of their everlasting Happiness and that it is your sense of their danger and your love to their Souls that forceth you to speak even because you know the terrors of the Lord and for fear lest you should see them in eternal torments Say to them Why friend you know it is no advantage of my own that I seek The way to please you and to keep your friendship were to sooth you in your way or to speak well of you or to let you alone but Love will not suffer me to see you perish and be silent I seek nothing at your hands but that which is necessary to your own happiness It is your self that will have the gain and comfort if you come in to Christ c. If men should thus go to every ignorant wicked neighbor they have and thus deal with them Oh what blessed fruits should we quickly see I am ashamed to hear some lazy hypocritical wretches to revile their poor ignorant neighbors and separate from their company and communion and proudly to judg them unfit for their society before ever they once tryed with them this compassionate Exhortation Oh you little know what a prevailing course this were like to prove and how few of the vilest drunkards or swearers would prove so obstinate as wholy to reject or despise the Exhortations of Love I know it must be God that must change mens hearts But I know also that God worketh by means and when he meaneth to prevail with men he usually fitteth the means accordingly and stirreth up men to plead with them in a prevailing way and so setteth in with his grace and maketh it successful Certainly those that have tryed can tell you by experience that there is no way so prevailing with men as the way of Compassion and Love So much of these as they discern in your Exhortation usually so much doth it succeed with their hearts And therefore I beseech those that are faithful to practise this course SECT VII 4. ANother Direction I would give you is this Do it with all possible plainness and faithfulness Do not dawb with men and hide from them their misery or danger or any part of it Do not make their sins less then they are nor speak of them in an extenuating language Do not encourage them in a false hope or faith no more then you would discourage the sound hopes of the righteous If you see his case dangerous tell him plainly of it Neighbor I am afraid God hath not yet renewed your Soul and that it is yet a stranger to the great work of Regeneration and Sanctification I doubt you are not yet recovered from the power of Satan to God nor brought out of the state of wrath which you were born in and have lived in I doubt you have not chosen Christ above all nor set your heart upon him nor unfeignedly taken him for your Soveraign Lord. If you had sure you durst not so easily disobey him you could not so neglect him and his worship in your family and in publique you could not so eagerly follow the world and talk of almost nothing but the things of this world while Christ is seldom mentioned or sought after by you If you were in Christ you would be a new Creature old things would be passed away and all things would become new you would have new thoughts and new talk and new company and new endeavors and a new conversation Certainly without these you can never be saved You may think otherwise and hope better as long as you will but your hopes will all deceive you and perish with you Alas it is not as you will nor as I will who shall be saved but it is as God will and God hath told us That without holiness none shall see him and except we be born again we cannot enter into his Kingdom and that all that would not have Christ raign over them shall be brought forth and destroyed before him Oh therefore look to your state in time Thus must you deal roundly and faithfully with men if ever you intend to do them good It is not hovering at a distance in a general discourse that will serve the turn It is not in curing mens Souls as in curing their bodies where they must not know their danger lest it sadden them and hinder the cure They are here agents in their own cure and if they know not their misery they will never bewail it nor know how much need they have of a Saviour If they know not the worst they will not labour to prevent it but will sit still or loiter till they drop into perdition and will trifle out their time in delays till it be too late And therefore speak to men as Christ to the Pharisees till they knew that he meant them Deal plainly or you do but deceive and destroy them SECT VIII 5. ANd as you must do it Plainly so also Seriously Zealously and Effectually The exceeding stupidity and deadness of mens hearts is such that no other dealing will ordinarily work You must call loud to awake a man in a Swoun or Lethargy If you speak to the common sort of men of the evil of their sin of their need of Christ of the danger of their Souls and of the necessity of Regeneration they will wearily and unwillingly give you the hearing and put off all with a sigh or a few good wishes and say God forgive us we are all sinners and there 's an end If ever you will do them good therefore you must sharpen your exhortation and set it home and follow it with their hearts till you have rouzed them up and made
sub Evangelii nascentis initia barbaros homines armavit qui lâ—gibus judicijs omni politiae bellum ex professo indicerent Sed ab Evangelio recedere ut seditionibus obvià m catur nimis perversum est Calvin de Scandalis e Quod multos videmus hoc vel illa errore captos a rectâ viâ abduci nunquam nisi justâ Dei vindictâ accidit Verè Augustinus superbiam nominat Haereseâ—â—n omnium matrem Nullus enim unquam extitit erroris Magister quem non prava ambitio in suum praecipitiuÌ„ extulerit Scimus Deum parvulis fidum esse doctorem Proinde qui arrogantia turgent eos non mirum est ab hac Schola pulsos vagis suis speculationibus sursum deorsum raptari Quotquot hác nostra aetate a purâ Evangelii doctrina proâ—apsi falsorum dogmatum â—aeperunt esse Authâ—res reperiemus onmes superbiae morbo correptos ingenu tormenta sibi aliis fabricass Calvin de scandalis f Altera pestis est opinionum varietas dissentio in ecclesia Quae ut his temporibus Jesuitarum impulsu valdè incruduit ita tamen nâ—que nova vobis neque mira videri debet Vt enim palatorum sic judiciorum magna est varietas Et ut multae facies hominum sic corda diversa ut Hieron adv Pelag. l. 3. Dr. Humfredus Jesuitis part 2 in Epistola Dedicatoria Multos subvertunt abducentes ipsos praetextu cognitionis ab eo qui universa cre vit c. Velut qui altius quid ac majus habeant quod ostendant Deo c. Probabiliter quidem inducentes per verborum artific um simplices ad quaerendi modum Verum improbè perdentes ipsos in eo quod maledâ—cam impiam ipsorum mentem efficiunt c. Nam error per scipsum non ostenditur ut ne denudatus deprehendatur sed amiculo splendido callidè ornatus ut etiam ipsa vâ—ritate veriorem seipsum exhibere videatur imperitioribus per externam apparentiam Irenaeus advers haeres pag. 1. Proaem Diligâ—nter insistendum nequid ex poste quae grassatur ex vicinia fide libus curae nostrae commissis câ—nvâ—ctu colloquâ—is quotidianis quae vitari non possunt disceptationibus afflâ—tur Serpit enim facile contagio nisi malo obvià m iretur falsorum doctorum asius haereticorum consortium infiâ—mâ—â—um fidem proculdubio vitiarent Evangelii ergo praecones sese exerceant in refutatione pontificiorum Anabaptistaruâ— Socimanorum c. ab illis enim magnopâ—re mâ—tuâ—ndum tum quia â—llâ—s permixti â—â—vimus tum quia eorum plerique miro quodam studio ardent doctrinae suae disseminandae Amyraldus de pace inter Evangelicos constituend pag 246. Ammian Marcel in vitâ Juliani * Oâ— quam beati erunt in illo die Judicii Magistratus illi qui subditos non modo honestis legibus judiciis disciplinâ praeclarè rexerunt sed etiam omnium maximè in hoc studium incubuâ—runt ut incorrupta Religio apud suos exculta sit doctrina caelestis per â—idos â—ruditos constantes Ministros sit tradita ingens hominum multitudo per spiâ—ritum verbum renata in conspectum Christi prodeat quae tali Magiâ—stratui aeternas gratias agat E contra quam infoelices qui c. Religionem per varias corruptâ—as pâ—ssâ— sunt adulterari Wigandus in Epist. ante Com. in Proph. John 13 8. 9 10 12 14. Matth. 5.44 John 13.35 14.27 Col 3.11 Matth. 5.9 Luke 8.30 § 15. 7 From our participation of the sufferings of our Brethren Quibus est communis Amor his idem dolor est commune malum Nazianz. Camer in vit Melancth See Neh. 1.4 and 2.3 Psal. 137. Isai. 60.11 12 13 14. 60.21 22. 66.10 11. § 16. 8 From all our own personal sufferings Rom 8.19 20 21 22. Revel 21.3 4. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pares Angelis Haymo expoundeth this too boldly and I think falsly Quod viri in suo sexu resurgent foeminae in sexu muliebri Erunt habentes membra genitalia non autem voluntatem coeundi Hom. in Dominic 18. in Matth. 22. I see no ground to conceit such a difference of Sex hereafter Mr. Herbert § 17. 9 From all the labor and trouble of Duties The Work of the Ministry § 18. 10 From all those troublesome Affections which necessarily accompany our absence from God § 19. 9 It will be an Everlasting Rest. * Transu hora transit poena neâ— accedunt sibi sâ—d cedunt potius succedum Non sic gloria non sic remuneratio non sic merces ipsa laboris nescit Vicissitudinem nescit finem manet tota simul manet in aeternum Sufficit nunc cuique diei malitia sua nec laborem suum poterit reservare sequenti Sed omnium merces laborum in una illa die reddetur cui alter a non succedit Guttatim poena bibitur liquando sumitur per minutias transit Sed in remuneratione torrens est voluptath fluminis impetus torrens inundans laetitiae flumen gloriae flumen pacis Flumen plane est sed quod affluat non quod fluat vel es fluat Flumen vocatur non quod transeat vel pertranseat sed quod abundet Nobis non favum mellis purissimum vero liquidissimum mel reposuit Deus ipsam laetitiam gloriam pacem amaenitatem faelicitotem jucunditatem exultationem the saurizavit nobis Deus noster haec omnia unum ut sit participatio Hierusalem in idipsum hoc unum idipsum non nisi Ipse erit enim Deus omnia iâ— omnibus Haec merces haec corona nostra hoc bravium nostrum ad quod utique sic curramus uâ— comprehendamus Bernard Serm. 145. de temp Revel 3.12 Gal. 6.8 Luke 16.26 § 20. § 1. Description 2 Tim. 2.26 Luke 12.32 See John 17.2 a clear place * That faith is properly called the Condition of the Covenant and Justifieth as a Condition Besides what I have said in my Aphorisms of Justification I refer you to Mr. Wotton de Reconcil part 1. l. 2. c. 19. where you have the attestation of our chief Divines John 6.39 * That faith is properly called the Condition of the Covenant and Justifieth as a Condition Besides what I have said in my Aphorisms of Justification I refer you to Mr. Wotton de Reconcil part 1. l. 2. c. 19. where you have the attestation of our chief Divines John 6.39 § 2. 1 Description They that would see this work of God on the soul handled most exactly Judiciously scholastically and briefly let them read Mr. Thomas Parkers excellent Theses de Traductione peccaetoris ad vitam If you cannot get the book it is in the end of Ames against Grevincho but maimed of 15 Theses left out The 1. description explained 1 They are externally called Rom. 10.14 What the external call is a Quicquid illud est quod extrinsecùs