though I have out-stript him in knowledge and it may be also in strict walking yet doe I now see that my actions were neither from a right principle nor to a right end and therefore have I been in no better a condition then he and truly Sir I must needs confesse I never heard so much of Christ and the Covenant of grace as I have done this day the Lord make it profitable to me and I beseech you Sir pray for me Ant. And truly Sir I am now fully convinced that I have gone out of the right way in that I have not had regard to the Law and the works thereof as I should But God willing I shall hereafter if the Lord prolong my dayes be more carefull how I lead my life seeing the ten Commandements are the law of Christ. And I beseech you Sir remember me in your prayers and so with many thanks to you for your pains I take my leave of you beseeching the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to bee with your spirit Amen Evan. Now the very God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great sheepherd of the sheep through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good worke to doe his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen John 8.36 If the Sonne make you free you shall be free indeed Gal. 5.1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free Ver. 13. Onely use not your liberty for an occasion of the flesh but by love serve one another Chap. 6. ver 16. And as many as walke according to this rule peace bee upon them and mercie and upon the Israel of God Mat. 11.25 I thanke thee ô Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to babes 1 Cor. 15.10 I laboured more abundantly then they all yet not I but the grace of God that was with mee Psal. 36.11 Let not the foot of pride come against me LOving Reader the Printer drawing towards a conclusion and wanting matter to compleat so many sheets as was desired I have thought good by reason of the sutablenesse of this with the former to adde these Propositions following which are proved by Scripture and gathered long since by Patrick Hambleton Scottishman and martyred who was burned in Scotland the first day of March Anno 1527. The first Proposition He that loveth God loveth his neighbour This Proposition is proved 1 John 4.20 If a man say I love God and yet hateth his brother he is a lyer for how can hee that loveth not his brother whom he hath seene love God whom he hath not seen The second Proposition Hee that loveth his neighbour as himselfe keepeth all the Commandements of God This Proposition is proved Matth. 7.12 Whatsoever he would that men should do unto you even so do ye unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets and in Rom. 13.8 9. Hee that loveth his neighbour fulfilleth the Law For this thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steale thou shalt not bear false witnesse thou shalt not covet and if there be any other Commandement it is briefly comprehended in this saying Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe and in Gal. 5.14 All the law is fulfilled in this one word Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self The third Proposition He that hath faith loveth God My Father loveth you because ye love me and believe that I came out from God John 16.27 Argument He that keepeth the Commandements of God hath the love of God He that hath faith keepeth the Commandements of God Ergo He that hath faith loveth God The fourth Proposition Hee that keepeth one Commandement of God keepeth them all This Proposition is confirmed Heb. 11.6 It is impossible for a man without faith to please God that is to keep any one of Gods Commandements as he should do then whosoever keepeth any one Commandement hath faith Argument Hee that hath faith keepeth all the Commandements of God He that keepeth any one Commandement of God hath faith Ergo He that keepeth any one Commandement keepeth them all The fifth Proposition Hee that keepeth not all the Commandements keepeth none of them Argument He that keepeth one Commandement of God keepeth all Ergo he that keeps not all the Commanments of God keepeth not one of them The sixth Proposition Faith is the gift of God Argument Every good thing is the gift of God Faith is a good thing Ergo Faith is the gift of God The seventh Proposition Faith is not in our power Argument The gift of God is not in our power Faith is the gift of God Ergo Faith is not in our power The eighth Proposition He that hath faith is just and good Argument He that is a good tree bringeth forth good fruit and is just and good Hee that hath faith is a good tree and bringeth forth good fruit Ergo he that hath faith is just and good The ninth Proposition Hee that believeth the Gospel believeth God Argument Hee that believeth Gods Word believeth God The Gospel is the Word of God Ergo Hee that believeth the Gospel believeth God To believe the Gospel is this that Christ is the Saviour of the world that Christ is our Saviour Christ bought us with his bloud Christ washed us with his bloud Christ offered himselfe a sacrifice for us Christ bare our sins upon his own back The tenth Proposition He that believeth the Gospel shall be safe Go yee unto all the World and preach the Gospel unto every creature hee that believeth and is baptised shall be saved Mark 16.16 A comparison between Faith and Incredulity Faith is the root of all good Incredulity is the root of all evill Faith maketh God and man good friends Incredulity maketh them foes Faith bringeth God and man together Incredulity separateth them All that Faith doth pleaseth God all that Incredulity doth displeaseth him Faith maketh a man good and righteous Incredulity maketh him evill Faith maketh a member of Christ Incredulity a member of the Devill Faith bringeth a man to Heaven Infidelity bringeth him to Hell A dispute between the Law and the Gospell The Law said pay the debt the Gospel said Christ hath payd it The Law said thou art a sinner the Gospel said thy sins are forgiven thee The Law said the Father of Heaven is angry the Gospel said Christ hath pacified it The Law said where is thy righteousnesse the Gospel said Christ is a believers righteousnesse The Law said thou art bound over to me the Devill and Hell The Gospel said Christ hath delivered a believer from you all No manner of works make us righteous We believe that a man is justified
of it or being at all affected with it so far are wee from comming out of it And if the Lord be pleased by any means to open our eyes to see our misery and we doe thereupon begin to step out of it yet alas wee are prone rather to goe backwards towards the first Adams pure estate in striving and strugling to leave sinne and performe duties and doe good works hoping thereby to make our selves so righteous and holy that God will let us into Paradise againe to eat of the tree of life and live for ever and this we do untill we see the flaming sword at Edens gate turning every way to keepe the way of the tree of life Is it not ordinary when the Lord convinceth a man of his sin eyther by means of his Word or his Rod to cry after this manner O I am a sinfull man for I have lived a very wicked life and therefore surely the Lord is angry with mee and will damne me in hell ô what shall I do to save my soule And is there not at hand some ignorant miserable comforter ready to say yet doe not despayre man but repent of your sins and aske God forgivenesse and reforme your life and doubt not but he will be mercifull unto you for hee hath promised you know that at what time soever a sinner repenteth of his sins hee will forgive him And doth hee not hereupon comfort himself and say in his heart at least ô if the Lord will but spare my life and lengthen out my days I will become a new man I am very sorry that I have lived such a sinfull life but I will never doe as I have done for all the world ô you shall see a great change in me believe it And hereupon he betakes himself to a new course of life and it may be becomes a zealous professour of Religion performing all Christian exercises both publike and private and leaves off his old companions and keeps company with religious men and so it may be goes on till his dying day and thinks himselfe sure of Heaven and eternall happines yet it maybe all this while is ignorant of Christ and his Righteousnes and therefore establisheth his own Where is the man or where is the woman that is truly come to Christ that hath not had some experience in themselves of such a disposition as this if there be any that have reformed their lives and are become Professours of Religion and have not taken notice of this in themselves more or lesse I wish they have gone beyond a legall Professour or one still under the covenant of works Nay where is the man or woman that is truly in Christ that findeth not in themselves an aptnes to withdraw their hearts from Christ and to put some confidence in their owne works and doings if there be any that do not find it I wish their hearts deceive them not Let me confesse ingeniously I was a professour of Religion at least a dozen yeeres before I knew any other way to eternall life then to be sorry for my sins and aske forgivenesse and strive and endeavour to fulfill the Law and keepe the Commandements according as Master Dod and other godly men had expounded them and truly I remember I was in hope I should at last attain to the perfect fulfilling of them and in the mean-time I conceived that God would accept the will for the deed or what I could not doe Christ had done for me And though at last by meanes of conferring with Master Thomas Hooker in private the Lord was pleased to convince me that I was yet but a proud Pharisee and to shew mee the way of faith and salvation by Christ alone and to give mee as I hope a heart in some measure to embrace it yet alas through the weaknesse of my faith I have been and am still apt to turne aside to the covenant of works and therefore have not attained to that joy and peace in believing nor that measure of love to Christ and man for Christs sake as I am confident many of Gods Saints do attain unto in the time of this life the Lord be mercifull unto mee and increase my faith And are there not other though I hope but few who being enlightned to see their misery by reason of the guilt of sin though not by reason of the filth of sinne And hearing of justification freely by grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ do applaud and magnifie that doctrine following them that doe most preach and presse the same seeming to be as it were ravished with the hearing thereof out of a conceit that they are by Christ freely justified from the guilt of sin though still they retain the filth of sin these are they that content themselves with a Gospel knowledge with meere notions in the head but not in the heart glorying and rejoycing in free grace and justification by faith alone professing faith in Christ and yet are not possessed of Christ these are they that can talke like believers and yet do not walke like believers these are they that have language like Saints and yet have conversations like Devils these are they that are not obedient to the Law of Christ and therefore are justly called Antinomians Now both these paths leading from Christ have been justly judged as erronious and to my knowledge not onely a matter of 18 or 20 years agoe but also within these three or foure years there hath been much a doe both by preaching writing and disputing both to reduce men out of them and to keep them from them and hot contentious have been on both sides and all I fear me to little purpose for hath not the strict professour according to the Law whilst he hath striven to reduce the loose professour according to the Gospel out of the Antinomian path intangled both himselfe and others the faster in the yoke of bondage and hath not the loose professour according to the Gospel whilst he hath striven to reduce the strict professour according to the Law out of the legall path by promising liberty from the Law taught others and been himselfe the servant of corruption For this cause I though I be nothing have by the grace of God endeavoured in this Dialogue to walk as a middle-man betwixt them both in shewing to each of them his erronious path with the middle path which is Jesus Christ received truly and walked in answerably as a means to bring them both unto him and make them both one in him And oh that the Lord would be pleased so to blesse it to them that it might be a means to produce that effect I have as you may see gathered much of it out of known and approved Authours and yet have therein wronged no man for I have restored it to the right owner again in the margent some part of it my manuscripts have afforded me and of the rest I hope
of the Law be an error yet it seemeth that by Luthers own confession it is but an error on the right hand Evan. But yet I tell you it is such an error that by the Apostle Pauls own confession so far forth as any man is guilty of it He makes his services his Saviours and rejects the grace of God and makes the death of Christ of none effect ond perverteth the Lords intention both in giving the Law and in giving the Gospel and keeps himselfe under the curse of the Law and maketh himself the sonne of a bond-woman a servant yea and a slave and hinders himselfe in the course of well doing and in short he goeth about an impossible thing and so loseth all his labour Nom. Why then Sir it should seeme that all my seeking to please God by my good works all my strict walking according to the Law and all my honest course of life hath rather done mee hurt then good Evan. The Apostle sayth that without faith it is impossible to please God that is sayth Calvin Whatsoever a man thinketh purposeth or doeth before hee be reconciled to God by faith in Christ is accursed and not onely of no value to righteousnesse but of certain deserving to damnation so that sayth Luther Whosoever goeth about to please God with works going before faith goeth about to please God with sin which is nothing else but to heap sin upon sin to mock God and to provoke him to wrath nay sayth the same Luther in another place If thou beest without Christ thy wisdome is double foolishnesse thy righteousnesse is double sin and iniquity and therefore though you have walked very strictly according to the Law and led an honest life yet if you have rested and put confidence therein and so come short of Christ then hath it indeed rather done you hurt then good For sayth a godly writer vertuous life according to the light of nature turneth a man farther off from God if he add not thereto the effectuall working of his Spirit and sayth Luther they which have respect onely to an honest life it were better for them to be adulterers and adulteresses and to wallow in the mire And surely for this cause it is that our Saviour tels the strict Scribes and Pharisees who sought justification by works and rejected Christ that Publicans and harlots should enter into the Kingdome of God before them And for this cause it was that I sayd for ought I know my neighbour Neophytus might bee in Christ before you Nom. But how can that be when as you know he hath confessed that he is ignorant and full of corruption and comes far short of me in gifts and graces Evan. Because as the Pharisee had more to doe before he could come at Christ then the Publican had so I conceive you have more to doe then he hath Nom. Why Sir I pray you what have I to doe or what would you advise me to doe for truly I would be contented to bee ruled by you Evan. Why that which you have to doe before you can come at Christ is to undoe all that ever you have done already that is to say whereas you have endeavoured to travail towards heaven by the way of the Covenant of works and so have gone a wrong way you must goe quite back again all the way you have gone before you can tread one step in the right way And whereas you have attempted to build up the ruines of old Adam and that upon your selfe and so like a foolish builder to build a tottering house upon the sands you must throw down and utterly demolish all that building and not leave a stone upon a stone before you can begin to build anew and whereas you have conceived that there is a sufficiencie in your selfe to justifie and save your selfe you must conclude that in that case there is not onely in you an insufficiencie but also a non-sufficiencie yea and that sufficiencie that seemed to be in you to bee your losse in plain termes you must deny your selfe as our Saviour sayth Matthew 16.24 That is You must utterly renounce all that ever you are and all that ever you have done All your knowledge and gifts all your hearing reading praying fasting weeping and mourning all your wandring in the way of works and strict walking must fall to the ground in a moment briefly whatsoever you have counted gain to you in the case of Justification you must now with the Apostle Paul count losse for CHRIST and judge it to be dung that you may win CHRIST and bee found in Him not having your own righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Neo. O but Sir What would you advise me to doe Evan. Why man what ayleth you Neo. Why Sir as you have been pleased to heare them two to declare their condition unto you so I beseech you to give me leave to doe the same and then you will perceive how it is with me Sir not long since it pleased the Lord to visit mee with a great fit of sicknesse so that indeed both in mine own judgement and in the judgement of all that came to visite mee I was sick unto death whereupon I began to consider whither my soule was to goe after its departure out of my body and I thought with my selfe that there was but two places heaven and hell and therefore it must needs goe to one of them then my wicked and sinfull life which indeed I had lived came into my minde which caused me to conclude that hell was the place provided for it which caused me to bee very fearfull and to bee very sorry that I had so lived and desired of the Lord to let me live a little longer and I would not faile to reforme my life and amend my ways and the Lord was pleased to grant mee my desire since which time though indeed t is true I have not lived so wickedly as formerly I had done yet alas I have come far short of that godly and religious life which I see other men live and especially this my neighbour Nomista and yet you seem to conceive that he is not in a good condition and therefore surely I must needs be in a miserable condition alas Sir what doe you thinke will become of me Evan. I doe perceive that although wee have by the Lords assistance our comming together opened and cleered the new and living way to eternall life yet the Lord hath not been pleased to open your eyes to see it so that you would still be going thither the old and naturall way and therefore as a further means to discover it to you I pray you consider that although in the making of the covenant of works at the first God was one party and man another yet in making it the second time God was on both sides
Christ will accept of me so as to justifie and save me Evan. Alas man in thus saying you doe seem to contradict and gainsay both the Apostle Paul and our Lord Jesus Christ himself and that against your owne soule For whereas the Apostle Paul saith That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and doth justifie the ungodly Why you seem to hold do in effect say that Christ Jesus came into the world to save the righteous to justifie the godly and wheras our Saviour sayth The whole need not the Physitian but the sick and that hee came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Why you seem to hold and do in effect say That the sick need not the Physitian but the whole and that he came not to call sinners but the righteous to repentance And indeed in so saying you seem to conceive that Christs Spouse must be purified washed and clensed from all her filthines adorned with a rich robe of righteousnesse before he wil accept of her whereas hee himselfe saith unto her As for thy nativity in the day that thou wast born thy navel was not cut neither wast thou washed with water to supple thee thou wast not swadled at all nor salted at all no eye pitied thee to doe any of these things unto thee but when I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was a time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakednesse yea and I sware unto thee and entred into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine And I will marry thee unto me for ever yea I will marry thee unto me in righteousnes and in judgment and in mercy and compassion Wherefore I beseech you revoke this your erroneous opinion and contradict the word of truth no longer but conclude for a certainty that it is not the righteous and godly man but the sinfull and ungodly man that Christ came to call justifie and save so that if you were a righteous and godly man you were neyther capable of Calling Justification or Salvation by Christ but being a sinfull and ungodly man I will say unto you as the people sayd unto blinde Bartime Be of good comfort arise he calleth you and will justifie and save you goe then unto him I beseech you and if he come and meet you by the way as his manner is then do not you unadvisedly say with Peter Depart from me for I am a sinfull man O Lord but say in plain terms O come unto me for I am a sinfull man O Lord yea go on further with your speech and say as Luther bids you Most gracious Jesu and sweet Christ I am a miserable poor sinner and therefore do judge my self unworthy of thy grace but yet I having learned from thy word that thy salvation belongeth to such a one therefore do I come unto thee to claime that right which through thy gracious promise belongeth unto me assure your selfe that Jesus Christ requires no portion with his spouse no verily he requires nothing with her but meere poverty the rich he sends empty away but the poore are by him enriched and indeed sayth Luther The more miserable sinfull and distressed a man doth feele himself and judge himself to be the more willing will Christ be to receive him and relieve him so that sayth he In judging thy self unworthy thou doest theredy become truly worthy and so indeed hast gotten a greater occasion of coming unto him Wherefore in the words of the Apostle I do exhort you and beseech you to come boldly unto the throne of grace that you may obtain mercie and finde grace to help in time of need Neo. But truly Sir my heart doth as it were even tremble within mee to thinke of comming unto Christ after such a manner and surely Sir if I should come so boldly to Christ and speake after such a manner it would be but pride and presumption in mee Evan. Indeed if you should be incouraged to come to Christ and speak thus unto him because of any godlinesse righteousnesse or worthinesse that you conceive to be in you that were proud presumption indeed but for you to come to Christ by believing that hee will accept of you justifie and save you freely by his grace according to his own gracious promise this is no proud presumption at all for Christ having tendred it and offered it unto you freely believe it man it is neyther pride nor presumption but true humility of heart to take what Christ offereth you Nom. But by your favour Sir I pray you give mee leave to speake a word by the way I know my Neighbour Neophytus it may be better then you do yet do I not intend to charge him with any sin otherways then by way of supposition as thus Suppose hee hath been guilty of the committing of grosse and grievous sins will Christ accept of him and justifie and save him for all that Evan. Yea indeed for there is no limitation of Gods grace in Jesus Christ except the sin against the holy Ghost Christ stands at the doore and knocks and if any cruell murdering Manasses or any persecuting and blaspheming Saul or any adulterous Magdalen will open unto him he will come in and bring comfort with him and will sup with him seeke from one end of the Heavens to the other sayth Evangelicall Hooker turne all the Bible over and see if the words of Christ be not true him that commeth unto me I will in no wise cast out Nom. Why then Sir it seems you hold that the vilest sinner in the world ought not to be discouraged from believing in Christ because of his sins Evan. Surely if Christ came into the world to seek and call and save sinners and to justifie the ungodly as you have heard and if the more sinfull miserable and distressed a man doth judge himself to be the more willing Christ is to receive him and relieve him then I see no reason why the vilest sinner should be discouraged from believing on the name of Christ because of his sins nay let me say more the greater any mans sins are eyther in number or nature the more hast hee should make to come unto Christ and to say with David for thy name sake ô Lord pardon mine iniquitie for it is great Ant. Surely Sir if my friend Neophytus did rightly consider these things and were assuredly perswaded of the truth of them me thinks hee should not be so backward from comming unto Christ by believing on his name as he is for if the greatnesse of his sins should be so far from hindring his coming to Christ that they should further it then I know not what should hinder him Evan. You speak very truly indeed and therefore I beseech you Neighbour Neophytus consider seriously of it and let neither Satan the accuser of the brethren nor
lost in losing God yea and mans soul is a spirit and therefore cannot communicate with any corporall thing so that all creatures not being that infinite and spirituall fulnesse which our hearts have lost and towards the which they do still re-aspire they cannot give it full contentment Nay let mee say more howsoever a man may in the midst of his sensuall fulnesse be convinced in his conscience that he is at enmity with God and therefore in danger of his wrath and eternall damnation and be thereupon moved to reforme his life and amend his ways and endevour to seek peace and rest to his soul yet this being in the way of works it is impossible that he should finde it for his conscience wil ever be accusing him that this good duty hee ought to have done and hath not done it and this evill he ought to have forborne and yet hee hath done it and in the performance of this duty he was remisse and in that duty very defective and many such wayes will his soul be disquieted But when a man once comes to believe that all his sins both past present and to come are freely and fully pardoned and God in Christ graciously reconciled unto him the Lord doth hereupon so reveale his fatherly face unto him in Christ and so make known that incredible union betwixt him and the believing soul that his heart becomes quietly contented in God who is the proper element of its being for hereupon there come◠into the soule such peace flowing from the God of peace that it fils the emptinesse of the soule with true fulnesse in the fulnesse of God so that now the heart ceaseth to molest the understanding and reason in seeking eyther variety of objects or augmentation of degrees in any comprehensible thing And that because the restlesse longing of the minde which did before cause unquietnesse and disorder both in the variety of mentall projects and also in the sensuall and beastly exercises of the corporall and externall members is satisfied and truly quieted for when a mans heart is at peace in God and is become truly full in that peace and joy passing understanding then the Devill hath not that hope to prevaile against our souls as hee had before hee knows right well that it is in vaine to beat his hooke with profits pleasures honour or any other such like seeming good to catch such a soule that is thus at quiet in God for he hath all fulnesse in God and what can be added to fulnesse but it runneth over indeed empty hearts like empty hogsheads are fit to receive any matter which shall be put into them but the heart of the believer being filled with joy and peace in believing doth abhorre all such base allurements for that it hath no roome in it selfe to receive any such seeming contentments so that to speak as the truth is there is nothing that doth truly and unfainedly root wickednesse out of the heart of man but only the true tranquility of the minde or the rest of the soul in God and to say as the thing is this is such a peace and such a rest to the creature in the Creatour that according to the measure of its establishment by faith no created comprehensible thing can eyther adde to it or detract from it the increase of a Kingdome cannot augment it the greatest losses and crosses in worldly things cannot diminish it a believers good works doe all flow from it and ought not to return to it neyther ought humane frailties to molest it howver this is most certain neyther sin nor Satan law nor conscience hell nor grave can quite extinguish it for it is the Lord alone that gives and mayntains it Whom have I in heaven but thee sayth David and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee it is the pleasant face of God in Christ that puts gladnesse into his heart Psal. 4.7 and when that face is hid then he is troubled Psal. 30.7 But to speake more plainly though the peace and joy of true believers may be extenuated or diminished yet doth the testimony of their being in nature remayne so strong that they could skill to say yea even when they have felt God to be withdrawing himselfe from them My God my God why hast thou forsaken me yea and in the night of GODS absence to remayne confident that though sorrow be over night yet joy will come in the morning Nay though the Lord should seeme to kill them with wickednesse yet will they put their trust in him knowing that for all this their Redeemer liveth so strong is the joy of their Lord these are the people that are kept in perfect peace because their minds are stayed in the Lord. Wherfore my deare friends and loving neighbours I beseech you take heed of deeming any estate happy until you come to find this true peace and rest to your souls in God ô beware lest any of you doe content your selves with a peace rather of speculation then of power ô be not satisfied with such a peace as consisteth eyther in the act of oblivion or neglect of examination nor yet in any brain-sick supposition of knowledge theologicall and divine so frame rationall conclusions to protract time and stil the cryes of an accusing conscience but let your hearts take their last farewell of all false felicities wherewith they have been all of them more or lesse detained and kept from their true rest ô be strong in resolution and bid them all farewell and neyther stay in Egypt by the flesh-pots of Sensuality nor yet in the wildernesse of religious and rationall formality but strip your selfe of all putten on contentments eyther in sensuall honours profits or pleasures or religious exercises and become truly poore miserable and naked Nom. But stay Sir I pray you would you have our senses to be no longer exercised about any of their objects would you have us no longer to take comfort in the good things of this life Evan. I pray you doe not mistake mee I would not have you Stoically to refuse the lawfull use of any the Lords good creatures which he shall be pleased to afford you for I right well know that the minde of man hath a naturall motion towards its own delight and recreation in these things and that this motion still remains in the minde of him that is the most mortified and hath taken his truest farewell of them but yet in such a man that motion which before was violent from the cry of the heart is now restrained so that his appetite is not so forcible nor so unruly as it was before the unrulinesse thereof being subdued in the peace of the heart and and brought into a very comely decorum and order so that now the sensuall appetite can with much more easiness and contentednesse be denyed the object of its desire yea the sensuall appetite can in a good measure be
I Have perused this ensuing Dialogue and finde it tending to Peace and Holinesse the Authour endeavouring to reconcile and heale those unhappy Differences which have lately broken out a fresh amongst us about the Points therein handled and cleered For which cause I allow it to be Printed and recommend it to the Reader as a Discourse stored with many necessary and seasonable truths confirmed by Scripture and avowed by many approved Wtiters All composed in a familiar plain moderate style without bitternesse against or uncomely reflections upon others which Flyes have lately corrupted many boâ—es of otherwise precious Ointment May 1 0 1645. Joseph Caryl THE MARROW OF Modern Divinity Touching both the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace with their use and end both in the time of the Old Testament and in the time of the New Wherein every one may cleerly see how far forth he bringeth the Law into the case of justification and so deserveth the name of Legalist And how far forth he rejecteth the Law in the case of Sanctification and so deserveth the name of Antinomist With the middle path between them both which by Iesus Christ leadeth to eternall life In a Dialogue betwixt EVANGELISTA a Minister of the Gospel NOMISTA a Legalist ANTINOMISTA an Antinomian And NEOPHYTUS a young Christian. The second Edition corrected amended and much enlarged By the Author E. Fisher Before the which there is prefixed the commendaâ—â—â—â— Epistles of divers Divines of great esteem in the Citie of LONDON Whereunto is also added the substance of a most spirituall and Evangelicall Treatise called long since by the name of Patricks Places London Printed by R. Leybourn for Giles 〈◊〉 at the Black Spread-Eagle at the West end of Paris 16â—6 TO THE HONOVRABLE Collonel John Downes ESQUIRE One of the Members of the Honourable House of Commons in Parliament Justice of Peace and one of the Deputy Lievtenants of the County of Sussex and Auditor to the Prince his Highnesse of the Dutchie of Cornwall E. F. wisheth the true knowledge of God in JESUS CHRIST Most Honoured SIR ALthough I doe observe that new Editions accompanied with new additions are somtimes published with new dedications yet so long as he who formerly owned the subject doth yet 〈◊〉 and hath the same affectiouâ— towards it I conceive there is no need of a new Patron but of a new Epistle Be pleased then most honoured Sir to give mee leave to tell you that your eminencie of place did somwhat induce me both now and before to make choise of you for its Patron but your endowments with grace did invite me to it God having bestowed upon you speciall spirituall blessings in heavenly things in Christ for it hath beene declared unto me by them that knew you when you were but a youth how Christ met with you then and by sending his spirit into your heart first convinced you of sin as was manifest by those conflicts which your soule then had both with Satan and it selfe whilst you did not believe in Christ. Secondly of righteousnesse as was manifest by the peace and comfort which you afterwards had by believing that Christ was gon to the Father and appeared in his presence as your Advocate and surety that had undertaken for you Thirdly of judgement as hath been manifest ever since in that you have been carefull with the true godly man Psal. 112.5 to guide your affairs with judgement in walking according to the minde of Christ. I have not forgotten what desires you have expressed to know the true difference betwixt the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace and experimentally to be acquainted with the Doctrine of free grace the mysteries of Christ and the life of faith Witnesse not onely your highly approving of some heads of a Sermon which I once heard a godly Minister preach and repeated in your hearing of the life of Faith but also your earnest request to me to write them out faire and send them to you into the Countrey Yea witnesse your highly approving of this Dialogue when I first acquainted you with the Contents thereof incouraging me to expedite it to the Presse and youâ— kinde acceptance together with your cordiall thanks for my love manifested in dedicating it to your honoured name Sith then worthy Sir it hath pleased the Lord to enable me both to amend it and to enlarge it I hope your affections will also be inlarged towards the matter therein contained considering that it tends to the cleering of those forenamed truths and through the blessing of God may be a means to root them more deeply in your heart And truly Sir I am confident the more they grow flourish in any mans heart the more will all heart corruptions wither and decay Oh! Sir If the truth contained in this Dialogue were but as much in my heart as they are in my head I were a happie man for then should I bee more free from pride vain glory wrath anger self-love and love of the world then I am and then should I have more humility meeknesse and love both to God and man then I have oh then should I bee content with Christ alone and live above all the things in the world then should I experimentally know both how to abound and how to want and then shall I be fit for any condition nothing could come amisse unto me oh that the Lord would be pleased to write it in our hearts by his blessed Spirit And so most humbly beseeching you still to pardon my boldnesse and to vouchsafe to take it into your patronage and protection I humbly take my leave of you and remain Your obliged Servant to be commanded E. F. To all such humble hearted Readers as see any need to learn eyther to know themselves or GOD in CHRIST Loving Christians COnsider I pray you that as the first Adam did as a common person enter into covenant with God for all mankind and brake it whereby they became sinfull and guilty of everlasting death and damnation Even so Jesus Christ the second Adam did as a common person enter into covenant with God his Father for all the elect that is to say all those that have or shall believe on his name and for them kept it whereby they become righteous and heires of everlasting life and salvation And therfore it is our greatest wisdome and ought to be our greatest care and endeavour to come out and from the first Adam unto and into the second Adam that so wee may have life through his Name John 20.31 And yet alas there is no point in all practicall Divinity that wee are naturally so much averse and backward unto as unto this neyther doth Sathan strive to hinder us so much from doing any thing else as this And hence it is that we are all of us naturally apt to abide and continue in that sinfull and miserable estate that the first Adam plunged us into without eyther taking any notice
Anti. Why then Sir it seemes that those who were saved amongst the Jewes were not saved by the workes of the Law Evan. No indeed they were neither justified nor saved either by the workes of the Morall Law or the Ceremoniall Law for as you heard before the Morall Law being delivered unto them with great terrour and under most dreadfull penalties they did finde in themselves an impossibilitie of keeping it and so were driven to seeke helpe of a Mediatour even Iesus Christ of whom Moses was to them a Typicall Mediatour so that the Morall Law did drive them to the Cerimoniall Law which was their Gospel and their Christ in a figure for that the Cerimonies did prefigure Christ direct unto him and require faith in him is a thing acknowledged and confessed by all men Nom. But Sir I suppose though believers amongst the Iewes were not justified and saved by the works of the Law yet was it a rule for their obedience Evan. It is very true indeed the law of the tenne Commandements was a rule for their obedience yet not as it was the Law of workes or Covenant of workes but as it was the Law of Christ as it will appeare if you consider that after the Lord had the second time written them in tables of stone with his owne finger he delivered them to Moses commanding him to provide an Arke to put them into which was not onely for the safe keâ—ping of them but also to cover the forme of the Covenant of works that was formerly upon them that beleevers might not perceive it for the Arke was a notable type of Christ and therefore the pâ—tting of them therein did shew that they were perfectly fulfilled in him Christ being the end of the Law for righteousnes to every one that beleeveth the which was yet more clearly manifest in that the booke of the Law was placed betweene the Cherubims and upon the Mercy-seat to assure beleevers that the Law now came to them from the Mercy-seat for there the Lord promised to meet Moses and to commune with him of all things which he would give him in commandment to them Ant. But Sir was the forme quite taken away so as the ten Commadements were no more the Covenant of works Evan. Oh no you are not so to understand it for the forme of the Covenant of works as well as the matter on Gods part came immediatly from God himself and so consequently is eternall like himselfe whence it is that our Saviour saith Mat. 5.18 Till heaven and earth passe one jot or one title shall in no wise passe from the law till all be fulfilled so that either man himselfe or some other for him must performe or fulfill the condition of the Law as it is the Covenant of works or els he remaines still under it in a damnable condition but now Christ hath fulfilled it for all believers and therefore I said the forme of the Covenant of works was covered or taken away as touching the believing Jewes but yet was it neither taken away in it selfe nor yet as touching the unbelieving Jewes Nom. Was the Law then still of use to them as it was the Covenant of works Evan. Yea indeed Ant. I pray you Sir shew of what use it was to them Evan. I remember Luther saith there be two sorts of unrighteous persons or unbeleevers the one to be justified and the other not to be justified even so was there amongst the Jews Now to them that were to bee justified as you have heard it was still of use to bring them to Christ as the Apostle saith Gal. 3.24 The Law was our Schoolmaster untill Christ that we might be made righteous by faith that is to say the Morall Law did teach and shew them what they should doe and so what they did not and this made them go to the Ceremonial Law and by that they were taught that Christ had done it for them the which they beleeving were made righteous by faith in him And to the second sort it was of use to shew them what was good and what was evill and to be as a bridle to them to restraine them from evill and as a motive to move them to good for fear of punishment or hope of reward in this life which though it was but a forced and constrained obedience yet was it necessarie for the publike common-wealth the quiet thereof being thereby the better maintained and though thereby they could neither escape death nor yet obtaine eternall life for want of perfect obedience yet the more obedience they yeelded thereunto the more they were freed from temporall calamities and possessed with temporall blessings according as the Lord promised and threatned Deut. 28. Ant. But Sir in that place the Lord seemeth to speak to his own people and yet to speak according to the tenor of the covenant of works which hath made me thinke that believers in the Old Testament were partly under the covenant of works Evan. Do you not remember how I told you before that the Lord did manifest so much love to the body of that nation that the whole posterity of Abraham were brought under a State-Covenant or Nationall Church so that for the believers sakes he infolded the unbelievers in the compact whereupon the Lord was pleased to call them all by the name of his people as well unbelievers as believers and to be called their God And though the Lord did there speak according to the tenor of the covenant of works yet I see no reason why he might not direct and intend his speech to believers also and yet they remain only under the covenant of grace Ant. Why Sir you said that the Lord did speak to them out of the tabernacle and from the mercy-seat and that doubtlesse was according to the tenor of the covenant of grace and not according to the tenor of the covenant of works Evan. I pray you take notice that after the Lord had pronounced all those blessings and curses Deut. 28. in the beginning of thâ— 29. chap. it is said These are the words of thâ— covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. Whereby it doth appeare to me that this was not the covenant of works which was delivered to them on mount Sinai for the form of that Covenant was eternall blessings and curses but the form of this Covenant was temporall blessings and curses so that this rather seems to be the pedagogie of the Law than the Covenant of works for at that time these people seemed to be carried by temporall promises in the wayes of obedience and deterred by temporall threatnings from the wayes of disobedience God dealing with them as in their infancie and under-age and so leads them on and allures them and feares them by such respects as these because they had but a
God simply considered in his essence is the party opposite to man and GOD the second Person having taken upon him to bee incarnate â—nd to worke mans redemption was on mans side and takes part with man that hee may reconcile him to God by bearing mans sins and satisfying Gods justice for them and Christ payed God till hee sayd Hee had enough Hee was fully satisfied fully contented Whereupon all Christs people were given to him in their election Ephes. 1.4 Thine they were fayth Christ and thou gavest them mee John 17.6 Hee sayth the Father loveth the Sonne and hath given all things into his hands John 8.35 that is hee hath intrusted him with the oeconomie and actuall administration of that power in the Church which originally belonged to himselfe and hence it is that Christ also sayth the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to his Sonne John 5.22 so that the Covenant for life and salvation since the fall is not that Covenant of works that was betwixt God and Christ for none of Christs are to have to doe with that but Christ onely but the Covenant of life and salvation is that Covenant of grace that is betwixt Christ and his and in thaâ— Covenant there is not any condition or law to bee performed on mans part by himselfe no there is no more for him to doe but onely to know and believe that Christ hath done all for him wherefore my dear neighbour Neophytus I beseech you bee perswaded that here you are to worke nothing here you are to doe nothing here you are to render nothing unto God but onely receive the treasure which is Jesus Christ and apprehend him in your heart by faith although you be never so great a sinner and so shall you obtain forgivenesse of sinnes righteousnesse and eternall happinesse not as an agent but as a patient not by doing but by receiving nothing here commeth betwixt but faith onely apprehending Christ in the promise this then is perfect righteousnesse to heare nothing to know nothing to doe nothing of the Law or works but onely to know and believe that Jesus Christ is now gon to the Father and sitteth at his right hand not as a Judge But is made unto you of God wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption wherefore sayth the Apostle Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Neo. But Sir hath such a one as I any warrant to believe in Christ Evan. I beseech you consider that God the Father as he is in his Sonne Jesus Christ moved with nothing but with his free love to mankinde lost hath made a deed of gift and grant unto them all that whosoever of them all shall believe in this his Sonne shall not perish but have eternall life and hence it was that Jesus Christ himselfe sayd unto his Disciples Mat. 16.15 Goe and preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven that is goe and tell every man without exception that here is good news for him Christ is dead for him and if he will take him and accept of his righteousnesse hee shall have him Therefore sayth a godly writer for as much as the holy Scripture speaketh to all in generall none of us ought to distrust himselfe but believe that it doth belong particularly to himselfe and to the end that this poynt wherein lyeth and consisteth the whole mystery of our holy faith may be understood the better let us pur the case that some good and holy King should cause a proclamation to bee made through his whole Kingdome by the sound of a Trumpet that all rebels and banished men shall safely return home to their houses because that at the suit and desart of some dear friend of theirs it hath pleased the King to pardon them certainly none of these rebels ought to doubt but that he shall obtain true pardon for his rebellion and so return home and live under the shadow of that gracious King even so our good King the Lord of Heaven and Earth hath for the obedience and desart of our good brother Jesus Christ pardoned us all our sinnes and made a Proclamation throughout the whole world that every one of us may safely returne to God in Jesus Christ wherefore I beseech you make no doubt of it but draw neere with a true heart in full assurance of faith Neo. O! but Sir in this similitude the case is not alike for when an earthly King sendeth forth such a Proclamation it may be thought that he doth indeed intend to pardon all but it cannot bee thought that the King of heaven doth so for doth not the Scripture say that some men are ordained before to condemnation and doth not Christ himselfe say that many are called but few are chosen and therefore it may be I am one of them that are ordained to condemnation and therefore though I be called I shall never be chosen and so shall not be saved Evan. I beseech you to consider that although some men bee ordayned to condemnation yet so long as the Lord hath concealed their names and not set a marke of reprobation upon any man in particular but offers the pardon generally to all without having any respect eyther to election or reprobation surely it is great folly in any man to say it may bee I am not elected and therefore shall not have benefit by it and therefore I will not accept of it nor come in for it should rather move every man to give diligence to make his calling and election sure by believing it for feare we come short of it according to that of the Apostle Let us therefore feare least a promise being left us of entring into his rest any of us should seeme to come short of it Wherefore I beseech you doe not you say it may bee I am not elected and therefore I will not believe in Christ but rather say I doe believe in Christ and therefore I am sure I am elected and check your own heart for medling with Gods secrets and prying into his hidden counsell and goe no more beyond your bounds as you have done in this point for election and reprobation is a secret and the Scriptures tels us That secret things belong unto God but those things that are revealed belong unto us Now this is Gods revealed will for indeed it is his expresse command That you should believe on the name of his Son and it is his promise that if you believe you shall not perish but have everlasting life Wherefore you having so good a warrant as GODS command and so good an encouragement as his promise doe your duty and by the doing thereof you may put it out of question and bee sure that you are one of Gods Elect Say then I beseech you with a firme faith the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ belongs to all that believe but I believe and
and apprehend him by faith as blessed be God you see our Neighbour Neophytus hath done and then shall you finde the like loathing of sin and love to the law of Christ as he now doth yea then shall you finde your corruptions dying and decaying daily more and more as I am confident hee shall Neo. I but Sir shall I not have power quite to overcome all my corruptions and to yield perfect obedience to the law of Christ as the Lord knows I much desire Evan. If you could believe perfectly then should it be even according to to your desire according to that of Luther If wee can perfectly apprehend Christ then should wee be free from sin But alas whilest we are here wee know but in part and so believe but in part and so receive Christ but in part and so consequently are holy but in part witnesse James the just including himselfe when he sayth In many things we sin all and John the faithfull and loving Disciple when he sayth If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us yea and witnesse Luther when he sayth a Christian man hath a body in whose members as Paul sayth sin dwelleth and warreth and albeit he fall not into outward and grosse sins as murther adultery theft and such like yet is hee not free from impatience and murmuring against God yea sayth hee I feele in my selfe coveteousnesse lust anger pride and arrogancie also the feare of death heaviness hatred murmuring impenitencie so that you must not looke to bee quite without sin whilst thou remain in this life yet this I dare promise you that as you grow from faith to faith so shall you grow from strength to strength in all other graces wherefore sayth godly Hooker strengthen this grace of faith and strengthen all nourish this and nourish all so that if you can attain to a great measure of faith you shall bee sure to attain to a great measure of holinesse according to the saying of Doctor Preston hee that hath the strongest faith hee that believeth in the greatest degree the promise of pardon and remission of sins I dare boldly say he hath the holiest heart and the holiest life And therefore I beseech you labour to grow strong in the faith of the Gospell Neo. O Sir I desire it with all my heart and therefore I pray you tell me what you would have me to doe that I may grow more strong Evan. Why surely the best advice and counsell that I can give you is to exercise that faith which you have and wrastle against doubtings and be earnest with God in prayer for the increase of it forasmuch sayth Luther as this gift is in the hands of God onely who bestoweth it when and on whom he pleaseth thou must resort unto him by prayer and say with the Apostles Lord increase our faith and you must also be diligent in hearing the word preached for as faith commeth by hearing so is it also increased by hearing and you must also read the word and meditate upon the free and gracious promises of God for the promise is the immortall seed whereby the spirit of Christ begets and increaseth faith in the hearts of all his and lastly you must frequent the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and receive it as often as conveniently you can Ant. But by your favour Sir if faith be the gift of God and he give it when and to whom he pleaseth then I conceive that mans using such means will not procure any greater measure of it then God is pleased to give Evan. I confesse it is not the means that will either beget or increase faith but it is the Spirit of God in the use of the means that doth it so that as the means will not doe it without the Spirit neither will the Spirit doe it without the means where the means may be had wherefore I pray you doe not you hinder him from using the means Neo. Sir for mine own part let him say what he will I am resolved by the assistance of God to be carefull and diligent in the use of these means which you have now prescribed that so by the increasing of my faith I may be the better inabled to subject to the will of the Lord and so walk as that I may please him but yet I doe perceive that in regard of the imperfection of my faith I shall not be able perfectly to apprehend Christ and so consequently shall not be able to live without sin therefore I pray you Sir tell me how you would have mee to be affected when I shall hereafter through frailty commit any sin Evan. Before I can give you a true and full satisfactory answer to this your necessary question I must intreat you to consider with me First that in Rom. 6.14 it is sayd concerning believers Yee are not under the Law but under grace And in like manner Rom. 1.6 it is sayd But now we are delivered from the Law And yet it is said concerning a believer 1 Cor. 9.21 Being not without Law to God but under the Law to Christ And in like manner Rom. 3.31 it is sayd Doe wee then make voyd the Law through faith God for bid yea by faith we establish the Law Secondly That in 1 John 3.6 It is sayd That whosoeuer abideth in Christ sinneth not and in like manner ver 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin And yet it is sayd concerning such 1 John 1.8 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us and in like manner Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all Thirdly That in Numb 23.21 It is sayd concerning believers Hee that is to say God hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob neither hath he seen perversnesse in Israell in like manner Cant. 4.7 It is sayd behold thou art all faire my love and there is no spot in thee And yet it is sayd Prov. 5.21 as well concerning believers as others that the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and hee pondereth all his goings and in like manner Heb. 4.13 All things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to doe Fourthly That in Isai. 27.4 the Lord sayth concerning believers Anger is not in me and in like manner Isai. 54.9 it is sayd As I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more goe over the earth so have I sworn that I would no more be wrath with thee nor rebuke thee and yet it is sayd Psal. 10.40 That because the people went a whoring after their own inventions therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against this people insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance And in Deut. 13.1 Moses a true believer sayth The Lord was angry with him Fifthly That in Isai. 40.2 The Lord sayth concerning believers Speake yee
a God as this such a Christ as this ô this will melt your heart and cause your eyes to drop down the tears of godly sorrow yea this will constrain in you to goe unto your Father and humbly to confesse your sins with the prodigall and beseech him to shew mercie for the Lords sake with Daniel and yet not out of a conceit that till your sin be pardoned you are lyable to be condemned for it for that is the penalty of the law of works which you are not now under but rather out of a true perswasion that till it be pardoned your Father is displeased with you for it yea and will whip and scourge you for it for that is the penalty of the Law of Christ which you are now under yea and this will also constrain you to loath your selfe in your owne sight for your iniquities yea not onely to loath your selfe for them but also to leave them saying with Ephraim what have I to doe any more with Idols and to cast them away as a menstrous cloth saying unto them get yee hence and thus will the goodnesse of God being apprehended by faith lead you to repentance Thirdly If after you have thus sinned either through weaknesse of faith or want of exercising it yee either doe not thus at all or not so effectually as you should and so your loving and wise Father see cause to give you some unpleasant potion to bring your sins to remembrance as he did Josephs brethrens Gen 42.21 and as was the saying of the widow of Zarephath 1 King 17.18 and to purge it and take it away as is the phrase of the Holy Ghost Isai. 27.9 and to make you partaker of his holinesse as the Apostles phrase is Heb. 12.10 Then I beseech you beware you conceit not that your afflictions are penall proceeding from hatred or vindictive justice and so as payments and satisfaction for sins for that is the penalty of the Covenant of works the which you are now delivered from But rather be perswaded as the truth is that they proceed from Gods fatherly love and so as medicinall to heale and cure you of your sins and so to make you more obedient and subject to the Law of Christ under which you now are for afflictions through Gods blessing are made speciall means to purge out that sinfull corruption which is still in the nature of believers and therefore are they in Scripture most aptly compared to medicines for so they are indeed to all Gods children most soveraign medicines to cure all their spirituall diseases and indeed we have all of us great need hereof for sayth Luther we are not yet perfectly righteous for whilst we remain in this life sin dwelleth still in the flesh and this remnant of sinne God purgeth wherefore when GOD hath remitted sinnes and received a man into the bosome of grace then doth hee lay on him all kinde of afflictions and doth scoure and renew him from day to day and to this purpose Tindall truly sayth If wee looke on the flesh and into the law there is no man so perfect that is not found a sinner nor no man so pure that hath not need to be purged Now if you thus conceive of your afflictions you will accept of them and you will with Ephraim say unto the Lord Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a Bullocke unaccustomed to the yoke turn thou me and I shall be turned thou art the Lord my God surely after that I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did beare the reproch of my youth yea and then will you also say with David Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest ô Lord and teachest him out of the Law and thus you see I have endevoured to give you a satisfying answer to your question Neo. And truly Sir you have done it very fully the Lord enable me to practise according to your direction Nom. Sir in this your answer to his question you have also answerd me and given me full satisfaction in divers points about which my friend Antinomista and I have had many a wrangling fit for if I used to affirme with tooth and nayle as men use to say that believers are under the Law and not delivered from it and that they doe sin and that God sees it and is angry with them and doth afflict them for it and that therefore they ought to humble themselves and mourn for their sins and confesse them and crave pardon for them and yet truly I must confesse I did not understand what I sayd nor whereof I affirmed and the reason was because I did not know the difference betwixt the law as it is the law of works and as it is the law of Christ. Ant. And believe me Sir I used to affirme as earnestly as hee that believers are delivered from the law and therefore do not sin and therefore God can see no sin in them and therefore is neyther angry with them nor doth afflict them for sin and therefore they have no need eyther to humble themselves or mourn or confesse their sins or beg pardon for them the which I believing to be true could not conceive how the contrary could be true also but now I plainly see that by meanes of your distinguishing betwixt the law as it is the law of works and as it is the law of Christ there is a truth in both therefore friend Nomista whensoever eyther you or any man else shall hereafter affirme that believers are under the law do sin God sees it and is angry with them and doth chastise them for it and that they ought to humble themselves mourn weep and confesse their sins and beg pardon for them if you mean onely as they are under the law of Christ I will agree with you and never contradict you again Nom. And truly friend Antinomista if eyther you or any man else shall hereafter affirme that believers are delivered from the law and do not sin and God sees no sin in them nor is angry with them nor afflicts them for their sins and that they have no need eyther to humble themselves mourne confesse or crave pardon for their sins if you mean it onely as they are not under the law of works I will agree with you and never contradict you again Evan. I rejoyce to heare you speak these words each to other and truly now I am in hope that you two will come back from both your extreams and meet my neighbour Neophytus in the golden Meane having as the Apostle sayth the same love being of one accord and of own minde Nom. Sir For my part I thanke the Lord I do now plainly see that I have erred exceedingly in seeking to be justified as it were by the works of the law and yet could I never
wils and desires it in whom thou hast sayd thou art well pleased yea here is the person that hath paid the debt and discharged the bond for all my sins and therefore ô Lord now it standeth with thy justice to forgive me and thus if you doe why then you may bee assured that Christ executes his Priestly office in you Neo. I pray you Sir in the third place shew me how a man may know that Christ executes his kingly office in him Evan. Why so far forth as any man hears and knows That all prwer is given unto Christ both in heaven and in earth both to vanquish and overcome all the lusts and corruptions of believers and to write his law in their hearts hereupon takes occasion to goe unto Christ for the doing of both in him I say so far forth as he doth this why Christ executes his kingly office in him Neo. Why then Sir it seems that the place where Christ executes his kingly office is in the hearts of believers Evan. It is true indeed for Christs Kingdome is not temporall or secular over the naturall lives or civill negotiations of men but his Kingdome is spirituall and heavenly over the souls of men to awe and over-rule the hearts to captivate the affections to bring into obedience the thoughts and to subdue and pul down strong holds for when our father Adam transgressed he and we all of us forsooke God and chose the devill for ou◠lord king so that every mothers child of 〈◊〉 are by nature under the government of Satan and he rules over us till Christ come into our hearts and disposseseth him according to the saying of Christ himself Luk. 11.21 22. When a strong man armed keeps the Palace his goods are in peace that is sayth Calvin Satan holdeth them that are in subjection to him in such bonds and quiet possession that he rules over them without resistance But when Christ comes to dwell in any mans heart by faith according to the measure nf faith hee dispossesseth him seats himself in the heart and roots out and puls down all that withstands his government there and as a valiant Captain he stands upon his guard enables the soule to gather together all its forces and powers to resist and withstand all its and his enemies and to set it selfe in good earnest against them when they at any time offer to return again and he doth especially enable the soule to resist and set it selfe against the principall enemie even that which doth most oppose Christ in his government so that whatsoever lust or corruption is in a believers heart or soule as most predominant CHRIST doth inable him to take that into his minde and to have most revengefull thoughts against it and to make complaints to him against it and to desire power and strength from him against it and all because it most withstands the government of Christ and is the rankest traitor to Christ so that hee useth all the means he can to bring it before the judgement seat of Christ and there hee calls for justice against it saying O Lord Jesus Christ here is a rebell and a traitor that doth withstand thy government in me wherfore I pray thee come and execute thy Kingly office in me and subdue it yea vanquish and overcome it whereupon Christ gives the same answer that he did to the Centurion goe thy way and as thou hast believed so be it done unto thee And as Christ doth thus suppresse all other governours but himselfe in the heart of a believer so doth he race out and deface all other laws and writes his own there according to his promise Jer. 31.33 and makes them plyable and willing to doe and suffer his will and that because it is his will so that the minde and will of Christ laid down in his Word and manifested in his Works is not onely the rule of a believers obedience but also the reason of it As I once heard a godly Minister say in the Pulpit So that he doth not onely doe that which is Christs will but he doth it because it is his will O that man which hath the law of Christ written in his heart according to the measure of it he reads he hears he prayes and receives the Sacrament and doth all the duties required in the first table of the Law and that because he knows it is the minde and will of Christ he should doe so yea he doth not onely doe the duty of the first table but of the second also by vertue of Christs command ô that husband parent master or Magistrate that hath the Law of Christ written in his heart hee doth his duty to his wife childe servant and subject and that because Christ commands it and so that wife childe servant or subject that hath the law of Christ written in their hearts doe their duties to their husband parent master or governour and that because Christ requires it And now when you finde these things in your heart why answerably you may conclude that Christ executes his kingly office in you Neo. Well Sir now I doe plainly see that it is no marvail though my heart hath been hitherto restlesse sith I have sought rest for it where it is not to be found Evan. My occasions doe now begin to call me away from you neverthelesse you having begun to speake of the hearts rest I shall by the Lords assistance now at our parting as a conclusion of this our discourse speake somwhat of the soules rest if you will be pleased to heare me Neo. Withall my heart Sir but first I would intreat you to tell me why you call the hearts rest the soules rest Evan. Because heart and soule are put oftentimes the one for the other for indeed the heart is the soules chare of state wherein it keeps it residencie But to come to the point I would intreat you to consider with me that when God at first gave man an elementish body he did also infuse into him an immortall soule of a spirituall substance and though he gave his soule a locall being in his body yet he gave it a spirituall wel-being in himselfe so that the soule was in the body by location and at rest in God by union and communication and this being of the soule in God at first was mans true being and his true happinesse now man falling from God God in his justice left man so that the actuall union and communion that the soule of man had with God at first is broken off God and mans soule are parted and it is in a restlesse condition howbeit the Lord having seated in mans soule a certain character of himselfe the soule is thereby made to re-aspire towards that summum bonum that chief good even God himselfe and can finde no rest no where till it come to him Nom. But stay Sir I pray you how can it be sayd that
content with what is most repugnant to its desire as with hunger cold nakednesse yea and with death it self such is the wonderfull working of the hearts quiet and rest in God So that although such a mans senses be still exerâ—ised in and upon their proper objects yet is not his life sensuall for his heart taketh no contentment from any such exercise but is still for the most part exercised in a more transcendent communion even with God in Christ so that he useth the world and the things of the world as though hee used them not and receiveth no cordiall contentment from any sensuall exercise whatsoever and that because his heart is withdrawne from them which withdrawing of the heart is not unaptly pointed at in the speech of the Spouse Cant. 5.2 I sleep sayth she but my heart waketh so that it may be sayd that such a man he is sleeping looking hearing tasting eating drinking feasting c. but his heart is withdrawne and is rejoycing in God his Saviour and his soul is magnifying the Lord so that in the midst of all sensuall delights his heart and secretly sayth I but my happinesse is not here Nom. But Sir I pray you why do you call rationall and religious exercises a wildernesse Evan. For two reasons first because that as the children of Israel when they were got out of Egypt did yet wander many yeers in the wildernesse before they came into the land of Canaan even so doe many men wander long in rationall and religious exercises after they have left a sensuall life before they come to rest in God whereof the land of Canaan was a type Secondly because as in a wildernesse men often lose themselves and can finde no way out but supposing after long travell that they are neere the place whither they would goe are in truth further off even so fareth it with many yea with all such as walk in the way of reason they lose themselves in the woods and bushes of their works and doings so that the longer they travell the further they are from God and true rest in him Nom. But Sir you know that the Lord hath endued us with reasonable souls would you not then have us to make use of our reason Evan. I pray you doe not mistake mee I do not contemn nor despise the use of reason onely I would not have you to establish it to the chief good but I would have you to keep it under so that if with Hagar it attempt to beare rule and Lord it over your faith then would I have you in the wisdome of God like Sarah to cast it out from having dominion in few words I would have you more strong in desire than curious in speculation and to long more to feele communion with God then to be able to dispute of the genus or species of any question eyther humane or divine And presse hard to know God by powerfull experience and though your knowledge be great and your obedience surpassing many yet would I have you to be truly nullified anihilated and made nothing and become fools in all fleshly wisdome and glory in nothing but only in the Lord and I would have you with the eye of faith sweetly to behold all things extracted out of one thing in one to see al in a word I would have in you a most profound silence contemning all curious questions and discourses and to ponder much in your heart but prate little with your tongue Be swift to heare but slow to speake and slow to wrath as the Apostle James adviseth you and by this meanes will your reason be subdued and become one with your faith for then is reason one with faith when it is subjugated unto faith and then will reason keepe its true lists and limits and you will become ten times more reasonable then you were before so that I hope you now see that the hearts farewell from the sensuall and rationall life is not to be considered absolutely but respectively it doth not consist in a going out of either but in a right use of both And now for a conclusion let mee tell you when any of your souls shall thus forget her own people and her fathers house Christ her King shall so desire her beauty and be so much in love with her that like a Load-stone this love of his shall draw the soule in pure desire to him again and then as the Hart panteth after the rivers of water so will your souls pant after God yea then will your souls be so ravished with desire and so sick of love that it will bee manifest by your seeking him whom your soul loveth and so shall your soule come to have a reall rest in God and according to the measure of your faith be filled with joy unspeakable and glorious and how can it bee otherwise when your soule shall really communicate with God and by faith have a true taste and by the Spirit have a sure earnest of all heavenly preferments having as it were one foot in heaven whilst you live upon earth ô then what an Eucharisticall love will arise from your thankfull heart extending it selfe first towards God and then towards man for Gods sake because his everlasting love in his Christ is made known to your soule so that then according to the measure of your faith you shall not need to frame and force your selfe to love and doe good duties but being so assured of Gods love to you in his CHRIST your soule will stand bound ever more to love God and according to the measure thereof you will stand bound to the keeping of all his Commandements and this love of God in the heart will cut down selfe love so that now you will be for God and it will be your meat and drinke to doe his will whilst you live on earth and much more when you come to heaven the place of perfect and everlasting rest whither our Lord JESUS CHRIST bring us all in his due time Amen And now Brethren I commend you to GOD and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified Neo. Well Sir at this time I will say no more but that it was a happie houre wherein I came to you and a happie conference that wee have had together surely Sir I never knew Christ before this day ô what cause have I to thanke the Lord for my comming hither and my two friends as a means of it and Sir for the payns that you have taken with me I pray the Lord to requite you and so beseeching you to pray the Lord to increase my faith and to helpe mine unbeliefe I humbly take my leave of you praying the God of love and peace to be with you Nom. And truly Sir I doe believe that I have cause to speake as much in that case as you have for
tidings that is to say that God to whose eternall knowledge all things are present and nothing past or to come foreseeing mans fall before all time purposed and in time promised and in the fulnesse of time performed the sending of his sonne Jesus Christ into the world to help and deliver fallen mankind Ant. I beseech you Sir let us heare more of these things and first of all shew how we are to conceive of Gods eternall purpose in sending of Jesus Christ. Evan. Why here the Learned frame a kind of conflict in Gods holy attributes and by a liberty which the Holy Ghost from the language of holy Scripture alloweth them they speak of God after the manner of men as if he were reduced to some straits and difficulties by the crosse demands of his severall Attributes for Truth and Justice stood up and said that man had sinned and therefore man must die and so called for the condemnation of a sinfull and therefore worthily accursed creature or else they must be violated for thou saidst say they to God in what day that thou eatest of the tree of the knowledge of good and evill thou shalt die the death Mercy on the other side pleaded for favour and appeales to the great Court in Heaven and there it pleads saying Wisdome and power and goodnesse have been all manifest in the Creation and Anger and Justice they have been magnified in mans misery that he is now plunged into by his fall but I have not yet been manifested O let favour and compassion be shewed towards man wofully seduced and overthrown by Sathan O said they unto God it is a royall thing to relieve the distressed and the greater any one is the more placable and gentle he ought to be But Justice replied If I be offended I must be satisfied and have my right And therefore I require that man who hath lost himself by his disobedience should for remedy set obedience against it and so satisfie the judgement of God Therefore the wisdome of God became an umpire and devised a way to reconcile them concluding that before there could be reconciliation made there must be two things effected first a satisfaction of Gods justice secondly a reparation of mans nature which two things must needs be effected by such a middle and common person that had both zeal toward God that he might be satisfied and compassion toward man that he might be repaired Such a person as having mans guilt and punishment translated on him might satisfie the justice of God and as having a fulnesse of Gods spirit and holinesse in him might sanctifie and repaire the nature of man And this could be none other but Jesus Christ one of the three persons of the blessed Trinity And therefore he by his Fathers ordinacion his own voluntary susception and the holy Spirits sanctification was fitted for the businesse whereupon there was a speciall covenant or mutuall agreement made between God and Christ as is expressed Isa. 53. vers 10. That if Christ would make himselfe a sacrifice sacrifice for him then he should see his seed he should prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper by him So in Psal. 89.19 the mercy of this Covenant between God and Christ under the type of Gods covenant with David are set forth Thou spakest in vision to thy Holy one and saidst I have laid help upon one that is mighty or as the Chaldee expoundeth one mighty in the Law As if God had said concerning his elect I know that these will break and never be able to satisfie me but you are a mighty and substantiall person able to pay me therefore I will look for my debt of you as Paraeus well observes God did as it were say to Christ What they owe me I require it all at your hands Then said Christ Lo I come to do thy will In the volume of thy book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is in my heart Thus Christ assented and from everlasting stroke hands with God to put upon him mans person and to take upon him his name and to enter in his stead in obeying his father and to do all for man that he should require and to yield in mans flesh the price of the satisfaction of the just judgment of God and in the same flesh to suffer the punishment that man had deserved And this he undertook under the penalty that lay upon man to have undergone and thus was Justice satisfied and Mercy magnified by the Lord Jesus Christ and so God took Christs single bond whence Christ is not only called the Surety of the Covenant for us Heb. 7 22. but the Covenant it self Isa. 49 8. And God laid all upon him that he might be sure of satisfaction protesting that he would not deale with us nor so much as expect any payment from us such was his grace And thus did our Lord Jesus Christ enter into the same covenant of works that Adam did to deliver believers from it he was contented to be under all that commanding revenging authority which that Covenant had over them to free them from the penalty of it and in that respect Adam is said to be a type of Christ as you have it Rom. 5.14 Who was the type of him that was to come Unto which purpose the 〈◊〉 which the Apostle gives these two Châ—ist and Adam are exceeding observable he cals Adam the fiâ—st man and Christ our Lord the second man speaking of them as if there never had been any more men in the world besides these two thereby making them the head and root of all mankind they having as it were the rest of the sons of men included in them the first man is called the earthly man the second man Christ is called the Lord from heaven The earthly man had all the sons of men born into the world included in him and is so called in conformity unto them The second man Christ is called the Lord from heaven who had all the elect included in him who are said to be the first-borne and to have their names written in heaven Heb. 12.13 and therefore are oppositely called heavenly men so that these two in Gods account stood for all the rest And thus you see that the Lord willing to shew mercy to the creature fallen and withall to maintain the authority of his Law took such a course as might best manifest his clemencie and severity Christ entred into covenant and became surety for man and so became liable to many ingagements for he that answers as a surety must pay the same sum of money that the debtor oweth And thus have I endeavoured to shew you how we are to conceive of Gods eternall purpose in sending of Jesus Christ to help and deliver fallen mankind Ant. I beseech you Sir proceed also to the
second thing and first tell us when the Lord began to make a promise to help and deâ—ver fallen mankind Evan. Even the same day that he sinned wâ—hich was the very same day he was created for Adam by his sin being become the child of wrath and both in body and in soule subject to the curse and seeing nothing due to him but the wrath and vengeance of God he was afraid and sought to hide himself from the presence of God whereupon the Lord promised Christ unto him saying to the serpent I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed He that is to say the seed of the woman for so is the Hebrew text shall break thy head and thou shalt bruise his heele This promise of Christ the womans seed was the Gospel and the only comfort of Adam Abel Enoch Noah and the rest of the godly Fathers untill the time of Abraham Nom. I pray you Sir what ground have you to think that Adam fell the same day he was created Evan. My ground for this opinion is Psal. 94.12 which text in the Hebrew is thus read Adam being in honour did not lodge a night in it Ant. But Sir do you think that Adam and those others did understand that promised seed to be meant of Christ Evan. Who can make any doubt but that the Lord had acquainted Adam with Christ betwixt the time of his sinning the time of his sacrificing though both on a day Ant. But did Adam offer sacrifice Evan. Can you make any question but that the bodies of those beasts whose skins went for a covering for his body were immediately before offered in sacrifice for his soulâ— Surely those skins could be none other but of beasts slain and offered in sacrifice for before Adam fell beasts were not subject to mortality nor slaying And Gods cloathing of Adam and his wife with skins signified that their sin and shame was covered with Christs righteousnesse And questionlesse the Lord had taught him that his sacrifice did signifie his acknowledgment of his sin and that he looked for the seed of the woman promised to be slain in the evening of the world thereby to appease the wrath of God for his offence the which undoubtedly he acquainted his sons Cain and Abel with when he taught them also to offer sacrifice Ant. But how doth it appeare that this his sacrificing was the very same day that he sinned Evan. It is said Ioh. 7.13 concerning Christ â—hat they sought to take him yet no man laid hands on him because his houre was not yet come But after that when the time of his sufferings was at hand he himself said The houre is come which day is expresly set down by the Evangelist Mark to be the sixth day and ninth houre of that day when Christ through the eternall Spirit offered up himself without spot to God Now if you compare this with Exod. 12.6 you shall find that the Paschall Lamb a most lively type of Christ was offered the very same day and houre even the 6. day and 9. houre of the day which was at 3 of the clock in the afternoon and the Scripture testifieth that Adam was created the very same sixth day and gives us ground to think that he sinned the same day And do not the fore-alleaged Scriptures afford us warrant to believe that it was the very same houre of that day when Christ entred mystically and typically upon the work of redemption in being offered as a sacrifice for Adams sin And surely we may suppose that the covenant as you heard being broken between God and Adam Justice would not have admitted of one houres respite before it had proceeded to execution to the destruction both of Adam and the whole Creation had not Christ in the very nick of time stood as the Ram or rather the Lamb in the bush and stepped in to perform the work of the covenant And hence I conceive it is that St. Iohn cals him the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world For as the first state of creation was confirmed by the covenant which God made with man and all creatures were to be upheld by meanes of observing the law and condition of that Covenant so that Covenant being broken by man the world should have come to ruine had it not been as it were created anew and upheld by the covenant of grace in Christ. Ant. Then Sir you think that Adam was saved Evan. The Hebrew Doctors hold that Adam was a repentant sinner and say that he was by wisdome that is to say by faith in Christ brought out of his fall yea and the Church of God doth hold and that for necessary causes that he was saved by the death of Christ yea saith Mr. Vaughan it is certain he believed the promise concerning Christ in whose commemoration he offered continuall sacrifice and in the assurance thereof he named his wife Heva that is to say life and he called his son Seth setled or perswaded in Christ. Ant. Well now I am perswaded that Adam did understand this seed of the woman to be meant of Christ. Evan. Assure your self that not only Adam but all the rest of the godly fathers did so understand it as is manifest in that the Thargum or Chalde bible which is the ancient translation of Ierusalem hath it thus Between thy son and her son Adding furâ—her by way of comment So long O serpent â—s the womans children keep the Law they â—ill thee and when they cease to do so thou â—tingest them in the heele and hast power to â—urt them much but whereas for their harm â—here is a sure remedy for thee there is none for in the last dayes they shall crush thee all to â—eeces by means of Christ their king And â—his was it which did support and uphold their faith untill the time of Abraham Ant. What followed then Evan. Why then the promise was turned into a covenant with Abraham and his seed and oftentimes repeated that in his seed all nations should be blessed Which promise and covenant was the very voice it self of the Gospel it being a true testimony of Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul beareth witnesse saying The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Gentiles through faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed And the better to confirme Abrahams faith in this promise of Christ it is said Gen. 14.19 that Melchisedec came forth and met him and blessed him Now saith the Apostle this Melchisedec was a Priest of the most high God and king of righteousnesse and king of peace without father and without mother and so like unto the son of God who is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec and both king of righteousnesse and king of peace yea and without