lost condition none but such as are wounded will look for and highly prize the Physician to cure their poore soules Now this Grace of Repentance is purchased by Christ and admitted to poore Sinners through him and to be preached in his Name and it is wrought in the hearts of the Elect by the holy Ghost through the free grace of God and is not wrought or produced by any power that is in the creature For the truth is we are all passive in every thing that concernes our salvation we cannot repent unlesse God give us repentance we cannot beleeve unlesse God give us faith to beleeve And therefore I doe the more wonder at the Author that hath so much urged Faith and believing and yet never tells us how this so precious Faith is wrought or how wee may attaine thereunto but speakes of it as if it were in our own power I acknowledge freely that Repentance is wrought by the Word preached and Faith also But yet it is the Lord that works by the means and without which all would be unprofitable and so all is of free Grace for there is no worke that we can doe before Justification or after Justification can merit any grace for us before God Ephes 2.10 for we are his workmanship created in Jesus Christ c. And whatsoever gift of grace any man receives it is from the free bounty and grace of God in Christ And every gift so received is to be put forth by us to the glory of our God and the good of our brethren And to so forth to all men the goodnesse of our God towards us through Christ by way of thankfulnesse for mercy received and to no other end whatsoever And thus you may see I am no enemy to the doctrine of Free Grace nor to the Teachers thereof if they publish only the truth thereof without running into by wayes for feare of something which they need not if they did truly understand the truth But I desire above all things to advance the Free grace of God in Christ and by Gods help will doe it And now because the Author hath so much spoken of Faith and of beleeving yet hath not told us what this Faith is I will Christian Reader for thy help and the Authors information for downe what this precious Faith is for other Faith 's mentioned in Scripture I let passe This only is to our purpose at this time and I suppose may be thus defined To be a gracious worke of Gods Spirit wrought in the hearts of such as are Penitent wherby they are assured in their soules of the free pardon and remission of all their sins and of peace and reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ Rō 5.1 This is that speciall faith which none but the Elect are partakers of and therefore called the faith of Gods elect other faiths are common to all this only to the redeemed in Christ and this faith is never given to any but to the repentant only And this repentance and this faith are the parts of Regeneration the new birth from above spoken of by our Lord Christ John 3.5 Water and the Spirit The first prepareth the other purgeth and without which work no man shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven according to that eternall decree never to be called back which saith Except a man de borne againe of Water and the Spirit be cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven I wonder the Author could not see this or if hee saw it would not so much as mention it in the bringing of a poore sinner home to Iesus Christ but presseth men to believe as if Faith were in mans power whereas indeed it is the gift of God Ephes 2.8 Mortification of sin and Sanctification or newnesse of lise doth alwayes follow the Justification of a sinner by faith and are some of the fruits proceeding from one that is justified and reconciled unto God through Iesus Christ for they must be first ingrafted into Christ before they can bring forth fruit in him Now the parts of Regeneration Repentance and Faith are but the ingrafting and no part of the fruit the Fruit alwayes follows the ingrafting and these are no part of Repentance if truly considered for every grace of the Spirit may be clearly distinguished each from other by the Scriptures and must not be confounded together as the manner of some is to doe who would make Repentance to consist of Mortification to sinne and newnesse of life nay some have said that Repentance consists of Faith also and so they make a great confusion and are never able to find out the truth For though Repentance doth continue in a time beleever and justified person so long as he lives here for he sins daily and therefore must repent daily And it is required of them Ephes 6.15 that they should have their feet shod with the preparation of the Gospell of peace namely Repentance yet is Repentance truly to be distinguished from other the effects of the spirit as Faith Hope Patience Love and Ioy and not to be confound one with another as some doe And by the way let this bee considered that howsoever Christ hath wrought perfect Redemption for us yet the application and the making this Redemption effectuall unto us is done by the holy Ghost every one in the undivided Trinity having his speciall worke appropriated unto him to make perfect the salvation of poore Sinners which severall workes must of necessity be distinguished And take notice of this that this speciall Faith that justifieth the beleever apprehending the grace of God in Christ is alwayes grounded upon some speciall promise in Scripture For there cannot bee this speciall faith in any soule where there is not first a promise And the promises as I have said are made only to the Penitent the broken-hearted the mourners such as are heavy laden c. Christ calls only such to him And the holy Spirit of God doth never write the Covenant of Peace with God in other hearts but only in the broken and contrite heart namely the repentant soule and they only can and doe beleeve with this speciall Faith for none else can worke that worke to beleeve in him whom God hath sent John 6.29 but only such poore soules for where there is no promise there can be no faith for though faith be the ground of things hoped for yet there must be a promise to ground that Faith on For though Abraham beleeved beyond hope yet he had a promise first made unto him by a faithfull God And therefore I pray the Christian Reader to observe what I have before set down for it is not our beleeving till wee be perswaded that we do beleeve for as I have said before so I say againe there must be first a promise for such poore Sinners to lay hold on then they finding themselves to be such penitent and broken hearted to whom the speciall promises do pertain the holy
Ghost in his good time doth perswade the heart and evidence to the soule his peace and reconciliation with God and his interest in the promise of Grace through Christ Faith is the gift of God to you it is given to beleeve It is not in mans power to beleeve Beleeve it for a truth no man can possibly beleeve to justification of life nor shall ever rejoyce with the Bridgroome that hath not first mourned with the mourner I wonder these things should be unknowne to men in these dayes and that so much confusion should be amongst them in the matter and manner of the justification of a Sinner So that we cannot certainly learne by them what repentance is not what Faith is nor how it is wrought in the heart Some teaching outward dutyes and obedience to the law to the begetting of Faith and rejoycing therein that they are called legall Preachers as I my selfe have heard Others againe would be so fame from them that they will teach only as they pretend the Gospell-way and that they will do by teaching only beleeving And as for repentance the beginning of the Gospell they will not mention or very little and that then it followes justifying Faith and never goes before it and what is their reason Because say they the Gospell setts forth free Grace and requires no act of ours at all but only beleeving Well then beleeving is an act of ours here is something for us to doe But I would know of them whether beleeving to life be in their power The Apostle saith to you it is given to beleeve and that Faith is the gift of God Then there is no power in us to beleeve the very act of beleeving is of free grace And so is repentance of free grace God is the giver of repentance as well as Faith Acts. 11.18 2. Tim. 2.25 For although repentance be wrought in us and we act it yet it is God that gives it and it is nothing else but the free grace of God to perpare the hearts of Sinners for the receiving of the forgivenes of Sinnes and peace and reconciliation with God by Faith in the Lord Iesus Christ All the Prophets in the old Testament have called for repentance in the first place that so they might be prepared to receive mercy Iohn the Baptist Preached it to prepare them to receive the Lord Christ Our Saviour himselfe Preached it in the first place before beleeving The Apostles Preached it before Faith in Christ to the forgivenes of Sinnes The very truth is that the same way which was formerly to others the same way to salvation is for us now and we must goe the same way that they went which were before us new wayes are dangerous We must not looke for a nearer way to Heaven then the Saints and people of God have gone before us and though it be a narrow and a straight way yet it is a sure way it leads to happines Page 113. I may also justly except against his exposition on the 11. to the Hebrewes verse 6. without Faith it is impossible to please God that is saith he As Calvin saith whatsoever a man thinketh purposeth or doth before he be reconciled to God in Christ is accursed and not only of no value to righteousnes but of certaine deserving to damnation I must confesse I am amazed to thinke such things should be published I honour the memory of that Holy Man Mr. Calvin yet if it were his opinion I must needs say it was an errour in him for there be many things done by men before reconciliation with God that are not Sinne. For Sin is the transgression of some law but what law forbids a man to heare and read the Scriptures may it is commanded by Christ himselfe search the Scriptures Io. 5.39 Men may Sin and doe Sin in hearing and reading the word but the worke it selfe is no Sin For we must distinguish between the worke and the manner of the doing it It is no Sin for a man to humble his soule in seeking mercy and grace and favour with God which must be done before we can come to that Faith which makes our persons acceptable to God and we well pleasing unto him through Christ as Enochs Person was And indeed it is impossible our persons should be accepted or we become pleasing to God by any other way then by Faith in Christ And the reason is rendred by the Apostle in the words following For he that commeth to God must beleeve that he is a rewarder of them that dilligently seeke him which is a lesser degree of Faith then that which makes us to become pleasing in his sight through Christ Iesus Nor can we truly say that all the actions of unregenerate men are Sinne Ahabs repentance was not Sin it was no breach of any law of God nay God takes notice of it and bids the Prophet to take notice of it yea and rewards him for it in deferring the judgement pronounced but he never rewards any man for Sin but denounceth judgement against them Thus have I endevoured to pick out some of the Bones that the Authour hath left in amongst the marrow of moderne divinity and I hope I have performed it with plainnes and I have done it after a loving manner without malice to the Authour whom I know not nor yet could ever perfectly heare of by any man But that which I have writ is in the defence of the truth so much oppugned by the Authour which truth is deare unto me and so should be to all Gods people I must confesse and doe it freely that I love the Authour and am perswaded of the truth of many things delivered by him in his Booke and for which grace bestowed on him I blesse God and pray the Lord for a further increase upon him but the truth I value above all I find the Booke commended by worthy Divines whom I honour but yet my Faith is not to depend upon man but only upon the Scriptures the written word of God And I desire that this which I have written may be tryed by that touch stone and none else And then I am confident it will be found truth when that opinion of the Antinomians maintained by this Authour will be found an errour For he hath directly gone along with them in this thing namely that there is no Evangelicall preparations to Faith in Christ which is the maine thing I have now disproved and have I hope sufficiently proved that there must be such preparations to Faith in Christ And it is impossible for any other to beleeve in Christ to the saving of the soule but only such as are so prepared Christ himselfe saith non can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Iohn 6.44 Errour is very dangerous especially in the foundation and principles of the Doctrine of Christ whereof repentance and Faith are two of the maine Heb. 6.1 And therefore with great care to be looked into and to be truly knowne and how they are to be distinguished from other the effects of the Spirit Christian Reader what I have done herein I commend unto thy wisdome and I desire the Lord to give both thee and me such understanding in the truth and wayes of God that we may not be carryed away with every wind of Doctrine from the truth to the errours of these times Now to him that is able to keepe and preserve us in his truth be all praise honour and glory through Christ Iesus for ever Amen Iames. 2.1 My Brethren have not the Faith of our Lord Iesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons FINIS
that which I cheifly intended and without which I had never set upon this worke for there is lesse danger in those I have already taken notice of then in that which followes and the Lord asist me in discovering of the truth in laying open the palpable errour of the Author Indeed it greived my heart to consider how men in these late dayes are fallen into errour and cannot understand the very first principles and beginnings of Christ but they are at the toppe at first before they have laid the first stone of the foundation of the building and indeed it proceeds from an errour in the understanding in the waies of God They conceive that if there should be any preparations to Faith in Christ that it would much derrogate from free grace and therefore will admit of none for saith this Author it is to bring mony in the hand and Christ bids come buy wine and milke without mony that is Grace and salvation without mony or price I confesse it is truth for we must receive all freely even of free grace But yet I pray you call to mind who they are that are called to this feast it is only the thirsty Ho every one that thirsteth come yee c. It is not every one but only the thirsty the broken in heart namely the repentant Soul which thirsts for mercy When I consider the Author in the pages of his booke 135 136. 137. 138. 139. I cannot but wonder at the blindnesse of the man in the waies of God as touching his working upon the hearts of poore Sinners in bringing them to beleive in Christ to be justified by him He seemes not to know what Regeneration is for he hath never mentioned it in all his booke nor what Repentatce is nor how we come to this excellent guift of Faith nor tells us what it is but only that wee must belive in Christ and take Christ but who is the worke of this Faith he tells us not but speakes of it as if it were in our own power to beleive whereas it is not for the Apostle saith to you it is given to beleive c. I shall have occasion to speake of these things more at larg and to let thee Christian Reader understand his great errours and the wrong he hath done the people of God in publishing his booke in these particulars But first I will note some things out of his booke in those pages I have mentioned and I will do it breifly In page 136. he saith That the Lord justifieth his children before they repent or truly humble themselves c. But he hath not set downe any place of Scripture for the proofe thereof we must take his owne word I shall prove the contrary very shortly I mean in their owne fence and feeling God doth never justifie any before they repent and humble themselves in seeking mercy from him Page 137. where it is objected by himselfe that the Scriptures hold forth that the Lord hath appointed Repentance to goe before Faith for it is said Marke 1.15 Repent and beleive the Gospell He answers indeed sometimes the name of repentance is given to those preparatory beginnings which he calls Legall fits and terrours which are both in nature and time before Faith and thus he saith Judas is said to repent and saith that it is all the repentance that goes before Faith in Christ O horrible wickednes how dare this man affirme such a thing that our Saviour Christ in this place should Preach and call for no other repentance before beleiving but such as Iudas had But he goes on and tells you that true and Evangelicall repentance is a fruit of Faith and cannot be before Faith in Christ I shall shew you the contrary very speedily and that it is not a fruit of justifying Faith but a worke of the Spirit to prepare the heart to the beleiving of the promise He saith also that he holds that repentance is a consequent of Faith and that it followes after But why did you not set downe unto us what this repentance is which you meane and say followes Faith I am glad yet that you doe not cast repentance quite away but will let it have a little place in your thoughts God grant you true repentance in your heart for so violating the wayes of God so plainly set downe in the Scriptures Page 138. He confesseth that legall fitts of feare and terrour doe goe before Faith in Christ ordinarily and in some measure in some but not in all and he instanceth in Zacheus and Lidia To which I answer that that which he calls legall fitts of feare and terrour we shall find them to be another thing and to be true repentance towards God And for Zacheus we cannot conceive but that his heart was truly broken and humbled at that very time And there was a manifest signe thereof expressed in his present resolution to make restitution And for Lidia she is said to be a worshipper of God and doubtles one that with Simeon waited for the consolation of Israel her heart being fitted and prepared to receive Christ And to this truth Doctor Gouge gives testimony in his Booke called the whole Armour of God And indeed no sooner did Lidia here Paul Preach Christ come in the flesh dead and risen againe but she received him in her heart Thus farre I have gone in setting downe some of the Authours errours I shall now come the Lord assisting me to discover the truth of the wayes of God laid downe in the Scriptures concerning his working upon poore Sinners in bringing them unto Christ to be justified by him through Faith And I shall shew you what repentance is and what that speciall Faith is and how they are wrought A worke of great worth and very needfull And yet altogether omitted by the Authour of the Booke and I shall further discover his errours by setting forth the truth The Authour hath often alleadged in his Booke that famous and godly Martir Mr. William Tindall And I doe wonder that he could not see his doctrine concerning repentance and Faith He tells us plainly in many places that repentance must of necessity goe before that Faith that justifieth and that the Faith that justifyeth all wayes followes repentance as page 32. and 96. and 146. of Mr. Tindalls workes and in the last page here mentioned he saith repentance goeth before Faith and prepareth the way to Christ and to the promises But the Authour had no mind to take notice of this truth which was so contrary to his opinion for he hath found a nearer way to Heaven then all the Saints and Servants of God did in former times Christian Reader take knowledge of this one thing which may helpe thee in the understanding of the truth of God and may deliver thee from some of the errours of these times namely that there is a twofold administration or dispensation of the Gospell The one generall the other more speciall The