their sacrificing to an unknown God d Acts 17. 29 4. And lastly The Interposure and actings of Reason and Vnderstanding in men are of that soveraign and most transcendent use yea necessity in and about matters of Religion that all the Agency of the Spirit notwithstanding a man can perform nothing no manner of service unto God with acceptation nothing in a way of true Edification to himself without their engagement and service First I stand charged by God not to beleeve every spirit but to try the spirits whether they be of God e 1 Iohn 4. 1 I demand by what Rule or Touchstone shall I try any spirit When or upon what account shall I reject one as a spirit of Error Falshood and Delusion and do Homage with my Iudgment and Conscience to another as the Spirit of God If it be said I ought to try the spirits by the Scriptures or Word of God I demand again but how shall I try my Touchstone or be sure that that principle notion or ground which I call the Word of God and by which I go about to try the spirits is indeed the Word of God There is scarce any spirit of Error that is abroad in the Christian World but freely offers it self to be tryed by the Word of God as well as the true Spirit of God Himself i. e. by such meanings sences or conclusions as it self confidently asserts to be the Word of God i. e. the Mind of God in the Scriptures So that I am in no capacity to try such a spirit which upon such an account as this pretends his coming forth from God unless I be able to prove that those sences meanings and conclusions by which he offers to be tryed are not indeed the Word of God Now it is unpossible that I should prove this meerly and only by the Scriptures themselves because unto what place or places soever I shall have recourse for my proof or tryal in this case this spirit will reject my sence and interpretation in case it maketh against him and will substitute another that shall not oppose him Nor can I reasonably or regularly reject his sence in this case at least as an untruth unless I apprehend some relish or taste therein which is irrational or some notion which jarreth with or grateth upon some clear principle or other of reason within me For as on the one hand what Doctrine or notion soever clearly accordeth and is commensurable with any solid and undoubted principle or ground of Reason within me is hereby demonstrably evinced to be a Truth and from God so on the other hand what Doctrine or saying soever bears hard or falls foul upon any such principle must of necessity be an Error and somewhat that proceeds from Satan or from men and not from God The Reason hereof is clearly asserted by the Apostle in these words For God is not the Author of Confusion but of peace a 1 Cor. 14. 33. From whence it appears that God is not divided in himself or contradictions to himself so as to write or assert that in one book as in that of the Scriptures which he denyeth or opposeth in another as viz. in that of Nature or of the fleshly tables of the heart of man but whatsoever he writeth or speaketh in the one he writeth or speaketh nothing Inclinavit Deus Scripturas ad infantium lactentium capacitatem Aug. in Psal 8. * Tertul. De testimonio Animae adversus Gentes c. 1. Mirum si a Deo data homini novit divinare Sic mirum si a Deo data cadem canit quae Deus suis dedit nosse Ibidem c. 5. Si de tuis literis dubitas neque Deus neque natura mentitur ut Deo naturae credas crede animae c. Ib. cap. 6. Cur verba habet Christianonorum quos ne auditos visâ—s que vult Ibid. O testimonium Animae naturaliter Christianae Tertul. Apologet Ne â—ui praeclusus esset ad felicitatem aditus non solum hominum mentibus indidit illud quod diximus Religionis semen c. Calvin instit l. 1. c. 5. Sect. 1. in the other but what is fairly and fully consistent with it Vpon this account it is a grave and worthy advertisement of Mr Perkins in his Epistle before his Treatise of Predestination It is saith he also requisite that this Doctrine he speaks of Predestination Election and Reprobation agree with the grounds of common Reason and of that knowledg of God which may be obtained by the light of nature In this saying of his he clearly supposeth that whatsoever should be taught by any man in the mysterious and high points of Predestination otherwise then according to the Scriptures and the Truth may be clearly disproved by this viz. the disagreement of it with the grounds of common Reason and of that knowledg of God which the light of Nature shineth into the hearts of men If himself had kept close to this principle of his own in drawing up his Judgment in the point of Predestination the World had received a far differing and better account from his pen of this subject then now it hath But if his sence were that the heights and depths of Religion for so we may well call the Doctrines of Election and Reprobation c have nothing in them but what agreeth with the grounds and principles of common reason and with the Dictates of Nature in men and consequently may be measured discerned and judged of by these he did not conceive that matters of a more facile and ordinary consideration were above the capacity and apprehension of Reason It was the saying of Augustin that God hath bowed down the Scriptures to the capacity even of Babes and Sucklings Tertullian hath much upon this account to excellent purpose In one place speaking of the Soul being yet simple rude and unfurnished with any acquired knowledge either from the Scripture or other institution he demands why it should be strange that being given by God it should speak out or sing the same things the knowledg whereof God giveth unto his children Not long after he admonisheth the Gentiles that neither God nor Nature lye and thereupon that they may beleeve both God and nature willeth them to beleeve their own Souls A little after he saith that the Soul he speaks of hath the words and therefore the inwards senses and impressions of Christians whom notwithstanding it wisheth that it might never hear or see Elsewhere having mentioned some expressions of affinity with the Scriptures as oft coming out of the mouths of Heathen he triumphs as it were over them with this acclamation O the Testimony of a Soul naturally Christian Nor doth Calvin himself say any whit less then all this when he saith that God hath implanted or inwardly put the seed of Religion in the mind of men Doubtless the seed sympathizeth richly with that body which springs and grows from it But these
towards God and in faithfulness to mine own Soul neither to beleeve any thing at all as coming from God which I have not or may have a very substantial ground in Reason to beleeve cometh indeed from him nor yet to do any thing at all as commanded by him unless there be a like ground in reason to perswade me that it is indeed his command I confess good Reader I have presumed at somewhat an unreasonable rate upon thy patience in detaining thee so long with the Argument yet in hand But the sence of that unconceivable mischief and misery which I most certainly know have been brought upon the Christian World at least in our quarters of it and which lie sore upon it at this day by means of the reigning of this notion or Doctrine amongst us that men ought not to use but lay aside their Reason in matters of Religion lieth so intolerably sad and heavy upon my Spirit that I could not relieve my self to any competent degree with saying less then what hath been said to relieve the World by hewing in sunder such a snare of death cast upon it Most assuredly all the ataxies disorders confusions seditions Insurrections all the Errors blasphemous Opinions apostasies from the truth and ways of Holiness all trouble of mind and sad workings of conscience in me all unrighteousness and injustice all bribery and oppression all unmanlike self-seeking and prevaricating with publick Interests and Trusts all covetousness and deceit and whatsoever can be named in this World obstructive destructive to the present comfort peace to the future blessedness and glory of the sons and daughters of men proceed and spring from this one root of bitterness and of death they neglect to advance and engage home their Reasons Judgment 's Vnderstandings in matters of Religion to imploy and improve them according to their proper interests and capacities in these most important affairs O Reader my mouth is open unto thee my heart is enlarged Now for a recompence in the same I speak unto thee as a dear Brother in Christ be thou also enlarged Say unto the World round about thee Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Doubtless the World would soon find it self in another manner of posture then now it is and see the whole hemisphere of it filled with the glorious light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ if the inhabitants thereof every man from his quarters would be perswaded to rise up in the might of those abilities those heavenly endowments of reason judgment understanding wherewith God by Jesus Christ hath re-invested them to seek after him by enquiring diligently into by weighing narrowly all those things as works of creation works of providence inscriptions upon the Soul and especially the Sacred Word of extraordinary revelation wherein and whereby God hath drawn neer unto men and as it were prepared postured and fitted himself on purpose to be found and known and this as well in the excellency of his Grace as of his glory by all those who upon these terms seek after him The time was when the Spirit was not given because Christ was not glorified a John 7. 39. in Heaven the time now is wherein the Spirit is not given unto the World according to the preparations of the royall bounty and magnificence of Heaven because he is not glorified on Earth by the worthy imployment of the means abilities opportunities vouchsafed unto men The Word of God makes it one argument of the wickedness and sensual ways of men that they have not the Spirit b Iude ver 18. 19. yea the Apostle Paul by charging the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit c Eph. 5. 18 clearly supposeth it to be a sinful strain of a voluntary unworthinesse in men if they have not a very rich and plentiful anoynting of the Spirit He that lives up to those principles of light which God hath vested in him is under the Beatifical influence of that most rich Promise of Christ to him that hath shall be given and he shal have abundantly d Mat. 25. 29 By him that hath in this promise is meant as clearly appears from the tenor of the parable immediately preceding such a person who useth imployeth improveth that which he hath hereby declaring that he hath what he hath Nor is that which he is here said to have any thing of a spirituall or supernatural import This likewise is evident from the said parable For here one of the three who all had received talents one or more all which talents must needs by the course of the parable â—e supposed to be of one and the same kind nor is the least intimation of any difference especially of any specifical difference between them is said to be an evil and slothful servant notwithstanding his talent and because of his slothfulness to have been cast into utter darkness These are no characters especially in the Judgment of those with whom we are to conflict in the ensuing Discourse of persons that had received any thing saving or supernatural But by that which is here promised to be given and that in abundance to him that hath must of necessity be meant somewhat that is of a spiritual and saving nature This also is evident from the carriage of the same Parable where the servants who had received the Talents and imployed them faithfully by whom are typified our Saviours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that have as was lately said are graciously invited by their Master into his joy Enter thou into thy Masters joy So to the other Enter thou into thy Masters joy Now if either God or Christ be signified and meant by the Master of these servants as I suppose no man questions but that either the one or the other are typified hereby by entering into their joy cannot be meant a receiving of a greater measure of natural gifts or endowments nor of receiving any reward which belongs to persons qualified only with such Endowments as these but Salvation or Eternal Blessedness and Glory If so it roundly follows that by what Christ promiseth shall be given to him that hath in the sence declared is meant somewhat of a saving consequence as regenerating Grace the sanctifying Spirit of God Faith and the like And promising not only or simply that to him that hath shall be given but further that he shall have abundantly he clearly signifieth that in case men will provoke stir up and lay out themselves accordingly in the improvement of such abilities and gifts which shall from time to time be vouchsafed unto them they may by vertue of the bounty and gracious Decree of God in that behalf attain and receive from God what proportion or measure of the Spirit of Grace and of God they can desire Therefore they that teach men to be meerly passive in matters of Religion and forbid them the use of their Reasons
their sakes whoever they be that are here meant by the World There are but three significations of the Word that to my Remembrance I ever heard of as competitors in this place First some by the World here understand the elect dispersed up and down the World By the Elect they meane all those and those only who shall in time actually be saved whom they call the Elect because they judge them to have been chosen by God from eternity out of the generality of Man-kinde with an intent to be by him in time with a strong hand and power irresistible 1. Brought to believe 2. Caused or made to persevere believing unto the end and 3. Hereupon eternally saved the residue of Men being absolutely rejected and left to that unavoydable and heavy doome of perishing everlastingly But that this is not the sence of the word World in the Scripture in hand will appeare by the light of these considerations 1. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated World was never known to have any §. 9. such sence or signification in the Greek Tongue nor was it nor is it to be found in any Author who wrote in this language before or about the time when John wrote his Gospell in such a signification nor yet in any neere to it Now the Gospell as is generally acknowledged and that upon sufficient grounds being written in the Greek Tongue chiefly for the Gentiles sake amongst whom this Language was known and understood far and neer that they might be brought to believe and so be saved by it it is no wayes likely that the Evangelist should use words especially in such Masterveyns and maine passages of it as this is in an uncouth unknown and unheard signification 2. Nor can it be proved that it is to be taken in the sence now opposed §. 10. in any other place of the Scriptures themselves but in very many places it signifies the Universall Systeme Body or generality of Men in the World we shall not need to instance for the proof of this places being so frequent and obvious as also for that part of the generality of Men which is opposite and contradistinguished to the Saints i. e. to the Elect in their sence of the word Elect who yet would have these signified by the World This latter signification of the word World is evident in these Scriptures We know that we are borne of God and that the whole WORLD lieth in wickednesse a 1 Joh. 5 19. Even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive b Joh. 14. 17. c. If yee were of the WORLD the WORLD would love her own but because yee are not of the WORLD but I have chosen you out of the WORLD therefore the VVORLD hateth you c Joh. 15. 19. §. 11. to omit many others 3. If by the World in the Scripture in hand be meant the Elect in the sence of the assertors of this signification then it will follow that God out of his great love gave Christ unto those or for those who stood in no need of Him at least either to preserve them from perishing or to invest them with a Right or Title to eternall life which yet are here laid down as the two only or at least as two maine ends of that great gift For if exemption from perishing or salvation be absolutely and without all consideration awarded or decreed by God unto Men before or from eternity they have a full Right and Title unto them or unto the possession and enjoyment of them by vertue of this award or decree without the intervening of any thing else whatsoever For what better Right or Title can there be to the injoyment of any thing then a decree of Heaven or the award of him who hath an unquestionable Right and Power to dispose of all injoyments whatsoever as and to whom he pleaseth But more of this consequence hereafter 4. The structure it self of the sentence and tenor of the words riseth up §. 12. against this sence of the word in question For 1. If by the word World we understand the Elect we destroy the very Grammar of the place and make it an uncouth and harsh sentence such doubtlesse as cannot be parallel'd in any Author nor yet in the Scriptures themselves Read we then the place thus So God loved His Elect that He gave His only begotten Sonne that whosoever I demand how or in what regular sence that Universall distributive particle whosoever or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one that shall be understood It is a thing generally known to those that understand any thing in the Rules of Grammar yea the vulgar dialect of those that speak Reason or common Sence confirmeth it that partitive or distributive Particles of Speech alwayes suppose a difference at least in possibility between the things parted or distributed and this in reference to what occasioneth the distribution As for example Suppose a great King having many Sons should expresse himself thus I so love my Children that which soever of them shall be dutifull unto me I will bestow Principalities Dukedomes or other great matters upon them should he not plainly imply a possibility at least that some of them might not prove dutifull unto him In like manner if the word World in the Scripture in hand should signifie the Elect the distributive whosoever must needs imâ—ly that some of these Elect might possibly not beleeve and so perish because beleeving and not perishing thereupon occasion the distribution here made 2. Though our Saviour in this Period of Scripture mentioneth only the §. 13. benefit intended by God in the gift of his Son to those that shall believe viz. non-perishing and the obtaining of everlasting life yet he plainly implies and supposeth withall the misery and losse which they should certainly suffer who shall not believe Except this he supposed we shall altogether misfigure our Saviours Mind and Scope in the place and make him speak more like a Man void of understanding then himself For then the taste and savour of his words would be this God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth or not believeth in Him should not perish but c. Therefore certaine it is that he in the place in hand as well insinuates the condemnation or perishing of those who shall not believe as asserts the salvation or non perishing of those who shall believe And besides it is contrary to Reason especially in seriousnesse of discourse in a positive and strict manner to suspend that upon the performance of such or such a condition which may be had without any such performance This then being granted that our Saviour here supposeth the certaine perishing of those who shall not believe the place according to their sence who by the World will needs understand the Elect must run thus So God loved the Elect that whosoever of them believed should not
29. For the meaning hereof is not that what God once gives he never takes away we know there are instances in the Scripture without number to the contrary He tooke away that integrity and rectitude of nature from Adam upon his fall which he had given him in his Creation So in the Parable he commands the Talent to be taken away from the unprofitable servant b Mat. 25. 28 which before he had given him yea and threatens universally that from every one that hath not viz. by way of improvement or increase shall be taken away even Vers 29. that which he hath viz. by way of stock or originall donation So that the gifts and calling of God are not in this Sence without Repentance Therefore 2. When the Apostle affirmes the gifts and calling of God to be without §. 57. Repentance his meaning may be 1. That he never gives any thing to any Person or People whatsoever but that he knows and considers before-hand all the inconveniences and dis-accommodations that will follow upon it either in Reference to his own glory or to his Creature one or other in any kinde In so much that what ever be the event or consequence of any of his gifts if they were to give again he would give them Nor doth that expression concerning him and it repented the Lord that He Had made Man upon Earth and that it grieved Him at His Heart c Gen. 6 6. any way imply but that if Man had been now to make he would have made him or that when he did make him he did not fore-see the inconvenience which now followed upon his making of him The Phrase only imports a purpose of heart in God shortly to destroy him from off the face of the Earth for his wickednesse as he saith immediately after that he would do For which kinde of expression when attributed unto God we have accounted at large in the third Chapter of this Discourse 2. The gifts and calling of God are or may be said to be without Repentance §. 58. because let Men continue the same Persons I meane Geometrically or Proportionably the same which they were when the donation or collation of any gift was first made by God unto them he never changeth or altereth his dispensation towards them unlesse it be for the better or in order to their further good in which case he cannot be said to repent of what he had given But in case Men shall change and alter from what they were when God first dealt graciously and bountifully by them especially if they shall notoriously degenerate or cast away that principle or through negligence or otherwise devest and despoile themselves of that very qualification on which God as it were graffed his benefit or guift vouchsafed to them in this case though he recalls and takes away his guift he cannot be said to repent of the giving it because the terms upon which he gave it please him still only the persons to whom he gave it and who pleased him when he gave it unto them have now rendered themselves by their unworthinesse displeasing unto him and uncapable by the Lawes and Rule of his righteous dispensations of any further injoyment thereof This is the case between God and such Men who having once obtained remission of sins from him by such a Faith which wrought or was apt and ready to work by love afterwards upon the losse or degeneration of this Faith together with the operativenesse of contrary and vile principles are devested by him of that great and glorious priviledge and fall back into their former estate of condemnation Therefore from those quarters of the Parable in Matthew which we have §. 59. lately surveyed perfect intelligence comes that persons who have by meanes of a sound Faith received remission of sins upon the account of Christs Death may through negligence in not preserving this Faith or the sweetnesse and soundnesse of it so far provoke their glorious Benefactor as to cause him to repeale that His Act of Grace towards them and to suffer their former guilt to returne like the uncleane spirit with seven worse then himself upon them From whence it undeniably followes that Christ hath purchased Remission of sins by His Death for those who notwithstanding may through their own folly and wickednesse perish Chrysostome interprets the place in full consonancy with this inference or supposition Although saith he the graces and guifts of God are without Repentance yet malice or wickednesse prevailed so far as to dissolve this Law What then is there of more grievous consequence then to remember injuries which appeares to be a subverter or destroyer of such and so great a gift of God a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amongst our later Expositors Musculus as Orthodox as Men can make a Man advanceth the same interpretation making it his third observation upon the place that those sinnes which are through the Grace of God pardoned at present shall not be remitted in the future unlesse we will forgive our Brother For it is an unjust thing saith he that he should enjoy the free remitment or forgivenesse of a debt of ten thousand Talents who refuseth to forgive his Brother a debt of an hundred pence b Tertia observatio est etiam eadelicta quae jam condonata sunt per gratiam Dei non fore remissa si nos nolimus remittere fratri Est enim injustum gaudere de re missis sibi Talentis mille qui nolit centum denarios fratri remittere Mr. John Ball himself nibbleth also at this exposition even whilest for the sake of those that sit at table with Him he opposeth it As in the Parable saith he the Lord is said to remit to his servant a thousand Talents when he desired him viz. inchoately or upon condition which was not confirmed because he did not forgive his fâ—llow servant so the false Prophets are bought by the Blood of Christ viz. in a sort as they believed in Christ but not sincerely and unfeignedly c Covenant of Grace p 240. A little after to these Men their sinnes were remitted in a sort in this World c. If he would have brought forth his darknesse of inchoately upon condition in a sort into a cleare and perfect light his meaning must have been that that Remission of sins which God gives unto Men in this World he neither confirmes unto them in the houre of Death nor in the Day of judgement the Authors own words a little after the former in case they live and die under an implacablenesse or unmercifulnesse of spirit towards those who injure them Such a sence as this is truly Orthodox whether Men vote it such or no. Our English Annotators though they neither buy nor sell this interpretation in expressnesse of terms yet interpretatively they buy or confirme it This Parable say they upon Verse 35. informes us that they shall finde God severe and
in matters of Religion and Conscience Heart and Soul and all that is within thee to strengthen thy hand to a diligent perusal of the Treatise ensuing â—â— the high necessity that lieth upon thee as it doth upon all the world besides respectively to awake raise and engage all those worthy faculties and endowments which God hath vested in thee Reason Judgment Memory Vnderstanding about the thingâ— of thine eternal Peace And because this Iron I fear hath been of late much blunted with the earthly Conceits and Suggestions of many I am desirous to put so much the more strength to it But to me it is the first-born of wonder and astonishment that amongst men professing the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Wisdom of God yea amongst the Teachers themselves of this Wisdom men should be found who think they do God and men very good service in perswading men wholly to lay aside their Reasons Iudgments Vnderstandings in matters of Religion and not to make use of or engage any of these in their enquiries after matters of a spiritual or supernatural concernment Doubtless Satan is a Debtor to those persons who have seasoned the world with the unsavory Salt of such a Principle as this for all the religious respects and high entertainment that have of late been given by many amongst us to all those wicked senceless sapless hideous and blasphemous Doctrines and Opinions which like the dead Frogs of Egypt m Exod. 8. 14 make the Land to stink For if men may not interpose with their Reasons and Iudgments to distinguish between Spirit and Spirit Opinion and Opinion why should not one Spirit be beleeved as well as another and one Opinion received as well as another Or if the difference be not to be made by the interposure and exercise of Reason in a man I demand by what other principle or means ought it to be made If it be said partly by the Word of God and partly by the Spirit of God I answer 1. Concerning the Word of God it is acknowledged that this is to be in special manner interessed in all our dijudications between Doctrine and Doctrine Opinion and Opinion in matter of Religion and that this is the fire which must try every mans work of what sort it is n 1 Cor. 3 13. and that must separate the vile from the precious But as the Plummet and Rule do not measure the work of the Architect or discover whether it be true and square or otherwise of or by themselves but as they are regularly applyed hereunto either by the workman himself or some other capable of making such an application however true it may be that a sufficient test or proof of the work cannot be made without the use of the Plummet and Rule about it In like manner though the Word of God be of soveraign use and necessity for the measuring of Opinions and Doctrines and for the discovery of what is streight and what crooked in them yet he that desires to reap the spiritual benefit and advantage of the usefulness of it in this kind must 1. rightly understand the sence and mind of God in it and 2. be dexterous and expert in making a due application of it being rightly understood to the Doctrines or Opinions â—he soundness or unsoundness whereof he desires to understand by it For 1. It is not the letter or form of words as separated or considered apart from the spirit notion or sence of them that is the Touchstone or Rule of Tryal for Doctrines Yea the letter and words are only servants to the sence and notion which they contain and exhibit and were principally if not only delivered by the Holy Ghost unto men for this end that by them the Sence Mind and Counsel of God in all the particularities of them which are held forth in the Scriptures might be communicated and conveyed to the Reasons and Vnderstandings of Men. So that in case a man had the sence and mind of God upon the same terms of certainty and knowledg without the letter on which he hath it or may have it by means of the letter he should be as richly as compleatly qualified hereby to discern between Doctrines as he now can be by the opportunity and advantage of the letter Now if the Scriptures themselves be upon no other terms nor in any other case serviceable or use ful unto men for the tryal of Doctrines and Opinions but only as and when they are truly understood by them it clearly follows that whatsoever is requisite and necessary to bring men to a true understanding of the Scriptures is of equal necessity for the distinguishing of Doctrines and to interpose or be made use of in all affairs and concernments in Religion If then the Reasons Judgments and Vnderstandings of men must of necessity interpose act argue debate and consider before the true sence and mind of God in any Scripture can be duly apprehended understood and beleeved by men it is a plain case that these are to be used and to be interessed in whatsoever is of any Religious consequence or concernment to us That the Mind of God in the Scriptures cannot be duly apprehended received or beleeved by men but by the acting and working of their Reasons Minds and Vnderstandings in order hereunto iâ— evident from hence viz. because the Mind of God cannot be thus apprehended or beleeved by men but by means of an intellectual or rational difference tasted or resented by them between this mind of his and all other minds meanings or sences whatsoever that may be supposed to lie or reside in the words For example if there be another sence to be given of such or such a passage of Scripture either contrary unto or differing from that which I conceive to be the Mind of God here which hath the same rational or intellectual savour and taste with this that is which as well suits with the words agrees with the Context falls in with the scope and subject matter in hand is as accordable with Scripture assertion elsewhere comports as clearly with the unquestionable Principles of Reason and the like how is it possible for me in this case to conceive or beleeve especially with the certainty of Faith that my sence is the Mind of God and consequently the true sence of that place rather then that other which hath all the same Characters Symptomes and Arguments of being the Mind of God which mine hath Therefore it must needs be by the exercise and acting of my Reason and Vnderstanding and by the report which they make of their Discoveries in their Enquiries that I come regularly to conclude and to be satisfied that this is the Mind of God in such or such a Scripture and none other If it be here objected and demanded But is it meet or tolerable that the Reason of man should judg in the things of God Or that the Vnderstandings of men should umpire and determine
and Vnderstandings as unlawful or dangerous in these affairs how prudently soever they may consult their own carnal ease honor or worldly accommodations by such a Doctrine yet herein they say unto men in effect Be not excellent let it never be said that the God of Heaven hath made you rich or Great Good Reader I have no Apology for my Prolixity in the Argument in hand but only the high and soveraign importance of it together with mine own abounding in the sense of that most sad Calamity under which the world groaneth by means of the importune tyrannical Regency of that Notion or Doctrine unto the deposal whereof I have lift up my Heart and Hand in all that I have said herein I shall only add this one word more upon this account at the present Whereas thou I fear art ready to complain of a long Harvest already the truth is that all I have said in the business hitherto is but a first-fruit of that abundance which yet remaineth in my spirit and Soul ready to utter it self upon any other like occasion for the eradication and utter extirpation if it be possible of that most pestilential and pernicious notion and conceit out of the minds of men In the mean time I shall make thee some part of amends for thy patient bearing of my burthen in this Point by as much brevity as thou canst reasonably desire in the third and last particular yet remaining The tenour hereof was to remove some stumbling stones which it is like have been thrown in thy way to alienate thy mind from the perusal of the Discourse ensuing Objections against the reading of the present Discourse with others of like Argument answered For Satan and men have together devised and hammered out variety of Arguments or Pretences to alienate the minds of weak and inconsiderate persons not only from the Dâ—â—trines themselves here asserted but even from acquainting themselves with Books or Discourses of like Argument and Plea with the Discourse before thee One Vizor very hideous and affrighting which they put upon the face of such Discourses as this to scare children in Vnderstanding from them is that they teach the uncomfortable sad and dismal Doctrine of the possibility of Saints and true Beleevers falling away and this both totally and finally But how far this Doctrine is from being either uncomfortable sad or dismal I shall not here stand to demonstrate but refer thee to the nineth Chapter of the Discourse it self with several other passages afterwards where I evidently prove the two opposite Doctrines being duly and unpartially compared together that that which denyeth this possibility is every whit as great yea a far greater Enemy to the peace and comfort of the Saints then that which affirmeth it Secondly Some labor to work a distaste of such Discourses as we speak of in the minds of men by possessing them with a conceit that they are derogatory and injurious to the Grace or freeness of the Grace of God in the Salvation of Men and that they exalt Nature and the abilities hereof as Free-will and the like to the dishonor and prejudice of this Grace To this I answer 1. That I am no ways responsible for all that may possibly sibly be taught or said in every Treatise or Discourse that buildeth up one or more of the Doctrines here asserted but only for such things wherein their sence and mine greet eâ—ch other 2. I answer to the Charge in reference to my self and my Doctrine and Judgment touching the Grace of God that it is of a like consideration and relation between my Accusers and me as the accusation of an unchaste deportment brought against Joseph by his Mistress was between them For as the Accuser here and not the Accused was guilty of the crime objected in the Accusation so the truth is that the Sence and Opinion of those who sentence my Doctrine as injurious to the Grace or freeness of the Grace of God are themselves deep in the condemnation my Doctrine being as innocent as the manifest Truth it self is from such a crime Nor doth it exalt Nature any whit more if not much less then they For 1. Concerning the Grace of God and the freeness hereof I hold and teach nothing but what fairly and fully accords with these Positions 1. That the Original or first-spring of the Salvation of the World and so of every particular person that comes to be saved was in and from the Grace the free Grace and good Pleasure of God 2. That the whole method or systeme of Counsels by which and according unto which God effecteth and bringeth to pass the Salvation of all that are saved did proceed wholly and entirely from the same Grace and good pleasure 3. And more particularly That the gift of Jesus Christ for a Mediator and Saviour unto the World and so the Grant or Promise of Justification and Salvation unto men by or upon beleeving issued solely and wholly from the same Grace 4. That men by Nature and of themselves i. e. considered in and under such a condition as they were brought unto by Adam and wherein they should have subsisted in case they had ever been born and lived in the world had not the free Grace of God in Christ interposed to relieve them and better their condition have no strength or power not the least inclination or propension of Will to do any thing little or much acceptable unto God or of a saving import 5. That notwithstanding this restaâ—ration or healing of the natural condition of man by the free Grace of God yet there is not one of a thousand possibly not one throughout the whole World but so far corrupts himself with the lusts of the flesh and ways of the World that without a second relief from the free Grace of God as viz. in his patience and long-suffering towards him ever comes to repent or believe or to persevere beleeving and so to be saved 6. That it is from the free and undeserved Grace of God that any person of Mankind is so much as put into a capacity of beleeving or hath power and means vouchsafed unto him sufficient to enable him to beleeve 7. That a man is put into this capacity of beleeving by an irresistible acting or working of the free Grace of God 8. That when any man by vertue of the power and means vouchsafed unto him by the free Grace of God comes actually to beleeve the exercise and acting of this power proceeds also from the free Grace and good pleasure of God so that no man ever believeth without a present and actual assistance from the free Grace of God in order to this his beleeving over and above his ability or power to beleeve 9. And lastly That the act of beleeving whensoever it is performed by any man is so inconsiderably and at so low a rate of efficiency from a mans self that to help apprehension a lttle in the case
As these are not occasioned or raised in him by meanes of any necessity or dependance which he hath upon any of their Objects or the things Purposed Decreed Intended or Desired by him but proceede out of the meere goodnesse of his will whereas the elicite acts of created wills are for the most part if not alwayes begotten by some necessity or other of the things wiâ—led lying upon him that willeth as not being compleate in the injoyment of himself without the willing or obtaining such things 2. As these acts of his will arise and flow from their Principle or Fountaine with a greater enlargement thereof and more strength of exertion then the like acts proceeding from the wills of any other Agent or Agents whatsoever 3. And lastly the immutability of his Will or the determination of it to things actually and de facto willed by him is no impeachment to the liberty or freedome of his Will but only supposeth or demonstrateth it to be another kinde of liberty or freedom much more excellent and perfect then that which is found in the wills of Men or Angels That liberty of will which is competent unto and found in these includes a Peccability or Potentiality unto sin which argueth weaknesse or non-perfection whereas the unchangeable rectitude of the Will of God excluding all possibility of sinning excludeth no degree at all of liberty or freedom from it but only weaknesse imperfection and defectibility which are the indelible characters of created wills * Non habet liberam voluntatem is qui consilium mutare non potest impeditus à causâ externâ si mutare velit Deus autem consilium suum non mutat nec mutare potest non propter impedimentum causae externae nec propter naturae aut facultatis defectum sed quia non vult nec velle potest consilii sui mutationem propter immutâ—bilem rectitudinem voluntatis suae in quam neque error neque ulla mutationis causa potest cadere Vrsinus Expl. Catech. part 1. qu. 8. Having thus cleered this foundation of Truth the perfect Actuality of §. 28. the Divine Essence or Being let us consider what we may safely and with evidence of deduction build upon it If then God be a pure and meere act without all Potentiality or Possibility of change in one kinde or other then those volitions or acts of his Will which with the Scriptures we call Election Reprobation Predestination c. are not to be conceived as acts that are past a Cavendum est ne falsâ quadam imaginatione actum voluntatis Divinae quasi praeteritum cogitemus Scotus in l. Distinc 40. or like to the Volitions Purposes or Intentions of men which being once fulfilled and put in execution die and cease to be in them but are to be looked upon as being really and in Truth one and the same thing with his Essence and Being which is unchangeably permanent only with relation to the effecting of such things in time which answer and hold proportion with the actings of men when they Elect Reprobate or Predestinate So that for example when God prevailes by his Word and Spirit with men in time to believe and during this their believing continueth the same gracious means towards their further establishment and edification he is said to have elected them not because he had formerly passed any act of Election concerning them which is now at an end and ceaseth but because he doth by them or to them as men use to do by Trees when they have chosen them out of the Forrest for building they fell saw hew and every wayes prepare and fit them for such places in the building they intend for which they are most proper and usefull Againe when God upon mens neglect refusall or abuse of the meanes of grace vouchsafed unto them shall withdraw these meanes to such a degree that they fall to open prophanesse loosenesse c. he is now said to have reprobated them not because he had at any time before passed an act of Reprobation against them which was now put in execution and consequently expired and over but because he now acteth or rather forbeares to act in relation towards them as men are wont to act in reference to what they dis-allow refuse or reject whether things or persons Hence it is that the Apostle Paul professeth his care of doing those things which might exempt him not from under any decree of Reprobation which had already passed against him but from falling under any such displeasure of God which putteth men into an estate of Reprobation i. e. Alienateth the heart will and care of God from them But I keep under my body saith he and bring it into subjection lest that by any meanes when I have Preached to others I my self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be or rather become or be made a cast away or reprobate a 1 Cor. 9. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word in the Originall properly signifieth and is elsewhere so translated b Rom. 1. 28. 2 Cor. 13 5 6 7. 2 Tim. 3. 8. Tit. 1. 16. Nor doth that expression of Paul concerning Gods chusing men in Christ §. 29. before the foundation of the World Eph. 1. 4. import any Act in God that is past and now ceaseth to be in him but only the standing counsell and good pleasure which is eternall in him being nothing else but himself and his Divine Essence of giving life and salvation unto all those who believe in Jesus Christ by the means which he graciously purposeth also to vouchsafe unto them and accordingly vouchsafeth for this end The Reason why the Scriptures usually expresse the Acts of God which are eternally permanent in him by Verbs of the Preter perfect tense and in Phrases importing time past is as Anselme long since well observed because there being no words used or known amongst men which signifie that kinde of Permanency or Presence which is proper to eternity words signifying the time past are taken up by the Holy Ghost to expresse matters of that consideration and import rather then others which signifie either the time present or to come because that which is past being unchangeably past and in no possibility of being any other then past holds better agreement with and is more like unto that which is eternally and so unchangeably present then either that which is present in time or future in as much as that which is present is not unchangeably present but will shortly be past and that which is future is not unchangeably future but will in time be present and after this past a Vnde cognosci potest eum Apostolum propter indigentiam verbi significantis aeternam praesentiam usum esse verbis praeteritae significationis quoniam quae tempore praeterita sunt ad similitudinem â—terni praesentis omnino immutabilia sunt In hoc siquidem magis similia sunt â—terno praesenti temporaliter
which is prepared or any wayes made fit for us and withall so disposed of or set in our way that we may readily and lawfully serve our selves with it is said to be GIVEN unto us by Him or them who thus prepare and dispose of it He that shall prepare wholesome and savoury Meat such as a man loveth and shall set it before Him and give Him free leave to take it or eat of it may in sufficient propriety of speech be said to GIVE this Meate unto him yea whether he takes or eats of it upon such terms or no. So God the Father having wrought and fitted the men whom Christ chose for Apostles to serve and honor Him in this capacity and withall disposed of them in their Times Residences and Conditions in the World so that Christ might both readily and lawfully call them to His Service He may very well in these respects be said to have given them unto Him Thus by a diligent and narrow inquiry into Mr. Rutherfords Scripture it evidently appears that there is nec vola nec vestigium not the least mutter or peepe of any such Notion in it as he imagineth viz. that if Christ should Offer eternall life unto any more then only unto the Elect so called by Him He must needs doe it besides His own and His Fathers Intention Here is not the least word syllable letter apex or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning either the Fathers or the Sons intentions about the offer of Salvation unto Men. By the briefe Discussions of this Chapter it fully appears that all those §. 11. Texts of Scripture which offer either forgivenesse of Sins or Salvation unto all men without exception and which promise either or both these unto all men upon or upon condition of their believing which are very frequent and numerous doe with the clearest light and evidence of Truth hold forth the universality of Redemption by Christ From whence it followes in regular and due processe of reason and discourse that all they make God a lyar in such Scriptures who restrain the Salvation or Redemption purchased by Christ to any lesser number of men then All. CHAP. VIII Wherein the Scriptures of the fourth and last Association Propounded Cap. 5. Sect. 6. as pregnant also with that Great Truth hitherto Maintained are impartially Weighed and Considered VVE shall God assisting examine every of these Scriptures particularly §. 1. and so shall have occasion to exhibit the purport and tenor of them respectively as they shall be produced to act their severall parts in Order In which respect we shall not here transcribe them especially considering the Reader may with a very little paines see them in their Muster Cap. 5. Sect. 6. but shall only point at their severall Dwellings or Scituations in the Booke of God which are these Rom. 14. 15. 1 Cor. 8. 11. 2 Pet. 2. 1. 2 Pet. 2. 20. Heb. 10. 29. Mat. 18. 32 33. c. We make these Scriptures of one and the same Combination and Associate them by themselves because their import is in effect one and the same they all supposing that Christ hath Died for those who may perish notwithstanding yea for those who will perish And certainly if He Died for those who notwithstanding His Dying for them may perish yea and for those who will actually perish as well as for those who shall be saved He Died for all Men without exception For as for that opinion of the Valentine Councell in France mentioned by Estius a In 2 Pet. 2. 1. vi Jo. Ball. Covenant of Grace p. 238. and adopted by him as it seems for his own which supposeth some Reprobates as he calleth them to have been redeemed by Christ but not all this opinion I say is not like as far as I conceive to make many Proselytes nor to attract the judgements of considering Men. For if the Dying of Christ for Men be to be esteemed matter of Love to them as without all controversie and question it ought what reason can there be imagined why he should die for Apostate Reprobates who yet are that kinde of Reprobate for which only Christ Died according to that opinion rather then for those who though living and dying in unbeliefe yet never contracted the guilt of so desperate and provoking a sin But this by the way The tenor of the Scripture first in view amongst those lately appearing is §. 2. this destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ Died b Rom. 14. 15. First that the destruction here spoken of whereunto the strong Christian is so earnestly admonished and dehorted by the Apostle from exposing the weake is not any temporall destruction but that which is of body and soule for ever is more cleare then to require Proof It is not easily imaginable how or that a strong Christian or any other Man by eating meate sacrificed unto Idols should expose a weake Christian unto the danger of any other destruction but of that only which is Decreed by God against those who shall depart from the Faith or finally apostatize from the Profession of Christ Besides it is every mans Notion that this is that Destruction that first borne of things formidable and dreadfull unto the precious soules of men with which this great Apostle had so much to doe and from which the great Prize that he runs for with all his might in all his Epistles was to deliver them 2. Whereas he chargeth Men not to destroy those for whom Christ Died §. 3. though he doth not indeed suppose that all those shall be actually destroyed or perish whom another may be said to destroy i. e. to doe things tending to their destruction which is the sence of the word in this place yet this he cleerly supposeth that such men for whom Christ Died are obnoxious to destruction may be destroyed and perish everlastingly Otherwise we shall quench the spirit of his zealous tendernesse over the Precious soules of weake Christians expressed in this serious Item or charge unto others not to destroy them yea and make him speake very weakly and indeed ridiculously To admonish men in a serious and solemne manner to take heed of destroying those who are out of all possibility of being destroyed especially this being known to the Men that are thus admonished is as if a Man should seriously and affectionately intreat an Archer with his Bow and Arrowes about him to take heed of shooting too high for feare of hurting the Sun and cause him to fall down out of the firmament of Heaven If it be said yea but though it be supposed that the Persons admonished §. 4. in this case do know in in the generall that they for whom Christ Died are not under a possibility of Perishing yet they may be ignorant in Particular whether those Men whose destruction they are like to Procure or Promote by the abuse of their Christian liberty be of the number of those Men
that the Lord Christ did really buy them for it was very probable that he had so bought them in regard of that illumination externall sanctification and other gifts whereof they were partakers and consequently their sin in denying him was never the lesse upon any such account as this that he had not indeed bought them in as much as they were bound to believe that he had so bought them and to behave themselves towards him accordingly I answer 1. Upon this supposition that Christ did not indeed buy or had not bought them they could have no probability no not upon their illumination or outward gifts whatsoever that he had or should have so bought them especially taking in the opinion of those against whom we manage our present Discourse viz. that Christ truly bought no more then come to be actually saved For 1. if those truly bought by Christ be but very few in number comparatively with those who were passed by and not so bought by him then no particular Man thus far I meane as he is a member of Man-kinde or one of the generality of Men can have so much as a probable ground that he is one of those so bought by him As when there are twenty or fourty blanks in a Lottery and only one prize it is not probable or likely that he that draweth but once shall draw the prize For it is twenty or fourty to one that he shall not draw it 2. Neither doth the receiving of illumination or any other common gift upon the former supposalls make it probable unto any Man that Christ truly bought him because very many receive illumination at least in the sence of our opposers c. who live wickedly and many also who fall away from that externall sanctity wherein they walked for a season And our Saviour himself saith that many are called but few are chosen a Mat. 20. 16 and againe that upon the abounding of iniquity viz. in fierce and bloody Persecutors the love of many shall wax cold b Mat. 24 12 and yet again that many that are first shall be last c Mat. 19. 30 to omit many other passages of like import Therefore no externall or common gifts whatsoever make it so much as probable unto any Man that he was truly bought by Christ there being very many thus gifted who will not in the end be saved But 2. Suppose our false Teachers had probable grounds from their illumination §. 41. c. to believe that Christ had truly bought them yet this probability upon the Premises last argued could be but very faint and mingled with much jealousie and feare of the contrary and consequently nothing so binding upon them to own and honour him in the World as a certaine knowledge free from the pain and torment of feare of the contrary that he had so bought them would have been So that though it should be yielded which yet there is no sufficient reason to do that the Interpretation which we now oppose doth not turne up by the very roots the drift and scope of the Apostle in the Place and Words yet it shakes them terribly and leaves little spirit strength or force in them If the Merchant judged it fourty twenty yea or but ten d Vix enim dicimus quisque eorum qui Christo nomen dedâ—runt fidei puritatem ad extremum usque retinet omnes fere ad corruptelas degenerant atque amagistris licentiae delust prosancsâ—unt Calvin in 2 Pet. 2 2. to one odds that in case he should venture he should never have any returne of what he ventures he would have but flender incouragement and so little list to follow his Sea-Trade with his whole estate upon such terms Whereas certainty of returnes with considerable gaine would the Providence of God and condition of humane affaires bear it would multiply Merchants without end and withall render those very weake and unlike Men who having meanes and opportunity to follow such an imployment should either be slothfull and sit still or else dispose of their estates in any other way wherein little or no improvement could be expected In like manner a certainty of knowledge that Christ truly and really bought a Man with His Blood is an high and sacred ingagement upon this Man to acknowledge own and honour Him as His Great and Blessed Lord and Benefactor in the sight of the World and consequently renders Him the reproach and abomination of Men in case he shall be ashamed of Him or deny Him whereas a faint apprehension only of such a thing done for Him intangled and incumbred with a thousand Questions Feares and Doubtings hardly extricable whether it was indeed done or no makes the deniall or dis owning of Him if not pardonable yet much more excuseable and of far lighter provocation and demerit then in the other case it would be Thus then at last we see that no Interpretation will sit with any tolerable §. 42. closenesse or congruity to the words and scope of the Scripture in hand but only that which acknowledgeth the false Teachers mentioned therein truly really absolutely and compleatly Redeemed or bought by Christ I meane after the same manner and upon the same terms of love on Gods Part after and upon which those were Redeemed and bought by Him who in the issue and event come to be saved As for that objection which lies in many Mens thoughts against such an Interpretation as this as viz. that if Christ truly Redeemed or bought any Man He must of necessity at last be saved we shall God assisting give a faire cleere and satisfactory Answer unto it when we come to Answer the Arguments insisted upon for the Proofe of the contrary Doctrine to that which is maintained in the present Discourse But for that which some plead against the Interpretation asserted from Revel 14. 4. where those that are said to be Redeemed or bought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Men are termed the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb and are said to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth which implieth their actuall Salvation the answer unto it is easie For evident it is from the description of the persons here spoken of that they are such not simply who were Redeemed and bought by Christ but who also truly believed in Him and persevered in Faith and Love unto the end and consequently such in whom the worke of Redemption performed by Christ obtained its ultimate and plenary efficiency and end In which respect they are said in a kinde of emphaticall manner to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have been Redeemed or bought from Men or from amongst Men i. e. Persons in whom the common Redemption vouchsafed by Christ tooke Place and wrought to that great and signall differencing and distinguishing of them from other Men that whereas the grace of this Redemption was Buried under other Mens wickednesse and unbelief and at last in their destruction it prevailed and magnified it self
greatnesse of His Power to preserve them against all enemies and threatning obstacles and oppositions whatsoever for His Heavenly Kingdome only upon condition that they shall not willingly willfully desperately destroy themselves or render themselves uncapable of such His preservation by apostatizing from that Faith in His Son Jesus Christ which He by His especiall Grace hath Planted in them and by which they stand at present in favour and acceptation with Him 2. Though God hath not simply and absolutely undertaken for their preseverance §. 20. or continuation of their Faith unto the end nor upon any such terms but that if they will be brutishly and desperately carelesse of so high a concernment to themselves as a blessed Eternity is they may make defection from it and turne Proselites to Hell yet hath He laid a rich foundation for their Perseverance in those many precious Promises and incouragements which He hath given unto those who shall persevere as also in those most severe and dreadfull threatnings bent against the faces of all Apostates and backsliders together with those frequent Promises or Declarations which He hath made to continue yea and to inlarge upon occasion the inward contributions of His Spirit the motions excitements and directions thereof in order to the plentifull inabling of His Saints to persevere untill they shall willingly and willfully turne their backs upon them and reject them Upon the account of all these gracious Promises and Declarations made by God unto His Saints for or towards the effectuall accomplishment of their Perseverance the Apostle Paul frequently incourageth them to the hope and expectation of it But the Lord is faithfull who shall stablish you and keepe you from evill a 2 Thess 3. 3 Who shall also confirme you unto the end that yee may be blamelesse in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ b 1 Cor. 1. 8 God according to the common Dialect and Notion of Scripture language is said to establish confirme and keepe men from evill when He doth that which is of a proper tendency and sufficient thereunto whither the effects or ends themselves of establishments confirmation c. be actually obtained or no For there is nothing more frequent or familiar in Scripture then to ascribe the effects themselves sometimes unto God sometimes unto Men only upon their respective actings or doings of such things which are of a Naturall Proper and Direct tendency to produce them whether they be actually and de facto produced or no. Thus our Saviour chargeth Him who shall put away his Wife for any other cause then Fornication with causing her to commit Fornication c Mat. 5. 32 whether the Woman thus put away committeth Fornication or no viz. because in that act of putting her away upon such terms He doth that which hath a proper and direct tendency to cause Her to commit this sin For it is not necessary to suppose that every Woman thus divourced or put away committeth or will commit Fornication But whether she doth or no the sin of Him that put Her away is one and the same He in our Saviours Dialect caused Her to commit Fornication Thus also He who eates to the offence of a weake Brother is charged by the Apostle with destroying him with his Meate for whom Christ Died d Rom. 14 15 20. i. e. with doing that which is apt and proper to occasion His destruction whether He be actually destroyed or no. In this idiome likewise of speaking God expresly saith that He had purged Jerusalem and yet in the same place saith also that Jerusalem notwithstanding was not purged In thy filthinesse is lewdnesse i. e. notorious and desperate obstinacy because I HAVE PVRGED THEE AND THOV WAST NOT PVRGED thou shalt not be purged from thy filthinesse any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee a Ezek. 24 13 God is said to have purged Jerusalem because He vouchsafed proper and sufficient means unto Her for Her purging as the Ministry of His Word and Spirit frequent Admonitions Exhortations Expostulations Promises Threatnings c. by His Prophets however Jerusalem by Her rebellious obstinacy hindered and obstructed the through and kindly working of these means by reason whereof the desireable effect of Her purging was not obtained In such a Sence and Phrase as this the goodnesse of God is said to lead such Men to Repentance who yet are so far from Repenting that after their hardnesse and impenitent heart they threasure up wrath unto themselves against the day of wrath c. b Rom. 2. 4 5 meaning that the goodnesse of God in His Patience and Long-sufferance towards wicked and ungodly Men ministreth many occasions and opportunities unto them by the advantage whereof they might easily be drawn to repent did they not willingly indulge themselves in that hardnesse of Heart which in the fruits of it tends to nothing but to the treasuring up of wrath to themselves c. In the same construction Christ is stiled the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the World c Ioh. 1. 29. and so to be the propitiation for the sinnes of the whole World d 1 Ioh. 2. 2 not as if or because the sin of the World is actually or compleatly taken away by Him or so that this whole sin either is or at any time must needs be pardoned or actually taken away in all the fruits consequents or effects of it because He is said to have taken it away but because He hath done and suffered that which hath a glorious efficacy and tendency in it to or towards such a taking of it away so that if it be not actually and compleatly taken away the cause of it is somewhere else to be sought and found as viz. in the sinners or men themselves and not in Him In this sence likewise He is said to be the propitiation for the sinnes of the whole World not because the sinnes of the whole World are actually compleatly or with succesfulnesse in the event propitiated or attoned by Him but because that Sacrifice of Himself which He hath offered in order to a propitiating or attoning the sinnes of the whole World is so pregnant and full of a propitiatory efficacy and vertue and withall is so propounded and held forth by God unto the whole World that if any mans sin remaines actually unpropitiated or un-pardoned it is through his own voluntary neglect of this Sacrifice and not from any intention on Gods Part that his sin should not be attoned or propitiated by this Sacrifice as well as any other Mans. It were easie to multiply examples of that propriety of expression now under observation from the Scriptures And I desire the rather that it may be carefully minded and remembred because I verily believe that the non-advertency of it by Men of learning and worth with some few others of like consideration whereof we may give notice in time hath mainly occasioned the dividing of
Thus it is said of the Egyptian Magitians that they COVLD NOT STAND before Moses viz. at present because of the Boyles g Exod. 9. 11 but these notwithstanding they were in a capacity of standing before him another time as viz. when they should be healed of their Boyles Thus it is said that the Children of Israel COVLD NOT stand before their enemies a 1 Judg 7. 12 viz. whilest Achans sin was unpunished amongst them yet were they remotely capable not only of standing before their enemies but of vanquishing yea and making their enemies flie before them Fifthly and lastly the Phrase cannot frequently importeth an absolute impotency or incapacity in Persons in reference to the doing of such or such a thing Thus our Saviour speaking of His sheep No Man or none CAN take thâ—m out of my hand b Ioh. 10. 29 i. e. either hath or ever shall have any such Power whereby to take them out of my hand And so Gamaliel to his fellowes But if this Counsell or Work be of God yee CANNOT overthrow it c Acts 5. 39 c. i. e. you are in no capacity at all either present or remore to overthrow it It were easie to multiply instances of this Signification Now if the clause cannot sin in the Argument propounded be understood §. 29. according to any of the foure first signification mentioned of the word cannot both the Propositions are false if according to the fifth and last the major is true but the minor false The major Proposition was this He that sinneth not NEITHER CAN SIN cannot fall away from his Faith 1. If by the deniall of a Power to sin in this Proposition which that clause neither can sin importeth be meant nothing else but an unmeetnesse or uncomlinesse for a Man to Sin it is a cleer case that He that cannot sin may notwithstanding such a want of Power to sin very possibly fall away from his Faith For thousands may doe yea and doe things very unmeet and uncomely to be done by them 2. If by a deniall of the said Power in the Proposition be meant a present indisposition or incapacity in a Man to Sin by reason of the contrary disposition of holinesse prevailing in Him in this sence also He that cannot Sin may very possibly fall away from His Faith For He in whom a disposition of holinesse is predominant at present may very possibly by degrees and through a frequency and custome of contrary actions if not by an impetuous and suddaine turne also of Heart within Him devest Himself of that honourable habit and put on the vile garments of Loosenesse and Prophanesse in the stead 3. If by cannot Sin the Argument meaneth can hardly Sin or cannot Sin without difficulty which was the third signification of the word cannot neither will this sence give any colour of truth to the said Proposition For He that can hardly Sin or not Sin without difficulty may yet possibly Sin and consequently such an inability to Sin notwithstanding fall away from his Faith 4. If by cannot Sin the Argument imports only a present incapacity of sinning in the Person not excluding a remote capacity in Him hereunto and such as may in time by means suteable be reduced into act evident it is that the Person this inability to Sin notwithstanding may possibly fall away from his Faith Againe 2. according to all these Significations and Importances of the §. 30. clause cannot Sin in the said Syllogisme the other Proposition also is false which saith that whosoever is borne of God sinneth not neither CAN SIN For 1. He that is borne of God may very possibly doe that which is uncomely and unmeet for Him to doe 2. May be able to doe that by the superveening or contracting of another habit upon Him which by reason of a contrary habit prevailing upon Him for a time He cannot doe 3. He may possibly doe that which only is hard or difficult for Him to doe 4. And lastly He may have a remote capacity in Him of doing that in the future and in time and consequently may doe it which at present He is under an inability to doe Therefore it is a cleare case that there are four severall Significations of the Word cannot and these frequent in Scripture wherein both the Propositions in the argument now under canvass is false If the said argument understands the Phrase cannot Sin according to the §. 31. fifth and last import mentioned of the Word cannot wherein it sounds an utter and absolute incapacity or impossibility though in this sence the major Proposition be granted viz. that he that doth not Sin nor can Sin cannot fall away from his Faith yet the minor is tardy which saith as we lately heard whosoever is borne of God Sinneth not neither can Sin For He that is borne of God is in no such incapacity of Sinning of Sinning I mean in the sence formerly asserted to the Scripture in hand which amounts to an absolute impossibility for Him so to Sin But because this seems to be the sence intended in the argument and the minor Proposition in this sence to be built upon the Scripture in hand let us consider whether the reason which this Scripture assignes for the said assertion Whosoever is borne of God cannot sin doth necessarily inforce such a sence thereof The tenor of the whole Verse is this Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannâ—â— sin because he is borne of God Here are two Propositions or Assertions laid down and a reason given of either of them respectively The former Proposition is this Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sin The reason hereof is for his seed remaineth in him The latter Proposition this Whosoever is borne of God cannot sin The reason hereof is because he is borne of God The sence and difference of the two Propositions according to what we have argued about the place hitherto and what we judge is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. every one that hath been borne of God stnneth not i. e. whosoever hath by the Word and Spirit of God been made partaker of the Divine Nature so as to resemble God in the frame and constitution of his Heart and Soule doth not under such a frame or change of Heart as this make a Trade or Practise of sinning or walke in any course of inordinatenesse in the World yea saith He in the latter Proposition every such Person doth not only or simply refraine sinning in such a sence but He cannot sin i. e. He hath a strong and potent disposition in him which carrieth Him another way or He hath a strong antipathy or aversenesse of Heart and Soule against all sin especially against all such kinde of sinning Now the reason saith the Apostle why such a Person committeth not Sin in the sence explained is because his seed the seed of God by or of
cited in the Margent b Mat. 3. 10. 5 19 Maâ— 26. 16. 1 Coâ— 6. 9. 10. â—oh 3. 36 c. See also 51. Sect. of this Chapter yet from other passages of Scripture it is fully evident that this Decree of His is conditionall in such a sence which imports a non-execution of the punishment herein Decreed upon the Repentance of the persons against whom the Decree is bent In like manner though the purpose and Decree of God for the justification of those who are called and so for the glorifying of those that shall be justified be in the Scripture in hand delivered in an absolute and un-conditioned forme of words yet is it no wayes necessary to suppose the most familiar frequent and accustomed expression of Scripture in such cases exempting us from any such necessity that therefore these Decrees must needs bring forth against all possible interveniencies whatsoever so that for example he that is called by the word and spirit of God must needs be justified whether he truly believeth or no and he that is justified must needs be glorified whether he persevereth or no. If it be objected and said yea but he that is called in the sence here §. 44. meant must needs believe and consequently be justified and so he that is justified must needs persevere and so be glorified I answer that whether either the one or the other of these assertion be so or no it must be judged of by other Scriptures certaine it is by what hath been argued concerning the frequent usage of the Scripture in point of expression that it cannot be concluded or determined by the Scripture in hand If it be yet further objected concerning all the places mentioned wherein the conditionall Decrees of God commonly so called are positively and without condition expressed that the conditions respectively included in them and leâ—t to be understood in such expressions are plainly enough mentioned in Scripture else-where whereas no such conditions as I would obtrude upon the Decrees of God so positively and peremptorily expressed as we have heard in the Scripture in hand can be proved from any other Scripture to relate or appertaine unto them to this also I answer 1. That by the tenor of this objection it is granted that the peremptoriness and absoluteness of the said Decrees cannot be inferred from the Scripture now under debate but that recourse must be had to other places for the proof hereof Therefore no perseverance of Saints concludable from this Scripture 2. For other Scriptures we have already in part and shall God so pleasing further shew in due time that none of those which are counted Pillars of such a Doctrine have any communion at all with it Nay 3. And lastly we shall I doubt not be able to shew that there are other Scriptures from which the conditions specified as relating to the said Decrees may be undeniably evinced to relate unto them accordingly In the meane time that the Decrees or purposed acts of God expressed in the Scripture in hand as viz. his justifying those that are called and so his glorisâ—ing those that are justified have no such peremptory or essentiall connexion between them but that the former in reference to particular persons may be put in execution and take place without the latter I demonstrate 2. By this reason If the Apostle should frame this series or chaine of Divine Acts with an intent to shew or teach the uninterruptiblenesse of it in what case or cases soever he should fight against his generall and maine scope or designe in that part of this Chapter which lieth from about Verse 17. to the end which cleerly is this to exhort strengthen and incourage them to constancy and Perseverance in suffering afflictions For to suggest any such thing unto them as that being called and justified nothing could possibly interpose to hinder them from being glorified was to furnish them with a plaine motive or ground on which to neglect his exhortation in that kinde For who will be perswaded to suffer tribulation or things grievous to be indured for the obtaining of that which they have sufficient assurance given that they shall obtaine whether they suffer such things or no Therefore certainly the Apostle did not intend here to teach or imply the certainty of Perseverance in those which are once justified unto Salvation against all carriages and miscarriages of these Persons whatsoever 3. And lastly I demonstrate the same thing yet further by this consideration If God should justifie all without exception whom He calleth and that against all bars of wickedness and unbelief possible to be laid in His way by those who are called then might ungodly and unbelieving Persons inherit the Kingdome of God and of Christ But the Scripture speaks aloud the impossibility or how-ever the non-futurity hereof Ergo. The reason of the connexion in the Major Proâ—osition is evident it being a known truth that Personâ— justified are in a condition or present capacity of inheriting the Kingdome of God If it be objected that the said Connexion is tardy in this that it supposeth §. 45. that which ought not to be supposed viz. that persons called by God in the sence of the word calling here meant may lay such barrs of wickednesse or unbelief in the way which shall hinder God from justifying them I answer Judas Demas Simon Magus and others were called and yet they laid such barrs as we speak of in the way and by which their Justification at least their finall justification was obstructed and prevented If it be replied but these were not called by God in the sence of the Apostles called in the place under question I answer 1. It hath not yet been proved by any Man nor I believe ever will be that the calling here spoken of imports any such act or work of God whereby the called are irresistibly necessitated savingly to believe a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chryâ—ost in locum If it imports no such thing as this what hinders but that the persons mentioned might have been called with or by that very kinde of calling which is here spoken of 2. Suppose it should be granted that the calling here spoken of is that kinde of calling which is alwayes accompanied with a saving answer of Faith yet neither doth this prove but that even such called ones may obstruct and prevent by wickednesse and unbelief their finall justification and consequently their glorification If so then the chaine of Divine Acts or Decrees here framed by the Apostle is not indissolveable in any such sence which imports an infallible and universall exertion or execution of the latter wheresoever the former hath taken place That Judas was called with such a calling as this is Chrysostomes collection from Mat. 19. 28. from whom Peter Martyr knows not well how to dissent in the point b Vid. Pet. Martyr Loc. Class 3. cap. 13. Sect. 4. and how probable at least it is that
unto true Beleevers but unto the body and generality of that People or Nation which we mentioned The particulars are these For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee a Isai 54. 10 So again As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever b Isai 59. 21 And again And I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercy I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness c Hos 2. 20 21 c. For the first of these Places evident it is that there is nothing asserted §. 3. or promised by God therein but onely his faithfulness in his Promises and the sure and certain performance of his Covenant But that the tenor or substance of this Covenant should be that they who once truly beleeve should be by him infallibly and by a strong hand against all interposals of sin wickedness backsliding rebellion whatsoever preserved i◠such a Faith is not so much as by any word syllable iota or tittle here intimated Yea that it is contrary to the nature of a Covenant to impose Articles and Conditions upon one Party onely and to leave the other free was lately shewed a Cap. 10. Sect. 54. And particularly that God required terms of those with whom he made or was about to make the Covenant here spoken of is evident from Vers 3. of the following Chapter Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your Soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David The plain meaning whereof clearly is that upon condition of their obedience and faithfulness unto him he would engage himself to be a God and glorious Benefactor unto them for ever and that the breach should never be on his side Concerning the second Place As for me this is my Covenant with them c. §. 4. 1. It may as well be conceived to hold forth a charge or injunction of obedience unto the People as a Promise from God of any thing And Mr Calvin himself upon the Place acknowledgeth that some translate the words in the Imperative Mood Let not my words depart and granteth withall that the Future tense will bear an Imperative construction According to this sence the meaning of those words this is my Covenant with them is this That Covenant of Perpetual Grace and Mercy which I make with them requireth this of them in order to the performance of it on my Part that they quench not my Spirit which I shall put into them nor forsake my Word that I shall teach them Or 2. If we look upon the Passage as Promissory there is little reason to judg it as promising the gift or Grace of Perseverance unto true Beleevers whatever their deportment shall be For as for Conditional Promises unto Beleevers of Perseverance in Faith unto the end as viz. upon their Christian and good behavior diligence c. I question not but that the Scripture abounds with them And that the Promise contained in this Verse if there be any such thing in it be it a Promise of Perseverance in Faith or of whatever besides is none other I mean then Conditional cannot reasonably be gain-say'd or the contrary proved Nay 3. Those words in the beginning of the Verse As for me which Junius translates De me autem i. e. but as much as concerns me seem to import the Promise ensuing to be Conditional and that God is ready willing and resolved for his Part to deal worthily and bountifully with them even according to all that which followeth always provided that they the other Party keep Covenant with him and do what he requires of them But 4. Be it granted that the words in debate are Promissive and that whether §. 5. with Condition or without Condition yet nothing can be more clear then this that they are or were directed and spoken not as was said concerning the former Passage to Saints or true Beleevers onely but to the whole Posterity of Jacob or Nation of the Jews The Apostle Paul questionless understood them thus directed and meant as appears Rom. 11. 26. where he applies the Promise contained in the words immediately preceding with a little expository variation of them after the New-Testament manner to this whole Nation And so saith he all Israel shall be saved as it is written there shall come out of Zion a Deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my Covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins Meaning that when the time cometh that upon the Repentance of this Nation he shall pardon that great and grievous Apostacy and Rebellion under the guilt whereof they have layn for many generations he will give Salvation unto them all i. e. freedom from all their present miseries and calamities by the Hand of a great Redeemer or Deliverer who shall come out of Sion i. e. whose descent shall be of themselves or who shall come out of Sion i. e. out of Heaven typified by Mount Sion and which may be called Sion mystical and he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob Ungodliness i. e. in that dialect so frequent in Scripture wherein sin is put for the punishment of sin as Righteousness also for the reward of Righteousness the punishment of that signal Ungodliness from the house of Jacob the Jews for which they have suffered the Heavy Displeasure of God so long Or thus He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob i. e. partly by means of that wonderful Deliverance which he shall bring unto them partly by other gracious Administrations of his towards and amongst them he shall preserve them or turn them away for to turn away ungodliness from Jacob is I suppose by an Hypallage put for turning away Jacob from ungodliness from the Ungodliness of that unthankfulness and backsliding whereunto they and their Forefathers have been so extreamly subject from the beginning Now then the Verse and words immediately preceding being Promissory and that to the whole Nation it is no ways like but that the Verse and words following being Promissory also and every ways as appropriable and appliable to the whole Nation as they should be every whit as comprehensive or extensive in respect of their object as they Nor are there wanting amongst our best Reformed Expositors who thus understand them let Musculus be consulted upon the place 5. Whether the said Promise be conceived to respect either the whole Nation §. 6.
of the Iews or onely true Beleevers amongst them it no ways so much as sembles a Promise of final Perseverance unto either Evident it is that this Promise exhibiteth and holdeth forth some new grace or favour like unto which God had not vouchsafed any formerly either unto the persons to whom the said Promise is now made or to any other The very Character and Tenor of â—â—e Promise importeth this clearly Let it be compared either with any for 〈…〉 Promise in the Scripture one or more or with any Dispensation of God towards any person or people and there will be found no comportment between them Now for the grace or favour of final Perseverance it is nothing at least in the Opinion of our Adversaries but what is common to all true Beleevers and what God hath conferred upon one and other of this generation of men from the beginning of the world 6. And lastly It is very unproper and doth not look like one of the wise Dispensations of God to make a serious and solemn Promise unto men of that which they might and ought to expect of course yea and which they might with as much comfort and security have promised unto themselves as he For according to those Principles which we now oppose every true Beleever may and ought to expect the grace of final Perseverance from God as matter of course and of common and unalterable Dispensation yea and shall sin if he doth it not If you ask but if the Promise now in discourse be not a Promise of final §. 7. Perseverance what is the matter or substance of it or what doth God promise in it Let Musculus a Learned and Orthodox Expositor answer you God saith he in this Promise speaks of the Spirit and Word of the New Testament both which he did put upon or into his people meaning the Iews in the beginning of the Dispensation of the Gospel nor hath he taken them away hitherto however blindness may seem to have wholy possessed Israel For there are some of this Nation that are continually converted unto Christ in whom the continuation of the Spirit and Word of God may or will take place until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved a Loquitur omnino de Spiritu Verbo novi Testamenti Posuit utruÌ„que super populum suum initio Dispensationis Evangelii nec ademit hactenus quantumvis caecitas Israelem prorsùs occupasse videatur Etenim perpetuò sunt qui ex eo populo ad Christum accedant spiritûs hujus ac verbi continuationem eò usque producant donec tandem in fine ingressâ plenitudine Gentium omnis Israel salvus fiat Muscul in Isai 59. 21. So that he placeth the substance of the Promise in this that the Nation of the Iews shall never from the days of Christ in the Flesh be wholly altogether or in all the members of it destitute of the Spirit and Word of Christ. This Exposition supposeth nothing in the Promise for the business of final Perseverance Notwithstanding I conceive that God here rather promiseth this viz. that He will advance the Dispensations of His Grace and Goodness towards and amongst this people to such an excellency and height that if they prove not extreamly unworthy and neglective above measure of their own Happiness they shall have of the Spirit and Word of God abundantly amongst them and consequently abundance of Peace and Happiness for ever The Promise thus understood began to operate and work and was performed in part in and upon their Deliverance from that seventy years captivity wrought yet more effectually at the coming of the Messiah unto them in the Flesh but the full and signal accomplishment of it remaineth yet behinde and shall take place when the Redeemer shall come out of Sion unto them and their Messiah visit them the second time For the third and last of the three places mentioned And I will betroth §. 8. thee unto me for ever c. it is much of the same consideration with the former nor hath any whit more in it to support the common Doctrine of Perseverance then they For 1. the Promise of the betrothing here specified is made unto the intire Body and Nation of the Jews as well Unbeleevers as Beleevers as appears by the carriage of the Chapter throughout 2. It is Conditional and the performance of it I mean of the betrothing mentioned in it suspended upon the Repentance of this People especially of their Idolatry and return to the true and pure Worship of God as appears Vers 14 16 17 c. which plainly sheweth that it was made as well nay rather to those that were wicked and Idolatrous amongst this People then unto others as being administred and held forth unto them chiefly for this end to wooe them away from their Idols unto God 3. Nor can it be proved that this Promise so properly or directly intends the collation of spiritual or heavenly good things unto them as temporal Yea the scituation of it between temporal Promises immediately both behinde it and before it perswades the contrary Read the Context from Vers 18. to the end of the Chapter Therefore 4. and lastly the true intent and purpose of this place and Promise And I will betroth thee c. is as if he should have said When I shall by my Word and Spirit and other gracious Administrations wherein I shall appear to this People so far prevail with them and overcome them as to cause them to cast away their Idols and turn with their whole heart unto me I will express my self so with so much love and affection unto them that they shall not lightly neither they nor their children after them go a-whoring from me any more but remain united unto me in a mutual chaste conjugal affection for ever I will betroth them unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercy q. d. I will engage and attempt to insure both them and their affections unto me by all variety of ways and means that are proper and likely to bring such a thing to pass as 1. By shewing my self just and righteous unto them in keeping my Promise concerning their Deliverance out of Captivity at the end of seventy years I will not fail them herein no not to a day or hour 2. By punishing and judging their Enemies and destroying those that led them captive and held them in bondage and subjection 3. By heaping the fruits of my love and kindness upon them otherwise as in giving them peace plenty health honour c. in abundance 4. And lastly by dealing mercifully with them in pardoning their sins and infirmities which they will commit dayly against me I will not be extream to mark what they shall do amiss whilest their hearts shall remain perfect with me I will even betroth them unto me in faithfulness i. e. By these and all
a Temptation from it Another place insisted upon upon the last mentioned account presenteth §. 20. it self in these words And the very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God that your whole Spirit and Soule and Body be preserved blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Jesus Christ * 1 Thess 5. 23 I answer 1. These words suppose no Promise much lesse any absolute Promise made by God to preserve their Spirit Soule or Body blamelesse but only containe a Prayer or holy desire conceived by the Apostle for such a gracious vouchsafement from God unto them Which rather proveth that such a preservation might possibly have been withheld or denyed by God unto them then the contrary For those things are more likely to be sought by Prayer which may possibly not be granted or obtained otherwise then such which might with the greatest confidence be expected upon another account and without such Prayer And besides what Efficacy or Prevalency with God can be ascribed unto such a Prayer which seeketh such things at His hand to the exhibition whereof He stands absolutely ingaged by Promise Purpose or the like and which should have been exhibited and given by Him whether such Prayer had been made unto Him or no 2. The same thing in effect which the Apostle here prayeth that God would do for the Thessalonians in other places he exhorteth men themselves to do which plainly sheweth that the intent and purport of the Apostles Prayer in this place was not that he would by a peremptory and irresistible hand preserve them blameless c. which is His manner of acting in the Performance of all His absolute Promises but that he would afford unto them such gracious excitements quickenings and enlargements of Heart and spirit by His Spirit whereby they might be effectually provoked and engaged to put forth themselves to do what was requisite on their parts for and towards such an actual preserving of themselves which notwithstanding he clearly supposeth in the Passages immediately subjoyned that they very possibly might not do even under such excitements and enlargements I give thee charge saith this Apostle to Timothy in the sight of God who quickeneth all things and before Jesus Christ That thou keep this Commandment without spot unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ b 1 Tim 6. 13 14 So also Peter to his Proselytes Wherefore beloved seeing that ye look for such things BE DILIGENT that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless c 2 Pet. 3. 14 wherein that very possibly they might miscarry appears yet further from these words not long after Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steâ—fastness a 2 Pet. 3. 17 3. If it shall be supposed that the Apostle in the Passage in hand any ways supposeth a certainty or necessity in respect of any absolute Promise or Decree that God would actually â—nd with success preserve them blameless c. he should clearly destroy or at least much shake and weaken what he had built up in all his preceding Exhortations and Admonitions the joynt tendency of them all being this to preserve them blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ For to inform or insinuate unto such men whom we have most seriously admonished and exhorted to be studious and careful of doing such and such things that so they may be blameless unto the coming of Christ that they shall certainly and without any possibility of miscarrying be preserved by God blameless hereunto is nothing else being truly interpreted but to tempt them to neglect all our Admonitions and Exhortations in that behalf 4. Nor do the words following Faithful is he that calleth you who also §. 22. will do it b 1 Thes 5. 24 imply any such thing but onely this that God was and would be careful and tender over them in preserving them blameless c. so far as His Interest lieth or is any ways meet for Him to interpose act or assist in or towards such their preservation This sence we have formerly asserted unto like passages and expressions in this Chapter c Sect. 17 18 19 c. See also Cap. 10 Sect. 20. To heal the offence of such explications or limitations as these as far as His Interest lieth as far as is proper or appertaineth unto him to do with the like when the doing or performance of such things is attributed unto God wherein men also are to joyn and act with Him I shall here add 1. That such explications or limitations as these in the said cases and others of like consideration are frequently used both by the Ancient Fathers and by our late Divines also even such as are supposed our greatest Adversaries in the present Controversies Therefore saith Austin speaking of Christs coming to save the world AS MVCH AS LIETH IN THE PHYSICIAN he came to save or heal the sick He slayeth himself who will not observe the Precepts of the Physician d Ergo quantum in Medico est sanare venit aegrotum Ipsese interimit qui praecepta Medici observare non vult Aug. in Johan Tract 12. So Chrysostom For what saith he if all men do not beleeve yet HE HATH DONE HIS PART or fully performed that which was proper for him to do a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Heb. Serm. 4. And elsewhere For although Christ was not like to win or gain all men yet did he dye for all men So FVLFILLING THAT WHICH WAS PROPER FOR HIM or which appertained to Him b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Rom. Serm. 26. Yea AS MVCH AS IN THEM LIETH saith Calvin speaking of wicked Apostates they profane and abrogate the inviolable Covenant of God ratified by the blood of Christ c Imò quantum in se est inviolabile Dei foedus ac sancitum Christi sanguine profanant abrogant Calv. in 2 Pet. 2. 20. Piscator also in a like case useth the same explication Thy weak Brother shall perish viz. saith he AS TO THEE or as much as in thee lieth d Peribit nempe per te quidem seu quantum per te stat Piscat in 1 Cor. 8. 11. Our English Divines make use of the same explicatory expression in their Annotations upon the same place 2. Upon the same account I add this further that there is very good reason §. 23. for such Attributions as we now speak of whether unto God or men or any other efficient cause I mean why such effects should be ascribed unto them towards the production whereof they contribute any considerable degree of efficiency whether the said effects be ever actually produced or no viz. because they do as much and altogether the same in such a case of a non-production of the effect as they should do in a case of
there are who being loth to see the cause of their long-magnified §. 10. Doctrine of Perseverance dying by the Hand of the Scripture yet before us and despairing of help for it by any or by all the fore-mentioned applications have thought it not amiss in a case of such imminent and extream danger to try conclusions by administring this Antidote unto it When God threatens say they the righteous man apostatizing that for the iniquity which He committeth He shall dye He speaks neither of the first Death properly so called nor yet of the second Death but of Afflictions Judgments and Calamities oft signified in Scripture by the word Death as Prosperity is by the word Life which God often brings upon truly good and righteouâ— men when they greatly provoke Him by their sins To this I answer 1. That this mist hath been already scattered and dispel'd by the strength of that light which shineth in Sect. 3. of this Chapter by which it clearly appeareth that by the Death threatened by God against a righteous man backsliding and persevering in His backslidings unto death which we there shew to be the case put by God in the Scripture in hand is meant Eternal Death Therefore not any temporal Judgments or Afflictions at least noâ— onely or principally these Yet here we add 2. That it ill becomâ— an Interpreter of Scripture to recede from the plain proper and best known signification of words save onely when necessitated by the exigency either of the Context and scope of the Place in hand or else of the nature and condition of the matter as viz. when the sence which the common signification of the word raiseth and exhibiteth is inconsistent either with the course of the Scriptures or with Principles of Reason Neither of which can be reasonably pretended in this Place 3. The express Tenor of the Context it self riseth up like an armed man against this Interpretation For the execution or infliction of that Death which is here threatened against the righteous man that shall apostatize is not threatened but upon his dying under His Apostacy in which case there is no opportunity for God to inflict any temporal Judgments upon men When a righteous man turneth away from His Righteousness and committeth iniquity and DYETH IN THEM for His iniquity that He hath done shall He dye a Ezek 18 26 4. When God threateneth at any time such and such sins or such and such sinners in one kinde or other with Death it is of very dangerous consequence and tending to allay and break the energy and Power and consequently to hinder the operation of such Threatenings upon the Consciences of men for any Man to put a qualified or mitigating sence upon the word death especially not being authorized by God Himself so to do 5. And lastly the Authors themselves of this Interpretation seeme to be half heartlesse and hopelesse of doing any great matters for their cause by it and in their Explication of themselves about it they distinguish themselves quite besides that which should relieve them The word Death they say in the Prophet doth not IN THE FIRST SENCE of it signifie eternall Death as neither doth the word life in the opposite part of the sentence signifie eternall life But what though the word Death doth not in the controverted Passage signifie eternall Death in the first sence or signification of it yet if it signifieth it in the second third or fourth sence or if it signifieth it at all it is of one and the same consideration for the eviction of what is claimed by us from the place which is that a Man truly righteous may so degenerate and Apostatize that God will inflict eternall Death upon Him I omit to demand of these Interpreters by what Authority or Confidence of genius they undertake thus particularly to range and marshall the severall sences which they say God intended in such and such words giving the Preheminence to such or such a sence and saying to another stand back or come behinde If we had meere ignorance or nescience of the Truth to encounter or satisfie §. 11. though in conjunction with the greatest parts of judgement and understanding on the one hand and with the greatest warinesse and scrupulousnesse of circumspection on the other hand the traversing of the Scripture already insisted upon were sufficient I conceive without any further labour of arguing to gaine credit and fullnesse of consent to that Truth which is now upon the advance But Prejudice and Paâ—tiality are hydropicall and hardly satisfiable and these are our chiefe adversaries in the businesse in hand Therefore to reconcile if Possible the diaffections of these with the truth we shall shew them more visions from Heaven of the same light and truth with the former And first upon this account we shall remember them of a Passage formerly argued and gather up at present onely so much of the substance of the Discussion and that with what brevity may be as we judge serviceable for our present Purpose referring the Reader to a review if he please of the largeâ— examination The tenor of the place is this Then His Lord after He had called Him said unto Him O thou wicked servant I forgave thee all the debt because thou desiredst Me shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee And his Lord was wroth and delivered Him to the Tormentors till He should pay all that was due to Him So likewise shall My Heavenly Father doe also unto you if yee from your Hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses a Mat. 18. 32 33 c. Evident it is from our Saviours reddition or application of the Parable So likewise shall my Heavenly Father doe also unto you if c. speaking unto His Disciples Ver. 1. and to Peter more particularly Ver. 21. that Persons truly regenerate and justified before God for such were they to whom in speciall manner he addresseth the Parable and the application of it and indeed the whole carriage of the Parable sheweth that it was calculated and formed onely for such may through high misdemeanors in Sinning as for example by unmercifulnesse cruelty oppression c. turne themselves out of the justifying grace and favour of God quench the spirit of Regeneration and come to have their portions with Hypocrites and Unbelievers If Men will make any thing at all of the Parable in a clear and direct way without troubling or obscuring without wresting or straining the carriage scope and pregnant tendency of it such an inference cannot be avoided Further satisfaction herein may be had for the Price only of so much Paines as the Perusall of the 54. and 59. Sections of the 8. Chapter of this Discourse will require Nor doth the reversall of such acts of grace in God as we speak of argue §. 12. the least mutability or shadow of change in Him either in
Apoc. p. 172. also expounded in the words immiediately following But we are not of those who draw back to perdition but c. From hence then evident it is that such a Man who is a just or righteous Man and under Promise of living for ever by his Faith and therefore also a true and sound Believer may draw back or be withdrawn to the contracting of the hatred of God and to destruction in the end The forlorne hope of evading because the sentence is Hypotheticall or conditionall not positive hath been routed over and over yea and is abandoned by some of the great masters themselves of that cause unto the defence whereof it pretendeth And however in this place it would be most preposterous For if it should be supposed that the just Man who is in a way and under a Promise of living by his Faith were in no danger or possibility of drawing back and that to the losse of the favour of God and ruine of His Soul God must be conceived to speak here at no better rate of wisdome or understanding then thus The just shall live by his Faith but if he shall doe that which is simply and utterly impossible for him to doe my Soule shall have no pleasure in him What savor of wisdome yea or of common sence is there in admonishing or cautioning Men against such evills which there is no possibility for them to fall into yea and this known unto themselves Therefore this testimony for confirmation of the Doctrine we maintaine is like a King upon his Throne against whom there is no rising up The same Doctrine is cleerly taught and asserted by our Saviour Himself §. 32. in the Parable of the Sower But He saith He that received the seed into stony places the same is He that heareth the Word and anon with joy receiveth it Yet hath he not root in Himself but dureth for a while for when Tribulation or Persecution ariseth because of the Word by and by He is offended a Mat. 13. 20 21. The words are part of the Explication or Application of the said Parable wherein our Saviour plainly declareth that the Persons typified by the severall grounds specified therein were severall kinds of hearers of the Gospell some whereof should or would heare upon such terms that their hearing would turne to the blessed account of saving their Soules these saith he were signified by the good ground spoken of in the Parable Others of them would heare without reaping any such benefit thereby and this partly by not setting their minds at all upon what they should heare who were resembled to the high way partly by a neglect to ground and establish themselves throughly in the truth and goodnesse of the Gospell after their hearing and imbracing of it these saith he were shadowed by the stony ground partly also by suffering the cares and lusts of the World to overgrow â—â—e sproutings or puttings forth of the Gospell in their Hearts and Souls by means whereof they came after 〈…〉 to wither and die quite away and these saith He were pointed at by the Thorny ground Now those signified by the stony ground He expresly calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Persons who continue for a time or a season i. e. as Luke explaineth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who BELIEVE for a season b Luk 8. 13. So that those who onely for a time Believe and afterward make defection from Christ and from the Gospell are neverthelesse numbred and ranked by him amongst Believers The words in Luke are very particular They on the Rock are they which when they heare receive the word with joy and these have no root which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away From whence it appeares that the hearers here described are not compared to the Rock or Stony ground for the hardnesse of their hearts in as much as they are said to receive the word with joy which argues an ingenuity and teachablenesse of spirit in them and is elsewhere viz. Acts 2. 41. taken knowledge of by the holy Ghost as an Index or Signe of a true Believer but for such a Property Disposition or Temper as this viz. not to give or afford the word so received a radication in their hearts and souls so intimous serious and solid which should be sufficient to maintaine their belief of it and good affections to it against all such occurrences in the World which may oppose or attempt either the one or the other For this is the nature or condition of a Stony or Rocky soyle which hath but a thin coate or covering of Mould or Earth upon it viz. to exhibit a speedy and sudden Spring or Blade from the seed that is sown in it but not to afford this Blade or seed any such rooting which is sufficient to preserve it from scortching when the Sun beats violently and for any considerable space of time together with his fiery Beames upon it But as the Blade which springs from one and the same kinde of seed as suppose from Wheat or any other graine though sown in different yea or contrary soyles is yet of the same Species or kinde the nature of the soyle not changing the specificall nature of the seed that is sown in it and God giving to every seed it s own body of what temper soever the ground is where it is sown in like manner that Faith which springs from the same seed of the Gospell must needs be of one and the same nature and kinde though this seed be sown in Hearts of never so differing a constitution and frame the temper of the Heart be it what it will be not being able specifically to alter either the Gospell or the naturall fruit issuing from it And as a blade or eare of Wheat though it be blasted before the Harvest is not hereby proved not to have been a true blade or eare of wheat before it was blasted in like manner the withering or decay of any Mans faith by what means or occasion soever before his death doth not prove it to have been a false counterfeit or Hypocriticall faith or a faith of any other kinde then that which is true reall and permanent unto the end Therefore the possibility of a finall defection in those who for a time truly believe believe with the same kinde of Faith whereby others persevering in it to the end are saved is cleerly asserted by the Lord Christ Himself in the said Parable yea there is not onely a possibility in this kinde asserted by Him but a futurity also of many instances wherein this possibility would be acted upon the great stage of the World Against the interpretation given and the inference drawn from the words §. 33. lately opened it is commonly objected that our Saviour in the second ground and so in the third doth not set forth the condition of true Believers or speak of true justifying Faith but of temporary
postulanti ut gratissimè illi possit inservire in eo spiritu quem accepit in nullo vincatur à malitiâ aut fallatur per ignorantiam temeritateÌ„ ac ignaviam aversa peragens omnia praeter decorum divinae voluntatis Talem enim animam manet supplicium mors luctus quod Divinus etiam Apostolus dixit ne cum aliis praedicaverim ipse reprobus efficiar Vides cum Dei Apostolus esset quo pacto timebat Ejus enim est homo naturae ut etiamsi in profundum vitiorum lapsus sit ac peccato deserviat ad id quod bonum est converti possit Et contrà Spiritui Sancto devinctus rerum coelestium ebrietate correptus ad id quod malum est converti potest Ibid. No man considering these things can lightly imagine but that this devout and learned Father who carrieth Blessedness in his name held dogmatically and upon mature consultation had with the best of His understanding in the Mystery of Christ a Possibility that even the best and highest-raised Saints may through sloth and negligence lose this standing fall away and perish Basil sirnamed the Great who lived much about the same time with the last-mentioned §. 13. Author assigning the differences between the condition of the Saints in this present world and that which is to come asserteth this for one That in this life the danger of falling is great upon which account Paul said Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall but there meaning in the future estate of glory their steps are firm or fixed life is unchangeable there is no more danger of being carried away unto sin For neither is here any rebellion or insurrection of the flesh c. Not long after Therefore we men dye often before the body cometh by death to be unyoked or loosed from the Soul So that the life of men is made or naturally apt to be accomplished or fulfilled not only with a change in respect of one age succeeding another but with falls or ruines of their Souls through sin a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil in Psal 114. non longè à fine Paulo post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same Father in another place speaks yet more plainly to the business in hand Many saith he who had gathered much together from their youth when they come to the middle of their years Temptations from evil spirits rising up against them and assaulting them have not been able to bear the stress or burthen of the Winter for want of a good Pilot-ship and so HAVE LOST ALL. And hence it cometh to pass that SOME HAVE MADE SHIPVVRACK OF FAITH others by means of a violent tempest as it were of pleasure rushing upon them have utterly lost that Chastity which they had preserved together from their youth A most sad spectacle for a man after fasting after austereness of living after much praying after much weeping after a continent life it may be for twenty or thirty years together through negligence and carelessness of Soul to be found naked or destitute of all and that such a person who hath greatly prâ—spered and thriven by the trade or work of the Commandments of God should become like unto a Merchant of a great Estate who whilest His ship sailed on Her course with a fair and prosperous wind judged Himself a brave man for the abundance of Goods in Her but having passed through Tempestuous Seas His Vessel comes to be wracked in the very Haven and He pointed at or shewed by men as one that on the sudden and at once hath lost all that abundance which He lately had b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IdeÌ„ HoÌ„ 12. in Princip Proverb propè sineÌ„ The same Father in another of His Sermons expresseth His sence in the matter yet before us in words of this import But Sin is the Destroyer of that Grace which is given us by the Laver of Regeneration And soon after allegorizing our Saviours Parabolical History of the man who going from Jerusalem towards Jericho fell among Theeves thus But now stripes go before stripping or taking off his rayment that thou mayst learn and know that Sin goeth before the laying aside or loss of that Grace or gracious benefit which is given unto thee by that Love or kindness which the Lord beareth unto men c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et paulò post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem Hom. 21. circa finem Once more in another Homily this Great Doctor of the Christian Church in his days owneth the Doctrine we now contend for in words to this purpose Thou seest them speaking of the Galatians having the Spirit thou hast also heard Ye are abolished from Christ and again Ye are fallen from Grace What doth He subjoyn after all this making room or granting place for their renewing My little children of whom I travel in birth again He had once begotten them before but He that had once begotten them refuseth not to beget them the second time unto Salvation d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem Hom. 28. De Poenitentia propè finem All the Authors hitherto consulted about the sence of Antiquity and of §. 14. the Primitive Christians concerning the possibility or non-possibility of the Saints relapsing unto death had served their generations respectively and were gone off the Stage of Mortality before Pelagius was entered to act His part hereon or at least had not much to do with Him We now come to enquire what their judgment and sence in the same Points were who either synchroniz'd with Pelagius and skirmished Him or else took their turns of Mortality after Him Concerning the former of these that Star of the first magnitude in the Christian Firmament Augustin I mean is I suppose in every mans estimate instar omnium a man that will perform the service alone as sufficiently as if He had twenty more with Him to assist Him Questionless no man was better versed in the affairs of Christianity or that better understood what Doctrines or Opinions ruled in the Christian World or that dissented less from the common and generally-received Tenets of he Church then He. Now to how great a degree He abounded in that Faith which beleeveth a Possibility of the Saints declining and that unto death cannot lightly be unknown to those that are though but competently acquainted with His Writings I shall present the Reader with a first-fruits onely and leave the Harvest for his own gathering It is saith He much to be admired and admired again that God to some of His Children whom He hath regenerated in Christ and to whom He hath given Faith Hope and Love should NOT GIVE PERSEVERANCE when as He forgives such great sins unto strange children and by imparting His Grace unto them makes them children of His own a MiranduÌ„ est quidem multuÌ„que miranduÌ„ quòd Filiis suis deus quibusdaÌ„ quos regeneravit in Christâ— quibus
far from elogizing and calling it either the Fundamental Article of the Reformed Religion or one of the principal Heads or Points of Doctrine wherein the Protestant or Reformed Churches have purged themselves from Popish Errors or the foundation of that assurance of Salvation without which that affiance which is requisite unto true Faith cannot stand or a Doctrine which contains that Promise of God in it which all Ministers are bound seriously to inculcate into their people for their comfort the Lutherans I say are generally so far from deifying the said Doctrine with such importune and senceless acclamations unto it as these wherewith notwithstanding the superstitious ignorance and weakness of some do their devotion to it that they rather defie and abhor it as a dangerous and pernicious Error as a pillow of Satans making for the Flesh to repose Her self securely even in Her greatest licentiousness and unruliness upon as a Doctrine unworthy altogether the Purity Holiness Wisdom and unpartial Integrity of God Concerning those of the Reformed Religion who make one shoulder with §. 19. Calvin to lift up the same body or frame of Doctrine with Him though they ordinarily or at least frequently I mean the greater part of them declare themselves against the Lutheran sence in the point of Perseverance yet is this Doctrine which they so frequently oppose either of that soveraign Authority over their Judgments and Consciences other while or of that signal and indispensible necessity for the managing of several Points in Christian Religion that ever and anon they assert it and are necessitated to speak things of a perfect and clear consonancy with it I neither have leasure nor opportunity of Books to make any full Collection from their Writings of such passages which by the number of those sayings that I have observed upon this account within a very small compass of reading I presume are to be found therein but shall give a brief account unto the Reader of what I have met with of this import and observed by some occasional inspections into their Writings now and then I begin with the Standard-Bearer Himself of this Brigade Mr Calvin He commends them saith He speaking of the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in respect of those to whom he writeth that they had begun well But lest under a pretence of that GRACE which THEY HAD OBTAINED they should indulge a carnal security He tells them they have need of Perseverance For many having onely tasted lightly of the Gospel do not so much as think of any proficiency as if they were come to the highest pitch already Thus it cometh to pass that they do not onely sit down in the midst of the race yea sometimes neer to the very entrance of the race but TVRN their course QVITE ANOTHER WAY This indeed is a very specious Objection When we have gotten Christ what should we desire more But if Christ be possessed by Faith we must persist in Faith that our possession in this kinde may be perpetual Therefore Christ hath given Himself to be enjoyed by us upon these terms or by this Law that as we are admitted by Faith to a participation of Him so we should by the same Faith preserve and keep so great a good until death a Laudat quòd benè coeperint Sed ne praetexta gratiae quam consequuti sunt carnis indulgeant securitate dicit opus esse Perseverantiâ Nam plerique delibato tantum Evangelio quasi ad summâ—â— pervenerint de profectu non cogitant Ita fit vt non modò in medio stadio adeoque prope ipsos carceres defideant sed aliò vertunt cursum suum Speciosa quidem est ista Objectio Quid ultra volumus postquam adepti sumus Christum Verùm si Fide possidetur in eâ perstandum est vt nobis perpetua maneat possessio Ergo hac lege se nobis frnendum dedit Christus vt eadem quâ in ejus participationem admissi sumus Fide tantum bonum conservemus usque ad Mortem Calv. in Heb. 3. 14. The conditionality of Perseverance in the Saints yea the non-perseverance of some of them cannot lightly be asserted in terms more significant and express To tell men that they must persist in Faith to make the possession of Christ perpetual unto them and to inform them withall that God will by an irresistible hand of Power make or constrain them to persist in Faith is to tye Plummets of Lead to a mans heels to make Him run the faster The same Author elsewhere Now saith He we see who they are whom the Apostle excludes from Hope of Pardon namely APOSTATES WHO HAVE ALIENATED THEMSELVES FROM THE GOSPEL WHICH THEY ONCE EMBRACED AND FROM THE GRACE OF GOD which befalleth no man but such an one who sins against the Holy Ghost Nor indeed doth GOD DESPOYL any man OF HIS GRACE so or to such a degree as to leave Him nothing but Reprobates onely If any man asketh me why doth the Apostle here make mention of such an Apostacy when as He speaks unto Beleevers who were far from so wicked a perfidiousness I answer He timously admonisheth them of the danger that so they may take heed in time Which is well worth the taking notice of because when we turn aside out of the right way we do not only excuse our selves unto others but even delude our own selves also b Nunc videÌ„us quosnam a speveniae excludat nempe Apostatas qui se á Christi Evangelio quod prius amplexi erant á Dei gratiâ alienââ—unt quod nemini contingit nisi qui peccet in Spiritum SanctuÌ„ Nec certé Deus alios ita gratiâ suâ spoliat nisi reprobos vt illis nihil faciat residuum Si quis roget cur talis Apostasiae meÌ„tionem hîc faciat Apostolus quúm fideles compellet qui procul aberant á tam sceleratâ perfidiâ respondeo maturè ab eo indicari periculum vt sibi prâ—caveant Quod notatu operae-pretium est nam cum á rectâ vitâ deflectimus non tantum excusamus apud alios nostra vitia sed nobis quoque ipsis imponimus c. Calvin in Heb. 6. 4. The same Author writing upon Mat. 24. 13. hath these words Although the LOVE of many being surcharged with the weight of iniquities shall FAIL yet Christ admonisheth that this obstacle also must be overcome lest those that are FAITHFVL being tired out by evil Examples should START BACK therefore He repeats that saying that none shall be saved but He that shall strive lawfully so as to persevere unto the end c See the Authors words cited Cap. 13. Sect. 19. This Author in His Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Galatians is once and again led by the Spirit of Truth to bid defiance to His own Doctrine concerning the impossibility of the Saints final falling away Once in these words He convinceth them of a defection or falling away not from His
damned a Mark 16. 15 16. That believing which our Saviour here requires and unto which he promiseth Salvation is doubtless no other Faith or believing but a true and unfeigned belief of that Gospel of his which his Apostles in the words immediately preceding were injoyned to preach unto the world And if it shall be said That men might or may believe and that truly and unfeignedly all that the Apostles preach to them and yet perish that vast and signal difference which our Savior here makes between Believing and not believing vanisheth into nothing is made none at all See further upon the same account Joh. 8. 24. 11. 27. Acts 8. 37 with 38. Rom. 4. 3. 10. 9. with very many other Texts of like pregnant and unquestionable import From all which it fully appeareth that a true and unfeigned admission or Reception of the Gospel as it cometh from God and is declared by him in the Writings of the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles into the heart and Soul of a man which is done by a true and unfeigned belief of or consent unto it translates him from death to life makes him a Child of Light a Son of God an Heir of Salvation c. And what Faith or Belief can it reasonably be imagined should have this mighty and blessed influence upon the creature Man to turn him from darkness unto light from death unto life from Satan unto God but only the true and unfeigned Belief of those glorious Mysteries which were brought out of the Brest and Bosom of God by his Son Jesus Christ at his coming into the World That a true cordial unfeigned Belief of the Gospel and things of God is §. 27. true justifying Faith hath been the Sence and Doctrine of the best and most judicious Authors as well ancient as modern I could instance and prove at large if it were not somewhat too eccentrical to the business in hand It is saith Calvin the Righteousness i. e. the Justification of Faith if we believe that Christ dyed and was raised up again from the dead b Fidei Justicia est si credamus ChristuÌ„ esse mortuuÌ„ atque à mortuis excitatum Calvin in Gal. 3. 1â— Elsewhere he saith that the Apostle Paul defines those to be faithful or true Beleevers who have the KNOVVLEDG of sound Doctrine c Posteriori membro definit quos vocet Fideles nempe qui notitiam habent sana Doctrinae Idem in 1 ad Tim. 4. 3. and pronounceth the Faith of Sarah whom he calls the Mother of all Beleevers to consist in this That she judged God faithful or true and that in his Promises d Hanc enim fuisse Sarae fidem praedicat quòd veraceÌ„ judicavit Deum idque in suis promissionibus Ibid. in Heb. 11. 11. Luther speaking of Abraham saith That He was justified only upon this that he gave credence to the Word of God interpreting that of Moses Gen. 15. 6. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness as if he had said Abraham believed God to be true in his Words and Promises and was therefore counted a worthy and righteous man by God e Abrahami exempluÌ„ adducit quippe quod ille ex hoc tantaÌ„ justificatus fuerit quòd verbo Dei FideÌ„ habuerit quemadmoduÌ„ Scriptura inquit Credidit AbrahaÌ„ Deo imputatuÌ„ est ei ad justiciam Gen. 15. Ac si diceret AbrahaÌ„ Deum in suâ— verbis promissionibus veraceÌ„ credidit idcirco à Deo pro spectato et justo viro habitns fuerit Luth. Poâ—hil p. 782. And learned Chamier defines Abrahams Faith whereby he was justified Ingentem confidentiam super promissione divinâ quam ille credidit omnino implendam f Chamier Tom. 3. p. 428. i. e. a mighty confidence of the Promise of God which he believed would absolutely be fulfilled Peter Martyr most frequently and I think I might say constantly in his Writings placeth justifying Faith in a firm Belief or assent unto the Gospel or Word of God Our Faith saith he is nothing else but AN ASSENT OR FIRM PERSVVASION OF THE WORDS OF GOD. From whence it appears that our Faith proceeds from the Faith or faithfulness of God For when our experience teacheth us that He is faithful we readily believe him and that belief which we give to his words is presently attended with Hope g Nostra Fide non aliud est quaÌ„ asseâ—suâ— persuasio firma de verbis Dei Vnde liquet Fidem nostram ex Dei Fide nasci Quia cum illum Fidelem esse experiamur facile credimus Fidem quam verbis ejus adhibemus illicò spes consequitur P. Mart. in 1 Cor. 1. 9. By which last words it is evident that he speaks of true justifying Faith in the former Again Faith may be defined to be a firm and constant assent of the mind to the Words of God inspired by the Holy Ghost for the Salvation of those that believe In this Definition there is none of the four Causes wanting The Word of God is the matter or material Cause THE ACT OF CONSENTING THE FORMAL the Holy Ghost the Efficient our Salvation the Final h Fides definiri potest quod sit firmus ac constaâ—s animi assensus virbâ— Dei Spiritu Sancto affâ—atus ad salutem credentium Nullum causarum genus in hac finitione desideratur Materia est verbum Dei Forma consentiendi actio Efficiens Spiritus Dei quo suademur Finis est nostra salus Ibid. in vers 31. In which words it is observable that he expresly makes the formal Cause of Justifying Faith to consist in the act of assenting or consenting to the Word of God Yet again To believe as to our purpose is by means of the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to exhibit or give A FIRM ASSENT unto the Word of God and this for the Authority of God Himself And not long after Let us now infer that Faith is a gift or faculty inspired into us by the Spirit of God whereby we yield A FIRM AND SETLED ASSENT unto the Word of the Lord by means of his Authority i Quamobrem credere prout ad rem nostram facit est afflatu Spiritus Sancti verbo divino assensum firmum praebere idque ipsius Dei Authoritate Idem in 1 â—or 13. 2. Paulo post Jam colligamus Fidem esse donum sive facultatem nobis divino Spiritu afflatam quâ verbum Domini ejus Authoritate firmuÌ„ constantemque praebemus assensum Once more In this Dispute of justifying Faith by Faith we understand that FIRM ASSENT which is of so great strength and efficacy that it dâ—â—weth along with it the effect of Affiance Hope and Charity together with all good works as the infirmity of this present life will bear k Omnibus igitur significationibus his abjectis in hac disceptatione FideÌ„ intelligimus firmum illum assensum qui
in order to or with any tendency towards the condemnation or destruction of men but consequently to and after such gracious actings of his which were of a saving tendency and import unto them these being resisted or rejected by them This Distinction of the Intention or will of God into Antecedent and Consequent as it hath been now opened is founded upon clearness and expressness of Scripture in sundry places O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets c. how often would I have gathered thy children together even as an Hen gathereth Her Chickens under Her wings and ye would not Behold your House is left unto you desolate For I say unto you ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord p Mat. 23 37 38 c. The Lord Christ by His Prophets Word Spirit Providences and Administrations of sundry kindes first endevored and sought with much tenderness and greatness of compassion to put the Jews into an estate and condition of peace and safety as well temporal as spiritual viz. by attempting to bring them to Repentance and to an holy and humble walking with their God So that His Intention Will or Desire of their Peace and Safety were antecedent i. e. antecedently expressed or put in execution to His Intention or Will concerning their destruction which were not expressed or executed but upon and after those gracious applications of God unto them in order to their Peace and their rejection and contempt of them in those words and ye would not in which respect these may properly be termed Consequent The Scriptures abound with Passages of this kinde I mean which mention the gracious addressments of God unto men for their wealth and safety as exhibited unto them in the first place and his penal inflictions upon them afterwards and not till their abuse or neglect of the said addressments of Grace See upon this account Revel 2. 21 22. 2 Chro. 36. 15 16 17. Isai 5. 2 4 5. Ezek. 16. 6 7 8 c. compared with Vers 35 36 c. not to mention other places of like consideration without number all which are clear and pregnant for the justification of the said Distinction of the Will of God into Antecedent and Consequent according to the premised Explication The Antecedent Will or Intention of God is frequently in Authors and with good propriety termed His Primary or Principal Intention or Will the other His Secondary or less Principal That Antecedent Intention of His we speak of is in respect of the subject matter of it or things intended the exhibition of sufficient means for Salvation absolute and unsuspended upon the actings and movings of the Creature my meaning is that a sufficiency of Grace and Means for the obtaining Salvation is always and without any respect or consideration had either of the merit or demerit worthiness or unworthiness of men vouchsafed unto them all by God That which I call His Consequent Will or Intention in this kinde is in respect of the subject matter thereof or the things intended as viz. the collation of actual Salvation and so the infliction of actual Condemnation or of spiritual Judgments in order hereunto suspended upon the behavior of men so that for example this Intention or Will of His notwithstanding Salvation is never conferred upon any man but upon his beleeving and continuance in beleeving unto the end nor should be conferred upon any man in case no man should be found so to beleeve Nor is Condemnation or Destruction or any thing tending hereunto inflicted upon any man but upon his neglect or abuse of the means of Salvation exhibited unto him nor should they ever be inflicted upon any man in case no man were found neglective or abusive of the Grace of God in the Means of Salvation vouchsafed unto them So that the Consequent Intention or Will of God is of like Nature and consideration with the Politique Laws of men which either assign rewards to those that shall deserve well of the State where they live in such or such a way or decree the infliction of Punishment upon Malefactors in several kindes For as neither of these Laws suppose any absolute or posiâ—ive necessity that there will be any either so deserving as to have right of claim to the rewards promised or so wicked as to incur the Punishments ordained by the said Laws so neither do the Consequent Intentions of God suppose a determinate necessity either that there will be any who shall have right to the great Reward of Salvation intended by Him hereby unto those that shall beleeve perseveringly or any that will incur Damnation by final Impenitency and Unbelief although it is true the Scriptures otherwise suppose and declare 1. That there will be some saved by beleeving uâ—to the end 2. That there will be many condemned for their final Impenitency and Unbelief 3. And lastly That all Persons of Mankinde without exception will either beleeve unto Salvation or remain impenitent to Condemnation But as the said Politique Laws of Men are not therefore useless or impolitique because they suppose no absolute necessity either that there will be men found to deserve the Rewards proposed in the one or to incur the Penalties imposed by the other in aâ— much as the former serve to excite and strengthen men to do worthily and it 's very probable that some will accordingly be provoked to do worthily by the Rewards promised therein and the latter are useful and proper to prevent the Being of such Persons in the State who are wont to practise such Misdemeanors as are therein threatened In like manner though that Consequent Will or Intention of God we speak of supposeth no necessity either that some will beleeve to Salvation or that any will remain unbeleeving and impenitent to Condemnation yet is it through the manifestation of it unto men of singular benefit and blessing unto the World because in the former part of it by means of the great recompence of Reward Salvation promised therein it is of marvelous efficacy and force to quicken men to beleeve yea and to continue beleeving unto the end in the latter part of it by means of the dreadful Punishment threatened therein it is of like efficacy to awaken men out of the deep sleep of impenitency and Unbelief Nor do we all this while in discoursing the Antecedent and Consequent §. 10. Intention or Will of God suppose that there are two Wills or Intentions in God properly so called no nor yet so much as one much less that there are two contrary Wills in him the one unto the other but Intention and Will are as hath been already said ascribed unto God in respect of His Administrations or Efficiencies which have some kinde of likeness with those actings which proceed from men when they intend or will any thing by vertue of such their Intendments So that to say that God willeth or
He had of His Christ and that most gracious and wise contrivement of Him in order to such a Purpose which was before Him He framed and made within Himself from the days of Eternity or before the foundation of the world The Purposes or Intentions of God concerning such and such Acts or Dispensations are very usually in Scripture expressed by the Names of the Acts or Dispensations themselves as likewise the Purposes or Intentions of Men are after the same manner Thus Rom. 8. 30. Rom. 8. 30. God is said to have glorified those whom He intends or hath decreed to glorifie Thus also 2 Tim. 1. 9. and again Tit. 3. 5. He is said to have 2 Tim. 1. 9. Tit. 3. 5. saved those who were not actually saved but onely under His Purpose of saving them to omit many the like So in the Scripture in hand He is said to have chosen us before the foundation of the world because He purposed or decreed before the foundation of the World to chuse us Well but what was the Nature or Tenor of this Purpose or Decree of His concerning our Election or how and in what sence it is said to have been in Christ as the Apostle here asserts it to have been According to the most usual and proper signification of the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in in such a construction that is said to be done in Christ which is done by means of Him or for His sake or by the meritorious influence or contribution of His Death and Sufferings by way of motive towards the doing of it In this sence the Preposition is used a Verse or two after a place that will give light to the phrase in hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to Ephes 1. 6. the praise of the glory of His Grace whereby He hath made us accepted in His Beloved i. e. hath made us dear and neer and precious to Himself by means of the Death Satisfaction and Attonement made by His Beloved Son for us By the way if the Grace of God it self and that in the glory of it in which consideration the Apostle here speaks of it doth no other ways upon no other terms render us accepted with Him but onely in and through His Beloved viz. as having made our Peace by the Attonement of His Death for us then were we not so highly accepted with Him through any Purpose of Election especially if we shall conceive this Purpose of Election to have been conceived in God before and without all consideration of the Death of Christ as the common Notion of Election suggesteth So then God is said to have purposed our Election or chusing in Christ because His Purpose was to separate elect and chuse those who should beleeve in Christ for his sake in whom they beleeve to Salvation This Interpretation might be much cleared and confirmed by the opening of these words which we had not long since in hand Rom. 9. 11. That the Purpose of God according to Election Rom. 9. 11. might stand not of works but of him that calleth The Purpose of God according to Election i. e. that Purpose Counsel or Decree of God according unto which or in conformity whereunto He ordereth and manageth His Election of Persons in time is here described 1. Negatively not of works 2. Affirmatively in these words but of him that calleth When the Apostle denies the Purpose of God according to Election to be of works his meaning clearly is that God did not purpose to elect separate or chuse those men to eternal Life who should seek their Justification by the works of the Law Again when he affirmeth this Purpose of God according to Election to be of him that calleth meaning of God himself who calleth Men to Justification and Salvation his meaning as clearly is that the Tenor of Gods Purpose according unto which he means to elect and chuse Men and Women to eternal Life is this viz. to make choyce of those for this blessed end and purpose who shall beleeve in his Son Jesus Christ or seek their Justification by Faith This Purpose is said to be of Him that calleth in opposition to a Being of Works because a Purpose according to Election which should be of Works is the Purpose of them that are called viz. Men they conceive and think that God should purpose and intend to chuse those only unto life who should be diligent Observers of the Law and seek their Justification that way but now the Purpose of God according to Election is not formed or shaped according to the sence or Notion of those that are called who generally pitch upon Works but according to the sence and minde of God Himself who calleth who as we know hath declined Works for such a purpose and hath chosen Faith So that the Apostles meaning in this Antithesis not of Works but of Him that calleth is plainly this not of Works but of Faith Faith and Works being famous Antagonists or Competitors in the writings of this Apostle for Justification the one as set up by God the other by Men. The same Interpretation of the phrase who hath chosen us in Christ may be yet further strengthened by that in Peter Elect according to the Foreknowledg of 1 Pet. 1. 2. God the Father through Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ First he saluteth them as persons Elect or chosen according to the Foreknowledg or Pre-approbation as we have formerly observed the word frequently to signifie of God the Father i. e. as persons so qualified or as having obtained such an estate and condition wherein God the Father from Eternity judged it meet to Elect or chuse the persons of men unto Salvation or to estimate and account men meet or worthy eternal Life In this sence he terms them Elect according to the Foreknowledg or Fore-approbation of God meaning that their present condition in beleeving did according to the Tenor of the eternal Counsel and Purpose of God in that behalf separate between them and the generality of the world who in respect of their unbelief were looked upon by him and adjudged as the refuse of Men in comparison of them and in their present posture unmeet to have Salvation conferred upon them 2. He particularly describeth what that qualification or condition is which God foreknew or fore-approved as meet for Him to regulate His Election of the Persons of Men by and wherein now they were invested and consequently Elected in those words through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling c. His meaning is that they through the assistance and gracious co-operation of the Spirit of God were now brought to yeeld Obedience unto the Gospel to beleeve in Jesus Christ as he who by his Death had purchased Remission of sins for them c. implying that such an estate and condition as this Sanctification by the Spirit c. is