on directing and sending the poor sin-sick wounded Sinner to the Son of God with his Wounds and Plague-sores to be healed pressing him to believe in the Son of God out of whom no Salvation is to be found Hereto I add the peremptory Command of God himself that the poor despairing Soul believe on the Son of God 1 Jo. 2.23 Mark 16.16 By these Methods and Ways of God's own appointment God is pleased to work saving Conversion and effectual Faith in the Souls of elect Sinners To what hath been offered out of God's own Word to prove the Doctrine of Particular Election before time I here set down the Judgment of the most Orthodox Protestant Churches concerning the same Not that I think the Word of God stands in any need of Humane Testimony to help it out but rather to shew forth the sweet Harmony which is between the Holy Scriptures and the Saints of God in their Holy and Orthodox Confessions of their Faith concerning the present so much controverted and impugned Doctrine of Election and Reprobation before time As also to shame those nominal Protestants both Non. and Conformists who have so apparently turn'd the back upon their own Articles of Faith whereby both the one and the other Party hath not a little strengthened the Foundation of the Jesuits hope of bringing England's Neck once more under the Papal Yoke From which I heartily wish and sincerely pray that God will ever keep us I begin with the Church of England Predestination to Life is the everlasting Purpose of God whereby before the Foundations of the World were laid he hath constantly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of Mankind and to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation as Vessels made to Honour Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a Benefit of God be called according to God's Purpose by his Spirit working in due season They through Grace obey the Calling they be justified freely they be made Sons of God by Adoption they be made like the Image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ they walk religiously in good Works and at length by God's Mercy they attain to everlasting Felicity See 39 Articles of the Church of England Article 17th of Predestination and Election Secondly The Confession of Faith agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster By the Decree of God for the Manifestation of his Glory some Men and Angels are predestinated to everlasting Life and others to everlasting Death 1 Tim. 5.21 Mat. 25.41 Rom. 9.22 These Angels and Men thus Predestinated and fore Ordained are particularly and unchangeably design'd and their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either encreased or diminshed Those of Mankind that are Predestinated unto Life God before the Foundation of the World was laid according to his eternal and immutable Purpose and the secret Counsel and good Pleasure of his Will hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting Glory out of his meer free Grace and Love without any foresight of Faith or good Works or Perseverance in either of them or any other thing in the Creature as Conditions or Causes moving him thereunto and all to the praise of the Glory of his Grace As God hath appointed the Elect unto Glory so hath he by the eternal and most free Purpose of his Will fore-ordain'd all the means thereunto 1 Pet. 1.2 Ephes 1.4 5. Ephes 2.10 2 Thes 2.13 Wherefore they who are Elected being fallen in Adam are Redeemed by Christ are effectually called unto Faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due Season are Justified Adopted Sanctified and kept by his Power through Faith unto Salvation 1 Thes 5.9 10. Tit. 2.14 Rom. 8.10 Ephes 1.5 1 Pet. 1.5 Neither are any other Redeemed by Christ effectually Called Justified Adopted Sanctified and Saved but the Elect only Jo. 17.9 Rom. 8.28 Jo. 10.26 The rest of Mankind God was pleased according to the unsearchable Counsel of his own Will whereby he extendeth or withholdeth Mercy as he pleaseth for the Glory of his Soveraign Power over his Creatures to pass by and to ordain them to Dishonour and Wrath for their Sin to the praise of his glorious Justice Mat. 11.25 26. Rom. 2.12 2 Tim. 2.19 1 Pet. 2.8 See The Assemblys Confession of Faith Chap. 3. of the eternal Decree of God To this the Church of Scotland hath fully agreed With this also agrees the Articles of Faith of the Church of Ireland in Bishop Vsher's time See those Articles And Vsher's Body of Divinity Quest What are the parts of Predestination Answ Election and Reprobation 1 Thes 5.9 Rom. 9.13 22 23. Quest What is Election Answ It is the everlasting Predestination or Fore-appointing of certain Angels and Men unto everlasting Life and Blessedness for the praise of his Grace and Goodness 1 Tim. 5.21 Jo. 15.16 Rom. 9.22 23. Ephes 1.4 5 6 9. Quest What is Reprobation Answ It is the eternal Predestination or Fore-appointment of certain Angels and Men unto everlasting Dishonour and Destruction God of his own freewill determining to pass them by refuse or cast them off and for Sin to Condemn and Punish them with eternal Death Prov. 16.4 Exod. 9.16 Rom. 9.17 22. 2 Tim. 2.20 Mat. 25.41 See Vsher's Body of Divinity pag. 91 92. The Church of France in the 12th Article of the Confession of her Faith hath these words viz. We believe that God out of that Corruption and general Curse into which all Men were plung'd doth free those whom in his eternal and immutable Counsel he elected of his meer Goodness and Mercy in our Lord Jesus Christ without the Consideration of Works leaving the rest in the same Corruption and Damnation to shew forth in these his Justice and in them the Riches of his Mercy for none of them are better than others because God hath separated them c. The Synod of Dort in the 7th Canon doth lay down this plain and clear Definition of Election thus viz. Election is the unchangeable Purpose of God by which before the Foundation of the World according to the free good pleasure of his Will of his meer Grace he hath chosen out of all Mankind to Salvation in Christ a certain and set number of Men neither better nor more worthy than others but lying in the common Misery with others and fallen from original Righteousness into Sin and Destruction by their own fault c. And in the 15th Canon of Reprobation they say thus viz. The Holy Scripture doth manifest and commend unto us this eternal and free Grace especially when it doth farther witness That not all Men are elected but that some are not elected or are passed by in the eternal Election of God viz. Those whom God according to his free just unreproveable and immutable good Pleasure decreed to leave in the common Misery into which they had cast themselves by their own fault and not to
inwardly stirred up to Adore and Magnifie the Riches of Gods Free Grace who hath vouchsafed to regard such poor contemptible Worms as they judge themselves to be Object 2. The Doctrine of particular Election cuts off the force and strength of all Threatenings and Warnings which are Recorded in the Scriptures as a Curb and Bit to restrain Men from Sin Answ The ever Blessed and Holy God who decreed to elect and choose a particular number to Salvation hath decreed also the means of bringing them to that End whereof those Threatenings and Warnings scattered here and there in God's Word are a part the which the good Spirit of God makes effectually useful to work and encrease in the Elect called to State of Grace the Filial and Reverential fear of God as also to Caution them against all kind of Declinings in the way of Holy walking with God in the way of new Obedience to his Holy Commandments the which God hath revealed in his Word to be the only way in which true Believers must go to an actual Possessing the purchased Inheritance according to Psal 1.1 2 3. Psal 119.1 2 3. Heb. 12.14 These Divine Threats and Warnings are through the saving Influence of the Spirit of Grace made a powerful Bit and Curb to restrain the savingly Converted from returning with Approbation and Delight to former and forsaken Folly and not only so but to keep them more close to their Duty in a Gospel Dependance on Christ their Mediatorial Head for all manner of Supplies till they come to Glory Those Threats and Warnings if they were ten thousand times more than they are will never curb or restrain any Reprobate from loving and liking Sin 'T is true that through the common Operation of the Spirit of God such Threats and Warnings may for a time influence a Hypocrite to a keeping him from the External gross Act of Sin and a putting him on doing many things which are Morally good in themselves But Alass what will this avail while the State of the Man is unchanged and his Heart unrenewed Sad Instances hereof are Recorded in God's Word witness Pharaoh Exod. 7.4 and Judas Mat. 26.15 Mat. 27.5 with many other Reprobates whose Names are left on Record in the Book of God who were neither restrained from Sin nor yet kept back from running headlong to Hell with this Bit in their Mouths The Spirit of God by the Holy Prophet gives a full Description of the natural Disposition of wicked Hypocrits as touching the Incorrigibleness of their Hearts in going on in Sin not only under God's Rod but also under his favourable Dispensation which one would think should win them to Repentance Jer. 5.3 Rev. 16.9 10 11. Esa 26.10 11. Rom. 2.4 5. Object 3. If I be elected to Life eternal before time I may live as I list I need neither to Believe to Repent or to use the means of obtaining Salvation And though I live after the Flesh I shall be Saved being elected Answ To this threadbare Objection which is commonly in the Mouths of all Cavillers against the Doctrine of Election I answer in two Particulars First This Objection doth not in the least find any Encouragement from the Doctrine of particular Election before time as will evidently appear by the Inseparableness of the End and the means asserted and held forth in the Word of God and constantly maintained by the Orthodox against Papists Arminians c. He who hath elected to Life eternal he hath also elected to the means such as believing in the Lord Jesus Christ held forth and offered in the Gospel Repenting for Sinning against God advancing in Holiness and Persevering in the same to the end From whence it plainly appears that he who makes this Objection is either wilfully ignorant not in the least understanding the Doctrine of Election according to Divine Revelation or which is unspeakably worse an affected Caviller and a wicked Subverter of the Gospel Suppose I should Query of the Papist the Arminian the Quaker and Freewiller who are all agreed in opposing and decrying the Doctrine of particular Election before time and Perseverance to the end whether they believe that God hath decreed or absolutely determined in himself how long he or they shall Live or continue in this World The Answer will undoubtedly be in the Affirmative viz. That God hath decreed or determined in himself how long he or they are to live or continue in this World If then say I you believe that God hath decreed in himself how long you are to live or continue in this World what need you to mind any of the Concerns of this World for the Support of Humane Life why will you so Insatiably covet the perishing Riches and the transitory Pleasures of the present World seeing God hath decreed how long you are to live The Answer again will be he that hath decreed how long I am to live in this World he hath also decreed and in his revealed Will commanded me to Exercise my Reason and my other natural Faculties in order to precure and make use of the ordinary means such as Food Ravment Physick and the like whereby in an ordinary way the Life and Health of the Body are secured and maintained Here in the Concerns of the Body they are sharp and witty enough even to an out-doing thousands of the Children of God But in the Concerns of the Soul they are as Corrupt and Heterodox as they are sound and rational in the other If a Papist or an Arminian should fix his Purpose of Building a House in such or such a place it cannot be rationally supposed that he intends to Build without Materials therefore my Reason tells me that in order to accomplish that his Purpose he hath also purposed to provide all the several Materials necessary for such a Purpose Qui seriò vult finem Media etiam ad finem illum tendentia vult He who in good earnest wills the end he also wills the means leading to that end is a sure Rule both in Logick and Divinity And why these Popish Arminian Cavillers should not allow it its proper place in the Doctrine of Election before time I can understand no other Reason for it than either because God hath Judicially smitten them with blindness of Mind that they should not be able to understand or believe this amazing Doctrine of Election before time or else because God hath left them as he did Pharaoh to harden themselves that they might with the greater Acuteness and Stubbornness oppose and withstand his Soveraignty in Electing some and Reprobating others of the same fallen and corrupted Mass and that before time Secondly As there can be no Argument more Cogent and Irrefragable to evince and prove a Man to be either a Fool or a Madman than his resolving to expect the Accomplishment of the end such as Building a House or Living in the World without the use of the proportionate means leading to such ends
withwhat a virulent and malicious Spirit the Contriver and Presenter of this black Charge against me was Acted I here sincerely and conscientiously set down the very Words I spake from which the occasion was taken to represent me in such black Colours The thing was thus the Subject I was then upon leading me to discover the sad and deplorable Condition the Poor Sinner is in while in a state of Unregeneracy I had these Expressions whose design and tendency was to awaken and convince the Sinner of his Misery by Nature by way of observation viz. That where God sets the Law on work in the Conscience of an unconverted Sinner it will like the Avenger of Blood pursue the Guilty Sinner till it either drive the Sinner to Christ the only City of Refuge or till the Sinner he Lodged in Hell To bring the matter home more particularly and closely to an awakened Conscience labouring with Adam to cover the Sinner with the Fig-leaves of Self-rightcousness both Negative and Possitive thereby to be justified and saved I address'd my self to this Sinner in these words Thou convinc'd Rebel Sinner who art now under the Laws Arrest and sinking under the heavy weight of thy Sins hoping to relieve and lick thy self whole with thy Conditions and Qualifications as if there by thou couldst make amends to the offended Justice of God for all thy Violations of his Righteous Law know and consider it thou must that the Just and Righteous Law of God whose terrible Sentence in thy guilty Conscience thou art now striving to fly and shun in this way of Works it is like a strict Creditor who will not accept for Payments any Coin which appears short and deficients either in Quantity or Quality It will not hear of a Sinner's being justified by any Works but such as are exactly Commensurate to its own Just and Holy Demands Now said I either see that thy Conditions and Qualifications whereunto thou trustest for Life and Salvation be spotless and exactly commensurate to the Law 's Demand or in case they be not then away with thy Fig-leaf Holiness to Hell with thy Duties and personal Qualifications Look to the Lord Jesus Christ by an Eye of Faith cast thy weary sinking Soul on him for Life and Salvation or thou wilt Perish eternally Jo. 3.36 Jo. 8.24 This is what I said then Christ knows I Lye not my Conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost When I have to do with believing Christians I press them to the Duties of practical Holiness and good Works as if they were to be justified and saved by them But still with this seasonable Caution that Believers do never join their Works of Sanctification with Christ's justifying Righteousness in the Work of Justification Besides the black Charge brought against me to which I have spoken by way of Apology mine Accusers the better to palliate their own black and horrid Crimes charge me with Defectiveness in my Life and Conversation as not practising what I Preach To this I reply in four Particulars First By way of Concession or Grant my Life and Conversation is not according to my Preaching in a sense I own it I do humbly acknowledge with shame and grief that I find my self vastly short of that Perfection in Sanctification which in Preaching I press as Duty on my self and others and the Searcher of Hearts best knows of how great a Concern it is to me to reflect on the vast Disparity which I sensibly perceive is between what I am and what I ought to be in point of Conformity to Christ in Life and Conversation which lays me under an indispensible necessity of subscribing to that Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor I know and approve better things but follow or encline to things which are worse And to that of Paul Rom. 7.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O wretched man that I am c. Secondly By way of Negation if my Accusers intend and mean that I give my self up to a course of dissolute and loose Living or that I allow my self in the approved Practice of any Immorality which is incompatible with a Regenerate State or which is Inconsistent with a Holy Possession I absolutely through special Grace deny the Charge and do bid my Invidious Bespatterers and all such as do uncharitably credit such malicious Reports of me a fair and sober Challenge to make good such a Charge against me by any Authentick Witness which is not known to be prejudic'd against me if not one or more of them who have plotted to overthrow my Reputation and Ministry Thirdly If short coming in living up to what I Preach and Profess be a sufficient Warrant for Church Members to prevaricate and run away like Children of Belial throwing off the Yoke of Duty in the Church I would gladly know how it is possible for any Churches to be kept up on Earth considering that the Instruments by whose Ministry God sees fit to gather and Build up Churches to fit them for Glory are frail Men not sinless Spirits For my own part albeit I am far from pleading for any Sin though but the least Infirmity whereof either I my self or any other know me Guilty I must needs say that I never yet could find that ever God the Father in the Old Testament or Christ his Son in the New did call or send any to be Prophets or Apostles who were exempt or free from personal Failings or who were ever able to live up perfectly to the Doctrine they Preached to others Yea it is most evident to any intelligent Reader that a considerable part of the Canon of Holy Scripture is Occupant about discovering acknowledging and bewailing the sinful Miscarriages and short comings of the Pen-men thereof as the Learned and Godly well know Fourthly and Lastly Supposing that my Brethren knew and could prove me guilty of as great Falls as ever any pardoned Sinner fell into is it not the duty of Church Members to endeavour my Recovery by coming to me in the Spirit of Meekness and Brotherly Love to call on me and to stir me up to Repentance and Reformation knowing than the Holiest of Saints even those of the highest Attainments in Grace while in the Body are Obnoxious to the sprest Temptations and by reason thereof and the remains of indwelling Corruption are liable to the sorest falls thereby The Word of God proves that so to do is the undoubted Duty of Church Members one towards another Lev. 19.17 Mat. 18.15 Gal. 6.1 But this my Schismatical Brethren never did to me though never so earnestly Courted and lovingly Entreated thereto and that both in and out of the Pulpit As can be sufficiently prov'd if need be Satan and his plotting Agents knew fullwell that the old Trade Report and we will report it Jer. 20.10 was the most likely and effectual way to accomplish their ungodly Design which was to unchurch the Church and for future to render my Ministry useless In order whereto the Pastor must first be attackt according to Zach. 13.7 Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered This Apology I thought not only Expedient but my Duty to publish for the true Information of those especially Dissenting Ministers who have from the Character given them of me by those I here intend suckt in Prejudice against my Name and Ministry And to occasion their seriously considering how every way unbecoming the Gospel it is for one Christian especially such as are called to Sacred Office to be open Ear'd and of too credulous a Temper in listening to and improving to the great Prejudice of those whom the Law of Charity commands them to love any Reports which looks like a Design to blacken or stain the Reputation of a Brother especially a poor Stranger who for Christ and the Gospel hath lost his All and who for witnessing against the spreading Errors of the times is surrounded and besieged with Enemies of all sorts To frown on and carry it strange to such will neither please God credit Religion or help to make a dying Bed easy and comfortable Exod. 22.21 Deut. 10.19 Mat. 7.12 Colos 3.12 13 14 15. Obsequium Amicos veritas Odium parit Flattery begets Friends speaking Truth causeth Enemies Compare Esa 30.10 with Amos 5.10 FINIS
to himself a certain number of Persons to whom alone excluding all others that Promise of Grace and Salvation shall be made good But God hath made a Promise of Life and Salvation to some particular Persons only excluding all others therefore God hath elected and chosen to himself a certain number of Persons to whom excluding all others the Promise of Life and Salvation shall be made good That God hath made a Promise of Life and Salvation to some particular Persons only excluding all others is evident and plain to such as acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be of Divine Authority Gen. 17.7 And I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee Here the Judicious and Unprejudic'd reader may plainly see that Abraham and his Seed were particular Persons distinct from all other Nations and People which were round about him And these it pleased God of his meer Soveraign Grace to single out for his own peculiar Use that they may be a Holy People to bear his Name and to give him a pure and spiritual Worship and Service which should be according to his own Holy Institution and Divine Appointment And that they may be made Partakers of the promised Inheritance which was the sure Possession of the Kingdom of Heaven of which the promised Land of Canaan was but a Type and Shadow The People of the Jews was but a small People when God fixt his Love on them and called them Deut. 7.6 7 8. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people for ye were the fewest of all people but because the Lord loved you And because he would keep the Oath which he had sworn unto your fathers hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and Redeemed you out of the hoâ—â—â— of Bondmen The same Promise which was made to Abraham and his Seed under the Old Testament Dispensation is confirmed by the New And evident it is that as God chose and called Abraham under that dark Dispensation with whom he entred into a Covenant of Grace the Benefit of which was to be of equal extent to himself and his Children even so many of them as were the Children of the Premise So under the Gospel Dispensation God who is a free Agent acting all he doth in a way of Soveraignty saw fit to make known by the Gospel that among the Gentiles also he had a select and chosen People on whom he had decreed to conferr the Riches of his free Grace through the plenteous Redemption that is in his Son Jesus Christ and that pursuant to his own immutable Decree and Purpose electing and choosing them before Time began Acts 2.39 for the Promise is to you and to your Children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Here is that Promise formerly mentioned which looks at Abraham and his Children and also discovers the gracious Design of God to make a certain number of the Gentiles actual Partakers of the self-same Grace and Blessing The manner of the Apostle's expressing himself is full of Clearness and Perspicuity proving that the promise of that Grace and Salvation is not designed for all and singular the Gentile Sinners that then were or in after times should be in the Word but he limits and restrains the Promise to a certain peculiar number least Sinners should mistake the Apostle and conclude that because he had laid down an universal Term saying And to all that are afar off he by way of Explanation shews what the Spirit means by that universal Term adding even as many as the Lord our God shall call in which he plainly shews and invincibly proves that none of the Gentile Sinners shall ever partake of God's special Grace but such as are in time effectually called out of a State of Nature to a State of Justification and Sanctification the which is never granted to any but in the Right of a Covenant-promise which Covenant-promise respects that gracious Act of God electing and choosing in Christ his Son as many of Adam's Posterity both of Jews and Gentiles as his own Soveraignty pleased according to that of the Apostle Rom. 8.30 Moreover whom he did praedestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified And our Saviour himself in Jo. 10.16 designs the Gentiles whom God had in his electing Love given in charge to him in those Expressions And other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice c. Arg. 2. If among the many thousands of People who hear the Gospel Preached but some and that very few comparatively are savingly Converted receive Mercy are Justified and Sanctified and are made to Persevere in a course of Faith and Holy Life then God hath elected and chosen only a certain peculiar number of Men to Life and Salvation But among the many thousands of People who hear the Gospel Preached but some only are savingly Converted receive Mercy are Justified are Sanctified and do finally Persevere in a course of Faith and Holy Life Therefore God hath elected and chosen only a certain peculiar number of Men to Life and Salvation There is nothing more evident than that the greatest number even of those People who are outwardly called by the Gospel do slight and contemn the Gospel and the Grace offered therein Witness that of our Saviour Mat. 20.16 For many are called but few are chosen Luke 14.16 17 18 19. That Parable of the King who made a great Supper to which the King by his Servants invited the Guests notwithstanding which many of them made blind Excuses and shifted it off By which Practise in the Guests we are to understand that great slight and contempt which worldly minded Sinners put on the Lord Jesus and his great Salvation wrought for the Elect which God offers in the Gospel the which they undervalue preferring the Accommodations of this perishing World before that great and precious Salvation To this also pertinent is that of Paul Rom. 10.16 But they have not all obeyed the Gospel for Esaias saith Lord who hath believed our report Rom. 9.27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea a remnant only shall be saved Now then if among those many who are Externally called and the very many who make a Profession there are but very few who savingly Believe Repent and finally Persevere in a course of Faith and Holy Life then
it is beyond all Controversy that those few who so Believe Repent c. are particular Persons whom free Grace elected to that state of Believing and Persevering and the rest who were by far the greater number were left to inward Blindness and hardness of Heart according to Rom. 11.7 What then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for but the election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded According as it is written God hath given them the spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day Arg. 3. If God hath chosen Persons by Name to be Partakers of Life and Salvation by Christ his Son then hath he chosen particular Persons But God hath chosen Persons by Name to be Partakers of Life and Salvation by Christ his Son Therefore God hath chosen particular Persons c. The major Proposition is not questioned the Minor or Assumption is secured by the express Testimony of the Spirit Rev. 13.8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship the beast whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life Luke 10.20 Notwithstanding in this rejoyce not that the spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoyce because your names are written in Heaven Philip. 4.3 And I intreat thee also true yoke fellow help those women which laboured with me in the Gospel with Clement also and with other my fellow-labourers whose names are in the book of Life Argu. 4. If Jeremiah and Jacob c. were particular Persons Chosen and Lov'd of God before they were Born then God did Elect and Choose particular Persons to Life and Salvation but Jeremiah and Jacob c. were particular Persons Chosen and Lov'd of God before they were Born Therefore God did Elect and Choose particular Persons to Life and Salvation That Jeremiah and Jacob c. were particular Persons no Man of Sense will deny that they were Beloved of God before the natural Birth the word of God is full and express Jer. 1.5 Jer. 31.3 Rom. 9.11 Argu. 5. If God knows his Elect from all others before he calls them in Conversion then hath God Elected particular Persons to Life and Salvation But God knows his Elect from all others before he calls them in Conversion Therefore God hath Elected and Chosen particular Persons to Life and Salvation That Gods Praecognition or foreknowledge joyned with his purpose of Grace to Save his Elect goes before his actually calling them in effectual Conversion is beyond Dispute Rom. 8.29 30. 2 Tim. 2.19 Jo. 13.18 Argu. 6. If they who believe in Time were before their Believing ordained to Eternal Life then did God Elect and Choose particular Persons unto Life and Salvation But they who believe in time were before their Believing ordained to Eternal Life Therefore God hath Elected and Chosen particular Persons unto Life and Salvation That Gods Praeordination of Persons to Life and Salvation doth preceed or go before Believing and Repentance is plain from Acts 13.48 And as many as were ordained to Eternal Life Believed Rom. 11. The Election hath obtained it Jo. 10.26 But ye Believe not because ye are not of my Sheep as I said unto you From which Scriptures it is most plain that none do or can in time Believe and reput to Salvation but such Persons as are theretofore appointed by Gods gracious purpose Argu. 7. If the Term Elect doth signifie and presuppose a Calling or Choosing some particular Persons or Things out from among other Persons or Things then hath God out of so many Elected some particular Persons unto Eternal Salvation But the Term Elect doth signifie and presuppose a Calling or Choosing some particular Persons or Things out from among other Persons or Things Therefore God hath out of many Called and Chosen some particular Persons unto Eternal Life Argu. 8. If the Lord Jesus did lay down his Life but for a certain particular number of Sinners then did God Elect and Choose a particular number to Life and Salvation But the Lord Jesus did lay down his Life for a certain particular number of Sinners Therefore God did Elect and Choose a particular number to Life and Salvation That the Lord Jesus did lay down his Life for a certain particular number is obvious and plain to him that can but Read Jo. 10.15 As the Father knoweth me even so know I the Father and I lay down my Life for the Sheep With this accords that of Paul to Titus Chap. â— 14 who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purchase to himself a peculiar People Zealous of good Works Ephes 5.25 〈◊〉 love your Wives even as Christ also Loved the Church and gave himself for it c. The Sheep of whom Christ speaks can be understood to be no other but Believers even such as Dy'd in the Faith before his Incarnation with the Believers of that present day and all who in time to come were to Believe in him And these are the Souls who were by the Father committed to the Pastoral care and charge of Christ the Great Shepherd of the Sheep as Sheep are committed to the care and charge of an under Shepherd For these Christ lays down his Life To these he by his Spirit actually applys the virtue of his Death Over these he Watches And to these only excluding all others he gives Eternal Life That these were given to Christ by the Father to be redeemed and brought to Glory appears from Jo. 6.39 And this is the Fathers Will which hath sent me That of all which he hath given me I should loose nothing but should raise it up at the Last Day Jo. 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them me c. And Verse 2. As thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him ☞ Mark this Reader To as many as thou hast given him This plainly proves that God did commit to the care and faithfulness of Christ his Shepherd a certain particular number to be Justified and Saved by him and therefore not all the Race of fallen Mankind as Papists Arminians Quakers Free-Willers c. vainly teach and hold Another Consideration which is full of clearness to convince and satisfie any right in their Minds That not Adams Posterity in General as the Hereticks above named would fain have it but a certain particular and definite number were Elected and Chosen by God and by him given to Christ his Son to be Redeemed and Saved is Christ his refusing to concern himself for any others in the discharge of his Office of Intercessor as appears from Jo. 17.9 I Pray for them that is for the Elect for whom he had undertaken as Vedemâ—â—y and Surety I Pray not for the World that is those of the World who were by God left in a Reprobate State and Condition as is evident from Jo. 17.14 I have given them thy Word
and the World hath hated them because they are not of the World even as I am not of the World Here are two distinct Partys described by Christ the one is Prayed for the other is not the one is hated the other hates the very Practice of the latter denotes the Persons to be Children of another Father distinct from those they hate There is nothing more discovers Men to be the Children of the Devil than their hating Righteousness and not loving those who appear to be Godly 1 Jo. 3.10 In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doeth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother As Love to God his Truth and such as bear his Image is an infallible Character of an Elect Child of God Jo. 13.35 1 Jo. 3.14 1 Jo. 4.7 So to hate God his Truth and such as bear his Holy Image is the indelible Character of a Reprobate designed for Eternal Destruction 1 Jo. 3.10 The second thing in the Proposition to be considered is the End and Design of God in that Act of his in Electing and Choosing which is twofold First as it respects the Creatures Elected viz. that they might partake of the Special Grace of God here on Earth and of Eternal Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven through Christ his Son according to that of Paul Ephes 1.4 According as he hath Chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World that we should be Holy and without blame before him in Love 2 Thes 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning Chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and Belief of the Truth Vers 14. Whereunto he called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5.9 For God hath not appointed us to Wrath but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly with respect to God Electing viz. That the Glory of his Soveraign Free and rich Grace might be Extolled and Praised for ever according as the Apostle expresseth it in Ephes 1.6 To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved Vers 11 12. In whom also we have obtained an Inheritance being predestinate according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the Counsel of his own Will that we should be to the Praise of his Glory who first trusted in Christ The third thing in the Proposition to be considered is to take Notice of the Properties in that Act of God Electing Those Properties are in number three First God in Electing and Choosing some Sinners to himself out of the corrupted Mass of fallen Mankind on whom he purposed to shew Mercy He did Elect and Choose them most freely there was nothing at all in the Objects Elected and Chosen that could move God wherefore he should Elect one Sinner more or sooner than another for as fallen into Sin and equally obnoxious to the Curse of the Law and the Wrath to come were all the Sons and Daughters of Adam lookt on by God when he fixed his Electing Love on some and actually rejected and passed others by on whom the most High God as an uncontrolable Soveraign purposed to execute the fierceness of his Wrath for Sin The reason or impulsive cause of this Difference which the tremendous God saw fit to make between Sinners equally guilty and obnoxious to the Curse and Wrath of God is not to be sought out of God himself An Example and lively Instance hereof we have in Rom. 9.11 which the Wise God hath seen sit should be recorded on purpose to stop the mouth of Carnal reason which is so wretchedly prone to Question and Dispute against his Soveraignty over his Creatures The Children being not yet Born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth It was said unto her the Elder shall serve the Younger As it is Written Jacob have I Loved but Esau have I Hated The Wise God foreseeing the purblind Reasonings and Cavillings of Carnal Mens unsanctified Brains against the Doctrine of Gods absolute Soveraignty in disposing of the Eternal concerns of his rational Creatures fallen by Sin into a state and condition of Misery through their own default hath seen good for the vindication of his own Prerogative to make known to the Sons of Men and that by the unerring Wisdom and unquestionable Authority of so great a Man as Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles the reason of Gods Method in proceeding to Elect some of fallen Mankind to a state of Life and Salvation through a Redeemer and Reprobating others leaving them for ever to perish in that Sin and Misery into which they did without any constraint wilfully plunge themselves to be no other than his own most free and holy Will seeing that he alone is the undoubted Soveraign of the World who hath an indisputable right to determine what to do with or how to dispose of Sinning Rebels without being any way liable to the controulment of any of his Creatures especially such of them as by Sin have forfeited their very Being to the Divine Justice and who while in an unreconciled State are not capable of knowing him or of being subject to his Divine Law The good Will and Pleasure then of the Blessed God is the Source and Fountain whence the great Disparity between the Elect and the Reprobate World doth spring not any thing in the Creatures themselves as Arminian Cavillers dream and conceit it doth This will evidently appear if the Reader will but with a becoming modesty and unprejudic'd judgment read the whole Chapter at length and with fervent Prayer to God for the Wisdom of his Spirit look narrowly into and with sobriety consider the 11th and the 16th Verses where it plainly appears that the two conceited Qualifications of which the Enemies of Election are usually proud and which they hold and teach are the procuring cause of the Difference between the good and the evil Men on Earth viz. the Free Will in Man and the good Works which unregenerate Men do but conceit they do they are both met with and equally discarded by God from having any room or place among the causes which put God either upon Choosing the Elect or rejecting the Reprobate Mark the 11th Vers That the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth With this agrees Ephes 2 8.9 For by Grace are ye Saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Not of Works least any Man should boast And Tit. 3.5 Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he hath Saved us c. Vain unregenerate Man would fain perswade himself that he is worse than Threadbare Rags of his polluted Morality negative and positive is a covering sufficient
not only to hide his Ulcerous and plague Sores of Guilt and Vileness from the pure and All-seeing Eyes of an Infinite Majesty but also to deck and adorn his Soul so as to bespeak him an Object sit for a Holy God to behold with delight Oh horrid delusion worse than Frenzy or Madness it self this being but a Temporary Malady which may by the use of ordinary means be holpen but that the Bane and Destruction of the Immortal Soul which nothing but the despised Grace of God in Christ can cure such miserably deluded Souls will not find it easy to believe that to think so highly of their own Qualifications is the greatest bar or hinderance which keeps them from Salvation Read also with care Vers 16 So then it is not of him that Willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth Mercy Let the Adversaries of the Doctrine I am now vindicating but consider that Man as fallen into Sin and Misery of his own accord is the Object of Election and Reprobation and let them if they can tell or shew me how a Natural Man in his Lapsed Guilty State can possibly either Will or Act any thing but what is both for matter and manner most vile and abominable in the sight of that God who is Purity and Holiness it self in the Abstract And if so wherefore then should the most Just and Holy God be conceived to elect Men for that which he can do no other than hate and loath as the best Duties of an unregenerate Person are both contrary to the Nature of God and also repugnant to his Just and Holy Law When unregenerate Men talk and brag of their Duties and Qualifications as that which must recommend them to God and purchase for them a Right to the Crown that fades not away they think and speak as Men in a midnight Dream not understanding what they say or whereof they affirm and the head Spring of this their Boasting of their Qualifications is the profound Ignorance and Luciferian Pride which sways their unrenewed Spirits having never passed under the killing Severity of the Law of God set home on the Conscience by the Spirit of Bondage to prepare them for healing by the Lord Jesus Christ Until this Work of the Lord pass on the Soul no Child of Adam can possibly prize the Son of God or see himself to be utterly undone till with the Rich Man in the Parable the unquenchable Flames of Hell discover his Misery to him Luke 16.23 From what hath been observed from the Scriptures now referred to plain it is that God in Electing some and Reprobating others of Adam's Posterity cannot without Blasphemy be said to elect or choose any Man to a state of Life and Glory for any thing of good which he foresaw would be in the Sinner fallen into a state of Sin and Misery And therefore if there was nothing of foreseen Good in the Creature elected for which God had respect to him more than to another it must unavoidably follow that in God electing not in the Sinner elected is the impulsive or moving Cause viz. His own Soveraign good Pleasure God as hath been already observed in Electing and Reprobating Men looks on them as fallen and guilty Creatures who had wrought their own Misery by their voluntary breach of his Royal Law To none of them was the most High any way obliged He might have sent them all to the same Place and Condition of the fallen Angels whose Conduct and Example they followed in rebelling against their Holy Soveraign And which of all the Reprobates now in Hell will it avail to dispose the Point of God's Soveraignty with him or to enquire why or wherefore he hath left them in that sad and deplorable Estate of Sin and Misery Pertinent to the Business in hand is that Query which Augustin puts in his Book of the City of God Quis fecit Reprobum saith he Who made the Reprobate to which he himself replies Quis nisi Deus Who saith he but God Again he Queries Quare Deus fecit Reprobrum Why did God make the Reprobate to which he answers Quia ita voluit Because saith he it was his Will Again he Queries Quare Deus voluit Reprobum facere Why saith he was it God's Will to make the Reprobate a Reprobate He answers the Cavilling Querist or Saucy and Pragmatical Enquirer with that of Paul Rom. 9.20 O Homo tu quis es Qui Respondeas Deo O Man who art thou that Replyest against God If Augustin were now living on Earth and should Read the Reply which Grevincovius that Blaspheming Proud Arminian made to the Query which Paul put to the called Corinthian who excelled in the Gifts of God 1 Cor. 4.7 For who maketh thee to differ and what hast thou that thou hast not received to which Grevincovius most Arrogantly and Blasphemously replies I my self make my self to differ I say if Augustin were to Read this Arminian's Answer to Paul it would not be difficult to guess at what rate Augustin would treat his Insolency If the abused Grace of God changed him not before Death it is most dreadful to think and seriously to consider how little the Freewil and Learning of which he was greatly proud do now avail him at the Barr of the Great Judge no doubt but he finds in woful Experience what an Impar Congressus or unequal Match he is for the great Jehovah to dispute Matters with Oh! that Men of his Spirit and pernicious Principle were Wise to consider things aright before they see and feel their Folly in the unquenchable Flames of God's Wrath in Hell Let it be farther considered how express the Spirit of God is in charging on Adam and all his Off-spring without Exception the breach of his Law and on that very account accounting them all guilty Criminals and unclean Polluted Sinners who by their voluntary Apostacy have forfeited his Favour and lost his Blessed Image wherein the Glory and Happiness of the Rational Creature consisted as the Apostle witnesseth Rom. 3.23 For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God And in ver 19. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God The conclusion whereof he sets down in ver 20. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin With Paul concurrs all the Prophets and the other Pen-men of Holy Scriptures setting forth the wretched Condition of all Mankind by the Apostacy of Adam the natural and faederal Head of his Children The Condition then of all Adam's Posterity being such as renders every Sinner Culpable before God and not only so but utterly uncapable of willing or acting the least part of that Duty which God's Law requires to a helping or recovering himself out
the obtaining from God the true sense of the Scriptures so much boasted of he will plainly see how egregiously they are mistaken in both the one and the other for neither doth God intend the Death of his Son for Salvation to any of Adams Children save those whom he Elected and from Eternity Chose in Christ neither doth God make such an Universal tender of it to all Men as the Quakers rashly and boldly affirm he doth This lyes on me to demonstrate and make good against these boasting Universalists the which that I might do to satisfaction of the judicious and unprejudiced Reader I shall propound my Argument dilemma-wise thus The Terms All Any and Every on which they ground their Unscriptural Assertion they are to be taken either in an Universal sense intending every individual of Mankind or else they are to be taken in a limited and restrained sense as intending some of all sorts ranks and degrees of Men indifferently If by the Universal Terms above named some of all sorts ranks and degrees of Men indifferently be to be understood then the Assertion of the Adversaries is manifestly false and consequently the Doctrine of particular Election is true If by those Universal Terms all Men and Women without exception be intended as the Adversaries will have it then must I be allowed to demand of them how any of Adams Children come to be Damned For seeing that God willed that Christ should Redeem all the Children of Adam who fell by his Transgression I would fain know how any created Power can effect the hindering God of bringing about his own purpose or frustrate the end and design of Christ in laying down his Life for undoubtedly if God should absolutely will and purpose the Salvation of every individual Son and Daughter of Adam it is not to be questioned but that he being the Elshaddai the Mighty God every way perfect and all sufficient would find out ways and means to effect and bring about his own purpose seeing that he works all things according to the Counsel of his own most Holy Will As Paul witnesseth Ephes 1.11 It is in the Work of Regeneration as it is in the Work of the first Creation 〈◊〉 Cloaths his Word with a creating Power so that whenever and where-ever he sends forth that creating Voice of his Mighty Spirit neither Devil nor Self nor any other Enemy or Impediment whether internal or external shall ever be able to give any stop to his intended Work As the Lord himself tells his Church by the Prophet Esa 43.13 Yea before the day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my Hand I will work and who shall let it Whom God in Justice and Righteousness will Damn and Sentence to the Flames of his deserved Wrath for Sin who can rescue and save them Whom God in Sovereign Mercy and Grace purposeth to save and deliver who can hinder or prevent him Jo. 10.27 My Sheep saith the Lord Jesus hear my Voice and I know them and they follow me And I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any Man pluck them out of my Hand My Father which gave them me is stronger than all and no Man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers Hand I and my Father are one Here 't is plain that from the invincible Power of God and Christ the cortainty of the Life and Salvation of the Elect is inferred and proved That many of Adams Children are already in Hell and that many more will be Lodged there the Scriptures affirm and the Quakers cannot deny How comes this to pass seeing God if we must Believe the Quakers designed a general Redemption for all Mankind and that the Son of God laid down his Life to Ransom them from the Curse and Wrath of God due for their Sin to say that God willed their Salvation but that their own Obstinacy and Wickedness hindred that his Will should be accomplished on them is in effect to say that God did seriously and efficaciously will and purpose that all the Children of Adam should be saved but indeed the grant est part of Adams Posterity fell by the Power of Satan and their own rebellious Will Now whether to think or say that either the power of the Serpent or the corruption in a Sinners Nature can or ever did or shall overturn or prevent the efficacious Will of God being accomplished be not Impious and Blasphemous I leave to every impartial and sober Reader to judge Thus the first Member or Branch of the Objection appears to be rotten and unsound neither is the second any better which affirms that God makes a general offer of that Salvation to every individual Sinner in the World the which if it be true as the Quakers affirm they are highly obliged to shew how it comes to pass that the greatest part of the World by far should remain in Darkness I mean with respect to the very external means of Salvation the which God hath seen sit to deny to many Nations in the World to which also the very Letter of the Holy Scripture bears witness A few Instances hereof I lay down that the Reader may plainly see how vain these foolish Beasters are in their Imaginations who would fain impose on all that God doth love all the Children of Adam with an equal Love and that the offer of his Grace in general is made to all without any exception or limitation wherein they prove themselves as false in their sayings as they appear vain in their deluded Imaginations They say and boldly affirm that the tender of Salvation is made to all alike I say they belye the Spirit of God in pretence of pleading for God by whose Instinct and immediate Inspiration they would make the World believe they themselves above all Men are guided and not only so but they egregiously thwart and contradict the very Letter of the Scripture which they seem to own and acknowledge to be Holy True and the Rule and Standard of Tryal of all matters in Religion wherein they and Christians differ For satisfaction herein let the Reader peruse and with serious consideration weigh in the ballance of Gods Sanctuary what is recorded in Psal 147 19.20 He sheweth his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation And as for his Judgments they have not known them Praise ye the Lord. Whether the place now quoted doth not evidently prove that when God chose called and settled a Church unto his own peculiar Use and Service to whom he gave his Word and Ordinances for a rule of Faith and Holy Obedience he did not leave the other Nations of the Earth out of whom he chose his People with a peculiar Love and Favour in their Native Darkness and Blindness is a matter to be enquired into That of our Saviour in Mat. 20.16 Many are called but few chosen Doth also
give countenance to the point in hand He doth not say that all are called but many In which Text there are three sorts of Men offered to consideration First some who are not called at all Secondly some who are called with a common or external Call but not Elected And thirdly some who are called not only with the common and external Call but also with the internal efficacious Call of the Spirit and that because Elected and Chosen to Life and Salvation Now that these three sorts of People were equally Beloved of God and their Salvation equally intended who but Children of Darkness and Deceit dare to affirm or believe That of Paul also Acts 14.16 God who in times past suffered the Gentiles to walk in their own way Backs and confirms the present Truth And doth not the Account we have by Travellers who correspond with the most parts of the World inform us that the greatest part of the Nations have not so much as the Name of Jesus Christ among them and even in these Kingdoms where Popery Arminianism and Quakerism prevail Doth not sad experience teach us how deplorable a Condition the generality of the Kingdoms is in as touching the saving Knowledge of Jesus Christ or the proper means appointed by God for the saving Discovery of his justifying Righteousness to the Souls of Men such as the pure and unmixed Word of Truth Read and powerfully Preached to them for calling them out of Darkness into the marvellous Light of the Knowledge of God in Christ For want of an Orthodox Teaching Ministry these Kingdoms especially England and Ireland are near to a Harvest ripeness ready for the Sickle of Gods Judgments through the affected Ignorance of the Lord Jesus Christ which reigns in the Minds and Hearts of the greatest part even of Englands and Irelands Professors with the Occult and Spiritual Idolatry of Mens Souls whereby the Son of God and his pure Gospal Worship are shut out of Mens Hearts and Affections that the Statutes of Omri and their Carnal secular Interests might bear the sway To which I will add that Deluge of open Debauchery and Atheistical Oppression and Prophaness which like a Land Flood over runs the Nations the which if not very speedily prevented by those who have the Reforming Power put into their Hands by God will pull down from Heaven such sore and desolating Judgments as will make England with her Hypocritical formal Professors an abhorring to all Nations More might be offered to consideration from Gods Word to the same purpose as the sad and deplorable Condition the Ephesians Philippians and other Countries were in before the Apostles were sent among them The Ancestors and Forefathers of whom God suffered to Live and Die like Bruits and worse serving Dumb Idols those Teachers of Lyes serving divers Lusts Atheists without the knowledge or hope of God in the World Ephes 2.1 2 3. To them God sent no Prophet or Apostle no Law or Gospel which should be a means of Salvation to them till God sent Paul to their Off-spring Now can it in truth be said that God did equally love and will or design the Salvation of both the Fathers and their Postery seeing the means of Salvation were deny'd to the Fathers and freely given to their Posterity As touching the Learned or rather Silly and Impertinent Question wherein the Quakers desire to be resolv'd viz. What Gospel of glad Tidings it is which I and others who hold the Doctrine of Particular Election have to Preach to those for whom Christ Died not Answ This silly Question is grounded on a false Supposition that Faith is required of all Men the which I never taught neither do I now own to be true For I do not think or believe that such as never heard of Christ or who never had the means of knowing him are required to believe that Christ Died to Redeem them Secondly They are grossly if not wilfully mistaken in thinking and saying that I press on all I Preach to that it is their Duty to believe that Jesus Christ Died for them all without any Limitation or Restriction I do not believe that those People to whom the glad Tidings of the Gospel is Preached are any of them required absolutely and without Restriction to believe that Christ Died to Redeem them All who ever attended on my Ministry and who are able to give a Judgement they will witness for me that the scope and drift of my Preaching is to convince and awaken Sinners out of their natural State by opening up to them from God's Word the happy sinless State wherein God Created them in Adam their natural and faederal Representative how they came to fall from that Happy State and what the sad and wretched Effects of that Fall was to Adam the Head and now is to all his Children in their unrenewed State This I do instrumentally by opening up to Sinners the Sense and Design of the Moral Law which is to discover Sin and to Damn the Transgressors of it before God to let Sinners know how spotless that Obedience and Righteousness must be which answers its own Demand in order to its justifying them at the Bar of a Holy God As also how weak and unable it is to help a Lapsed Transgressor It points out and requires Duty but can afford no Ability or Strength to do that Duty And all this in order to bring Dead Sinners to a sight and sense of their need of a Redeemer I labour to make them sensible that out of Christ no Life or Salvation is ever to be expected and that until Christ the Son of God be received by a true Faith they themselves with all their threadbare polluted Morality and all those Advantages wherein they bless and count themselves Happy are all under the Curse of God and Living and Dying so they must as certainly as God is Just and his Law Holy look to be eternally separated from God and Christ for ever and ever No Civility goodness of natural Temper no Morality no Zeal for that which they take to be the best Religion no learning or shining Parts whether natural or acquired no Riches or Greatness in this World will ever avail to keep them back from being by the Laws powerful Sentence sent down to Hell When I find and perceive that the Spirit of God hath by the Law set home on the Conscience brought the Sinner with the Prodigal to a sense of his undone Condition when I hear him cry out not in a rotary and formal customary way which God knows is too much in use and fashion in this sleepy Hypocritical Age in the bitterness of his Soul Mon and Brethren what shall I do to be Saved I then open up as God's Messenger the Mystery of God's Covenant of Grace held forth in the Gospel wherein is discovered the Incomprehensible All-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ to save and reconcile to God the greatest and vilest of Sinners I presently fall
see that I am herein mistaken and out of the way Secondly As touching my Judgment herein I do affirm and that in truth God knows I lye not I honestly and fairly acquainted my now Reproachers what I was in my Judgment as to this very Point when they first discovered an Inclination to call me to take the Pastoral Charge of their Souls About this they and I had several occasional Discourses Pro. and Con. for and against it and in conclusion they with the rest of the Covenanters with God in a Church way did own themselves fully convinc'd that the Congregational way of Church Government was most certainly the way of the Gospel and as such they freely closed with me If what I have now asserted be deny'd I shall by Authentique Testimonies make the same good to their Faces I come to the second Branch of the Charge viz. My being a great Enemy to Mr. Baxter c. In answer whereto I possitively affirm that I never in my Life had any Prejudice against Mr. Baxter save only to dislike and caution my Flock against some Notions of his wherein I conceived him to be Heterodox in the Foundation Principle of Justification I told my Auditory as plainly as I could speak that in mentioning Mr. Baxter's Name my design was not to meddle in Judging him as touching his Eternal State only what of Corruption I found in his Books I judg'd it my Duty to take notice thereof and to caution my Hearers who had his Books to beware of such Notions And what I did herein I did it God and my Conscience knows in Faithfulness to Christ and the Souls of those committed to my Pastoral Charge by the Great Shepherd of the Sheep But to say that Mr. Baxter was Damn'd in Hell I abhor the very hearing or thoughts of such a thing neither dares any one living except a cauteriz'd and brazen fac'd Sinner to charge such a Slander on me so far was I from uttering such an uncharitable I may say Infernal Expression that I plainly spoke the contrary as my Judgment of him declaring that I hoped Mr. Baxter was with Christ in Glory and that I dare to think no otherwise As for what of Corruption which is mixt with his Writings I told my Auditory I lookt on that as a part of the Wood Hay and Stubble intended by the Apostle in 1 Cor. 3.12 of which Mr. Baxter will I doubt not suffer the Loss in the Great day though he himself be saved he holding Christ the Foundation firm and stedfast to the end as in Charity I hope he did The third Branch of the charge is that I affirmed that Christ had but two or three right Gospel Ministers who Preach Christ truly in and about London To this I answer in the Negative viz. That I never thought or spoke such a thing either in or out of the Pulpit in all my Life The occasion of this Slander was this I was in a Sermon bewailing the small number of right Gospel Preachers at which time and on which occasion I said that a great many Preach'd up the Pope That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Man of Sin Others said I Preach up the National Hierarchy and its Interest instead of the Kingdom of Christ Others there be said I who Preach up Moses and obedience to his do and live in the room of Christs Mediatorial spotless Righteousness for Justification and Life so that in comparison it is undeniably true that Christ hath but few who Preach him and his immaculate Righteousness as the only Meritorious and procuring cause of Justification and Salvation This is what I said then and truly I see but small reason to think or say otherwise I question not but the Orthodox in and about London will readily Harmonize with me herein But that I did limit the true Ministers of Christ to any certain definite number or that I mentioned any Ministers Names by way of distinction I utterly deny And I have very good reason to judge it no breach of the Law of Charity to believe that the secret design of the Reporters hereof was to incense and provoke the Spirits of Godly Ministers and their respective Congregations against me And hereby to prepare them for a more facil and ready reception of the other black and scandalous Reproaches which were to be brought on the Stage on purpose to do my business as one of their Confederates was heard to say he would do I come to the fourth Branch of the Charge which is That I should bid a publick challenge to Mr. Williams and the rest of Mr. Baxters followers to Dispute certain Positions held and asserted by Mr. Baxter and those who go his way To which I reply That this is as true as the rest and did I am very sure proceed from the same lying Spirit which Coined and Forged their other lying Stories against me the design whereof was not only to corroborate that their Design in its Foundation but also to draw over Mr. Williams and others whom they knew to be impatient to hear any Opposition given to any Notions of Mr. Baxters to them to help and encourage them to break that Church whereof themselves were an Essential part and to force my flight from my Station in C. to which their own Electing Voice called me The occasion of this Slander was thus I did one day in Preaching lay down this Position viz. That an Elect Sinner is in effectual Calling freely justified from all charge of Sin both Original and Actual by the alone Mediatorial Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ freely imputed by God and that without any regard had to any Conditions performed by or Qualifications inhering in the Person of the Sinner as con Causes with Christ in Justification This said I is a truth so clearly laid down and asserted in the Gospel and so back'd with the witness of Gods Spirit in the Hearts of all assured Believers that all the Disputers in the World who oppose the same will never be able to overthrow it be their Wit and Parts never so sharp and admired And whether I be mistaken herein I freely appeal to the Judgment and Determination of all Orthodox Protestants who in the point of Justification are not more or less tainted with the Ropish Arminian Leaven of Free Will and General Redemption But to bid a challenge to Mr. Williams or any others to dispute matters of Controversie in Religion I do most solemnly profess I never spake such a thing either in or out of the Pulpit The fifth and last Branch of the black Charge brought in against me was That I am an Universal Docryer of all Religious Duties in the Life and Conversation of a Christian Crying out in the Pulpit away with your Holiness c. The design of my Accusers in this was to represent and expose me as a rank Antinamian and so I should prove were the Accusation true But to let all who read this see