The Type of the brasen Serpent teacheth us that we must feel our sins and be pained with them before Object 4 we can come to Christ Another of Mr. S. his Objections in this It 's right lifting up of Jesus Christ upon the Crosse as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wildernesse not for the healed to look upon Answ but the wounded But whom doth he here reason against not the ancient and Orthodox Protestant for the preparation which they require to a sinners conversion and to his Faith in Christ is that he do feel the spiritual sicknesses and diseases of his soul Now shall we say as he doth that this is to be healed I trow as long as one feeleth himself sick he is not healed But I take it his meaning is though by his words he doth not so well express it That the Israelites that were stung with fiery Serpents were to do nothing for the recovery of their health but to look up unto the brasen Serpent therefore we also are only by Faith to look up unto Christ and to believe in him that we may be saved without any other preparations Now unto this Objection of his I do answer First that it is not to be expected that any one Type should absolutely shaddow out all things that were either to be done by Christ or that are necessarily to be performed by those that shall be saved by him This Type of the brazen Serpent doth excellently prefigure all these things First Our spiritual misery by sin For as the Israelites were wounded to death with the fiery Serpents so were we become guilty of eternal death through the malice of the old fiery and infernal Serpent the Devil Secondly As the brazen Serpent exalted by Moses was the only remedy against the venome of the fiery Serpents so Jesus Christ exalted upon the Crosse is the only remedy against the venome of sin infused into our nature through the malicious subtilty of the old Serpent the Devil Thirdly As the only means whereby the Israelites were cured that were wounded to death was by looking up unto the brazen Serpent so the only means whereby we are saved is Faith in Christ whereby we do with the spiritual eyes of our souls look up unto him as he was exalted on the Crosse and do put the whole confidence of our salvation him Lastly As the wounded Israelites that looked up unto the brazen Serpent being miraculously by this means cured did not dye but live so whosoever looketh up unto Christ crucified by the eye of Faith and believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life All these things are excellently shaddowed and set forth 〈◊〉 our eyes in this most illustrious Type of 〈…〉 but otherwise it typifieth not the mystery of 〈◊〉 â—â—viours incarnation by the immediate power of the holy Ghost nor the union of his two natures nor his burial resurrection from the grave ascension into Heaven sitting at the right hand of God and coming thence to judge the world yet all these are principal Articles of our Christian Faith and necessarily to be believed of us as well as our Saviours Passion upon the Crosse whereby he payed the price of our redemption We read not neither is any mention made of the Israelites thankfulnesse to God when they were cured of their deadly wounds which the fiery serpents gave t em but on the contrary that they after this rebelled against God yet I presume it will not be denied by any that we ought to be thankful to God for our redemption and salvation by Christ But to let this passe I say further that this type of the brazen Serpent teacheth us that we must feel our sins and be afflicted in mind and pained with remorse of conscience for them before we can come to Christ and by Faith lay hold of him to our salvation for it was the scalding and fiery venome which those Serpents infused into the bodies of such as were wounded by them that hastned them unto the brazen Serpent which Moses had exalted and that made them to look up unto it for the obtaining of help and health If any had been insensibly bitten by one of those Serpents so that he had felt no smart nor no pain at all he would have taken himself to have been well and would never have had any recourse to the brazen Serpent at all And even in like sort it is the sense and feeling of sin and of the burden and misery of it that driveth men unto Christ and maketh them to rely on him for salvation for such as feel not their sins do sleep securely in them without any fear and do not perceive that they stand in any great need of Christ but do rest and rely on themselves much more then they do on him This Type therefore here alledged or alluded unto by Mr. S. mâ—â—â—â— for us and against him Such a felicity he hath to 〈…〉 that do confute his own Opinions and 〈…〉 Object 5. Object 5 He saith further It leaves men under greater condemnation when Christ is brought home to the soul for then there can be no objecting Lord had I been thus and thus fit and prepared then I should have received thee but I was a foul sinner at the same very time and so guilty O will the Lord answer I came therefore to pardon thee and to wash thee in my bloud because thou art foul and that is no excuse Answ Here are many words and much vehemency used to little purpose for this objection of his toucheth not us at all First It presupposeth that they which are qualified with such previous dispositions as we teach do come unto Christ Secondly That at that time in regard of these their preparations they are no foul sinners nor guilty of damnation And thirdly That they do therefore merit grace and must necessarily be accepted All which are false suppositions and not acknowledged by us as hath been sufficiciently shewed before Object 6. Moreover he telleth us That it is most agreeable to Object 6 the Gospel-way of dispensation that sinners as sinners that is that all sorts of sinners should be received by Christ whether they acknowledge their sins or no. And to prove this he alledgeth those words of our Saviour The whole have no need of the Physician but the sick Matth. 9.12.13 I came not to call the righteous but sinners unto Repentance To this Obiection of his I answer Answ that the righteous of whom our Saviour here speaketh are not such as are perfectly righteous and no sinners for thus as St. Paul telleth us there are none righteous no not one Rom. 3.19 It were such justitiaries as the Scribes and Pharisees that falsly supposed themselves to be righteous whom our Saviour saith that he came not to call and yet such as these Mr. S. will have to be the fittest of all other for Christ and for his grace Now in opposition unto these hypocritical righteous
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
the brazen Serpent though never so weakly was through Gods Ordnance as perfectly cured as he that saw and beheld it most clearly and most evidently so Faith in the least degree through Gods Ordinance is as effectual to interest us in Christ and to make us partakers of salvation by him as the strongest Faith that is Thus I have shewed the cause or the reason why a weak Faith can give us an interest in Christ and the salvation which he hath purchased for us although it cannot so firmly assure us hereof But whereas he holdeth That Faith when it is increased and grown stronger by an addition of more degrees than it had at the first doth only give us a greater manifestation and assurance of salvation by Christ but no interest in him I cannot assent unto him in this for the interest which we have in Christ and his merits at the first by believing in him is continued by perseverance in the same Faith and therefore John 1.12 Eph. 3.17 as we are said to receive Christ by Faith so he is said to dwell that is to remain and make his abode in our hearts by Faith Consonantly whereunto the Apostle telleth us Heb. 3.14 that We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end And on the contrary he saith Heb. 10.38 If any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Thus Faith not only in the first act or beginning of it but in the continuance also and greatest height or strength thereof doth interest us in Christ and as the Apostle saith maketh us partakers of him as well as it doth evidence unto us and assure us hereof Here therefore I would know whether it be not a manifest contradiction to say as Mr. S. doth Christ is ours without Faith but we cannot partake of him as ours but by believing Thirdly he objecteth also and saith If Christ should be ours by Faith in this sense that is actually then when Faith ceaseth shall we cease to be justified Whereunto I answer That no such thing followeth hereupon but the contrary For upon our Faith and Repentance our sins are pardoned and forgiven us not for a time but for ever Ezek. 18.22 They shall never therefore be mentioned unto us that is imputed and laid to our charge any more no not when Faith ceaseth Neither needeth this to seem strange to Mr. S. or any other that Faith which is but temporal should obtain an eternal pardon for a salve which by its own inherent vertue doth in a few days heal a wound needeth afterwards to be used no more much less will there be any need of Faith in Christ or of repentance for the continuance of the remission of our sins and of our justification in the world to come seeing by Christs Promise and by his Ordinance which hath more force in it then the most Soveraign or precious balm or salve upon our repentance and Faith in Christ we are for ever acquitted and absolved from all our sins Whereas then Mr. S. in his next words demandeth and asketh Shall Faith begin our interest here and not be able to continue it hereafter John 3.46 I answer him No it shall not For he that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life His Faith indeed shall cease with this corruptible life of his 2 Cor. 13. but he himself shall be raised up by the power of Christ and not dye any more forever John 11.26 Fourthly Mr S. proceedeth and asketh Can a sinner be too soul for a Saviour and too wounded for a Physitian to heal and too filthy for a fountain opened to wash To all which several demands of his I will answer severally First Whereas he asketh whether a sinner can be too foul for a Saviour I answer No if he will carefully and conscionably practise and observe the means of salvation which he doth prescribe him which are Repentance Faith and new Obedience For as the Apostle telleth us Christ being in his passion made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 On the contrary therefore whosoever he is that doth not obey Christ but doth wilfully contemn or carelesly neglect the means of his salvation as many do it is in vain for him to look for salvation by Christ for as St. Augustine saith elegantly De verbis Apostoli Ser. 15. Qui fecit te sine te non te justificat sine te He that made thee without thee doth not justifie thee without thee His next demand is Can a sinner be too much wounded for a Physician to heal Surely no. Not for Christ our heavenly Physician but then he must take his Physick and observe such a Dyet as he prescribeth him that is he must receive Christ and his merits by Faith and live orderly according to his Gospel that is as St. Paul setteth it down He must deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly Tit. 2.12 and righteously and godlily in this present world On the contrary therefore as long as infidelity or incredulity possesseth his heart and lyeth putrifying and rotting in his carnal lusts it is in vain for him to think or to perswade himself that he is healed by Christ Lastly Whereas he asketh Can a sinner be too filthy for a fountain opened to wash Surely no not for that fountain of which Zachary speaketh That is opened to the house of David Zac. 31 12. and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleaness But did he ever hear that a fountain though never so limpid and clear did cleanse any unlesse they did wash themselves with the water of it And even in like manner shall none be purifyed and cleansed from their spiritual filthyness and uncleanness until they do by Faith-sprinkle their souls with the bloud of Christ For as we have heard St. Peter tell us Christ purifieth the hearts of sinnâ—rs by Faith As long therefore as Faith with the inseperable effects thereof are wanting it is in vain for any to imagine that he is purified from his sins Fifthly He that offereth Christ saith M. S. offers all the conditions in him both of Faith and Repentance for Christ is exalted to give repentance unto Israel Acts 5.31 Gal. 2.21 And Faith is called The Faith of the Son of God Here first of all it is to be observed that he acknowledgeth Faith Repentance to be conditions required of us in the Gospel that we may be saved by Christ which elsewhere he denyeth Secondly he saith That God in offering Christ doth offer these conditions in him Which words of his may receive a double construction or understanding First that Repentance and Faith are not in our power but that Christ hath merited these graces for us and that he doth work them in us by his spirit when the Gospel is preached This the places of
Scripture alleadged by him do prove and we do constantly professe and preach the same but by that which he hath written in other places of this Treatise I know that he hath another meaning and that is that Christ performed the conditions of the Covenant of grace or of the Gospel for us that is as he speaketh that he repented for us and believed for us and that his Faith and Repentance are in the Gospel offered unto us and are accepted of God for us as if we our selves did repent and believe This strange opinion of his I have examined Quest 13. Whither I do referr you for more ample satisfaction in this matter Sixthly It 's no more saith Mr. S. to offer Jesus Christ then any grace of Christs or gift of Christ unto a sinner For a sinner is as unprepared and unfit for the one as the other equally in sin and pollution to both All this is true I grant if he do speak of a sinner as he is by nature and of himself But what can be inferred or concluded hence against the Protestant Doctrine that hath been hitherto constantly taught I cannot see nor perceive but may rather wrest his weapons out of his hands and use them against himself For if it be all one or as he saith if it be no more to offer Christ then any grace of Christ or gift of Christ unto a sinner then seeing the grace and gift of remission of sins or of justification is received by Faith as both St. Peter teacheth Acts 10.43 and St. Paul Acts 26.18 Christ himself also is to be received of us by Faith and as our sins are not forgiven but we are bound over unto punishment for them in Gods word until we believe in Christ so neither can any have any interest in Christ as long as we remain in infidelity and incredulity do not believe in him contrary to Mr. S. Mr. D. new doctrine Thus I have answered this Objection also according to the generality of the words wherein it was propounded But thinking more intentively with my self what M. S. his meaning might be I guessed that his words must be taken Restricte in a more restrained sense as if he should reason thus The graces of Faith and Repentance are freely and absolutely offered in the Gospel without requiring any antecedent act of Faith or Repentance whereby they are to be received and made ours therefore Christ is also as absolutely offered without any condition either of Faith or Repentance Now hereunto I do answer that all are in the Gospel commanded to believe in Christ and to repent that they may be saved by him but Faith and Repentance were never offered to all neither by Christ himself nor by his Apostles when they preached the Gospel nor are the Ministers of the Gospel now so to offer them It 's true Christ giveth Faith and Repentance to his spiritual Israel This we are to teach Acts 5.31 that men may be stirred up to seek both Faith and Repentance of Christ in the use of such means as he hath prescribed But it is one thing to teach this and another to offer Faith and Repentance to all absolutely It is Christ and his merits that are offered unto us in the Gospel but Faith is required of us as the means whereby both himself and his merits are received and Repentance and new Obedience is in joyned as a necessary condition without which we can have no communion with Christ as I shall have occasion to shew hereafter But if I shall grant that Faith and Repentance are offered unto us in the Gospel yet I may retort the Argument of Mr. S. upon himself for Faith and consequently Repentance are not offered unto us nor wrought in us nisi mediante verbo but by the means and ministery of the word For Faith cometh by hearing Rom. 10.17 and hearing by the word of God therefore Christ is neither absolutely offered nor absolutely made ours sed mediante eodem verbo et fide but by means of the same word and Faith whereby we receive him Lastly I do argue thus eternal life is not to be had without Faith in Christ This St. John giveth us to understand when he saith John 20.31 These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name Seeing therefore as Mr. S. saith we are alike indisposed to any gift of Christ as we are to Christ himself it followeth therefore necessarily that seeing the gift of life is not ours without Faith neither is Christ himself ours without Faith which if it be granted it cannot be avoided but must needs be acknowledged that he is made ours by Faith And this the Apostle expresly avoucheth Eph. 2.12 Ye were at that time without Christ that is whilest they were Infidels and unbelievers Lastly This spiritual work saith Mr. S. is a new Creation and so works of preparation are not so proper in that Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus Answer That our regeneration is a new Creation we do all acknowledge but that every work of Creation doth exclude all precedent preparations will not so easily be granted For Beasts Birds and Fishes were not made immediatly of nothing but of a precedent matter And God created man also not immediatly of nothing but his Body was first prepared and created of the dust of the earth and when that was perfectly formed he breathed the breath of life into his nostrils that is he infused his Soul into his Body Gen. 2. and so he was made a living Soul The same course also doth the Lord ordinarily take in our regeneration which is a new Creation For that there are certain preparations such as are the hearing of the word some knowledge of sin and of a mans own misery by sin and of the grace of God in Christ ordinarily thereunto precedent in adultis in those that are of capacity and understanding shall be shewed afterwards God willing in the seventh Question It doth not appear therefore neither by this nor by any former Reasons of Mr. S. that Christ is ours before we do believe in him or that he is not made ours by Faith Objection Whereas therefore he saith immediatly before the first of those aforesaid seven Reasons of his that we are not to consider neither Faith nor Repentance as bringing-in Christ in the Soul but Christ bringing-in them and working them more and more in the soul Unto this I answer Answer that Christ by bringing-in as he speaketh that is by working Faith and Repentance in the Soul doth bring-in himself into it and taketh and keepeth possession of it and so we are interested in Christ For until Christ worketh these graces in us by his Spirit we are altogether aliens from him and have no communion with him at all It is no good reasoning to say Christ worketh Faith in
us therefore we do not receive him by Faith or he is not made ours by Faith for he therefore worketh Faith in us that by the same Faith we may lay hold on him and on his merits Posita primâ causâ non tolluntur secundae The working of the first cause doth not exclude the secondary and subordinate from acting that which appertaineth and belongeth unto them Christs apprehending therefore of us by his Grace and by his Spirit doth not exclude but necessarily inferreth our apprehending and appropriating of him to our selves by Faith For as St. Paul saith Phil. 3. we apprehend him or rather are apprehended of him His meaning is that we both apprehend him and he apprehendeth us but the firmness and certainty of our salvation consisteth rather in his apprehending of us then in our apprehending of him these two do alwayes go together and are never separated To make this yet more plain briefly thus it is Christ is made ours 1. On Gods part 1. By his eternal Decree of Predestination ordaining him to be ours in the due time appointed by him but not before 2. By his word wherein he offereth Christ and of his grace giveth him unto us when we do believe in him 3. By his Spirit whereby he regenerated us and infuseth into us the habit of Faith and exciteth the Act. 2. On his own part By meriting for us and working in us grace whereby we do believe in him and are made partakers of him and of his merits 3. On our part by Faith whereby we do receive Christ offered unto us in the Gospel and upon our hearing thereof do believe in him reposing and placing the whole confidence of our salvation in him as in our only Mediator I come now to Mr. S. his Conclusion of this matter which is this Question And now Why should any servant of Christ refuse to give out the blood of his Master which runs so freely to sinners Answer Whereunto I answer that Christs blood is to be offered and reached out to all sorts of sinners upon condition that they will leave their sins and lay hold of Christ by Faith and shew themselves thankful unto him for their salvation But as long as they continue in sin and incredulity they are to be taught and told that they have no part nor portion in Christ for he that believeth on the Son hath life John 3.36 but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Question Mr. S. moveth yet another question saying And why should any sinners refuse to receive Christs blood because their vessels are not clean enough for it when it is such a blood as makes the vessels clean for it self To this I answer That to receive Christs blood is not for a wicked sinner to believe while he continueth in drunkennesse and whoredome or in any other vile sins that he is reconciled to God by the blood of Christ as Mr. D. and he do understand it but it is to rely on Christs blood both for the pardon and purging away of his sins according to the promises of the Gospel which whosoever doth though he were never so unclean before his soul being thus sprinkled with the blood of Christ by a true and lively Faith will become pure and holy for neither shall his former sins be imputed unto him nor will he welter and wallow in the puddle of sin any more but will serve God in righteousness and holyness all his dayes SECT IIII. We do put on Christ and apply him unto our selves by Faith I Will now leave Mr. S. for a while and return to Mr. D. I cannot conceive saith he how Faith should put on Christ Can you conceive then what St Paul meaneth when he saith Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus for as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ to wit by that Faith of theirs whereof in their Baptism they made profession The meaning of this metaphorical speech of his is to teach us that if we do appear before God naked as we are of our selves our filthiness and deformity is such that God will loath and abhor us We must therefore put on Christ or cloath our selves with Christ as it were with a garment that we may be amiable in Gods eyes that is we must be united unto Christ as a mans garment which he putteth on is to his Body before we can find any acceptance with God For he hath made us accepted in his beloved Eph. 1.6 This was typified and presignred by Jacobs obtaining of his Fathers blessing by coming and appearing before him in the garments of his elder brother for so we do obtain the blessed inheritance of Heaven by being invested with Christs righteousness But contrary hereunto Mr. D. telleth us Reconcil of man to God pag. 57. That this is our receiving of Christ our putting on of Christ our living by Faith that Faith assureth us of Gods favour and good will towards as in Jesus Christ But who seeth not that he doth here confound things that differ For it is one thing to receive a thing and to put it on and another to be assured that we have done both these that is not only received it but put it on And in like manner to live and to be hereof assured are diverse things To receive Christ therefore and to put him on and to be assured that we have received him and put him on are divers things And our living by Faith and being hereby assured of Gods favour and good will towards us Objection are divers things But saith he I can not conceive how Faith doth apply Christ or make Christ ours in the sight of God The Reason of this his asserion is because as he conceiveth Christ was ours befor◠we did believe in him Now a man needeth not receive that which is his own already Answer But I answer That although Christ in Gods eternal counsel was given us before the foundation of the world was laid that is decreed to be given us and to be made ours yet he is not actually ours until we receive him For Christ is offered unto us in the Gospel as the gift of God John 4.10 But as we all know a gift when it is offered must be received before we can have any interest or propriety in it And hereupon it is that Christ when he came amongst his own Countreymen the Jews and offered himself unto them St. John saith that to as many as received him he gave power to be the Sons of God even to those that believed in his name giving us to understand who they were that received him to wit such as believed in him Now why doth the Evangelist speak thus if Christ be not received by Faith The Apostle telleth the Ephesians Eph. 2.12 that they in the dayes of their ignorance and infidelity were without Christ I
would know therefore how they came to have Christ but by receiving him when he was offered unto them in the preaching of the Gospel But here it may be said Christ in his Gospel Question requireth of us Repentance and new Obedience as well as Faith Mark 1.15 Heb. 5.9 Acts 3.26 Why then should we be said to receive Christ and to apply him and his merits unto us any more by Faith then by our Repentance To this I answer Answer That Faith is required of us as the only instrument or means whereby we are to receive Christ and his merits when they are offered unto us in the Gospel For so ye have heard the Scripture tell us that Christ is received by Faith and Paul saith Acts 26.18 that forgiveness of sins and the inheritance of Heaven which Christ hath purchased for us are received by Faith Now there is no such thing spoken of Repentance or new Obedience but they are required in another respect or for another Reason to wit That we may have communion with Christ and glorifie the name of God and his Gospel by living holily Thus both Faith and Repentance are Conditions of the Covenant of Grace or of the Gospel but in divers respects For by Faith we receive Christ and salvation by him and without Repentance we cannot receive him or the salvation which by his death he hath purchased and in his Gospel offereth unto us Briefly then thus it is Faith is a condition necessary to be performed by us that we may thereby receive Christ and be incorporated and united unto him Repentance is Conditio sine qua non that is a necessary condition without the performance whereof 2 Cor. 6.14 Heb. 5.9 we can have no communion with Christ nor hope of Heaven SECT V. Christ is freely given notwithstanding the Conditions that are required of us Object BUt he objecteth again and saith Yet methinks that Christ is here set forth upon some conditions and not so freely given Answ Yes he is freely given that is gratis notwithstanding these conditions For they are not meritorious as in many compacts and Covenants that passe between man and man but conditions to which Christ and his merits are freely offered and given in the Gospel through the meer mercy and goodness of God and not for any merit or desert of these conditions I would know of these men whether the Kingdom of Heaven and the glory thereof be not freely given us of God Yet I hope they will not deny but that Faith Repentance and new Obedience must go before tfie fruition and possession thereof Heb. 12.14 as conditions or as things on our part to be performed or else we shall never come there What doth not the Apostle set it down as a condition of our glorification and salvation in Heaven when he saith to the Collossians Now hath Christ reconciled you in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable Col. 1.22 and unreproveable in his sight if you continue in the Faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Like whereunto is that of the same Apostle 1 Tim. 2.15 where he saith that the woman notwithstanding the dolorous pains in child-birth which God hath laid upon her shall be saved if they continue in Faith and charity and holiness with sobriety The like conditionals we meet with Rom. 11.22 Rev. 3.20 and in divers other places of the new Testament Whence these men who take upon them to be the only Patrons of free Grace may see how absurdly they reason when they say Grace is free therefore nothing is required of us antecedenter to the receiving of Christ or of justification or of any other grace For I would know of them whether eternal life be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the free gift of God or a gift of Gods grace as the Apostle calleth it Rom. 6.23 Now what will they say that nothing is to be done of us that we are neither to repent nor believe nor to do any good works before we come to Heaven that we may be saved by grace If so then let them profess themselves Libertines or if they will not do that let them take heed that they do not lay down such Principles whence Libertinisme may necessarily be inferred For I would know of them where in all the Scripture remission of sins is so granted by God that nothing is required of us neither Faith nor Repentance Where there is such an absolute grant a man is tied to nothing whence it will follow that he may have remission of sins and consequently be saved although he never believe repent nor amend his life but live in sin all his dayes But that I may let them see wherein they do deceive themselves Whereas they say That grace is free Objection therefore nothing is required of us but Christ is freely to be offered and preached to all even to those that live in sin as well as to any others without any conditions I answer That they do deceive themselves and others with an equivocation For when they say grace is free Answer the meaning hereof is that it is gratuita free in regard of any recompence or satisfaction and so freedome in this sense is opposed to merit but the meaning is not that we are inde liberati à conditionibus fidei et resipiscentiae thereby freed from the conditions of Faith and repentance without which there is no remission of sins nor salvation to be had no more then we are freed ab officio gratitudinis erga Deum from our duty of thankfulnesse towards God after we are justified and in the state of grace Yet thus do these men speak of freedom when they say grace is free opposing freedom not to merit but to any bond of duty towards God in the same sense as St. Paul doth when he saith that a woman is free from the Law of her husband when he is dead Rom. 7.3 SECT VI. In what sense and signification this word Grace is used and taken in holy Scripture and that we do ascribe our salvation wholly to Grace BUt that I may make this yet more plain I say that Grace is taken in several senses and significations in holy Scripture but principally in these two First properly pro gratuita Dei benevolentia et favore for the free good will and favour of God as when the Apostle saith Eph. 2.8 Ye are saved by Grace that is by the free favour and mercy of God Rom. 3.24 Rom. 4.16 Eph. 1.5.6 And so it is to be understood in those sayings All have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justifyed freely by his Grace And therefore it is of Faith that it might be of Grace And having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his Grace
those that are workers of iniquity but on every one that commiteth the least sin that is for so it saith Deut. 27.26 Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them But where doth the Gospel reveal Gods Love or offer any mercy to those that are workers of iniquity Not any where but on the contrary saith that he that committeth sin that is that sinneth dedi◠â operâ of set purpose or pleno voluntatis consusu with full consent of will as Zanchius saith or as Polanus fitly expresseth it qui facit artem peccandi he rhat maketh a Trade of sin which is to be a worker of iniquity he is of the Devil 1 John 3.8 Again it is not the Law but the Gospel also that saith Except ye Repent Luke 13.3 John 3.38 ye shall all perish And he that believeth in the Son hath eternal life but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Thus not only the Law but the Gospel also revealeth the wrath and hatred of God against all that are workers of iniquity It is true the Gospel offereth pardon and revealeth Gods love to repentant sinners but I believe Mr. D. will not call such workers of iniquity Whereas then Davâ—d saith Question The Lord hateth all workers of iniquity First it may be said that if we shall speak of the elect themselves not as they are elect but being considered as they before their calling and conversion were workers of iniquity as well as others so God hated them though not odio redundante in personas illorum or odio inimicitiae that is so as to reprobate or to reject and cast them off yet odio abominat onis that is so that he was offended and displeased with them while they took such courses and did not love them amore complacentiae with a love of complacencie but loath them while they were polluted and defiled with their sins Thus afterwards in the very next verse the Prophet saith Virum sanguinum et doli abhominabitur Jehovah The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man I find that Estius in tert Sent. et in D st 32. and others do say That God doth hate the elect quoad statum presentem suum while they live in sin and are unconverted alleadging for confirmation hereof this very saying of David The Lord hateth all the workers of iniquity and that in the 14th Chapter of the Book of Wisdom Similiter odio sunt Deo impius et impietas ejus The ungodly and his ungodliness are both alike hateful unto God Thus do they speak of the elect being considered as they were sinners before their conversion But otherwise if we shall consider the elect as God in his eternal Counsel and Decree saw them justified and sanctified so he loved them not only amore benevolentiae that is with such a love whereby he did will their good sed complacentiae but of complacencie or delight For thus all things are present with God ab aeterno from all eternity and there is nothing neither past nor future unto him And the the reason hereof is God knew all things most perfectly before any of them were because he seeth all things that either are were or ever shall be in the world non extra se in creaturis not without himself in the creatures as we do but in se in himself that is in his eternal Counsel and Decree or in se non solum tanquam in causa efficiente sed exemplari rerum omnium Wherefore although being considered as we were in our selves before our calling and conversion that is full of sin and void of all goodness we may in some sense be said to be objects of Gods hatred yet as we were vessels of Election so we were alwaies beloved For as St. Augustine saith Tract in Johan 112. Deus omnes sanctos suos ante mundi constitutionem dilexit sicut praedestinavâ—t God loved all his Saints before the foundation of the world as they were of him predestinated For we must not say that God absolutely and simply first hateth and then loveth the same things as men do for then we shall make him variable mutable as we our selves are whereas there is neither Variableness nor turning Jam. 1.17 nor so much as any shaddow of turning with God If this answer do not give full satisfaction Answer then I say further That when Davâ—d saith The Lord hateth all the workers of iniquity he speaketh of those that do work iniquity perseverantly that is who do continue in sin without Repentance as the next words may seem to declare when he addeth thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing For it is certain God will destroy none eternally but obstinate and impenitent sinners This answer I do prefer before the former For if we shall speak of hatred as the word is commonly used then I cannot but subscribe to Zanchius whose thesis or position is this Electos nunquam odit Deus trascitur quidem illis ut illos duriter castiget saepe De natura Dei lib. 4. c. 7. Quest 2. sed hoc facit ex amore ad illorum salutem odit tamen nunquam In English thus God never hateth the elect indeed he is angry with them so that he doth oftentimes chasten them sharply but this he doth out of love to their salvation notwithstanding he doth never hate them For saith he odisse dicitur Deus quibus male vult God is said to hate those whom he beareth ill will unto And thus also doth Cicero speak of hatred when he saith Quem quis odit periisse expetit whom a man hateth he desireth his destruction In which words he letteth us see what is commonly meant by hatred Thus I hope I have cleared this matter And now I would know of Mr. D. why he doth say that Faith doth justifie declaratively if the Gospel which preacheth Faith in Christ doth declare the love of God either to all or to any that are workers of iniquity For Faith cannot be without a reformed conversation as he himself acknowledgeth All the workers of iniquity therefore are destiture of true justifying Faith Reconcil of God to man pag. 44. whereby to be assured of Gods love of their salvation by Christ Mr. D. therefore will he nill he must needs acknowledge that if Faith do justifie declaratively then the Gospel doth no where declare the Love of God towards the workers of iniquity and consequently That it is not only the voice of the Law but of the Gospel also that saith The Lord hateth all the workers of iniquity SECT III. How God way be said to love his children sometimes more and sometimes lesse THe second Conclusion is this If we shall speak of the Love of God as it doth manifest it self by its effects so it is neither eternal nor alwaies
will be said So also did Christ reconcile us unto his Father by his death Object therefore we were reconciled before we did believe in Christ It is true we were reconciled to God by his death Answer 1 quoad meritum vel quoad pretium redemptionis et reconciliationis nostrae in regard of the merit or price of our Redemption and Reconciliation but we are not actually reconciled until by Faith we do believe in Christ 1 John 5.11 12. and are united unto him For he that hath the Son hath life but he that hath not the Son hath not life but the wrath of God abideth on him And hereupon it was that St. Paul accounted all he had but as dung that he might win Christ Phil. 3.8 Math. 17.4 and be found in him For why Christ is the beloved Son of the Father in whom it is that he is well pleased with us As long therefore as we are out of Christ and remain in our sins we are liable to Gods displeasure and therefore had need to be reconciled unto him For though God loveth us ab aeterno from everlasting amore complacentiae with a love of complacencie and delight secundum intuitum praedestinationis suae that is as he beholds us justified and sanctified in his Decree of predestination yet being considered as we were of our selves when we remained in our sins and were aliens from Christ he could take no pleasure in us If this answer do not give full satisfaction then I say Answer 2 further that although God loves his elect eternally yet he suspendeth the saving effects of this his love towards them until they do believe in Christ In that regard therefore they may be said to be reconciled unto him when they are converted and do believe because he then taketh off this suspension by working in them the saving effects of his love and not only declaratively For first God works these effects in them and then by them declares and manifests his Love unto them and assures them thereof Answer 3 Lastly Though God loved us eternally as we were elected of him in his eternal Decree of Predestination that is in regard of the felicity and happiness which he alwaies intended us notwithstanding we were by God in his word bound over unto eternal punishment and condemnation for our sins while we lived in them but when we did return unto God and believe in Christ then we were justified and absolved from our sins and from the sentence of condemnation and consequently were actually reconciled unto God for there is no reall difference between the justification and reconciliation of a sinner When a sinner by Faith in Christ obtainerh pardon of his sins then he is reconciled to God St. Paul therefore useth the words justification and reconciliation promiscuously Rom. 5.9.10 and indifferently as importing the same thing being justified by the blood of Christ saith he we shall be saved from wrath through him This he proveth thus for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son where you see he putteth reconciled for justified implying there is no real difference between them much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life See this proved afterwards Question 6. Now we are not actually justified from the sentence of condemnation which God in his word hath denounced against us for our sins until we do believe in Christ It follows necessarily therefore that we are not actually reconciled unto God until we do believe in Christ and are united unto him Quest 5. Whether the Doctrine of Reconciliation as Mr. D. hath propounded it be a better means of comfort to distressed consciences then our Protestant Doctrine is FIrst He teacheth that God was reconciled to us that is as he understandeth it that he loved us ab aeterne from all eternity without any precedent dispositions or qualifications which he found or fore-saw in us or any conditions to be performed by us to gain His love and His favour Now whatsoever comfort this can afford to any if it be a means to keep those that are great sinners or such as are troubled with the apprehension of their own unworthinesse from despair our Doctrine will do the same also For there is no judicious nor no orthodox Protestant who teacheth not that God loved us freely from everlasting and that His love is the cause of our loving Him and of all the goodness that is in us as St. John saith We love him because he loved us first 1 John 4.19 and not that he loveth us because we love Him to speak properly of his Love as it is in it self though otherwise when we speak of Gods Love according to the influence it hath upon us or according to the gracious effects thereof we say as the holy Scripture doth that the Lord will love those that love him and keep his commandements In this sense our Saviour speaketh of Gods Love If a man love me he will keep my words John 14.23 and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And John 16.27 The Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me have believed that I came out from God Where we must not so understand our Saviour as if he made his Disciples loving of him and believing him to be the cause why God did first set his Love upon them for he loved them erernally but to be the cause why God did aboundantly testifie his Love towards them by many gracious rare and most comfortable effects thereof rather than to the world We may say therefore as Dionysius Carthusianus doth That our Saviour in these words setteth down the cause of Gods Love à posteriori that is he cause of the effects of Gods Love and so maketh his Disciples loving of him and believing in him a sign and an assurance unto them that his Father loved them Reconcil of man to God pag. 49 50 52 57. Secondly speaking of our Reconciliation to God that is as he expresseth himself of the declaration or manifestation of Gods Reconciliation to us he teacheth that we are thus reconciled to God by Faith only but maketh joy in the Holy Ghost and the Love of God and of our Brethren and new Obedience inseperable Companions of this our Reconciliation Now it a man cannot finde these graces in himself What great comfort can he take that Gods Love is eternal without any conditions on our par◠to be performed Or how can this encourage men against desperation more than our Doctrine which is That Gods Love may be known by the inseparable effects thereof For he will not say that God loves all or that he was from all eternity reconciled unto all but only unto the Elect. Until therefore a man shall finde in himself the undoubted effects of his Election he can take no great comfort in this that Gods Love is free and without
house Both these Apostles do inform us that there is something to be done of us that we may be saved that is that we must repent and believe in Christ and be fruitful in all good works which are inseparable effects of Faith and Repentance Whereupon St. Paul exhorteth us not to be weary of well doing Gal. 6.9 and to incourage us hereunto he telleth us that in due time we shall reap if we faint not There is something then to be done or us contrary to Mr. S. his assertion that we may receive more then we have already For as we are here by the Apostle given to understand this present life of ours is but the seed time wherein we are to sow the seeds of virtue and good works and hereafter at Christs appearing the harvest cometh when we shall reap a crop of glory This is the expectation of all true believers for as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 15.19 had we hope in Christ only in this life we were of all men the most miserable Lastly Whereas he saith We are to do as much as if we were to be saved by what we do because we should do as much for what is done already for us and to our hands as if we were to receive it for what we did our selves Hereunto I answer That seeing Gods glory is to be preferred before our own salvation therefore we ought both to desire and to endeavour were it possible to do not as much but more for what is done for us already as if we were to be saved by what we do our selves But otherwise I must tell him that if we would obtain our salvation for our own works then we must look to it that they be pure and perfect and that we do all that the Law requireth without fayling in any thing But he that shall challenge such perfection to himself is to be ranked amongst proud Pharisees and deserveth not the name of an humble and lowly hearted Christian For a farewel therefore to this first reason of his I would know how Faith can be the only work of the Gospel if the Gospel do teach us to do as much in way of thankfulnesse to God for our redemption and salvation as if we were to redeem and save our selves Obiect 2 I come now to his next Reason whereby he endeavourete to prove That Faith is the only work of the Gospel Salvation saith he is a short work Believe and thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.10 Answ But I must tell him As short as he maketh it there will be work enough for the believer all his life long for the Faith which St. Paul speaketh of will not suffer a believer to be idle or unfruitful but as he himself telleth us Gal. 5.6 1 Cor. 15.58 it worketh by love yea it stirreth up believers alwaies to abound in the work of the Lord. Mt. S. his Faith therefore if it be without works and do set all upon Christs score as if he had repented for us and done all for us that we our selves should do is no better as St. James telleth us Jam. 2.17 then a dead Faith Obiect 3 Now whereas he saith It is the Gospel way of dispensation to assure and passe over salvation in Christ to any that will believe Answ I grant it is so but must tell him that true Faith as our Saviour himself teacheth us is to believe the Gospel Mark 1.15 The Faith therefore that is not founded on the Promises of the Gospel but a mans own fancie as is the Faith which Mr. S. requireth is not a true but a false Faith Obiect 4 But saith he There needs no more on our sides to work or warrant salvation to us but to be perswaded that Jesus Christ died for us because Christ hath suffered and God is satisfied Now suffering and satisfaction that great work of salvation How Christ by his Passion hath wrought the great work of our salvation I have already shewed But it followeth not hereupon that there is nothing to be done by us in a lower way for we must walk in that narrow way of which our Saviour speaketh Matth. 7.14 Matt. 7.14 that leadeth unto life or else we shall never come to Heaven nor have any part in that salvation which is there purchased and prepared by Christ for his Saints It 's therefore not only a false but a most impious and most dangerous assertion to say as here Mr. S. doth That there needs no more on our sides to work or warrant salvation to us but to be perswaded that Jesus Christ died for us If this were so then indeed salvation would be a short work For not only all those must needs be saved who are perswaded that Christ died for all men absolutely and therefore for themselves in particular but also the most loose and licentious Libertines and carnal Gospellers that are for even those if not all yet many of them do perswade themselves that Christ died for them as well as for any other but this Faith of theirs is nothing else but most deadly and damnable presumption as is shewed in the 15. Question Lastly Whereas he objecteth and saith They only Obiect 5 are justified who believe Rom. 1.17 Acts 13.39 And that we are justified by grace not of works Rom. 3 2â— Answ This we willingly grant but tell him that there is more required to our salvation than to our justification For as Bernard saith excellently well Bona operae De gratiae et libero arbitrio sunt occultae praedestinationis indicia futurae glorificationis praesagia via regni non causa regnandi Good works are tokens of our predestination that otherwise lieth hidden from us fore-tokens of our future glorification the way to the Kingdom but not the cause of the crown Whosoever therefore liveth here idly and worketh not nor imployeth the talent which he hath received of his heavenly Lord and Master shall never come to Heaven Matth. 25.30 but be cast into utter darknesse where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Again whereas he saith They only are justified who believe We acknowledge this true but tell him that no man believeth until he seeth his own misery by sin and in what great need he standeth of Christ as hath been already shewed Albeit then we are justified by Faith only yet this Faith is not ordinarily to be had without some precedent qualifications such as are the hearing of the word denial of a mans own self and of his righteousnesse and a belief of perswasion that salvation is to be had by Christ only Object 2. Gods love is not offered to all equally and indifferently or to all absolutely Object 2 Secondly He alledgeth also these sayings of holy Scripture against us as if they excluded all preparation to Faith God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have eternal life John 3.16 And this offer is an offer of Gods love wherewith he loved us from everlasting Answ So he but to the contrary I say That Gods eternal love is not here offered to all as he would have it there can no such thing be deduced and drawn from either of these places for in the former St. Paul sheweth what manner of persons believers were in themselves when Christ out of his love died for them they were not righteous but sinners in the latter our Saviour himself sheweth what it was that moved God to give his Son to death for us it was his surpassing and incomparable love and nothing else Now how Mr. S will frame an Argument either from the Apostles or from our Saviours words against preparations before Faith I know not unlesse it be thus God loved all equally loved them to make them partakers of Christ and of salvation by him therefore in preaching the Gospel nothing is to be required of any but all are to believe that they shall be saved by Christ whether they be penitent for sin or rejoyce and delight in sin and whether they purpose and resolve to leave sin or to live in sin Now I grant indeed That this Conclusion were to be admitted if the antecedent whence it is deduced were true that is if God did love all absolutely unto their eternal salvation and had no purpose to work any change or alteration in them while they live here But this is palpably false for whom God loveth eternally and before all time they receive in time through the gracious operation of his Spiit the necessary effects of this his love that is contrition and compunction of heart for sin Faith in Christ for the forgivenesse of sin conversion to God from all sin and all other saving graces to the accomplishment of their their salvation It 's false therefore that sinners are only to believe that God loveth them and that they are reconciled unto him by Christs death as Mr. D. and Mr. S. do teach and that nothing else but such a bare Faith is to be required of them that they may thereby know and be assured that they are justified and partakers of Christ For God loveth not all unto salvation but the Elect only whom in time he bringeth by degrees to the possession of that salvation by preparing them for it in that manner as the Gospel teacheth and letteth none lie still rotting in their sins without any true Faith or Repentance but only wicked reprobates whom he suffereth to walk in the broad way that leadeth unto destruction Object 3. It exalteth Grace more to receive broken hearted than Object 3 obdurate sinners He farther urgeth It exalteth Grace more to receive a sinner who hath no mony no price no righteousness His meaning is That it maketh more to the glory of Gods grace that he receive sinners as sinners without any sorrow for or sense and feeling of their sins rather than humbled and broken-hearted sinners that see and perceive how miserable they are in themselves and in what great need they do stand of a Saviour But I answer him That maketh most to the magnifying and exalting of Gods grace which he himself requireth and prescribeth and not which sinful men in their carnal and fleshly wisdom do fancy and like best or which they judge to be most for the setting forth of his grace Now it is evident that God offereth Christ to none but to those that acknowledge their sins and feel the burden of them Matth. 11.5.28 Isa 61.1 2. Yea even that very place which Mr. S. alledgeth proveth against him that some preparations go before Faith in Christ to wit a thirsting after him and his graces which cannot be unlesse a man feel his misery by sin and see in what need he standeth of Christ even as a man never thirsteth corporally until he is pained with heat and drynesse and feeleth in what need he standeth of drink These very words therefore of the prophet Isay Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no mony come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without mony and without price are produced by him against himself For all are not here invited to come to Christ and to be made partakers of his graces not sinners as sinners as he will have it that is sinners continuing in their sins without any purpose to leave them yea not so much as acknowledging their sins and their misery by means of them but first such sinners who feeling their great need of Christ do thirst after him and secondly such as have no mony and therefore do offer no price for him that is who do acknowledge that they have no merits of their own nor can do any thing to purchase or procure Gods favour Having thus wrested his weapon out of his hands and turned it against himself I must now tell him that whereas he saith That it exalteth grace more to receive a sinner that hath no money no price no righteousnesse that is in his sense all sorts of sinners though they do not so much as feel nor acknowledge their sins rather then those that being cast down with the sight and sense of their sins do acknowledge they have no money no price nor no righhteousnesse of their own I must I say tell him that he is much deceived in this for first it standeth not with Gods justice and his hatred of sin to pardon sinners without working any change in them at all but suffering them to continue and remain still in their sins The holy Prophet David disclaimeth this and speaketh against him when he saith Psal 5.4 Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickednesse neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity Again I say further Gods grace is most exalted when sinners do most acknowledge the riches of his grace and are most thankful to him for it Now so are they who do most feel the burden of their sins and do most apprehend their spiritual misery as it is to be seen in the penitent woman Luke 7. Luke 7.47 the sight and sense of whose many and great sins made her greatly to love Christ But on the contrary if God should pardon those that feel not their sins but are whole in their own conceit they would either with the Pharisees ascribe their salvation more to their own works then to Gods grace or turn the grace of God into lasciviousnesse and wax wanton against Christ as Libertines and carnal Gospellers do who rely so much on the grace of God that they have no care to live holily and righteously to the glory of Gods grace but by their wicked works and deeds of darknesse do cause the name of God to be blasphemed Rom. 2.24 1 Tim. 6.1 Object 4.
He will not alwayes chide neither will he keep his anger for ever Psal 103.8 9. After the same manner speaketh also the Lord himself In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting mercy will I have compassion on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer It is evident that the Lord speaketh here of his own Children for his everlasting mercy belongeth to them and on them it is that his anger remaineth but a moment For on wicked reprobates it shall rest for ever according to that Joh. 3.36 He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Quest 11. Whether God do correct his Children for their sins This Question I thought good to add unto the former because it is of great affinity with it and the rather indeed have I done this because an Acquaintance of mine did lately long after I had finished this Treatise take upon him to maintaine that God doth never correct his Children for any sin that is committed by them against whom I reasoned thus God doth either correct his Children for sin or for righteousnesse for there is no mean betwixt these two For our actions although being considered simply as they are per se et sua natura in themselves and in their own nature are many of them indifferent that is neither good nor evil morally yet in actu exercito that is being clothed with such circumstances as they are when they are practised by us so they are all either good or evil Now said I God doth not correct any for righteousnesse or well doing therefore it is for their sins and for their evil doings that he correcteth his Children But hereunto he answered that it is for righteousnesse that God correcteth his Children for said he God correcteth them from their sins and maketh them to live righteously I perceived his meaning was as if he should have said God correcteth his Chiâ—dren for righteousnesse not that righteousnesse which they have done but which he would have them to do Now this I willingly yeelded unto him that the terminus á quo of Gods corrections or rather of our sanctification which he worketh in us by his corrections is sin and the terminus ad quem is righteousnesse that is to speak popularly and plainely God by his chastisments driveth us from sin unto righteousnesse For as the Apostle saith No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous Heb. 12.11 but grievous neverthelesse afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby Thus the end of our Heavenly Fathers Chastiâ—ements is to make us to leave our sins and to follow after righteousnesse But doth it follow hereupon that we are not corrected for our sins whereby we do provoke God and make him to afflict us If we should never be overtaken nor be at all defiled with any sin he would never correct us We may truely therefore be said to be corrected for our sins because sins are they that do pull down Gods corrections upon us But here mine adversary replyed and said Object Christ hath either born all the punishment of our sin or he hath born none of it at all Whereunto I answered that punishment is of two sorts either satisfactory to Gods justice Answ now all this Christ hath born For as I say saith He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities Isa 50.5.6 the Chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes are we healed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath layd on him the iniquities of us all Or else punishment is for the humiliation and reformation of the party offending and such are Gods corrections whereby he nurtureth his Children for his own glory and their amendment It is for our profit that we are thus corrected as the Apostle telleth us Heb. 12.10 Christ therefore by his passion hath not redeemed us from such Chastisements but sanctifieth them unto us After I had answered these Objections I proceeded and proved unto him that God correcteth his Children for their sins The arguments which I then used I shall now somewhat inlarge not tying my self strictly to the order in which they were propounded unto him First of all then I say that the holy Scripture in expresse words affirmeth that God correcteth his Children for their sins for thus speaketh the holy prophet David unto the Lord This Testimony is universal of all men of all times Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moath And presently he addeth surely every man is vanity in regard he meaneth of Gods corrections which do weaken and waste him He excepteth none out of this number not the Children of God more then others For it were his own afflictions that made him to utter these words For having said I am consumed by the blow of thine hand presently he inferreth When thou with rebukes dost chasten man thou makest his beauty to consume away David also bringeth in Almighty God speaking thus of his posterity whereof it cannot be denyed but many were Gods Children If his Children forsake my law and walke not in my judgments If they breake my statutes and keep not my Commandements then will I visit their transgression with the rodde and their iniquity with stripes Psal 89.30.31.32 Now what is this but to correct them for their sins And I pray you did not Josephs bretheren when they suspected that they were brought into great hazard and danger of their lives in the land of Egypt acknowledge that this was Gods punishment or correction on them for their sins for thus they spake one to another We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he sought us and we would not heare therefore they mean for their sin in oppressing and betraying their Brother is the distress come upon us Gen. 42.21 When Job also saith Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth what meaneth he but that God laid his hand heavy upon him and chastized him for the sins of his youth 2. Besides these and many other testimonies that might be produced I reason thus If the sins of Gods children be the cause of their corrections then they are corrected for their sins for what is it to correct one for his sins or for his faults but to correct him because of such faults and offences as are committed by him Now the holy Scripture testifieth that Gods children are corrected because of their sins which they have committed and not onely to keep them from sin pro futuro for the time to come therefore it cannot justly be denyed that God correcteth them for their sins That their sins are the cause of Gods corrections these places of holy Scripture do evidence first the Lord speaketh
of salvation But because it is not in our power to repent and believe the Lord therefore hath promised his Elect absolutely that he will put his spirit within them Zech. 36.27 and write his Law in their hearts and cause them to walk in his Statutes and to keep his judgements and do them Object In this regard we acknowledge the promises of the Gospel to be absolute and not conditional to the Elect which may serve also for an answer to that saying of the Lord I will put my spirit within them and cause them to walk in my Statutes alledged by Mr. S. to prove that the promises of the Gospel are absolute and not conditional They are indeed in that sense or in that respect and regard which I have specified and more then this cannot be inferred nor rightly concluded from these words SECT X. How the Evangelical Covenant may be said to be made with all the visible members of the Church I Le onely adde one thing more and that is this Although the Lord doth promise his Spirit unto his Elect onely whereby they are inabled to obey the Gospel and to lay hold of salvation yet he doth enter into a conditional covenant with all the visible members of his Church For as all that were circumcised of old were taken into covenant with God not only the Israelites but proselytes also of the Gentiles and their seed so unto all both Jewes and Gentiles that do joyn themselves unto the Church and are baptized doth God promise and covenant salvation upon condition that they do repent and believe in Christ and they for their parts do restipulate and bind themselves to perform the same As many therefore of these as do conform themselves unto the world and live still in sin and unbelief are Covenant-breakers and their Baptisme becommeth no Baptisme unto them Even as Circumcision of old was made uncircumcision unto those that lived wickedly Rom. 2.25 and did not keep covenant with God Not onely believing Parents therefore themselves but their seed also are taken into covenant with God and hereupon it is that the Children of believers are called holy 1 Cor. 7.14 that is sanctitate faederali by a federal sanctity or holiness whereby they are dedicated and consecrated unto God even as the Vessels of the Temple and the Priests and Levites and Tythes and all consecrated things were called holy not in regard of internal but external holiness being set apart for the most holy God and his service Thus as all the Israelites of old Parents and their Children were taken into Covenant with God and circumcised and therefore called an holy Nation Exod. 19.6 so all believers now and their Children are reputed and reckoned within the covenant of the Gospel and are therefore baptised and by their Baptisme consecrated unto God and bound to obey him and to serve him as an holy people It is manifest therefore that as God did with the Israelites of old so he doth now enter into a conditional covenant with all the visible members of the Church that is with all that make profession of the faith of Christ and of obedience to his Gospel and with their seed And this doth St. Paul plainly give us to understand Rom. 11.17 where speaking of believers of the Gentiles he saith that they were taken out of their own wild Olive-Tree and grafted into the true Olive-Tree and made pertakers of the Root and fatness thereof For what meaneth he hereby but that the Church of the Gentiles is by God joyned unto the Church of the Israelites or rather made one Church and people with them and invested with the self-same priviledges As the Israelites and their Children therefore were of old taken into covenant with God Deut. 29.11 12 13. so are we now and our Children SECT XI The absurdities which do insue and follow upon their assertion who do deny the Gospel to be a Covenant THus as I take it I have sufficiently corroborated and confirmed my first Reason or Argument against the exceptions taken and objections made against it by Mr. S. and others I have made it evident that there are conditions required of us in the Gospel it followeth therefore necessarily from his own words that the Gospel in regard of us as well as of Christ is really and properly a Covenant Now for the conclusion and shutting up of this present question and controversie I will put Mr. S. in mind of some of those absurdities which he and all those do thrust themselves upon who deny the Gospel to be a covenant in regard of us and affirm it to be nothing else but an absolute promise of salvation by Christ First From hence it will follow that neither Simon Magus nor any other Apostates no nor any Christians that live dissolutely or flagitiously after their Baptisme are to be accused or charged with any breach of Covenant against God no more then Infidels or Heathens that never heard of Christ at all Secondly It will also as necessarily follow from hence that not only others but even the primitive and most ancient Christians ever since the dayes of the Apostles have dealt impiously who received none into their Communion by Baptisme but those that first renounced the world the flesh and the Devil and bound themselves by a solem vow promise or covenant to believe in Christ and to serve God and to walk before him in the wayes of his Commandements all the dayes of their life Lastly From hence also it followeth that it is not lawful for Christians to enter into covenant with God because this would be superstition and will-worship having no foundation in the Gospel And so it will follow also that Mr. S. and as many as are of his Opinion if they have taken the Parliament Covenant have dissembled and played the Hypocrites both with God and Man For if the Law only be a Covenant in regard of us and not the Gospel then mens binding themselves to God by covenant was lawful under the Law but not under the Gospel Quest 14. Whether those Ministers that do offer remission of sins and salvation by Christ not to all absolutely but upon condition that they do repent and believe in Christ be legal teachers And whether by this their Doctrine they do make the Gospel a Covenant of works as the Law is SECT I. The Law neither teacheth nor accepteth of Faith and Repentance but requireth perfect obedience to all the Commandements thereof He therefore preacheth not legally but evangelically that offereth pardon to those that repent and believe Mr. S. and our new illuminated preachers do accuse us and charge us who preach as the Protestant and all Orthodox teachers have ever done that we are legal teachers because we do not with them offer remission of sins and salvation to all absolutely and without any conditions but tell men as the Apostles do that they must repent and believe in Christ that their sins may be blotted
the Sonne of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God that is perseverantly unto the end What will Mr. D. except against this Will he say as Estius and the Papists do that the Apostles meaning is not that every or any ordinary faithful man knoweth certainly that he is translated from death to life and therefore in the state of salvation but that he speaketh generally in the person of all the faithful and is thus to be understood We Christians know by an assured faith that all good faithful people of which number we severally trust that we are are translated from death to life But surely this Expositiō of his est nimis jejuna is too hungry and leane For what comfort will it be to any one to know certainly that all good Christians and true believers are translated from death to life as long as he knoweth not whether he himself be of that number but doubteth hereof Again Shall we think or can we perswade our selves that St. John wrote so large an Epistle and used so many Arguments only to make known unto the faithful that all good Christians or that all good faithful people have their sins pardoned and are in the state of salvation which they never doubted of It s certain That St. John in writing this Epistle had a farther intent and that is to make it evident unto us by many infallible signes and tokens how we may know that we are the Children of God and that we are translated from death to life which is a matter of greatest comfort and rejoycing to a Christian heart that can be Mr. D. indeed for I would not willingly do him any wrong acknowledgeth that true charity is an assured signe or mark of grace received but for all that Cor a s pag. he holdeth that a Christian cannot certainly know that he hath charity whereby he may be assured that he is the Child of God But herein he joyneth with the Papists For they say as Estius doth quantum de dilectione fraternâ certi sumus tantum de isto look how much we are assured of our love to the Brethren so much are we assured of that also he meaneth that we are translated from death to life whereof he spake before Now he hath told us that this cannot certainly be known of us and so his meaning is as also Mr. D. that we cannot certainly but conjecturally only know that we love the Brethren Thus both Mr. D. and they would make St. John a silly and sory disputant as if he would prove ignotum per ignotius that which is unknown to us by another thing which is as much or more unknown for how can we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren if we have no more certain knowledge of this then of the former Our conjectural hope that we love the Brethren will only breed and beget in us an Opinion that we are translated from death to life but no knowledge thereof at all But on the contrary St. John saith not We hope we conjecture or we think but we know that we have passed from death to life And he proveth it as effectu tanquam signo hujus infallibili by an effect of this translation as an infallible sign thereof because saith he we love the Brethren Thus he maketh our love of the Brethren an evidence that we are in the state of salvation And hereupon St. Augustine writing on these words saith redeat unusquisque ad cor suum Si ibi invenerit charitatem fraternam securus sit quia transiit à morte ad vitam Let every one return unto his own heart if he doth there finde brotherly charity let him be secure because he hath passed from death to life Surely St. Augustine would never have spoken thus if he had thought that a Christian can have no certain knowledge of his love to the Brethren For it is not an uncertain hope or an opinion grounded on conjectures that can breed and beget any security in the soul Thus Christian Reader I have given thee a tast of Mr. D. his faculty in expounding of the Scriptures after his fancy More of his detorted Expositions I cannot acquaint thee with because I neither remember any more nor have his Book by me it being restored to the owner by him that lent it me long since And indeed I should both trouble my self and the Reader in rehearsing any more of them and this Treatise would swell and grow into too great a bulk whereby the weaker sort of Christians might be deterred and discouraged from reading of it for whose sake principally I have penned and published it that they may be setled and stablished in the truth which hath been formerly taught them and not be carried away with the deceiptfulness of novellous errors Here I made an end long since and thought to have proceeded no further but upon a second review of Mr. D. his three Treatises I started these Questions following which having discussed and determined I do here add unto the former hoping that they will not be altogether unacceptable unto not a few good Christians because the most of them may give some satisfaction unto them in divers doubts and scruples of Conscience wherewith their souls are exercised Quest 16. WHether all that are called of God and consequently that are his Children have alwayes and at all times their hearts ravished and replenished with surpassing joy and comfort Quest 17. Whether the Repentance which the Prophets taught and exhorted their hearers unto in the old Testament be the same which is taught in the new Quest 18. Whether there was any actual forgiveness of sin in the old Testament Quest 19. Whether there be not many things to be done by us before we can be saved Quest 20. Whether a man may not have a steadfast hope in God that he shall be saved who hath a care to keep Gods Law to do all things commanded and to shun all things forbidden to the uttermost of his power Quest 21. Whether a desire to believe be faith it self Quest 22. Whether he that useth the means of salvation constantly may not confidently expect and hope to be saved through Gods mercy in Christ Quest 23. Whether every one that he may be assured of the forgiveness of his sins and of his salvation is without reason or against reason to believe that his sins are pardoned and that God hath given him eternal life Quest 24. Whether he that hath oppressed defrauded or otherwise wronged his Neighbour in his goods and outward Estate can believe that his sins are pardoned before he hath made him restitution and satisfaction Quest 25. Whether the way for a wicked man to overcome and leave his sins be for him to believe that his sins are pardoned and forgiven him Quest 26. Whether every one that truly believeth in Christ be assured of salvation Quest 27. Whether every one who in his Conscience is not assured of his reconciliation to God and of his own salvation be a wicked man Quest 28. Whether a man can take no comfort in any of Gods promises unless he be first assured of his Faith FINIS