uncere Obedience to be a Legal but an Evangelical Condition of the Covenant of Grace and consequently that in our Judgment they do not hold the same Place and Office in the New Covenant of Grace which personal perfect sinless Obedience had and were to have had in the first Covenant of Innocency and of Works Object But saith our Authour in his Appendix Pag. 39. It is the Achillaean Argument of the New Divinity that Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience is our Evangelical Righteousness and that Righteousness is our defence against the charge of Vnbelief Impenitence c. And what then Why in the following Pages he so shapes it as might best serve his Design which was to make the People believe that we set up our own Righteousness in the place of Christ's and maintain that Men must be Justified by their own Righteousness and not onely by Christ's And so he trips up Achilles Heels by the Fallacy of many Interrogations But it will be no very difficult Task to scatter this Mist which he hath cast before the Peoples Eyes In order thereunto let it be considered 1. That the Substance of this Argument was not invented by any amongst us dead or alive that we know of but some in this Nation having read it in some very eminently learned forreign Divines particularly Ludovicus de Dieu at large and the Holy Humble Learned and most Acute Placeus they received it and improved it as useful to clear some seeming Difficulties in Scripture obiected to us by our Adversaries the Papists 2. Consider that this way of reconciling James with Paul in the matter of Justification for the Substance of it was taken up also by the Learned Turretin 3. That it doth not appear that all of us ever expressed our selves in those Words for the clearing up of the seeming difference between James and Paul 4. That those who do take that way do not impose it upon others We know there have been many ways taken by Reformed Divines to expound James so as not to contradict Paul And some considerable difference there may seem to be among Divines in the methodizing and expressing of their Notious of those Matters But yet there appears to be very little difference amongst them as to the things themselves Indeed upon the Matter all seems to come almost to the same thing And particularly let it be considered 5. That this way of Interpreting James his Justification by Works and reconciling it with Paul's Justification by Faith seems to differ from the more common modern Opinion mostly in the manner of expression which some of us think most agreeable to the Scripture Phrase But we leave every Man to express his Notions as best pleaseth him provided that if he do not use Scripture Words yet he do not contradict Scripture sense And therefore 6. We desire it may be considered that this way of expounding James which we are now speaking of doth not in the least contradict the Holy Scripture but rather serves to explain it if it be understood as it ought to be in the true genuine sense of its Authours For 1. Though they say that our Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience is an Evangelical Righteousness as indeed it is yet at the same time they declare that this Evangelical Righteousness is no other thing but the Condition of the new Covenant on our part whereby we are interested first and still keep our interest in the satisfactory meritorious Righteousness of Christ by and for which alone we are justified from first to last They do not say that this Evangelical Righteousness which is the Condition of the Covenant doth satisfie God's Justice for the least sin either against Law or Gospel or that it doth properly merit to us the least good so much as a Cup of Cold Water They give unto Christ alone the whole Glory of having by his Righteousness satisfied Justice for all our Sins and merited to us all our Mercies So that our Authour was we think a little impertinent in putting his question page 41. What is that Righteousness which justifies a man from the sin of Vnbelief For he knows well enough that the Worthy Divines as he deservedly calls them with whom he has to do in that Argument have published it to all the World under their hands That assoon as a Man who was before an Unbeliever begins through Grace sincerely to believe in Christ and to repent of his Unbelief and of all his other sins immediately thereupon Christ's satisfactory meritorious Righteousness justifies him from his sin of Unbelief and from all his other former sins both Original and Actual that is God by and for Christ's Righteousness justifies him from them upon his believing and repenting And as our Authour knows this to be true so he hath honestly confessed it in the end of the same Paragraph Will any man says he dare to tell a person who is troubled in Conscience about his sin of Vnbelief that Christ's Righteousness is his legal Righteousness against the charge of sins against the Law but for Gospel-charges he must answer them in his own name I know our hottest opposers would abhor such an answer and would freely tell such a Man that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin and that his Justification from his Vnbelief must be only in that Righteousness which he so sinfully had rejected while in Vnbelief and now lays hold on by Faith Here the Truth comes out at last and in effect he gives the lye to his own false accusations of the Lord's Ministers and acquits the accused For if his hottest Opposers freely tell People that the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin and that their Justification from the sin of Unbelief must be only by the Righteousness of Christ then how can those things be true whereof as was observed before he had accused us in page 6 28 33 and page 39. That we bring our own pitiful Holiness into Justification and make it sit on the Throne of Judgment with the precious blood of the Lamb of God Ex ore tuo c. But 2. The Authors of the Argument we are upon never said wrote or so much as thought that can be known That our sincere Faith and Repentance is a Defence or Justification against a charge of Unbelief or Impenitence given in against us by God for they knew full well without being taught it by this Authour That the God of Truth cannot be the Authour of a Lye which he would certainly and evidently be if he should charge us with being Unbelievers and Impenitent at that very time when he knows that by his own Spirit and Grace we sincerely believe and repent But that which the aforesaid Excellent Divines said is yet to be seen in their Writings and it is this That our sincere Faith and Repentance is a Defence and Justification against any false charge of Unbelief and Impenitence that is or possibly may be given in against
then put it forth into Act in obedience to the single Command of believing is safe and runs no hazard of loosing Eternal Life and Glory although he live in the habitual constant omission of all other Duties and in the habitual constant commission of all other sins except the sin of formal unbelief that is he is safe and runs no hazard of loosing Eternal Life and Glory though he never love nor fear God and Christ nor exercise any other Grace or perform any other Duty though he never love his Neighbours nor deal justly and honestly by them yea upon this supposed Principle he is safe and runs no hazard of his Salvation though he habitually and constantly do the quite contrary and live in all other the most abominable sins against God and Man except the sin of formal unbelief For though these be sins great abominable sins of Omission and Commission against the Law of God yet to him who is supposed to be a sincere Believer and to keep his Faith under all these sins of Omission and Commission the said Duties are not commanded nor the sins forbidden under the penalty of loosing his Salvation or if the Law strictly considered as a Covenant of Works command those Duties and forbid those sins under that penalty Yet from him being a Believer the Gospel takes off the penalty as fast as the Law lays it on or rather according to the Principle we are now speaking of the Gospel binds the Laws hands so that though it would yet it cannot lay its penalty upon the man he being a Believer although he never so much deserves it by the foresaid abominations against God and Man And consequently he may omit all Duties except the Duty of believing and commit all sins imaginable except the sin of formal unbelief and yet remain safe and run no hazard of loosing the promised blessing of Eternal Life and Glory Far be it from us to charge our Authour or any of his way with such abominable practices We abhor to charge any Man with holding the absurd consequences of his opinion which he doth not own We design no such thing nor indeed any reflection at all by this Argument No but our real and whole design is to shew the natural necessary consequence and danger of holding the opinion that no sincere Obedience but Faith is required of Christians by the Covenant and Law of Christ as indispensably necessary to the obtaining of Eternal Life and Glory and thereby to evince that as was said It is false that no sincere Obedience but the Act of believing is required as indispensably necessary to obtain Eternal Life and Glory And this we think we have effectually done for if no sincere Obedience but the Act of believing be required of Christians by the Law of Christ as indispensably necessary to obtain Eternal Life and Glory then it is self-evident that they are safe and may obtain Eternal Life and Glory if they have the Act of Faith and the Obedience which by it they yield to the Command of believing Though they want all other sincere Obedience and that is though they live in the Love and Practice of all manner of sins except the sin of Unbelief Obj. 1. If our Authour object 1. That though sincere Obedience distinct from Faith be not required of Christians as indispensably necessary to obtain Eternal Life and Glory yet it is required as necessary to signifie and evidence to a Christian the sincerity of his Faith which he cannot be sure of unless it be evidenced to him by sincere Obedience distinct from it self Answ We answer 1. We suppose he knows well enough that there are some who hold the quite contrary to wit that it is Faith only which is indispensably necessary to evidence the sincerity of a mans Obedience and not sincere Obedience to evidence the sincerity of his Faith 2. Be it so that sincere Obedience is indispensably necessary to assure a Christian of the sincerity of his Faith yet if it be not likewise indispensably necessary to his obtaining Eternal Life and Glory he may be really safe and in no danger of loosing Eternal Life and Glory if he have a sincere Faith which is the only thing indispensably necessary though he want all sincere Obedience distinct from Faith which is pretended not to be indispensably necessary to the obtaining of Eternal Life and Glory It is true the man cannot know that he is safe he cannot be sure and full of Spiritual Comfort without the evidence of his Faith that is without sincere Obedience But for all that if he really have Faith he is safe with respect to another World though he want sincere Obedience as the evidence of his safety by Faith and that is though he live in the Love and Practice of all manner of sins both of Omission and Commission except the sin of formal Unbelief which we think is a very great absurdity following upon the foresaid Opinion Obj. 2. If our Authour object 2. That here we suppose an impossibility to wit That a sincere Faith may be without any other sincere Obedience whereas though sincere Obedience be not required as indispensably necessary to obtain Eternal Life and Glory yet there always is and will be sincere Obedience where there is a sincere Faith and can never be separated from it We Answer 1. That we do not argue from an impossibility as such but wholly abstracting from its being possible or impossible for a sincere Faith to be without sincere Obedience to the Lord in other things required of Christians we prove it to be false that no sincere Obedience but the Act of Faith is under the Gospel-Covenant required of Christians as indispensably necessary to obtain the promised blessing of Eternal Life and Glory because if that were not false then this would be necessarily true that though a Christian should live in the Love and Practice of all other abominations yet if per possibile vel impossibile he retain but the Act of Faith he is safe and secure with respect to his Eternal Salvation and runs no hazard of loosing Eternal Life and Glory It is only this consequence which we are concerned to make good and that we have done But though the consequence and inference be good yet the consequent or thing inferred we justly account to be a very great absurdity and from that absurdity we prove the falsehood of the antecedent and principle from whence it follows by necessary consequence that is the falsehood of the Principle which saith that no sincere Obedience but the act of Faith is indispensably necessary to Salvation 2. We Answer that though we suppose and grant it impossible for a sincere Faith to be without sincere Obedience yet we may very well say that it is a great falsehood that no other Obedience but that of the formal elicit Act of Faith is required of Christians as indispensably necessary to Salvation and may prove it by this Argument Suppose
125. and Justified do sometimes through their own default fall into hainous sins and thereby they do incur the Fatherly Anger of God they draw upon themselves a damnable Guiltiness and lose their present â—tness to the Kingdome of Heaven Thon they prove their Position It is manifest say they by the Examples of David and Peter that the Regenerate can throw themselves headlong into most grievous sins God sometimes permitting it that they may learn with all humility to acknowledge that not by their own strength or deserts but by Gods Mercy alone they were freed from Eternal Death and had Life Eternal bestowed upon them Whilst they cleave to such sins and sleep securely therein God's Fatherly Anger ariseth against them Psal 89.31 Rom. 2.9 Besides they draw upon themselves damnable Guilt so that as long as they continue without Repentance in that state they neither ought nor can perswade themselves otherwise than that they are subject to Eternal Death Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die For they are bound in the Chain of a Capital Crime by the desert whereof according to God's Ordinance they are subject to Death although they are not as yet given over to Death nor about to be given over if we consider the Fatherly Love of God but are first to be rescued from this sin that they may also be rescued from the guilt of Death Lastly in respect of their present Condition they lose the fitness which they had of entâ—ing into the Kingdome of Heaven because into that Kingdome there shall in no wise enter any thing that is defiled Rev. 21.27 or that worketh Abomination For the Crown of Life is not set upon the Head of any but those who have fought a good fight and have finished their course in Faith and Holiness 2 Tim. 4.8 He is therefore unfit to obtain this Crown whosoever as yet cleaves to the Works of wickedness The Fourth Position is The unalterable Ordinance of God doth require that the Faithful so straying out of the right way must first return again into the way by a renewed performance of Faith and Repentance before he can be brought to the end of the way that is to the Kingdome of Heaven By the Decree of Election the Faithful are so predestinated to the End that they are as along the Kings High-way to be led to this appointed End no other ways than by the Means ordained by God Nor are these Decrees of God concerning the Means Manner and Order of such Events less fixed and sure than the Decrees of the End and of the Events themselves If any Man therefore walk in a way contrary to God's Ordinance namely that broad way of Vncleanness and Impenitence which leads directly down to Hell he can never come by this Means to the Kingdome of Heaven yea and if Death should overtake him wandring in this By-path he cannot but fall into Everlasting Death This is the constant and manifest Voice of the Holy Scripture Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luke 13.3 Be not deceived neither fornicatours nor idolaters c. shall inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 They are deceived therefore who think that the Elect wallowing in such Crimes and so dying must notwithstanding needs be saved through the force of Election For the Salvation of the Elect is sure indeed God so decreeing But withal by the Decree of the same our God it is not otherwise sure than by the way of Faith Repentance and Holiness Heb. 12.14 Without holiness no man shall see God The foundation of God standeth sure And Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 Again their Fifth Position is that In the mean time between the Guilt of a grievous sin and the Renewed Act of Faith and Repentance such an Offender stands by his own desert to be condemned by Christ's Merit Ibid. Art V. pag. 126 127. and God's Decree to be acquitted but actually absolved he is not until he hath obtained pardon by Renewed Faith and Repentance And for Proof of this Position they say in Page 128. The Father of Mercies hath set down this Order That the Act of Repentance must go before the Benefit of Forgiveness Psal 32.5 Ezek. 18.27 Thus those Excellent Divines and Judicious Faithful Ministers of Christ By all which it is clear as the Sun That the Synod of Dort taught the conditionality of the Covenant and held Faith Repentance sincere Obedience and Perseverance to the End to be the indispensably necessary Conditions of obtaining Eternal Salvation and therefore if there happen to be a partial Intermission of sincere Evangelical Obedience for a time by Christians falling into hainous wilful sins there must be a renewing of Faith and Repentance and a returning to their Obedience again before they can obtain the pardon of those Sins and the Eternal Salvation of their Souls which is all that we hold in this matter And it is alserted explained and solidly proved by the most Learned and Judicious Dâ—â—â—â—â—ant who was a Member of the Synod of Dâ—â— in another Book of his in these Words Bond Opera sunt necessaria ad Justificationis statum relinendum Praelect de Justitiâ Habit. Act. cap. 31. p. 404 405. conservandum non ut causae c. that is Good Workes are necessary to retain and preserve the state of Justification not as causes which of themselves effect produce or merit this Preservation but as Means or Conditions without which God will not preserve the Grace of Justification in Men. And here may be reckoned up the same Works which we mentioned in the foregoing Conclusion For as no Man receives that general Justification which froes from the Guilt of all former sins unless Repentance Faith a Purpose to lead a New Life and other Actions of that nature concurre So no Man retains a state free from Guilt with respect to following sins but by means of the same Actions of believing in God calling upon God mortifying the flesh continually repenting and grieving for the sins that are continually committed The Reason why all these things are necessarily required on our part is this because these things cannot be always absent but their contraries will begin to be present which are repugnant to the Nature of a justified Man For if you take away Faith in God and Prayer there succeeds unbelief and contempt of God's Name If you take away the endeavour of Mortification and the exercise of Repentance there breaks in upon the Man predominant Lusts and Sins wasting the Conscience Therefore because it is not God's will that Men who are Vnbelievers obstinate carnal should enjoy the benefit of Justification he requires continual Works of Faith Repentance and Mortification by whose presence are thrust as it were out of Doors and driven far away Vnbelief Obstinacy Security and other Poysons of Justifying Grace and also of particular sins there is a particular pardon
without just reason we think to satisfie them we may well say what is a great truth that the habitual Seminal Principle of Faith is a qualification of the Person to be justified and that the actual Exercise of Faith is the receptive applicative Condition of Justification This is our first Reason 2. Reason The seminal abiding Principle of Faith is a holy disposition of the Soul whereby it is inclined and fitted to elicit and produce the Acts of Faith This is clear because it is in a special manner the gift of a Holy God and the fruit of his Holy Spirit who cannot be the Authour of any Seed Disposition Inclination or Habit in the Soul of Man but what is good and Holy But now that Seminal abiding Principle of Faith is before Justification This is clear as the Sun because it is before the Act of that Faith whereby alone we are said to be justified and that it is before the justifying act of faith we thus demonstrate That which concurs to the producing of the Act is before the act since it is in part the cause of the act and the cause as such must always be in order of Nature at least before the effect and it implies a contradiction that it should be otherwise But the Seminal abiding Principle of Faith concurs to the producing of the Act of justifying Faith for it is given unto us for that end that it may fit us for inclines us to and help us in acting Therefore it is before the Act of justifying Faith and consequently before Justification it self Here then we have found a Holy Seed and Principle put by God into the Soul before Justification And therefore it is utterly false which the Letter saith that there neither is nor can be any good or holy thing in the Soul or any real change wrought on the Soul before Justification 3. Reason The Act of Justifying Faith is a good and holy thing since it is the effect of God's Holy Spirit and the first Fruit of the foresaid Holy Seed of Faith in the Soul But so it is that even according to our Authours own Principles the Act of Faith is before Justification For as was observed before he says out of Gal. 2.16 We believe that we may be justified and if so then it is evident that our believing is in order of Nature at least before we be justified 2. He holds that Faith is the Instrumental cause of Justification and lays great stress upon that Notion as if it were the great fundamental of his Religion he likewise finds great fault with us for not holding with him that Faith is the Instrumental cause of Justification Now according to this Opinion of his he cannot avoid the placing of the Act of Faith before Justification because it is the Act of Faith that receives Christ and his Righteousness and that is the instrumental cause of Justification But all the World knows that every proper cause as an instrumental cause is in its kind is in order of Nature before its effect Either then some holy good thing is in us before Justification or Actual Faith is no holy good thing and his instrument wherewith he makes such a noise is good for nothing but to blow the Coals of Strife and Contention 4. Reason Before a Man can be justified by Faith there must be a real and holy change in him because of an Unbeliever he must become a Believer and that cannot be without a real change and a holy one too Now that a Man from being an Unbeliever must come to be a Believer in Christ before he can be justified by Faith in Christ is self-evident for how can a Man be justified by Faith in Christ who yet hath no Faith in Christ he must then have Faith before he can be justified by Faith But how shall he get this Faith Can he get Faith whilst he still remains in Unbelief that is impossible For Unbelief either signifies not believing or it signifies positive disbelieving and 1. If it signifie not believing it stands in a contradictory opposition to believing and contradictions are utterly inconsistent Can a Man believe in Christ and not at all believe in Christ at the same time We hope our Authour will not be so ridiculous as to go about to reconcile contradictions 2. If Unbelief signifie positive disbelieving disbelieving in power and prevalency then it stands in a contrary opposition to believing and two contraries in power and prevalency are likewise utterly inconsistent in the same subject at the same time A Man that is in the very Act of positive disbelief and under the power and prevalency of it cannot possibly have an actual Faith in Christ at that time Therefore that an Unbeliever may get actual Faith in Christ and be justified by that Faith he must of necessity be changed really and effectually changed he must be changed from being an Unbeliever to be a Believer he must come off from his sin of not believing or of disbelieving unto the practice of his Duty of believing in Christ that he may be justified by Faith But this cannot possibly be without a real change nay this coming off from the sin of Unbelief to the Duty of Believing is a real change and a holy change too therefore there is and must be a real holy change in Man in order of Nature at least before his Justification by Faith in Christ This is as certain and evident as that Two and Two make Four Yet our Authour finds fault with us for making it a part of our new Scheme that there must be a real change in a man let page 30. that he must be changed from his Unbelief that he may come to Christ by Faith for Justification And elsewhere he says That it is the experience of every Believer that every one who believeth on Jesus Christ page 11. acts that Faith as the chief of Sinners And if so then it follows by necessary consequence that every one who believes on Christ acts that Faith as an Unbeliever for according to him unbelief is the chiefest sin so he writes expresly That Vnbelief is the most provoking to God page 15 16. and the most damning to man of all sins Unbelief then is the chiefest sin and if so certainly the Unbeliever must be the chiefest Sinner and the Believer who acts his Faith as the chief of Sinners must act his Faith as an Unbeliever And that is a very odd way of acting Faith to believe as an Unbeliever Yet no man can help it for if our Authors Doctrine be true it must be so and cannot be otherwise because it is that which the experience of all Believers witnesseth unto and as he writes page 24. The Believer or Accepter of Christ in the very act of believing or accepting of Christ expresly disclaims all things in himself but sinfulness and misery And if he do so then he disclaims that is renounces his Faith it self in
the very act of believing He doth not disclaim his Unbelief for that is sin nor doth he disclaim the conceit of meriting Justification by his Faith for that is a sinful conceit But he disclaims his Faith it self unless his Faith be either sinfulness or misery for he disclaims all things in himself but sinfulness and misery These two to wit Sinfulness and misery are the only things which he doth not disclaim Whence it follows necessarily that he disclaims his belief it self in the very act of believing and so by this means he is enabled to believe as an Unbeliever This is it may be one of our Authours deep Mysteries for which his Proselytes admire him and hug his Letter And we confess there is no such deep Mystery as the Mystery of contradictious Non-sense But if every one who believes doth believe as the chief of Sinners and so believes as an Unbeliever and as one that disclaims all true and saving Faith we would know how it comes to pass that all the Unbelievers in the World do not believe one would think that they might all easily believe with such a Faith as is acted by a Man under that reduplicating quatenus as an Unbeliever and which in the very act of believing renounceth all saving belief even every thing but Sin and Misery Of old no Man was received into the Christian Church and accounted a Christian unless he first disclaimed and renounced his sins but now it seems there is a great alteration in the state of Christianity for a man cannot at this day be a Christian unless he disclaim or which is all one renounce his Christian Faith and that too with an exception of not disclaiming his sins If this be the only way to be a Christian one would think that all the Jews Turks and Heathens in the World might easily be Christians for they can easily believe with a Faith that in the very act of it renounces and disclaims Faith but not sin But if our Authour say that every true Christian must believe in Christ with a sincere and saving Faith which Unbelievers have not and yet at the same time he must act his Faith as an Unbeliover and in the very act of Faith he must disclaim his Faith but not his Sin of Unbelief and that there must be no real change in him from Unbelief to Faith till he have Faith and have acted his Faith as aforesaid and be justified by such an Act of Faith and then a real change passes upon him in order of Nature after his Justification but not before We answer That this is contradictious Non-sense and at this rate no man can be a Christian till he hath made both ends of a contradiction meet and hath verified both parts of a contradiction in his own Person no man can be a Christian that is really changed from being an Unbeliever to be a Believer no he cannot be a Christian till he be both an Unbeliever and Believer in predominant degrees at the same time without any real change from what he was by Nature The plain English of this is that according to the Principles of our Authour laid down in his Letter no Man can ever be a good Christian at all for the thing is impossible because it implies a manifest contradiction Yet we must be so charitable as to think that our Authour hath indeed greatly mistaken in the expressing of his mind in his Letter but that really he doth not believe those things himself We hope he is of a more Orthodox Faith and are willing to impute it to some inadvertency and inconsiderateness in the hasty writing of his Letter We think he would or should have said that every one who believes on Jesus Christ acts that Faith as one who thinks himself to have been formerly before his Conversion and Faith a chief of Sinners or one of the first rank of great Sinners But doth not think himself to be still in the same state of Unregeneracy and Unbelief for if he think so of himself after that is converted and is actually believing on Christ most certainly he thinks amiss whatever our Authour say to the contrary for he thinks falsly of himself and sins in so thinking Our Authour talks confidently of that which he doth not know to wit the experience of every Believer for certainly he was never acquainted with the experiences of the thousandth part of Believers that are in the Christian Church at this day Can he then say in Faith that it is the experience of every Believer that he acts his Faith as one who in former times hath been as great a Sinner and hath done as much dishonour to God and as much mischief to the Church and to the World as the present King of France But whatever he say or think of Believers we are perswaded that true Believers are taught of God as to be humble so to be wise in acting their Faith wiser we are confident than that every one of them should think himself to be so great a Sinner as that he hath done as much dishonour to God and mischief to the Church of Christ as Lewis the Fourteenth has done and still continues to do Again when he says that a Believer and accepter of Christ in the very act of believing and accepting expresly disclaims all things in himself but Sin and Misery we think he should have said that he either expresly or implicitly formally or virtually in the very act of Believing disclaims all things in himself as being of and from himself but Sin and Misery which are indeed of and from himself and he takes the shame and blame thereof upon himself but as for his Faith or any good disposition or qualification that is in him he ascribes it all to the free Grace of God and gives God all the Glory of it And after the same manner in the very act of believing in order of Nature before he be justified he virtually acknowledges to God's Glory that by his Grace he hath wrought a real Holy Change in his Soul and of a blind proud Unbeliever hath made him an understanding humble Believer according to that 1 John 5.20 We know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true Reason 5. Fifthly and lastly The Seminal vital principle of justifying Faith is seated in the heart and the first vital act of it comes from the heart Rom. 10.10 With the heart man believes unto Righteousness We demand then concerning the first vital act of justifying Faith either it comes from a renewed Heart or an unrenewed Heart a Regenerate Heart of an â—â—â—regenerate Heart a Heart of Flesh or an Heart of Stone or if it come not from either of these then it must come from a third that is from a Heart that is neither renewed nor unrenewed neither regenerate nor unregenerate neither of Flesh nor of Stone But now 1. The first vital act of
Definition of Faith as not being really harsh but only harsh-like though he puts Assurance into it as being essential to Faith in its direct Act. So that by comparing one Passage of his Letter with another we find that he believes with Marshal That true Faith in Christ is a Believing at first that we are justified And he believes with us that that is not true but that it is a believing only at first that we may be justified Again he believes with Marshal that justifying Faith in its first direct Act is a Believing that we shall be assuredly saved by Christ And he believes with us that justifying Faith in its first direct Act is no such thing it is not a believing that we shall be saved by Christ but it is a believing that we may be saved by Christ Further he believes with Marshal that Assurance that our Sins are forgiven and that our Souls shall be saved is essential to the first direct Act of justifying Faith And he believes with us that it is quite otherwise and that we do not get such Assurance by the first direct Act of Faith but by its reftex Acts which follow after the direct And then for the Antinomians he believes with them that before Justification there is no real change wrought in the Soul from Ungodliness to Godliness in any Kind or Degree because the Apostle Paul saith in Rom. 4.5 That God justifies the Ungodly And yet he believes with us that before Justification there is a real change wrought in the Soul from Unbelief to Faith in Christ because the same Apostle saith in Gal. 2.16 That we believe in Christ that we may be justified And he cannot deny but that a real change from unbelief to Faith in Christ is a change and a real change too from Ungodliness to Godliness in some kind or degree because he himself holds unbelief to be the chiefest part of Ungodliness and Faith in Christ to be the chiefest part of Godliness witness his own Words Pag. 15 16. That believing on the Lord Jesus for Salvation is more pleasing to God than all obedience to his Law and that unbelief is the most provoking to God and the most damning to Men of all Sins If our Author believe this then by necessary Consequence he believes that unbelief is the chiefest part of ungodliness and that Faith is the chiefest part of Godliness and that a real change from unbelief to Faith in Christ is a real change from Ungodliness to Godliness in some kind and degree The import and issue of this is that our Author believes both parts of a Contradiction With the Antinomians he believes that before Justification there is no real change from Ungodliness to Godliness in any kind or degree And with us he believes that before Justification there is a real change from the Ungodliness of unbelief to the Godliness of Faith because the Sinner through Grace comes off from his Ungodly unbelief that he may believe and he believes that he may be justified and so in order of Nature before he be justified Now since our Author is so strong a Believer that he can believe both parts of a Contradiction why may not we think that as he believes that we preach a new Pelagian Arminian Gospel so he may believe at the same time that we do not preach a new Pelagian Arminian Gospel but the old Everlasting Gospel of Christ He believes in his Letter that we do preach a new Gospel and for ought we know to the contrary he may at the same time believe in his Conscience that we do not preach a new Gospel for his Letter and his Conscience are two different things that may not have much Communion one with another yea in this matter they may be at Hostile Enmity the Letter may be against his Conscience and his Conscience against the Letter But will not the Apostle Paul justifie him in Believing Contradictions since he says in Gal. 2.16 That Men believe in Christ that they may be justified and consequently that Faith is before Justification But in Rom. 4.5 He says that God justifies the Ungodly and by that it seems that Faith is after Justification We Answer far be it from any that fear the Lord to charge the Apostle with contradicting himself or with giving any ground to believe Contradictions for thus he writes to the Corimbians 2 Cor. 1.18 As God is true our Word toward you was not Yea and Nay That is it did not contradict it self And as he did not contradict himself in Preaching and Writing to the Corinthians no more did he do it in Preaching and Writing to the Romans and Galatians We must therefore so understand Rom. 4.5 of which the Question now is as not to make it contradict Gal. 2.16 And that is no difficult matter to do For we may easily conceive that this form of Speech God justifieth the Ungodly is like that of our Saviour Mat. 11.5 The Deaf hear Now no Man is so foolish as to think that the Deaf remaining Deaf did first hear and then immeditely after were cured of their Deasness why then should we be so foolish as to understand the Apostle as if he had said that God justifies men whilest they remain ungodly without any real change wrought in them and that immeditely after he hath justified them he first begins to make them Godly and to sanctifie them We are perswaded it is much more rational to understand the Apostle the quite contrary way to wit that as the Deaf were first in Order of Nature and Causality cured of their Deafness and then they did actually hear so God first Works a Holy change in the Heart of a Sinner and of an ungodly unpenitent Unbeliever makes him a godly penitent Believer and then immediately justifies him by Faith in Christ So that the Sinner whom God justifies he is ungodly Antecedenter fed non Concomitanter that is he was ungodly in the time before he was justified but he is not ungodly either in the instant of Nature before or in the instant of Time when he is justified but on the contrary he is through Grace Godly both before and when he is justified 2dly We Answer that the Man whom God justifies by Faith in Christ is certainly Godly Evangelically both in Order of Nature before he be justified and at the time when be is justified and yet at the same time he may be said to be legally ungodly for understanding this we are to consider that the Man whom God justifies may be compared with and judged by the Law of Works or the Law of Faith if he be compared with and judged by the Law of Works he is found to be in himself an Ungodly Man because he hath not perfectly kept but hath frequently transgressed that Law and so can never be justified but is condemned by it But if he be compared with and judged by the Law of Faith the Evangelical Law the Law of the New
not so with us at this day But when we look abroad into the World and into the present state of the Reformed Churches at home and abroad and see or hear what lives Men generally lead how they fight against God and against one another against God by transgressing all his holy just and good Laws and by turning his Grace into Lasciviousness And against one another by injustice and uncharitableness by malice and envy by lying and slandering c. We cannot but fear that God is against us and will fight against us as we are against him Levit. 26.23 24. and fight against him And it greatly encreases our fear to see that those who pretend to greatest seriousness in Religion have lately fallen out and have been quarrelling together about such a practical point of Religion as that is Whether true Repentance is necessary before we can obtain from God the pardon of our sins through the alone satisfaction and Merits of Christ When God is loudly calling us to Repentance for obtaining the pardon of our sins and we should all be found in the practice of Repentance in order to that end we are like Mad-men fallen to disputing Whether our Repentance be necessary before we are pardoned when we are pardoned or after we are pardoned And there are those amongst us who have raised a great clamour against such honest and faithful Ministers of Christ as dare tell and dare not but tell the People that they must truly repent of their sins before they can obtain the pardon of them although at the same time they assure the people from the Lord that God for Christs sake will most certainly pardon them immediately after they have repented This is cried out against as dangerous Doctrine by a sort of Religious People amongst us who will have it that Repentance is only necessary after God hath pardoned us but not before And though to please these People some Ministers have openly granted That Repentance and pardon of Sin are simultaneous in time that is they are not one before another for any space of time but are both together only Repentance is first in order of Nature by the grace thereof to dispose and prepare us for receiving our Pardon by Faith in Christs Blood Yet this will not give them content but they will have their Pardon before Repentance and the Ministers who preach or write otherwise shall be proclaimed to be Antichristian Arminian or any thing that Passion suggests This we say greatly encreaseth our fears for to us it seems evident that the hand of Joab is in this matter that is plainly that Satan has a wicked design by this means to keep the People from Repentance and so from obtaining the pardon of their sins that the desolating Judgments of God may come upon the Nation and that we may be all destroyed together And that Satan may not be discovered he hath artificially disguised himself and appears on the Stage transformed into an Angel of Light pleading for the exaltation of the glorious riches of free grace in the Justification of Sinners by the Blood of Christ without all works of any Law whatsoever and with great appearance of Zeal asserting That the freeness of Gods Grace in the Justification of Sinners by Faith in the Blood Merits and satisfaction of Christ cannot possibly be maintained unless it be denyed that true Repentance is antecedently necessary to our obtaining the pardon of our Sins It seems to us that this is Satans Plot against us and that he hath thus disguised himself the better to carry it on and the more effectually to compass his design upon us And this is the more probable because we find that at the beginning of the Reformation Satan plaid the same game when he perceived that by our first Reformers preaching up Justification by Faith only and not by Works many People were induced to separate from the Church of Rome and embrace the Reformation he endeavoured to make them believe that since Sinners are Justified and Pardoned by Faith only and not by Works then there was no necessity that they should repent of their Sins in order to their obtaining the Pardon of them And thus he thought that though they had got their feet loosed out of one of his Snares yet he should still keep them fast in another and lead them Captive at his will That this is so indeed and no Fiction of ours is manifest from the Testimony of Bishop Hooper that blessed faithful and valiant Martyr of Christ who in the Reign of Queen Mary was burnt alive for the Protestant Religion in a slow Fire about the space of three quarters of an hour and sealed the Truth of the Gospel with his blood This Man of God in a Book of his Intituled A Declaration of Christ and his Office Printed at Zurich in the Year 1547. Chap. VII th handling the point of Justification saith This is certain and too true Let the whole Gospel be preached unto the World as it ought to be Repentance and a vertuous Life with Faith as God preached the Gospel unto Adam in Paradise Noah Abraham Moses Isaiah saying Vae Genti Peccatrici c. Isa 1.4 c John the Baptist repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand As Christ did Repent and believe the Gospel Mark 1. and then of an hundred that come to the Gospel there would not come one When they hear sole or only faith and the mercy of God to justify and that they may eat all ments at all times with thanksgiving they embrace that Gospel with all joy and willing heart And what is he that would not receive this Gospel the flesh it self were there no immortal soul in it would receive this Gospel because it promiseth aid help and consolation without Works But now speak of the other part of the Gospel as Paul teacheth Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye And as he prescribeth the life of a Justified man in the same Epistle Chap. 12 13 14 15 16. And Christ Mat. 10. And Peter in the 2 Epistle and 1 Chap. This part of the Gospel is not so pleasant therefore Men take the first liberty c. Thus that blessed Saint who feared neither Man nor Devil but in the true faith and fear of God set himself with a Divine courage and holy boldness to oppose the Devil and all his Instruments to destroy his Kingdome in the World and on the contrary to exalt the Name and Glory of God and to set up Christs Spiritual Kingdom in the hearts and lives of Men. Would to God! that we had many Hoopers amongst us at this day who saith again in the same Chapter not far from the beginning Nothing maketh the cause wherefore this mercy to wit of Justification should be given saving only the death of Christ which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only sufficient Price and Gage for sin And although it be necessary and
the Doctor in that Book And that you may see that this Passage did not drop inconsiderately from his Pen we will shew from another Book which he wrote afterwards that this was his settled judgment and that he was firmly and fully perswaded of this great Gospel-truth It is Dr. Twiss his Answer to Mr. Hoard's Book called God's Love to Mankind Pag. 37.38 As touching the conferring of Glory God doth not bestow this on whom he will finding men equal without any moving cause thereunto even in man for though there be no moving cause thereunto in man of its own nature yet there is to be found a moving cause in man by constitution Divine whereby God is as it were moved to bestow Salvation on some and not on others For God hath made a gracious promise that whosoever believeth and repenteth and continueth in Faith and repentance unto death shall be saved and whosoever believeth not and repenteth not shall be damned So then though Men are equal in original sin and in natural corruption and God bestows faith and repentance on whom of them he will curing their corruption in whom he will yet when he comes to the conferring of Glory men are not found equal in moral condition and accordingly God cannot be said in like manner to bestow Glory and Salvation on whom he will For he hath tyed himself by his own constitution to bestow Salvation on none but such as dye in the state of Grace Yet I confess some say that God bestows Salvation on whom he will inasmuch as he is the Authour of their faith and repentance and bestows these graces on whom he will Yet certainly there is a different manner in the use of this Phrase of bestowing this or that on whom he will For when God bestows Faith and Repentance he finds them on whom he will bestow it no better than others but when he comes to the bestowing of Glory he finds them on whom he bestows that far better than others And a little after Albeit saith he God hardneth whom he will by denying unto them the grace of Faith and Repentance yet notwithstanding like as it is just with God to inflict damnasion upon them for that sin whether original or actual wherein he finds them when the ministry of the Word is offered them So likewise it cannot be denyed to be just with God to leave their infidelity and impenitence wherein he finds them uncured But yet because God hath not made any such constitution namely that whosoever is found in infidelity and impenitence shall be so left and abandoned by him Therefore he is properly said as to cure it in whom he will so to leave it unoured in whom he will finding them all equal in original Sin and consequently lying equally in this their natural infidelity and impenitence So we may justly say there is no cause at all in man of this difference to wit why God cures infidelity and impenitency in one and not in another but it is the meer pleasure of God that is the cause of this difference But 2. as touching the denyal of Glory and inflicting of damnation which is the second thing decreed in reprobation there is always found a cause motive yea and meritorious hereof to wit both of the denyal of the one and inflicting of the other And God doth not proceed herein according to the meer pleasure of his will and that by reason of his own constitution having ordained that whosoever continueth finally in infidelity in profane courses and impenitency shall be damned And albeit on the other side it may be said in some sense as I formerly shewed that God saves whom he will in as much as he is the Authour of Faith which he bestows on whom he will yet in no congruous sense can he be said to damn whom he will for as much as he is not the Authour of sin as he is the Authour of Faith For every good thing he works but sin and the evil thereof he only permits not causeth And lastly as God doth not damn whom he will but those onely whom he finds finally to have persevered in sin without repentance So neither did he decree to damn or reprobate to damnation whom he will but onely those who should be found finally to persevere in sin without repentance Again in the same Book pag. 106. But I saith Twiss shall tell you the chief Flourish whereupon this Authour and usually the Arminians doth insist in this his loose Argumentation I conceive it to be this they hope their credulous Readers unexpert in distinguishing between God's eternal decree and the temporal execution thereof will be apt hereupon to conceit that we maintain that God doth not onely of meer pleasure decree whatsoever he decreeth but also that he doth decree of meer pleasure to damn men Which yet is utterly contrary if I be not deceived to the Tenet of all our Divines All concurring in this that God in the execution of the decree of damnation proceeds according to a Law and not in the execution of reprobation onely but also in the execution of election and the Law is this Whosoever believes shall be saved whosoever believes not shall be damned and like as he inflicteth not damnation but by way of punishment so he confers not salvation but by way of Reward Again pag. 184. God hath not wished but ordained and made it a positive Law that whosoever believeth shall be saved and here hence it followeth that if all and every Man from the beginning of the World to the end shall believe in Christ all and every one of them shall be saved And Pag. 229. As for Salvation that is appointed to be bestowed only by way of Reward of foregoing Faith Repentance and good works And a little after in the same Page Indeed our profession is that Gods purpose is to bestow Salvation by way of Reward of Faith Repentance and good works And accordingly there is No other assurance of election than by Faith and Holiness â— Thess 1.3 4 Remembring the work of your Faith the labour of your love and the patience of your hope knowing beloved brethren that ye are elect of God And St. Peter exhorts Christians to make their election and vocation sure by joining vertue with their faith and with vertue knowledge and with knowledge temperance and with temperance patience and with patience Godliness and with Godliness brotherly kindness and with brotherly kindness love 2 Pâ—t 1.5 6 7 10. Thus Dr. Twiss speaks our sence according to our Hearts desire and maintains the Gospel to be a Law as much as we do But now it may be our Authour will object that in all this Dr. Twiss speaks only of a Law according to which God proceeds in bestowing or not bestowing eternal life and glory upon Men but not of a Law according to which he justifies and pardons men We Answer 1. The reason of that was because the Doctor 's Adversaries gave
him occasion to speak there of God's Law according to which he glorifies or damns men eternally and not of the Gospel-law according to which he either justifies or not justifies Men. But 2. We say that the Doctor 's Judgment was the same as to both to wit as to Justification as well as to Glorification and that 1. Because in his Answer to the foresaid Arminian Book called The Synod of Dort and Arles reduced to Practice Pag. 16. these are his express Words We say that Pardon of Sin and Salvation of Souls are benefits purchased by the death of Christ to be enjoyed by men but how not absolutely but conditionally to wit in case and onely in case they believe And Pag. 28. Men are called upon to believe and promised that upon their Faith they shall obtain the grace of remission of sins and Salvation and these graces may be said to be offered unto all upon condition of Faith And Pag. 189. The Promises assured by Baptism according to the Rule of Gods word I find to be of two sorts Some are of benefits procured unto us by Christ which are to be conferred on us conditionally they of this first sort are Justification and Salvation And Pag. 190. Justification and Salvation is promised in the Word and assured in the Sacraments upon performance of a condition on mans part Now the condition of Justification and Salvation we all acknowledge to be Faith And in his other Book against Hoard Some Benefits saith the Doctor are bestowed upon man only conditionally though for Christs sake and they are the pardon of sin and salvation of the Soul Twiss against Hoard p. 154. and these God doth conferr onely upon the condition of Faith and Repentance All these are the Doctor 's own express Words by which it plainly appears that his Judgment was the same with respect both to Justification and Glorification and that he held that God dispenseth to us both these benefits for Christs sake according to a Law 2. We say that the Doctor 's Judgment was the same as to both because there is the like reason for both and the Doctor 's own Argument holds for the Law of Justification as strongly as for the Law of Glorification since God hath as much constituted and ordained that all penitent Believers and none of ripe years but penitent Believers shall be justified as that all penitent persevering Believers and no others shall be glorified As it is written John 3.18 He that believeth on Christ the Son of God is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already Acts 3.19 26.18 because he hath not believed in the name of the onely begotten Son of God Luke 13.3 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Acts 2.38 Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Acts 13.39 By him all that believe are justified c. Rom. 3.25 God hath set him forth to be a propitation through faith in his Blood Rom. 4.24 It shall be imputed to us if we believe These Testimonies of Holy Writ do as certainly and evidently shew that God proceeds according to a stated Rule and standing Law of his own making in Justifying or not Justifying Men as any other Testimonies do shew that he proceeds according to a stated Rule and standing Law in Glorifying or not Glorifying Men. 3. We Answer that our wise Accuser in the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th Pages of his Letter seems plainly to be as much against God's proceeding according to a Law in Glorifying Men or not Glorifying them at death as he is against God's proceeding according to a Law in Justifying them or not Justifying them before death Otherwise we would fain know what he means by saying that the Doctrine of Conditions Qualifications and Rectoral Government and the distribution of Rewards and Punishments according to the new Law of Grace will make but an uneasie Bed to a dying Man's Conscience and will leave him in a very bad condition at present and in dread of worse when he is feeling in his last Agonies that the wages of sin is death if he cannot by faith add the Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We profess we cannot see what our Authour should design by this passage but to reflect upon us as Subverters of the true Grounds of Christian Comfort and as driving People to despair by our Doctrine of God's being a Governour and Judge who distributes eternal Rewards and Punishments unto Men See Rev. 11.18 who live in the visible Church according to the Rule of the Evangelical Law and as he finds them to be qualified through Grace or not qualified to have performed the Condition or not to have performed the Condition to have complyed with the terms of the Evangelical Law or not to have complyed with them We say we cannot see what other design he should have therein but thus to reflect upon us And if this was really his design then he denies that God proceeds according to a Law as well in Glorifying or not glorifying as in Justifying or not Justifying Men And therein he opposes Dr. Twiss and all our other Divines that he knevv of as well as us And further upon that Principle that there is no such stated Rule and known standing Law according to vvhich God hath assured us that he vvill either give eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord or inflict eternal death We chalenge our Authour to shevv us hovv in an ordinary vvay vvithout a Miracle the dying disconsolate Man can be assured by Faith that God for Christs sake will give eternal life to him in particular and not inflict upon him eternal death for his Sins For if God have not revealed in his vvritten Word to Men that through Christ he vvill give eternal life unto all penitent Believers and consequently to that dying Man in particular if he be really a true penitent Believer We say if God hath not revealed this in his vvritten Word but kept it secret vvithin himself as a thing vvhich he vvill give arbitrarily as he pleaseth without regard to any stated Rule or knovvn Lavv hovv is it possible for the poor dying Man vvithout an immediate extraordinary Revelation to knovv but that eternal death vvhich he knovvs he hath deserved and not eternal life vvhich he cannot possibly deserve shall be his everlasting portion What depends upon the meer arbitrary will and pleasure of God can never be knovvn by Man unless God reveal it either by his vvritten Word alone or by his Word and Spirit conjunct or by his Spirit immediately vvithout the Word But the poor disconsolate Man can have no hopes that God will reveal it to him by his Written Word alone or by his Written Word and
truth that Repentance is before Justification at least in order of Nature They object further if Repentance be before Justification then it is either before or after Faith but it cannot be before Faith for it is impossible that a man should sincerely repent before he believe Nor can it be after Faith if it be before Justification for a man is justified by Faith and that assoon as he believes We answer That men needed not to be deluded by such a silly sophism if they would distinguish 1. Between the Abiding Seed and Principle and the Transient Act of Faith 2. Between the Assenting Act of Faith and it s fiducially consenting act For though Faith in the Principle of it be but one single Grace yet in the Exercise of it it hath several acts successively following one another and yet not so closely neither but that the Act of Repentance may come between them Now to apply these distinctions we say that from Repentance's being before Justification it doth by no means follow that it is altogether and in all respects before Faith For 1. The Seed and Principle of Faith is before the Act of Repentance 2. The assenting Act of Faith is also before the Act of Repentance And thus from a principle of Faith and by the help of an Act of Faith the Soul sincerely repents in order to Justification and pardon of sin then after the said Act of Repentance there comes another Act of Faith to wit the Act of Fiducial consent to receive Christ as he is offered in the Gospel whereupon the penitent believing Soul is immediately justified and pardoned This we learn of Calvin who in his Institutions lib. 3. cap. 3. Sect. 19. writes thus Sic Christus suas conciones auspicatus est c. So also Christ began his Sermons Mark 1.15 The Kingdom of God is at hand repent ye and believe the Gospel First he declares that the treasures of God's mercy were opened in him Then 2. He requires Repentance And 3. and lastly He requires a trust or relyance on the promises of God Here we have the Lords order of things judiciously set forth 1. He declares that the Treasures of God's Mercy are opened in him This Declaration of God's Infinite Mercy in Christ held forth to lost Sinners of Mankind is the object of our Faith of assent and we are bound to assent to it as an infallible Truth and to be firmly perswaded of it 2. He requires our Repentance he requires that assenting to the Truth of the Gospel and being firmly perswaded that God is upon terms of Mercy with us through him we should repent and be heartily sorry that by our sins we have offended so merciful a God and resolve in God's strength to do so no more 3. And lastly That supposing we so repent from a principle of Faith assenting to the Revelation of God's great Mercy in Christ to lost Sinners indefinitely he requires that we trust and rely on God's promises and on Christ as held forth to us in the promises that according to his promises he will for Christ's sake be merciful to us in pardoning us all our sins When we are through Grace arrived at this Act of Faith whereby we trust and rely on God's promises and on Christ as held forth to us in the promises then we are instantly pardoned accepted as Righteous and get a right to Life for the alone satisfactory meritorious Righteousness of our Lord Redeemer But we could never attain to this Act of Faith and thereby to pardon of sin for Christ's sake if we did not first believe with the Faith of assent that God through Christ is upon terms of Mercy and Peace with us That is the first Act of Faith and when it is of the right kind and proceeds from the right Principle the super-natural Seed of Faith put into the heart it is through the influence of the Holy Spirit of mighty force and efficacy 1. To make us repent to make us through Grace heartily sorry for having displeased and dishonoured so good and Merciful a God by our sins and to make us resolve through Grace to do so no more 2. It is of as great force and efficacy to make us trust and rely on Gods promises and on Christ revealed in the promises that God according to his promises will for Christ's sake justifie and pardon us Thus we have answered that frivolous Objection and clearly shewed how true Repentance is in order before Justification and pardon of sin and yet not altogether and in all respects before Faith but partly after and partly before Faith after the principle and assenting Act of Faith but before the fiducially consenting and trusting Act of Faith And what though no Man could give a clear account of the exact order observed by our Souls in the acting of their several Graces yet that should hinder no Christian from believing that true Repentance is in order before pardon of sin because God who cannot he hath plainly told us in the Scripture of Truth that it is in order before pardon as hath been proved If then we have any Faith in God and his Word We should say Let God be True who ever proves a Lyar. Certainly it is very unreasonable foolish and dangerous too to deny or doubt of that which is clear because we cannot throughly understand that which is obscure to wit the precise order of the Souls acting its Graces This may suffice at present to prove that the Gospel-promise of Justification and pardon of sin is conditional and that Faith and Repentance are the Condition of it 2. In the second and last place we shall briefly prove by Scripture that the Gospel-promise of Glorification and Eternal Salvation is conditional and that sincere obedience is the Condition of it For the better understanding of our meaning in this matter we premise a few things As 1. That this is to be understood upon supposition that a man lives some considerable time after that he is effectually called and justified and pardoned upon his first believing and repenting and that he hath space and opportunity to perform his Covenant Engagement unto the Lord and to bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance If the Man dye presently after his Justification and pardon there is no more required on his part the Spirit perfects his begun Sanctification and God through Christ consummates his Salvation without requiring any more of him than what he is inabled to do as he is a dying But if God give him time and opportunity and he live It is required that proportionably to his Talents and time he serve the Lord in Faith and Holy Obedience that he renew his Faith and Repentance for pardon as often as he finds that he has fallen into sin and that he return to his Duty again serving the Lord all his days in Faith Hope Love Fear Patience Meekness Humility and Heavenly-mindedness c. 2. The Obedience that is required as aforesaid must
life And therefore as he saith again John 13.17 Rom. 6.23 If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them And his Apostle Paul saith that God gives eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But to whom doth he give it Why that is visible from the 22. Verse immediately before It is to them who being made free from sin and become servants to God have their fruit unto holiness It is we say to them that God through Christ gives Eternal Life as a Reward of their Holy Obedience and well-doing God in Christ is most certainly a Rector or Ruler who according to his Law of Grace will distribute at last glorious Rewards to all that fear his Name Revel 11.18 2 Cor. 5.10 James 1.25 Rom. 2.6 7. small and great And as St. James saith Then shall the Obedient Believer the doer of the Lord's Work be blessed in his deed Then as Holy Paul says To them who by patient continuance in well-doing have sought for glory and honour and immortality God will render eternal life This God will do at the Last Day to all that have so continued in well-doing to the end For so the Spirit of Truth hath plainly said by Paul and it is infallibly true and will continue to be for ever true 1 Cor. 7.19 with Gal. 5.6 Let who will contradict it and say it is false Blessed Paul assures again that Circumcision is nothing and Vncircumeision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God Heb. 5.9 And that Christ is become the Authour of eternal salvation to all them that obey him Yea our Lord Christ himself saith Be thou faithful unto death Rev. 2.10 and 3.21 Rev. 22.14 and I will give thee a Crown of life and that he who overcomes shall sit with him on his Throne To all which agrees that we read in the Last of the Revelations Blessed are they that do his Christ's commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city Here we see the Lord himself hath declared them blessed that sincerely keep his Commandments because thereby 1. They have a Right to the Tree of Life whilst they live And 2. When they dye they enter upon the full possession of that which before they had a Right unto They enter in through the gates into the city But you will say how have we right unto and entrance upon full possession of Eternal Life and Glory by keeping Christ's Commandments We Answer the keeping Christ's Commandments doth not merit or give us either one or the other of them but it is the way and means which we use and the Condition which through Grace we perform for the having our right to the Tree of Life continued to us or not taken from us whilst we live And for our having full possession of Life and Happiness given us when we die So that 't is God who first for Christ's sake gave that still continues our right to us and at last will for the same cause that is for Christ's sake give us full possession But he will do all this for us in the way of continued Faith and Obedience and on Condition that we sincerely believe in Christ and keep his Commandments unto the end Thus we have proved from Scripture That sincere Obedience to the Law of Christ is a Condition of Glorification as our first believing and repenting is the Condition on our part of our Justification and of the pardon of our Sins For as the definition of a Gospel-Condition agrees to Faith and Repentance with respect to our Justification and Pardon of Sin so it agrees to sincere Obedience with respect to our Glorification and Eternal Salvation And to whatsoever the definition of a Gospel-Condition agrees to that the Nature and Essence of a Gospel-Condition must agree also From all which we conclude that the Covenant of Grace is Conditional with respect to the subsequent blessings and benefits of it The two principal promises to wit of Justification and Glorification are certainly conditional which was the thing to be proved And having first demonstrated it by Scripture Second Head of Arguments We Secondly prove it by reason agreeable to Scripture And Reason 1. First If the Covenant of Grace be not Conditional with respect to its subsequent Blessings and Benefits particularly if the Promise of Justification and Pardon of sin be not conditional we do not see how it is possible for a Minister to be faithful to God to his own Conscience and to the Souls of the People in preaching the Gospel to them It is true it is easily conceivable how a Minister may be faithful in laying before People the Commandments of the Lord and in telling them that those Commandments oblige them to believe and repent And that if they do not believe and repent they will grievously sin against the Lord and draw down his wrath upon their own Souls But now whâ—n he proceeds to encourage them to believe and repent by setting forth to them God's Promise of Justification and Pardon of Sin we do not conceive how he can do it honestly and faithfully if the Promise of Justification and pardon of Sin be not conditional For when a Minister is preaching to a promiscuous mixed Multitude of People and for their encouragement to believe and repent is declaring to them Gods Gospel-promise of Justification and pardon of Sin either he must declare and preach this Promise to them conditionally or absolutely If conditionally assuring them from the Lord that they shall be justified and pardoned through Christ's Righteousness imputed to them if they sincerely believe and repent then the Promise it self is conditional and the Covenant also is in that respect conditional For if there be no Condition in the Gospel-promise and Covenant how can the Minister preach it conditionally to the People Doth he not take God's Name in vain and abuse the People also by telling them from the Lord that all they who perform the Condition of the Gospel-promise by believing and repenting shall have the promised Benefit to wit Justification and pardon of Sin if there be no Condition in the Promise necessary to be performed by them for obtaining the promised Benefit Either then a Minister must not preach the Promise conditionally to the People or there is and must be a Condition in the Promise and if there be a Condition in the Promise then we have what we aim at for we desire no more to prove the Covenant of Grace to be conditional But 2. If our Authour will say that the Minister must preach the Promise of Justification and pardon absolutely to all the People assuring them from the Lord that they are or shall be justified and pardoned through Christ absolutely whether they perform any Condition or not whether they do any duty or not whether they believe and repent or not Then we Answer That the Minister who shall preach
we believe in God because he gives us Repentance that we may begin to believe in God 3. That we cannot believe in God at all unless God first give us Repentance which must be understood in this sense that we cannot believe at all with the Faith of fiducial consent and recumbency unless it be first given us to repent for it is self-evident that we can and do believe with the Faith of assent before we do repent and indeed we neither do nor can repent till we first believe with the Faith of assent as was shewed before And it is clear from their own words that they meant not that we cannot believe with the Faith of assent but that we cannot believe with the Faith of consent and fiducial recumbency unless it be first given us to repent Their words are A Man receives from God Repentance unto Life ut in Deum credere incipiat that he may begin to believe in God Now by believing in God undoubtedly they meant believing in him so as to consent to have him for our God and so as to trust him as our God And could not mean only believing so far as to assent that there is a God and that his word is true For they were the Disciples of Holy Austin and had learned of him to distinguish between credere Deum credere Deo credere in Deum believing a God and believing that all God saith is true and believing in God so as to love him and take him for our God and trust him as our God It is this believing in God which they say cannot be begun till we have first repented through Grace and this is a great Truth as we shewed before out of Calvin And since this believing with fiducial consent and recumbency is justifying Faith it follows evidently that those Fifteen Fathers held Repentance to be before Remission of Sins and before Justification as it consists in Remission of Sins because they held it to be before Justifying Faith whereby we receive Remission of sins Act. 10.43 4. We observe they say that Repentance is a change of our Will and God himself by giving us Repentance changes our Wills Therefore in the Judgment of those Fifteen Fathers there is and must be a real change in us before we be justified and pardoned And we must let our Authour know that these Fathers which are for us against him were burning and shining Lights in their day Most of them if not all suffered banishment for the true Faith of Christ under the persecution of the Arian Vandals in Africa For we have a Synodical Epistle of theirs concerning the Grace of God and the will of man which was written by them in their Exile in Sardinia to which Twelve of their Names are prefixed the self-same names which are prefixed to the foresaid confession of Faith concerning the Incarnation and Grace of our Lord Jesus directed to Petrus Diaconus and his Brethren who were come from the Eastern Churches to receive information concerning the Faith of the Westorn Churches We will here cite one short passage out of the Synodical Epistle of those Twelve banished Pastors of Christ's Church It is in the 10th Chapter Quod autem vos dicitis c. As to what ye who wrote to us say that man is saved by the alone Mercy of God but they say unless a man run and labour with his own will he cannot be saved We answer that both are fitly held if the right order be kept between the Mercy of God and will of man that Mercy go before and the Will follow that God's Mercy alone confer the beginning of Salvation with which afterwards the Will of Man may cooperate towards its own Salvation that God's Mercy preventing or going before may direct the course of mans will and that mans will obeying through the same Mercy or Grace following it may according to its intention run towards the heavenly prize Here we see that it was the Judgment of those Twelve Confessors That we are saved by the alone Mercy and Grace of God if through Grace preventing and assisting us we yield Obedience to the Lord and run and labour to obtain the prize of Eternal Life and Glory And that if we do not this we cannot be saved This is what we say that sincere Obedience is so indispensably necessary that without it we cannot be saved It shall suffice at present to have demonstrated by the Testimonies aforesaid that we are no Innovators no Preachers of a new Gospel and Divinity in this matter since we have Christ and his Apostles and the Fathers of the best and purest Ages on our side all giving in testimony for us and against our Authour It will not consist with our designed brevity to alledge more testimonies of the Doctors of the Primitive Church and therefore we pass from them to the Modern Divines the Doctors and Pastors of the Reformed Churches We begin with the Augustan Confession of Faith and the Edition we make use of is that which was printed at Wittenbergh in the year 1540. In the 20th Testimonies of Modern Divines Article concerning Faith these are its words Primum igitur de fide justificatione sic docent Christus apte complexus est summam Evangelii c. First therefore they the Protestant Ministers and Churches thus teach concerning Faith and Justification Christ hath fitly comprehended the Sum of the Gospel when in the last Chapter of Luke he commands Repentance and Remission of sins to be preached in his Name For the Gospel reproves sin and requires Repentance and at the same time offers Remission of sins freely for Christ's sake and not for our own worthiness And as the preaching of Repentance is universal so also the promise of Grace is universal and commands all to believe and receive the benefit of Christ as Christ says Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden And Paul says He is rich unto all that call upon him Therefore though some Contrition and Repentance is necessary yet we must believe that Remission of sins is given unto us and that of unjust we are made just that is reconciled or accepted and made the Children of God freely for Christ's sake and not for the worth or merit of contrition or of other works that go before or follow after But this benefit is to be received by faith c. Therefore when we say that we are justified by Faith we do not understand this that we are just for the Dignity Worth or Merit of the Vertue of Faith it self But this is the meaning that we obtain the remission of sins and the imputation of Righteousness through Mercy for Christ's sake but this Mercy cannot be received but by Faith And here Faith signifies not merely the knowledge of the History but it signifies to believe the promise of Mercy which we obtain for Christ the Mediator For what can be more acceptable to an afflicted trembling conscience in its true
Saints but they raise up the fallen again that they be not ruined For the promises also are expresly extended unto the Righteous sometimes fallen into sin Psal 37.24 and 89.30 31 32 33 34. The same Authour writing against the Papist upon the same subject saith Fides tune dicitur justificare cum actum proprium c. Faith is then said to justifie when it can exercise Pareus lib. 1. de amissione gratiae cap. 7. prope finem and doth exercise its proper act of Receiving Remission of sins but a Faith that is sick wounded oppressed with the filth of the flesh and as it were bound with the fetters of sin doth not exercise nor can it exercise this act and a little after But God doth not impute sin to the just that are fallen to wit when they repent but before they repent he doth indeed impute sin to them by inflicting temporal punishments and unless they repented he would impute sin to them by inflicting also eternal punishments And he thus concludes Tune igitur fides in lapsis habitualiter tantion manens propriè justificans dici aut eos justificare non potest Therefore Faith then remaining habitually only in the lapsed it cannot properly be said to be justifying or to justifie them Thus far Pareus Whereby we plainly see that he held the Covenant of Grace to be conditional as we do that Faith and Repentance are conditions of it especially Faith is the main condition by the acts whereof we are justified and receive Remission of sin not by the habit because it is the Act and not the Habit that receives Christ and Remission of sins through him 2. He held that after Justification sincere Obedience to the Lord in the avoiding of wilful presumptuous sins of Omission and Commission is a Condition so necessary to the obtaining of Eternal Salvation that without such Obedience either continued without intermission or after some notable intermission of its acts and weakning of its habit renewed again by new acts of Faith and Repentance Salvation cannot be obtained nor Damnation avoided 3. That though there be such conditions required of the Elect in order to Justification and of the justified in order to Salvation yet they are not uncertain as to the event but shall through special effectual Grace be infallibly performed and the Elect and Justified shall be eternally saved This was the Gospel that Pareus preached and the Synod of Dort approved And it is that and no other which we preach also Therefore it must needs be a great falsehood and slander that we preach a new Arminian Gospel We find likewise that the Divines of Geneva Deodat and Tronchin in the Synod of Doâ—t were for the conditionality of the Covenant of Grace in the sense before explained for thus they write in their suffrage concerning the second Article Fides est revera conditio novi foederis respectu ordinis inviolabilis a Deo instituti Act. Synod Dondrect part 2. page 132. c. Faith is indeed the Condition of the new Covenant in respect of the inviolable order instituted by God but it is also a promised gift of the new Covenant and an effect of our ingrafting into Christ In these words 1. We observe That in the Judgment of those Divines approved by the Synod of Dort God by his absolute Will hath instituted a conditional order between the antecedent and subsequent blessings of the new Covenant 2. That Faith is the Condition ordained by God for obtaining the subsequent blessings of the Covenant such as Justification Pardon of sin c. 3. That it is not habitual Faith or the first habitual seminal permanent principle of Faith but it is actual Faith because they say that it is the effect of our ingrafting into Christ but the first seminal permanent principle of Faith is not the effect of our ingrafting into Christ otherwise we should be ingrafted into Christ before we have so much as the least seminal principle of Faith since the cause must be before the effect Therefore to avoid that absurdity we think they meant that our ingrafting into Christ begins in the Spirits working in us the seminal principle of Faith which concurs to the producing of the Act of Faith which being our formal vital Act though produced by the Vertue of the Seminal Principle and the effectual influence of the Spirit is the Condition of the Covenant performed by us and withal is the effect of our initial ingrafting into Christ The same Doctrine is believed and professed at Geneva at this day Witness what was lately Taught and Published by Turretin Professor of Divinity there In Page 196. of that Book he saith that Christ requires Faith in God's Promises and Obedience to his Commandments Turrotin Institut Theologiae Eleâ—ct Part. 2. Edit Genev. 1688. as the Duties and Conditions of the Covenant And in the same Page he saith that The form of Words wherein the new Covenant is expressed I will be your God and you shall be my People comprehends both the Benefits promised on God's part and the Duties required on our part And first he explains at large what promised Benefits on God's part are implied in the Words I will be your God Secondly he shews what Duties required on our parts are implied in the Words you shall be my People After he had in general opened the meaning of the foresaid Form of the Covenant he comes to particulars and in the 29. Paragraph he sayes The Principal Duties required of us are Faith and Repentance Faith which embraces the Promises and Repentance which fulfils the Commandments Faith answers to the Promise of Grace believe and thou shalt be saved Repentance is commanded Lege Evangelicâ by the Evangelical Law walk before me and be thou perfect Gon. 17.1 For as on God's part there are two principal Benefits of the Covenant Remission of sins and the writing of the Law in the Heart so on Man's part two Duties ought to answer unto them to wit Faith which applies unto us the Remission of sins and Repentance or the study and endeavour of Sanctification which reduces into practice the Law written in the Heart by walking in God's Statutes which Christ meant when he said Mark 1.25 Repent and believe the Gospel In Page 202. he puts the Question Whether the Covenant of Grace be conditional and what are the Conditions of it And in Answer to it he distinguishes between several sorts of Conditions and as we have done shews that in some sense it is not Conditional and then he concludes that in another sense it it Conditional and Page 203. he proves it by three Arguments 1. Because it is proposed with a Condition expressed John 3.16 36. Bom. 10.9 Acts 8.37 Mark 16.16 And frequently in other places 2. Because if it were not conditional there would be no place for Threatnings in the Gospel which cannot be denounced but against those who neglect to performe the Condition prescribed For the
between him and those who do not love to say that Faith is an Instrumental Cause is more verbal than real for he doth not say that Faith is the Instrumental cause of our Justification that indeed had been to ascribe too much unto Faith but the Instrumental cause receiving Christ and his Righteousness upon which follows Justification now we all acknowledge Faith to be of an apprehensive receptive nature and that it is the Instrumental means whereby we apprehend and receive Christ and his Righteousness that we may be Justified and our using that Instrumental means as the Lord hath appointed is the receptive condition to which the Promise of Justification is made Here then seems to be a meer difference in words when we mean the same thing Lastly for sincere Obedience he holds it to be in some sense a cause of obtaining Eternal Life which is more than we have ascribed to it in calling it a Condition for a Condition as such hath no causal Influence Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 1. pag. 199. His own Words in the said Book are these Our Obedience indeed is not the principal or meritorious cause of Eternal Life For we receive the right of this life and the life also it self from the Grace and Gift of God for the sake of Christ apprehended by faith Rom 6.23 The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But yet it is a cause some way administring helping and moving forward towards the possession of this life whereof we had the right before for which reason it is called the way in which we walk to Heaven Eph. 2.10 And it promotes our life both of its own nature because it is some degree of life it self still tending to perfection and also by vertue of God's Promise who hath promised Eternal Life to those who walk in his Commandments Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting For though all our Obedience while we live here is imperfect and contaminated with some mixture of sin Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusts against the spirit yet through Christ it is so acceptable unto God that it is crowned with a most great reward The Promises therefore made to the Obedience of the Faithful are not Legal but Evangelical although by some they are said to be of a mixt nature In all this Ames ascribes as much to sincere Obedience and makes it as necessary to Salvation as we do If we say it is a Condition he sayes it is in some sort a Cause of obtaining the poffession of Eternal Salvation And sure to be so a Cause is as much at least as to be a Condition Next let us see what Dr. Twiss faith to these things Indeed he is so clearly on our side that if the Authour of the Letter had been acquainted with his Writings he would have been wiser than to have mentioned his Name in this Cause For thus he writes We say that pardon of sin and salvation of Souls are Benefits purchased by the death of Christ to be enjoyed by Men but how Answer to a Booke called The Synod of Dort and Arles reduced to practice pag. 16. not absolutely but conditionally to wit in case and onely in case they believe For like as God doth not confer these on any of ripe years unless they believe so Christ hath not merited that they should be conferred on any but such as believe and accordingly profess that Christ dyed for all that is to obtain pardon of sin and salvation of Soul for all but how not absolutely whether they believe or no but onely conditionally to wit provided they do believe in Christ Again Men are called upon to believe and promised Ibid. pag. 28. that upon their Faith they shall obtain the Grace of Remission of sins and Salvation and these Graces may be said to be offered unto all upon Condition of faith Again As touching the Benefits of pardon of sin Ibid. page 152. and Salvation procured by Christs death we say that Christ died to procure these for all and every one but how not absolutely for then all and every one should be saved but conditionally to wit upon Condition of faith so that if all and every one should believe in Christ all and every one should be saved Again It is untrue that we must have a sufficient assurance Ibid. pag. 154. that Christ died to procure pardon of sin and salvation of soul absolutely for him whom we go about to comfort it is enough that Christ died to procure these Benefits for him conditionally to wit in case he believe and repent and of this we have a most sufficient assurance Again We say not here that any thing becomes true Ibid. pag. 163. by the Faith of him that believes it but onely this that the benefit which is procured for all and every one upon a Condition becomes his and peculiarly his alone who performeth the Condition Again Now Eternal Life we know Ibid. pag. 171. is ordained by God to be the portion of Men not whether they believe or not whether they persevere in Faith Holiness and Repentance or no but onely of such as believe repent and are studious of good Works for it is ordained to be bestowed on Men by way of reward of their Faith Repentance and good Works Again The Promises assured by Baptism Ibid. pag. 189. according to the Rule of God's Word I find to be of two sorts Some are of Benefits procured unto us by Christ which are to be conferred on us conditionally they of this first sort are Justification and Salvation for Abraham received Circumcision as a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Circumcision therefore was an assurance of Justification to be had by Faith if such were Circumcision to the Jews we have good reason to conceive that such is Baptism unto us Christians for as that was unto them so this is the Sacrament of Regeneration unto us And good reason the Sacraments which are Seals of the Covenant should assure that unto us which the word of the Covenant doth make Promise of Now the word of the Covenant of Grace doth promise unto us both Remission of sin and Salvation upon Faith in Christ This by our Doctrine we promise unto all and assure unto all as well as they do by theirs If all and every one should believe we nothing doubt but they should be justified and saved On the other side if not one of ripe years should believe I presume our Adversaries will confess that not one of them should be saved Again Justification and Salvation is promised in the Word Ibid. pag. 190. and assured in the Sacraments upon performance of a Condition on Mans part Now the Condition of Justification and Salvation we all acknowledge to be Faith Thus Dr. Twiss frequently in the foresaid Book And that this was his setled Judgment will appear by what he wrote afterwards in the Year
1634. in Answer to Mr. Hoards Book called Gods Love to Mankind which Answer was Printed after his Death by Mr. Jeanes a very Learned and Zealous Calvinist in the Year 1653. at Oxford The Ministers of the New Testament Twiss against Hoard pag. 194 195. are called Ministers not of the Letter but of the Spirit that is not of the Law the Ministry whereof is not the Ministry of the Spirit but yet this is rightly to be understood to wit of the Spirit of Adoption for undoubtedly even the Ministry of the Law is the Ministry of the Spirit also but of the Spirit of Bondage to hold Men under fear It is called the Ministry of Condemnation and the Reason hereof I conceive to be because God doth not concur with the Ministry of the Law by the Holy Spirit to work any Man to the performance of the Condition of the Law which is exact and perfect Obedience But thus he doth concur with the Ministry of the Gospel namely by his Spirit to work Men to the performance of the Condition thereof which is Faith in Christ and true Repentance therefore the Letter to wit of the Law is called a killing Letter but the Gospel is joined with a quickening Spirit and therefore Piscator conceives that the Gospel in this place is called by the Name of the Spirit So then the Gospel giveth Life by the Spirit which accompanieth the Ministry thereof c. And in the same Book he saith Some Benefits are bestowed upon Man only conditionally though for Christs sake and they are the pardon of sin and salvation of the Soul Page 154. and these God doth confer only upon the Condition of Faith and Repentance Now I am ready to profess and that I suppose as out of the Mouth of all our Divines that every one who hears the Gospel without distinction between Elect and Reprobate is bound to believe that Christ died for him so far as to procure both the pardon of his sins and the Salvation of his Soul in case he believe and repent But there are other Benefits which Christ by his Obedience hath merited for us namely the Benefit of Faith and Repentance for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. 1.19 And he hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings in Christ that is for Christs sake Eph. 1.3 And God works in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ Heb. 13.21 And therefore seeing nothing is more pleasing in Gods sight on our part then Faith and Repentance even these also I should think God works in us through Jesus Christ And the Apostle prays in the behalf of the Ephesians Eph. 6.23 for Peace and Faith and Love from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ that is us â—â—interpret it from God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as an efficient Cause and from the Lord Jesus Christ God and Man as a meritorious Cause thereof Now I demand whether this Authour can say truely that it is the constant Opinion of our Divines that all who hear the Gospel whether Elect or Reprobate are bound to believe that Christ died to procure them Faith and Repentance Nay doth any Arminian at this Day believe this or can he name 〈◊〉 Aâ—minian that doth avouch this Again Glory and Salvation God doth not will that it shall be the Portion of any one of ripe Years absolutely but conditionally to wit if he repent and believe And in case all 〈◊〉 page 174. and every one of the World should believe and repent all and every one how notorious Sinners soever they be found shall be saved such is the sufficiency of Christ's Merits I say this is true not of them onely who are invited to the Wedding Mat 22. Nor of them onely to whom St. Peter speaketh Acts 3.26 Or of them onely of whom our Saviour speaketh Mat. 23.37 But of all and every â—ne throughout the World And it is as true that none of them shall be saved if they dye in Inâ—idelity and Impenitency This God himself signifieth to be his will by his Promise Acts 2.38 39. on the one part and on both parts Mark 16.16 And as God signifieth this to be his will so indeed it is his will according to our Doctrine and there is no colour of Imposture or Simulation in all this In like sort as touching the Grace of pardon of sin this also God offers unto all that hear the Gospel but how not absolutely but conditionally in case they believe and Repent and it is God's will that every one who believeth shall have his sin pardoned none that I know either thinketh or teacheth otherwise whether he falleth out either to be Elect or Reprobate though how to distinguish Men according unto this difference 〈◊〉 know not I leave that unto God Now like as we say God doth signifie his meaning to 〈◊〉 that as many as believe and repent shall have their sins pardoned and their Souls saved So if it can be proved that there is no such meaning in God then in my poor Judgment it cannot be avoided but that God must be found halting in his Offers But for my part I acknowledge such a meaning in God neither have I to this Hour found any one of our Divines either by Word or Writing to have denyed this to be the meaning of God Again Whereas he Hoard fashioneth our Doctrine so as if we said that God hath decreed at no hand to save them to whom he promiseth Salvation upon Condition of Faith this is a notorious untruth Ibid. pag. 177. and such as implieth manifest contradiction For to say he hath resolved at no hand to save them is as much as to say that he hath resolved to save them on no Condition But if he hath promised to save them in case they believe undoubtedly he hath resolved to save them upon Condition of Faith Onely God's Resolution to save them is not held in suspence considering that from Everlasting he well knew who would believe and who would not c. Again It is true Baptism is ordained that those which do receive it may have the Remission of their sins but not absolutely but conditionally to wit in case they Believe and Repent as appears both in that place Acts 2.38 Ibid. pag. 201. and Rom. 4.11 and Baptism as a Seal doth assure hereof onely in case they Believe and Repent and therefore none of Ripe Years were admitted unto Baptism until they made Profession of their Faith and as for Infants they were also antiently said to be Baptized in Fide Parentum By all these Passages quoted Word for Word out of Dr. Twiss it is as clear as the Light at Noon-day that he held the Covenant of Grace to be Conditional and particularly that the Promise of Justification and Pardon of Sin is Conditional and that Faith and Repentance not Faith alone nor Repentance alone but Faith and Repentance together are
that more and worse is feared which what it should be we cannot imagine unless it be that they fear we will at last renounce Christ and Christianity But to this we will say with David 2 Sam. 16.12 it may be the Lord will look upon our case and requite us good for this reviling Dr. let p. 12. Downame Bishop of Derry whom our Authour also commends in his Letter shall next come in for a Witness on our behalf who in his Book of the Covenant of Grace saith The promises of the Gospel cannot be applyed to any aright but only to those who have the condition of the promise page 134 135. which is the justifying Faith For the Gospel doth not promise Justification and Salvation to all but to those only who have a justifying Faith Therefore a Man must be endued with justifying Faith before he can or ought to apply the promises of the Gospel to himself For as Salvation is promised to them that believe so damnation is denounced to them that believe not Mark 16.16 John 3.16 18. Again No man ought to apply the promise of the Gospel to himself who hath not the condition of the promise ibid. page 153. unless he will perniciously deceive himself For as he that believeth shall be saved so he that believeth not shall be condemned page 154. Again As we daily sin so we must daily ask forgiveness Prayer being the means that God hath ordained to that end Object Yea But saith the Papist ye forsooth have already full assurance of the remission of all your sins not only past but also to come Answ It is absurd to imagine that sins be remitted before they be committed and much more that we be assured they are remitted before they be either remitted or committed That indeed were a Doctrine to animate and to encourage Men to sin But howsoever the Pope sometimes forgiveth sins to come yet God doth not When God justifyeth a man he giveth him remission of sins past Rom. 3.25 As for time to come we teach that although Christ hath merited and God hath promised remission of sins of all the faithful unto the end of the World notwithstanding remission of sins is not actually obtained and much less by special Faith believed until Men do actually believe and repent and by humble and faithful Prayer renew their Faith and Repentance For as God hath promised to the faithful all good things But how Matt. 7.7 8. To them that ask Luke 18.13 14. that seek that knock So also remission of sins Neither is it to be doubted but that remission of sin though merited by Christ though promised by God though sealed unto us in the Sacrament of Baptisme is obtained by the effectual Prayer of those who believe and repent for whom Christ hath merited it and to whom God hath promised it in his Word and sealed it by the Sacrament even as the obtaining of the rain which God had promised 1 Kings 18. ver 1 41. and the Prophet Elias had foretold is ascribed to the effectual Prayer of Elias James 5.16 18. To Bishop Downames we add the very Learned and Pious Gatakers Testimony When â—altâ—arsh the Antinomian had objected and said either place Salvation on a free bottom or else you make the New Covenant but an old Covenant in new terms Do this and live believe this and live repent and live obey and live Gataker replies This is frivolous because as hath been shewed Gatakers shadows without Substance page 49. Salvations free bottom is no way impeached by such conditions as these required and scandalous because therein the Apostles Doctrine is not covertly but directly challenged as overthrowing and razing the foundation of free Grace For what is believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved but believe and live Or what is repent that your sins may be done away but repent and live Or what is He is the Authour of Salvation to all that obey him but obey and live And I demand again what this amounts unto whether it be any other than blasphemy to say that the Apostles by such their Doctrine did not place Salvation upon a free bottom but brought in the old Covenant again in new terms Sir Dare you say in your new revealed Mystery believe not and yet live repent not and yet live obey not and yet live Again We may truly say that you and yours are they that either cannot or will not see the Wood for Trees Ibid. page 57. the conditions on which Salvation by Christ is propounded though in the Gospel they do every where occur and offer themselves will ye nill ye to your eyes With Gataker we joyn Mr. Ball who in his Treatise of Faith recommended by a Preface of Dr. Sibbes saith Balls Treatise of Faith part 1. page 86. The promise of remission of sins is conditional and becometh not absolute until the condition be fulfilled This is the word of Grace Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved When doth this conditional proposition become absolute When we believe what That our sins are pardoned No but when we believe in Christ to obtain pardon which is the thing promised upon condition of belief Again The priviledge of Grace and Comfort which comes to the Soul by believing must be distinguished from the Condition of the Covenant Ibid. page 89. which is required on our parts before we can obtain pardon Again We can teach no Faith to Salvation but according to the rule of Christ Repent and believe the Gospel no remission of sin Ibid. page 136. but according to the like Rule Luke 24.47 Acts 2.37 38. But Faith seeketh and receiveth pardon as it is proffered in the word of Grace Repentance is necessary to the pardon of sin as a condition without which it cannot be obtained not as a cause why it is given Luke 13.3 1 John 1.9 Acts 11.18 If Mercy should be vouchsafed to all indifferently the Grace of God should be a boulster to mans sin c. Lastly We conclude this head of our defence with the Testimony of the Synod of Dort We have already shewed that the Geneva Divines in that Synod gave it in under their hands and were therein approved by the Synod That the Covenant of Grace is conditional We might be large in shewing the like of many others but we will confine our selves for brevities sake to the Embdan Bremen and English Divines their Suffrages recorded in the Acts of the Synod First The Embdane Divines in the Synod said That God required the same conditions from those that were in Covenant with him under the Old and New Testament to wit Faith and the obedience of Faith Act. Synodi Dord part 2. page 93. Gen. 12. Abraham believed God and the Apostle â—in Rom. 4. Teaches that we are saved by the same Faith Gen. 17. Abraham is commanded to walk before God and be perfect The same is every where
before Repentance in Calvin's Judgment is not the Faith that our sins are already pardoned but that they shall be pardoned upon our sincere Repentance which Faith puts us upon acting Repentance and having put forth an Act of sincere Repentance we immediately act Faith upon the promise and apply it to our selves and trust in the Lord according to his gracious promise If this be not Calvin's sense let them free him from self-contradiction that can for we cannot otherwise do it However it be we have him expresly affirming that Faith in some sense is before Repentance and that Repentance such Repentance as that in Ezek. 18.23 is before Remission of Sins and Justification From whence it follows necessarily that in his Judgment both sincere Faith and Repentance are in order before Justification and so that there is a real change and some holy principle and disposition wrought in the Soul before Justification The same he affirms again elsewhere for thus he writes on Mark 4.12 lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them Caeterùm ex eo minimè colligi debet poenitentiam esse veniae causam c. But from this it ought by no means to be inferred that Repentance is the cause of pardon as if God received into favour those who are converted because they have merited or deserved it For even Conversion it self is a sign of God's free Grace and Favour but only ordo consequentia notatur the order and consequence of things is marked out because God doth not forgive any sins but those for which Men are displeased with themselves From which Words of Calvin we observe that where there is an order and consequence of things there is a priority and posteriority and one of them is before another but so it is that in Calvin's opinion between Repentance and pardon of sin there is an order and the one is consequent upon the other pardon of sin is consequent upon Repentance therefore Repentance is before pardon of sin but Repentance can never be without some real holy change and disposition in the Penitent Therefore there is such a change and holy disposition before Pardon and Justification Again on Luke 3. v. 4. The voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord. Eadem inquit vox auribus nostris quotidie insonat ut Domino paremus viam hoc est sublatis vitiis quae regno Christi viam praecludunt accessum demus ejus gratiae The same voice saith he dayly sounds in our ears that we should prepare the way for the Lord that is that we should give access unto his grace by putting away our sins which stop up the way against the reign of Christ in us These Words plainly give us to understand that according to Calvin Repentance and turning from sin goes in order before pardon and that it prepares us for the grace of Pardon and Justification There needs no more to shew that Calvin held true Repentance as to the beginning of it to be in order before pardon of sin and Justification Yet when Repentance is taken for a course of holy living in the actual performance of our first purpose to forsake our sins and return unto the Lord then in that sense it is confessed that Calvin and we with him hold Repentance to be after the several acts of Justifying Faith and after Justification it self and that it runs parallel with our Lives and must be continued unto Death This was that which our first Reformers called the best Repentance which so enraged the Papists that in the Council of Trent they Anathematized us for this Opinion Si quis dixerit optimam poenitentiam esse tantùm novam vitam Concil Trid. Sess 14. Can. 13. Anathema sit If any shall say that a new life is onely the best Repentance let him be accursed Thus they But we do not at all fear their Curse for notwithstanding it or any other thing to the contrary we firmly believe and say that a new life is the onely best Repentance And this best Repentance this Repentance in its perfection we grant to be not only after justifying faith but also to be after Justification it self and after the forgiveness of all the sins that we had been guilty of before our Regeneration and Conversion yet for all that we still maintain according to the Scriptures of Truth that the beginning of true Evangelical Repentance is in order before forgiveness of sins and justification and we think we have Calvin on our side if we may believe his own words To Calvin succeeds Beza giving in his Testimony plainly for us and saying in his large Confession of faith Sed necesse est imprimis ut idem spiritus sanctus nos ad Jesum Christum recipiendum aptos idoneos reddat cap. 4. art 3. c. But it is necessary saith he in the first place that the same holy Spirit make us apt or fit and meet to receive Jesus Christ And in his short Confession of faith Art 11th As it was not saith he in our power to invent or find out the Medicine of Salvation so neither is it possible for us to find out the way to use that Medicine rightly Because that falls out in this matter which useth to be in bodily Diseases for as when one desperately sick is ignorant of his Disease it is necessary that the Physician not only find out a Medicine for him but likewise that he so dispose the sick Person that he may be both willing and able to use the Medicine and that he may know the way to use it aright so in the Disease of the Soul which is the most dangerous of all and in which Men are not only ignorant of but also Adversaries to their Salvation It is necessary that we understand from the same Physician First What that Medicine is then which way it is to be used Finally That by the same Physician we be made fit and meet for this that we may be both willing and able to use the Remedies proposed Again Art 19. This Remedy of free Salvation through Christ is applyed by a double efficacy of the Holy Spirit For first The Holy Spirit disposes or fits our understanding to perceive the Doctrine of the Gospel which otherwise seems meer foolishness to the World Then he perswades our minds that that Doctrine of free Salvation through Christ is not only true but also that it pertains to us And that is it which we call Faith so much commended in Scripture to wit when one perswades himself assuredly that the promises of Salvation and Eternal Life particularly and properly belong to him By these passages of Beza we see that he held as we do that before a Man do or can actually believe with a justifying Faith he is disposed fitted and prepared by Christs Holy Spirit for the right performing of that great work of believing aright And in his little Book
both they and the Synod which approved their Suffrage and gave them great thanks for it did all of them believe that there is and must be a great and holy change wrought on us and holy Dispositions and Qualifications bestowed on us before we are immediately able and that we may be able to believe and repent and consequently before we are justified Yea our Divines expresly reject it as the first Arminian Error against that part of the third and fourth Articles which relates to Regeneration and Conversion unto God by Faith and Repentance That in Regeneration there are no spiritual Gifts infused into the Wills of Men. Pag. 91. This Arminian Errour they disprove and amongst other Arguments against it Pag. 92. they use this for one As the Will of a meer natural Man is said to be vicious from a certain inbred and inherent wickedness which in a wicked man even when he doth nothing is habitual so again we must acknowledge that in the Will of the regenerate there is a certain Righteousness or Goodness as it is in the Original given and infused by God which is presupposed unto their Religious Actions St. Austin in many places setteth forth this habitual Righteousness or Goodness And Prosper calls this goodness of the Will Prosper de vocat Gentium lib. 1. c. 6. superni agricolae primam plantationem the first planting of the Heavenly Husbandman Now a Plantation Notes something ingrafted in the Soul not an Act or Action flowing from the Soul Thus our Divines at Dort whereby we see that it is a branch of Arminianism to deny that there is any Holy Habit Seed Root or Permanent Principle of Grace or any Spiritual Qualification wrought in the Soul before Justification And we find that long ago Robinson one of the rigidest Seperatists from the Worship and Discipline of the Church of England yet Religiously adhered to her Doctrine in this Point we are upon for thus he writes in Defence of the Doctrine of the Synod at Dort Robinsons Defence of the Doct. of the Synod at Dort p. 109. Pag. 132.133 That a man may have his Sins pardoned who yet wants all brotherly Love and goodness the Scriptures every where deny Mat. 6.14 15. 1 Joh. 3.14 15. Mark 11 24 25. Rom. 8.1 Psal 32.1 2. And afterwards in the same Book By the Word and Spirit saith he God regenerates Men or gives them Faith and Repentance which they must have before they can believe or repent as the Child must have Life before it can live or do Acts of Life and must be generated or begotten before it have Life or Being Regeneration therefore goes before Faith and Repentance Here we see that old rigid zealous Nonconformist held that there must be a real great change made on a Man a Holy Principle must be put into him and Holy Qualifications bestowed upon him before he can believe and repent and consequently before he can be justified Pag. 56. Again before in the same Book he saith expresly that Rom. 8.29 30. Shews plainly that our Predestination or Election goes before our Calling and our Calling before our Justification And in the same Page Gods chusing a Man whether in Decree from Eternity or by Actual and Effectual Calling and calling of him out of the State of Sin by giving him the Spirit of Faith and Grace goes before his believing for he cannot believe before he have Faith nor have it before God give him it but his actual saving by Justification and Glorificaton follows after Faith The same Truth is witnessed unto by Mr. Ball in his Treatise of Faith Part 1. p. 1.36 Every one saith he is not fit to receive the Promise of Mercy the Enemies of the Gospel of Christ Worldlings Hypocrites and all in whom Sin reigneth can have no true Faith in Christ he is only sit to receive Mercy who knows that he is lost in himself and unsatiably desires to be eased of the heavy burden of his Sins Faith is a Work of Grace of the Essicacy of Gods Spirit whereby we answer to the Effectual Call of God and come unto him that we might be partakers of Life Eternal And if saving Effectual Calling be precedent to Faith the subject of living Faith is Man savingly called according to the purpose of Gods Will. We can teach no Faith to Salvation but according to the Rule of Christ Mark 1.15 Repent and Believe the Gospel no Remission but according to the like rule Luke 24.47 Acts 2.37 38. Our last Witness is Mr. Gataker who saith God doth not actually remit or release Sin until he give Grace to repent Gatakers shadows without substance p. 55. which in the Gospel Phrase and Method goes constantly before pardon c. We might easily bring many more of our Reformed Divines to witness unto this Truth but these are sufficient to shew that it is the old Protestant Doctrine generally received in the Reformed Churches that there is and must be a real Holy Change a seminal permanent Principle of Spiritual Life some Holy Dispositions and Qualifications wrought in us by the Spirit of Christ before we are justified by Faith in the Blood of Christ And here by the way we must tell our Author what it may be he doth not know First that if he will believe Bardwardin Let. p. 13. with whom he saith God blessed England against the Pelagians then he will find it to be a Branch of the Pelagian Heresie that there is no Gracious Principle no Holy Disposition or Qualification wrought in us before our Justification For Bradwardin saith so expresly Bradward de causâ dei lib. 1. Cap. 43. p. 397. Asserunt ambae partes residuae opinionis Pelagii remissionem peccati Justificationem injusti praecedere gratiam tempore vel naturâ That is Both the remaining parts of the Opinion of Pelagius assert that Remission of Sin and the Justification of the unjust go before Grace in Time or in Nature Thus Bradwardin and then he falls a Confuting of this Pelagian Opinion by such Arguments as most manifestly shew that by the Word Grace there he meant not the Good-Will Love and Favour of God but the Effect of it upon the Soul even a Gracious Gift communicated unto and a real Holy change wrought in the Soul whereby of ungracious it is made inherently Gracious and of unjust and unholy it is made inwardly Just and Holy This Grace this Gracious change he maintains to be in Order before Remission of Sin and the Denial of this Grace this Gracious change before Remission of Sin he declares to be a Branch of Pelagian Heresie We thought fit to let the World know that what by some is accounted pure Gospel Doctrine now was in former times accounted a part of Pelagius his Opinion and that even by Bradwardin whom our Authour so highly commends Yet at the same time we must declare that we do by no means approve Bradwardins way of Confuting
Scripture We Answer by denying the Consequence of the first Proposition as false for it doth not follow that we should warn People not to believe on Christ too soon And we have nothing Offered to prove that such an absurdity follows from our Doctrine but this mans bare Word which we have found to be so often false in matter of Fact that we can give no credit to it in other things And he is so unhappy here and elsewhere throughout his Letter that he makes his own Tongue or Pen to fall upon himself for he confesses that it is no good Argument that if People cannot be truly Holy before the Tree be changed Matth. 12.33 34 35. and before they have a new Heart Ezek. 36.26 27. as he grants they cannot then Ministers should warn People not to be Holy too soon For to give them any such warning he grants to be absur'd Let him then consider Let. p. 11 12. whether the same or the like Answer he can give to this Argument which would prove that Ministers should warn People not to be Holy too soon may not be given to the other silly Argument whereby he would prove that upon our Principle Ministers should warn People not to believe on Christ too soon for it is as certainly true that People cannot actually believe on Christ with a saving justifying Faith before the Tree be changed and the Heart be in part renewed as it is that they cannot be truely Holy before the Tree be changed and the Heart be renewed When we are to deal with Unbelievers our Lord hath given us other Work to do than to warn them not to believe too soon and let our Author try when he pleases he will find enough to do to convince them that their present Indisposition and disability to believe doth not free them from the Obligation which the Lord by his Word hath laid upon them to believe and to direct them unto the right means in the use whereof they may obtain from the Lord both the necessary Disposition unto Faith and also the Principle and Act of Faith it self Our Author we perceive has been at this Work and before we have done with him we shall see what a rare Specimen of his skill this way he hath given the World Fourthly But he farther Objects We hold forth that God justifieth the Ungodly Pag. 25. Rom. 4.5 Neither by making him Godly before he justifie him nor leaving him Ungodly after be hath justified him but that the same Grace that justifies him doth immediately sanctifie him We Answer this is the Text that our Antinomians much insist upon and think it sufficient to make all Men Antinomians And we are glad to find that it hath not that full effect upon him for tho he be one with them with respect to any Holy change in Order before Justification and denies it as they do yet he separates himself from them with respect to what follows after Justification and saith that we are sanctified immediately after Justification and so he joins himself to us now there may be good worldly Policy in this to hold with both sides as much as he can But if he do not agree with himself what ground can others have to trust him that ever he will heartily agree with them and that he doth not agree with himself we think is apparent from what he writes Pag. 16. A Man saith he is to believe that he may be justified Gal. 2.16 Again Pag. 32. No Words or Warnings repeated nor plainest Instructions can beat into Mens Heads and Hearts that the first coming to Christ by Faith or Believing on him is not a Believing we shall be saved by him but a Believing on him that we may be saved by him And again Pag. 7. The direct Act is properly justifying saving Faith by which the lost Sinner comes to Christ and relies upon him for Salvation Yet when we do press Sinners to come to Christ by a direct Act of Faith consisting in an humble reliance on him for Mercy and Pardon they will understand us whether we will or not of a reflex Act of Faith by which a Man knows and believes that his Sins are pardoned and that Christ is his when they might easily know that we mean no such thing These three Passages show clearly that he holds saving Faith to be both before Justification and before Assurance of Justification We confess that we do very well understand this to be the meaning of these Words now quoted ouâ— of his Letter for we think they are not capable of any other sense but though we understand the Words of the Letter yet we do not understand the Author of them and we much doubt whether he understands himself and that because he immediately adds Page 7. that Mr. Marshal in his excellent Book lately Published hath largely opened this and the true Controversie of this Day And Pag. 35. Marshals Book saith he is a deep practical well jointed Discourse and if it be singly used I look upon it as one of the most useful Books the World hath seen for many Years I fear not but it will stand firm as a Rock against all Opposition and will prove good Seed and Food and Light and Life to many hereafter Who that reads this can doubt but that our Author has read Marshaâ—s Book and that he approves it and believes every thing at least that is material in it and yet there is one thing very material in it and it is one of the main joints in it That justifying Faith is a Believing that we are now justified and shall be Eternally saved and that the Assurance of this that we are now justified and shall be saved is essential to the direct Act of Faith This Marshal with all his might strives to prove and it seems he hath done it to the Conviction of our Author who believes that that Opinion can never be disproved again Yea he seems so Confident of the Truth of Marshals Opinion that he spares not to reflect on the Westminster Assembly of Divines for denying it as they do in their Confession of Faith Chap. 18. Art 3. In these Words This infallible Assurance doth not so belong to the Essence of Faith but that a true Believer may mait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it Thus the Assombly But doth he reflect on them for this why if he doth not let him tell us what he means by these following Words Was not the Holiness of the first Protestants eminent and shining Let. p. 22. and yet they generally put Assurance in the Definition of their Faith We cannot say that Gospel Holiness has prospered much by the Correction or Mitigation of that harsh-like Definition If these Words of his whatever might be his Intention do not reflect upon the Assembly we do not understand plain English and moreover we cannot but think also that they imply his owning of Marshals
unwilling to believe of so great and good a man But we cannot be so confident of the sincerity of our Author as we are of Calvins and therefore we commend to his serious Consideration a passage of the Reverend and Learned Pitcarne in his Evangelical Harmony of the Apostles Paul and James in the Doctrine of Justification Art 1. Pag. 10. Tantum addo quod c. I only add says he that in the Scriptures the word Faith is also used for the Conscience or perswasion of the will of God approving our Fact or that which we are to do Whatsoever is not of faith is sin That is It is sin whatsoever it be that is done with a Conscience that is doubting and uncertain of the will of God I was not a little grieved when I read Suarez accusing our Divines that they acted the part of Sophisters when to prove Justification by Faith alone they alledge without making a right choice or putting a difference between one and another any places of Scriprure where faith is mentioned although in them there is not the least tittle to be found of Faith related to Christ and the promises of the Gospel or that hath respect unto absolution from the guilt of sin This should teach us all to take great care how we quote and apply Scripture to prove our opinions least by misapplying Texts we wrest the Scripture grieve Gods Spirit and harden our Adversaries in their Erroneous opinions 4th Obj. Fourthly He Objects against us The Seventh Canon of the Sixth Session of the Council of Trent which Anathematizeth all those who say that all works done before Justification howsoever they be done are truly sins We answer that this objection is impertinent and makes against himself as well as against us Let. p. 16.32 For 1. He says that Faith is in order of nature before Justification as we have proved from several passages in his Letter 2. He saith Pag. 11. That Faith is a work that it is a great work that it is a work of God yea a work of God which we do and cannot do too soon Now we hope he will not say that this great work of God which through Grace we do before Justification and cannot do too soon is an evil work and is truly sin And if it be not an evil work and truly sin then it must be a good work and truly Gracious And thus we have himself holding with the Council of Trent as well as we do that before Justification there is a good work which is not truly sin but truly good and Gracious If he say that Faith doth not justifie as a work that is nothing to the purpose for the Question now is not whether Faith justifie as a work or as an instrument but whether Faith really be a work an internal work of the Soul which it may well be and yet not justifie as a work And he himself hath expresly confessed that it is a work and a great work too and likewise that it is a great work which not only God doth but which we do through the Grace of God enabling us But after all if he be so resolved that he will have nothing common with the Council of Trent but differ from them in all things true or false right or wrong and therefore because they hold that justifying Faith is a good work before Justification that is not truly sin he will hold the contrary that tho justifying Faith be before Justification yet it is not a good work but an evil work and is truly sin we can say nothing to it he hath his free choice for any thing that we can do to the contrary yet we should advise him to be wiser and not to reject any Truth of the Gospel because an adversary holds and believes it And that it is a Gospel-truth that justifying saving Faith is a good work tho it be in order before Justification we doubt not but his own Conscience knows it and is convinced of it Sure we are that our Conscience is fully perswaded of it And tho' we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that justifying Faith in the best of us is too too little and weak and that the gradual defect of it is truly sin and deserves the hatred of God yet are we infallibly sure that the Grace and gracious Act it self of justifying saving Faith so far as we have any of it is truly good and cannot be truly evil and sin This we are sure is a truth and we believe it and are resolved through Grace so to do and never to like it the worse because the Papists believe it and curse all those who disbelieve it We join with them in believing the truth so far as they do believe it but we utterly abhor their cursing of Dissenters If our Author think fit to Dissent from us in this matter we shall be so far from cursing him that we shall pray God to bless him with a better understanding of this and all other things wherein he may be mistaken As for the other passage which our Author quotes out of the 11th Canon and calls the bellowing of the Beast We might pass it over for it doth not at all concern us nor the Controversie that is between the Author of the Letter and us Yet this we will say that he seems not to understand the Language of that Beast of Trent for they confess with us That the Grace whereby we are justified is the favour of God as plainly appears from what they say before the Canons in the 7th Chapter but they curse all those who say that the Grace whereby we are justified is only the favour of God For they hold that we are justified by a two-fold Grace the one External without us and it is the mercy and favour of God which is that that principally moves him to justifie us the other Internal within us the effect of the first and it is the habit of Grace or Charity infused into us by the holy Spirit to make us formally just by something Inherent in our selves Now we do not say any more than they do that we are justified by the favour of God only and exclusively of all other things for we maintain that we are justified by the Grace and Favour of God and also by the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us according to Rom. 3.24 And this is the ground of the Quarrel this is it for which they Curse our Author and us both because we both believe that we are justified by Christs Righteousness imputed to us and not by Gods Grace infused into us and inherent in us And yet we believe this too to wit that Gods Grace is infused into us and inherent in us only we do not call this Justification but give it another name and call it Sanctification Those Trent Fathers therefore had no reason to be so angry with us and in their Beastly wrath to fall a cursing of us
whereby we receive Christ with siducial consent that through him we may be justified and saved But there is not one of them that proves that an absolute Assurance that Christ for the present is ours and that we are now justified and in the State of Salvation is essentially necessary unto and included in the direct Act of justifying Faith And whereas it is Confidently said that all our Reformed Divines were for this sort of Assurance as essential to the direct Act of that Faith whereby we are first justified we Answer That it is indeed said with Confidence enough but it is a vain groundtess Confidence for though some might be of that false Opinion yet it is notoriously false that all were we shall at present give one considerable instance to the contrary and our Instance shall be in Mr. Fox the Author of the Book of Martyrs De Christe gratis Justificante p. 246 247. who in his Book of Justification written against the Papists says expresly Sic mea feri ratio ut existimem c. Such is my Judgment that I think this Confident Perswasion of Mercy and Assurance of the Promised Salvation is not the thing which properly and absolutely delivers us from Sin and justifies us before God but that there is some other thing proposed in the Gospel which must some way in Order of Nature go before this Assurance and justifie us before God for Faith in the Person of the Son necessarily goes before which Faith in the Person of the Son first reconciles us to God Afterward a confident or sure perswasion of most certain mercy follows this Faith Concerning which Mercy none of those who believe in Christ can justly doubt By this and more that Mr. Fox saith in the same place it is clear as the Light that he did not believe that an absolute Assurance of our being now pardoned justified and reconciled to God is included in and essential to the direct Act of Faith whereby we are justified in the sight of God but on the contrary he held that the direct Act of Faith in the Person of the Son of God whereby we are justified goes before the said Assurance and Assurance follows after it which is what we believe and so doth our Author with us for he tells the Unbeliever That a Man is not called to believe that he is in Christ Mark the Expression he doth not only say A Man is not called to believe that he was in Christ before he believed For that Marshal and all but Antinomians do say but he says that a Man is not called to believe that he is in Christ pro praesenti for this present that his Sins are now pardoned and he now a justified Man but he is called to believe the Gospel Record and to believe in Christ according to the Record that is he is to believe that he may be justified and not that he is justified But now Marshal unto whom our Author appeals for the opening of this matter hath so opened it that he hath shut it up in darkness Confusion and Self-contradiction as it were no difficult task to demonstrate He maintains confidently 1. That Assurance of our being now justified and of the Pardon of our Sins is necessarily and essentially included in the direct Act of justifying Faith Pag. 169 170 171.172 173 177 178 179 180 181 182 c. 2. He maintains That all the Reprobate who live in the visible Church are by God strictly obliged under Pain of Eternal Damnation to believe with the foresaid justifying Faith and absolute Assurance which is essential to it that they are now justified and that their Sins are now pardoned though it be then and always false that they are justified and their Sins pardoned Pag. 202.204 Yet he saith that this is but the Appearance of a great Absurdity Pag. 171. whereby he gives us to understand either 1. That it is no real Absurdity to hold that God obliges Men under pain of Eternal Damnation to believe assuredly that a falshood is truth and that they who are not pardoned are pardoned Or 2. That he denies the Consequence to wit that God obliges the Reprobate to believe a falshood And the meaning of that is that though he hath granted both the Premisses yet he will stifly deny the Conclusion whereby men whose eyes are open may see what a rare Gist of Reasoning Mr. Marshal was endowed with Again though he maintain that an absolute Assurance of our present Justification and future Eternal Salvation is essential to the direct Act of justifying Faith yet he saith many precious Saints who have that Faith and that Assurance of Justification and Salvation which is essential to it may not know at all that it shall go well with them at the day of Judgment Pag. 173. and this for want of the other after-Assurance which comes by the reflex Act and by Self-examination Now is not that a strange Assurance which a Man hath by Faith of his Eternal Salvation whereby he doth not know at all whether he shall be Eternally Saved or Eternally Damned for want of another kind of Assurance by Spiritual Sense and feeling whereby he may know how it shall go with him at the Day of Judgement whether he shall be then Eternally Saved or Damned to what purpose serves the first Assurance when a man can know nothing at all by it without a second Assurance Is not that a plain Indication that the first pretended Assurance is nothing but an ens rationis a Creature of a Man 's own making which hath no real Existence but in his vain Imagination Our Author sometimes seems to be wiser than to believe such vain Fancies and yet at other times he appears to be deeply in love with them as when he most highly commends Mr. Marshals Book in which we deny not but there are good things as the most Soveraign Antidote against the Poyson of the new Divinity and says that he hath largely opened this matter For our parts we are willing to impute this to his not having Attentively read that Book and so to his not knowing that Mr. Marshal did manifestly contradict and dispute against his Opinion as a Limb or Joint of the new Divinity But we are afraid his unbeliever will be really scandalized at his telling him that he is not called at the first to believe that he is now in Christ that his Sins are pardoned and he is now a justified Man though in the same Letter he sends him to Marshals Book for Information and Direction in this very matter and it tells him the quite contrary and confidently maintains that an Unbeliever is called and commanded at first upon Pain of Eternal Damnation to believe with absolute Assurance by the direct Act of Faith in Christ that he is now in Christ his Sins pardoned and he a justified Man This we are afraid will tempt his Unbeliever to say Either Sir you believe this of Marshal or not
if he be ignorant of this matter of fact let not his ignorance make him boldly deny it before he know what evidence there is for the Truth of it We give him these two Arguments to prove the Truth of this matter of fact that Pelagius denyed universal Redemption 1. It is known and acknowledged by all who have any understanding of these matters and our Author himself knows it That Pelagius denyed Original sin from whence it follows by necessary Consequence that he must needs also deny Universal Redemption of all Mankind For Infants that dye in their Infancy before they commit any actual sin are a considerable part of Mankind the Infants who from the beginning of the World have dyed and who daily do dy and hereafter will be dying to the Worlds end and that both within and without the Church before they commit any actual sin will make up a vast number even many Millions of the race of Mankind But Pelagius denyed that these Infants who so dye in their Infancy have any sin either Original or Actual to be redeemed from and therefore he must needs deny also that they were Redeemed and consequently he must needs deny universal Redemption of all Mankind Where there is no manner of sin there is no manner of punishment due for sin and consequently no room for Redemption by the Blood and Death of Christ either from sin or punishment But Pelagius denied that Infants who dy in their Infancy have any manner of sin or that any manner of punishment is due to them for their sin Therefore Pelagius denyed that such Infants are Redeemed by the Blood and Death of Christ either from sin or punishment and consequently he denied universal Redemption 2. Our Second Argument to prove the truth of this matter of Fact is from the testimony of Augustin who is a very competent witness because he lived at the same time with Pelagius and wrote against him and confuted his Errors and Heresies Now Augustin in his writings against Pelagius and his Disciples testifies plainly that they denyed universal Redemption on the account aforesaid For thus he writes Contra duas Epistolas Pelagianorum lib. 2. ad Bonifacium cap. 2. Manichaei dicunt Deum bonum non omnium naturarum esse creatorem Pelagiani dicunt Deum non esse omnium aetatum in hominibus mundatorem salvatorem liberatorem Catholica utrosque redarguit c. The Manicheans say That the good God is not the Creator of all natures The Pelagians say That God is not the Purifier the Saviour the Deliverer or Redeemer of all Ages among men But the Catholick Church refutes them both defending both against the Manichaeans the Creature of God least any nature should be denyed to be made by him and also against the Pelagians that the human nature which is lost in all Ages might be sought out and saved Again the same Augustin in several other of his Books proves against the Pelagians from 2 Cor. 5.14 both that all mankind even Infants who dy in their Infancy Lib. 20. de Civit. dei cap. 6. contra Julian lib. 6. cap. 4. are guilty of Original sin and also that in some sense all are Redeemed by the death of Christ In the Second Book of his imperfect Work against Julian a Pelagian Bishop Chap. 28. having alledged 2 Cor. 5.14 15. We thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead And that he died for all c. He adds Unde colligitur quod dicit Apostolus ergo omnes mortui sunt pro omnibus mortuus est Dic apertè mortui parvuli non sunt qui peccatum nullum habem morte pro se Christi in quâ baptizentur non opus habent Jam dic evidenter quod latenter sentis quoniam saâ—is prodis tuâ disputatione quod sentis From which words we gather or inferr for what the Apostle saith Therefore all are dead and he Christ died for them all say plainly Infanâ—s are not dead who have no sin They have no need of the death of Christ for them into which they should be baptized Now speak out evidently that which thou thinkest secretly for thou do'st sufficiently discover by thy Disputation what it is that thou thinkest By this and the forgoing passage of Augustin it is very evident that the Pelagians first denied that Infants had any Original sin Secondly That Christ died for Infants to Redeem them either from sin or punishment of sin For though they declined to speak out and say plainly that Christ died not for Infants yet they really believed and held it for a truth that he did not dy for Infants to Redeem them because they were not guilty of any evil either of sin or punishment from which they could be Redeemed By these two Arguments our Author and others may plainly see that the Pelagians denied universal Redemption by the blood-shedding and death of Christ And this being so how is it possible that we should be middle-way-men who hold universal Redemption and yet that our cause should be Coincident with that of Pelagius who denied universal Redemption Surely our Author cannot think both these things to be true of us without supposing us to believe both parts of a contradiction at once But whatever he himself may be able to do as to believing of contradictions he is greatly mistaken if he think that we have so strong a Faith or so wide a Swallow For we that know our selves much better than he doth declare sincerely that we were never Masters of such a Faith as can believe known contradictions and that we could never make both ends of a contradiction meet so as to be able to swallow them down both at once Either then our Author knew that the Pelagians deny Original sin and universal Redemption or he knew it not if he knew that they deny both how can he be excused from lying against his Conscience in telling the World in Print such a known untruth and contradictious falshood that we are Middle-way-men and that our cause is Coincident with that of Pelagius that is that we are for the middle-way and the extreme way for the middle-way and not for the middle-way at the same time But if he knew not what the cause of Pelagius was and is with what Faith and Conscience could he say that our cause is Coincident or is the same with the cause of Pelagius Is it lawful for him and his judicious Observers to defame the Ministers of Christ and to charge them with Pelagian Heresie and Confederacy with Pelagian Hereticks when they do not well know what the Pelagian Heresie was Hath our Author a priviledge boldly to affirm what he doth not know nor understand And is he fit to inform the people of that which he is ignorant of and wherein he needs to be informed himself We expect the People for whose Information he pretends to write will be more just and reasonable than to believe the Calumnies
That according to the Description which he gives of a Middle-way-man Let. p. 2. we may safely and with a good Conscience according to the Light which God hath given us deny that we are Middle-way-men for he makes a Middle-way-man to be one who espouses defends and promotes a Middle-way betwixt the Arminians and the Orthodox But that we are Middle-way-men in this Sense we must deny for we cannot own our selves to be such men without lying against our Consciences and saying that we are not Orthodox or but half-Orthodox which we believe to be a great falshood If therefore our Author would have us to confess that we are Middle-way-men 1. He must give us a better and truer Definition of a Middle-way-man for this will not fit us at all belike he would have the World believe that we are half-Arminians and half-Orthodox but if that be his meaning in intimating that we steer a Middle-course between the Arminians and the Orthodox it is an abominable Calumny which we have already wiped off by solemnly and sincerely Declaring that we do not participate of the Arminian extream at all we are no Arminians in whole or in part 2. He would do well to tell us whom he means by the Orthodox it may be that by the Orthodox he means chiefly himself and his small party exclusively of all other Protestants If that be his meaning we say 1. That he must not thus beg but prove his Orthodoxy before we can own him to be thus very Orthodox 2. We think that such a Notion of Orthodoxy is too narrow and Schismatical It is a Monopolizing of soundness in the Faith to a Party and that Comparatively a small Party of Christians too and a branding of all the rest with the Mark of Unsound and Erroneous in the Faith Whereas the real Difference between those called Middle-way-men on the one side and the most of those called Orthodox on the other may not be matter of Faith strictly so called but rather matter of Opinion and so both Parties may be Orthodox or sound in the Faith That is notwithstanding some different Sentiments in lesser things they may both firmly and fully agree in believing all the Articles of Christian Faith which are necessary to Church Communion on Earth and to the obtaining Eternal Salvation in Heaven through the Mercy of God the Father the Merits and Satisfaction of the Son and the Grace of the Holy Spirit 3dly If he had shewed us in his Letter wherein that Middle-way doth particularly consist according to his Opinion we should have it may be either owned or disowned it in part or in whole according as we had found him to have truly represented or misrepresented it to the World But since he hath not done that we cannot know certainly what he means by that Middle-way he talks of 4thly Yet by some Passages in his Letter we guess that he Points at the controversie about the extent of Christs Death which hath been amongst Protestant Divines since the Reformation or since the time that Beza and Piscator began to write on that Head after the Reformation And if that be the thing he Points at without naming it we will First Give the true State of the Controversie Secondly Declare briefly what our Opinion is as to that matter And for the State of the Controversie First There are some Divines in the World who are said to hold that Christ died equally for all men Elect and Non-elect and that God on the account of Christs Death gives a common sufficient Grace to them all whereby they may all if they will apply to themselves the Vertue of Christs Death and thereby obtain Justification and Salvation But that Christ did not dye for the Elect out of any special Love to them above others and that God through Christ doth not give any Special Effectual Determining Grace to the Elect more than to the Non-elect This is the Arminian extream Secondly There are other Divines who hold that Christ died for the Elect only and exclusively of all others and that he died not for any of the Non-elect in any proper tolerable true sense that he no more died for any of those Men who are not elected to Eternal Life than he died for the Devil and that such Men have no more to do with the Satisfaction and Meriâ—s of Christ than the Devil hath This is the other extream And we suppose that this is that which our Author accounts the Orthodex side and that he is of this side himself But Thirdly Between these two extream Opinions there is a Golden mean there is a Middâ—e-way which hath been many hundred years ago and still is expressed in this form of Words That Christ died only for the Elect-Sinners of Mankind both Sufficiently and Efficaciously but that he died for the Non-elect only Sufficiently but not Efficaciously This is the State of the Controversie 2. If Secondly It be now demanded Whether we be for this Middle-way or not In Answer to that demand we say That there are a great many of us who are Calumniated by our Author as corrupters of the Gospel by holding a Conditional Covenant and tho' we do not doubt but we all agree in the foresaid General form of Words and in admitting the Distirction of Christs dying for the Elect Efficaciciously and for the Reprebate only Sufficiently yet it may be that when we come to explain what we particularly mean by Christs dying Sufficiently only for the Non-elect there will be some little Difference amongst us in some of our Notions and Expressions and possibly some of us may not in effect differ from our Author further than in the manner of our Expression and in the Method of our Conceptions and Notions But 1. We are all of one Mind and of one Faith with respect to Christs dying Efficaciously for the Elect only and we hope also that our Author himself agrees with us herein Which is the main thing wherein our Agreement is necessary And then 2. As to the Non-Elect especially those of them to whom the Gospel is preached we hope all of us do and will agree to this That Christ died for them sufficiently in such a sense as he did not dye for the fallen Angels so that if they should believe in Christ and repent of their sins as they are bound to do according to the tenour and terms of the Gospel they should be saved through Christ and not perish as they do by persevering in Unbelief and Impenitence And being thus far agreed we hope we shall keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and as to any little difference of Judgment that may remain we shall bear with one another in Love after the example of the famous Synod of Dort whereof the Members differed in the Synod upon this very point and yet they bore with one another and wisely agreed against the Arminian extreme as most manifestly appears from the Acts of
as refuse and neglect to use the remedy provided in the Gospel and so doing live and dy in Unbelief and impenitence they are certainly to be executively condemned for breaking the Law and moreover having heard the Gospel preached to them and having had in the Gospel a Soveraign Remedy offered them against the Curse and Condemnation of the Law they shall be condemned likewise for refusing or neglecting to use the said Remedy Heb. 12.25 Heb. 2.3 John 3.18 19. Matth. 11.22.24 So that professed Christians who live and dy in impenitence and unbelief will be doubly condemned both by Law and Gospel Rom. 10.14 whereas Heathens who never heard nor could hear of the Gospel for want of an objective Revelation of it they living and dying without Repentance and Faith in the true God under the guilt of Sins against the Law and Light of Nature will be condemned by the Law but not by the Gospel which they could not know Rom. 2.12 3. Since we believe that all Unconverted Impenitent Unblievers who live and dye in that State are so under the sanction of the Moral Law as that they are to be condemned for breaking it we cannot believe that the same Persons are so under the sanction of the moral Law as that they are not to be condemned but to be saved by keeping it For that were to believe a contradiction which we have not faith enough to do Yet 4. If the case be put disjunctively as our Author expresly puts it in his Letter we maintain that what he charges upon us is notoriously false and its contradictory is true to wit the sanction of Gods moral Law is not repealed so that no man is now under it either to be condemned for breaking it or to be saved by keeping it We firmly believe that this disjunctive is true Some men are now under the sanction of the Law either to be condemned for breaking it or to be saved by keeping it But take the latter part of the said disjunctive by it self and understand it determinately then we cannot believe it to be true we cannot believe that some men are under the sanction of the Law to be saved by keeping it because it is notoriously false And that 1. Because no meer man since the fall of Adam hath kept doth keep or ever will keep the Law so perfectly as never to sin against it and never to fall under the condemnation of it 2. Because that Holy Scripture assures us that if Righteousness come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 And that if there had been a Law given which could have given Life verily righteousness should have been by the Law But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the Promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe Gal. 3.21 22. And again that what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh by a Sacrifice for Sin condemned sin in the flesh c. Rom. 8.3 This is our Judgment concerning the Law and its Sanction with respect to Unconverted Impenitent Unbelievers that so live and dye they are under it to be condemned but not to be saved by it Then for Converted Penitent Believers who are in Christ Jesus by Faith and walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit we believe that they are under the Law and not under the Law in different respects 1. They are under Gods Moral Law as it is a rule of Life representing to them what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God and directing them what to do and what not to do that they may please God in doing his will 2. They are under it also as it is a Law obliging them to most perfect and sinless obedience 3. They are under it as a Law forbidding all their sins and likewise condemning all their sins but they are not under it as a Law by its Minatory Sanction condemning their Persons which are in Christ by Faith and walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit for there is no condemnation to such Rom. 8.1 Gal. 5.22 23. 4. They are not under the Law as a Covenant of Works to be justified and saved by it Because none can be justified and saved by the Law considered as it was a Covenant of Works given to man in the state of innocency but those who perfectly keep it and never once transgress it either by Original or Actual Sin But that is impossible for any meer man to do since the fall of Adam and it is not only Morally impossible but it is Physically impossible yea it is Metaphysically impossible that is it is so absolutely impossible that it implies a contradiction and can be done by no power Moral Natural or Supernatural by no power Human or Divine For all meer Men without exception have already broken Gods Law so as that they are guilty of death for the breach of it And that which hath already been cannot possibly by any power whatsoever be made not to have been as it implies a contradiction and is absolutely impossible that the same thing should be and not be at the same time so it implies a contradiction and is absolutely impossible that the same thing should have been and not have been or should be past and not be past at the same time But it is a thing already past and true that all Converted Penitent Believers have already broken Gods Law and fallen under the condemnation of it thefore it implies a contradiction and is absolutely impossible now that they have kept it so as never once to transgress it and consequently it implies a contradiction and is absolutely impossible that they should be now justified and saved by the Law which they have broken and which for that reason would certainly condemn them were it not that Christ hath Redeemed them from its condemnation and by the Law of Faith absolves and forgives them Thus we have shewed how true penitent Believers are under the Law and not under the Law and how it hath lost its Sanction with respect to their Persons It hath lost its Promissory Sanction by reason of their Sins and through their own fault But its Minatory Sanction whereby it bound them over to condemnation for their sins is taken away from it with respect to Penitent Believers who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit by the Rich Mercy and Free Grace of God through the Satisfaction and Merits Christs obedience unto death even the death of the Cross Now from the Premises it is as clear as the light at Noon-day that we do not say as is pretended that the Sanction of the Law is repealed so that no man is now under it either to be condemned for breaking it or to be saved by keeping it So much for wiping off the Calumny which respects matter of Opinion The next which respects matter
suspicion of Antinomianism which he had brought upon himself But we are really perswaded better things of our Authour though we thus write upon a supposition which we hope he will never admit but rather than admit such a supposition with its necessary consequence he will join with us and say that Luther and Mr. Hamilton meant no more but that evil works do not first make a Man evil because ever since the first Sin of Adam and Eve all meer Men besides them two are evil by Original sin before they commit any Actual Sin Thus much shall suffice to have said of the Occasion and Design of the Letter CHAP. II. Of the Authours Errours in Doctrine against the Purity of our Christian Faith SECTION I. Of his First Errour That there is no New Law of Grace THE First Error against our Christian Faith which we find in the Letter is that there is no new Law of Grace according to which the Lord dispenseth unto his People the Benefits and Blessings of Justification and Eternal Savlation That we do not wrong him in charging him with this erroneous Opinion is evident from his Letter pag. 9 18 29. and pag. 30 31. Where he saith that Justification upon the terms of the new Law of Grace doth not agree with the sound Words of the Reverend Assembly of Divines at Westminster and that the new Law of Grace is a new word but of an old and ill meaning Thus he And this the people must believe upon his bare word without any proof Now to refute this we need do no more but refer them that desire to know who is in the right as to this matter unto Mr. Williams defence of Gospel truth from pag. 18 to 34. where it is sufficiently proved by Scripture by reason grounded on Scripture and by the Testimony of Divines of the Reformed Churches That there is a new Law of Grace that the Gospel is that Law of Grace and that it is a new Law of Grace in the same sense that the Covenant of the Gospel is a new Covenant of Grace This Error then that there is no new Law of Grace being refuted to our hand we might well pass it and proceed to another Yet because the Authour discovers so much ignorance and boldness in what he says to the People upon this point we judge it expedient to insisâ— a little upon it both to instruct and also to rebuke him And because he would make the people believe whether he believe it of us himself God and his own Conscience know that we consider God only as a Rector ruling by a prescribed Law in all his Purposes concerning and Dealings with the Children of Men That he may not go on deceiving and being deceived We declare to the World that we never thought spoke or wrote any such thing as he would fasten upon us that he may the better misrepresent us to the people pag. 9. at the beginning to wit that God is only to be considered under the notion of a Rector and Judge as aforesaid Where by the way we cannot but take notice how honestly he deals by our Reverend Brother Mr. Williams in drawing this inference from a pretended Scheme of his Doctrine Thus saith our Authour they antedate the Last Day and hold forth Christ as a Judge rather than a Saviour Here the World sees what Doctrine he fixes upon Mr. Williams Next Let them turn to pag. 56. of Gospel Truth stated c. and there they will find these express words of Mr. Williams He Christ treats with men as his Subjects whom he will now Rule and hereafter Judge Now cannot Christ be our Saviour but by ceasing to be our Ruler and cannot we be saved by him but by ceasing to be subject to him Where is that Man's Brains who cannot see if he will that these two things do very well consist that Christ is both our Saviour and Ruler at the same time But this only on the by We declare therefore again that we never thought spoke or wrote that God is to be considered only under the notion of a Rector or Judge in all his Purposes concerning and Dealings with the Race of Man-kind On the contrary we believe that First God as an absolute Soveraign Lord of his own most Free and Gracious Will and Pleasure purposed to give and accordingly gave his only begotten Son to be the Redeemer and Saviour of sinful Men but not of fallen Angels Secondly That God as an absolute Soveraign Lord of his own good pleasure and according to the Counsel of his own will did before the foundation of the World choose some and not others of the lapsed and lost Race of Man-kind unto the participation of Special Effectual Victorious Grace and Eternal Glory through Christ Jesus Thirdly That in the first making of the Covenant and enacting of the Law of Grace with us through Christ Jesus God did not act as a Governour Ruling us according to an external Law which he had before made for us but as a Soveraign and gracious Lord who had freely purposed to save us in such a way by Jesus Christ Fourthly That in giving the foresaid Special Effectual Victorious Grace to the Elect rather than to others God doth not act as a Rector or Governour according to a stated Law prescribed to us and known by us but according to the counsel of his own Will and his hidden Purposes and Transactions with Christ concerning us Fifthly But yet in good consistency with what we have said we do firmly believe that God hath enacted and constituted a Law of Grace for bestowing upon us the subsequent Blessings and Benefits of the Covenant such as Justification and Glorification This Law God hath revealed to us in the Scriptures of Truth by this Law he both obliges and encourages us to certain Duties and also by the promises of it obliges himself to Justifie and glorifie us for Christs sake if we perform the Duties prescribed and comply with the Terms injoined It is with respect to those subsequent Blessings and Benefits of the Covenant that we say the Lord deals with us as a Rector and Governour Ruling us by a Law of Grace This Law is expressed in Holy Scripture in several Forms of Words as that See also Ps 103.17 18. Pr. 28.13 Isa 1.16 17 18. 55.7 Jer. 36.3 Acts 2.38 â— 19 16.31 26.18 Heb. 5.9 12.14 Revel 2.10 3.21 22.14 John 8.51 Ho who believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 And If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.9 Whosoever believeth in Christ shall receive Remission of Sins Acts 10.43 Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luke 13.5 This is that which we mean by the Law of Grace and our meaning is so plain that any Man endued with
be really his meaning and he be of that mind that he will neither repent of his sins in order to obtain the pardon of them nor pray for the pardon of them for fear lest he should seem to merit the pardon of them we cannot but think him to be a very weak man and that he fears where no ground of fear is For assuredly if he do but exclude out of his own mind the proud Conceit and Opinion of meriting by his Repentance and Prayer he needs not forbear repenting and praying for the pardon of his sins for fear of thereby meriting pardon or for fear of doing that which looks like meriting pardon His own common Sense and Reason may teach him that by the very acts of repenting and praying for pardon he doth renounce all pretence to merit as well as by the Act of believing in Christ for pardon he doth renounce all pretence to the meriting of his pardon 4. We do not believe that Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience are the legal but evangelical Condition of the Covenant of Grace Which that our meaning may be understood by all we explain thus we do not believe that our Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience which are the Conditions of Justification and Glorification according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace have the same Place and Office in this new Covenant and Law of Grace which most perfect sinless Obedience had and was to have had in the first old Covenant and Law of Works for in that first old Covenant personal perfect sinless Obedience was to have been Mans Righteousness by which alone he was to have been secured from Death and to have had still a Title and Right to Life but in the new Covenant and Law of Grace neither our Faith Repentance nor sincere Obedience are or can be that righteousness which secures us from Eternal Death and purchases for us a Right and Title to Eternal Life when God first made the new Covenant with us in Christ we had all lost our Right and Title to life and were become guilty of Death In which state we could never by any Act or Acts of ours by any Righteousness in us or done by us secure our selves from Death and recover our Right and Title to Life It was the satisfactory meritorious Righteousness of our Lord Redeemer Christ Jesus that could do and did do this for us It was Christs Righteousness alone that satisfied for our Sins and redeemed us from Death and that merited and purchased for us a Right and Title to Life Christ's Righteousness alone procures us the pardon of our sins and a Right and Title to Life so that it is Christ's satisfactory meritorious Righteousness alone that comes in the place of that perfect sinless Righteousness which was the Condition of the first Covenant and Law of works It is Christ's Righteousness that stands us in stead of that perfect sinless Righteousness which we should have had but have not It is Christ's righteousness alone that procureth to us the Restauration of all the good we had lost and more and better Our Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience have nothing to do at all in this matter This was Christ's work alone and we give him all the Glory of it with all our Hearts and Souls And as it was Christ's Righteousness alone that merited our pardon of sin and deliverance from Death and that purchased our acceptance with God as righteous in his sight and our Right and Title to Life so it is by his Promise and Law of Grace that the Lord gives us that which he had merited and purchased for us that he gives us the pardon of our sins and Right or Title to Life upon our repenting and believing so that our repenting of our sins and believing in Christ are but the immediate nearest means which God hath ordained to be used on our part that we may be fit to receive and accordingly may receive those blessings and benefits which Christ hath purchased and which by the promise are given unto us The use of this means the performance of those Duties of Faith and Repentance is that which our Orthodox Divines call the Condition of the Covenant of Grace For upon Condition that through Grace we do those Duties we shall have those blessings and benefits The Lord will graciously give us them according to his promise on condition that we by Grace do such and such Duties according to his Command Our Faith and Repentance are not our Legal Righteousness nor instead of it that is the Place and Office of Christ's Righteousness only but they are the Condition which the Lord in the Gospel hath required of us that according to his promise we may be blessed with the pardon of sin be accepted at Righteous in his sight and have a Right and Title to Eternal Life From the premisses it is manifest that according to our Principles Faith and Repentance are not a Legal but an Evangelical Condition of the Covenant of Grace and that they do not in the least detract from the Grace of it And we desire it may be remembred that though speaking of Faith and Repentance joyntly we call them sometimes the Condition of the Covenant or the Condition of Justification yet we make a difference between them and because Repentance includes an hearty sorrow for sin and purpose to for sake it and to return unto the Lord we call it the disposing Condition but finding by Holy Soripture and the Nature of the thing that Faith above other Graces hath a peculiar respect unto Christ and his Righteousness we call it the receiving Condition so doth our Reverend Brother Mr. Williams call it in Gospel truth stated c. page 114. and we approve the distinction He was not the first inventer of it for it was used by others before either he or we were born Now if this be true as the Lord who searcheth all hearts knows it to be then let the World judge how false and injurious that Authour is unto us when in page 6. he giveth the People an account of our Principles as to this matter in these following words They will not allow this personal Righteousness of Christ to be imputed to us any otherwise than in the merit of it as purchasing for us a far more easie Law of Grace in the observation whereof they place all our justifying Righteousness Vnderstanding hereby our own personal inherent holiness and nothing else They hold that Christ dyed to merit this of the Father viz. that we might be justified upon easier terms under the Gospel than those of the Law of Innocency in stead of Justification by perfect Obedience we are now to be justified by our own Evangelical Righteousness made up of Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience And Page 28. Many manage the Ministry as if they had taken up a contrary determination even to know any thing save Jesus Christ and him crucified We are amazed to see so many
ashamed of the Cross of Christ and to behave as if they accounted the Tydings of Salvation by the slain Son of God an old antiquated Story and unfit to be dayly preached And what comes in the room thereof is not unknown nor is it worth the mentioning For all things that come in Christ's room and justle him out either of Hearts or Pulpits are alike abominable to a Christian Again in Page 33. by an Innuendo he gives the People to understand that we teach that sincere obedience unto the Law is the Righteousness we must be found and stand in in our pleading for Justification and that in so doing we neither understand what we say nor whereof we affirm 1 Tim. 1.7 Lastly In his Appendix Page 39. by another of his Innuendo's he gives the People to understand that we bring our own pitiful holiness into Justification and thereby make it sit on the Throne of Judgment with the Precious Blood of the Lamb of God By these Passages that we have transcribed word for word out of his Letter it appears that he hath told the People a very tragical Story of some Ministers and if he mean it of us we know our selves to be so clear of those horrid Crimes he charges us with that we can declare with a good Conscience in the sight of God who will judge us all that it is as false with respect to us as any Story that ever came out of the Mouth of the Father of Lies For it hath been our chief desire and endeavour to preach Christ to the People to preach Christ both as humbled and exalted as crucified and glorified To convince them of their need of Christ of their being utterly undone without him that there is no help nor hope for them from any thing in themselves and of themselves or from any meer Creature either in Heaven or Earth that Christ is the way the truth and the life and that there is no coming to the Father but by him that there is no Salvation in any other but in Jesus Christ because there is no other Name under Heaven given unto Men whereby we must be saved That there needs no other because Christ being not onely Man but God also being God-man he is an all-sufficient Saviour able and willing to save able to save to the uttermost to save perfectly to save evermore all that come unto God by him It hath been our care and endeavour to teach the People that Christ hath not onely procured for us the new Covenant or Law of Grace according to which we may be Justified and saved if we comply with the Terms and Conditions of it but that he hath by his Humiliation and Obedience his Obedience unto Death even the Death of the Cross fully satisfied the Justice of God for our Sins merited for us the pardon of them with the acceptation of us as righteous in the sight of God and a Right or Title to Eternal Life if we sincerely Believe and Repent And moreover that he hath merited for us by his Blood and gives unto us by his Spirit all that Grace whereby we do both sincerely believe and repent and obey the Gospel We tell the People that God made with us the new Covenant or Law of Grace in and through Christ the Mediator and Surety of it That it is founded upon and ratified and confirmed to us by his Blood-shedding and Death and that he hath purchased for us all the Grace Blessings and Benefits of it We tell them and prove to them that Christ hath fulfilled all Righteousness that he most perfectly kept every Law of God that he was under the obligation of that he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross That it was for us Men and for our Salvation that he came down from Heaven and was humbled and became obedient unto death That his Obedience active and passive was equivalent fully equivalent to all that we ought to do and to all that we deserve to suffer for not doing what we ought for not doing what is commanded us and for doing what is forbidden us That by his Obedience and Sufferings he hath paid the full price of our Redemption and by paying that Price hath made full satisfaction to the Justice of God for our Sins and hath merited for us the full pardon of our Sins and Eternal Salvation of our Souls if we sincerely believe repent and obey the Gospel by that Grace which he hath also purchased for us by his Blood promised to us in his Word and gives unto us by his Spirit So that we are compleat in him we have all in and from him who is the Head the living and Life-giving Head the ever blessed and glorious Head of the whole Church in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily and in whom it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell that out of his fulness we might receive and grace for grace Moreover we call People we command them we exhort and beseech them in God's Name to believe in Christ the Son of God and Saviour of Men to repent of their Sins and to be subject and obedient unto him The more effectually to encourage and perswade them so to do we assure them in God's Name that if they do indeed through Grace believe repent and obey they shall be first justified and afterwards glorified and that not for their Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience but only for the satisfactory meritorious Righteousness of Christ imputed to them So that we teach People to plead Christs Righteousness onely as that which satisfies God's Justice for them and as that which procures and purchases to them the pardon of their Sins the acceptation of their Persons as righteous in God's sight with their Right and Title first to eternal life and at last the actual donation of eternal life for their everlasting portion and inheritance On the other hand we faithfully declare to them that they ought by no means to ascribe unto their Faith Repentance or Obedience any of these things that belong to Christ's satisfactory meritorious Righteousness That the place and office of Faith in reference to Justification is to be the consenting receiving trusting Condition of it or the Instrumental means of receiving Christ as offered in the Gospel and with him his Righteousness for which alone we are justified That the place and office of Repentance is to be the disposing condition of Justification or rather if you will of the Person to be justified it not being consistent with the Truth of God's Word nor with the Perfection of his Nature to pardon a Sinner whilst he continues his full obstinate Resolution to go on in his Enmity and Rebellion against the Divine Majesty And lastly that the place and office of sincere obedience in the notion under which we now consider it is to be a condition of obtaining Eternal Life and Glory we do not say that
us by the Devil and the World or by our own mistaken Consciences And who dare deny the Truth of this May not the Devil and the World falsly accuse do not they too often falsly accuse us and say that we are Hypocrites and have neither true Faith nor Repentance When this Brother accuseth us so falsly as he doth in his Letter we need not think it strange that the Devil and the World do falsly accuse us Yea we have that within our own breasts that may sometimes through the temptations of Satan or the remainders of sinful Darkness and Unbelief falsly accuse us of predominant Hypocrisie Unbelief and Impenitency Now if at the same time we are really true Converts and through Grace sincerely believe and repent what Man that is endued with common Sense and reason can reasonably deny that our sincere Faith and Repentance is a sufficient Defence and Justification of us against all such false accusations Sure we are that our infinitely Gracious God and Saviour allows our plea and we most heartily bless his Name for it hath sometimes by his Spirit and Grace sensibly helped us to make our defence by clearing up to us the sincerity of our Faith and Repentance and by enabling us to take unto our selves the Comfort and to give him all the Glory of our being sincere penitent Believers notwithstanding all that the Devil World or Flesh say falsly to the contrary But as for those who are impenitent Unbelievers indeed all the World knows that the Faith and Repentance which they have not can never justifie them from the Unbelief and Impenitency which they really have deeply rooted in their hearts In short We maintain that Christ's meritorious and satisfactory Righteousness only justifies us at Gods Bar from all our sins against any Law of God whatsoever as soon as we through Grace performe the Gospel-Condition of sincere Faith and Repentance And then that sincere Faith and Repentance is our Defence and Justification before our most Gracious God and before all honest Men against all false accusations of our not having performed the Gospel-Condition of sincere Faith and Repentance But as for those who continue still in Unbelief and Impenitence they have nothing to defend and justifie them but if they live and dye in that stare their Unbelief and Impenitence will bind upon them to Eternity the Curse and Condemnation of the Law and moreover will bring upon them the sorer Vengeance of the despised Gospel John 3.18 19 20. and Heb. 2.2 3. and 12.25 Thus Achilles is on his Legs again without receiving the least hurt from the weak efforts of that assailant who hath nothing to say to him without misrepresenting him but that he doth not like his Language pretending that it is unscriptural let p. 41 42. dangerous and tends to the dishonouring of Christs Righteousness c. but that pretence is utterly false For 1. That our sincere Faith Repentance and Gospel-Obedience is a righteousness is evident from the Nature of the thing For 1. They are Duties which we owe unto the Lord our God and it is self-evident that it is a righteous thing to give unto God the things that are Gods 2. It is confessed by our Divines in their Disputes against the Papists that our Faith Repentance sincere Obedience and Holyness is a Righteousness For they generally grant that we have a two-fold Righteousness 1. The Righteousness of Christ imputed to us 2. A Righteousness inherent in us and adherent to us which we receive from Christ by his Spirit and Grace This is expresly confessed by that same Bishop Downham in his Book of Justification which our Author page 12. of his Letter commends as an Orthodox Book There that Reverend and Learned Divine affirms that we are Righteous both by the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us which is our Principal Righteousness and likewise by another Righteousness wrought in us and performed by us which is our secondary subordinate Righteousness If our Authour should have the Confidence to deny this it will be proved against him by Authority both Divine and Humane 2. This our subordinate Righteousness is rightly termed Evangelical because it is required by the Word of the Gospel wrought by the Spirit of the Gospel and is a complying with the terms and a performing of the Condition of the Gospel 3. That our sincere Faith Repentance and Obedience is a subordinate Righteousness by which we are defended and justified against the false charge of Hypocrisie Unbelief and Impenitence is so far from being unscriptural that it agrees exactly with the very Letter Scope and Sense of the Scripture in the second Chapter of James if that Epistle be Scripture as I hope we all believe that it is for there a Man is expresly in formal terms said to be justified by works James 2.21 24 25. which words can signifie no less than this That the good Works and sincere Obedience of a good Man do justifie him against the false accusation of being an Hypocrite or prophane Libertine As to what our Authour says in page 41. That works of Righteousness are only a Justification of Faith and not of the Person of the Believer it is a notorious falsehood and expresly contradicts the Spirit of God who faith that a man is justified by works and particularly that Abraham and Rahab were justified by works and not that their Faith only was justified by Works We do not deny but that good Works do justifie Faith but we also affirm with James that they do likewise justifie the person of the Believer But how is that Why they justifie his Person in tantum in so far as they are his Defence and Justification against the false charge of his being a Hypocrite or Libertine and not a true penitent obedient Believer In all this neither doth James nor we after him dishonour the Righteousness of Christ in the least for our inherent and adherent Righteousness is intirely subordinate to Christ's imputed Righteousness it hath also quite another Vse and Office than Christ's imputed Righteousness and it proceeds from it as the only meritorious cause thereof We abhor all Opinions and Practices that have the least real tendency to dishonour Christ or his Righteousness We ascribe this to Christ as his peculiar incommunicable Glory that as was said before his righteousness alone comes in the place of that personal perfect sinless Righteousness which was the Condition of the first Covenant of Innocency and Law of Works And as for that personal imperfect yet sincere Righteousness which through the Grace of Christ we attain unto by Believing Repenting and Obeying the Gospel it is nothing but the Condition of the new Covenant by performing whereof we get and keep an Interest in Christs imputed Righteousness by and for which alone we are justified from all our sins of what kind soever and have a right unto and at last get possession of Eternal Life and Glory in God's Heavenly Kingdom We have
to him and upon the best Reasons and Motives that appeared to him from the consideration of things willingly to choose or refuse them and to act or not to act to act thus or otherwise as he saw cause Whence we may confidently conclude that the formal essential Nature of Man's Free-will consists in this Power of acting willingly according to the Judgment of Right Reason and not in the former undeterminedness or indifferency of the Will to do or not to do to do Good or Evil even when all things pre-requisite to its doing and acting do meet together and concur to cause it to do and act Upon this occasion we cannot but mention with approbation a Passage of a very Reverend and Dignified Divine of the Church of England in a Discourse of Christian Liberty Chap. 11. Sect. 3. pag. 139 140 141. As for those that contend that it is more praise-worthy to do Good and forbear evil having a power to do otherwise than to be under a necessity of so doing supposing they mean by necessity such as is not from without or from an inward blind instinct but from an understanding Principle and Perfection of Nature I must needs tell them there is no Proposition in the World more false or absurd I will not therefore stick to say that to have the Will necessarily determined to all Good and from all evil from an over-powering sense of the becomingness and excellency of the one and the vileness and odiousness of the other is the very perfection of Liberty And this is so far from being impossible to be obtained by Creatures or by our selves that by the help of God's Grace it is in a large measure even in this life attainable I mean such a sense of Good and Evil as shall certainly determine us to Good and against Evil in most of the Instances of each There are some Immoralities and wicked Actions that they who have attained to but very mean and ordinary Degrees of Goodness cannot perswade themselves so much as to endeavour to reconcile their Minds to Nay there are some that no Man can easily be supposed able to consent to but an extraordinarily depraved and wicked Wretch let the Motives that are used to perswade him be what they will Such as blaspheming of God contriving the murder of our Parents of a most obliging Friend Torturing of innocent Babes and the like horrid Villanies Surely then a Man is capable of such a vivid sense of the hatefulness of Sin in gneral as will whilst it lasts render it impossible for him to will deliberately to commit any known Sin whatsoever It is confessed that we cannot hope to get past all danger of sudden surprizals so long as we inhabit these Bodies and remain in our present unhappy Circumstances but I say so powerful a sense of the infinite unrighteousness disingenuity unreasonableness folly and madness of opposing the Holy Will of our Great Creator and Blessed Redeemer may by the Divine Assistance be acquired even on this side Heaven as shall determine us effectually against all deliberate and wilful Violations of the Divine Laws For this we have the Authority of a great Apostle St. John saith in his 1 Epist 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him neither can he sin because he is born of God c. This excellent Passage of Bishop Fowler 's may help to clear up the foresaid difficulty and to shew us how the Act of believing may be a Duty and Condition of the Gospel and yet be produced by the effectual Grace of God assisting our Faculties in that production for the efficacy of Grace doth not hinder but rather further the free exercise of our liberty of Will in producing the Act of Faith So that our believing in Christ being an Act of Free Obedience notwithstanding that the Regenerating Principle of Spiritual Life and Seed of Faith inclines and byasses us to act and the actual Influence of the Spirit causeth us to reduce the Principle into Act we can see no reason at all why the actual believing in Christ may not be both our duty and likewise the condition upon the free performance of which God promiseth to justify us to pardon our sins and give us a Right and Title to Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Authour confesseth that the Covenant of Redemption was strictly conditional Lett. p. 24. Mat. 26.39 Joh. 10.18 and that Christ's offering up the Humane Nature in sacrifice to God was in part at least the strict Condition of it and yet Christ performed that Condition as necessarily and unavoidably as we perform the Condition of actual believing when we are influenced thereunto by the special and effectual Grace of God This we take to be a demonstration that the meer infallible certainty and necessity of the Elect's believing in Christ cannot hinder their Faith from being a proper Evangelical Condition of the new Covenant And having thus at large declared in what sense we hold the Covenant of Grace not to be conditional and in what sense to be conditional We shall next prove against our Authour that it really is conditional and that it is not without Ground that we believe it so to be In order hereunto we premise these two Things 1. That it is with respect to the subsequent Blessings and Benefits of the Covenant that we hold it to be Conditional that is it is with respect to Justification and Glorification For as the Professors of Leyden say in their Synopsis of purer Divinity Disp 22. pag. 259. Promissiones Evangelii sunt potissimum duae 1. De Justificatione coram Deo per fidem 2. De Haereditate vitae eternae Rom. 1.17 1 Johan 2.25 The Promises of the Gospel are principally two The first is the Promise of Justification in the sight of God by Faith And the second is The Promise of inheriting Eternal Life It is these Promises and the Covenant of Grace in respect of these Promises which we hold to be Conditional II. That by a Condition we understand a Duty which God requires of us for obtaining the Promised Benefit so as to suspend his giving us the promised Benefit upon our performing the Duty required Assuring us that if we perform the Duty required we shall have the promised Benefit but if we do not perform the Duty required we shall not have the Benefit promised These two things premised we come to prove that the Covenant of Grace is really Conditional as aforesaid with respect to its subsequent Blessings and Benefits And this we shall do 1. by Scripture 2. by Reason consonant to Scripture 3. by Testimonies of Orthodox Divines even of those very Divines whom our Authour affirms to be against us And 1. We prove by Scripture that the Covenant of Grace is Conditional in the sense before explained And we begin with Rom. 10. v. 9. where though the word Condition be not expressed yet we have the
be sincere consisting in a real true hearty desire and endeavour to be faithful unto the Lord and through Grace to stand perfect and compleat in all the Will of God Col. 4.12 3. This sincere Obedience doth not satisfie the Justice of God for the least sin nor doth it purchase or merit the least mercy not so much as a Cup of cold Water much less the unconceivably great blessing of Eternal Life and Glory 4. As this Obedience doth not purchase or merit Eternal Life and Glory it self so neither doth it purchase or merit our right to it and God's actual donation of it For it was Christ alone that purchased our right to it by his Obediential Sufferings unto Death for us and in our Justification God by his promise for Christ's sake gives us our right to it and at the end of our days when we leave this world God will actually give Eternal Life and Glory to us for the sake of Christ and by the hand and power of Christ John 17.2 Rom. 6.23 So that 5ly Since our sincere Obedience neither merits nor gives us right unto nor yet actually gives us possession of Eternal Life and Glory it remains that it must be the means to be used and condition to be performed on our part that God for Christ's sake according to his promise may continue our right to and may give us possession of Eternal Life and Glory Now this we prove first by plain Scripture First Argument from Scripture for we find in Holy Scripture that God requires our Obedience as aforesaid for obtaining the promised Benefit of Eternal Life and Glory so as to suspend our obtaining of Eternal Glory in his Heavenly Kingdom on our performing of sincere obedience unto him and continuing therein to the end 1. Here is to be proved first That sincere obedience is required of us and for that see Mat. 11.29 30. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for my yoke is easie and my burden is light Mat. 12.50 Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in Heaven the same is my Brother and Sister and Mother Mat. 28.20 Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World Luke 6.46 Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the thing which I say See also John 13.34 and 14. v. 15 21 23 24. and 15. v. 10 14. Rom. 6.12 13. and 8. v. 12 13. and 12. v. 1 2. 1 Cor. 15.58 Eph. 5. v. 1 2 3 4 15 16. 1. Thess 4. v. 1 2 3 4 c. Tit. 2.12 Heb. 6.11 12. and 12. v. 1. and 13. v. 1 5. Jam. 1. v. 4 5 19 20 21 22 27. and 2. v. 12. and 3.13 1 Pet. 13 14 15 16 17. and 2. v. 1 2 11 12. and 3. v. 8 9 10 11 12. and 5. v. 2 5 6 7 8 9. 2 Pet. 3.11.17 18. 1 John 2.4 5 6. and 3.18 and 2 John v. 8 9. Jude v. 20 21. Rev. 2.5 Rev. 14.6 7 12. Secondly It is to be proved that God hath suspended our obtaining of Eternal Glory in his Heavenly Kingdom on our performing of sincere Obedience unto him and continuing therein to the end And to prove this there needs no more but to demonstrate from Scripture that if we be obedient unto the Lord as is said we shall obtain the possession of Eternal Glory in Heaven but if we be not so obedient we shall not obtain it Now both these are so infallibly certain and evident that really it is a shame that we should be put to prove them unto Men that own themselves to be Christians For 1. That none shall obtain the possession of Eternal Glory in Heaven but penitent obedient persevering Believers is it not as clear as the Sun from these Passages of Holy VVrit Not every one that saith unto me Lord Matth. 7.21 Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven 26 27. Compare this with the following Verses and you will see that our Saviour himself hath declared that Man to be a Fool that doth not do his Commandments and yet hopes that so living and dying he shall be saved by him from the Flood of God's Wrath and Vengeance Of all such disobedient Rebels the Lord Christ will say Those mine enemies who would not that I should reign over them Luke 19.27 bring hither and slay them before me And Blessed Paul assures us that when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels 2 Thess 1.7 8. he himself will in flaming fire take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel St. Peter asks the Question 1 Pet. 4.17 What shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel And St. Paul answers it in the place now cited that Christ himself will take vengeance of them in flaming fire and they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power The same Apostle saies again in another place The Just shall live by faith but if any man draw back Heb. 10.38 my soul shall have no pleasure in him The Words Any man are not in the Original and therefore they are Printed in a different Character It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If he draw back if the Just Man that lives by Faith if he draw back if he Apostatize the Lords Soul will have no pleasure in him that is the Lord will abhor him unto perdition As appears by the Context This passage is parallel to that of Ezekiel when or chap. 18.26 if a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and dieth in them for his iniquity that he hath done shall he dye And if any man should go about to perswade people to believe that they may be saved though they dye in such sins without Repentance Blessed and Holy Paul by the Spirit of the Lord hath cautioned us all against such as Deceivers saying as it is written Ephes 5.6 Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Heb. 12.14 And assures us that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. And 2. On the other hand is it not as clear that all persevering penitent obedient Believers shall certainly obtain the possession of Eternal Glory in Heaven through the Infinite Mercy of God and Merits of Christ For doth not our Lord himself say Verily verily if a man keep my saying Joh. 8.51 he shall never see death That is the second and eternal death And as for bodily death he shall at the last day be saved and delivered from that also For as it is written John 5.28 29. Then they that have done good shall come forth of their graves unto the resurrection of
to a mixed Multitude or indeed to any at such a rate is such a Preacher as all People who would not be deluded to their Souls ruine and destruction should have a care of and avoid as an Impostor and Deceiver For assuredly It is most false and delusive for a Minister to tell a Multitude of sinful People that they shall all be justified and pardoned absolutely without complying with any terms or performing any Condition in order to the obtaining of the promised Benefit of Justification and Pardon If the Promise of Justification and pardon be said to be made unto Sinners as Sinners and that nothing is required of Men in order to their being justified and pardoned but that they be Sinners if our Authour or any for him could prove that it is confessed that he might preach and offer Justification and pardon of Sin absolutely to all the People that hear him and the consequence of it would be that all Men even the greatest Rogues that come at any time into our Congregations should therefore believe that they are justified and pardoned because they are Sinners for that is all that is required of them to wit that they be Sinners and they are infallibly sure of that But before he or any be allowed that Liberty to preach and offer Justification and Pardon of Sin absolutely to all he must prove that God hath made an absolute Promise of Justification and Pardon of Sin unto Sinners as Sinners and hath given him Commission to preach and offer Justification and Pardon absolutely to Sinners as such Which we are sure neither he nor any Man else can ever do For our parts we declare to the World that we cannot preach to the People so as to tell them from the Lord that the Promise of Justification and pardon of Sin is made to them as they are Sinners absolutely without any Condition to be performed on their part for qualifying them to obtain the promised Benefit because this would be in effect to tell them that God will justifie and pardon all the Men in the World and that he will save and glorifie every Man of them since they are all Sinners and no other Condition no nor Qualification neither but that is required of them in order to their being justified and pardoned Whatever Promise God hath made to Men as Sinners he hath certainly made to all Men because all Men are Sinners We remember the Rule of reasoning which many Years agoe we learned in the Schools that the consequence holds good and never fails à quatenus ad omne If then God hath made an absolute Promise to Sinners as such that he will justifie and pardon them it follows necessarily that all Men without exception being Sinners they shall certainly be all justified and pardoned yea and glorified too for whom God justisies he will glorifie The Reason of this is because God will certainly make good all his absolute Promises But it is an abominable falsehood that all Men in the World without exception shall be certainly justified and pardoned therefore it must needs be a great falschood also that God hath made an absolute promise to Sinners as such that he will justifie and pardon them And since God hath made no such absolute Promise we that are Ministers and speak to the People in God's Name cannot absolutely preach such a Promise to the People without deceiving and deluding them which our Consciences will not suffer us to do If this do not satisfie our Authour and those of his way but they will still deny the Conditionality of the Covenant and think to put by both the Horns of our Dilemma because there may be a third way of preaching the Promise of Justification to the People that is they can preach it neither absolutely nor conditionally but some other way we would entreat them not to conceal that other way from us who are willing to learn of them or of any that will be so kind as to inform us aright where we are mistaken In order to this we desire our Authour who takes upon him to be the Informer of the Ministers to assign us a Medium or Mean between a conditional and absolute Promise and consequently between preaching to the People a Gospel-promise absolutely or conditionally upon supposition that we preach it at all Hitherto we have thought that all Promises are either absolute or conditional and we know none of a neutral Nature that are neither absolute nor conditional and consequently we have believed that if we preach the Gospel-promise of Justification to the People we must of necessity preach it either absolutely or conditionally and the like we say of any other Gospel-promise we must preach it either absolutely or conditionally according to the nature of the promise it self as it may be absolute or conditional If our Authour will shew us a Promise that is of a middle nature and is neither absolute nor conditional he will indeed do something to purpose something towards the rectifying our Method of preaching the Promises But we judge it impossible for him to shew us a Promise of a middle nature that is neither absolute nor conditional and that because absolute promise and conditional promise are in effect contradictories and there neither is nor can be any Medium or Mean between contradictories And that they are contradictories we thus prove To suspend the thing promised on a condition annexed to the Promise And not to suspend the thing promised on a condition annexed to the Promise are plainly contradictories This Proposition is self-evident if the terms of it be understood But it is essential unto a conditional Promise to suspend the thing promised on a condition annexed to the Promise and on the other side It is essential unto an absolute promise not to suspend the thing promised on a condition annexed to the Promise This Proposition is also clear from the very nature of these two sorts of Promises The Conclusion then follows necessarily that therefore a conditional Promise and an absolute Promise are contradictories and there can be no middle Promise between them no Promise that is neither absolute nor conditional For every Promise possible must either suspend or not suspend the thing promised on a condition annexed and so every Promise possible must be either conditional or absolute Which was the thing to be demonstrated We have understood that there are some who leave no Stone unturned to avoid the force of the Arguments which prove the Covenant of Grace to be conditional as aforesaid and they think to do it by saying That there is an Order of Grace which God observes in promising and in dispensing according to Promise his Blessings and Benefits unto his People so as not to make one thing to be the condition of another but so as to make one thing to go in order before another To this we Answer we freely grant that God doth both promise Blessings and Benefits unto his People in
may be observed and remembred that when we say sincere Obedience is indispensably necessary to Salvation we do not mean that it is required as absolutely and indispensably necessary to our Salvation that our sincere Obedience be never at all interrupted by any Acts of disobedience but that if it happen that our Obedience be at any time notably interrupted by Acts of wilful presumptuous Sin it is indispensably necessary to our Salvation that we renew our Faith and Repentance and return to our Obedience again and that we dye in Faith and Obedience to the revealed Will of God As for them who are called at the last Hour who are first converted and justified a little before their Death Actual Faith and Repentance is required of them in their own Persons and as much more sincere Obedience as they have time and strength to performe As we see in the penitent Thief he performed a great deal of Obedience in a little time he not onely believed in Christ with his Heart but confessed him with his Mouth pleaded for him and vindicated him from the blasphemous Aspersions that were cast upon him He likewise took shame to himself and gave Glory to God by confessing his own Sins and withal he expressed his Love to his Fellow-Thief by rebuking and admonishing him Lastly He trusted in and prayed unto Christ as a Lord and King who had a Kingdome in another World and who could help and save him after this Life Luke 22.40 41 42. This that penitent Malefactor did at his Death and truly this was a great deal for him to do at such a time and when Christ his Lord and Saviour was before his Face in so low and miserable a Condition to the Eye of Sense and Reason The Obedience which that poor penitent Believer yeilded to the Lord in such Circumstances may well be esteemed equivalent to all that sincere Obedience which in the space of many Years others in better Circumstances perform unto the Lord. Thus we have at large prosecuted and cleared this Argument for the indispensable necessity of sincere Obedience to the obtaining of Eternal Life and Salvation and consequently for the Conditionality of the Covenant-promise of Eternal Life and Salvation And the Argument seems to us so clear and cogent that we do not see any thing of weight that can be objected against it If any should say that sincere Evangelical Obedience is not only necessary to Salvation as the condition to be performed on our parts but upon other accounts also We heartily acknowledge that it is so It is necessary to express our Love and Thankfulness to God and Christ for their wonderful Goodness and Grace Mercy and Love to us As also it is necessary in order to the pleasing and Glorifying our God Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier and that thereby we may profit and edifie our Neighbours But this doth by no means hinder its being likewise indispensably necessary to our own Salvation nay all this is a part of that Obedience which is so necessary to our Salvation If yet any should further object and say that besides Faith sincere Obedience may be indispensably necessary to Salvation and yet not be a Condition of obtaining Salvation We answer that we do not love to contend with any about the use of the word condition if they will grant us the thing signified by the Word Now by the Word condition in this matter of Obedience we mean no more but that sincere Obedience is so necessary to Salvation that God by his Promise hath suspended our obtaining of Salvation consummate Salvation in Heavenly Glory till we have performed sincere Obedience unto him assuring us that if through Grace we perform sincere Obedience unto him we shall certainly be saved but if not we shall not be saved This is all we mean by sincere Obedience its being the Condition of the Covenant-promise of Salvation If our Brethren agree to this they yeild us the thing that we contend for and there remains no more difference as to this matter but about the use of the word condition and if they do not think fit to use that Word we leave them to their Liberty not to use it as we desire they would leave us to our Liberty to use it as we have occasion For though the Word be not in Scripture yet the thing signified by the Word is manifestly there as we have proved It is also a Word of Antient usage in the Christian Church even in the best Reformed Churches before ever we were born why then should we forbear the use of the Word condition or why should any be offended at our using of it Indeed we cannot forbear the using of it for the Reason given us by some well-meaning Men because it is not a Scriptural-word For if that Reason prove any thing it will prove too much to wit that we should not use the Words Trinity Incarnation Satisfaction Merit of Christ Sacrament Infant-baptism c. and which is more that we should wholly give over Preaching the Gospel and hereafter only Read the Holy Scripture without Expounding it for we are sure that no Man doth or can Preach one Sermon without using some Word or Words that are not expresly in the Scripture And as our sincere Obedience may be and really is a Condition of obtaining Eternal Salvation though it be not expresly called by that Name in Scripture so may it be and really it is a Condition though it be performed by the help of God's Grace We know this is the main Reason why our Brethren think that neither our Faith nor Obedience can be a Condition of the Covenant because they are wrought in us by the special and effectual Grace of God but we know also that this is a very weak Reason For 1. We do not say that that is the Condition of the Covenant which is the Work and Effect of Gods Grace alone Such is effectual Calling on God's part and the infusion of the Seminal abiding principle of supernatural Spiritual Life It is God only who calls us effectually and who infuses the said Principle of Grace and Life into our Souls and we are merely passive in the reception of it We never said nor thought that it is required of us by way of Duty or Condition that we should effectually call our selves and infuse a supernatural Principle of Grace and Life into our selves This indeed would be very absurd Therefore we hold that our being effectually called and our having an abiding principle of Grace and Life given in unto us is quid prae-requisitum something pre-required to our right performing the condition but not the condition it self That which is required of us by way of Duty and Condition on which God promiseth us the subsequent blessings of the Covenant It is that we do not resist his Spirit and that by the grace of his Spirit we do actually believe and obey and persevere to the end Now the Grace of God whereby
it self is conditional in respect of the said subsequent blessings because it promiseth them conditionally and not otherwise And that which we see is granted to us that the administration of the Covenant of Grace is conditional because it is preached to all Elect and non-Elect Conditionally Affords us an irrefragable Argument to prove that it hath Conditions and is conditional For if the Covenant had no Condition at all with respect to the Elect how could we administer and preach it conditionally with respect to them If the Covenant which we administer and preach to the Elect were absolute to them so as to have no Condition and if yet notwithstanding that we should preach and administer the Covenant to them conditionally our Administration and Preaching would not agree with the Nature of the object and thing which we Administer and Preach and so it would be fallacious and deceitful The Covenant hath no Condition but is absolute to the Elect and yet must we tell them from the Lord that they must performe the condition of the Covenant-promise by believing and repenting and then they shall have the promised benefit of Justification and Pardon of sin but not otherwise Would not this be to dishonour God and abuse his People both at once To dishonour God by taking his Name in vain and preaching falsehood in his Name and to abuse his People by making them believe that the Covenant hath a Condition and that they must performe it otherwise they cannot be justified and saved when at the same time we do not believe this our selves which we tell the People but are perswaded in our own minds that the Covenant is wholly absolute to the Elect and hath no condition at all Either then as was said before we must not Administer and Preach any part of the Covenant conditionally to the Elect or there is and must be a Condition in the Covenant and if there be a Condition in the Covenant then we have what we aim at for we desire no more to prove the Covenant of Grace to be conditional and that it is not wholly absolute to the Elect. The Truth is here so clearly on our side that we think our Brethren should give Glory to God and receive his Truth without any farther wrangling opposition As for the Authour with whom we have to do though he several times expresly denies Faith to be the condition of Justification as page 8 9 25. Yet in page 24 where he affirms the Covenant to be absolute he grants that the offer of Christ and of all his fulness hath a Condition annexed to it that the Condition is acceptance of the Offer and that acceptance is a native Condition Here we have 1. An offer of Christ and of all his fulness which must of necessity include Justification for that is a part of Christ's fulness Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 Rom. 5.19 1 Cor. 1.30 2. This offer of Christ is an absolute offer which yet hath the Condition of acceptance annexed to it His meaning must be that the offer of Christ and his fulness is so absolute as to have no other Condition but yet not so absolute as not to have this one Condition of acceptance for if this be not his meaning it is contradictious Non-sense For an offer that is absolute without any Condition at all and an offer that hath a certain Condition implies a manifest contradiction And indeed his Words are that it is an absolute offer that hath no Condition in it but one Well then it is granted that the Gospel-offer of Christ and of all his fulness hath one Condition but so it is that that Gospel-offer includes an offer of Justification and therefore the Gospel-offer of Justification hath a Condition and since the offer of Justification can be nothing but the Promise of Justification held forth to the Soul by the Ministry of the Word it follows necessarily that the Promise of Justification hath a Condition And consequently that the Covenant of Grace is partly conditional it is conditional as it doth promise Justification upon a Condition 3. The Condition is Acceptance that is it is Faith for we cannot imagine what else but Faith he can mean by Acceptance For surely he doth not mean any meer natural Act of the Soul but rather some gracious supernatural Act and what that should be but Faith we cannot devise We must therefore take it for certain that by Acceptance he means Faith and our Faith in Christ is our acceptance of him and his fulness So then Faith being our Acceptance of Christ and of all his fulness which includes our Justification and our Acceptance by his own Confession being the Condition of the Offer it follows by necessary consequence that Faith is the Condition of the Offer but the Offer is the Covenant-promise of Christ and Justification through him therefore the Covenant-promise of Christ and Justification is conditional and an accepting or receiving Faith is the Condition of it Thus he contradicts himself by affirming what he had denied before and doth immediately deny again in the very next 25th Page 4. This Acceptance or Faith this accepting Faith is he sayes the native Condition of the Offer of Christ and of all his fulness and so of Justification What he means by native Condition needs an Explication for it is capable of a double meaning 1. It may signify that an accepting Faith hath a natural aptitude and fitness to be the Condition of the Offer or Promise of Christ and his fulness Or 2. That of its own Nature it necessarily is the Condition and could not possibly be otherwise so that its being the Condition ariseth wholly and necessarily from its own Nature and not at all from the Will of God constituting and ordaining it to that Office of being the Condition of the Offer or Promise Now if he mean that it is a native Condition in the first sense we agree with him for we know and acknowledge that Faith hath a natural aptitude and fitness to be the Condition of the Offer or Promise of Christ because Faith in the very Nature of it is an acceptance of Christ as he is offered in the Gospel and we conceive this might be a Reason wherefore God made choice of Faith to be the Condition of the Offer and Promise of Christ and Justification through him But if our Authour moan that Faith is the native Condition of the Offer or Promise in the second souse we must dissent from him For though the natural aptitude and fitness of Faith might be a Reason why God ordained it to be the Condition of the Promise yet it was not a necessitating Reason which so obliged God to make it the Condition of the Promise that he could not possibly do otherwise This we thus demonstrate 1. Whatsoever dependeth upon the Free-will and Soveraign Pleasure of Almighty God he might have done or not have done he might have done this way or another way if it had
but adhering to sin and the enjoyment of a Holy God are utterly inconsistent And can you be happy without happyness or by retaining that which is inconsistent with it So that you see there is an utter impossibility that Salvation should be had but upon these terms There is an inconsistency a plain contradiction in any other supposition It is an impossibility not only to us but to the Almighty and therefore the terms are as free and gracious as possibly could be Ommpotent Grace it self could not make them more gracious thus Mr. Clarkson Now let any Body of common understanding and honesty read and consider this passage and they will plainly see that he speaks here of Repentance and of Repentance not only as it denotes a Holy fruitful Life and is the condition of consummate Salvation and Glorification but also as it denotes the Souls first turning from sin and returning to God and is the disposing preparing Condition of our first obtaining the Pardon of our Sins and Justification and Reconciliation of our Persons And in both respects he holds Repentance to be a Condition indispensably necessary not only from the free Constitution and Ordination of God but also from the very nature of the thing so that God himself cannot dispense with it Now if this Doctrine of Mr. Clarkson's be true and good then let the World judge whether that Doctrine be not false and pernicious which our Authour delivers in the 30 page of his Letter That a real Change and Repentance is not antecedently necessary to Justification and Pardon of sin This indeed we affirm to be necessary and he finds fault with us for it and makes it to be a part of our New Scheme of Divinity into which he foists sincere Obedience as if that also were a part of our new Scheme That sincere Obedience is antecedently necessary to Justification But this is his calumny that we hold sincere Obedience distinct from Faith and Repentance to be antecedently necessary to Justification all that know us and our Doctrine know this to be false and the contrary to be true that in our Judgment sincere Obedience is not necessary before but after our Justification and before our Glorisication As for a real Change and Repentance we do indeed believe and preach that they are necessary indispensably necessary in order of Nature at least before our Justification and pardon of sin for a real change is wrought in us by effectual calling and that is certainly before Justification Rom. 8.30 And Repentance is the dispositive condition of Justification and the means to be used by us for obtaining the pardon of our sins which is an essential part of Justification But so it is that the condition is in order of Nature before the thing conditionate or the thing promised upon condition as also the means is in execution before the end therefore Repentance which is the Condition and Means is in order of Nature before Justification which is the thing conditionate and the end This we proved before both by Scripture and Reason and so doth Mr. Clarkson prove it in the passage we have now quoted by two pertinent Scriptures Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy and Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and unto our God for he will abundantly pardon Surely one would guess by this that Mr. Clarkson in his time was one of the Masters in our Israel with whom our Authour finds fault page 15 of his Letter for saying to a Man who asks them What he must do to be saved that he must repent and mourn for his known sins and leave and loath them and God will have mercy on him And most certainly if ever there were any such Masters in our Israel Mr. Clarkson was one of them for according to his Principles he must in that case have given a Man that answer for he strongly asserts that God Almighty cannot have Mercy upon and pardon a wicked Man unless he repent mourn for his known sins leave and loath them But it would seem our Authour is such a Crafts-Master that he can teach a wicked Man how to obtain the Mercy of God in the pardon of his sins before and without repenting of mourning for leaving and loathing of them for he blames us for telling a wicked Man who comes to us for advice what he must do to be saved that he must repent mourn for and turn from his sins and God will have mercy on him and pardon him now if this be bad Advice then it plainly follows that if the same wicked Man go to our Authour and if he can give him better advice he must shew him a way to obtain God's mercy in pardoning his sins and saving his Soul before and without his repenting of mourning for and turning from his sins But how can our Authour effect this how can he teach a wicked Man to be saved from Sin and Wrath without Repentance Why he pretends this is easily done by giving the Man that same advice which Paul and Silas in Acts 16.30 31. gave unto the Goaler when he asked them what he should do to be saved And they said to him Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house This he says is an old Answer so old that with many it seems to be out of date page 14 and it is the right Answer For says he page 15 Why should not the right Answer be given believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved By this it is evident that he sets these two Answers in opposition the one to the other as inconsistent and makes Repent and God will have mercy on you to be the wrong Answer And Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved to be the right Answer And now is not he a wise Master in our Israel who talks thus If he had only talkt thus to his silly Proselytes in a private corner though we had been credibly informed of it we should not have easily believed it or if the evidence had been such as we could not choose but believe it yet we should not have wondred so much at the matter but that he should appear in print with such stuff that he should appear on the Theatre of the World in the face of the Sun and tell a knowing wise People that a wicked man who asks Ministers what he must do to be saved must not be taught to repent of his sins but to believe in Christ that he may be saved as if these two things were inconsistent the one being right and the other wrong It cannot but move us to admiration of his strange confidence to an indignation at his gross ignorance or vile hypocrisie and to a tender compassion towards those poor
Souls whose lot it is to be led into the Ditch by such blind guides But good Sir how doth it appear that our answer is wrong and yours only is right Why may not both be right and why must not both be right and both concur to make up one entire answer and full advice to a wicked man who under Conviction comes and asks Ministers what he must do to be saved If you had behaved your self in this matter like a fair adversary or an honest Man you had given in our answer fully without curtailing it for you know in your conscience that in such a case our full Answer and Advice to a Man is that he must do both he must both believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and repent of mourn for and turn from his Sins The Conscience of Truth extorted this Confession from you in your appendix page 41. as we observed before That your hottest opposers would freely tell such a man that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin Why did not you then if you be an honest man give in our full answer and refute it if you thought it was wrong If you say that Paul did not give such a full answer and advice to the Goaler Acts 16.30 31. but bid him believe only in the Lord Jesus Christ and thereupon promised him Salvation without advising him to repent and turn from his sins We answer It is true Paul bid the Goaler believe in the Lord Jesus Christ but it is utterly false that he bid him only believe there is no such exclusive particle in the Text and though the Sacred Historian Luke mention not expresly that Paul bid the Goaler repent yet it doth by no means follow that because Luke doth not say expresly that Paul bid the Goaler repent therefore he did not bid him for it was never Lukes intention to set down in his History every Word or Sentence which Paul at any time spoke to the People Nay in the very next verse Acts 16.32 Luke says that Paul and Silas spake unto the Goaler the Word of the Lord and to all that were in his house but he doth not tell us particularly what that Word was Nor doth our Authour know nor can he with a good Conscience say that it was not an Advice and Exhortation to repent to mourn for his known sins and to leave and loath them assuring him that thereupon God would have mercy on him and pardon his sins and save his Soul for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake If our Authour say that as he cannot be sure of the negative that he did not so we cannot be sure of the affirmative that he did preach the necessity of Repentance to the Goaler We answer that we can prove and do thus prove the affirmative 1. Because it was a part of the Apostles Commission to preach Repentance unto all People as well as Faith in Christ for which see Mark 16.15 16. compared with Luke 24.47 48. But Paul was an Apostle therefore he acted according to the Apostolical Commission 2. Because Paul baptized or caused the Goaler to be baptized and it was necessary that Repentance should be preached to him and professed by him before such an one as he were admitted to Baptisme 3. Because Paul himself tells us as his words are recorded by the Sacred Historian Luke that it was his common Practice to preach Repentance as well as Faith unto all those whom he Converted or intended and endeavoured to convert unto the Christian Religion Thus did he at Lystra Acts 14.15 He exhorted the people to turn from their vanities unto the living God which made Heaven and Earth c. Thus also at Athens Acts 17.30 31. He commanded them all from the Lord to repent and perswaded them so to do by a most powerful Motive and Argument taken from God's being Rector and Judge of the World and from his having appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ and will then justifie or condemn reward or punish every man according to their works and this he assured them of by an Argument taken from Christ's Resurrection from the dead Again in Acts 20.21 he tells us That Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus were the sum and substance of his Sermons these were the two subjects that he â—ordinarily preached upon both to Jews and Gentiles And lastly in Acts 26.20 22 23. we read that he declared openly to Ring Agrippa that from the first time he was miraculously called to be an Apostle his business had been to preach Repentance and Faith From all which we conclude that we have good reason to believe and assert the affirmative that Paul did not preach Faith only but that he preached Repentance also to the Goaler and withal we challenge and defie our Authour to prove the Negative that Paul preached not the necessity of Repentance but of Faith only in order to his Salvation But saith our Authour page 15. No wit or art of man will ever find a crack or flaw in or devise another or a better answer than Pauls to the Goaler believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved We Reply It is far from the thoughts of any of us or of any good Christian to find fault with or to go about to mend Paul's Answer to the Goalers question all that we say is that his whole answer is not set down expresly by the Historian Luke and we have proved it A truer Answer cannot indeed be given than it was but a fuller may be given and we have proved it was given by Paul though not particularly expressed by Luke This may satisfie any reasonable Man for we are sure it cannot be confuted Yet for the farther satisfaction of all Men if possible we will here transeribe and set down a passage of Mr. Venning a famous Congregational Minister once in this City It is in his Sermon called the way to true happyness preached before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen January 28. 1654 5 on Matth. 7.21 page 10 11 12. I ground it further saith he on this Rule which is an undeniable one and for not attending whereunto we have had so many needless groundless and unprofitable disputes in the World The Rule is this That the Scripture doth often yea very usually put particular Duties for all Religion and therefore annexeth Salvation to distinct Graces Sometimes it is he that believeth shall be saved Elsewhere he that calleth upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved Here it is He that doth the will of God Now all these and the like are complex and comprehensive propositions and contain more in them than they make shew of for God speaks much in a little Acts and Duties of Religion being as Moralists speak of their Vertues inter se connexae linked together in a Golden Chain Religion is not this or that piece but the whole which is usually expressed in a word or
to the end And then he proceeds saying This is the way Beloved wherein we find Jesus Christ our saving health the High Priest of our Offerings the Guardian and Helper of our weakness Lastly In Page 102 105 106. He that hath Love in Christ let him keep the Commandments of Christ c. Blessed are we Beloved if we have done the Commandments of God in the Concord of Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that through Love our Sins may be forgiven us For it is written Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputeth not sin neither is there guile in his mouth This Blessedness hath been unto those who were chosen by God through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen Thus Clement who was Paul's Fellow-Labourer Phil. 4.3 and who may well be presumed to know his Mind as to these Matters and we see evidently by his Words that he held as we do that Faith and Repentance are both antecedently necessary to Justification and pardon of sin and further that sincere Obedience to Christ's Commandments in a course of holy living is indispensably necessary to the obtaining of Eternal Life and Glory in the Everlasting Kingdome of our most Glorious God and Saviour But some may possibly say what did Clement mean by writing as he doth that our sins are forgiven us through Love Is that an Orthodox Expression We Answer What did our Saviour mean by saying Mat. 6.14 15. If ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses And again what did our Saviour mean by saying Mark 11.25 When ye stand praying forgive if ye have ought against any that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses Were these Orthodox Expressions If they were Orthodox as doubtless they were and it were Blasphemy to think otherwise then so is the expression of Clement Orthodox for the Expressions are alike upon the matter and the meaning is the same Clement by saying that our sins are forgiven through Love meant no more but that our forgiving our Neighbour his Trespasses against us which is an Act of Love is a Means of God's appointment whereby we obtain the forgiveness of our sins from God through Christ We do not doubt but this was Clement's meaning and we are sure it was our Saviours When he said Mark 11.25 If ye have ought against any forgive that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you Our blessed Lord who is the faithful Witness makes God's forgiving us to be the End and our forgiving our Neighbour to be a Means indispensably necessary to be used by us for obtaining that End So that we obtain the forgiveness of our sins through Love in a very sound and Orthodox sense even as sound and Orthodox as Christ's Gospel is In the second place we bring the foresaid Testimony of Origen to prove that the real change which is wrought in the Soul by a sincere Repentance is antecedently necessary to dispose and prepare us for obtaining the promised Blessing of Pardon of sin which is an essential part of Justification It is in his Third Book against Celsus of the Cambridge Edition pag. 154. The Passage in Origen begins thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Which we will give the sense of in English for the use of our Authour After these things viz. which had been objected and answered before he Celsus takes upon him to charge us with that which is not granted by the more rational judicious Believers though perhaps it may be thought so by some foolish or ignorant Christians that as some Men are overcome by and under the Dominion of a tender compassionate natural frame and temper of Mind so God being overcome by and under the power of a merciful compassionate nature towards them that are in misery he relieves and pardons miserable Men though they be wicked if withal they be of a pitiful merciful nature◠But though they be otherwise good men yet God rejects them if they be not of such a pitiful compassionate Nature Which is most unjust For according to our Faith God doth not relieve so as to pardon and receive into his Favour any wicked Man unless he be first turned unto virtue that is converted like as he doth not reject any that is now become a good Man But neither doth he relieve or shew mercy unto any Man of a merciful Nature meerly because he is of a merciful Nature taking the word Mercy in the sense that the vulgar or common People use it in but those that greatly condemn themselves for their sins so as thereupon to mourn and bewail themselves as lost and undone by reason of the evil they have done and withal give evidence of a signal change such as becomes true Penitents God grants to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Grace of Repentance that is the Gracious Fruit and Benefit promised to Repentance even to them who have changed their most wicked course For unto such is given as by Act of Oblivion a pardon of their past sins through the vertue that comes to dwell in their Souls and casts out the vice and corruption that possessed them before Or if at first they attain not unto a confirmed habit of vertue yet there is a notable change in the Soul which proceeds so far as that it is sufficient according to the proportion of it to purge out and take away the great abundance of wickedness that was in it before so as it can hardly ever get into the Soul again Thus far Origen In which Testimony of his there are several things worthy of our observation 1. Origen did not write this meerly as a private Christian or Teacher of the Church declaring what was his own private Opinion but as the great and famous Apologist in his time for Christ the Christian Church and for the Truth of the Christian Religion against the Heatheus particularly against Celsus a very learned Heathen who had written learnedly and spitefully against Christ and against Christians and the Christian Religion 2. Whereas Celsus had charged Christians with an absurd impious Opinion as that they believed That God pardoneth wicked Mens sins and receives them into his Favour if they be of a good Nature of a soft pitiful compassionate Temper before there pass a real change upon them before they repent before they turn from sin and return unto God in Heart and Affection Origen deuyed the Charge and affirmed that no rational intelligent judicious Christian believed any such thing that if any Christian did at all believe that God justified and pardoned a wicked Man before he had repented of his sins and returned unto the Lord they must be some foolish simple ignorant People and yet he would not absolutely grant to his Adversary that there
were then any such foolish ignorant Christians in the World but in regard he was not acquainted with every individual Christian he did not absolutely deny it only he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perhaps there might be some such Christians in the World And if there were as there might be or not be some for ought he knew they were none of the right breed of Christians they were but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foolish ignorant Christians 3. Origen acknowledges that that senseless Opinion did impute unto the Holy God a thing that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most unjust 4. Therefore in the Name of the Christian Church he declares to Celsus That Christians believed that God pardons and receives into Favour no unconverted impenitent Man and that he rejects no good Man no penitent Believer 5. He declares that according to the Faith of Christians a Man must always repent before God pardon him and receive him into his Favour 6. That the Repentance which goes before Pardon and to which pardon is promised must be such as makes a real change in a Man's Heart and Soul and that the change is so great as that the Man greatly condemns himself on the account of his sins he mourns for them and turns from them unto the Lord in Heart and Affection yea it is so great as that the reigning power of sin is in a good measure broken and it is cast down from its Throne in the Heart 7. That upon this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God immediately grants unto the Man thus changed the graciâ—â— beneâ—t and Feuiâ— of his Repontance that is the pardon of his sins which in the very next Sentence Origen calls an Amnesty or an Act of Oblivion And here by the way those who are intelligent may see that we were in the right before when we said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Grace of Repentance in Clement doth signifie pardon of sin as the Gracious Fruit of Repentance for here the self-same words are used by Origen where they are capable we think of no other meaning 7. Origen declares that if the Gracious Principle that comes to take possession of the penitent Believer's Soul be not at first a confirmed habit of Christian Vertue yet it is such as at that present time doth in a good measure purge out sin and for the time to come makes it well nigh impossible for sin ever to recover its power in and over the Soul again This Book of Origen against Celsus is acknowledged by all learned Men to be genuine and uncorrupted and so far as we know he was never yet taxed with errour by any Man for asserting â—â— here he doth that Repentance is antecedently necessary to Justification and pardon of sin If our Authour have the confidence to affirm that he ever was by any mortal Man taxed with errour for this let him prove his assertion if he would be believed The same Doctrine was taught by Justin the Martyr writing in defence of the Christian Religion against a learned Jew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. Dialog cum Trypho pag. 370. Edit Parisâ— Anno 1636. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. So then saith â—ustin if they repent all that are willing to receive mercy from God they may and the Word hath before declared them to be blessed saying blessed is he to whom the Lord imputeth not sin And that is thus that whoso repenteth of his sins shall receive from God remission of sins but not so as ye deceive your selves and some others also that are like you in this matter who say that though they are sinners yet if they know God i. e. believe the Lord will not impute sin unto them We have a Testimony and Evidence of this in one of David 's sins which he fell into by his pride and vain-glory which was then forgiven when he had so wept and lamented as is written of him And now if Pardon was not granted to so great a Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before he had repented but when that great King and anointed One and Prophet â—had wept and done such things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how cau filthy and foolish witless Men or Men quite out of their right mind unless they lament mourn and repent have hope that the Lord will not impute sin unto them Here it is observable that Justin Christ's blessed Martyr Fifteen Hundred Years agoe positively denies that God pardons Sinners before they repent and declares that they deceive themselves that they are desperate or witless Creatures quite out of their right mind who perswade themselves that if they know God he will pardon their sins before they repent mourn for and turn from their sins About the beginning of the Third Century Tertullian in his Book of Repentance Chap. 4. writes thus Omnibus delictis c. that is The same God who by his righteous Judgment hath ordained punishment for all sins that are committed either in the Flesh or Spirit either in the outward Deed or inward Will and Desire hath also promised pardon by Repentance saying to the People Repent and I will save thee And again As I live saith the Lord I had rather Repentance then Death Therefore Repentance is Life that is it is the way and means to Life since it is preferred before or more desired than death And a little after Poenitentia quae per Dei gratiam ostensa indicta nobis in gratiam nos Domino revocat Repentance saith he which by the grace of God is revealed to us and commanded brings us into Favour again with the Lord that is Repentance is a means and condition of God's own appointing upon the use and performance whereof we are received again into favour with the Lord. And after the middle of the same Book desertam dilectionem Ephesiis imputat c. The Lord imputes unto the Ephesians that they had left their first Love he upbraids them of Thyatira with Fornication and eating of things sacrificed to Idols He accuses them of Sardis that their works were not perfect before God he reproves them of Pergamus for teaching perverse Doctrine he rebukes the Laodiceans for trusting that they were rich and needed nothing And yet he admonishes them all to repent with threatnings indeed but he would not threaten to punish the impenitent if he were not willing to pardon the penitent and saith if any doubt of this for the removing of such doubts illum etiam mitissimum patrem non tacebo qui prodigum filium revocat c. I will not forbear to mention that most meek Father in the parable who calls back his Prodigal Son and after his poverty and distress gladly receives him upon his Repentance kills the fatted Calf adorns his Joy with a Feast and why not For he had found his Son whom he had lost and he had felt his love to be the greater towards him because he had regained him Now whom must we understand by
breaking of God's Commandements without Repentance pertaineth not everlasting Life but everlasting Death as Christ himself saith they that do evil shall go into everlasting fire Mat. 25. These Passages do manifestly show that in the Judgment of the Church of England as sincere Repentance is indispensably necessary to obtain forgiveness of sin so sincere Obedience from a principle of Faith and Love and bringing forth Fruits meet for Repentance is indispensably necessary to the escaping of eternal damnation and obtaining of eternal Salvation Let any Man read and consider the Sermon of Repentance in the same Book Tom. 2. pag. 324. and he will see this to be as clear as the Light at Noon-day We will quote one short Passage out of it in Page 339. they say The filihiness of sin is such that as long as we do abide in it God cannot but detest and abhorre us neither can there be any hope that we shall enter into the Heavenly Jerusalem except we be first made clean and purged from it But this will never be unless forsaking our former Life we do with our whole Heart return unto the Lord our God and with a full purpose of Amendment of Life flee unto his Mercy taking sure hold thereupon through Faith in the Blood of his Son Jesus Christ This excellent Passage shews clearly that as Faith is the receptive applicative Condition so true Repentance is the dispositive Condition of the Covenant of Pardon and Life and that the one is as necessary in its kind as the other is and that unless through Grace we do both we are undone for ever Thus we have shewed at large what was the old Gospel Doctrine of the Church of England at the Reformation and that our Doctrine is exactly the same Therefore it must needs be a most horrid we will not say lye but falsehood that we preach a new Gospel and that we are to be blamed for telling People that they must repent and mourn for their known sins leave and loath them and God will have Mercy upon them for Christ's sake From whole Societies of Protestants we pass to the Testimonies of Individual Pastours of the Reformed Churches And we begin with Calvin who in his Commentary on Ezek. 18.23 sayes Deus ergo non ita vult omnes salvos fieri ut discrimen omne tollat boni mali sed praecedit veniam poenitentia quemadmodum hîc dicitur Therefore God doth not so will all Men to be saved as to take away all difference between good and evil but Repentance goes before Pardon as it is here said And again on the same Text We hold therefore that God doth not will now the death of a Sinner because he calls all to Repentance without making a difference and promises that he shall be ready to receive them modo seriò resipiscant if they or on condition that they earnestly repent And in his Institutions he writes thus Lib. 3. cap. 3. Sect. 20. Quare ubi remissionem peccatorum offert Deus c. For which reason where God offers remission of sins he likewise useth to require on our part Repentance signifying thereby that his Mercy offered ought to cause Men to repent Doe saith he Judgment and Justice because Salvation is come near at band Isa 56.1 Likewise The Redeemer shall come to Sion and to them who turn from transgression in Jacob Isa 59.20 Again Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteousness of his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him Isa 55.6 7. Again Be converted and repent that your sins may be blotted out Acts 3.19 Where yet it is to be noted that this Condition to wit of Repentance is not so annexed to those Promises as if our Repentance were the ground of meriting our pardon but rather because the Lord hath determined to show mercy unto Men for this end that they might repent he shews them whither they are to go to wit unto God by Repentance if they will obtain Favour In these passages we observe 1. That Calvin says expresly That Repentance is a Condition annexed to the promise of pardon 2. That the performance of that Condition goes before pardon And 3. That therefore we are to repent and so perform the Condition that we may obtain the Grace of pardon 4. That in Calvin's Judgment Repentance is a Condition of Justification and that because Calvin believed Justification and pardon of sin to be the same thing as is most evident from what he writes against Osiander Instit 3d. Book cap. 11. Sect. 4.11 21 22. 5. That in Calvins Judgment Repentance is the dispositive Condition of Justification For it must be either the receptive or dispositive Condition but it cannot be the receptive Condition for in Calvin's judgment Faith is the only receptive Condition therefore it must be the dispositive Condition And indeed Calvin so held it to be for in his third Book of Institutions chap. 3. Sect. 18. He says Privatim Deo confiteri pars est verae poenitentiae quae omitti non potest Nihil enim minus consentaneum quam ut peccata ignoscat Deus in quibus nobis ipsi blandimur c. To confess our sins in secret to God is a part of true Repentance which cannot be omitted For nothing is less becoming or suitable than that God should forgive us those sins in which we flatter or please our selves On the contrary Calvin writing against Pighius says Contra Pigh de lib. arb lib. 5. Sect. Adducit tamen Sanè humiles Deus respicit sicut illi acceptum cordis contriti afflicti sacrificium David canit Indeed God hath regard unto the humble as David sings in his Psalm that the Sacrifice of a contrite and afflicted heart is acceptable and pleasing unto him These passages show That in Calvin's judgment an impenitent sinner is by reason of his impenitence unfit for pardon but that the true Penitent by his Humiliation and brokenness of Heart is disposed and fitted for pardon so that it is agreeable to the perfections of God's Nature to accept such a Person in Christ and to pardon his sins for Christ's sake And as Calvin held Faith and Repentance to be the Conditions of our Justification so did he hold sincere Obedience from a Principle of Faith and Love to be the Condition of our not falling from a justified state and of our obtaining the possession of Eternal Life and Glory For thus he writes in his Institutions Quoties ergo audimus c. Therefore as often as we hear lib. 3. cap. 17. Sect. 6. that God bestows his benefits on them who keep his Law we are to remember that God's Children are there designed or described by the Duty which they ought to be continually exercised in that we are for this reason adopted that we should reverence and honour him for
is by Obedience Moreover when we say that Justification is retained by Works that is not so to be taken as if it were done for the dignity or merit of our Actions but onely for the Redeemer's sake for whose sake the Person is first accepted and then the Actions also please God which otherwise of themselves would be impure and of no account But say they the perseverance or continuance of Justification is lost by wicked works But we say evil works are two ways to be considered in us either as they cleave to us or remain in us as in all the Saints through infirmity of the flesh and we by and by rise again by Repentance and Faith and such sin as the Apostle saith shall not have dominion over us Or again they may be considered as against our Conscience we willingly give up our selves to sin that we may serve it with evil delight But this sort of sin can no wise consist with this Faith of which Paul speaks which hath place in none but in those who being turned from sin are converted unto God And in the same Book pag. 374. Love is necessary and it pleaseth God to wit in those who are reconciled and for the sake of Christ For God naturally rejoiceth in the Obedience of those that are his which though it be imperfect yet endeavours such as they are he approves in those whom he hath reconciled to himself in Christ So then Faith that is Christ apprehended by Faith justifies us freely But we again ought by no means to receive that Grace in vain But he receives it in vain whosoever he be that doth not yeild himself obedient to the Commands and Example of Christ Thus far Mr. Fox where we see he plainly grants that sincere Obedience after we are justified is necessary that we may not lose the Grace of Justification and this is no more but that it is necessary to prevent our falling wilfully under the guilt of new sins of Omission and Commission which without renewing our Faith and Repentance and returning to God and our Obedience to him again would certainly damn us and sink us into Hell We mean no more by it and we believe that God for Christ's sake will keep all his justified ones from so falling away but withal we hold that God keeps us in a justified state partly by fear of falling into sin and partly by the Faith of the indispensable necessity of Obedience and Repentance as means to be used on our part to keep us from falling away The Lord puts his fear in our Hearts that we may not depart from him and he keeps us by his power through Faith unto Salvation From Fox we pass to Rollock another good Man unto whom a Famous and Learned Episcopal Divine Dr. Robert Baron hath given this Testimony that he was Sanctissimus Doctissimus c. a most Holy and Learned Man and that the Character of Moses might be truly attributed to him that he was very Meek above all the Men which were upon the Face of the Earth This Meek Saint wrote a Book of Effectual Calling at Edinburgh in the Year 1597. just about an Hundred Years agoe In which he affirms positively that the Covenant of Grace is conditional and that both Faith and Repentance go before Justification In the First Page of his Book he says Vocati eâdem Dei gratiâ respondent creduntque in Deum per Jesunt Christum Responsio haec sides est quae reipsâ est conditio promissionis Tract de Vocat Efficaci Edit Herborn 1618. c. They who are called effectually by the same Grace whereby they are called answer the call and believe in God through Jesus Christ This Answer is the Act of Faith which is the very Condition of the Promise that is in the Covenant of Grace Wherefore Effectual Calling consists in the Promise of the Covenant which is made on Condition of Faith and in Faith quae nihil aliud est quà m impletio conditionis which is no other thing but the fulfilling of the Condition And in the 24th Chapter pap 258. he sayes Resipiscontia Justificationem antecedit c. Repentance goes before Justification after the manner that Faith and Hope go before it For it is said of the Baptist that he preached the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of sins Mark 1.4 and Luke 3.3 And if any would know what he means by that Repentance which he sayes goes before Justification after he had fully and clearly explained the nature of it in all its parts and shewed it to be an Evangelical Repentance and distinguished it from that which is called Legal he tells us in Page 257. what he meant by giving a short but comprehensive definition of it thus Resipiscentia est post functum malum jam perpetratum dolor propter offensum Dèum ex dolwe mutatio quaedam totius animi à malo in bonum Repentance is a grief or sorrow after the fact is done and the sin is committed for having thereby offended God and a change of the whole Soul from Evil to Good arising from that grief or sorrow This is the Repentance which Rollock sayes goes before Justification and it is remarkable that he makes a change of the whole Soul from Evil to Good to be essential unto this Repentance and consequently that in order of nature before Justification there is a real change of the whole Soul from Evil to Good This Doctrine was preached and written at Edinburgh an Hundred Years agoe and then it was accounted good Divinity and old Gospel and the Preacher of it was esteemed and that deservedly a great Saint and a Man of Learning and Judgment both at home and abroad How it should come to be New Divinity and a New Gospel or part of a new Gospel now is to us a Mystery for sure it is an Hundred Years older now than it was then Any Body therefore might think in all reason that our Authour came too late to give it a new Name There must be some Mystery in this business whatever it be We with it be not a Mystery of Iniquity From Rollock we pass to Zanchy because he lived in those Times and is one of those Divines whom our Authour would make the People believe to be for him and against us and that because he is against us therefore we are against him Lett. p. 27. and generally neglect and despise him But what if after all this Zanchy be clearly for us in this matter then it is to be hoped that People nor our Authour himself will not easily believe that we not only neglect but despise our good Friend And that he is such we are content that his own Words should judge between us Credimus ad veram justitiae Christi participationem Zanch. de Relig. cap. 18. Thes 1. coque ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum Christo necessariam esse poenitentiam c. We believe that Repentance is
necessary in order to a true participation of the Righteousness of Christ and therefore to communion with Christ Mark 1.4 15. Lake 13.3 5. whereby being turned from sin and the World through the change of our Mind and Will we may be converted unto Christ and close united unto him and to the end we may obtain Remission of sins in him and from him and may be cloathed with his Righteousness and Holiness 1. Here we see that Zanchy held Repentance to be antecedently necessary in order of Nature to the obtaining of Remission of sins through the Righteousness of Christ 2. That by Repentance we are turned from sin and the world and changed in our Mind and Will From which Premisses this Conclusion necessarily follows that before we be Justified and our sins forgiven there must be a real change in us and our Minds and Wills must be turned from sin and the World This is a hard saying to those who would have their Justification and pardon and likewise their sin and the World altogether But though it be hard it is true and good and that not meerly because Zanchy saies so but because he proves it by the plain Word of God who can neither deceive nor be deceived Mark 1.4 15. Luke 13.3 5. And if we may believe the same Zanchy this is not only true and good Law but it is likewise true and good Gospel For says he de Evangelio juxta significationem in Ecclesiâ receptam usitatamque credimus nihil aliud esse quà m c. Concerning the Gospel according to the signification received and commonly used in the Church Zanch. de Relig. Christ Vol. 3. p. 509. we believe that it is nothing but an Heavenly Doctrine concerning Christ c. to wit that Mankind is redeemed by the Death of Christ so that free Remission of all sins is prepared for or is ready for all Men modo resipiscant c. so that or on condition that they repent and believe in Jesus Christ These words of Zanchy are so plain they need no Commentary to make them plainer We wish our Authour do not himself despise Zanchy for their sake since in those few words he hath comprehended the whole Summ of the new Gospel so called which is a good deal above Sixteen Hundred years old Zanchy in the same place says Tria sunt Evangelii capita quae a nobis exiguntur ut praestemus poenitentia in deum c. There are three heads or principal parts of the Gospel which we are required to do Repentance towards God Faith in Jesus Christ and a studious care to observe whatsoever Christ hath commanded And again The Gospel saith he requires only these three things That being touched with a serious grief for all the sins of our whole Life we desire from the heart that our mind and all our affections may be changed and renewed by God unto an obedient complyance with his Divine Will And that this may be done that we ask it of God by Prayer and use our own endeavours in order to the effecting of it Then that embracing Christ with a true Faith c. In all this it is evident that Zanchy requires something else besides Faith to be done by us in order to our obtaining Justification and pardon of Sin as also declares that after we are justified we must endeavour to do all things whatsoever Christ hath commanded Yea he saith that not only the Law of God but the Gospel of Christ requireth all these things And elsewhere in his Miscellanies he says That if after Justification the Saints fall into wilful sins against Knowledge and Conscience they must renew their Faith and Repentance and return unto the Lord and to their Obedience or else they cannot be saved but are undone for ever To Zanchy we may add the Testimony of Musculus that Holy and Learned Divine in whom God's special care of his faithful Servants appeared in an extraordinary manner but because it is so notorious that Musculus is for us that we cannot think our Authour is so ignorant of matters of fact as not to know it we shall quote but one short passage out of him Musc Loc. Commun de Remiss peccat Sect. 6. Discernendum est inter eam gratiam Dei quae nullas habet adjectas conditiones eam quae conditionaliter confertur ad quem modum peccatorum nobis remissio contingit We must distinguish between that Grace of God which hath no conditions annexed to it and that which is given conditionally after which manner we obtain the remission of sins Sharpius also gives in his Testimony for us in the matter we are treating of See his Book of Justification written in the Year 1609. Where page 98 he says in foedere gratiae duo sunt 1. Substantia c. Sharpii Tract de Justif edit Genev. 1618. There are two things in the Covenant of Grace 1. The substance of the Covenant which is that Righteousness and Salvation is given unto the Church through Christ The 2d Is the Condition annexed to the Covenant if the Members of the Church believe And 172 The promise of Eternal Life is otherwise conditional than by the perfect fulfilling of the Law For it is said he that believeth shall be saved Acts 16.31 Mark 16.16 and page 174. Licet ista sint conditio sine qua non non tamen salutem efficiunt Although these things to wit Love and Holyness and Continuance therein are a condition without which we are not saved yet they are not the efficient cause of Salvation And page 177 178 We grant it follows from Rom. 10.10 That Confession of Christ with the mouth is necessary to Salvation because by this way and means we must go to Salvation or to Heaven page 207. Good Works are necessary that we may escape Temporal and Eternal punishments which God threatens to inflict upon the Transgressors of his Law Rom. 8.13 1 Thess 4.5 6. page 69. The conditions of the promises are Faith Repentance Patience c. Finally page iii. God doth not forgive sins but to the penitent though not for their Repentance but for the merit of Christ And a little after spiritualis vita c. As Spiritual Life is given us freely in Christ by Faith only so it is preserved and cherished by Prayer Repentance and other Spiritual Exercises The professors of Leyden in their Synopsis of purer Divinity first published in the Year 1624 taught the same Doctrine Witness what they write in the said Book Synops purior Theol. edit 3. Lugduni Batav 1642. p. 271. Thes 29. Non omnem conditionem negamus in Evangelto N. Test requiri ad salutem Requiritur enim conditio fidei novae obedientiae quae ubique urgetur c. We do not deny that any condition is required unto Salvation in the Gospel and New Testament For there is required the condition of Faith and new Obedience which is every where urged But these
neglect of Faith and Obedience cannot be culpable if they be not required 3. Because otherwise it would follow that in this Covenant God is bound to Man but Man is not bound to God which is most absurd and contrary to the nature of all Covenants wherein there is a mutual Agreement and reciprocal Obligation whereby the Parties Covenanting are bound to one another Afterwards in Page 204. he comes to Answer the Second Branch of the Question to wit Which are the Conditions of the New Covenant And saies that as for Faith there is no question but it is the Condition of the Covenant because the Scripture so clearly affirms it so to be Joh. 3.16 Rom. 1.16 17. and 10.9 And he sayes that Faith is the Condition of the Covenant as it hath respect unto and is the Instrumental Means of our Union with Christ Yea he maintains as we do that in this sense Faith is the onely Condition because there is no other Condition that is of a receptive applicative Nature as Faith is no other that receives Christ and applyes his Righteousness as Faith doth But in another sense there are other Conditions of the Covenant besides Faith that is if the Word Conditions be taken for all those things which a Man by the Covenant of Grace is bound to do then nothing hinders but Repentance and new Obedience may be called a Condition because they are comprehended among the Duties of the Covenant John 13.17 2 Cor. 5.17 Rom. 8.13 Moreover he holds that though new Obedience be not the primary antecedent yet it is the secondary subsequent Condition of the Covenant because being by Faith the primary Condition actually brought into Covenant now Obedience is medium via per quam tendimus ad plenam possessionem bonorum foederis the means and way by which we come to the full possession of the good things of the Covenant He saith we should distinguish between the Condition of Justification and the Condition of the Covenant the Promise of Justification is not the whole of the Covenant and therefore that which is the Condition of the Promise of Justification is not the whole Condition of the Covenant which adequately considered is of larger extent than the Promise of Justification He tells us lastly that we should distinguish between the first accepting of the Covenant and the after-keeping of the Covenant Faith accepts the Covenant by receiving the Promises Obedience keeps the Covenant by fulfilling the Commands Be ye holy for I am holy And yet this Obedience is not Legal but Evangelical because it is not meritorious it is the Fruit and Effect of an antecedent Principle of Spiritual Life wrought in us and of the actual Influence of the Spirit of Grace upon us and it is not rigorously exacted in the highest degree of Perfection as indispensably necessary to Salvation but though it be imperfect yet it is admitted and accepted through Christ if it be sincere We have here given a true and faithful account of the Judgment of the Learned and Judicious Turretin concerning the Conditionality of the Covenant of Grace with whom we agree in this matter which contains the sum of the Gospel as to Man's Duty especially and therefore if Turretin was no Legal Preacher no more are we and if he preached no new Gospel no more do we for we preach the same Gospel and in the same manner as he did There is one thing more wherein this worthy Divine and we do perfectly agree and that is concerning true Believers fallen into wilful sin against Knowledge and Conscience We say they cannot be saved till they have first recovered themselves through Grace by renewing their Faith and Repentance and returning to their Obedience again Now he sayes the same thing witness what he writes in the same Book Pag. 671 672. where he sayes That if a Believer fallen into gross sin against his Conscience be considered in himself and as guilty of such sin not repented of verum est reum esse mortis si in eo statu moreretur certo damnandum it is true that he is guilty of death and if he dyed in that state he would be certainly damned but if he be considered with respect to God's Decree of Election he is rightly said to be one who is to be absolved or pardoned and saved God so ordering the matter by his immense Love and Wisdome that he never dies in that state but by a renewed Act of Faith and Repentance he is first restored and returns into the way before he come to the end Whence it is that according to a twofold respect these two Propositions although they seem to be contrary may be both together true It is impossible that David a Person elected and a Man according to God's own Heart should perish It is impossible that David an Adulterer and Murderer if Death seize on him before he have repented should be saved The first of these Propositions is true in respect of God's Decree of Election The second is true also in respect of the hainousness and demerit of David 's sin But God's Providence and Grace looseth this Knot by taking care that neither David nor any of the Elect dye in that state in which for his impenitence he should be excluded from Salvation This Passage shews that Turretin believed as we do that after Justification sincere Obedience is so indispensably necessary to Salvation that unless a Believer continue in the practice of sincere Obedience or if there happen to be any signal intermistion by gross wilful sin for a time unless he renew his Faith and Repentance and thereby return to his Obedience he cannot be saved And Turretin a little before in Page 669. saies very judiciously That though God hath promised perseverance to Believers yet hath he not promised it to be given absolutely and without means but by means to be used by Man himself so that whilst God keeps Man he is bound also to keep himself by the Grace of the Spirit 1 John 5.18 Whence Believers are sure of their perseverance through the Faith of the Promises not by any external force which retains them in the way of Salvation will they will they yea even whilst they are living in their sins but in the use of Means and practice of Piety whilst working out their own Salvation with fear and trembling they are confident that it is God who works in them both to will and to do and who graciously perfects the good Work which he hath begun So that an occasion of licentiousness and impiety is wrongfully inferred from this Doctrine since to indulge wickedness and to have the Grace which causeth perseverance are utterly inconsistent Yea he that hath this Hope purifieth himself 1 John 3.3 And he ought to be certainly perswaded in himself that without holiness no Man shall see God and that there is no other way to Life but the way of Piety and Godliness A most Excellent Passage this is which
fully expresses our sense and to which we heartily subscribe Agreeable to this is that which we find in Mr. Rutherford's Examination of Arminianism Chap. 13. Pag. 594. That a Promise that we shall persevere in Faith and obtain Eternal Salvation though we walk after the Flesh and lead a wicked life may be called a dissolute Promise but that we do not maintain an absolute Promise of perseverance in that dissolute sense for though the Promise of perseverance in Faith be absolute yet it is always joined with an absolute Promise of perseverance in Holiness and Obedience and as it is necessary to Salvation that Elect Believers continue in Faith so it is necessary that they continue in Holiness and Obedience And if for some time there happen to be an intermission of Faith and Obedience there must be a renewing of them again that we may obtain Salvation and this renovation of our Faith and Obedience is the effect of the absolute Promise but not the obtaining of Salvation without and before the renewing of our Faith and Repentance and returning to our Obedience This is plainly Rutherford's sense And indeed he goes further than we have done in that he ascribes an inferiour kind of Causality to Obedience and good Works in order to the obtaining of Eternal Salvation for which he quotes Calvin Bucer Examen Armin. cap. 12. Zanchy and Voetius yea he quotes the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 4.17 saying that our light Afflictions which are but for a Moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory In the Pages 531 532 533. of that Book Again he says expresly That the hope of Eternal Life ex eo vana esse colligitur si non innitatur sincerae obedientiae tanquam fulcro secundario 1 Johan 3.3 is hence proved to be vain and groundless if it be not upheld by sincere obedience as a secondary slay or prop. Pag. 592. of the same Book And in another Book he saith that it is a new Heresy of Antinomians to deny a Conditional Gospel it is all one Survey of Antin Part II. p. 63. as to belye the Holy Ghost who saith He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not is condemned already Spanhemius likewise a very Learned Divine and zealous against the Arminians in his Disputation at Leyden concerning the five controverted Articles saith in the 34th Thesis or Position Omnibus equidem externè vocatis annunciatur promissio Evangelii non tamen absolutè sed conditionatè si resipiscant credant The Promise of the Gospel is indeed preached to all that are outwardly called yet not absolutely but conditionally if they believe and repent And Thes 36. For as it is in vain that a great Good is ready at hand to us unless we either take and receive or fulfil the Condition which is required in the Covenant and Promise of it so that infinite benefit of Redemption is in vain purchased for us by Christ except we embrace it with a sure confidence and performe Faith and Repentance unto God requiring them as the terms of the Covenant John 3.16 Acts 2.38 And to draw towards a close with the Testimonies of some of our own English Divines we find that Dr. Robert Abbot writing against Thompson saith Abbot contra Thomsoni Diatrib de Intercis Justif p. 212. Credi non debet remissio peccatorum ante poenitentiam poenitere aliquem de peccato non potest quod nondum est c. It ought not to be believed that Remission of sins is before Repentance and a Man cannot repent of a sin that is not yet committed c. Again Remission of sins is never decreed for any of ripe years without Repentance nor is it ever granted upon another Condition that is another dispositive Condition the Faith therefore of Remission should not anticipate Repentance c. Neither let us think that without Repentance we ought ever to say Forgive us our trespasses c. And because our Authour saith that God hath blessed England with an Ames and Twiss against the Arminians Let. p. 13. p. 27. and that we neglect and despise them we will alledge some Testimonies out of their Writings by which the World may judge whether those two great Divines be for him or for us in this cause And first for Dr. Ames in his Answer to Grevinchovius page 138. he sayes Quòd fides haec non sit volitionis ipsius divinae conditio sed salutis assequendae tantùm hanc ego sententiam meam esse fateor veramque cum Deo praestiturum me confido That this faith of ours is not the condition of Gods will it self but that it is only the condition of our obtaining Salvation I confess this to be my opinion and I trust with Gods help that I shall prove it to be true We observe here that Ames distinguisheth between Gods will of our Salvation and our Salvation it self which is the object of his will As for the first to wit God's Will Faith is not cannot be the Condition of God's Will because it is Eternal and Absolute and cannot possibly depend upon any Condition whatsoever But the second to wit our Salvation the object of God's Will it may have and hath a Condition and God hath absolutely willed that it should have and depend upon a Condition and that Faith should be the Condition on which our obtaining of it doth depend This is his meaning and we agree with him in it The same Authour in another Book his Marrow of Divinity saith That the Promises of the Gospel are without any discrimination proposed unto all together with a Command to believe Medul Theologiae Lib. 1. cap. 26. pag. 112. but they are not performed unto all because Men themselves fail in performing the Condition But unto the Elect the Condition is given that the Promises may be performed to them Which he proves by three Scriptures Eph. 2.8 Acts 5.31 and chap. 11. ver 18. whereof one proves Faith and the other two prove Repentance to be the Gift of God Whence it is most evident that he thought Repentance as well as Faith to be the condition of the Gospel-Promises Again in the same Book and next Chapter he says This Justification is for Christ considered not absolutely Ibid. cap. 27. pag. 118. in which sense Christ is also the cause of effectual vocation but for Christ apprehended by faith which faith follows effectual calling as its effect and goes before Justification as the Instrumental Cause apprehending that Righteousness of Christ upon which Righteousness so apprehended Justification follows In this Passage we highly approve the order in which he placeth things as putting effectual calling in order of nature before faith and Faith before Justification But where he saith that Faith is the Instrumental Cause apprehending the Righteousness of Christ for which we are Justified some possibly may think that he ascribes too much unto Faith yet we think that the difference
the Condition of it It is clear also that he held as we do that God by his Special Grace purchased for us by Christ and given to us for Christ's sake enables us and all the Elect to perform the Condition of Faith and Repentance and that effectually and infallibly As for the Non-Elect who do not perform the Condition he says the reason the culpable reason of that is because they will not and though it be true also that they cannot yet that is not a meer Physical but a moral cannot which ariseth from the evil disposition of their minds and affections whereby they will not That this was Dr. Twiss his Judgment is evident by these following Testimonies of his quoted out of the same Book Observe we farther how this Authour confounds impotency moral Ibid. p. 155 156. which consisteth in the corruption of mans powers natural and impotency natural which consisteth in bereaving him of power natural The Lord tells us by his Prophet Jeremiah cap. 13.23 That like as a Blackamore cannot change his skin nor a Leopard his spots no more can they do good that are accustomed unto evil Now if a man taken in stealth shall plead thus before a Judge My Lord I beseech you have compassion upon me for I have so long time inured my hands to pilfering that now I cannot forbear it will this be accepted as a good plea to save him from the Gallows As for Faith It is well known that Divines distinguish between fides acquisita and sides infusa acquired and infused Faith That we may call a Faith naturally acquired which is found in carnal Persons whether Prophane or Hypoâ—ritical And this to wit the infused is a Faith inspired by God's Spirit The object of each is all one and a Man may suffer Martyrdom for the one as well as for the other which manifesseth the pertinacious adherence thereunto And it appears that all Professions have had their Martyrs Albeit it be not in the power of Nature to believe side infusa with an inspired Faith yet it is in the power of nature to believe the Gospel side acquisitâ with an acquired Faith which depends partly upon a mans Education and partly upon reason considering the credibility of the Christian way by light of natural observations above all other ways in the World And when men refuse to embrace the Gospel not so much because of the incredibility of it but because it is not congruous to their natural affections as our Saviour tells the Jews light came into the World and men loved darkness Father than light because their deeds are evil John 3.19 Is there any reason why their condemnation should be any whit the easier for this Neither have I ever read or heard it taught by any that 〈◊〉 shall be damned for not believing with an infused Faith which is as much as to say because Goâ—d hath not regenerated them but either because they have refused to believe or else if they have embraced the Gospel for not living answerable thereunto which also is in their power quoad exteriorem vitae emendationem As to the outward Reformation of their Life though it be not in their power to regenerate their wills and change their hearts any more than it is to illuminate their minds Yet I never read that any mans damnation was any whit the more encreased for not performing these acts Again The Man bereaved of his eyes hath a will to read and consequently it is no fault for not reading For all sin is in the Will But it is not so in not obeying either Law or Gospel Ibid. page 170. If a Man had a will to obey and believe but he could not in such a case it were unreasonable he should be punished But in the case of disobedience unto God we speak of all the fault is in the will voluntarily and wilfully they neither will obey the one nor the other Like as they that have accustomed themselves to do evil cannot do good as a Blackamoor cannot change his skin yet with this difference that man is never a whit the more excusable or less punishable for not doing that which is good not so the Blackamoor for not changing his skin But such is the shameful issue of them that confound Impotency Moral with Impotency Natural as if there were no difference c. Again To the Rule of Law objected by Mr. Hoard That contractus sub conditione impraestabili nullus aestimatur a Contract or Promise made upon a condition not performable by the Party Ibid. p. 185 186. is esteemed none at all Twiss answers thus Conditio impraestabilis a Condition not performable is there such as cannot be performed by reason of Impotency Natural but the Impotency we speak of in the case between God and Man is merely Impotency Moral to wit therefore they cannot because they will not were it not for the Corruption of their Will no Power were wanting in Man to Believe and Repent Again Dost thou complain thou hast no power to believe but I pray thee tell me hast thou any will to believe If thou neither hast nor ever hadst any will to believe Ibid. p. 219 220. what a shamesul and unreasonable thing is it to complain that thou hast no power to believe St. Paul had a most gratious will but he sound in himself no power to do what he would but what is the issue of this complaint To sly in the face of God Nothing less But to confess his own wretchedness and flee unto God in this manner who shall deliver me from the body of this death And receiving a Gracious Answer concerning this concludes with thanks I thank God through my Lord Jesus Christ If I have a will to believe to repent I have no cause to complain but to run rather unto God with thanks for this and pray him to give that power which I find wanting in me And indeed this impotency of believing and infidelity the fruit of Natural Corruption common to all is merely a moral impotency and the very ground of it is the Corruption of the Will Therefore men cannot believe cannot repent cannot do any thing pleasing unto God because they will not they have no delight therein but all their delight is Carnal Sensual and because they are in the flesh they cannot please God and because of the hardness of their hearts they cannot repent Sin is unto them as a sweet Mirsel unto an Epicure which he rolleth under his Tongue This and much more to this purpose hath Twiss in his Book against Hoard And that this was his setled Judgment is evident by what he writes in his defence of the Doctrine of the Synod of Dort It is true that it is not in the power of man to add unto the word the efficacy of God's Spirit page 122 123. and it is as true that a carnal man hath no desire that God would add the efficacy of his Spirit
thereunto The Discipline of Christ's Kingdom is as Cords and Bonds unto them they desire to break them and to cast off the yoke of obedience unto him And again it is as true that 〈◊〉 man is damned for not adding the efficacy of Gods Spirit unto his word They are damned for contemning Godâ—s Word and not hearkning to his Gracious Admonitions but they could do no other as this Arminian Authour intimates But what impotency is this Is it any where else than in their wills Which this Authour considers not nor distinguisheth between impotency natural and impotency moral were they willing to hearken hereunto but could not then inâ—â—gd their impotency were excusablâ— but they please themselves in their obstinate courses and if they would do otherwise I make no question but that they should have no more cause to complain of their impotency to do that good which they would do than the servants of God have yea and holy Paul himself had How can you believe saith our Saviour John 5.44 Here is a certain impotency of believing which our Saviour takes notice of but what manner of impotency is it Observe by that which followeth who receive Honour one of another and regard not the Honour which cometh of God only Therefore you hear not my words because ye are not of God John 8.47 This is as true as the word of the Son of God is true although this Authour sets himself to impugne this kind of Doctrine all along But withal consider do they deplore this impotency Doth the consideration hereof humble them Nay rather they delight in it as the Prophet noteth Jerem. 6.10 Their ears are uncircumcised and they cannot hearken Behold the Word of God is as a Reproach unto them they have no delight in it By these Testimonies of Dr. Twiss and more which might be quoted to this purpose we plainly see that though he doth every where maintain that God by his special discriminating effectual Grace enables the Elect but not the non-Elect to believe repent and obey the Gospel and so to performe the Condition of the Covenant yet at the same time he declares that the inability of the Non-Elect to believe repent and obey is a meer moral impotency arising from the ill disposition of their own minds and affections that therefore they cannot because they will not and that if they would they should be able to believe and repent and obey the Gospel Now though we heartily agree with the Doctor that it is by the special discriminating effectual Grace of God in Christ Jesus that the Elect believe repent and obey the Gospel and also that the inability and impotency which others are under to do these things is a moral and not a meer natural inability and impotence yet to show that we are far from being Pelagians or Arminians we must declare to the World That Dr. Twiss seems sometimes to ascribe more to the Natural Power of an Unregenerate Man without the Grace of God than we can allow of This he doth in the foresaid Book in defence of the Doctrine of the Synod of Dort page 48. Where after he had discoursed of natural and moral Impotency and shewed 1. That the wicked are punished for refusing to believe that this refusal is the free act of their wills and by their natural power they might abstain from this refusal and might believe with an acquired Faith as many Vnregenerate Men have done And 2. After he had likewise shewed out of Augustin That the reason why the wicked do not believe is because they will not and that if they would they might believe and that since they might believe if they would it is just with God to punish them sor not believing And 3. After he had shewed out of the same Augustin That the reason why they will not believe is either because they do not see the truth and goodness of that which they should believe or else because it doth not delight them 4. In the fourth place he adventures to go one step further and of his own head to say That except the supernatural acts of the Three Theological Vertues Faith Hope and Love all Acts and Duties inward or outward are natural and may be performed by a natural man though not in an acceptable manner for want of Faith Hope and Love supernatural Now saith he they are his own very words suppose that a man were so exact both in natural morality and in an outward conformity to the means of Grace as not to fail in any particular as he hath power to performe any particular hereof naturally in this case I say if there were any such he should be in the same case with those that are guilty of no sin but sin original c. Upon this passage we observe that the Doctor supposeth it possible for a natural man by the meer power of nature without any supernatural Grace to be so exact in doing all the Duties which God requires of him as not to fail in any particular and so to keep himself free from all actual Sin He doth not indeed say that there is or ever was or ever will be such a Man but he plainly enough says that it is naturally possible and supposes it so to be he supposes it possible for a natural man by the power of Nature so to live as to be without all actual sin This we are so far from agreeing to that on the contrary we hold it to be naturally impossible for any natural man by natural power so to live as to be without all actual sin For surely original sin in such a Man would so vigorously put it self forth into act upon the presentation of outward objects to his Senses or the formation of Notions and Idea's of things in his mind that by his meer natural power he could not possibly hinder all the Sallies and Eruptions of it This is the Catholick Faith and the contrary is pure Pelagianisme which we wonder how it should ever fall from the Pen of Dr. Twiss who was really a hater of Pelagianisme We should never have mentioned this but to let men know how far we are from Pelagianism even farther than Dr. Twiss was as to the power of a Natural Man Indeed we are so far from thinking that a Natural Man by his meer natural powers can live without all actual sin that we do not believe that a Spiritual Regenerate Man can live so exactly as to keep himself free from all actual sin although he be furnished and assisted with such a measure of supernatural Grace as the Lord doth ordinarily give out unto his own select People This is the Common Doctrine of the Reformed Churches which we can demonstrate to be true and which we firmly believe Surely then it must be a vile slander cast upon us that we are so far gone off from the Truth of the Reformed Religion Let. p. 13. as that our Cause and the Pelagians is coincident and
Salvation is promised It is certain that the Death of Christ did not obtain for all but for the faithful alone a restoration absolute into the state of Grace and Salvation This they prove from Rom. 5.1 Rom. 3. and 4. chap. and Gal. 2.16 2. Reason Without faith in Christ Man remains in the state of Condemnation John 3.18 John 3.36 But they who are restored into the Bosom of Grace every one of them have remission of sins which makes men happy Psal 32.1 Neither do they remain in Condemnation neither doth the wrath of God remain upon them They therefore who want Faith are not restored by the Death of Christ into the state of Grace and Salvation Since through the Name of Christ no Man obtaineth remission of sins except he who believes in him Acts 10.43 Reason 3. If the Death of Christ hath obtained restitution for all then are they restored either 1. When Christ from all Eternity was destinated unto Death which is false for so no man should be born a child of wrath neither should Original sin any whit dammage mankind being according to this Opinion forgiven them from all Eternity Or 2. They were restored in the Person of our first Parents when the promise concerning the Seed of the woman was proclaimed which is false For our first Parents themselves were not restored into the state of Grace but by Faith in Christ and consequently neither were their Posterity restored but in like manner that is by Faith Therefore not all whether Believers or Vnbelievers are restored Or 3. They were restored when Christ himselfe suffered Death upon the Cross but that is false also and cannot be for so no man before that moment should have been restored which none will grant Neither are all restored from that time because without doubt even at that moment and afterward the Wrath of God burned hot against some of Christ's Accusers Condemners Crucifiers and Mockers Thus our Divines argued in the Synod and their Arguments were approved by the Synod Now let any man of judgment consider the force of these Arguments and he will plainly see that they do prove that no Man no not the Elect can be admitted into favour with God and be justified before he believe and performe the Condition of the Covenant as well as that all men are not and cannot be so dealt with The Elect themselves before their Conversion are not absolutely and actually in Grace and favour with God they are not in a state of Justification and Salvation because they yet want Faith the Condition of the Covenant upon which Condition those subsequent Blessings of the Covenant are only promised so that by this we may see the Synod hath in effect before-hand judged between us and the Antinomians and hath given Sentence according to Scripture on our side Lastly We find that our Divines in the Synod declared and proved that Perseverance in Holy Faith and Obedience which is the Condition of our obtaining Eternal Salvation is it self promised absolutely without any proper Condition yet not so as always and in all Elect Justified Persons to exclude and prevent a partial temporary Apostacy and Back-sliding Here then are two things held by them 1. That the Perseverance of the Elect after they are once converted and justified though it be a Condition of obtaining Eternal Salvation yet it is promised and given without any other proper Condition Therefore writing on the Fifth Article they reject the erroneous Opinion of the Arminians Ibid. Art V. pag. 157 153. That Perseverance is a Benefit offered equally to all the truly Faithful upon this Condition namely If they shall not be wanting unto sufficient Grace and give their Reasons why they rejected it 1. Say they It is not true that Perseverance is a Gift onely offered but not given For the Scriptures witness that God doth not onely offer unto his the Grace of Perseverance but also that he gives it them and puts it into their Hearts Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me and John 4.14 1 Cor. 10.13 Again It is false say they that Perseverance is a Grace offered upon Condition for it is a Gift promised absolutely by God without any respect to a Condition The Reason is this Some Promises of God are touching the End others touching the Means which conduce to the End The Promises concerning the End that is to say Salvation are conditional Believe and thou shalt be saved Be faithful unto death that is persevere and I will give thee the Crown of Life But forasmuch as no Man is able to perform the Conditions God also hath made most free and absolute Promises to give the very Conditions which he works in us that so by them as by Means we may attain the End Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul that thou maiest live The End here promised is Life which the Israelites could never attain without the performance of the Condition namely their Love of God But here God promiseth absolutely that he will give unto them this very Condition Since therefore the Promises of Faith and Perseverance in Faith are Promises concerning the Means they are wholly to be reckoned among those absolute Gifts by which God considering Mans disability hoth to attain the End without the Means and also to perform or effect the Means or Conditions of himself doth promise that he will make them able to performe the Conditions God promiseth Life to those that constantly fear him The Promise of Life is conditional but of constant Fear is absolute I will put my fear in their hearts that they may not depart from me And lastly Be it so that this Gift were conditional yet it is not offered upon this Condition if Men will not be wanting to themselves in the entertainment and use of sufficient Grace Fâ—â— 1. It will from this Condition follow that we do in vain pray to God in the behalf of any Man that he would give unto them the Gift of Perseverance because of Course he offers them unâ—â—ersal and sufficient Grace to which if they themselves will not be wanting they shall pâ—â—â—â—vere 2. Tâ—is is an idle Condition for it makes Perseverance to be the Condition of â—erseverance For to persevere is nothing else but not to be wanting unto this sufficient Grace If therefore God offers Perseverance upon this Condition he offers the same upon Condition of it self Thus they shewed that Perseverance is absolutely promised and given without any other proper Condition Yet for all this 2. they do not say that Perseverance is so promised and given as to exclude and prevent always a partial temporary Aposâ—acy and Back-sliding For we find that discoursing of Perseverance as it concerns the Elect their Third Position is These very same Persons thus Regenerated Ibid. Art V. pag. 121 122 123 124
the Scripture and considers the form of Words used there by the Holy Writer which plainly sets forth the Justification of the Gentiles as an End and their Conversion from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God as a Means to attain that End Now the Means is always in execution before the End Consequently Conversion is and must be before Justification And if so then there is a real change in the Soul before Justification the Person to be justified is prepared disposed and qualified by converting Grace in order of nature at least before he be Justified And till he be so changed by converting Grace he is not capable of being Justified according to Gods Order of dispensing Saving Grace unto his People This our Authour saw well enough Lett. pag. 16. when he quoted Gal. 2.16 to prove that a Man is to believe that he may be Justified For that plainly shews that Faith is a Means to obtain Justification and all the World knows that the Means is always first in execution as hath been said before the End be thereby obtained Now we demand if a Man must have Faith before he be Justified must there not be a real change in him must he not be changed from being an Vnbeliever to be a Believer and must he not also be initially sanctified Is not true Faith a Holy Vertue and doth it not denominate the subject of it to be so far holy as he is a true Believer Peter saith that sincere Faith is a pretious thing 2 Pet. 1.1 and Jude v. 20. affirms that our Faith is a most holy faith and it is true both of the object of our Faith the things which we believe and of our Faith it self the Habit and Act whereby we do believe both are holy And how can it be but Faith must be holy since it is one of the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 And surely nothing but what is holy can be a Fruit of the Holy Spirit From all which we may confidently conclude that something which is holy is wrought in us and by us before we be Justified for it is wrought in us and by us that we may be Justified Thus we learn from Scripture that by preventing converting Grace there is a real change wrought in the Soul before we be Justified that that change is from falsehood to truth from evil to good and that thereby the Person to be Justiâ—ied of an unholy Vnbeliever becomes an holy Believer and so is a Subject capable of being immediately justified by Christs Righteousness imputed to him upon his Conversion and penitent believing And here we might further demonstrate that there are through Grace some holy Dispositions wrought in the Soul before Justification by all those Scriptures that put Repentance before Remission of Sins but this we have done already when we proved sincere Repentance to be a dispositive Condition of Justification Therefore we pass from this First to our Second Head of Arguments Secondly We prove by Reason agreeable to Scripture that it is an Errour to deny that there is any real change that there can be any holy qualification or Disposition wrought in us by the Grace of God antecedently to our Justification Reason 1. First we reason thus Faith is a Condition of Justification as we have proved at large therefore it may well be a qualification of the Person to be justified and we much wonder that our Authour should boldly deny the possibility of any such qualification For it is less to be a Qualification than to be a Condition If then Faith be a Condition it may much more be a Qualification And that for Faith to be a Qualification is less than to be a Condition is hence evident because Faith as the Gift of God without any Act of ours may be a Qualification but to make it a proper Condition it must be our own free Act receiving Christ and his Righteousness though produced by the strength of God's Special Grace Now it is plainly less for us to be the Subjects only passively receiving the Gift of Faith than to be the Agents freely producing the Act and performing the Condition of Faith Although then our Authour might seem to have some Reason to doubt whether Faith be the proper Condition of the Covenant with respect to Justification yet we cannot imagine why be should deny that it can possibly be a Qualification of the Person to be justified for it is very easily conceivable that it may be such a Qualification as it is a Grace given unto and wrought in the Person to be Justified on purpose that he may be thereby qualified for the great and blessed Priviledge of Justification What impossibility is there in all this That God should constitute and ordain that none thould ever be Justified by Christ's Righteousness but those that are so qualified and that Faith shall be the Qualification And then because no Man can by his natural power qualify himself with this Faith that God for Christs sake should by his Spirit give Saving Faith unto all his Select People and special Favourites and thereby qualiâ—ie them for Justification We can see no Shadow of Repugnancy and Impossibility but that God may do this if he please And when he hath done it when he hath qualified a Man with faith he most certainly hath a Qualification for the Benefit of Justification And this is so far from darkning the Glory of God's free Grace in Christ that on the contrary it greatly sets it forth and illustrates it that God will not only freely promise Justification through Christ unto all that are qualified with true faith but that for Christ's sake he freely gives them that faith and doth himself qualifie them therewith The like we say of Repentance it is a Qualification of God's own ordaining and of God's own giving Nor doth Faith and Repentance their being Conditions hinder their being Qualifications for they may be and are both All that we have hitherto ascribed to Repentance in order to Justification is to be a dispositive Condition of the Subject and that is the same thing with a qualifying Condition and a qualifying Condition is a Qualification We have indeed given more to faith for according to the Scripture we have owned it to be the only receptive applicative Condition of Justification which is more than to be either a meer Qualification or a meer Condition for neither is Qualification nor Condition meerly as Qualification and as Condition receptive and applicative of Christ and his Righteousness unto Justification To be so receptive and applicative is not essential to the general notion of a Condition but to the special notion of such a condition And yet this receptive applicative nature of Faith as such a special condition doth not at all hinder it from being a qualification of the Person to be justified For the same Faith in different respects is capable of different Notions Or if any should doubt of that
that Pelagian Opinion for he was himself Erroneous in the Point of Justification and held that we are justified before God by inherent Holiness and in this very place endeavours to prove against Pelagius that Grace is before Remission of Sin because Sin is a Privation which is no otherwise remitted than by the Habit of Grace its coming in and driving Sin out of the Soul just as Death is expelled or driven away by Life Blindness by Sight Darkness by Light Ignorance by Knowledge Thus he Confuted Pelagius's Error in the Point of Justification And now let all Protestants Judge whether Pelagius was not well Confuted and whether England was not greatly blessed with such a Confuter of Pelagius in the Point of Justification We are Confident our Authour was wholly Ignorant of the Principles of Bradwardin otherwise he would have been wiser than to have quoted him against us in this Controversie But it is his way to talk Confidently of what he doth not understand Yet our God is infinitely Wise and brings Light out of his Darkness for by this we come to understand by the Testimony of Bradwardin who we Hope may be believed in a matter of Fact that it was a piece of Pelagianism to hold that we are justified and our Sins pardoned before there be a real change made in us and Holy Dispositions or Qualifications wrought in our Souls by Christs Holy Spirit And if any Body should Question the Truth of Bradwardins Testimony concerning Pelagius's Opinion about Justification we can prove the same matter of Fact by the Testimony of a better Witness and that is the famous Augustine who was Contemporary with Pelagius and wrote against his Opinions at their first appearance in the World The other Secret which we have to tell our Authour is that it is a Popish Opinion to assert that there is no Gracious Principle infused no Holy Disposition or Qualification wrought in us by Gods Spirit before the Remission of our Sins Of this Opinion was Jacobus Almainus a Doctor of the Sorbon who lived in the 15th Century a little before the Reformation as appears by what he writes in his Book of Morality Lib. Moral Tract de charitate Ista rationalis est vera quia Deus acceptat aliquem ad vitam aeternam dat illi Charitatem non è diverso nam ista est falsa quia dat Charitatem acceptat ad vitam aeternam ergo prius naturâ acceptat ad vitam aeternam quam det Charitatem infusam This way of reasoning is true because God accepts a man unto Eternal Life therefore he gives him Love or infuses into him a Principle of Grace but not on the contrary for this is false that because God gives him Love or infuses into him a Principle of Grace therefore he accepts him unto Eternal Life and therefore God doth first in Order of Nature accept a man unto Eternal Life before he give him infused Charity Thus Almain whereupon we observe that he held Justification taken in the Protestant Sense to be before any real Holy change be made in the Soul by infused Grace in Regeneration and Effectual Calling For 1. By Acceptance unto Eternal Life he meant that we call by the Name of Justification 2. By Gods giving infused Love he meant that which we call Regeneration and Effectual Calling or the Holy change that is thereby begun in the Soul But so it is that he held Acceptance unto Eternal Life to be before the Gift of infused Love or infused Grace which they call by the Name of Love therefore he held Justification to be in Order before Effectual Calling or any Holy Principle put into or change wrought in the Soul thereby And the Popish Bishops of Walemburgh are yet more clearly for this for thus they write Walemb de justificat cap. 11. Num. 9. Remission of Sins taken for the not imputing of them in Order of Nature goes before inherent Justice That is in their way of speaking before the Infusion of any Principle of Grace and Holiness and this they prove by the Worde of the seventh Chapter of the Sixth Session of the Councel of Trent whereunto they adde that Remission of Sins is not the same thing with inherent Justice because that according to Bellarmine Vasquez and many other School Divines our Sins may be absolutely pardoned and remitted by the meer Non-imputation of them without the Infusion of Inward and. Inherent Justice or Holiness and consequently the Remission of Sins or Justification as the Protestants speak and Inward Inherent Justite which according to them is Sanctification begun may be separated and may be given unto us the one without the other These are the very Words truly Translated of Monsieur Le Fevre a Doctor of the Sorbon in a Book written against the Famous Monsieur Arnauld in the Year 1685. The Case was this Monsieur Arnauld in his Renversement de la Morale had laboured hard to prove that such Calvinists as our Author Replique a Monsieur Arnauld pour la Defence du livre des motises invincibles p. 61 62. had so corrupted our Christian Morals by their Errours about Justification that they are the vilest of Hereticks and can never be good Catholicks this was the Judgment of the Ring-leader of the Jansenists whom our Authour commends P. 21. of his Letter that such Protestants as he is are damned Hereticks by Reason of their Errors in the matter of Justification but on the contrary Monsieur Le Fevre undertakes to prove by Invincible Arguments that such Calvinists as our Authour may be good Roman Catholicks notwithstanding all that Monsieur Arnauld hath written to prove them Hereticks for tho' they hold that men may be pardoned and justified before there be any real change made in them or any holy permanent Principle of Grace Disposition or Qualificatien wrought in their Souls by the Holy Spirit yet they may be good Catholicks for all that because Almain and the Bishops of Walemburgh were of the same Opinion concerning Justification and tho' Bellarmine and Vasquez do not think that de facto Justification is after that manner yet they confess it is possible it may be so and the Council of Trent is not against but rather for its being so de facto And these were all good Roman Catholicks Therefore such a Calvinist as eur Author may likewise be a good Roman Catholick for in this matter he agrees with the Doctrine of the Roman Church This to us seems to have been the design of that Learned and Politick Sorbonist to shew that such Opinions about Justification as this is should not hinder a Reconciliation with the Church of Rome since she holds the same Doctrine her self Whether Le Fevre do right to his own Church or not in fastening that Opinion upon her concerns not us to inquire after but we think he has sufficiently proved that it is a Popish Opinion that is an Opinion that hath been long in the
Church or Rome and is in it and held by some of its Bishops at this day And we know the Possibility or impossibility of the thing hath been matter of not disputes amongst their Schoolmen Witness Vasque◠in 1◠2dae Dispur 206 207. Suarez l. 2. degratiâ Cap. 22 23. Becan in Summâ Theolog. partis 2dae part 1. Tract 4. de justificat Cathol Cap. 3. q. 5. § 26. Bezant Duval Meratius if our Authour please to Consult those Popish Schoolmen he may find some Arguments that may be of some use to him and may help him to perswade the People to believe that God may forgive them their Sins before there be any saving change of their Hearts and any Holy Seed or Principle or Grace put into them or any Gracious Disposition or Qualification wrought in them by the Spirit of Christ And the People may if they please go on to drink in that Pelagian Popish and Arminian Doctrine taking it upon our Authors Word to be a part of the pure Christian Religion and of the Doctrine of Justification by free Grace without good Works and Holy Qualifications or any thing that looks like them But for our parts we declare that we are for the Doctrine of the Synod of Dort in the Point of a real Holy Change and Holy Qualifications before Justification and cannot but prefer it before that Pelagian Opinion which some People are so fond of and they must not expect that ever we will humour them in that matter unless our Authour will solidly answen our Arguments and give us better Arguments for his Opinion than we have here given for ours As for what he saith to that purpose in his Letter we can therein find nothing of any weight as r. in Page 9. We say not quoth he that there is an actual partaking of Christs fulness of Grace till we be in him by Faith though this Faith is also given us on Christs behalf Phil. 1.29 And we believe through Grace Acts 18.27 Thus he Argues to prove that all the Grace we receive from Christ comes from our being united to him by Faith and so that we cannot actually partake of the Grace of Christ before our Union with Christ by Faith Now if this be so we demand of him concerning this being in Christ by Faith or which is the same thing this union with Christ by Faith either it is effected by the Grace of Christ or without the Grace of Christ by the meer Power of Nature Not the Second to wit without the Grace of Christ by the meer Power of Nature For 1. That is rank Pelagianism or Semipelagianism at least 2. It is contrary to what he says in the same place that the Faith by which we come to be in Christ is given us on Christs behalf and that we believe through Grace The First then is that which he doth and must choose to say to wit that our Union with Christ by Faith is effected by the Grace of Christ And then it is self-evident that that Grace of Christ which Effects Faith in us and the Union with Christ by Faith is before Faith and the Union by Faith because the Cause always is and must be in Order of Nature before the Effect And further if the Grace of Christ by which we believe first in him and are united to him be before that Faith and Union by Faith then we receive that Grace from Christ before we be in Christ by Faith and we receive it to this end that our faculties may be fitted and prepared yea and powerfully helped actually to believe and by believing to be actually united unto Christ thus our Author is caught in a Net of his own making he blows hot and cold out of the same Mouth and contradicts himself most foully in saying that we do not actually partake of Christs fulness till we be in him by Faith and yet that we have that Faith and Union by Faith from the Grace of Christ as the cause thereof for certainly that Grace is a part of Christs fulness and if he give it us and we receive it from him for the producing of Faith and Union with him by Faith then we actually partake of his fulness before we be in him by Faith That People therefore may no more be puzzled with such self-confounding and contradictious Stuff we desire them to consider 1. That all our Supernatural Grace is from Christ by his Spirit this we are all agreed in 2. That yet all Supernatural Grace is not from Christ after the same Way and Manner for there is some Grace from Christ before Union and in Order to Union and some Grace is from Christ united from Christ now in actual Union with our Souls by Faith of the first sort is the first preventing Grace the Grace by which we are Effectually Called the Grace by which we are disposed and prepared to believe and by which we do actually believe and by so believing answer the Call receive Christ into our Hearts and come to be actually united unto him This Grace being the cause of Faith and of the Union by Faith is before Union with Christ and so cannot possibly be from Christ considered as united to us by Faith Though then all our Grace be from Christ yet it is notoriously false that it is all from him as ours already by Faith for preventing Grace which is before Faith is not drawn from Christ by Faith as also Faith it self we mean the first Principle and first Act of Faith is not drawn from Christ as already ours by Faith for then Faith would be both before and after it self which is contradictious non-sense and impossible Of the Second sort is all subsequent Grace the Grace of Justification of Progressive Sanctification and Perseverance yea all that Grace whereby Gods Select People being once called according to his Purpose are fitted for and brought unto Glory is from Christ united from Christ in actual Union with our Souls by Faith Augustin writing against the Pelagians above 12 hundred years ago Angust Epist 105. hath cleared up this matter in few Words writing thus to Sixtus Ita sine Spiritu sidei non est rectê quispiam crediturus nec sine spiritu orationis salubriter oraturus non quia tot sint spiritus sed omnia haec operatur unus atque idem spiritus dividens propria unicuique prout vult quia Spiritus ubi vult spirat sed quod fatendum est aliter adjuvat nondum inhabitans aliter inhabitans nam nondum inhabitans adjuvat ut sint fideles inhabitans adjuvat jam fideles That is So without the Spirit of Faith no man will ever believe aright nor without the Spirit of Prayer will any man ever pray in a saving manner not that there are so many Spirits but one and the same Spirit doth all these things dividing unto every man that which is proper to him as he will for the Spirit breaths where he will
by the Power of the Word and Spirit of Christ they are Works done by a certain Inferior kind of supernatural Grace of Christ and Inspiration of the Spirit of Christ which is sufficient to elevate and raise the Faculties of a Sinner something above its natural Capacity to the producing of such Actions which though they be not savingly good and so not pleasing to God unto Justification and Salvation yet they are materially good and Relatively good too in Order to the use and end for which God has ordained them that is they are Dispositively good they have from God so much goodness as makes them fit to be a Material Disposition of the Sinner to receive from God that which is in a higher Order of goodness even that which is savingly good and in this respect being good they are so far pleasing to God as they are dispositive unto Regeneration and Conversion Hence it is written Mark 10.21 That Jesus beholding an unconverted man loved him the Man was certainly as yet in an unregenerated unconverted State as appears by the 22 verse and by the following Discourse of our Saviour yet he was something solicitous about his Salvation and had some small weak Disposition towards Conversion which our Saviour observed in him and was pleased with it and loved him under that Consideration as something inclined and disposed towards Conversion now our Saviour as Man and as Mediator was never pleased with any thing but as it was pleasing to God and never loved any Man further than God loved him 3. The Article doth not deny but that the foresaid Works or Actions of unregenerate Men done by the Grace of Christ and Inspiration of his Spirit are by the Ordination and free Constitution of God Preparatory and Dispositive unto the Reception of special saving Grace in Regeneration and Conversion But if it intends them at all it denies that of their own Nature they are meritoriously Dispositive either unto the Grace of Regeneration or Justification for the clearing of this it is to be well considered that before the Reformation there were several numerous Sects of Schoolmen in the Roman Church whereof one to wit the Scotists held that a Sinner by doing what he can as far as his natural Strength will go without any Supernatural Grace from Christ may Merit the first Supernatural Grace with a Merit of Congruity and this same Doctrine was taught at Rome even after the Reformation and Council of Trent and published by Nider in a Book intituled Consolatorium timoratae Conscientiae Printed at Rome in the Year 1604. as is to be seen in the 9. Chap. of the 2d part pag. 57. where he maintains that Facienti quod in se est solis naturae viribus Deus daâ— gratiam infallibiliter necessario That unto a Man who doth what he can by the alone Power of Nature God gives Grace infallibly and necessarily â—vâ—n as necessarily as the Sun gives Light to all that open their Eyes to receive it But others of the Schoolmen rejected this Opinion of the Scotists as a Semipelagian Error yet even they held that God having freely given to an unconverted Sinner the first supernatural preventing Grace he may thereby so Convert and Turn himself to God as to Merit of Congruity the Grace of the first Justification that is the Infusion of the Habit of justifying or sanctifying Grace Now the 13th Article of the Church of England was levelled against both these Opinions of the Papists especially and expresly against the 1st Works done by the alone Power of Nature cannot make Men meet to receive Grace or they cannot deserve Grace of Congruity because they are done before and without any Grace of Christ and Inspiration of his Spirit and so are not pleasing to God and what is not pleasing to him cannot possibly Merit the Grace of Regeneration or Justification at his Hand 2. Neither the Works done without any Grace of Christ nor the Works done by the help of Christs preventing common Grace before Regeneration make Men meet to receive or of Congruity deserve the Grace of Justification because they do not Spring out of Faith in Jesus Christ but are both of them before it and therefore are not pleasing to God unto Justification and Salvation yet that nothing hinders but the Works which are done by the preventing Grace of Christ before Conversion may by Gods free Ordination be Preparatory and Materially Dispositive unto Conversion and Faith in Christ 4. We willingly grant what the Article saith That Works done before Regeneration and Conversion have the Nature of Sin because they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done that is they are not so circumstantiated as God requires good Works to be Yet it doth not follow that such of them as are done by the help of preventing Grace are Sin and nothing but Sin as our Author would make People believe for it is one thing for a Work to have the Nature of Sin cleaving to it and it is another thing to be Sin and nothing but Sin the Works of which we now speak certainly have the Nature of Sin cleaving to them as they proceed from an unregenerate Man whose Heart is not yet renewed and who is not endued with a saving Faith and as they are not directed by him to the Glory of God as the best and highest end and yet it is so far from being true that they are Sin in the abstrect and nothing but Sin that on the contrary they are Materially and Substantially good as they are commanded by God and as they proceed from the preventing exciting Grace of Christs Spirit causing a Man to do them in Obedience to Gods command and likewise they are Relatively and Dispositively good as they are ordered by God to be a means of preparing and disposing Man for the saving Grace of Regeneration and Conversion Hence Dr. Owen in the Book aforesaid Pag. 196. saith That they are good in themselves and Fruits of the kindness of God towards us And Pag. 198. He saith That in their own Nature they have a tendency unto sincere Conversion And Pag. 167. He saith that the Spirit of Grace ordinarily giveth not out his Aids and Assistances any where but where he preparen the Soul with Diligence in Duty Thus Dr. Owen whereby it manifestly appears that he was far from thinking that all a Man can do before he have the Spirit of God dwelling in him and in Order to a Holy change first in his Heart and then in his Life is both vain labour and an Acting of Sin And as far was Dr. Twiss from any such thought for thus he writes in the Book mentioned before Answer to the Doctrine of the Synod of Dort and Arles reduced to Practice p. 106. There is a legal Repentance and there is an Evangelical Repentance And that legal Repentance may be unto Desperation as Judas his Repentance was Again that legal Repentance may be a
Fruit of the Spirit of Bondage which prepares for the hearing of the Gospel and for the receiving of the Spirit of Adoption by the Gospel then in the Preaching the Gospel the tender Mercies of God displayed unto us and how ready be is to Pardon Sin in general and that of Free Grace may better our Repentance and when we are thus by Degrees brought to the Spirit of Adoption to cry Abba Father then our Repentance shall be most perfect as before I said And when we look upon him whom we have pierced and can in Assurance of Faith say with the Apostle I live by Faith in him who loved me and gave himself for me this is of Power to prick a Master vein and make us bleed out Repentance in the sight of our Gracious God whom we have offended and who yet in despite of our Sins hath loved us more Devoutly and Affectionately than ever before Yet is it true as he the Arminian saith That Repentance is nothing worth without Faith what thinks he of Ahabs Repentance when he put on Sackcloath and wallowed in Ashes upon the Word of Judgment against his House brought unto him by the Prophet Eliah Do we not know what the Lord said hereupon unto Eliah Seest thou how Ahab is humbled before me because he submitteth himself before me I will not bring that evil in his days The uttermost of the Ninivites Faith was but this that we read of who can tell if God will turn and Repent and turn from his fierce Wrath that we perish not Yet their Repentance was such that when God saw their works that they turned from their Evil Ways he repented of the Evil which he said that he would do unto them and he did it not Jon. 3.9 Thus Dr. Twiss whereby it is evident that he was far from thinking that all which a man can do before he have the Spirit of God dwelling in him and that he may get a Holy Heart and a saving Faith and so be fitted to lead a Holy Life is nothing but vain labour and an Acting of Sin Object 2. Secondly Our Author Objects the seventh Article of the 16. Chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith And our Answer is That that Article of the Confession of Faith is the same in effect with the 13th Article of the Church of England and therefore is to be taken in the same Sence to wit That the Works of unregenerate men done before and without any Grace of Christs Spirit though they may be materially good yet they are formally so sinful that they do not make a Man meet to receive any Grace from God either the Grace of Regeneration or Justification and as for the Works of unregenerate Men which are done by the help of supernatural preventing common Grace though they be better than the former which are done by the alone Strength of Nature yet they are sinful too they are so defiled with Sin as they proceed from an unregenerate Man that they cannot please God so far as to make a Man meet to receive the Grace of Justification from God nor do they make a Man meet to receive the Grace of Regeneration from God by way of Reward due to them as Congruously Meritorious thereof Yet in another sound sence they may make a Man meet to receive the Grace of Regeneration and Conversion from God to wit as they are wrought in Men by the Spirit and according to the Word and are ordained by God to be means of removing such things as hinder Conversion and of the helping men forward in the way unto and of fitting and preparing them for Conversion as a Gracious Gift which ordinarily God freely gives to those who are so prepared by the Word and Spirit of Christ In this sound sence though not in the Popish or Semipelagian sense the foresaid works do indeed make men meet to receive Grace from God and the Article of the Confession of Faith saith nothing to the contrary Yea it is plainly against that absired opinion that all that an Unregenerate man can do by any means in order to the getting of his heart savingly changed and initially sanctified by the special effectual Grace of the Regenerating Spirit of Christ is vain labour and an acting of Sin we say that the foresaid Article of the Confession of Faith is plainly against that absurd opinion for it says expresly That works of Unregerate men are things which God Commands and are of good use both to themselves and others and one of the best uses they can possibly be of unto themselves is to dispose and prepare them for Regeneration and Conversion and to make them if not meet yet at least less unmeet to receive special saving Grace from God through Jesus Christ And thus according to the Confession of Faith and our principle agreeable thereunto we can give encouragement to unregenerate men to attend upon God in the diligent use of means for obtaining the free and effectual Grace of the Regenerating Spirit and so Conversion thereby but our Author seems to tell Unregenerate men that all they can do before they be Regenerated and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them which is got only by Faith in Christ and therefore is in order of nature after Faith in Christ altho they do it with a desire that they may be Regenerated and may obtain a precious holy Faith in Christ and thereby the Holy Spirit of Christ it is all vain labour and an acting of sin Now is not this great encouragement for men to wait upon God in the use of his appointed means for the obtaining of converting Grace and a new holy heart to tell them that all they can do in order to that end is vain labour and acting of sin We hope such men will not believe our Author but if they do there is nothing can be expected from them but that â—hev should cast off all use of means and give over all reading hearing and praying for why should they trouble themselves with such Religious Exercises since all is an acting of sin and lost labour too Yet if our Author should intend to set up for a Quietist the foresaid Doctrine may be of good use to bring in Disciples to him for he can tell them holdly as his manner is that if they will become Quietists he will shew them an infallible way wherein they shall neither act sin nor yet lose their labour for if they will become right Quietists they shall neither act nor labour but wholly rest from action and labour and shall not act sin nor lose their labour because they shall not act nor labour at all but wholly rest from action and labour and whilest they are in a state of perfect rest without any kind of action or labour at all Then the Spirit of God shall fall upon them and Regenerate and Convert them 3d. Objection Thirdly He Objects the Testimony of Calvin who in his Institutions writes thus
the sincere love the holy intention and kind will of those worshippers of Demons And this seems agreeable to reason that it should be so for it is not likely that the most just and merciful God doth require more of a man than he hath received and more than is in a mans power yea it is rather probable that God accepts of what a man is able do if it be offered with a due Intention Thus the profound Doctor and by this let all Calvinists judge and let the Conscience of our Author judge how well that Doctor hath confuted the Pelagians and how greatly England is blessed with such a Confuter One touch more and we have done with him In the 26th Chapter of his first Book of the Cause of God against Pelagius he maintains with all his might that nothing is evil of it self but by Accident no not the wickedest thing that a Man doth or can do and therefore that the most horrid wickedness a Man can commit in other circumstances may cease to be Evil and be no Sin to him that commits it To prove this he makes several Suppositions As 1. in Pag. 256. He puts this Case which he says is possible That a simple Man without any foregoing fault of his is so deluded by the Devil whom he calls Behemoth the most cunning of all Sophisters that he is made to believe that unless he blaspheme or hate God he shall necessarily and unavoidably commit more Sin than that blasphemy or hatred of Gods amounts unto Now says our profound Doctor in this Case Iste simplex secundum judicium rectissmae rationis tenetur blasphemare Deum vel odire ne alias incidat in majus peccatum quoniam secundum communem animi conceptionem de duchus malis minus malum est eligendum cujus causa est quia in bonis est è contrario scilicet quod majus est magis eligendum That simple Man according to the Judgment of the most right Reason is bound to blaspheme God or to hate him lest otherwise as Satan tells him he fall into a greater Sin for according to the common Notion of Mans Mind of two Evils the least is to be chosen the Reason whereof is this that on the contrary of things that are good the greatest is to be chosen From these Premises he concludes that to blaspheme or hate God is not of it self necessarily and unalterably evil and sinful because there may happen a Case wherein a simple Man deluded by the Devil is bound to blaspheme or hate God and that according to the Judgment of Reason of Right Reason yea of the most Right Reason and that is of the best Reason in the World 2. In the same Page he puts another like Case which he saith Is possible also without any foregoing fault of the Person concerned Suppose a simple Man swears to be entirely obedient to his Prelate or Superior in all things then that Prelate or the Devil transformed into him commands the simple Man to hate or blaspheme God The Poor Man is certainly caught in a snare but how shall he get out why according to Bradwardin It is possible for him to get out safe by blaspheming or hating God in Obedience to his Superiour and out of Conscience of his Oath for that is the least Evil of the two and so comparatively is no Evil at all because to blaspheme or hate God is but one Sin and that against God only multumque excusatum per praeceptum Praelati and it is much excused by the command of his Superiour whereas he believes that in this Case not to obey is a greater Sin because 1. It is against his Superiour 2. It is also against God whose Vicegerent his Superiour is 3. It is a Violation and breach of his Oath and Vow This is another of his Demonstrations that blasphemy and hatred of God is not of it self and unalterably Evil because here is a possible Case wherein it ceases to be Evil and an Honest Man outwitted by a Knave may do it without Sin In the next Page he hath other Arguments of the like Nature to prove the same Position but we are unwilling to have any thing more to do with him for he next supposes Satan to be transformed into Christ himself and in that likeness to act his part so dexterously and effectually as to discharge a Man from his Duty to God and oblige him in Conscience to commit the foresaid Wickedness for a time for fear of being necessitated to do it for ever and to all Eternity Now upon the whole we refer it to all Men of common sense who have any true fear of God and love to Christ and pure Christianity to judge whether this be blest or cursed Doctrine and whether England be beholding to that Man who commends such Books to young Ministers But though we think the Nation and young Ministers in it are little beholding to him on that account yet we hope better things of him than that he will ever become a Prosylite to the Popish Religion or that for the sake of Bradwardin he will ever embrace the foresaid Doctrines which many Papists themselves abhor It may be he will say that this Bradwardin was an English Man that lived long since and he did not ken him well but if he had ken'd him or his Book either he would never have so commended him And if he be ingenuous to say so we readlly admit the excuse for we believe it to be very true and find that in more things than that one he writes of what he doth not understand and that too with an Air of Confidence that deserves a rebuke And withall we advise him for the future to forbear talking of old Authors and commending their Books to Ministers for he seems not to be much acquainted with that kind of Learning As he writes in his Letter Pag. 2. That a great many Young Students have contented themselves with studying English Authors so we think it had not been ill for him if he had contented himself with studying such Scots Authors and English too as never trod in the By-paths of Bradwardin Saltmarsh or Crisp We have mentioned some of that sort already to whom we will now adde a few more and first we commend to our Authors Consideration a Passage or two of a Reverend Learned and Modest Scots Divine whom he should Ken better than the old Englishman Bradwardin It is Mr. Dickson once Professour of Divinity in the Colledge of Edinburgh who in his Therapeutica Sacra writes thus Dicksons Therapeutica Sacra Book 1. Chap. 6. pag. 92. Together with these external Means mentioned before serving for drawing on the Covenant and going on in it the common Operations of God do concur common to all the called both Elect and Reprobate and Gifts common to both are bestowed such as Illumination Moral Perswasion Historical Dogmatical and Temporary Faith Moral Change of Affections and some sort of
external Amendment of their outward Conversation saving Grace being the special Gift of God to his own c. And pag. 95. The Lord makes use of this outward and common Covenanting with all Receivers of the offer as a mean to draw the Confederate in the Letter to be Confederate in the Spirit for the Faith which he requires as the Condition of the Covenant he worketh in the Elect if not before or with the external Covenanting yet undoubted after in a time acceptable and that by the ordinary means the use whereof is granted to all Confederate externally and so as common Illumination is a mean to that Special Spiritual and saving Illumination and Dogmatical and Historical Faith is a mean unto Saving Faith and external Calling is a mean to Effectual Calling so external Covenanting in the Letter is a mean most fit and accommodate to make a Man a Covenanter in the Spirit Here are Preparations and Dispositions before either Regeneration or Justification plainly asserted by Dickson then pag. 99. he enters upon a large Discourse concerning the Condition of the Covenant and he says That in receiving of grown Persons into Covenant There are three Conditions to be observed and distinguished one from another 1. The Condition of the Person desiring to be in Covenant with God for Reconciliation and Grace through Christ 2. The Condition upon which he is entered into Covenant 3. The Condition required of him for evidencing of his sincere Covenanting And Pag. 100. He says all these three are expressed by Christ in Matth. 11.28 29. First They that labour and are heavy laden are they whom Christ calleth unto a Covenant and fellowship of his Grace this that he calls the Condition of the Person is the same thing with that which we call the Disposition or Qualification of the Person Secondly He propounds the Condition of the Covenant to wit that they believe in Christ or come unto him that in him they may find full relief from Sin and Misery and in him full Righteousness and Felicity Thirdly He requires of them who do embrace him by Faith and so have accepted the Condition of the Covenant that they give evidence of their Faith in him by taking his Yoke upon them Take my Yoke upon you saith he Mr. Dickson calls this The third Condition and says a little before that it is the Covenanters up giving of himself to Christs Government and Obedience of his Commands This brings to our remembrance a Passage in the Catechism published by the Calvinists of Marpurgh in the Year 1606. Fidem sufficere ad apprehendendam salutem non autem ad cam conservandam sed amplius requiri vitae emendationem That Faith is sufficient for the first apprehending or receiving of Salvation but not for the conserving or continuing of it but there is moreover required Amendment of Life It reminds us also of what we read in the fourth Tome of Monsieur Claudes Posthumous Work in the very entrance of his Treatise of Justification Pag. 75. That there are Dispositions previous unto Justification and that there are Conditions which God necessarily supposes in Man and which ought to be found actually in him And then that there are Conditions which God imposes upon a Man when he justifies him to the end that he may observe them for the time to come In like manner he distinguishes in his Historical Defence of the Reformation Part 2. Chap. 6. pag. 218. of the English Translation Between the Condition supposed to Justification which is Faith and Repentance and the Condition imposed upon us by the Lord when he justifies us which is that for the time to come we live Holily according to the Laws which he has given us But this on the by from Dickson we pass to the Learned Charnock he saith That besides the Passive Capacity that is Charnock Vol. 2. p. 148. the Rational Faculties there are more immediate Preparations The Soul must be beaten down by Convictions before it be raised up by Regeneration there must be some apprehensions of the Necessity of it Yet sometimes the Work of Regeneration follows so close upon the heels of these Preparations that both must be acknowledged to be the work of one and the same hand The Preparation of the Subject is necessary but this Preparation may be at the same time with the conveyance of the Divine Nature And afterwards for several Pages he saith no more than what we have said That there is not any absolute causal Connection between such Preparations Ibid. p. 148.149 c. and Regeneration nor any Connection that is meritorious Yet all along he asserts Preparations From Charnock we pass to Flavel Flavels Method of Grace from pag. 347 to pag. 402. who spends two whole Sermons to prove That there is no coming ordinarily to Christ without the Application of the Law to our Consciences in a way of effectual Conviction This our Author will grant as we perceive by his Letter But Mr. Flavel spends two Sermons more to prove That this cannot be without the teachings of God in the way of Spiritual Illumination From Flavel we pass to Firmin Firm. Real Christ. p. 6 7 8 c. who shews at large That man naturally is not a subject fit or disposed to receive Christ immediately when offered to him but before he will receive him there must be some work of the Spirit upon him to prepare him make him willing and glad to receive him And if this were not so but as our Author would have it it would follow unavoidably that Mr. Hooker and Mr. Shepherd in their Books about the Souls Preparation for Christ and the several steps of it viz. Conviction Compunction Humiliation c. wrote very great impertinencies and which is worse did a great deal of hurt to the Souls of men For our parts since we are said to be Middle-way-men we think that to answer that Character that is given of us we ought to avoid all extremes as well in this as in other matters and therefore we say that no more of the foresaid Preparatory Dispositions is simply and absolutely necessary than what makes the Soul 1. See its absolute need of Christ and its being utterly lost and undone without him 2. What makes it see and believe that there is abundant help and relief for lost Sinners in Christ that he is an Alsufficient Saviour and the only Alsufficient Saviour able and willing to save to the uttermost all that come unto him and unto God by him in the way prescribed in the Gospel 3. What makes them thereupon desirous to have him and in some sort willing to receive him in all his Offices as he is offered desirous to have him and willing to receive him and his Benefits with him upon his own Terms the Terms held forth in the Gospel Of them who by the preventing Grace of the Holy Spirit are thus disposed there is no more required to be done by them in a
34. It is said They understood none of these things And this saying was hid from them neither knew they the things which were spoken If Christs own Apostles remained ignorant of those great Truths concerning himself which he had newly told them with as great plainness as human Speech is capable of we may well suppose that Christs Enemies at least many of them understood nothing at all of the things that were reported concerning Jesus his being the Christ and Saviour of the World and concerning believing on him as such 4. He may reply That suppose it were true which can never be proved That all Christs Enemies knew the common report concerning Faith in him so as some way to understand the notion of Faith Yet that is wholly impertinent for there is a wrong way of understanding a thing as well as a right way so that they might some way understand it and yet that some way might be the wrong way Now what is that to the purpose when one asks you this Question What is it to believe on Jesus Christ To tell him that all Men do some way understand what it is for some to wit Christs Friends understand it the right way and others to wit his Enemies understand it the wrong way If our Author should say that he meant not so that all men did understand it some way that is either the right or the wrong way he would make himself yet more ridiculous For the Unbeliever would in all probability desire him to name and shew any one way of understanding a thing which is neither the right way nor the wrong way of understanding it And all men of sense would laugh at him if he should in earnest go about to convince an Unbeliever that there is a way of understanding what Faith is which is neither the right way nor the wrong way If lastly our Author should tell the Unbeliever That in saying all men did some way understand what Faith in Christ is his meaning is that all men understood it the right way The Unbeliever would reply upon him that if that was his meaning then his meaning must needs be false because he himself in the 20th Page of his Letter affirmeth that All the ignorant people amongst Christians and amongst Christians too of the Reformed Churches in England have no knowledg of Faith in Christ except by Faith you understand a dream of being saved by Jesus Christ though they know nothing of him or of his way of saving Men nor of the way of being saved by him Now if all the Ignorant People amongst us know nothing of Faith in Christ in the right way unless the dreaming way be the right way how can our Author prove that all the Unbelievers amongst the Jews and Heathens amongst whom Christ and his Apostles preached whereof many were grosly ignorant did understand aright what Faith in Christ is Do our ignorant people know nothing of Christ nor of his way of saving men and did not the ignorant Jews and Heathens know as little Especially if it be considered that the notion which the Unbelieving Jews in general had of the Messias was that he should be a great and glorious Temporal Prince and Earthly King who by the material Sword should Conquer and Destroy the Romans and all their other visible Enemies on Earth and should save their Nation with a Temporal Salvation But as for Spiritual and Eternal Salvation in another World many of them to wit the whole Sect of the Sadducees looked upon it as a Dream of Fancyful men but for their parts they expected no such thing either from the Messias or from God himself Acts 23.8 No man in his right senses who considers these things can deliberately and seriously think that all the Unbelieving Jews who heard the common report concerning Jesus of Nazareth had any righter and better understanding concerning Faith in him and Salvation by him than the generality of ignorant People amongst us have Christ and his Apostles have put this matter past all doubt and controversie with all that do themselves truly believe in Christ For thus Christ prayed for many of them Luke 23.34 Father forgive them for they know not what they do Peter also confesseth to themselves that it was through ignorance that they Crncified Christ Acts 3.17 And Paul writing to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 2.7 8. saith That had they known the hidden Wisdom of God in a mistery they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory Whence it is evident that either they had no notion of Faith in Christ and of Salvation by him or if they had any at all it was a wrong and false notion And to tell a Man who asks us what it is to believe in Jesus Christ That even the Enemies of Christ some way understood what it is because they had some wrong and false notion of it is both impertinent and ridiculous and is such an answer as is more apt to make an Unbeliever laugh at Christs Ministers and harden and confirm him in his Unbelief than to move him unto seriousness and to perswade him to believe So much for the Unbelievers first pertinent Question and our Authors impertinent Answer to it We pass on to the other questions and answers as he hath set them down in the 16 and 17th pages of his Letter Quest 2. Unbeliever What is a Man to believe to wit at first Ministers Answer He is not called to believe that he is in Chaist and that his sins are pardoned and he a justified man but he is to believe Gods Record concerning Christ 1 John 5.10 11 12. And this Record is that God giveth that is offereth to us eternal life in his Son Jesus Christ and that all who with the heart believe this Report and rest their Souls on these glad tidings shall be saved Rom. 10.9 10 11. And thus he is to believe that he may be justified Gal. 2.16 This Answer is in it self true and good but in and from the mouth of our Author it hath no force at all to satisfie the Conscience of an Unbeliever who seriously seeks Information and Satisfaction as to what he is at first to believe because if he attentively read and consider our Authors Letter he will see cause to doubt whether in this matter he really believes himself Because in his Appendix pag. 35. He most highly commends and approves Mr. Marshals late Book and in the 7th page of his Letter he saith expesly that Mr. Walter Marshal in his Excellent Book lately published hath largely opened this matter and the true controverfie of this day Now it is true Mr. Marshal throughout his 10th Direction from page 168 to page 193 insists much upon the opening of this matter but he doth it so that quite contrary to the answer which our Author hath now given to the Unbelievers Question he maintians That assurance that Christ is ours that our sins are now forgiven and we are now justified Men is
Divines But cui bono to what good end and purpose did it serve to tell simple injudicious people that there are so many differences amongst Protestant Divines about Justification Whatever our Author may think of it others cannot but judge that this course tends rather to confound distract and unsettle injudicious people than to edify and stablish them in the Faith For it is not probable that there are many so very injudicious as to believe that he can lay the Spirits again which he hath raised we mean that he can infalliblydecide the Controversies which he hath brought upon the Stage before the People and so quiet the minds of those whom he hath perplexed and discomposed To us he seems not altogether so well qualified for deciding of Controversies and quieting peoples minds as for throwing dirt on his Brethren and calumniating them to the People as if they differed not from the Papists in holding Christs Righteousness to be the meritorious cause of Justification which if it be not a lye we are sure it is a swinging falsehood and a very great mistake Third Calumny HIS Third Calumny is to be seen in the 8th and 9th Pages of the Letter and it is That we deny the Headship of Christ and not only deny his Suretiship his being the Second Adam and a publick Person but also treat these things with contempt All which is utterly false and on the contrary we declare that with all our hearts we own Christs Headship and Suretiship his being the Second Adam and a Publick Person For his Headship we believe according to the Seventh Canon of the Synod of Dort on the first head of Doctrine concerning Divine Predestination Tâ—at Deus Christum ab reterno Mediatorem omnium Electorum caput salutisque fundamentum constituit God from eternity ordained Christ to be the Mediator and Head of all the Elect and the foundation of Salvation We believe also according to the Suffrage of our Brittain Divines read in and approved by the same Synod That Christ is the head and foundation of the Elect so that all saving Graces prepared in the Decree of Election are bestowed upon the Elect only for Christ and through Christ English Translation of the Suffrage p. 5 6. This was their Position upon which they say That God in the eternal Election of particular Men by one and the self same Act doth both assign Christ to be a head to them and also doth appoint them according to his good pleasure to be the Members of Christ to wit in time when they believed For his Suretiship doth this man think that he can make the simple People believe that we are so impious as to deny it and treat it with contempt when as the Apostle saith expresly that Jesus was made a Surety of a better Testament Heb. 7.22 But it may be our Author means that some of us deny the Aminomian notion of a Surety and treat their notion with contempt and indeed that may be but what then Doth it follow that therefore we deny Christs real and true Suretiship which God hath revealed in his Word for our Faith and Comfort Before that consequence be admitted our Author must prove that the Antinomian notion is the real true Scripture-notion of Christs Suretiship which we do indeed deny and contemn as a very false unscriptural notion and challenge him to prove it by Scripture As for Christs being the Second Adam it is an abominable falshood that we deny it or treat it with contempt so far are we from so doing that on the contrary we do most firmly believe it and openly confess that as the First Adam was the cause of Sin and Death unto all who in the ordinary way of human Generation partake of the natural Bitth so Christ as the Second Adam is the cause of Righteousness and Life unto all who by Divine Regeneration partake of the Spiritual Birth But as no man suffers any actual prejudice by the first Adam before he be naturally begotten and generated so no man actually receives in himself any saving benefit from Christ as the Second Adam before he be Spiritually begotten and regenerated our meaning is that no man actually receives from Christ before the time of his Spiritual Regeneration any benefit that hath a necessary and infallible connexion with Salvation by the Constitution and Ordination of God Lastly That we deny and contemn Christs being a Publick Person is false So far are we from that That on the contrary we sincerely declare to all the World that we most firmly and stedfastly believe that Christ is a Publick Person that he is the publick Prophet Priest and King of the whole Catholick Church and that it is his proper incommunicable Glory to be such a publick Person Fourth Calumny HIS Fourth Calumny is that we teach such Doctrine in the point of Justification as neither we our selves nor any other sensible man dare stand to at Death This is to be seen in the 18th and 19th pages of his Letter If this were true we confess it might justly prejudice People against our Doctrine and give them and our selves too cause enough to suspect it to be false But this is like the rest utterly false and contrary to Experience For our Doctrine is as we have said often that Christs most perfect satisfactory Meritorious Righteousness is to us and all that are saved instead of that perfect sinless Righteousness which we ought to have had in our selves but since the fall neither have nor can have and that by and for the said Righteousness of Christ alone we are justified from the guilt of all our sins of Omission and Commission Original and Actual and are accepted as Righteous before God and receive a Right and Title to Eternal Life This is the only Righteousness which we crust to as the cause of our Justification this Righteousness we hold to be given unto us if through Grace we sincerely believe in Christ and repent of our sins and that on the account of this Righteousness we shall obtain eternal Life and Salvation if through Grace we persevere to the end in Faith and Repentance and in leading a holy Life as was before explained But on the contrary we maintain that the forsaid Righteousness of Christ is not given to any for their actual Justification before they first through Grace sincerely believe and repent and that none shall obtain eternal Life and Salvation on the account of Christs Righteousness but those who after they have first believed and repented do not Apostatize either totally or finally but in opposition to such Apostacy persevere in Faith repentance and holy Gospel-obedience unto Death This is the summ and substance of our whole Doctrine in the point of Justification Now why we or any sincere Christan should be afraid to stand to this Doctrine at the hour of death and in the day of Judgment it is above our Capacity to understand for this is the Doctrine which
a certain order and also that he doth orderly dispense them unto his People according to his Promiseâ— But we utterly deny that God's Order of Grace doth hinder one thing in that order from being the condition of another and on the contrary we affirm that it rather makes one thing to be the condition of another And that for this Renson because the Order of Grace which the Brethren speak of either 1. It is an Order in the Promise of Justification and Pardon of which alone our Question now is to wit in the promise if you sinceroly believe with a Faith working by love you shall be justified and pardoned through Christ Or 2. It is an order out of the promise but in God's will with respect to the promise If the first that is if it be an order of Gracâ— in the promise then it is plainly a Conditional order of Grace for the promise is conditional as we have proved and the gracious order of it is this That whoever performs the Condition of it that is believes sincerely with a Faith working by Love shall have the blessing and benefit of it shall be justified and pardoned Thus the order of Grace in the Conditional Promise being plainly a Conditional order we are but just where we were for the order of Grace in the promise being but conditional it doth not help us one jot to avoid the conditionality of the Promise and Covenant 2. But if they choose to say that it is the second to wit that it is an order of Grace out of the promise but in God's will with respect to the promise and so it is an absolute order of God's will that if People sincerely believe they shall be justified and pardoned We heartily grant that it is so there is such a gracious Order or Ordination in and of God's Will and it is plainly revealed also in his Written Gospel But what then This really makes against our Brethren and for us And that because this absolute order of Grace in God's will concerning the Promise is so far from overthrowing that on the contrary it most strongly establisheth and confirmeth the conditionality of the Promise For is not this a good strong unavoidable consequence God of his free grace hath absolutely ordained that Faith shall be a condition of the Covenant and that this shall be a true conditional Gospel-promise If People sincerely believe in Christ they shall be justified and pardoned Therefore it is a true conditional Gospel-promise and cannot be otherwise All this is to us very certain and evident and therefore must conclude that we have proved by reason agreeable to Scripture that the Covenant of Grace is conditional as aforesaid And without going upon this Ground and Principle we do not conceive how Ministers can preach the Gospel honestly and faithfully to all sorts of Men they meet with as by our Commission we are obliged to do Mark 16.15 16. Rom. 10.8 9. Reason 2. The Covenant promise of Eternal Life and Glory is Conditional therefore the Covenant of Grace is Conditional with respect to its subsequent blessings and benefits The Consequence is self-evident because Eternal Life and Glory is one of the principal subsequent blessings of the Covenant of Grace We prove the antecedent against Mr. Marshalls Book and against our Authour who highly approves and commends it If sincere Obedience to the Lord be the Condition of the Covenant promise of Eternal Life and Glory then the Covenant Promise of Eternal Life and Glory is really conditional But so it is that sincere Obedience to the Lord is the Condition of the Covenant-Promise of Eternal Life and Glory Therefore that Covenant-Promise is Conditional The consequence of the first Proposition is self-evident We prove the second Proposition to wit that sincere Obedience to the Lord is the Condition of the Covenant-promise of Eternal Life and Glory Because whatsoever is so required of us as a Duty in order to the obtaining of the Eternal Life and Glory promised that our obtaining thereof is by the promise suspended on our performing that Duty and we are assured by the Lord that if we perform that Duty we shall obtain but if we perform not that Duty we shall not obtain the Eternal Life and Glory promised That is the Condition of the Covenant promise of Eternal Life and Glory it being the very definition and essential Nature of a Gospel-Condition that it be a Duty required as aforesaid But sincere Obedience to the Lord is a Duty so required in order to the obtaining of the Eternal Life and Glory promised as most evidently appears by the many plain Testimonies of God's Word whereby we have already proved sincere Obedience to be a Duty so required Therefore sincere Obedience to the Lord is and must be the Condition of the Covenant Promise of Eternal Life and Glory If our Authour or any for him should say that it is true Sincere Obedience to the Lord's Command of believing is required as aforesaid but sincere obedience to any other Command of the Lord is not necessarily required as aforesaid in order to the obtaining of the promised Blessing of Eternal Life and Glory We reply 1. That if sincere Obedience to the Lord's Command of believing be required as necessary in the way aforesaid to the obtaining of the promised Blessing of Eternal Life and Glory then even according to that Answer the Covenant-promise of Eternal Life and Glory is still conditional and Faith continued and persevered in to the end which is that sincere Obedience to the Lord's Command of believing is the Condition of it For the Definition and Essential Nature of a Gospel-condition agrees to Faith under that Consideration 2. We reply That the sincere Obedience which consists in the formal Elicit Act or Acts of believing is not all the sincere Obedience which is required as aforesaid And we thus prove it If it be false that no sincere Obedience is required as aforesaid but the Act of Faith then it is true that some Obedience is required as aforesaid besides the Act of Faith This proposition is self-evident because no obedience but the Act of Faith and some obedience besides the Act of Faith are manifest contradictories and two contradictories cannot possibly be both true nor both false but one of them must always be true and the other false and it cannot possibly be otherwise This being clear and undeniable we proceed to the next proposition and subsume But it is false That no sincere obedience is required as aforesaid but the Act of Faith For if no sincere Obedience but the Act of Faith be required as aforesaid that is be required as indispensably necessary to obtain the promised blessing of Eternal Life and Glory then it follows by necessary consequence that a Christian our Authour may instance in and apply it to himself or any other as he pleaseth We say it necessarily follows that a Christian if he doth but keep Faith and now and
obtained Hence Paul saith Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die And Heb. 3.12 Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God We do not therefore think that the Act it self of believing repenting and mortifying the flesh doth effect or merit the conservation of Justifying Grace because all these things are done by us faintly and imperfectly sometimes also through the Prevalency of some great Tentation they are as it were choaked and oppressed but we say that God himself of his free Mercy preserves the Regenerate in a state of Grace and Salvation whilst they walk in these wayes As therefore for the preservation of Natural Life it is necessarily required that a Man carefully avoid Fire Water Precipices Poysons and other things which destroy the Health of the Body so for the preservation of Spiritual Life it is necessarily required that a Man avoid Vnbelief Impenitency and other things that are destructive and contrary to the Salvation of Souls which cannot be avoided unless the opposite and contrary Actions be exercised But these Actions do not preserve the Life of Grace properly and of themselves by touching or producing the very effect it self of preservation but improperly and by accident by excluding and removing the cause of destruction Thus we have at large refuted the Authour of the Letter his Second Errour against the Purity of Christian Faith and have fully and clearly proved the Covenant of Grace to be Conditional This we have done first by clear Scripture Secondly by certain and evident Reason grounded upon Scripture Thirdly by Testimonies of Orthodox Divines and First by Testimonies of the Antient Doctors of the Primitive Church Secondly by Testimonies of Divines of the Reformed Churches both at Home and Abroad and particularly by the Testimony of the Divines of the Famous Synod of Dort Whence it is as clear as the Sun that we preach no new Arminian Gospel in this great Point of the Covenant of Grace and consequently that the Authour of the Letter is a false Witness in Matter of Fact who hath proclaimed us to the World to be Preachers of a new Arminian Gospel on the account of our Doctrine in the point of Justification If after all this he should say that though we have proved the Covenant to be conditional and Faith to be the receptive applicative condition of it yet we have not proved that Faith justifies as a Condition We Answer That look by what place of Scripture he shall ever be able to prove that Faith justifies as an Instrument and a hand by the same shall we prove that Faith justifies as a receptive applicative condition For as we said before we take a receptive applicative Condition and a moral foederal instrument to be one and the same thing So did the Westminster Assembly of Divines before us And in this sense which alone is justifiable we hold Faith to be both an Instrument and a Condition with respect to Justification And if that will please our Authour we shall grant him that Faith is a hand and not only a hand but an eye and a mouth too an eye to look unto Christ crucified John 3.14 15. John 6.40 Isa 45.22 And a mouth to eat and drink and feed on his Crucified Flesh and Blood John 6.35 50 51 53 54 55 56 57 58. We shall conclude this Answer with the Testimony of Two Learneder and Wiser Men than our Authour seems to be The first is the Reverend Mr. Lukin a Worthy Judicious Congregational Minister in his Life of Faith printed above Thirty years ago Lukin 's Life of Faith p. 24 25. For the question about the Interest of Faith in our Justification whether it justifie as an Instrument or as a Condition I think saith he it deserves not half the words that have been used about it they are both of them School-terms and not found in the Scripture and should not therefore disturb the peace of the Church especially seeing both Parties at variance are agreed in the thing but not in the formal notion under which they do conceive it and I think both lides are so far agreed that Faith may be called an Instrument allowing much impropriety of speech and that it may be called a Condition while we thereby do not suppose any such thing as merit Thus Mr. Lukin Now we heartily accept of this expedient for the calming of the Tempest which the Letter hath raised We will never desire the Authour to call Faith a meritorious condition for we never called it so our selves if he will grant us that it is but improperly an Instrument of Justification The other is the Learned Turretin that famous Calvinist Professor of Divinity lately at Geneva who writes thus Caeterum non anxiè quaerendum putamus an fides instrumenti notionem induat in hoc negotio c. Turretin Instit part 2. loc 16. quaest 7. p. 737. But we do not think that it is curiously to be enquired after whether Faith put on the nation of an Instrument in this matter of Justification or likewise of a condition as it seems to some men For nothing hinders but both notions may be ascribed to it provided Condition be not taken for that in consideration whereof God justifies Man in the Covenant of Grace after the manner that works were the Condition of Justification in the Legal Covenant For in this sense it cannot be called a condition unless we come over to the Socinians and Arminians who will have Faith or the Act of believing to be accepted by God for perfect Righteousness which we have but now resuted But taking the word Condition in a large sense for all that which is required on our part to obtain that benefit whether it have the notion of a cause properly so called or only of an instrumental Cause for as that Condition hath the relation of an Instrument so that Instrument hath the nature of a Condition on our part without which Justification cannot be obtained Thus Turretin to which we fully agree except that we think he gives too much to Faith in conceiving it to be an instrumental cause of Justification yet since he says that it is no cause properly so called it follows necessarily that it is not properly an instrumental cause and so hath no proper causal influence upon the act of Justification and if so then it is but improperly an instrument as Mr. Lukin saith and so the whole Controversie comes to nothing but a strife about the propriety or impropriety of a word which Turretin plainly saw and therefore confessed that Faith is so an Instrument as to be a Condition and so a Condition as to be an Instrument of Justification And taking the word Instrument in a moral Sense for a means of receiving the benefit of Justification for Christ's sake only we do unfeignedly affirm as Turretin doth that a sincere Faith is both the Instrument and Receptive