away from grace and thus some have been too bold with me in this particular And when I have proved the law to be uselesse unto us in many particulars they have concluded that I did totally deny the use of the Law which hath been the ground of this groundlesse aspersion unto which I think it needlesse to give any larger answer Concerning the 3. other branches in this Article to wit that it is no rule for a Christian to walk by nor to examine his life by and that Christians are freee from the mandatory power of it I can either affirm or deny them all I doe acknowledge that in a sence we may be said to be under the rule and power of the Law and in a sence it is true that we are not under the rule and power of it which if it be well weighed by the ballance of right reason whether these who have charged me with this not stateing the question as I did when I delivered my judgment and suppressing my meaning in their Article may be justified in this action I leave it to any man truly rationall and unprejudiced concerning me yea to themselves when God shall awaken their consciences to judge Wherefore that the truth of God and my meaning may be more evident I shall present to the view of the Reader the distinctions which I made use of in the handling of this controversie The first distinction is this that the Law may be considered as delivered in Sinai Sion Gal. 4.24 As the covenant of Sinai or as a part of the covenant of Sion Isa 2.3 For out of Zion shall goe forth the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem 2ly As 1. delivered by the hand of Moses 2. by the hand of Christ And though this distinction hath beene branded by some of the learned Teachers of our times in their Pulpits and Presses with the infamous mark of Antinomianisme yet I doe not doubt but that I shall easily prove it to be a Scripture distinction This is the meaning of that speech of John Joh. 1.17 The law was given by Moses but grace truth came by Jesus Christ By Moses that is by the hand of Moses As it is plain by Lev. 26.46 These are the laws which the Lord made between him and the Children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses So grace and truth is given by the hand of Jesus Christ Christ is stiled the Mediator of the better Covenant Heb. 8.6 And as he is the Mediator of this better Covenant he doth give the law to the Saints by his hand in this Covenant This distinction is frequently used by Zanchius 4. Tom. operum delege Translata est lex a Mose ad Christum e manu Mosis in manum Christi veri mediatoris sicut et sacerdotium ab Aarone ad Christum verum aeternumque Pontificem translatum est Translato autem sacerdotio necesse est inquit Apostolus ut et legis translatio fiat The law saith hee is translated from Moses to Christ out of the hand of Moses into the hand of Christ the true Mediator as the Priest-hood is translated from Aaron to Christ the true and eternall high Priest For the Priest-hood being changed it is needfull saith the Apostle that there be a change of the Law And in the same booke he hath afterward these words Dicimus legem quatenus fuit in manu Mosis abrogatam jam esse per Christum fidelibus sed quatenus jam est in manu Christi confirmatam esse constabilitam We say that the Law as it was in the hand of Moses is now abrogated to believers by Christ but as it is in the hand of Christ it is confirmed and established Brethren give mee an answer in the spirit of love and meekenesse to this question why should you censure me to be an Antinomian for makeing use of this distinction seeing ye account Zanchius to be a sound and orthodox writer who maintaineth the same thing Having premised these distinctions I shall answer plainly to these severall branches and not be affraid to owne what I have delivered because I am still confident that it is the truth of Christ 1. The law as delivered by Moses is not the rule by which a believing Christian doth walk but as it is delivered unto him in the covenant of grace by the hand of the Lord Jesus I shall prove this by this argument A covenant of works is not the rule by which a believing Christian doth walk The law as delivered in Sinai by the hand of Moses is a Covenant of works Therefore the law as delivered in Sinai by the hand of Moses is not a rule by which a believing Christian doth walk I doe suppose that you will not deny the major proposition You will not say that a covenant of workes is the rule of a Christian for then a Christian should worke that hee might live whereas a true Christian doth work because he doth live and hath life without works If ye shall deny the minor or second proposition I shall prove it by these reasons which are drawn from Scripture Reas 1. The Apostle doth frequently oppose the righteousnesse of the law and the law to the righteousnesse of grace the covenant of grace which hee could not doe if the law were a covenant of grace 1. Hee opposeth the righteousnesse of the Law and Gospel Rom. 10.5.6 Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the Law that the man which doth those things shall live by them But the Gospel-righteousnesse is the righteousnesse of faith vers 6. Observe the Apostles words well he doth not say that the Law requireth doing and working for justification according to the false glosses and interpretations of the Pharisees as some Writers of late with the Papists of old have asserted But Moses describeth the righteousnesse of the law so 2 ly He opposeth the law and the Covenant of grace Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you because ye are not under the law but under grace What sence can you make of these words if ye shall assert the law to be a covenant of grace for then this will be the meaning of the words Sinne shall not have dominion over you because ye are not under the law or covenant of grace but under grace Reas 2. The Apostle doth affirme that no flesh shall be justified by the law because by the law is the knowledge of sinne Rom. 3.20 But if the law were a covenant of grace a man might be justified by it And therefore I conclude that it is not a covenant of grace Reas 3. The Apostle affirmeth that if righteousnessE come by the law then Christ is dead in vaine And shall wee say that that is the covenant of grace by which righteousnesse cannot come unto us Reas 4. The Apostle plainly saith that the law is not of faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3.12
Fom whence I frame my argument thus That covenant which requireth works and not faith for justification is not a covenant of grace but the law requireth workes and not faith for justification And therefore the law is not a covenant of grace But that I may not be mistaken in what I have here spoken I shall lay downe such cautions which were laid downe when I handled the point more largely First Though I deny the law to be a rule as it was delivered in the letter upon Mount Sinai yet I doe not deny the matter substance of it in the spirit as it is delivered unto us by the mighty Counsellor and great Law-giver our Lord Jesus Isa 33.22 I doe subscribe unto that as a truth which is delivered by Zanchius That this difference of divine lawes is not so much from the various substance of the lawes or diversity of times as from the various reasons with which they were promulgated by God and exhibited to the Church Differentia haec legum divinarum non tam a variâ legum substantiâ temporumve diversitate quam a variis rationibus quibus illae fuerunt a Deo promulgatae atque exhibitae ecclesiae I doe acknowledge with Paul that in the minde I my selfe doe serve the law of God not only by believing in the grace of God through Christ for justification but by loving God and my brother by a sanctifying work of the spirit of grace in mee I confesse that the law is olde for the matter substance of it as it commandeth love to God and our neighbour and yet it is new in us and to us as it is delivered in the covenant of the Gospel According to that of John A new Commandement to wit of love I write unto you which is true in him and in you 1 John 2.8 2 ly I doe not deny but that this law written or preached may be called the externall rule of the Spirit as the law of the Spirit in us is the internall and powerfull rule And that I may not now be censured as I have formerly been by some when I have spoken unto them concerning the law of the Spirit I shal speak in the words of another whom you acknowledg to be sound in the faith not in my own The law of the Spirit in the substance of it is nothing else but the will of God but imprinted in vivified hearts by the Spirit of God by which wee doe not only truly know God and piety and equity but we are so moved to feare him to trust in him to love him to worship and adore him and to love and serve our neighbour and to mortifie our selves and to beare valiantly all persecutions for God and to lead a life in Christ that we willingly run to the doing of these things Ad substantiam autem quod attinet lex ista spiritus nihil aliud est quam voluntas Dei sed cordibus per spiritum sanctum vivifiatis impressa quâ non solum novimus vere Deum pietatemque aequitatem sed etiam ad eum timendum ei fidendum eum amandum colendum adorandum ad proximum item diligendum eique inserviendum denique ad nostri mortificationem ad mala omnia propter Deum fortiter perferenda et ad vitam tantum in Christo traducendam ita impellimur ut ultró accurramus Zanc. 3ly I doe grant that Moses did acquaint the people with Jesus Christ after he had delivered the law of workes unto them which is evident by that passage in Deut. 18. when the people being terrified at the giving of the Law desired that they might heare the voyce of the Lord no more God doth affirme in the 17. vers that they had spoken well and in the 18. verse doth give them a promise of Christ I will raise them up a Prophet from among their Brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth and hee shall speak unto them all that I shall command him c. which is sufficient to wipe away the dirt and filth which is throwne upon mee by some scurrilous Pamphleters with whose names I wil not burthē the page who have asserted that I denyed that there was any Gospel or covenant of grace in the times of the old Testament and that men were then saved by the covenant of works Though I can in truth professe that by my best remembrance at the present I cannot remember that ever I was tempted to think any such thing since I received any spirituall light for the knowledge of the Gospel And thus much in answer to the second branch of this Article I shall not need to speake much to the third it being easie for any rationall man to gather my meaning of it from what hath been delivered in opening of my mind concerning the second branch The law in the new Covenant is that by which a Christian doth examine his life he liveth but under one Covenant for justification sanctification when he liveth as a spiritual man ought to live He hath not received the spirit of bondage again to feare but the spirit of adoption by which he cryeth Abba father Rom. 8.15 But if hee should examine his life by the law as delivered in Sinai he would fear again for that law worketh fear and horror in those who are under it Suppose a man should command his sonne and his slave the same thing for substance and withall should informe his son that if hee should not obey his command hee should displease a loving father but if the slave should not obey his command hee should lose his life by his disobedience would not any man affirm that these two did examine themselves by the same rule of their obedience Thus it is in the point in hand God commandeth love in the first Covenant with threatnings of death and condemnation for disobedience and in the second Covenant we are assured that wee are passed from death to life and shall not come into condemnation and that nothing shall separate us from the love of our Father in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. Yet this is made known unto us that though by sin we shall not totally fall from grace and fall under condemnation yet we may offend our Father and grieve his holy Spirit by which we are sealed unto the day of redemption Whether these two have the same rule given unto them for the examination of their lives I will leave it to those who have spirituall eyes in their heads to judge To whom it will be evident that Saints doe not fall from grace to the law when they examin themselves but they examin themselves how they keep the Commandements of the new Covenant which are summed up in few words by the Apostle John to wit to believe in the name of the Lord Jesus and to love one another as he gave us Commandement I shall now fall upon the fourth branch of this Article and shall desire my Reader to
cary in his eye those distinctions and cautions which I have already laid down while we shall more largely prove that a believer is not under the mandatory power of the law of the olde Covenant but under the mandatory power of the law in the new Covenant of grace It is impossible that a believing Christian should live under the Covenant of grace as it is delivered unto us in the clear light of the Spirit and should at the same time be under the mandatory power of the law as it was delivered in Sinai It is impossible that a man should in the Spirit doe good works freely because hee is justified and yet doe good works that he may be justified But the law of Sinai doth command me to work that I may live and be justified and in the covenant of grace I am informed that I am freely justified therefore it is impossible that I should be under grace and under the mandatory power of the law as delivered in Sinai at the same time Again it is impossible that I should do good works because I see my self free from condemnation and doe good works for feare of condemnation But the law commandeth me to doe good works for feare of condemnation the Gospel because I am free from condemnation and therfore it is impossible that I should be under the Covenant of grace in spirit and under the mandatory power of the law as delivered in Sinai I shall draw the strength of these arguments into a few words Gods justified children are not under the commands of a Covenant of works But the commands of the law as delivered in Sinai are the commands of a Covenant of works Therfore they are not under the commands of the law as delivered in Sinai 2ly It is a contradiction to say that a man is under the commands of the law of Sinai but 〈◊〉 under it for justification or condemnation For the Law as it was there delivered doth 〈◊〉 command without promises of life to the 〈◊〉 and threatning of death to the disobedient 2 Cor. 3. for that it ceaseth to be the law 〈…〉 delivered if you take from it the proâ—â—â—â— threatnings 3ly Lawes are distinguished by their rewâ—â—â— and penalties And though the same 〈…〉 commanded in severall laws yet wee say 〈◊〉 are severall lawes because they have severall rewards penalties annexed to them Suppose the punishment of death which is due to thieves should be changed into the penalty of restoring of what he hath stollen foure-fold or working in a Gallyseven years We should say that the olde law is repealed and that there is a new law made concerning theft and hee that after all the Gospel-light which hath broken forth is not able to see a change of the rewards and penalties of the law of Sion from those of Sinai doth for his wilfull and affected ignorance deserve to be more blinded 4 ly The Covenant of which the Prophet prophesied Jer. 31.31 is new in reference to the commands of holinesse which appeareth by Heb. 8.10 And therefore Christians are not under the commands of the old covenant of Sinai as they were there delivered but under all Commandements as delivered in the new covenant of Sion Musculus and Zanchius doe both make use of this place for the proving of this point 5ly A believing Christian is commanded to doe all good workes in faith of his free justification But the law doth not command him to doe good workes in faith of his free justification And therefore a believing Christian is not commanded to do good workes by the law I suppose that the first proposition will passe without an exception For the second it is evident by Gal. 3.12 The law is not of faith but the man that doth them shall live in them 6 ly The Apostle plainly saith Gal. 3.18 That if wee be led of the Spirit wee are not under the law But if wee are under the mandatory power of the law as delivered in Sinai we are under it according to that of the Apostle Rom. 3.19 Wee know that whatsoever the law saith it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God Ye cannot put a man under the commanding power of the law as delivered in Sinai but ye must put him under the commanding power Reas 7. The approved distinction betweene legall and evangelicall obedience in point of sanctification will be sound unsound For all the obedience of the Saints which they yield unto God by their holy walking wil be by legal principles and not Evangelicall if we place them under the mandatory power of a covenant of works I hope by this time that the judicious and spirituall Reader doth begin to see that I am no enemy to the law by establishing it for justification by believing and sanctification by holy walking and that my expressions are justifiable by the Scripture of truth And if I am to be blamed for any thing it is because I have been so bold in these Anti-christian and Anti-scripturian dayes rather to keep close to Scripture-expressions than to tye my selfe up to the forme and methods of men in speaking of these covenants which I hope will further appeare by what shall be delivered in answer to the second article Sect. 2. The second thing which Mr. Gataker doth charge upon mee are these exclamations in the Pulpit Away with the law away with the law Is this such a strange and hereticall speech to one that professeth himselfe a Teacher in Israel that with all his learning and love hee cannot possibly make a favourable construction of it Might not love which thinketh no evill but beareth all things and hopeth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 have suggested this unto the spirit of a consciencious Christian that something which either preceded or followed it in my discourse had such an influence upon it to free it from the poyson and venome of false doctrine and heresie What an easie thing were it to gather many such speeches out of the bookes of Ancient and modern Writers which may sound as harsh to a tender eare as this doth and doe yet make a delightfull sound to the eare of Truth as they lye in their bookes To instance in a few Ambrose upon the 7. of the Romans hath these words Nec enim legis erit adulter sed Evangelij qui mortuà lege vinctus Evangelio post redit ad legem Mortua enim lex dicitur cum cessat ejus authoritas Hee is not an adulterer by the law but by the Gospel who being bound to the Gospel the law being dead doth return unto the law For the law is dead when its authority ceaseth And a little after this Mori legi Deo est vivere To dye to the Law is to live to God Luther upon the 5. chap. of the Galatians hath these words Habes pulcherimum et optimum librum omnium legum in corde tuo
Noneges ullo doctore hac in re tantum consule tuum proprium cor hoc satis abunde docebit te ita diligendum esse tuum proximum ut teipsum Thou hast the fairest and best booke of all lawes in thine owne heart thou needest no other teacher in this matter only take counsell of thine owne heart that will sufficiently teach thee that thou shouldst love thy neighbour asthy selfe And in the same booke upon the second Chapter Quod spectaculum valde jucundum est proponit producit legem velut furem aut latronem aliquem jam damnatum adjudicatum morti Pingit enim per Prosopopeiam legem captivam teneri cui jam manus pedes juncti sunt omnisque potestas adempta ita ut amplius non possit exercere tyrannidem suam hoc est non possit accusare et condemnare Et hac jucundissimâ dissimâ picturâ reddit eam contemptibilem in conscientîa ut credens in Christum jam ausit legi sanctâ quadam superbià insultare all hunc modum Ego sum peccator si quid potes contra me lex facito tantum abest ut credenti sit lex nunc formidabilis It is a pleasant sight to behold how he bringeth forth the law as a thiefe or a robber adjudged to death For he painteth forth the law by a Prosopopeia as a Captive whose hands and feet are bound and all its power taken away so that it cannot exercise its tyranny any more over us that is it cannot accuse and condemn And by this pleasant picture he maketh it contemptible in the conscience so that he that believeth in Christ doth now dare to insult over the law by an holy kind of pride after this manner I am a sinner if law thou canst doe any thing against mee doe it so far is the formidability of the law from a believer The like speech is that of Zanchius in his booke of the law of God Constat legem solis Judaeis datam fuisse non autem gentibus It is manifest that the law was given only to the Jewes and not to the Gentiles A parallell place to this we have in Musculus Legem Mosaicam literis comprehensam non inter Christianos duntaxaat qui ex Israele Christum filium dei ac salvatorem mundi credendo receperunt sed et inter Judaeos admodum de lege gloriantes reipsà abrogatam esse constat It is evident saith he that the law of Moses written with letters is abbrogated not among the Christians only who by faith have received the Sonne of God and Saviour of the world but among the Jewes who glory in the law I could likewise produce specches out of the Scripture which may sound harsh to some eares and may seeme to be very darke to some if they should be taken out of the places where they are set by the holy Spirit from which they receive light that they may be more easily and plainly understood by us But leaving this grant me liberty to prove by spirituall reason and Scripture that in some cases it may be lawfull for a Minister of the Gospel to make use of such an expression as this is Away with the Law c. Reas 1. If we speak of the law as it is faedus legale a legall Covenant so I speaking unto believing Christians may say Away with it Put not your selves under the Jewish Covenant The Apostle will justifie this expression by his owne Gal. 4.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cast out saith he the bond woman Will you know what he meaneth by the bond-woman he himselfe will informe you and tell you that it is the Covenant of Sinai vers 24. which expression is most harsh to compare the Law or Covenant of Sinai to a bond-woman and to command us to cast her out or else to say Away with the law Reas 2. When wee speake of the law in opposition to the Covenant of grace as the Apostle doth Heb. 8. so I may say Away with the old Covenant that God may glorifie himselfe by revealing the new Covenant of grace unto you will not the word of truth likewise hold me guiltlesse in this expression if we consider what is spoken in the last verse of that chapter where the Apostle saith that it waxeth old is ready to vanish away From which words Mr. Dickson doth draw this conclusion that in the times of the Prophet Jeremiah the legall or Levitical Covenant was neare to death and vanishing away and by consequent after the comming of Christ under whom all things are become new it is expired Temporibus Jeremiae Prophetae prope erat ut moreretur evanesceret faedus legale seu Leviticum et per consequens post adventum Christi sub quo nova facta sunt omnia expiravit If I thus speake of the law Is there any greater absurdity to say Away with it than to say that it is vanished away Reas 3. When justification is preached and an experienced servant of Christ knowing that men naturally seeke righteousnesse by the law and the works of the law it is necessary for the Ministers of the Gospel to perswade their hearers not to looke to that law for Justification but to the grace of God in Jesus Christ Paul speaking of Saints saith that they are dead to the law by the body of Christ Rom. 7.4 May not a man bid people to put away the law in point of justification and salvation as well as to informe them that they must be dead unto it that they may live unto Christ Luther hath many expressions higher than mine in this point and yet you doe not looke upon him as an Heretique Will not the Spirit of God teach us to be as favourable to the living as dead servants of Christ in our Censures will not grace teach us to be as loving to those who are present with us as to those who are absent from us I shall for the satisfaction of the unpreingaged Reader set downe a few of his speeches Paulus est hic haereticus omnium haereticissimus estque haeresis ejus inaudita quia dicit mortuum legi vivere Deo Psuedo-apostoli docebant nisi vixeris legi non vixeris Deo Paul is here the most hereticall of all Hereticks his heresie is un-heard of heresie because he saith that he who is dead to the Law doth live to God The false Apostles taught unlesse ye live to the Law ye cannot live to God And afterwards If thou wilt live to God it behooveth thee to dye altogether to the law Reason and humane wisdome cannot receive this and therefore it alwayes teacheth the contrary unto it Si vis vivere Deo oportet te omnino mori legi Hanc doctrinam ratio et sapientia humana non capit ideo perpetuo contrarium docet Againe he hath these words When sophisters doe apprehend that the Ceremoniall law is only abrogated doe thou believe that Paul and every Christian is abrogated to
from the naturall carnall or rationall principles of the first Adam but from the power of the Spirit of grace Secondly affirmatively he informeth us concerning the nature and originall of it it proceedeth from God and is bestowed upon the creature as a free gift It is not of our selves it is the gift of God Fourthly He shews that as it is by grace so it is not by works as it is by beleeving so it is not by working Not of works Fiftly He gives the reason why it is not by works Least any man should boast If a man could say that God hath justified and saved him for his endeavours labours paines or good workes then a man might boast When he meeteth with one that is without Christ he may say I have done this good worke and the other good worke for Christ I shall be saved and thou shalt be damned But the true childe of God if he meet with a reprobate he sees no cause to boast it is by the grace of God that he is saved when the other is damned Not by works least any man should boast It is the designe and intention of God in justifying a sinner by grace without works to keepe men from pride and boasting Man did fall from happinesse by pride there is no way to attaine happinesse but by humilitie and faith the true way to humilitie is by beleeving for beleeving empties the creature of all works and righteousnesse and shewes that he is nothing in himselfe and that all his treasure glory happinesse riches and perfection lies treasured and laid up in another Fides hominem vacuum Deo adducit ut Christi bonis impleatur Faith bringeth a man in a poore and beggerly condition to Christ that he may be enriched by Christ Lastly The Apostle declareth that though we are saved by faith without works yet wee shall not be unfruitfull in bringing forth good works Wee are the workmanship of God by a new creation And the end of our creation in Christ is this that being in him we may be active to love and good works First I shall endeavour to prove negatively that there is no justification by works And then shew how it is by grace and then how it is in a way of beleeving and so come to distinguish true faith which is given by the Spirit from the false faith of hypocrites and Libertines which floweth onely from a principle of humane wisdome and not from the powerfull operation of the Spirit of God At this present I shall observe this method First I will shew that we are not saved by works I meane by the works of the Law Then I shall shew that wee are not saved and justified by works which are the fruits of faith or done under the Covenant of grace Thirdly I shall shew that we are not saved by works in which wee yeeld obedience to any Gospel Ordinances though they be Ordinances appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ himselfe to be practised by the Saints I take in this because I have found in my own spirit and in many that I have dealt with a secret and subtle kinde of Poperie by which wee are apt to attribute something to the practise of Ordinances in reference to our justification And hence it is that people are so ready to run into every new way of worship which is brought to light thinking that unlesse they finde out the right discipline and government of Jesus Christ the right Baptisme and Ordinances they are not true Saints nor sufficiently justified Therefore I shall take in this too to shew that as wee are not justified by more inward and spirituall works so neither are wee justified by any outward observation of Ordinances or submitting to any command of the Lord Jesus Christ but onely by our obedience to the first and principall command of the Gospel by which we beleeve justification by grace through Christ without works For the first of these heads I shall briefly shew how it is not by works passing by many things that I have formerly spoken of and I shall onely lay down foure or five considerations for the confirming of this that wee are saved and justified before God and in the Court of our own conscience without any works whatsoever The first consideration may be this Wee cannot be justified by works or by the Law because there was never any man had a legall righteousnesse but the man Christ Jesus This is Pauls undeniable conclusion laid down in Rom. 3.23 All have sinned and come short of the glory of God The devout Jew as well as the prophane Gentile is brought in before the tribunall of God as a guiltie finner coming short of such a glorious righteousnesse which the Law doth require of him that he may be justified under it The Gentile never walked according to the written Law of nature which is written in his heart nor the Jew according to the Law of his Maker written in Tables of stone All the works of the Law may be reduced to two heads The first are those works that wee doe in obedience to God to shew our love to him Secondly The works that we doe to shew our love to our neighbour Now if we take works in either of these two respects I shall shew that all the men and women in the world come short of such a legall righteousnesse and perfection that the holy just and pure Law of God requires It will be cleare that no man ever loved God as he ought God doth command us that wee should love him with all our heart and with all our strength with the whole streame of our affections But what man did ever love God in that manner Suppose a wife should entertaine many thousand lovers besides her husband could any say that that wife loved her husband So many fins as wee have so many lovers we have so the Scripture cals them Jer. 3.1 Thou hastplayed the harlot with many lovers that is thou hast followed many sins and lusts base and vile corruptions Now it is thus with all the men in the world wee have all gone a whoring from our God so that though all men yea even Turks and Heathens pretend to love God the great God that made them yet there is no man that ever loved God as he ought That man that thinks that he ever loved God as he ought and as the Law requires he is very blind and not enlightned to this day to see the puritie and spiritualitie of the righteous Law of the just and high God Suppose a Subject should alway contrive rebellion and conspire against the person of his King as desirous to take away his life and to pull the Crowne from his head will any say that this Subject loves the King Thus it is with all men wee are all traytors and rebells against the King of Heaven if we had strength we would take the Crowne from the head of God and set it upon the head of the
9.20 O man who art thou that repliest against God who hath mercy on whom be will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth And though men unacquainted with this truth may account this rather a shift or evasion then an answer to their carnall objections against election and reprobation yet I shall not be ashamed of my answer It is an excellent Speech of Augustine Christs great Champion against Antigratians in his time Absit ut pudeat nos hoc respondere quod respondisse videmus Apostolum Far be it from us to be ashamed to give the same answer which was given by the Apostle Who art thou that repliest against God c. In the next place wee are to consider that in Scripture salvation is taken either negatively or affirmatively And take salvation in either of these acceptions And it will be evident that wee are saved by grace In the first place if we take salvation negatively as it is a deliverance or freedome from all evill and in this sence wee are freed from evill onely by grace It is a true rule Gratiam Christi nihil praecedit humani Nothing in man doth precede or prevent the Grace of God The light and beames of Grace do dispell the clouds of our sins Not for our sakes but for his Name sake he covereth our sins It is Gods prerogative to free us from sin by Grace and to remove them far from us Psal 103.12 As far as the East is from the West so far he removed our transgressions from us He onely can remove sin against whom it is committed He onely can cast sin into the depths of the Sea who hath an Ocean of Grace in himselfe in which he swalloweth them up Micah is spiritually transported beyond himselfe in admiring this incommunicable prerogative of the God of Grace Micah 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity c And who can think that he will part with this priviledge which is his delight For so it followeth in the same verse He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Secondly If wee take salvation affirmatively for the instating of men into a condition and enjoyment of all happiness and felicity so wee are saved by grace Wee are made happy brought from a cursed condition into a blissfull condition from horror to joy from hell to heaven from the state of nature to the state of Glory onely by the grace of God It is onely by Grace that wee are what wee are By Grace our sins are pardoned by Grace wee have an inheritance with the Saints by Grace wee are the high born sonnes of the great King of heaven and earth by Grace wee are blessed and loaded with all spirituall and temporall blessings in Jesus Christ and are brought to the enjoyment of eternall felicity happinesse and blissfulnesse Thus wee are saved by grace and by grace alone One of the Ancients doth speake excellently to this purpose Nemo se palpet de suo Satanas est de deo beatus est quid est enim de suo nisi peccatum suum Let no man boast of himselfe for of a mans selfe he is a Devill by God a man is made happy What is a man of himselfe but sin Yee are saved by grace Againe salvation in Scripture is taken for salvation before God in the Court of heaven And it is taken for the saving of a partie in his own spirit and conscience if wee take it in the first sence a man is saved in the Court of heaven onely by grace What is the Reason that the accusing mouth of the Law being stopped no Bill no enditement can be brought against the Elect in the Court of Heaven Is it not this because God in his grace justifieth them This is the Apostles argument Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who can implead or bring an action against them before God for breaking his Law He that is the Judge of the Elect is their justifier Grace hath cast out of Heaven the accuser of the Brethren which accused them before God night and day Rev. 12.10 The accuser can bring no enditement complaint or accusation against the Saints there There is no sin in our consciences that can be heard to accuse us in heaven because there is grace for our justification God beholds his Sonne Jesus Christ before his eye upon whom he hath laid all our sins The bloud of Christ doth with powerfull and undeniable arguments plead for those for whom it was shed The straying and stragling sheep which are within the reach of Gods eternall Grace cannot be condemned because the good Shepheard hath given his life for the sheep Joh. 10.11 God knoweth that he hath received satisfaction before hand for their sins by the hand of the Lord Jesus who is not now to pay any thing but hath already made payment for all their debts and is become the Mediator of the new Covenant of Grace which is sealed in his own bloud under which Covenant upon this consideration there can be no remembrance of sin Heb. 10.14 God beholding his Elect in their propitiation and alwayes hearing the sweet voice of their wrath-appeasing advocate making an heavenly melody in his eares And alwayes beholding our happinesse before himselfe in heaven lying wrapt up in his own grace doth acquaint us in his word of truth That wee are saved by grace Secondly If we take salvation in the other sence for salvation in our spirits and consciences and in this sence we are saved by grace There can be no salvation brought home to our hearts but by the sight of grace If wee had the sanctification of all the Saints which have lived since the fall of Man and should looke upon it all as ours to give comfort to our soules and to assure us that wee are in a state of salvation and should not looke above it to behold Gods grace and our sanctification in it and from it it would not give us any solid comfort or assurance of our falvation Nothing can shine in the heart to give it any comfort but what doth shine and give light in the light and beames of this grace Wee never come to see our selves in a condition of safety till wee see the grace of God Looke unto mee and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else Isaiah 45.22 None but God can save us and nothing but the sight of God can bring salvation to us Still wee have some objection or other against salvation and justification till God silence all objections by the sight of his own grace There is that onely in God and in Jesus Christ that will silence all objections If our conscience flie in our faces and tell us that wee have committed many thousands of sins more then wee can reckon or number up yet when God gives us a
sinner faith hath made thee just it found thee wicked whom it should make just The second reason why it is thus by faith alone is because it is by grace unlesse we were justified by faith we were not we could not be justified by Grace This reason the Apostle lays downe Rom. 4.16 Therefore it is of faith that it might bee by Grace As if he should have said unlesse you hold that there is a justification by faith alone without workes you deny Grace if you will bee justified by faith and workes conjoyned you destroy Grace Therefore it is by faith alone that it may be by Grace When we have a true sight of Grace wee see a sufficiency in that Grace to doe us good for our justification and salvation soe that there is nothing needfull necessary besides grace In which respect Luther saith that workes are not necessary to justification but pernitious to salvation the gospell requiring faith only according to that of the Apostle Gal. 3.12 The Law is not of faith the law hath nothing to doe with beleeving that doctrine which bids a man to beleeve that he may bee saved that is the doctrine of the gospell the law biddeth us not to beleeve but the man that doth it shall live in it The law bids us worke but the Gospell bids us beleeve not worke and beleive but beleive only We confound the Covenant of workes and the Covenant of Grace if wee presse an absolute necessity of doing good workes for justification This was the Divinity of the blood-sucker Bishop Bonner who in a Sermon propounding this quest How grace is to be applyed to us for justification doth answer by beleeving rightly and living uprightly joyning faith and holinesse for justification by grace whereas by the Scripture of truth it is manifest that faith alone doth lay hold of Christ and doth appropriate him unto us And that holinesse doth flow and streame from the apprehension of our free justification by grace through faith alone though faith is not alone but is accompanyed with other fruits of the Spirit which follow it This must be well understood or else we shall nullifie the grace of God wherefore God enableth true beleevers to see this truth plainly and clearly Vilesceret redemptio sanguinis Christi nec miserecordiae dei humanorum operum praerogativa succumberet si justificatio quae sit per gratiam meretis precedentibus deberetur Ambros Redemption by the blood of Christ would be vilified the prerogative of mans workes would not stoop to Gods mercy if justification which is by grace were due to preceding workes A man that truely beleives he sees not any holinesse or qualification in himselfe that makes him more worthy of salvation then another man he sees that he hath deserved damnation as well as any one who is now in the place of torment and yet hee sees that such is the Grace the unspeakeable grace of God to his poore souâ—â— that though he deserve to lye as low in hell as Iudas for his sin yet he shall be raised as high as heaven by the grace of the father made knowne to him in Iesus Christ Brethren if upon examination you finde that your joy comfort and assurance have in the first place proceeded from any workes which you have in your selves which make you conclude that you shall rather be saved then another man your assurance is not a right assurance But if your assurance be right it is by beleeving that which is reported concerning the grace of God that so salvation may be by grace It is possible for men to deceive themselves in obtaining an assurance of Gods love and their happinesse therefore I will a little digresse to open this to the ignorant It may be thou takest comfort to thy selfe by looking on workes wrought by thy selfe and not by looking on Christ it may be thou conceivest that thou lovest God and from thence concludest that God loveth thee though thou hast not seen his free love to sinners this is a bastardly assurance brought forth by thine owne lying spirit and not the true assurance of the Spirit of grace in beleeving In a true assurance by faith God hath the glory of his grace But in this kind of assurance God hath not the glory of his grace therefore it is not a true assurance Another deceiveth his soule and thinketh hee is in a good condition because he resteth upon a promise of God Christ saith Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest A man doth apprehend himselfe to be heavy laden and from the sight of his burthen doth conclude hee hath rest and is in a good condition but hee deceiveth himselfe with a false perswasion for the promise is not made to the qualification of wearinesse but the promise is made to the commers to Jesus Christ Cain was heavy laden with his sin and it lay so heavy on him that he concluded that the punishment was greater then he was able to beare or else that his sin was greater then it could be forgiven and yet died miserable without mercy Wee find that the sin of Judas lay so heavy on him that he repented that he had shed innocent blood yet for all this hee went to his owne place Therefore if thy comfort and assurance come from a sight of what is in thy selfe and not from the discovery of grace as it is layd forth in the Spirit of grace thy assurance will not advantage thee in the day of wrath Though God hath convinced thee of sin and there may be some legall repentance reformetion wrought in thee and something which thou mayst miscall a true love to God thou canst not from the sight of these things rightly conclude that thou art in the love of God before a discovery of free love be made forth to thee a sinner For God doth not apply his grace or his Sonne to any man for justification but through beleeving that justification may evidently appeare to the sons of men to bee by his owne grace Which will appeare if in the third place we doe more fully consider that God doth save us through beleeving that hee may have the glory of his grace God as hee is glorious in his grace by which hee justifies sinners so he will be glorified in the hearts and consciences of those who are justified by grace that he may have the ful glory of his grace when he hath justified them Non est quò gratia intret ubi jam meritum occupavit Bern. There is no roome for the glory of Gods grace where the worthinesse of our workes hath filled up the place Where the creature may have glory in his owne workes there God loseth the glory of his grace Where God doth any thing for the creature by grace there it is not of our works otherwise grace is no more grace If it be of workes then it is no more of grace
all the Commandements of the Lord Jesus The cause of this legallnesse in their spirits is because they doe not see salvation firmly setled upon him that beleeveth The spirituall man beholdeth justifing grace in beleeving without his obedience to commands for externall worship and good workes and doth live joyfully and comfortably in the sight of his justification though he knoweth that it is possible that he may be ignorant of many things which other Christians may have the knowledge of And in these dayes of darkenesse contention confusion and disorder what man can have solid and lasting joy who is ignorant of free grace for justification If it were necessary to the assurance of justification to know whether the Episcopall Presbyteriall or Independent Government were the Ordinance of the Lord Jesus whether sprinckling of Children or dipping of professing beleevers were the institution of Christ in the Labyrinth of the controversies of our times how few would attaine to an assurance of their justification How would poore creatures be perplexed and disquieted in their consciences not certainly knowing in which of these wayes they should walke for their justification and salvation But that the promise might be sure to all the seed Rom. 4.16 to those who lived in the times of the Law as well as to those who live in these times of the Gospel salvation is promised not to workers but beleevers to all true beleevers in all ages and places to us who live in the time of the Babylonish-Apostacy as well as to those who were hearers of the Apostles and Members of those Congregations which were gathered and governed by them Sixtly By faith the grace of God in Christ is applyed unto us and we are justified by it as the spirituall instrument formed by God in the Spirit for the application of Christs benefits to our consciences A man that lived in the time of the Law looking upon the blood of his sacrifices did behold himselfe purged purified and sanctified in his flesh by it Heb. 9.13 So a sinner looking upon the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is applyed unto him and his conscience is purged from dead workes to serve the living God ver 14. Faith though it be called a worke 2 Thess 1.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet wee are not justified by it as it is a worke or gracious quality but as it is the hand of the Spirit by which wee receive and are made partakers of those treasures of grace which are freely given unto us in Christ Jesus Christ bath already done what is to be done by way of satisfaction to the justice of his Father and hath already made peace by the blood of his Crosse Col. 1.20 what he doth in us now is to satisfie our consciences concerning our full redemption by him that you in beleeving may be filled with peace of Conscience being perswaded that wee are of the Father in the Son who by the Father is made unto us wisdome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Faith being nothing but a light comming from God Christ discovering God and Christ to our spirits and uniting our spirits to God in Christ By faith we beleeve what is recorded concerning the grace of God in Christ As the Prophet to my apprehension holdeth it forth in those expressions of his Isa 53.1 Who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed In the latter part of these words the Prophet doth interpret the former part he beleeveth the report of God to whom the arme of God that is his Sonne Jesus is revealed And when a man beleeveth in Christ Christ is revealed to that man Faith being the first thing that is wrought in the spirit of a man whom God doth justifie in his owne conscience by which the grace of God in Christ is revealed unto him for his justification Justifying faith when it is wrought by the powerfull operation of the Spirit in the heart doth remove prevailing doubts concerning our justification the faithfull beholding the all-righteousnesse of free grace applying to his conscience the clensing vertue of the blood of the Lord Jesus Faith is a gift of the Spirit establishing the soule Isa 7.9 If ye will not beleeve surely ye shal not be established The soule can never be firmely setled and quieted but by beleeving Unbeleife doth question and doubt of the promises of free grace for justification But when in the power of faith we are carried above it with Abraham Rom. 4.20 we stagger not at the promise through unbeleife but the spirit is fixed and stands immoveably upon the truth of grace God saith in the Covenant of his grace Heb. 8.12 I will be mercifull to their unrighteousnesse and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more Hee that beleeveth doth set his Seale to the truth of God in beleeving the promise Iohn 3.33 He is confident that God is faithful who hath made this promise to the children of men and by beleeving the great and precious promises of grace he is made partaker of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 By an heart of unbeleefe wee depart from the living God Heb. 3.12 but by faith wee draw neere to God and apply Christ to our selves Faith being contrary to unbeleife as in the nature of it so in its operations An unbeleever doth not give credit to the truth of the generall promises of Gods grace and so remaineth unjustified in his conscience A beleever in faith nothing wavering James 1.6 doth give credit to what is reported And the Gospel commeth to him not in word only but in power and the holy Spirit and in much assurance 1. Thessalonians 1.5 Object But some may be ready here to object this against what I have delivered that though I doe acknowledge that by faith grace in Christ is applyed unto us yet in effect I say no more then what I delivered before when I proved that by faith the grace of God in Christ is first manifested and made over unto us Answ They misapprehend me when they conclude that I make faith onely an assurance of because I doe maintaine that it is the first evidence and witnesse of our justification Faith doth assure but it doth not onely assure us of Christ but doth apply Christ and makes a difference between assurance and application which I illustrate by this similitude Suppose one should lye in Prison for debt his debts being paid and he not knowing it and afterwards knowing that his debts were paid hee should rejoyce in the newes and enjoy his liberty this man doth not by the newes which he heareth enjoy only comfort but his liberty so it is with us before we beleeve we lie in prison and yet our debts are paid by Iesus Christ when the newes is brought by the spirit to the eare of the soule wee rejoyce in hearing the newes but besides this presently wee enjoy our liberty and all those riches which our
come to passe and the thing foretold should not come to passe It must be granted therefore that Gods decrees are certaine irrevocable and immutable and that God working according to these decrees doth worke irresistably and therefore faith is his gift because it proceedeth from his irresistable power according to that of our Apostle It is the gift of God Thirdly Darknesse cannot create light Faith is a spirituall light and therefore it cannot come from our darknesse but must have its birth and beginning from some heavenly light And God is the powerfull light from whom faith is beamed into our hearts Five things are required to seeing 1. A visible object 2. The organ of fight 3. A light to discover this object 4. A medium through which this object is to be seene 5. That the organ be in a living and waking creature And these things are likewise requisite to seeing a thing spiritually by faith which all are from the power of God 1. It is God doth present doth us the spirituall object which is to be looked upon for salvation 2. It is God giveth us spirituall organs or eyes 3. Spirituall light to discover spirituall things 4. A medium Iesus Christ through whom wee looke upon him 5. A spirituall life and being It is a thing proper and peculiar to God to create a thing out of nothing and it is his prerogative and power in believing to make us new creatures By which it will appear that true faith cannot be of our selves but it is the gift of God Fourthly That which stablisheth Saints in the faith that power doth at the first worke faith in them but God by his power doth stablish Saints Rom. 16.25 The Apostle doth make it a priviledge proper to the power of God to stablish Saints in the faith and therefore it is proper to his power to bring us to the faith Fifthly The promises of God in giving Christ to open the blinde eyes Isa 42.6 7. His engagements to teach us to know him according to that of the Prophet All thy children shall be taught of God His covenant in Christ that we shall know him Heb. 8. doth sufficiently demonstrate that nothing below the omnipotent power of God insufficient for the enabling of us to rest upon his owne grace for salvation I need not spend many words in proving this because the argument laid downe to prove the negative part of the Text wil reach the affirmative For if not of our selves it will unquestionably follow that it is of God that we are enabled to believe In the next place I shall prove that as it is the work of his power so it is the worke of his owne free grace When he enableth a man to believe he puts forth not only the power of his omnipotency but the power of his grace he doth not looke upon any thing in the creature to move him to give faith to the creature but he lookes upon his own grace and he sees no other motive or argument to move him to give faith to men but those that lye in the bosome of his owne grace from the dayes of eternity I shall prove this first by Scripture and then by some considerations First you have it proved by Scripture Phil. 1.29 To you it is given not only to believe but to suffer Hence I gather that it is the gift of Gods grace to enable a man to believe As it is the free gift of Gods grace to call forth a man to suffer for him So in 2 Tim. 2.25 The Apostle bids Timothy with meekeness of spirit to endeavour to recover those that opposed the doctrine and truth which he held forth and preached If peradventure God will give them repentance for the acknowledging of the truth You see then God must give repentance or changednesse of minde by which he is enabled to believe truth to the glory of God Now as I have cleared it by Scripture so I shal cleare it by some considerations The first shall be drawne from the promises of God The promises as they do prove that man cannot doe any thing by his owne power but that all is done for us by the power of God so they prove that all is done for our spirituall good by grace For promises of the new Covenant doe not only acquaint us with the power but grace of God If Adam had beene preserved in his obedience and never had fallen he had been preserved by the power of God but not by the grace of God as grace is strictly taken in the Covenant of grace so that as we have proved that faith is not of our selves but from the power of God by leading you to the promise so now we shal prove that we are saved by grace through faith by bringing you back again to look upon promises as they are the stream flowings forth of Gods grace unto us What need God promise to do that which we are able to do of our selves Therefore seeing we have the promise of grace for it wee may conclude that it is by grace not by any power in our selves Rom. 15.12 wee have a promise for faith In him speaking of Christ shall the Gentiles trust So likewise in Jerem. 24.7 We have a promise of God that hee will give us the knowledge of himselfe I will give them an heart to know mee that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God and they shall return unto mee with their whole heart Here God hath promised to give us a heart that we shall know him Now seeing God hath promised to give us a heart to know him therefore I conclude wee are not able to give such a heart to our selves God hath promised to circumcise our hearts to take away the fore-skin of our spirits therefore wee are not able to circumcise our selves God hath promised to turne us therefore wee are not able to turns our selves Turn us O Lord and we shall be turned Lam. 5.21 Intimating thus much that we cannot come towards him till hee turne the face and countenance of his favour toward us answering to that in Jer. 31.18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullocke unaccustomed to the yoake turne thou me and I shall he turned And therefore God doth usually mixe promises with exhortations that man should not conclude from Gods exhortations unto him that there is a sufficient power in him to doe what hee is exhorted to doe as in Hosea 14. when he had exhorted Israel to returne unto the Lord he presently addeth vers 4. I will heale their backesliding All the Prophets doe subscribe to this truth Jona 2.9 Salvation is of the Lord by promise He will teach us his wayes and we will walke in his paths saith Micab Mic. 4.2 and Zeph. 3.12 I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poore people and they shall trust in the name of the
Lord. God will fill his spirituall house or Temple with glory And I will give peace saith the Lord of hosts Hag. 2.9 God will be the glory in the middest of the spirituall Jerusalem Zech. 2.9 And hee will remove the iniquity of the land in one day v. 3.9 All these promises are plaine demonstrations of Gods powerfull grace and mans weakness Secondly we have not only the bare promise but the Covenant of God and this Covenant confirmed and bound by an oath Mic. 7.20 Thou wilt performe the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn unto our Fathers therefore it is not by any power or worke in our selves If it be the fruit of the covenant of grace and God hath covenanted in his grace to doe it for us then certainly wee are not able to doe it our selves But God hath covenanted to doe it for us he hath covenanted to write his law in our hearts The law of faith as the Apostle calls it Rom. 5. Therefore we are not able to work faith in our own spirits Why should God tye himselfe in a Covenant and binde this Covenant with an oath to doe this for us if we were able to doe it our selves why should God doe any thing for his owne names sake if the creature can do enough to make it selfe happy by his owne strength In vaine is a Covenant of grace promulgated for mans salvation and for discovery of this salvation If man can finde out the way of salvation by his owne wisdome why must Christ guide our seete into the wayes of peace Luke 1. if of our selves we can find out these ways of life peace God hath made it his work therfore it is not our work wrought by our owne strength God hath promised faith as a gift freely to be bestowed upon undeserving man therfore man by the improvement of his parts and labour cannot purchase it as the reward of his endeavours Thirdly God worketh faith in time according to his eternall purpose and decree before time But the eternall purpose of God is the purpose of his grace therefore God worketh faith according to his purpose of grace The first of these propositions hath beene already proved the second is evident from 2 Tim. 1.9 So that it is evident that faith floweth from eternall grace and therefore it is not of ourselves but it is the gift of God Fourthly There is nothing can merit or deserve faith in man before faith is wrought and therefore it is given as a free gift This is plaine by Rom. 9.16 It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy John 1.13 There may be as much in one that shall be damned as in him that shall be saved before his conversion Peter did no more to merit or deserve his first faith then Iudas did Gods grace is his rule by which he worketh in giving faith unto any man and therefore faith is the gift of God Fifthly Gods designe in justifying a sinner through faith as hath beene formerly proved is the magnifying of his owne free love unto the creature in Christ and therfore hee doth acquaint us that faith is the free gift of his grace that so hee may devest the creature of glorying in himself or in any thing from himselfe If the Father should justifie us by grace through faith and wee should apprehend that our faith were of our selves there would bee some glorying in our selves And therefore he doth justifie by grace through faith as a fruit effect and free gift of his owne grace So proud we are naturally that though wee were convinced that we were saved by grace as a gift given unto us as almes unto a beggar yet we should be proud if wee knew that of our selves we had an hand to receive it and therefore God doth not only in his grace give us the gift of eternall life but the hand by which we receive it Thus wee are saved by grace through faith which is the gift of God Sixthly The Apostle saith that no man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the holy Spirit 1 Cor. 12.3 But by faith we confesse that Jesus is the Christ and therefore it doth plainly follow that it is from the holy Spirit of grace The Spirit doth shew that all things are freely given us of God 2 Cor. 3.12 And therefore faith is freely given us of God If every thing then faith Every good and perfect gift commeth downe from the Father of lights if we will believe James Jam. 1.17 And therefore we must grant that faith is given unto us of God or else deny it to be a good and perfect gift Obj But some may say if faith be a gift why doth our Saviour bid us to buy gold tryed in the fire that we may be cloathed that the shame of our nakednesse may not appeare Rev. 3.18 Answ This word buying is taken properly and so it signifieth the purchasing of something by some considerable price which is given for it There can be no buying of a thing without some price Nulla exemptio sine pretio esse potest Justinian in stit lib. 3 Tit. 24. And in this sence wee cannot buy faith or Christ having no considerable price to pay for Christ before we enjoy Christ 2 ly Buying is taken improperly Isa 55.1 Buy wine and milke without money and without price And if faith be to be bought it must be thus bought by us we have no money or price to part with for faith And what is thus bought by us is freely given unto us So that this objection is too weake to weaken the truth which hath beene delivered It standeth still unshaken and unmoveable upon its owne Basis Faith is the gift of God Having proved it sufficiently by these considerations that faith is a gift I shall draw some usefull conclusions from them and put a period to my discourse First This overthroweth the meritoriousnesse of the righteousnesse of our owne works qualifications or preparations before faith for the deserving any thing at the hand of God to ingage him to give us faith What we receive as a free gift cannot be given us in consideration of our merits or deservings I shall but touch this because I have formerly taken paines to beate downe the Antichristian monster of Free-will and merit of workes which like two twinnes of the same wombe doe live and dye in the same moment It is the Lord Jesus must seeke us before ever we can finde him And we cannot as we ought desire faith untill faith be freely bestowed upon us Gods free grace doth prevent mans free will And if God leave us to our selves and to our owne labours endeavours actings duties and performances and doe not come in by the power of his grace upon us we shall never be able truly and spiritually to understand any thing of free grace Away then with the foolish conceite of
words though I know that there are many adversaries and opposers of this truth 2 Cor. 4.13 We believe therefore we speak saith the Apostle So I doe in spirit belive what I shall speake and therefore I am resolved to speake it forth plainly and you are engaged to heare me patiently The words are a conclusion drawn from preceding premises In the precedent words the Apostle delivered two propositions First That hee that committeth sinne is of the Devill Secondly That Christ hath appeared to destroy the workes of the Devill from whence he concludeth that he which is born of God cannot sin not having his being in the Devill but in Christ who destroyeth sin In this verse there are these particular observations which at the first view may present themselves unto us 1. A character of a true Christian He is one who is borne of God 2. The property of this man who is borne of God He doth not commit sin 3. A reason why he cannot commit sin to wit because his seed remaineth in him 4. His purity He doth not only not commit sinne but he sinneth not at all 5. This asserted by laying down the impossibility of his sinning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He cannot possibly sinne 6. This is further proved by his excellent glorious condition He cannot sin because he is borne of God First From the person who is here spoken of The man who is borne of God We may take notice of the folly and Bedlam-madnesse of some who would be accounted professors and Preachers of a spirituall Gospel whose Gospel and mystery of error doth make the man born of God to be God Confounding the glorious nature of the Father Word and Spirit with the new Creature The Apostle doth plainly overthrow this Bedlam-Divinity by these expressions In which hee doth make a difference between God and the man who is born of him That which is born of God is borne in time But God is from eternity And therefore that which is born of God cannot be God The place which they pervert is in the 1 Cor. 6.17 He which is joyned to the Lord is one spirit Answ Christ and the man joyned unto him are one not by confounding of the person of Christ with the person of a Believer but by the union of these two in the Spirit As the members are one with the head and yet the head is not the members nor the members the head Secondly In this objection as they destroy the personall being of a Believer so they destroy the personall being of Christ as he is the Word made flesh There Christ is nothing but God they apprehending that Christ hath offered up his humane nature wisedome and righteousnesse as things of the first creation and that hee hath no being now but in spirit which they call Christ in the Spirit the spirituall man or God I shall therefore in few words deliver the truth of God concerning the man who is born of God This phrase is taken first largely and so every Creature may be said to be of God because every creature is the workmanship of God and hath its being from God And in this sence all wicked men are called the Off-spring of God Acts 17.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly It is taken strictly And so it is to be understood not of those who have their being from God by creation but by spirituall regeneration And thus it is here taken and in other places John 3.5 Except a man be borne of water the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God John 1 13. In this sence neither God Christ or the Spirit are the new man or the man born of God But the speciall and gracious presence of God through Christ by the spirit doth make a man a new Creature 1 Cor. 1.30 John 1.13 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man is in Christ he is a new Creature He doth not say that if any man is in Christ that then hee is Christ or that Christ is the new creature but that man who is in Christ he is the new creature Having shewed you who the new man or the man born of God is who is here spoken of and freed the Text from famelisticall blasphemies I shall desire that you may be acquainted with this truth Every true Saint is a man born of God 1 Consid It will not advantage a man to make a profession of Christ and to submit to all the outward Ordinances of Christ unlesse a man be made a new creature by Christ Gal. 6.15 In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncir cumcision but a new creature We must be borne againe or else it had been better for us never to have been borne Christ will not own any for his or approve them as his Disciples whatsoever prosession they doe make of him unlesse he be formed in them 2 Cor. 13.5 Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be unapproved They are the Devils children who are not borne of God John 8.44 2 Consid God hath engaged himselfe in the Covenant of grace that those who are his shall be borne of him Ezek. 36.26 A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you an heart of flesh As a Carver when he maketh an Image doth begin at the outside of the Timber and cuts shaves and smooths that So hypocrites doe begin at the outside and doe smooth themselves in their outward conversation to men-ward And so there is but an image insteed of a new creature But true Saints are made new inwardly Some say that the heart is the first thing which hath life Cor est primum vivens It is true in the new creation God doth give unto the vessels of his grace new hearts Rom. 10.10 With the heart man believeth unto righteousnesse Jer. 32.39 3. Consid Men who are not borne of God cannot haue fellowship with God If we say that we have fellow ship with him and walk in darknesse we lye 1 John 1.6 But true Saints have fellowship with the Father and his Sonne Jesus Christ 1 John 1.3 And therefore they are borne of God 4 Consid God is to be known served and worshipped by true Saints but we cannot truly know him serve or worship him so long as we are old creatures in the state of nature and therefore it cannot be denyed that true Saints are borne of him An old creature is spiritually dead and cannot see God A dead creature cannot performe the actions of a living creature And a sinner cannot serve the living God and performe that spirituall worship which God doth require of those who are quickned to spirituall worship by Jesus Christ 5. Consid The new Heaven and the new Earth is only provided for new creatures but it is provided for Saints and they expect it 2 Pet. 3.13 And therefore they are borne
A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you an heart of flesh And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walke in my Statutes and ye shall keepe my judgements and doe them The new heart of flesh is a good soile And because God doth promise his Spirit and a new heart therefore see what shall follow the good fruit spoken of We shall keep his judgements and doe them Arg. 2. God cannot be the Author worker of that which is sin but God doth professe himselfe to bee the Author of good workes wrought in the Saints and therefore these workes are not sin Isa 26.12 The Saints doe profes that God hath wrought all their works in them And this likewise is the argument of the Apostle who doth prove that doing of evill is sinne because it is of the Devill and that working of righteousnesse is good because it is of God Object These things are not sinne in their whole morall nature but per accidens by accident through the defect of some circumstance Answ Every morall action commanded or forbidden of God is either good or evill If these are good and no sinne then I have what I contend for If evill acquit God from being the author of evill who doth professe himselfe to be the Author of these things in opposition to Satan and his workes If you say that they are neither good nor evill or both good and evill and prove it by Scipture I shall hearken unto you But you say they are sin by accident and if they are so by accident they are sin and still you make God the Author of sin but I affirme that they are neither sin in their nature nor by accident but good and therefore untill you prove what you say I doe not see but that my argument is unshaken by this objection Object 2. Faith and love in their whole morall abstract nature are not sin but considered in the Concrete and acted by us Answ The Apostle doth speake of them in the Concrete as acted by us and doth bid us try our selves by our faith love and working of righteousnesse and saith vers 19. That hereby we assure our selves before God therefore this distinction is of no validity in this place though some thinke that it will answer all our arguments Argu. 3. The olde man and the new man are distinguished by their contrary natures and operations But if the new man were sinfull and his operations sinfull The new man would be confounded with the old man who is sinfull in himselfe and his operations but this is contrary to Scripture The old man is corrupt according to deceitfull lusts but the new man after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Eph. 4.22.24 And speaking of these in the Concrete as in us Eph. 5.8 9. he saith to them Ye were sometimes darknesse but now are ye light in the Lord walke as children of the light For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodnesse and righteousnesse and truth Argu. 4. Those works which are commended by Jesus Christ for good works are good works but the workes of the Saints are commended for good works therefore they are good Revel 2.2 Our Saviour saith that he knoweth the workes of the Angel of the Church of Ephesus and his labour and patience that is he approveth or commendeth his workes and so Rev. 3.8 It would be a disparagement to the judgment of Christ to commend sin or sinfull works for good workes And therefore I conclude that they were good works And by consequence that the works which are wrought by a man borne of God are good works Obj. They were washed from their pollution in the blood of the Lamb. Answ When we speak of the new man and his works we look not upon him or his works but in Jesus Christ And thus he is washed from all the sins of the flesh and the works of God in us are well pleasing unto God the worker through Jesus Christ through whom hee did work them in us Arg. 5. Christ doth not present that which is sinne or sinfull to the Father to be accepted but he presentech our workes 1 Pet. 2.5 Wee offer up spirituall sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ If Christ did present any work that were sinfull he might present our sinful works It is evident therefore that there is something which is good which is presented as well as something in us which is sinfull which is forgiven Malum ex quolibet desectu The lesse defect doth make a thing evil and if there be such a defect in the work of the man who is born of God to make it sin and evill what reason can any man give from Scripture why every sinne should not be presented and accepted as well as those sins which they call good works Arg. 6. The Scripture calleth the works of the man born of God neither sinfull or sinne but works of righteousnesse Faith is called righteousnesse Rom. 4. and Rom. 5. the last Paul calleth the sincerity which was in him speaking of it in the Concrete godly sincerity 2 Cor. 1.12 Paul prayeth that grace may be with all them who love the Lord Jesus in corruption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doth he pray for such whom hee thought were no where to be found or for all true Saints whom he did know did love the Lord Jesus in incorruption Reply If they be considered as they ought to be done so they are not evill but as they be done by us so the holy Ghost is not affraid to call them menstruous rags even our very righteousnesse not our old man only Isa 64.6 Answ The Prophet doth not speak here of the righteousness of a man under the Covenant of grace considered under that Covenant For in the precedent verse he doth acknowledge that the righteousnesse of such a man is not as a menstruous ragge Thou meetest him that rejoyeth and worketh righteousnesse But he speaketh of men as looked upon under the olde Covenant and of their works as done under and to be judged by that Covenant which appeareth by the following words Our iniquities like the wind have taken us away And there is none that calleth upon thy Name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee For thou hast hid thy face from us and we are consumed because of our iniquities We must not judge of this truth by expressions which holy men have made use of in confessing the sins of the whole nation of the Jews in the language of the Jewish nationall Covenant but by those passages of Scripture in which God doth speake of a man as under the Covenant of grace with his works wrought by the spirit of grace 7 Arg. God doth remember the workes of his Saints Heb. 6.10 God is not unrighteous to forget your worke and labour of
that by Gods grace in the apprehension of it wee are made unblameable and holy before him in love which is all that I contend for I may adde this that if God had chosen us to love joy sanctification and the like which are sin and sinfull that then he had chosen us to sin or to something sinfull which conceit in my apprehension doth carry such an absurdity in the face of it that it needeth not a Confutation Object They are not sin in their morall nature as they ought to be done but they are so as done by us Answ God hath not chosen us unto them as they are considered onely in his command But he hath chosen us unto them as they are to be acted and done by us as it is plain by the words of the Text and therefore this objection hath no strength in it to weaken our argument Arg. 12. If the new creature were sinfull worke his sinful or sin it would nullifie Gods intention in our Justification who doth justifie us when we are unholy that he may make us holy Ephes 2.10 Wee are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good workes which God bath before ordained that we should walke in them Wee are not ordained to walke in any thing which is sin or sinfull but to walke in good workes We are redeemed from sin that we might be purified unto himselfe a peculiar people And grace teacheth us to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world not sinfully but righteously God maketh us good trees by justification and then enables us to bring forth good fruit There must be a root before there can be fruit So God gives us a roote or seed of holinesse before wee can bring forth holy fruit and righteous actions And when the good seed is sown in good ground it cannot but bring forth good fruit Mat. 13.23 which place may give more light for the clearing of that objection where it was said that there could not bee good fruit though the seed were good because the ground is not good Arg. 13. God doth free us from the law of works and doth bring us under the covenant of grace that we may by grace be enabled to doe those works which we are not able to doe by vertue of morall commands The covenant of grace and Gospel-promises should be as ineffectuall for sanctification as the law if all that were wrought in us under that covenant were sin or sinfull And therefore it will follow that a man under grace hath a purity of sanctification in him God brings us from Moses who was the Law-giver and delivers us from the Covenant of works in giving us to Jesus Christ who is the giver of grace that he may make us holy in a gracious life and conversation The Apostle sets this forth unto us Rom. 7.6 But now wee are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in newnesse of spirit and not in the oldnesse of the letter We are freed from the service of God in the law of works under which wee serve as slaves till wee be brought to Christ that wee may serve as sonnes in obedience to all morall commands under the sweet gracious glorious government of the Lord Jesus Christ who is as well a Law-giver Isa 33.22 to write his lawes of faith and love in our hearts Hebr. 8. As a Saviour to save us from our sins And to cut off all objections against this argument wee may take notice that the fruits of the spirit are not onely called good and holy as they are in the promise or command but they are good and holy and called fruits of righteousnesse as they are wrought in us and by us with the omnipotent help and assistance of the holy Spirit We are called the trees of righteousnesse Isa 61.3 and feare and love are fruits of righteousness as wrought in us Jer. 31. Hebr. 8. The 14th Argument may be drawn from the oath of God If God should not performe this for the Saints God should be perjured which is blasphemy to speak The oath of God binds him God in his word which is the character of his mind hath discovered his hatred of perjury and false swearing we cannot think that God who hates perjury in others should forsweare himselfe but we have not only the promise but the oath of God for this so that unlesse we will say that God for-sweares himself we must subscribe to this truth to witt that God gives his Saints his Spirit and in the Spirit holinesse and righteousnesse I will give you a place for this Lu. 1.73 74. The oath which be sware to our Father Abraham What hath he sworne That he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies here is our Justification we are delivered out of the hands of sin death and the Devill But is this all No He hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve him without fear that is without slavish fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life Some acknowledge that the people of God shall live holily and righteously to men-ward as they speake but that the righteousnesse of anctification is not to God-ward This place overthrowes this distinction he saith not that wee shall walk holily and righteously before men only as hypocrites may but he â—aith that we shall serve in holinesse and righteousnesse before him We shall not do such works which Luther and others have called vices vitia affirming that all the works of the regenerated man are vices nor such works which are sinfnl vitiata as some others speak buâ—uch workes which God who cannot lye cals righteous works nay righteousnesse in the abstract we shall serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse not only in the sight of men for oft-times they look on good works as though they were bad but good in the sight of God they come from a sweet fountain therefore the water cannot be bitter or brackish from the fountaine of his owne Spirit in his Saints If the works of the Saints were nothing but sin or sinfull how could the Oath of God be fulfilled that they shall serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Object Before him in this place as in other places doth meane under his protection Gen. 17.1 Answ Though it may be granted that sometimes before him may signifie under his protection yet it doth not appear that it should be the meaning of the holy Ghost in this place But he doth rather informe us how Saints doe approve themselves before God by sanctification As Paul laboured in godly sincerity to have his conscience void of offence towards God and towards men According to that speech of Hezekiah Isa 38.3 Remember O Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in
thy sight But suppose wee should grant you this it doth still stand true that our service is in holinesse and righteousnesse And can any man be so blinde to thinke that a man shall serve in righteousnesse under Gods protection that hee should not see the righteousnesse which iâ— wrought under his protection and if it be righteousnesse which he seeth then it is righteousnesse before him or in his sight Arg. 15. To deny the purity of the man born of God is to deny one end for which Christ dyed for Christ dyed to bring us to be partakers of a pure Divine nature in which pure nature we are to live move and act holily The place by which I shall confirme this is in Heb. 9.14 The blood of Christ who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot God shall purge our consciences from dead workes to serve the living God We are therefore washed from sin in our Justification that we may serve God by Sanctification And what spirituall man will call that the service of God which is sin or sinfull For to doe that which is sin or sinfull is to doe the Devils service or else I am to learne that which we need not be taught to wit what it is to doe the Devils service Arg. 16. The resurrection of Christ doth teach spirituall men to act purely in their new nature to the glory of their Father Rom. 6.4 As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so we should walke in newnesse of life To walk in newnesse of life is it to walk in the oldnesse of that which is sin or sinfull let any Spirituall man judge Arg. 17. We may draw another argument from the Kingly office of Christ He as a King hath a command over his Subjects but he hath not the command over us when we doe that which is sin or sinfull and therefore wee doe something good as his Subjects in obedience to his commands bona bene Good things must be done well And therefore Christ doth not onely enable us to doe that which is righteous but hee doth enable us to doe it righteously Why is Christ King but that we should live under his commands Why are we his subjects why are we his servants but because wee are under his commands and under his laws You know the Jewes said they would not have Christ to be their King but the voyce of every Christian is to cry up Christ to proclaime him King and to owne him only as their Ruler And Christ being King rules and reigns in the hearts of his people by lawes and commandements and precious statutes worthy of such a King Now Christ gives us not a law as Moses gave a law that was grievous to those that heard it but Christ gives a law of love a lawâ— of sweetnesse by which hee rules in the midst of his enemies in our hearts what is in the flesh in us is an enemie to Jesus Christ but Christ Jesus sitting upon his Throne as King in our renewed regenerated and enlightned spirit rules in the midst of our sins his enemies which oppose him Christ is not such a King as other Kings other Kings make lawes and adde penalties to their laws for those that break them but they have no power to enable their Subjects to keep them But here is the priviledge and prerogative of our King when Christ makes lawes he doth not only give us lawes and bid us keepe them but he hath power in himselfe by which he enableth us to do that which he commands us to doe If Christ should command us to love should not enable us to doe that which he commands he should be such a Law-giver as Moses that gave a Law but gave no power to doe it But Christ is not such a Law-giver as Moses As he is not a rigid Law-giver to bid Saints doe it upon penalty of damnation or to worke for life and salvation so neither is he like Moses who could give them no power but there is a power and strength goes with Christs commands to enable us to doe what Christ the King commands Therefore if any of you give Christ the glory of his grace by believing that he hath abolished all your sins by his death be not dismayed at the sight of your corruptions Fight the good fight of faith Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world Christ that commands you to obey his Father will enable you to obey his Father Christ reignes in the hearts of his people not only by making known to them the covenant of his owne grace but by supplying them with strength to doe his will Lord give what thou commandest said one and command what thou wilt Christ commands us what to doe and gives us power to doe that which he commands Such a King is Christ that frees his people not onely from the condemnation of sin but from the power and dominion of sin in their spirits lives and conversations Blessed be God saith the Apostle that ye were the servants of sin Are they so still now they are under grace No but being made free from sin ye are the servants of righteousnesse sinne shall not have dominion over you why ye have a new King ye are under grace ye are under King Jesus If a Tyrant should tyrannize over Subjects and depose their lawfull King if this King afterwards should overthrow this Tyrant and deliver his Subjects from tyranny and bondage by overcomming the Tyrant would hee suffer this Tyrant to tyrannize over them or his people to be under the lawes of the Tyrant We were under Satan the Tyrant under his lawes and commands under the law of sinne and concupiscence but Christ comes and overcomes the Tyrant that ruled tyrannically in our hearts and will hee suffer that Tyrant still to rule us by those commands which he gave us when wee were in bondage to him No we shall not be under the bondage of the flesh if we understand the liberty of grace and of the Spirit The Apostle saith that we doe not live nor eate nor drinke nor doe any shing to our selves because Christ dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord of quicke and dead Rom. 14.8 9. Christ dyed and rose that he might be Lord and King and reigne and set up his Scepter of holinesse in the hearts of his people This was prophesied in Psal 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power When Christ as King comes with power his people shall be willing Christ bids them believe and they believe he bids them love and they doe love they run through fire and water they lay downe their honours and riches at his feet and love not their lives unto the death Object The enabling of Christ in working is not of the same extent with his command Answ In the spirituall and regenerate part the power of Christ is as large as
confirmation of the truth Give mee leave to give an answer to their arguments as I have already presented unto you answers to their objections Arg. 1. Paul was a regenerated man yet he confesseth that he was not able to performe that which is good Rom. 7.18 Therefore no regenerate man is able to performe that which is good Answ Paul doth give a sufficient answer to this objection in the preceding words of the same verse where he saith in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing by which it is evident that he speaketh of himselfe in reference to his flesh And this is a truth which with all the faithfull I willingly subscribe unto But when he plainely speaketh of a man in the spirit freed from the clouds of temptations and power of the flesh in the last verse of the same Chapter he saith With the minde I my self serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin It is good to serve the law of God but Paul in the Spirit had attained unto this and therefore Paul was enabled to performe that which is good According to that of the Apostle Phil. 2.13 It is God who worketh in us to will and to doe of his owne good pleasure Arg. 2. There is none that doth good no not one Rom. 3.9 10 11. which is meant aswell of the regenerate as unregenerate as is evident by vers 23 24. because it is meant of all who are justified freely by his grace as appears further by the instances of Abraham and David which were regenerated Ch. 4.2.6 Therefore no workes of the regenerate are without sinne Answ It is plain that the Apostle speaketh here of a man under the law and of an unregenerate man by the things which are spoken of him Hee saith that none seeketh after God can you affirme this of a regenerated man when the same Prophet who in the 14. Psame doth give us a character of a wicked man out of which this is taken in the 24. Psalme doth give us this character of a man truly godly that hee is one of the generation of those who seeke God 2. The Apostle saith that there is none that understandeth But blessed be God the sonne of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him 1 John 5.20 3. They are all gone out of the way But we can blesse God who through Jesus Christ hath brought us into the way of salvation 4. There is none that doth good no not one and there is none that is righteous But hearken unto the speech of John 1 John 3.7 Let no man deceive you hee that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous I might runne over all the other particulars there laid downe but I shall content my selfe with what is spoken in the 17.18 it s said that the way of peace have they not known and there is no feare of God before their eyes Is a regenerate man an enemie to the way of peace and doe not they feare God to whom God hath sworne Jer. 32.40 That he will put his feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from him Again secondly you would prove it by this argument because hee speaketh of all those who are justified But let me tell you that we must distinguish of a man before and after his Justification Every man is such a man before Justification and in this respect he speaketh of all men but after justification there is a charge wrought in a man as I have formerly proved at large unto which I refer the Reader But thirdly you instance in David and Abraham who were regenerated men Answ Wee are not to forget that the Scriprure dosh acquaint us that there is a two-fold righteousnesse of a regenerate man The righteousnesse of Justification and the righteousnesse of sanctification Of the first of these the Prophet speaking saith that a man is blessed to whom sin is not imputed of the latter where hee saith of the same verse And in whose spirit there is no guile which the learned Zanchius doth apprehend to be spoken in reference to that sanctification which is in the unregenerated part understand the distinction rightly and you cannot want an answer to this Objection Arg. 3. Wee believe not so stedfastly nor love so perfectly as we ought therefore is our faith love imperfect and sinfull Ans 1. If we should grant the antecedent we may deny the consequence It is true that if a man doth not believe so stedfastly and love so perfectly as he ought that then the man doth sin consider him physically And this wee have alwayes granted but it doth not follow that his faith and love is sin but that which is in the flesh is sin which is the cause that he doth not believe so stedfastly and love so perfectly as he ought Amesius doth give a sufficient answer to this in answering an argument which Bellarmine doth bring against the Protestants to wit that sins doe not please God in Christ It is true saith he that sin doth not please God but the stain of sin being done away the good which remaineth is pleasing unto God Sane quidem certe sedpeccati maculâ in Christo deletâ bonum substratum placet Tom. 4. l. 6. c. 8. 2ly We say that a regenerate man looked upon in the new Covenant doth believe stedfastly and love perfectly His unbeliefe and hatred of God which is in the flesh being covered with the rich mantle of Gods grace and mercy as far as he doth believe truly he doth believe stedfastly and as far as he doth love he doth love perfectly Let not this offend any man that I say he doth love perfectly It is granted by most Protestant writers that a regenerate man hath a perfection of parts though not of degrees A childe may have an humane nature and the parts of a man as well as a man of forty yeares old A sparke of fire hath the true nature of fire a drop of water hath the nature of water in it as wel as all the water in the Sea So a sparke or drop of love hath the divine nature of love in it as well as that which burnes in the breasts of a Seraphim and therefore is not sin or sinfull And for this reason it is said that Abraham was not weak in faith though it is unquestionable that hee had his weaknesse in the flesh as well as other men and that hee staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God Rom. 4. And this is the meaning likewise of Amesius in the place formerly cited where hee saith That the good works of the faithfull are not only good by the object of them but in reference to all the causes of them the efficient materiall formall and finall cause Opera fidelium non tantum sunt bona ex objecto sed etiam quoad omnes causas efficientem materiam
it for the maintaining of the light thereof so we say that a Christian doth daily stand in need of spiritual oyle to be powred into his soule by Jesus Christ that he may shine forth in the light of truth Will you dare to say that the soules of the Just made perfect have no need of the teaching of Christ and that they have no dependance upon him because they are perfect Againe it is necessary in respect of the old man who is filled with hellish darknesse ignorance that Christ be looked upon as the great Prophet that wee may put off the ignorance which is in him may be more in the Spirit of Christ which will lead us into all truth It being the way of Gods working to shine into our dark hearts to enlighten them with the knowledge of his grace in Jesus Christ You may begin to see by what hath been delivered that this doctrine doth not overthrow the offices of Jesus Christ but doth sweetly to the glory of his Father confirm him in them Arg. 9. If the regenerate man work perfectly then is the wages reckoned unto him not of grace but of debt Rom. 4.4 But this cannot be that the wages either of the blessings of this life or the life to come should be of debt unto him and not of free grace seeing the Apostle testifieth that God of his free grace gives us his beloved Sonne and together with him all things Rom. 8.32 Answ This first place which is alleadged doth not reach the point in hand because the Apostle doth there speak of works done under the law for Justification and doth thence conclude that if a man be justified by those works which he doth under the law that then the reward is not of debt but grace because the law being not of faith Gal. 3.12 doth give nothing unto us in a way of grace But we are speaking of workes done and accepted under a Covenant of grace The principall cause of mens errour and mistake in this controversie is because they examine the new man and his workes by the law of works and not by the law of sanctification holinesse and love in the new Covenant of grace If wee did examine his workes by the law of holinesse which is in the new covenant we should plainly perceive that it is by the Spirit of grace that his workes are freely wrought in him and by this means all legall glorying and carnall boasting is taken away According to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.7 Who maketh thee to differ from another And what hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it By which you may plainly see that the argument will not hold good to say that if a man work perfectly under a covenant of grace that his reward is not of grace but of debt I shal therefore give you a short answer to the first part of this argument by distinguishing of a two-fold working 1. under a law of works and there it is true that if a man worke perfectly his reward is of debt 2. Under a covenant of grace where a mans sin is freely forgiven him and by free grace he is enabled to worke righteously and there his reward is not of debt to speak properly but of grace Secondly Though we deny that God giveth any reward to a spirituall man as a debt due unto him for his merits and deservings yet wee affirme that God giveth rewards to a spirituall man who doth good works And therefore it is said that Christ commeth with his reward with him to give every man as his worke shall be Revel 22.12 And Mose esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt for he had respect unto the recompence of reward Hebr. 11.26 And this reward may be called a debt not in reference to mans merrit but in reference to Gods promise of grace as a man by his promise may make himself a debter to a beggar And therefore the Apostle speaking unto the Saints Hebr. 6.10 saith That God is not unrighteous to forget the worke of the Saints and labour of love And John exhorteth us that wee lose not those things which we have wrought but that we receive a full reward 2 John And in this sense something may be given unto us as a reward of that work of grace which is given unto us before it Our confidence in Gods grace may have a great reward in this respect According to that of the Apostle Heb. 10.35 Cast not away your confidence which hath great recompence of reward And this may be an answer to the second part of this argument Arg. 10. If the workes of the regenerate be not evill because the holy Ghost worketh them Then the works of the unregenerate as his love and obedience to his parents are not evill Answ There is a generall concurrence of God as the prime cause in the doing of some things by wicked men and thus God may concur to the doing of a thing yet the thing as done by the wicked man may be evill because not done in faith And it is no solid argument to conclude from hence God did concur in the doing of this thing and therefore it is not sin or sinfull 2ly There is a speciall concurrence of Gods grace and Spirit in the doing of a thing as hee is the principall agent in working good spiritually in the Saints who are under a covenant of grace And when God doth concur w th the speciall powerfull assistance of his grace for the effecting of a thing in a Saint it is safe to draw a conclusion to prove the goodnesse of the thing from the considering of the principall agent which did concurre in the doing of the thing As John doth in these words maintaining that a spirituall man considered as a spirituall man and acting as a spirituall man cannot sin because his seed remaineth in him By which distinction you may see the weakness of your argument with which you would prove the unsoundnesse of my arguing from God considered as the principal agent to the effect And the disparity of Gods working in the regenerate and unregenerate When God doth work in a spirituall man that which is spirituall it is not only good substantially and materially but formally and circumstantially by the grace of God as I have proved at large And therefore this argument is not strong enough to overthrow what hath beene delivered Arg. 11. Either the holy Ghost workes the works of the regenerate man wholly as the sole cause and then it is not wee but the holy Ghost that believes that loves that fears God that repents that prayes for the forgivenesse of his sin c. which were absurd to imagine or else we also work with him in some kind of causality to the producing of those workes that so the works may be said to be ours our loving our
fearing our rejoycing our praying If so then are we in this working either perfect or imperfect Agents If perfect agents then is there no ignorance in our understandings no depravation in our wills no perversenesse in our affections The contrary whereof all the truly faithfull find by experience and the Scripture abundantly testifieth But if we be imperfect agents then cannot perfection come out of imperfection no effect can be better than its cause Ans 1 The efficiency of the first cause doth not take away the efficiency of the second cause In God we live move yet it is not God that moveth he though he moveth all things cannot be moved himself immobilis movens omnia Aug. So it is not God that repenteth but we repent The ignorance of which truth hath been the cause of the wicked mistery of Familisme which my soule abhorreth And therefore we shall agree in the truth which is implicitely laid down in the first part of your Dilemma 2ly Whereas you say that all the faithfull grant that man is an imperfect agent I answer that if we take perfect here in this point as it is opposed to that which is sinfull so many Saints doe grant and all should and will as more light is beamed into their soules grant it that the sanctified and spiritual man considered as farre forth as he is a spirituall man doth work as a perfect Agent not as an unholy but an holy man And therefore according to your rule his action must be spirituall and holy And this may give an answer to that argument which is brought from Job Who can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane Job 14.4 3ly Whereas you say that no effect can be better than its cause c. This is not universally true A man imperfect by the want of his armes or legs may beget a childe which is perfect and hath its limbs But this not being much to the purpose I shall not contend about it Arg. 12. If the new man never sin Christ came not to save the new man for he came only to save sinners Answ The new man taken in this spirituall and theologicoll sence is not the object of salvation but an elect person guilty and sinfull in himselfe And the new creation is a blessed consequent of our redemption by Christ but I have sufficiently answered this before Arg. 13. That which is not in its owne nature agreeable to the holy law of God is not perfect and without sin for sin is the transgression or disagreement with the law of God 1 John 3.4 But the best of a regenerate mans actions are not agreeable to the law of God being not done with all the heart with all the soule with all the understanding and with all the strength Mat. 22.37 Deut. 6.5 Ans 1. By this argument you would bring the spirituall man to judge himselfe by the law or old covenant but hee is better taught by the Spirit And as hee doth not put his person under the old covenant so doth he not judge his actions by the old covenant but by the new covenant of grace According to that of the Apostle Gal. 5.18 If ye are led by the Spirit ye are not under the law And thus looking upon what is wrought by the Spirit under the new covenant he seeth it in its own nature agreeable to the law as it is delivered unto him in the hand of the Lord Jesus Not that Christ doth require lesse holinesse than is required in the old covenant but because he giveth us more grace enabling us to keepe his Commandements by the keeping of which we known in the light of the Spirit that we truly know him And the Commandements of Christ are kept by the Saints Evangelically two manner of wayes 1. By believing for justification 2. By holy walking for sanctification not that we can keep them by holy walking but as we walk in the light of our justification And thus he is as well able to keep the commandement of love as the commandement of faith Suppose a King should pardon a Traytor and should give him an assurance of pardon for all future Treason which he might run into and had power to enable him in some things and sometimes to be obedient unto him as a loyall Subject would you not say that this Subject were a loyall Subject all his trayterous acts forgiven and his loyall obedience to the command of his Soveraigne being accepted Thus it is between God and us He forgiveth all the treasons of the flesh and accepteth of the obedience of the spirit God doth account that all the commands of the Law are fulfilled by us when that which is not done is pardoned Omnia tunc facta deputantur cum id quod non fit ignoscitur which is true in a sense in reference to sanctification as well as to justification And a spirituall man thus looking upon himselfe in the glasse of the covenant of grace doth know that he is a keeper of the Commandements of God and can say with the Psalmist Ps 119.10 With my whole heart I have sought thee O let me not wander from thy Commandements All his defects and imperfections with the committing of evil and omitting good in the flesh are done away and that which is good is accounted so by the law of God as it is presented unto him in this Covenant So speake ye and so doe as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty saith James Jam. 2.12 As God doth judge our persons by the law of liberty or the law of the new Covenant so he doth judg our actions and thus they are perfect And the law of the new Covenant is not only faith for justification but love for sanctification And thus this place is expounded by the learned Paraeus Arg. 14. Paul did not think himself to have fully apprehended or to be already perfect but strove forward Phil. 3.12 13. which cannot be said of the olde man but only of the new man for the old man doth not strive forward for the prize of the high calling Answ Though Paul had not attained to that perfection which he looked for at the resurrection Yet hee had attained to a perfection of parts which is opposed to sinfulnesse Which doth appear by what followeth in the 15. vers of the same Chap. where he doth acknowledg the Saints in this sence to be perfect with which verse I shall put a period to my answers to your objections As many as be perfect be thus minded if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveale even this unto you Vse 2. The lessons which God hath taught me from these meditations have beene very powerfull by his grace for the convincing mee of sin in a Gospel-way and for the humbling of my soule under his mighty hand by seeing the huge masse of corruption which is in the flesh that little quantity of pure gold which is in the Spirit It