up upon the Cross doth stream forth in his season into the hearts of his Elect and toucheth them with a changing power and winneth them to his Father and himself and droppeth into them those heavenly principles which will grow up in them to everlasting life Directions to prevent Miscar in Convers pag. 247. So that this saving grace is not only irresistible but there is also the good houre as the Interpreter of those Canons * Synod Drodr Cap. 1. Ar. 16. So saith Dr. Twiss Ubi supra p. 116. calls it or as Mr. Baxter hath it his season set wherein it shall be insuperably streamed into the hearts of the Elect and they can be converted neither sooner nor later than this good houre or season and therefore to say this grace is received in vain is erronâ—ous and you ought to upbraid none with it Diotrephes But the common grace may be received in vain and because that is preparative and dispositive to special saving grace therefore the want of special grace and the impâ—nitency which continues through want thereof are both wilful and the damnation just that doth attend upon thâ—e privations Animalis Sir before you can charge any man that he hath received common grace in vain you must define the nature measure and degrees of its energy and operation 't is unreasonable to expect a thing should act above the spâ—ear of its activity will you expect a Watch should go four and twenty houres when the spring was made to go but twelve Or that a Gun should carry a thousand yards when the charge that is given it will carry but five hundred If you think I should arrive at a state of holiness and acceptation with God by the help of common grace alone you expect I should flie an Eagles pitch with Batts wings Diotrephes I must tell you God will justly require more than he gives that is the improvement of his gifts as Mat. 25. Mr. Baxter 14. to the 30. sheweth He gave Adam but a power to persevere and not actual perseverance yet did he justly punish him for want of the act even for not using by his own will the power which he had given him Ser. of Judgment Ans to Exc. 30. p. 249. Animalis And I confess this was most justly for if God gives a man the power it then becomes his own duty under Gods concurse and influences to act that power and God doth not more than what is equal having disbursed his Talent's and allowed time and opportunity to improve them if he requires at the day of account that they be return'd with interest But Sir if God commits to my trust and stewardship but talents of silver sure his justice cannot expect that I should turn them into gold he knows his poor creature hath no Philosophers stone of such virtue he expects but an improvement in the same kind of talents Common grace you know and teach doth specifically differ from regenerating or saving grace And you may as reasonably expect that a man should beget an Angel as that he should turn common grace into Regeneration To this purpose we have the judgment of the Belgick Professors inserted amongst the acts of the Synod of Dort par 3. pag. 154. thâ—s 4. Quanquam habenti seu donis rectè utenti dabitur corundem incrementum non propterea tamen Deus post lapsum iis qui naturalibus imaginis Dei reliquiis rectè fuerint usi supernaturalem ac salvisicaâ— gratiam largiâ—tur quia gratia haec non secundnm opera sed secundum merum ac liberum Dei beneplacitum confertur That is Although to him that hath shall be given an increase of the same gifts shall be administred to him that makes a right use of them yet notwithstanding after the fall God will not bestow supernatural and saving grace upon those that use the natural reliques of Gods Image aâ—ight because this grace is not confer'd according to works but according to the meer and free beneplaciture of God And what these say of the reliques of Gods Image others of them say of all common grace that it cannot be improved to saving grace because the difference say they is no less than specifical Diotrephes I do not think that this same commong grace is the very thing that is turned by any improvement of ours or elevation of the Spirit into saving grace Of saving faith p. 46. p. 96. Common gifts are not work't up to be special Mr. Baxter grace one species is not turn'd into another This is true Imperfection is not turn'd materially into perfection the dawning of the day is not materially turn'd into the greater light at Noon but a greater light superveneth and is added to the less I say therefore It is long of your self if God did not give you grace to believe it was because you wilfully refused some preparatory grace Christ found you at a great distance from him and he gave you grace sufficient to have brought you nearer to him than you were you had grace sufficient to have made you better than you were and restrain'd many sins and brought you to the means when you turn'd your back upon them Though this were not sufficient to cause you to believe it was sufficient to have brought you nearer to believing and through your own wilfulness became not effectual even as Adam had sufficient grace to have stood which was not effectual so that you had not only Christ offer'd to you if you would accept him but you had daily and precious helps and means to have cured your will and caused you to accept him for neglect of which and so for not believing and for all your other sins you justly perish Ser. of Judgment Aâ—s to 30. Exc. mihi pag. 249 250. Animalis Sir you dare not affirm that I am restored to that liberty of will that Adam had before the Fall * Primo homini datum est posse perseverare non autem perseverare Aug. de Cor. grat c. 11. Vult Aug. Primum hominâ—m habuisse gratiam sufficientem ad actu perseverandum non tamen actu perseverasse idquâ— non ex defectu ipsius gratiae sed ex mera homiuis libertate qui auxilio dato uti noluit Pet. a S. Joseph Id. Specâ— lib. 4. cap. 7. Resol 2. nor that the grace which is vouchsafed to me is as sufficient to enable me to rise as his was to enable him to stand 2. That I have Christ offer'd I do most thankfully acknowledge but whether thâ—se daily and precious helps and means not yet administred in the season or good houre were sufficient to cure my will and cause me to accept Christ is doubtful that they are not so to all in their unregenerate condition will appear anon 3. Whether I have received grace sufficient to make me better is a question They who maintain that man can do no more good nor omit more evil than he doth must and will
not you will be ready to say that all the benefits forementioned are administred to the worst that perish * Mr. Baxter's Preface to the Grot. Religion Sect. 8. And I conclude not only from thence that they are ineffectual but also because I find those of your judgment do add * Idem in his Directions to prevent Miscar in Convers pag. 267. That with this means God doth set in and infallibly cause it to be effectual and to whom oâ—ly to his chosen And Dr. Twiss a Vbi supra pag. 116. doth readily acknowlâ—dge That God unto the outward Ministry of the Word doth not for the most part add the efficacy of his Spâ—rit to work mâ—n unto Faith and Repentance which is the actual cure of their blindness and wilfulness So that this zeal and earnestness you hold forth in a way of moral perswasion with that uneffectual assistance of the Spirit flies at no higher an aime than to render men inexcusable if it can amount to that for whatever cure it may work upon his blindness it leaves his disease of unwillingness still unmastered and so in fine you leave me but where you found me in my insuperable stat of death still after all these applications and though you call it but a moral impotency yet 't is such it should seem as is not to be cured by moral means though some motions of the Holy Ghost concur with it what therefore can you prescribe me further that I may if it be reasonable submit to it Diotrephes You must diligently go forward in the use of those means and ardently desire and humbly and reverently expect the good houre of more plentiful grace so that famous Synod * Synod of Dort Cap. 1. Art 16. Mr. Baxter doth advise you And though you be dead in your trespasses and sins yet you know a condemned Traytor that 's dead in Law may by humble supplication do somewhat to dispose himself for pardon and life Of saving faith p. 39. Animalis Sir I doubt you contradict the Doctrine of the Synod if it doth not in this point contradict it self for they infer that an unregenerate man is properly and toâ—â—lly dead in sins and destitute of all strength tending to spiritual good that he is not able to hunger and thirst after righteousness or everlasting life or to offer the sacrifice of an humble and contrite heart such as is acceptable to God Syn. Dodrac cap. 3. and 4. Reject 4. Diotrephes You must betake your self daily to God in hearty prayer bâ—seeching him to open your eyes and shew you the greatness of your sin and misery till you be unseignedly humbled Mr. Baxter and that he would shew you the need of his grace in Christ till you can thirst after him and his righteousness and that he would shew you the certainty and excellency of his glory till your hearts be sâ—t upon it above all Treat of Convers pag. 239. Animalis We heard before that such prayers of the unregenerate have no promise to bottom on and how then can they be made in faith But besides the Assembly of Divines and the Congregational Churches tell us * Cap. 16. n. 7 Of their Confes and Declarat respectively That works done by unregenâ—rate men although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands and of good use both to themselves and for others yâ—t because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith nor are done in a right manner according to the Word nor to a right end the glory of God they are therefore sinful and cannot please God nor make a man mâ—et to receive grace from God and yet their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God The last clause of which Thâ—sis seems to oppose the opinion of some other Divines of the same combination who say positively That all works done before Regeneration are rather hurtful than profitable but indeed they are coincident for if they cannot make us meet to receive grace nor please God but are sinful then it will undeniably follow that they are more hurtful than profitable to our salvation So that upon the matter after all the Rules you prescribe and the advice you give to the unregeneâ—ate you allow him but the choice of a lesser evil to bring him into a state of grace Diotrephes You may mistake those Assemblers and the Elders of the Congregational Churches I find them declare in the Chapter of Free-will ch 9. n. 3. That a natural man being altogether averse from that spiritual good accompanying salvation and dead in sin is not able by his own strength to convert himself or to prepare himself thereunto Observe they say he cannot prepare himself by his own strength but if common grace be added to their own strength I suppose they will not deny but by the accession of such Aâ—xiliaries a man may dispose himself for conversion for thaâ— common grace is preparatory to sâ—ecâ—al is so commonly held by Protestants especially practical Divines and so plain in Scripture and Reason that I shall not trouble you with many words about it 1. He that â— eth Gods appointed means as well as he can is more disposed fâ—r the blessing of those means than the wilful Mr. Baxter despiser or neglecter of them 2. He that is nearer Christ is more disposed to come to him by faith than he that is at a further distance 3. He that doth not so much resist the Spirit but with some seriousness beggeth for the Spirit and for saving grace is better disposed for it than such as obstinately resist and scâ—â—n it Of saving faith pag. 39. Animalis Sir I have those two Assemblies against you For mark their Reason why they say the works of an unregenerate man are sinful and cannot please God nor make him meet to receive grace from God their Reason is not because those works are wrought by his own strength and not by commsâ— grace but because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith 2. The Synod of Dort is clear against you for they say All men are untoward to all good tending to salvation forward to evil and neither will nor can without the Holy Ghost regenerating them set strait their own crooked nature no nor so much as dispose themselves to the mending of it Chap. 3. and 4. Art 3. They do not say men cannot dispose themselves by their own strength without common grace to the amending of their crooked nature but they cannot dispose themselves to it without the Holy Ghost regenerating them Diotrephes But you should consider withall what those Divines add in their 16th Artiâ—l where they say As by the fall man ceased not to be man endâ—ed with understanding and will nor did sin spreading it self through all mankind abolish nature with us but corrupted and spiritually slew it in like manner this regenerating grace of God worketh not upon men as if they were stocks
the guilt of some particular sins * Nec irrita redditur justificatio interveniente reatu particularis peccati licet atrosis conscientiam graviter sauciantis Nam huic justificationi è dâ—ametro oppâ—nitur non quilibet reatus cujuscunque poccati sed reatus universalis omnium peccatorum noadem expiatus Theol. M. Brit. de persev Elect. Th. 6. Act. Syn. Dord pag. 194. par 2. but of their habituated state and trade of life in a prosecution of all sins Diotrephes I would not have your soul miscarry and therefore I must say with the Apostle Ephes 5. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Praesumptuosus I pray good Sir observe the expressions of the Apostle he saith Because of theâ—e things the wrath of God comith upon the Children of disobedience * Those Divines do add in the place now alledged Nec reatus cujuscunque personae justificationi opponitur sed reatus incredulorum Christi sanguine nondum ablutorum nec cujusvis mensurae reatus sed reatus tales prepteâ— quem odium Dei hostile peâ—souae reae superincumbit Qui semel vera side justificatus est nunquam erit postmodâ—m hoc modo reus Haec Ibid. He doth not say because of these things the wrath of God cometh upon those Elect persons whom he hath accepted in the Beloved and adopted into the number of his Children sin hath not the same effect in them as it hath in the Children of wrath Diotrephes What do you make the same Fact for nature quality and substance to be a little sin in one man and a grievous out-crying sin in another Praesumptuosus So we are taught by our Orthodox Divines Nullum certe est peccatum contra primam secundam legis Inter Acta Syn. Nat. Dord par 3. pag. 282. f. Justificati quandoque suo vitio incidunt in atrocia peccata Theol. M. Britt de 5. Articulo ib. pag. 192. par 2. divinae tabulam c. Say the Deputies of the Synod of Groningen in their Judgment given in at the Synod of Dort de Artculo quinto There is no sin whither against the first or second Table except that one sin against the Holy Ghost but the Elect may and oftentimes do fall into it but there is a great difference betwixt the regenerate and unregenerate for though they commit the same sins yet the reason mode and exit hereof is far different So say the Hassian * Ib. par 2. pag. 216. thes 8. Divines too and those of Embdin * Pag. 240. thes 13 c. But what need we go so far for Authority we have Mr. Baxter who is instar omnium and he saith in the Preface to his Grotian Religion Sect. 18. that the sin of Peter David c. was exceelingly in regard of manner ends concomitants c. different from the like fact in a graceless man * A few sharp passages of exact truth amount to a greater guilt in some men than Adultery Murder Perjury the denial of Christ do in others by Mr. B's Doctrine And to the like purpose Sect. 30. where he makes the uncharitable passages as he calls them in Mr. P. his very learned Book with his other failings to be more heinous sins though not materially and of more dangerous consequence than the sins of David and Peter Diotrephes The Scripture saith There is no respect of persons with God Praesumptuosus That passage of Scripture as often as it is repeated must be understood in a restrained and limited sense for God looked upon all men in pari statu conditione in a parity of condition they lay exactly level'd in a state of equality when he elected some to life and reprobated the rest to destruction It was the naked entity and person only not any quality that he respected in them according to the Synod at Dort And there is no sin so small * See the Declar of the Congregational Churches cap. 15. n. 5. but it brings damnation to these Reprobates and yet there is no sin so great that can bring damnation to those Elect. Diotrephes The Apostle tells you plainly That if you live after the flesh you shall dye Rom. 8. 13. Praesumptuosus 'T is very true if you understand it of the unregenerate who were never sanctified but for the regenerate the Divines at the Synod of Dort do conclude * See the Apology for Tileâ—us pag. 86 87. Mr. Baxter saith Because Gods purpose is unchangeable he will keep them from such sins as are inconsistent with habitual grace In his Preface to the Grot. Relig. Sect. 16 17. That although they fall into most foul and heinous sins that do directly waste the conscience yet is the seed of Regeneration with all fundamental gifts without which the state of Regeneration cannot possibly consist preserved safe and sound in them so that they have a saving faith and the Holy Spirit and Gods special favour insomuch that their universal Justification state of Adoption and right to the Kingdom of heaven do yet remain uncancel'd unviolated and immoveable The Synod in their very Canons * Chap. 5. Art 6. hath determined That the Regenerate cannot commit the sin unto death or against the Holy Ghost so as to be altogether forsaken of God and throw themselves into everlasting destruction And the Divines of great Brittain * See the Apology for Tilenus p. 385. have observed That their most grievous sins are so far from disturbing the Justification and Adoption of the faithful that practical Divines especially do resolve that God doth often permit such sins in them that their Justification and Adoption may be the more confirmed to them And other Orthodox * Mr. Norton Orth. Evang. pag. 56. f. Divines do make sin a part of the means in order to the execution of the Decree of Election Diotrephes Sure the regenerate cannot live in any known sin Praesumptuosus Then they cannot sin against conscience which is false Doth not the Apostle profess * Rom. 7. What I do I allow not he knew what he did * Indeed none sin more against knowledge than the godly when they do sin Mr. Baxters Directions for peace of Conscience pag. 464. Edit 2. though he could not approve of it And this he doth not speak by a fiction of Law in the person of the unregenerate as the Remonstrants erroneously teach but he speaks it of himself as all the followers of Mr. Calvin do maintain and yet this Apostle was regenerate without all peradventure Diotrephes I am sure God hath made a promise concerning the Regenerate * Rom. 6. 14. That sin shall not have dominion over them Praesumptuosus We must distinguish of these three things saith Diodati * Annot. ad Rom. 7. 17. one of the Synod sent from Gexeva the Kingdom the dwelling and the opposition of sin the
do omit neither can I do any more good than I do for the Orthodox do conclude * We do require that God should immediately and inresistibly work all our good works in us and we acknowledge this to be necessary unto every good act Dr. Twiss ubi supra p. 182. That every good act is immediatly from God and of his irresistible production if therefore I can do some good more than I do I can do some good that is not immediatly from God nor of his irresistible production which they account absurd that I do all the good that God irresistibly produceth in me appears from hence because otherwise God should irresistibly produce something which is not produced and consequently it should be and not be and be resistible and irresistible which are plain contradictions That this is no singular opinion you may assure your self from hence that 't is consonant to the faith of the Congregational Churches * Chap. 16. n. 3. who declare concerning Believers That their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves 〈◊〉 wholly from the Spirit of Christ and that they may be enabled thereunto besides the graces they have already received there is required an actual influence of the same holy Spirit to work in them to will and to do of his good pleasure Diotrephes You would have cited the Thesis entire if it had been for your advantage but it was not for they add in the very next words Yet are they not hereupon to grow negligent as if they were not bound to perform any duty unless upon a special motion of the Spirit but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of God that is in them Praesumptuosus I omitted this Clause not only because it was not to my purpose but also because I conceived it very absurd if not contradictory to the former words For 1. What doth that diligence in stirring up the grace of God in them signifie if it signifieth either to will or to do that whichsoever it is is not to be performed as they declare without an actual influence of the same holy Spirit and then 't is absurd to say they are bound to it without a special motion of the Spirit For 2. If they bound to perform such a duty without a special motion of the Spirit and yet are not enabled thereunto without an actual influence of the same holy Spirit as they declare they are not then are they even in a Covenant of Grace too bound to impossibilities which is absurd And 3. Why ought they to be diligent for if an actual influence of the Spirit be required hereunto then their diligence without it is impertinent if not impossible and when that actual influence of the Spirit is upon them if it works irresistibly as the Orthodox maintain it doth then all diligence is utterly superfluous unto such an operation And 4. In this case Believers cannot be negligent for neglect certainly is the pretermission of some possible performance which cannot have place here for the good work cannot be performed without such an actual influence therefore it is not possible without it and with that actual influence it cannot be omitted for that influence is irresistble Diotrephes You seem to lay the sin of the Regenerate upon Gods deficiency in affording grace necessary to avoid it Praesumptuosus This is no more than what is done by our Orthodox Divines Do they not conclude that he did withdraw from * As was shewed above in the first Dialogue Adam grace and light sufficient unto his perseverance and so he doth when he pleases from the regenerate too * God may withdraw his grace as he did from Peter and David in their sin Mr. Baxter's Directions for peace of Consc pag. 465. Edit 2. which is the reason of their several lapses and failings for as Mr. Baxter tells us in his Preface Sect. 16. the Synod of Dort say That if you speak of power in them the Regenerate cannot stand And that they are not alwayes so led and moved by God as to be preserved from the seducements of concupiscence but by his just permission are carried away into grievous and heinous Chap. 5. Art 4. sins 'T is by the power of God only that they stand their ability is not at all of themselves and besides the grnces they have already received there is required an actual influence of the Spirit and that irresistible when this power is withdrawn they must needs fall and therefore Dr. Damman as was observed before tells us That when God doth his part we cannot omit ours Diotrephes But God doth not withdraw his gracious assistance but upon mans provocation and neglect to co-operate with it Praesumptuosus Yes God hath liberty to do it for his meer pleasure being tyed by no Law unto his Creature Thus he did by Adam in his state of innocency and he hath several good ends in it his own glory and their benefit as the Divines of * See the Apology for Tilenus pag. 385. Drent determined at the Synod of Dort The British Divines say as you heard even now that their Justification and Adoption are thereby confirmed And those Divines of Drent add further That those sins which in the wicked have the nature of punishment have in the faithful the nature of fatherly castigation Ibid. Diotrephes But will they not be bitterness in the latter end think you as the Prophet Jeremy hath it Chap. 2. 19. Praesumptuosus To the unregenerate to whom they are damnable they must needs be so but not to the Elect whose slips and falings Mr. Perkins * In Armilla Aurea cap. 37. tells us are priviledges annexed to their adoption and paternal castigations for their benefit and as a remedy against doubting or desperation of our Election and Gods mercy he prescribes this meditation amongst others Lapsu non telli gratiam fidem sed illustrari That sin doth not take away grace but illustrate and make it brighter Now I hope you would Ibid. cap. 42. not have a man to be in anguish and bitterness of spirit for suffering chastisement which is derived to us as a special favour from God a great testimony of the love of our heavenly Father for what saith the Apostle from Solomon Hebr. 12. 5 6 7 8 12. My son despise not thou the chastning of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastning God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chastneth not but if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons Wherefore saith the Apostle lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees The Apostle turns it into an use of Consolation to the faithful Diotrephes Admit the slips and falls of the faithful be paternal castigations according to
m. in these words It is exceeding hard to determine how great many or long the sins of a true Believer may be And if those sins be Adultery Murder or the like and long continued in shall that Believer be certain still of his Election Shall he nor rather suspect it was but common grace that wrought him to that belief He hath Reason certainly to suspect it unless he adds presumption to his other crimes so that upon the whole matter without a special Revelation a man cannot till his Dooms-day be certain of his Election because he knows not what temptation he may fall into nor how he shall demean himself under it and if he perseveres till then in his obedience the Remonstrants will secure him of his Election as well as you Diotrephes We say True Believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers wayes shaken diminished and intermitted as by negligence in preserving of it by falling into some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit by some sudden or vehement temptation by Gods withdrawing the light of his countenance suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light yet are they not utterly destitute of that seed of God and life of Faith that love of Christ and the Brethren that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty out of which by the operation of the Spirit this assurance may in due time be revived and by the which in the mean time they are supported from utter despair Declar. of the Congreg Chur. chap. 18. n. 4. Desolatus It seems then that once true Believers though they fall into some special sin which wounds the conscience and grieves the Spirit for the other branches I shall not insist upon and though that sin or sins be never so great and long continued for 't is hard to determine how great how many or how long those sins may be as was confest even now yet they retain the seed of God and the life of Faith and the love of Christ with sincerity of heart and conscience of duty and out of these by the operation of the Spirit their assurance is sure to be revived Then David addressed a needless Petition to have a new heart created and a right spirit renewed in him if that seed of God and life of Faith and sincerity of heart were still in him before Is it not rather that great Engine of an absolute Election that scrues such Believers up again after those desperate falls * It is not from the meer nature of inherent grace that it cannot be lost but from the Divine Decree Love and Engagement Mr. Baxter of saving faith pag. 49. But the Non-elect though by the help of common grace and their most diligent improvement of it they lead never so strict and severe a course of life yet if being led into temptation by an efficacious permission they miscarry under it they fall not forward as those Believers are said to do to their advantage but backwards and can never rise again to any hope of salvation or pardon but must break their Necks irrecoverebly nay though he walks never so uptightly under the conduct of this grace it can neither bring him to Heaven nor procure saving grace for him What encouragement is this to the greatest part of Mankind even amongst Christians who are said to five under no other influences than those of common grace Diotrephes We are confident that such as are truly sanctified can never fall totally and finally as for those other falling stars how glorious soever their lustre was we know they were never fixed in the Firmament Desolatus Whatever your confidence is Sir such examples make so great an impression upon my spirit I cannot but with trembling reflect upon that Apostolical Caveat and Exhortation Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10. 12. Diotrephes God hath ordained such admonition as a means to promote the grace of perseverance in all that are true Believers Desolatus But that I am one of that number is not yet made out to me for there is nothing can really make me such but that special irresistible grace that flows from the Fountain of an absolute Election as the fruit and effect of it as the Synod of Dort declareth And unless I be planted in that Soile by Gods most free and unchangeable love it is impossible I should partake Ch. 1. Art 9. of the fatness of it And this is my unhappiness I cannot meet a man that hath taken so exact a survey of that state as to be able to secure my interest therein The truth is therefore after all your applications to remove my jealousie I am still as much afraid of the state of Reprobation as at our first meeting Diotrephes The Synod of Dort * Ch. 1. Art 16 tells us That they who heartily desire to turn unto God to please him only and to be delivered from this body of death though they cannot make such a progress in the faith and way of godliness as they wish yet ought they not to be terrified with the Doctrine of Reprobation for our merciful God hath promised that he will not quench the smoaking flax nor break the shaken reed Disolatus He that can quench * 1 Thes 5. 19. the Spirit may quench the smoking â—flax though God doth not In this matter I am not afraid of God but of my self and that in regard of the Decree of Reprobation which denies all grace sufficient to set the flax on fire though it smoaks till it makes the heart to bleed as well as the eyes to water Diotrephes If you be afraid of your own insirmities I hope you have sufficient security against them in the intercession of a merciful and compassionate High Priest who implied all when he spake to Peter and made him this promise Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may â—â—ft you as Luk. 22. 31 32. wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not Desolatus Alas Sir that concerns the Elâ—ct * Christ professeth he prayed not for all but only for those whom God had given him John 17. 9. or should hereafter believe ver 20. and for them alone he sanctified himself ver 19. that is offer'd himself upon the Cross Dr. Twiss ibid. pag. 143. who are the only persons that have an interest in that High Priest for we are told in the name of all the Congregational Churches That though the Reprobates were then in Adams loyns as well as the rest God was pleased to give the promise of Christ the seed of the woman to the Elect only And that his intercession belongs peculiarly unto them is the affirmation of many Members of the Synod of Dort and as touching the efficacy of it 't is the sense of that whole Convention Besides that promise concerns the true Believers and so no ground of
he should reserve himself a duty of being served as by Christians upon those to whom he tenders life everlasting upon such termes It is no new thing in England as he goes on to hear of those who professe that God sees not nor can see any sinne in his Elect so that it will undeniably follow from their opinion that there is no mortal sinne but repentance because that must suppose that a man thought himself out of the state of Grace by the sin whereof he repents c. Having back'd his reason with some examples that according to this Doctrine a man may presume of his own salvation not supposing that he believes and lives as a Christian That Reverend Author proceeds thus The same is the consequence of a Position I will not say injoyned by any Party but notoriously allowed among us That Justifying Faith consisteth in believing that a man is one of them that are Predestinate whom God sent our Lord Christ to redeem and none else For how can he think himself obliged to make good the profession of a Christian who thinks himself assured of all that he can attain to by so doing not supposing it to be done Indeed it may be said that our Antinomians and Enthusiasts and other Sects among us whom no conceit without this could have seduced to their several frenzies do think themselves justified from everlasting by Gods Decree to send Christ for that purpose wheras this opinion dateth justification from the instant that God revealeth the said Decree by his Spirit in which Revelation they think that Justifying Faith consisteth And certainly there can be no reason why God receiving men into Grace only in consideration of Christs obedience should suspend their reconcilement upon that knowledge of his purpose which he giveth them by Faith For what can be more unreasonable than that God should justifie a man by revealing to him that he is justified But the opinion is not the lesse destructive to Christianity because it is the more unreasonable Now it is possible that the effect of this position may be stifled and become void in some by reason of other truths which contradict the same indeed and yet are believed by them not seeing the consequence of their own perswasion But those who besides this position do pertinaciously hold absolute predestination unto glory those I maintaine are in an error destructive to Christianity that is in an Heresie And therefore this Doctrine being such it is no way enough that it is no way enjoyned to be taught but it is requisite that it be disclaimed by those that pretend to recover the unity of a visible Church For there can be no Church where any thing destructive to Christianity which the being of the Church supposeth is notoriously allowed to be taught This is the judgment of Master Thorndike If you would enquire into the judgment of that Oracle of learning the present Bishop of Lincoln you have the Ubi supra p. 11. Result of his thoughts and studies about these controversies delivered in his own letters printed by Doctor Hammond with his own approbation I made it my businesse saith he to take a survey of the several different opinions concerning the ordering of Gods Decrees as to the salvation or damnation of men Which opinons the better to present their differences to the eye uno quasi intuitu for their more easie conveying to the understanding by that means and the avoiding of confusion and tedious discoursings I reduced into five Schemes or Tables Having all these Schemes before my eyes at once so as I might with ease compare them one with another and having considered of the conveniences and inconveniences of each as well as I could I soon discerned a necessity of quitting the Sub-lapsarian way of which I had a better liking before as well as the Super-lapsarian which I could never fancy Thus that most learned and Reverend Prelate Had other men the like learning judgment and temper they must needs see the like inconveniences and would then I hope acknowledge with that worthy Bishop a like necessity of quitting those so noxious Opinions Which how much they may contribute to the obstructing of good life and the growth of sinne and the evacuating the power of Christianity it self judicious persons may easily discern if they will not shut their eyes but give themselves the liberty impartially to consider these ensuing Dialogues Wherein I have endeavoured with all possible perspicuity to discover their dangerous consequences with those grosse and palpable absurdities which attend them For in the first Dialogue wherein many of the most â— notty Controversies of Divinity are cloven asunder and made fewel that will serve as well to warme as to enlighten the most weak and feeble minds I have shewed how according to those opinions it will be neither matter of advantage nor disadvantage to an Infidel to embrace the Profession of Christianity In the second I have demonstrated how impossible it is for a man that understands how to manage these Principles by reducing them to practice to be convinced of a possibility to become better And this follows with so great evidence that I remember that profoundly learned and judicious Doctor Thomas Jackson desired only these two Concessions That God hath Free-will to do good and man Free-will to do evil For the confutation of his Opposites who frame such an absolute Decree as deprives God himself as well as man of all Liberty to do any thing otherwise than it is now eventually done From hence it follows unavoidably that all care and industry is unnecessary and consequently the third Dialogue doth evince this Doctrine to be a Sanctuary for the secure and a Supersedeas unto Duty for if all things come to passe unavoidably as the Reverend and learned Dr. Thomas Goad * In his Diput concerning the Necessity and Contingency of Events c. M. S. argueth What need I care what I do Yea if I shall care I shall care whether I will or no. And this Engine is of so strange a force as is declared in the fourth Dialogue That though it lulls a man securely asleep in a placid course of sinning yet it preserves his State of Grace and Salvation immovable Mr. Thornedike hath given us some remarkable examples to this purpose Vbi supra p. 16. I think saith he I am duly informed of a Malefactor dying upon the Gallowes that professed to the strengthening of his Brethren that he had overcome all temptation to repentance acknowledging that since his being in prison he had been strongly moved to repent And that one of Hackets three Conspirators when he was come to himself continued to professe that he thought himself in the state of Gods Grace all the while And he quotes a Pamphlet written to satisfie the godly party in Wales being offended at the late Usurpers * O. C. proceedings which alledgeth That we are not to be judged at the last day
did actually harden or had a will to harden any but such as had formerly rebelled against the fight abused his patience and despised his gracious dispensations * Rom. 1. 22 26 Because when they knew God they did not glorifie him as God c. for this cause God gave them up Rom. 1. 21. with 26. Psal 81. 11 12. But my people would not hear my voyce and Israel would See also Luke 7. 30. Acts 13. 26 40 41 45 46. Hebr. 2. 3. not obey me so I gave them up to their own hearts lusts We find that the Lord though he had fore-told what would be the issue of Moses Ministry to him is not said to have hardned Pharaoh till he had multiplied his Rebellions and dallied with five plagues The last whereof when Moses undertakes the removal of it he gives him a fair warning of his danger Exod. 8. 29. I will intreat the Lord but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more And because he neglected to quit himself of the danger upon this hot Alarme therefore with the sixth plague this judgment came upon him also 't is said the Lord then hardned the heart of Pharaoh Exod. 9. 12. and ver 14. with the judgment following the Lord threatens I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart Therefore do not resemble God to a mad or â—nwise Potter that layes out his cost and skill in making up a Vessel for no other purpose but only to make ostentation of his power will and liberty to break it Perhaps the Apostle by that comparison takes upon him to demonstrate not what God will do but what he can for he saith What if God willing to shew his wrath c Besides God is compared to the Potter and men to the Mass or Lump of Clay but what men are they that are entred into this comparison not innocent men or men made guilty by imputation only as your Doctriâ—e supposes them but men corrupt through their own vâ—luntary pollutions as such This is evident from the Apostles Discourse in the three first Chapters of that Epistle He declares then that out of this Mass or Lump it is lawful for God according to his own Beneplaciture to select some unto life namely those who would believe in Christ upon his being tendred to them * Rom. 9. 30 31 32. Chap. 11. 20. See also John 3. ult and to harden the rest and reserve them to wrath that is to say those who would augment the number and mount the heap of their other sins by the addition of a wilful unbelief This to my sense is most clearly that liberty * 1 Cor. 1. 21. which the Apostle asserts and vindicates to Almighty God in that present juncture and current of his Providence over Jewes and Gentiles though the Jewes cryed it down with utter detestation as a violation * Rom. 11. 1. of those signal promises which he had anciently made unto their Nation For your other Allegation Matth. 20. 15. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own It can conclude nothing but that God may distribute equal portions of reward to those whose labours in his Vineyard have been unequal for when he that hath done most receives the utmost they did contract for why should he repine at the Lords bounty which is no injury to him though a benefit to others But what is all this to the vindication of Gods justice when he invites men to a new Covenant wherein he promiseth to proceed with them upon a gentler account and tyes them to new conditions and yet denies abilities sufficient to perform those conditions though he binds them to that performance under the commination and peril of a soarer penalty And I ask't you further in what sense this Covenant with Mankind could be properly called a Covenant of Grace which demand and I conceive it a material one you were pleased to take no notice of in your last Reply Diotrephes You must know Sir that your natural Reason without a supernatural illumination is no competent Judge of the sense of holy Scripture which contains the mind of God yet I shall not now reply to your interpretations but address my self to give you satisfaction to your lâ—st demand which is in what sense the Covenant which God hath sealed to us in the blood of Christ is styled a Covenant of Grace To this end you must understand that there are a certain number of persons predestinated unto life and glory and these are called the Elect These Elect God Almighty before the foundation of the World was laid according to his eternal and immutable purpose and the secret The Declaration of the Congregational Churches at the Savoy Chap. 3. n. 5 6 7. counsel and good pleasure of his will hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory out of his meer free grace and love without any foresight of faith or good works or perseverance in either of them or any other thing in the Creature as conditions or causes moving him thereunto and all to the praise of his glorious grace And as God hath appointed these Elect unto glory so hath he by the eternal and most free purpose of his will fore-ordained all the means thâ—â— unto wherefore they who are elected being faln in Adam are redeemed by Christ are effectually called unto faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season are justified adopted sanctified and kept by his power through faith unto salvation All these benefits are infallibly and irresistibly conveyed to those Elect by vertue of the said Covenant and upon this account I hope you will allow it to be very fitly intitled a Covenant of Grace Paganus I do readily allow of the title in respect to those Elect you speak of but I pray satisfie me in this particular what interest have the rest of mankind in Christ and this Covenant Do not the benefits you have now mentioned belong to them Diotrephes For your satisfaction you may assure your self it is the Determination and PUBLICK FAITH of the new Congregational Churches in England * Ibid. n. 6. agreed upon and consented to by their Elders and Messengers That not any other are redeemed by Christ or effectually called justified adopted sanctified and saved but these Elect only Paganus I pray to what end did God create the rest and what Acts hath he passed against them and what Providence doth he exercise towards them Diotrephes There is a Text of holy Scripture that saith thus Before the children were born and when they had neither done good nor evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand Rom. 9. 11 1â— 13. not of works but of him that calleth it was said The elder shall serve the younger as it is written I have loved Jacob and have hated Esau Out of which words a Renowned Divine doth conclude That Gods ordaining men unto salvation proceeds meerly according to
that insuperably he that produceth the act and that immediatly shall he be blameless What is this but to condemn an accessary and acquit the principal Diotrephes But there is a great difference betwixt Gods concourse unto our good and evil works to good works he concurs not only efficiently Ex parte Potentiae predetermining the very faculty to the work but also morally Ex parte Objecti in that he doth counsel command perswade and aâ—â—ure us unto the lawful object In sinful acts he does only the first and not the latter so that of our sinful actions he is the physical cause only not the moral but of our good he is as well the moral as the physical Paganus You should consider that moral motion doth not give God the honour of a true and proper cause but only of a Metaphorical for the influence it hath into the Agent is not ipsum agere the very act it self and consequently the effect doth not follow that motion If therefore God should move us no otherwise than after such a manner your Partizans do conclude that while we work God should not discriminate us but we should discriminate our selves from such as work not therefore though God concurs unto the good act by a physical predetermination and morally too but unto the evil act by a physical predetermination only yet there remains the same manner of working in respect of good and evil in that which is chiefly considerable and by it self alone attributes the true and proper nature of a cause to God and assigns him the first and perfect original of that determination that this act should rather be than not be But 2. What is this moral motion and from whence and what doth it work upon in its seduction of us to an evil work be it in the understanding or the will in the imagination or the sensitiue appetite if you allow it to be an act you must confess according to your principels that it is from God and of his product on seeing therefore that the total sum of Gods concurse unto the act of sin amounts fully to thus much in your own account That he predetermines man to produce the whole entity of it and the whole reality also of every other act prerequired unto it that besides he predetermines and applies the Divel * Imoâ—â—ne ipse quidem Diabolus quicquam potest nisi determinante Deo Proinde pro certo tenendum Dominum omnes actiones decâ—rnere atque agendo concurrere suo sancto modo cooperari quando peccatum est in fiâ—â—i c. Malcom Com. ad Act. 4. 24. Passio Christi in individuo fuit a Dâ—o praedefinita praedefinitione perfecta Ergo omnes circumstantiae quae concurrunt ad individuationem illius praedeterminatae sunt aeterno Deâ— decreto sed ad talem individuation in etiam concuâ—rit inâ—â—â—sio actus extensio ad tales personas Alvarez Disp 22. 19. Câ—tance approbante Amesio iâ— Bel. ener Tom 4. lib. 2. cap. 2. n. 12. p. 27. and every other cause de facto conâ—urring to propound the unlawful object and allure to it since he predetermines the will and directs the intention and provides the object and applies the Tempter and addresseth all other circumstances that concur to the individuation of the sinful act there seems to be no moral or physical causality wanting that God should therefore be said to produce mens evil works otherwise than he effects their good works Diotrephes But the efficiency of God though he be Author of the act of sin doth not reach the formal malice of it Paganus No more do Men nor Divels in their most importunate contrivances solicitations and actings towards the sins of others notwithstanding they communicate in the fault * Quatenus incredulit adhabâ—t rationem peccati Deus illam non efficit sed Diabolus juxta illud 2. Cor. 4. 4. Piscator Apol. Resp Amicae Collat. Oppos cap. 3. and guilt by impelling to them such acts as are inseparably attended with a moral pravity neither doth any man produce the formal malice of his own wicked act but inasmuch as he produceth the entity of that act * Aquin. 12ae q. 79. ar 2. 2. to which that malice is annexed If the resolution of your Casuist * Amesius ubi supra lately mentioned be authentick he doth indirectly cooperate and so communicate in the sin of others who is deficient in his diligence to prevent it and he is sufficiently diligent to prevent sin who doth predetermine the will to it Diotrephes Now I have freed God so fully from having any hand in sin by a Metaphorical distinction you endeavour to make him communicate therein by a moral interpretation but that one may be accounted the Author of sin he must be culpably deficient saith Dr. Twiss * Ubi supra p. 72. and thus man may beguilty saith he either by doing what he ought to omit or by omitting what he ought to do but this cannot be incident to God He could I confess saith he keep any Creature from sin â—f it pleased him but if he will not and doth not he commits not any culpable defect for he is not bound to preserve any man from sin Therefore all that can be infer'd from hence is this * R. B. Prid. ubi supra p. 13. That man doth necessarily fall into sin if God doth not uphold him not that God sins because he doth not give what he doth not owe him Paganus You grant then that God is the cause of mans fall though inculpable but your Doctors do acknowledge That to love God in such a measure as to contemn our selves in comparison of him and his service is above the power of nature A Dr. Twiss nbi supra p. 49. man mvst be endued with heavenly grace and the Spirit of God to enable him hereunto and that accordingly God created our first parents in a state of grace and endued them with the Spirit that in this capacity such a law of love might be justly impos'd upon them Now I would fain be satisfied with what equity God could withdraw * from his innocent creatures and such were our first parents before the fall * Si Deus hominem sibi obedientem a pietate deturbat bene currentem cadere facit ergo pro bonis mala retribuit injuste punit quod ut fiat impellit Quid tam perversum quid tam insanum dici aut cogitari potest Prosp Aquit ad 12. Gal. Object that supernatural and necessary assistance and yet being thus without any fault in them strip't off their abilities leave them under the obligation of that now become an impossible Commandment that they might inevitably fall and perish yet this he did as you concluded above out of your Divines Diotrephes We satisfie our selves in that God did this for a greater good and that we may have no cause to complain our Divines conclude *
Animalis This doth somewhat confound me because to my apprehension it inverts the method of holy Scripture for the Scripture saith as you alledged iâ— even now He that believeth shall be saved which affords a fair en ouragement to believe but your Doctrine inverts the Proposition and concludes He that shall be saved shall believe Diotrephes The Scripture argues by way of ascending from the Effect to the Cause but we inferr in a way of descending from the Cause to the Effect Animalis However Sir you have lodged the Cause at so remote a distance that I perceive the Effect is not in my Power Diotrephes If by Power you understand a faculty or a strength and 't is most commonly and fitly taken in this sense by which a man can do his duty if he will This Physical Power you have and the worst of sinners have while they are Men on Mr. Baxter Earth Serm. of Judgement Answ to Exc. 22. mihi pag. 240. Animalis Sir I suspect a Fallacy in this part of your discourse but I pass it over with this reply That a man had as good want a power to his will as a will to his power That Christ hath so far redeemed mankind as to restore a power to them to do their duty if they will and yet that to will is still impbossible for them is not this liberty a fine purchase If the New Method with Evidence affords not * See Mr. Baxter Disput of Right to Sa. â—ram in the Preface p. 15. not a more Rational account of those Points in Controversie then this amounts to I am afraid 't is not so soveraign as 't is boasted for healing the divisions of the Christian world Besides Is not to will a part of a Christians duty without doubt it is If then a man hath a power to do his duty he hath a a power to will and it being his duty too to will spiritual good after a gracious manner He hath a power to do that too if your Doctrine be true But good Sir let me have your opinion freely in this point Do you think a man hath Free-will to spiritual Good without the assistance of supernatural Grace Diotrephes I pray let us not befool our selves with opinions Let the case be your own If you have an Enemy so malicious that he fals upon you and beats you every time he meets you and takes Mr. Baxter away the lives of your children will you excuse him because he saith I have not free will it is my nature I cannot choose unless God give me Grace If you have a servant that robbeth you will you take such an answer from him Might not every Thief and Murderer that is hanged at the Assize give such an Answer I have not free-will I cannot change mine own heart what can I do without Gods Grace and shall they therefore be acquit A Call to the Unconverted pag. 232. Animalis Sir if your instances be pertinent your Answer to my Question is Affirmative for the Law presumes such false servants and malicious enemies to have free-will in those Actions and so a power to omit them else it would not bind them over to punishment but hold them excused as we may collect from the indemnity allowed to arrant fools and mad men committing the like Facts But to turn from the power of darkness to serve the living God to believe in Christ and perform other Evangelical duties requires an irresistible operation on Gods part not inferior for mightiness to that power whereby he created the world or raiseth up the dead as the Synod at Dort hath determined Diotrephes You could turn if you were but truly willing and if your Will it self be so corrupted that nothing but effectual Mr. Baxter grace will move it you have the more cause to seek for that Grace A Call to the Vnconverted pag. 231. Animalis Sir it seems to be a Contradiction that a man who is not actually willing should seek for grace to make him willing for where there is a seeking there is a desiring and where there is a desiring there is a willing so that you prescribe such an use of means to procure effectual Grace to make one willing as supposeth him willing without that Grace which most if not all our Divines account impossible But I pray tell me Sir Whether an insuperable impotency to be converred and become Gods servant doth not render a man excusable Diotrephes If you were willing to be the servant of Christ and yet were not Able either because he would not accept you or because of a want of Natural faculties or because of some other Natural difficulty which the willingest mind could not overcome this were some excuse Sermon of Judgement Mr. Baxter pag. 241. Animalis I bless God for the use of all my Natural faculties But whether Christ will accept of me is to be resolved according to his eternal purpose which is not certainly to be understood but by his ownspecial Revelation or his effectual work of Grace without which 't is impossible to be his acceptable servant and to obtain that work is a difficulty which the willingest mind in the world of it self cannot overcome Diotrephes But God hath appointed certain means for the ungodly which they are bound to use in order to their Conversion and if they will not use them they are without excuse Directions to prevent Miscar in Convers p. 265. Mr. Baxter Animalis Sir when a man is made captive and kept manacled and fettered in prison though you command the Prison-doors to be all open'd and invite him to come forth with all the Rhetorick and earnestness you can and give him ten thousand keyes to unlock his fetters yet if you keep the right key from him no man will look upon you as any other than a deluder Nay though you put the right Key into his hands too yet if his hands be so manacled and his sinews so benumm'd and stupified that he cannot use it if you do no more for the restitution of his Liberty your offer of it will be but a perfect piece of Mockery I pray therefore do not conceal the right Key from these poor Prisoners the bondmen of corruption but give us a prescription of such means as are sufficient and effectual for the work Diotrephes See that you be constant Readers and Hearers of the Word and that it may not slip out of your hearts meditate diligently upon it and confer frequently about it especially with your Teachers be strict in the observation of the Lords Mr. Baxter day and constant in duty with your Family and importunate with God in your prayers that he would pardon your former Rebellions against the Motions of his Spirit and give you a sense and feeling of your needs and a thirst after the supplies of his Grace and Righteousness These are the means that God hath appointed to bring you into a state of saving
deny it Lastly Whether I have refused any preparatory grace though that might fall into the same account with the former yet I add that is more than you are privy to and therefore I pray be not so uncharitable in your censures And now give me leave to ask you a question or two First Whether it be possible to improve that preparatory grace to the height if it be not possible that impossibility will so far excuse the non-improvement but if it be possible to improve it to the full height which perhaps may be granted because a man can do what he can do and sure whatever God may do in justice yet in goodness he will require nothing above our abilities Then my second question is upon supposition that I do not refuse but embrace and to the utmost of my power improve that preparatory grace that is offer'd me whether in that case you have any Commission to warrant me that God will confer his saving grace upon me Diotrephes I am satisfied That God hath not entred into Covenant or promise with any unregenerate man to give him saving Mr. Baxter grace upon any condition to be perform'd without it Of saving faith pag. 46. Animalis Then as was said before he hath no promise to make his prayer for saving grace to become a prayer of faith in this particular but though there be no promise yet haply these preparatory dispositions as hearing the Word c. have a certain and infallible connexion with salvation and that may be some encouragement Diotrephes No we do not say they have for that affirmation denieth the power of the Potter over a Non-believer thus qualified and so sins against the freedom of the Soveraignty of God and Christ in making God a debtor of mercy before his time Norton Orthodox Evangelist pag. 186. f. with 190. M. Animalis While you are so careful to reserve to the Almighty a power to damn even poor humbled and prepared sinners you seem to be more tender of his Soveraignty than of his Goodness Mercy or Justice But to let this pass I pray upon these grounds what encouragements can you find to incite the unregenerate to the improvement of preparatory grace Diotrephes God hath commanded him to use certain means to obtain saving grace and to avoid the resistance and hinderances Mr. Baxter and a very command to use such means as means is a strongly encouraging intima im that God will not deny men the end and blessing that use the means as well as they can for it is certain that he appointeth no means in vain Of saving faith pag. 46. Animalis But Sir now you have brought me thus far the great and stumbling objection is behind still for Mr. Norton tells us that these preparatory works are really to none but the Elect only * Orthod Evang p. 164. as for the Reprobates all the water of life runs quite besides their Mill all gifts whatsoever are unprofitable to them so saith Martinius one of the most moderate of the Synod of Dort De Morte Christi pro soliâ— Electis Thes 4. 5. Act. Syn. Dord par 2. p. 107. By this it is evident that your daily and precious helps and means to cure the wills of the unregenerate and cause them to accept of Christ are alâ—ogether unsufficient whatever you pretend to the contrary And this as great a Clerk * Mr. Baxter in his account of persever pag. 14. as your self was very sensible of when he peremptorily denies that the Repâ—â—bates may be sanctified and consonantly the Congregational Churches do declare ingenuously * In their Declarat ch 10. n. 4. p. 8 9. Dr. Twiss ubi supra pag. 122 c. That they who are not eâ—ected although they may be called by the Ministry of the Word and may have some common opâ—rations of the Spirit yet not being â—ffectuâ—lly drawn by the Father they neither do nor can come unto Christ and therefore cannot be saved Diotrephes However they are damned for contemning Gods Word and not hearkning to his gracious admonitions 't is true they could do no otherwise but what impotency is Mr. Baxter delivers himself almost in the very same words this Is it anywhere else than in their wills 'T is not a natural but a moral impotency were they willing to hearken and come to Christ but could not then indeed their impotency were excusable but they please themselves in their own and in their obstinate courses and if they would do other wise I make no question but that they should have no more cause to complâ—in of their impotency to do that good which they would do than the servants of God have yea and holy Paul himself hâ—d Do they deplore this their impotency Doth the consideration hereof humble them Nay rather they delight in it as the Prophet noteth Jâ—r 6. 10. Their ears are uncircumcised ears and they cannot hearken behold the Word of God is as a reproach unto them Thus far Dr. Twiss Animalis That men may accustome themselves to a course of carnality till they arrive at such a state of impiety and obduration I make no question but all are not of that temper There are some who are as far abased in the feeling of their sin and misery and humbled by attrition and cry out of their sin and Mr. Baxter of sav saith pag. 43. 44. folly and day and night do beg for grace and mercy as common grace will carry them to do They like the word and wayes of God and think his servants the best and happiest men and have many a wish that they were such themselves and that avoid as much of gross and wilful sinning and continue as much in hearing reading the Word enquiring consideration as common grace may bring them to do and have as much belief of the Gospel and as much desire after Christ and holiness and heaven and as much love to God and the Redeemer and the Saints as common grace can lead them to And withall that have a knowledge that yet they are short of true Christianity or at least are much afraid of it and therefore are under a prudent impatiency till saving grace comes in and the Spirit have sealed them up to the day of Redemption and are crying out What shall we do to be saved Now I demand whether you have any promise that assures their interest in saving grace to such as are thus disposed for it Diotrephes I told you already that I am satisfied that God hath not entred into Covenant or promise with any unregenerate Mr. Baxter 〈◊〉 pag. 46. man to give him saving grace upon any condition to be perform'd without it However I am confident that no man can stand out and say I did the best that ever I could to obtain saving grace and yet went without it because God would not give it me Animalis If that Author doth not contradict himself yet they that hold a
be part of their duty What shall they say to the Lord when he comes to check them for these oblations of their blind zeal saying Who hath required these things at your hands In short therefore seeing such as play the Voluntier's in Gods service find so little acceptation from him 't is a madness in any man to trouble himself about any spiritual performances till he finds sufficient grounds to convince him that God prescribes and requires them as conditions subordinated to his salvation If they be not of faith they are sin Rom. 14. 23. Diotrephes Why I wonder Sir you can find none of these when God hath chosen Faith with the fruits thereof a diligent prosecution of holy duties to be such conditions and accordingly you may find them indispensably required in every page of the Holy Ghost Securus Whatever be the judgment of your private spirit the Synod of Dort hath resolved otherwise and their Authority I hope you will yield to and that Authority hath rejected it Cap. 1. de Divina praedest Reject 3. as a pernicious Errour That the good pleasure and purpose of God from among all possible conditions or out of the order or rank of all things did choose as a condition unto salvation the act of faith in it self ignoble and the imperfect obedience of faith and was graciously pleased to repute it for perfect obedience and account it worthy of the reward of everlasting life Diotrephes I presume the Smod intended to explode it as an Errour that there was no election of persons but of qualities and methinks their words seem to incline towards this sense for they reject in that Article the Errours of those who teach That the good pleasure and purpose of God whereof the Scripture makes mention in the Doctrine of Election doth not consist herein that God did elect some certain men rather than others but in this viz. that among all possible conditions God did choose the act and obedience of faith as a condition unto salvation c. Securus If this were all they aim'd at in that Rejection to reject it as an Errour in those that taught there was no Election of persons but of things they rejected just nothing for it was an Errour so far from troubling the Belgick Churches that it was never taught by any man amongst them that which they rejected therefore was this That faith and the obedience of faith were chosen by Almighty God as a condition unto salvation and the following proof makes it evident For by this pernicious Errour they add the good pleasure of God and merit of Christ is weakned and that of the Apâ—stle is out-faced as untrue 2 Tim. 1. 9. God hath callâ—d us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his purpose and grace which was given to us through Christ Jesus before the World began Diotrephes I will not spend time to vindicate the sense of the Synod in that Article of Rejection but this is the plain truth in few and easie words if I am not mistaken That Faith which is an effectual acceptance of and affiance in Christ as Christ was chosen and ordained by God the condition of justification and Mr. Baxter life By this faith so constituted the condition we are actually justified as 't is the performed condition of Gods promise Disput of Justific p. 312. To the same sense the Brittish Divines delivered their Suffrage at the Synod in these words Non negamus esse ejusmodi beneplacitum Dei in Evangelio patefactâ—m qâ—o statuit fidem eligere in conditionem confâ—rendae salutis id est quo actualem salutis adeptionem saltem respectu adultorum ex fidei praecedentis conditione suspensam esse voluit We do not deny say they such a good pleasure of God to be revealed in the Gospel whereby he determin'd to choose faith for the condition of conferring salvation that is whereby he would have the actual obtaining of salvation at least in respect of the Adult suspended upon the condition of fore-going faith and this is that joyful and salutary tydings that is to be promulgated in the Name of Christ among all Nations Thus those Divines Securus Methinks this is repugnant to that inference of the Apostle So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that shâ—weth mercy Si divinae misericordiae exerendae seu exertae causa sola sit liberrima Dei voluntas saith Rom. 9. 16. Mr. David Dicson If the sole cause of the exertion or egression of the divine mercy be the most free will of God then the Ad locum cause thereof is not in the will of man nor in his good works or actions but in God alone It is not of him that willeth saith he therefore it is not of the free-will of man It is not of him that runneth saith he therefore it is not from the actions or endeavours of man that any man is beloved elected or that he obtains mercy and the blessing and consequently it depends upon God alone who sheweth mercy And Deodati his Note upon the place is this Seeing that the Election is of pure mercy it cannot be attributed to any will or endeavour of man Diotrephes To my apprehension * Mr. Baxter's Treat of Convers pag. 295 296. the meaning is not that our salvation is not in him that willeth or in him that runneth the Apostle talketh of no such thing but it is about the giving of the Gospel or the first special grace to them that had it not For * Mr. Baxter ib. pag. 296. 〈◊〉 if you ask the reason of mens salvation it is not given in Scripture barely from the will of God but from the faith and obedience of men for it is an act of rewarding justice as well as of paternal love and mercy And therefore we must distinguish very warily betwixt the Decree of God and the execution of it Election unto salvation is absolute it respects no condition or qualification in the person to be elected but salvation depends upon the condition of faith and obedience Securus If unbelievers disobedient and rebellious persons be chosen to salvation and it be not in Gods power to revoke that Election as the Hassien Divines concluded at the * De persevâ—r Aph. 5. p. 215 par 2. Synod at Dort I can see no necessity of faith and obedience for if God chooseth us unto salvation that is if he wills to have us saved being disobedient what reason is there why he should not be able to make us partakers of salvation being disobedient Is not Election the Decree of saving and doth not God execute his Decree for the same reason for which he made it If so why can he not actually save us without faith and obedience as well as Decree or will to save us without them Diotrephes He decrees to save us meerly for his good pleasure but he will actually
first is annihilated and brought to nothing in believers the other two remain for their exercise and humiliation and of that complaint of the Apostle O wretched man that I am ver 24. he saith It is an exclamation for his misery of being under the bondage of sin When the Apostle therefore saith Sin shall not have dominion over you the meaning is sin shall not have authority to destroy you but it may have power to tyrannize over you and then 't is not so much your fault as your affliction Diotrephes But the Apostle saith in the same Chapter Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies that you should obey it in the lusts thereof for who thus commits sin is the servant of sin and such a one is not at that time the servant of God for Christ saith A man cannot serve two Masters which are so opposite as God and sin are Praesumptuosus Sir you are much deceived Mr. David Dicson * Ad ver 25. cap. 7. ad Roman proves this for the consolation of the faithful from the example of the Apostle Rom. 7. 25. So then with the mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the flesh the Law of sin As if he had said Now that for the consolation of those who bewail their sins I may summarily recollect what I have said concerning my self I profess I have not attained unto that measure of holiness to which I aspire but together with the rest of the Saints I go on bewailing and striving under hope of deliverance and as it were divided from my self the Spirit and the flesh striving between themselves in me with my mind indeed or that part of me which is spiritual and renewed I do with delight serve the Law of God but with the flesh or that part of me which is not renewed as it were a Captive brought under the yoke I serve the Law of sin or the prevailing inclination of corrupt nature And Mr. Baxter * Of saving Faith p. 92. grants as much by affirming that the same man having flesh and spirit may have two contrary ultimate ends To this I may add That there is a great difference betwixt a sin that is invited and espoused and so reigns by our free election and suffrage and a sin that gets possession by Gods officaci us permission and order he withdrawâ—ng his assistance and our guards to make way for it Diotrephes I pray have a care you do not forget your self and lay your sins upon God for to impute your faults to him is blasphemy Praesumptuosus Sir I shall take care to confine my self within the limits of such expressions as are consonant to sound Doctrine What think you of the Elders and Messengers of the Congregational Churches I hope their faith being the Confession of the Assembly double refined will pass for currant with you and they declare as the Assembly had done before them That Gods de erminate * Chap. 5. n. 4. Counsel extendeth it self even to the first Fall and all other sins of Angels and men and that not by a bare permission That God ordained whatsoever comes to pass * Chap. 3. n. 1. without excepâ—ion And Mr. Norton saith That God is the fore-determiner of the sinfulness of the action to his own glorious and blessed end * Orth. Evang. pag. 63. f. And you may remember the words of Dr. Damman That when God doth perform his part we cannot omit ours Diotrephes Methinks you are departed from the Subject of our Discourse neither can I see to what end you alledge the former passages Praesumptuosus I follow the thread of our Discourse as evenly as I can and these Allegations are to let you understand that the Regenerate are not so much to be blamed for their omissions and lapses as you imagine because these fall out according to Gods own will and by his special order Diotrephes I know you may do more good than you do and omit more evil than you omit if you will and through your default herein you shew your self very disingenuous in grieving the good Spirit of God and hereby you incur his displeasure in a very high degree Praesumptuosus Gods displeasure I know is dreadful to such as lie under the burden of it but a Professour ought not to give himself so great a temptation as to fear it this is the judgement of Mr. Caryl Mr. Burroughs Mr. Strong Mr. Sprig Mr. Pritty * The Marrow of Modern Divinity pag. 201 Edit 3. for they have commended a Book wherein I am taught thus In case you be at any time by Reason of the weakness of your faith and strength of your temptations drawn aside and prevailed with to transgress any of Christs Commandments beware you do not thereupon take occasion to call Christs love to you into question but believe as firmly that he loves you as dearly as he did before you thus transgressed for this is a certain truth As no good in you or done by you did or can move Christ to love you the more so no evil in you or done by you can move him to love you the less To which purpose I consider That he chose me to salvation when I was yet in my sin and if my sin could not provoke his displeasure against my person then when I was without Christ much less can it do so now when he hath made me accepted in the Beloved Ephes 1. 6. Neither can the Spirit of God be grieved at my infirmities and that upon this account for a wise person will not be grieved but either for omitting what he would have done or for committing what he would have left undone How then can the Regenerate grieve Gods Spirit For as to every good Act he doth determine our will to that and produce it by an irresistible efficiency and this being good and according to his will it cannot grieve him As for every evil Act his determinate Counsel extendeth it self to that too and that not by a bare permission only * Declar. of Congreg Ch. ut supra nor as the Authour of nature that he may not be wanting to his charge of Providence affording such a simultaneous concourse as the nature of the second cause requires that it may use its natural liberty but by way of predetermination and a most efficacious Decree * Dr. Twiss ib. pag. 88. 89 90. to that 1. He is the Authour of the Act wholly 2. He is the fore-determiner orderâ—r and governour of the sinfulness of the action to his own glorious and blessed end saith Mr. Norton thâ—s herefore is according to his good pleasure too and how then can it be said to grieve him especially seeing he hath his own glorious and blessed end in it for which he fore-determines it And every sinful Act being thus ordered and fore-determined it is impossible a poor Creature should avid it and consequently I can omit no mo e evil than I
Rom. 6. 14. the Spirit which is given them at their new birth abides with them for ever * John 14. 16 and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3. 178 Diotrephes He that hath not more hatred than love to any sin and that had not rather be rid of it even in the use Mr. Baxter of Gods means then keep it in regard of the habituated state of his will is under the dominion of sin and in a state of damnation Account of persever ubi supra Praesumptuosus 1. Is this consistent with such a man as David his having two contrary ultimate ends 2. There is a combate betwixt the inward and the outward the spiritual and the carnal the new and the old man which they only do understand who feel it in themselves Et vim peccati etiam sanctissimas actiones aliquo modo polluentis vitae suae telam totam longè latè que pervadentis experiuntur and have experience of the power of sin polluting in some measure their most holy actions and spreading over the whole course of their lives saith Mr. D. Dicson * Ad Rom. 7. 22 23. 3. But such as are under such conflicts you say will use Gods means c. What are Gods means Are they not his holy Ordinances He that doth diligently frequent thâ—se that hears the Word and delights in Religious Conferences and is constant at his Devotions and Prayers doth use Gods means and thus did David saith Mr. Baxter * Pref. to the Grot. Relig. sect 19. I verily think that after his sin David went on in his ordinary course of Religion and Obedience in all things else abating in the degrees and blessed be God so do I and this is evidence sufficient of the habituated state of the will 4. If a man cannot get rid of his sins upon this account at least he may comfort himself as to the event that God sends them for fatherly chastisements as Mr. Perkins speaketh and raise his soul up with this meditation Lapsu non tolli fidem gratiam sed illustrarâ— sin serves rather to furbush our faith and the divine grace in us than to expell it To this purpose Dr. Twiss saith That all things work together for the good of them that love God is as true as the Apostle Pauls Epistle to the Vbi supra pag. 103 104. Romans is the Word of God And Bishop Cooper a Scottish Bishop saith he applies this to mens sins amongst other things shewing how they also do work for a mans good And in another place speaking of himself the Dr. hath these words I take notice of Gods hand sometimes hardning me against Pag. 95. his fear yet God knows I take no comfort in it but rather in this that God knowes how to work it for my good according to that of Austin Audeo dicere utile est superbis in aliquod apertum â—anif stumque cadere peccatum c. And when I find that my sins do not make a final or a total separation between my soul and God this may well tend to the Corroboration of my faith and perswade my soul that nothing shall be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord and I have good cause to take comfort in this saith that learned Dr. 5. But suppose a man should feel some pleasure in the act of sin as to the flesh and outward man yet he hath no need to fear the dominion of sin or state of damnation * Mr. Baxter saith that David chose flesh-pleasing for it self as his ultimate end Of saving faith ubi supra if he carries a hatred towards it in his spirit and inward man for this is exactly the case of the regenerate if you will allow with our Divines that the Apostle speaketh for â—hâ—ir comfort no otherwise then as he found by experience in his own person Rom. 7. 14 c. I am carnal saith he sold under sin for that which I do I allow not for what I would that do I no but what I hate that do I which he would not have done had he not found some pleasure in it If then I do that which I would not I consent unto the Law that it is good Now then it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing For to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not for the good that I would I do not but the eâ—il which I would not that I do Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me From which Discourse of the Apostle Mr. D. Dicson * Ad locum draws several Arguments of Consolation From the 16. verse he saith the Apostle comsorts himself and other combatants with these Arguments 1. Ego ipse Apostâ—lus c. I my self an Apostle am in the number of thâ—se who bewail the Lactaâ—ius brings in a person thus excusing himself Lib. 4. Cap. 24. Volo equidem non peccare sed vincorâ— indutus sum enim carne fragili imbecilla haec est quae concupiscit quae irascitur quae dolet quae mori timet Itaque ducor invitus pecco non quia volo sed quia cogor imperfection of their holiness and feel in my self the same combate and trouble with thâ—m from the imperfection of my obedience therefore such as bâ—wail the imperfection of their holiness have consolation seeing they suffâ—r nothing but what other Saints yea and the Apostles themselves are subject unto A second Argument of Consolation is this That out of this conflict there ariseth a sign of Sanctification begun in such a Combatant and a consent to the Law of God that it is good and holy For if I do what I would not then I consent to the Law of God that it is good And all that bewail the imperfection of their obedience have the same sign of their Sanctification A third Argument of Consolation to all such Christian Combatants he draws from ver 17. 20. in that the sin which they commit who do thus bewail their imperfection and disallow of it and condemn it shall not be imputed unto them but to the corruption of their nature and to that habitual sin that dwells in them c. Thus Mr. Dicson Thus it was in the Falls of David and Peter that David hated sin habitually and so many other sinners do as well as he for all his Aâ—ulâ—ery and Murder we may conclude from his indignation against the Oppressour expressed at the hearing of Nathan's Parable * 2 Sam. 21. 5. Hâ—reupon you know how favourably some of our Godly Reforming Divines have declared their Judgement It is not imaginable saith one * Mr. Baxter in his Pref to the Gâ—oâ— Relig. sect 19. of them
rightâ—oâ—s but sinnâ—rs to Repenâ—ance And what sinners were they think you but such as found themselves weary and heavy laden nay â—â—st and at the very point of perishing and therefore altering his phrase though he speaks of persons under the same qualification He saith 〈◊〉 Son of mâ—n came tâ— seeâ—â—nâ— to save that which was loâ—â— * Matth. 18. 11. 'T is no discouragement to me but rather an invitation and inducement to minister to the needs of his soul God himself hath profest He delights to dwell nowhere sooner than in the poor and empty receptacles of an humble and broken heart * Isa 57. 15. 66. 2. A broken and contrite heart O God thou wiâ—t not dâ—spisâ— * Psal 51. 17. But Sâ—r that I may gain a little better notice of his condition give me leave to enquire further after him I am confident your charity that brought you thus far to me on his bâ—half did also prompt you to suggest such wholsome directions as you thought most sutable to his capacity in reference to the temptations he lies under Samaritâ—nus Sir Had my Abilities been answeraâ—le to my Compassion my Applications for his recovery out of this sad estate might have been much more effectual than they were But you may assure your self his wounds were drest with the best wine and oyle my stock afforded Diotrephes You are so well principled in general and especially so well vers'd iâ— Cases of Conscience and the practical parâ— of Christianity that you are able to speak a word in season But seeing as I conceive he lies under the Arrest of the soiâ—it of bondâ—ge it may be a question whither it be yet seasonable or convenient to give him Baile Humiliation is the ground work of Conversion and the deeper the foundation is digged the stronger will be the building that is erected upon it None are conducted to Heaven with more assurance than they that have pass'd by the Gates of Hell and the longer he stands at those Gates the greater will be his affrightment from the wayes that lead thither and the greater his thirst after the joyes of Heaven when they are offeâ—'d to sollicite him into the ways of Righteousness If it be upon the surprizal of some late wasting sin or the reflexion upon former â—oul crimes that this present tempest is raised iâ— his conscience let him be toss'd a while till he takes in a little more salt water â—nd bâ—â—ome more Sea sick that being tumultuated in the hurry of his own distracted thoughts he may be driven to act the Physitians part upon himself or with those Marinâ—rs to cast lots to find out the Criminâ—l in whose proâ—â—cution that storm was sent out by the Divâ—ne Displeasure that so Jonah being thrown over-board the Wind and Sea may be becalmed and the Passage made secure for the time ensuing It is fit the Law â—â—ould â—â—y on her full load upon soul sinners till their shoulders be wrung and pinch't and force them to cry out 'T is the severity of that Ushâ—r that makes men willing to subâ—it to the Discipline of Jesus Christ Sâ—mariâ—aâ—us I am not satisfied that this is the best method for the cure of Dâ—â—â—latus gentler applications may be more proper to reâ—â—â—â—ie and â—ettle the â—umours that are stirred in him It is not a draught of deadly pâ—yson lately swallowed that hath brought these â—â—â—s upon him nor the fresh apparition of long buried crimes newly raised up from the dead by the power of an espâ—câ—â—l Providence though 't is most certainly true and verified in his complaints that every little sin will fall a buffeting the conscience when it is too weak and â—eeble â—o make resistance yet I say it is no such horrid spectre of guilt but on a sudden he sinks in his hopes and is at a loss for his assurance and doubts his sincâ—rity and consequently his interest in the merits of Chriâ—t and in Gods love and favour And the temptation heightned by the subtilty of the Tempter taking advantage of his own fears and jealousies is grown so strong and violent that he is hardly perswaded to the patience to have it undermin'd or opposed And I perceive it is the Apostâ—sie of these present Times that hath given him this scandal and betrayed him to that dissatisfaction that afflicts him Diotrephes Why what doth he infer from these sad emergencies of Providence Samaritanus He makes sad reflexions upon them and then applies them to his own discouragement insomuch that whereas he was wont formerly to discourse of the Doctrine of the certain perseverance of all the sanctified with much feeling and consolation saying It was to his spirits as a Well of water springing up to everlasting life Now on the other side having such examples before his eyes he apprehends the same Doctrine as the waters of Ezek or Marah he can find nothing but matter of strife and relish nothing but a taste of bitterness in it For saith he if I could have any assuranâ—e that I am truly sanctified the Doctrine of certain perseverance of all such would be comfortable to me but I am brought now into such doubts of Mr. Baxter's Account of persev p. 25 26 it that I fear I shall never attain to such assurance being rather induced to conclude myself certainly unsanctified For I never reached so high as some that I have known that have fallen away I have known divers that have been judicious and effectionate and constant and lively in duty and of very up ight careful lives and so great contemners of the World that they would not have omitted an opportunity for their souls for wordly gain yea theywere persecuted and suffered very much for godliness in evil times and in the sharpest tryals never shâ—uâ—k when others did and laid out themselves almost altogether in doing good Their prayers and conferences were very holy and heavenly and affectionate and their lives agreeable so that they were incomparably beyond me in all these qualifications * One would have thought it next to an impossibility that such men the highest Professours of Religion and so many of them could ever have been drawn to do that against the Church against that Gospel Ministry and Ordinances of God which once seemed dearer to them than their lives which hath since been done and which yet we fear Mr. Baxter's Directions for peace of Conscience in the Epistle to the poor in spirit and yet some of them now do deny the Godhead of Christ and the Holy Ghost some deny the Scripture and that there is any Church or Ministry some are turned Quakers and some Licentious if not Infidels and therefore certainly have now no saving grace Now before I can ever be sure that I am justified I must be sure that I go further than any of these did or any other that ever fell away whereas I find my self far short of many of them And I am in a manner certain that some of
given him Jam. 1. 4. If you that are evâ—l can give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask iâ— Luke 11. 13. Suppose your life were in the hands of your own husband or your childrens life in your hands would it not exceedingly comfort you or them to consider whose hands they are in though yet you had no further assurance how you should be used God is a Father even to the wicked and to convince men of his fatherly mercy to them he often so stileth himself He saith by Moses Deut. 32. 6. to a wicked Generation whose spot was not the spot of his Children Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father that bought thee Hath he not made thee and establish't thee And the Prodigal could call him Faâ—her for his encouragement before he returned to him Luk. 15. 16 17 18. For my own part I must needs profess that my soul hath more frequent support from the consideration of Gods gracious and merciful nature than from the promise it self To this he returns a ready Answer That God is the Father of the rain Job 38. 28. and of all Creatures as he is their Maker Ephes 3. 14 15. But if we speak with reference to salvation Dr. Twiss * Vbi sâ—pra p. 53 saiâ—h The dealing of God is with his Children he means the Elect only Father-like not with others 3. I have signified to him That this disquietness in him doth manifesâ—ly arguâ— a desire to believe as Dr. Twiss * Ibid. p. 138. observes and God hath promised to fulfill the desire of them that fear him Ibid. p. 158. And seeâ—ng aâ—â—iction especially when it is of a spiritual nature is the ordinary introduction into the state of grace in the coarse of Gods Pâ—ovidence like as the Valley of Acâ—or was a door of hope uâ— to the Children of Israel and our Saviour in going to Jerusalem the vision of peace did continually take Bethany the house of mourning in his way we have cause to conceive good hope that these pangs may be as the pangs of Child-birth unto an afflicted soul To this he replies That common grace will carry a man so far as to be abased in the feeling of his sin and misery and to be humbled by attrition as the â—Papâ—sts call it and to cry Mr. Baxter of saving saith p. 43 44. out of their sin and folly and day and night to beg for grace and mercy He may like the Word and wayes of God and think Gods servants the best and happiest men and have many a wish that he were such himself he may avoid gross and wilful sinning and continue in hearing reading the Word enquiring consideration he may have a desire after Christ and holiness and heaven he may have love to God and the Redeemer and the Saints and withall he may have either a knowledge that he is yet short of true Christianity or at least be much afraid of it and therefore be under a prudent impatiency till saving grace comes in and the Spirit hath sealed him up to the day of Redemptiâ—n and he cry out What shall I do to be saved This a man may be brought unto by common grace which hath no promise of saving grace made to it nor any necessary connexion with it and consequently saith he these pangs may be but the beginning of greater sorrows 4. I have assured him that if he doth believe in Christ a Fountain of Consolation is then opened to him * Dr. Twiss p. 148. In this case we can assure him not only of the favour of God for the present but also of final perseverance therein and of Election and of Salvation as Dr. Twiss * Ib. p. 150. affirmeth To this he replies in the words of the same Dr. * Ibid. pag. 47 48. That a man may believe by an acquired faith * How can such a Faith cloathed with all moral vertues be distinguish't from an infused Faith and perform the acts of all moral vertues and have an exteriour conformity to the means of grace and so proficere ad exteriorem vitae emendationem and yet not be acceptable to God for all this Nothing but a Divine Faiâ—h will save us 5. I have told him Albeit he hath not this Faith to day notwithstanding he may have it in good time * Dr. Twiss ib. 150 and that there is no cause of desperation or to conceive himself to be a Reprobate Ib. 138. forasmuch as his condition is no worse than Sauls was before his calling yea and the holiest servant Mr. Baxteâ—'s Directions for peaee of Conscience pag. 463. of God Therefore said I what if you have no grace Do you not hear God daily offering you Christ and grace Doth he not entreat and beseech you to be reconciled unto him 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. And would he not compell you to come in Matâ—h 22. Do you not feel some unquietness in your sinful condition and some motions and strivings at your heart to get out of it Certainly though you should be one that hath yet no grace to salvation yet these continued offers of grace and strivâ—ngs of the Spirit of Christ with your heart doth shew that God hath not quite forsaken you and that your day of grace and visitation is not past To this he finds an answer to and tells me the question is whether there be any such day of visitation alotted for him or no. He is sure those sâ—rivings betwixt the flesh and natural conscience portend no such forasmuch as there may be such a conflict in the very Reprobate He wonders I should say that God doth bâ—seech him to be reconciled and would compell him to come in for his Conversion must be if ever it be at all of Gods irresistible working and saving grace of his immediate infusing and he being omnipotent if he were pleased to have it so it must needs be accomplâ—sh't in him presently 6. I have intreated him after this manner When the Divel clamours in your ears Christ and Salvation is none of thâ—ne let that voyce of God be in your memory O take Christ Mr. Baxter â—bi supra pag. 37. and life in him that thoâ— mâ—â—st be saved When you would fain have Christ and life and you are afraid that God will not give them to you remember then that God stands by beseeching you to accept the same thing which you are beseeching to give God is the first Suitour and Sollicitour God prayes you to take Chrâ—â— and you pray him to give you Christ what have you now to do but to take him And here understand that this taking is no impossible business it is no more but your hearty câ—â—seâ—ting And pag. 56. when God in the Gospel bids you take Jesus Christ and beseecheth you to be reconciled Ibid. pag. 56. to him if your
of Consolation he had given down in those Theses for soon after he puts in his excepâ—ions and enters such a Caveat against the greatest part of Mankind See Thes 16 c. as doth infallibly keep them out of possession of the benefit for saith he this universal Redemption must be very circumspectly handled as to point of satisfaction and merit and a double exception he propounds to limit them One respecting the things another the persons Christ he saith hath not satisfied for a permanent impenitency much less for a persevering contumacy and hence it comes to pass that the wrath of God abides upon unbelievers and all their sins original actual against Law and Gospel are imputed to them And yet O strange subtilty he hath merited grace for all even for the impenitent and unbelievers But what grace why Remission of sins and Eternal life under the condition of faith and repentance but not grace sufficient and necessary unto that faith and repentance From hence you will conclude that he must put in another exception a Caveat against persons too and it is this That although Christ hath promiscuously so satisfied for all men that their sins may be remitted viz. if they repent and believe that is when they are invited to take Christs easie yoke if they perform an impossible condition yet in truth he hath procured the sins of the Elect only in whom that condition is effected by an irresistible grace and operation to be remitted eventually So that Christ having made no satisfaction for the sin of final impenitency and having decreed to let them fall inevitably into that state by withholding grace sufficient and necessary to keep them from it what advantage I beseech you do these poor wretches receive from his merits and satisfaction Diotrephes But the Synod declares their sense more fully in this Article That many being called by the Gospel do not repent nor believe in Christ but perish in infidelity this comes not to pass say they through any insufficiency of Christs Sacrifice for that is a most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for Chapt. of Redempt Art 3 4 5 6. sins of infinite price and value abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole World and that 't is therefore of so great value because the person that was offer'd up was the only begotten Son of God and because his death was joyned with a feeling of Gods wrath and of the curse which we had deserved by our sins and they declare this to be Gospel That whosoever believes shall not perish but have life everlasting Desolatus 'T is true if they believe upon that condition Mr. Baxter's Preface to the Grot. Relig. sect 9. Syn. Dord ib. A t. 8. But did God purpose* to cause in men this condition or not In the Elect he did upon whom only it was the most free counsel gracious will and intention of God the Father that the efficacy of that Sacrifice should stream â—orth to the production of faith in them by an irresistible operation as that Synod hath more at large declared So that a man must have the work of special grace wrought in him and the Spirit of Christ abiding with him before he can have assurance of his interest in Christ Diotrephes 'T is very true They that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his * Rom. 8. 9. but you could not so much as say That Jesus Christ is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost * 1 Cor. 12. 3. yet this I know is your stedfast profession and because ye are sons God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Can you not pray to God too as well as profess to believe in him Desolatus 'T is most certain we should not have believed Christ to have been the Messiah and the Son of God if the Holy Ghost had not sealed the Revelation to us and confirm'd it with a world of miracles But having this Revelation by us Christ may be acknowledged to be the Lord without the special inhabitation of his Spirit to prompt us to it and his influences may be sufficient to move us unto prayer when they are insufficient to renâ—w us unto salvation and therefore not every one that saith Lord Lord not every Supplicant shall enter into the Kingdâ—m of heâ—ven but he that doth the will of the Father which is in heâ—ven Mâ—â— 7. 21. Diotrephes Hold you close to this principle that heaven shall be alotted for a portion to him that doth the will of God for the Lâ—rd loveth judgment and forsakâ—th not â—is Saints or his Psal 37. 28. that be godly they are prâ—served for ever Desolatus 'T is not enough to do Gods will for the substance of the work that may be done by the unsanctified But it must be done after a spiritual and gracious manner also * Dr. Twiss ib. p. 48. and so â—one but the Saints and truly godly do it and they are called his by a peculiar â—â—â—le of Election and are sure to be preserved for ever Diotrephes I remember you have been look't upon as a person eminent for godâ—â—ness and forward not only to do the will of God but when the will of God requir'd it to suffer also for your well-doing Now St. Peter tells you and he prefixeth a kind of Oath to his Asseveration saying Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in â—very Nation he that feareth Acts 10. 34 35. him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him Desolatus Sir the sense of that Text must admit of a limitation for as the Synod at Dort hath declared God hath chosen in Christ unto salvation a set number of certain men Cb. 1. Art 7. with 15. neither better nor more worthy than others but equally lost and lying in the common misery with others whom he passed over unto everlasting destruction And therefore Deodati tells us in his Annotation upon that Text that Peter speaketh not here of that Original of the will and pleasure of God by which he taketh into favour one who of himself is as unworthy as the other Rom. 9. 11. 1 Cor. 4. 7. * Do these Texts serve the interests of the Sullapsarians or Supralapsarians or both or neither But of that consequent degree of his love toward the work of his grace in what Nation or quality of person soever it be found to maintain increase and make it up This is his sense Diotrephes But that learned man does conclude you see that where God hath begun his work of grace he will not fail to maintain increase and make it up and this is that very thing whereof the Apostle is so confident That he which hath begun a good work in you will perform or finish it untill the day of â—esus Phil. 1. 6. Christ Desolatus This perswasion of the Apostle is but the result of his charity towards those Philippians as
11. saith of that covetous seditious and bloody Sect of Gnosticks in his time that went in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward he saith They perished in the gain-saying of Corah But you will ask how could that be when the Rebellion of Corah was in Moses time and these men lived many hundred of years after in St. Jude's time Why they perished in effigie in their Types Patterns or Representatives Thus you see in what sense men may be said to be fore-ordained or set forth afore-hand unto Condemnation though their persons be under no such Decree of Absolute Reprobation Desolatus Does not God fore-know that men will sin and continue obstinate in it to their last period and so incurr the guilt of condemnation according to his Eternal Law though he hath not absolutely ordain'd them to sin and condemnation Samaritanus They that say God fore-knows nothing but what he hath ordained to come to passe making his Prae-science â—â— depend upon his Decree they derogate from the glory of Gods fore-knowledge which yet we see the Scriptures celebrate even with admiration For what praise shall the prescience of God have if he fore-knows nothing but what himself hath decreed seeing we can scarce find a Mortal so brutish as to be ignorant of what himself hath determined The knowledge of our God we are assured is unsearchable and therefore without passing a Decree for their Commission he fore-knows sin and all such contingencies as for their obscurity are most remote to human understanding But there is this further difference betwixt Gods Prae-science and his Absolute decree were there any such in this case Such a Decree in order to its Execution doth introduce an Antecedent Casual and Inevitable Necessity of sinning and being damned Prae-science is but a looker on in the whole processe Prae-science is but a Perspective through which God discovers a mans voluntary motion till he arrives at that horrible Lake of fire and brimstone But That Decree is such a Boat or Engine as transports Him thither will He nill He irresistibly Desolatus I shall consider that this piercing Eye of God is always open and upon me to observe my steps and make it a motive and enforcement to steer my course so much the more exactly But you must give me leave to ask you two or three Questions more And first deal ingenuously with me Doth God give Grace sufficient unto Faith and Repentance to such as perish for the abuse and neglect of it Samaritanus God gives or is ready to give if we make no new obstructions that Grace that is sufficient to the obtaining of Faith perhaps not immediately but grace sufficient to use the means grace to do more than we do in order to the obtaining of it You may reflect upon what was said above upon Habenti dabitur That some men may perish who receive sufficient grace to bring them to salvation if they would persevere in it appears plainly from hence that our Saviour saith to his Disciples Matth. 24. 13. He that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved And If ye continue in his goodness Rom. 11. 22. Ye shall not be cut off * See 2 Ep. Joh. 8. Gal. 3. 4. Can a man arrive at a place that is not in the direct way that leads thither He must be instructed to turn and not exhorted onely to continue in it And how could St. Paul say of some that they made shipwrack of faith and a good conscience 1 Tim. 1. 19. Can that be shipwrack'd that was never in the Vessel and can that be called a shipwrack which though preserved intirely would but bring us to predition Desolatus But should a man through his sinfull improvidence make shipwrack of this grace may his dammage be recovered Samaritanus Yes how else could the Apostle give order To deliver the Incestuous Corinthian uâ—to Satan for the destruction See Ezek. 18. 21 22. of the flesh that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5. 5. If there be no restitution for persons that have once wasted that portion of grace that was put into their hands then there can be no right Prodigals but our first Parents What think you of David Peter Solomon and others whose falls were most lamentable and yet they were restored by a new Conversion Desolatus The Apostle saith of some that if they fall away it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance Heb. 6. 4 6. Samaritanus The word impossible doth many times signifie no more but 't is extreamly difficult but in that place to the Hebrews the Apostle speaks of such as do not onely fall away but add persecution of the Gospel of grace to their Apostacy from iâ— For they tread under foot the Son of God and count the blood of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified an unholy thing and do despite to the Spirit of Grace Though we may not give that which is holy unto dogs * Matth. 7. 6. nor cast our pearls before swine who will rample them under their feet and return and rent us yet we are assured the fatted Calf is killed * Luk. 15. 23. and made ready to entertain the returning Prodigal Sinners are therefore every where exhorted to return and God hath promised to heal their back slidings Hos 14. 1 2 4. Repentance is Secunda Tabula post naufragium And Christ hath invited all that act heavy laden with their sins to come unto him Mâ—tth 11. 28. And if they come we have his promise He will in no wise cast them out Joh. 6. 37. Desolatus This is a very encouraging Invitation but I suppose it concerns none but such as He died for and because so many do flatly deny Vniversal Redemption and the holy Scripture it self seems sometimes to restrain his death to a ceâ—tain number as where it saith He gave his life a Ransome for many * Matth. 20. 28. Therefore I would gladly be satisfied about the extent of that death of His whether the Satisfaction and Merit of it were for All I mean not All Sorts onely but All Individuals Samaritanus You have ask'd a very material Question for seeing there is salvation in no other but Christ such as are not redeemed by him if there were any such can receive no benefit Act. 4. 12. as to matter of salvation from him nor have any comfort really administred unto them But if we receive the testimony of men the testimony of God is greater and this is the testimony of 1. Joh. 5. 9. God which he hath given of his Son 1. That He came to seek and to save that which was lost a That God laid upon him the iniquity of us all b That He died for the ungodly c for sinners d for his enemies e for All f for every man g for the world h for the whole world i for the unjust k and finally