he in regard of his paternall displeasure after the committing of them m reconciled unto him until he repented of them and humbled himself for them But his reason 7. n Nothing in us can make God love us les because he loves us not for any thing in our selvs but in and through Christ Yet God doth love us also by his good leav for his own graces in us and our exercises of the same o The Father himself loves you saith our Savior to his Disciples because ye love me and believ that I came out from God 8. p If he should love us more or les as we sin more or les he should be as man And in some things he is as man for q man bears Gods image and r a good man resembles God God is in somethings as a natural father himself saith it s As a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth those that fear him Yea in this particular he is like a discreet parent who tho he love his child deerly as wel when he doth amisse as when he doth well yet is he not so wel pleased with him nor can take that delight in him when he seeth him take some evil course as otherwise he might and should yea therefore is he then angry with him because he loves him and chastiseth him for this end to reclaim him from the same Thus the Antinomians themselves confes that God caried himself toward his in the times of the Old Testament And the like Christ himself professeth of himself in the New Testament t As many saith he as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent To these may be added those other his assertions concerning Faith 1. a Faith is truly and simply this a being perswaded more or les of Christs love And what prophane wretch almost is not prone enough hereunto or may not nourish such a perswasion more or les upon groundles grounds we may wel say of such perswasions as himself elswhere of desires b Who is there that have not a desire All the World of common believers are carried on by this principle of a desire and are they not by the like principle of a perswasion 2. c Men cannot believe too suddenly Yes they may believ too sodainly as did Simon the sorcerer suretoo soon and if too soon then too sodainly presume and be perswaded they may of Christs love if that be faith 3. e None can beleev too hastily on Jesus Christ Tru. but to beleev on Jesus Christ and to have some perswasion more or les of Christs love are divers things 4. f We ought not to stay the exercise of our Faith for repentance or humiliation or any other grace As much as to say beleev we may tho we do not repent directly contrary to g Christs own and h his Apostles method Yea but can we have tru faith then without repentance and without any other grace 5. i None ought to qestion whether they beleev or no Yet the Apostles incite men to try their faith and the sincerity of it both k Paul and l James 6. m In the Gospel all are immediately called to beleev To day if ye wil heare his voice Were they called on so in the Gospel and were they not called on in like manner under the Law I suppose those words were the n Psalmists before they were the o Apostles And are not men called upon in the Gospel to repent immediately as wel as to beleev p Paul was mistaken sure if it were not so and our Saviour himself saith q Repent and beleev 7. r Christ commands to beleev and this is his commandement that we should beleev in the name of his Son Jesus Christ Now commands of this nature must be obeyed not disputed Gods servants do not reason their duty out first with themselves but fall to doing as they are commanded And doth not Christ command s to repent as wel as to beleev yea doth he not t command first to repent and then to beleev for in that order his words run And had this Autor but writ or red out the text he cites he had found somewhat more then faith in it u This is his command that we beleev in his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another as he gave us commandement But why commands of this nature is not the commandement of repentance and charity and conversion and humiliation of the same nature with that of faith and belief or are there any of Gods Commandements then that because not of this nature may be disputed and not obeyed for some such matter do these terms of restriction import to wit that some of Gods commands are of that nature that they must be obeyed and not disputed others of that nature that they may not be obeyed but disputed No servant indeed of God ought to reason his duty why God should command him to do this or that either with God or with himself but when he doubteth what it is that God enjoyneth him he may x examine and search what the good will of God is that he may not be mistaken in it and so think that he hath done what he should when he hath done nothing les like those that y thought they did God good service when they did that that he utterly abhorred and when they have done what they supposed they should do they may without wrong or disparagement to their Master unles the Apostle were mistaken z try and examine their work whether it were so done as it should be Yea but saith this Autor 8. a We ought no more to question our faith which is our first and foundation graee then we ought to question Christ the foundation of our faith 9. b I find not any in the whole cours of Christs preaching or the disciples when they preached to them to beleev asking the qestion whether they beleeved or no or whether their faith were tru faith or no I find one saying c I beleev Lord help mine unbelief but not Lord whether do I believ or no and d Lord increase my faith but not Lord whether is this tru faith or no It would be a strange qestion to ask the Master of the feast whether his dainties were reall or a delusion would not such a question disparage him for a sorcerer So in the things of the Spirit to be over-jealous of the truth of them as in my tempted poor souls are doth not become the faithfulnes of Jesus Christ Why Faith should be called the first and foundation grace I know not tho e many of our Divines so speake I suppose with f others and without prejudice to any of contrary judgement that as there is the * seed and spawn of all sin together in mans heart from the time of his
naturall birth so there is the seed of all grace sown together in mans soul at the very first instant of his spirituall new birth and that faith is a branch of sanctification as all other graces of the like nature are But to let that pas a man may qestion his faith and yet not qestion Christ for Christ may be Christ tho this or that party have no share in Christ or to use his description of faith be not perswaded more or les that Christ loves him a man tho he qestion not the foundation it self yet he may qestion whether he have built on it or beside it and so whether that be a foundation unto his building or no And I make no qestion but that many that pretend to believ yea that are perswaded they do so and wil not easily be beaten of from that their perswasion and stick not to compare for belief with the best yet had need to have their faith tried and may wel have it qestioned as wel by others as by themselves Yea we find in Scripture examples and instances of such as might wel have qestioned whether they beleeved aright or no and whether the faith they made profession of were tru or no g Simon the sorcerer sure might have done wel to qestion and try the truth of his faith nor might those resembled by h the seed sowen in the rockie ground but wel have done the like by theirs as also those i who tho they are said to believ in Christ yet Christ himself would not trust them and those vain k ones James speakes of that had a fruitles and baren faith Nor were this to aske the master of the feast whether his dainties were meer delusions or to make our blessed Saviour for he I suppose is the feast master he meaneth a sorcerer but to enqire whether we our selves have not been deluded when in some night vision such as the enthusiasts of our times too much hanker after we have with l Lucians sowter dreamed of a great feast and of such his dainties and of communion with him in them when as all hath been nothing but m a nightly delusion They did not qestion the truth of God that sought for wisdome whereby to discern between Gods messages brought by his Prophets and those n dreamers dotages who yet pretended to be sent by God as wel as the best and would not stick to demand of Gods Prophets o when the Spirit of God went from themselves to speak unto them Nor did the Apostle Paul when he called upon the Corinthians to p try their faith nor the Apostle John when he called on the faithful to q try the Spirits whether they were of God or no thereby incite them to qestion Christ the foundation of faith or to qestion Gods Spirit the worker of it but to be wise and wary in discerning between truth and falshood between sound and unsound between faith wel grounded and deceitful fancies and groundles presumptions between teachers delivering the doctrine of life and grace according to the word and such as warping from that rule yet pretended to have the Spirit Tru it is indeed that mans weaknes in the apprehension of the work of Gods Spirit in him may make the truly godly without ground or good cause sometime to qestion the truth of it in them but there is no ground or just cause for any thence to infer that no man ought to qestion whether he believe or no or whether his faith be tru or no every one otherwise should be bound to presume that he doth beleev and that his faith is tru faith For not to infist on that which we lately touched on that when the Apostle called upon some to try their faith he presumed that some such faith there was as would not go for currant but would proov r unsound when it came to the touch or the test and when he useth more then once that discriminating term of s faith not counterfeit or unfained he implies therein that there may be counterfeits and there are indeed not a few as of Christianity so of faith Not to insist hereon I say this Autor himself acknowledgeth that t there may be a kind of faith as in them that believed in the parable and in time of temptation fell away and yet not in the power of Christ nor in the life of the Spirit and that v such faith tho a ded faith may go far in resemblance carying the image of something like the new man and whether think we then is such faith to be questioned or no or wil this Autor say that for those that have such a faith to call their own faith in qestion is to qestion Christ himself But indeed according to this Autors ground there is no need for any man to qestion what manner of faith his faith is since that without any such ado whatsoever his faith be he may have interest in Christ For saith he 10. x For the way of comming by a right or purchasing an interest in this righteousnes or salvation wrought by Christ it is held forth without price or works onely for taking and receiving and believing on all being wrought to our hands so as this is as good a ground for one to belief on as another without exception y the covenant being such as was established with Noah Gen. 9. 11. nothing reqired on mans part and z this being a Scripture way he would upon these principles leav a soul Where to set aside his terms of purchase and price as if ought in that kind were by any of us attributed to faith or repentance or any work of ours and yet herein he contradicteth himself when he telleth us one while that salvation is held out a freely by the Prophet Esay in that phrase without price and yet an another while that b all the ministery of the Prophets did run in this strain as if Gods love were to be had in way of purchase by duty and doing Nor to resume again what hath been formerly said of believing and receiving another manner of matter then this man makes of them And that the like may be charged on him to that he chargeth upon the Legalists to wit c propounding to men the promises of the Gospel with such conditions of repentance d and sorrow for sin c. which because they are things that they e can not do f in steed of drawing a soul unto Christ put it further of from him for may it not as wel be objected to him as it is by him to them that he professeth indeed to make an offer of free grace and free promises but he propounds them so clogged with conditions of receiving and taking believing on that these being such as men are not able to do of themselves g they dare not meddle with them until they be prepared by
with God 5. It is as absurd to imagine that ' Paul preached not as wel repentance as faith to the Jayler because there is no expres mention of repentance in the Text as to suppose that Peter preached not as wel faith as repentance to the Jews because in his Sermon there is no expresse mention of it or that our Saviour preached not faith but repentance onely in his first Sermons because * Matthew makes mention of this latter alone what if I should ad or that the twelv preached not faith as wel as repentance because Mark saith no more but that p they went out preaching that men should repent Such negative arguments proov nothing 6. If we shall demand of Paul what his constant cours of teaching was in his preaching of the Gospel and publishing the covenant of grace he wil tel us that it was the very same both for matter and method that his master began with and not one way to some and another way to others as this Autor seems q sometime to imply but the same for substance both to Jew and Gentile r Testifying saith he both to Jews and Gentiles s Repentance towards God and t Faith on Christ and he putteth repentance therein following u his Masters method in the front And yet more fully relating both his commission from Christ and his putting of it in execution for the former he saith that x Christ sent him to the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turn them from darknes to light and from the power of Satan to God that they might receiv remission of sins and a share among those that are sanctified by faith on Christ and for the latter that y out of obedience to Christs command and in pursuance of this his commission which I suppose he understood as wel as this Autor and kept as close to it as any Antinomian of these times yea as any that ever preached Christ z he preached or published both to the Jews and to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God doing works beseeming repentance such as might shew them to be truly penitent and their repentance to be sound and sincere And thus Pauls preaching to the last comes home to John Baptists preaching at first and is the very same you see with that which this Autor makes to be the very character of a Legall Teacher Oh but the pressing of these things as a duties without which a man can have no interest in Christ that is it that argues a legal Teacher I might for warrant hereof alledge that of our Saviour as b Vnlesse you believ that I am he you shal die in your sins so c unlesse ye also repent ye shall perish and that of the Autor to the Hebrews d without holines no man shal ever see God but that Mr. Eaton e tels us that that of our Saviour f Blessed are the pure in heart for they shal see God is not Gospel but Law tho therein I beleeve him not and that of John g He that saith he is in Christ is h indebted is obliged to it as a debt as a duty for what is duty but du debt to walk as Christ walked to live as he lived But I wil insist onely upon Paul as zealous and as precise a preacher of free grace as ever any he albeit he affirm confidently that i there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ yet he subjoyneth withall and that is I suppose a qalification at least k who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit and yet further a litle after l Therefore brethren we are m debtors we stand obliged and bound to it as a du debt if ever we look to be saved not to live after the flesh but as before he said to be thence supplied here to live after the Spirit and that this is his meaning and it is in nature of a condition on mans part reqired it is apparent by what followes n For if ye live after the flesh ye shal die but if by the Spirit ye mortifie the deeds of the body ye shal live Which tho it be pure Gospel and life even upon such terms propounded free grace for no Law ever promised life unto mortification of the flesh no more then the sight of God to such imperfect purity as our blessed Saviour above spake of yet if the Minister of Christ shall in these daies pres he shal not escape the odious and opprobrious brand of a deep and down-right Legalist Howbeit we need not be ashamed a whit of our teaching when we can vouch such precedents as these are for it in regard either of this or any the like aspersions or ignominious terms that presumptuous and self-conceited persons shal endeavor to fasten upon us and must light upon them as well as upon us who have in their teaching taken that cours before us and with whom if we must be deemed erroneous we shal not blush so to be but shal o esteem it p a grace to be disgraced with them and for doing as they did To draw all to a hed if the Gospel propound and promise pardon of sin and salvation q without any condition at all as this Autor tels us required on our parts and all conditions and qalifications which he is so r oft girding at destroy the freenes of grace then neither John the Baptist nor Christ nor the Apostles of Christ from the s first to the t last did any of them preach either Gospel or free grace and if the Gospel and free grace that this Autor and other his coasserters of free grace hold out to us be such as admits not nor acknowledgeth any such conditions or qalifications as have been above-recited then we may boldly conclude that it is another Gospel and another free Grace then ever John or Christ or his Apostles preached But this Autor a if he have erred in any thing he saith it is in filling out that Wine too freely which the Master of the feast if he mistake not hath bidden him saying Drink yea drink abundantly O beloved Can. 5. And b if he must erre he would erre rather with those that pas for Antinomians then with those that go for Legall Teachers c the former whereof he must prefer before the Latter for that they being jealous least free grace loose her â— cry down men to exalt Christ whereas those other being jealous lest bolines should be sleighted to exalt men cry down Christ and the danger here it seems therefore also he supposeth the lesse because d Free grace can not of it self tempt any to sin Where first for the filling out of this Wine TOO freely let me advise him in sober sadnes to be wel advised what he doth and to take heed how he contract the guilt of so
haynous an exces it is liqor too * precious to be wastfully spilt If the Master have choice Wine reserved for his reconciled friends that are willing tho before at ods yea at dedly fewd with him yet now to come in and entertain terms of amity with him and the servant shal pour out of it to dogs and swine or serv it out to sturdy rogues and idle vagrants at the dore such as either scorn and curs his Master or refuse all commerce and acqaintance with him tho invited thereunto because they like not his disposition nor can endure his demeanour I suppose such a servant would have litle thanks from his Master for his labour And had not this Autor clipt off the first words of the Text which he points us to for his warrant herein it would alone have been sufficient to check this his professed profusenes and have enformed him withall what manner of persons they are unto whom this Wine is to be dispensed Eat O friends f saith he and drink yea drink abundantly O beloved But what speciall warrant by revelation or enthusiasm matters now a daies much pretended he may profes to have for this I know not Wel I wot and am sure that neither the place alledged nor any other Scripture the onely sure touchstone we have now to try truths by for the Spirit speakes not but according to it doth or can warrant much les enjoyn any such exorbitant exces either in this particular or in ought els 2. For the crying down of Christ it is a foul and fals calumny which together with many others of the same stamp this Autor here would fasten on the faithful Ministers of Christ men as jealous of and zealous for the honour of Christ their Master I may boldly say it for their labours shew it as himself 3. It is true indeed that Free grace cannot of it self have such an effect as he speakes of but this brother may remember what a zealous preacher as g his name imports and assertor of Free grace telleth us that there are not wanting and those not a few that h turn Gods grace i into wantonnes or lasciviousnes and men may preach and publish free grace in that manner that they may by such their preaching pave a path to that foule abuse which that many of our Antinomian tenents do is to me beyond controversie and I shal leave it to the consideration of others religious and judicious to deem and determine whether some assertions scattered here and there in this discours do not warp too much that way among the rest whereof take these for a tast 1. k The promises belong to sinners as sinners l not as repenting or bumbled sinners Whereas our Saviour saith that m he came to call sinners to re pentance and to save consequently not all but penitent sinners onely for n unlesse they do repent he tels them expresly they shal perish 2. o All that ever received Christ reeeived him in a sinful condition Yet the Apostle enformes us that that faith whereby we receiv Christ for p to receiv him the Evangelist tels us is to believ on him is not an holy onely but q a most holy faith nor can a man be said to be in a sinful condition whose r heart is possessed of so holy an habite or disposition term it whether you please nor can the heart act to the receiving of Christ until it be thereof possessed For how can a man put forth an holy act while he remains stil altogether unholy 3. They are but weak beleevers and like melancholy people who think things far otherwise then they truly are right smoking Flax wherein there is more smoke then light more ignorance then tru discerning Which among other things t think poor souls that tho God be reconciled with them and love them at some times yet he may be provoked again angry again for new sins and failings and are then much troubled how to come at any peace again as they were before u they suppose they can not sin so as they do and yet not be accountable x and think that afflictions are sent upon them for their sins Yet the Apostle telleth the Corinthians that they might and did a provoke God by som unadvised courses and carriages and that b for some such Gods afflicting hand was upon them and I suppose God called them then to account But what is this but to encourage men freely to offend and sin without feare of offending of God or provoking him to wrath or being ever called to any account or chastised at all for it making God like a fond indulgent father an other Ely if not more regardles then c he of his childrens cariage not affected at all with it tho it be never so scandalous and disgraceful to their Christian profession Of the same or the like stamp is that which followeth tending to beat men off from being troubled at all for their sins as d David or e Peter were and from seeking to make up the breaches made between God and them by their sins and to make their peace again with him by their renewed practice of repentance 4. f All worship and spirituall obedience is to run in the way of this dispensation not for procuring love or peace with God nor for pacifying 5. g There is nothing but the taking in of the Law and accusings and condemnations of it that can trouble the quiet and peace of any soul for where there is no law there is no transgression and where there is no transgression there is no trouble for sin all trouble arising from the obligement of the Law which demands satisfaction of the soul for the breach of it and such a satisfaction as the soul knows it cannoe give and thereby remains unqiet as a debter that hath nothing to pay Yet David albeit h having from the mouth of God by a special expresse received a release from the condemnations of the Law was i troubled and that not a little for his sin if we may believ him or the Spirit of God speaking by him nor was that therefore the ground of his trouble for his sin nor is it the onely ground of such trouble that this Autor here affirms But proceed we 6. k No sin can make one les beloved of God Had he added but or les liked he had spoken full out in plain terms after the usuall Antinomian strain but he is somewat more cautions herein then some other Yet being a scholler he need not be minded of that distinction so common in the schools of a love of benevolence and a love of complacence tho God never loved David the les in regard of wishing wel to him for any sin committed by him yet was he not so wel pleased l with him when he committed some sins nor was