your heart as that they worke a seperation betwixt it and your Corruptions and therefore without doubt they are as Arrowes shot into your Conscience by the arme of the Almighty Mat. But alas Sir how can there be a seperation made betwixt my heart and my corruptions seeth they still remaine in me Min. Neighbour Mathias if you doe hate loath and abhorre your corruptions as you say you doe and would faine have them subdued as you say you would then beleeve it and make no question of it there is such a seperation made betwixt your heart and your sinnes as that they shall never seperate bebetwixt the Lord and your soule for hatred of evill saith that worthy Saint Doctor Sibbes is a sure and never failing Souls conflict p. 476 Character of a good soule wherefore I beseech you comfort your heart though by reason of the weakenesse of your faith your sinnes be not so subdued as you desire Mat. But alas Sir I feare I have no true faith at all Min. Why did not you tell me even now that you feared the direfull displeasure of God by reason of your sins Mat. Yea indeed Sir I feare he is sore displeased with me by reason of them Min. And doe you not beleeve that Jesus Christ by his obedience hath pacified his anger for you and so reconciled you unto him Mat. Sir I doe beleeve that Jesus Christ hath pacified Gods anger for all that doe beleeve and hath reconciled them unto him but Sir I feare that I doe not beleeve and therefore I feare I am not reconciled unto God Min. But tell me one thing truly Doe you desire to beleeve on the name of Jesus Christ and so be reconciled unto him Mat. Yea I doe desire it from the bottome of my heart Min. Then I beseech you leave off your weeping and let me tell you to your comfort that your desire to beleeve is faith indeed and your Perkins Graine of Mustard-seed p. 21. desire of reconciliation with God in Christ is reconciliation it selfe for any man that is throughly touched for his sinnes and unfainedly desires to have them pardoned and to be reconciled unto God God accepts as reeonciled and hence it is that Christ saith Blessed Mat. 5 6. are they which hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be satisfied and againe saith he If any Joh. 7. 38. man thirst let him come unto me and drinke so that although as yet you want firme and lively faith yet are you not altogether void of faith for you have the seed conception or bud of faith the immortall seed is cast into the furrowes of your heart therefore wait but a while using the good meanes to this end appointed and you shall see the leaves blossoms and fruit will shortly follow after Mat. But Sir how can these things be for if a desire of faith and reconciliation with God be faith and reconciliation indeed then surely every man and woman have faith and reconciliation with God for what man or woman is it that doth not desire it but I remember the Apostle Paul saith All men have not faith 2 Thess 3. 2. Minister I doe acknowledge that a man in Perkins graine of Mustard-seed p. 18 the state of nature may desire true happinesse as Balaam did who wished to dye the death of the righteous for indeed it is the property of nature to desire the preservation of it selfe but alas all such desires are but naturall desires whereas your desires I am confident are supernaturall desires Mat. I but Sir how shall I be sure that my desires are supernaturall Min. To the intent you may be sure of it I will shew you the true difference betwixt naturall desires and supernaturall desires and therefore I pray you consider that if a mans minde be blinde and his heart untouched and unhumbled then all his desires to beleeve and to be reconciled unto God can be no better then naturall desires and the reason is because that where the minde reveales not the will affects not and if the heart be not touched with so much feare and sorrow as doth loosen it from sinne and makes sinne the sowrest and Christ the sweetest and if there be not so much Humiliation as makes a man deny himselfe and to renounce his owne righteousnesse and performances and so to desire to be found cloathed with the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ there can be no supernaturall desires of faith and reconciliation with God in Christ but if a mans minde be enlightened and his heart touched and humbled as yours is then all his desires of beleeving and reconciliation with God in Christ must needs be supernaturall desires and the reason is because that where the minde is truly enlightened so that a man perceives his miserable estate by reason of his sins and his heart is truly touched cast downe and humbled it withdrawes it selfe from God as much as it can and therefore if there be any spirituall motions whereby the heart is lift up unto God they are without doubt from the Spirit of Perkins graine of Mustard-seed p. 20 God so that although such a heart dare not make out to Christ saith Doctor Sibbs yet is it In his preface to bruised Reed secretly upheld by the spirit of faith shewing it selfe in hidden sighs and groanes unto God and such persons as these saith Master Perkins as have Graine of Mustard-seed p. 38 this weake faith can say indeed That they doe beleeve their sins are pardonable and they doe seriously in their hearts desire that they were pardoned but as yet they cannot say they are without doubt pardoned and this I am confident is your condition Mat. But Sir I feare that my minde was never yet truly enlightened because I am so ignorant and I feare I was never yet truly humbled because I now see that I have not renounced mine owne righteousnesse Min. I pray you tell me was there not a time and that not long since that you did not know that which you now know neither concerning God nor concerning your selfe Mat. Yea indeed Sir I must needs confesse that before I hearkned to the advice of that friend I told you of and read that Booke which I mentioned before I neither knew any thing either concerning my miserable condition by reason of my sins nor yet of any remedy by meanes of Jesus Christ Min. Why then may you truly say with the man in the Gospell I was blinde but now I see for as sure as Jesus Christ did open his naturall eyes so sure hath he opened your spirituall eyes Mat. But alas I have such a small measure of knowledge that I feare my minde is not truly enlightened Min. For answer to this Objection I will onely tell you what a godly and judicious Divine saith and that is this Be not dismayed saith he at the small measure Rogers 〈◊〉 the Sacr◠p. 80. of thy knowledge so long as there
lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world not for faith and justification but from faith and justification then may he be assured that inherent righteousnesse wrought by the Spirit of Christ hath followed as a consequent and so consequently that he hath both the righteousnesse of justification and the righteousnesse of sanctification bearing witnesse either to other in their due place according to Gods owne order and as his owne distinct actions And now neighbour Simon I beseech you try your selfe by these things and know that if it hath been in any measure thus with you then you may be assured that you have truly beleeved on the name of Jesus Christ and are justified freely by his grace and sanctified by his Spirit and so are no formall or legall Professor but if it hath been in no measure thus with you but that you have laboured and endeavoured to live a godly and righteous course of life that so you might have a ground to build your faith upon that is upon your owne righteousnesse and performances if you have been ignorant of Gods righteousnesse as the Apostle Rom. 10. 3. saith the Jewes were and have gone about to stablish your owne righteousnesse as they did then you may be assured that you have not truly beleeved on the name of Jesus Christ neither are you justified nor sanctified but are in plaine tearmes a meere legall Professor Sim. Sir I must confesse that I have not heretofore been acquainted with these things and therefore I cannot truly say that I have done thus or that it hath been so with me but yet I cannot be perswaded that I have gone about to stablish mine owne righteousnesse for I know right well that when we have done all that we can we are but unprofitable servants and that a man is to be justified by the mercies of God and the merits of Christ and not by his owne workes and merits as the Papists hold Min. I but neighbour Simon I must tell you that it is one thing to say thus in words and to hold thus in judgement and another thing to doe it in effect and practice I meane in heart and conscience it is not enough for a man to thinke and be of opinion that he cannot be justified by his owne righteousnesse and performances for that is onely a worke of the judgement rightly informed and not a worke of the heart rightly reformed wherefore I doe admonish you to take heed that whilst you are a Protestant in opinion and profession you be not a Papist in effect and practice I meane in the inward disposition of your heart as I feare me too many both men and women in this City are for if I be not mistaken their very speeches and behaviour doe testifie that because they know and doe more then they do conceive others know and doe or because they are members of such a mans Congregation and so in a Church way as they call it therefore they trust in themselves that they are righteous as our Saviour said the Pharisees did Luke 18. 9. and yet if a man should say unto them as our Saviour did to the Pharisees Luke 16. 15. Ye are they which justifie your selves they would utterly deny it as you doe but to tell you plainly neighbour Simon your speeches and behaviour when you were with me the other day made me to feare that you were but a kind of a Pharisaicall Professor furely in your crowing over and undervaluing your honest neighbour Zacheus in comparison of your selfe you did too nearely resemble the proud Pharisee crowing over and undervaluing the humble Publican Luke 18. and in judging of him to be unfit and unworthy to come to the Lords Table you did too nearely resemble Simon the Pharisee mentioned Luke the 7. who when he saw that sinfull yet penitent and beleeving woman washing our Saviours feet with her teares and wiping them with the haires of her head he spake within himselfe saying This man if he were a Prophet would have knowne who and what manner of woman this is that hath touched him for she is a sinner and therefore I pray you consider of it Sim. But Sir this is somewhat strange that a man should put confidence in his owne righteousnesse and thinke he is thereby justified and yet not know it I would you could give me some signes of a mans doing so that so I may know whether I doe so or no. Min. Why truly I can give you no more evidenter a signe of it then that which I have already given you and that is in plaine termes a proud spirit for those men and women that doe truly beleeve that they are justified Rom. 3. 24 freely by Gods grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ they are the humblest people and the most free from spirituall pride of any people in the world and therefore the Apostle having fully proved free justification in respect of a mans selfe Rom. 3. 21 22 23 24 25 26. he breakes out in the next verse into this patheticall expression saying Where is boasting then it is excluded by what law of workes nay but by the law of faith I tell you neighbour Simon if a true Beleevers heart doe begin to swell because of his excelling others in gifts and parts he doth ere long give it a vent by saying to it in the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it But yet to the intent you may be the more fully convinced that you have put confidence in your owne righteousnesse I pray you answer me this question Did you ever finde it a hard matter to deny your owne righteousnesse to become truly poore in spirit to be broken off from confidence in your owne performances and to passe through them all to Jesus Christ I beseech you answer me truly from your heart Sim. Why truly Sir I must confesse I never thought my selfe guilty of any such thing Min. Why then beleeve it you are guilty of it for it is naturall for every man and woman when they leave off plodding towards Hell in the dirty path of sinne yet to goe on thitherward in the cleaner path of duty rested in when Satan cannot keepe a man from Christ by sinne then he labours to keep him from him by selfe if he cannot keep a man with his sinnes from flesh-pots in Aegypt then he labours to keep him from Canaan by losing himselfe and his soule in the wildernesse of his owne performances rested in assure your selfe that there is in all men naturally this frame of spirit never to come to Christ whilst they have any hopes that their owne performances will heale them therefore here they rest untill they see it bewaile it and pray against it and therefore if you never
truly have you ever gone to the Lord in prayer about your sins Mat. Yea indeed Sir I have of late divers times gone privately to prayer and have besought the Lord that he would be pleased for Jesus Christs sake to pardon my former sins and give me power to overcome my present corruptions but yet alas all in vaine for they doe still remaine with me Min. But doe you beleeve that your former sins are pardoned Mat. No surely Sir I cannot beleeve that so so long as my present corruptions doe still remaine unsubdued Min. Weepe not I pray you but consider that you have gone a wrong way to worke you would have your sinnes subdued before they be pardoned whereas the Lord doth first pardon sinne and then he gives power against sinne Mat. But Sir I have thought with my selfe that as when I was a childe and had by the committing of any fault displeased my Father he would at my intreating forgive me upon condition that I did so no more but if I committed the like fault againe then he would not forgive the former but reckon with me for them both even so I did conceive the Lord would deale with me Min. But did not you tell me that you did beseech the Lord to forgive you your sins for Christ Jesus sake Mat. Yea indeed Min. And why have you asked it for Christs sake Mat. Because he hath suffered death for my sinnes Min. And doe you noâ— beleeve that Christ by his death hath fully satisfied the Justice of God for all your sins Mat. Yea Sir I doe beleeve he hath Min. Why then doe you not beleeve that God for his satisfaction sake hath forgiven your sins Mat. Why Sir I doe beleeve it so long as I doe continue obedient unto God in doing his Will and not transgressing his Commandments Min. And can you not beleeve it any longer then you doe so Mat. No indeed Sir Min. Why then you doe not beleeve that God pardoneth your sins for Christs sake but for your owne sake not for Christs obedience sake but for your owne obedience sake Mat. Indeed Sir I cannot tell what to say to that Min. Well neighbour Mathias as you have besought the Lord to pardon and forgive you your sinnes for Christ Jesus sake doe so still but withall beleeve that he hath done so according to your Petition yea and that absolutely and not conditionally as you have done and answerably as you doe so you shall be sure to finde and feele your sinnes mortified and subdued doe but beleeve that you are washt by the Blood of Christ from the guilt of sinne and you shall be sure to finde that you are cleansed by the Blood of Christ from the filth of sinne let a man saith Doctor Preston but beleeve the On the new Cov. the promise of pardon in the Blood of Christ and the very beleeving the pardon will be able to cleanse his heart from dead workes for that faith which doth lay hold on Christ crucified saith another godly Divine doth Dyke on the Sacrâ—ment p. 292. fetch a Crucifying vertue from him whereby the body of corruption is enfeebled and weakned Mat. O but Sir I feare I shall not beleeve that my sins are pardoned so long as they remaine unsubdued Min. If you will not beleeve that your sins are pardoned till they are quite subdued then will you not beleeve it whilst you live for so long as you live here you shall finde and feele some remainders of sinfull corruptions unsubdued though you doe beleeve and if you doe not beleeve you shall not have them subdued at all by the sanctifying Spirit of Christ Indeed it is possible that after much striving against your corruptions in your owne strength you may see there is no strength in you to subdue them as you would and may thereupon goe unto Christ by Prayer for grace and power to leave sinne and doe better and so live upon Christ that you may live upon your selfe I say you may goe unto Christ for power to doe your worke that so you may earne your wages and it is possible you may hereupon grow in legall righteousnesse as the stony and thorny ground seed sprung up and increased much and came neare unto maturity and yet this not be the worke of the sanctifying Spirit of Jesus Christ wherefore I beseech you goe not this way to worke doe not seeke to have the righteousnesse of sanctification infused into you before you seeke to have the righteousnesse of Justification imputed unto you and so as much as in you lyeth to goe about to pervert the Lords owne order and method Doe you not remember how I told my neighbour Simon that the Lords order and method in justifying and sanctifying a sinner is First to justifie him by imputing the righteousnesse that is inherent in Christ unto him and enabling him to apprehend it by faith and then to sanctifie him by infusing of righteousnesse into him by his Spirit and this is the method which the Prophet Micah proclaimes by way of admiration saying Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Here is the righteousnesse Micah 7. 18. of Justification and then in the next Verse he proclaimes the righteousnesse of Sanctification saying He will turne againe he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities c. And this method the Prophet David was well acquainted with and therefore in the first Verse of the 51. Psalme he beseeches the Lord According to the multitude of his mercies to blot out his transgressions and then in the tenth ver he saith Create in me a cleane heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Wherefore I beseech you againe and againe to acquit your selfe with this way and endeavour to goe on in it Mat. O Sir that I could doe so for surely I should thinke my selfe a happy man if the Lord would both pardon mine iniquities and subdue them for truly Sir I have lately had in my heart such a deale of feare terrour of the direfull displeasure of God and of Death and Hell for want of being assured that my sinnes are pardoned and I doe so hate loath and abhor those corruptions which are still in me that I verily thinke I shall never be quiet in my minde whilst they and I live together Min. Weep not I pray you except it be for joy for surely this feare is a worke of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus for ordinarily after conviction he lets into the hearts of his Elect such feares as these for although t is true there may be in a meare naturall man certaine naturall feares arising from the accusation of his naturall conscience yet they never affect his heart so as to worke a separation betwixt his heart and his sinnes but your feares doe so affect
diseased soule Now these being the ends for which Christ did institute and ordaine the Sacrament I beseech you let your comming thereunto be to obtaine these ends and doe not you come for forme and custome sake neither yet for your credit sake amongst your neighbours neither yet out of a conceit that your very presence there and your very performance of the outward acts is well pleasing and acceptable to the Lord as I feare me many ignorant people have thought in former times neither yet doe you conceive that for your so doing the Lord is ingaged to forgive you your sinnes and give you eternall life neither yet doe you imagine that the bare outward actions and elements are able to sanctifie you in a word beware of conceiving too highly of the outward acts and outward elements but rather look to the inward invisible matter and vertue of the Sacrament which is Jesus Christ alwayes remembring that he is all in all in every action and in every element and therefore when you are at the Lords Table as I hope you will be very shortly and there see the Bread and Wine separated by consecration unto this holy use and these blessed ends then remember Christ and thinke how he was fore-ordained and Pemble on the Sacraments p. 8 fore-appointed by his Father from everlasting unto the accomplishing of our redemption by his death and blood-sheding and when you see the Bread broken and the Wine poured forth then remember Christ and thinke how he was torne and rent in his precious Body with stripes and wounds and pained even to the death in his most holy Soule full of the wrath of God and the indignation of the Almighty by whom he was smitten for your sinnes and plagued for your transgressions and when the Minister offereth unto you the Bread and Wine then remember Christ and thinke how he is given to you of God freely yea and freely gives himselfe to you if you will receive him and when you receive the Bread and drinke the Wine then remember Christ that living Bread and thinke how he himself hath said Ioh. 6. 5. 5. My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drinke indeed and beleeve that thereby hee gives life unto your soule and will preserve it to all eternity in a word consider how God the Father did by this death and bloodshed of his Sonne thus represented in the Sacrament fully answer and satisfie his owne justice to the end he might set open a doore of mercy to all humble penitent hearted sinners yea and doe you thereupon assuredly beleeve that you have thereby tendered unto the Justice of God a full and perfect satisfaction for all your sinnes and that therefore now it is a meet and equall thing with God he having received and accepted this full satisfaction to pardon and forgive you all your sinnes according to his promise Mat. 26. 28. yea doe you beleeve and assuredly perswade your heart that for this satisfaction sake you are reconciled unto God according to his promise Col. 1. 21 22. yea doe you beleeve and assuredly perswade your owne soule that for the obedience and satisfaction sake of Christ you are justified in the sight of God according to his promise Rom. 5. 9. yea and doe you then beleeve and make no doubt of it but that for this satisfaction sake of Jesus Christ you shall be sanctified by his Spirit according to his promise Hebr. 13. 12. and have your heart of stone taken out of your bowels and a heart of flesh given unto you according as it is promised Ezek. 36. 26. and have strength and vigour to all holy performances according to that promise Heb. 13. 20 21. yea doe you beleeve and make no question of it but that for this satisfaction sake of Christ you shall have eternall life according to Christs owne promise Ioh. 6. 51. This you see is the Covenant of promise this is Christs last Will and Testament these are the riches which he hath left and bequeathed to all such as you are this is Christs owne hand and deed and by the Sacrament duly administred and rightly received he sets too his seale and so confirmes it fully wherefore I beseech you when you are at the Sacrament yea as oft as you shall be there present at any time hereafter speake to your faith as Deborah did to her self Iudg. 5. 12. and say Awake awake O my faith and now bestir and rouze thy selfe up to do thine office in receiving Christ now offered in whom all these â— Cor. 1. â—0 promises are Yea and Amen Lift up thine eye to see Christ reach forth thine hand and lay hold on him and receive him set thy mouth to him and feed on him eat and drink Christ by sucking these breasts of consolation and thus would I have you in the act of receiving the Sacrament by Faith to knit your heart unto Christ and throw your selfe into his armes stretched out on the crosse to imbrace you and wash your soule in his Blood that you may be cleane and by Faith apply his Blood to your soule for the healing of all your infirmities say in your heart Hath my Saviour died for my sinnes and shall not I die unto sinne shall I live any longer therein Rom. 6. 2. no God forbid and by this meanes ye shall finde your sinnes weakned and the graces of Gods Spirit revived and strengthned yea you shall finde the Sacrament to become a good corasive to eat out your corruptions and as physicke to heale and cure you of all your infirmities yea you shall finde it to be by meanes of the acting of your faith as a Conduit pipe which being set to the Fountaine of grace Christ Jesus shall convey grace from that holy Fountaine Christ into the cisterne of your soule and like a soveraigne medicine you shall finde it to become beneficiall to all the parts of your soule making you apt and ready to every good worke and therefore I beseech you to receive it often Mat. Truly Sir by meanes of these your speeches my judgement is much better informed touching the use and end of the Sacrament and I am hereby much incouraged to approach thereunto but Sir because you doe exhort me to receive it often I would gladly know the reason why we must receive that Sacrament of the Lords Supper often seeing we are to receive the Sacrament of Baptisme but once in all our lives Min. The Reason is because the sacrament of Rogers on the Sacrament p. 360. Baptisme is the sacrament of our Regeneration or new birth and the sacrament of the Lords Supper is the sacrament of our spirituall nourishment and growth and therefore we are to be baptized but once because we are borne but once but we are to receive the sacrament of the LORDS Supper often because that after wee are borne wee stand in need to be often nourished and fed that so we may grow in grace for
LONDONS GATE TO The Lords Table Where the Eldership doth sit doing their office aright in discovering and shutting out the ignorant prophane and meere civill honest man In suspending the suspected formall legall and Antinomisticall Professor and in drawing in the weakest humble beleeving soule In a Dialogue betweene A Minister of the Gospell Alexander an ignorant prophane man Simon a proud Professor And Matthias an humble penitent Mal. 3. 18. Then shall ye returne and discerne betweene the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Imprimatur Edmund Calamy London printed for Iohn Wright at the Kings Head in the old Bayley 1648. To the Honourable HENRY ROLLE one of his Majesties Justices of Pleas before himselfe to be holden And to the vertuous Gentlewoman MARGARET ROLLE his loving Wife grace and peace be multiplied MOST honoured friends custom hath made the Dedication of Books almost as common as printing of them and wisdome directs there to dedicate where we owe most respect and doe conceive they will be best accepted I therefore owing my service to you both for some favours received and presuming upon your favourable acceptance have made bold to prefixe your names to this ensuing Dialogue which I hope holds forth a little light to that way of Church-Discipline which you Honoured Sir have beene pleased much to countenance by condescending so farre below yourself as some of your ranke would have esteemed it in accepting of the Office of a Ruling-Elder when you were chosen in that Congregation whereof you have beene pleased to admit mee a member I have endeavoured to discover the exactnesse of the Presbyteriall way in the case of examination of Communicants and how circumspect you are who you doe admit that so our discenting brethren seeing how neere you come to the golden rule may bee moved thereby to come in amongst us that we may be perfectly joyned together in the same minde and in the same judgement and so knit together in love according to Gods owne minde 1 Cor. 1. 10. Col. 2. 2. For as a gracious spirit Dr. Sibs brused reed p. 220. once breathed out there can hardly be a discovery of any difference in opinion without some estrangement of affection so far as men are not of one minde they will hardly be of one heart except where grace and the peace of God beare great rule in the heart Wherefore if my workmanship in the handling â—f this subject were as 〈…〉 od as my aimes and in 〈…〉 ions are I might boldly say It were no disparagement to your names to afford it your patronage yet will I not disparage it for that may be thought to be a secret begging of commendations onely I say I having thus farre presumed I beseech you both to connive at my boldnesse and vouchsafe to favour these mine endeavours that so by your acceptance they may be commended unto others and so shall you further oblige me to remaine Yours much engaged E. F. To the well-affected READER WHen I did consider that heretofore by the command of Authority all sorts of people that were come to ripenesse of yeares and were endued with understanding were not only admitted but also compelled by Law to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper at least once a yeare And that now contrariwise Authority were so far from compelling in that kinde that by their command none were to be admitted thereunto but onely such as upon examination were found fit to partake thereof I began to consider more then formerly I had done of the reason why all sorts of people might not as well be admitted to that Ordinance as they were to the hearing of the Ward preached And when I had seriously considered of it I found as I conceived sufficient reason why none but true Beleevers were to bee admitted thereunto and that therefore the power given to the Eldership for that purpose was very lawfull and needfull to be put in execution with maturity of judgement it being a matter of very ill consequence if they should either open the gate to any unbeleever or shut it against any true beleever and a very hard matter so to discerne of the state and condition of every one that commeth before them as never to doe the one nor the other In which respect I conceived they stood in great need not only of the prayers but also of all other helps that any of Gods people could afford them I therefore as a member of the body though but a weake one was willing to afford my best assistance towards the carrying on of such a great worke and not knowing which way to doe it better then by composing my meditations touching that point into a plaine and familiar Dialogue I did thereupon adventure to put forth a small Tract intituled A Touchstone for a Communicant and afterwards upon better consideration conceiving it came far short of discovering all that was needfull to bee knowne touching these points I in hope that my second thoughts would exceed my first was moved to set pen to paper once again And the Lord having as I hope I may truly say enabled me to doe more and better I have againe adventured to put it forth to the worlds view though I am confident I have thereby exposed my selfe to the worlds censure For indeed I doe acknowledge that if any man doe but know my weaknesse and my want of those humane helps which many others doe enjoy so well as my selfe doe know them if they consult with flesh and blood they shall see just cause to say with Nathaniel Joh. 1. 46. Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth yea and to say unto me as Eliab said unto David I know the 1 Sam. 17. 28. pride and the naughtinesse of thy heart these matters are not fit for thee to meddle withall they rather belong to some of the learned Assembly But if they will bee pleased to consult with the Oracles of God they shall see that in the building of SOLOMONS Temple there was roome as well for burden-bearers as for other more curious Artificers 1 King 5. 15. yea and they shall see that at the first making of the Tabernacle Exo. 25. 5. not onely the bringers of blue silke and purple and scarlet but even the poorer sort which brought Goats haire and Rams skins were accepted yea and they shall finde that the Lord made Balaams asse Num. 22. 28. to utter his truth wherefore I pray thee doe not censure either me or the work before thou hast thorowly perused it and whatsoever wants weaknesses or imperfections thou findest in it I pray thee cover them with the mantle of Charity assuring thy selfe that I would have done better if I could And if thou finde any good in it I pray thee take occasion from the weaknesse and unworthinesse of the Author to see God the more clearly and to give him the more glory whose strength is made
Sanctification and therefore being not able to distinguish betwixt them they doe confound them together And a third reason is because man naturally sees no other way to be justified and saved but onely by his own workes and performances for as Luther saith It is the generall opinion of the whole world that righteousnesse is gotten by the workes of the Law and thus have I also shewed you the second sort of them that confound this two-fold righteousnesse and how they doe it Sim. But Sir as I doe conceive he that doth confound this two-fold righteousnesse this latter way doth not so ill nor is not in so bad a condition as he that doth it by the former way Min. Yea indeed for ought I see he doth even every whit as ill and is every whit in as bad a condition as the other for as he that confounds the righteousnesse of Sanctification with the righteousnesse of Justification doth thereby destroy them both to himselfe and so indeed hath neither of them so he that confounds the righteousnesse of Justification with the righteousnesse of Sanctification doth thereby destroy them both to himselfe and so indeed hath neither of them Sim. Indeed Sir it is evident to me that he who hath not the righteousnesse of sanctification hath not the righteousnesse of Justification and so indeed hath neither of them but Sir me thinkes he who hath the righteousnesse of Sanctification should also have the righteousnesse of Justification and so indeed have both of them Min. No you are deceived it is not so for as he that thinkes he beleeves and so hath the Righteousnesse of Christ imputed unto him for his Justification deceives himselfe except the righteousnesse of the Spirit of Christ be afterwards infused into him for his sanctification even so he that thinkes he leades a godly and righteous course of life and so hath the righteousnesse of the Spirit of Christ infused into him for his sanctification deceives himselfe except the Righteousnesse of Christ hath been before imputed unto him for his justification Sim. Sir I grant it that a man may thinke he doth beleeve when he doth not and therein deceive himselfe because that he cannot see his faith but me thinkes a man should not thinke he lives a godly and righteous course of life when he doth not because that is to be seene Min. O but let me tell you as there is a forme of faith without the power of faith which caused the Apostle to pray for the Thessalonians that God 2 Thess 1. 11. would grant unto them the worke of faith with power even so is there a forme of godlinesse without the power of godlinesse as you may see 2 Tim. 3. 5. And as this forme of faith is nothing else but a faith of a mans owne hammering or of his owne acquiring and so is but an acquired faith and not an infused faith even so this forme of godlinesse is nothing else but a godlinesse of a mans owne hammering or of his owne acquiring gotten by the improvement of his Naturall and Morall abilities and so indeed is but a godlinesse acquired and not a godlinesse infused Sim. Then Sir it seems that a man cannot by having the one be assured that he hath also the other Min. No indeed if he have them not both he hath neither of them for as there is no imputed righteousnesse going before where infused righteousnesse followeth not after so is there no infused righteousnesse following after where imputed righteousnesse hath not gone before so that if either of them be wanting and beare not witnesse to the other and that in its due place according to Gods owne order and as his owne distinct actions they are neither of them true Sim. Then Sir I pray you tell me how a man may know that he hath them both and that they doe beare witnesse either to other and that in their due place according to Gods owne order and as his owne distinct actions Min. Why if a man have truly seene and considered that in regard the Lord did in Adam Create all men righteous and able to yeeld perfect obedience to his Law they having all of them in him transgressed his Law it is a righteous thing with God to require a full satisfaction to be made to his Justice by a perfect obedience to his Law both actively and passively before he doe forgive any mans iniquity or cover any mans sinne and so pronounce him just And that in regard of the infinite exactnesse the glorious purity and absolute perfection of the Law of God he see an utter impossibility in himselfe to yeeld a perfect active obedience unto it and that in regard of that infinite Majesty that is offended there is an infinite suffering required which must either be an eternall punishment or that which is equivolent to eternall And that man being a finit Creature can doe it no way but by an eternall punishment and that therefore he sees no way for himselfe but Hell and Damnation and if then it hath been revealed unto him that Jesus Christ the Sonne of God and of the Virgin Mary was both God and Man in one Person and that therefore his Divine nature did so sanctifie his humane nature and did adde such dignity worth and excellency to it that he was thereby made a person of infinite value and so by his holy and righteous course of life in the dayes of his flesh he fulfilled the Law perfectly and by his Death and Blood-shed made an infinite satisfaction to divine Justice and all this as a Surety and in the place and stead of all those that truly beleeve on his name and if he have thereupon truly beleeved that all this was as truly done and suffered for him as if he himselfe had done and suffered it in his owne Person and that he is thereby justified in the sight of God then may he be sure that the righteousnesse that is inherent in Christ hath been imputed unto him and apprehended by faith and so hath gone before as an Antecedent And if he have thereupon seene considered and felt the great and free love and Rom. 5. 5. favour of God in Christ shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost then given unto him so as that his heart hath been thereby moved yea and constrained to love God 1 John 4. 19. because he hath loved him first and out of love to desire and endeavour to keepe his Commandments so that whereas before this time he either lived a prophane and sinfull course of life or a meere civill honest course of life aiming onely or chiefly at his owne credit and profit in this world or a religious honest course of life onely or chiefly for his owne eternall welfare in the life to come If this grace of God or this free love and favour of Tit. 2. 11 12. God in Christ hath so appeared unto him as that it hath taught him to deny ungodlinesse and worldly