Pauls conversion Acts 9 to prove that men come to know themselves that is their misery by sin by the preaching of Christ and that the preaching of the Law doth not prepare us for Jesus that we may believe in him For the ministery by which Paul came to see himself and to believe was the voice of Christ Answ I am Jesus of Nazareth Whereunto I answer that Pauls conversion was miraculous and extraordinary it cannot therefore be concluded from thence that men are ordinarily brought to Faith in Christ or enlightned to see their miserable estate by sin without the preaching of the Law But he goeth on forward and saith Object It is the sight and knowledge of Christ that brings men truly to see and know themselves not as they are in the estate of grace he meaneth not so but as they are in the estate of damnation for proof whereof he saith Saul Acts 9. thought himself a very holy and happy man till he met Christ in the way And biddeth us note that Christ taught him in the first place the knowledge of himself Who art thou Lord saith Saul I am Jesus of Nazareth saith Christ whom thou persecutest Christ did not tell him of his sin O thou art an accursed persecuting creature Dost ask who I am Thou hadst more need know thy self c. No no he discovereth Himself unto him And this I know was Gods usual dealing in the Gospel those whom he taught he taught them first to know Christ and this Christ our Prophet must teach thee if ever thou be taught Answ But I would know whether the Lord did not take another course with Adam when he was fallen Sure I am he first brought him to the sight and sense of his sin and misery by reproving him for the transgression of his Law before he comforted him raised him up with that Evangelical promise The seed of the woman shall break the head of the serpent And our blessed Saviour layeth it down for a general rule and direction Luke 24.47 That repentance and remission of sins must be preached in his name amongst all nations First repentance which cannot be without the knowledge of sin and then remission of sins by Faith in Christ Now as for the example of Sauls conversion which Mr. C. so much and so often urgeth it is not true which he saith as it were triumphantly Christ did not tell him of his sin O thou art an accursed persecuting creature c. For did he not plainly speak unto him and say Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And again I am Jesus whom thou persecutest It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks It 's evident that he did as manifestly and as soon if not before tell him of his sin in persecuting him as he told him that he was Jesus We may conclude therefore from hence that a man must be brought to know himself and his miserable estate and condition by sin either at the same time or before that Christ is preached and offered unto him But of this more hereafter only I will say this now that Paul was terrified and cast down indeed by those terrible words of Christ and by beholding his glorious Majesty but for the perfecting of his conversion Christ sent him to Ananias by whom he was to be taught and instructed what he was to do By him therefore he was taught all things necessary unto his salvation and so was â—â—mforted and raised up again by Faith in Christ from his former terrours and fears I say therefore as Mr. C. doth It is Christ in the preaching of the Gospel that is glad tidings for sinners remission of sins for believers and this Gospel this glad tydings cannot rightly be held forth unto the world but withal men must be shewed that they are sinners and the emptiness of duties and of all other foundations must be discovered and the danger of not accepting Christ But I demand whether this is not to be done by shewing unto men their sins by the Law and their disability to do any thing of themselves that is pleasing unto God through the corruption that is in them by the fall of Adam For this impotency of doing good and the great wrath that is due unto us for our sins the Law re ealeth and maketh known unto us which when a sinner once apprehendeth then the Gospel is to be preached and he is to be exhorted to lay hold of Jesus Christ by Faith Object as the only means of salvation But let us examine another of Mr. C's Arguments and see whether there be any more force in that Beloved saith he God hath appointed the Spirit to be the means in the preaching of the Gospel to convince the world of sin Joh. 16.9 It is the Spirit of God that convinceth the world of sin and that in the preaching of the Gospel But hereunto I answer that our Saviour saith not Answ that the Spirit of God doth in the preaching of the Gospel only reprove the world of sin absolutely but of the sin of infidelity for thus he saith VVhen the Comforter is come he will reprove the world of sin because they believe not in me Now what shall we say that none believed in Christ before this coming of the Spirit and reproving of the world of unbelief Verily no for the Apostles with many other did before this believe in him For our Saviour speaks here of the coming of the Spirit in the miraculous gifts thereof as he came upon the Apostles and other believers in the day of Pentecost and afterwards until those gifts ceased in the Church when the Gospel had been by them sufficiently confirmed Besides the world of which our Saviour there speaketh though it was convinced of sin by the miraculous gifts of the Spirit yet it never believed for our Saviour calleth it the world that believed not in him Lastly If we should say they were unbelievers and worldlings before but afterward believed when they saw the miraculous gifts that were by Christ poured down and bestowed on his Apostles and others that reproved their infidelity yet it cannot hence be inferred that all in all succeeding ages are thus to be converted and brought unto Faith in Christ But of this more hereafter when I shall examine that which he alledgeth out of Acts 2.37 In the next place he reasoneth thus All preparations and qualifications whatsoever which are not of Faith Object are sin and I am sure Faith comes by the preaching of the Gospel not of the Law Therefore the preaching of qualifications before Faith is sin for all things before or without Faith are sin His Reason if we put it in form will be thus Sin cannot prepare us for Christ but all preparations before Faith are sin therefore no such preparations or qualifications can prepare us for Christ Here I would wish him first of all to consider that by reasoning thus he striketh himself as well as us For he will not
out and that they may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Object What is this say these men but to teach and preach legally when you do thus tie men to conditions for the obtaining of salvation as the Law did Answ It s true indeed we should be legal teachers if we did require of men the same conditions for the obtaining of salvation and after the same manner that the Law doth but we are far from this for the Law requireth perfect obedience to all the Commandements thereof that is to say all manner of good works as that whereby we are to be justified before God or as the cause of our salvation Now we on the contrary do teach that we are saved only and altogether by the grace of God through the merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ And we say that works are necessary to our justification at leastwise to the continuance of it after a far inferior manner that is necessitate presentiae non efficientiae as duties necessarily accompanying it and going with it not as any causes meriting or working it Thus whereas the Law requireth works as causes of our justification and salvation we require Faith Repentance and such works or duties as the Gospel teacheth only as necessary conditions without which we cannot be saved For as I have proved in the former Question the Gospel indeed offereth salvation unto all by Christ but not absolutely but upon condition of their faith and repentance Where faith therefore in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance are wanting it is in vain for men to believe that they are reconciled unto God or that they are in the state of salvation which is the Doctrine now taught by Mr. D Mr. S. and many others Whereas these men then do think that all conditions are legal they are herein deceived For the difference between the Law and the Gospel is not that the one requireth conditions to be performed and the other none at all which were it so then the Gospel should be a Doctrine of licentiousness and carnal liberty but in this that the Law offereth salvation unto none but unto those that do perfectly fulfill it without failing in any the least duty therein required and commanded but the Gospel offereth pardon of all sins and transgressions unto all that believe in Christ and rise up out of their sins by repentance when they are fallen and do not still lie in them Thus the Law is a covenant of works because it promiseth salvation to none but to those that do the works therein prescribed and commanded Rom. 10.8 but the Gospel is a covenant of faith or as St. Paul calleth it the word of faith because it promiseth forgiveness of sins and salvation to all those that renouncing themselves and their own works do relie only upon Christ for salvation according to the promises of his Gospel SECT II. Both repentance and all manner of good works are commanded and required in the Gospel THis that I have already said might be sufficient for an answer unto this Question notwithstanding because many at this day by hearing of our late new Preachers and reading of their Books have their mindes and understandings so vitiated and depraved that whensoever they hear us teach the necessity of repentance unto salvation or hear us presse the practise and performance of good works upon mens Consciences presently they think that we are enemies unto the grace of God and do preach nothing but the Law For so indeed some few years since when one heard me tell my hearers that as long as any one of them did live in sin and not practise repentance it was in vain for him to believe that his sins were forgiven and that he should at the comming of Christ to judgement rise again in his own body to live eternally with Christ After he was returned home from the Church he spake aloud in the hearing of divers and said here is nothing but preaching of the Law preaching of Repentance Repent and ye shall be saved repent and Heaven Gates shall be set open for you To the intent therefore that such poor seduced souls may be brought to see their error I will handle this matter a little more fully First of all then It is certain that the Law requireth perfect obedience of us unto all the Commandements thereof and will not accept of any repentance if we fall but into any one sin or fail in any one duty but concludeth and shutteth us up under the curse of God The Doctrine of Repentance therefore as these men think is not legal Deut. 27.26 but meerly Evangelical And therefore when Christ taught the people repentance it is said that he preached not the Law but the Gospel Now it is manifest and evident also Mar. 1.15 that all manner of good works which are the fruits and effects of repentance are required and commanded in the Gospel as well as in the Law For St. Paul telleth us that we are Gods workmanship Eph. 2.10 created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he hath appointed that we should walk in them When St. Paul saith here that we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works it is certain that this is the voyce not of the Law but of the Gospel For the Law neither speaketh of our new Creation in Christ Jesus that is of our Regeneration neither maketh any mention of Christ at all Christus enim non est revelationis naturalis sicut est lex Rom. 2.14 sed supernaturalis It is not the Law but the Gospel that revealeth Christ unto us It is therefore the Gospel also and not the Law that informeth us and telleth us that Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 and purifie a peculiar people unto himself zealous of good works And seeing this is one end of Christs passion for as much as he hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness Luk. 1.74 75. before him all the dayes of our life And did therefore bear our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead to sin should live to righteousness hereupon St. Paul wrote unto Titus and said This is a faithful saying and these things I will 1 Pet. 2.24 that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God Tit. 1.8 might be careful to maintain good works And afterwards in that Chapter Vers 14. He writeth thus unto him Let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful In all these and many other places of the Gospel are good works required of us Yea I will say more they are required as necessary to our eternal salvation in Heaven though not by way of merit yet as a condition necessarily to be performed by us Eph. 2.10 and as the way wherein we are to walk
their conversion will prove no better than that of those heathen people whom the King of Assyria 2 Kings 2.17 when he had carried away the ten Tribes brought from Babylon and other places to inhabit the Cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel For as those heathen people when one of the Priests of the captivated Israelites was by the King of Assyria sent unto them to instruct them how the God of Israel was to be worshipped are said after this to have borh worshipped the Lord and the gods of those Nations whence they came So if the Gospel only be preached to men before they have been brought by the Law to see what miserable sinners they are they hearing that Christ by his death hath redeemed us from hell and purchased Heaven for us may readily receive him for their Saviour and professe his name but so that they will still retain the same ignorant and proud conceit of their own good deeds and good deserving as they did before For so we see many of our people that are ignorant of the Law in words to acknowledge Christ for their Saviour and yet if they be asked how they hope to be saved they will tell you for their good prayers and for their good meaning and good serving of God And thus indeed all men naturally are ready to rely upon themselves until by the Law they come to see their sins and the great wrath that is hanging over their heads for them Wherefore as the Law was first given and after that man had transgressed it Gen. 3.15 the Gospel or evangelical Promise of salvation by Christ was made known unto him So the Law is first to be preached unto men and set before them as a looking-glasse that they may by comparing themselves with it see their sins and see and perceive in what a woful state and condition they are And when they are humbled and do renounce and deny themselves altogether acknowledging that if God should enter into judgement with them they must needs be damned to the everlasting torments of hell now is the Gospel to be preached unto them and Jesus Christ and the merits of his grace are in their excellency greatest luster to be set forth before them For now when they are truly humbled with the sight sense of their sins and of that woful condition wherein they are because of them they will highly esteem of Jesus Christ and long and thirst after him and desirously lay hold on him and renouncing all other means of salvation will rest themselves only on him Yea now the more miserable they see themselves to be the more will they magnifie the riches of Gods mercy in their salvation by Christ and the more ardently and affectionately will they love Christ and study and strive to be so much the more thankful unto him for their salvation all their daies For what is it that enlargeth the heart in thankfulness but an hearty acknowledgment of the greatness of the benefit that is done us As long therefore as a man is ignorant of his sins and of the danger that he is in by the means of them he can never acknowledge how greatly he is indebted and beholding unto Christ for his redemption and salvation and therefore he can never truly love him as he ought nor be truly thankful unto him You see then how necessary it is that the Law should be taught as well as the Gospel Now whereas it was objected unto me Object That the preaching of the Law was so far from preparing men for Christ that it hindred the salvation of many To this I answered Answ That if any did preach the Law alone without the Gospel or if they offer Christ unto their hearers upon condition that they do exactly fulfil the Law and so urge and presse it on them as it is the Covenant of works by the practice and performance whereof and no otherwise salvation is to be had no doubt in thus preaching the Law they may drive some into desperation and hinder others from Faith in Christ but shall never be a means of the conversion of any because no man living can observe the Law to be justified by it Yea I will say more if any do preach the Law to those who have timoratas conscientias tender and trembling consciences which are so cast down with the sight and sense of their sins that it is high time to poure the oyl of joy and the balm of the Gospel into their contrite broken hearts such undiscreet preaching of the Law cannot but be a great means to weaken Faith where it is wrought already and to hinder others from believing who by the comfortable Promises of the Gospel might be incouraged to lay hold of Christ by Faith and to cast themselves confidently on him for their salvation But though this be so yet the preaching of the Law is as necessary to humble those that see not their sins and the danger of them but live securely in them that so despairing of salvation in themselves they may seek it by Christ only Again after that men do deny themselves and their own works altogether and rely only on Christ for salvation although the Law is not to be pressed on them as it is a Covenant of works nor preached in the full latitude thereof yet that they may not turn the grace of God into lasciviousness as St. Jude speaketh but carry themselves so that they may glorifie the name of God and not cause it to be blasphemed it shall be necessary for them to set the Law before them as the Rule of their actions or as a directory according whereunto they are to frame and conform their life and conversation In this regard the moral Law for of that only I speak is not abrogated but subordinated unto the Gospel yea and after a sort incorporated into it For all the duties of the moral Law may be reduced to these three heads 1. Piety towards God 2. Justice or Righteousness towards a mans neighbour And thirdly Sobriety or temperance in ordering of himself Now all these the Gospel prescribeth and requireth as well as the Law â— 2.11.12 For as St. Paul saith the grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men to wit in the preaching of the Gospel not of the Law teaching that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godlily in this present world Thus both the Law and the Gospel do bind us to the practice of all moral duties Whereupon it is that St. Paul saith that he did herein exercise himself Acts 24.16 to have alwaies a conscience void of offence toward God Object and toward man But I know that some of those with whom I now deal will confesse that such duties are taught in the Gospel but that we are not bound to them by the Law it being wholly abrogated Answer To whom I return this answer That the
deny thar the hearing of the Gospel goeth before Faith Now what shall we hereupon conclude that none but believers are to heat the Gospel I trow not For then there will be no hope of any mans conversion from infidelity or incredulity to Faith in Christ But that I may shew the weakness of his reasoning First I grant the major Proposition Sin cannot prepare for Christ The knowledge of sin may but not that which is absolutely and altogether sin or wherein nothing is to be found but sin for sin in this sense is opposite to all goodness Now whereas he assumeth in the minor Proposition and saith But all qualifications before Faith are sin Here I distinguish of sin and say that it is so vel per se vel per accidens either in it self and its own nature or accidentally because being otherwise good through the corruption and unbelief of him that committeth it it becometh sinful and evill as it proceeds from him Now of this latter sort is the hearing of the word both of Law and Gospel and all preparations wrought before Faith that is to say legal terrours confession of sin humiliation hope of pardon and the like For these are not evil but good in themselves and evil only by accident therefore in regard of the good that is in them they through Gods grace do prepare and dispose us unto our conversion and unto Faith in Christ I do wonder therefore that Mr. C. should say as he doth not only that all preparations and qualifications going before Faith are sin but that the preaching of such before Faith is sin Indeed it cannot but be great and grosse sin to preach and to stir men up to adultery whoredom rash swearing lying or to any thing that is simply and in it self sinful evil but otherwise I think no wise man will say that parents ought not to teach their children to know God and themselves to praise God and to perform all necessary duties both to God and man until they shall give good proof that they do believe in Christ There remaineth now only the last of Mr. C. Arguments which I shall briefly dispatch Object Christ saith he brings those Acts 2.37 from beholding of Christ to behold themselves and makes them cry out Men and brethren what shall we do c. For answer hereunto I say Answ that it cannot be concluded hence that men by the ordinary preaching of the Gospel are at all times without any sight of sin or any terrours wrought in their hearts by the Law brought to believe in Christ and so after this to see their sins For those Jews Acts 2. were by the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost bestowed on the Apostles convinced that Jesus whom they preached was the Christ And because they had consented unto and conspired his death hearing themselves accused of this by St. Peter they were pricked in their hearts with fear and sorrow knowing partly by the Law whereof they were not ignorant and partly by the Miracles which they saw that they were guilty of a most hanious murther But now that no such miracles and wonders are wrought what ordinary way is there to convince men of sin and of their danger thereby but by the preacâ—ing of the Law For by the Law cometh the knowledge of sin Rom. 3.20 Having thus examined Mr. C. Arguments and manifested the invalidity of them I will shut up this matter with shewing contrary to his Assertion that Christ is not alwaies first to be preached and that this is not the only way to bring mâ—n not only to Faith in Christ but also to the knowledge of themselves and of their sins and that therefore God never taught his people otherwise Unto this his Assertion I do oppose that which is to be read in St. Paul's Sermon unto the Athenians Acts 17. wherein he beginneth and preacheth the Law of nature unto them and thereby convinceth them of grosse idolatry and then sheweth them the necessity of repentance and preacheth Christ unto them It is not true therefore that Christ is alwaies first to be preached and offered and that men never come to see their sins until they do believe in Christ but rather on the contrary by seeing of their sins they come to see the necessity of Faith in Christ We read Acts 2â— that Foelix the Governour of the Jews under the Roman Emperour sent for Paul and heard him concerning the Faith in Christ And as he reasoned of righteousness and temperance which arâ— moral vertues taught and prescribed in the Law of nature and of judgment to come Foelix who was a most unrighteous and intemperate man trembled Now hence I infer 1. That it cannot be concluded that the Apostles did not preach the moral Law where it is said that they preached Christ or the Faith in Christ 2. That the knowledge of sin by the Law is necessary to prepare men for Faith in Christ For wherefore was it that Paul preached unto Foelix of righteousnesse and temperance but to bring him to the sight of his sins in which he lived contrary to those vertues that so despairing of salvation in himself being terrified with the judgment of God he might be driâ—en to receive Christ by Faith and to put the whole confidence of his salvation in him Yet I do not deny but that the children of God after that Faith is wrought in their hearts do ordinarily come to a more full sight and apprehension of their sins that are contrary to moral equity honesty but that is by a more perfect knowledg of the law whereby they see themselvs guilty of more sins against it then they took notice of before and of more impiety in sinning against greater light Even as the more they do grow in the knowledge undestanding of the Gospel the more they do see what sins they are guilty of against the Gospel Yea and in general also the more they do by the Gospel see and apprehend Gods mercy towards them in Christ the more wretched sinners do they acknowledge themselves to have been The sum of all is this Gods chiâ—dren are prepared unto Faith in Christ not always we say not so nor only by the preaching of the Law and the terrours thereof but more immediatly and much more by the preaching of the Gospel by hearing whereof they conceive some hope of pardon and are thereby kept from being swallowed up of desperation and do desire and pray for the forgivenesse of their sins and salvation by Christ and do never cease meditating of the gracious Promises of God in Christ until at length Faith is by the Gospel as the proper instrument or means thereof wrought in their hearâ—s For it is not the Law but the Gospel that as the Apostle saith is the power of God unto salvation Rom. 1.16 to every one that believeth Again it cannot be denyed but that men sometimes have been prepared unto their conversion to Faith
He will not alwayes chide neither will he keep his anger for ever Psal 103.8 9. After the same manner speaketh also the Lord himself In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting mercy will I have compassion on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer It is evident that the Lord speaketh here of his own Children for his everlasting mercy belongeth to them and on them it is that his anger remaineth but a moment For on wicked reprobates it shall rest for ever according to that Joh. 3.36 He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Quest 11. Whether God do correct his Children for their sins This Question I thought good to add unto the former because it is of great affinity with it and the rather indeed have I done this because an Acquaintance of mine did lately long after I had finished this Treatise take upon him to maintaine that God doth never correct his Children for any sin that is committed by them against whom I reasoned thus God doth either correct his Children for sin or for righteousnesse for there is no mean betwixt these two For our actions although being considered simply as they are per se et sua natura in themselves and in their own nature are many of them indifferent that is neither good nor evil morally yet in actu exercito that is being clothed with such circumstances as they are when they are practised by us so they are all either good or evil Now said I God doth not correct any for righteousnesse or well doing therefore it is for their sins and for their evil doings that he correcteth his Children But hereunto he answered that it is for righteousnesse that God correcteth his Children for said he God correcteth them from their sins and maketh them to live righteously I perceived his meaning was as if he should have said God correcteth his Chiâ—dren for righteousnesse not that righteousnesse which they have done but which he would have them to do Now this I willingly yeelded unto him that the terminus á quo of Gods corrections or rather of our sanctification which he worketh in us by his corrections is sin and the terminus ad quem is righteousnesse that is to speak popularly and plainely God by his chastisments driveth us from sin unto righteousnesse For as the Apostle saith No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous Heb. 12.11 but grievous neverthelesse afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby Thus the end of our Heavenly Fathers Chastiâ—ements is to make us to leave our sins and to follow after righteousnesse But doth it follow hereupon that we are not corrected for our sins whereby we do provoke God and make him to afflict us If we should never be overtaken nor be at all defiled with any sin he would never correct us We may truely therefore be said to be corrected for our sins because sins are they that do pull down Gods corrections upon us But here mine adversary replyed and said Object Christ hath either born all the punishment of our sin or he hath born none of it at all Whereunto I answered that punishment is of two sorts either satisfactory to Gods justice Answ now all this Christ hath born For as I say saith He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities Isa 50.5.6 the Chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes are we healed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath layd on him the iniquities of us all Or else punishment is for the humiliation and reformation of the party offending and such are Gods corrections whereby he nurtureth his Children for his own glory and their amendment It is for our profit that we are thus corrected as the Apostle telleth us Heb. 12.10 Christ therefore by his passion hath not redeemed us from such Chastisements but sanctifieth them unto us After I had answered these Objections I proceeded and proved unto him that God correcteth his Children for their sins The arguments which I then used I shall now somewhat inlarge not tying my self strictly to the order in which they were propounded unto him First of all then I say that the holy Scripture in expresse words affirmeth that God correcteth his Children for their sins for thus speaketh the holy prophet David unto the Lord This Testimony is universal of all men of all times Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moath And presently he addeth surely every man is vanity in regard he meaneth of Gods corrections which do weaken and waste him He excepteth none out of this number not the Children of God more then others For it were his own afflictions that made him to utter these words For having said I am consumed by the blow of thine hand presently he inferreth When thou with rebukes dost chasten man thou makest his beauty to consume away David also bringeth in Almighty God speaking thus of his posterity whereof it cannot be denyed but many were Gods Children If his Children forsake my law and walke not in my judgments If they breake my statutes and keep not my Commandements then will I visit their transgression with the rodde and their iniquity with stripes Psal 89.30.31.32 Now what is this but to correct them for their sins And I pray you did not Josephs bretheren when they suspected that they were brought into great hazard and danger of their lives in the land of Egypt acknowledge that this was Gods punishment or correction on them for their sins for thus they spake one to another We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he sought us and we would not heare therefore they mean for their sin in oppressing and betraying their Brother is the distress come upon us Gen. 42.21 When Job also saith Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth what meaneth he but that God laid his hand heavy upon him and chastized him for the sins of his youth 2. Besides these and many other testimonies that might be produced I reason thus If the sins of Gods children be the cause of their corrections then they are corrected for their sins for what is it to correct one for his sins or for his faults but to correct him because of such faults and offences as are committed by him Now the holy Scripture testifieth that Gods children are corrected because of their sins which they have committed and not onely to keep them from sin pro futuro for the time to come therefore it cannot justly be denyed that God correcteth them for their sins That their sins are the cause of Gods corrections these places of holy Scripture do evidence first the Lord speaketh
as of many but as of one to thy seed They think therefore that St. Paul hath no reference to that promise In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed where this word And is not found but to these words To thee and to thy seed will I give the Land of Canaan unto which St. Paul by repeating this word And there expressed seemeth to relate But if we shall admit of this Exposition it will no way advantage Mr. S. For Piscator and those that follow it as also St. Augustine as Estius telleth us by Abrahams seed do understand not Christ in propria persona sua in his own person only sed Christum mysticum Cor. 12.12 but mystical Christ as Piscator speaketh that is Christ and his members as St. Paul also doth when he saith As the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ that is to say Christ and his members Piscator giveth two Reasons why these words of the Apostle which seed is Christ are not to be understood properly to wit of Christs person only First saith he the Apostles scope is against it which is to prove that eternal life is given unto believers for Christs sake and that according to the promises which he made unto Abraham as appeareth from the fourteenth Verse Again This absurdity is against it that eternal life should be given to Christ only I have thus laid down the several expositions of these words of the Apostle that it may appear the more evidently that it cannot from hence be collected that the covenant was made only with Christ and not with his members For otherwise if I shall speak what I think I am fully perswaded that St. Paul in saying To Abraham and his seed which is Christ were the promises made hath reference to that gracious evangelical promise in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed This is the promise or the covenant as St. Paul speaketh in the foregoing words which the Lord made with Abraham as S. Peter plainly giveth us to understand in those words of his unto the Israelites Act. 3.25 Ye are the children of the covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham And in thy seed shall all the kinreds of the Earth be blessed Where you see St. Peter expresseth the word And even in this promise as it is also set down Gen. 22.18 where the Lord speaketh to Abraham and saith In blessing I will blesse thee c. And in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed Thus the foundation of the latter Exposition before spoken of is removed and falleth to the ground Now from these words of St. Peter it may also be plainly proved against Mr. S. that the covenant of salvation is not made only with Christ For wherefore doth he say unto the Israelites Ye are the children of the covenant which God made with the Fathers but because this covenant belonged unto them and they were comprehended in it SECT III. Christ did not repent and believe for us but we must perform these conditions our selves LEt us now see whether Christ have fulfilled all the conditions of the covenant of the Gospel for us Whether he hath believed repented and was mortified and obeyed the Gospel for us We acknowledge with St. Paul that Christ is the end of the Law Rom. 10.4 for righteousness unto us and that we are justified before God by his obedience We acknowledge also that the spots of sin that adhere to our works of sanctification are washed away in his blood and so not only our persons but our works also become acceptable to God not for any merit or intrinsical holiness or worthiness of their own but as St. Peter saith by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 Rev. 7.14 in whose blood the Saints of God have washed their Robes of righteousness and holiness and made them white All this we do willingly grant but that Christ should perform for us those very duties of faith and repentance and mortification which are required of us in the Gospel seemeth to me very strange For as we are discharged from fulfilling the Law to be justified thereby because Christ hath thus fulfilled it for us so if Christ have believed and repented for us will it not follow hereupon that God will not require these duties of us or that he will not condemn us though we neglect and omit them no more than he will because we transgress his Law and do not perfectly fulfill it to be thereby justified When the Scripture saith that Christ died for us is not the meaning hereof that he died nostra vice in our stead and so by his death hath redeemed us from death and damnation everlasting so when David said Would God I had died for thee my Son Absolon his meaning was that he desired to have died in Absolons stead that he might by his own death have freed Absolon from death In like manner therefore if we shall say that Christ believed repented and was mortified for us the meaning hereof will be that he performed all these duties in our stead and so hath freed and discharged us from them What other construction these words will bear I know not but sure I am that many are imboldened by them too much to neglect the practice of repentance and the duties of sanctification and holiness But not to stand any longer upon this I would know how it can be justified that Christ either believed or repented or was mortified for us For first When Mr. S. saith that Christ believed for us he speaketh not of the legal faith or confidence in God for thus Christ believed for us seeing for us he fulfilled the whole Law nor of the faith and confidence that Christ had in God his Father that he would uphold and strengthen him to perform the great work of our Redemption but of justifying faith which is that whereby we rely on Christ for the pardon of our sins Now this justifying faith est in nobis subjectivè non in Christo is in us as in its proper subject not in Christ And this both the Prophet Habakuk Hab. 2.4 and the Apostle St. Paul do teach us when they say Justus fide suà vivet the just shall live by his own faith and not by the faith of another Gal. 2.16 The true believers therefore say not Christ hath believed for us but we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law But if it should be granted that Christ believed for us that we by that faith of his might be justified how shall we salve that other saying of his how shall we make it good that Christ repented for us for repentance alwayes presupposeth sin it is a turning from sin unto righteousness Such is the repentance which
finished the work of thy salvation I tell thee thy salvation is not now to be begun thou hast been in the state of salvation ab aeterno from everlasting or at leastwise ever since Christ suffered his bitter Passion on the Crosse Believe only in the Lord Jesus and this thy Faith hujusce rei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erit evidentissimum shall be a most clear evidence hereof Thus Mr. D. would have answered but St. Paul knowing well that the Jaylor did only enquire concerning the means of his salvation which were by him to be used he answered him therefore Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Phil. 2.12 and thine house And in a like sense did St. Paul bid the Philippians Work out their salvation not in regard of the merit but the means thereof with fear and trembling And St. Peter prescribeth repentance as a means to be practised by us that our sins may not be laid to our charge by Christ at his coming but that we may be absolved from them Acts. 3.19.20 for so he saith Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you Let it be considered therefore whether Mr. D. doth nor deal most injuriously with us when he censureth our Religion for a falâ—e Religion because we do thus prescribe unto men Faith and Repentance as means of their eternal salvation by Christ Certainly St. Paul speaking of himself and of the rest of the Ministers of the Gospel saith 2 Cor. 5.20 As though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead that ye be reconciled unto God Now how is this to be understood but in respect of the means of our reconciliation Reconcil of God to man pag. 34. which are to be performed by us Yet Mr. D. is not ashamed to write thus Now this is the common character of all false Religions of what sort soever Jews Turks Papists Pharisaical Protestants Heathen all propound in some degree or other an angry God a Diety not reconciled and then prescribe certain means and services whereby to appease his wrath and to quench his displeasure or to obtain his love and favour that is in regard of the effects thereof so it must be understood or else he fighteth not against us but against a fancy of his own We are told that the wrath of God abideth on him that believeth not John 4 36 Are not all then under wrath or as St. Paul calleth them the children of wrath untill they do believe Eph. 2.3 But for the better understanding hereof our next Question shall be Quest 3. Whether God may be said to love us eternally before we do repent and believe in Christ even while we do live in sin And whether God do love his Children as much while they lye in sin as when they rise out of it by Repentance and live holily SECT I. Mr. D's opinion concerning this Question is set down and censured MR. D's resolution and determination hereof is this Ezek. 16.4 God loved us with as great love when we were in blood and pollution as he did ever afterwards when we were cleansed as well before as after our conversion He loved Paul with as great a love when he persecuted the Church as when he preached the Gospel Thus speaketh Mr. D. of this high mystery without distinguishing of the diâ—ers acceptions of Gods Love which cannot but greatly offend many godly good souls and confirm harden profane ones in their wicked courses yea imbolden them to do evil For will such carnal ones say seeing God loves his elect as much when they welter and wallow in sin as when they live holily and purely I 'le therefore take my pleasure and deny my self nothing that is delightful unto me For though I be not so strict as some are yet I see that I may be as highly in Gods love as the holiest of them all For preventing of such presumptuous thoughts And for clearing of the truth I will lay down the answer to the Question in two several conclusions SECT II. How Gods love is ever the same without any alteration THe former whereof is That if the Love of God be taken properly as it is in it self pro actu divini amoris for the internal Act of Gods Love so it is immutable eternal and ever the same accidens enim in Deo nullum est and hereupon it is that St. John saith 1 Iohn 4.11 God is Love his Love therefore must needs be immutable and eternal as he himself is Wherefore if we shall speak of Gods Love properly so it must be granted that he loved his people from all eternity even before they did believe in Christ and forsake their sins This is that which the Lord maketh profession of by his Prophet when he saith Ier. 31.1 I loved thee with an everlasting love And our blessed Saviour saith Iohn 13.1 that whom the Lord loveth he loveth unto the end When any of the children of God therefore are at any time or other supplanted by the Devil and do fall into sin as David did the Lord ceaseth not to love them for it is his love that upholdeth them that they do not fall totally and finally and that recovereth and raiseth them up again Thus Gods Love is eternal in it self and hath neither beginning nor end as our love hath Objection But how then are we to understand those words of David Psalm 5.5 where he saith Thou hatest all workers of iniquity for hatred is contrary to love Wherefore seeing the elect of God as well as others before their calling and conversion were workers of iniquity How can it be said that God loved them eternally Reconcil of man to God pag. 19 20 21 22. This Objection Mr. D. encountreth And first he bringeth three answers of Others The first whereof is That God hates the works but not the persons of his elect The second That God loveth his elect before their conversion amore benevolentiae sed non complacentiae with a love of benevolence not of complacencie The third that God loveth them with the love of election but not of justification all which he scornfully rejecteth And then taketh upon him to unty the knot thus The Lord hateth all the workers of iniquity is the voice of the Law The other the Lord loves sinners * He should say workers of iniquity is the voice of the Gospel Now the Law and the Gospel speak divers things the one being the manifestation of Gods justice tells us what we are by nature the other being the manifestation of Gods mercy tells us what we are by grace in Jesus Christ Thus he Now I do acknowledge indeed that the Law doth reveal Gods wrath against sin and passeth sentence of condemnation not only on
the same but sometimes greater and sometimes lesser towards his children And in this sense David speaketh of Gods Love Psa 147.8 when he saith The Lord loveth the righteous and Solomon Prov. 8.17 where he bringeth in the Son of God the eternal wisdom of his Father speaking and saying I love them that love me that is them only and none else Now there was a time when the elect did not love God but the world and the things thereof a time when they were not righteous but wicked they were not at that time therefore loved of God in this sense as Solomon and David here speak of his Love that is so as to taste or to be made partakers of the comfortable effects thereof The Lord also speaketh of his Love tanquam de re futura as of a thing to be accomplished in time to come when he saith or his revolted people I will love them freely I will Hos 14.4 saith the Lord he did not therefore thus love them alwaies Now this also must be understood not of the internal Act of Gods love which is eternal but of the manifestation of his love in the saving effects thereof Thus also are we to understand St. Paul when he blesseth the Corinthians and prayeth for them saying 2 Cor. 13. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God be with you For his meaning is not that God would then first begin to love them as if he had hated them or had borne them no good will before but that he would multiply the effects of his Love upon them or that he would continue the gracious influence of his Love towards them in the most comfortable and saving effects thereof In the same sense also doth our Saviour speak of Gods Love John 14.21 He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them it is he that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him When Christ saith here He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him he speaketh as the next words do shew of the manifestation of his and his Fathers love by the saving effects thereof Tunc enim Deus novâ ratione suam exhibet dilectionem cum novo homines afficit beneficio For then doth God exhibit his Love after a new manner when he bestowetn on men a new benefit saith Jansenius Like whereunto are the words of Dionisius Carthusianus on this saying of Christ God loveth all that are predestinate eternally and simply even then when they do not love him but are wicked For he first loved us 1 John 4.19 He loveth them I say according to that he seeth them to be in his Decree of Predestination But when they are converted and do love God he bestoweth on them the effects of his Love which he doth fully and finally vouthsafe them when they obtain the inheritance of Heaven Peter Lumbard also Lib. 3. Sent. Dist. 32. doth excellently unfold this matter I will therefore shut up this discourse in his words The Love of God saith he is considered two manner of waies secundum essentiam et secunduÌ„ efficientiam according to the essence according to the efficiency of it It is neither more nor less according to the essence but according to the efficiency of it In which regard those may be said to be more loved for whom out of his love he hath from eternity prepared majus bonuÌ„ the greater good or a greater blessing and doth in time confer the same upon them and those lesse loâ—ed quibus non tantum for whom and on whom he hath from eternity prepared and in time bestoweth not so much good or not so great a blessing Thereupon also it is that some when they are converted and justified are said then to begin to be loved of God not that God can love any one nova dilectione with a new love yea he loved with everlasting love before the foundation of the world whomsoever he loveth But they are then said to begin to be loved of him when they receive the effects of Gods eternal love to wit grace or glory Whereupon Augustine saith Far be it from us that we should say that God loveth any one temporally as it were with a new love which was not in him before with whom nec praeterita transierunt neither the things that are past have passed away et futura jam facta sunt and those that are future are already present or are done Therefore he loved all his Saints before the foundation of the world sicut praedestinavit as they were predestinated by him But when they are converted and do find him then they are said to begin to be loved of him Ut eo modo dicatur quo potest humano affectu capi quod dicitur to speak after that manner that the thing which is spoken may be comprehended by mans capacity Thus also when God is said to be angry with the wicked and well pleased with the good the change is in them and not in Him as light is offensive to weak eyes but comfortable to strong to wit through the change that is in them not in it self so when any one begins to be Gods friend being justified he himself is changed not God Now if the Question be asked whether one may be said to be loved of God more at one time then at another distinguenda est dilectionis intelligentia that we may understand this aright we must distinguish of love for if it be referred unto the effects of love concessibile est it is to be granted that God doth love some more at one time than at another but if it be referred to the essence of Gods Lo e inficiabile est it is to be denied Hitherto Peter Lumbard And thus this deep mystery or matter is sufficiently cleared I 'le onely add two things more to preâ—ent the mistaking of this Doctrine The former is that all those quibus ab aeterno Deus bene vult whom God eternally loveth shall in time have all those good things that is those effects of grace wrought in them which he decreed for them As long therefore as men do live in sin they cannot conclude nor they cannot believe that God loveth them with any special love as he doth his Elect whom he hath appointed heirs of salvation because as yet no effects of Election do appear in them The other thing which I think good here to add is that Mr. D. hath no cause so sharply and bitterly as he doth to reproâ—e some of our Protestant Preachers and writers because they tell men that if they forsake sin and follow after Gods commandements and do that which is acceptable in his sight then God will love them For seeing they speak no otherwise of Gods Love than the holy Scripture doth Why should he so rack their words as if they taught that God were mutable in
he be never so much terrified and troubled in his mind with doubts and fears shall yet be saved if he do cast himself upon Christ and constantly rely upon him for salvation according to the gratious Promises in the Gospel For blessed is every one that trusteth in him Psal 2.12 Lastly That I may adde one Reason more The opposition which St. Paul maketh between the Corinthians former estate while they lived in sin and their estate since they believed plainly proveth that Justification goeth not before but after Faith Such saith he were some of you that is spotted and polluted with those vile sins which he had before mentioned but ye are sanctified but ye are justified they were not therefore justified before no more then they were before sanctified for of both these he speaketh alike neither will there be any reall opposition between the Corinthians estate before and after their calling and conversion unlesse we shall say that as they were really adulterers idolaters c. and not only in outward appearance so now after they were converted and did believe they were really and actually justified as well as sanctified and not declaratively only to the conscience or eternally only in Gods Decree SECT V. Another Objection answered LOng after I had finished this Treatise a Souldier that quartered with me in a calm conference that we had together reasoned thus against me to prove that men are justified before they do believe even from everlasting St. Paul saith VVho shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth that is the Elect. But men are elected before they do believe therefore they are justified before they believe To the Major proposition to wit That God justifieth the Elect I answer that all the Elect are actually justified not as soon as they are elected but in that time and after that manner as God in his Decree of Election hath determined set down that is when they do believe as St. Paul explaineth himself in the words following where he first moveth another Question like to the former saying VVho shall condemn And then he answereth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who also sitteth at the right hand of God and maketh intercession for us us believers And then he asketh us again VVho shall separate us from the love of Christ us he meaneth who do believe in Christ and are his members Thus he useth these two words indifferently Elect and Us as expressing the same persons and so giveth us to understand that when he saith VVho shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth he speaketh of the Elect as they are Believers in the same sense as he said before those whom he did predestinate them also he called and whom he justified them also he glorified not that they were actually called as soon as they were predestinated or glorified as soon as they were justified But either because they were so apud Deum with God to whom all things are present Or else he saith not whom he hath predestinated them he will call whom he hath justified them he will glorifie but he hath called he hath glorified them because they shall in the due time appointed by God he as certainly called and glorified as if they were so already And even so in like manner when the Apostle saith It is God that justifieth the Elect he speaketh thus because of the certainty of their justification SECT VI. The Objections of the most Learned Chamierus answered BEing put in mind by a worthy friend of mine that the most learned Chamierus who by his acute elaborate and most excellent works and writings hath very well deserved of the Church of God doth oppugn the former Doctrine of actual justification by Faith in Christ I have thought good in the last place to examine those things that are asserted objected by him against that which is most commonly taught and professed by other Protestant Divines Object First He teacheth That a man must be justified before he can be loved of God Whence it will follow That seeing Gods love to his Elect is eternal they are justified therefore not in time but from everlasting and therefore before they do know Christ and believe in him Now that God loveth none but those that are justified he endeavoureth to prove by divers Reasons First Panstrat de justif he argueth thus Paul testifieth That God loved us even then when we were enemies Now this cannot be without imputation of righteousnesse for it cannot be imagined that God should love any sinner as he is a sinner But when we were Gods enemies and as yet did nothing that was good we were only sinners secunâ—um inhaerentiam according to inherency or inherently therefore we could not be loved of God But say I secundum essentiam Answ according to the essence of our humane nature wherein sin is inherent we were the creatures of God It followeth not therefore as the learned and most worthy Chamier would have it that God loved us meerly as sinners but as his creatures As a father redeemeth and releaseth his riotous son out of prison into which he is cast for debt non quatenus prodigum not as he is an unthrift but as he is his son whom he loveth though he hate his vice This most learned man therefore did not so well confisider of the Matter when he said Monstra sibi fingunt they feign monstrous conceits to themselves who say that sinners who are just neither by their own nor by anothers righteousnesse are loved of God that is meerly as sinners than which nothing can be devised more abhorrent to divinity This is true indeed if we should be compelled and inforced by our Doctrine to say that God loveth sinners as sinners but it driveth us not upon any such rocks We are not necessitated therefore to grant his Conclusion which is There was need of this imputed righteousness preventing whatsoever good can be in us that is as he meaneth that we might be loved of God before we were and had my being even from eternity For if imputation of righteousnesse do prevent whatsoever good can be in us then it must needs prevent and go before Faith And so it will follow that our justification is an immanent and an eternal Act of God which this learned Divine will have in Gods consideration to prevent his loving of us But that it is no such immanent Act is proved afterwards I find this great learned Divine in another place reasoning thus De Sola fide justificante lib. 22. c. 8. to prove that God loveth none but those that are justified have their sins forgiven them by him Dilectio Dei opponitur odio c. Gods love is opposed unto hatred Object But Gods hatred is for the guilt of sin Therefore so long as a man is guilty of sin so long must he needs be hated of
ones we are by sinners whom Christ professeth that he came to call to understand contrite and broken hearted sinners that being terrified with the judgements of the Law do acknowlege that they stand in great need of Christ the heavenly Physician and of every drop his blood which he shed for them But of this I have spoken enough before Object 7. He goeth on and saith All that ever received Christ Object 7 Corinthians Ephesians Colossians received him in a sinful condition when they were unwashen darkness dead in sins enemies in their minds by wicked works Answ Here also Mr. S. setteth up an adversaâ—y unto himself of his own devising and then dischargeth fiercely and furiously upon him For no Protestant teacheth that those that are only prepared for the preaching of the Gospel by the terrours of the Law are washed from their sins and do live the life of grace but on the contrary they hold That as yet they are dead in sin and if they proceed no further shall perish everlastingly Object 8. Object 8 Lastly He thus also objecteth God offereth Christ in time as God gave him God before all times gave him to us because we were sinners and now he is but offered as he was given Answ Hereunto I answer First That God neither before time gave Christ in his eternal decree because we were sinner nor in time doth he give us him because we are sinners For there is no cause in us at all of our salvation it is to be ascribed wholly to Gods grace As for sin it is in it self a cause of damnation not of salvation But if his meaning be that God before time considered us as sinners when he gave us Christ there followeth nothing more from hence but that God in time offered Christ unto us when we were sinners which we willingly grant But we add further that God before all time decreed not only to give Christ to sinners but that those sinners should by the power of his Spirit be brought in time to acknowledge their sins and spiritual misery and woful condition under sin and so be driven out of themselves and be made to fly unto Christ Seeing therefore whatsoever God decreed before time shall be fulfilled and accomplished in time hereupon therefore it followeth not that all sinners absolutely but that those only who do acknowledge their sins and their eternal misery by sin are they to whom Christ is offered in the Gospel and that do come unto him SECT 6. Two Objections of Mr. D. answered THere are two Objections of Master D. which I formerly passed over at my first reading of his Book whereunto I have thought good now to return an answer First Object he reasoneth thus against any qualification or preparation or other to be wrought in us before we be justified Reconcil of God to man pag. 16. Let us hear the Lord speaking of his own work upon the Creature Isa 57.18 He went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his wayes and will heale him I will lead him also and restore comforts to him and to his mourners Whom wilt thou heale O Lord Whom wilt thou restore Even him whose wayes I have seen What are those wayes Even frowardnesse and perversnesse He went on frowardly in the way of his heart See again Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my owne sake and will not remember thy sins Whose sins will the Lord blot out Look we back unto the 22. vers Thou hast not called upon me O Jacob thou hast been weary of me O Israel Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities verse 24. See Thou hast been weary of me Yea thou hast wearied me This is Iacobs qualification This is Israels preparation Then follows I even I am he that blotteth out thy trangressions As if the Lord should say unto his people as he speaketh by the prophet Ezek. 36.22 Say unto the house of Israel Thus saith the Lord God I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for my holy names sake which ye have prophaned among the heathen whither ye went See also Deut. 9.6 Isa 48.9 alleadged by him And then his conclusion is This is all the qualification we bring unto God to win his love and mercy Answer But I answer whereas the Lord saith he went on frowardly in the way of his heart c. This is not Jacobs qualification but a description of his perverse disposition being considered as he was in himself to the magnifying of Gods most rich mercy and superabundant grace towards him in pardoning his sins His qualification precedent to his justification was his humiliation and abenegation of himself wrought in him by Gods Spirit opening his eyes to see his sins and the great wrath that was due unto him for them This was that which through the gracious working of Gods Spirit drew him unto Christ the promised redeemer of his people when he was offered unto him that he might be saved through faith in him But it was not this nor any thing else that Jacob did or could do that merited the pardon of his sins or that moved made God to justifie him for we acknowledge that our justification is wholly of grace yea that this preparation is also of grace yet not necessitating our justification as if it did alway follow it But of this enough hath been said before Yet Mr. D Dr. C and others do so represent our doctrine as if we taught precedent qualifications to win Gods love to procure him to have mercy upon us to forgive us our sins Object Master D. second Objection against precedent qualifications not onely to our justification but to our Conversion and Sanctification Reconcil of God to man pag. 31. is this John Frith whose Learning was by his adversarie commended whose constancy and patience in his Martyrdome was admired writeth to this effect Thou maist preach Hell Damnation and the rendering of a terrible account to a severe Judge seven years together and yet not make one good Christian He that would make a good Christian let the love of God be the first stone which he layeth for the foundation Answ That which this holy man saith I acknowledge to be most true A minister may preach not only seven but seventy time seven years together and yet if he preach nothing else but Hell and Damnation not convert one soule For it are not the terrours of the law but the glad tydings of Salvation by Christ in the preaching of the Gospel whereby the Spirit of God worketh faith in us to our conversion and salvation and stirreth us up to love and thankfulness towards God Notwithstanding the terrours of the Law are necessary by way of preparation hereunto For how can a man se of apprehend the great love of God to him in giving his Son to death for his Redemption if by
the terrors of the law he be not first made to see in what a wofull case and condition he was by his sins to wit that he should have perished and been damned to unspeakable and unconceivable torments in Hell if God out of his surpassing love pity and compassion towards him had not provided and given him a Saviour Thus must we first be brought by the Law and the judgments and terrours thereof to apprehend our own misery before we can acknowledge the depth of Gods mercy and be inflamed with love towards him and stir up our selves unto thankfulnesse unto his Divine Majesty for the great and most gracious work of our redemption and salvation by Christ The preaching then of Hell and damnation and the rendring of a terrible account to a severe Judge is not the laying of the foundation neither of Faith nor of our justification and sanctification whereby we are made good Christians but a digging deep to remove the rubbish of self-confidence and spiritual pride and presumption that so the foundation of our conversions may be laid in the Love of God and of his comprehensible mercy towards us in Christ Jesus SECT VII Objections answered and the truth in this Controversy cleared AS long as any colourable specious and plausible objections against the truth remain unanswered men who have been taken and deluded by them will hardly be brought to renounce their errors no not when the truth shall be solidly taught and confirmed from the alone ground of all Divine and supernatural truth the holy Scripture Having therefore of late met with a Book of very high esteem with many intituled The exaltation of Christ in the dayes of the Gospel by T.C. and finding that the Author thereof doth teach that men are not at all prepared for Christ and Faith in him by the preaching of the Law but by hearing of the Gospel only I have thought good therefore not to passe over in silence but to examine those things he delivereth and the rather because his reasons and allegations do differ from those which I have before met with Exalt of Christ pag. 216. Edit 3 First he telleth us that though all are under the Law by nature yet it is the preaching of the Gospel that discovers it that is as he after explaineth himself that discovereth unto them that they are under the curse and condemnation of the Law See also before pag. 112. and so most miserable creatures He teacheth therefore that a man must first in the preaching of the Gospel see Christ and then by reflecting upon himself see his own misery which otherwise is not to be seen and discerned by the Law But in this he contradicteth St. Paul for he telleth us that by the Law cometh the knowledge of sin And he instanceth in himself Rom. 3.20 Rom. 7.7 and saith I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Thus the Law sheweth us our sins yea and the punishment also Deut. 27.26 Gal. 3.10 that by them we have deserved when it saith Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them 2 Cor. 3.7.9 And hereupon it is that the Apostle calleth it the ministration of death and of condemnation For as the Law at the promulgation and publishing thereof upon Mount Sinai was delivered with great terrour so it still of it self terrifieth and astonisheth the consciences of sinners accusing them when they do evil as both St. Paul Rom. 2.15 and every mans own experience teacheth But let us take notice of the Arguments of Mr. C. whereby he endeavoureth to make good that which he hath taught Object First he telleth us That a man never savingly seeth his evil condition without Christ And again That it is the Spirit of God that discovereth sin unto him Now the preaching of the Law bringeth not this Spirit but the hearing of Faith as witnesseth St. Paul Gal. 3.2 But here first I would know of him why he saith Answ a man never savingly knoweth his evil condition without Christ For our salvation consisteth not in knowing of our evil condition but in the knowledge of Jesus Christ John 17.3 Isa 53.11 For a man to know his evil condition by sin is to know that damnation is due unto him for his sin Now many a man hath attained to this knowledg who was never saved Salvation therefore doth not at all consist in this but in a mans flying unto Christ and laying hold of him when he seeth how miserable his condition is become through sin Now whereas he alledgeth the Apostles words Gal. 3.2 to prove that a man is not brought by the preaching of the Law but of Faith to be made partaker of the Spirit without which he cannot see his miserable condition by sin I answer him That the Apostle speaks there partly of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit which were by God bestowed on none but those that had heard the Gospel and made profession of Faith in Christ and partly of the Spirit of adoption which also is peculiar to believers Now thus indeed we do not receive the Spirit by the preaching of the Law but otherwise Rom. 8.15 as the same Apostle giveth us elsewhere to understand we did by the Law receive the Spirit of bondage to fear His meaning is that the Spirit of God which we received from him illightning our minds with the true knowledge and understanding of the Law did fill our hearts with fears and terrours and so did put us as it were in a state of bondage at or before our conversion unto Faith in Christ We have need therefore of the illumination of the Spirit that we may throughly understand the Law For as long as men are left to themselves their very knowledge of the Law is but shallow and superficial as it to be seen in the Pharisees and in all those who are only civilly honest which sort of men are either not at all or but a little troubled in their souls and consciences with the fear of their sins or of hell and damnation Whereas then Mr. C. saith The Apostle was once alive without the Law that is without the spiritual understanding of the Law but when the Commandement came sin revived and he died that is when Christ had opened his eyes to see into the spirit of the Law the spiritual sense thereof I trow he meaneth In all this I do agree with him but not in that which followeth when he addeth That we come thus to know the spiritual understanding of the Law only by the preaching of the Gospel For I have already proved the contrary to wit that when the Law is preached men come to understand it by the illumination of the Spirit opening their minds to see the true meaning of the several precepts thereof Object But Mr. C thinketh by instancing in
which shall be all of them accomplished and fulfilled in us in their due time When the Apostle also saith that God hath chosen us unto sanctification of the Spirit it followeth hence not that we were actually and really in our own persons sanctified from all eternity as he reasoneth but that we shall be sanctified at that time which God hath decreed and appointed But let us see how Mr. D. confirmeth this former exposition of his These places saith he that is Object James 1.18 1 Pet. 1.23 are to be understood of the manifestation of adoption not of the act of adoption it self And that it is so is plain God hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead A lively hope is the thing whereunto we are begotten It is ordinary in Scripture to call the manifestation of things by the name of the things themselves I grant the Scripture Answ though not so ordinarily as he would have it yet sometimes doth call the manifestation of things by the name of the things themselves but we must not therefore take liberty to set this glosse upon whatsoever places of Scripture we shall think good our selves as Mr. D. and others now but too commonly do For it is agreed upon by Divines that the Scriptures are to be taken and understood in that sense and meaning which the words do plainly import except it be contrary to the Analogie of Faith or to good manners or abhorrent to common sense and reason or to some other plain and manifest places of Scripture none of all which can be said of these two places of Scripture Jam. 1.18 1 Pet. 1.23 Those words therfore of both the Apostles are ro be taken in their native sense as they found Now whereas St. Peter saith that we are begotten again to a lively hope he sheweth in the words following what this hope is when he saith to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto salvation Object But whereas Mr. D. saith a lively hope is the thing whereunto we are begotten will he therefore infer hence as he seemeth to do that our Adoption is eternal surely then he may deduce quid libet ex quo libet chalk out of cheese for there can nothing be concluded hence but that the inheritance of Heaven is a câ—nsequent of our Adoption according to that of St. Paul If children then heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ Answ But though Mr. D. passeth it over in silence it may be some one or other will say St. Peter telleth us that we are begotten again through the resurrection of Christ When St. James therefore and St. Peter do say that we were begotten by the word of God this must needs be meant of the manifestation of our Adoption and not of the act of Adoption it self for Christ was risen from the dead long before the Word was preached either to us or to those Christians to whom the Apostles wrote and directed their Epistles Whereunto I answer That neither will this prove the eternity of our Adoption as Mr. D. teacheth it For Christ rose again at that certain and determinate time which God had decreed and foretold that is to say the third day after his Passion on the Crosse But not to make any use of this whereas St. Peter saith that we are begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead the meaning hereof is not that we were at that time regenerated or begotten again when Christ rose from the dead unlesse it were virtually only but that our regeneration which is actually wrought and effected by Gods Word and Spirit as was the regeneration of all Gods children from the beginning of the world depended on Christs resurrection as on a virtual cause or power producing it in that time and by those means which God hath appointed For as St. Paul saith to the Corinthians If Christ be not raised your Faith is vain ye are yet in your sins Thus I have answered Mr. D.'s Objections and as I take it sufficiently cleared this matter Quest 9. Whether a man is to pray for the pardon of his sins after he is regenerated and doth believe and repent SECT I. The Children of God do and ought to pray for the pardon of their sins I Have taken occasion to discusse this question in regard of those many giddy Sectaries that do pertinaciously Reaso n 1 deny it And first I reason thus David was the Child of God in high favour with him as that Testimony which the Lord giveth of him doth bear witnesse I have found David the Son of Jesse a man after mine own heart which shall fulfill all my will Acts 13.23 Notwithstanding he prayed heartily not only for the pardon of those two heynous sins of adultery and murther when he had been overtaken with them but of those other sins whereof he had repented and which were forgiven him long before For Psal 25.6 7. he cryeth unto the Lord and saith Remember O Lord thy tender mercyes and thy loving kindnesse for they have been ever of old Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions And in many other Psalmes doth he petition the Lord for the pardon of his sins Daniel also a most worthy and renowned Servant of God one that was greatly beloved maketh confession of his own sins as well as of the sins of the people and prayeth most heartily for the pardon of them saying O Lord hear O Lord forgive Dan. 9.10.20 23. Thus did these holy men pray by the inspiration and instigation of Gods holy Spirit it followeth necessarily therefore that the Children of God both may and ought to pray for the pardon of their sins For I hope none now living will dare to say that they are holier then David or Daniel were or that they are in higher favour with God or have more Reaso n 2 assureance of his love and favour Again our Saviour taught his disciples whom all do acknowledge for Gods Children nor will any dare to say that they were the Children of the Devill to pray for the pardon of their sins For when they upon a time came unto Jesus Christ and said Master teach us to pray as John taught his Disciples Luk. 11.4 he said unto them when ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven forgive us our sins It is manifest and most evident from hence that it is our blessed Saviours will and appointment that those who are the true Children of God as his disciples were should pray for the pardon of their sins SECT II. There was forgivenesse of sins before Christs Passion BUt will you see how these our adversaries do think to avoyd the force of these Testimonies They confesse for so a foul mouthed Sectary * One that called me bald Rogue bald Priest
Baals priest I think ten times over and Minister of the Devil Doct. of John Baptist Page 36. 37 38. did unto me that Christs Disciples at that time and all the servants of God under the Old Testament were to pray for the pardon of their sins because Christ had not then payd the price of our Redemption and purchased the pardon of our sins by his Passion Now here Mr. D. joyneth with them and confirmeth them in their errour For he saith that there was no pardon of sin in the Old Testament because Christ had not then redeemed us But against this Assertion of his I shall by Gods grace both prove that there was the same forgivnesse of sins in the Old Testament that is in the new and then afterwards I shall answer his Arguments which he alleadgeth to the contrary First the Scripture it self of the Old Testament sheweth not darkly nor obscurely but plainely and manifestly not in a few but many places that the sins of all that did in those dayes truly repent were blotted out and forgiven by God The truth of this is to be seen in David he no sooner repented of his sins of adultery and murther crying out in the anguish and bitternesse of his soul and saying I have sinned against the Lord but presently the Prophet Nathan pronounced his absolution and sayd 2 Sam. 12.13 The Lord hath put away thy sin He hath forgiven he hath put it away sayth Nathan not he will put it away when the Messiah shall come and lay down his life for thy Redemption The same also doth David himself acknowledge and professe saying I acknowledged my sin unto thee Psal 23.4 5. and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin But what do I stand upon a such particular examples The Lord himself speaking of and to his people in the Old Testament saith I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake Esa 43.25 and will not remember thy sins And by his Prophet Ezekiel he proclaimeth a generall pardon for all as well in those dayes as in these that would repent and turn unto him saying Ezek. 18.20 21. The soul that sinneth it shall dye but if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my Statutes and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall surely live he shall not dye Hereupon the Prophet Micah magnifieth the mercy of the Lord and saith Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage Micah 7.18 The Protestants do hold against the Papists that the souls of the ancient Patriarchs and of the godly and faithfull that died before Christs passion went after the dissolution of their bodyes not into limbus patrum but into Heaven But surely this could not be if their sins remained and were not forgiven them For it is nothing but sin that openeth Hell and shutteth Heaven Let Mr. D. therefore advise himself whether he will in this joyn with the papists or with the protestants Sure I am as many as took the protestation which was put out by the Parliament bound themselves by a solemne vow to defend the protestant religion against all popery popish innovations but how well this is performed â—y many of the Sectaries the event sheweth Thus have I manfested that there was remission of sins in the Old Testament SECT III. Objections Answered LEt us now examine Mr. D. reasons whereby he and divers Sectaries do think to prove the contrary It is not possible say both he and they that those who lived under the Old Testament Object could have their sins actually pardoned because Christ then had not purchased the pardon of them by his death and Passion But I answer Answ they are much mistaken For the sins of all the elect people of God that lived before Christs passion were pardoned because he had undertaken to satisfie the law and justice of God for them Whereupon it is that Christ is called the surety of a better Testament Heb. 7.22 that is then the Law was to wit because he became our surety to his Father and undertook to satisfie his justice for our sins and to bring us to God Wherefore as the debter is discharged from prison when the suerty taketh the debt upon him although he doth not pay it presently but bindeth himself to satisfie it at a set time agreed upon So seeing the eternall Son of God became surety unto his Father for us and took our spirituall debt upon him and bound himself to redeeme us by his death at that fulnesse of time which was decreed and agreed upon by his Father and him all those therefore that by faith did rely upon the alsufficient sacrifice satisfaction of Christ from the beginning of the World untill his passion had their sins pardoned and were saved by meanes of that their faith in him as well as we are who now believe in him after he hath suffered and paid our debt For this cause he is called The Lamb slain from the beginning of the world Rev. 13.18 not only because he was in Gods decree and counsell from all eternity appointed to be slain or because he was from the beginning of the World slain Mystically in the sacrifices that were offered But in this regard principally becauâ—e the validity and virtue of his death did extend it self unto Adam and to all the elect of God that lived at any time or other from the beginning of World Object But saith Mr. D. those that lived before Christ had by his death redeemed them were under the Bondage and curse of the law Answ therefore their sins were not pardoned and forgiven them I answer they were in bondage to the Ceremonies of the Law Gal. 5.1 which Paul called a yoak of bondage And St Peter saith That neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear it but they not were in bondage to sin and Satan Acts 15.10 For what godly heart can endure to hear that Abraham the Father of the faithfull or Isaac or Jacob or David and the rest of those holy Patriarchs should be said to be in bondage to sin or to be Satans bond-men As aborrent also it is to Christian piety to say as Mr. D. doth that they were under the curse of the law for then they should have been in the state of damnation and liable to Gods wrath We confesse indeed they were under the law but how under the paedagogie or School-Mastery not under the curse and condemnatory sentence of it for from that were they freed and delivered by their faith in Christ to come as we are now by our faith in the same Christ who is come But saith he Object St. Paul telleth us that as many as are under the law are under the curse
No he doth not Gal. 3.10 but as many as are of the works of the law that is who seek and go about to be justified by the works of the Law Answ are under the curse But this did not the Fathers before Christs coming for as St. Peter saith Acts 15.11 As we do believe that we shall be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ so did they Object He alleadgeth also those words of the Apostle They received not the promise Heb. 11.39 as if the meaning of them were that those under the Old Testament were not made partakers of forgivenesse of sins and salvation before Christs coming Bur I have before proved Answ that there was the same remission of sins in those dayes that there is now For of those that lived at that time as well as now David speaketh plainely and saith Psal 32.1 2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity Whereas then the Apostle saith they received not the promise he speaketh of the promise of Christs incarnation and manifestation in the flesh and his meaning is that that promise was not then accomplished but differred untill the dayes of the New Testament wherein we see those things and hear those things which Abraham and the Prophets and faithfull people of God in those dayes desired to see and hear but could not God providing better things for us as the Apostle speaketh in the next words that they without us might not be made perfect that is in the knowledge and faith of the full Revelation of the Messiah but held in the state and condition as it were of children in their Minority Object He urgeth also against us those words of the Angel Gabriel unto Daniel Dan. 9.24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the holy City to finish the trangression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousnesse For from hence he inferreth and concludeth that the sins of the people of God were at that time remaining and that they were not reconciled to God Answ But hereunto I answer that the Angel in these words speaketh of the finishing of transgressions and making an end of sins and of making reconciliation for iniquity by way of satisfaction and Redemption which Christ was to do in his passion Isai 53.10 when as Isaiah saith he was to make his soul an offering for sin but not of taking away sin and making reconciliation by actuall remission and forgivenesse thereof For thus all those were reconciled to God and were discharged of their sins who before Christs passion did expect his coming and built the hope and confidence of their Redemption and salvation on him I do not remember for I have not his book by me any thing else that Mr. D. alleadgeth to infringe the force of my two former reasons I have nothing therefore more to say unto him in this Question SECT IIII. Two reasons more proving that the Children of God are to pray for the pardon of their Sins THirdly therefore I do reason thus against the aforesaid Reaso n 3 Sectaries If the Children of God are not to pray for the pardon of their sins then it will follow that pardon of sin is to be had without any prayer which is a great and grosse absurdity for we have no promise of any good thing from God unlesse we pray for it Math. 7.7 Ask saith our Saviour and you shall have Here the promise is made to him that asketh But on the contrary ye have not James 4.2 because ye ask not saith St. James James 1.7 Now when men are unregenerate they cannot pray in faith and therefore as St. James saith shall obtain nothing of the Lord. And after they are regenerated and do believe these men will not allow them to pray for the pardon of their sins According therefore to their doctrine pardon of sin is to be had without any true prayer The grossnesse and absurdity of which conceipt who seeth not that is not stark blind in spirituall things Fourthly it hath been Reaso n 4 constantly taught untill this time not only by others but even by those also that would not allow the Lords prayer to be used as a prayer that it is a platforme of prayer according whereunto we are all of us to frame and form all our prayers at least wise for the matter of our petitions Now as I have shewed already Christ therein taught his Disciples to pray for the forgivenesse of their sins It it a novellous conceipt therefore and upstart errour to hold That the Children of God ought not to pray for the pardon of their Sins SECT V. The severall Causes or reasons why the Children of God are to pray for the pardon of their sins Object But say these men when we believe in Christ our sins are pardoned we are therefore to praise God for this his mercy but not to pray for it seeing we have it already for then we should take Gods name in vaine Answ 1 But I answer them that the promise of pardon of sin at leastwise for the continuance of it is not made unto one individuall act of faith onely but to perseverance and continuance in the faith for so we are given to understand Heb. 10.38 Heb. 10.38 The just shall live by faith but if any man draw back my soule shall have no pleasure in him But saith the Apostle We are not of them that draw back unto perdition but of them that believe perseverantly to the saving of the Soul And before in the third Chapter the same Apostle hath told us See also Joh. 8.31 verse 14. that we are made pertakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence sted-fast unto the end After therefore we are justified and absolved from our sins yet we are to pray still for the pardon of them because as Amesius and other of the Learned protestants generally say Continuatio hujus gratiae est nobis necessaria the continuance of this grace is necessary for us For as it is not to one individuall act of faith onely so neither of repentance nor of prayer but to perseverance and continuance in all these that God hath promised and granted pardon This is to seen in David for after his sins were pardoned and he the true Child of God yet he prayeth still remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions And after David was pardoned for Nathan upon his repentance said unto him the Lord hath taken away thy sin 2. Sam. 12.13 yet he prayed most earnestly for pardon Psal 51. We are still to pray for the pardon of our sins Ut sensus et manifestatio hujus gratiae magis magisque percipiatur prout singularia peccata postulant that the sense and manifestation of this grace may be more and more
that time to wâ—t when they shall be converted unto the Lord the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none Jer. 5.30 Our blessed Saviour also speaketh thus unto the Church his spouse Behold thou art all fair my love and there is no spot in thee Cant. 4.7 That I may answer these things in order first I grant that if God did not at all see any sin in his people he could not be angry with them but the Testimonies here alledged do not prove this for first the Lord is said to have beheld none iniquity in Jacob and to have seen no perversenesse in Israel to wit at that time when Balaam uttered these words non absolutè sed comparativé not absolutely none at all but none in comparison of those foule and fearfull sins of Idolatry sorcery and the like abominations to which the Heathen were addicted and whereunto Balaam by his wicked counsell which he gave afterwards to Balack drew many of the Israelites to their destruction those I mean which committed adultery both spirituall and corporall and hoped by this meanes to have insnared them all that so they might have been open to Gods Judgments and have been destroyed by the King of Moab Again the Lord is here said not to have beheld any iniquity in Jacob nor to have seen perversenesse in Israel with a revenging eye to condemn them or to cast them off for it and to deliver them up as a prey into the hands of their malicious enemies but otherwise he saw all the iniquity and all the evil that they did with the eye of his providence from which nothing is concealed nor lyeth did for as the Apole saith All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb 4.12 And as Solomon saith Pro. 15.3 the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil with a loathing of it and the good with an approbation of it Those therefore who hold that the Lord doth not at all behold any iniquity in his Children must either deny their sins to be evill or else â—ay that they do not sin at all directly contrary to most expresse and plain places of holy Scripture Ecles 7.20 For as Solomon saith There is not a just man upon the earth that doth good and sinneth not See also Rom. 3.10 James 3.2 1. Joh. 1.8 Thus I have answered the first Testimony of holy Scripture admitting that the words are to be translated as they are commonly read in our English Bibles and as they are by this Author alledged But the truth is they are so rendered by some most learned and judicious Interpreters that there cannot so much as any shew or colour of an Objection be raised from them to prove that God seeth not any iniquity in his Children For thus do they translate them he hath not beheld wrong against Jacob nor hath he seen grievance against Israel For the exposition and justification of which interpretation I referr my reader to a large and most learned dissertation of Mr. Gatakers upon this very place of holy Scripture which I saw not untill I had finished this Question Hujusmodi dicta non sunt intelligenda de Simplci cognitione Dei quasi non ea amplius nórit sed de cognitione judiciali ad paenam Zauch lib 3. de natura Dei Chap. 2. q. 14. The next Scripture that is alledged that is Jer. 50.20 Where he saith At that time the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none the meaning whereof is that there shall be none to be imputed unto them because it shall be forgiven them and the sins of Juda shall not be found that is to be charged on them or rise up against them to their condemnation because they shall be justified and absolved from them In the same sense doth our Saviour speake of his Church †Cant. 4.7 Behold thou art all fair my love and there is no spot in thee for this is not spoken of the spotles purity and perfect beauty or fairnesse of the Church by inherent sanctification but of perfect righteousnesse imputed unto her in her justification for although none of the Children of God be perfectly fair in themselves but defiled in part with many spots of sin while they live here yet being considered as they appear before Gods tribunall clothed with Christs righteousnesse so they are all fair in Him and there is no spot in them which is not washed away in his blood in regard of the imputation or guilt thereof Hereunto I add further that the holy Scripture speaketh sometimes of the Church of Christ not only as shee beginneth to be purified from sin here in this life but as holinesse shall be perfected in her in the world to come at what time shee shall be all fair not only by justification but internal sanctification also so that no spot of sin shall at all adhere unto her Even now while Christs spouse so journeth here on earth he beginneth by his word and spirit to sanctifie and cleanse her from her spots and impurities but when her warfare shall be ended he will present her unto himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrincle or any such thing Eph. 5.26.27 but holy and without blemish The next thing which I find alledged to prove that the Children of God are not to fast nor pray that God would turn away his indignation from them are certain places of Scripture which say expresly that God is never angry with is people Isa 27. Fury is not in me Isa 54.9 As I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth so have I sworn that I will be no more wroth with thee nor rebuke thee Whereunto I answer that there is a two fold anger the one of a revenging Judge that executeth justice strictly according to mens deeds and deserts the other of a loving Father who is angry with his Children when they do evil for their correction and amendment Of the former the Lord speaketh to his Church when he saith Fury is not in me and I will be no more wroth with thee nor rebuke thee that is in wrathfull revenge to satisfie my justice on thee For otherwise the Lord saith plainly As many as I love I rebuke and Chasten be Zealous therefore and amend Rev. 3.19.20 Thus the Lord is angry with his own Children with the anger of a Father that is not out of hatred or any ill will but out of mere love tendring their good and reclaiming them from evil that they may not perish but be saved eternally So he was angry with Moses and Aaron at the waters of Meribah as I have shewed before And of this anger David speaketh when he saith His anger indureth but a moment Psal 30.5 And again the Lord is mercifull and gratious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy
profession of faith in him as the true believers did Now they tell us that the Apostle speaketh of these counterfeit and not of true believers when he saith for this cause many are sick and weak among you and many sleep for say they could such impious and wicked Beasts be the members of Christ who came drunk to the Lords Table Answ I answer It is not impossible that a Child of God drinking Wine liberally with others at their love feasts might as well be overtaken with drunkenness as Noah was whom St. Peter calleth a righteous man But suppose that they were all wicked hypocrites that thus prophaned the holy Sacrament of Christs body and blood 2 Pet. 2. yet seeing the Church and people of God at Corinth tolerated them in their Communion and did not censure them for this foul fault therefore Gods judgement might break in among them all by an epidemical disease and take away some if not many of the better sort as well as all the Israelites fled before their enemies and divers of them were slain for the sin of A chan Josh 7. And that this was the case of the Corinthians whom God visited some of them with death and others with sickness and weakness the words immediately following in the Apostle do manifest when he saith for if we would judge our selves we should not be judged But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World Tâ—ese words do evince that St. Paul speaketh in this place of true beleeâ—ers and not onely of counterfeit hypocrites First This iâ— evident from his scope in uttering these words which was to comfort not onely those which were living and yet lying under Gods judgements but others also for the death of their dear friends who were thus taken away for prophaning the holy Sacrament of Christs blessed body and blood The former of these might think thus with themselves seeing this our sickness and weakness is a judgement of God upon us what hope can we have in him And the latter might say seeing God hath taken away our friends in judgement alas what is become of their souls The Apostle to comfort them against such sad thoughts as these telleth them that this was indeed a judgement upon them but a judgement onely of castigation for their reformation that so they might escape the judgement of eternal condemnation in the world to come Again St. Paul includeth himself in the number of those that are thus judged For he saith not that those men onely that came irreverently to the Lords Table were judged but when we are judged speaking of himself and all believers we are chastened of the Lord. Rom. 8.1 Thirdly He informeth us how happy the end and issue of this judgement of castigation is to all Gods children It becommeth a meanes God sanctifying it unto them for this end to free them from condemnation which is the portion and proper and peculiar priviledge of the godly and not common to them with the wicked 4. lastly Therefore he opposeth the persons that are thus judged unto the world It is not possible therefore that St. Paul should speak only of wicked hypocrites when he saith For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many sleep For such wicked ones belong unto the World and are no true members of Christ nor of his Church which consisteth of Saints that are gathered out of the World 3. lastly I would know of these men whether a Father doth not correct his children and a Schoolmaster his Scholars for their faults To deny this is to contradict all men and the truth it self For a Child when he groweth wanton and stubborn against his Father and a Scholar when he playeth the trevant and neglecteth his book do both of them deserve the Rod of correction Their faults which they have committed are causa meritoria the meriting cause of their correction though the final cause or the end of such correction is their reformation And even so also by a like reason do Gods children when they forget their duties and wax wanton against their heavenly Father deserve to be corrected by him for their amendment Object But here it may be said God correcteth his children in love for their good Answ Now what Can they by their sins be said to deserve good and not rather evil For answer hereunto I say that although the afflictions of Gods children are good unto them in their end and issue whereunto they are sanctified and directed by God In which regard Gods Children do say with David Heb. 12.11 It is good for me that I have been afflicted for before I was afflicted I went astray but now do I keep thy Law Psal 119. Notwithstanding as the Apostle saith and as we feel in our own experience our afflictions in themselves are grievous and bitter to the flesh And therefore as it is said of him that cannot rule his appetite that he deserveth to fall into the hands of the Physitian who by bitter Pills or potions purgeth away the ill-humors which his delicious Cups and sweet morsels bred in his body So when Gods children do satisfie their carnal lusts and surfet upon sin they deserve the bitter pills of affliction which when the heavenly Physitian of their souls shall administer unto them they have cause with Job not only to be patient and contented but thankfully to submit themselves unto his corrections and to say Job 2.10 Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil Ye see then that the afflictions of Gods Children are evil in themselves though good in their end The force of this reason Object our adversaries do think to avoid by saying that a Father is indeed angry with his children when they offend him and correcteth them for their faults But so doth not God to his children for he is never angry with any of them because Christ hath born all their sins and pacified his Fathers wrath for ever This Objection I shall not need here to answer Answ for I have removed it in the former Question where I shewed that Christ hath freed us from Gods revenging wrath which would have overwhelmed us in perdition and destruction everlasting but not from his paternal indignation which tendeth to the furtherance of our sanctification and salvation And therefore it would not be for our good but to our hurt if he should not thus cause us to feel his anger when we forget our selves and go a stray from him I would know also wherefore God calleth himself our Father and us his children but because he dealeth with us as a Father doth with his children as in other respects so particularly in nurturing us for our sins when we offend him by them as the Apostle expresly sheweth Heb. 12.5 6 7 8. This that I have said cannot but be of singular use unto the children of God when they
tell him what both I my self and some others heard one speak with great rejoycing whose conversation was none of the best We never had the Gospel preached until now Christ is freely offered unto all nothing is required of us free Grace is preached What will you say to those who hearing you preach thus do turn the grace of God into lasciviousness and say That they know they shall be saved by their Faith in Christ who is freely offered them without any conditions what you and those who preach thus will say I know not but sure I am St. Paul saith to them and to all Prove your selves whether ye be in the Faith And then he sheweth how this is to be done 2 Cor. 13.5 Know you not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates As if he should say Whosoever they are that believe in Christ they have him dwelling in them by his Spirit hereby therefore shall you know that ye are true believers even by his spirit whereof ye are made partakers For as St. John also saith Hereby we know that he abideth in us 1 Joh. 3.24 by the Spirit that he hath given us He therefore that upon good proof and experience findeth that the Spirit of God is in him mortifying his carnal lusts and affections and renewing him in holiness may be assured hereby that he is by Faith ingrafted into Christ and that he shall be saved by him For it is not flesh and blood that worketh such an inward and universal change in us but the spirit of God by Faith in Christ Jesus And of this St. Iohn assureth us when he saith This is our Victory that overcommeth the World even our Faith As if he should say it is our Faith in Christ 1 Ioh. 5.4 whereby we are made pertakers of the spirit of God which he merited for us who believe in him that makes us Conquerors of the World that is of those sinful lusts that raign in worldly men and not any power or strength of our own Where sin therefore is thus conquered there is true faith but in whomsoever sin still raigneth 't is in vain for him to boast of his faith or of the free grace of God for as yet he can lay no claim thereto Thus Mr. D. I have proved that our love to the Brethren and other effects of the spirit which are never seperated from true Faith do bear witness to our Faith and testifie the truth of it not only before men Confer with a sick man Pag. 8. as you say but inwardly also to our souls and consciences which you must not deny if you remember what you have written concerning the reconciliation of Man to God pag. 57 59 60. for there you say that joy in the Holy Ghost and the love of God and of our Brethren and new obedience are inseperable Companions to our reconciliation by Faith Every one of these therefore must needs assure us of our reconciliation to God unless you will say that a man may know that he hath faith but cannot know either that he rejoyceth in God or that he loveth God and his Children or that he obeyeth his word and Commandements of which I can see no reason seeing faith is as spiritual supernatural and as hard to be known as any of these For my part I cannot conceive how the souls of those that are reconciled unto God should have such abundant joy as you speak of be filled even with floods of comfort and have no knowledge nor feeling thereof at all And though the true love of God cannot alwayes so easily be seen and discerned by every one in whose heart it is as such superabundant joy and rejoycing may yet if he that loveth God could not know that he doth so our Saviour would not have said unto Peter Lovest thou me neither could Peter have answered as he did Yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee â—â—h 21.15 â—sal 116.1 Nor could David so confidently have said as he doth I love the Lord because he hath heard my voyce and my supplications Now as a true Christian may know that he loveth God so may he also that he truly repenteth and liveth not according to his fleshly lusts but according to Gods Commandements and is therefore his Servant For else how could Iob have said Iob 42.6 Psal 116.6 that he abborred himself and repented in dust and ashes Or how could David have said Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant and the Son of thine Handmaid It will be worth the while also to take further notice what Mr. D. hath written concerning the love of God and the keeping of his Commandements This Garment of love saith he is like the Garment of divers colours wherewithall the Kings Daughters which were Virgins were apparelled If a woman be seen in the street without a party coloured Garment it is concluded that she is either none of the Kings daughters or at least no Virgin so is that Ornament of love I say that thing wherewith all the people of God reconciled to him are adorned if we see a soul altogether stript of this Ornament we conclude they are not in the number of Gods people at least not reconciled Therefore the Holy Ghost concludes He that loveth not knoweth not God 1 Ioh. 4.8 And as on the affirmative he pronounceth Grace be on all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Eph. 6.24 So also on the negative If any love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 Now with the love of God is joyned the keeping of his Commandements as an inseparable effect thereof This is the love of God that we keep his Commandements 1 Joh. 5.3 If ye love me keep my Commandements 1 Iohn 14 15. If a man love me he will keep my words Vers 23. Christ entering into the soul shall drive out whatsoever is prophane and draw up the soul by the cords of love unto new obedience And to this place we refer hatred of sin love of vertue a godly sorrow for transgression committed revenge upon our selves for the things that are past and a jealous care for that which is to come Thus far Mr. D. From all which I pray you may not I infer and conclude both negatively that he who liveth in sin and loveth the World and the things thereof is destitute of the true love of God and as yet can have no assurance of salvation and affirmatively that if a man can find that he sincerely and unfainedly loveth God and testifieth the truth hereof by obedience unto his Commandements he may hereby and not by faith only as Mr. D. will have it be assured of Gods love and of his own eternal salvation by Jesus Christ Doubtless St. Peter would have us thus to conclude 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8 9 10. and resolve upon it for he biddeth us make our Calling and Election sure
to Heaven For our Saviour hath told us plainly Mat. 5.20 That except our righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharises we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven These things which I have thus alledged being rightly considered any one may see that they do not preach the Gospel rightly and truly who do not presse the necessity of good works on the Consciences of their hearers SECT III. Why the Gospel seeing it prescribeth and requireth works is not to be called a Covenant of works as well as the Law Or how it can be said to be the Covenant of Grace BUt not unlikely some one or other will here say what difference is there then in this particular between the Law and the Gospel if both do urge the necessity of good works or why is not the Gospel to be called a Covenant of works and not of grace as well as the Law I will shew you the reason hereof 1. The Law is called the Covenant of works because works are therein required as causes antecedent to our justification and salvation or as that whereby and for which we are to be justified now so are they not in the Covenant of the Gospel as hath been sufficiently shewed before 2. Again The Law is also called the covenant of works because works are therein commanded and required but no power nor ability is ministred and given to perform them but the Gospel is the ministration of the spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 For it doth not only command us to repent and to bring forth the fruits of repentance which are good works but sheweth how we may be inabled to do this to wit by faith in Christ who hath merited not only forgiveness of sins but the spirit of sanctification for all that do believe in him Gal. 3.14 The Gospel therefore is a Covenant not of works but of grace not only because it teacheth that we are justified not of works but of grace but because by faith in the promises thereof we do obtain grace to repent and to do all those things which it requireth of us Lastly The Gospel is truly said to be the covenant of grace because it is such a covenant as is not only begun and entred into but altogether ratified and consummated by grace For first It was meerly and only of grace and mercy that God after we had broken and dissolved the former covenant of works or of the Law was pleased to enter into a new covenant of salvation with us the form whereof is revealed in the Gospel Secondly as I said before it is meerly of his grace that God inableth us to perform the conditions of this new covenant to wit Faith and Repentance which otherwise would become impossible unto us for we are as unable of our selves to repent and believe in Christ as we are to fulfil the whole Law It s true Faith and Repentance are in themselves easier conditions than the universal and most perfect obedience which the Law requireth But otherwise As it is as impossible for a man when he is dead to lift up a straw as an Oxe so while we are dead in trespasses and sins as we are all by nature Eph. 2 3. and of our selves it is as impossible for us to believe and obey the Gospel as it is for us to fulfill the Law until we be quickened by the spirit of Christ Thirdly It is of grace that we are kept and upheld by the power of God from falling away from him or that he keepeth us firm and fast in his Covenant for otherwise if he should leave us to our selves but a day or an houre we should break and altogether dissolve the covenant of the Gospel as we did the legal covenant Lastly It is of grace and not for any merit or desert of ours that we are in part for the present Eph. 2 8. Tit. 3.5 and shall hereafter perfectly and fully be made partakers of the benefits and blessings that are conveyed and passed over unto us in the covenant of the Gospel that is to say of justification adoption sanctification and glorification or eternal happiness in Heaven Thus the new covenant of the Gospel is wholly of grace and therefore deservedly it is called the covenant of grace and not of works as is the Law Now seeing all these things are acknowledged professed and constantly taught by us what cause hath Mr. S. or any other to say that we turn the Gospel into a covenant of works or to alledge against us that saying of the Apostle Rom. 11.6 if it be of works it is no more of grace It s true indeed if we did make works any cause of our salvation then we should make the Gospel a covenant of works as the Law was but this we do not but require them as necessary conditions to be performed by us in way of thankfulness to God for our salvation by Christ and for other necessary uses and not to merit any thing by them Quest 15. Whether the Orthodox Protestant Ministers who teach men to believe in Christ and to repent that they may obtain remission of sins and salvation by Christ or those who offer Christ and Remission of sins to all without requiring any thing of them either Faith or Repentance or â—eâ— obedience do preach Christ the more truly and more to the edification and consolation of their hearâ—rs SECT I. Where is shewed which is the right way of preaching the Gâ—spel IT is most certain that those who preach the Gospel as Christ himself and his Apostles did are they who preach Christ not only most truly but most to the edification and consolation of their hearers Now so do not they who offer Christ and Salvation by him to sinners as sinners or to sinners without any condition either of Faith or Repentance but who teach men to repent and believe in Christ that they may be saved or which offer Christ and Salvation by him to all the greatest sinners not excepted if they will lay hold of him and his merits by Faith and turn from their sins and practise Repentance That our Saviour did thus preach the Gospel St. Mark assureth us Chap. 1.14.15 For there he saith that after John was put in prison Jesus came into Galilee preaching the â—ospel of the Kingdom of God and saying the time is at hand repent ye and believe the Gospel I know not what they will here reply Object except perhaps they will say that John had before preached the Gospel to the Galileans and that they had received it Now they do not deny but grant and teach that after that men have received the Gospel then Faith and Repentance and new obedience are to be pressed upon them but not when Christ is first offered and tendered unto them But Johns preachings may be a sufficient confutation of such conceipts and surmises as this Answ for he began his Ministry with the Doctrine of
pertinent to the edification of the hearers To leave this therefore it remaineth now in the last place to be discussed whether of these two wayes maketh more for the comfort of mens souls and consciences Whereunto thus I answer That is solid and true comfort which is grounded on Gods infallible word and not on mens fancies that are deceiptful But such is the comfort which the old and Orthodox Protestant Doctrine affords the hearers thereof and not the Doctrine of our Novelists For we teach as the Gospel doth that though men have been never so great sinners in times past yet that all those sins of theirs are forgiven by God and blotted out when they do repent and believe in Christ We exhort therefore all that do thus repent and believe to be of a good comfort and not to be terrified with any fear but to rest assured that they shall undoubtedly be saved through the mercy of God in Jesus Christ Thus do we comfort true believers with the unfallible and unfailable promises of Gods word which are the only safe and sure ground of comfort Object But I know that our adversaries in this controversie will here be ready to say that they do so also For although they do teach and tell their hearers that they were reconciled unto God and justified freely by his grace before they did believe and therefore without faith as we have heard Mr. D. speak Yet they say that they can have no assurance hereof until they believe Thus they teach men to believe not that they may be justified but that they may be assured of their justification and salvation by believing Now I do willingly acknowledge that true faith Answ when it is wrought in a mans heart by Gods word and spirit is an undoubted testimony of his salvation For as St. John saith He that believeth hath the witness that is 1 Joh. 5.10 of his adoption and consequently of his salvation in himself But the faith which these men do teach is nothing else but a fancy For they will have wicked men D. his Conf. p. 20. 21. even when they do continue in their sins to believe that these sins of theirs are pardoned and tell them that by believing this they are assured of their justification before God and of salvation Now this is not true faith but detestable and most damnable presumption For faith is to believe the promi es of God and to rely upon them Psal 119.41 42. as on its foundation Now I would know whether God have any where made any promise of forgiveness to men while they continue in their sins surely no but on the contrary he threatneth them by his Prophet David and saith That he will wound the hairy scalpe of such as go on forward in their wickedness Psal 68.21 And our Saviour himself told his hearers That except they did repent they should all perish It is not possible therefore for any to believe truly Luc. 13.3 I mean that their sins are pardoned until they do repent Or if even then while they continue in sin they will needs perswade themselves as many do that their sins are pardoned and forgiven through Gods mercy and Christs merits this is nothing else but presumption Those therefore that preach thus instead of comforting their hearers as they perswade them and make them to believe do nothing else but delude and deceive them For true justifying faith is not for a sinner whilst he continueth in his sins to believe that they are pardoned which is false but to rely upon Christ for the pardon of them according to the promises of his Gospel and not according to his own fancy and fond imagination as Libertines and carnal Gospellers do That this is that faith whereby we obtain pardon of our sins and are justified before Gods tribunal St. Paul maketh manifest and plain when he saith All have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3.23 24 25. being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation by faith in his blood It is not then our believing that our sins are pardoned whereby we are justified but it is our faith in Christs blood that is our relying on the merits of his death and passion whereby we obtain the pardon of them even as many did in like manner by faith in Christ obtain the health of their bodies from our Saviour when they were miraculously cured by him Mah. 8.13 For when our Saviour required faith of them saying Mar. 9.23 be it unto thee according to thy faith Or if thou canâ—t believe all things are possible to him that believeth what is meant here by faith or what were they to believe That they were already made whole by Christ No for that was false but that Christ was of that power that he could and so gracious and good that he would heal them and hereupon to rely and put their trust and confidence in him that he would cure them This was their faith whereby they obtained the health of their bodies from Christ as is yet further to be seen in the Canaanitish Woman Mat. 9.21 For she said in her self that is in her heart she believed and was perswaded If I may but touch the hem of his Garment I shall be whole not I am already but I shall be whole That this was the faith whereby she obtained the health of her body our Saviours words to her do assure us For he turned him to her and said Daughter be of good comfort thy faith hath made thee whole Eâ—en so in like manner did we when we were dead in our sins obtain the spiritual health of our souls not by believing that our sins were pardoned but by perswading our selves that God of his rich mercy would pardon them according to the gracious promises which he hath made unto us in his Gospel and by relying upon him for the pardon of them For as Christ required faith of them for the obtaining of their bodily health so also doth he of us for the spiritual health of our souls As they therefore were cured of their corporal maladies by relying on Christ according to his word so shall we be saved eternally by relying on Christ according to the promises of his Gospel SECT IV. Two Objections answered AGainst this that I have said I finde two Objections raised which I do think good to remove that they may not lie as stumbling blocks in the way of any well-minded people to indanger them upon error First Some do reason thus If a man cannot believe that his sins are pardoned until he do repent then Repentance shall go before faith which they hold as an absurdity for whatsoever is not of faith is sin Rom. 14.23 saith St. Paul And again He telleth us That without faith Heb. 11.6 it is impossible to please God But hereunto I answer That
the Sonne of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God that is perseverantly unto the end What will Mr. D. except against this Will he say as Estius and the Papists do that the Apostles meaning is not that every or any ordinary faithful man knoweth certainly that he is translated from death to life and therefore in the state of salvation but that he speaketh generally in the person of all the faithful and is thus to be understood We Christians know by an assured faith that all good faithful people of which number we severally trust that we are are translated from death to life But surely this Expositiō of his est nimis jejuna is too hungry and leane For what comfort will it be to any one to know certainly that all good Christians and true believers are translated from death to life as long as he knoweth not whether he himself be of that number but doubteth hereof Again Shall we think or can we perswade our selves that St. John wrote so large an Epistle and used so many Arguments only to make known unto the faithful that all good Christians or that all good faithful people have their sins pardoned and are in the state of salvation which they never doubted of It s certain That St. John in writing this Epistle had a farther intent and that is to make it evident unto us by many infallible signes and tokens how we may know that we are the Children of God and that we are translated from death to life which is a matter of greatest comfort and rejoycing to a Christian heart that can be Mr. D. indeed for I would not willingly do him any wrong acknowledgeth that true charity is an assured signe or mark of grace received but for all that Cor a s pag. he holdeth that a Christian cannot certainly know that he hath charity whereby he may be assured that he is the Child of God But herein he joyneth with the Papists For they say as Estius doth quantum de dilectione fraternâ certi sumus tantum de isto look how much we are assured of our love to the Brethren so much are we assured of that also he meaneth that we are translated from death to life whereof he spake before Now he hath told us that this cannot certainly be known of us and so his meaning is as also Mr. D. that we cannot certainly but conjecturally only know that we love the Brethren Thus both Mr. D. and they would make St. John a silly and sory disputant as if he would prove ignotum per ignotius that which is unknown to us by another thing which is as much or more unknown for how can we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren if we have no more certain knowledge of this then of the former Our conjectural hope that we love the Brethren will only breed and beget in us an Opinion that we are translated from death to life but no knowledge thereof at all But on the contrary St. John saith not We hope we conjecture or we think but we know that we have passed from death to life And he proveth it as effectu tanquam signo hujus infallibili by an effect of this translation as an infallible sign thereof because saith he we love the Brethren Thus he maketh our love of the Brethren an evidence that we are in the state of salvation And hereupon St. Augustine writing on these words saith redeat unusquisque ad cor suum Si ibi invenerit charitatem fraternam securus sit quia transiit à morte ad vitam Let every one return unto his own heart if he doth there finde brotherly charity let him be secure because he hath passed from death to life Surely St. Augustine would never have spoken thus if he had thought that a Christian can have no certain knowledge of his love to the Brethren For it is not an uncertain hope or an opinion grounded on conjectures that can breed and beget any security in the soul Thus Christian Reader I have given thee a tast of Mr. D. his faculty in expounding of the Scriptures after his fancy More of his detorted Expositions I cannot acquaint thee with because I neither remember any more nor have his Book by me it being restored to the owner by him that lent it me long since And indeed I should both trouble my self and the Reader in rehearsing any more of them and this Treatise would swell and grow into too great a bulk whereby the weaker sort of Christians might be deterred and discouraged from reading of it for whose sake principally I have penned and published it that they may be setled and stablished in the truth which hath been formerly taught them and not be carried away with the deceiptfulness of novellous errors Here I made an end long since and thought to have proceeded no further but upon a second review of Mr. D. his three Treatises I started these Questions following which having discussed and determined I do here add unto the former hoping that they will not be altogether unacceptable unto not a few good Christians because the most of them may give some satisfaction unto them in divers doubts and scruples of Conscience wherewith their souls are exercised Quest 16. WHether all that are called of God and consequently that are his Children have alwayes and at all times their hearts ravished and replenished with surpassing joy and comfort Quest 17. Whether the Repentance which the Prophets taught and exhorted their hearers unto in the old Testament be the same which is taught in the new Quest 18. Whether there was any actual forgiveness of sin in the old Testament Quest 19. Whether there be not many things to be done by us before we can be saved Quest 20. Whether a man may not have a steadfast hope in God that he shall be saved who hath a care to keep Gods Law to do all things commanded and to shun all things forbidden to the uttermost of his power Quest 21. Whether a desire to believe be faith it self Quest 22. Whether he that useth the means of salvation constantly may not confidently expect and hope to be saved through Gods mercy in Christ Quest 23. Whether every one that he may be assured of the forgiveness of his sins and of his salvation is without reason or against reason to believe that his sins are pardoned and that God hath given him eternal life Quest 24. Whether he that hath oppressed defrauded or otherwise wronged his Neighbour in his goods and outward Estate can believe that his sins are pardoned before he hath made him restitution and satisfaction Quest 25. Whether the way for a wicked man to overcome and leave his sins be for him to believe that his sins are pardoned and forgiven him Quest 26. Whether every one that truly believeth in Christ be assured of salvation Quest 27. Whether every one who in his Conscience is not assured of his reconciliation to God and of his own salvation be a wicked man Quest 28. Whether a man can take no comfort in any of Gods promises unless he be first assured of his Faith FINIS