confusion in all government But what is this to the present enquiry whether Conscience lay an Obligation on men as regulated by the word of God and respecting Him to practise according to its dictates It is true enough that if any of its practices do not please or satisfy the Magistrate their Authors must for ought I know stand to what will follow or ensue on them to their prejudice but this frees them not from the Obligation that is upon them in Conscience unto what is their duty This is that which must be here proved if any thing be intended unto the purpose of this Author namely that notwithstanding the judgment of Conscience concerning any duty by the interposition of the Authority of the Magistrate to the contrary there is no Obligation ensues for the performance of that duty This is the Answer that ought plainly to be returned and not a suggestion that outward Actions must fall under the Cognizance of the Magistrate which none ever doubted of and which is nothing to the present purpose unless he would have them to fall under the Magistrates Cognizance as that his will should be the supream Rule of them which I think he cannot prove But what sense the Magistrate will have of the outward Actions wherein the discharge of mans duty doth consist is of another consideration This therefore is the state of the present case applied unto Religious Worship Suppose the Magistrate command such things in Religion as a man in his Conscience guided by the Word and respecting God doth look upon as Vnlawful and such as are Evil and Sin unto him if he should perform them and forbid such things in the Worship of God as he esteems himself obliged in Conscience to observe as commands of Christ If he may practise the things so commanded and omit the things so forbidden I fear he will find himself within doors continually at confession saying with trouble enough I have done those things which I ought not to have done and I have left undone those things which I ought to have done and there is no health in me unless this Author can prove that the Commands of God respect only the minds of men but not their outward actions which are left unto the Authority of the Magistrate alone If no more be here intended but that whatever Conscience may require of any it will not secure them but that when they come to act outwardly according to it the Civil Magistrate may and will consider their Actions and allow them or forbid them according to his own judgement it were surely a madness to deny it as great as to say the Sun shineth not at noon day If Conscience to God be confined to Thoughts and Opinions and Speculations about the general Notions and Notices of things about True and False and unto a liberty of judging and determining upon them what they are whether they are so or no 〈◊〉 the whole nature and being of Conscience and that to the Reason sense and experience of every man is utterly overthrown If Conscience be allowed to make its judgement of what is good or evil what is Duty or sin and no obligation be allowed to ensue from thence unto a suitable practice a wide door is opened unto Atheism and thereby the subversion of all Religion and Government in the world This therefore is the summ of what is asserted in this matter Conscience according to that Apprehension which it hath of the will of God about His worship whereunto we confine our discourse obligeth men to act or forbear accordingly if their Apprehensions are right and true just and equal what the Scripture the great Rule of Conscience doth declare and require I hope none upon second thoughts will deny but that such things are attended with a right unto a Liberty to be practised whilst the Lord Jesus Christ is esteemed the Lord of Lords and King of Kings and is thought to have power to command the observance of his own Institutions Suppose these Apprehensions to be such as may in some things be they more or less be judged not to correspond exactly with the great Rule of Conscience yet supposing them also to contain nothing inconsistent with or of a disturbing nature to civil Society and publick Tranquillity nothing that gives countenance to any Vice or Evil or is opposite to the principal Truths and main Duties of Religion wherein the minds of men in a Nation do coalesce nor carry any politick entangleâ—ments along with them and add thereunto the peaceableness of the persons possesâ— with those Apprehensions and the impossibility they are under to devest themselves of them and I say Natural Right Justice Equity Religion Conscience God himself in all and His Voice in the hearts of all unprejudiced persons do require that neither the persons themselves on the account of their Consciences have violence offered unto them nor their practices in pursuit of their Apprehensions be restrained by severe prohibitions and penalties But whereas the Magistrate is allowed to judge and dispose of all outward Actions in reference to publick tranquility if any shall assert Principles as of Conscience tending or obliging unto the practice of Vice Immorality or Sin or to the disturbance of publick society such principles being all notoriously judged by Scripture Nature the common consent of Mankind and inconsistent with the fundamental principles of Humane Polity may be in all instances of their discovery and practice coerced and restrained But plainly as to the commands of Conscience they are of the same extent with the commands of God If these respect only the inward man or the mind Conscience doth no more if they respect outward Actions Conscience doth so also From the Liberty of Conscience a Proceed is made to Christian Liberty which is said to be a Duty or priviledg founded upon the chimaerical Liberty of Conscience before granted But these things stand not in the Relation imagined Liberty of Conscience is of natural Right Christian Liberty is a Gospel-priviledge though both may be pleaded in bar of unwarrantable Impositions on Conscience But these things are so described by our Author as to be confounded For the Christian Liberty described in this Paragraph is either restrained to matters of pure Speculation wherein the mind of man is left entirely free to judge of the Truth and falsehood of things or as it regards things that fall under Laws and Impositions wherein men are left intirely free to judge of them as they are objects of meer Opinion Now how this differs from the Liberty of Conscience granted before I know not And that there is some mistake in this description of Christian Liberty need no other Consideration to evince but this namely that Christian Liberty as our Author tells us is a Priviledge but this is not so being that which is equally common unto all mankind This Liberty is necessary unto Humane Nature nor can it be divested of it and so it is not
vest it with a power of countermanding the decrees of Princes if no more be intended by countermanding but a refusal to observe their decrees and yield Obedience to them in things against their Consciences which is all can be pretended if it fall not on this Author himself as in some cases it doth and which by the certain conduct of right reason must be extended to all wherein the Consciences of mâ—n are affected with the Authority of God yet it doth on all Christians in the World that I know of besides himself For adding to the Law of God it is not charged on any that they add to his commands as though they made their own divine or part of his word and law but only that they add in his Worship to the things commanded by him which being forbidden in the Scripture when they can free themselves from it I shall rejoyce but as yet see not how they can so do Nor are there any that I koâ—â— of who set up any prohibitions of their owâ— in or about the Worship of God or as thing thereunto pertaining as is unduly and unrighteously pretended There 〈◊〉 be indeed some things injoyned by meâ— which they do and must abstain from 〈◊〉 they would do from any other sin whateveâ— But their consciences are regulated by â— prohibitions but those of God himselâ—â— And things are prohibited and made sinfâ—â— unto them not only when in particular and by a specification of their instances they are forbidden but also when therâ— lye general prohibitions against them â— any account whatever Some men indeeâ— think that if a particular prohibition of any thing might be produced they would aâ— quiesce in it whilst they plead an exâ—emption of sundry things from being inâ—cluded in general prohibitions althougâ— they have the direct formal Reason attending them on which those prohibitionâ— are founded But it is to be feared thaâ— this also is but a pretence For let any thing be particularly forbidden yet iâ— mens interest and superstition induce them to observe or retain it they will find out distinctions to evade the prohibition and retain the practice What can be more directly forbidden than the making or useâ—â—g of graven Images in or about Religious Worship and yet we know how little â—ome men do acquiesce in that prohibiâ—â—on And it was the Observation of a â—earned Prelate of this Nation in his reâ—ection of the distinctions whereby they â—ndeavoured to countenance themselves in their Idolatry that the particular instances of things forbidden in the second Commandment are not principally intended â—ut the general Rule of not adding any thing in the Worship of God without his Institution Non imago saith he non simulachrum prohibetur sed non facies tibi What way therefore any thing becomes a sin unto any be it by a particular or general prohibition be it from the scandal that may attend its practice unto him it is a sin And it is a wild notion that when any persons abstain from the practice of that in the Worship of God which to them is sinful as so practised they add prohibitions of their own to the commands of God The same is to be said concerning Christian Liberty No man that I know of makes things indifferent to be sinful as is pretended nor can any man in his right wits do so For none can entertain contradictory notions of the same things at the same time as those are that the faâ—â— things are indifferent that is not sinâ—â—â— and sinful But this some say that this in their own nature indifferent that 〈◊〉 absolutely so may be yet relatively 〈◊〉 lawful because with respect unto that â—â—â—â—lation forbidden of God To set up Altar of old for a Civil memorial in a place was a thing indifferent but to 〈◊〉 up an Altar to offer Sacrifices on who the Tabernacle was not was a sin Itâ— indifferent for a man that understands thâ— Language to read the Scripture in Laâ—â—â— or in English but to read it in Latine uâ— a Congregation that understands it 〈◊〉 as a part of Gods Worship would be 〈◊〉 Nor doth our Christian Liberty consist alâ—â— in our judgement of the indifferency things in their own nature made necâ—â—â—sary to practice by commands as hath bâ— shewed And if it doth so the Jews hâ— that priviledge as much as Christians Aâ— they are easily offended who complainâ— that their Christian Liberty in the Pâ—â—ctice of what they think meet in the Wâ—â—ship of God is intrenched on by such leaving them to their pleasure because their Apprehension of the will of God the contrary cannot comply with them their practice The close of this Chapter is designed to the removal of an Objection pretended to be weighty and difficult but indeed made so meerly by the Novel Opinions advanced by this Author For laying aside all respect unto some uncouth Principles broached in this Discourse there is scarce a Christian Child of ten years old but can resolve the difficulty pretended and that according to the mind of God For it is supposed that the Magistrate may establish a Worship that is Idolatrous and Superstitious and an enquiry is made thereon what the subject shall do in that case why where lyes the difficulty why saith he in this case they must be either Rebels or Idolaters If they obey they sin against God if they disobey they sin against their Soveraign According to the Principles hither to received in Christian Religion any one would Reply and say no for it is certain that men must obey God and not contract the guilt of such horrible sins as Idolatry and Superstition but in so doing they are neither Rebels against their Ruler nor do sin against him It is true they must quieily and patiently submit to what they may suffer from him but they are in so doing guilty of no Rebellion nor sin against him Did ever any Christian yet so much as call it into question whether the Primitive Christians were Rebels and sinned against their Rulers because they would not obey those Edicts whereby they established Idolatrous Worship or did any one ever think that they had a difficult case of Conscience to resolve in that matter They were indeed accused by the Pagans as Rebels against the Emperours but no Christian every yet thought their case to have been doubtful But all this difficulty ariseth from the making of two Gods where there ought to be but one And this renders the case so perplexed that for my part I cannot see directly how it is determined by our Author Sometimes he speaks as though it were the duty of Subjects to comply with the establishment of Idolatry supposed as pag. 214 215. for with respect as I suppose it is to the case as by him stated that he sayes men must not withdraw their obedience and better submit unto the unreasonable impositions of Nero or Caligula than to hazard the dissolution of the State Sometimes he seems not to oblige them
common consent were admitted and received amongst them Besides our Author by his Discourse seems not to be much acquainted with the rise of the office of the Priesthood amongst men as shall be demonstrated if farther occasion be given thereunto However by the way we may observe what is his judgement in this matter The Magistrate we are told hath not his Ecclesiastical Authority from Christ and yet this is such as that the power of the Priesthood is included therein the exercise whereof as he is pleased to transfer to others so he may if he please reserve it to himself p. 32. whence it follows not only that it cannot be given by Christ unto any other for it is part of the Magistrates power which he hath not limited nor confined by any subsequent Law nor can there be 〈◊〉 Coordinate Subject of the same power of several kinds so that all the Interest or Right any man or men have in or unto the exercise of it is but transfer'd to them by the Magistrate and therefore they act therein in his name and by his Authority only and hence the Bishops as such are said to be Ministers of State p. 49. Neither can it be pretended that this was indeed in the power of the Magistrate before the coming of Christ but not since For he hath as we are told all that he ever had unless there be a Restraint put upon Him by some express prohibition of our Saviour p. 41. which will hardly be found in this matter I cannot therefore see how in the exercise of the Christian Priesthood there is on these principles any the least respect unto Jesus Christ or his Authority for men have only the exercise of it transferred to them by the Magistrate by vertue of a power inherent in him antecedent unto any concessions of Christ and therefore in his name and Authority they must act in all the sacred offices of their Functions It is well if men be so far awake as to consider the tendency of these things At length Scripture proofs for the confirmation of these opinions are produced p. 35 36. And the first pleaded is that promise that Kings shall be nursings Fathers unto the Church It is true this is promised and God accomplish it more and more But yet we do not desire such Nurses as beget the Children they nurse The proposing prescribing commanding binding Religion on the Consciences of men is rather the begetting of it than its nursing To take care of the Church and Religion that it receive no detriment by all the wayes and means appointed by God and useful thereunto is the duty of Magistrates but it is so also antecedently to their actings unto this purpose to discern aright which is the Church whereunto this promise is made without which they cannot duly discharge their Trust nor fulfill the Promise it self The very Words by the rules of the Metaphor do imply that the Church and its Religion and the worship of God observed therein is constituted fixed and regulated by God himself antecedently unto the Magistrates duty and power about it They are to Nurse that which is committed to them and not what Themselves have framed or begotten And we contend for no more but a Rule concerning Religion and the Worship of God antecedent unto the Magistrates interposing about it whereby both his Actings in his place and those of Subjects in theirs are to be regulated Mistakes herein have engaged many Soveraign Princes in pursuit of their Trust as Nursing Fathers to the Church to lay out their strength and power for the utter ruine of it as may be evidenced in instances too many of those who in a subserviency to and by the direction of the Papal Interest have endeavoured to extirpate true Religion out of the World Such a Nursing Mother we had sometimes in England who in pursuit of her care burned so many Bishops and other Holy men to Ashes He asks farther what doth the Scripture mean when it stiles our Saviour the King of Kings and maketh Princes his Vicegerents here on earth I confess according to this Gentleman's principles I know not what it means in so doing Kings he tells us have not their Authority in and over Religion and the Consciences of men from him and therefore in the exercise of it cannot be his Vicegerents for none is the Vicegerent of another in the exercise of any power or Authority if he have not received that power and Authority from him Otherwise the words have a proper sense but nothing to our Authors purpose It is his power over them and not theirs over the Consciences of their Subjects that is intended in the words Of no more use in this controversie is the direction of the Apostle that we should pray for Kings that under them we may lead a quiet and peaceable life for no more is intended therein but that under their peaceable and righteous administration of humane Affairs we may live in that Godliness and honesty which is required of us Wherefore then are these weak attempts made to confirm and prove what is not Those or the most of them whom our Author in this Discourse treats with so much severity do plead that it is the duty of all supream Magistrates to find out receive imbrace promote the Truths of the Gospel with the Worship of God appointed therein confirming protecting and desending them and those that embrace them by their Power and Authority And in the discharge of this duty they are to use the liberty of their own judgements enformed by the wayes that God hath appointed independently on the dictates and determinations of any other persons whatever They affirm also that to this end they are entrusted with supream power over all persons in their respective Dominions who on no pretence can be exempted from the exercise of that power as occasion in their judgements shall require it to be exercised as also that all causes wherein the profession of Religion in their Dominions is concerned which are determinable in foro Civili by coercive Vmpirage or Authority are subject unto their cognizance and power The Soveraign power over the Consciences of men to institute appoint and prescribe Religion and the Worship of God they affirm to belong unto him alone who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith who is the head over all things to the Church The Administration of things meerly Spiritual in the Worship of God is they judge derived immediately from him to the Ministers and Administrators of the Gospel possessed of their Offices by his Command and according to his institution as to the external practice of Religion and Religious Worship as such it is they say in the power of the Magistrate to regulate all the outward civil concernments of it with reference unto the preservation of publick peace and Tranquillity and the prosperity of his subjects And herein also they judge that such respect is to be had to the
House to his Son or Neighbour whereby what is just and lawfull in it self is accommodated to the use of political Society He determines also how Persons guilty of death shall be executed and by whom and in what manner whence it must needs follow that he hath power to assign new particulars of the Divine Law to declare new bounds or hedges of right and wrong which the Law of God neither doth nor can limit or hath power over the Consciences of men with respect to Moral Vertues which was to be demonstrated Let us lay aside these swelling expressions and we shall find that all that can be ascribed unto the Civil Magistrate in this matter is no more than to preserve Property and Peace by that Rule and power over the outward Actions of men which is necessary thereunto Having made some enquiry into the termes of Moral Vertue and the Magistrates power it remains only that we consider what respect this case hath unto the Consciences of men with reference unto them And I desire to know whether all mankind be not obliged in Conscience to the Observation of all Moral Vertue antecedently to the command or Authority of the Magistrate who doth only inspect their observation of them as to the concerns of publick peace and tranquility Certainly if all Moral Vertue consists in living suitable to the dictates of Reason as we are told and in a sense rightly if the Rule of them all and every one which gives them their formal Nature be the Law of our Creation which all mankind enter the World under an indispensable obligation unto it cannot be denyed but that there is such an antecedent obligation on the Consciences of Men as that inquired after But the things mentioned are granted by our Author nor can by any be denyed without offering the highest outrage to Scripture Reason and the common consent of Mankind Now if this Obligation be thus on all Men unto all Vertue as Vertue and this absolutely from the Authority of God over them and their Consciences how comes an inferiour Authority to interpose it self between that of God and their Consciences so immediately to oblige them It is granted that when the Magistrate commandeth and requireth the exercise of any Moral Duty in a way suited unto publick good and tranquility he is to be obeyed for Conscience sake because he who is the Lord of Conscience doth require Men to be obedient unto him whereon they are obliged in Conscience so to be But if the things required of them be in themselves Moral Duties as they are such their Consciences are obliged to observe and exercise them from the command of God and other obligation unto them as such they neither have nor can have But the direction and command for the exercise of them in these and those circumstances for the ends of publick Good whereunto they are directed belongs unto the Magistrate who is to be obeyed For as in things meerly Civil and which have nothing originally of morality in them but secondarily only as they tend to the preservation and welfare of humane Society which is a thing Morally good the Magistrate is to be obeyed for Conscience sake and the things themselves as far as they partake of Morality come directly under the command of God which affects the Conscience so in things that have an inherent and inseparable Morality and so respect God in the first place when they come to have a civil Sanction in reference to their exercise unto publick political Good that Sanction is to be obeyed out of Conscience but the antecedent obligation that was upon the Conscience unto a due exercise of those Duties when made necessary by circumstances is not superseded nor any new one added thereunto I know what is said but I find not as yet what is proved from these things concerning the uncontroleable and absolute power of the supream Magistrate over Religion and the consciences of men Some things are added indeed here up and down about circumstances of Divine Worship and the power of ordering them by the Magistrate which though there may be some different conceptions about yet they no way reach the cause under debate But as they are expressed by our Author I know not of any one Writer in and of the Church of England that hitherto hath so stated them as they are by him For he tells us pag. 85. That all Rituals Ceremonies Postures and Manners of performing the outward expressions of Devotion that are not chargeable with countenancing Vice or disgracing the Deity are capable of being adopted into the Ministeries of Divine Service and are not exempted from being Subject to the determinations of humane power Whether they are so or no the Magistrate I presume is to judge or all this flourish of words and concessions of power vanish into smoak His command of them binds the Consciences of men to observe them according to the principle under consideration Hence it must be absolutely in the power of every supream Magistrate to impose on the Christian Subjects a greater number of Ceremonious observances in the Worship of God and those of greater weight than ever were laid upon the Jews For who knows not that under the names of Rituals Ceremonies Postures manners of Performing all Divine Service what a butrdensome heap of things are imposed in the Roman Church whereunto as far as I know a thousand more may be added not chargeable in themselves with either of the crimes which alone are allowed to be put in in Barr or Plea against them And whether this be the Liberty whereunto Jesus Christ hath vindicated his Disciples and Church is left unto the judgement of sober men Outward Religious Worship we know is to be performed by natural actions these have their circumstances and those oft-times because of the publick concernments of the exercise of Religion of great importance These may be ordered by the power and according to the Wisdome of those in Authority But that they should make so many things as this assertion allows them to make to belong unto and to be Parts of the Worship of God whereof not one is enjoyned or required by him and the Consciences of men be thereby obliged unto their observance I do not believe nor is it here at all proved To close this Discourse about the power of obliging the consciences of men I think our Author grants that Conscience is immediately obliged to the Observation of all things that are Good in themselves from the Law of our Creation Such things as either the nature of God or our own require from us our Consciences surely are obliged immediately by the Authority of God to observe Nor can we have any dispensation for the non-performance of our Duty from the interposition of the commands and Authority of any of the sons of Men. For this would be openly and directly to set up men against God and to advance them or their Authority above him or his
Goodness miraculously inspire the first Converts of Christianity with all sorts of Vertues but that He doth not still continue to put forth in any actually the Efficacy of his Grace to make them Gracious Holy Believing Obedient to himself and to work in them all suitable actings towards himself and others Then farewell Scripture the Covenant of Grace the Intercession of Christ yea all the Ancient Fathers Counsels Schoolmen and most of the Jesuites themselves Many have been the disputes amongst Christians about the Nature of Grace the Rule of its Dispensation the manner and way of its Operation its Efficacy Concurrence and Co-operation in the Wills of men but that there is no dispensation of it no operation but what was miraculous in the first Converts of the Gospel was I think untill now undiscovered Nor can it be here pretended that although the Vertuous qualities of our minds and their Exercise by which is intended all the Obedience that God requireth of us in Principle and Practice that we may please him and come to the enjoyment of him are not said to be called Graces only on the account mentioned For as in respect of us they are not so termed at all so if the term only be not understood the whole discourse is impertinent and ridiculous For those other Reasons and Accounts that may be taken in will render that given utterly useless unto our Authors intention and indeed are altogether inconsistent with it And he hath given us no reason to suppose that he talks after such a weak and preposterous a rate This then is that which is here asserted the Qualities of our minds and their Exercise wherein the Vertues pleaded about and affirmed to contain the whole Substance of Religion do consist are not wrought in us by the Grace or Spirit of God through the Preaching of the Gospel but are only called Graces as before Now though here be a plain contradiction to what is delivered but two pages before namely that we pray for some or other Vertuous qualities that is doubtless to be wrought in us by the Grace of God yet this present discourse is capable of no other interpretation but that given unto it And indeed it seems to be the design of some men to confine all real Gifts and Graces of the Spirit of God to the first Ages of the Gospel and the miraculous operations in it which is to overthrow the whole Gospel the Church and the Ministry of it as to their use and efficacy leaving Men only the Book of the Bible to Philosophize upon as shall be elsewhere demonstrated Our Author indeed tells us that on the occasion of some mens writings in Theology there hath been a buzz and a noise of the Spirit of God in the World His expressions are exceedingly suited to pour contempt on what he doth not approve not so to express what he doth himself intend But I desire that he and others would speak plain and openly in this matter that neither others may be deceived nor themselves have occasion to complain that they are mis-represented a pretence whereof would probably give them a dispensation to deal very roughly if not despightfully with them with whom they shall have to do Doth he therefore think or believe that there are not now any real Gracious Operations of the Spirit of God upon the hearts and minds of men in the world that the dispensation of the Spirit is ceased as well unto ordinary Ministerial Gifts with its sanctifying renewing assisting Grace as unto Gifts miraculous and extraordinary that there is no work at all of God upon the hearts of Sinners but that which is purely moral and perswasive by the word that what is asserted by some concerning the Efficacy of the Grace of the Spirit and concerning his gifts is no more but a buzz and a noise I wish he would explain himself directly and positively in these things for they are of great importance And the loose expressions which we meet with do give great Offence unto some who are apt to think that as pernicious an Heresie as ever infested the Church of God may be covered and clocked by them But to return In the sense that Moral Vertue is here taken I dare boldly pronounce that there is no Villany in the Religion of those men who distinguish between Vertue and Grace that is there not in their so doing this being the known and avowed Religion of Christianity It is granted that whereever Grace is there is Vertue For Grace will produce and effect all Vertues in the Soul whatever But Vertue on the other side may be where there is no Grace which is sufficient to confirm a distinction between them It was so in fundry of the Heathen of old though now it be pretended that Grace is nothing but an occasional denomination of Vertue not that it is the cause or principle of it But the proofs produced by our Author are exceedingly incompetent unto the end whereunto they are applyed For that place of the Apostle Gal. 5. v. 22 23. The fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith meekness Temperance Though our Author should be allowed to turn Joy into cheerfulness peace into peaceableness Faith into Faithfulness as he hath done corruptly enough to accommodate it to his purpose yet it will no way reach his end nor satisfie his intention For doth it follow that because the Spirit effects all these Moral vertues in a new and gracious manner and with a direction to a new and special end in Believers either that these things are nothing but meer Moral Vertues not wrought in us by the grace of God the contrary whereof is plainly asserted in calling them fruits of the Spirit or that where-ever there is Moral Vertue though not so wrought by the Spirit that there is Grace also because Vertue and Grace are the same If these are the Expositions of Scripture which we may expect from them who make such out-cries against other mens perverting and corrupting of it the matter is not like to be much mended with us for ought I can see upon their taking of that work into their own hands And indeed his Quotation of this place is pretty odd He doth not in the Print express the words as he useth and as he doth those of another Scripture immediately in a different character as the direct words of the Apostle that no man may charge him with a false Allegation of the Text. Yet he repeats all the words of it which he intends to use to his purpose somewhat altering the expressions But he hath had I fear some unhappiness in his Explanations By Joy he would have Cheerfulness intended But what is meant by cheerfulness is much more uncertain than what is intended by Joy Mirth it may be in Conversation is aimed at or somewhat of that nature But how remote this is from that Spiritual Joy which is recommended unto us in the Scripture
and is affirmed to be unspeakable and full of glory he that knows not is scarce meet to Paraphrase upon St. Pauls Epistles Neither is that Peace with God through Jesus Christ which is rought in the Hearts of Believers by the Holy Ghost who creates the fruit of the lipps peace peace unto them a matter of any more affinity with a Moral peaceableness of mind and Affections Our Faith also in God and our Faithfulness in our Duties Trusts Offices and Employments are sufficiently distinct So palpably must the Scripture be corrupted and wrested to be made serviceable to this presumption He yet adds another proof to the same purpose if any man know distinctly what that purpose is namely Titus 2. 11. Where he tells us that the same Apostle make the Grace of God to consist in Gratitude towards God Temperance towards our Selves and Justice towards our Neighbours But these things are not so For the Apostle doth not say that the Grace of God doth consist in these things but that the Grace of God teacheth us these things Neither is the Grace here intended any Subjective or inherent Grace or to speak with our Author any Vertuous Quality or Vertue but the Love and Grace of God himself in sending Jesus Christ as declared in the Gospel was is manifest in the words and context beyond contradiction And I cannot but wonder how our Author desirous to prove that the whole of our Religion consists in Moral Vertues and these only called Graces because of the Miraculous Operations of God from his own Grace in the first Gospel converts should endeavour to do it by these two testimonies the first whereof expresly assigns the Duties of Morality as in Believers to the operation of the Spirit and the latter in his judgment makes them to proceed from Grace Our last inquiry is into what he ascribes unto his Adversaries in this matter and how he deals with them thereupon This therefore he informs us pag. 71. It is not enough say they to be compleatly vertuous unless ye have grace too I can scarce believe that ever he heard any one of them say so or ever read it in any of their writings For there is nothing that they are more positive in than that men cannot in any sense be compleatly vertuous unless they have grace and so cannot suppose them to be so who have it not They say indeed that moral vertues as before described so far as they are attainable by or may be exercised in the strength of Mens own wills and natural faculties are not enough to please God and to make men accepted with him So that vertue as it may be without Grace and some vertues may be so for the substance of them is not available unto salvation And I had almost said that he is no Christian that is of another mind In a word Vertue is or may be without Grace in all or any of the Acceptations of it before laid down Where it is without the Favour of God and the Pardon of sin where it is without the renewing of our natures and the endowment of our Persons with a Principle of spiritual life where it is not wrought in us by present efficacious Grace it is not enough nor will serve any mans turn with respect unto the everlasting concernments of his Soul But he gives in his Exceptions pag. 71. But when saith he we have set aside all manner of vertue let them tell me what remains to be called Grace and give me any notion of it distinct from all morality that consists in the right order and government of our actions in all our Relations and so comprehends all our Duty and therefore if Grace be not included in it it is but a phantasme and an imaginary thing I say first where Grace is we cannot set aside vertue because it will and doth produce and effect it in the minds of men But Vertue may be where Grace is not in the sense so often declared Secondly Take moral vertue in the notion of it here received and explained by our Author and I have given sundry Instances before of Gracious Duties that come not within the verge or compass of the Scheme given us of it Thirdly The whole aimed at lies in this that vertue that governs our actions in all our Duties may be considered either as the Duty we owe to the Law of nature for the ends of it to be performed in the strength of nature and by the direction of it or it may be considered as it is an especial effect of the grace of God in us which gives it a new principle and a new end and a new respect unto the Covenant of Grace Wherein we walk with God the consideration where of frustrates the intention of our Author in this discourse But he renews his charge pag. 73. So destructive of all true and real goodness is the very Religion of those men that are wont to set grace at odds with vertue and are so farr from making them the same that they make them inconsistent and though a man be exact in all the duties of moral goodness yet if he be a graceless person i. e. void of I know not what imaginary Godliness he is but in a cleaner way to Hell and his conversion is more hopeless than the vilest and most notorious sinners and the morally Righteous man is at a greater distance from grace than the prophane and better be lend and debanched than live an honest and vertuous life if you are not of the Godly Party with much more to this purpose For the men that are wont to set grace at odds with vertue and are so far from making them the same that they make them inconsistent I wish our Author would discover them that he might take us along with him in his detestation of them It is not unlikely if all be true that is told of them but that the Gnosticks might have some principles not unlike this but beside them I never heard of any that were of this mind in the world And in truth the liberty that is taken in these discourses is a great instance of the morality under consideration But the following words will direct us where these things are charged For some say that if a man be exact in all the Duties of moral Goodness yet if he be a Graceless Person void of I know not what imaginary Godliness he is but in a cleaner way to Hell I think I know both what and who are intended and that both are dealt withal with that candour we have been now accustomed unto But First you will scarce find those you intend over forward in granting that men may be exact in all the Duties of Moral goodness and yet be graceless persons For taking Moral vertues to comprehend as you do their duties toward God they will tell you such Persons cannot perform one of them aright much less all of them exactly For they can neither trust in