it with the Doctrine and Design of the Gospel and you will find them just as agreeable as Light and Darkness 13. It tempts men strongly to neglect God and their Souls to live in any Wickedness their Inclination leads them to and not to break off a Course of Sin by speedy Repentance For their pretended sufficient Grace is universal and denied to none that brings Repentance to every Mans power and choice he has Grace enough to repent if he will. And since it is in his own Power he may take his own time for it and need not fear to satisfie himself with the Pleasures or Advantages of Sin. What is to be feared to restrain them here from the Practice of Ungodliness and Unrighteousness unless they will say that common Grace being abused may be withdrawn and the Sinner by the Judgment of God given up to Obduration Here would be some danger indeed if that Obduration did irresistably determine the Sinners Will to such Wickedness But there is no fear of that for by their Principles the Will cannot be so determined either to good or evil it is inconsistent with that Liberty which is essential to it and which it cannot want while it is a Will. Therefore no light can be withdrawn no hardness can be contracted but the Will must still be at liberty to turn to God or not to turn to repent or not to repent at pleasure They have security from their Principles to go on in their evil ways 'till they be in danger to live no longer and then it is not a peradventure if God will give them Repentance they have enough for that in their own Power and may repent and turn to God when they list Accordingly one of the prime Asserters of this Doctrine being admonished of his Debauches made this return I am a Child of the Devil to day but I have Free-will and to morrow I will make my self a Child of God. 14. It destroys Justification of the Gospel all Justification of Sinners which the Gospel gives notice of It will have us Justified not by the Righteousness of Christ or of God but our own Righteousness by our own Righteousness in the fullest and grossest sense by a Righteousness which is in our selves and of our selves and by our selves By our own acts or works not Performed by the help of any special Grace but by the Power of Free-will Their Justification is thus stated The act of Faith or sincere Obedience or inherent Holiness though it be imperfect yet is accepted of God instead of a perfect Righteousness and so by it we are Justified as if it were a perfect Righteousness Now those acts of Faith or Obedience or whatever they call it which they will have to be the Righteousness by which we are Justified is not of Grace neither It is not the Gift of God he never purposed or promised to give it unto any It is not the Purchase of Christ he never merited it for any It is not the Work of the Spirit of Grace he does no more towards it in those that have it than in those that never have it So that the Righteousness whereby they are Justified is so far from being that which Christ performed that he did not so much as Merit it so far from being the Righteousness of God that he does not give it so far from being the Issue of Gods Free Grace that it is the Product of our Free-will How Sinners are Justified the Apostle declares in the Text and Tit. 3. 7. and Rom. 3. 34. But by this Doctrine we are so far from being Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus that we are Justified without the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus not freely not by his Grace but by acts of our own Free-will passing for a perfect Righteousness when they are no such thing nor can upon any ground be so accounted 15. It tends to destroy the Covenant of Grace to make it a Covenant without Grace I had almost said an ungracious Compact such wherein the Lord shews himself less gracious to Men than if they had been left under the Covenant of Works and under which they are more liable to Sin and Damnation than if it had never been made Which thus appears The Covenant of Works required perfect Obedience and Man being created after the Image of God with Holiness and Righteousness was able to perform that perfect Obedience which was the Condition of that Covenant but transgressing it by that first act of Disobedience in eating the forbidden Fruit he lost the Image of God wherein his strength for observing the Covenant consisted The Lord they say deprived him of that Holiness and Righteousness and thereby of ability to perform the Condition Now they say a Man cannot sin in not doing that which he is not able to perform though he be disabled by his own fault and so in this state of disability he was not capable of sinning and consequently was not liable to Condemnation If things had continued in this state none could have been Damned for actual Sin but Adam only and they say for Original Sin none are Damned But the Covenant of Grace made a sad alteration in Mans state and circumstances for therein sufficient Grace being offered to all whereby they may avoid Sin if they will they hereupon become capable of sinning as they were not before and in danger of Damnation when before they were safe So that their Covenant of Grace makes Mans Condition worse than it was instead of relieving him so far is it from being truly gracious even the supposed Grace of it brings him more within the compass of Sin and Damnation than he was without it 16. It Cashiers the Spirit of Grace and all its special Offices and Operations To pass by those who ascribe nothing at all to the Spirit those who attribute most to it so far as I can discern will have us beholding to him for nothing at all but common Light such as the Childreâ— of Darkness have and so weak and powerless that the Will needs not follow it is not determined nor effectually moveâ— or inclined by it The Spirit of Gracâ— with them has no immediate Influencâ— upon the Will or Affections and thiâ— is all too which the Mind has from thâ— Spirit it moves neither Will nor Affectâ—ons but remotely but by vertue of thiâ— Light So that the Spirit of Grace doâ— nothing in the whole Soul Mind Wiâ— or Affections but what this light amounâ— to No more is needful either for thâ— first rise of Holiness or for the increasâ— and growth or the strengthening and coâ—tinuance of it At first the Will by no other helâ— than that of Moral Grace which prâ—tend to no inward Operation of the Spirit but only this common Illumination for the Proposal is by the Word without and the inforcing of Motives and Arguments is by the Ministry of Man determines it self to turn to God
LICENSED April 24 th 1688. A DISCOURSE OF THE Saving Grace OF GOD. By the late Reverend and Learned DAVID CLARKSON Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed by J. Astwood for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns at the lower end of Cheap-side near Mercers-Chappel 1688. A PREFACE THE very Title-page mentioning the Subject and the Authour of the following Discourse leaves little need of a Recommendatory Preface For what Subject can be supposed more inviting than this of the Grace of God represented to such as were lost and designing their Salvation If we were the Inhabitants of some other World never lost or in which Sin and Vindictive Justice had no place 't were a grateful Contemplation to us if from thence we had the opportunity to view the Methods of Grace for the saving of miserable perishing Creatures in such a World is this As the kindness and benignity of the unfal'n Angels makes them stoop down * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and pry with earnest desire †1 Pet. 1. 12. and no doubt high pleasure to observe what was doing to this purpose in this wretched World of ours But who can consider himself as lost and not apprehend the name of saving grace to carry with it a pleasant joyfull sound It too plainly argues a strange complication of stupidity and lightness of mind when to any who are themselves of that lost race the Grace of God by which only they can be saved is unsavoury and without relish And it is not less strange if they can expect to be saved without it There are so many sensible Miseries continually urging Mankind that if they be compared with what obtains in the common belief of the most of whatsoever Religion and whereof few profess any doubt that one would wonder all should not be much taken up in meditating some way of escape and how they may be saved out of such a Gulf as this For setting aside the inward evils that infest mens minds which carry most of Sting and Pungency in them to those of an awakened mental sense 't is obvious to their duller outward senses that they are encompassed and often seiz'd with innumerable Calamities Sicknesses Pains Violences from one another and other disasters from which they cannot be certain to be safe one moment and that they are all mortal and after a little time must certainly dy The most profess themselves to believe they have about them somewhat immortal and that this World will at length have an end Divers Pagans have agreed with Christians in the apprehension that it will end by Fire an universal Conflagration and of an after Felicity to be had somewhere else Now what Power of Nature can they think of that should save them out of so common a Ruine Or what is left them to think of besides unless they will yield themselves to perish without remedy which the Nature of man abhorrs from but of being saved by Grace They that have any Notion of God cannot think Grace unworthy of him Some of the Epicurean Faith that thought it unsuitable to the Nature of God to be toucht with Anger and who might therefore think our Infelicities to befall us of course without being any effects of divine displeasure yet were less averse to think he might be toucht with Grace as * De Irâ Dei. Lactantius takes notice and so left themselves room for the apprehension that our Felicity should be owing to the Benignity and Favour of God. But what thoughts of Him can be more unworthy or less agreeing with themselves than while he is acknowledg'd to be a Mind a Spirit the first eternal Mind and the Father of Spirits to suppose he should be less kind benign and gracious to our Minds and Spirits than to our baser Flesh Or that they who expect from his favour a state of future freedom from bodily pains diseases and death should not expect from it much more a Felicity suitable to their Nobler part and seek thence what is of so apparent necessity before-hand to prepare and form their Minds and spirits for such a Felicity And one would think that as they who are better instructed in the Affairs of Gods Government over men and that know how to ascribe to him a just displeasure and anger for their common Apostacy and revolt from him that shall be no way unbecoming but most agreeable to an infinitely perfect Being should be most apt to approve and admire the Methods which the Grace of God hath pitcht upon for expiating the guilt of Sin by a Redeemer so they should not be unapt to apprehend the Necessity of gracious Operations upon the spirits of men to deliver them from such distempers and disaffections as are plainly inconsistent with their final Salvation and Blessedness and give them such dispositions as are requisite thereto Can any thing be more suitable to the Grace of God than when he hath found out a way wherein he might upon terms not injurious to the dignity of his Government pardon their sins he should also inwardly apply himself to them cure the blindness carnality and aversion of their Minds incline and inable them to know trust love obey and converse with him without which an Atonement and pardon would avail them nothing and in which of themselves they can effect nothing 'T is easie to frame abstract Discourses and general Ideas of what might be performed by those noble Powers a mans own Understanding and Will but what can actually be effected in particular and circumstantiated cases against the stream of sensual Inclination either to the ingaging of intense thoughts or by thinking they perhaps are most apt to pronounce confidently who have least tryed Nor is any thing more congruous to the notion of Grace than that it be at liberty herein Unfree Grace were to every mans understanding a plain contradiction Neither can any inconvenient or ill Consequence follow upon its being apprehended most sovereignly free Or any thing that is not most suitable to God and to us It naturally follows that He be not neglected that He be supplicated and sought unto that we absolutely and with great reverence and hope surrender resign and commit our selves to Him. Which how majestick august great and God-like is it on his part how correspondent to his very Nature Whereupon we are told Psalm 147. 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy And how suitable is it to the condition of wretched and impotent creatures that are perishing and cannot save themselves And to such one would think no subject should be more acceptable than this of the saving Grace of God Nor therefore a Discourse upon it unacceptable Especially from such an Authour who tho his great Humility and remoteness from all Ostentation of himself did as much vail him as was possible to him yet his singular Worth could not be hid and indeed the less by how much the more he
endeavour'd it His clear and comprehensive Mind his excellent Learning his reasoning argumentative Skill his solid most discerning Judgment his indefatigable Industry his large Knowledge and great Moderation in the matters of our unhappy Ecclesiastical differences his calm dispassionate Temper his pleasant and most amiable Conversation did carry so great a lustre with them as that notwithstanding his most beloved Retiredness they could not in his Circumstances but make him be much known and much esteem'd and lov'd by all that had the happiness to know him and make the loss of him be much lamented But he was by the things that made his continuance so desirable in this World the fitter for a better and more suitable World. He liv'd here as one that was more a-kin to that other World than this and who had no other business here but to help in making this better From such an hand one may reasonably expect a Treatise very highly valuable upon such a Subject Which I do with so great confidence that thô I have not as yet wanting Opportunity throughly perus'd it I make no doubt to invite such to the reading of it as apprehend the value of the Grace of God and their own Salvation earnestly desiring that as their Satisfaction herein may be in its completion alike early so it may be equally great with that which is with much assurance expected by One very desirous any way to promote the common Salvation John Howe THE CONTENTS OF THE Ensuing DISCOURSE THat Salvation is wholly and only from Grace proved Pag. 1 2. Grace free in respect of 1. Constraint 2. Merit 3. Motive p. 3 4. That Salvation is by Grace demonstrated from God from Man p. 5 6. 1. From Man in several particulars 7 8 c. 2. From God demonstrated in several particulars p. 17 c. Use Those condemned who will have us saved by Free-will and not by Free-Grace 27. The Doctrine of Free-will displayed in four particulars 1. What Grace the Patrons of Free-will do own and count sufficient 2. What they ascribe to Free-will 3. What is the Tendency of their Principles 4. What they Object against the Doctrine of Free-Grace p. 28. 1. What Grace by them is counted sufficient p. 28 c. 2. What they ascribe to Free-will p. 33. 3. The Import and dangerous Tendency of the Doctrine of Free-will in twenty particulars p. 39 40 c. 4. Objections against the Doctrine of Grace answered and Prejudices removed p. 112. Some Practical Inferences from the Doctrine of Free-Grace p. 147. Books written and published by the Author of this ensuing Treatise and sold by Tho. Farkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheap-side near Mercers-Chappel NO Evidence for Diocesan Churches nor any Bishops without the Choice or Consent of the People in the Primitive Times Or an Answer to the Allegations out of Antiquity for such Churches and against Popular Elections of Bishops In a late Volume Intituled The unreasonableness of Separation Shewing that they do not serve the Design for which they are produced Diocesan Churches not yet discovered in the Primitive Times Or a Defence of the Answer to Dr. Stillingfleets Allegations out of Antiquity for such Churches Against the Exceptions offered in the Preface to a late Treatise called A Vindication of the Primitive Church A DISCOURSE OF Free-Grace EPHES. II. 8. By Grace ye are saved THE Apostle the great Asserter of Free-Grace in the 20th Verse compares the Church to a Temple And it is his design in this Epistle to shew the Influence Grace hath to the raising of this Building He undertakes to prove that the whole Structure of Salvation is to be attributed alone to Grace The Foundation was laid from Eternity by Grace in Election Chap. 1. 4 5. The polishing and disposing of each particular Stone in the Building by Justification and Sanctification were all acts of Grace Chap. 1. 7. 2. 5. 4. 13 14. And it is Grace that lays on the Top-stone in Glory Chap. 2. 6. So that we may honour this Temple with the same Acclamations which they used to theirs Zach. 4. 7. and cry Grace grace unto it The summ of the whole Discourse is propounded in the Text By Grace ye are saved We will not divide what God from Eternity has joined together Grace and Salvation But from them intirely taken offer you this Observation Salvation is wholly and only to be attributed to Grace We need go no further for divine Testimony to this Truth than these two Chapters Election Chap. 1. 4 5. Redemption ver 7. Vocation ver 16. Justification Chap. 2. ver 3 4. Sanctification ver 5. Glorification ver 6. What he speaks of the whole here he affirms of every part thereof in those places The whole and all the parcels are of Grace For Explication By Salvation understand both the Decree of God by which the Elect were ordained to Salvation and the Execution of that Decree begun here and consummated in glory That we may know what Grace means take notice of three words used promiscuously in Scripture which yet admit of some distinction the knowledge whereof will lead us to the distinct knowledge of this term These are Love Mercy Grace To Love is velle bonum to will the Happiness of the Object loved It is not in God such an affection as in us though in effect it proves affectus unionis and brings God and his People together Mercy does velle bonum miseris So it adds a Limitation to the Object which Love leaves indefinite It is for those that are miserable Grace does velle bonum liberè So this limits not the Object as the former but qualifies the Act. It acts freely So that Mercy is Love to those that are miserable Grace is Love in him that is unobliged Unobliged I say either by Necessity Merit or Motive Grace then in God is nothing but free Love. 1. Free in respect of Constraint when there is no necessity he should fix his Love upon this Object at all or upon this rather than another This is spontaneum 2. Free in respect of Merit when there is nothing in the Object that deserves Love either absolutely or comparatively this is gratuitum 3. Free in respect of Motive when there is nothing in the Object to move this Affection to pitch upon it at all or upon it rather than another This is liberum tho' it express it not fully In all these respects the Grace of God in bestowing Salvation upon any of the Sons of men is free Love. 1. There 's no Necessity God should save men He is a most free Agent whose liberty is inconsistent with every degree of Necessity ab extra It was in his choice either to have created no man or to have condemned all men or to have saved those who are now condemned 2. There is nothing in Man that can merit Salvation for there is no good thing in him that he can call his own
Preaching we confess for the most part to be such men that their Vertues do deserve no less Epist contr Walach p. 44. For those who have the Gospel God is ready to give further Grace to them if they would be worthy Hearers as they may be if they would use their Free-will well in hearing But there are some worthy hearers of the Gospel and some unworthy says Corvinus and sufficient Grace is not given to all promiscuously who hear sed iis qui digni sunâ— evangelii auditores but to those In Twiss 387. who are worthy hearers Which is in effect as tho' he spoke out and said It is given according to Merit which is all point blank against the Apostle 2 Tim. 1. 9. Tit. 3. 4. This they extend to the Fountain of all the eternal Purpose of God. All the Grace which is comprized in the Election of Grace will be ordered according to Merit Election of particular Persons depends upon their Faith or Works foreseen The Lord foresees who will believe and because they will believe upon the account of this good act he does elect them so they are elected according to Merit But does he not purpose from Eternity to give Faith in time No by no means for if he had decreed this they would be under some Necessity to believe and such Necessity is not consistent with the Liberty of mans Will. Therefore it must be left to their Free-will whether they shall believe or no and when God foresees that they shall make so good use of their Free-will as to believe then upon that account he elects them In plain English he chooses those whom he foresees will merit the Election of Grace by the good use of Free-will Nay all the Grace in the great and precious Promises and in the whole Covenant of Grace will be according to Merit For they will have the accomplishment of all suspended upon some Condition such a condition as is to be performed meerly by the power of Free-will assisted by no Grace at all but that gentle excitement which they call Swasion which enables not the Will to perform the Condition but plainly speaks it able before hand Such a condition performed is indeed a Cause a moving and engaging Cause and no less Merit than that which the ancient Church condemned in Pelagius For it is a good Act performed by our own strength upon the account of which the Grace of the Covenant is vouchsafed which a Jesuit will not deny to be the Merit that is under the Curse and Execration of Synods and Fathers twelve hundred years agoe Their other Principles overthrow the Grace of God and lay it prostrate but this quite destroyes it and makes it no Grace if the Apostles arguing be good Reason Rom. 11. 6. 3. This Doctrine which owns no more Grace and ascribes so much to Free-will makes God not to be the workeâ— or real Cause of the spiritual and saving blessings of Conversion and Regeneration nor the Author and Giver of Faith Repentance Holiness These are rather to be ascribed to Man than unto God. This will appear 1. In general Conversion Regeneration Sanctification Perseverance and what else of this nature is required to our Salvation is to be attributed to a mans self more than the Spirit of Grace they are the Effects and Aâ—chievements of Free-will rather than of Grace A man Converts and quickens himself Regenerates and begets himself Creates himself so far as he is a New Creature and upholds himself when he is created This seems strange and uncouth not to say absurd and horrid but there is plain Reason for it such as may convince any who will yield to evident Reason Grace however considered either in Election or Redemption or the Holy Spirits Operations does no more for the quickening and Regenerating of those who are converted than it does for those who are never converted therefore it is not Grace but something else that does the work If the Lord had done no more for the making of this World than for making of other Worlds that were never made the Creation of the World could never have been ascribed to him If Christ had done no more to raise Lazarus from the dead than he did to raise others who continued dead in their Graves he could not have been said to raise him to Life He that does no more towards the effecting of a thing than when it is not done at all he cannot be said to do it Now Grace does no more for the quickening of those that are alive to God than for those who are still dead and will be so for ever Therefore it is not Grace that does the work it must be ascribed to something else not to the Spirit of Grace but to a mans self and his own Free-will This is evident in the Nature visible in the very Complexion of their Moral Grace This which is all the Grace they own consists in Swasive Proposals Now he that only perswades or propounds the doing of a thing does not thereby do it at all but would have you to do it your selves and supposes you can if you will. So that this is the plain Import of their Doctrine that men can convert and quicken themselves and do it if it be done However any be said to be born of God yet they may beget themselves However they be said to be the Lords Workmanship created of Christ Jesus unto good works ver 10. yet they are their own Workmanship and make themselves new Creatures However the Apostle saith ver 1. You hath he quickned yet indeed they raise themselves to life And since they do it themselves to themselves they may in all reason ascribe it and accordingly glory in it The Crown is not to be cast at the seet of him who sits on the Throne Grace is to have neither Throne nor Crown that is to have the Crown which does the work Free-will does it and this must wear it 2. More particularly it is manifest that they make not God to be the real cause of those saving works or the giver of those Spiritual Blessings because by their Doctrine neither the Power nor the Act can be ascribed to him For they say he does nothing to this purpose but by vertue of Moral Grace And it is evident that this or He by this gives neither the Power nor he Act c. 1. Swasive Grace or the Lord by swaâ—ive Proposals gives no man power to beâ—ieve or turn to God it rather supposes that he has it already before or without this Grace The vertue of it of all the Grace they own is only that of Advice or Suasion and no man reasonably perswades or advises another to be able but only to be willing to use what already he has He that holds forth a Light to a Man lying on the ground and moves him with Arguments to rise and walk does not thereby give him Legs and Strength but supposes he has these
already if he would use them He that only shews another what he has to doe and offers reason to perswade him to do it not taking any other course to strengthen him for it takes it for granted that he is afore-hand able for it Now this is all that their Moral Grace pretends to it shews the Sinner that it is his Duty to turn to God c. and uses Arguments to move him to it but gives no other strength for it than what this Advice includes which as Perswasion or Advice does indeed give none at all but plainly supposes it in being They say a Sinner under the Influence of this Moral Grace is able to Convert and Regenerate himself to beget himself to a New Life But if he be able his Ability is from Nature and the Power of his natural Faculties was not from Grace seeing this their Grace is not for the giving of Ability where it is not but only for exciting it where it is before 2. As the Power for these great Concerns of Salvation is not from God or his Grace so neither is the Act from him For 1. That which gives or works the Act determins the Will or causes it to determin it self but the Lord by this Grace which is all they own brings it only to the Wills choice and leaves it to do as it list and so plainly leaves the Act to it self so that if the Soul do actually Believe or Repent or turn to God this is of it self their Grace leaves the Will indifferent to act or not to act and so no more works the one than the other and is no more the Cause that it acts than that it acts not It leaves it to the Will either to yield or refuse if it yield it is not from Grace but the Will. Grace leaves it in the Power of the Will to resist if it resist not it is from the Will not from Grace The Lord by his Power works not the Will to turn to God to love to embrace Christ to yield to the Spirit but leaves it indifferent to turn to God or against him to love God or to hate him to embrace Christ or reject him to yield to the Spirit or resist him It must be left indifferent as to either Grace turns not the Scales but leaves the Will at an equal poise that the Will of Man not the Grace of God may have the casting weight if Grace should weigh it down the Liberty of the Will they say would be violated and its Nature desâ—oyed 3. Nay their Grace is so far from working the Will to actual Faith or Holiness that by their account it seems to lead a man into Sin and leave him in it for it is a Sin for a man to be Indifferent whether he Believe or Believe not whether he accept Christ or reject him whether he love or hate him But all that this Grace does to the Will is to bring it to such an Indifferency and so the Grace of God with them does no other no better Office for a Sinner than to bring his Soul into a wicked Posture and in that Posture it does and must leave the Will to it self and there left if the Will be no better to it self than Grace is or can be it shall never come into a better Posture Nay further the Lord is so far from Determining the Will and so from causing the Act by making it willing that it is impossible for him to do it They say as was shewed before that the Will cannot be determined by God himself without destroying it they will have it an Inconsistency and to imply a Contradiction And thus the Lord is so far from being the Worker or real Cause of actual Faith Conversion Sanctification that it is impossible he should be the Cause thereof he is so far from actually working these that he cannot do it Let me but add one Argument more This Grace is given equally to all and effects no more in one than another and therefore can be no more the Cause of actual Conversion in those that turn to God than in those that are never converted works Regeneration no more in those that are sanctified than in the unregenerate i. e. works it not at all is no Cause of it The Lord by vertue of this Grace gives actual Faith and Repentance no more to those that Believe and Repent than to such as persevere in Impenitency and Unbelief gave Faith no more to Paul than to Judas Repentance no more to Peter than to Simon Magus i. e. he gives it not at all This is the clear consequence of their Doctrine The Lord is not the Author and Finisher of our Faith or of our Repentance nor the real Cause of Conversion or Sanctification and other saving Blessings and so not the Author of Salvation It is not by his Grace but of our selves both as to the Power and the Act in direct opposition to the Text and the whole strain of the Gospel And it is as reconcileable with Scripture and the Perfections of God to say he is not the Creator of the World or the Author of any thing as to say he is not the Author or real Cause of those great Concerns of Salvation 4. This leads them to deny Original Sin. They must of necessity make little or nothing of the Corruption of our Nature since they will have their Swasive Grace to be a sufficient Relief against it as if all the Sin in mans Nature could be argued out of him without more adoe and all the Power of Corruption natural and contracted too might be effectually subdued and crucified by rational Advice whereas this Moral Swasion is of it self of no Efficacy at all for this purpose and appears to be so in that it effects no such thing in far the greatest part of those who partake of it as much as any but leaves them altogether as corrupt as it found them I cannot discern that they will acknowledge any corruption at all to be in the Will tho Scripture and Experience shew that it is most of all there The Will seems to be now as sound by their Doctrine as it was in Innocency nor stands it in need of more help by Grace than Adam before the Fall for then he had and needed Swasive Grace In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye Here is the Duty propounded and the Proposal inforced with a powerful Motive by God himself that is the sum of Swasive Grace which the Lord seeing needfull for our first Parents did thus administer it as far from Corruption as it was then And if the Will need no more now it is as free from Corruption as it was then Thus for the Affections there must be no more Corruption in them than in the Will these being but the Acts and Motions of it Or if they will consider them as in the Sensitive Appetite yet common Illumination is enough to heal it there for
28. 28. Joh. 12. 32. The Truth and Faithfulness of God in these and other Prophecies is evidently exposed past all security their Principles can possibly give So it is likewise in the Promises and the Covenant of Grace styled Everlasting everlasting Truth and Faithfulness being ingaged for the Performance of it Jer. 32. 39 40. Ezek. 36. 26 27. Every Clause of this may prove false and not be fulfilled to any one Person in the World For with them the Lord does nothing which will certainly change the Hearts of Men but only offers Arguments to move them to renew their own Hearts and so leaves it to the arbitrement of their own Wills whether ever the Promise shall take effect or not Now if it were possible that it should prove true that Man should make himself a New Heart yet it is more likely that it should prove false because Mans corrupt Will to which it is left is more inclined to make it false than true Take it at the best to make the Truth of God in the everlasting Covenant to depend on Mans Will supposing it indifferent is bad enough For if it be indifferent whether God shall be True or no it must be indifferent whether he be God or no. Thus it will be not only as to the Promises made to us but also those which are made to Christ Isa 49. 6 7. 53. 10. 55. 5. Psal 2. 8. 72. 8 9 10 11. Jer. 23. 5 6. These and the like may all prove false Mans Will to which it is left may so carry it and this unavoidably that not one of them shall be made good Nor will they allow the Lord to take any course with Mans Will or have any such influence on it as will be sure to prevent this or make it any way certain that his Truth herein shall not fail He must not determine the Will that way which is necessary to secure his Truth in performing his Promises Nor in the Threatning neither Rev. 17. 16 17. Whatever be said of Gods putting it into their Hearts yet they will not have us imagine that the Lord will effectually determine their Wills to this but these must be left free and indifferent either to Love or Hate the Whore either to do what is foretold or not to do it to make it true or to make it false Now if these parts of the Word of God may prove false or if they be not certainly true all the rest will be suspected the Truth and Certainty of all the Scripture is overthrown If the Truth or Faithfulness of God may fail us here where can we be sure of it The glory of this Divine Perfection is uttetly defaced The Truth and Faithfulness of God is the ground of all Divine Faith. We believe God because he is infallibly True and what he says cannot prove false But it may prove false by their Doctrine and so the ground of all Christian of all Divine Faith is quite razed and the Foundation of all Religion is hereby undermined yea quite blown up 4. It destroys the Government of God as to the greatest Concerns of the World. By their Hypothesis the Will of Man is not cannot be ruled by him He must not touch it immediately it is a thing so Sacred that a touch even of God may violate it He must not Inspire it with any new Quality nor Move it by any real Influence but only make his Addresses to it at a distance by proposing an Object and offering Motives and Arguments And if this will not do as it does not nor alone ever can do in the Concerns of Salvation he must leave it to it self to do what it list Now that which is left to do as it list is not Ruled it is not under Government They will have the Lord to treat it as an Orator not as a Soveraign Ruler The Will with them seems to have a Soveraignty exempted from the Soveraignty of God not subordinate to it if not above it not subjected to the Soveraign Government of God further than to do what it list Hereby God is excluded from the Government of the World. Men are governed by their Wills that is the Ruling the Commanding Faculty therefore if the Will be not under his Government Men will not be under it nor the rest of the World so far as it is governed by Men. If he Dispose not of that which orders the rest what is there left at his Disposal All the Affairs of the World which depend upon humane Conduct will be governed more by the Will of Man than by the Will Power and Providence of God By the Will of Man independently as if he were God but by the Lord of Heaven and Earth only Precariously and at the Pleasure of Mans Will as if he were a Subject an Underling an inferior Creature 5. It denyes the Almighty Power of God will not admit him to be Omnipotent and his Power Infinite It is not Infinite if it be bounded and limited yet Mans Will bounds and limits the Divine Power By their Principles the Lord can no way deal with the Will but so that it may resist him and render all his Actings and Operations on it ineffectual He cannot prevail with it in any thing so far but that it may at once stand out and repell his Motions render every Divine Attempt upon it succesless When he has done all that can be done by the Power of his Grace the Will may be too hard for him it must be always left to do what it list He cannot Save a Man how much soever he intends or desires it unless it be the Wills Pleasure Nor can he take any Course to make the Will pleased with it He can neither so Change the Faculty nor so represent the Object but the Will may still reject it He cannot work Faith in him nor bring him to Repentance nor Create Holiness in his Heart nor can he Continue him in a state of Holiness unless it please the Will to submit nor can he bring it to submit so but that it may refuse when all is done that his Grace can do He can make no particular Decrees concerning Man that are Positive and Peremptory because he cannot master Mans Will His Purposes must be Conditional and Respective to Free-will He cannot make good his own Word not verifie what he Asserts nor accomplish his own Prophecies nor perform his Promises if Mans Will stand in his way Nor can he clear his way of it in any Method but what the Will of Man may defeat He cannot Accomplish his Desires and Intentions if Mans Will resist him and can never put the Will out of a Capacity of resisting and opposing while it is a Will. It is essential to the Will to be always able to resist and if they stand not to this they yield all Psal 135. 6. No must they say there are innumerable which God cannot do unless Man pleases Phil. 3. ult
Previous to and Preparations for them viz. Diligent Attendance on the Word and Means of Grace Convictions of Sin legal Sorrow for it Sense of Wrath and Misery which often go before Conversion and are counted Dispositions or Preparations for Faith. But these previous Works are not Conditions of Conversion or the other Blessings included therein nor are they promised upon such Terms For the Condition is never separated from the Favour promised to it where the Condition is performed the Promise is always accomplished But these preparatory Acts have been in many who were never truly Converted and Regenerated never had a New Heart and a New Spirit given them So that these Preparations are no Conditions of Faith or Regeneration much less is there any thing of congruous Merit in them Our Divines that insist on such Preparations for Christ decryed the Conceit of Merit though in the lowest form This Merit of the Papists inferrs a Dueness of the thing so deserved a Dueness in Congruity thô not in Justice And what is due from the Lord any way he will infallibly bestow But there may be these previous Dispositions where Faith is never given There is not so much as a Conditional Connexion between such Preparations and those Blessings they are Promised absolutely without any Condition expressed or implied 2. The subsequent Blessings of the Covenant those that follow the first are in some sense Conditional and so Offered and Promised in a Conditional Form and yet are never the less Gracious There are Terms and Conditions taking the word Conditions in a latitude as comprizing Qualifications Adjuncts and necessary Antecedents which do no way derogate from Grace neither detract from its Freeness nor obscure but rather illustrate it Rom. 10. 8 9 10. Rev. 3. Upon such Terms are Justification Adoption Salvation offered and not Offered but upon Terms and yet most Freely and Graciously Rom. 3. Freely by his Grace and yet through Faith no otherwise but upon such Terms Joh. 3. 18. Upon the same Terms we are Adopted Joh. 1. 12. We are saved by Grace but through Faith Eph. 2. And not only Faith but Holiness of Heart and Life and Perseverance therein are the Terms upon which Salvation is Promised Mat. 5. Heb. 12. 14. Rev. 2. 10. Mark 13. 13. It is all one as if they were expressed Conditionally This is not because the Lord makes a Conditional Bargain with us leaving the Condition to our own Wills being uncertain whether it will be made good or no But the reason is because Divine Wisdom has made a Connexion betwixt these Blessings so that they shall never be separated one of them shall not be had without the other No Justification without Faith no Salvation without Holiness no Glory without Perseverance And has Constituted an Order amongst them so that one of them must go before the other We must Believe before we be Justified and be Holy before we can see God. And has appointed one of them to be the Means or way to obtain the other We are Justiâ—ied by Faith we are Created unto good Works that we should walk in them Acts of Holy Obedience are the way wherein we must walk to Salvation So that here is an Antecedence of some Duty and that necessary by Divine Appointment and Command and this tending to obtain a Favour freely offered And by this we may understand what a Condition is in a sense very innocent and no way injurious to Grace It is an Antecedent necessarily required as the way to attain or arrive at what is Promised And in this Sense it must not be denied that there are Conditions in the Gospel and its Promises unless we will deny that there are Duties necessary to Salvation and made necessary by Divine Command For such a Condition is nothing but something of a Command joyned with a Promise in a conditional Form and Divine Commands must be no more questioned when they are joyned with Promises than when they are delivered apart He Commands all to Repent and he promises Pardon Put this Promise and that Command together and it becomes a Conditional Promise if you Repent you shall have Pardon or as the Apostle delivers it 1 Joh. 1. 9. If we Confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all our Vnrighteousness 3. There are Conditions that are Injurious to Grace and Inconsistent with it None such are annexed to any Promise of the Gospel none such must be admitted by those who will reserve to the Lord the Honour of his Grace or have our Salvation intirely ascribed to it 1. Meritorious Conditions when the Condition is presumed to deserve what is Promised There is no such Condition of Salvation as this but in the proud Fancies of Presumptuous Sinners For 1. There must be a Disproportion between that which is procured and the Condition that deserves it It is of Favour not of Merit if the promised Blessing exceed the worth of the Condition To make this plain suppose the worth of a days Work be twelve Pence a Man Promises another a thousand Crowns for a days Labour it cannot in any reason be imagined that his days Labour deserves so much if he receive so much he has it of Favour not of Merit Now the Disproportion is far greater betwixt Salvation and all that is required of us in order thereto Sufferings for Christ are more considerable on this account than holy Actings but all the Sufferings of this Life such as those of the Apostle and the Primitive Christians bear not the sleightest Proportion to the Glory Promised Rom. 8. 18. there is no Proportion betwixt them the Glory offered does infinitely exceed them it is the Eternal Injoyment of God himself and between that which is finite and infinite there is no Proportion 2 Cor. 4. 17. If Glory were Promised on these Terms as it seems to be 2 Tim. 2. 12. yet Suffering would be far from Deserving the Crown there is no correspondent worth in them to so vast a Crown Merit quite excludes Grace for thaâ— which is deserved is due in Justice it is a just Debt but that which is of Debt is not cannot be of Grace if the Apostle understood these things Rom. 4. 4. He makes a plain Opposition between Grace and Debt And therefore if by the Performance of any Condition we can deserve Salvation it will be of Debt and we must expunge the Text and conclude we are not saved by Grace 2. Natural Conditions such as may be Performed by the Power of Nature without the concurrence of Omnipotent or Special Grace All that is required to Salvation under the notion of Conditions must be of this Nature by that Doctrine which will have nothing necessary for the Performance thereof but Suasive Grace For this gives no Power sufficient for Performance and therefore if there be any Performance it must be by the Power of Nature Their Grace gives not the Power but supposes it
in the Will already All that it can justly pretend to is to Excite what it sinds not what it gives It does not it cannot subdue the Wills Corruptions natural and contracted which is its Moral Impotency And that which leaves it Impotent as it found it gives it not Power it plants no Principle of Spiritual Life and Strength in the Will but disclaims these expresly And as it does not give the Power so neither does it give the Act it determins not the Will nor causes it to Act but leaves it to incline as it list when there is no Principle in it to incline it towards that which is Saving and Corruption enough to incline it the other way The Case standing thus if the Will comply with the Terms of Salvation it must be by its own Power since it has no more from above And then in Opposition to the Text Salvation will be of our selves by our own Strength not by Grace nor will Grace which is Saving be the Gift of God For if he give neither the Power nor the Act who can imagine how it can be counted his Gift They may as well say we are Saved by the Power of Nature as that the Conditions of Salvation are to be Performed by such a Power without any other Assistance of Grace 3. No Legal Conditions no Conditions performed by us nor our Righteousness The Righteousness by which we are justified the Righteousness by which we have Pardon or by which we have Right and Title to Salvation Neither Faith nor sincere Obedience are required of us for this end nor can they when Performed by us be any such Righteousness It is Christ and he alone that is our Righteousness it is by his Righteousness and that alone that we are Justified It was he who by his Obedience to Death satisfied Divine Justice and procured Title to Eternal Life It is not pretended that any Performances of ours do or can satisfie Divine Justice nor can it with more reason be pretended that our Performances give us Title to Life Those that say he did not both may as well say he did neither Our Performances may evidence our Title but they give it not nor are the Ground of it It is Christ his Righteousness that is the only Foundation of our Title Rom. 10. 4. The End of the Law i. e. of the Covenant of Works was that Man by the Righteousness of Perfect Obedience might have Title to Eternal Life this being rendered Impossible in Mans fallen and sinful State how shall the End of the Law which the Lord aimed at be attained Why Christ attains the End of the Law by his Righteousness giving Title to Life to those who believe Faith and Obedience are not our Righteousness now as Perfect Obedience was to be in the State of Innocency they are not in the stead of it they have not the Vertue and Office of it they are not Conditions of the Covenant of Grace as that was of the Covenant of Works i. e. They are not the Righteousness by which we are Justified and have Title to Life It is Christ that is the End of the Law for Righteousness to those Purposes and to ascribe that to our Performances which is proper to him is injurious to the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ And how is it of Grace upon these Terms how is the Covenant of the Gospel more Gracious than that of Works It cannot be said that it is more Gracious because it requires and accepts less sincere Obedience being not so much as that which is Perfect For sincere Obedience may be counted as much to Man in his present State of Sin and Impotency as Perfect Obedience in the State of Innocency and Perfection But the transcendent Graciousness of the Gospel Covenant consists not in requiring less Righteousness to give Title to Life than was due at first but in not requiring a Perfect Righteousness of us Personally for that end but providing and accepting that of a surety according to that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 3 4. The Law could not give us Life because being weakened by sin we could not Perform the Perfect Righteousness which is required but what the Law could not do Christ has done giving us Title to Life fulfilling the Righteousness of it in our behalf But does not the Scripture declare that our Obedience is the Obedience which gives Title to Life Rev. 22. 14. I Answer There is a double Right Jus ad rem and Jus in re a Right of Title and a Right of Possession Holy Obedience gives us not the Title but leads us into Possession It gives not the Title for that we have in Justification Rom. 5. 18. Now Obedience is after Justification and so cannot give that which is before it self and does not give that which is given already But it leads us into Possession it is the Way by which we enter so the Word immediately sollowing will have it understood When the Apostle had declared that we are Saved by Grace Eph. 2. 8. and so excluded Works Vers 9. that we may count this to be our Title to Salvation yet he adds Ver. 10. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them These are the Ways wherein we must walk if we will arrive at Salvation but they are not our Title to it as Perfect Obedience would have been in the first Covenant the Law of Works they are not such Conditions they are not our Righteousness upon which our Title is Founded as that was designed to be They are not Legal Conditions 4. Obliging Conditions There is no performance of ours that can of it self oblige the Lord to perform any Promise the reason because it is defective and falls short of what is required And amongst men he that promises upon Conditions is not obliged if the Terms be not duely observed The Law of our Creation required of us perfect Performance and no less than perfect Obedience to God will be due from us while we are Creatures It is true Man now wants Power to answer his Ingagements but that was through his own fault and the Lord does not lose his due because Man sins against him Now being defective and falling short of his Duty it is sinfull and that which is sinfull is to be punished not rewarded as such it has not a Moral fitness for promised Reward that which is sinfull brings the performer under the Curse Gal. 3. it deserves eternal Death Rom. 6. and so cannot oblige the Lord to reward it Upon this account the best performance of any supposed Condition is so far of it self from making any promised Blessing to be due in point of Justice that it cannot make it due in point of Faithfulness That which needs Pardon cannot of it self make any thing due to us but Punishment Our Faith our Repentance our Obedience being sinfully defective cannot as such make any thing
thereby the Affections are sufficiently excited and quickened Nor is there any Depravation in the Mind but what may be cured by common Light such as the most corrupt and wicked men have That which admits so easie a Cure must needs be sleight and little and that little too which they acknowledge is with them neither Sin nor Punishment properly and so not evil at all unless there be some evil which is neither The Depravation of our Natures by the Fall however it be aggravated in Scripture is not in their account properly either our Sin or our Punishment but only our Infelicity and no great Infelicity neither since with them it can be neither spiritual Death nor mortal Disease no nor very considerable Weakness For if it were such a Weakness no Grace would repair it but that which communicates an answerable Strength But that Grace which they think sufficient to repair all gives not any strength at all but supposes there is Power enough in Nature to Recover it self if it be but excited This in a manner makes Christ of none effect The great end of his coming was to Restore our Natures fallen from God and made uncapable of honouring and injoying him Therefore he took our Nature and performed and suffered so much therein But what need all this waste if we can lick our selves whole by vertue of a little common Light and so little not needfull with some of them De Peccat Orig. c. 1â— The great Augustin reduces the whole Christian Doctrine to two Heads the Knowledge of the first Adam and the Knowledge of the Second What we suffered by Adam and what we gained by Christ But tho these be Fundamental in the Christian Doctrine how little they stand for in the Doctrine of Free-will we may hereby perceive And it will be further manifest by another Fundamental which depending on this now insisted on falls with it 5. By this Doctrine there is no need of Regeneration To be Regenerate is in the Language of the Holy Ghost to be born of God Joh. 1. 13. to be born again or born from above Joh. 3. 3. and that is to receive a Principle of Spiritual Life and Motion from God. Vid. Ham. in Joh. 1. 13. But no such Principle is necessary in the Will which indeed most needs it But no Habit of Holiness is planted there no good Quality created in it by the Spirit that they say is a necessitating Act and would be prejudicial to its Liberty The Image of God needs no repairing in the Heart or Will tho' that be the chief Receptacle and Subject of it even the Schoolmen making this the principal Seat of all Vertues It needs no such infused Principle or Quality to incline it to that which is good they will have it able of it self by its own native Power to embrace any good how supernatural soever which the Mind offers to it It can produce the best Acts without any inward Principle suitable or proportionable to them The Tree need not be good that the Fruit may be good or rather it is good enough already it is so naturally The Will or Heart of Man how naught soever the Scripture speaks it representing it to be desperately wicked Jer. 17. 9. and the Fountain of all Wickedness Mat. 15. 19. seems by their Doctrine to be as good by Nature as God can or will make it no worse than it was when first formed It lost no spiritual Qualities or Accomplishments by the Fall for it had none before Collat. Hâ—g p. 248. In spirituali morte non separantur propriè dona spiritualia ab hominis voluntate c. So that all regenerating Grace as to the Will is clearly cashiered Nor will they allow any new Qualities to be infused by the Spirit of Grace into the Mind or Affections Syn. Dor. 196. no more than into the Will for that they say is repugnant to the administration of the Means of Salvation All that they think requisite is common Light such as they deny not to the vilest men nor can well deny to Devils for they discern the truth and goodness of what is proposed in the Gospel by the â—are help of such Light their own Wills can regenerate them so far as they think any Regeneration needfull I find it no easie thing to discern what their Regeneration is The best I can make of it is this The Mind needs no new Birth or Life but what it has from common Light nor do the Affections need any exciting or quickening but what that same effects But tho they count this sufficient quickening they do not call it Regeneration for many thus quickened do live and dye unregenerate It is an act of the Will must do the work and for that the Will must be left to it self The Spirit of God must not touch it must not give it any Principle of Life must not act it by any special or immediate Influence but if of its own accord it turn it self to that which is good the Sinner is thereby born again So that Regeneration is compleated by a little common Light such as the Children of Darkness have and an act of Free-will without any further assistance any other work of the Spirit in or upon it Thus by this one act of Free-will at first they are regenerated actually and afterwards by repeated acts of Free-will they may be regenerated habitually for the Will by repeated Acts can beget gracious Habits and so help them to habitual Regeneration tho they deny the Spirit of Grace can work in them any such thing as Habits or Principles of Holiness Now this is to be born again of the Will of Man not of the Will of God Joh. 1. 13. The Scripture declares that they who are Regenerate are born of God 1 Joh. 3. 9. born of the Spirit Joh. 3. 8. but this is to be born of Free-will not of God nor of the Spirit unless Free-will be God or the Spirit The Apostle says of his own Will begat he us Jam. 1. 18. but they must say Of their own Wills they beget themselves Yet this is all the Regeneration which they count necessary and so make that New-birth a needless thing which the Scripture calls for and describes â—y other Characters and declares all access to the Kingdom of Heaven impossible without it 6. This takes Sinners off from that which is really saving and leads them to â—ake up with that which falls short of Salvation It teaches them to rest satisfied with such a Faith a Repentance a Conâ—ersion a Regeneration as common Light â—nd rational Proposals such as every one â—eets with in the Ministry of the Word â—re sufficient to effect But these alone can â—ever produce any saving Faith or Repenâ—ance any saving Regeneration or Conâ—ersion Those who perswade them that this is â—nough for those saving Effects go about â—o delude Sinners and if they look after â—o more their Souls are like to be ruined â—r
ever Moral Grace may perhaps preâ—ail for some Morality but this alone can â—ever be effectual to turn a Heart of stone â—to a Heart of flesh to turn the Enmity of the Will into Love to Christ to turn Sinners from the Power of Satan unto God to raise the Soul to Life that is spiritually dead to make them new Creatures c. These are not the Effects of â— gentle Swasion but of an Almighty Power They mean something else than Scripture intends by these Expressions whâ— make these saving works so low commoâ— and easie things and so much in the Power and at the beck of a Sinners corrupteâ— Will. Nothing more ruines Souls thaâ— resting in that as saving which is not so and when Divines promote the Delusioâ— how pernicious is it like to prove 7. It destroyes holy Obedience inwaâ— and outward Leaves no place for thâ— exercise of Grace in the Heart or worâ— truely good in the Conversation It plucâ— up these by the roots taking away hâ— bitual Regeneration which is the root â— them the exercise of Grace in the actiâ— of an inward gracious Principle but the say there is no such Principle planted â— the Heart or Will by the Spirit of Hâ—liness and where the Principle is not â— cannot be acted There can be no vitâ— Acts where there is no vital Principle that which is not alive cannot put forâ— Acts of life Or to use the terms wherein Christ expresses it the Fruit is not good unless the Tree be good No good Acts can be produced by the Heart or Will till it self be good It is not it cannot be good when there are no good Qualities in it It had no good no holy Qualities planted in it by the Spirit of Grace that with them only acts Morally and does no more sanctifie those that are holy than those that are profane So that if the Will have any goodness any thing that is holy in it it has it from it self not from the Spirit of Holiness Thus the Fruits of the Spirit will be no other than the Fruits of Free-will of Free-will unsanctified unless it sanctifie it self and the acts of Obedience will be no other than the acts of natural Morality such as Mans degenerate Will can produce by its natural Power without any assistance but that of Moral or swasive Grace which begets no good Qualities gives no inward strength affords no help of any kind more to those who do most than to those who do nothing at all We need not wonder if those of this Perswasion should satisfie themselves and would have others satisfied with such a Morality their Principles do afford and can require nothing better But whether the Acts of it be those gracious Acts those Fruits of the Spirit those good works which the Scripture so much calls for and makes the Way to Salvation let those consider who are concerned indeed in the Way to Salvation Tâ—â—y charge their Opposers for not pressing Moral Duties If they mean thereby Practical Christianity there are none in the World press it more But we are not for a Pagan but a Christian Morality and think it not adviseable to press external Acts alone without minding the Principle and Root from whence all that is truely Christian must spring We count it absurd and preposterous to look for Fruits where there is no Root for gracious Acts where Grace is not planted in the Heart They may deck a May-pole with as many Garlands as they please and set off a Mast with Flags and Streamers but they will never thereby make them Fruit-trees The Lord will condemn those who bring not forth good Fruit and those also who lead them in a way where they are never like to be truely fruitfull without better conduct 8. This stifles Love to God takes away that which is the Foundation and Ground of a special transcendent Love to him That which is the rise of our Love to God is his Love to us 1 Joh. 4. 19. it is this that kindles our Affection to him and raises Love into a Flame But he that believes and considers that God had no more thoughts of Love for him from Eternity than he had for those who are under his everlasting Hatred and that Christ had no more Love for him in the work of Redemption did Obey Suffer Satisfie Purchase no more â—or him than he did for those who were in Hell when he Suffered and that the Spirit of Grace does no more for him in order to his Salvation than he does for the Vessels of Wrath sitted for Destruction will scarce find any thing in the Love of God on this Consideration to engage his Soul to a special Love for God He will be in danger to Love God with no more than a common Love such as a carnal Man may have who believes that the Lord loves him no more than he loves those who are to be tormented for ever with the Devil and his Angels He will â—ind a Motive from hence to hug and love himself rather than God For when that which they call Love in God seems but an indifferent respect not intending more good to one than another but as themselves determine it he had got no special benefit no particular advantage by that Love if he had not been better to himself The Lord as they represent him whatever is pretended concerning the greatness and universality of his Love to Mankind seems indifferent as to Love or Hatred as to the Happiness or Misery of Man. The Lord left it indifferent in his eternal Purpose whether any should be Saved or no and Christ in the Work of Redemption left it indifferent whether any should be actually Redeemed or no and the Spirit in Calling Sinners leaves it indifferent whether any be effectually Called or no There was no Affection in all this but what might have ended in Love or Hatred i. e. in the Damning of all as soon as the Saving of any That which determines this indifference and makes it prove Love is the Sinner himself the good use of his Free-will Had it not been for this for any Love that God had for him for any expression of it from Father Son or Spirit he had been one of the Children of Wrath in the same Condemnation with others So that the plain tendency of their Doctrine is to lead Sinners to reflect affectionately on themselves but with Indifferency upon God. Such is the general Love which they will have in God to Mankind it is but an indifferent respect to all which proves Love or Hatred as the Sinners Will determines it But when they ascribe any particular Love to God it is no other than what arises from the Sinners Love to him He foresaw that we would believe and so love him and therefore he intended Life for us He foresaw that we would embrace and choose Christ and therefore did he choose us So that God did not Love us first but we him whatever