vers 20. Because by the Law is the knowledge of sinne i. e. A strict and impartiall view of the Law in its latitude and spirituall significancy and comparing of our Lives with it is so farre from discovering the Rectitude of our Nature and Actions that it rather serves to manifest the Obliquity and sinfullness of them both And therefore there must be some other expedient found out to Acquit or Justifie men in the sight of God vers 27. than an appeal unto the Law of Works and that is the Law of Faith as the Apostle speaks The Righteousness of God i. e. which avails before God vers 22. and is accepted by him is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God whereby is meant either the Graces which God requires or the Happiness which he promises Men were not of themselves able to perform the one and therefore had no Right or Title unto the other whereupon it follows that all such as are Justified are Justified Freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in or by Jesus This Doctrine which doth so levell the Pride of man by putting his Salvation quite out of himself and therein is utterly contradictory to humane conception the Apostle foresaw would meet with great opposition and therefore that he might Assert and Clear this Fundamentall Truth from all possibility of Cavill he urges and answers three of the main Objections which either are or can be alleaged against it Object 1 The first Objection is taken from the Example of Abraham concerning whom the common opinion of the Jews was that he was Justified by Works which they gathered from Gods renewing his Blessing upon him after his signall obedience in attempting to offer his sonne For now I know Gen. 22.12 saith God that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy sonne thine onely sonne from me And again Because thou hast done this thing vers 16 17. and hast not withheld thy sonne thine onely sonne In blessing I will bless thee Whereupon the Apostle James seems clearly to Affirm that Abraham was justified by his Works in that Question Was not Abraham our Father Justified by Works when he had offered Isaac his sonne upon the Altar To this Instance Answ the Apostle answers by directly denying that Abraham was Justified by Works for proof of which he quotes a place out of the Old Testament Gen. 13.6 That Abraham believed in God and it i. e. that Faith of his was imputed to him for Righteousness Which was spoken of Abraham long before he had received Circumcision and done that Signall and Heroick Action by which the Sincerity and Truth of his Faith was evidenced So that the Apostle James words cannot be understood as if he intended to decide whether Faith or Works did Justifie but onely that he determins what kind of Faith it was which Justified viz. not a Naked and Barren but an Effectuall and Working Faith And that Abrahams was such a kind of Faith he manifested afterwards in undertaking so Perillous and Dangerous a Task meerly in obedience to Gods Command From whence it follows that if Abraham who is stiled the Friend of God did attain to the esteem of being reputed Righteous before God meerly upon the account of his Faith then all others whose highest commendation is onely to be the Followers and Imitators of Abraham have no other way of obteining True Righteousness but by treading in the same footsteps of Faith which the Patriark Abraham walked in as the Apostle concludes Rom. 4.23 24. It was not written for him i. e. for Abraham alone that it was imputed to him But to us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the Dead Object 2 The second Objection against this Doctrine is taken from that seeming Absurdity and Contradiction which would follow should men think of being saved by the Righteousness of another For as every man is to be condemned onely for his own sinnes so it seems to be most Just and Equall that every man should be saved onely for his own Righteousness according to the Reasoning of God himself who doth not onely say that the Wickedness of the Wicked Ezek. 18.20 but likewise that the Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him Answ 2. To this Objection the Apostle excellently answers throughout the whole fifth Chapter of this Epistle by drawing a parallel between Adam and Christ who were the two great Heads and Representatives of all Mankind in their severall Estates Now if it shall appear that Adam destroyed his Race by the Imputation of his sinne then it cannot be Unreasonable to believe that Christ may save his Race by the Imputation of his Righteousness But that Adam destroyed his Race by the Imputation of his sinne appears clearly from hence in that Death which is the Wages of sinne vers 14. doth actually ceaze those who never Actually sinned and therefore could be but liable to it onely upon the Account of Transmitted Derivative and Imputed sinne as he Argues Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams Transgression i. e. over Infants From whence he inferres As by one mans disobedience Many i. e. All who descend from him by Naturall Generation were made sinners so by the obedience of one man Many i. e. all who are related to him by Faith and supernaturall Regeneration shall be made Righteous Nay by how much Christ is a greater Person than Adam the one being formed from Earth the other 1 Cor. 15.47 being the Lord from Heaven by so much shall the Obedience and Righteousness of that One more avail to Save than the Unrighteousness and Sinne of the other did to Destroy And this the Apostle clears in two Particulars 1. In Extent of the Pardon which is to many sinnes whereas the Condemnation was onely for One. For saith he the Judgment or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guilt was by one i. e. Offence to Condemnation but the free-gift is of many Offences vers 16. unto Justification In Adam one sinne and that of the lesser sort stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a slip or so was sufficient to undoe a World But in Christ Many sins how aggravated and circumstanced soever shall not be sufficient to destroy one Soul 2. In the Excellence of the purchase Adam by his Sinne purchased Death and Damnation which is like a Motion down-hill very Naturall and easie to be conceived For that a Creature should die that a Sinner should be sentenced may without any Difficulty be imagined But Christ purchased Life Eternall which is like a Motion up-hill very Hard and exceeding Difficult to be comprehended From whence the Apostle concludes that where Sinne i. e. the Guilt or Demerit of Adams Sinne
believingly to sue out his Pardon And as with Pardoning so likewise will it sit with Preventing and strengthning Grace Free-will makes the one Desperate and the other Vselesse For what need I pray for that which I have already by me nay which I am sure shall never so long as I am a man be taken from me No man prayes for the Money that is in his Chest nor for those goods that he stands possessed of So neither can we without being guilty of Vain-babling pray for strength to do Gods will if we think every man Naturally hath a power to do it I will pray said one of the most learned Assertors of Free-will Tully for Fortune and Riches for these are in Gods Gift but not for Virtue for that I can give my self Whereas he that knows he stands by Grace that he cannot doe any thing well but as the Spirit of God doth act him and that the Actings of the Spirit are Arbitrary not at ours but at his own Disposal he will find a Necessity upon him to be often begging for that strength which he sees he wants and God alone can furnish him with Thirdly Another Inconvenience of this Opinion of Free-will is that it must needs betray poor Sinners to a delaying and putting off their Repentance For he that finds it written how ready God is to pardon upon Repentance and is told withall that it lies in his power to Repent whenever he pleases cannot be wrought upon by any Argument that I know of to forbear his sinfull pleasures for the Moment At least why he should make such haste as the Scripture doth presse us to there can be no Imaginable Motive For if I live according to this Doctrine I shall be sure to give my self Repentance because I have a Natural Ability to do it and that any man now living should be so suddenly strook as not to have time enough for that Work which whenever it is done it is done in a moment though it may perhaps not be evidenced so soon is so much ods that any Sinner may safely venture to try a little longer the pleasures of Sinne before he resolves by too sudden a Repentance to leave them Whereas he that owns every good Motion inviting that way to be not the Impulse of his own Heart but the Calling of Gods Spirit which like light may shine for a time and suddenly be withdrawn again he will find himself engaged to Answer at the first Call least while he tarries God leaves off to call him and gives him over as unworthy of Mercy because of his Stubborn Refusall 4. It is impossible but those who are leavened with this Doctrine must needs be swelled with Pride and puffed up with conceit of themselves above all other men since they imagin all their Graces to be purely the result of their own well managing and improving their Naturall Abilities This was the Temper of the Pharisees heretofore who justified themselves and despised others for as Josephus tells us they were extremely addicted to the Opinion of Free-will and it appears in that they so much overvalued their own Power that they would needs be more Holy and Righteous than the Law of God commanded and therefore found out New Ceremonies and many self-invented Forms of Devotion which were their Works of Supererogation which Humour still reignes as a Naturall Effect of it among all those severall Parties where the Opinion of Free-will is entertained Whereas the Acknowledging that Gods Grace onely fills the Soul and we like Empty Vessels have nothing but what we daily receive will keep the Mind humble and Thankfull as to God and likewise Tender and Compassionate towards others who may for the present want the same Mercy which we enjoy Lastly I might adde that the whole Practice of Will-worship whether it relates to the Inventing of uncommanded Methods in Divine Worship or to the Imposing of such usages upon others is altogether founded upon a supposition that every Man hath Free-will and therefore Magistrates conceiving it doth not arise from Tenderness of Conscience but meerly from an Affected Obstinacy that Men submit not to their Injunctions it makes them more Harsh and Rigorous in exacting Obedience than otherwise they would ever attempt to doe which thing alone makes the Belief of Free-will in Religious matters altogether inconsistent with and destructive of the Peace of Christian societies as every age wherein there hath been the least dawings of Spirituall Light doth abundantly evidence All the sufferings of the Saints having been inflicted upon them upon this single account in that when they refused to Worship the Beast or his Image their Persecutors thought it lay in their Power to doe him that Homage whereas indeed it did not it being impossible for any to avoid or forbear acting according to the Dictates of a Well-grounded and Conscientious Perswasion But when as in opposition to all this the maintainers of Free-will doe urge that the Contrary Doctrine of Free Grace doth open a door to all manner of Licentiousness since by leaving nothing in mans power it leaves them free to doe nothing and likewise that it makes void and Ineffectuall all Gods Commands which suppose a Power of Obeying in us or else they had been given in vain which Objections being managed by persons of much Rhetorick and outward Sanctity doe make a great Impression upon a Slight and Vnwary Reader I have therefore in this Treatise fully at least to my own satisfaction answered both those Objections and have as I hope sufficiently demonstrated that nothing doth more incline the soul to a Cheerfull Obedience than a right Vnderstanding of the Doctrine of Free-grace which because it is the business of this Book to evidence I will no longer detain the Reader from it but recommend It for its Success and Issue to the same Grace which first gave it Birth and Beginning June 11 1662. Edward Bagshawe Errata Page 4. line 24. dele but. p. 19. l. 28. read but by the. p. 30. l. 23 24. dele p. 35. l. 4. r. Affections ib. l. 17. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Doctrine of FREE-GRACE no Doctrine of Licentiousness Rom. 6.1 2. What shall we say then shall we continue in sinne that Grace may abound Farre be it How shall we that are dead to sinne live any longer therein THese are the words of the Apostle Paul brought in by way of Objection against and of Answer for that Doctrine of Free-Grace which he doth in this Epistle expresly handle For the understanding of his Discourse we must have recourse unto Chap. 3. where after a long and accurate handling of this Question vers 28. How a man comes to be Justified in the sight of God the Apostle concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We inferre therefore or Argue from the Premises as the word signifies that a Man is justified by Faith without the Works of the Law The reason and ground or which Assertion is this
THE DOCTRINE OF FREE-GRACE NO DOCTRINE OF LICENCIOUSNESSE OR That Gods Free Unconditionall pardoning of Sinne is the best way to Mortifie the Power of Sinne in Believers Asserted and Cleared By Edward Bagshawe Student of Ch. Ch. LONDON Printed by Abraham Miller for the Author and are to be sold by the Booksellers in Pauls Church-yard 1662. THE PREFACE AMong those many False and Dangerous Opinions which in this Age are let loose upon us there is none that is either more Destructive of the True Nature of Christian Religion or more likely to be imbraced by some seemingly zealous and devout men than the Doctrine of Free-will whereby the Grace of God is rendred either altogether Needlesse or at best only a Coadjutor and partial Assistant to Mens Salvation Were not men Naturally willing to follow that which serves to puff them up and begets an opinion in them that they are like Gods I should wonder how the Opinion of Free-will could ever finde any Learned Assertour since the Reasons against it ever upon a Philosophical account are such as no Wit of man is able to answer For the subordination of Causes and the Necessity that every Effect should have a Cause which did produce it is so strong an Argument that the Will of man is subject to the enforcing influence of the Causes which move and determine it that the most Learned of the Heathen did upon this score altogether reject Free-will and yet this supposed Fatality in every Action did not at all lessen or abate their strict adherence to and prosecution of Virtue None having been more famous in this kinde than the Stoicks which were the Known Assertors and Maintainers of Necessity But without entring into any such kind of Dispute the Apostle having already forbidden us to medale with things which we have not seen and it being according to him plain folly to affirm too positively about things we know not I shall not scruple to admit that as to things of meerly Civil Conâ—â—â—ment God hath endued the will of every man with a Liberty 〈…〉 justify himself and that we are not so tied up by the Concurrence of Causes but that a man hath power over his own Will to embrace or to refuse any thing tendred to him with or without Reason as he himself pleases While I say I am content to admit this my meaning is not that I understand how this can be done for I must professe it is to me altogether unintelligible yet because it contradicts no Article of Faith and likewise serves best to demonstrate the Equity of Humane Laws which are all founded upon that supposition I think it altogether a Needlesse thing to dispute about Free-will in Moral Actions and a very Absurd thing to deny it Since in matters which are capable of Contrary Reasonings to follow the Vncontradicted and Vniversal Assent of Mankind is much more Safe and Prudent than to tread in New paths there being but little difference as to the Effect between an Apparant Error and a Suspected because Vnnecessary Truth But how desirous soever I am to comply with the Common Prolepsis and Inbred Notion of Free-will as to Humane Actions yet as to the things of God I must altogether deny it For it is so clear That the Things of God none can understand and consequently not Practice but the Spirit of God and those to whom that Spirit makes them both Plain and Easie that the Apostle urgeth that Sentence not as a Truth then newly discovered to him but as a Principle founded in Nature and apparent by its own Equity and Reasonablinesse And what the Scripture every where mentions concerning the Actings of the Spirit upon Believers the Experience of all Believers that ever were in the World is able to evidence since such must needs confesse that there cannot be a more dangerous Enemy to the Truths of God then the Understanding nor more Rebellious to the Precepts of God than the Will of Man untill the Spirit of God hath enlightned the one and by his own Immediate Worke mightily overpowred the other For the proof of this I might content my self with what I find conteined in the bare letter of Scripture to which if we are what we professe we ought to captivate our own Reasonings but since many men and those not of least Note even in our own Church plead for that Idol Free-will from the many Absurdities which would follow should it not be granted I shall undertake to demonstrate that much more pernicious Consequences will follow should it once be admitted For First It totally destroyes all belief of Gods Power and Providence in his ordering and guidance of Actions according to his own Will For who is there that understands any thing of Gods Sovereignty but must needs acknowledge that he foresaw and predetermined every thing long before it was actually in being but were there such an Independent and Absolute Free-will in Man as some contend for how the motions of his Will could be fore-seen is altogether Inconceivable Socinus therefore who saw how much this Argument did presse him did make no scruple to deny Gods Prescience thereby doing that very thing which Austine complained of in Tully Dum fecit liberos fecit etiam Sacrilegos While he made Men Free he did most sacrilegiously rob God of his chief Prerogative and that is his Omniscience The Arminians therefore who grant both Prescience in God and Free-will in Man do admit both parts of the Contradiction to be True and so not onely thwart the expresse Revelation of Scripture which every where inculcates Gods Absolute and Irrespective Election but likewise speak that which in Reason to which they pretend so much neither themselves nor any one else can possibly understand Secondly The Opinion of Free-will utterly cuts off all manner of Prayer For whereas the greatest Argument of Prayer ought either to be for Pardoning or Preventing Grace with what face can he aske for Pardon who by owning himself to have a sufficient Power to do Gods Will doth thereby acknowledge all his sins not to proceed from Surprize Inadvertency or Weaknesse but to be sins of his Will and therein himself to be a Wilfull and a Malicious Transgressour The Saints of old did use to plead for themselves their Rashness and Haste as David their Ignorance and Unbelief as Paul their Incogitancy and Unmindfulness as John but he that holds Free-will makes all those Apologies to be vain and uselesse since every offence in such an one must needs arise from his own Resolved and Designed Pravity and sins of Infirmity in others in him are sins of strength because he might have avoided them and would not which discovers so grosse an Enmity and Opposition against God that all the while that sentence remains upon Record If we sinne wilfully after we have received the knowledg of the Truth there remains no more Sacrifice for sinne it will be impossible for such an one to look up with Faith and
by the Apostle Paul and that without a Figure the Blood of God Act. 20.28 i. e. which the Sonne of God shed in that Humane Nature which he had united unto himself Who is there then that will not think such Blood sufficient Ransome For as the Apostle argues excellently Heb. 9.13 If the Blood of Bulls and Goats sanctifies to the purifying of the Flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternall Spirit offered himself up to God purge our Conscience from Dead Works i. e. Cleanse our Souls both from the Leprosie and Guilt of Sinne So that to eek out this Sacrifice by mingling with it any Vain Oblations of our own is nothing else but to lessen its value as they who light up their Candles at noon-day doe onely Affront and Prejudice the splendour of the Sunne When such a Price is already paid for any to appear Nice and Dainty to cry out they are not Humbled not Sorrowfull not Thankfull Enough and therefore neglect to make use of it this is nothing else but either Peevishly to refuse offered Comfort or else Proudly to think we are able by our delay to make our selves worthy of it Reason 3 Thirdly The last Argument may be taken from the Impossibility there is that we should be able to perform any thing acceptably unto God till we are come within the Terms of the Covenant Then are we within the Covenant on Gods part when we have accepted it on ours but till then we are under the Law all our Works are Legall Works and our Repentance it self is to be repented of as being infinitely short of that Perfection which the Law requires Besides upon supposition that such a measure of Humiliation Sorrow Contrition or other such like Acts were prerequired to capacitate and make us fit for the receiving of our Pardon what infinite disquiets must this needs beget in every Sinner that is now upon the point of his Conversion for who shall be able to fix a just Proportion or assuredly tell him that he hath grieved and mourned enough since there can be no Proportion between our Sinne and our Sorrow and likewise our Bodies may be wasted with Grief and our Eyes fail us with weeping and yet all our Fears prove onely an Idle and a Fruitless Expence as Cains and Judas did There can be therefore no better or more warrantable Advice be given unto a poor lamenting Creature than to bid him leave off his Works and throw himself immediately into the Arms of Mercy since who so rests upon his own Endeavours labours in the very Fire and undertakes a Task beyond his manage in thinking to Fit himself for Mercy whereas it must be Mercy already in some measure apprehended which must qualifie and fit us for the receiving more Object 1 Against this it may be objected That the Promise in the Gospell runs Mar. 16. He that believeth shall be saved and the Command by the Apostle is Acts 3 19. Repent that your sinnes may be blotted out From whence it may be gathered that Faith and Repentance are required as Conditions to Remission and that Pardon of Sinne is not so Absolute on Gods part but that still something must be done on ours to qualifie us for the receiving it But I answer Answ 1. For Repentance that is no distinct and separate condition of it self because it alwayes follows Faith and can no more be severed from it than Motion from Life whence it is that the Apostles doe promiscuously use one for the other as Peter to those who were wrought on by his Sermon and came to him for Direction he bids them Repent Acts 2.37 but Paul to the Jaylor who was in the same case he commands him to Believe and our Saviour joyns them both together in that Epitome of his first Sermon Repent and believe the Gospell Mar. 1.13 thereby intimating that one could not be without the other Therefore 2. Though Faith be required as a Condition to the receiving of Christ and Pardon by him yet it is such a Condition as takes nothing at all from the Freeness of Gods Gift no more than Emptying the Hand and taking an Almes doth lessen his Bounty that bestowes it For Faith is nothing else but a Naked Hand and hath no influence at all upon Gods Gift to make it more or less Free but all its influence is downwards by applying and appropriating of that Gift to make it Ours And therefore in Scripture-language to Believe in Christ and to Receive Him is the same thing As John speaks Joh. 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sonnes of God even to as many as believe on his Name As a Medicine may be given gratis by a Physician he may ask nothing for it yet except the sick-man take it it will not cure him So God offers Christ and Mercy freely but unless we Believe i. e. Receive him he will not profit us And in this and no other sense is Faith a Condition But 3. Even in this signification as Faith signifies not a power of Acting but meerly a power of Accepting yet so it is a Condition onely of Gods bestowing and not of Mans procuring Thus our Saviour Joh. 6.44 vers 35. None can come unto me i. e. believe on me as he there explains except the Father which hath sent me draw him And again He that hath heard and learned of the Father he cometh unto me so No man can come unto me vers 45. except it were given to him of my Father All which places show that Faith which is a coming to Christ vers 64. is not wrought in any but peculiar Power and Influence of God And accordingly the Apostle Paul By Grace saith he are ye saved Ephes 2.8 through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God i. e. That Faith by which ye are enabled to receive Christ is as much the Gift of God as Christ himself who is received by it Therefore he prayes that they may be strengthened by the Spirit of God c. 3.16 17. in the Inner Man that so Christ might dwell in their Hearts by Faith intimating that without such Supernaturall Assistance they neither could nor would Believe Object 2 Against this it may be objected again If God alone gives Faith why then are we commanded to Believe and to Repent for this presupposes a Power in the Creature to Obey or else the Command would be in vain Answ I answer That Gods command doth not alwayes presuppose a Power already existing in the Creature but being a Word from God it gives that Power which was not there before As when God said Let there be Light there was no activity in that Dark Chaos sufficient of it self to produce it but God by his Word at the same time created what he did command To which Action of Gods the Apostle compares his