and not as Believers or as their being in Christ by Faith then for God to love a Person to Day and hate him to Morrow would evidently shew a change in his Affection according to the change made in the Creature And I must needs tell you I like this plain dealing the best you are herein truer to your Principles than many of your Brethren that hold this Point of personal Election But for my part I believe that God loveth and accepts more of Actions that are good than of mere Persons and contrary to what you say that such and such Actions do therefore please him because the Person pleaseth him but rather because their Actions please him therefore their Persons please him tho God hates all the Workers of Iniquity Psal 5. 5. yet said he to Cain Gen. 4. 7. If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted and Heb. 11. 5 6. Before his Transgression he had this Testimony that he pleased God but without Faith he could not Read John 14. 23. and 15. 14. and 16. 27. These are those that he will love yet may those that were once beloved of God by reason of Sin come to be the object of his hatred Isa 63. 9 10. But they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their Enemy and fought against them Now you that say that where once God loves he must never cease to love Pray you what think you of the Angels that fell Do you think God did not love them while they stood in that pure and holy State in which they were created and if he did do you think that he loves them now in their Apostacy So God is said to love Jacob and Israel yet at another time he is said to hate Israel Jer. 12. 7 8. Amos 6. 8. yet is this taken off again Isa 60. 15. whereas they were hated God loved them again So that God may love at one time and hate at another without the least change in him in respect of Love or Hatred because no Person of Man is supposed to be the Object of elective Love but only as Righteous nor any Person the Object of Reprobation but only as Wicked so that the Love of God being set upon such kind of Persons as are true Believers those who have Christ formed in them whose Souls are regenerated and formed into the Image of Jesus and Partakers of the heavenly and divine Nature having received that heavenly and divine Anointing by virtue of which they become Christians 1 Cor. 6. 17. John 15. being wrought into a Conformity to Jesus this is that State in which the true Election stands Christ being the elected Root and Believers the elected Branches These are those whom God doth justify and will glorify these are those whom the Lord hath set apart for himself Psal 4. 3. These are those whom the Lord hath chosen from the rest of the World to be his own peculiar Favourites upon whom he intends to bestow an heavenly Inheritance and as Persons decline from Christ living in a State of Unbelief and Impenitency being Strangers to the Life of God disobedient and to every good Work reprobate they remaining such are in that state in which Reprobation stands not being brought over to Christ in whom the Father is well pleased So that I conceive that Unchangeableness which the Scripture asserts of God is to be considered with respect to his Essence Attributes and Decrees and not in his constant loving the same Persons how wicked soever they prove For suppose God should dearly love a Person while he is faithful to him and in case this Person should apostatize and die in a state of Impenitency and he should destroy him with eternal Death this doth not shew the least Alteration in any of the Lord's Attributes either of Love Goodness Mercy Justice c. And suppose a Man passeth from a State of Sin wherein he lived to the Displeasure of the Lord to a State of Faith and Holiness and in this Condition comes to injoy the Love and Favour of God yet his Love and Hatred cannot be said to be changed tho the Persons of Men change never so often from Good to Evil or from Evil to Good This shews indeed a change in Man but no change at all in the Lord he still loves and hates but what he loved and hated before Pray consider Ezek. 18. at what Instant I spake c. if it doth Evil I will repent Here you see God is said to repent so he is said to repent that he made Man upon the Earth Gen. 6. 6. he is said to repent that he made Saul King 1 Sam. 15. 11. And yet the Scriptures cannot be broken which testify that with God is no Repentance or shadow of change 1 Sam. 15. 29. Num. 23. 19. James 1. 17. Mal. 3. 6. Psal 102. 25. yet here is no real Contradiction And as I said before in respect of his Essence Attributes and Decrees God cannot repent yet after the manner of Men he is said to repent in respect of his Works for as Men when they repent alter their Works so when God alters his Work he is said to repent as in Gen. 6. 6. I will saith God destroy Man from the Earth for it repents me c. God made Man to dwell upon the Face of the Earth but now coming to destroy Man from off the Earth seems to repent and so concerning Saul I repent that I have made Saul King that is I have determined to depose him and to prefer another And so concerning Ely c. Delawn Sacr. p. 50. So that no such Conclusion can reasonably be drawn from God's once loving he must for ever love how wicked soever the Person proves afterwards or else be mutable for I do not find in Scripture that God hateth any of the Works of his Hands as they are his Creatures nor any thing but Sin and Sinners for the cause of Sin and there is the same Consideration or the like Reason of his Election being placed upon Faith and obedient Persons or Persons really brought over to Christ Philet The Elect are justified in the Eternal purpose of God and tho the Elect do sin yet the Lord sees it not so as to condemn them for it neither can it do them any hurt or make them less lovely in the sight of God Philad Hold one word before you go any farther you seem to say God was never an Enemy to the Elect Do you not by this make the Fall of Adam in whom the Elect were included a mere Fiction and the whole Story of the Gospel concerning Christ's Suffering a Fable and the Passion of Christ if you grant he suffered for the Elect a mere Vanity more than needs to die to reconcile and bring those into Friendship with God which were never out of his Love nor with whom he was never offended Philet I say all the Sins of the Elect both past present and
Death those Infants and Sucklings no more than to take away by Death many thousands which daily die through the World for Death reigns over all and when Infants are taken away either by a Natural Death or in any cruel manner 't is for Sin even that of Adam's yea many times their own Parents Sin hastens the Death of the Child and in Temporals very often the Children suffer for the Father's fault not only in the good things of this Life but also Death it self as in the Old World and in the overthrow of Sodom and are slain with the Sword as in this Case and likewise in those common Calamities which have befallen Nations and Cities But what will any one dare to say that such Infants and Sucklings are damned Who can forbear trembling at such a dreadful conceit And surely you that hold than Infants have sin enough from Adam to damn them to Hell had need bring good Scripture-proof for such a dreadful Doctrine But I need say no more to this than to refer you to what Mr. Grantham hath writ upon this Subject in his Answer to Mr. Petto and Mr. Firmin in his Presumption no Proof and his Infants Advocate First and Second Parts where if you be not wedded to your Opinion or blinded with Prejudice you will see that though all are guilty of Adam's Sin Rom. 5. 14. yet Infants by the presentment of the Satisfaction of Christ are and shall be sav'd for the free Gift cometh upon all Rom 5. 18. Mar. Come leave this Philetus you may easily perceive that Philadelphus owns that rotten and corrupt Opinion of universal Redemption a grand piece of Popery Philet Yea I see he 's an Arminian and I doubt a Free-willer too which is an old Pelagian Heresy and hath been condemned for an Error long since by the best and most knowing Christians Philad This is but the Devil's subtilty and delusion to hood-wink Peoples Eyes and to draw on a Vizor upon the lovely Face of true Religion to make it extremely deformed that so People may start at the naming of it Mod. Come pray let us have no Heats Philad There shall be none for me yet methinks they deal in our Day and Time by those that own the Truths of the Lord much like the barbarous Pagans did by the Christians under the persecuting Emperors who that they might have some Pretence to put them to death loaded them with odious Names and Imputations as if all the Troubles that were in the World happened for their Sakes As may be seen in Tertullian's Apology for the Christians Or as they did when they put them to death in their publick Theater they put upon them the Skin of some Savage Beast or put them into the shape of Monsters such as the nature of Man has the most Antipathy against that they might be the more excited to destroy them and the more expos'd to the fury of the Dogs Even so the noise of Arminians Pelagians Popery Free-willers and I know not what sounds so terrible to the Ears of some that they neither will nor dare examine either the Writings or Opinions of those that differ from them by the Word of God Mod. Neither will nor dare for what reason Philad Why only their Teachers whom they admire have drawn them into a dislike of the Truth of God by putting the Name of Ignominy and Reproach upon them What tho the Papists hold universal Redemption and are so unhappy to hold this part of Truth in unrighteousness Doth it therefore cease to be a Truth Or must I be ashamed or afraid to own it because held for a Truth by them May I not as well renounce the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament yea God and Christ too lest I should be accounted a Papist The Devil held that Christ was the Holy One of God and may not I do so too It will not excuse any in the Rejection of any Truth to say the Papists hold it Tho it was told Paul Acts 28. 22. That this Sect was every-where spoken against yet it did not turn him out of the way or make him out of love with the Truths of God neither ought it to do any and tho you may call this Truth Popery Arminianism c. yet was it owned for a Truth before Popery or James Arminius was heard of or had any being in the World and is indeed the ground of all Saving-Truth and Soul-establishing Comfort since the Foundation of the World and the contrary to it will be found to appear rotten and unsound having no firm footing in the Word of God let it be varnish'd over with never such dresses of Words or pretence of Zeal thereby to make the Face of it shine in the Eyes of others And I must tell you I look upon it to be a piece of daring Pride in any that shall confidently attempt to set bounds and limits to God's infinite Wisdom and Goodness acted towards all Men in the death of his Son Philet Well I am one of those that hold that God looking upon Man in the Fall did set his Love upon some of the fallen Race chusing some to eternal Life and Salvation for which he gave his Son to die for them and rejected others and never afforded them an Object to believe in nor power to believe but hath left them to perish Philad Pray prove what you affirm if you can Philet That God chuseth some to Life and leaveth others in the Fall of his meer Will and Pleasure I prove it by the Instance of Jacob and Esau Rom. 9. 13. As it is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated And this was done before they were born the one elected to eternal Life and the other reprobated to eternal Death and this at the meer Will and Pleasure of God Philad I know it is concluded from this Text that Esau in Person was damned but this is but Mens Rashness and Presumption there is not the least Syllable in all the word of God that I know of for Persons to ground such a Belief or from whence to draw such a dreadful Conclusion that Esau should be damned eternally Love and Hatred in this Text may be with respect to Temporal Blessings and so Esau may be said to be hated and Jacob loved because to Jacob was given the fruitful Land of Canaan and to Esau was given the barren Country of Mount Seir Or Love and Hatred may be with respect to Christ the promised Seed and so Jacob was separated or sanctified to be the Fore-father of Christ according to the Flesh and Esau with respect to that rejected and so was but a common or profane Person Now this was one end of Circumcision to distinguish the Family of whom Christ should be born and to keep that People of whom the Messiah was to come unmixt from the idolatrous Nations Now Esau very justly lost that Blessing for selling his Birth-Right at so base a Price for
Esau being the Elder of Right the Blessing did belong to him but he undervaluing of it sold it to his Brother So that now the Blessing as well as the Birth-Right was his Brothers and so after Isaac had blessed Jacob Esau could by no Means cause his Father to repent or reverse his Blessing tho he sought it carefully with Tears Heb. 12. 17. but said Gen. 27. 33. I have blessed him and he shall be blessed he could not recal it again Yet this Rejection as to his being the Person from whom the Messiah should come or with respect to temporal Blessings gives no one Ground to aver that he was reprobated in respect to the Salvation of his Soul or these Words might be spoken with regard to what they would do in time God certainly knew what Esau would do in time and might thereby shew what would in time be done unto him or rather with respect to the Works of the Flesh and the Spirit Esau being a Type of the one and Jacob of the other so the Works of the Spirit are pleasing to God and always beloved of him and so the Works of the Flesh are abominable to him so that these two may be but two Types as Sarah is said to be of the Gospel and Hagar of the Law and Isaac and Ishmael Types of the two Covenants Gal. 4. 21 to 31. Besides it is very plain that it is not Jacob and Esau personally to be understood in this Text but two distinct Nations or People which should proceed from them as may be seen if you read Gen. 25. 23. Rebekah being with Child and finding a strange strugling in her Womb went to inquire of the Lord and received this Answer Two Nations are in thy Womb and two manner of People shall be separated from thy Bowels and the Elder shall serve the Younger and the one People shall be stronger than the other People You see the Lord did not tell this good and godly Mother that one of those she went with should be damned to all Eternity but speaks of them as two Heads of two Nations for we do not find these Words the Elder shall serve the Younger ever fulfilled in Jacob and Esau personally Where do you find that Esau was subser vient to Jacob but rather the contrary Jacob calling Esau Lord so that this Text speaks not of single Persons but of Nations and so the Love and Hatred there spoken of is National as you may see by comparing this Verse with Obadiah and Psal 44. 4. where the Edomites are called Esau and the Jews Jacob and the cause why the Lord hated the Posterity of Esau was for their Wickedness and Enmity against the Israelites the Seed of Jacob Verse 1 to 12. and so Malachi 1. 2 3 4. I loved Jacob and hated Esau and laid his Mountains waste but this could not be before Esau was born or had any Mountains to lay waste so that it cannot be here understood a personal Hatred for 't is plain that what is here said is upon a national Account Now for the better understanding this Rom. 9. we must take notice what was the main thing the Apostle was carrying on Now the main thing that he was upon was not to maintain absolute and personal Election and Reprobation this was not the way to convince the Jews of their Sin in rejecting and crucifying the Lord of Life and Glory and their slighting the Gospel for this would have been the way to establish them in their Error of being the only elect People in the World because Abraham's Seed to whom the Promise was at first made and therefore their State safe enough tho they did not believe in Christ And saith Mr. Loveday p. 224. It is known for a Truth that there was no People under Heaven more cordially principled in personal Election than they they took all but themselves to be reprobated and forbad the Gospel to be preached to the Gentiles that they might be saved 1 Thess 2. 16. The Jews the Elder Brother could not bear to see the kindness shewed by the Father to the Prodigal Luke 15. Nay Peter himself greatly questioned his Lawfulness of going to preach to the Gentiles till convinced of it by a Vision from Heaven Act. 10. And when Peter came to Jerusalem they contended with him about his going and conversing with the Gentiles Act. 11. 1 2. Yea and for some time after the death of Stephen many preached the Word of God to none but the Jews only It appears that notwithstanding Christ had given a Commission to preach the Gospel to the whole World yet they were ignorant of the calling of the Gentiles to partake of Mercy through Christ Now if the Jews had understood that personal Election and Reprobation had been the thing Paul was about to prove they would never have quarrelled with him about it for they believed that if any People in the World was beloved of God it must needs be themselves for they above all other were chosen to be a peculiar People and beloved for their Father's sake and unto them pertained the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenant Rom. 9. 12. but this was not the Point but the great Controversy between Paul and the Jewish Rabbies was about the Terms of Justification whether by the Law or by Faith or upon what account a Sinner might be justified and saved and who was the Person to whom the Blessing belonged Now the Apostles Business is to assert and maintain Justification and Salvation to come in by Christ alone without the Works of the Law and that there was an absolute Necessity of believing in Jesus Christ where God hath afforded the Means both by the Jews as well as Gentiles which will appear if you look Chap. 3. 4. and Chap. 10. 30. and in Gal. 2. 10. he shews that a Man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by Faith And this he proves from the Example of Abraham who was not justified himself by Works but by Faith and tho the Jews boasted much of their being Abraham's Seed yet he tells them Abraham's Seed was many one by Hagar another by Sarah Now if the Promise was made to Abraham's natural Seed then Ishmael as well as Isaac and Esau as well as Jacob had inherited the Promise but the Promise was not made to Seeds as of many but to a Seed which Seed was those that believe and walk in the steps of Abraham Rom. 4. 12. These whether Jews or Gentiles were truly and only to be the reputed Children of Abraham Gal. 3. 7. and Heirs of the Promise Verse 29. so that it is neither Birth nor Works was perferred by God nor any thing should be challenged by Birth or Works but only through Faith in Christ and so the Elder serve the Younger that is the Jews the Elder which seek Salvation by the Works of the Law or according to the Flesh shall not have it but the Gentiles the Younger
who seek Salvation by the free Grace of God through Faith in Christ shall have it Rom. 9. 33 c. So that this Text proves not what you bring it for neither can you fairly understand it of such a Love or Hatred as to prove either Persons or Parties are saved or damned much less doth it prove that God hates any personally considered as they are Sinners in Adam c. Very well saith Dr. Homes p. 8. God cast off none till they cast off him 2 Chron. 36. 16. Prov. 29. 1. And in the New Testament only for the Sin of refusing Christ all along is Damnation pronounced God doth not actually cast them off beyond all Remedy till they actually cast off him and so cast them off not for original Sin but actual Sins and that not too for every actual Sin but for those that cast off the Remedy namely the Word of Christ and Christ the Word Philet That God choseth some and leaveth others in the Fall I prove from the very Word Elect or Election which is a separation or singling out some in a way of Mercy or Choice from a Number and whether these Scriptures do not prove this Election to be personal without any respect unto Faith 2 Tim. 2. 19. Phil. 4. 3. John 10. 3. Act. 19. 15. Rom. 11. 5 7. Rev. 7. 4. Rom. 9. 11. Mark 13. 20. Eph. 1. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 20. Tit. 2. 14 c. Philad But you know that the Word Election doth not always suppose Rejection but preferring one thing above another and it is frequent in Scripture to call both things and Persons of great Value of special Worth and Excellency in their kind Elect or Chosen 1 Sam. 26. 2. Isa 22. 7. In this sense the Messiah was termed by the Jews the Elect or Chosen of God Luke 23. 35. and called a Corner-Stone elect and precious 1 Pet. 2. 4. and Paul an elect or chosen Vessel And Dr. Hammond tells us The Greek Words used in Rev. 17. 14. viz. Chosen and Faithful are joined together as words of the same import Mod. I hope Philadelphus you will not dare to limit the Lord suppose God hath Elected some to Life and Salvation from Eternity or from the Fall Is not God's Mercy his own May he not do with it as he pleaseth What if God will give to one that comes into the Vineyard at the eleventh hour nay give to one gratis for doing nothing as much as he will to me for working according to my Covenant what wrong doth he do to me Why should my Eye be evil because God is bountiful or I repine that another obtains Mercy Philad I am none of those that pretend to keep the Keys of God's Secrets I dare not say God never did nor ever will chuse any personally considered But can it justly be concluded from God's predestianting some personally consider'd to Eternal Life that therefore all the rest were decreed absolutely to Condemnation without any respect to their Disobedience any more than when a King without any Condition premised pardons some that are guilty of the same Offence with others that he thereby implys that all the rest to whom he offers Pardon upon such conditions as they were able to perform should be Executed without Mercy Neither do I see any grounds from these Scriptures that we must needs understand Persons under a personal consideration without respect to Faith in Christ or any other Qualification to be the object of Electing Love and as such shall infallibly enjoy Eternal Salvation I know no Scripture that saith so nor can any Man be said to be chosen before the Foundation of the World or from the Fall any otherwise than in the Decree of God which is brought forth in time when they come actually to believe in Christ for God calleth things that are not as if they were Rom. 4. 7. and it is a usual thing in Scripture to speak of things to be done in time as if already done as Rom. 8. 30. where the Apostle speaks as if they were already glorified yet not actually glorified nor any otherwise than in the Purpose or Decree of God and so 2 Tim. 1. 19. Tit. 3. 5. they are said to be saved who were not at that time actually saved so in Ephes 1. 4. they are said to be chosen in him before the Foundation of the World though not chosen till they came to believe in Christ for as Christ was called a Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13. 8. though not slain till he took Flesh upon him which was some thousands of Years after even so Persons are said to be Elected from the Foundation of the World though not chosen till they be in Christ and when Persons have once obtained a Being in Christ by Faith they may truly be said to be Chosen by virtue of that Decree of Election which was in God before the Foundation of the World whereby he decreed to chuse all those to Salvation who should repent of their Sins believe in his Son and be obedient to his Will and when they come into this State God may be said to chuse them before the Foundation of the World by virtue of the Decree that was in him So that whatsoever Elective Love God hath or might have for any of the degenerate Sons of Adam more than for others Yet this is a thing that wholly lies hid in the secret Counsel of God and wholly unknown to us but this the Scripture reveals for a truth That whomsoever God predestinates them he calls before they are either justified or glorified Rom. 8. 30. and so 2 Thess 2. 13. through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth c. Now if the Saints are chosen to Salvation through c. and were called to it by the Gospel then they were not chosen actually before they had believed the Truth or before they heard the Gospel And to make this more plain you know Paul was a chosen Vessel or a most choice Instrument a Vessel for the Lord's use Acts 9. 15. yet he tells us that he was before a Blasphemer and a Persecutor and Injurious 1 Tim. 1. 13. and writing to his Son Titus ch 3. 3. speaking of himself saith We our selves were sometimes foolish disobedient deceiving serving divers Lusts and Pleasures living in Malice and Envy bateful and hating one another Now shall we say that Paul during his unbelief and impenitence was in a justified State an adopted Child of God Surely no. Philet Well how and when came Paul to be an adopted Child of God Philad How why first God humbles him brings him to the foot of Christ calls him by his Grace Gal. 1. 15. to which Call he was obedient Acts 26. 19. and was regenerated and born again by the Washing of Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost by which he was led to believe and obey the Gospel Acts 24. 14 15 16. and to live intirely to him
is proper to perswade or invite them to it Mar. Well for all you think these words of mine are such hard sayings yet I do farther affirm that all Men that are not by true Faith grafted into Christ but remain in an unconverted state all their Mercies are cursed to them yea they are cursed in every thing in their Name in their Estate in their Food for if they receive Food they are Usurpers of that which is none of their own if they receive no Food they are self-Murderers yea their Prayers the Word and Sacraments are cursed to them Phil. The Psalmist saith Ps 145. 9. That the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Martha God is good to all during the day of our Patience and long-Sufferance and what Mercy he affords to them may be called tender Mercy considering their sinfulness who deserve every moment to be cast into Hell But how the tender Mercy of God can be said to be over those when whatsoever God doth for them in a providential way he doth all with an intent to harden them that so he might bring destruction with the more severity and terror in the end will Men or can they call Health Peace Liberty Food Raiment given with an intent to become a Snare unto them and to bring unavoidable damnation upon them the tender Mercies of God Doth the Lord cause the Sun to rise upon the bad as well as upon the good and send Rain upon the Unjust as well as upon the Just in wrath and with a curse What can infinite Goodness and Perfection be implacable to his Creatures God forbid Ah Martha What would have become of you and I long before this time if God had not sought the good of his Creatures Consider we are all called the Lord's Off-spring Acts 17. All his Children by Creation Mar. What by that What would you prove from thence Phil. What Why then I think that the Lord must needs have a very tender regard to all as they are his Creatures the workmanship of his hands and is not implacable to them in this World Why may not God deal with his Off-spring as we deal by ours Goodman's Parable of the Prodigal Son which of us that have Children tho' they should prove very undutiful to us and we could not love them with the love of delight as we do those that are very dutiful and are good and vertuous yet at the worst we cannot chuse but pity them and heap favours upon them Why thus doth the Lord to the Sons and Daughters of Men though his delight is with them that fear him yet those that are the worst he pities And how can you think otherwise when there is not one Soul but is dearer to him than the whole World Neither did he count the Blood of his own Son too great a price for their Redemption but I doubt you are one of those that hold that God did from all Eternity fore ordain the greatest part of Adam's Off spring to everlasting destruction Mar. What if it was the Pleasure of God to make a thousand Worlds and then destroy them all Is it meet for Man to say unto God Why hast thou made me thus or what dost thou For he might glorify his Justice in the Damnation of all for their Sins who shall question God about this Phil. I say that God is so far from destroying one whole World that he is not willing that so much as one Soul should perish 2 Pet. 3. 9. and indeed who can think that our good and gracious God whose Name and Nature is Love should provide means of Life and Nourishment for Man in his Mother's Womb when he could neither breath nor eat should after he is born not provide as sufficient Means to nourish his Soul and Body to eternal Life I may say in this case as the Apostle in another doth God take care for Oxen hath God such a tender regard for the Bodies of Men and hath he none for the Soul surely he is every way as desirous of the welfare of the Soul as the Body and hath declared by Oath that he takes no pleasure in the Destruction of any Ezek. 33. 11 12. Who then is he that dare charge the God of Love with so much Cruelty as to expose his own Children at least by Creation to be a prey to the Devil What saith our Saviour Luke 11. 11. which of you having Children if they ask Bread will you give them a Stone c. Can we that are evil have Compassion upon our Children and will God harden himself as an Ostrich against his Off-spring Job 39. 16. Doth God condemn Cruelty in others and can we think he will harbour it in himself No the Scripture of Truth doth every where abound in giving Testimony of the Love Goodness and Bountifulness of God to all his Creatures and to Mankind above all other Works of his Hands in this lower World in so much as our blessed Saviour recommends him in his Carriage towards the worst and most unworthy of Men as an absolute Pattern for us to imitate in doing Good and shewing Mercy even to our Enemies Matt. 5. 44 45. Be ye therefore perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect that is be you true Imitators of the Lord Followers of God as dear Children in these works of Mercy and Kindness Now Martha pray you observe this if we should suppose that God hath irreversibly from Eternity doomed to everlasting Destruction and without any respect to their Sin those unjust ones upon whom he causeth the Sun to rise c. it must necessarily follow that while he did these good things to them he intended the greatest Evil that can be inflicted or imagined even the Vengeance of Eternal Fire which if so then must those that imitate him in such ways be the most accursed Hypocrites and Dissemblers under Heaven making shews of Love and Kindness while War and Blood are in their Hearts and so by this a Man may be most unjust unmerciful full of Dissimulation hating most Men without any Cause and yet be most like God O horrid and most unworthy a true Christian Believer Mar. What will you deny God to be omnipotent hath not he an absolute Soveraignty and Lordship over his Creatures with full Power to dispose of them as he pleaseth and you that contend with God about his Soveraignty unless you repent Phil. It cannot be denied but that God hath an absolute Soveraignty and Lordship over his Creatures that is a lawful Power to dispose of them as he pleaseth yet it is a horrible Indignity put upon him and a great Injury done to the Goodness Mercy and fatherly Compassion of our good and gracious God to affirm that he exerciseth this his Power upon the hardest Terms and the most grievous unto his Creatures that is or can be imagined and that which no ways is conducing to his own Honour and Glory nay
very injurious to his Goodness yet directly and immediately opposite to his very Nature which is meer Goodness and Happiness and hath no Affinity with Rigour Cruelty or Misery Read Psal 34. 6. Psal 86. 5. Joel 2. 13. Jonah 4. 2. Micah 7. 18. If God doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men without just cause Lam. 3. 33. how can we in reason think that God in his eternal Purpose and absolute Pleasure should affect the extream Misery of any of his Creatures for the shewing of the absolute Soveraignty he hath over them If so he may as well damn them as create them How can we think that he should send them one after another into this World to enjoy some of the good things of this Life and after this short Life is over to torment them with Devils and damn'd Spirits for ever to shew his Power over them without just cause in the Creature What saith Abraham Gen. 18. 25. when he was interceding with God for Sodom with respect to a temporal Judgment Wilt thou destroy the Righteous with the Wicked that be far from thee Shall not the Judg of all the World do right If to destroy the Righteous with the Wicked was far from God in Temporals shall we think that God resolved to punish the Innocent in Hell with wicked Spirits For pray you observe if God hath from Eternity reprobated the greatest part of Mankind it must be understood that he look'd on them as Persons that would in time prove sinful or else he reprobated them simply as Men. If the first then was their Sinfulness wherein he beheld them the cause of their Rejection if the second then the pure and perfect Workmanship of his Hands yea that which was very good Gen. 1. 31. must be the Object of his Reprobation which cannot be it was a saying of one of the Ancients Aug. Lib. 3. Cont. Julian Cap. 31. Pag. 164. God is Good and God is Just he may without any desert free Men from Punishment because he is Good but he cannot without Evil desert and condemn any Man because he 's just And again Aug. Epist 106. ad Bonifac. If God be believed to damn any man that by Sin deserveth it not he is not to be believed to be free from Injustice And therefore for any to say that God hath irrevocably reprobated the greatest part of the World to eternal Misery before they had a being in this World or any possibility of doing Good or Evil he speaks more like a Mahumetan than a Christian however more harsh of the God of Love than he ought to speak and reflects dishonour upon him making him to be the Prime Principal and Irresistable Cause of the Damnation of Millions of Souls appointing them to Destruction of his own voluntary Will antecedent to any desert in them No Martha there is nothing can proceed from the God of Love that is unjust nothing unequal nothing hard nothing that any ways inclineth to the hurt of any of his Creatures considered as innocent and therefore no irreversible decreeing or ordaining of Men to everlasting Destruction as you pretend Mar. But doth not the Apostle Rom. 9. 20. 21. shew 't is no unrighteous thing no unequal or hard thing in God to reprobate or predestinate to Destruction which or how many of his Creatures he pleaseth 'T is his lawful and just Prerogative as he is absolute Lord of all Who art thou that repliest against God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power over his Clay to make one Vessel to honour and another to dishonour Phil. I know this 9th Chapter to the Romans is the great Magazine and Fortress wherein all your imaginary Strength lieth and those Verses are the Weapons which you draw to silence those that question your horrid Notions about Personal Election and Reprobation Pray do you think that Paul was about to prove personal Election and Reprobation in these Verses Mar. Yes what else but to prove that God hath Power to create and appoint Vessels of Honour and Dishonour and consequently of Wrath as the Potter hath to make Vessels at his Pleasure without contradiction of the same Lump of Clay Phil. You are under a great mistake the great Controversy lay about the Terms of Justification whether by the Law or Faith and not about personal Election and Reprobation so that the Prerogative which the Lord claims to himself as a Royalty annexed to the Crown of Heaven and Earth in this 9th of the Romans or elsewhere in respect to the Condemnation and Eternal Destruction of his Creatures stands not in leaving what Persons he pleaseth to eternal ruin but in making the condition of Life and Death Salvation and Damnation as he pleaseth according to the Counsel of his own Will Eph. 1. 1. Now the Apostle was shewing the Way and Method that God will take in saving Sinners and that it is not the purpose of God that men should be justified by the Law but by Grace and through Faith and tho the Jews much boasted of their being Abraham's Seed and Moses's Disciples and their observing of the Law and judged it an equal thing that God should make that Law to be the Law of Life and Salvation to Men and the neglect of it the Law of Death and Damnation yet it being the good Pleasure of God to do otherwise and to ordain Faith in his Son Christ Jesus to be the way of Justification and Life and Unbelief the way to Condemnation and Death this Choice or Election shall stand whatever Men may think meet and fitting for him to do Therefore saith he Verse 15. I will have Mercy upon whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion upon whom I will have Compassion Men shall not prescribe unto me Laws or Terms of shewing Mercy my Will shall not be bounded by Man's Will neither will I be obliged by them what manner of Persons or how qualified I shall justify and save I mean to keep close to the Counsel of my own Will in that which concerns the Life and Death the Salvation or Destruction of my Creatures and so in this 21st Verse Hath not the Potter power over his Clay c. meaning that God Almighty hath the like Power over the whole Lump of Mankind in Adam to make what Laws of Life and Death he pleased and to appoint what manner of Persons should be saved or condemned which the Potter hath over the Lump of Clay to make what Vessel he pleaseth for Honour or Dishonour Now at best this Scripture is but an Allusion and should we suppose that the Apostle doth compare the Lord to a Potter as we often in Scripture find him compared to Persons and Things and human Actions Affections and Members of a Man attributed to God and divine Things because God in his Word descends as it were to our Capacities expressing heavenly Matters after
the manner of Men yet it is not necessary that all those things which are attributed to God should have something in his Nature correspondent to them according to that ancient Saying Similitudes are not wont to run on all-fours Metaphors are not to be strain'd to express things in themselves quite opposite nor make the parallel run till it grows lame but great care must be taken that no mean base or unworthy thing be attributed to the most high And therefore from the Potter's Power over his Clay to make thereof a Vessel of Honour or Dishonour as he pleaseth to infer positively from thence that God hath purposely made some to be Vessels of Wrath is an unjustifiable Inference from that Similitude Surely the Holy Ghost compares not our most wise Creator to a foolish Potter who because he might make what he would of his Clay did therefore make the greatest number of his Pots to be broken again to shew that he had as well a Power to break them as to make them which none but a mad Man would do but rather to a wise Potter that designs his Work for some good end and use Doubtless God so made all things that not one of his Creatures hath so much cause of dislike as to say why hast thou made me thus No Vessel of Wrath came so made out of his Hands So that if any be Vessels of Wrath the fault is not in him but in themselves by reason of their Infidelity and Contempt of the Lord and his long Sufferance I know this place is usually made use of as a Fortress for such as you are to flee to and is misunderstood to imply what you say but if you will but mind what the Apostle was upon and let this place be expounded by the Context and other places of holy Scripture so that the whole and every part of God's Word may agree in one Truth then we shall never take it in this sense of yours for then this dark and obscure part of Paul's Epistle which the Apostle Peter saith many wrest to their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3. 16. must be taken openly to oppose and contradict the whole Course and Tenour of God's Word Is there no way to understand the 9th of the Romans than by making those places which sound severely to clash against those that sound compassionately Is it not far the best way to interpret hard and doubtful Texts by those many Texts that are clear and easy than to interpret the many clear Texts by one that is dark and difficult or if one Scripture may have a double sense must we needs take it in the worst must I needs say that the Father of Mercy and God of Consolation which doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men did absolutely damn him before he had done either good or evil is it not the best so to understand it that his Mercy and Justice his Love and Power may imbrace and kiss each other Now the Scripture speaks in some places darkly and dubiously in other places it expresses the same thing more clearly and certainly the doubtful are to be expounded by the certain and dark places by those that are clear and all Exposition answerably to the Current of Scripture not contrary to it Now it doth seem as if the Apostle in these Words had an Eye to Jeremiah 18. 3 4 c. where he speaks of the Clay in the Potter's Hands not as it was in Creation but in Vocation being marr'd in the Hands of the Potter and so finding it would not be for that use he designed it for made thereof a Vessel as pleaseth him So God sometimes whilst he is at work to fashion a Soul for his own Work by the preaching of the Gospel by the sweet motion of his Spirit by Mercy and long Sufferance yet the Vessel is marr'd the Clav yields not nor is pliable to the Will of God and so finding it will not be a fit Vessel for Honour he makes a Vessel of Dishonour Read the 7 8 9 Verses and compare them with 2 Tim. 2. 20 21. so that it is plain God made of one Lump all Innocent and Upright Gen. 5. ult Eccles 7. ult at the first See what Mr. Loveday saith upon this in his Personal Reprobation Reprobated Page 243 God saith he like a Potter makes of low vile Man honourable Vessels Hath not the Potter any ordinary Potter power over the Clay to make it what Vessel he pleaseth and when a piece thereof runs coarse and is marr'd upon the Wheel hath he not power to make it a less honourable Vessel and hath not God the same and much more power over you that have imbas'd your selves by slighting and abusing all those Mercies he hath designed to bestow upon you and thereby make you honourable To be plain saith the Apostle why may not God for your Disobedience and Rebellion to his Son as zealous as you are for the Law of Moses of a glorious People and invested with all those extraordinary Privileges make you a base and contemptible People and besides your continuing still in Unbelief make your Condition far worse in the World to come Such a Paraphrase as this seems to bear a sweet Harmony with Jeremiah 18. also with the Scope of the whole Context and with the Apostle's conclusive Result Verse 32. that they did not attain to it because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the Works of the Law So that when Persons do Evil against God and will not obey his Voice but obey Unrighteousness and harden their Hearts against him then he will make them Vessels of Dishonour prepared for Destruction These are they that Jude speaks of Verse 4. that were of old ordained to this Condemnation not simply as they were Men but ungodly Men turning the Grace of God into Wantonness c. By what is or might farther be said we may see that those absolute Decrees of Mers inevitable Damnation is no part of God's revealed Will for if this 9th of the Romans faileth to prove what you bring it for as it is evident it doth then there is not the least shew in the Scripture for it Nay this Opinion of yours seems rather to be taken out of the Turkish Alcoran or Heathen Authors than the Bible for the Holy Scriptures are so far from containing or asserting any such Exercise in God over his Creatures which consists in a most severe and dreadful dooming them from Eternity to endless Misery that on the other hand they frequently exalt him as very gracious loving merciful and bountiful towards all and that there must be a great Breach on the Creatures part in point of Degeneration before the Lord gives him up to ruin Isa 27. 11. yea the Love and Pity of God to his Creature Man exceeds the Affections of a Father to his Son or of the tenderest Mother to her sucking Child Mat. 7. 11. Isa 49. 15. Martha I cannot
Men Psal 139. Let us then here learn to become Fools that we may be wise and leave prying into those things which are beyond our human Reason to conceive and let us keep close to God's revealed Will which is our Duty for the want of this hath filled Professors Heads with Fancies and so they have been smiting one another and weakning the Hands of each others in the Lords Work while Piety Virtue the Love and Fear of God the true Spiritual Substance of all Religion is too too much neglected So that what if God did foreknow all the wicked Actions of Men before they came to pass yet might not God as well foreknow that if they had but improved those Means which he through his Grace had afforded them they might not have come to pass for the fore-knowledg in God of what Men will do doth not imply any absolute necessity of their doing of it neither have they any less Power to refrain doing of it because of God's fore-knowing that they will do it Whilst it remained saith Peter to Ananias touching his Possession was it not thy own i.e. wert thou not at full liberty to have kept it for thy own private use and when it was sold was it not in thy Power viz. whether thou wouldst part with thy Money or not Doubtless God foreknew what Ananias would do yet this did not take away the Liberty or Freedom of his Will to dispose of it as he pleased otherwise God's Foreknowledg should necessitate him to sell the Possession and to keep back part of the Mony and lie against the Holy Ghost by saying there was all when there was not this Act must be looked upon not the Act of Ananias but of God himself for whatsoever a Man is necessitated to do by an unresistable Power out of himself is the Act of the Necessitator not his As the Apostle saith Rom. 7. 20. If I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but Sin that dwells in me I would not have you admit into your thoughts that God is any ways Author of the wicked Actions of Men or that he decrees any thing that is an Infringement to his Justice or his Mercy in the least Mar. I am against those that hold that God works Sin by an operative Decree as Mr. Perkins in his Commentary upon Heb. 11. 40. who saith that under the large extent of God's Decree we must include the sinful Actions of Men for God doth not barely foresee them but decrees the being of them and so wills them after a sort tho not to be done by himself yet by others And so upon Jude ver 4. that nothing comes to pass without the Decree of God no not the wicked Actions of Men which God not only foreseeth but decreeth Now it is true which you have said if God should be operative in the working of Sin then he would be the Author of Sin yet that all Sin comes to pass by the permissive decree of God is a thing I hope you will not deny Phil. I see you can play fast and loose with your Opinion sometimes you say that God did from Eternity freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass and when by this Doctrine you find that Man is laid under a necessity of sinning and consequently God becomes the Author of all the wicked Actions of Men then you would help your self by saying Though Man sin not by the operative decree of God yet he doth by the permissive decree This is no more indeed than what we find and hear in the Sermons of all those of your way when they preach on this Subject the Doctrinal part of their Sermons countenance one thing and the Applicatory part that which is contrary unto it labouring to beget such a Faith in their Auditors as would destroy the Faith of their Doctrine What wooing and beseeching doth your Ministers make for Sinners to close with Christ to repent believe and obey the Lord and not to withstand the Day of Grace when yet notwithstanding all this they believe there is no Grace nor Mercy but for very few before them and that their strongest Endeavours to repent c. effect just nothing but the over-ruling Decree of God doth all and so they pull down with one hand what they build up with the other And the Truth is this Doctrine of God's eternal decreeing the greatest part of Adam's Offspring to Sin and Damnation includes in it so many Absurdities horrible Blasphemies undermining the very Foundation of all Religion and Piety that my Hopes are that it will shortly fall with the unsupportable weight of its own Evil. Yea were it not for so many Volumes written to uphold it I should hope it would appear so wicked that all good Christians e're long would be ashamed to own it and God's Love to all would be exalted in the Hearts Tongues and Writings of all Men. One thing I perceive is the cause why this Doctrine doth so flourish and lift up its Head in this Day is an over-much confiding in Persons of whose Learning and Piety they have had a high Opinion This draws many ignorant tho well-meaning Hearers to be zealous in what they teach be it right or wrong and to follow Persons reputed Godly and Learned more than the pure unerring Word of God Alas all good and pious Men have Errors and Fits of Distempers thro human Frailty and we ought not to take their Words upon trust but upon trial and in those things that appertain to Salvation bring them to the Law and Testimony and to suspect that for Truth where the Word of God administers much more Ground to doubt and question than believe as this Doctrine of personal and respective Reprobation doth But a word to the permissive Decree of God If by the permissive Decree of God you mean that God permitting or suffering such or such a thing to be done or come to pass supposeth a necessity of the coming of it to pass This I deny for if it be true that a Sparrow falls not to the Ground without his Permission yet hath not he decreed eternally that it shall be at such or such a time or in any cruel way as it often falls out directly contrary to his Will Deut. 22. 6. and though it be a Truth God hath decreed to suffer Sin otherwise there could be none yet it is also a great Truth that this permissive Decree of God is no cause of Sin God doth permit one Man to take away the Life of another but it doth not follow that therefore he did appoint or ordain them to such wicked Actions No Decree of God that is purely and barely permissive either induceth or supposeth any necessity of the coming to pass what is so decreed no more than a Capital Law necessitates to Murder Permission supposeth a Possibility of sinning or not sinning in the Party permitted From whence I conclude there is no damning to Misery
God But he is there speaking of the Tenor of the Gospel the word of Reconciliation which was committed unto him and whereof he was a Minister and tells them That God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself The Quarrel began in Adam Sin was that which set God and Man at variance Isa 49. 1. But now the Lord being minded to take whole Adam into Grace and Favour and to found a Universal Covenant of Peace was pleased to appear in Christ that those that were Strangers and afar off might be made near yea the Sons of God But I 'll give you a Scripture that is far from such Objections 't is 1 John 2. 2. He is a Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but for the Sins of the whole World Here you plainly see that Christ is a Propitiation for the whole World as opposed to Believers therefore he must needs die for all Now these words were spoken to strengthen the Faith of those that through the subtilty of Satan and prevailing Temptation were fallen or should fall into Sin and thereby raise doubts in their Spirits whether Christ died for them or was a Propitiation for their Sins or not Now the Apostle to remove all doubts and fears out of their Minds tells them That he did not die for some few particular Men only which might have augmented their fears but was a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World Now this will greatly add to the Comfort and put new Life into a sorrowful tempted Soul one cast down under the sense of Sin to think that Jesus Christ is a Propitiation for his Sins being the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World But pray tell me what could it add to the comfort of those to whom John wrote his Epistle who were weak in Faith to tell them that Christ was a Propitiation for the Sins of all his Elect ones for some few particular Men but a great many yea the far greatest number shall have no part with Christ but shall be damned Would not such a Doctrine rather augment their Fears than their Comforts Would they not be ready to say Ah then I fear I am none of those that Christ is a Propitiation for Therefore the Apostle puts the matter out of all doubt by telling them that Christ by his Death became a Propitiation or made a full Atonement for the Sins of all Men without excepting so much as one Person in the whole World But that Christ died for all I prove from 1 Tim. 2. 6. Who gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time If you look back to the Context of this Verse you will find Paul exhorting his Son Timothy That Prayer and Supplication c. should be made for all Men and telling him That so to do was good and acceptable in the sight of God And to prove that it is good and acceptable in the sight of God to pray for all he lays down this for his ground That God would have all Men to be saved And for a further confirmation that it is the Will of God that all Men without exception should be saved he gives this reason for it that Christ Jesus gave himself a Ransom for all so that Christ's dying for all gives us a ground for Faith to pray for all Men which we could not do if Christ did not die for all 2 Cor. 5. 14. I would have you Philetus to consider 2 Cor. 5. 14. a Text that you cannot well cavil with the Apostle thus argues If one died for all then were all dead but one died for all therefore all were dead The thing that the Apostle is about to prove is that all were dead and the medium to prove it is that one died for all so that if it be clear that all Men were dead by the fall of the first Adam it must be clear that Life was offered to all by the death of the second Adam for if Christ died for none but the Elect then the Elect only were dead for the word all must signify as many in the minor as it doth in the major or else the Apostle's reasoning would be fallacious And so Rom. 11. 32. God hath concluded all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all Now if this last all belongs to none but the Elect then none but the Elect were concluded in unbelief but it is plain that all without exception were first or last concluded in unbelief therefore the Mercy was meant to all without exception Philet But you know very well that this word all men is not of necessity to be taken simply and universally for all without exception of any but is very often taken in a restrained signification when a part is put for the whole as in Exod. 9. 6. and all the Cattel of Egypt died that is all that were in the Field and so 2 Sam. 16. 22. and Isa 2. 2. and Mat. 3. 5. Jerusalem and all Judea and all the Regions c. that is very many Men of those places and so John 10. 8. Act. 2. 5 17. Act. 10. 12. Mat. 4. 23. Luke 11. 42. with many others Philad Tho it be true that the word all Men is not at all times to be taken for all Men simply or universally yet it never signifies the smallest number in comparison with a greater however it cannot be taken here for some of all sorts of Men or for the Elect only or the like but of necessity for all Men universally If we take it in any other sense we make the Apostle to argue very weakly for mind here is first a Duty enjoyn'd I will that prayers c. and to stir us up to so good a work he tells us that 't is good and acceptable in the sight of God because his Will is that all should be saved God is so kind so tender-hearted that out of his love and pity he would have all Men injoy a happy and blessed end and therefore in Charity we must pray for all no Men tho never so wicked and profane are to be excluded from our Prayers unless we know them to be such as have committed that unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost 1 John 5. 16. Now if by all Men we must needs understand some of all sorts of Men or the Elect only then the all we are to pray for reacheth and extendeth not so far as God extendeth his Love Again if we must take it in your sense then we may read the Apostle thus 'T is good and acceptable in the sight of God that we should pray for all Men without exception of any because God would have all his Elect to be saved surely the word all in both places is of the same extent Much of the same nature is 2 Pet. 3. 9. wherein the gracious and good Will of God toward all Men appeareth there it is said the Lord is not willing that any should perish here the
Blood for those which when he had done all should have no benefit by it because not elected For the benefit provided in Redemption extendeth to none with respect to Eternal Life but such as are elected otherwise these things would follow 1. That he must love those in Redemption that he never loved in Election 2. That Christ died for all alike which contradicts these Scriptures Rom. 8. 33. John 11. 52. Ephes 5. 23 25. Tit. 2. 14. John 10. 15. Rev. 14. 14. in which Scriptures who can deny but there are expressions of singular respect and love for all are not Christ's Elect Children peculiar People given Ones redeemed from amongst Men. Moderatus I believe Election is absolute of particular Persons not the chusing of Believers only to be saved as Philadelphus speaks but the chusing Persons to believe and for those that are these peculiar Ones Christ died for them in a more peculiar manner and to such he will give Faith and Repentance to carry them safe through all that so they shall never perish yet Christ died for all and loved all Men in a sense being the Saviour of all Men 1 Tim. 4. 10. Yet did not Christ die for all alike some he died for with an intent to adopt for Sons others he died for to purchase Pardon and Salvation upon condition of their Repentance believing and obeying the Lord. Philet But have all Men a power to perform these Conditions Moderat No 't is not from the power of our own Free-will Philet It seems then Christ dying as well for those that shall perish as for those that shall be saved I see you are for the middle way you hold absolute Election of some with universal Redemption of all likewise the purchasing a power to believe only for some and the tenders of Salvation to all upon condition they believe repent and obey the Lord without a power to believe so that many thousands shall nay must perish notwithstanding Christ died for them Will you say that Christ died with an intent to save all Moderat Tho he died for all yet not with an intent to save all Philad Pray let me interpose I perceive there is no great difference between you Philet I must confess I was for the middle way my self till I found that Universal Redemption would not comport with Particular Election Philad Moderatus I perceive can play fast and loose and deceive us both being true to neither sometime we think we have him fast on our side and you think him as fast for you and yet he is as slippery as an Eel to us both as I could shew but time will not give me leave to day But pray tell me how you hold Christ died for all and yet did not intend their Salvation thereby Moderat Then I 'll tell you how I hold it 1. Christ died so far for all as to purchase for them the Blessings and Benefits of this World 2. He died so far for all that there is a potent Argument from thence to perswade all Men to live to him 2 Cor. 8. 15. 3. He died so far for all that the Gospel should be preached to all 4. He died so far for all that all should be raised from the Grave Rom. 14. 9. Philet I hold the same Philad So do I but did Christ die for all in such a manner and yet never intend their Salvation thereby this justly seems strange Philet Why 't is one thing to die for the Reprobate in some sense and to die for them with an intention to save them Philad As to the first I suppose you mean that God is so bountiful a God that he will not let the least act of Charity or the least appearance of Good in any go unrewarded in this Life And that Christ died for the obtaining of these lesser Mercies but yet had no love for them in order to their Salvation I have already disproved But as to your second you say that Christ died so far for all that there is a potent Argument from thence to perswade all Men to live to him but then I must prove beyond all Exceptions that God Almighty hath designs of Love to all Men and a desire after their Eternal Well-being seeing that true Love to God must first spring from the certain knowledg of God's Love to us And the Holy Ghost teacheth us 1 John 4. 19. that love to God must or ought to be kindled in the Hearts of Men by the sense of this Affection in God to Man neither as I said before can I think that any Man can heartily and cordially love God unless he believes God had a love for him And how can any use Arguments to perswade all or any Man to love and live to God whose love to them is doubtful Neither doth any Man stand bound either to use Arguments or believe them when used unless he hath a sufficient reason to do so seeing the Apostle saith Rom. 14. 23. Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin whatsoever a Man doth not having sufficient reason on which to ground his belief of the lawfulness thereof is sinful and an irregular Act and displeasing to God Prov. 19. 2. 14. 15. All Arguments are out of doors neither will wise Men use them to Persons who are necessitated by an over-ruling Power to be what they are seeing you will not say that Christ died with an intent they might be saved Philet I believe Christ's Death was sufficient for all that is to say the Death of Christ simply and in it self considered was sufficient to redeem and save all Men yea many Worlds as well as those who are redeemed and saved by it and so there is sufficient ground to perswade all Men to love and live to him Philad 'T is true the Satisfaction that Christ gave to Divine Justice was infinite his Righteousness infinite and therefore sufficient for the Redemption of this and many Worlds had they been made In this sense it is sufficient to save the Apostate Angels that fell but have the fallen Angels any sufficient ground or reason to hope for Salvation upon the absolute worth and merit of Christ's Satisfaction Philet No Christ never died to free them from their Chains of Darkness and to readmit them into the Love and Favour of God and as Moderatus told us he took not upon him the Nature of Angels therefore there is no ground of hopes for them God never by Christ provided for the Salvation of the fallen Angels this was besides the Lord's Intention Philad Well you grant that Christ died sufficiently for all yet unless you grant that he died intentionally for all that is Christ by his Death hath purchased such Grace and Favour in the sight of God for all Men that upon their repentance and believing in him they should be justified and receive forgiveness of their Sins and persevering therein shall be eternally saved the sufficiency of his Death is no sufficient ground for any Man
the Flesh partake of the real Virtue of his Death as if he had been already slain So also Christ came into the World not to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved John 3. 17. and came to seek and to save that which was lost to shed his Blood to bear unutterable dolours not only for them that were saved but for those also who through their unbelief and impenitency were not saved their unbelieving and rejecting of Gospel-Grace rendred them obnoxious to just punishment for saith the same Apostle the Gospel was preached to them that were dead 1 Pet. 4. 6. tho they had not the Letter of the Gospel preached to them as with us at this day yet they had the spiritual Substance and Effect of the Gospel preached to them and therefore 't is said that Christ went by his Spirit and preached to them and their unbelief and rejection was a Sin against the Covenant of Grace for those before Christ and those since Christ came are for the main under one and the same Covenant yea essentially and for substance the same the same Christ exhibited thro Types and Shadows which we have revealed in the Gospel with open face and the same substantial Duties as Repentance Faith and Obedience with the same spiritual Blessings as pardon of Sin Justification and Eternal Life So that all Persons being under one Covenant of Grace made with all Mankind in the Promised Seed and this Covenant the same for Substance both before and since Christ's coming and all Persons that were saved before Christ being saved by a Covenant of Grace and through believing on him that was to come it necessarily follows that the want of Faith and Obedience to the Lord Jesus according to their measure of knowing him and believing on him was the cause of their condemnation see Heb. 4. 2. compared with Chap. 3. 18 19. So that I cannot see how it should sound more harshly in the Ears of all Christians that Christ should sweat drops of Blood and bear the Curse of the Law for those that were in Hell if you will have it so when he died than that he should sweat drops of Blood c. for those that after his coming in the Flesh shall go to Hell notwithstanding all that Christ hath done for them so that Christ did really intend the Good and Benefit of those that perished through unbelief before his coming in the Flesh as well as after if not so I know not how any could use potent Arguments to perswade them to love and live to him Moderat Come Philadelphus the thing to be proved is this whether Christ died equally for all and every Man this I suppose you will not easily grant for if Christ died equally for every Man they would have equally the means of Salvation granted to them Philad This is but a lame proof that Christ died not for all Men equally c. as if difference of Means vouchsafed to Men should argue different Intentions in God touching their Salvation You may as well prove by this Rule that Christ died not equally for the Elect themselves as the other they do not equally alike injoy the Means of Grace nay by this a Man but meanly read in the Scriptures may prove that God bore more good-will to many that perish than towards many of the Elect for many perish under more excellent and greater means of Salvation than are vouchsafed to many that are saved stretching out his hands all the day long to a disobedient People Isa 65. 2. Mat. 15. 28. 11. 20 21. 8. 10. 1 Pet. 3. 20. And in Mat. 22. 3. our Saviour by that Parable holds forth to us these two things 1. That the Death of Christ signified by the Oxen and Fatlings slain was provided by the King for those that never came to partake of the Feast but were rejected because they made light of the Invitation and went away one to his Farm c. yet Jesus Christ with the Blessing accruing thereby to Mankind was equally intended for those that perish through their unworthiness as well as for those that are saved for they did neglect so great a blessing and when there was a prize put in their Hands they had no heart to use it Pro. 17. 16. yet notwithstanding the neglect on their part God was not wanting one his paâ—… to provide good things for them The 2d Thing observable is this the King's Servants took more pains with those that never came to partake of the Supper than with those that came for those that rejected the Invitation were again and again called whenas the other came at the first Philet but if the Feast had been provided for all and God had called them in good earnest they would have come or been compelled to it as those were that tasted of it Philad If the King had intended that those who were invited should never have tasted of his Supper questionless he would never have invited them for it 's but mockage to use Arguments to perswade Persons to accept of a Feast that was only and wholly provided for another with as intent to exclude those that were invited Thus do you make the God of Truth a meer Deluder of poor miserable Mankind to cause his Ministers to proclaim throughout the World the glad tidings of Grace and Salvation prepared for all Flesh and by the Gospel open the Bosom of his Love to all poor Sinners and by sweet loving and gracious words offer to them forgiveness of Sins Life and Salvation and yet never intend to bestow it upon them what is this but to represent God as hollow-hearted But it is clear that in the ministry of the Word God doth as well perswade the obstinate and many of those that never believe as he doth those that do as it is said 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. That the Lord God of their Fathers sent to them by his Messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his People c. But they mocked the Messengers despised his Word and misused his Prophets till the Wrath of the Lord rose up against them And thus doth the Lord in this Gospel-day being every way as serious in his pressing the Gospel upon those that remain obdurate to the last as upon those that in time come to believe as Paul preached the same Gospel at Athens to those that mocked as to those that clave to him and believed Acts 17. 32 34. so that difference of Means doth not argue different Intention in God touching their Salvation Yet it is not denied but that God doth in his providential Dispensations put a difference between one man's spiritual Opportunities and another's all do not injoy equal Conveniencies and Opportunities nor have Ministers the same efficacy and power for conversion and edification c. Nor are Men equally free from or subject to temptations and occasions of Sin with many such I do not say
4. Neither must we think that Men stumbling at Christ and being disobedient to the Word to which they were appointed to learn their Duty is the Result of fatal Necessity But prethee Philetus tell me whether you be of Moderatus's mind that Christ died so far for all that the Gospel which is glad tidings should be preached to all and whether the Lord by the preaching of the Gospel doth not call all Men to Faith and Repentance promising Salvation to all that do believe Philet I know Faith and Repentance are required of all and God by the Gospel invites all Men to believe in him promising Salvation to all that do so believe yet only those will believe for whom Christ died to purchase these things for them and to purchase their Salvation Ye believe not because you are not of my Sheep John 10. 26. Philad That is I suppose you mean because they were not elected and because Christ did not die for them to purchase a Power to believe and therefore they could not believe because God had decreed their unbelief this is plainly to charge all the unbelief of Men upon the Lord but saith Christ They believe not because they were not of his Sheep And who those are he tells you in the next verse They are such as hearing his Voice follow him Such fallacious reasoning strikes at the Root of the Gospel of Grace and free Love of God and frees the Devil and wicked Men from bringing destruction on themselves for by such Doctrine God Almighty is the sole cause of all the incredulity in the World and tho he offers and invites all Men to partake of Grace yet he doth it not really and in good earnest and while your Ministers call upon Persons to believe and seem to wonder that they do not believe and yet hold that God hath decreed they shall never believe their Sermons are mere dissimulations and nonsense What would they bind Men to believe that which is untrue and charge them to take and receive Christ as tendred to them in the Gospel and to believe there is remission of Sins in Christ's Blood for them when he never shed it for them and so to lay hold upon that which they had no kind of interest in This not only makes your Ministers false Witnesses to offer Salvation to those whose Damnation is absolutely determined but also makes God a mere deluder of miserable Man whom he calleth by the preaching of the Gospel to partake of Salvation by his Son and yet fully before intended their ruin Is not this as much as in you lyeth to make God a lier as 1 Joh. 5. 10. for they that believe not God make him a lier because they believe not the Record God gave of his Son and what is that namely That whosoever believe on him should not perish but have Everlasting Life not that any Man can possibly make God a Lier no let God be True and all Men Liers but Men by their not believing on Christ do represent God as untrue in his Word because they reject that as a Fable which hath been spoken by the Lord himself for a Truth and those that preach the glad-tidings of Grace and Peace to all Men and every Creature sin in preaching in that they preach Lies to most Men yea and require Men to believe Lies May we not easily see that all your Exhortations Chidings your whining and seemingly bemoaning the state of poor Sinners is but a dissembling Art Mar. O what pangs are faithful Ministers in lest poor Souls should perish Philad Yea true Gospel-Ministers may but what Pangs your Ministers are in that hold Reprobation without respect to actual Sins part of their Creed I know not is commiseration in you a Virtue and is not all Good originally in God and can I take your Ministers to be filled with more compassion than the God of Love or to be better than they represent God to be For do they not hold that notwithstanding all the passionate wishes of the Lord his Exhortations and Perswasions Reprovings Expostulations mourning over the perishing state of poor Sinners yea tho he useth Promises to allure them and Threatnings to deter them and calls all Men by the Gospel to believe on his Son that they may live through him and swears that he wills not their Death yet hath he by an eternal and uncontrolable Decree shut up the greatest part of those to whom these Tenders are made under Sin and Misery that they shall never repent and be saved Christ never died intentionally nor really to save them they have thereby no more interest in him than the fallen Angels and therefore there is no more reason why the Gospel should be preached to the one more than the other whereby it must needs follow that many Men by the Gospel are bound in Conscience to believe that which is untrue and by your Ministers pressed and charged to receive that which they have nothing to do with by this you make the Lord guilty of the deepest dissimulation in his Promises and tenders of Grace to all And pray what are your Ministers but false Witnesses if they promise Salvation for all Men when they believe there is no Salvation for far the greatest part of Men whom Christ never purchased by his Blood If they exhort Sinners to turn from their Sins to the Lord and promise them that if they do so they shall live and tell all Men that God would not have one of them die in their Sins but rather turn and live is not this according to your Notion Lying And do not they promise and undertake more in the behalf of God than God himself is willing to perform What a bustle do your Ministers keep and to what purpose unless to get Money seeing the most powerful Ministers and Sermons cannot in the least alter the Intention of the Lord about the Salvation or Damnation of one Soul Man's final and eternal State being fixed in Heaven And thus do you give the Truth of God the lie and highly impeach the glorious Gospel and make your Ministers teach nothing but absurdities nay more than this it overthrows not only his Goodness and Mercy but also his Justice that Men before they partake of the Breath of Life or are any ways guilty of actual Sins should be so rigidly condemned to perpetual Misery yea appointed to receive the Wages of Sin before they committed any this is inconsistent with common Justice and Equity amongst Men and Shall not the Judg of all the World do right said good Abraham to God Gen. 18. 25. And saith Job shall mortal Man be more just than God and so our Apostle Is there unrighteousness with God how then shall God judg the World Doth it not wrong the pure Justice of God to hold that he will judg and condemn Men for ever to lie under his Wrath for doing that which he himself decreed them to do or that God Almighty should behold
to walk by 't is far more safe to leave them to the Lord who will not gather where he hath not strewed than thus to censure them for where much is given much is required Mr. Baxter tells us More proof pag. 95. That as the Jews had by Promises Prophecies and Types more means to know God than other Nations so they were answerably obliged to more Knowledg and Faith than other Nations were that had not or could not have their means Yea Mr. Calvin in his Epistle to the French New Testament as quoted by Mr. Goodwin says After Adam was left in such confusion he was fruitful in his cursed Seed to bring forth a Generation like to himself vicious perverse void and destitute of all Good and abounding in Evil nevertheless the Lord of his Mercy who doth not only love but is himself Love and Charity being yet willing by his infinite Goodness to love that which is not worthy of Love hath not altogether lost and overwhelmed Men as their Sins did require but hath supported them in Sweetness and Patience giving them time and leasure to return to him and set themselves to that Obedience from which they had strayed and tho he did suffer them to go after the desires and wishes of their own Hearts without Law without Government without any correction by his Word yet he hath given them warning enough which might have incited them to seek taste and find him to know and honour him as it behoveth them for he hath lifted up every where and in all places and things his Ensign and Arms that there were none could pretend ignorance of the knowledg of so Sovereign a Lord for that in all parts of the World in Heaven and in Earth he hath written and engraven the Glory of his Might Goodness Wisdom and Eternity St. Paul therefore saith true That the Lord never left himself without Witness even towards those to whom he hath not sent the Knowledg of his Word forasmuch as all Creatures might be Witnesses and Messengers of his Glory unto all Men to draw them to seek him and having found him to welcome him and do him Homage according to the Dignity of a Lord so Good so Powerful so Wise and Eternal and also did help each other in its place to this Guest for the Birds singing sung God Beasts cried aloud to him the Elements stood in fear of him Mountains reasoned with him Rivers and Fountains cast their Eyes upon him Herbs and Flowers smiled upon him altho indeed there was no necessity to seek him very far by reason that each one might find him in his own self being that we are all kept up and preserved by his Virtue dwelling in us in the mean while for to manifest more amply his Goodness and Infinite Clemency among Men he hath not contented himself to instruct them all by such Documents as we have exprest but hath especially given to understand his Voice to a certain People Surely here Mr. Calvin hath acknowledged that God hath vouchsafed sufficient Means to all whereby to come to the knowledg of him and consequently to repent and believe in him Philet But without Christ and a Work of Grace upon the Heart and Faith in him none can be saved doth not our Saviour tell Nicodemus John 3. 5. Except a Man be born again of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God That is he cannot be saved Philad Do you think our Saviour did there mean the Kingdom of Glory Philet Yea doubtless Philad I rather think that Christ spoke it of the Kingdom of Grace or the Visible Church of Christ that none could not or at least wise ought not come into it without Regeneration and holy Baptism yet may a Person be a Member of the Universal Church yea and be received a Member of the Triumphant Church in Heaven that may not be a Member of the Visible Church of Christ here on Earth for there are two sorts of Persons that cannot in an ordinary way be regenerated and born again which yet may and shall go to Heaven to wit Children and Idiots So tho it is a truth that without Jesus Christ there can be no Salvation yet if there is no Salvation without believing on the Name of the Lord Jesus what then will become of these and all dying Infants who neither have Faith nor are regenerated and yet they shall have Salvation by him Now as God hath one way to bring Persons of Age to Heaven and another way to bring infants why may not those that never had the means to know the Mediator particularly and distinctly have Salvation by him Infants and those many millions of Heathens in some remote parts of the Earth to whom the Gospel was never preached must unavoidablely and eternally perish if God hath provided no other means of Salvation by Christ than such a way of preaching it as is vouchsafed to us We know that the Judgment of God will be according to Equity he knows what he hath laid down what he hath given and what to require and how to reward every Man according to his Works and his Mercys are infinitely extended over all his Works and he is not so severe as to exact more than frail Man is able to perform but according to what light and knowledg he hath given him and whosoever worship God and do his Will according to the manifestation which he hath given them of his Will shall be accepted of him Acts 10. 34 35. He that improves one Talent well shall be accepted as well as he that improves five for surely the Almighty will never require any more of a Man than he hath given him therefore I believe that all those that are obedient to that Light or Law which the Lord hath given them endeavouring according to their measure an exact conformity to the Divine Will shall be happy and it would be a great piece of uncharitableness to exclude them from all interest in Christ and to allow none to have any saving benefit by Christ's Death but such as own the true Orthodox Faith as it is called by some we may by this damn by wholesale not only all the Gentile Nations but also most other Christians who have erred in Judgment and have unwittingly mistaken the Truth 〈◊〉 God forbid Tho many in our days 〈◊〉 that without hopes or sense of their â—ondition exclude them from any part in Christ or the Church of God as did the Jews of old who reputed themselves the only Children of the Kingdom boasted of their Privileges as having Abraham to their Father and cried the Temple of the Lord how much soever they abused the means and neglected God and reputed the Gentiles but Castaways not being circumcised nor brought into the visible Jewish Church-state yet had the Lord a regard to them when the Visible Church-state extended it self no farther than the Familys of Abraham Isaac and Jacob as appears by the effect
hath not the least power of his Will but is merely passive in all why then should the Lord so passionately complain of Mens obstinacy and why did Christ wonder at the unbelief of many Mark 6. 6. Here was not the least cause for Christ to marvel at the unbelief of any when it never was in their power to believe unless Christ should wonder that Man should act and do more than he had power to do or more than all the Creatures in Heaven or Earth could enable him to do Nay if Men be wholly as passive as Stones and can neither repent nor believe by means of those Abilities vouchsafed to them by the Lord then can no reward nor punishment be justly awarded to any Man for believing or not believing for if Faith and Repentance be wrought in Man only by the Omnipotent and Irresistible Power of God without Man then cannot that Obedience be a free Obedience and in vain is it required of Man when it is to be wrought by such a Force as cannot be resisted neither can any Man be rewarded as one truly and really obedient And in this case we may safely affirm that the Lord rewards himself and not the Man who is truly passive doing nothing or if any thing 't is purely effected by the Force of another for what things are produced in us by God's irresistible Omnipotency without us cannot of right come under the name of Obedience and therefore cannot justly be rewarded or judged worthy of any commendation Remonstrants Confession pag. 148. Also Eternal Punishment is unjustly and cruelly inflicted on him that doth not repent and believe when he had no power to do either but the want of it was through the alone defect of irresistible Grace and should the Lord punish Men for not repenting and believing he should punish them for not attempting to make themselves equal in Power with himself and then pray to what purpose are all the inviting Promises of Life and Glory and all the Dangers that Souls expose themselves to expressed in the Scripture and pressed so much by your Preachers if we through Grace have not power to obtain the one or escape the other Very well saith S. Jerom as quoted by Dr. Goodman in his Parable of the Prodigal Son p. 100. God bound not Man under the rigid Bonds of Necessity whereby he should be forcibly over-ruled and determined to one thing but put him 〈◊〉 a capacity of making his own choice to the end that being thereby distinguished from Beasts and more like his Maker he might be capable of Virtue and Reward and that as nothing should make him miserable without his own act and consent so he might have the comfort and delight of co-operating freely towards his own Good and Felicity Philet If God works Conversion not in an insuperable or irresistible way then he works it in a dependent way putting Man's Will in an Aequilibrium or even Ballance That this is not God's way appears because he works Conversion in such a way as is most depressive of the Creature and exaltive of himself But now by what you say Grace only sets the Will in an Aequilibrium and that 's all and Free-will must do the business this is a robbing God of his Glory and ascribing to our selves more than belongs to us Philad It 's rather an honouring of him by laying all the blame of our Misdoings upon our selves and acknowledging his free Grace in giving us not only time but abilities and means to know the Lord and to cleave to him and to work with God when he is pleased to be moving upon our Hearts Wills and Consciences by his Divine Grace that so we might be curbed and restrained from being carried headlong into destruction by the sway of our unruly Lusts Yea that which I affirm is as depressive of the Creature and as exaltive of God's Glory as what you hold nay more as I shall make appear by and by Where have I said that we are able to do any thing that 's good to repent believe or obey the Lord and serve him acceptably by our own natural strength without the effectual assistance of Divine Grace I say this is not possible now for Man in his lapsed state tho it be generally held that Man had at the first a perfect liberty to stand or fall in an equal possibility of sinning or not sinning If this were so then his condition was in Aequilibrio and it was in the Creatures choice to turn the Scales but long he did not stand in this equal State for being tempted to aspire above his place at the very first onset at the first temptation he lost his Innocency and fell into a depraved State and so his Will became infirm relation to its acting for Virtue and Goodness But now God having pity on fallen Man in his infinite Goodness and Wisdom found out a way to restore him to a more noble and excellent State than Adam injoyed which was by the promised Seed and what perfection the Will had in the state of perfect Nature is restored by the Spirit of Grace So that a good and real Christian may be said to injoy as free a Will by Grace since the Fall as Adam had by Nature before the Fall John 8. 36. If the Son make you free you shall be free indeed Philet 'T is Christ's work to act Faith and God is said to give Faith and Repentance which are called his Gift Philad I acknowledg that we are all of us from first to last indebted to Divine Grace for all we do all good and pious Actions are begun carried on and perfected by the Lord 't is God that gives Power and Ability 't is he that enables People to repent and believe yea makes Persons willing actually to repent yea and supports them in the act of repenting and believing and so the whole of all Good in us is of free Love and not of Nature The Lord is both the Author and Finisher of our Faith If I be better â—…n any Man it is God that makes me â—…er and therefore he that will glory let him glory in the Lord saying with the Psalmist Psal 115. 1. Not unto us not unto us but unto thy Name be the praise and therefore we stand bound to make that humble acknowledgment as Paul did 1 Cor. 15. 10. that by the Grace of God I am what I am c. What good we do 't is not by our own natural Abilities or the power of natural Reason but by the powerful influence of Divine Grace James 1. 17. John 15. 5. 1 Pet. 5. 10. And we may all say as Holy David did 1 Chron. 29. 11 to 17. So that you may see that I am none of those that hold that we are converted by the power of our own Free-will Neither have we any saving Faith of our selves Mat. 11. 17. 13. 11. 16. 17. 7. 7. John 3. 5. But it is as I said
And pray you to what end are all his Promises in Scriptures are they not to spur us on to a holy and pious Life but how vain are they when they are upon condition of our repentance believing and obeying the Lord which is as possible to perform without Grace as to eat up a Rock Now if God makes a promise to give us Heaven on condition we do believe and yet never gives us a Christ to believe in nor power to believe these are Promises equal to a bare denial but far be it from the most High that any of his Promises should be either false or fraudulent his Promises are in Christ Yea and Amen they are as unchangeable as his being they are not fair to look on like the Apples of Sodom but afterwards die in a mere nothing of performance And to conclude this Point I must needs tell you that I look upon all those no better than ungrateful Blasphemers and Liers that say God hath required us to perform those things which he hath not given us abilitys whereby we may cooperate with him in doing those things which he hath injoyned us to do and in avoiding those things he hath forbidden and yet it shall be our Condemnation Calvin himself acknowledgeth that Man's refusing God's Grace evidently presupposes there is in every Man a real power to imbrace it Philet But do you hold that God gives special discriminating Grace to all you ought to make a distinction between God's Grace for there is common Grace and special Grace his common Grace is given to the whole Universe but his special Grace only to the Elect. Philad I believe God gives not his Grace to all alike but to some more and to others less according to the good pleasure of his Will yet he is wanting to none but such as are wanting to themselves O Israel thy destruction is of thy self Hosea 13. 9. Man's destruction is of himself for not faithfully doing of that which God by his Grace hath enabled him to perform But pray what is this you call common Grace and what discriminating Grace Philet Common Grace is the single Talent of Reason and Understanding with the good things of this Life which all Men injoy and those that live under or within the sound of the Gospel call are under the external Offers of Grace we are not under the Law but under Grace that is the Gospel yea and may from thence receive common Grace viz. Illumination Conviction legal Humiliation c. But special Grace is an inward Work wrought in the Hearts of the Elect by the irresistible Power of the Spirit Philad Pray tell me one thing For what End and Use is God's Grace given to any let it be never so small was it given to do Evil Philet No. Philad What then to do nothing withal Philet No Men that receive it are not to be idle with it Philad Then doubtless it was to honour and glorify the Lord with it here on Earth and through Christ is sufficient to glorify him in Heaven if he be a faithful improver of it But it doth appear that those that have received one Talent have receiv'd a small measure of Grace this you will not call by the name of Special Grace what is not the least measure of Grace which we injoy from God a special Favour and is not Grace as it comes from God whether great or small the same in Nature and will not the least measure of Grace faithfully improved through Christ lead us to Heaven and the non-improvement of it lay the receiver under unpardonable guilt for we shall be accountable to God for what he gives and no more God did not require the improvement of two Talents of him that had received but one neither did the Lord take away the one Talent from him that had it till he hid it and would not improve it Philet Why he that had received the one Talent receiv'd but common Grace and one reason he could not make that one Talent two was because he had not special Grace to inable him to improve it so tho he might have received so much as to leave him without excuse yet it was not sufficient for Salvation Philad But it was not sufficient to leave him without excuse if not sufficient to effect that which the Lord expected from him and still Mens not believing or obeying the Lord must be laid at his door as if God would damn Persons for not improving their Talent that never had sufficient Means or Power to do it You in effect say that God requires Persons to believe and obey him yet he hath not enabled them so to do is not this plainly to say God exacts more of his Creatures than they are able to do God grant you repentance for these your hard sayings Surely if he that had received the one Talent had not thereby received power and opportunity sufficient to improve it according to the Lord's Will it would not have been so provoking in the sight of the Lord as to cause him to pass so heavy a Doom upon him as to be bound hand and foot and cast into utter Darkness This is not like the Righteousness and Equity of God's Proceedings with wicked and ungodly Men to bring the Vengeance of Eternal Fire upon the Heads of those who did not do that which was impossible for them to do surely we shall be accountable to the Lord for no more than what we receive from him according to that principle of Equity attested by our Saviour Luke 12. 48. for unto whom much is given of him much shall be required and then by the rule of contraries unto whom but little is given but little shall be required He that hath one Talent must be only accountable for that and he that is faithful in a little shall be ruler over much And seeing you pretend very high to Grace above others know this God expects sutable returns he that improves his one Talent well shall be rewarded with a well done good and faithful Servant when thou with all thy Light and Talents if not improved according to the Will of the Doner thereof shall receive the greater condemnation and then instead of free Love thou wilt meet with just Wrath therefore fear and tremble lest gracious Favour be abused But come Philetus let us leave this I believe you cannot make it out how the Gospel should be preached to those that God hath not given a Christ to believe in nor power to believe You know it was the Gospel Ministers Work and the first thing they were to do was to say Peace be to this House Luke 10. 5. But what Peace or Glad-tydings could they bring or speak to those where God intended none Philet But it is not known whom the Lord hath chosen to Life and therefore the Word of Life is to be preached to all tho only those will receive it whose Hearts the Lord opens by his mighty Power so
gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity for his heart was not right in the sight of God And saith Duveil upon this place Many that are not of a right heart in the sight of God may oftentimes excel in the Gift of the Spirit for neither did the perverseness and Hypocrisy of Judas the Traitor hinder him to excel in the Gifts of the Spirit neither had the Gifts of the Spirit been so corrupted 1 Cor. 14. if their hearts had been sincere Luke 8. 13. These are they which for a time believe and in time of temptation fall a way But we are fallen into an Age that the practick part of Christianity is almost destroy'd by the speculative part As if the truth of our Faith did not stand with a course of holiness and strict walking with God And as Dr. Burnet saith in his Preface to the Life of God in the Soul of Man That in more antient times those that wrote Apologies for the Christian Religion did appeal to the Lives of the Christians to prove their Doctrine holy but alas when we write Apologies we must appeal from the Life to the Rule and Precepts of Faith which ought not to be Philet But it hath wrought Reformation of Life in me Philad Hyprocrites have been famous for moral virtues yea many that you will not own for Christians in many things excel you at this day Remember the Scribes and Pharisees read 2 Pet. 2. 20 21 22. where you may see that some that shall not escape the damnation of Hell may notwithstanding escape the pollutions of the World and that through the knowledg of the Son of God Philet But I see such Excellencies in Christ that I have longings of Heart after more intimate acquaintance with him Philad Strong desires may Hypocrites have after Christ and Heavenly things John 6. 34. Mat. 25. 8. Numb 23. 10. Philet But the Lord hath given me through the Spirit a foretast of Heaven it self in the first-Fruits of it Philad May not this be found in Apostates also Heb. 6. 4 5 6 So tho I do not charge you to be a Hypocrite to pretend to what you do not injoy yet this I say since every saving Grace in the true Christian hath its counterfeit in others this will not be sufficient to prove Christ died for you but must find better grounds for it than such marks which are as proper for Hypocrites as true Believers you may indeed have an opinion that Christ died for you but where are your grounds seeing the certain knowledg whom Christ died for must not be built upon any good which we may suppose in us but upon the Word of the Lord so till it be proved beyond all Objection that Christ died for you and hath not decreed to leave you in the Fall c. all comfortable assurance of your Eternal State will be cut off if ever you should fall under the dread and horror of it and methinks could I be got to believe that Christ died but for a few and no Man could prove Christ died for him but by such Marks as you talk of I am so conscious to the failings and deceitfulness of my own heart that I should despair of Mercy but here 's my support that God would have all Men to be saved hath redeemed all calleth all to Repentance and believing in him with gracious promises of Life and Salvation and now seeing God loveth all Men and desireth their eternal good therefore mine as well as others if I by true Faith apply that through the assistance of the Spirit to my self which is offered in general to all And how doth the certain knowledg of this tend to beget honourable thoughts of God and fill our Hearts with precious indearedness to Christ yea soften our Hearts when we sin against such Mercy and Grace yea make us look upon him whom we have pierced Zach. 12. Yea and if at any time poor Souls come to be bowed down under the weight of Sin and knows not how to be delivered from their fears and dangers but are ready with the Church Lam. 3. 18. to sit down and say My hope is perished from the Lord Now at such a time as this when the Love of God in Jesus Christ is set home upon the Heart O what work will this make upon such a one O the dear Love that this begets in a sincere Soul for Christ and O methinks what a comfort is it to Gospel-Ministers that in their declarations of the Gospel they can offer it to all and labour with Souls to bring them over to the Lord But how faint and cooly must other Ministers be in tendering of Christ to Sinners or how can your Ministers tender Christ to their hearers or be earnest with them to imbrace Christ or believe in him when they do not know whether Christ died for one of them So notwithstanding all you have said to prove your Title for Heaven and to be one of those that Christ died for yet since you place Salvation upon the absolute Decree of God and that Decree is kept secret to you you cannot say of your self you are one of those that Christ died for and that you shall go to Heaven because you at present believe no more than you can say of any wicked Man in the World that he is one of those that God hath left in the Fall without a Saviour since he that is now wicked may be called and saved such were some of you 1 Cor. 6. and you may make shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience fall from your first Love and so miss Heaven Philet I see you are for falling away from Grace Philad No I am not I am against falling away Philet Yea but you hold that a true Believer a Child of God and in a state of Grace may so far fall away as to miss Heaven you are not able to prove by any Example in the Scripture where any true Believer hath fallen from Grace Philad Suppose I cannot prove by any Example in Scripture that any true Believer hath fallen doth it therefore follow that no true Believer can possibly fall suppose no true Believers ever yet fell away yet 't is possible they may Philet How prove you that Philad From 2 Pet. 2. 20. If those that have clean escaped the pollution of the World and that thro the knowledg c. may fall away then other Believers may Philet That is not the description of a true Believer Philad How any one can escape the Pollutions of the World c. and yet not be a Believer I know not Philet 'T is meant of gross Pollutions of the World and so a Man may be free from the gross pollutions of this World in the midst of inward Impurities and Hypocrisies they were free from the gross acts of Sin so that they did not come into the view of the World Philad That is as much as to say their escaping was not