c Ibid. 63. Except ye eat the flesh of the Sonne of man c the words saith he that I speak are Spirit Sure the man is in a strange humour he would have those that deal with him to make themselves no better then meer bruits for they must devest themselves not of Logick only but of Grammer too both of common speech and common sense they must not interpret the Spirit by conseqence as much as to say in plainer terms they must deduce nothing by conseqence from Scripture especially when it shall crosse any Tenent of his nor must they say that such a speech imports a condition tho they find it usherd in with a conditionall particle and therefore tho nisi or except be such an one in our Saviours assertion yet it must by no means there import a condition For as for what he subjoyns that some of the Disciples should stumble at those words of our Saviour because they took them as I do under a condition and that our Saviour therefore told them that the words he spake were Spirit And what then that they were not to be taken rherefore under a condition as if in Spirituall things conditions could not be as well as in carnall these things are so palpably absurd that it is a wonder how they could possibly find entrance I say not into any Schollers skull but into any illiterate fellows head piece unlesse his brain-pan were not lightly crafied only but clean crakt For who is so voyd of common sense as not easily to apprehend that the ground of their startling at that passage was not the taking of the words as conditionally conceived which our Saviour no where waives but the d Carnaliter intellexerunt qod spir tualiter intâ—lligendum erat Aug. in Ioan. 27 de doctr Chist l 3. taking of that carnally which was to be understood spiritually was that wherein they were mistaken and which our Saviour meets with in that after-speech But some things they say are so apparant of themselves that tho it may well be deemed a fond labour to spend many words about proof of them yet e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epict. l. 1. c. 5. it is not so easie by argument to confirm them against an obstinate opponent not because they are not of unqestionable truth but because they are of themselves so clear being in the nature of principles that it is hard finding out a medium to prove them by that is not lesse clear then themselves as that two and two make four and that contradictories ever divide truth and falshood And just such are those assertions that Mr S. here opposeth that Collections may by conseqence be framed from Scripture that Conditions may be in spirituall things as well as in carnall that Conditionall particles imply a condition that a Condition is where the whole nature of a condition is found But that this man herein striveth against the clear light of truth shining into his soul or within him rather by that candle of naturall reason that God hath set up in his soul only to run counter to the Legalists whom his soul so much abhorreth may hereby appear in that when this fit of opposition is a litle over and this heat of passion somewhat alayed with him and the man is come again now to himself he freely of himself confesseth that f Treat p. 163. the Gospel is formed up of exhortations conditionall promises c. unto which els-where objected he returned not a word and what other promises but these and such as these the Gospel should be made up of I suppose Mr S. himself is not able to shew nor do I believe that he meant any other Howbeit it may be that out of some nice subtilty tho he grant conditionall he will deny condition as in an other subject he seems to have some such subtile reserve where tho he use the word divinity yet he scoft the title of a Divine as I am enformed that some other also now do but they perchance meerly for some want of Scholership but Mr S. a professed Scholer I am sure cannot be ignorant that a Divine and Divinity condition and conditionall are vocabula yea and argumenta conjugata But however Sir lay aside if it be so offensive to you the term of condition for to maintain strif about words is but a vain expence of time Do you but acknowledge that upon believing in Christ repenting of sin and leading a new life life and salvation may undoubtedly be attained and that without these it cannot be had and we shall herein be soon agreed or if you dare deny it and so give our Saviour Christ himself and his Apostles the lye whom I have shewed in expresse terms by testimonies unavoidable so to affirm But here you object 1. That g Reply p. 8. § 2. thâ—se that are Christs do not repent and believe and obey that they may be Christs for God hath chosen us in him and predestinated us unto the adoption of Children in Jesus Christ But Sir 1. All this proves not that these things are not conditions of the Gospel or that any can have part in Christ without them i Graâ—is hoc qoque prâ—stitum est gratis qod ad tâ— attâ—â—et nâ—m quâ—ad â—llâ— nâ—n gratis salvus factâ—s es pro nihilo sed non de nihilo tamen Bern. Ser. in Psal 90. 2. The Apostle telleth us in expresse terms that h Gal. 2.16 he believed in Christ that he might be justified by Christ thereby implying that he was not actually justified or had part in the justification procured and purchased by the death of Christ untill he believed And albeit the ransome whereby we are freely in regard of our selves justified be wholly in Christ Iesus yet is he said to be k Rom 3.24.25 set forth for an atonement unto us through faith in his blood nor were those l Rom. 11.23 24. branches of the wâ—ld Olive which were taken to succeed in the roome of those who were broken off actually in Christ but m Epes 2.12 out of Christ untill upon their believing they were engraffed into Christ 3. As n Epes 1.5 God hath predestinated us unto the adoption of sonnes in Christ that is to be adopted through Christ as he is said to have blessed us with all spirituall blessings in him so hath he elected them whom hee was pleased so to single out in his counsel and purpose from eternity o Ibid. v. 3. p Iam. 2.5 to be rich in faith saith one Apostle q Ephes 1.4 to be holy and unblameable before him in love saith an other Apostle and the same again r 2 Thes 2.13 he hath from the begining chosen you unto salvation by the sanctification of the Spirit and the beliâ—f of the truth or by sanctification of the Spirit and true Faith nor can any man therefore have life and salvation without these 2. Å¿
be content to take these and teach them such as they be and as the writers of holy writ have ascertained them to be And yet give mee leave to be so bold as to tel you so much of my mind by the way that I shall ever conceive just cause to qestion that faith that shunneth this touchstone that refuseth to be tried by such signs and marks as the Apostles have propounded for that purpose c Repl. Ibid. But is that say you the best spirituall assurance that is from our spirit in part or from God alone from our reasoning or his speaking can a spouse argue better the love of her friend from his tokens and bracelets or from his owne word and letter and seal 1. Sir we contend not for prerogative as was before said that is a qestion of your owne no assertion of ours 2. The assurance gathered from the gratious work of gods spirit on our souls and the effects of the same is not an assurance taken from our own spirit but from Gods spirit d 1 Joh. 4.13 Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit 3. Our assurance rightly and truly raised by our reasoning from Gods gratious work in us is a true and a divine testimony as a e Habent testimonium in verbo Dei suntqe non minus divina mandata qae ex certa Scripturae sententia bona consequentia deducuntur qam qae totidem literis syllabis in Scripturis exprimuntur Chemnit exam trid part 1. p. 19. conclusion necessarily deduced from Scripture is a divine truth as well as that that is expresly found in Scripture yea the Apostle tels us that f Rom. 8.16 the Spirit of God bears witnesse together with our spirit Nor doth the one therefore simply weaken the work of the other 4. A bracelet or a frontlet barely sent or given may argue some good will but makes no engagement there must be some letter or g Pignus est donum verbo vestitum Reg. Jur. word of promise added that must effect that And that these spirituall endowments want not Wee have Gods word h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maca. hom 39. his letter his hand writing his seal both testifying to us and giving us assurance that these things are his earnests as your self before confest 5. Yea but i Repl. Ibid. the Spirit is k 1 Joh. 5.8 one of the three that beareth witnesse on earth and in whom after ye beleeved you were sealed with the Spirit of promise That l Rom. 8.16 The Spirit bears witnesse and that together with our spirit is acknowledged and that the faithfull are said to be m Ephes 1.14 4.30 sealed by the Spirit the Apostle is expresse for it but the qestion is what manner of sealing it is that is there meant And it is such I suppose as rather crosses then furthers what you would have Which to make manifest I shall in the first place crave leave that I may without offence or prejudice a little rectifie the Translation and render the text as the Originall yeelds it the words run thus n Ephes 1.13 In whom o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credens Marc. 16.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credentes Luc. 8.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere Marc. 9.23 2 Thess 2.11 Sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 audiens Mat. 2.3 4.12 8.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 audientes Mat. 15.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 audire Mat. 13.42 13.15 17. beleeving or having beleeved or when you beleeved you were sealed Now the sealing here mentioned I take to consist in the inward endowments of sanctifying grace whereby the Spirit set Gods mark and seal on them at the time of their conversion and receiving of Christ My reasons are briefly 1. The sealing here mentioned is generall common to all beleevers p 2 Cor. 1.21 22. us with you and you with us saith the Apostle of those at Corinth and the self-same hee presumeth here of all the faithfull at Ephesus 2. It is said of them that they are thereby sealed as elsewhere not that thereby redemption is sealed unto them but that q Ephes 1.13 4.30 they are thereby sealed unto it which implies some impression of a seal or signature stamped on them And herein some difference seems to be between the outward seals to wit the r Rom. 4.11 Sacraments and the inward seal of the Spirit that they seal the covenant to the soul this seals the soul to the future benefits contained in the covenant which in due time they shall be possessed of the Sacraments seal to all that receive them indifferently for the truth of the covenant else were not wicked ones Å¿ Jer. 34.18 covenant-breakers with God effectually for their good and benefit unto those alone that believe and repent The Spirit seals in the manner above mentioned not the truth of the covenant alone but the benefit of it unto the party thereby sealed as having interest in and unto all the good things therein contained and being by what hee hath already received marked out for and sealed up unto whatsoever thereof is yet behind 3. That which is here called the seal of the Spirit is else-where called the t Rom. 3.23 first-fruits of the Spirit as a parcell of that which in the ful crop is hereafter expected and of the same nature with it 4. That other place plainly parallell to this wherein by divers severall tropes under severall distinct notions this one and the self same thing is decyphered to me seems to carry it along this way u 2 Cor. 1.21 22. He it is saith the Apostle that assureth or rather w 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ensureth us in Christ or x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into or unto Christ and hath anointed us who hath also sealed us and given or put the earnest of his spirit on our hearts Whence I thus reason Look how God ensureth us so he anointeth us and how he anoints us so he seals us and how he seals us so he gives us his earnest or puts his earnest into us But it is the gratious indowments of his sanctifying spirit wherewith he anoints us as all Interpreters hold that ever I read And it is the same therefore whereby God sealeth and ensures us as by his y Ephes 1.14 earnest to himself And this being as I take it with other good z â—llyric Calâ— Pisc Baâ—n alii Autors the genuine sense of that scripture the contrary whereunto I suppose you will not be able easily to evince it little helps you in ought that you would conclude from it but it much strengtheneth that which you so mightily oppose 6. * Repl. Ibid. Can any inference or consequence drawn from faith or love or repentance or obedience in us so assure us as the breathing of Christ
holy Ghost the lye But in your wonted manner you proceed and r Reply p. 8. § 3. to that say you that where we find faith only preached and so salvation made short work it is because we have but the Summaâ—ies I agree with you that we have but the doctrine of the Apostles as Johns of whom it is said he spake many other things in his exhortation to the people It is true we have much of what they said and we want much You misrelate mee Sir as once before in this very passage 1. I say not that in the Apostles preaching salvation is made such short work but that Å¿ Answ p. 9.11 you so make it in cutting of all those reqisites else-where mentioned and which are necessary and inseparable attendants of true faith that which also I expresse but you deign not to take notice of 2. I say not that we have the doctrine of the Apostles as Johns c. I say onely that we t Answ p. 15. have but the Summaries or principall heads of some of their Sermons Nor do I therefore herein agree with you who if u Vnciâ concessâ libram totam tollitis Optat. l. 2. one give you but an inch I see will soon take an ell much lesse dare I to say as you do which amounts to litle lesse then blasphemy against the Scriptures sufficiency concerning their doctrine for that yours words manifestly imply that much of it we have and much we want Of which manner of speaking let others judge and from what spirit it doth proceed v Reply p. 9. § â— Yet we have so much say you as may shew us that according to the work of salvation in us Faith is the work which gives most glory to God Abraham believed and gave glory to God they that believe give glory and Faith of all the works of the spirit is the glorious Gospel work Christ calls it the work indeed this is the work that ye believe So as the onely reason why we hear so much of faith in the Gospel is not only and meerly as you insinuate because we have but their Sermons in Summaries nor because of another reason of yours drawn from the qualifications of those they preached to that had other gifts and not Faith but because faith is of all spirituall encreasings in us the most gloriously working towards Christ faith goes out and faith depends and faith brings down Christ and faith opens the riches and faith believes home all strength comfort glory peace promises But Sir what doeth all this glorious flourish here or to what purpose is it here inserted doeth it either prove that life and salvation is not propounded in the Gospel upon a condition of believing in Christ or that repenting and amending are not to life eternall as necessarily reqired as it If not for that is the subject we are about this is all but a needlesse x De qâ vere uâ—u pa â—p test iâ—lud Scaligeri exeâ—c 107. § 20. Declâ—matiâ—nes in disputando amâ—itiosorum opera â—tiosorum ciâ—i sunt declamatory digression whereby you endeavour cunningly to divert your reader frâ—m the matter that is in hand Yet let us see what it is you say 1. That faith is a grace of great excellency and most usefull is by no man denied or that thereby we give glory as did a Rom. 4.20 Abraham to God but that is not the reason why b Rom. 3.28 5.1 by faith we are said to be justified for to omit that c Iosh 7.19 by confessing out sins we give glory to God we bring glory to him both by our d Math. 5.16 constant obedience in life and e Ioh. 21.19 Phil. 1.20 Christian patience in death this were to found life on the worth of the work the excellency of the gift and so other graces might as well lay claim to the same priviledg with it as shall afterward appear but because it is that whereby we f Ioh. 1.12 receive Christ and g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Gal. 220. make him our Christ according to that that you at length come to in the close of this paragraph tho els where again you fall from it wherein we consent with you that which is the peculiar office of faith as was before said So that here Sir you runn your selfe on that rock whereon even now you told us that we miscaried in placing the foundation of our justification and salvation on the eminency and excellency of something in us â— Albeit faith be a glorious grace yet I dare not say that it is the most glorious of any of the graces of the Spirit for should I so say I should contradict the Apostle which tho you make no bones of yet dare not we do who expresly tels us that h 1 Cor. 13.13 love or charity is greater then either faith or hope and altho faith be the most usefull and beneficiall grace to us yet is it such a grace as carieth us out of our selves implying us to be i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom 5.6 impotent insolvent very banckrupts unable to contribute any one farthing toward the payment of our debts And albeit thereby we give glory to God yet by it are we bereaved and utterly k Rom. 3.27 4.1 2. 1 Cor. 1.29.31 stripped of all glorying in our selves Nor is the terme of glory therefore to speak exactly the peculiar of this grace which shall also cease and become uselesse together with l Rom. 8.24 hope her most proper fruit when glory shall come when as yet m 1 Co. 13.8 13. love tho the last of the three in the Apostles recitall yet pronounced the greatest of the three because the longest laster shall continue and abide with us and in us for ever 3. Christ it is true saith of Faith n Ioh 6 2â— This is the work of God that is the work that God reqires of us that we believe on him whom he sent But the same Christ tells us that o Ioâ— 15.12 this is his commandement that we love one an other and p Iâ—h 13.34 the new commandement and that which he makes q â—oh 13.35 his cognisance and the very r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Ioan. orat 72. iâ— H b. 31. At Basil apud Greg. Na◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Character of a Christian love therefore is the work of God as well as Faith and Å¿ 1 Ioh 3.23 John joyneth them both together 4. I give other reasons why faith alone is sometime mentioned which you passe by but that which you say I give is untrue to wit that those they preached to had others gifts and not saith For t Answ p 13. neither of Paul nor of Cornelius do I say that they wanted faith either of them before that Ananias resorted to the one and Peter repaired to the other nor
the merry pin and why should not believers live in like manner especially knowing that he now rules the roast in heaven Yea Sir how you have in your Treatise preached and pressed repentance may appear by the severall passages formerly delt with and further yet to be discussed 2. If you be so frequent in preaching of these things why do you check others for doing as you say your selves do Yea why do your hearers shun our Teachers and are offended with them because they presse these points which their nice palats are nothing pleased with ſ Reply ibid. But then say you because John said repent and Christ said repent and Peter said repent are we to examine the mystery no further know we not that the whole Scripture in its fulnesse and integrity reveils the whole truth and must we not look out and compare Scripture with Scripture spirituall things with spirituall and so finding out truth from the degrees to the glory and fulnesse of it preach it in the same glory and fulnesse of it as we finde it Sir if they preach repentance and presse it as necessary unto salvation I hope we may be so bold as to preach the same after them in like manner and in girding at us for so doing you gird not at us alone but them Nor are we ignorant that the t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil de fide whole Doctrine of Faith is to be received that is contained in holy Writ and that u Manifestorum lumine illustrantur obscura Aug. Ep st 48. Obscuriores locutiones de manifestoridus illustrand Idem doct Chr. l. 2. c. 9. Collation of Scripture with Scripture may afford much light unto places more obscure But Sir neither are these passages of any obscurity being of the clearest almost of any either in the Old Testament or New Nor can any parcell of Scripture contradict or take away the truth of another nor are any therefore to be taxed for the delivery of any truth that in Scripture they find recorded or for urging pressing any duty that they find there urged and pressed and so frequently by such as you here instance in your self This is all therefore nothing but a pile of meere impertinences as would plainly appear would you but be entreated to rub up and resume your old Logick and trusse up your loose stuffe into some Syllogisticall frame that it might appear what you here oppose Of the like condition is all that to litle purpose that ensueth where you tell us that a Reply ibid. We hear Christ preaching b Ioh. 7.39 before the Spirit was given Repent and we find when the Spirit was given Christ is said c Act. 5.31 to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sins and shall we not now preach Jesus Christ and repentance in Jesus the fountaine of repentance the author of repentance and repentance thus and repentance in the glory of it self more 1. Christ then preached repentance and repentance as of necessity unto salvation and where find we that ever he revoked this precept or the doctrine concerning the necessity of it 2. But this was before the Spirit was given what Spirit Sir is it you mean was not that Spirit which was given to those that beleived and repented upon d Math. 21.32 Johns preaching and e Ioh. 4.41 42.59 Christs before his passion and before that f Compare Ioh. 7 39. with Act. 1.5 2 3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schol. Graec. 19. more ample effusion of it and the extraordinary gifts of it spoken of by the Evangelist in the place you seem to point at the very same with that Spirit that was given afterward for the working of faith and repentace in those who in times ensuing g Ioh. 17.20 Act. 2.38.41 4.1 8.12 upon the Apostles preaching repented and beleived Or had they power to repent and so did without that gift of the Spirit which the other afterward had not So that these things in the one should be to give you your own words as springs of their own and waters flowing from their own fountain in the other as graces flowing from Christ and his spirit 3. But after the Spirit was given Christ is said to give repentance and forgivenesse of sins And by whom Sir I beseech you were these things given before The Apostle tells us that h Hebr. 13.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schol. Graec. Jesus Christ is yesterday to day and the same for ever And whatsoever saving grace is now given from Christ by the Spirit was alwayes and in all times given unto all that ever were saved by Christ nor is there herein any difference between those times and these If you think otherwise you may do well to speak your mind plainly for you talk very perplexedly to make men believe that we preach not repentance as a grace of God by his Spirit wrought in our hearts in and for Christ which is most untrue for we say and teach that it is not only so now but was ever so in all ages whereas you by your ambiguous expressions seem to intimate the contrary 4. But Sir what is here to repeal the former precept of repentance or to give any just much lesse necessary cause to alter our preaching and pressing of repentance and the necessity of it in the same manner I might well say as the Prophets but much more as Christ himself before the Spirit was in that manner and measure given as after it was when as the source and Originall of it was ever the same and the necessity of it as well now as then yea in all ages no lesse alike 5. All therefore that hereafter followeth concerning i Reply Ibid. the preaching faith in the glory of it and faith in the revelation of it and faith from Christ and faith in Christ because the Apostle saith k Act. 16.31 Believe in the Lord Iesus and thou shall be saved and l Hebr. 12.2 Iesus Christ is the Author and finisher of our faith c. All these I say are but flanting flourishes brought in on the by partly m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. de vit Epic. to put by what you should speak to and partly to make heedlesse people believe that there is some new doctrine of faith by our new-light-men lately discovered other and more excellent then ever was taught either by the Prophets of God in former times or by Christ himself in his preaching here upon earth or by any the ordinary Ministers and Teachers of the Gospel either in those times or in former ages 6. For not to stand upon the version of the word used by the Apostle which signifieth rather o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 2.10 a Captain or Leader then an p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 5.9 Author or worker who of us denies faith to be r Eph. 2 8. 6.23 Phil. 1.29 the gift
do I omit that which you close with concerning u Answ p. 11. the peculiar office of faith Concerning which this may further be added that that howsoever the sweete and comfortable effects of faith here mentioned may evince the beneficialnesse of that grace unto our selves yet they argue not any excellency or eminency above other graces simply considered which in regard of their proper nature and peculiar employments make us more beneficiall and usefull to others Faith is as the houswife Love as the Almoner Faith brings all in Love layeth all out faith brings God and Christ home to us love carieth us out and x Act. 20.24 21 13. Phil. 1.20 â—1 2.17 2 Cor. 12.15 expends us in all pious offices unto the glory of God and good of man Now this adde I the rather to take off your ensuing complaint of that from which your self here are not wholly free to wit that a Reply ibid. Faith hath so much put upon it as becomes a stumbling stone and a rock of offence to many Just fication Imputation of Righteousnesse is put upon faith Salvation upon Faith as Christs bloud is put upon the wine b 1 Cor. 10 16. the Cup that we blesse is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ and Christs body upon the bread c Ibâ—d the bread that we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ and yet neither the wine nor the bread is his bloud or his body no more then faith is either justification or righteousnesse but such a work as goes out most into him and caryes the soule into him who is righteousnesse and Justification to us The word were no mystery if it were not thus ordered and things so mingled that t e Spirit onely could discern and distinguish the Papists stumble at works because they see not faith for works and others stumble at faith because they s e not Christ for faith What all this ayms at is hard to say It concerns nothing I am sure that Mrs S. and I had in debate But let us rove a litle to beare him company and go along out with him into his impertinent excursions and his intricate discourses 1. Truly Sir I dissent as much if not much more then your self from any that put too much upon faith as some of the Ancients have done making it d Chrys st in Rom. 4. a matter of more worth and excellency then the keeping of all Gods commandements from whom I have also therein e Animadv in â—ud â—ucii Scrip. de Iustif part 1. Sect 9 n. 7. elsewhere testified my dissent But Sir it is your selfe rather then any of us that trip at this stone when you would have faith so much pressed in the doctrine of salvation in regard of the gloriousnesse and eminency of the grace it self which to assert is not sound 2. As for the putting of justification and imputation to righteousnesse and salvation upon faith as Christs bloud is put upon the Cup and Christs body upon the bread I mislike not much the resemblance tho it bee nothing exact nor conceive well what it drives at But Sir who of us ever affirmed faith to bee either justification or imputation to righteousnesse or salvation wee affirm with the Apostle that f Rom. 5.1 wee are justified by Faith and g Eph 2.8 wee are saved by Faith and that h Râ—m 4.9 Faith is imputed to righteousnesse And in all this wee say no more then the Apostle himselfe in expresse tearmes doth Yea even those of us who maintain Faith to bee taken in a proper Sense and not by a Metonymicall Trope as well in any one of those phrases as in another do not say any more then may well bee justified nor do they differ at all in doctrine so farre as I am able to conceive and I love not to make differences where I apprehend none that say the one or the other but contend onely about the Analysis of the Text and the Grammaticall acception of one term in it to make this clear by some instances of the like kinde when it is said This Childe is fed not by the breast but by hand if one shall hold that the hand is in such speech taken in a proper sense without trope or scheme for the hand of the dry Nurse wherewith the child is fed it being the instrument whereby meat is conveyed into the mouth of it and another shall maintain that the hand is there taken not properly but by a trope or a metonymie for the meat wherewith the child is indeed fed because the hand of it selfe hath no power to feed the child but is said to feed it as it hath relation to the meat would any understanding man from hence conclude that they were of divers minds concerning the thing it selfe and not rather that they dissented in a qestion of Schoole-learning concerning the Analysing of an Axiom and the Grammaticall interpretation of a word in it Or when it is said The mouth feeds the body if one should contend that the mouth were taken for the meat that goeth into the mouth another for the mouth it selfe whereat the meat goes in what difference were there in matter of judgement here between the one and the other concerning the thing it selfe Or to make use of an instance given by k â—ubbert collat cum Bert. § 57. an eager stickler in this Argument who l Ibid. § 58. reckons up for his party a larger bead-roll of Writers then I suppose he is able to produce Suppose a Painter holding out a Pencill shall say m Si dicis Pencillum dealbare parietem This Pencill drew that Picture if one shall affirm that the word Pencill in such a sentence must not be taken properly for the Pencill it self but for the Picture-drawer himselfe that made use of that pencill in the drawing of that picture or for his hand that guided it in that work or for the colours wherewith the picture was drawn another that the word pencill is to be taken properly as well as the word picture the one for that very instrument which the artist held in his hand the other for the work he pointed to when he so said I suppose it would not be deemed that there were any difference at all between them concerning the thing intended notwithstanding the controversie between them about the phrase or form of speech In like manner concerning the word Faith in the fore mentioned forms * Phrases sum aeqipollentes Paraeus ad Rom. 4.3 Obs 3. which in effect come all to one when some shall say that the word is taken properly for that grace or that act of grace whereby wee apprehend Christ and his sufferings n Vide Calvin Lubbert insra the meritorious cause or subject matter term it whether you please of our justification or that whatsoever it be in Christ for which wee are justified
others that faith is by a Metonymie put for Christ by whom as our surety having paid the full price for the discharge of our debt and satisfied the justice of God for our sins wee are delivered from death and have life purchased for us here is no difference of judgement in what on either side is averred for matter of doctrine a dissenting onely about the resolution of a term used in those axioms and conseqently for ought yet I see thus far forth a meer o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wrangling about terms and words And for my part to declare my judgement herein which I desire I may do freely without offence to either party it being as I conceive not any matter of faith but a point onely of School-learning As p Videatur Barthol Keckerman System Logic. l. 1. c. 2. p. 395. by divers learned men of no small note it is well-observed that in those Propositions wherein Mr. S. doth here instance q Matt. 26.26 This bread is my body r Ibid. 28 29. This wine is my bloud neither bread nor body are taken tropically but properly in the one neither wine nor bloud likewise in the other by the bread is meant the bread that Christ then brake by body that body that hung the next day on the crosse by wine that liqor of the grape that was then in the cup by bloud that very bloud of our Saviour that was shed upon the crosse All the impropriety of the speech is in the predication or in the copula in the verb-substantive that as a knot or a clasp coming between the two terms of either Proposition fasteneth them the one to the other which is to be understood not properly as if the one were really and essentially the other that which even the ſ Bellar. de Euchar l. 3. c. 16. 19. Papists themselves are enforced to confesse cannot so be but figuratively or tropically as implying the one to be typically symbolically or representatively the other So here in the forementioned Propositions the word faith is taken for faith as the word t Rom. 8.24 hope for hope in the like all the impropriety of speech if any be is in regard of the manner how wee are said to be justified by it to live by it to be saved by it to have it imputed unto us for righteousnesse all which indeed is to be understood not principally immediately meritoriously in regard of any worth or dignity of it or efficaciously in regard of any power or efficacie in it self but mediately subserviently organically instrumentally as it is a means to apprehend Christ his satisfaction and his sufferings by the price and merit whereof we are justified and saved and consist as righteous in Gods sight and as it hath a speciall respect and relation thereunto Nor do the most of the testimonies in this controversie usually produced hold out a Lubb. ipse Vtroqe penicillo albedine paries dealbatur sed non eodem modo illo enim instrumentaliter hac materialiter Ita fide justitia Christi homo justificatur sed non eodem modo illo enim instrumentaliter hac vero pene materialiter any more nor doe they therefore deny faith to be taken properly in the Propositions before proposed This the rather I here insist on because I observe our late Antinomians to make a bad use of the other exposition of some of those Texts to put by the necessity of faith unto justification for so one of them b H. Den Confer pag. 18. Wee are justified by faith that is by the object of our faith the bloud of Christ and so c Rom. 3.25 through faith in his bloud should be through Christs bloud in his bloud faith is taken for the object of faith as hope for the object of hope d 1 Tim. 1.1 Christ our hope To which purpose it grieves mee to finde in one of ours to confirm this tropicall exposition that forced interpretation of somewhat the like phrase e Rom. 8.24 Spe servati sumus i. e. Christo in quem speramus Pemble of Justif Sect. 2. cap. 1. At rectius Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schol. Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spe futurorum Calvin Salutem illam de qa v. 23. nondum reipsa sed spe obtineri Martyr alii fere universi Wee are saved by hope that is by Christ in whom wee hope Howsoever as in the former sacramentall speeches those of ours that take the words body and bloud properly with an improper predication and those that take them improperly with a proper enunciation do not differ at all either from other in the doctrine of the Sacrament and are as free and far off the one as the other from those two monstrous opinions of Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation as also in expounding those words of the Apostle f 1 Cor. 10.4 The rock was Christ albeit some understand g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in 1 Cor. 10. reliqui Graeci Ambr. de Sacr. l. 5. c. 1. Jun. parallel l. 2. par 36. alii the word Rock tropically the word Christ properly the Verb was essentially others take the word rock properly the word h Christus i. e. figura Christi Rei nomen metaphorice transfertur ad signum Calv. Sicut imago Herculis Hercules nominatur Christ tropically the Verb was essentially a third sort i Keckerm ubi sup Petra erat Christus in mysterio Primas Nec secus in omnibus illis locutionibus Mat. 13.19 20 22 23 37 38 39. praedicata omnia proprie sumuntur verbum substantivum symbolice take both the words rock and Christ properly the Verb was onely symbolically yet do none of them differ in ought either concerning the truth of the Story or any doctrine of faith in like manner those that here presse a trope in the word faith and those that stand for the proper sense of it so far forth as they proceed no further doe not at all differ in any point of faith concerning justification would they be pleased aright to understand one another But Sir there is none of us either the one or the other that do as you closely here would intimate affirm faith to be either Justification or Imputation of righteousnesse we distinguish these things warily one from another and tho wee sever not those things that are not to be severed yet wee distinguish those things that are to be distinguished and are in their proper and genuine nature distinct neither confounding justification with faith nor faith as some fantasticall spirits k Tortuosas Sophistae hujus figuras non admitto qum dicit Fidem esse Christum Inscite fidem qae est instrumentum duntaxat percipiendae justitiae dico misceri cum Christo qi materialis causa tantiqe beneficii autor simul est minister Calvin Instit lib. 3. c. 11. Sect. 7. in Calvines time by him
then opposed with Christ which yet some treading in their steps have endeavoured to doe in these dayes But such fanaticall fancies wee abhorre and your ensuing censures therefore reach not us Wee are neither of those that cannot see faith for works nor of those that cannot see Christ for faith a strange prodigie how men should not see Christ for faith when they see Christ by faith nor are these things in the Gospel so mingled as you would make men believe but that wee can discern and distinguish them without the help of that new spirit that undertakes now adayes to reveal such matters of doctrine as the Apostles are pretended to have preached but not to have left upon record But Sir wee may truly say that you and yours are they that either cannot or will not see the wood for trees the conditions on which salvation by Christ is propounded tho in the Gospel they do every-where occurre and offer themselves will ye nill ye to your eyes In your next you relate me as objecting against you that l Repl. pag. 9 10. Sect. 1. Christ and his Apostels never preached free-grace without condition and qualification on our parts Rom. 8.1 Matth. 5.8 c. Where Sir mee thinks you grow wearie of your work for you draw up whole pages into little more then a line But Sir you dissemble mine Argument because you felt where it pinched you and knew not which way to rid your hands of it The argument runs thus m Ans p. 15. If the Gospell propound and promise pardon of sin and salvation without any condition at all required on our part and all such conditions and qualifications of beliefe repentance and new obedience destroy the freenesse of Grace then neither Christ nor John Baptist nor the Apostles preached either Gospel or free-grace for they thus preached and propounded pardon of sin and salvation upon such terms from the first to the last as I there at large shew by their expresse professions and speeches and according to your grounds therefore they never preached free-grace Now out of this whole argument you only pick one peice letting passe all the rest with the proofs thereof that it may not appeare to what purpose it was propounded nor attemping once to take of the crime laid upon you the stain whereof sticks as close to you and your tenents as your flesh to your bones and your skin to your flesh Onely you annex two places with an c. the n Matth. 5.8 one whereof I produce not for the proof of ought I affirm but o Answ p. 14. to shew what your brother Eaton saith of it who makes it a parcell of Christs Legall preaching the p Rom. 8.1 other indeed I alledge but q Answ p. 15. insisting principally on the words of the twelfth and thirteenth verses of that Chapter which you saw so inconsistent with your presumptuous novelties that you listed not to take notice of them Yet let us hear what you say unto that which you have pitched upon r Repl. p. 10. Sect. 1. They preached faith and repentance and obedience 1. in degrees of revelation the Gospel came not all out at once in his glory 2. not in parts as wee have their doctrine as you confesse they preached them but all along in the New Testament there is more of their glory and fullnesse reveiled concerning them So as the degrees of reveiling the parts and summaries of their sermons the fuller discovery in the whole New Testament are those things you consider not we onely consider and so dare not preach the Gospel so in halfs in parts and qarters as you do and yet will not beleive you do which is so much worse you say you see and therefore your sinne remaineth But Sir what is all this to take off the edge of mine Argument which cuts to the qick with you convincing you by necessary conseqence of blaspheming the doctrine of Christ and his Apostels as teaching such doctrine as not onely doth not hold out Gospel or free-grace but doth utterly overthrow and take away the very truth and essence of either For the conditions and qalifications here mentioned which you denie not to have been taught by them are such you say as tho the Gospel so propounded and preached may have some notion of free grace in it yet it hath no truth thereof at all the guilt whereof therefore you stand justly still charged with notwithstanding ought that beside the point in qestion you prate here to no purpose 2. The two branches of your Answer for it seems you were in some perplexity or disturbance at least when you were puting pen to paper do apparently enterfere cut and crosse the one the other For if the Gospel came not all at once to them but was reveiled to them by dâ—grees which you affirm in the first branch then how could they choose but preach it in parts which yet you denie in the latter branch Thus Sir your forces like Å¿ Suoqe Marte cadant subiti per mutua vulnera fratres Nafo Met. lib. 3. the men in the fable that sprung up of the snakes teeth of Cadmus his sowing fall foul one on another and destroy either other without the help of any adverse partie for how could they preach it otherwise then it was reveiled and if by peices reveiled to them then sure in peices preached by them 3. Grant that some things were afterward reveiled to them wherewith at first they were not made acquainted Yet 1. there was at the first so much reveiled to them and preached by them as was sufficient to convert and save souls for to what end else was their preaching Either therefore you must of necessity grant that men may be converted and saved without notice of free grace and Gospel of free grace or Gospel I say for no Gospel without grace nor grace that is not free or that the Apostels if by their ministery they did at first convert any then the doctrine of free-grace was reveiled to them and preached by them at first which how could they do if at the same time they preached that that was directly contrary to free-grace and did take away the truth of it unlesse any man will be so void of reason and common sence as to say that the Apostles preached contradictories in the very self same sermons 2. There was nothing in matter of doctrine afterward reveiled unto them or taught by them that crossed or repealed ought that had formerly been made known unto them and by them made known to others Divine revelations concerning matter of faith cannot possibly contradict one another tho such as yours are may both cotradict some contained in Gods word and some other also of your own what they taught at first was the truth of God as well as what they taught at last nor did they ever revers ought of what was taught at first by them but continued teaching the same
in the new Testament and it is extreme impudence for any man to denie it the proofs of it are so pregnant Which being t Ans p. 18 19. in mine Answer some of them represented unto you you dissemble and after your usuall manner both here and else-where having jumpt clean over the premisses give a snap at the Conclusion or fasten your fang on the Proposition in question not regarding or taking notice at all of the proof As for the distinction between Love of benevolence and love of complacence it is sufficient for you to jeer it you do not so much as attempt to refute or remove it But this is the usuall manner of your reply both here and else-where But wee passe on to your new demands tending to the justification of your fourth Assertion and the removall of mine Animadversion on it u Reply p. 12. Did David or Peter say you make up their peace with God by repentance Is there any that makes peace but one Jesus Christ who makes peace through the bloud of his crosse Can repentance make peace Is there any sacrifice for sin but that which was once offered and is called by the Apostle x Hebr. 9.28 10.12 one sacrifice for sin for ever I answer 1. David and Peter did both of them make up again that breach that they had made between God and them by their sins and did make their peace again with God by their repentance If you will not believ mee herein you may believ y Psal 32.5 Davia himself if you so please and you must give us leave to beleeve him whether you will or no. 2. Christ is the onely peace-maker who z Col. 1.20 by the bloud of his crosse hath made our peace by a Eph. 2.14 15. abolishing the enmity that was between God and us And yet in that peace so purchased without faith repentance and new obedience can no man have any part 3. By renewed repentance such b 2 Sam. 24.17 25. 1 Chro. 21.16 17 27. breaches may be made up and peace repaired in regard of Gods fatherly displeasure that beleevers have contracted by their sins 4. There is c Heb. 9.26 28 no sacrifice for sin whereby the condemning guilt of it is or can be removed or satisfaction is or can be made unto the justice of God for it but that of Christ only and yet is d Psal 51.17 a broken heart and a contrite spirit such a sacrifice as finds acceptance with God as well in these times as in Davids dayes And Sir if you goe on to teach men as you doe otherwise you disswade them from that which God himself is said to e 2 Chron. 7.13 14. expect and f Psal 34.18 51.17 accept of and which hee himself doth professe to g Isa 57.15 66.2 respect and h Psa 147.11 delight in But you adde a little further to gratifie us herein that i Reply ibid. Repentance obedience c. may make way for the peace made already for sin that is in such working of spirit the love of God in the face of Jesus Christ may shine upon the soul more freely and fully and the more the spirit abounds in the fruits of it the more joy and peace flows into the soul and the more the soul looks Christ in the face so as peace with God is not made but more revealed by the Spirit in obedience and love c. Sir You heap up after your wonted manner many words little or nothing at all to what is objected to you or against you but much wilde discourse beside the mark or the matter to lead your Reader aside from attending the present dispute The Question is Whether God be not truly displeased with a believer fallen into wilfull grosse sins and whether hee were not so with David upon some of his sins untill hee was humbled for them and repented of them And what is all this that you tell us of here roving to and fro as one that were treading a maze unto the refuting of ought that is objected against you or the making good of ought asserted by you whereunto exception is here taken In the next place you passe from your fourth Assertion excepted against to the seventh skipping over among other things that of which it wil not be amisse to mind if not your self yet the Reader to wit that k Treat p. 44. Nothing can trouble the quiet peace of any soul but the taking in of the law and the accusings and condemnations of it And that l Ibid. All trouble for sin ariseth from the obligement of the Law demanding satisfaction of the soul for the breach of it Which doctrine how wholesome it is let others judge I repeat not again what I have m Ans p. 18. there said to it Out of mine Animadversion on his seventh Assertion hee culs out this a little to dally with that I say n Ans p. 19. God loves us also for his own graces in us and our exercises of the same And having picked out of it a principall particle the word also which made the Proposition adverse to his wherein hee denies that o Treat p. 80. God loves us for ought in our selves which yet by expresse testimony of Scripture I there shew to be agreeable to truth that so hee may find somewhat to cavill with hee thus replies p Rep. p. 12 95. I thought hee had loved us too in himself and from that love given Christ for us and yet loved us in Christ too Can any thing without God be a cause of Gods love Doth God love us as we love one another from complexions and features without Or loves hee not rather thus God is love and therefore wee are made and redeemed and sanctified not because wee are sanctified therefore hee loves us Wee love him because he first loved us hee loved us because he loved us and not because we love him not because of any spirituall complexion or feature in us because of his image upon us that is but an earnest of his love to us that is onely given us because hee loved us He loves us from his will not from without for tho wee are like him yet we are not himself and he loves us as in Christ and himself Sir tho you have left your Logick yet you have not lost your Rhetorick How plentifull can you be in the proving of that that no body denies you and in dilating of your own denied Assertions not once offering to answer the objections made against them For Sir whatsoever you thought heretofore or think still I do not think it but am sure of it that you do nothing here but trifle in setting up an imaginary opposition q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato leg l. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian de Sect. a man of straw of your own making and then exercising your self in shooting some
with Scripture to fish and fetch out of it some abstruse mysteries and strange crotchets beyond ordinary apprehension dealing nothing so religiously with Gods word as any sober-minded man would doe with any humane Autor of any profession u Interpretis professio est non qo ipse disertus appareat sed qo eum qi lecturus est faciat intelligere qomodo ipse intellexit qi scripsit Hieron ad Marcel de Rhet. Commentatoris officium est non qid ipse velit sed qid sentiat ille quem interpretatur exponere Idem de Jovin Apolog. 1. whom hee were to open and expound As for your abuse Sir of this Scripture testimony concerning Scripture were but your words brought into a Syllogisticall form it would plainly appear how impertinently and ridiculously it is by you here produced And for your censure past on our way of handling Scripture I will say no more but this that if wee should take that course of dealing with Scripture that your self and some of yours do our Divinitie would not onely be lesse divine but much more fantasticall then wee blesse God for it as yet it is From these Assertions you passe to others excepted against which are specially concerning Faith The first whereof is this that w Treat p. 94. Faith is truly and simply this A being perswaded more or lesse of Christs love This being excepted against as containing no more then any man the wickedest and most profane may have and indeed who almost hath not Your Reply is only in a poor chiding way that no whit salves the loosnesse and unsoundnesse of such a libertinish and licentious Assertion thus x Repl. p. 13. Sect. 6. I pray you mistake not Can all beleeve from the Spirit Can all be more or lesse spiritually perswaded Doe I speak of any perswasion of Christs love which is not spirituall Deceive not your self nor your Reader nor wrong your Author Or do I speak of Faith abstracted from all Repentance Obedience c. Why deal you thus 1. Sir all your pitifull complaint of wrong done you is idle and frivolous I wrong you not I misrelate you not but give you your own words entirely as I find them in you If any other mistake you and by mistaking of you be incouraged to sooth up themselves with a vain conceit of being possessed of true faith when indeed there is no such matter your self is to be blamed who by such speeches as these give ground to such a pernicious error by not speaking your mind more fully and plainly if you meant one thing and spake another and stand guilty of the bloud of the souls of such as shall or may perish by such mistake 2. If when you professe to deliver your minde truly and plainly yet you mean otherwise then you speak and speak otherwise then you mean as it was said of a couple y Pontificem nunqam qod diceret facere Valentinum nunqam qod faceret dicere Guicciard l. 1. the father and the son of no very good note either how shall we know when your speeches and your meanings concur 3. Can all believ from the Spirit No Sir none can believ from the Spirit but those alone that believ from Gods word But many that have no ground of belief from Gods word but from such principles as without warrant from it you and yours infuse into them nor ever had ought of Gods spirit in them may yet have such a perswasion as you here mention And wee therefore tax this for an unsound Assertion and a rotten principle the same term that you z Treat p. 85. brand some notes of Assurance with which yet you cannot but confesse to be found in Gods word And to mend the matter you afterward tell us that a Treat p. 92. none ought to qestion whether they believ or not and so disswade those that have swallowed down this your poysonfull principle from examining whether their faith be true and sound or no. And it is an absurd thing for you to ask whether you speak of any perswasion of Christs love that is not spirituall when not onely you say perswasion in generall making no mention of spirituall but forbid any to try it whether it be spirituall or no. 4. But Can all be more or lesse spiritually perswaded 1. Where is that spiritually in your text If it were in your brest as a secret reserv which is your b Repl pag. 2. Sect. 1 4. vain plea concerning some words of mine abused by you where you were as by the finger pointed to my meaning not concealed but expressed like a back-door or a starting hole for you to slip out at when occasion should be and your self closely pursued and hard pressed with it You doe but juggle with us and delude your Reader that you may make our doctrine herein not complying with yours to bee deemed too strict as devised on purpose to pinch men and c Treat p. 37. keep them in pain to make the cure after the more admired 2. You talk still in ambiguous terms to us For what intend you by being spiritually perswaded If from such grounds as Gods Spirit in the word suggests and such operations as the Spirit is wont ever to work in the soul wheresoever it gives ability to believ you crosse your self who are ever and anon girding at us as d Reply p. 5. Sect. 1. your self deny not and traducing us for teaching men with the Apostle thence to draw ground for such perswasion and thereby to examine the truth of it If you mean by an immediate voice of the Spirit speaking directly to the soul as some of your party seem to maintain then I see not how there can be more or lesse in it notwithstanding whatsoever you talk else-where of e Treat p. 99. degrees For what the Spirit speaks in such an immediate manner to the soul cannot but fully satisfie and perswade that soul to whom it so speaks Nor will you ever be able to prove that to every beleever the Spirit so speaks 5. But Do you speak of faith abstracted from all repentance obedience c. 1. If such perswasion as you mention may be without any of these as there is no qestion but it may be then a faith abstracted from these comes within compasse of your definition or description of faith term it whether you please 2. You do speak of approve and justifie such a faith yea more then that you affirm all true faith to be such when you maintain that f Treat p. 186. every one that receivs Christ which is done g Joh. 1.12 by faith receivs him in a sinfull condition and consequently in an impenitent condition And that to be your meaning you acknowledge tho you return no answer to mine Argument against it 3. If you intend no other faith why do you so oft tax us for pressing these things as required of all those that have interest in
himself sealing assuring perswading convincing satisfying a Psal I will hear what God will say for he wil speak peace to his servants A Saint would rather hear that voice then all his own inferences and arguments which tho they bring somsthing to perswade yet they perswade not so answerably till the voice speak b 2 Pet. 1. from that excellent glory Sir 1. Comparisons we use to say are odious We make no comparison between any assurances that God gives and affords unto his Nor do we cry up one as you do to cry down another like those of the prelaticall faction that cried up prayer to cry down preaching And tho all you plead here therefore were granted you it neither hits us much lesse hurts us or our cause nor yet cleers you from the hainous guilt contracted by you and cleaving still fast to you in traducing and vilifying Gods own sacred assurances the generall and ordinary pledges and pawns of his speciall favour and love in Christ 2. I might demand of you Are not these graces you mention the very breathing of Christ himself into the soul were the ministeriall abilities conferred on his Apostles c Joh 20.22 such and are not the sanctifying graces of the spirit such also or doth not Christ by these seal assure perswade convince and satisfie and I might here challeng you or any other of your way to denie this if they dare 3. Where did the Psalmist professe his desire and endeavour to by inqiry to hear d Psal 85.80 what God would speak but e In verbo suo Moller In promissionibus Calvin in his word or what speaking of peace are we to understand there but a reall speaking not a verball or vocall speech either inward or outward but a f Pacem loqi largiri Moller reall exhibition such as Gods g Deus cum benedicit facit qod dicit Aquin. benediction is wont to be of peace that is of h Pacem prosperum successum Calv. Ita passim Isa 48.18 Psal 119.165 prosperitie and prosperous successe to the people so that this place is little to your purpose 4. It is not denied but that i Luk. 7.48 50. Christs immediate voice to the poore penitent woman could not but be matter of exceeding great comfort to her and such as might well afford inexpressible refreshment to her drouping spirit inconceivable tranqâ—llitie to her troubled mind inconcussed settlement and assurance to her soul but neither can such now be expected nor is the securitie drawn from the grounds of Gods word as k Matth. 5.18 infallible and unfailable as the pillars and ground-works of heaven and earth yea l Mark 13.31 more unfailable then the foundations of either lesse powerfull and efficacious in it self and might be so also unto us were it not for the weaknesse of our faith and want of our firm apprehension of them Nor is it denied but that Gods spirit in a more immediate way may at sometime insinuate it self into the soul by sweet and sensible raptures and soul ravishing comforts in times especially of tribulation and extremitie of distresse thereby to encourage Gods servants to depend upon him and with the more alacrity of spirit to go thorow with such bitter brunts as God hath pleased to call them to and that God may in such manner and oft doth in such sort communicate himself to his servants according to his good pleasure and the divers manners of his dispensations to his and that such irradiations and insinuations are for the present matter of singular comfort and contentment to the soul But these are m Heu Domine Deus rara hora brevis mora Bern. in Cant. neither generall nor perpetuall many a soul no doubt hath gotten into heaven that was never much acqainted with them Nor doth any such extraordinary or more unusuall courses any whit infringe much lesse take away and annull the force and efficacie of assurances drawn from the word wherein Gods voice is as well as in these and which are commended to us in the word and that for such as every one ought to try himself and to be tryed by Wee speak of such wayes as every true beleever is or may be capable of and such as if the Spirit of God speaking in his word doe not delude and deceive us may give us abundant of n Rom. 15.4 comfort and assurance o 1 Joh. 1.3 with joy 5. For the place you cite out of Peter to confirm your comparison let but any Reader consult p 2 Pet. 1.18 the place wherein the testimony of the word written and enrolled in the records of the Prophets is pronounced q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1.19 more firm and certain then the immediate voice heard in the Mount and hee may soon discern how you mis-apply and abuse Scriptures a practice too common with you to serve your own turn as your self please 6. For such grounds of assurance as wee plead for wee have expresse Scripture as you cannot denie of such an immediate voice or enthusiasm as you seem to plead for no Scripture produced by you is yet proved to speak Scriptures onely are to that purpose by you mis-applyed That which I say of it at present shall be this onely that that voice that shall inwardly speak peace to a soul where those marks of faith repentance self-denyall and obedience are not found may undoubtedly be avowed to be no voice of Christ nor testimony of his spirit for the Spirit of God cannot crosse it self but either some vain and groundlesse suggestion of a mans own corrupt heart or a meer delusion of the Prince of darknesse transforming himself into the Prince of light the Lord Jesus Mean while Sir consider I beseech you seriously and weigh well what you doe you beat men off from those grounds and assurances which Gods word holds out to them and in room thereof you propound either some devices of your own as that Christ hath repented and believed for them which they cannot admit because they find no footing for them in Gods word or some extraordinary and immediate voices or what else you please to term them which tho being true beleevers and wel-grounded in the faith yet it may be they never had nor dare to expect Now whether this be not a puzzling way indeed let others decide From hence making a long jump or an almond leap and skipping over all that you find objected against that your most unreasonable motion of not taking any tryall of faith at all and the branding of it as above you light at length on a by-passage in the Animadversion on your tenth Assertion forbearing to trouble your selfe further as your wisest course was with the exceptions taken to the main matter which yet is the chief principle and groundwork of almost your whole book The passage together with the occasion of it is this Mr. S. blames us q
Treat p. 27 29. for propounding the promises of the Gospel to men with conditions of repentance sorrow for sin c. as so clogging them with conditions and qâ—lfications that because they are things they cannot doe in stead of drawing a soul to Christ wee put it further off from him Now to return the reproof upon him r Ans p. 24. I tell him that hee may as well be said to doe the same when hee propounds them so clogged with conditions of receiving taking and believing on unlesse hee dare say that it is an easier matter to believe then to repent Whereunto Mr. S. returns us this answer 1. Å¿ Repl. p. 14. Sect. 8. I preach not receiving as a condition as you do repenting But Sir your precise words are these u Treat p. 30. The way of coming by a right or purchasing an interest in this righteousnesse or salvation wrought by Christ it is held forth without price or work onely for taking and receiving and believing in Where to omit that you say more then wee dare doe in ascribing a purchasing power unto faith whether these words imply not as much if not more then a bare condition amounts unto let any man that hath not utterly lost his wits judge Wee attribute nothing neer so much to repentance as concerning faith these words import 2. x Repl. ibid. I preach Christ the Power and Life and Spirit that both stands and knocks and yet opens the door to himself Sir wee preach as much in this kind as you here mention and as much as you doe if you preach no more then Christ himself doth in his word Nor doth this or any other part of sound doctrine concerning Gods work in the act of conversion either take away or contradict those other parcels of Scripture wherein upon such conditions part in Christ is propounded Nor is any man to be blamed for the pressing of the one any more then to be taxed for preaching of the other You might as well pick a quarrell to Peter for his y Acts 2. 3. two first Sermons and with Paul for his whole discourse of justification by faith in the third fourth and fifth chapters of his Epistle to the Romans as to any of us in this regard 3. z Repl. Ibid. I preach not receiving as a gift or condition given or begun for Christ but Christ working all in the soul and the soul working up to Christ by a power from himself Sir you prate and vaunt very much of your preaching But Sir compare what you say you preach and what wee present you with from your self in print and see how well they sort together For as for Christs working all in the soul you have been answered more then once 4. a Repl. Ibid. If you would preach repentance and obedience as noâ— either preceding or previous dispositions wee should agree better in the pulpit then wee do in the presse If wee preach otherwise then the word of God warrants us reprove us out of it Otherwise Sir blame us not tho we agree not with you either in pulpit or in presse In the next place taking a new leap you passe over all that was b Ans p. 25. excepted against your parallelling of the promises of salvation by Christ with the covenant made with Noah and to the result of your Assertions and summe of your Divinitie thence extracted to wit that c Ans Ibid. The promises of the Gospel belong to all sinners without exception and that all are therefore bound to beleeve the said promises being not conditionall but absolute even as absolute as the promise to Noah of never drowning the world again Nor is any man to qestion his faith or what ground he hath for such his beliefe From whence it necessarily follows that men may be saved whether they believe or no repent or no as from that concerning the promise to Noah and other your Assertions there related is inevitably inferred To the last branch I say of this to wit That men may be saved whether they repent or no beleeve or not silencing the whole residue you thus reply 1. d Repl. p. 14. Sect. 9. Should I say to you The summe of your Divinity is this That faith and repentance and obedience are helps with Christ and conditions with Christ to mans salvation and that salvation is not free but conditionall the covenant of grace is as it were a covenant of works Should I do well in this to upbraid you and those of your way Sir If you should upbraid us with ought that wee teach not or doth not necessarily flow from ought that wee teach you should wrong us as in part here you doe Concerning which and your doctrine herein enough already hath been said for the cleering both of us and it But Sir there is nothing here charged on you but what either in expresse terms you deliver or of necessity follows from what you affirm 2. e Reply p. 15 Say not then that I think men may be saved that never repent nor beleeve Sir what you think I know not and it may be you scarce know your self what you think or would have you seem to be of so many mindes But what you have written and taught both you and wee know and if you think otherwise as you here say why take you so much pains to possesse your Reader with such principles as f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Naz. ad Eunom S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. ad Golot being admitted do necessarily infer as much as is here avowed Yea why do you not cleer your self hereof by shewing that such things doe not follow from the grounds by you laid and by removall of the Arguments whereby the same is evidently evinced Mean while you must give us leave to say what wee see and to relate what wee read And to meet with that your unjust and groundlesse charge wherein you do so passionately expostulate with us as if some apparent wrong had been offered you and the rest of your crew g Repl. Ibid. Why do you set up and counterfeit opinions and then engrave our names upon them Sir 1. Shew what the opinions are that are by mee fathered on any of you that have not been proved to have been taught by them whom I have therewith charged But you are like h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian de Gymn slippery eels the most of you i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas de Arian in Synod Nicen. defens one while you stoutly avow your erroneous conceits where you misdoubt no opposition or discussion of them Another while you cry out that you are of an other mind and wrong is done you in them not sticking to report that you have made the same manifest by repair to those and giving satisfaction to them who were never once in that kind spoken with And otherwhile pretending to be altered in judgement
and otherwise now minded then formerly they were when as yet where you find opportunitie you are in effect still venting again your former opinions sometime indeed more covertly and sometime more openly as you suppose you may do with most safety whereof divers instances might be given But Sir 2. For your self no opinion is here set up with your name engraven on it but what comes out of your own forge what was minted by your self and hath received its impression fron the mould of your own maximes For to omit what besides in mine Animadversions doth inevitably evince it If the promise of life and salvation in the Gospell be as absolute and as free from any condition on mans part as the promise made to Noah for never destroying the world by water again then a man may as well attain life and salvation without faith and repentance by vertue of the one as safety from destruction through such a generall deluge by the other But the former you say and the later necessarily thence followeth unlesse Logik be lost Do not you tell me therefore that k Repl. Ibid. you could so peice up my book if you would be unfaithfull as to make me appear as great an heretick as any whom I thus fancy 1. Talk not too much of your faithfullnesse Sir how unfaithfull you have been in relating my sayings hath more then once been manifestly made to appear 2. But here is no unfaithfull dealing at all with you here is nothing wrung from your assertions but what lay couched in them and flows freely and naturally without force or torture from them If otherwise why make you it not to appear 3. If you can by like due course of Argument draw such rotten stuffe from ought of mine I crave no favour from you do your worst and I shall tell you before-hand l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mâ—th apud Epiphan Haer. 64. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. Imp. l. 6. Sect. 21. that if you charge me justly with ough in them and convince me of it I will thank you for it and recall it For Sir I am not herein so obstinate as you are m Concl. p. 17. hereafter pleased uncharitably to affirm of me If otherwise I shall take leave whether like you to give it or no constantly to defend while God shall be pleased to affordabilitie what I deeme agreeable to truth 4. But Sir give me leave mean while to tell you that it will be hard for you to perswade an intelligent and advised reader that shall peruse your ragged Reply that you would not have been forward enough to have done in this kind what you could had you met with matter fit for your purpose in my book when hee shall observe how you take liberty both in n Epist the van and in o Conclus the reer here to run out impertinently into other by-matters concerning me and some other of my works that have no reference at all to the businesse in hand but you supposed tho vainly might some way asperse me And there is little reason to imagine that you should make such excursions to seek and fetch in matter of that nature abroad when you had so much of it so neer at hand close under your nose but you were loth forsooth to take notice of it or to file your fingers with it Howbeit I doubt not but that by such Logick as you make use of you may draw heresies enough out of Christs Sermons and Pauls Epistles whose expresse doctrine how you have traduced in our teaching hath abundantly been shewed As for your stivolous flourishes concerning p Repl. Ibid. your teaching faith and repentance not as gifts to procure us God or his love or Christ but as gifts from Gods love and fruits of the spirit given to such as Christ hath suffered for and are chosen in him and in that full revelation in which they are leaf tin the New Testament not in that scantling of doctrine as they are meerly and barely revealed in the historie of the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles and that because you preach thus you are all Antinomians heretiks men not worthy to live 1. All this varnish hath been washt of again and again and yet you will be still glasing over your rotten stuffe with it to conceal the badnesse and basenesse of it from common view which yet every qick-sighted soul through all your colours cast over it will easily discern 2. What the opinions are for which you are justly termed Antinomians and which your companions if they continu yet in what then they professed were sometime publikely charged with and stand still convict of it is well known some of them I relate els where q Gods eye on his Israel Preface p. 17 18. and too much of them is found in your book Those Sir either cleer your selves of or make them appear to be consonant to Gods word and do not abuse men by telling them idle tales that you are so termed for preaching this and that concealing your unsound wares for which you are no otherwise deemed then as your hideous and uncouth dotages deserve As vain and frivolous is your next expostulation where you begin with a fawning compellation r Repl. Ibid. Brethren must ye forbid us to preach because wee follow not with you because wee preach not the Law as you doe nor faith as you do nor repentance as you doe therefore do we not preach them at all 1. Sir this your smooth compellation may justly be suspected to be but a Å¿ Luk. 22.48 Judas his kisse You cannot sure have so soon forgotten what mountebanks and qacksalvers you erst while compared them to what cheating and cosening companions you made of them not therein unlike the Compassionate Samaritan a bird it seems of the same feather with you of kin to or kind with such unfaithfull and ill minded Chirurgians t Treat p. 37. as keep mens wounds open for sinister ends to lengthen their cures and such as u Ibid. p. 77. deal out Christs bloud as the Pope doth his pardons Were they but even now such abominable beasts and are they now become your brethren This was sure no brotherly course if you accounted them then your brethren Or if you desire to admit them into brotherhood with you such vile wretches as then you made them either w 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matt. 18.15 convince them of what you then charged them with that being convinced of it they may repent and reform and so be made fit for the societie of such upright and faithfull dealers as ye professe your selves to be for honest and faithfull Chirurgians will refuse to own those that are notoriously known to be such cheaters as you charge them to be or if you cannot convince them by making your charge against them good confesse ingenuously your base calumny and ask forgivenesse in print as in print you have wronged them