and brethren what shall we do This is the very nature of the thing required For as in the naturall generation of a man there are many previous dispositions which go before the introduction of the form so also in the spiritual by many antecedent actions of grace do we come to our spiritual maturity This lastly is apparent by the instruments which God useth in regenerating men for he useth the ministery of men and the instrument of the word 1 Cor. 4.15 I have begotten you by the Gospel But if God would immediatly regenerate and justifie a wicked man prepared hereunto with no sorrow no desire no hope of pardon there would be no need neither of the ministery of men nor of the word preached for the effecting thereof neither need the Ministers to take any care to divide the word aright first by wounding the consciences of their hearers aptly and prudently with the terrours of the Law and afterwards by raising rhem up with the Promises of the Gospel and exhorting them to seek Repentance and Faith of God by prayers and tears Thus far those worthy Divines SECT II. The Preparations that are necessary to our future glorification and perfect salvation in Heaven THus I have shewed what qualifications are necessary to the receiving of saving grace and consequently to the first beginning of our salvation by Christ Now if we shall speak of our salvation as it shall be consummated and perfected in Heaven it is most true that we must also by Gods grace and by his Spirit be qualified renewed and prepared for it as our Saviour himself assureth us in these words Matth. 5.20 For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Heb. 12.14 Consonantly unto this the Apostle telleth us that without holinesse no man shall see the Lord that is in his kingdom and to his comfort For all unclean persons shall be excluded out of the new Jerusalem as St. John also beareth witness 1 Cor. 6.9 Revel 21.27 Whereunto St. Paul also subscribeth when he saith Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Wherefore if salvation be taken for our compleat salvation in Heaven so Sanctification Faith Repentance John 3.16.38 Luke 13.3 Rev. 19.7 and good works go before it although not as any meritorious causes thereof yet as preparations to it as we are given to understand when it is said The mariage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made her self ready and the next words shew how not by any natural power or ability of her own sed dono Dei but by Gods free gift or grace for so it followeth and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linnen clean and white for the fine linnen is the righteousness of Saints And that it is necessary for us thus subsidio gratiae divinae by the assistance of Gods grace to prepare our selves to meet Christ in his Kingdom of glory both the parable of the five wise Virgins Matth. 25. that prepared their lamps to meet the bridegroom sheweth and St. John also confirmeth it when he saith 1 Joh. 3.3 whosoever hath this hope in him that is to see Christ Jesus in his glory and to be glorified with him he purifieth himself as he is pure These things which I have thus alledged do manifest and make it evident that God sanctifieth prepareth and maketh his Elect fit for his Kingdom of Glory before he doth admit and receive them into it SECT III. An Objection answered Obiect BUt against this Doctrine Mr. H. Mr. S. and the rest of them do object and say That if such previous dispositions qualifications and preparations do go before our justification and salvation then our salvation shall not be of grace but of works Answ and so the Gospel will be a Covenant of works It 's true indeed if we did hold as the Papists do that we by such works of preparation do merit our salvation then it should be of works and not of grace but we are far from this For first we say that God of his grace by his Word and Spirit doth work these preparations in us and not we our selves by any strength or power of our own free will Secondly we therefore acknowledge and say that it is of his meer grace that he doth both justifie and sanctify us and after our warfare is ended crowns us with the glory of his Kingdom Over and besides all this we do also acknowledge that many of those in whom the common graces of the Spirit are wrought whereby the Elect are ordinarily â—ted and prepared for the work of regeneration 〈◊〉 through their own negligence and wickedness queâ—â— the Spirit and fall away from the grace which they 〈◊〉 thus received and so are never regenerated but juâ—â— rejected of God for their unthankfulness and neâ—â—r brought by him into the estate of salvation We do 〈◊〉 therefore say nor do we hold that the regeneration 〈◊〉 conversion of a sinner doth necessarily spring as it were or arise out of these previous dispositions as natura forms do out of the matter when it is rightly disposed for them for even the Elect themselves after they are thus wrought upon and disposed by the Word and Spirit of God do many times grow careless and do too much neglect the means of their salvation and so would utterly perish if God should leave them to themselves but hi Love towards them is such that he rouseth and raiset them out of their security and in due time by his wor and Spirit converteth them and bringeth them into th estate of grace This that we thus teach and acknowledge doth make it evident that our justification sanctâ—fication and whole salvation is of grace and not of aâ— works of ours It 's false therefore that we as they char us do by our Doctrine make the Gospel a Covenant works But hereof more at large Quest 14. SECT IIII. More Objections answered A Good while after I had thus answered the former Obiection in a private conference which I had with â—ne who denied all antecedent preparations to a sinners â—onversion he spake unto me to this effect Let Christ be offered unto sinners Object and let the riches â—f Gods grace be manifested and made known unto â—hem for that alone will be a sufficient means to make â—hem to receive Christ and to come in unto him yea â—nd to love and obey him Whereas on the contrary the preaching of the Law hath kept men from Christ and hath hindred the salvation of many souls Hereunto I replyed that no doubt many will be ready to come in unto Christ Answer and make a formal profession of his name when the Gospel is thus preached unto them but unlesse they be humbled by the Law and brought to see in what need they stand of Christ
to lead a godly life and yet our Saviour rejected their obedience saying Mat. 5.20 Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharises ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven For their righteousness was externa non interna justitia outward onely before men but the inward purity of the heart was wanting in them For which cause our blessed Saviour compared them to whited Sepulchres and told them that they did make clean the outside of the Cup and of the platter whereas their inward part was full of uncleanness Besides this Luk. 11.39 they tythed Mint and Annise and Cummin but neglected the weightier matters of the Law as our Saviour layeth this to their charge He is much mistaken therefore Mat. 23.25 when he saith that the Scribes and Pharises had a constant purpose to forsake all sin and to walk in all holiness But saith he St. Paul a Pharise saith of himself Object Phil. 3.6 that he before his conversion was as touching the righteousness which is of the Law blameless The answer hereunto is Answ that he speaketh only of the outward righteousness of the Law as his enemies the Pharises understood it His meaning therefore is that he was unblameable in the Opinion of the Jews who were seduced by the Pharises and did as much as they required of him or that he was unblameable in regard of his outward cōversation before men and what if St. Paul did think well of himself whilest he was a Pharise and did persecute the Church of God can none therefore no not those who have received the spirit of God whereby they know the things that are given them of God 1 Cor. 2.12 be assured that they do in truth serve God according to all his Commandements SECT II. Faith and Repentance are distinct Graces Object Confer p. 19 20. Answ Synop. purioris Theologiae BUt he telleth us wherefore he acknowledgeth true Repentance to be a sure mark of salvation to wit because Repentance includeth Faith as a part thereof Whereunto I answer as the learned professors of Leyden and other Protestants do that Repentance is sometimes taken generally for the whole conversion of a sinner from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God and so faith is a part of it but otherwise the holy Scripture speaketh of Faith and Repentance as of two distinct graces For so doth St. Paul when he saith that he kept back from the Ephesians Act. 20.21 nothing that was profitable for them but taught them repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Whence I reason thus Conf. p. 20. those vertues or those graces that are differenced by their objects are different vertues but so are repentance and faith therefore they differ really non sicut totum pars and not as the whole and the part Object Act. 2.37 38. the one whereof is included in the other But saith he when the Jews asked what shall we do to be saved Peter answered Repent and be baptized And when the Jaylor made the same Question Paul answered Act. 16.31 Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved therefore either repentance must include faith or else St. Peter giveth not a full answer yea rather say I or else Mr. D. is deceived for in that saying of St. Peter Faith is not included in the word Repent but in the words following And be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that is in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ Although otherwise as I have said before I do not deny but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Repentance when it is used alone and not opposed to faith may comprehend or include in it faith in Christ Jesus as a part of our conversion SECT III. That Charity doth not bind a man universally to give half his Goods to the poor as Zacheus did HE granteth also That Love to the Brethren is a sure and certain note of a true Child of God and of Salvation is plainly taught 1 Joh. 3.4 which place is vindicated from the false glosse which Mr. D. hath set upon it Pag. 234. Confer Pag. 7 8. that where unfained love to the Brethren is found it may be a testimony of grace received but addeth that a man cannot love them unless he do sell either the whole or half of his possessions and divide them among such of his Brethren as he knoweth to be poor But if this be an inseparable note of true charity as he teacheth I dare boldly say he by this Doctrine of his will much more trouble mens Consciences then we do by ours and give them lesse assurance of Salvation 1 Joh. 3.14 For he that loveth not his Brother abideth in death Now how many can he find in this Kingdom that with Zacheus do give half their goods to the poor or that having Lands and possessions do with those primitive Christians sell them and lay down at their Ministers Act. 4. or Pastors feet the price of them that it may be distributed amongst their Brethren as their necessity shall require doubtless he will find but a few if any that will do this Now what shall we exclude all the rest from the state of grace and consequently from all hope of salvation I dare not do so and yet I must needs say seeing the faith that is available to salvation worketh by love Gal. 5.6 the great want of love in many forward professors of the Gospel may give them just cause to doubt of their salvation Luk. 19. Act. 2.45 4.34 35. But that I may come nearer to Mr. D. although Zacheus at his conversion gave half his goods to the poor and those that were possessors of Lands sold them and laid down the money at the Apostles feet yet the Lord no where bindeth us by any precept to do the like neither do their examples bind all to imitate and follow them in this their practice For God distributeth his graces diversly to some he giveth very large hearts and stirreth them up to do more then others can ordinarily attain unto who have received an inferior portion of the spirit 1 Pet. 4.10 or gift of grace And hereupon it is that St. Peter exhorteth As every man hath received the gift so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold grace of God And St. Paul exhorting the Corinthians to be liberal in their contributions to the poor Saints at Jerusalem doth not call upon them to give half or any certain and determinate part of their goods unto them although they were in great necessity but saith he Every man as he purposeth in his heart so let him give not grudgingly or of necessity 2 Cor. 9.7 for God loveth a chearful giver There are sometimes more sometimes fewer poor to be relieved by us and sometimes their necessity is greater and
to Heaven For our Saviour hath told us plainly Mat. 5.20 That except our righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharises we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven These things which I have thus alledged being rightly considered any one may see that they do not preach the Gospel rightly and truly who do not presse the necessity of good works on the Consciences of their hearers SECT III. Why the Gospel seeing it prescribeth and requireth works is not to be called a Covenant of works as well as the Law Or how it can be said to be the Covenant of Grace BUt not unlikely some one or other will here say what difference is there then in this particular between the Law and the Gospel if both do urge the necessity of good works or why is not the Gospel to be called a Covenant of works and not of grace as well as the Law I will shew you the reason hereof 1. The Law is called the Covenant of works because works are therein required as causes antecedent to our justification and salvation or as that whereby and for which we are to be justified now so are they not in the Covenant of the Gospel as hath been sufficiently shewed before 2. Again The Law is also called the covenant of works because works are therein commanded and required but no power nor ability is ministred and given to perform them but the Gospel is the ministration of the spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 For it doth not only command us to repent and to bring forth the fruits of repentance which are good works but sheweth how we may be inabled to do this to wit by faith in Christ who hath merited not only forgiveness of sins but the spirit of sanctification for all that do believe in him Gal. 3.14 The Gospel therefore is a Covenant not of works but of grace not only because it teacheth that we are justified not of works but of grace but because by faith in the promises thereof we do obtain grace to repent and to do all those things which it requireth of us Lastly The Gospel is truly said to be the covenant of grace because it is such a covenant as is not only begun and entred into but altogether ratified and consummated by grace For first It was meerly and only of grace and mercy that God after we had broken and dissolved the former covenant of works or of the Law was pleased to enter into a new covenant of salvation with us the form whereof is revealed in the Gospel Secondly as I said before it is meerly of his grace that God inableth us to perform the conditions of this new covenant to wit Faith and Repentance which otherwise would become impossible unto us for we are as unable of our selves to repent and believe in Christ as we are to fulfil the whole Law It s true Faith and Repentance are in themselves easier conditions than the universal and most perfect obedience which the Law requireth But otherwise As it is as impossible for a man when he is dead to lift up a straw as an Oxe so while we are dead in trespasses and sins as we are all by nature Eph. 2 3. and of our selves it is as impossible for us to believe and obey the Gospel as it is for us to fulfill the Law until we be quickened by the spirit of Christ Thirdly It is of grace that we are kept and upheld by the power of God from falling away from him or that he keepeth us firm and fast in his Covenant for otherwise if he should leave us to our selves but a day or an houre we should break and altogether dissolve the covenant of the Gospel as we did the legal covenant Lastly It is of grace and not for any merit or desert of ours that we are in part for the present Eph. 2 8. Tit. 3.5 and shall hereafter perfectly and fully be made partakers of the benefits and blessings that are conveyed and passed over unto us in the covenant of the Gospel that is to say of justification adoption sanctification and glorification or eternal happiness in Heaven Thus the new covenant of the Gospel is wholly of grace and therefore deservedly it is called the covenant of grace and not of works as is the Law Now seeing all these things are acknowledged professed and constantly taught by us what cause hath Mr. S. or any other to say that we turn the Gospel into a covenant of works or to alledge against us that saying of the Apostle Rom. 11.6 if it be of works it is no more of grace It s true indeed if we did make works any cause of our salvation then we should make the Gospel a covenant of works as the Law was but this we do not but require them as necessary conditions to be performed by us in way of thankfulness to God for our salvation by Christ and for other necessary uses and not to merit any thing by them Quest 15. Whether the Orthodox Protestant Ministers who teach men to believe in Christ and to repent that they may obtain remission of sins and salvation by Christ or those who offer Christ and Remission of sins to all without requiring any thing of them either Faith or Repentance or â—eâ— obedience do preach Christ the more truly and more to the edification and consolation of their hearâ—rs SECT I. Where is shewed which is the right way of preaching the Gâ—spel IT is most certain that those who preach the Gospel as Christ himself and his Apostles did are they who preach Christ not only most truly but most to the edification and consolation of their hearers Now so do not they who offer Christ and Salvation by him to sinners as sinners or to sinners without any condition either of Faith or Repentance but who teach men to repent and believe in Christ that they may be saved or which offer Christ and Salvation by him to all the greatest sinners not excepted if they will lay hold of him and his merits by Faith and turn from their sins and practise Repentance That our Saviour did thus preach the Gospel St. Mark assureth us Chap. 1.14.15 For there he saith that after John was put in prison Jesus came into Galilee preaching the â—ospel of the Kingdom of God and saying the time is at hand repent ye and believe the Gospel I know not what they will here reply Object except perhaps they will say that John had before preached the Gospel to the Galileans and that they had received it Now they do not deny but grant and teach that after that men have received the Gospel then Faith and Repentance and new obedience are to be pressed upon them but not when Christ is first offered and tendered unto them But Johns preachings may be a sufficient confutation of such conceipts and surmises as this Answ for he began his Ministry with the Doctrine of
in Christ by Gods Judgments 2 Chro. 33.12 13. Luke 15. wherewith he hath visited them and awakened their consciences and by meditating of the shortnesse and uncertainty of their life here in this world and by other the like morives and considerations And it is manifest that not a few but many have extraordinarily been prepared unto Faith in Christ by miracles and strange works Mark 16.20 John 11.45 20.31 which have been wrought by God for the confirmation of the Gospel Lastly It is not to be denied that God both can work Faith yea and that he hath extraordinarily and most marvellously wrought it in some without any precedent qualifications or preparations at all To teach the contrary is to deny Gods power Luke 1.44 and to contradict the holy Scripture Quest 8. Whether we are made the Sons of God by Faith in Christ or but declared so to be Reconcil of man to God pag. 66. Gal. 3.20 MR. D. his peremptory resolution is We are not made the Sons of God by Faith for we were before reconciled unto him and were his sons And whereas S. Paul saith ye are all the sons of God by Faâ—th in Christ Jesus he will have the sense and meaning hereof to be That we are declared to be the sons of God by Faith in Christ Jesus But the Apostle saith you are and not are declared to be the sons of God though that be true also He speaketh therefore of the essence of son-ship and not of the manifestation or appearance hereof only Object But here it will be said Were all the Galathians that made profession of the Faith of Christ the sons of God really Answ It is not likely they were St. Pauls words therefore must be understood per reduplicationem to wit thus you are all the sons of God that is all of you who are the sons of God are his sons by Faith in Christ Jesus Or else we are to say that he speaketh of them according to the judgment of charity when he saith ye are all the sons of God presuming them to be so and then specifieth the means how they came to be his sons when he addeth by Faith in Christ Jesus But if they he will not admit of this Exposition I would know of him what it is that maketh a man to be a son Is it not his parents begetting of him Sure I am that is fundamentum hujus relationis the foundation of this relation Now St James telleth us That God hath begotten us by the word of truth Jam. 1.9 1 Pet. 1.23 St. Peter also saith that we are renati born again not of mortal seed but of immortal by the word of God Whence it followeth necessarily that we are not the sons of God until we do hear his word and are thereby converted to the Faith and obedience of Christ But Mr. D. tâ—inketh to avoid and put off this also by saying that the Apostles do say Object that we are regenerated and born again by the word because we are declared so to be and not that we are in deed and in truth regenerated by the word But this will not serve his turn Answ for the word being made effectual by the spirit is that which begets faith in us for Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of of God Now it is absurd to say that a man is regenerated while he liveth in infidelity or incredulity and is void of Faith Again until men hear the word their minds are blined with ignorance and their lives are full of impurity and uncleanness And hereupon St. Paul saith that God sent him unto the Gentiles to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that is by his preaching Gods word unto them which they had not heard before Yea our Saviour's own Disciples were unclean as all men are by nature until they heard the word as those words of Christ do testifie Now ye are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you They were not so therefore before and how then could they be said to be regenerated without the word For by regeneration men are made partakers of a new nature which they had not before St. Paul also speaking of the whole Church of Christ in general saith that he sanctifieth and cleanseth it with the washing of water by the word All therefore generally and ordinarily without the word are unclean and unregenerated Object But let us see how Mr. D. endeavoreth to prove that we were the sons of God before we did believe The Holy Ghost saith he declareth son-ship to be the cause of giving the Spirit when he saith Because ye are sons Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father Seeing therefore a man cannot believe without the grace of the Spirit it followeth necessarily that we are the sons of God before we do believe Answ But hereunto I answer that the Spirit is given diversly First to regenerate us for we are born again not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man John 1.13 but of God by the powerful operation of his Spirit Even as our Saviour himself also teacheth when he saith Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit John 3.5 he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Thus the Spirit is not a consequent of our regeneration whereby we are born the sons of God but a precedent cause thereof 2. Again the Spirit is also given to increase Faith and holinesse in us and to strengthen and establish us in grace after we are regenerated For as Christ by his Spirit beginneth the good work of grace in us so doth he by his Spirit perfect the same Phil. 1.6 2 Cor. 3.5 and not we our selves by any power of our own Lastly After we are born again the Spirit is also given to comfort us and to assure us of our Adoption by crying in our hearts Abba Father Thus as Mr. D. saith son-ship is in some sort the cause of giving the Spirit But otherwise we are not sons before and without any work of the Spirit at all for he is the Author or principal efficient cause of our being regenerated and born again the sons of God Another of Mr. D's Objections is this The Apostle saith Object that God the Father hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself We were not therefore begotten in time by the word but it is an eternal grace Whereunto I answer that he might as well infer Answ and conclude that we are alteady glorified and in actual possession of Heaven For God hath predestinated us to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light It 's strange that he cannot distinguish between the Decree of Election it self which is eternal and the effects thereof that is to say the things whereunto we are Elected
risen though perhaps that might not be the very first moment of the rising thereof when this was spoken and the Suns shining upon the wall is made a sign or an evidence and manifestation thereof And even so in like manner when our Saviour saith Her sins which are many are forgiven her his meaning was that they were really forgiven though not at that instant onely but from the first moment of her conversion And he maketh this manifest by his next words from her abundant love which she so many wayes shewed and expressed towards him saying For she loved much I know Mr. D. will not here say with the Papists that her love to Christ was the cause that he pardoned and forgave her her sins but that he drew an Argument from thence to prove and to evidence that her sins were forgiven And so this conjunction causal for est causa consequentiae non consequentis is only the cause of the consequence in his Argument or in his reasoning but not of the thing it self whereof he speaketh that is of the pardon of her sins He would prove also from the judgement of Protestant Interpreters that our Saviour speaketh not of remission of sins really but of the manifestation thereof because when we pray in the fifth Petition of the Lords Prayer Forgive us our trespasses they make this to be the meaning hereof that the Children of God whose sins are already pardoned do pray for more assurance thereof But I have shewed already Quest 9. that they make this to be the meaning thereof only in part and not the full sense of that Petition as Mr. D. would have it Recon of God to man pag. 43. Another place of Scripture which he perverteth and corrupteth by a novellous and strange Exposition are those words of St. Paul 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God The meaning hereof he will have to be that they shall not enter into the Kingdom of God here on Earth which is his Church But in expounding these words thus he commeth far short of the meaning of the Apostle for albeit it is most certain that the unrighteous are no true members of the Church though they be in it for a time yet the Scripture when it speaketh of the inheritance which Christ hath purchased for his Saints from which the unrighteous are excluded referreth the possession thereof not to this World where we sojourn for a time as Pilgrims in a strange Country but to that happy life that is to come Thus our Saviour at the day of judgement will say unto his Elect people and righteous Servants Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world St. Paul also telleth us that flesh and blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. neither shall corruption inherit incorruption Which words it were absurd to refer unto the Kingdom of grace or to say that the Apostle excludeth all such out of the Church here on earth who carry about them corruptible flesh and blood St. Peter also in plain words so speaketh of the inheritance of Heaven as of a thing the possession whereof is not to be had in this life but in the World to come Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God 1 Pet. 1.3 4 4. through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time When St. Paul therefore saith that Fornicators Adulterers and such unrighteous persons shall not inherit the Kingdom of God his meaning is that they shall never enter into the glorious Kingdom of Heaven but be excluded thence and be cast into Hell 3. As strangely doth he expound those words of the Apostle Heb. 12.14 Recon of God to man p. 43 44. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord that is saith he with spiritual eyes or with the eyes of faith whereas the Apostle speaketh not here in praesenti of that Vision or seeing of the Lord which is to be had in this present World but in futuro of our seeing of him hereafter to our endless comfort in his Kingdom and in his glory in the same sense as St. John doth 1 Joh. 3.2 We know that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Most false therefore it is which Mr. D. saith To see God and to inherit the Kingdom of God are nothing else but to believe in God and in his Son Jesus Christ When we come to Heaven faith in Christ shall cease and yet we shall not cease then to see God Another place of holy Scripture 1 Cor. 13.13 Confer with a sick man pag. 7. 1 Ioh. 3.14 which he grosly perverteth with a false Exposition and so goeth about to deprive the godly of the comfort which they take from it are those words of St. John We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren Many good souls have acknowledged that when all other grounds of comfort have failed them or at the least when in time of temptation they have not been able to apprehend any comfort from any thing else yet these words of the Apostle have upheld them from despairing of their Estate because their Consciences did testifie unto them that they did unfainedly love and ardently affect all that are godly Now this comfort also Mr. D. denyeth them * Confer p. 9. I do saith he for the present believe that St. John doth principally speak of our assurance whereby we know one another to be the Children of God And Conf. p. 8. He telleth us that it is before man that our love beareth witness to our Faith For he saith that St. Johns meaning is not that a man may know by his love to the Brethren that he himself particularly is in the state of grace but that the faithful in general by means of the love which they professed and shewed one to another were well perswaded one of another and believed by the judgement of charity that they were all the Children of God But this Exposition of his crosseth the main scope and drift or the purpose and intention of the Apostle in writing this Epistle which was to comfort the faithful by shewing them what signes and tokens and particular evidences they had of the forgiveness of their sins and of their salvation by Christ for so he saith Chap. 5.13 These things have I written unto you whereof their love to the Brethren was one that believe on the name of
are visited with his corrections For if they believe that their sins are at least wise in part a cause of their afflictions 1. This will make them so much the more diligently to search and examine themselves that they may both find out their sins and purge them out by repentance saying with the Jews Lam. 3.40 Lam. 3.40 Come let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord. 2. It will make them also to humble themselves so much the more before the Lord saying with the Prodigal Luk. 15. Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee and I am no more worthy to be called thy Son 3. It will make them also to pray the more fervently and effectually to God for mercy and forgiveness as David did being afflicted in minde with the sight and sense of his sins when Gods judgements were upon him Psal 38. 4. It will make them to hate and abhorre sin so much the more and the more to shun it for the time to come 5. And lastly As he in the time of the Law that was pursued for murther which he had unwittingly and unwillingly committed did flie hard to the Alter or to the City of refuge to save his life so when a man acknowledgeth that it are his sins that do cause God to persue him with his judgements it will make him to flie the faster unto and to lay the firmer hold on Jesus Christ that he may obtain forgiveness and salvation by him But when men do deny that their sins are any cause of Gods corrections then when they lie under his judgements they will neither search out their sins nor humble themselves before God for them nor pray so much the more earnestly for the pardon of them nor repent and turn unto God from them But on the contrary such persons as we see it is both the Opinion and the practice of many now at this day will say that they need not neither to repent nor to pray for the pardon of their sins nor to make any confession of them and so they take a course to shut Heaven gates against themselves For as St. John telleth us If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us If we confess our sins 1 Joh. 1.8 9. that is with inward penitency compunction of heart and with a lively hatred and abhorring of them God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness To the same effect speaketh Solomon Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sins as every one doth who saith that he hath no sin shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy Quest 12. Whether a man may be assured of Salvation by his love to the Brethren Quest 12 and by other effects and fruits of Sanctification Or whether he can be assured of Salvation no otherwise but onely by Faith in Christ SECT I. A Man may be assured of his Salvation by his Repentance TO this Mr. D. answereth When the soul is loaden with the burden of sin and sense of misery Confer p. 18 it is sufficient for our assurance to believe God in his promises and we read of nothing else Act. 16.31 Beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved No doubt it is true that he who believeth in God according to his promises which in the Gospel he hath made unto us I find saith he but one onely condition of actual Reconciliation of man to God p. 56. that is as he explaineth himself whereby we know that God is reconciled to us p. 51. Confer between a sick man c. p. 5. shall obtain remission of sins and salvation but these promises are not made to any one that continueth in sin although he be never so much terrified and troubled with the fear of Hell but to those only that repent and turn unto God And hereupon it is that the true Christian in believing repenteth and repenting believeth Thus Faith and Repentance are twisted together as it were and indeed are never separated as he himself acknowledgeth Whereupon it followeth necessarily also that a man may be assured of his salvation by his repentance And this he dareth not deny but saith that it is a sure mark of salvation whatsoever faileth But he hath no sooner granted this but in the next words he laboureth to rob and bereave Christians of all the comfort which their Repentance will afford them for he saith That a man cannot know his Repentance to be true neither by his hearty sorrow for his sins past nor by his steadfast purpose to forsake all sin and to walk in all godliness First He saith that Reprobates as Esau Gen. 27.1 and Judas Math. 27.3 repented and sorrowed heartily for their sins And saith he doubtless all that do despair do heartily sorrow for their sins as they that are swallowed up with over much sorrow But I answered him that such do sorrow heartily in deed but nor for their sins but for the punishment and damnation of them which they are afraid of The Apostle therefore calleth this Worldly Sorrow 2 Cor. 7.10 and saith that it causeth death but in the next words he telleth us that godly sorrow which is when a man after a godly manner is sory for sin because it is sin or because it is an offence against God and a dishonour to him worketh repentance unto salvation 2 Cor. 7.10 never to be repented of Whosoever therefore findeth such godly sorrow in himself may thereby be assured of salvation The like is to be said of him that purposeth not by fits and flashes but steadfastly to forsake all sin and to walk in all godliness For seeing the heart that is the will tanquam Regina as a Queen commandeth all the inferior faculties of the soul and members of the body It is certain therefore that if a man be not diverted from his purpose * If he be constant in his purpose I say for many times sensual affections do rebel against the will and do lead it away captive with them Act. 11.23 Heb. 13. Psal 119.6 but be constant in it he will perform it whilest he is not letted by outward violence which the soul or the conscience in working holiness never is And hereupon it was that Barnabas when he saw the grace of God which he had bestowed upon the Brethren at Antioch exhorted them that they would with purpose of heart cleave unto the Lord. And the Apostle speaking of himself saith We know we have a good Conscience in all things willing that is resolving to live honestly And hereby also did David assure himself of Gods favour when he said Then shall I not be confounded when I have respect unto all Gods Commandements That which he alleageth to impeach this Object is frivolous and of no weight to wit that the Scribes and Pharisees had a purpose
out and that they may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Object What is this say these men but to teach and preach legally when you do thus tie men to conditions for the obtaining of salvation as the Law did Answ It s true indeed we should be legal teachers if we did require of men the same conditions for the obtaining of salvation and after the same manner that the Law doth but we are far from this for the Law requireth perfect obedience to all the Commandements thereof that is to say all manner of good works as that whereby we are to be justified before God or as the cause of our salvation Now we on the contrary do teach that we are saved only and altogether by the grace of God through the merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ And we say that works are necessary to our justification at leastwise to the continuance of it after a far inferior manner that is necessitate presentiae non efficientiae as duties necessarily accompanying it and going with it not as any causes meriting or working it Thus whereas the Law requireth works as causes of our justification and salvation we require Faith Repentance and such works or duties as the Gospel teacheth only as necessary conditions without which we cannot be saved For as I have proved in the former Question the Gospel indeed offereth salvation unto all by Christ but not absolutely but upon condition of their faith and repentance Where faith therefore in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance are wanting it is in vain for men to believe that they are reconciled unto God or that they are in the state of salvation which is the Doctrine now taught by Mr. D Mr. S. and many others Whereas these men then do think that all conditions are legal they are herein deceived For the difference between the Law and the Gospel is not that the one requireth conditions to be performed and the other none at all which were it so then the Gospel should be a Doctrine of licentiousness and carnal liberty but in this that the Law offereth salvation unto none but unto those that do perfectly fulfill it without failing in any the least duty therein required and commanded but the Gospel offereth pardon of all sins and transgressions unto all that believe in Christ and rise up out of their sins by repentance when they are fallen and do not still lie in them Thus the Law is a covenant of works because it promiseth salvation to none but to those that do the works therein prescribed and commanded Rom. 10.8 but the Gospel is a covenant of faith or as St. Paul calleth it the word of faith because it promiseth forgiveness of sins and salvation to all those that renouncing themselves and their own works do relie only upon Christ for salvation according to the promises of his Gospel SECT II. Both repentance and all manner of good works are commanded and required in the Gospel THis that I have already said might be sufficient for an answer unto this Question notwithstanding because many at this day by hearing of our late new Preachers and reading of their Books have their mindes and understandings so vitiated and depraved that whensoever they hear us teach the necessity of repentance unto salvation or hear us presse the practise and performance of good works upon mens Consciences presently they think that we are enemies unto the grace of God and do preach nothing but the Law For so indeed some few years since when one heard me tell my hearers that as long as any one of them did live in sin and not practise repentance it was in vain for him to believe that his sins were forgiven and that he should at the comming of Christ to judgement rise again in his own body to live eternally with Christ After he was returned home from the Church he spake aloud in the hearing of divers and said here is nothing but preaching of the Law preaching of Repentance Repent and ye shall be saved repent and Heaven Gates shall be set open for you To the intent therefore that such poor seduced souls may be brought to see their error I will handle this matter a little more fully First of all then It is certain that the Law requireth perfect obedience of us unto all the Commandements thereof and will not accept of any repentance if we fall but into any one sin or fail in any one duty but concludeth and shutteth us up under the curse of God The Doctrine of Repentance therefore as these men think is not legal Deut. 27.26 but meerly Evangelical And therefore when Christ taught the people repentance it is said that he preached not the Law but the Gospel Now it is manifest and evident also Mar. 1.15 that all manner of good works which are the fruits and effects of repentance are required and commanded in the Gospel as well as in the Law For St. Paul telleth us that we are Gods workmanship Eph. 2.10 created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he hath appointed that we should walk in them When St. Paul saith here that we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works it is certain that this is the voyce not of the Law but of the Gospel For the Law neither speaketh of our new Creation in Christ Jesus that is of our Regeneration neither maketh any mention of Christ at all Christus enim non est revelationis naturalis sicut est lex Rom. 2.14 sed supernaturalis It is not the Law but the Gospel that revealeth Christ unto us It is therefore the Gospel also and not the Law that informeth us and telleth us that Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 and purifie a peculiar people unto himself zealous of good works And seeing this is one end of Christs passion for as much as he hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness Luk. 1.74 75. before him all the dayes of our life And did therefore bear our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead to sin should live to righteousness hereupon St. Paul wrote unto Titus and said This is a faithful saying and these things I will 1 Pet. 2.24 that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God Tit. 1.8 might be careful to maintain good works And afterwards in that Chapter Vers 14. He writeth thus unto him Let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful In all these and many other places of the Gospel are good works required of us Yea I will say more they are required as necessary to our eternal salvation in Heaven though not by way of merit yet as a condition necessarily to be performed by us Eph. 2.10 and as the way wherein we are to walk