him of sinne he is then able to judge himself when the Lord also discovers the love of Christ to the heart by the teachings of the Word without and the Spirit within he is then able to beleeve Further when God giveth a Christ-like disposition he is then able to shew son-like affections towards God and make expression that the Law is written in his heart In a word he hath power so farre to open the doore as he hath ability from Christ he cannot go one step further And therefore when the Spirit stands at the doore and knocks to speak properly there is no natural ability in us all ability is from grace we must look to Christ onely and the more we look to him in the sense of our own weaknesse the more we shall have All that may truely be gathered from this Scripture is that a man is a free agent in the work of his salvation but the ability is onely from Christ and not from us Now we will consider the force of your third Reason Reas 3. If God say you giveth men actions of obedience then were he to be obeyed by men no otherwise then the winds and seas obey him In this case there can be no talent no neglect of duty on mans part no more then there is in the axe or saw in dividing of a piece of timber Answer This argument I confesse is of force against them who give all to the Spirit that they make man himself meerly passive as a stupid block I am against them as well as you But you do not onely strike at these but against them also who are for the Lords free election and the special communication of his own grace infallibly to bring his people to salvation And thereupon say you such an obedience may thus be compared as if God should come and put a purse of gold into the hand of men and force it upon them and call that their obedience and to many other men give them not a penny-worth and demand some of them and because it was not there dispose of their persons to everlasting ruine page 53. Here you endeavour to misrepresent the doctrine of the Lords free election and make it odious to your own ends But we will make it clear that mans obedience may well consist with the doctrine of election and his disobedience also may consist with the doctrine of non-election ☞ For the first let us consider the meaning of that place I will make an everlasting covenant with them I will never turne away from them to do them good I will put my feare into their hearts and they shall never depart from me Jer. 32.40 That which is here spoken must needs be a promise to the elect because it is expressely said I will make an everlasting Covenant with them I will never turne away from them These words do note the communication of an infallible grace but yet not so as any kind of way to diminish and empaire the endeavour of man for this is not wrought immediately by the Spirit alone but mediately by the Spirit upon the heart of man And therefore these words are immediately added I will put my fear into their heart and they shall never depart from me Because the Lord had an intent to keep them from back-sliding de did resolve to infuse a son-like fear into their hearts to avoid all spiritual dangers and to keep themselves from falling And so we may see how the infallible administration of the grace may stand with the free act and endeavour of man But let us go to another Scripture I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you a heart of flesh I will put my Spirit within you and will cause you to walke in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them Then shall ye remember your own evil wayes and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations Ezek. 36.25 26 27. Here in these words also there is a promise to the Lords peculiar people that he will bestow his special grace upon them in these words a new heart will I give them and they shall keep my commandments I will wash them with cleane water Secondly here is their particular act by the power of grace received they shall freely walk in the Lords statutes when he shall give them a new heart they shall loath their abominations when he shall wash them with cleane water The more subtile sort of Arminians in several Treatises do seeme to ascribe much to grace onely they make the point of the question to stand in the modus rei or the manner of the grace that God doth not so infallibly work upon the heart ut eventus non possit non sequi that the event cannot chuse but follow This is the stumbling stone and the rock of offence that they stumble at Now let us consider what is alledge in their Apology to the forementioned Scripture First say they this promise is peculiar to the last times therefore it cannot be applied to the conversion of the elect which is one and the same in all times Answ Though the promise is specially to be applied to the call to the Jewes yet it doth strongly inforce the point For the question being onely de modo rei concerning the manner of the thing this Scripture plainly sheweth the certainty and infallibility of such a grace by and thorough which the Jewes shall be brought home in the last dayes If we look to the dispersion of that Nation over all Countreyes of the world we may conceive it a thing impossible to natural reason for them to be gathered together yet God hath promised to gather them into one body and that David shall be their King in the latter dayes Even so if we look to the enmity and perversenesse of a people against the Gospel of Christ there is no Nation under the whole heaven for these many hundred years that hath been such desperate adversaries as they have been There are neither English nor Spanish nor French nor Italian no not Turks nor Tartars that are greater haters of the Gospel then this people have been and yet are Yet notwithstanding all this antipathy they shall be called and thorough the call they shall be infallibly brought home in the latter times Though according to natural reason this may seeme very improbable God will certainly performe his promise and no obstacle or hindrance shall be able to obstruct the work From hence then it is clear if we go to the modus rei or the manner of the thing we may easily collect that the way of God in working the conversion of his people may be after a certain and infallible manner Secondly they argue If God will do all by his power why are men commanded to make themselves a new heart and a new spirit This were irrational to do on
much exercise by and through which men think to come to the habit of virtue So on the contrary part let us see what principles the Apostle doth lay down for the attaining of the divine nature and let us compare them with those which our Author brings out of Horace and Seneca First the Apostle points to the promises there are given to us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye may be made partakers of the divine nature What these promises are we finde mentioned in the Scripture I will put my law in their heart and write it in their inward part Jer. 31.33 A new heart and a new spirit I will give them I will take out of their bowels the heart of stone and will give them a heart of flesh Ezek. 36.26 These are called exceeding great promises because they containe the greatest things for what greater thing is there than to change the nature of a man It is as great a work as to bring Israel out of Egypt to divide the sea and to make the sun stand still They are called also honourable or precious promises to a spiritual understanding they are of an higher value than the greatest treasures of the earth Secondly the way to come to the divine nature is not by the promises alone but by faith in the promises The Apostle doth direct his speech to such that had obtained like precious faith with us verse the first And againe his divine power hath given us all things pertaining to life and godlinesse But how not absolutely but through the knowledge of him that is through faith in him that hath called us to glory and vertue And as it is in another place we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Peter 1.5 We are kept by the power of God to salvation but through faith Thirdly the way to come to the divine nature is by the power of God there can be no coming to the divine nature but by the divine power his divine power doth give us all things that doth pertaine to life and godlinesse So then the inward work doth proceed after this method First the promise is freely made Secondly faith apprehendeth the promise Thirdly the promise being apprehended by saith doth engage the power of God to performe that which is promised and so the Saints come to be partakers of the divine nature Lastly the encrease of the nature is by mortification of lusts having escaped the pollution of the world through lust If we speak properly it is neither profit pleasure honour or any thing else that can corrupt the soul were it that she were free in her selfe These are the particulars that concerne the divine nature or the nature of vertue in general The Apostle after this speaks of particular vertues adde to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge By all these particulars we may discerne for the cherishing of endeavour what little need we have to fly to the rudiments of heathen Philosophy to the purity of the natural birth and to such like dictates of Seneca and Horace These are the things which the Apostle doth admonish us Beware lest any man spoile you through Phylosophy and vaine deceipt after the rudiments of the world Col. 2.8 They that do this do not hold Christ for a head but do go directly against the principles of baptisme and circumcision as all do that deny original sin and plead the purity of the natural birth having gone so far we will returne to our Author againe as he expounds the words of the text By this saith he we may the better understand the following words I will not againe curse the ground for mans sake for the imagination of mans heart is evil from his child-hood Gen. 8.21 Concerning which note that these words are not two sentences For this is not the reason wherefore God gave over smiting for if it had been the reason it would have come to passe that the same cause that would have moved God to smite would also move him to forbeare which were a strange Oeconomy Reply There is no such strange Oeconomy in the words if the scope of both texts be diligently considered In the sixth of Genesis the Lord saith that he would destroy the world because the thoughts of the imagination of mans heart are evil continually Here we have a plaine reason given why the world is destroyed all flesh had corrupted their wayes and this corruption did arise from the common pravity of nature from the first root But in the eighth of Genesis the matter is otherwise The Lord did not look so much to that which man had deserved as to the merit of the blood of Christ figured in the sacrifice of Noah And therefore the words do best go after this tenour I will not curse the ground any more although the thoughts of mans heart are evil from his childhood And therefore we agree with our Author that these words are an aggravation of the kindnesse and mercy of God as if he had said though men be continually evil yet I will not for all that drown the world for mans being so evil The former text doth shew what God might do respect being had to his justice The latter doth shew what he will do with reference to the merit of his Son and his own mercy These things are no way contrary to our assertion We come to the second Scripture I was borne in iniquity and in sinne did my mother conceive me Psalm 51.5 To this he doth endeavour to frame sundry answers First saith he These words are an Hebraisme and signify nothing but an aggrandation of his sinfulnesse and are intended for an high expression meaning that I am wholly and entirely wicked Rely There are I confesse as in other Authors so in the Scriptures some such formes and wayes of expression which are true in the figure but false in the letter But whether this expression is of that nature we cannot easily admit For he prayeth that God would create in him a cleane heart This plainly sheweth that the evil was in his heart from the very beginning Besides other Scriptures do abundantly confirme the litteral interpretation of the words That which is borne of flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 Borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1.13 were by nature the children of wrath as well as others Eph. 2.3 All these plainly expresse the impurity of the natural birth and that the words of the Psalmist are to be taken according to the letter And that Scripture which he seemeth to build so much upon if it be well considered doth not make for his purpose one jot The like saith he is that saying of the Pharisees Thou wert altogether borne in sin and dost thou teach us Joh. 9.35 Which phrase and manner of speaking being plainly a reproach of the poore blind man and a disparagement of him did meane
shall be sufficient for thee my strength shall be seene in thy weaknesse 2 Cor. 12.7.8 9 But the way to come by this ability is not in your method to set up nature but to die to a mans self and to be emptied of all natural abilities Most gladly therefore will I glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon me 2 Cor. 12.9 The Authors of the Confession do seeme to speak more fairly for the grace of God then you do They do not shun to affirme that we have all from Christ and that of our selves we have not ability to think a good thought and much to the same purpose But by this affirmation of theirs how can they possibly agree with their own principles of the purity of nature For where there is no depravation of the natural birth what need or what use is there of the grace of regeneration They conceale themselves and you openly professe your judgment they seeme to speak more fairly but you are more true to the principles and positions of the Separate Churches CHAP. III. Whether righteousnesse and holinesse be Gods Image HEre you endeavour to prove the Negative to wit that righteousnesse and holinesse in man was not the image of God in the first creation Because this is not your own single opinion but also the doctrine of the thirty Congregations who place the image of God onely in dominion over the creature we will debate the point more fully And so much the rather because you did urge me at Earle-Shilton in Leicestershire Anno 1650. Decem. 26. before a multitude of people to answer this question what place of Scripture have you to prove that Adam had the Spirit of God or that he was a spiritual man before his fall I did then cite three several texts the natural sence and import of all which is to shew that God made man after his own Image and that this Image did principally consist in spiritual and inward holinesse For that place Gen. 1.26 Come let us make man after our Image in our own likenesse There is none doth doubt but this is the speech of the three persons in Trinity Onely the question is wherein did this Image principally consist The separate congregations and you also affirme that it did appear onely in Dominion and Lordship over the creature these words do immediately follow in the text let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the fowle of the aire and over the cattel and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth But herein both they and you are deceived for primarily and properly the Image of God was resplendent in the conformity of the soule to the spiritual Law of God Secondarily the Image of God was resplendent in that external priviledge of rule and dominion over the creature Now that it may appear that the principal part of the Image of God is in inward holinesse and that the soule so inwardly and spiritually endowed doth more lively expresse his similitude for this reade that Scripture Put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him Col. 3.10 Here note what it is that the Apostle would have the Colossians to put on Put on the new man By this he doth mean the Christ-like and spiritual disposition set in immediate opposition to the old carnal disposition of the flesh which they had already in good measure begun to put off Secondly the word renewed doth note a repaire or renovation of that which formerly was decayed So the Psalmist prayeth Create in me a clean heart and renew within me a right spirit Psal 51.10 He doth pray for the returne of the same spirit which formerly he had but now seemingly had lost So thy youth is renewed like the Eagles Psal 103.5 As much in sense as that he makes thee vigorous like an Eagle who by casting her beak and feathers renews her former agility And so in the present case wherein it is said Put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge this noteth the repaire and renovation of that spiritual disposition which Adam had but lost it by his fall Thirdly for the matter of the renovation venewed in knowledge doth signifie spiritual knowledge in the nature thereof and that which comes from the Spirit of God as the cause Fourthly for the pattern of the renovation it is expressely said after the image of him that created him Therefore the first man must be made in a state of spiritual knowledge and holinesse If this be not so how could the beleeving Colossians be renewed after this example as the Prototype Let us go to the next Scripture that ye put on the new man which after God is created in rigteousnesse and true holinesse Eph. 4.24 This Scripture also doth plainly shew that Adam had the Spirit of God before his fall For first why is it said be renewed in the spirit of your minde This implieth that we were sometimes such Secondly the expression of righteousnes and true holinesse is opposed to feigned and hypocritical sanctity Thirdly the whole tenour of the speech is to this end that the Ephesians should put off the old Adam-like disposition with all the deceitful lusts thereof and that they should put on the Christ-like nature which is renewed after the similitude and pattern of the image of God in man before the fall The argument is thus grounded upon the text What the Saints are by renovation such Adam was by creation But by renovation the Saints are just and holy From all which we do conclude that Adam was a spiritual man and had the Spirit of God before his fall Now to the Scriptures let us adde a few reasons First it is a Maxime generally received that the Law was made for man before his fall Now how the first man could be conformable to so spiritual and divine a Law and he himself be destitute of the Spirit it is not within the compasse of my understanding to discerne If we will argue a posteriori from the event we must necessarily conclude that he must not only be spiritual but also have a great measure of spirit to keep such a divine and spiritual Law Secondly the Apostle saith you hath he quickned that were dead in trespasses and sinnes Ephes 2.1 2. If all be dead in trespasses and sinnes this spiritual death must begin at the fall and so by consequence the first man must have the spirit and spiritual life before his fall For what is spiritual death but a privation of the life of the Spirit of God These and many more reasons might be brought to prove Adam to be a spiritual man as long as he stood in that state in which God had placed him Now let us hear your arguments to the contrary You say that Adams righteousnesse and holinesse was not in beleeving a Saviour because be was not in a lost condition pag.
have you to assigne the difference between the power appertaining to a Magistrate and the power belonging to every private man for if that be true as you say that Rulers are to be obeyed so far forth only as they bring the Word I pray you tell me must not every man be obeyed upon the same termes what do you make then of the power of the Magistrate when Pilate boasted Knowest thou not that I have power to crucifie thee and power to release thee The Lord made him this answer Thou hast no power but it is given thee from above John 19 10 11. It is plain then that Pilate as a Magistrate and a Judge had a power given him of God Now then if that be true which you say that the Magistrate hath no power but the Word it self then it will follow that these are co-incident termes For to speak properly the power of the Magistrate and the Word are not one and the same but the Authority of the Magistrate doth depend upon the Word from whence it hath its Original and Institution You go on and argue Are not all men Gods creatures if so how cometh it to passe that one should be in subjection to anothers will and that upon such sore punishment page 30 31. Here in these words you come very near the doctrine of the Levellers Can you make no distinction between subjection to the lawful power and mans illegal will And then turning off from this digression you conclude that the Command of God is the Power and therefore so far as the Lords Command did extend so much power Adam had But for this matter we are content to let you passe with your own peculiar way of expression Let us now see how you describe Adams entertainment in the Garden CHAP. VI. Adams entertainment in the Garden IN this Chapter you discourse how Adam was placed in the Garden how Eve was made an helper meet for him and how the Lord brought all the creatures to him that he might give them their several names and titles Because these are Plain Scripture-truths I will not be an adversary to you here But then two questions are to be demanded First whether was his chief emploiment in these externals Secondly whether he did act in them as a meer carnal man For the first if you shall say that Adam was only employed in these externals then shew why was the Law of God written in his heart None can imagine but that it was engraven and written there to that end that he should yield proportionable obedience he had spiritual abilities that he might be proportionable to a spiritual Law If you shall deny this you will unavoidably be cast upon that rock that Adam had the Law put into his heart for no use or end at all Secondly though he was taken up in externals in giving names to all creatures and in tilling of the ground yet in this you must look upon him as a man that was spiritual able to do these things in a spiritual manner These two points I thought good to re-minde you of because you did a little before affirme that Adam was a meer carnal man before his fall and that his occupation and employment was only in externals Let us go to the next Chapter CHAP. VII Free will in its nature unfolded HEre in the beginning you define free-will to be a cheerful putting forth of those abilities which the Lord hath given us to action And this you prove by many Scripture-instances to clear the nature of freedome By this account it will follow that a natural man as such without the help of the Spirit hath no free-will at all he is so far from a free voluntary and cheerful putting forth of abilities that in spiritual things he is utterly void and destitute of all ability But as in the former Chapter you had your digression to turne out against the Magistrate when you spake of the power of Adam before the fall so now speaking of his free-will you have your vagaries and excursions against the Ministry These are your words Paul preached the Gospel freely he stood not upon such punctilio's to have the tenth of the labours of the people page 40. The Separate Congregations also agree with you here For say they the maintenance of the Ministers which labour in the Word of God ought to be the free and charitable benevolence or the cheerful contribution of those that acknowledge themselves members of the same fellowship page 22. And the ground they have to prove it is from that place of the Apostle while by the experiment of this ministration they glorifie God for your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all men 2 Cor. 9.13 It is clear that the Apostle in these words speaketh of the distributions and the voluntary benevolences of the Churches to the necessities of the poor Saints at Hierusalem But by what Logick the brethren of the Separation can apply this to the maintenance of the Ministry in the time of the New Testament for my part I cannot discern Sure I am when you and they shall go about to make the people free-willers in so doing you will make a servile and a slavish Ministry As for the due in the payment of the tenth it doth as truly appertain to the Ministers as any mans possession or inheritance doth belong to him And therefore if either you or any man else shall endeavour to take away the tenth from the Ministry it is all one as to endeavour to take away the proprietie from other men Having gone so far along with you in your digression let us now come to that freedome of will which Adam had before his fall And here I do agree with you that he had libertie to put himself forth chearfully and freely to action by vertue of such abilities as he had received from God yet when you come to the negative part to pluck that down which is built by other men you plainly shew that your definition is not proper to the case in hand For thus you conclude Now some have conceived that free will had been a mans being left to his choice whether he would do the Will of God or no. But I know no such freedom given by God that a man should have liberty to dispose of himself unlesse you will call that freedom of will which a man is prohibited from upon penalties of death but God gives no man freedom to sin but preventions To this I answer though the Lord gave Adam no freedom to sin but rather tied up his liberty by a contrary command yet it is a sure rule that he made him in such a pendulous estate that he might stand or fall And though in that state he had freedom and power to will that which was good nay chearfully to put forth his ability to act yet for all this his condition was but mutable he might fall
mans part seeing God hath already decreed and promised to do the work himself ☞ Answ Though God doth resolve certainly to bring a thing to passe in his decrees and purposes though he doth promise also that it shall be certainly done yet this doth not hinder the endeavour of man seeing it is his manner to bring things about by mans endeavor as the chief mean or instrument As for example when Saint Paul and his company were in danger of shipwrack the Lord did tell him by night in a vision that there should not be the losse of any mans life but of the ship onely Acts 27.22 Here was a certaine promise and thereupon the Apostle did certainly conclude that they should all come safe to land You will say then did not the certainty of the promise especially seeing God would performe it by power hinder their endeavour No For when they came into a place where two seas did meet and the ship did stick fast in the sand every man did shift for his own life some by swimming and some upon broken pieces of the ship God had promised that there should not be the losse of any mans life ☜ and this he did effect by making every one of them careful to preserve his own life So in the case of those men which God doth intend to bring to eternal salvation he will first or last sooner or later and that by his own power make them careful of their own salvation As in the words of the text he first promised to give a new heart that is the spirit of love into the heart and when this is done then they shall keep his commandments So then it is cleare that the infallibility of the decree of election and the certainty of the promise of God do not make void the free obedience of that people which he doth intend to bring to salvation But thirdly they object Though he doth give a new heart it is not absolutely necessary that he should give it cum effectu with the effect He may give it with great efficacie yet neverthelesse the grace may be resisted by the malignity of the will of man Answ It is confessed that God may give grace and men may resist and by resisting may lose the grace that is offered But the question is whether the new heart or the new spirit may finally be resisted ye or no If any man beleeve that it may let him answer the words of that promise Jer. 31.31 32. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel not according to the Covenant which I made with their fathers when I tooke them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt which Covenant they brake But this is the Covenant that I will make after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people In the present case then the writing of the Law in the heart must be meant only of an effectual inscription if this be not so where will be the difference betwixt the old the new Covenant betwixt the Covenant that God made with the people when he brought them out of the Land of Egypt and the Covenant that he will make in the latter days For the covenant that he made with them at their coming out of Egypt they brake but the new Covenant shall not be broken when the Lord shal write his Law in their hearts then all shall know him from the greatest to the least Therefore if we go to the manner of the thing the work of conversion may be wrought with efficacie and infallibility on Gods part and yet there be no detriment or dammage to mans obedience Master Everard I have stayed the longer upon this point to to shew you the inequality of your similitude as though God did deale with his elect in forcing a purse of gold upon them and then call that their obedience We say the contrary God may infallibly work upon the hearts of his people and by his necessary and infallible workings bring them on to a free and a chearful obedience Their free endeavour must needs stand with a subordination under his decrees and workings Now let us go to the harder case of the Non-elect and here the decree of God and the certainty thereof doth not any way free men from being the children of disobedience Let us take a view of that Scripture What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Rom. 9.22 From hence it is cleare that there are none destroyed but such as are prepared and fitted for destruction and for the preparation the Lord in the ordinary way doth endure men first with much long-suffering For the clearing of this let us consider that passage of the Apostle 1 Pet. 3.19 20. By which spirit also he went and preached to those spirits that are in prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah Therefore let the decree of non-election be what it will be in the purpose of God yet we are sure in the ordinary way it is not put in execution ☞ but the Lord doth endure men first with much long-suffering We may proceed with this gradation None are destroyed but those that are made fit for destruction None are made fit for destruction but such as he hath endured with much patience and there is none that he hath endured with much patience but he hath striven with them from time to time with convictions of his Spirit and they have shewed many acts of disobedience against such inward motions and workings Therefore the decree of non-election as it is to be put in execution may well stand and consist with the disobedience of man so that he himself shall be the cause of his own condemnation If this be so I know no just cause you have to complaine for say you I wonder how they can call it our duty while they affirme that God never intended that we should do that work and so never furnished us to that purpose page 55. If you apply these things to us and our doctrine as it is probable you do then I must tell you that you heap up calumnies we do not maintaine any such position that the Lord doth not surnish the non-elect with abilities there is none of them all but he hath more ability then he useth And for the temporary beleever we hold that he hath very great qualifications and is able to go very sarre Here onely lies the point of the difference that the Lord doth not give him such abilities as will infallibly carry him on unto salvation This is his peculiar dealing with the elect as may be proved from divers Scriptures ☜ But here perhaps will
lie a great question between the grace administred to the elect and to the non-elect where doth the way part and how shall we distinguish them In this case we may not look so nicely to every punctilio there is a day appointed in which God will judge the world yet for the particular time no man can tell when it shall be that all may be prepared for it So in the present case it is confessed by all serious and sober-minded men that God doth administer his grace to bring the sonnes of men to salvation yet for the manner why he should administer it to some this way and to others that way why he should continue it to some notwithstanding all resistings and on the contrary take it from others when they have resisted such a certaine time For these various several ways of administration I think they are of set purpose kept secret in the will of God that men should work out their salvation with fear and trembling that they should strive to enter in at the strait gate that they should not neglect the day of their visitation We now come to your fourth reason Reas 4. If God say you were so the giver of actions that our not performing of actions were for want of his gift then our not acting could not be transgression pag. 56. Answer Let them consider this to whom it doth belong it is none of our doctrine but you are as faulty in the other extreame when you say that God requireth action of none but those whom he hath furnished with present abilities This if my judgment be any thing is the grand fallacie that hath not onely imposed upon you but also upon many others of your way But seeing you will needs have it that God calleth men to act according to present abilities I pray you tell me what present ability had Moses to bring Israel out of Egypt what ships had he prepared to transport them over the red sea shew me also what provision he had laid up in store for fourty years march thorough the wildernesse what councel of warre had he to judge when it was fit for the campt to move Nay thorough the whole story of the Bible make it appear what abilities any of the Saints had ☞ if you speak of their own abilities to do the greatest works of faith In these cases I think rather that Gods Word of command is given in mutual relation and correspondencie to his Word of promise and not to abilities which any man hath in present possession If we attentively consider the meaning of the Scriptures we shall finde when the Spies returned from searching the Land of Canaan the great sinne of the people of Israel was that they measured all by present abilities Because the sonnes of Anach were there they did conclude it was a thing impossible to bring that Land into subjection they never considered that it was the Land of promise and that the Lord himself would do all by his own power Num. 13.27 28. Josh 1.2 3. Psal 44.1 2 3. And for that speech of yours that Christ never blamed the unprofitable servant for want of abilities Though he did not blame him for that yet he did condemne him for not putting his money to the exchanger In this case though he had no ability of his own yet he might have it from another if he had looked after the grace and the power of God And further whereas you say that Christ calls for action of them onely whom he hath already furnished this is not so he calleth for action of those whom he either hath furnished or will furnish The Martyrs have been called forth to great sufferings in times of persecution yet the whole stock of abilities was not put into their hands at one time they did beleeve what God did call them to he would make them able to bear And that which they had not for the present they did beleeve they should have seeing he was faithful that had promised As for that instance which you aledge that Jethro Moses his father in Law did blame him for doing of that which he was not able to do Consider the case aright Jethro did question whether the thing which Moses did was commanded of God or no and therefore he did debate the matter with him why he did undertake a businesse beyond his strength But it is not so in the matter that concernes our salvation we are to do that which is commanded of God and to look to him for supply of Spirit for the performance of his own work But against this you let fall a desperate speech Such a neglect of action say you will never deserve to be called sinne because it is a forced waiting and staying the Lords leasure But where men are entituled offendors for not putting forth to action is not because they stayed for Gods acting but rather God for a long time waited for them pag. 57. I answer men are entituled offendors both wayes first because they come not in to God when he calls them Secondly when they do not waite upon him for the performance of the promise The Israelites in the Wildernesse may be an example they sinned in this in that they came not in to God when he waited for them and it is as true also that they sinned in not putting forth to action when they had so many promises of the presence and assistance of God to go along with them The Psalmist did assigne this as the chief cause of their grand rebellio they alwayes erred in their hearts because they knew not his wayes They would have all in present possession and God would have them also to live by faith in the promise Reas 5. We must say you take heed of harbouring such a doctrine which in the very nature of it breedeth such conceits that God is a respecter of persons if he should give some men meanes to act and actions and not give them unto all whom he bath commanded to act page 60. Answ In this I do agree with you that they do involve themselves in many difficulties whosoever they be that teach that obedient actions are so the gift of God that man is meerly passive without life or motion There are more then too many in these dayes that are of this belief and there are a multitude of abfurdities which follow that doctrine But whereas you admonish us of harbouring such a tenent as in the very nature of it breedeth such conceits that God is a respecter of persons this imputation as of old so now of late in your apprehension doth seeme to lie heavie upon them that maintaine the doctrine of Gods free election But in this case the Apostle himself doth make a plaine and an expresse answer he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and he hath compassion on whom he will have compassion Rom. 9.11 12 13. The sense of the place is briefly this If God chuse Jacob it
at meat nor pray in their families nor hear the Word nor perform any other spiritual duty untill they have a motion of the Spirit Indeed the Waiters in this sense do come to your pitch they think themselves to be discharged from duty till the coming of the Spirit But is there no middle between these desperate extreames Is there no discharge of duty in obedience to the Commands of God There is no man that lives in the Kingdome of grace but in some one thing or other he must be contented to stay the Lords time what then shall we say because he is necessitated to wait he is therefore discharged of all duty Not so he is still to act in a lower spheare and to wait for further communications as it shall please the Lord to impart them These are the words of the Apostle let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing you be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Neverthelesse whereunto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule Phil. 3.15 16. The meaning of the place is this every man should walk according to his present attainments and abilities ☜ and in walking doing and discharging his duty wait upon God for further discoveries A natural man is furthest off from God what then is he absolutely discharged from duty Is he not to come to Church to hear the Gospel and to wait upon the means peradventure God may give him repentance to convince him of the evil of his ways Though it is not in his own power to repent yet thereby he is not acquitted and discharged from all performance of duty And so in sundry cases men are to discharge their duty according to present abilities they are to walk in those paths that he hath appointed and to wait upon him for the supply of spirit It is the voice of the Church in her great tribulation I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation Mic 7.7 Now tell me I pray you seeing the Church was compelled to stay Gods time to wait as it were on a Watch Tower for so the word in the Original doth signifie will you lay that in this whole interval she is discharged from all duty This is not so she did discharge her duty in praying seeking and looking to God onely and in the performance of all these she waited upon him for comfort she had none else in all the world no father no brother no friend no wisedome of the flesh no other refuge but God onely When she had darknesse and no light she had a firme perswasion that at last he would plead her cause execute judgment for her that he would bring her forth to light and she should see his righteousnesse But you go on do not other men say of God that he so pitied the world seeing their hard cold frozen hearts therefore of his own goodnesse did he provide fewel enough to warm and melt them but when that is done with-holds the right hand of his power from putting the fewel into a flaming fire to succour them in their distresse and then comes to them and saith be warmed and comforted likening God to that hard hearted man spoken of Jam. 2.15 16. And more such like passages you have page 72. Who these other men are whom you here intend I cannot certainly tell if you mean the friends and followers of this Church from whom you have departed I must tell you you do charge us with that which we do not maintain It is not the result of our doctrine to resemble God to that hard hearted man Who bids them be warmed and gives them not wherewithall We say there are promises to give faith as well as to faith given to give love as well as to love given to put fear into the heart as well as to fear which is put into the heart There are sundry promises given to that end that men may go chearfully about the performance of action that doing their duties they may feel the power and presence of the Spirit to go along with them Therefore we do not say that God keeps the fewel in his own hand and that men are frozen for want of heat These are your calumnies but not our doctrine But to aggravate the matter you further adde The Physician openeth the mouth of one in a hundred and poureth it in by force as for all the rest they are not alotted any share or part therein and yet shall suffer deeply for not taking it it being proffered but not given them page 73. How hard a thing is it for you to leave your old custome of corrupting our sayings before you do confute them We hold that there is a peculiar number which God hath chosen from the beginning to salvation these in time he effectually calleth justifieth and sanctifieth but we never teach that he poureth his grace into them by force Again for others we hold there is a grace given to them nay temporary believers have very great degrees of grace which they fall from by their own desault It is an Impudent calumny then to affirme of us that we should say there is no share or part alotted to them that grace is proffered and not given For my part I do believe in the ordinary way God gives more abilities to men by the convictions of his Spirit then they do profitably use All the difficulty of the point will come to this issue touching the peculiarity of this grace which carries some infallibly and certainly to salvation when others are left for their resisting of the Spirit If then you list to go further and ask after the reason why God doth deal so unequally with men here the Scriptures doe confine you to the Lords good pleasure This I am sure they would not do if a substantial reason otherwise might be given from any thing in man himself Why else should our Saviour say Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes even so O Father because it pleaseth thee And yet further ☜ they who do with judgment maintain the doctrine of election do not think that this mystery is to be propounded to all men and at all times as some unadvised and inconsiderate men have done To let passe all that may be said if you will go to the Doctrine of the Church of England in the seventeeth Article you shall finde that the main sense and import of the Article is this that such persons onely should have the consideration of their election in Christ propounded to them who feel in themselves the Spirit mortifying the works of the flesh As for curious and carnal persons it is more proper for them to look to the threats of God that they may be humbled and for others also when they come to be humbled it is not for them presently and immediately to meddle with election but
had been ten thousand times more sinful yet without an Ordinance from God death could never have seized upon the world page 101. 102 103. What is all this but a palpable and grosse mistake of the question or as Logicians call it an ignorance of the elench We do confesse as shrist brought life into the world he brought it in by the institution of his Father so when sinne brought death into the world it was by the just appointment of God to punish sinne with death The question that is in debate betwixt us is whether sinne be the 〈◊〉 cause of death as the obedience of Christ active and passive is the meritorious cause of life If you yield this as yield it you must we have as much as we do desire Next you enquire how sinne may be the cause of condemnation supposing that it cannot be the principal cause you demand whether it may be a cause in subordination And here you tell us that sinne will not be found neither seeing such causes are good in their own nature Well then what is the cause you tell us seeing sinne is an invention of man and the Devil a meere accident that cleaveth to the subject man we may call sinne an accidental cause of condemnation seizing upon man found sinful page 105. If this way of reasoning be good why may not I proceed in the like manner Heat is an accident in the subject fire therefore the heat of the fire is a meere accidental cause of the boyling of the water The force of your reason is no better when you say sinne is a meere accident in the subject man therefore it is onely the accidental cause of condemnation If you well observe the expression you shall find it to be very absurd to call sin a meere accidental cause of condemnation Condemnation is alwayes set in relation to the guilt of some sinne that doth deserve it how then can you call sinne an accidental cause of condemnation The Scriptures say that the Lord will render to every one according to his works that they who commit such things are worthy of death And many passages of the like kind What will you say to all this Here you have a pretty shift to help you out Sinne say you puts a man in a sutable disposition and qualification for death page 106. Indeed our Divines when they speak of eternal life that the Lord will render to every man according to his works they take the word worthy onely for a sutable qualification According to that of the Apostle he hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 Though this may be affirmed of the Saints that they are made meet for eternal life it were too short and too diminuent an expression to affirme that wicked men onely are made suitable to receive vengeance for then the wicked are no more worthy of eternal death then the Saints are worthy of eternal life ☞ which is plainly to crosse the Apostle the wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternal life I cannot then but mention your words with a kind of horrour with which you close the Chapter speaking of the wicked they are say you a sutable matter to receive vengeance as Gods people are sutable to receive all the joyes of eternal life Now the joyes of eternal life are the free-gift of God All qualifications dispositions frames of spirit though never so evangelical in the abundance thereof do not abate the worth of an hair of eternal life to be the free-gift of God For there was not the least desarts in a holy life to the procuring of eternal salvation but onely it was the will of God to make eternal life as a Crown to put upon the head of those men that lived holy here which were fit or sutable for the Crown of honour So men that have lived never so notoriously wicked rebeling and blaspheming against God day after day to their lives end are no otherwise worthy than persons fitted as the true subjects sutable for wrath and God is as simply and intirely the authour of the one as the other And so farre you Now I leave it to all tender consciences to understand and to give sentence We do willingly confesse that we cannot merit any thing by our own works in the way to salvation there being such a disproportion between them and the glory to come But I do detest and abhorre that speech of yours when you say that the greatest sinner who continues so all his life long is no otherwise worthy of death than a person fitted or a subject made sutable for wrath and that God is as much the cause of the damnation of the one as the salvation of the other If this doctrine of yours be sound and Orthodox why may not the wicked in hell cast all upon God as the sole Authour of their misery as well as the Saints in heaven ascribe all to the glory of his free grace I will use your own words though to farre better purpose If a man should study many years for a destroying Principle to dishonour his Creator he could not parallel this which is the sharpest Sword that was ever drawn against the righteousnesse of God I have staid the longer upon this point because you have used so many arguments to prove sin to be no meritorious cause of condemnation I have more carefully endeavoured to vindicate the truth because this is one of the first fundamentals that is put into the heart of the Gentiles They knowing the judgment of God against them which do such things that they are worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them Rom. 1.32 That sinne is the meritorious cause of death and that a sinner is worthy of death is graven in the heart of every man alive and God at seasons doth stirre up the confideration of the guilt of sinne in the conscience of the Gentiles to look after pardon and to make their peace with God The first convictions of the Spirit do begin with considerations of the Godhead and the guilt of sinne that so men may be brought to see their misery And yet you teach us here in this Chapter that sinne is not the meritorious cause of condemnation Now we proceed to your next Chapter CHAP. XII What Adam retained of his forfeiture till his death HERE also you teach such things as do little lesse then strike at the foundation You tell us that Adam after the fall for his body had all the parts and lineaments thereof He had his senses and retained his knowledge And further you adde I make no question but God had so ordered the imployments that he had for Adam some of them to be more spiritual than ever he had to do before his fall and then that he should utterly disable him from the performance thereof will never be made good by any man under
piety and godlinesse On the other side others trusting in their own ability liberty of will and the like they bereave the Lord of that honour that is due to him He sheweth that a middle course is to be taken between these two extreames and that the rocks on either side are to be declined For the clearing of this he sheweth how far a natural man may go in all natural civil ecclesiastical actions and how by the general assistance and concurrence of the Spirit he may do great things in all Physical Mathematical Ethical Oeconomical and Political kinds of learning Only when he cometh to that which is spiritual here he plainly tells us that a man hath no power and to use the words of the Author he hath no ability to offer a sacrifice to God What is then to be done here he tells us that we must have recourse to the freenesse of the promise where all fulnesse is to be had To that end he cites the words of the Prophet Isaiah I will poure water upon him that is thirsty and floods of water upon the dry ground Isa chap. 44.3 And againe Ho every one that thinsteth come ye to the waters of life chap. 55.1 Having cited these and such like passages he comes to close in these words Quae testantur ad percipiendas dei benedictiones nullos admit ti nisi suae paupertatis sensu tabescentes Which testifieth to the receiving of the blessings of God no others are to be admitted but such only which languish with a sence of their own poverty And then he addeth Semper sanè mihi vehementer illud Chrysostomi placuit Fundamentum nostrae Philosophiae esse humilitatem That of Chrisostome hath alwayes pleased me exceedingly Humility to be the foundation of our Philosophy Or rather that of Augnstine even as the Retoricion saith when he was demanded what was the chief thing in the precepts of eloquence answered pronunciation what the second pronunciation what the third pronunciation So if thou mayest ask me concerning the precepts of Christian Religion first second and third alway it would please me to give this answer humility and more he hath to the same purpose I have drawn out the words more at length because the Author himselfe is a chiefe leader in the reformed Churches and because indeed they are the patterne of whole some words By this our Author may understand though Original sin be asserted the natural liberty of the will denyed and the necessity of sinning introduced yet neverthelesse according to the tenour of these principles men may have a sacrifice to offer and exhortations may be of good use Dr. Preston in his Treatise of humiliation pag. 224. doth propound the question who is able to practise according to his knowledge His answer is and I will appeale to any mans experience let him look back to the course of his life and examine himselfe was there any particular action in all thy life from which thou wast so hindred that thou caust say that thou couldst not do it was there any particular sin of which thou couldest say this sin I could not abstaine from And howsoever we may make it a matter of dispute in the Schooles yet the worst man in whom we may think corruption of nature to be most strong when he comes to dye doth not excuse himselfe but acknowledges he is guilty In the next page he propounds the maine objection How can a man he condemned for not believing and turning to God when naturally he hath no power to do these things To this he answers Though a man hath no power to believe and repent yet he is condemned for the neglect of such precedent actions which he had a liberty to do c. Our Divines in the Synod of Dort in the Suffrage of the Britans do distinguish betwixt regeneration and those antecedaneous acts that lead towards regeneration These antecedaneous acts a natural man by the help of the Spirit may do as to see sinne mourne over it judge himselfe for it he may go further he may taste the sweetnesse of the promise and have some beginnings of joyes all which he may fall from many other testimonies may be brought to shew that our Authours by the tenour of their principles do not extinguish the endeavour of man but do rather more truely direct and instruct men to follow the right course I shall stay too long upon this point because I perceive that it is the chief rock of offence that our Author doth stumple at he further sheweth All things else are determined and fixed by the divine providence even all the actions of men but the inward act of the will is left under the command of laws only and under the arrest of threatnings and the invitation of promises Answ It s true that laws threatnings promises are made with special respect to the will But that the inward act of the will should be so under laws that it should not be under the decree of God this Tenet doth exclude the chiefest part of the world from being under the care of God Nay if the matter be well considered here is the very height of the Atheisme of the ancient Philosophers To maintaine the absolutenesse independency and sovereignty of the will of man upon the earth they do deny the providence of God in heaven Cicero upon this reason did deny the infallibility of the prescience of God And our Authour seemeth to me to come too near to this coast In the next words he gives his reason And that this is left for man can no way impede any of the divine decrees because the outward act being over-ruled by the divine providence it is strange that the Schooles will leave nothing to man whereby he may glorifie God Answ If it be supposed that the inward act of the will be under the decree of God as well as the outward action this doth not take away that by and through which we may glorifie God For it is not all kinds of necessity that are contrary to liberty but some onely The necessity of nature the necessities of a bruit instinct and outward compulsion cannot stand with liberty but the necessity of the decree of God the necessity of infallibility the necessity of the creatures dependency can be proved to consist with liberty For God usually brings his decrees to passe by the free act of his creature which work under his decrees and are subservient to those ends that he hath appointed And for the inward motions of the will innumerable examples may be brought to prove that they are under the decrees of God The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord and he turneth it about as the streams of water Prov. 21.1 God hath put it into their hearts to hate the whore and to burne her flesh with fire Apoc. 17.11 And speaking of the Egyptians he turned their heart to hate his people Psal 105.25 Besides the promise A new heart and
a new spirit I will give them Ezek. 36.26 The Psalmist prayed create in me a cleane heart O God and renew within me a right Spirit Psal 51.10 All these places of Scripture do abundantly prove that the inward act of the will is under the decree of God as well as under laws and that the certainty of the decree doth not overturne the liberty of the will but both do go together Next he tells us That Augustine in his zeale against a certaine errour of the Pelagians made him take in auxiliaries from an uncertaine and lesse discerned errour and caused him to say many things which all antiquity disavowed and which the following ages took up upon his account Answ The following ages specially since the times of Luther have adhered to the doctrine of Augustine But that the Sager sort have done this meerly upon his account we cannot easily admit They have followed him so far as his interpretations have come nearer to the natural and genuine sence of Scripture What hard speeches he hath concerning original sin the natural servitude of the will the spirituality of the law and the imperfection of man the rigour and austerity of them will be well allayed by comparing them with other sweet sayings of his concerning the fulnesse of Christ and the freenesse of the promises His scope is no way to hinder the endeavour of man but to ground and settle it upon such principles that are more solid and divine And whereas our Author in his Vnum Necessarium and his further explication doth commend the Fathers before the times of Auguistine for their temperate speeches concerning free-will Here many things are to be observed First who will assures us that he may not do the same with their authorities about free-will as he doth with the doctrine of the Church of England and the sence of the Article in the point of Original sin If he will pervert the plaine sence of that which is open in the view of all men what may he not do with the testimonies of the Ancients Besides what he alleadgeth for free-will out of Justin Martyr Cyril Hierome and others those speeches may admit of a benigne interpretation All Divines do agree that a man hath free-will he hath a power to understand to choose to refuse to act by counsell he were not a man if he could not do this The speeches of the Fathers may be taken in such an absolute sence in relation also to a particular state Adam had free-will in innocency and the Saints have free-will to that which is spiritually good in the state of grace Further suppose some things have escaped from them that have been lesse authentick let us consider that many of them came new out of the Schooles of the Philosophers and therefore together with the truth they might mingle some errours of Philosophy Their conflicts also were with the Philosophers and the Maniches and therefore it was necessary that they should speak something more than ordinary for the liberty of the will But enough of this matter which is so largely spoken and so plentifully by others FINIS A Catalogue of some books printed for and sould by Edmund Paxton over against the Castle Taverne near to the Doctors Commons THe holy Arbor containing the body of Divinity or the summe and substance of Christian Religion for the benefit and delight of such as thirst after righteousnesse wherein also are fully resolved the questions of whatsoever point of moment have been or are now controverted in Divinity By John Godolphin J. C. D. fol. The holy Lymbeck or A Semicentury of spiritual extractions wherein the Spirit is extracted from the letter of certaine eminent places in the holy Scriptures By John Godolphin J. C. D. 12. The Temple measured or a brief survey of the Temple mystical which is in the instituted Church of Christ wherein is solidly and modestly discussed most of the material questions touching the constitution and Government of the visible Church-militant here on earth c. By James Noyes of New England 4. Lawes and Ordinances of War in 4. Englands compleat law-Judge and Lawyer by Charles George Cock The method of grace in the justification of sinners being a reply to a book written by Mr. William Eyre of Salisbury by Benjamin Woodbridge Minister of Newberry
if he would as appeareth by the event Now that the libertie of Adam did stand between these two between the choosing of the good and the refusing of the evil it is clear from the signification of the two trees The Tree of life signified what happinesse he should enjoy if he stood the Tree of knowledge of good and evil what misery should attend him if he fell Therefore the liberty of Adam stood betwixt choosing of the good and refusing of the evil For your definition of free-will that it is a chearful issuing forth to action by vertue of abilities received this might in some sort be applied to the blessed Angels and Saints in the state of glory For though they be established and confirmed in their holy and happy estate that they cannot fall yet they do most freely voluntarily and chearfully put forth their abilities to the glory of God but Adams freedom was otherwise for the trial of his obedience He was made in a mutable and changeable condition in which he might stand or fall by his own free election not only because the Lord would be obey ed by a free choice but also that through his fall a door might-be opened to the sending of the Sonne and that salvation might be had upon termes of grace only to the fuller declaration of the glory of God CHAP. VIII How far God assisted Adam or assisteth other men that they might be such free-willers as hath been described TO the performance of duty you tell us that God doth give first a capacity to understand secondly ability to perform thirdly time fourthly he doth use exhortations and reproofs And then you adde that he giveth these rich accommodations as a sufficient means for all men to obey every one of his commands and he goeth no further for effecting any mans actions in the world ☞ page 42 43. In these words of yours you do plainly eliminate and extinguish Gods peculiar grace by and through which he doth infalliblie and certainly carry on his own people to salvation But that we may joyne issue with you we do freely yield that God giveth greater abilities and helps to men then they ordinarilie make use of Yet I know no reason in the world you have to confound the abilities that Adam had before the fall with the abilities that every man now hath in the state of nature Again if you look upon all men as lapsed or fallen how can you affirm that the abilities which the Lord giveth are equal to all Is not this contrary both to Scripture and experience you tell us how far God goeth with every man in the conferring and bestowing abilities upon him and then peremptorily and magisterially determine that he doth not go further to the effecting of any mans actions in the world Thirdly it is a point well worth the searching what you mean by these abilities Pelagius himself did stand much upon this that he was a patron and a great friend to the grace of God But how did he maintain it he had a clancular and a reserved sense he conceived the minde will and other natural abilities to be the gifts of God and called them by the name of his free grace This Augustine of old did acknowledge to be true in the general but he did blame him for his obscuring and darkning the inward special grace of God through which he doth effectually work upon the hearts of men And I would we had not too much cause given to us to judge the same of you For though you speak much of the ability which God doth give yet when all is done you go no further then the natural faculties Let any man consider what you have written concerning this point in the denial of Original sin in the advancement of the purity of nature in the emprovement of natural abilities in asserting that Adams ability was as good after the fall as it was before By the collation of all these let any man judge whether you do not advance nature and depresse the grace of God and whether in these assertions affirmations of yours you are not a downright Pelagian You cite that place Is 5 Judge I pray you now betwixt me and my vineyard what could I have done more to my Vineyard that I have not done From whence you infer Where are those disputers against God that will say be made a man able to oppresse and do unrighteously and left him destitute of ability and power to do those things which he commanded Because this text as formerly so now is much alledged by the Patrons of free-will I shall endeavour the more diligently to shew the meaning thereof I see no reason from the Lords peculiar bounty to the Jewish Church that we should conclude so generally that he gives the same ability to every man in the same degree and the same measure and that in point of Conversion and turning to God There is nothing in the parable but if the Scriptures rightly be compared you shall finde the truth of the thing will answer the emphasis of the words For that expression What could I have done more to my Vineyard that I have not done the truth of this will appear if you consider all along what God had done for them in chusing them above all the people of the world what he had done for them in Egypt in the wildernesse in bringing them into the land of Canaan how he had been present with them in all the times of the Judges and the Kings how he had delivered them from great dangers how he had taught them by afflictions how he had raised up Prophets in several successions of time to turne them from the evil of their evil ways and many such like passages of his grace and goodnesse to that people which plainly seal the truth of that saying What could I have done more to my Vineyard which I have not done This is true in particular of the Jewish Church set forth by the figure of the Vineyard but how doth it prove the question that doth lie before us your task is to shew the general assistance that God giveth to every man to make him a free-willer yet here I do in sense agree with Dr. Mayer and others upon the place that at seasons the Lord by sending in of light doth so loosen the will that is bound that then a man hath some power to will that which is good And hereupon they inferre ☜ that the fault is in man himself For although by nature he be not able to will the good yet when he heares outwardly and the Spirit moves inwardly he is able to go the next step and his condemnation is in this that he doth not act according to the ability administred As for that saying of yours that God giveth a man ability to oppresse but not to obey his Commands This is none of our positions but it is one of your calumnies We hold that God hath put
so much light into the heart of the Gentiles to know that they must not steal that they must not defraud or oppresse the Lord also doth give them power to act according to their light in these and such like outward moralities This is clear from the first and second Chapter of the Epistle to the Romanes and it is evident also by that Scripture that God was indeed much dishonoured by their not emproving their abilities which he had bestowed upon them to the bringing forth of such actions of obedience as he had required of them He was angry with them because they did not walk after the light because they held the truth in unrighteousnesse because by oppression and other sinnes they did not answer the Law written in their heart Though in these externals the Gentiles had abilities some way proportionable to the Commands yet in the case of true repentance and turning to God the same Apostle doth drive the Gentiles from all confidence and dependance upon natural ability The whole tenour of his speech is to shew that the proper use of the light which God giveth is primarily and immediately to help a man to judge himself and in judging to see his owne emptinesse that so in the sense of his own misery he may make out for mercy The whole scope then of the Apostle is to shew that Jewes and Gentiles are all under sin that they have no ability of their own and the end is to drive them to a Christ to make up all Next you go to the Parable of the Talents Matth. 25. You reason Our Saviour comes and bears witnesse to the world that he desires no more encrease then the benefit of what he had first given means sufficient to bring forth no more then was answerable to the seed he had first sowen if one Talent then the encrease of one verse 18. The slothful man hides the Lords treasury but verse 30 the Lord presents to us what course he will take with such servants who use such kind of sayings as too many do in these dayes that God would be gathering where he scattereth not but that must needs be a lye for what pleasure could the Lord himself take in any such increase where himself is not the planter page 45. I have often found this Scripture cited by the Arminians yet among them all I never met with any that made so corrupt a use of it as you do Not many years since the learned Chamier treating of the point of free-will did endeavour to shew the difference betwixt the Philosophers and the Jesuites They saith he meaning the Jesuites do admit some kind of grace which never entered into the thought of Aristotle they acknowledge the corruption of nature by sinne which the Philosophe's did never so much as dreame of Tom. 3. lib. 3. cap. 2. sect 9. If this Author were now alive I would gladly know what difference he would set betwixt the Philosophers and the Brethren of the Separation who hold that infants are free from all natural corruption what difference he would set betwixt Aristotles Ethical Philosophie and your Moral Divinitie when you teach that Adams abilities were as good after the fall as they were before But now let us come to clear the Parable of the Talents First suppose by sufficient means you understand onely the supply of the Spirit of Christ how can you justifie this to be a true interpretation that Christ requires no more encrease then the benefit of what he had first given sufficient means to bring forth Will you say that it is absolutely necessary to have the ability in present possession before the command can be given If this be your opinion you must needs block up the right and the true way of bringing a soul to Christ We preach the Law in the spiritual nature of it to a natural man to what end is all this but that by the sight of his own emptinesse by the convictions of the guilt of sinne he may look after a Christ first to justifie and to pardon secondly to sanctifie and to cleanse the pollution of his nature We do not preach the Law to him supposing that he hath ability but the immediate end of our preaching is by and thorough the inward working of the Spirit to empty him of all ability that so he may look to the promise where true ability is onely to be had For the words of the Parable that he gave to every man according to his ability ver 15. We are not strictly to adhere to the letter as though the Lord doth give his grace according to every mans natural ability but it is spoken after the manner of men he giveth his grace in a different measure to some more and to some lesse yet all the ability is from Christ himself And therefore when he that received one Talent accused the Lord for an hard man for reaping there where he did not sowe the answer was thou shouldest have given my money to the exchanger that is though thou hadst no ability of thine own yet if thou hadst gone to the exchanger to the Promiser he was able to make profit of the money he was able to help thee with forreign supply where thine own natural and domestical ability was wanting Secondly whereas you affirm that there are many in these dayes that use such hard kinde of sayings that God would be gathering where he scattereth not and that one day he will call such servants to account I do acknowledge as heretofore so now there are more then too many who do neglect their talent and cast the blame upon God himself But your aime is not so much at these as against others who oppose free-will and your way of setting up the natural ability of man Though some passages in their writings are hard yet if you would compare one thing with another you should find that they do speak of abilities that do answer duties of a word of promise that answereth the word of command of the fulnesse of Christ set in opposition to the sinfulnesse and misery by Adam Doctor Twisse disputing against the Arminians lib. 3. errat 9. pag. 211. doth of all others seeme to tread something hard yet he doth shew many pithie reasons wherefore the Lord may give a command where there is a want of abiliy First saith he men are too apt to trust in their own work to bring them to salvation therefore that they may know the common contagion of Original sinne and thereupon the impotency and weaknesse that hath ensued to all good the Lord taketh this course to shew them their misery Secondly he addeth these words If by the grace of God we know our selves to be no way fit or able to do those things which the Lord commandeth yet by his just counsel he doth command us and by his commands he doth shew what we are indebted to him as Lord Creator and that which we are not able to performe our selves