Covenant he is found to be a Godly Man through Grace to be Evangelically Godly because he is just such a Man as the Lord by the New Covenant and Evangelical Law requires him to be that he may be first justified by Christs Righteousness imputed to him that is he is found to be a Man whom God hath blessed with a new Heart and who is a true Penitent Believer and that is a Man Evangelically Godly Now there is no Contradiction at all in this for the same Man at the same time to be legally ungodly and Evangelically Godly because it is with respect to different Laws and Covenants that such contrary things are affirmed of him Let our Author if he please consult Turretine and he will find that that Learned Calvinist saith expresly Turret Instit part 2. loc 16. pag. 714. That a true Believer when he is justified by Faith in Christ is impius partim antecedenter partim respectivè ad Justificationem non autem concomitanter Ungodly partly antecedently and that is because he was altogether ungodly in former times partly with râ—spect to Justification because he hath nothing in himself that can be the matter and cause of his Justification but he is not concomitantly ungodly that is he doth not remain Ungodly when God is justifying him and till immediafely after he be justified If our Author upon this should say to us what he saith to his poor awakened Sinner That it is Non-sense Ignorance and Pride Let. p. 31.32 to maintain that a Man must be in some measure Godly in Disposition and Principle before he be Godly in Act and that he must actually believe with a Godly Faith in Order of Nature before he he justified for this is as much as to say that a Man must be pretty well recovered before he make use of the Physician c. We should reply 1. That as for his Poor awakened Sinner he makes a poor Fool of him he puts what Words he pleases in his Mouth and makes him say in effect that if he first had Faith before he first had Faith then he would first believe before he had first believed which we think no Man ever thought or said nor is capable of saying unless it be some poor Creature that is awakened out of his right Wits or else it be such an one as our Author who hath the Art of Believing or Writing Contradictions 2. That he had need to take heed that he do not blaspheme our Saviour who hath said that the Tree must be good before the Fruit can be good Matth. 7.16 17 18. and 12. v. 33. And that is as much as if he had said what we hold that there must be some Renovation of the Inward Disposition of the Heart before a Man do actually believe with a saving justifying Faith 3. That if our Author will not believe us let him believe his own beloved self for he says Pag. 16. That a Man is to believe that be may be justified And that necessarily implies that he must bring forth some good Fruit in order of Nature before he be justified and in Pag. 12. He himself quotes Matth. 12.33 To prove that the Tree must be good before the Fruit be good 4. We believe that our Heavenly Physician comes first to us ordinarily in the Ministry of the Word by his preventing Grace and doth indeed recover us in part by curing the deadness and indisposedness of our Hearts before we go to him by an actual saving justifying Faith and thereby imploy him for our Justification Christ comes first to us by his Word and Spirit and begins to cure us of our Spiritual deadness to any thing that is savingly good before we go to him by actual justifying Faith and be by him delivered from our Legal Death in Justification by Faith in his Blood 5. If our Author will yet go on to tell the People that we teach them not to employ the Physician of Souls till they have first pretty well cured themselves we take Heaven and Earth to witness that he belies us and abuses the Simplicity of the People for we believe in our Hearts and confess with our Mouths to the Glory of Christ the Physician of Souls that it is he who by his Word Spirit and Grace both begins carries on and perfects the cure of all his select People and that he doth it in the way and order set forth in his Word of which we have here given the World an account according to that measure of Light which it hath pleased him of his rich Mercy and free Grace to bestow upon us 6. And lastly We desire it may be considered whether our Authors saying that to tell the People they must begin to be Godly through Grace by being Penitent Believers in order to their being justified is all one as to tell them that they must be pretty well recovered and must cure themselves before they employ Christ the Physician of Souls we say it is our desire People would consider whether this be not a piece of Antinomian Cant for it is certain that this is the Language of Saltmarsh one of the grossest of that Sect in England That the Promises belong to Sinners as Sinners not as repenting or humbled Sinners as is to be seen in Gatakers Shadows without Substance Pag. 53. And again saith Saltmarsh like our Author in this Do you look that Men should be first whole for the Physician or Righteous for Pardon of Sin or justified for Christ Ibid. Pag. 54. or rather Sinners Unrighteous Ungodly And Gataker there Confutes this precious Stuff in Pag. 54 55 56 57 58. Again You Saltmarsh say that every one who receives Christ receives him in a sinful Condition and consequently in an impenitent one Ibid. p. 73. And again saith Saltmarsh as our Author doth in Pag. 11. of his Letter Can any Man believe too soon Gatakers shadows without substance p. 75. To which Question Gataker Answers No more than he can repent too soon Thus we have at large answered every thing which we can find in the Letter that looks like an Objection or Argument against the Truth which we believe according to the Scriptures But after all it may be some will seriously put this Question Is it likely that God will give us any Grace to sanctifie us in any Kind or Degree before he so love us as to justifie us To which we answer that it is not only likely to be but it certainly is so that God loves us so far as to make Conditional Promises to every one of his People and so far as to give them for Christs sake Grace to begin to perform the Condition before he so far love them as actually to justifie them for Christs sake and that we say is a giving of Grace to sanctifie us Initially or to begin a Holy change in us before we be actually justified and our Sins be forgiven us This we have so clearly proved by
and preach a new Gospel that can make it to be true or prove that it is so The Nature of things are not so soon changed no things will still remain to be what they are though weak passionate Men should never so often think and boldly say that they are not what they are that which is once true will still remain true though men think and say ten thousand times over that it is false As on the contrary that which is once false as it is most false that we preach a new Gospel will still remain false though our Author and his whole party should ten thousand times over both think and say and swear too that it is true We therefore beseech all Christian People neither to believe our Author nor Us upon our bare Words he confidently affirms that we preach a new Gospel We deny it he brings no proof but his own reproachful Word for what he says against us We bring Scripture Reason and the Testimonies of Ancient Fathers and Modern Divines for what we say against him in Vindication of our own Innocency and for Proof that the Gospel which we preach is no other than the Everlasting Gospel of Christ which always hath been now is and ever will be preserved in the Christian Church to the end of the World Now we advise People not to trust either him or us without Tryal but to examine what is said on both sides and then to trust those whom they find upon Tryal to be most trusty and to have given the best Reasons why they should be trusted in these Matters Consider Christians what our most blessed Lord and Saviour saith Matth. 15.14 That if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the Ditch It will not excuse People before God that they followed their Leaders for they are rational Creatures and they ought to see with their own Eyes and not to follow their Ministers blindly without considering and knowing whether they lead them right or wrong whether they lead them in the way of Error or in the way of Truth Therefore our Saviour saith again Matth. 24.4 Take heed that no Man deceive you The like Advice our Lords great Apostle gave unto the Churches to whom he wrote his Epistles Let no Man said he deceive you with vain Words 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Ephes 5.6 This Advice he gave with respect to some of the things that are controverted amongst us at this Day And again Let no Man deceive you by any means 2 Thes 2.3 And as a Preservative and Antidote against being deceived he exhorted them to prove all things and to hold fast that which is good 1 Thes 5.21 Moreover though he was extraordinarily assisted by an infallible Spirit yet he commended the Bereans as People of a noble generous Mind for trying his own Doctrine by the Touchstone of Holy Scripture before they believed it Acts 17.11 It was not any slowness in them to believe which made them examine his Doctrine but it was Wisdom and Prudence for the Scripture saith they received the Word with all Readiness of Mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so they received readily and yet searched diligently making no more haste than good speed and by searching they found all that Paul preached to them to be according to the Scripture therefore they believed his Doctrine and believed in Christ according to his Doctrine ver 12. And this was it which Paul commended them for that though he was an Apostle inspired with a Spirit of Infallibility and could and did Work Miracles to confirm the Truth of his Doctrine yet they searched the Scriptures daily to see whether his Doctrine was according to the Scriptures before they believed it and when by searching they found it to be all according to the Scriptures they immediately believed and readily received it for that very Reason because it was according to the Scriptures of Truth And Paul was of such an excellent Spirit that if the Bereans or any other People had by diligent search found any part of his Doctrine to be really contrary unto the Scriptures of Truth which was impossible for them to do he would have commended them also for not believing it Acts 26.22 23. 1 Cor. 15.1 2 3 4. 1 Cor. 7.25 40. Gal. 1.8 Yea our blessed Lord himself when he was on Earth in his State of Humiliation as a Man and Minister of the Circumcision for the Truth of God to confirm the Promises made unto the Fathers Rom. 15.8 He did not desire that his Hearers should believe him upon his bare Word John 5.31 If I bear Witness of my self my Witness is not true That is though it be never so true in it self yet it is not true with respect to you or it doth not appear true and convincing to you therefore as we read in that Chapter and elsewhere our Lord over and besides his own Verbal Testimony used to prove the Truth of his Doctrine by Scripture and to confirm it by such miraculous Works as could not be done but by the infinite Power of God who neither would nor could give his Seal to ratifie and confirm a lie And thereupon he said unto the unbelieving Jews John 10.37 38. If I do not the Works of my Father believe me not but if I do though ye believe not me believe the Works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him And when convinced by the Notorlety of the Matters of Fact that he did wonderful Works above the Power of Man they were forced by the Evidence of common Sense and Reason to confess it yet being unwilling to believe in him on that account they found out a way to elude the force of his Argument deduced from his Miracles by raising a dispute about the invisible Secret cause of them and by blasphemously ascribing them to the Devil and not to God Matth. 12.24 Mark 3.22 He did not in Answer to that blasphemous Cavil tell them that they must believe on his bare Word that his Miracles were wrought by the Power of God and not of the Devil But by plain Reason and strong Argument taken from the circumstances of his Miracles he proved against them that they could not possibly be from the Devil and therefore they must be from God Mark 3.23 24 25 26 27. with Matth. 12.25 26 28 29. He said unto them How can Satan cast out Satan And if a Kingdom be divided against it self that Kingdom cannot stand c. The Summ of our Saviours Argument was this That his Miracles were wrought to confirm a Doctrine that is directly contrary to and destructive of every thing that is Devilish and wherever it is received in Faith and Love there always the Devils Interest decays and himself is despised and abhorred yea many of Christs Miracles were done immediately upon the Devil himself and he was thereby cast out of that Power and Possession which he had got by
good man that is a good man initially or make him begin to be a good Man But now this makes against our Author himself and clearly proves that no Man can believe with a saving justifying Faith till Gospel Grace renew him and make him first a good Man this Consequence from his own Words he can never avoid unless he will say that a saving justifying Faith is no good thing for if it be not an evil but a good thing no Man can do it till Gospel Grace have renewed him and make him first a good Man So then we have found by his own Confession that a Man is first good through Grace and then he believes in Christ to Justification And if a Man be thus good initially good before he actually believe with a saving justifying Faith then is he Holy also initially Holy before he do so believe for that Initial Goodness and this Initial Holiness is one and the same thing And further if a man may be and must be thus initially Good and Holy before he actually believe then he may be qualified before he actually believe for he cannot be Good and Holy as aforesaid without Gods putting some good qualities into him This the Synod of Dort hath determined in their 11. Canon on the 3d and 4th Articles as was shewed before and it is hoped our Author will not oppose the Determination of that Synod Now whenever God by his Spirit puts good qualities into a Man he thereby qualifies him for the very formal effect of good qualities is to qualifie the Man to whom God gives them Pag. 11. But saith our Author Whence should a Man have any good Qualification before he be in Christ by Faith since a Sinner out of Christ hath no Qualification for Christ but Sin and Misery We Answer that before a Man be in Christ by Faith he hath some good Qualification from Christ by his Spirit preparing him for and bringing him unto Union with himself by actual Faith As to what he saith that a Sinner out of Christ hath no Qualification for Christ but Sin and Misery We Answer by distinguishing thus he hath no Qualification but Sin and Misery of and from himself It is true But that he hath no Qualification of and from Christ by his Holy Spirit but Sin and Misery it is utterly false and the contrary is true to wit that a Man who hath no Qualification of and from himself but the evil Qualification of Sin and Misery yet of and from Christ by his Spirit and Word he hath the good Qualification of a Heart in part changed and renewed and of a Holy Seed and Prineiple of Grace put into his Heart Though a Man cannot qualifie himself for Christ yet nothing hinders but that Christ by his Spirit and Word can qualifie a man for Union with himself and for Justification by his Meritorious Righteousness Yes saith our Author something doth hinder for I boldly assert that such a man who were so qualified would not Let. p. 11. nor could ever believe on Christ We are not willing here to apply the Proverb That none is so bold as blind Bayard But this we must say that we cannot see that this Man hath any probable ground for such Confidence Sure we are it will be a very difficult task to prove that a man cannot possibly believe in Christ because Christ by his Word and Spirit hath fitted and qualified him for Believing But it seems nothing is difficult to this bold man and therefore he will prove it by an Argument taken from the Nature of Faith thus Faith saith he is a lost helpless condemned Sinners casting himself on Christ for Salvation But the qualified Man is no such Person And then the Conclusion if rightly inferred from the Premisses is this ergo The qualified Man is not Faith c. A goodly Argument indeed and a Foundation fit for this Man to ground his Confidence upon If he say that his Argument doth not so conclude but rather thus Faith is a Gracious Act whereby a lost helpless condemned Sinner casts himself on Christ for Salvation but the qualified Man is not a lost helpless condemned Sinner casting himself on Christ for Salvation therefore the qualified man is not what is he not why he is not a lost helpless condemned Sinner casting himself on Christ for Salvation Is this now his Argument And doth it thus conclude then his Argument is as Ridiculous as his Confidence Let him keep to his Premisses laid down in his Letter and if he can let him regularly inferr from them another Conclusion than one of these But let what will become of the form of his Argument We answer by distinguishing both Propositions And 1. For the first we say that a Person who by true Faith casts himself on Christ for Salvation is indeed a Sinnor lost and helpless in and of himself and he is condemned by the Law but tho that be true yet in Order of Nature before he believes and in the very Act of Believing he is found and helped by the Lord and hath a Pardon offered him by the Gospel and by Faith he receives it Acts 10.43 Then for the second Proposition we distinguish it also thus The qualified Man is not such a Person is not a lost helpless condemned Sinner that is the Man that is 1. Qualified with a Satisfactory Meritorious Qualification 2. That is so qualified by himself he is not such a Person It is true and we grant it But with all we say that indeed it is impossible for any Man so to qualifie himself Yet we maintain that a Man who is qualified by the Holy Spirit and free Effectual Grace of Christ is such a Person and doth by Faith â—ast himself on Christ for Salvation our being qualified by the Holy Spirit and free Effectual Grace of Christ is so far from hindring our believing as our Author boldly but ignorantly affirms that in Truth it doth very much further our believing it lets us see and causes us to feel that we are lost and helpless in and of our selves and condemned by the Law and that we are found and helped by the Lord and can be pardoned only by the Gospel Whereupon it inclines and moves us to flee unto Christ for refuge and to cast our selves on him for Justification and Salvation Thirdly In the same Page Let. p. 11. we have another of his Objections against the Truth we have been proving by Scripture Reason and Testimony of Protestant Divines Shall we saith he warn People that they should not believe on Christ too soon Either this Interrogation is altogether impertinent or there is this Argument implied in it if there be a real change and a holy gracious Principle wrought in Peoples Hearts before they do or can believe with a saving justifying Faith then it will follow that Ministers should warn people not to believe on Christ too soon but so to do is absurd and contrary to
Essential to the very first Act of justifying Faith whereby we first receive Christ and rely on him for Justification and Salvation He distinguisheth indeed as our Author doth between the Direct and Reflex Act of Faith and two things he hath there concerning the Reflex Act. 1. He doubts whether it be properly an Act of Faith at all and rather thinks that it is an Act of Spiritual sense and feeling of what is within our selves Page 172. 2. He positively affirms that the assurance we get by the Reflex Act of Faith or of Spiritual sense comes after Justification and is not of the Essence of that Faith whereby we are justified and saved and that many precious Saints are without it and subject to many doubts that are contrary to it so that they may not know at all that it shall go well with them at the day of Judgment 10th Direction Page 172 173. Then for the Direct Act of Faith he saith and so doth our Author after him that it is two-fold The 1st Direct Act of Faith is that whereby we Believe the Truth of the Gospel The 2d Is that whereby we believe on Christ as promised freely to us in the Gospel for our Salvation By the 1st Act Faith receiveth the means wherein Christ is conveyed to us By the 2d It receiveth Christ himself and his Salvation in the means And both these Acts must be performed heartily with an unfeigned Love to the Truth and a desire of Christ and his Salvation above all things This is our Spiritual Appetite which is necessary for our eating and drinking Christ the food of Life as a natural Appetitite is for bodily nourishment We must receive the love of the Truth by relishing the goodness and excellency of it and this love must be to every part of Christs Salvation to Holiness as well as to the Forgivenness of sins The former of these Acts doth not immediately unite to Christ because it is terminated only on the means of conveyance the Gospel yet it is a saving Act if it be rightly performed because it inclineth and disposeth the Soul to the latter Act whereby Christ himself is immediately received into the heart He that believeth the Gospel with hearty love and likeing as the most excellent Truth will certainly with the like heartiness believe on Christ for his Salvation Psal 9.10 Therefore in the Scripture saving Faith is sometimes described by the former of these Acts as if it were a meer believing the Gospel Sometimes by the latter as a believing on Christ or in Christ Rom. 10.9 10 11. 1 John 5.1 13. Then he saith that This Second Principal Act of Faith in Christ includeth believing on God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and that it is the same thing with trusting in God 4th Direction page 61 62 63. And elsewhere he affirms that the Direct Acts of Faith include love Now touching these Direct Acts of Faith we acknowledge that there is an Assurance Essential to the first of them whereby we believe the promises of the Gospel and that assurance is two fold Absolute and Conditional First By our Faith of the Gospel we are Absolutely sure that God according to his promise doth give Christ and Justification and Salvation through him unto all true penitent Believers 2. By our Faith of the Gospel we are Conditionally sure that if we are true penitent Believers God according to his promise doth give Christ and Justification and Salvation through him unto us in particular For the Conditional promises of the Gospel being general to all penitent Believers they comprehend all the Particulars of the same kind and therefore if we believe with an absolute assurance that God justifies and saves through Christ all penitent Believers we must by necessary consequence believe at the same time with a conditional assurance that God justifies and will save us through Christ if we be true penitent Believers This conditional assurance with respect to our selves upon supposition of our being true penitent Believers is necessarily included in the former absolute Assurance that God for Christs sake justifies and saves all true penitent Believers Then for the second Act of justifying Faith whereby we believe on Christ himself with fiducial consent according to the Gospel we freely grant that it also is accompanied with assurance but mark it not with an assurance that is Essential to it self and Essentially included in it self but with the assurance the double assurance of the first assenting Act which though it go before yet it continues and accompanies the second Act of fiducial consent And for this reason we approve of that assertion of Mr. Marshals in the 179 page of his Book That believing on Christ for Salvation as freely promised to us must needs include a dependance on Christ with a perswasion that Salvation shall be freely given as it is freely promised to us Thus he And we subsume But it is freely promised to us only on Condition that we through Grace are true penitent Believers as we before proved at large Therefore the perswasion or assurance of it which accompanies our dependance on Christ by the Second Act of Faith is a Conditional perswasion or assurance as it concerns our selves and our own Salvation in particular Yet afterwards when by Reflex Acts of Faith and self Examination we clearly perceive through the speciall assistance of the Holy Spirit that we are indeed true penitent Believers then our assurance becomes absolute and we are absolutely perswaded and assured that Christ is ours and that God is our God in Christ and that through Christ we are justified and shall be saved This is all the assurance that the Scriptures hold forth to us as attainable in this life by the ordinary assistance of Gods Spirit and Grace and if any good Men have at any time by extraordinary favour and priviledge attained to any other or more assurance they had best keep it to themselves and be very humble under it and thankful to God for it and they should not affirm it to be Absolutely and Essentially necessary to the Fiducially Consenting Act of justifying saving Faith and by that means condemn all who have not that sort of assurance as having yet no justifying saving Faith but as being still in a state of nature and Children of Wrath and of the Devil It were easy to shew if we had time and room for it here that all the reasons Scriptures and Examples which Mr. Marshal brings to prove That an absolute assurance that Christ is now ours that our sins are now pardoned that we are justified and shall be eternally saved is absolutely and essentially necessary to the direct Act of justifying Faith whereby we first receive Christ and trust on him for Justification and Salvation prove no such thing The utmost that they prove is that the foresaid assurances which we willingly admit are partly antecedent to and concomitant with and partly consequent upon the Direct Act of Faith
wherewith this man either maliciously or ignorantly asperses us especially when they may clearly see that his Calumnies do not hang together but are inconsistent and contradict one another which is a sure mark whereby to know a Calumniator and false witness Mark 14.56 We do not positively say that he doth thus calumniate us out of meer malice but we are sure it is and must be either out of malice or ignorance and we willingly incline to the more charitable which is the safer side that he doth it rather out of pure ignorance and blind zeal than out of meer malice and Cain-like hatred of his Brethren But whatever moved him to it the thing it self is unwarrantable and injurious for which he must give an account to that God who is an infinitely more judicious Observer than he or any of his party and who as he observes all our opinions and practices so he judges always aright according to the true merits of every cause and in this cause we can with a good conscience lift up our face to the Lord our God and say Lord thou whose understanding is infinite and from whom nothing can be hid and who hast infinite power and right to punish us with everlasting destruction if we now lye to thee and dissemble with thee thou knowest that our cause is not Coincident with the cause of Pelagius and that this man doth Calumniate us in saying that judicious Observers cannot but perceive that they are coincident To thee O God we appeal from this false Accuser of the Brethren and unto thee we referr our cause to judge between us and this man whether it be coincident or the same with that of Pelagius But it may be our Author will object and say That if our cause be not coincident with that of Pelagius yet it is at least coincident with that of Arminius We answer that neither is that true For 1. Our Author and those of his way commonly say that the cause of Arminius and Pelagius is all one and therefore if they say true in that and do not calumniate Arminius our cause cannot possibly be coincident with the cause of Arminius unless it be also coincident with that of Pelagius they being both one and the same 2. Our Author saith That we are for the middle-way between the Arminians and the Orthodox as he calls them If that be true our cause must lye in the mid-way between the two extremes and then it is impossible to be Coincident with the cause of Arminius for that is one of the extremes and it is evident by ocular demonstration that the middle cannot be the same with either of the sides and so cannot be coincident with either of the extremes If our Author say that we are come off from the middle-way and are come over to Arminius and so are now on the other extreme and wrong side in opposition to the Orthodox who are on the extreme right side We Answer 1. If that be true and he know it then he is guilty of a gross lye in saying that our cause is coincident with that of Arminius and so that we are Arminians and yet that we are for a middle-way between the Arminians and the Orthodox If he will have us to be Arminians he must not if he be a true honest man say that we are for a middle-way between the Arminians and the Orthodox 2. If we be come over from the middle-way unto the Arminian extreme we desire our Author to tell us when it was and how long it is since and how he knows that we are come over to the Arminian extreme for we profess sincerely that we know none of these things We neither know when it was nor how long it is since nor do we know that we are yet come over or ever shall come over to the Arminian extreme Indeed we dare not pretend to any certain Knowledge of Future Contingents that are not revealed to us yet we trust in our God through Jesus Christ that by the Grace of his Spirit he will keep us so firm and fixed in the Truth of his Word that we shall never go over to the Arminian extream And since we know certainly what we are for the present as to this matter we can safely and with a good Conscience call Heaven and Earth to Record this day against this standerer that we are not Arminians and that he doth very sinfully reproach and calumniate us in saying that we corrupt Christs pure Gospel and obtrude on People a new Arminian Gospel to the certain Peril of their Souls and that our Cause is Coincident with that of Arminius But 3. Though according to the Light which God hath given us by his Word and Spirit we believe that the Arminians erre from the Truth in many things and we do from our Hearts dissent from their Errours yet we hold our selves bound in Conscience as we must answer to God at Death and Judgment not to calumniate them nor any other Erroneous Brethren and therefore we cannot in Conscience say that whilest the Arminians keep within the compass of the five Articles wherein they differed from our Divines at the Synod of Dort their cause is coincident with the cause of Pelagius We do indeed think that something and too much of Pelagianism or Semipelagianism is implied in and by consequence follows from their Principles but that doth not make their cause to be Coincident with the cause of Pelagius Therefore our most Judicious and Consciencious Divines do not scruple to declare Pelagianism to be a Heresie against the very Foundation of Christian Religion But as for Arminianism keeping within the Compass of the five Articles their Consciences will not suffer them to say that it is one or more Fundamental Errors or Heresies this might be sufficiently proved by many Testimonies of our Divines but instead of all that might be alledged we shall Content our selves at present with the Testimony of that famous General Assembly of the Church of Scotland which in the Year 1638. at Glasgow deposed all their Bishops though that Assembly had accused many of their Bishops of Arminianism yet did they not say that Arminianism was as bad as and Coincident with Pelagianism and that it was a Fundamental Heresie They were so far from saying so that in the seventh Session November 28. the Moderator Mr. Henderson in the Face and with the Approbation of the Assembly gave this Moderate Answer unto a Politick Objection of Dr. Balcanquel who appeared there for the Bishops Controversias omnes c. That all the Controversies especially if they exceed not the limits of the five controverted Articles between the Arminians and Anti-Arminians or Calvinists neither were nor are about Fundamental Doctrines that indeed the Arminians erred grievously but that he and the Synod were not yet perswaded that all Heterodoxies that is that all Erroneous Doctrines Hist motuum in regno Scotiae Dantisci An. 1641. p. 100 101. are
believed but by the supernatural teaching and assistance of Gods Holy Spirit so it cannot be rightly learned known and believed without our own Reason For 1. Grace doth not destroy but refine and perfect Nature the Holy Spirit doth not put out the eye of our reasoning Faculty Luke 24.45 out opens it clears it elevates and raises it up above its natural ability and strengthens it to see Spiritual objects in such a Spiritual way as it could not see them by its own natural power alone 2. The Spirit of God teaches us by the Word of God and both the Word and Spirit suppose us to be rational for the Word and Spirit of God are given to none but rational Creatures and if we were not rational creatures we should not be subjects capable of being taught by the Word and Spirit or of teaching others We do not then make reason to be either the formal object or rule of Faith and Religion But we hold it to be a light which God himself hath set up in our Souls Whereby 1. We discern through Grace the Written Word to be indeed the Word of God and the Spirit that teaches us by the Word to be indeed the Spirit of God and whereby we discover that every Word and Spirit which are contrary thereunto are not the Word and Spirit of God 2. We hold Reason right Reason to be a light which God hath given us wherewith to search into the meaning of his Word and by studious inquisition and observation to discover and find out the true meaning of the Word and to make it known to others and by good reason out of the Text to convince others of â—he truth of it These things we can never do unless we be rational Divines and unless we use our reason in Studying Speaking or Writing of matters of Divinity and doth not our Author do the same If he say that he doth not because then he should be in danger of being a rational Divine but he is not nor will be a Rational Divine Doubting Conscience resolved p. 46. We demand in the words of Dr. Twiss Doth this Authors Reason go to Bed and Sleep when he comes to Read and Studiously to consider the word of God If it doth he will prove no better than a drowsie Student and we know no reason but such a one may be in Love with Dreams as well as Anabaptist saith Dr. Twiss But we rather say as wâ—ll as those Prophets of wâ—â—om we read in Jerem. 23.25 That they Prophesied Lyes in the Lords Name saying I have dreamed I have dreamed Thus we make an end of what we thought fit to say on the Fourth General Head We have laid before the Reader some of his Calumnies and Aspersâ—ons cast upon us and have wiped them off and we could do no less though it thereby appear that he hath been a false Accuser of Christs Ministers against the sincerity of Christian Love CHAP. V. VVhere People are advised to try before they trust and not suffer themselves to be imposed upon and led into Error by the bold unproved Assertions and Dictates of any Preachers or Writers whatsoever FOR our parts we neither have nor desire to have Dominion over Peoples Faith 2 Cor. 1.24 And therefore we do not desire that any man should believe us and be of our Judgment any further than what we say or write is agreeable to Holy Scripture and to right Reason grounded upon Scripture In those things wherein we affirm that our Author hath erred from the Truth we have endeavoured to prove by clear Scripture and plain Reason consonant to Scripture that he hath so erred And before People positively conclude that we are in the right we intreat them to weigh and consider well what we have written to prove the Truth of our Assertions and after due consideration to judge according to the evidence of our proofs as they will answer to God and their own Consciences If we have clearly and faithfully declared to people the Mind and Will of God as it is revealed by holy Scripture though we do not desire that they should submit their Judgments to us and believe what we believe meerly because we believe it yet we do expect that they should submit their Judgments unto God as we have done And that they should believe what we believe because God hath revealed the matter of our belief both to us and them And whosoever shall either neglect or refuse to submit their Judgments unto God and to believe what they know or may easily know he hath revealed will be found guilty before the Lord of unbelief and Spiritual pride for which he will one day call them to an account But on the other hand if any think and affirm that we are mistaken in our Judgment of the things in controversie and that therefore they are not bound with us to believe them To such we say that if in any of them we are mistaken it is more than we know and our mistake is altogether involuntary for the Lord knows that we have diligently searched for the Truth as to all the matters in controversie with an earnest desire to find it and with frequent and fervent Prayers to the God of Truth that he would teach us the Truth that by his Spirit of Truth according to his Word of Truth he would lead us into the Truth of those Matters And we are fully perswaded in our own Minds that God hath heard our Prayers blessed our Endeavours and caused us to find the Truth which we have diligently sought and searched for We have also given the World an account of the Grounds and Reasons of this our Perswasion which we submit to the impartial Examination of all that fear the Lord and are sincere Lovers of Truth not doubting but that Persons so well disposed will find upon impartial Examination of the matters in Controversie that our Grounds are solid and our Reasons Cogent and Conclusive Yet if in any one thing we should happen to be mistaken which we believe we are not we declare that we are so far from desiring any to follow us in that mistake and to believe any thing in matters of Doctrine which God hath not revealed that on the contrary we shall through Grace be really thankful first to God and next to such men as shall convince us of our mistake by Evidence of Scripture or by Right Reason without Railing and Scolding As for those who have accustomed themselves unto that way of Writing let them not think that ever they shall be able to move us from our Perswasion by Railing at us and calling us Hereticks If any attack us with such Carnal Weapons they will buâ— discover their own Weakness and Folly and we hope it shall have no other effect upon us but to move us to pity them and to pray the Lord to make them better Christians It is not any mans bare thinking or bold saying that we are mistaken
Souls is and through Grace shall be our fervent and frequent Prayer unto him that is able to do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think Ephes 3.20 21. unto whom be Glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all Ages World without end Amen The INDEX THE INTRODUCTION No just cause appears for raising such a clamour against the Subscribers The Test proposed by our Accuser out of the Assemblies Confession of Faith and Catechisme accepted by us who are ready to subscribe to it in the Assemblies own sense page 1. to 8. CHAP. I. Concerning the Occasion and Design of the Letter Some remarks on it page 8. to 18. CHAP. II. Of the Authours Errors in Doctrine against the Purity of our Christian Faith SECT I. Of his first Errour That there is no new Law of Grace The Controversie stated p. 20 21. The Affirmative proved by Scripture and by Testimonies of Ancient Fathers and Modern Divines p. 22 to 33. SECT II. Of his second Errour That the Covenant of Grace is Absolute and not Conditional 1. It is shewed in what sense we hold it not to be and in what sense to be Conditional p. 34 to 49. 2. With respect to Justification and Glorification it is proved to be conditional That Faith and Repentance with respect to Justification and sincere Obedience with respect to Glorification are conditions in the sense there declared proved 1. By Scripture 2. by Reason agreeable to Scripture 3. By Testimonies of Ancient Fathers and many Modern Divines p. 49 to 120. SECT III. Of his Third Errour that there is no real Change no Holy Disposition or Qualification no good or Holy thing wrought in or done by Man in order to and before Justification c. The question stated p. 120. The contrary Truth proved by Scripture and Reason agreeable to Scripture and by the Testimony of Protestant Divines especially of the Synod of Dort and objections an swered p. 120 to 145. An Appendix of the Third Section concerning Dispositions previous to Regeneration and Conversion Shewed what they ordinarily are p. 146. What our Opinion is concerning them p. 146 147. That our Opinion is neither new nor singular proved by Testimonies of Famous Protestant Divines p. 148 to 156. Objections answered p. 156 to 162. Bradwardin for Justification by inherent Righteousness and Humane Satisfaction some further account of his Principles and Practices p. 163 to 165. More Testimonies of Mr. Dickson Claude Charnock Turretin c. for previous Dispositions p. 165 to 168. CHAP. III. Of his Ridiculous way of Converting an Vnbeliever p. 168 to 183. CHAP. IV. Of the Calumnies wherewith he asperses Christ's Ministers and particularly of the middle way Shewed that we are neither Pelagians nor Arminians in whole or in part p. 184 to 190. That called the middle way stated and shewed not to be a new Gospel but the Opinion of Calvin and others of our Reformers p. 191 192. The Calumny relating to Justification refuted p. 193 to 195. As also p. 37 to 40 and 42 to 45. Other Calumnies refuted p. 195 to 204. CHAP. V. People are advised to try before they trust and not suffer themselves to be imposed upon and led into Errour by the bold unproved Assertions and Dictates of any Preachers or Writers whatsoever p. 204 to the end The Errata of the Press thus to be Corrected TItle Page for nostraas read nostras Preface page 3 line 2 read Rule Book p. 1. l. 2. f. flesh r. flesh p. 1. l. 10. after battle add p. 14. l. 1. for the that r. that the. p. 23 l. 36 f. perfect of r. perfect or l. 8. r. virtual p. 25 l. 2 r. pius p. 51 l. 31 r. it is a condition p. 52 l. 47 r. goeth on p. 55 l. 33 f. of them r. on them p. 63 l. 43 f. or r. of p. 67 l. 10. f. atr r. act p. 80. l. 24 f. inward applicative r. inward applicative without a Comma p. 85. lin 40. f. he an r. he is an l. 41. blot out is p. 88 at the end blot out the last word this p. 105. l. 34. r. Receive it p. 110. l. 3. after emendationem for a point put a Comma In the same line after life put a p. 115. l. 48. r. prove that no man without a p. 128. l. 32 f. he r. it and l. 33 r. penitent p. 138 l. 6 f. make r. made p. 147 l. 30. f. discourse r. discourse p. 149. l. 17 f. Ecclesiastical r. Scholastical p. 162 l. 54 f. they who r. those which p. 163 l. 20 r. Reformationem and f. predictis r. praedictis l. 23 r. punishment p. 183. l. 40 f. oar r. our p. 186. l. 30. f. in all Ages might r. in all Ages might without a Comma p. 186 l. 18 19 f. chap. 28 r. chap. 30. and l. 24. f. infer for what r. infer what p. 189 l. 46 f. and efficaciously r. But efficaciously p. 194. l. 40 and 41 r. Justification p. 198 l. 38 f. doath r. death p. 201 l. 42. r. merits of p. 202. l. 50 f. Relation r. Revelation What other Faults the Reader may find he is desired to Correct or Excuse them Advertisement A Brief Review of Mr. Davis's Vindication By Giles Firmin one of the United Brethren Printed by John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey 1693. The Introduction HOly David the man after Gods own heart said of old My flesh trembleth for fear of thee Ps 119.120 and I am afraid of thy judgments We would it were thus with all that pretend to any seriousness in the Profession of the Protestant Religion at this day But alas where are such to be found where are they that are affected with the fear of God as David was and that are duly apprehensive of the Judgments of God which are actually upon and seem to be yet further coming upon the Reformed Churches Is it not visible that all sorts of men turn to their several courses of sin as the Horse rusheth into the battle They run on in the ways of their own hearts blindly and boldly without considering or fearing the issue And who can wonder that those who have hardned their hearts from Gods fear should boldly venture upon sin especially if they have got a strong but false perswasion that they are The Temple of the Lord the true the best and purest Church upon Earth most highly in favour with God and that their sins are the spots of Gods children which do not hurt them and are well consistent with his highest Love and Favour The Scriptures of truth assure us that when once Professors of Religion have brought themselves to this then they can securely lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord amongst us none evil can come upon us Though at the same time the Lord saith that Sion for your sakes shall be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps Mic. 3.11 12. We wish it be
suspicion of Antinomianism which he had brought upon himself But we are really perswaded better things of our Authour though we thus write upon a supposition which we hope he will never admit but rather than admit such a supposition with its necessary consequence he will join with us and say that Luther and Mr. Hamilton meant no more but that evil works do not first make a Man evil because ever since the first Sin of Adam and Eve all meer Men besides them two are evil by Original sin before they commit any Actual Sin Thus much shall suffice to have said of the Occasion and Design of the Letter CHAP. II. Of the Authours Errours in Doctrine against the Purity of our Christian Faith SECTION I. Of his First Errour That there is no New Law of Grace THE First Error against our Christian Faith which we find in the Letter is that there is no new Law of Grace according to which the Lord dispenseth unto his People the Benefits and Blessings of Justification and Eternal Savlation That we do not wrong him in charging him with this erroneous Opinion is evident from his Letter pag. 9 18 29. and pag. 30 31. Where he saith that Justification upon the terms of the new Law of Grace doth not agree with the sound Words of the Reverend Assembly of Divines at Westminster and that the new Law of Grace is a new word but of an old and ill meaning Thus he And this the people must believe upon his bare word without any proof Now to refute this we need do no more but refer them that desire to know who is in the right as to this matter unto Mr. Williams defence of Gospel truth from pag. 18 to 34. where it is sufficiently proved by Scripture by reason grounded on Scripture and by the Testimony of Divines of the Reformed Churches That there is a new Law of Grace that the Gospel is that Law of Grace and that it is a new Law of Grace in the same sense that the Covenant of the Gospel is a new Covenant of Grace This Error then that there is no new Law of Grace being refuted to our hand we might well pass it and proceed to another Yet because the Authour discovers so much ignorance and boldness in what he says to the People upon this point we judge it expedient to insisâ— a little upon it both to instruct and also to rebuke him And because he would make the people believe whether he believe it of us himself God and his own Conscience know that we consider God only as a Rector ruling by a prescribed Law in all his Purposes concerning and Dealings with the Children of Men That he may not go on deceiving and being deceived We declare to the World that we never thought spoke or wrote any such thing as he would fasten upon us that he may the better misrepresent us to the people pag. 9. at the beginning to wit that God is only to be considered under the notion of a Rector and Judge as aforesaid Where by the way we cannot but take notice how honestly he deals by our Reverend Brother Mr. Williams in drawing this inference from a pretended Scheme of his Doctrine Thus saith our Authour they antedate the Last Day and hold forth Christ as a Judge rather than a Saviour Here the World sees what Doctrine he fixes upon Mr. Williams Next Let them turn to pag. 56. of Gospel Truth stated c. and there they will find these express words of Mr. Williams He Christ treats with men as his Subjects whom he will now Rule and hereafter Judge Now cannot Christ be our Saviour but by ceasing to be our Ruler and cannot we be saved by him but by ceasing to be subject to him Where is that Man's Brains who cannot see if he will that these two things do very well consist that Christ is both our Saviour and Ruler at the same time But this only on the by We declare therefore again that we never thought spoke or wrote that God is to be considered only under the notion of a Rector or Judge in all his Purposes concerning and Dealings with the Race of Man-kind On the contrary we believe that First God as an absolute Soveraign Lord of his own most Free and Gracious Will and Pleasure purposed to give and accordingly gave his only begotten Son to be the Redeemer and Saviour of sinful Men but not of fallen Angels Secondly That God as an absolute Soveraign Lord of his own good pleasure and according to the Counsel of his own will did before the foundation of the World choose some and not others of the lapsed and lost Race of Man-kind unto the participation of Special Effectual Victorious Grace and Eternal Glory through Christ Jesus Thirdly That in the first making of the Covenant and enacting of the Law of Grace with us through Christ Jesus God did not act as a Governour Ruling us according to an external Law which he had before made for us but as a Soveraign and gracious Lord who had freely purposed to save us in such a way by Jesus Christ Fourthly That in giving the foresaid Special Effectual Victorious Grace to the Elect rather than to others God doth not act as a Rector or Governour according to a stated Law prescribed to us and known by us but according to the counsel of his own Will and his hidden Purposes and Transactions with Christ concerning us Fifthly But yet in good consistency with what we have said we do firmly believe that God hath enacted and constituted a Law of Grace for bestowing upon us the subsequent Blessings and Benefits of the Covenant such as Justification and Glorification This Law God hath revealed to us in the Scriptures of Truth by this Law he both obliges and encourages us to certain Duties and also by the promises of it obliges himself to Justifie and glorifie us for Christs sake if we perform the Duties prescribed and comply with the Terms injoined It is with respect to those subsequent Blessings and Benefits of the Covenant that we say the Lord deals with us as a Rector and Governour Ruling us by a Law of Grace This Law is expressed in Holy Scripture in several Forms of Words as that See also Ps 103.17 18. Pr. 28.13 Isa 1.16 17 18. 55.7 Jer. 36.3 Acts 2.38 â— 19 16.31 26.18 Heb. 5.9 12.14 Revel 2.10 3.21 22.14 John 8.51 Ho who believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 And If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.9 Whosoever believeth in Christ shall receive Remission of Sins Acts 10.43 Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luke 13.5 This is that which we mean by the Law of Grace and our meaning is so plain that any Man endued with
it is the cause though Calvin Twiss Ames Rutherford c. have not spared to say and write that it is in some sense a cause an inferiour disposing cause c. but a duty and condition until the performing whereof God hath suspended the Gift of Eternal Life and Glory and to the Performers of which duty and condition he hath freely promised and according to his promise he graciously giveth Eternal Life and Glory for the sake of Christs meritorious Righteousness only And we desire it may be alwayes remembred that from this condition of sincere obedience we do by no means exclude but include the continued exercise of Faith in Christ as that which is the spring of it and which runs through all the parts of it as also we hold that it comprehends the continued practice of Repentance and Love to God and Man Such sincere Obedience we hold to be a condition to be performed on our part Ezek. 18.24 25. Heb. 10.38 for the obtaining of Eternal Life and Glory For we learn from the Scriptures of Truth that if any of God's People should apostatize from Faith in Christ fall from the Profession and Practice of Christs true Religion and give themselves up to the wilful commission of all manner of Abominations and dye in that state without Repentance they would lose their Right to Eternal Life be shut out of Heaven and cast down to Hell there to suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire Whereas on the contrary all that continue to the end in the exercise of Faith in Christ and in the practice of Repentance and Evangelical Obedience they have their Right to Life and Glory still continued to them and shall through God's Grace and Mercy and Christ's Righteousness and Merits be put into the full and eternal possession of it If our Authour should object and say that we suppose an impossibility from whence there is no right arguing for or against any thing We desire him to consider what Dr. Twiss sayes in the 29 Page of his Answer to the Book called The Synod of Dort and Arles reduced to practice His Words are When we say the elect Saints cannot fall from Grace this is spoken not in respect of any absolute impossibility but meerly upon supposition of God's upholding them And accordingly they are said to be kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Now this impossibility of falling away from Grace in Scholastical account is but an Impossibility Secundum quid like as we say It is impossible that Antichrist should fall or the Jews be called till the time which God hath appointed is come for bringing forth these great and wonderful Works of his but the contrary is simply possible on either part Thus Twiss Our Answer then is that the Apostacy of a Saint is not simply and absolutely impossible Alas it is but too possible with respect to us considered in our selves but it is onely impossible in some respects to wit in respect of God's Purpose and Promise and Christ's Intercession c. And notwithstanding its being impossible in this sense yet we find it supposed and granted also to be possible in another sense And further we find that the Spirit of God in Holy Scripture supposes greater Impossibilities than that seems to be and rationally argues from them too Witness John 8.55 Gal. 1.8 If any should further object and say that hereby we destroy the Saints Assurance of Eternal Life and Glory by holding that their obtaining of it is suspended on a condition We Answer the consequence is false because those who are assured upon good Grounds that they are truly Converted and Justified by Faith in Christ's Blood See 1 Joh. 2.19 may from Holy Scripture be assured of the condition of perseverance through Grace in Faith Repentance and whatever God hath made necessary to their obtaining Eternal Life and Glory Indeed if our Glorification depended upon a Condition of which we could not be sure then neither could we be sure of Glorification it self But we believe and maintain that through Grace we may and ought to be sure of the Condition to wit of Perseverance and consequently that we may and ought to be sure of our future Glorification which is infallibly promised to perseverance in Faith and Holiness We know the Followers of Luther whom our Authour so much magnifies as if he were for him and his Party deny that a Saint can be absolutely sure ordinarily in this World that he shall be saved in the World to come It is true they maintain that a Saint may and ought to be absolutely sure that he is in a state of Grace and Salvation for the present but they deny and on their Principles must deny that he can have an absolute but onely a conditional assurance of his Eternal Salvation and Glorification because they say he cannot be absolutely sure that he shall not fall totally and finally from the state of Grace that he is now in If we should follow Luther or the Lutherans in this what a Clamour would our Authour raise against us how would he proclaim us to the World to be Arminians or Papists yet Luther was a blessed Man and most Orthodox Divine because in his Commentary on the Galathians he seems to hold with our Authour in some things though in other things of greater importance he be against him and us too But Holy Scripture is the Rule and Measure of our Faith in these and all other Religious Matters and according to the Prescript thereof we believe profess and preach to the People that as Christ purchased all Grace for us by his Blood so he gives it unto us by his Spirit in the use of his appointed Means and what Saving Grace he once gives unto his People he never wholly takes away from them again and that if at any time they fall into Sin against Knowledge and Conscience he raises them up again by causing them to renew their Faith and Repentance and never wholly leaves them nor forsakes them but gives them still more Grace according to their need and by Grace prepares them for and at last brings them unto Glory Thus we desire and endeavour to Preach Christ and now we appeal to all who have any Conscience of Truth and Honesty whether we neglect to Preach Christ or whether in the preaching of Christ we set up any thing in co-ordination with him yea whether we be not so far from it that on the contrary we make all subordinate to him and derive all Grace from him not only the Grace of Justification and Glorification which are promised on Condition of Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience but also the Grace of effectual Vocation Faith and Repentance in a Word all the Grace whereby we perform the whole condition of the Covenant from first to last From the premisses it may manifestly appear to any that are not stark blind that we do not hold Faith Repentance and
per impossibile that a Christian have a sincere Faith separated from sincere Obedience if nothing but a sincere Act of Faith be required of him as indispensably necessary to Salvation he is safe and runs no hazard of loosing Eternal Salvation though he lead a wicked life as aforesaid But this is false and absurd therefore that principle from whence this follows is false and absurd also that is it is false and absurd that nothing but an Act of Faith is required as indispensably necessary to Salvation And not only Logick allows us to argue thus sometimes from a supposed impossibility John 8.55 but even our blessed Saviour who is truth it self hath done it before us If I should say quoth our Saviour I know not the Father I should be a lyer like unto you but I know him c. In like manner S. Paul argues ab impossibili saying Though we or an angel from heaven Gal. 1.8 preach another Gospel to you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed 3. We Answer That when it is said that sincere Faith cannot be without sincere Obedience the meaning is that sincere Faith is of an Obediential Nature and is of it self apt to put us upon the several Acts of sincere Obedience and will certainly do it if it be rightly used and put forth into strong vigorous Acts if the Spirit of the Lord concur with it if it be not hindred by the flesh and by the prevalency of tentations But the meaning is not that sincere Faith always actually and infallibly produceth the imperat acts of sincere Obedience as necessarily as the Sun produces light and as the Fire produceth Heat For the Principle of sincere Faith doth not so necessarily produce its own formal elicit Acts much less doth it so necessarily produce the Acts of other gracious Principles and Habits whose Acts are not the formal elicit but the imperat Acts of Faith And it is but too well known by sad experience that the Principle of sincere Faith or even the languid weak Act of that Principle doth not necessarily and infallibly alwayes produce all those Acts of sincere Obedience to the Lord which are necessary towards the obtaining of Eternal Life and Glory For had not David and Solomon a Principle of sincere Faith and who can say and prove that they had not then some weak languid Acts of Faith And yet that Faith in them for some considerable time was separated from that sincere Repentance and Obedience which is required as indispensably necessary to the obtaining possession of Eternal Life and Glory This is too evident to be denyed And surely what hath been is possible to be though we heartily wish that it may never actually be any more and that none of God's People may ever fall so foully nor lye so long in Sin as David and Solomon did But we think our Authour or any for him will find it a hard Task to prove that sincere Faith both as to the Habit and some weak Act cannot be for some time actually separated from such imperat Acts of Repentance and sincere Obedience as are indispensably necessary to the obtaining possession of Eternal Life and Glory in Heaven and further he may find it a Task no less hard to determine precisely how long time they may be actually separated but not one Minute longer If he think that he can do either or both of these we do intrent him to do it for in truth it will be a kindness to us who do really find the difficulty so great that we are not able to master it without help 4. We Answer That though it were well proved that sincere Faith can in no case be separated for one Minute from the imperate Acts of that sincere Repentance and Obedience which is indispensably necessary to the obtaining possession of Eternal Life and Glory in Heaven yet it doth by no means follow that Faith onely and not sincere Obedience distinct from Faith is required of us as indispensably necessary to the obtaining possession of Eternal Life and Glory in Heaven for Faith and Obedience may both be required and we have already proved by plain Scripture that they are both required as indispensably necessary to the obtaining of Eternal Life and Glory and without our having both as the Lord hath required we cannot be out of danger of coming short of Eternal Life and Glory The clear evidence of this Truth hath made our ablest and most Judicious Divines acknowledge that upon supposition that the Saints fallen into gross sins against Knowledge and Conscience like those of David and Solomon should dye in them before they had through Grace returned unto their Obedience to the Lord renewed both their Faith and their Repentance and got both the Guilt and Filth of those Sins washed and purged away by the most pretious Blood and holy Spirit of Christ they would be damned and lost for ever This Mr. Rutherford in his Examen Arminianismi p. 620. acknowledges to be a Truth in these Words Nisi renati in atrecia peccata lapsi resipiscerent in aeternum ipsis pereundum esset juxta comminationes Evangelicas Vnless the Regenerate after they have fallen into atrocious sins did repent they must perish everlastingly according to the threatnings of the Gospel Of this Perswasion were our excellent Divines in the Synod of Dort so was Mr. Perkins Bishop Abbot Downham Mr. Burgess Pareus Turretin c. as shall be shewed hereafter by the express Words of most of them This same Truth hath also been acknowledged and maintained by the French Divines who Answered that pestilent Book of the Jansenians called the Renversement and corruption of the Morals of Jesus Christ by the Errors of the Calvinists in the point of Justification Jurieu and others in answer to that most virulent Book go upon our Principle aforesaid and thereby vindicate the Reformed Churches from the blasphemous Reproaches which the Jansenians cast upon us all upon pretence that we all hold the abominable Opinion aforesaid that we are safe as to our Eternal state if we have but a true Faith though we live in the love and practice of all manner of Villanies except Unbelief 5. One great Reason we do not say the onely but one great Reason on our part why a sincere Faith is of its own Nature obediential that is it inclines to obedience and is of it self naturally apt to produce in us sincere Obedience and will not fail to do it if it be rightly used and be not hindred It is this a sincere Faith firmly assents to the Truth of the foresaid Commands Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel whereby we have proved that sincere Obedience is by the Lord made indispensably necessary unto and the condition of obtaining Eternal Salvation and from the infallible Truth of God's Word it assures us that there is no obtaining of Eternal Salvation unless we be sincerely obedient unto the Lord that if
be pardoned and saved for the sake of Christ who shed his most precious Blood for the remission of sins 3. The very same Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are used in this same sense by Origen in his Third Book against Celsus Cambridge Edition pag. 154. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God grants the Grace of Repentance i. e. the Gracious Blessing and Priviledge which is obtained by Repentance to wit pardon of sin This is and must be the sense of Origen's Words there and they can have no other For Origen affirms there in opposition to the Calumny of Celsus as shall be shewed by and by that Men must first be truly penitent they must be inwardly changed and converted from Evil to Good before God be merciful to them so as to pardon their sins And when they are so wrought upon as to be really changed converted and become truly penitent then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God grants them the Grace of Repentance that is the pardon of their sins which is the gracious Benefit annexed to Repentance and promised to all upon Condition that they truly repent To put another sense on Origen's Words would be to make Non-sense of them and to make him say That if Men be first truly penitent God will afterwards give them Grace whereby they may be or are made truly penitent Origen was not such a filly Man as to write thus foolishly for the Christian Religion against a learned and malitious Heathen 4. Clement and Origen's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace of Repentance is the same thing with Tertullian's Fructus Paenitentiae Fruit of Repentance but Tertullian's Fruit of Repentance is pardon of sin for so he writes Lib. de Pudicitiâ Cap. 10. Ita cessatio delicti radiae est veniae ut venia sit paenitentiae fructus Ceasing from sin is so the root of pardon that pardon is the fruit of repentance 5. And Lastly the Words-which immediately follow in Clement shew this to be his meaning for he adds Let us take a diligent view of all Generations and learn that in every Generation the Lord hath given place of Repentance to such as were willing to turn unto him Noah preached Repentance and they that obeyed were saved Jonah preached Destruction to the Ninivites but they repenting them of their sins appeased God by their humble Supplications and were preserved These Words plainly shew that by saying that through the Blood of Christ shed for our Salvation God hath offered the Grace of Repentance to the whole World Clement meant that God hath admitted all Men to Repentance as the way and means to obtain Pardon and hath promised and according to his Promise doth give them Pardon for Christ's sake upon their Repentance But it may be some will Object that yet the same Clement in the same First Epistle to the Corinthians saith pag. 67. They the Holy Men before and under the Law were all Glorified and made Great not by themselves or by their own Works or by the just Actions which they did but by his Will So we Christians then being called in Christ Jesus by his Will are not justified by our selves nor by our own wisdome or knowledge or piety or by the works which we have done in holiness of heart but by Faith whereby the Almighty God hath Justified all Men from the beginning of the World to whom he Glory for ever and ever Amen We Answer that this makes nothing against us for we have believed we do and through Grace will always believe that God Justisies us by Faith and not by any Works distinct from Faith in the sense before explained that is that God of his own Gracious Will and Pleasure hath ordained Faith to be the only receptive applicative Condition Means or federal moral Instrument of Justification upon our performing of which Condition or using of which Means and Instrument God doth freely justifie us for the sake of Christ's satissactory meritorious Righteousness onely We do indeed with Clement and with the Holy Prophets and Apostles believe that sincere Repentance is pre-required as a dispositive Condition to our obtaining of Justification yet we do not say any more than they did that we are Justified by Repentance but together with them we say that we are Justified by Faith only because God hath appointed Faith onely to that Office of being the receptive Condition and inward applicative Means of Justifiaation through Christ's Blood Clemeut's saying that God Justifies us by Faith and not by Works must undoubtedly be understood in this sense as appears by what we have quoted and shall now further quote out of him Pag. 102. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let us speedily remove this evil from among us and let us fall down before the Lord humbly beseeching him with Tears that being become favourable he would be reconciled unto us By this Passage we see that Clement held as we do that repenting of mourning for and turning from our known sins and humble earnest Prayer to God through Christ is a means indispensably necessary to be used by us before we can have ground to hope that God will have mercy on us in pardoning our sins And as he held Faith and Repentance together to be indispensably necessary to the obtaining of Justification and pardon of sin so he held sincere Obedience in a course of holy living to be indispensably necessary to the obtaining of Glorification and Eternal Salvation For thus he writes pag. 61 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Since therefore all things are both seen and heard by him let us fear him and forsake all foul desires of evil Actions that so we may be protected by his Mercy from those Judgments which are to come For whither can any one of us flee from his powerful Hand And what World will entertain any of them who fall off from him or turn Renegado's Let us come unto him therefore in the holiness of our Souls lifting up unto him pure and undefiled hands loving this our gentle and merciful Father who hath made us unto himself the portion of his election And pag. 73. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let us therefore earnestly strive to be sound in the number of them that wait on him that so we may be made Partakers of those Gifts which are promised But Beloved how shall this be done If our Thoughts be stedfastly fixed upon God by Faith if we enquire after those things which are well-pleasing and acceptable unto him if we do those things which are agreeable to his pure and irreproveable will and follow the way of Truth Casting away from us all injustice and iniquity covetousness contentions malignities and deceits whisperings and backbitings hatred of God pride and boasting vain-glory and ambition for they that do these things are abominable unto God and not onely the Doers thereof but they also which consent thereunto For the Scripture saith c. As in Psalm 50. which Clement quotes from v. 16.
our Father Ne ergo ipsi adoptionis jure nos abdicemus hà c semper enitendunt quo tendit nostra vocatio Therefore least we should abdicate disinherit or deprive our selves of the right of Adoption we must evermore be endeavouring to attain the end of our Christian and Heavenly calling By this passage we see that Calvin held sincere filial Obedience to be a Condition necessary on our part to our continuing in a state of Sonship and to our obtaining the Heavenly Inheritance of Children It is confessed that he did not think that the performance of such Obedience and perseverance therein to the end depends principally on Man's Will nor do we think any such thing nay we declare that it depends principally on God's special Grace and Favour through Jesus Christ He also did not think the said Obedience to be meritorious nor do we nay we utterly abhor any such Thought So that in this Matter Calvin and we do exactly agree against our Authour Inst l. 3. c. 14. Sect. 18. Calvin sayes Dum operum fiduciam excludimus hoc volumus duntaxat ne mens Christiana ad operum meritum velut ad salutis subsidium reflectatur Sed penitùs resideat in gratuitâ justitiae promissione Whilst we exclude all trust or confidence in works we mean this onely that the mind of a Christian should not look on the merit of good works as unto an help towards the obtaining Salvation but that it should wholly rest in the free Promise of Righteousness Here Calvin himself gives us a Key to open the true meaning of any Expressions of his that may incline any body to think that he slighted good Works of holy Obedience And he would have us to know that all such Persons that think so of him quite mistake his sense for his true meaning is only that good Works are not in the least meritorious that under that false notion they are to be slighted indeed and that true Christians should have no regard unto them as if by their merit they could help us to obtain Salvation now under this false Notion we reject them utterly as much as our Authour or any other Man can do Yet can we never allow that good Works which are really such should be cryed down as unnecessary to Salvation in that way that the Lord hath made them necessary much less can we agree to the horrid Opinion of the Amsdorsian Lutherans that good Works are pernicious to Salvation So much for Calvin Next to him it is fit that Beza should appear to give in his Testimony And he gives it clearly on our side For thus he writes in his 20th Epistle Conjunctas autem esse poenitentiam remissionem peccatorum c. That Repentance and Remission of sins are joyned together and so indeed that Repentance goes before Remission of sins partly the express Word of God teaches it partly also Reason it self and common sense how corrupt soever shews it John says Mark in his 1. Chapter preached the Baptisme of Repentance for Remission of sins And Luke 13. Except says Christ ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And Luke 24.47 Repentance saith Luke and Remission of sins must be preached in his Name Moreover nothing doth occur more frequently in the Scriptures than such Testimonies For neither doth the Lord vouchsafe the Grace and Favour of Remission of sins unto others but them that are penitent From this passage we observe 1. That it is a Truth so bright and clear that Repentance goes before pardon of sin that in Beza's Judgment the common Sense and Reason of Mankind doth or may discern it 2. That this Testimony can not be eluded and put off by saying that it is a legal and not an Evangelical Repentance that goes before pardon of sin For the proofs which Beza brings from Scripture will by no means admit of this Evasion For 1. The Repentance that Beza saith goes before pardon of sin is the Repentance which Christ exhorted the Jews unto Luke 13.3 5. and which he ordered his Apostles to preach unto all Nations in his Name beginning at Jerusalem Luke 24.47 But certainly that was an Evangelical and not a meer legal Repentance 2. The Repentance which in Beza's Judgment goes before pardon of sin is a Repentance to which is made the promise of pardon of sin so that whosoever doth not thus repent shall perish but whosoever doth thus repent shall not perish Therefore it is and must be an Evangelical and cannot be a meer Legal Repentance for pardon of sin is not promised to a meer Legal Repentance And it cannot be truly said that a Man who repents with a meer legal Repentance shall not perish Thousands have perished Everlastingly who yet repented with a meer legal Repentance And Judas was one who so repented Matth. 27.3 4. And when he had done it he went and hanged himself It is most evident then that Beza did not bring those Texts to prove that a meer legal Repentance goes before pardon of sin for those Texts do not speak of a meer legal Repentance but of one that is truely Evangelical to which pardon of sin is so infallibly assured That whosoever doth not so repent shall perish and whosoever doth so repent shall not perish But some may say yet Beza affirms in the same Epistle that contrition of Heart doth not properly proceed from the Gospel We Answer It is true he doth say so but it is plain he was mistaken in that and contradicts Calvin who sayes expresly Inst l. 3. c. 3. Sect. 19. that Cum totam Evangelii summam breviter complecti voluit dixit c. When the Lord Christ would comprehend the whole summ of the Gospel in few words he said that it behoved him to suffer to rise again from the dead and that Repentance and Remission of sins must be preached in his Name and this the Apostles after his Resurrection preached that he was raised up by God to give Repentance unto Israel and Remission of sins It may be Beza had some peculiar conceit that all Repentance of what kind soever is properly from the Law and but improperly from the Gospel It would seem so by his saying that a contrite Heart is not properly from the Gospel and yet a contrite Heart is the Sacrifice which God will not despise which he is certainly well-pleased with through Christ Psal 51.17 But though Beza was mistaken in saying that a contrite Heart is not properly from the Gospel yet he plainly saw the main Truth which we plead for and confessed it and proved it by clear Scripture that sincere Repentance goes before pardon of sin The same Beza in his Confession of Faith Cap. 4. Art 5. sayes Pater Caelestis nobis annunciat c. The Heavenly Father declares to us that he hath so loved the World that he hath given his only begotten Son for it ea conditione on that condition that whosoever believes in him should not perish but
before Repentance in Calvin's Judgment is not the Faith that our sins are already pardoned but that they shall be pardoned upon our sincere Repentance which Faith puts us upon acting Repentance and having put forth an Act of sincere Repentance we immediately act Faith upon the promise and apply it to our selves and trust in the Lord according to his gracious promise If this be not Calvin's sense let them free him from self-contradiction that can for we cannot otherwise do it However it be we have him expresly affirming that Faith in some sense is before Repentance and that Repentance such Repentance as that in Ezek. 18.23 is before Remission of Sins and Justification From whence it follows necessarily that in his Judgment both sincere Faith and Repentance are in order before Justification and so that there is a real change and some holy principle and disposition wrought in the Soul before Justification The same he affirms again elsewhere for thus he writes on Mark 4.12 lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them Caeterùm ex eo minimè colligi debet poenitentiam esse veniae causam c. But from this it ought by no means to be inferred that Repentance is the cause of pardon as if God received into favour those who are converted because they have merited or deserved it For even Conversion it self is a sign of God's free Grace and Favour but only ordo consequentia notatur the order and consequence of things is marked out because God doth not forgive any sins but those for which Men are displeased with themselves From which Words of Calvin we observe that where there is an order and consequence of things there is a priority and posteriority and one of them is before another but so it is that in Calvin's opinion between Repentance and pardon of sin there is an order and the one is consequent upon the other pardon of sin is consequent upon Repentance therefore Repentance is before pardon of sin but Repentance can never be without some real holy change and disposition in the Penitent Therefore there is such a change and holy disposition before Pardon and Justification Again on Luke 3. v. 4. The voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord. Eadem inquit vox auribus nostris quotidie insonat ut Domino paremus viam hoc est sublatis vitiis quae regno Christi viam praecludunt accessum demus ejus gratiae The same voice saith he dayly sounds in our ears that we should prepare the way for the Lord that is that we should give access unto his grace by putting away our sins which stop up the way against the reign of Christ in us These Words plainly give us to understand that according to Calvin Repentance and turning from sin goes in order before pardon and that it prepares us for the grace of Pardon and Justification There needs no more to shew that Calvin held true Repentance as to the beginning of it to be in order before pardon of sin and Justification Yet when Repentance is taken for a course of holy living in the actual performance of our first purpose to forsake our sins and return unto the Lord then in that sense it is confessed that Calvin and we with him hold Repentance to be after the several acts of Justifying Faith and after Justification it self and that it runs parallel with our Lives and must be continued unto Death This was that which our first Reformers called the best Repentance which so enraged the Papists that in the Council of Trent they Anathematized us for this Opinion Si quis dixerit optimam poenitentiam esse tantùm novam vitam Concil Trid. Sess 14. Can. 13. Anathema sit If any shall say that a new life is onely the best Repentance let him be accursed Thus they But we do not at all fear their Curse for notwithstanding it or any other thing to the contrary we firmly believe and say that a new life is the onely best Repentance And this best Repentance this Repentance in its perfection we grant to be not only after justifying faith but also to be after Justification it self and after the forgiveness of all the sins that we had been guilty of before our Regeneration and Conversion yet for all that we still maintain according to the Scriptures of Truth that the beginning of true Evangelical Repentance is in order before forgiveness of sins and justification and we think we have Calvin on our side if we may believe his own words To Calvin succeeds Beza giving in his Testimony plainly for us and saying in his large Confession of faith Sed necesse est imprimis ut idem spiritus sanctus nos ad Jesum Christum recipiendum aptos idoneos reddat cap. 4. art 3. c. But it is necessary saith he in the first place that the same holy Spirit make us apt or fit and meet to receive Jesus Christ And in his short Confession of faith Art 11th As it was not saith he in our power to invent or find out the Medicine of Salvation so neither is it possible for us to find out the way to use that Medicine rightly Because that falls out in this matter which useth to be in bodily Diseases for as when one desperately sick is ignorant of his Disease it is necessary that the Physician not only find out a Medicine for him but likewise that he so dispose the sick Person that he may be both willing and able to use the Medicine and that he may know the way to use it aright so in the Disease of the Soul which is the most dangerous of all and in which Men are not only ignorant of but also Adversaries to their Salvation It is necessary that we understand from the same Physician First What that Medicine is then which way it is to be used Finally That by the same Physician we be made fit and meet for this that we may be both willing and able to use the Remedies proposed Again Art 19. This Remedy of free Salvation through Christ is applyed by a double efficacy of the Holy Spirit For first The Holy Spirit disposes or fits our understanding to perceive the Doctrine of the Gospel which otherwise seems meer foolishness to the World Then he perswades our minds that that Doctrine of free Salvation through Christ is not only true but also that it pertains to us And that is it which we call Faith so much commended in Scripture to wit when one perswades himself assuredly that the promises of Salvation and Eternal Life particularly and properly belong to him By these passages of Beza we see that he held as we do that before a Man do or can actually believe with a justifying Faith he is disposed fitted and prepared by Christs Holy Spirit for the right performing of that great work of believing aright And in his little Book