more sensibly affected with those joys of the Holy Ghost which increase the love of Virtue and confirm him in every divine disposition 2. This is further evident from those passages in Holy Writ where we are required to grow in grace to abound in the work of the Lord and to go on to perfection For these places and the like do strongly imply that we cannot on a sudden arrive to any degree of goodness which we fall greatly short of at present much less that we can presently be filled with the fulness of God Wherefore it plainly follows that the Holy Spirit does not affect our mindes when we begin the Christian life in the same manner and measure that he moveth us in after we have made some progress in it or shall arrive to such an eminent degree of Christianity as may answer that expression of being filled with the fulness of God For if it were thus then we might become Men in Christ assoon as we are Babes and come to the fulness of our stature without growing and going on to perfection It is further observable that the Word of God is affirmed to be the means of our increasing in holiness we must desire the sincere Milk of the Word that we may grow thereby as St. Peter tells us and in Col. 1.9 St. Paul instructs us that the way whereby the Spirit maketh us to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good work is by filling us with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding From whence I observe that our improvement in holiness is greater or lesser according as we consider and meditate upon divine Truths viz. for this end of governing our lives by them which is to know them in Wisdom and spiritual Vnderstanding Now since the effects of the Holy Spirit 's Operation in our mindes are as I have shewn the genuine and proper effects of the Word of God seriously considered and laid to heart it follows that the Holy Spirit worketh in us according to that measure wherein divine Truths are considered by us Therefore since our fruitfulness depends upon our increasing in the knowledge of God or that spiritual Vnderstanding which the Apostle speaks of the Holy Spirit who worketh in us by the Word of God does not make us capable of arriving to that state of walking before the Lord in all well-pleasing all at once but by degrees viz. as we increase in the knowledge of God by daily Meditation Lastly since by the experience we have of Humane Nature we see that customes are not easily and presently put off and that matters of difficulty cannot be made familiar to us but by use and practice more particularly that they who are accustomed to do evil cannot of a sudden learn to do well that ill habits are not wasted but by degrees that the difficulties of a Religious life press most upon us when we first enter upon it and that they wear away insensibly by continuance in well-doing likewise that vertue is improved by exercise and that the Path of the just as the Wise man speaks is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day I say this being considered we must needs acknowledge that the Holy Spirit does not produce the effects of his Grace in the mindes of men all at once but that he accommodates his Operations to the state in which they are at present prompting them to that amendment which the measure of their capacity will admit And this I take to be a Consequence also of what the Doctor so fully grants viz. that the Spirit acts the mindes of men onely as they are meet to be acted according to their own Nature Power and Ability and according to their natural Operations For if we may trust the constant experience of Mankinde both of the good and the bad although an evil habit is sooner contracted than a good one yet none is gained without some use and exercise and ordinarily it cannot be otherwise Now if the Spirit moves us no otherwise than according to the Nature Power and Ability of our mindes we must not think that by his Grace we may leap out of a wicked course of life in a moment into the habits of Piety and Virtue but that he is in that manner present with us as to enable us to make a good beginning and if we do so that by his more abundant Grace we may proceed and so by degrees come to a divine temper of minde and to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing There is no doubt but God if he pleaseth can in an instant change the most vicious man into a Saint but we have no more reason to think that he will do so than that he should work new Miracles to convert us But we have great reason to perswade us that he will not do so for if we may judge of the Manner and Measure of the Holy Spirit 's Operations by the promises of special Grace which belong onely to qualified and prepared persons or by the Commands of the Scripture to grow in Grace and in the knowledge of Christ or by the general experience of Humane Nature we may conclude that an habitual Sinner cannot become a good man in an instant He must first learn to be afraid of God's angry Justice he must be heartily sorry for his sins he must deeply consider the promises of the Gospel he must avoid the occasions of sin and fortifie himself with vehement resolutions to forsake his wicked course and he must make many earnest prayers before he can subdue his Lusts and overcome the world and yield a sincere obedience to all the Commands of God And by consequence he cannot expect that the Operations of the Holy Spirit should make him a holy man but by the former means and therefore by degrees This Consideration ought not to have been omitted because it may be of great use to two very different sorts of men 1. To those who have been long accustomed to a sinful course of life and think it impossible to recover themselves although they have the opportunities of amendment before them For it happens sometimes that such men wish they had taken an early care to live in the fear of God and the practice of Religion and Virtue but they believe it is now in vain to strive against those fatal habits which are so deeply rooted in their mindes and so they abandon themselves to carelessness and desperation The reason whereof is commonly this that when they attempted their own reformation and had purposed to lead a new life they soon found themselves surprized again by their former temptations and carried away as strongly by their sensual appetites as ever they were before which makes them conclude it is to no purpose to take any more pains with themselves as if because their freedom from the servitude of sin could not be effected in a
A DISCOURSE Concerning The OPERATIONS OF The HOLY SPIRIT TOGETHER WITH A Confutation of some part of Dr. OWEN'S Book Upon that Subject Imprimatur May 4th 1677. Guil. Jane R.P.D. Hen. Episc. Lond. Ã sacris domest LONDON Printed by J. C. for Hen. Brome at the Gun at the West-end of St. Pauls 1678. THE PREFACE AMongst other things which are usually aimed at in a Preface one is to invite the Reader to the Book The Author of this Book does not think it worthy of every man's perusal into whose hands it may chance to come and therefore does not commend it to All. It was written principally for their sake who have been made to believe that the Ministers of the Church of England have departed from the Scriptures in their Doctrine concerning the Operations and Grace of the Holy Spirit which is one of those prejudices that have been instill'd into the dissenting party by their Leaders to confirm them in their Separation The Author thinks he has made it plain that they do not onely accuse us very wrongfully but that they themselves are guilty of that Crime which they lay to our charge And he hopes their Followers cannot think it an unreasonable request that they would impartially consider what is said on both sides and judge accordingly But if he should be mistaken in that he has this satisfaction however that he has done his Part by giving them a fair occasion so to do If some of them should be inclined by the weightiness of the subject to read the Discourse and yet be tempted on the other hand to throw it aside merely because it pretends to be a Confutation of some of Dr. Owen's Principles Dr. Owen himself will help to cure them of so unreasonable a prejudice For he has told you long since in a Book of his called The duty of Pastors and People distinguished that you are not to take any Doctrine of Religion on the credit of his Authority Alas says he you are in a miserable condition if you have all this while relied upon the Authority of men in Heavenly things He that builds his Faith upon Preachers though they preach nothing but truth and he pretend to believe it hath indeed no Faith at all but a wavering opinion built upon a rotten Foundation Now you know the Authority of the Doctor is no more than the Authority of a Man and therefore you have his own word for it that to build your Faith upon his Authority is to build it upon a rotten Foundation Whether you have so done all this while I cannot say but if you have he tells you that you are in a miserable condition And if you have not you will easily be perswaded to take this opportunity now offered to you of examining his Doctrine by the Word of God to which the Author does appeal as heartily as the Doctor himself can do I confess I am not altogether of his minde in the fore-mentioned passage for it seems to imply that all men are in a state of Damnation who rely upon the honesty and wisdom of their Spiritual Guides in matters of Faith But I doubt there are some persons incapable of inquiring much further and I hope some of these do so firmly believe the truth upon the testimony of God's Ministers as to live according to it which if they do God forbid that I should say they are in a damnable condition But you see in what strict terms the Doctor admonishes every one of you not to rely upon the Authority of men but to examine their Doctrines by the Word of God Possibly he means no more than that this is a duty to be discharged by all Christians according to the measure of those Means Abilities and Opportunities which God has been pleased to give them and this surely is a great truth But then I desire you to consider that every one of you are more concerned to look to it that you omit not this duty than many other Christians are and that for this reason because you have withdrawn your selves from the communion of the Lawful Guides of this Church to follow those that take upon them to lead you without any known Authority by which they do so For if you follow these your Leaders into errour it will be no excuse for you to say they led you into errour because you set them up to your selves against the will of your rightful Superiours both in Church and State Whereas if the Christians of our Communion should be led into some great mistake as I am perswaded they are not by relying upon the Authority and Wisdom of their Pastors though it would not totally excuse them yet it would be some mitigation of their fault that they were misled by those Guides and Ministers which God had set over them The Doctor himself tells you in that Book that the people are bound to hear those who possess the place of teaching in the Church And that if the Law accounts onely such Assemblies to be Conventicles where the Assemblers contemn and despise the service of God in publick he had not spoken one word in favour of them You do not wonder I suppose at these passages for you know this Book was written by him above thirty years since when he was a Presbyterian as he there solemnly declares himself to be and engaged by the Interest of his Party to contend for some Church-decency and Order as he there does after his manner Indeed since that time he turned Independant But however you have no reason to conclude from thence that he has changed his minde in that other point also of the peoples being bound to examine by the Word of God the Doctrines of those Teachers whom they are bound to hear or that he believes that all that is said in Conventicles or written by those Assemblers that despise the service of God in publick may be taken upon trust No though he has chang'd his party he may still be of this minde that unless Ministers as he tells you will answer for all those souls they shall mislead and excuse them before God at the day of Tryal they ought not to debar them from trying their Doctrine Now this they cannot do for if the blinde lead the blinde both shall fall into the pit of destruction Now unless he excepts himself from a possibility of misleading you thus far I would not desire a fairer Adversary and if you think he ought not to except himself I cannot wish more equal Judges than your selves Sure I am the Doctor must either explain himself further or he must not debar you from trying his Doctrine and enquiring whether he himself be not a blinde Guide whom you may follow into the Pit of destruction For what he saith in general may be applied to him in particular that if he should mislead you he cannot excuse you before God at the day of Tryal Now the truth is although he
unquainted withal And by this he shews that the practice of despising his opinions concerning Grace has not been taken up of late Now I will not say how old the practice has been of making every quarrel a man is concerned in equal to the Cause of those godly men whose sufferings are mentioned in the Scripture but 't is well enough known that 't is at least as old as that Faction which our Author hath espoused and whether this be not one branch of a proud inclination let sober men judge It has been often observed of these men how dear They and their Opinions are to themselves and the Doctor has here given you a good ordinary instance of it For if he had not been bewitch'd with self-conceit he had never made this absurd parallel for what had Abel or Isaac to do with his Cause If he had onely called us the seed of Cain and Ishmael without saying why who would have thought the reason had been our questioning whether men are snatch'd into a state of Grace by an irresistible power And yet this is his great quarrel against us concerning the manner of Conversion which here he pretends to explain I know he does more than insinuate and that more than once that we disown the very assistances of the Holy Spirit as I shall convince you in a fitter place but this you are to look upon as an effect of his rage which makes him foam out Calumnies against us without any discretion for he knows well enough that his Adversaries are not guilty of it as I shall shew you too from his own words and then I shall desire him to consider whether the Father of Lyes be not the Representative of such shameless Writers as he is an example of As to what he saith that such a work of God upon men as he contends for is exposed to derision if upon that account he compares his Adversaries to scoffing Ishmael I think he does them great wrong For let him if he can name any of his opinion in this matter who has debated the point with any appearance of Modesty and Sobriety and was answered with the least shew of Contempt But as for those of whom Dr. Owen is one that instead of answering the Arguments of their Adversaries complain that they are laughed at and do themselves fall upon them with the foulest reproaches as upon the Enemies of Christ it may be sometimes good to take down their haughty spirits and to render their arrogance contemptible lest others be encouraged to hope that any Cause may be carried by vapouring In my opinion it is a difficult undertaking to define in particular what is the manner and measure of the Holy Spirit 's Operations because I think the Scriptures have not particularly acquainted us what it is Let others who have better considered the thing enjoy the liberty of thinking otherwise and for my own part I shall with all thankfulness submit to further instruction But as for Dr. Owen I hope to make it appear that the Scriptures do not favour his determination of the Question which I shall the rather endeavour because I conceive this opinion that the Spirit worketh upon our mindes in an irresistible manner especially as he hath advanced it to be of dangerous consequence to the Souls of men In the mean time I shall lay down some Propositions the truth of which will I think be easily granted by all sober Christians from whence we may in general conclude what is the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations and the measure of their power not that I think even this were needful if our Author and those of his way had not fallen into a dangerous Mistake by venturing too far For that which has been already said seems to me to afford a sufficient foundation of Godliness and Comfort if all be not subverted again by their opinion of the Manner wherein we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit Now I think it will appear that those general Propositions wherein they agree with us concerning the Manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations on our mindes are inconsistent with their particular definition of it And the first of them is this That 1. Faith and Repentance or Conversion to God together with Perseverance in Holiness are truely and properly the effects of God's Word revealed to us in the Doctrines of the Gospel Wherefore such is the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operation in producing these Qualifications in our mindes that it hinders them not from being the Genuine effects of the Revelation of the Gospel but they ought still to be ascribed to that force and efficacy of those divine Truths which are contained in it whereby the Gospel is in it self a fit and proper means of working the Grace of God in the mindâ— of men Now it is very plain that the proper and natural power of the Gospel to produce these effects consists in the evidence of its Truth in the authority and excellency of its Laws and in the weightiness of its Promises and Threatnings and other motives to obedience Wherefore if Conversion be the proper effect of God's Word it follows that the Holy Spirit does 1. Onely co-operate to the producing of that effect and 2. In that manner as it may truely be affirmed to be an effect of those considerations which are propounded to us in the Gospel The truth of the Supposition is manifest from divers places of Scripture As for Faith St. Paul plainly tells us it comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.17 Thus upon the conversion of many Unbelievers it is said that the Word of God grew mightily and prevailed Acts 19.20 i. e. the testimonies which God gave to the truth of the Gospel convinced many that were in all appearance most likely to oppose it Hence St. Paul tells the Corinthians that in Christ Jesus he had begotten them through the Gospel i. e. by the preaching of the Gospel he had first brought them over to the faith of Christ. Furthermore our obedience is by St. Peter ascribed to the power of God's Word where he saith that we have great and precious promises given to us that by These we might be partakers of the divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 To the same purpose the Word of God is said to work effectually in those that believed 1 Thess. 2.13 i. e. by the force of those promises mentioned by St. Peter and other weighty considerations moving to holiness Finally our Regeneration is expresly ascribed to the Word of God for we are said to be born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1.23 and our Spiritual improvement is attributed not long after to the same cause As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 Thus the increase of
Christian Virtue is ascribed both to the Holy Spirit and to the Word of God in that Prayer of St. Paul for the Colossians that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good work c. that is by the means of a fuller understanding of the Will of God Col. 1.9 10. And the co-operation of both these Causes for the producing of the same Effect is yet more plainly expressed in those words of our Saviour's Prayer for his Disciples Sanctifie them through thy TRVTH thy WORD is TRVTH where nothing can be more plain than this that the holiness of Believers is ascribed to the Operation of Truth upon their mindes viz. that Truth which is revealed in the Gospel Seing then that the Gospel is not onely in it self a proper means of converting the Unbeliever and the Disobedient of confirming and improving the sincere Convert but as you see the Graces of the Holy Spirit are those effects also which the Scriptures frequently ascribe to the weightiness of those Reasons and Considerations that are offered to our understandings by the Word of God We must be careful not to define the manner whereby the Holy Spirit worketh in the mindes of men to produce these Graces so as to deny them to be the Genuine and proper effects of divine Truths which is done by assigning such a manner of Operation to the Holy Spirit as must needs be inconsistent with ascribing Conversion to the Operation of Truth Wherefore it is too boldly done of Dr. Owen and his Party to affirm that Conversion is an effect of such an Operation of the Holy Spirit upon the minde as makes it impossible for a man not to be converted and withal that Conversion is impossible without such an irresistible Operation For 1. If a man must necessarily resist the whole strength of God's Word till Conversion be wrought in him by an irresistible action of the Spirit as these men teach then 't is plainly absurd to make Conversion to be an effect of God's Word For upon this Hypothesis it contributes no more to a man's conversion than the hurling of a Pebble does to the throwing down of a mighty Wall that is falling by the fury of the Cannon If as the Doctor saith the Will cannot make use of that Grace for conversion which it can refuse if also it can resist all kinde of Perswasions Reasons Arguments and Motives as he himself supposes and by consequence that Operation of the Spirit whereby Conversion is caused be irresistible What can be more evident than that Conversion must upon these terms be onely and wholly the effect of an irresistible power and not at all of Reasons and Motives To say that the Operations of the Spirit produce their effects irresistibly because they are joyned with the Word is to ascribe an irresistible Operation to the Word as well as to the Spirit or rather to make the irresistibleness to arise from the concurrence of both those Causes Now besides that upon this Hypothesis all men to whom the Gospel is made known would be converted seeing we have proved the ministration of the Gospel to be accompanied with the Operations of the Spirit in all that hear it Besides this I say these men do not place the irresistible force by which Conversion as they say is wrought in the concurrence of the Word and the Spirit but in the sole Operation of the Spirit Now that Conversion should at the same time be an effect of God's Word which as they say a man cannot but resist till he is converted and of such an Operation of the Spirit too as is altogether irresistible is to me as unintelligible as Transubstantiation For if it were onely said that 't is possible for a man to resist the Operations of Truth and withal granted that Conversion must as well be an effect of the truth of God's Word as of the Holy Spirit 's Operating in our mindes it would plainly follow that his Operations were resistible The reason is because where an Effect depends upon the concurrence of two Causes he that hath it always in his power to resist the force of one is at any time able to frustrate the other and consequently to hinder the effect Now they themselves grant and it is plain by daily experience that the Word of God may be resisted and heard in vain as it was even when preached in the demonstration of the Spirit and Power Wherefore when the Operations of the Spirit conspire with the power of the Word to convert a sinner if he can be obstinate against the latter he may also quench the former and then they are not irresistible Furthermore it may be said if Conversion be wrought irresistibly by the sole Operation of the Spirit then the Word which may be resisted is unnecessary But if the Word cannot but be resisted till the effect is wrought by another power that is invincible viz. that of the Spirit then 't is plain that the effect is owing onely to that power which is to render the whole Ministry of the Gospel utterly vain and useless and to contradict all those passages of Scripture which attribute our Conversion to the force of divine Truth But 2. It is further evident from the manner of their explaining this irresistible Operation that they exclude all the influence of God's Word from being a means of Conversion Dr. Owen tells us that the Holy Ghost is the immediate Author and cause of Regeneration and he is often putting us in minde that we are converted by an immediate Physical Operation of the Spirit which he endeavours to prove for many Pages together Now a Physical Operation he opposeth to Moral and thereby excludeth from it all use of any Reasons Arguments and Motives whatsoever as he doth industriously more than once Now what is more plain than that to ascribe Conversion to such an Operation as this is wholly to exclude the Word of God from being any way subordinate to that Grace whereby we are converted For although the Doctor tells us sometimes that he grants a Moral Operation of the Spirit and that he onely denies the concurrence of that with the Word to be the total cause of Conversion yet by his leave he does not make it so much as a partial cause For if this Physical Operation onely is that Grace which can remove all obstacles and overcome all oppositions and infallibly produce the effect intended as he speaks if this Operation doth not consist in the use of any motive whatsoever contained in the Word of God Finally if this Operation be the immediate cause of Conversion if nothing intervenes between this Operation and the Effect it is then plain I conceive that the Word of God is wholly excluded from being a means of Conversion for neither is the use of any
few moments it cannot be procured at all It many times hinders a good beginning that a man findes he cannot become a Convert in an instant and thence concludes that it can never be better with him than it is at present which he will be the more ready to do if he has heard that Conversion is a thing that comes by a snatch and an Instantaneous Act and that unless the work be done all of a sudden which he findes it will not be it can never be done But this is a Doctrine so pernicious to the Souls of men that the mischief of it were sufficient to prove it false For if it were true it were then in vain for an habitual sinner at least to attempt his own recovery since a custom in sin cannot be suddenly broken without a Miracle but must be worn away by contrary practices or not at all It will require some time and much patience to unlearn a way of life that is grown customary and natural and to make the contrary habitual and easie But by assiduity and constancy the thing may be done Therefore if a man has entertained any serious thoughts of Repentance he ought not to discourage himself though he findes his affection to sin hard to put off nor to give up himself for a lost person when he is again overtaken by a Temptation but to renew his resolutions more vigorously and to pray more frequently and earnestly and to keep on thus in a way of well-doing for there is not the least doubt but by this means every day something will be done to the bettering of his minde and the making of a good life more easie and ready to him till he has gained the true liberty of the Sons of God 2. This very Consideration which is of good use against despairing to prevail if a man that has yet the opportunity desires to amend his life is also a good Antidote against the madness of deferring our Repentance upon a presumption that we can repent and turn to God when we please For if it be not in the power of a wicked man while he is thus flattering himself to repent this present moment he has no reason to think that he may suddenly repent any time hereafter The most that is in his power at present is to do something in order to Repentance or Conversion but that is not to repent The utmost he can do is to begin well but that is not doing the thing Now the longer he is thus trifling with himself his evil habits contract more stubbornness and will require more time to break them and yet he has less time to do it in than he had before Nor is it likely that he will begin hereafter while he has any time before him for the reason why a man defers his reformation to another time is not because he intends to begin then but because he has no minde to begin now and unless he be then in a better minde than he is at present he will certainly defer his Repentance still nor is there any probability that he will finde himself better disposed after he has added Iniquity to Iniquity and made himself more a Childe of the Devil than he was before And indeed it commonly happens that they who cheat themselves in this manner run out their foolish presumption almost to the length of their Lives till the terrours of death make them serious and then I fear 't is too late to make a good beginning For what good should it do a man to promise that he will mend his life now he can live no longer or to resolve that he will spend his time better when he has no more to spend To conclude if the Conversion of a wicked man be a work of some time and requires much diligence and preparation If so far as we can judge by several Promises and Exhortations in holy Writ and by the experience of Mankinde the Operations of the Spirit move Unregenerate men according to their present capacities for instance either to Fear if they be yet Fearless or to Sorrow if they have yet little or no Remorse or to Care if they are ready to run upon Temptations and the like If the Holy Spirit enables them to mend their state by such Degrees and Means till their lusts and evil habits be subdued then as they that have lived a wicked life and yet enjoy the opportunity of Repentance have no reason to despair of their Conversion merely because they cannot break the power of their Lusts and overcome the world all at once so neither has any man the least reason to presume that he can repent when he pleases and thereupon to neglect the present opportunity For all that he can do at present is to make a good beginning and not to do that immediately when upon this moment my eternal state may depend what a madness is that SECT 5. To all that hath been said we may further adde that the Holy Spirit moves upon the mindes oâ— men in a most familiar way and that his Motions are not discernible by us from the natural Operations of our mindes We feel them no otherwise than we do our own Thoughts and Meditations we cannot distinguish them by the manner of their affecting us from our natural Reasonings and the Operations of Truth upon our Souls This imperceptibleness of the impressions made upon our Souls by the divine Spirit was that which as I told you before Chap. 3. Sect. 10. our Saviour signified to Nicodemus by the Similitude of the Wind Joh. 3. And we are not to wonder that the Holy Spirit does move our Souls when we are not conscious to our selves of any supernatural Influence which they are acted by since he can communicate Reason and Perswasion to them without making use of any thing that belongs to our bodily Structure and much more of our external Senses without which it is impossible for us to convey our Thoughts and Reasonings to one another's mindes Wherefore the Holy Spirit being intimate to our Souls which is a good expression of the Doctor 's used to another purpose can affect us when we are not sensible of it and produce effects upon our mindes in that manner as if they were merely the effects of our own natural reasoning and such consideration of divine Truth as we can excite in our selves and in one another Such is the manner of the Spirit 's Operations in us that if God had onely designed to give the Holy Spirit to us without making any mention of it in his Word we could never have known unless it had been communicated to us by some private Revelation that our Souls are moved by a divine Power when we love God and do his Will which as I take it the Doctor seems to grant in those words of his that this is a subject in the handling whereof we have nothing to give us assistance but pure Revelation which are large words
Diligence in using the external means of Grace His Operations in us make us capable of recovering our selves by degrees and all the while there is no sensible difference between them and the natural Operations of our mindes and yet we are sure that we have his Assistance and Help in all the good we do and without it can do nothing at all to saving purposes To affirm more particularly what is the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations in us I dare not unless I had warrant which I think I have not from the holy Scripture so to do And if this be all which the Scripture lets us know concerning it we have good reason to think that no more is needful to be known by us SECT 7. Thus I have throgh the blessing of God finished the First Part of my Undertaking and given you a plain account of that which I believe to be the true sence of the Holy Scriptures concerning those Operations of the Holy Spirit which are promised in the Gospel to all Ages of the Church I do not know that I have swerved in the least from the sence of the antient Church in any thing I have said upon this subject and I am the more perswaded that I have not done so being very confident that I have not at all departed from the Doctrine of the Church of England in this matter the judgement whereof I am prepared to leave to my Superiors I had observed that some late Writers especially have represented the Grace of the Holy Ghost under such notions as are either intricate and unintelligible or inconsistent with the great ends of Religion and of fatal consequence to the Souls of men Those of them that cannot be understood serving onely to the multiplying of idle Questions and frivolous Disputes and those that are ministring either to unreasonable Presumption or incurable Despair Therefore when the Streams were so muddy and impure I thought it was the best way to go to that Fountain of Truth the holy Word of God and to guide all my thoughts of this matter by what I could discern there And truely I found that although the Doctrine of Grace as it has been tampered withal by men that serve a Cause and as it has been debased by humane mixtures and inventions is at best a subject of unprofitable talk yet as it is represented in the holy Scriptures it is clear and plain to the understanding and likewise a most powerful motive to Godliness How nearly I have kept to the sence of Holy Writ I must leave you to judge As for the Reader who is yet in any thing otherwise perswaded than I am if he has used diligence and sincerity in examining as I know my self to have done in considering all I have written where we do not agree I hope God will pardon the errour on which side soever it lies I think it cannot be denied that I have in some measure expressed my meaning plainly easily naturally which a man needs not be ashamed to do who believes that he speaks the truth I have neither pretended to explain things that are not intelligible nor made any thing difficult to understand by affecting obscurity of expression As for the profitableness of this Discourse it cannot be better judged of than by that which should be the end of all Writings of this nature viz. the promoting of true Godliness And certainly if the true Doctrine of the Operations of the Holy Spirit be that which I have here offered to your consideration it does apparently render all wicked men inexcusable that live under the Gospel and makes highly for the encouragement of Religion This will appear by surveying the three General Heads of this Discourse for by so doing it may easily be shewn that there is nothing wanting to make the promise of the Holy Spirit as it has been explained the most powerful motive to the study of godliness and virtue that it can be supposed to be For 1. There is nothing wanting in respect of the end of this promise and of those effects for the producing of which in us the Operations of the Holy Spirit are promised For they are all Christian virtues whatsoever all sorts of qualifications that are needful to our eternal happiness And therefore we need not doubt to strive against that sin which does most easily beset us nor sit down in despair of obtaining that Grace or Virtue which is most contrary to our corrupt affections and customs for if God will give the Holy Spirit for all needful purposes he will bestow a more plentiful measure of his Grace for the subduing of that sin and the gaining of that virtue because here his assistance is most needful and he that hath promised his Spirit to answer all our needs will not deny us when we ask him to supply the greatest of all 2. There is nothing wanting in the promise of the Holy Spirit to make it such a motive in respect of those to whom the promise is made because it is made to every one that believes the Gospel to every one I say under a possible condition so that none of us can have any reason to fear that we are shut out of the Promise for I have shewn you it lies open to all and we cannot lose the benefit of it but by excluding our selves Besides the condition of obtaining special Grace from God being that of importunate asking we are hereby moved to earnest and frequent Prayers which you know is one branch of pious endeavour And then the condition of more plentiful Communications of the divine Spirit being a careful improvement of those measures of Grace which we have now obtained this also is a plain and powerful motive to every Christian that has proceeded more or less in the way of Salvation to be as fruitful as he can in every good work and to follow after holiness looking diligently lest he fail of the Grace of God 3. There is nothing wanting in this promise to make it a strong motive to the study of godliness if we consider the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations in us which as you have heard will not be effectual without our own Consideration and Care and Watchfulness because God hath promised his Spirit to assist our Endeavours but not to make us good men without them and our recovery still depends as much upon our diligence in the event as if it depended upon nothing else Wherefore in all respects the promise of the Holy Spirit as it is expressed in the Scriptures is a most prevalent motive to the study of Piety and Virtue And since it was my designe from the first to recover it to this use out of the hands of those men that had made it good for nothing I could not conclude better than with shewing you plainly wherein the force of this Promise lies to make us all careful to Work out our own Salvation O God forasmuch as without thee we are
does not say in plain terms that he is infallible yet in that Book which I have taken the pains to consider he lays claim as you will see to such an Illumination of minde by the Holy Spirit as differs very little from that kinde of Inspiration which the Apostles had But this will not hinder you from trying the Doctor 's Spirit and way of Teaching if you consider what he very well observed in the fore-mentioned Book viz. that the Bereans were highly extoll'd for searching whether the Doctrine concerning our Saviour preached by St. Paul were so or no For he must not desire to be believed more hastily than St. Paul did who we are sure spake by an infallible Spirit The more highly any man pretends to the divine Spirit the better Testimonies he had need to produce for the truth of his pretence No wise man will lightly take up that belief of another which if he once gives way to he must believe him in all things else The brighter those Illuminations are which any Teacher boasts of the less reason you have to take his bare word for it and if he be not willing that you should examine his Doctrines he gives you great cause of suspition that they will not abide the Tryal Besides the Doctor takes notice that what was praised in the Bereans is commended in the Scripture Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God because many false spirits are gone out into the world 1 Joh. 4.1 Prophets then as he goes on must be tried before they be trusted now the reason of this holds still there are many false Teachers abroad in the world wherefore try every one try his spirit his spiritual gift of Teaching and that by the Word of God I will onely adde that the reason holds more strongly now for if false Teachers pretended to an infallible Spirit even whilst the Apostles were alive to contradict them and discover them much more likely are they to do so now when they think they may do it more securely and therefore we had need to use the more diligence in trying those Teachers that pretend loftily by that Word of God which the Apostles have left us in their Writings Now if the Doctor would have you to shut your own Eyes and then trust to that New saving Light by which he pretends to explain Gospel-Truths this were enough to make you suspect that the Light that is in him is Darkness Or if he meant to except himself from being tried when he bad you try the Spirits for that reason he is least of all to be excepted I have obeyed the Apostles advice and tried him as you may see in the following Book which I was willing to make publick because those Reasons which satisfie me that he is very much out of the way in discoursing upon spiritual things after this manner may possibly seem as clear to you as they do to my self If there be any Sophistry in them or carnal Reasoning or perverting of Holy Writ 't is more than I know and I shall thank the Doctor for making the discovery which I think he is bound to do if he can not onely for your sake but for mine too For so far as I understand my self I am not less desirous to retract any errour of my own than I am to convince you of his And therefore if he be as willing as I am I shall in all probability hear further from him In the mean time I desire you to believe neither of us but to try us both If the Doctor 's friends should be troubled to find him charg'd with Nonsence in the following Book the Author has this to say for himself that he knew no other name so fit as Nonsence to call Nonsence by And he believes that he has not onely said but prov'd also that the Doctor is guilty of Nonsence where he has charged him with it He hopes also that they will not be offended with him for taking occasion sometimes to rebuke this man for those rude Words and unjust Reproaches which he has poured forth for whole Pages together upon his Adversaries of the Church of England For if it be possible he should be taught at last to manage controversies in Religion in a more Christian manner than he has done hitherto And now the Author will onely say in behalf of himself that his designe in this Book was to clear the Truth of that Question which he has undertaken to every ordinary understanding and thereby to promote the power of Godliness And the best thing he can say of the Book it self is that it hath been thought by men of far better judgement than he can pretend to not to be altogether improper for that end And if they are not mistaken may the All-wise and good God prosper the designe of it with his Blessing The CONTENTS Of the Introduction SECT I. THat the promise of the Holy Spirit is according to the Scriptures a great motive to diligence in Religion Page 1. That according to Dr. Owen's principles it seems to be none at all p. 3. The Author's designe p. 4. SECT II. The advantage which the Doctor makes by pretending that onely the Regenerate understand spiritual things spiritually p. 5. while he proves himself to be regenerate by his spiritual understanding of spiritual things p. 6. This Artifice of his discovered in some instances p. 7. That he allows onely himself and his party to be competent Judges of his Doctrine concerning the Operations of the Holy Spirit p. 11. SECT III. His interpretation of 1 Cor. 2.14 explained p. 15. SECT IV. That his meaning of the natural man is groundless p. 20. Of his not receiving the things of the Spirit absurd p. 21. And of their being foolishness to him blasphemous p. 25. The odde account he gives of the reasonableness of the Gospel in his Preface p. 27. Other reflections upon his sence of the fore-mentioned Text p. 30. That the Doctor 's pretended Gospel-mysteries need his interpretation of that Text but the real mysteries of the Gospel need it not p. 31. The pernicious consequence of his interpretation p. 32. SECT V. Another sence of the Text offered according to St. Chrysostome whose Authority the Doctor pretends in favour of his own p. 33. The scope of the Apostle in that and the former Chapter largely shewn p. 34. From whence it plainly appears what he meant by the natural man p. 40. The Scriptural notion of the state of nature p. 42. What is meant by the things of the Spirit of God and their being spiritually discerned p. 43. and by the spiritual man p. 45. The incoherence of the Doctor 's sence with the Context p. 46. Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase upon the Text vindicated from the exceptions of Dr. Owen p. 47. And shewn to agree with those passages of St. Chrysostome which Dr. Owen himself produceth p. 51. That the following Book is not to be
thereof p. 277. An instance of his excessive boldness in this matter p. 280. The manner of the holy Spirit 's Operations suitable to the rational nature of Mankinde p. 282. which is in words granted but in effect denied by Dr. Owen p. 283. His vain endeavours to reconcile this Proposition with his Physical immediate Operation p. 286. Isa. 5.4 discoursed upon p. 290. The holy Spirit operates in that manner as to leave our diligence necessary to attain the end of his Operations p. 292. What is meant by God's working in us to will and to do p. 293. And by giving a new Heart p. 296. The Operations of the Spirit suited to our spiritual estate p. 298. That his Graces are wrought gradually is an useful consideration p. 302. That the Operations of the holy Spirit are in themselves imperceptible and known onely by their effects p. 305. That to be guided by the Holy Spirit and by the Gospel and by a good Conscience is one and the same thing p. 309. That men resist the Holy Spirit when they think of nothing less p. 312. That the Operations of the Holy Spirit are Assistances p. 314. Dr. Owen falsly pretends that his Adversaries deny the Assistances of Grace p. 315. That his errour is more justly chargeable upon himself p. 318. The promise of the Holy Spirit a forcible motive to Godliness shewn from the general Heads of the whole Discourse p. 324. The Conclusion of the First Part p. 326. THE INTRODUCTION SECT I. FRom what St. Paul saith Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure it is evident that the consideration of that Divine Assistance whereof the Apostle speaks is a pregnant motive to excite our greatest care and endeavour to do the will of God For I suppose no Christian will say that St. Paul pretended to enforce his Exhortation with an Argument that had little or no force in it to perswade The forcibleness of this Motive lies principally in this Supposition that as they upon whom the aids of the Holy Spirit which are promised in the Gospel are bestowed may fulfil the conditions of obtaining Eternal Life so withal they may miscarry through their own negligence and then their sin becomes more inexcusable and their punishment will be more heavy And this is a clear reason why even those in whom God worketh both to will and to do are yet exhorted to work out their Salvation with fear and trembling Upon this Supposition the Author to the Hebrews doth earnestly exhort Christians to perseverance in the profession and practice of the Gospel For saith he of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath done despite to the spirit of grace which he saith plainly for this end to excite them to an effectual care in improving those Spiritual Aids whereby they were able to persevere This I think will easily be granted unless we can imagine that the Apostle talks at as strange a rate as Dr. John Owen frequently doth in his Book concerning the Holy Spirit where he often threatens them with the day of Judgement that look upon him and divers of his notions in Divinity to be senseless and fanatical For we shall see that his threatnings have not that charitable meaning in them which the admonitions of the Apostle have He tells us that Those by whom Regeneration i. e. his notion of it is exposed to scorn will one day understand the necessity of it although it may be not before 't is too late to obtain any advantage by it Now one would think it to be the Doctor 's opinion that those who shall one day be damned might by a timely care have prevented it and that he intended this warning to make them careful to understand the necessity of Regeneration before it be too late But if you think so you are much mistaken and you do not yet understand this man's Principles for throughout his whole Book he supposes a certain powerful illumination of the Holy Ghost given to none but those that shall certainly be saved to be necessary in order to a saving knowledge of Regeneration And as for the rest the darkness that is in them is no less effectual to binde them in a state of Sin than it is in the Devils themselves Now I do not understand how the Doctor 's Warnings could be of any use to the Devils themselves And I do as little understand why he makes such frequent excursions as he doth to threaten his Adversaries with the day of Judgement unless as one would be tempted to believe by the insulting language that goes along with it it be some refreshing to a man so naturally vindictive to think he shall one day see 'em damn'd This is one great exception I have against this Man's Book that whereas he contends so fiercely for his Opinions as he doth all along pretending in particular That it is of the highest importance to us to enquire into and secure unto our selves the promised workings of the Spirit yet supposing his notions thereof to be true it is no matter whether they be enquired into or no for neither can we have a true understanding what they are nor if we could would that excite our endeavours to secure them for according to him it is impossible for a man to understand a spiritual truth or do any thing that is spiritually good unless he be enabled by such an Almighty Power as leaves it on the other hand impossible for him to be spiritually blinde and dead any longer For this power he saith is irresistible and he affirmeth it to be false that the Will can make use of that Grace for Conversion which it can refuse Now the Doctor confesses that this kinde of blindness and deadness with respect unto spiritual things is a matter which the World cannot endure to hear of and is ready to fall into a tumult upon the mention of it And if he says true I am very glad on 't because if the World could not endure to hear such Doctrines as these are we might hope to see a great many men wiser and better than they are for he hath stated the Doctrine of the operations of the Spirit in that manner that instead of exciting men thereby to hearty endeavours after true goodness he hath laid down Principles that will excuse them if they be never so careless and so hath betray'd this great encouragement of the Gospel into the hands of lazy and wicked men I shall therefore endeavour to give a better account of what the Holy Scripture teacheth us in this matter then I think he hath done and I shall withal examine those Arguments wherewith he pretends so to demonstrate his notions that the proudest and most petulant of his Adversaries shall not be able to return any thing of a solid answer
two whole Sections he discourses concerning the impotency of Man to perform the Commands of God and makes it equivalent to an inability of receiving Spiritual things and quotes Rom. 7.8 The carnal minde is not subject to the Law of God as if it were a parallel place to the Text in hand For my part I cannot tye these incoherent things together if the Doctor can let him He had told us in plain terms that moral Duties to be observed towards God our selves and other men were not the things here peculiarly intended and that is right but the Mysteries depending on more Soveraign Supernatural Revelation and that wholly And in this notion I shall understand him for I cannot understand him in both together 3. He explains receiving of these things by receiving them spiritually and sometimes by receiving them as they are in themselves and by other Phrases that are equivalent according to him But what means he by Spiritually he tells you the Natural man may so receive them as to assent to their truth but that which he cannot do is to assent to them under an apprehension of their conformity to the Wisdom and Holiness of God nor can he discern their suitableness unto the great ends for which they are proposed as the means of accomplishing So that this it is to discern them spiritually and as they are in themselves He likewise tells us the proper meaning of receiveth not is he cannot know them and that impotency is double 1. A Natural impotency that of the Vnderstanding in respect whereof he is absolutely unable so to do without an especial renovation by an irresistible work of the Holy Ghost and this impotency he says is absolutely and naturally insuperable And 2. A moral Impotency that of the Will and Affections The short of it is he neither will nor can if he would know them spiritually so that his meaning of these words The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God is this That a man in whose minde an Eternal Light is not created by the Almighty Power of God although the Doctrines of the Gospel be proposed to him with that evidence that he assents to the truth of them yet he neither can nor will understand them to be agreeable to the Wisdom and Holiness of God and suitable to the ends of the Gospel the Glory of God and the Salvation of Man 4. This clause they are foolishness unto him he hath perplexed with various interpretations After giving several accounts on which a thing may be esteemed foolishness he tells us for one or other or all of these reasons are spiritual things foolishness to the natural man which is as much as to say there is some reason why they are so though he cannot directly tell us what it is If any of his Reasons will serve let us take one for instance That is looked on as foolish which contains means and ends disproportionate Now he had told us spiritual things are foolishness in the nature of the things themselves with respect unto the minde I think he means thus that such is the nature of them that a natural man must needs look upon them to be a means unsuitable and disproportionate to the ends of God's Glory and Man's good and then his interpretation runs thus The Natural man is one who for want of the irresistible Light cannot discern the suitableness of the Gospel to those ends because he cannot discern it is suitable to them But it may be his Instances will make his minde more plain One is that of the Philosophers of old to whom the Gospel was foolishness now says he if spiritual things had been suited to the reasons of natural men then those who had most improved their mindes would more readily have received them than others By which I perceive he understands by these things being foolishness to the natural man their unsuitableness to their mindes who had most improved them or were wisest and knew most But that which is somewhat stranger is his telling of us that things of any worth in nature and morality are soonest embraced by such persons But here things fell out quite otherwise they were the Wise the Rational that made the longest opposition to spiritual things i. e. if the Doctor 's instance be pertinent that such is the nature of those things that it could not be otherwise so that the unsuitableness of spiritual things to our mindes doth at last consist in this that the more wise and knowing a man is the more unapt he is to receive them But then his other instance of those to whom the Gospel is as he says foolishness viz. That of his present Adversaries is to a quite contrary purpose for he chargeth them with profound Ignorance and Confidence which cannot be sufficiently admired or despised and certainly then their mindes are not very much improved Now I think he says concerning these that they look upon the spiritual things of the Gospel as foolish and unsuited to the rational principles of their mindes So that all the light we have gained by the Doctor 's instances to discern his meaning of this clause is that the spiritual things of the Gospel are in themselves unsuitable to the mindes of those who have the best improved reasons and they are look'd upon to be unsuitable to the rational principles of their mindes whose Ignorance and Confidence can never be sufficiently despised And here I desire the Doctor to make my peace with the Reader for carrying him along with me to grope after his meaning in such a tedious Labyrinth as he hath contrived to lose us in But I do not ask the Doctor 's pardon if I have miss'd of his meaning at last since if he please he may write more perspicuously if he cannot his Friends would do well to finde out a more natural employment for him 5. Because they are spiritually discerned he explains thus because they are discerned by a spiritual light What light is that he tells you the light it self whereby alone spiritual things can be spiritually discerned is created in us by an Almighty act of the Power of God Now from the examination of his Notions concerning the several Phrases his sense of the whole seems to be this That a man in whose minde a spiritual Light is not created by the Almighty act of the power of God neither can nor will understand the revealed Doctrines of the Gospel to be agreeable to the attributes of God and fit to procure man's Salvation because such is the nature of those Doctrines that he cannot but look upon them to be disagreeable to the one and unfit for the other or because they are unsuitable or are looked upon as unsuitable to the rational Principles of the Minde and 't is utterly impossible he should discern that agreeableness and fitness without that new light created in his minde because such is the manner whereby
there is no possibility of our entering into the c. if we are unrighteous As for the deliverance from misery Are not those Doctrines discernibly suited to that end that are suited to deliver us from sin And are not all these things so plain that 't is impossible for a man who hath an improved minde and considers them as an understanding man may not to discern them much more if he hath considered the Propositions themselves so as to assent to the truth of them What Agreeableness and Suitableness is it which this Doctor means Is he able to explain it by such like instances as I have used If he be he shall see that we are able to discern it if he be not he cants like a Quaker and pretends to know things which he is not able to make sense of when he comes to speak them But may a Natural man understand and assent to the truth of the propositions of the Gospel Yes saith the Doctor he may For instance he may assent unto this That Jesus Christ was crucified But now it is another Proposition of the Gospel that to preach Christ crucified is to Speak the Wisdom of God vers 7. It is also another that The preaching of the cross to them that are saved is the power of God Chap. 1. vers 18. Now if he may understand and assent to these Propositions he may believe the conformity of the Doctrine concerning Christ crucified to the Divine Attributes and its efficacy to bring men to Repentance and Salvation which the Doctor saies he cannot and thereby revokes his concession That the Doctrines of the Gospel are Propositions whose sense and importance any rational man may understand and assent to their truth and so be said to receive them Again if the Doctor will take my word for it I assure him that I do assent unto the Doctrines of the Gospel Vnder an apprehension of their conformity to the Wisdom and Holiness of God and of their suitableness to the great ends for which they are proposed as the means of accomplishing If a natural man can do this then the Doctor is something mistaken to say that he cannot if he cannot then I am no natural man according to his own Principles and may I hope pretend to argue with him about Spiritual things 3. He saith That Spiritual things being foolishness unto the natural man is a reason why he cannot receive them taken from the nature of the things themselves with respect unto the minde Now the nature of the things themselves is perpetually the same but the Mindes of men may apprehend them otherwise than they are in their own nature as when they apprehend them to be foolishness which is the reason why they do not receive them and this reason is not at all taken from the nature of the things themselves but from the Mindes mistaking the nature of these things as he in effect confesseth when he saith that in themselves they are the Wisdom of God But that which he means as we may see by his instance of the Philosophers of old is this That the more wise and knowing any man is the more unready he is to embrace the Mysteries of the Gospel He saith expresly Any thing in Nature and Morality of any worth is embraced soonest by them that are wisest and know most but here things fell out quite otherwise Well suppose they did yet the reason why the Philosophers rejected the Gospel was not because they were wise and knowing men but because they would not admit of Revelation as such nor yield that to be divinely revealed which was above the reach of mere natural reason and this was their great Pride and Folly So the Pharisees rejected our Saviour not because they were Learned and Knowing men but because their Lusts and Interests prejudiced them against his Doctrine as he frequently told them So that neither those nor these opposed the Gospel because it was unsuitable to the rational principles of their mindes as the Doctor would have us believe but because it was unsuitable to their unreasonable prejudices and interests which sure were none of those Principles The Writings of Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus and divers others may satisfie us that the Gospel was early received by Learned Men and Philosophers what wise men they are that reject it we may learn from the Doctor The principal Mysteries of the Gospel saith he are by many looked upon and rejected as foolish because false and untrue though indeed they have no reason to think them false but because they suppose them foolish Now are not these excellent Philosophers that reject a Doctrine as foolish because 't is false and then have no other reason to think it false but because they suppose it foolish Is not their rejecting the Gospel an admirable instance whereby to demonstrate that the Doctrines thereof are foolishness in the nature of the things themselves with respect unto the minds of them that are wisest and know most If that which the Doctor here saies be true then if it be necessary for a man to be a Christian 't is a very dangerous thing for him to improve his minde by the exercise of his reason since foolish and credulous persons are the most likely to give any entertainment to it which was the very charge of Celsus and Julian against Christianity and if they could have made good this charge they and the Doctor here had done very well to expose it to scorn and contempt as they and he have done by representing it to be such a Religion as the more a man exercises his reason about it the further he is from believing it For this is that which the Doctor means by saying that the Mysteries of the Gospel are foolishness in the nature of the things themselves with respect unto the minde viz. that they are in their own nature such things that the more wise and knowing a man is the more likely he is to despise and scorn them which whether it be not Blasphemy I now leave the Reader to judge Here I cannot but remember what the Doctor premised in his Preface to the Readers concerning the reasonableness of Christian Religion It is not saith he that I know of denied by any that Christian Religion is highly reasonable I suppose he means by any Christian. But now as he addes presently the Question is not what it is in it self but what it is with relation to our Reason and then he tells us largely 't is reasonable to Reason enlightned but foolishness i. e. unreasonable to the natural man whose Reason is unenlightned by the irresistible work Say you so Doctor How comes it then about That it is not denied by any that Christian Religion is highly reasonable Can they not deny it to be highly reasonable and yet must they necessarily esteem it foolish and unreasonable He saith also 'T is in vain to dispute with any about the reasonableness of
Evangelical Faith and Obedience until the state and condition of our Reason be agreed Wherefore to speak plainly in the case as we do acknowledge that Reason in its corrupted state is all that any man hath in that state whereby to understand and judge of the sense and truth of revealed Doctrines c. so as to the Spiritual things themselves of the Gospel in their own nature they are foolishness unto it If the Doctor speaks plainly here then 1. according to him it is in vain to dispute with any whose reason is corrupted about the reasonableness of Evangelical Faith and Obedience According to him also every mans Reason is corrupted whose Minde is not renewed by the Holy Ghost i. e. enlightned by an Almighty act of the Power of God So that 't is in vain to dispute with any such person about the Reasonableness of the Gospel for the Spiritual things thereof will seem foolishness to him do what he can till the Holy Ghost renews him by his Almightiness And thus the Doctor hath proved that 't is in vain for him or any man to go about to convince an Infidel of the reasonableness of the Gospel for 't is in vain to dispute it with him till the state and condition of their reason be agreeed on i. e. till it be agreed to make renewed Reason the judge of the matter in question but the Infidel hath none of that Reason for all the reason he hath to judge of these matters by is corrupted reason as the Doctor himself contends wherefore 't is impossible for him to agree that their renewed Reason shall be the judge in this case Wherefore 't is in vain one would think to dispute with him at all The only remedy in this case is for the Infidel to make the Doctor 's renewed Reason the judge between them and when they are agreed upon that they may fall to dispute i. e. when the dispute is at an end for if the Doctor 's reason is to judge of the Reasonableness of the Gospel the Infidel hath yielded the cause without any more ado Thus the Doctor hath left no other way for a Christian to convince an Infidel but this ridiculous one of perswading the Infidel to let him be judge of the controversie between them as if he should say Here is like to be a dispute between you and me whether the Gospel be the true Religion now the Gospel is indeed the true and reasonable Religion but this is only discernible by renewed Reason such as mine is and yours is not Wherefore before we dispute you must agree that my renewed Reason that is that I should be the judge of the Reasonableness of the Gospel for till we are thus agreed 't is in vain to dispute about the reasonableness of Evangelical Faith and Obedience I do not wonder that the Doctor falls foul upon the Quakers in his Book for they and such sottish Enthusiasts as they are seem to be the only men besides himself that claim the priviledge of this way of arguing if the Doctor had it by himself without any Competitors and his Fanatic cause needs it as much as theirs though thanks be to God the Gospel needs it not he would in a short time carry the world before him 2. 'T is also according to the Doctor in vain to dispute with a man about the reasonableness of the Gospel till he be convinced of it already For to say the truth though the Infidel should make the Doctor judge in his own cause he is yet never the nearer for the Gospel will be foolishness to him till he is himself enlightned by the irresistible work Now when he is illuminated as the Doctor is he shall believe and understand the Gospel to be a wise and reasonable dispensation as the Doctor doth but before he is so 't is in vain to dispute with him So that for ought I can see the regenerate men are e'en left to dispute it amongst themselves that is who need not dispute it at all because they are already of one minde about it And thus the Doctor hath proved all disputing whatsoever upon this matter to be vain and useless which makes me wonder why he hath troubled the world with his great railing Book wherein he hath pretended to prove the wilde Opinions of his Party to be Gospel-Mysteries For if his Reader be enlightened he is convinced of them already if he be not his Arguments cannot enlighten him And therefore though the Doctor might pity him yet methinks there is no reason why he should rail at him because his Doctrines are foolishness unto him since such is the nature of them with respect unto our minds that 't is impossible it should be otherwise 4. Whereas he interprets those words He receiveth them not and he cannot know them by adding spiritually thereunto he makes the Apostle to speak downright nonsense For he makes him to say that the natural man cannot know the Mysteries of the Gospel spiritually because they are spiritually discerned or known for this is as much as to say that he cannot know them spiritually because he cannot know them spiritually which I hope the Doctor will grant to be nonsense and this is a defect which runs through this whole Paraphrase which I have charged him withal the short of it being no more than this The Natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God no he cannot 5. He doth in effect clear the natural man from all blame for his not receiving the Doctrines of the Gospel For he roundly tells us that his impotency to discern them is absolutely and naturally insuperable What can be said more fully to prove that a beast is not to be blamed for not discerning these things than that it is absolutely and naturally impossible that he should But that which is still more absurd is that he doth not only ascribe his ignorance of these Spiritual matters to a moral impotency likewise but he makes the moral impotency to be greater than the natural for though he had concluded this impotency of the Understanding to be absolutely insuperable yet he saies the Will and Affections are more corrupted than the Understanding that is more than most of all For what greater corruption of the Understanding as to these things can be imagined than that it is naturally impossible for it to understand and discern them that is unless I am turned into such a block as he speaks of by reading his unintelligible Notions that as to these things it quite ceaseth to be an understanding and a beast may be assoon made to discern them as a man Now I freely grant that there are some Opinions which the Doctor would perswade us are Gospel-Mysteries to which this his Interpretation very well agrees and if he had meant them only I had not gone about to confute him here for indeed I look upon them to be as he saith Vnsuitable to the rational principles of
could onely be known by God's revealing them to us and the truth of such Revelation by Miracles Prophecies and such Arguments as he opposed to those natural Demonstrations and ways of proving things which the Philosophers used And how justly might they have derided the Apostle for finding fault with them because they rejected revealed Religion for it s not being knowable by mere natural Reason if after so long a flourish about an higher and better way of demonstrating those divine Truths he spake of than from natural Principles he had concluded that no man could understand their truth and sense as they ought to be understood till God made him to understand them by an irresistible work upon his minde which is the Doctor 's sense of those words that they are spiritually discerned I put it also to the Reader to judge whether this following Paraphrase upon these words which the Doctor carps at be as he calls it a wresting of the Scripture at pleasure But such things as these matters of Divine Revelation they that are led onely by the Light of humane Reason the learned Philosophers c. do absolutely despise and so hearken not after the doctrine of the Gospel for it seems folly to them Chap. 1. vers 28. nor can they by any study of their own come to the knowledge of them for they are onely to be had by understanding the Prophecies of Scripture and other such means which depend on divine Revelation the Voice from Heaven descent of the Holy Ghost Miracles c. This is the Paraphrase of the Reverend Dr. Hammond and it fully expresseth that sense which by the Context I have proved to belong to the Text. Our Author brings it in at last to examine it by his own comment which since I have disproved I might spare my self any further trouble in defending the sense of that Paraphrase But let us see what he hath to say against it 1. He saies that the Apostle by the natural man intends not onely the learned Philosophers but every one of what sort and condition soever who hath not received the Spirit of Christ. To see what a man will say when he is set to wrangle Dr. Owen himself more than once gives his meaning of the natural man in such expressions as these One which hath the use and exercise of all his rational faculties the things of the Gospel were foolishness to the learned Philosophers of old and the wise knowing and rational made the longest opposition to them And he says himself in the very next exception The Apostle gives an account why so few wise and learned men receive the Gospel But if Dr. Owen's offence be taken that they onely are intended by Dr. Hammond this offence is unreasonably taken for the Doctor intends as his words are very plain all those of whatsoever sort they be that are led onely by the light of humane Reason i. e. who either want or reject Revelation 2. He dislikes the paraphrasing of he receiveth not by he absolutely despiseth the things of the Spirit and yet this is sometimes his own Paraphrase as where he gives the reason why the natural man doth not receive them he says the Apostle tells them the Gospel is the foolishness of God and that to cast a contempt upon the wisdom of men by whom it is despised And in divers other places he useth the same liberty But his chief exception against this part of the Paraphrase is because it doth not express the reason given by the Apostle why the natural man doth not receive c. and that reason is his disability to receive them i. e. because it doth not express that which the Apostle could not possibly intend for he that barely says that any one believes or receives not such a Doctrine will not unless he be a Fool pretend that by saying so he gives a reason why he doth not But Dr. Hammond gives a reason why the natural man receiveth not the things of God where St. Paul gives a reason who saith he doth not receive them because they are foolishness unto him and he cannot because they are spiritually discerned His fifth Objection is to the same purpose with this for he saith the proper meaning of receiveth not is given in the ensuing reason and explanation of it he cannot know them which is nonsense for not to know a Doctrine is one thing and not to be able to know it is another and therefore the latter cannot be the proper meaning of the former nor do I understand how the meaning of a Proposition can be said to be given by the reason of it for I always thought that the meaning of a Sentence must first be understood before the reason or truth of that meaning can be known It were much to be wished that though Dr. Owen takes no care to speak truth he would yet make some conscience of speaking sence 3. He says The Apostle treats not of what men could finde out by any study of their own but of what they could not do they could not receive the spiritual mysteries of the Gospel Which exception I am amazed at because neither Dr. Hammond speaks of what they could finde out but of what they could not finde out by any study of their own but says J.O. they could not do it when the Gospel was proposed declared and preached to them and so the Doctor supposes too and any man in his wits must suppose it likewise for how else could they have called the Gospel foolishness if it had never been known to them 4. The Gospel was preached to them by the testimonies of Prophecies Miracles and the like in the same way and manner as it was to those that believed What then why you may go look for he has onely left us to guess at the designe of this exception But at the end of his fifth exception he says concerning the things of the Gospel being spiritually discerned To wrest this unto the outward means of revelation which is directly designed to express the internal manner of the mindes reception of things revealed is to wrest the Scripture at pleasure I answer 1. If the word spiritually is designed to express not the means but the manner of receiving Gospel-mysteries then Dr. H. does wrest the Scripture by making it to signifie the outward means of discerning them viz. Miracles Prophecies c. But then withal Dr. Owen wrests the Scripture too by making it to signifie the inward means of discerning them viz. the irresistible Light by which he discerns them for inward means of doing a thing are opposed to the manner of doing it equally with outward means And if Dr. Owen saith that the internal manner of the mindes reception is expressed by his saying that they are discerned by irresistible Light I ask him why I may not say too that the internal manner of the mindes reception of them is expressed by Dr. Hammond's affirming that they are discerned by
that they might be Witnesses c. and the promise of the Holy Ghost which Christ received from the Father Acts 2.23 peculiarly concerned the miraculous Gifts which were bestowed after Christs Ascension and this as I conceive the Doctor acknowledgeth by saying that Christ shed forth what they saw and heard in the miraculous operations and effects of it Now saith he In this promise viz. Acts 1. vers 4 8. the Lord Christ founded the Church it self and by it he builded it up And this is the Hinge whereon the whole weight of it doth turn and depend unto this day It is indeed certain that the faith of the Church is at this day founded upon the extraordinary testimonies that were given to the Gospel by the Spirit in the first ages of the Church But that which follows is absolutely false Take away this promise suppose it to cease as unto a continual Accomplishment and there will be an absolute end of the Church of Christ in this world For as he elsewhere confesses himself Miracles are ceased and yet there is a Church He proceeds thus No Dispensation of the Spirit no Church he that would utterly separate the Spirit from the Word had as good burn his Bible Be not so hasty for although this happens to be a truth yet 't is more than you have proved The Operations of the Spirit may now be utterly separated from the Word for all Acts 1.4 And although you very truely tell us that the bare Letter of the New Testament cannot ingenerate Faith and Obedience in the hearts of men yet for any thing you have here said it may For those Texts upon which you ground your confidence speak onely of the miraculous Gifts whereby the Gospel was confirmed Now these being recorded in the New Testament together with that Doctrine which was proved by them may be as able to assure men of the truth of the Gospel and make them obedient to the Law of Christ as they were when they were seen and heard and that of themselves too for any thing you have shewn to the contrary from Acts 1. though the contrary may well be shewn from other Scriptures Now I cannot see to what end these men when they are speaking of the Promise of the Spirit which will in all ages be accomplished should fly so often as they do to those Texts which mention those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit that were bestowed in the first unless it be to make their followers believe that the true Ministers of the Gospel are inspired as the Apostles were and that they preach in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power as the Apostles did Which because we do not pretend to it is left to them who do so to be sole owners of the Priviledge Just as the Papists support their pretence to Miracles and Infallibility by drawing the promises peculiarly made to the Apostles and first Believers into consequence for the Church of Rome in every age And I fear by the like device our Author hath laid his Plot to unchurch us quite and clean who conform to the Laws For saith he Let men cast themselves into what order they please institute what forms of Government and religious Worship they please let them do it by an attendance according to the best of their Vnderstandings unto the Letter of the Scripture i. e. let their Government and Worship be as neer the rule of the Scripture as they can possibly frame it yet if the work of the Spirit of God be disowned or disclaimed by them if they disown those extravagant pretences to the Spirit which you set up to magnifie your selves withal If there be not in them and upon them such a work of his as is promised by our Lord Jesus Christ there is no Church-state amongst them nor as such is it to be owned and esteemed And is this that you have been driving at all this while you have now found out a new colour for your Schism and it seems the separation from the Church of England must go forward upon this pretence that the work of the Spirit promised by our Lord Jesus Christ is not in us and upon us which in many places of your Book also you spare not to say we reproach and disavow But I beseech you dare you say that you have that work of the Spirit in you and upon you which is signified by the fore-mentioned Texts If you say so we shall presently desire you to convince us of it by Miracles and such signes as the Apostles did If you dare not say it then it seems that work of the Spirit is no more in you and upon you than 't is in us and then I hope we are not unchurched for not pretending to it nor fit to be accounted Reprobates because we are not Liars I acknowledge that promise of our Saviour mentioned by you in your next Section Matth. 28.20 I am with you always even unto the end of the world proves the constant presence of Christ in his Church by his Spirit but then Sir it doth not prove nor I think are you able to prove that the fore-mentioned promise made to the Apostles is the same promise with that which is here made Now as to that work of the Spirit which will indeed continue through all ages of the Church God forbid that we should disown and disclaim it But we disown the proving it from such places of Scripture as you lay the great stress of your proof upon lest we should seem to pretend to those influences of the Holy Spirit which were poured forth upon the Church at her first appearance in the world to confirm the Christian Faith by signes and wonders and not being able to make good our pretence be laughed at for our pains It would not avail us to say that we pretend not to those measures of the Spirit those extraordinary Gifts which the Apostles and first Believers had for it would be unanswerably returned upon us that these Texts cannot be proved to speak of any but these and thus we should disparage a good cause by arguing no better for it Therefore Doctor if the whole work of the Spirit in and towards the Church it self be openly derided as you complain you may I doubt in great part thank your self and such as you who by imprudent Discourses upon this subject have given profane persons occasion to make a question whether now-a-days there be any work at all of Gods Spirit upon the hearts of men I shall now endeavour to shew that there is and that by laying together what the Holy Scriptures say concerning it All which I suppose may be reduced to these three heads 1. What those effects are for the producing of which in the mindes of men God will give the Holy Spirit in all ages of the Church 2. To whom this promise of the Holy Spirit is made 3. What is the manner and measure of his Operations By
that is to renounce the Doctrine here by him maintained viz. That a man may do Righteousness without the renovation of the Spirit or without being born of God and then he must say with the Apostle that He that doth righteousness is born of God which is one of those Arguments whereby I have proved that a state of Regeneration is a state of inherent personal Righteousness and which together with the rest I have produced does prove that to be Regenerate as it signifies the state of a man is no other thing than to be a sincere Disciple of Christ to believe and obey the Gospel of our Blessed Saviour which was the first thing to be shewn SECT 8. 2. If we consider Regeneration as an effect we are to enquire into the causes and means of that state which we have described Regeneration to be These our Saviour affirms to be Water and the Spirit vers 5. viz. when he repeated his Doctrine to Nicodemus Concerning which Grotius well notes Exponit jam qualem nativitatem intelligat nè Nicodemus diutius Allegoricae locutionis ignorantiâ fallatur Our Saviour now explains what Birth he understood that Nicodemus might no longer be deceived by his ignorance that Christ spake figuratively For after it was told him that this Birth was effected by Water and the Spirit he could not dream that our Saviour meant being born again in the literal and proper sence as he conceived at first when it was onely told him Except a man be born again be cannot c. Now whether one cause of the state of Regeneration or more be expressed in these words by Water and the Spirit is not generally agreed upon there being some whereof Grotius himself is one who conceive that by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those words signifie the sanctifying or cleansing Spirit of God Non loquitur de Baptismo saith Grotius but withal he saith Sed locutiones sunt alludentes ad Baptismum our Saviour alludes to Baptism as he supposeth him to allude to the Eucharist in those words Except ye eat the Flesh and drink the Blood c. But by the leave of so great a man I think the other opinion more generally received and in particular maintained by Dr. Hammond viz. that by Water Baptism is here meant to be to say no more far more probable than the supposition of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that for these two reasons 1. Because Baptism was that ceremony of Proselytism among the Jews which our Saviour borrowed from them To be born of Water was no new Name or Notion as Dr. Owen pretends for the Jews called their Proselytes Recens nati as Grotius himself observes new Born men and as such counted them to have quitted their Relation to their former Country Parents and Kindred and since the Jewish Proselyte was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a baptized person and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or immersion in Water was one of the indispensible ceremonies of his Proselytism or Regeneration we may well conceive that by being born of Water our Saviour meant becoming a Proselyte to his Church by Baptism as by Baptism the Jews admitted Proselytes to theirs for otherwise it would not have been so strange that Nicodemus a Master of Israel should not understand what our Saviour meant by being born of Water 2. St. Paul does expresly call Baptism the laver of Regeneration which what it signifies but a means whereby we are regenerated or become the Disciples of Christ I cannot understand and then that is the very same with being born of Water Now where there is not onely no necessity to finde a figure in Scripture-phrases but the proper sence also contains a truth very pertinent to the Subject spoken of in all reason there the proper sence and consequently here of the word Water ought to be followed And then being born of Water signifies our being admitted into the Church as the Disciples of Christ and engaged to be so for the future by Baptism To be born of the Spirit is to be made the sincere Disciples of Christ and true to the profession of Baptism by the Operations of the Holy Spirit and what the Scripture teacheth us concerning them is the main designe of this Treatise to shew therefore I shall say no more of them in this place but onely adde that we are not to understand the Spirit of God to be the immediate cause of our Regeneration or becoming good Christians but we are to suppose those other Causes viz. those means which the Scripture ascribes our Regeneration unto to be included under the Spirit who is indeed the principal cause of this effect without whose operations those means cannot be effectual to their end And these are the Doctrines of the Gospel For St. Peter tells us 1 Pet. 1.23 That we are born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever But this shall be more fully considered when I come to speak of the manner of those Operations of the Holy Spirit whereby we are born again And thus have I given you an account of the true meaning of being Born again both as it signifies a State and as an Effect and the sum of all is this That our Saviour doth require us to become his sincere Followers and Disciples if we hope to see the Kingdom of God SECT 9. I come now to shew the Reasons why our becoming the sincere Disciples of Jesus is exprest by being born again And I shall likewise shew how fitly the same thing is exprest by the other Metaphors that are used in the Scripture for that purpose and this because our Author seems unable to conceive how so mean a thing as to believe and obey the Gospel of Christ should be intended by such grand and Hyperbolical expressions as those of the new Birth the new Creature c. I shall first observe the similitude between our becoming true Christians and being Born First the greatness of that alteration which is made in a man's state by his becoming a sincere Disciple of Jesus is one good reason why the state of such a Disciple is exprest by this Metaphor for it expresseth a very great change Thus Mr. Baxter tells us very well that Regeneration is a Metaphorical term taken from our natural Generation because there is so great a change that a man is as it were another man If we consider how great this change is we shall finde it so to be There is first of all an Intrinsick change peculiar to the state of adult Christians their understandings being informed with the knowledge of those truths concerning God and themselves and a Life to come which they are most of all concerned to know which is the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Hereby also is produced a proportionable change in their Wills and Affections which the belief of the Gospel hath wrought such effects upon that
the proper sence But I do not see how so learned a man as Dr. Owen can excuse himself from dishonesty for making this construction of it which must appear ridiculous to any considering man However I hope the Reader will acknowledge that I have given a plain and reasonable account of the use of these Metaphors by shewing wherein the Similitude lies between the proper and figurative significations of them And hereby I may have helped our Author to conceive it a very possible thing that the Scriptures mean nothing more by those grand and Hyperbolical expressions as he calls them of being Regenerate c. then becoming a sincere Disciple of Christ which is his Adversaries notion of a Regenerate man Thus also I have shewn how far we may argue from these Scripture metaphors If any man can go further and finde out more Similitudes between the Metaphors and that which is meant by them I shall not be his Adversary provided he keeps himself within the bounds of Sense and Reason But to argue from the proper signification of any one or all these Metaphors to conclude something parallel in the state of a Believer to every thing which can properly be affirmed of them is to run upon such wilde and absurd consequences as any wise man would be asham'd to own and any good man would be afraid to fasten upon the Scriptures How our Author argues from them we shall see hereafter In the mean time we have proceeded thus far as to state the true notion of Regeneration SECT 10. Though I have as I conceive sufficiently proved that to be born again is to become a true Disciple of Christ yet for further confirmation and because it may be of some use to the ordinary Reader I shall make it plain that this notion is agreeable to the scope and designe of our Saviour's discourse to Nicodemus Joh. 3. which is the most famous place in the whole New Testament where this phrase is used It is one of the best ways of interpreting any difficult passage in Divine or Humane Authors to observe the designe of that whole discourse to which it belongs and then to fix such a meaning upon that passage as is apparently suitable to the scope of the Author if the words will bear that meaning That the Phrase of being Regenerate will bear that sence which I have assigned to it I have shewn and that it is the true sence thereof I have proved by clear Arguments from other Scriptures wherefore if I shew also that this sence of the Phrase is consonant to the plain scope of our Saviour in that discourse where he made the first mention of it that we read of nothing can be further desired to demonstrate that this indeed is the true meaning thereof The designe of our Saviour's discourse may easily be gathered from the plain passages of it and then it will appear to be this 1. To shew that faith in Christ and obedience to him were the means by which God had appointed to bring men to eternal Happiness 2. To shew the unreasonableness of the Jews who would not believe in him The former we finde vers 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life i. e. this is the way by which God hath determined to save Mankinde viz. by faith in his Son who was to be lifted up upon the Cross as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness a rude Salvage place and so fit to be the figure of that corrupt state of the World in which Christ came to die for us that whosoever believed in him should not perish but c. vers 14 15. Now this was so great a demonstration of God's Love to man thus to give his onely begotten Son that no man could hope to escape the anger of God who should refuse the benefit of this Sacrifice For though indeed God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved vers 17. yet he that believeth not is condemned already vers 18. is in a state to which condemnation belongs and that a more severe one for refusing so gratious an opportunity of Salvation as was now offered 2. Our Saviour shews the unreasonableness of those men that believed not and that by noting 1. The Evidence of that Truth which they disbelieved 2. The true cause of their unbelief The former he admonished Nicodemus of in these words Verily verily I say unto thee We speak that we do know and testifie that we have seen and ye receive not our testimony vers 11. i. e. Ye believe not my Doctrine concerning that onely way by which you must come to see the Kingdom of God although it be evidently true for this is that very Message which I bring you from God this is that Counsel and Decree of God which I come from him to testifie unto you that there is no other way but that Now this you acknowledge that I am a Teacher come from God for no man can do those Miracles that I do except God be with him v. 2. how strangely incredulous therefore are you that yet you will not believe me delivering that Doctrine which by these Testimonies of my coming from God I confirm For I prove that I have seen and known what I testifie I prove the truth of what I say by those Arguments that convince you that I am a Teacher come from God Hence we may probably gather the meaning of those words And no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of Man which is in heaven vers 13. to be this No man hath known the secret purposes of God concerning the way of saving Mankinde viz. by the death of his Son No man hath thus ascended into Heaven but he that is come from Heaven whom God hath sent to reveal this to you even he who now speaketh to you who am in Heaven who know the purposes and intentions of my Father concerning the way of Salvation This I take to be a more probable interpretation of this difficult place than that which supposeth our Saviour to speak here of his local ascension into Heaven afterward because 1. The words themselves seem not well able to bear the notion of a future ascension 2. As Grotius hath well shewn the phrase of ascending into Heaven is in other places of Scripture to be taken in the former sence viz. of gaining knowledge from God as in Prov. 30.3 4. And 3. if thus it is understood in this place then what our Saviour saith here hath a clear connexion with vers 11. where he rebuketh the Jews for not believing his Revelations taxing them of unreasonableness for it since he delivered nothing but what he had seen and known from God and also with the precedent verse where by the heavenly things our Saviour
opened the Eyes of him that was born blinde the Pharisees would believe never the more that he was of God and yet all the pretence they could finde against him was because this cure was wrought on the Sabbath-day vers 16. For when they had strictly examined all circumstances of the Miracle and the healed person in conclusion talked such unanswerable reason against them Herein is a marvelous thing that ye know not whence he is c. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the Eyes of one that was born blinde If this man were not of God he could do nothing i. e. he could do no such works as these they were resolved to give him the hearing no longer but first bitterly reproached him and then cast him out Now our Saviour frequently told these men that their prejudice against him arose from their Lusts How saith he can ye believe who receive honour from one another and seek not the honour that cometh from God onely John 5.44 i. e. so long as your Hearts are set upon worldly greatness and the praise of men which if you can compass you care not in the mean while whether God approves of you or not it is no wonder that ye reject my Doctrine who came not to answer your ambitious and worldly expectations although I come with testimony from God and the works that I do bear witness of me vers 36. Thus the Apostle tells us That the God of this world blindeth the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them 2 Cor. 4.4 where we have a plain reason given us by the Apostle why some believed not who had the light of the Gospel shining about them i. e. who had it preached to them with its proper evidence viz. because the God of this world had blinded their Mindes i. e. because they were blinded with the prejudices of prevailing Lust and Passion by which the Devil rules in the Children of disobedience Wherefore as Faith is necessary to that more perfect victory over our Lusts which includes the universal doing of God's Will So on the other hand our mindes must in some degree be disengaged from the power of our Lusts before we can heartily believe viz. so far as that we may be ready to yield to the truth how contrary sover it proves to our sensual and worldly affections and consequently that they shall not hinder our attention and consideration when the Word of God is offered to be made known to us Of this teachable disposition we have a remarkable instance in Acts 16.14 The Lord opened Lydia 's heart that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul where we may observe 1. That her being qualified to hear which is here expressed by the opening of her Heart is ascribed to a divine operation which prevented even her attention to what she heard 2. That the immediate effect of the Lords opening her Heart was not her believing but her attending to those things which were spoken of Paul i. e. she heard him diligently without prejudice and passion and was willing to embrace the truth This was the effect of God's Spirit and whoever is thus disposed will believe the Gospel when it is made known to him because it is indeed the Word of God This is that temper of minde which was all that our Saviour desired to finde among men in order to the convincing of them that he was the true Prophet If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self Joh. 7.17 i. e. If a man be willing to do whatsoever shall appear to be the Will of God and so is not prejudiced against the truth by his Lusts such a one will easily be convinced that my Doctrine is of God And because this temper comes from the divine Spirit therefore he that is thus disposed is said to be of God For it is exactly to the same purpose what our Saviour saith John 8.47 He that is of God heareth God's Words ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God For this was the Answer he made to that Question of his own If I say the truth why do ye not believe me He gives the reason himself Because ye are not of God The meaning whereof is plain from vers 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth c. So that to be of the Devil is to be wedded to our Lusts and enraged against the truth that contradicts them And therefore the contrary state or temper to be of God is plainly to be ready to perform all duty and to believe all truth and whoever was thus disposed would hear God's Words and believe them vers 47. Thus after our Saviour had appealed to the Miracles which he wrought before his Enemies Joh. 10.25 he tells them But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep Where by Sheep cannot be meant actual Disciples for then the sence were Ye believe not because ye believe not But such as were by a teachable spirit disposed to be so and would hear his voice for such as these would follow him assoon as he called them because he was the true Shepherd Now that this preparedness of minde to embrace the truth was an effect of the divine Spirit is clearly implied in vers 29. My Father who gave them me i. e. who hath thus disposed and qualified them to hear my voice is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hands to defeat them of that eternal Life which Christ had promised v. 28. All these places being compared with John 6.37 give a clear light to the true interpretation thereof All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me i. e. will believe in me and become my Disciples and then to be given of the Father is the same thing with being resolved to do the Will of God Joh. 7.17 and being of God Joh. 8.47 and being Christ's Sheep Joh. 10.26 All which Phrases signifie that humility and teachableness of minde whereby men are prepared to believe the truth Onely the Fathers giving such persons to Christ is an expression noting that divine Grace whereby their mindes are thus disposed for which reason being brought to this temper is called vers 44. being drawn by the Father No man can come to me except the Father who hath sent me draw him i. e. unless the grace of God hath so far prevailed over his Affections as to indue him with an impartial love to the truth and his Heart be thereby opened to attend to God's Word And in this sence we may use those words of the Apostle spoken upon another occasion No man can say that Jesus is the Lord
and all Mankinde But I cannot go about to convince another of that truth which I know onely by immediate Inspiration unless I could adde the demonstration of power by doing Miracles to confirm my Doctrine or had a minde to make my self as ridiculous as those Champions of the Roman Fraternity make themselves who say their Church is Infallible in the Conclusion though she may be mistaken in the Premises which is as much as to say that they are sure their Church is always in the right though sometimes 't is more than they can prove This may be said for coming to the knowledge of a difficult place by study the using of which way is principally the duty of spiritual Guides Now the advantage thereof being this that they may easily communicate their knowledge to others there will be still less reason for private Christians who want leisure or ability to use the former means to expect that God will teach them the true sence by Inspiration since he may lead them to it by his Ministers And for this way it may be said further that it is agreeable to the constitution of the Church in which God hath established an Order of men whose peculiar Office it is to feed the flock of Christ Acts 20.28 and that by taking care to instruct them out of the Word of God not onely in necessary truths but in such as are profitable too so far as they are qualified to understand and improve by them For some are to be fed with milk onely and not with meat being not able to bear it 1 Cor. 3.2 which words to my understanding imply that God's Ministers are to consider and judge of the capacities of their people and to instruct them in the meaning of those Scriptures which contain the most proper truths for them to understand And consequently that these are bound to attend to the Ministry of their spiritual Guides whom God hath set over them and who are to judge what kinde of meat they are able to bear what difficulties are fit to be propounded and explained to them and what truths are profitable for them to be instructed in besides those that are indispensibly necessary to be known This is the Order which God hath appointed in his Church for their edification who are least able to improve their knowledge in the Scriptures by their own reading and studying of them without further assistance Therefore they must not expect knowledge by immediate Revelations but by attending to their instructions whom God hath appointed to watch for the good of their Souls The conclusion of all which is this that neither God's Ministers nor any of their Flock neither the learned nor the unlearned can ground any just pretence to the gift of Interpreting Scripture by immediate Revelation upon this promise in St. Luke that God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him SECT 2. It cannot be concluded from this promise that an absolute assurance that we shall be saved is obtainable by us while we are upon the trial of our Faith and Obedience My reason is because this assurance is neither needful as a condition of Salvation nor as a motive to our duty nor as a means of comfort in the performance of it Not as a condition of Salvation for no such condition is required buton the contrary we are exhorted to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling and how that and the like exhortations can consist with supposing this Assurance to be a condition of being saved I do not so well understand Besides the friends of the contrary perswasion do not as far as I can discern pretend to this Assurance by the Spirit otherwise than by having also the evidences of their regenerate estate cleared up to their understandings Wherefore a man must be actually in a state of salvation before he can be assured that he shall be saved but now if assurance be a necessary condition of being saved then till we are assured we are not in a state of Salvation So that if ever we be saved upon these terms we must either be assured before we are assured or be in a state of salvation before we are in a state of salvation Which inconvenience those Divines who at first placed the notion of justifying faith in this Assurance were so sensible of that they generally substituted that new notion of relying and rowling upon Christ in the room of the other And therefore I had not revived this Objection against it but that I finde Dr. Owen taxing the want of this assurance by the Name of Vnbelief which will cast us under spiritual sloth and slumber for he opposeth this Unbelief to an assurance of our personal election and the confidence we have from thence that we shall not utterly and finally miscarry He doth not indeed say in plain terms that we are not true Believers till we are thus assured but his words imply as much though they look as if he was loth to speak it out and therefore I shall trouble you no further with this matter 2. It is not needful as a motive to our duty for then the Scriptures do not contain sufficient inducements to obedience since the promises of eternal Life there are all conditional and by consequence all the assurance we can have of our reward from thence is but conditional Besides a greater assurance than that cannot be necessary to move us to well-doing in point of Gratitude for we have infinite reason to love God and be thankful to him because we may escape the wrath to come upon the conditions of the Gospel nor in point of self-love for what consideration regarding this matter can make us more careful of our duty than that our eternal welfare depends upon it So that an absolute assurance of the event would be rather unprofitable for this purpose because it would take off the force of a most considerable motive wherewith the Scripture perswades us so frequently to Diligence and Watchfulness and that is the motive of Fear Our Saviour's exhortation would no longer be of use to us Fear him which hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him Luke 12.5 nor any of the like nature He told his disciples What I say unto you I say unto all Watch which implies that whilst we are in this world we are in a state of temptation and danger Now as long as we are under such circumstances Assurance would on the other hand be rather unprofitable since it would supplant the usefulness and efficacy of so profitable a consideration as that of God's angry Justice against Impenitent sinners and back-sliding Christians But Dr. Owen saith Men do but bewray their Ignorance whilst they contend that the Assurance we speak of doth any way impeach or doth not effectually promote the industry of Believers in all duties of Obedience And to convince their ignorance he produceth this admirable instance Suppose a man that is
on his Journey knoweth himself to be in his right way and that passing on therein he shall certainly and infallibly come to his Journeys end especially if he will a little quicken his speed as occasion shall require will you say that this is enough to make such a man careless and negligent and that it would be much more to his advantage to be lost and bewildred in uncertain Paths and Ways not knowing whither he goes nor whether he shall ever arrive at his Journeys end Common experience declares the contrary And common sense might have informed him that this Similitude rather makes against his opinion than for it For it is one thing for a man to know himself to be in the right way and that passing on therein he shall certainly and infallibly come to his Journeys end i. e. on supposition he keeps on in the right way which he knows himself to be in and 't is another thing to be infallibly assured that nothing can possibly turn him out of the way whether he quickens his speed as occasion shall require or whether he lets it alone Now it is an Assurance of this kinde about which according to him we bewray our Ignorance by saying it doth not effectually promote the industry of Believers although there is this plain reason for it that the former assurance leaves the Traveller under an obligation to quicken his speed as occasion shall require if he hopes to come to his Journey end but the latter leaves him under none at all Wherefore I leave the Doctor to judge what coherence there is between his Similitude and that Reddition of it which he hath given us in these words It is that Soul alone ordinarily which hath a comfortable assurance of God's eternal immutable electing Love and thence of the blessed end of its own course of obedience i. e. who is assured of his personal Election and consequently of his perseverance that goeth on constantly and evenly in a course of holiness Here indeed he minceth the matter by putting in the word Ordinarily though he had no reason for it having concluded just before that impressions of Fear together with all resolutions of Conversion grounded upon them still come to nothing But his Similitude does not conclude that absolute assurance he speaks of to be either ordinarily or extraordinarily needful to quicken us in a course of holiness because it supposeth the Travellers assurance of coming to his Journeys end to be but conditional But from the Similitude he proceeds to the testimony of Scripture viz. Heb. 6. from the 10th Vers. to the end of the Chapter where he saith 't is the very designe of the Apostle to explain and confirm this Doctrine concerning the need of absolute assurance to move us to holiness which he saith also is declared elsewhere I suppose he means in his Exercitations upon the Hebrews which Book I have not now by me but the Bible I have and to that I will go The words which I suppose he chiefly aims at in that Chapter are these And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end vers 11. And let the meaning of them be judged by the main scope of the Apostle in that Chapter which was to exhort the Hebrews to whom he wrote to persevere in their Christian profession and conversation and that by two Arguments the former from v. 4. to v. 9. being the desperateness of their condition who had revolted from their Christian profession the latter from v. 10. to the end being the certainty of their reward who should persevere as the Apostle was perswaded those Hebrews hitherto had done vers 9 whereof they had given good testimony by their liberality to the poor Christians vers 10. Now he would have them still be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises vers 12. an example whereof they had in Abraham who after he had patiently endured obtained the promise vers 15. and then he proceeds to shew that our hope of an Inheritance is grounded upon the Word and Oath of God viz. that we shall obtain if we be not slothful but continue in Faith and Patience as they did who now inherit Wherefore his discourse here clearly proceeds upon this supposition that they had no other assurance of their Reward but upon condition of perseverance in their Duty and then the immutability of God's promise was their security This therefore the Apostle desired that every one of them would shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end i. e. that by Perseverance they might arrive to the enjoyment of what they hoped for For first of all the full assurance of hope was to be consequent upon their shewing the same diligence for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. is the same as if he had said that we may obtain the full assurance c. Therefore it cannot from hence be concluded that this Assurance whatever is meant by it was antecedently necessary to incite them to diligence Wherefore secondly by this full assurance of hope we are to understand that Assurance which is the reward of shewing the same diligence to the end i. e. the consummation of their hope as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and then the meaning of the Text is this that the Apostle would have them be diligent to the very last that at last they might have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. enjoy what they hoped for or as it is exprest in the next Verse inherit the promises This is that sence of the place to which as I conceive we are led by the words themselves and by the scope of the Apostle in this Chapter And therefore from hence it cannot be concluded that the absolute Assurance Dr. Owen speaks of is either ordinarily or extraordinarily needful to incite us to holiness and notwithstanding this place we may affirm that such assurance is more likely to impeach than to promote the industry of Believers in all duties of obedience But the Doctor appeals from the ignorance of them that say thus to the experiences of them that finde it otherwise i. e. he appeals from us to himself and his party Now if this were a good way of arguing then we who are so sensible of our own infirmities as to know our need of all sorts of Motives not excepting that of the fear of God's threatnings to make us watchful against the temptations of sin may appeal to our own experiences for the truth of what we say from the ignorance of them that say the contrary But there is no necessity that you or we should be trusted in this matter when the Word of God is before us which doth so vehemently urge us to fear him that can destroy both Body and Soul in Hell Wherefore notwithstanding all the contempt you cast upon serving God out of this principle we see our
consecrated to a life of obedience by the Spirit of God which they were made partakers of for then they would finde little excuse and a greater punishment for their unchristian practices if being so greatly obliged they should prove unthankful and disobedient The second place is that of St. Paul to the Romans The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God Rom. 8.16 But 1. This testimony of the Spirit is that publick Testimony which was given by the Spirit that true Christians are the Sons of God for it is said in the former Verse that they had received the spirit of Adoption which being opposed to the spirit of Bondage shews the Apostle's meaning to be this that the Christians were the Children of the promise and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Free-woman as he expresseth it Gal. 4.28 whereas the Jews those of them that were under the Law answered the condition of Ishmael who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son of the Bond-woman to whom there was no promise of an Inheritance Now that none but true Christians were the Sons of God and Heirs of the promised Inheritance was that which was testified against the Jews by the Miracles and supernatural gifts of the Apostles and primitive Believers i. e. by the testimony of the Spirit And then this Text is very far from intending any immediate testimony of the Holy Ghost to our mindes that we are God's Children And yet 2. All that is here affirmed regards onely our present state that we are the Children of God which if we be it is certainly possible for us to be assured of it nay we cannot be ignorant of our spiritual condition without our own fault since we have so plain a rule to try our selves by as the Word of God By this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments Now our keeping of God's Commandments is that which our own spirit or Conscience must witness and then upon this condition the Revelations of the Gospel wherein to be sure is the witness of the Spirit witness to us that we are the children of God and if children then heirs c. All which may very well be without our believing that it is absolutely impossible for us to forfeit our Inheritance by any future miscarriage and therefore from this place it cannot be concluded that such assurance is given by the Holy Spirit SECT 6. 3. For the pretence of uttering the suggestions of the Spirit in Extemporary Prayers I know likewise but two places of Scripture commonly urged in favour of it The former is St. Paul's saying I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also 1 Cor. 14.15 Which I confess is a Text that I never heard produced for this pretence but by those that have nothing but mere zeal to defend their opinions withal I mean some of the people that follow Dr. Owen and his Brethren of the Separation I do not wonder that after they have been possest with a strong perswasion that the Spirit of God helps them to Words or Sence or both in their Prayers they conceit this Text to be a proof for their purpose for the words sound that way if a man believes what they do about Extemporary Prayers before-hand But I have often wondered that they who take upon them to be their Guides who pretend to learning and if they minded the Text at all can hardly be ignorant that the praying by the Spirit there meant was using the gift of Tongues in Prayer and the praying by the Vnderstanding was praying in a Language understood by the people that they I say should suffer their people to run away so long together with a belief that this Text gives them Authority to expect that the Spirit of God will take care they shall speak good sence in their Extemporary Prayers this is that which I cannot but admire I do not say they are all so dishonest but I have reason to think that many of them are and they cannot deny it I suppose unless they grant that we are acquainted with the talk of their Followers better than they themselves are But dismissing this place which is so very wide from the purpose which it is produced for I proceed to the second which indeed carries a more likely appearance and in the judgement of Dr. Owen contains a sufficient proof that the Spirit of God carries out the mindes of Believers in requests which for the matter of them are far above their natural contrivance and invention i. e. that when Believers venture to pray Extempore the Spirit of God prompts them as they go along to pray for such things as otherwise could never have come to their mindes For his words signifie thus much at least if not that the very knowledge of those things is communicated to them at that very instant before they pray for them and that by immediate Revelation The place is this Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the Hearts knoweth what is the minde of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God Rom. 8.26 27. I shall endeavour to shew the true meaning of these words and leave it to the Reader whether the foresaid opinion of the Doctor can be concluded from them His other thoughts of this matter I shall not pretend to confute because I do not so well comprehend what he means viz. when he tells us with respect to the subject of Prayer the sanctified Heart that by the Groans which cannot be uttered are meant that bent frame inclination and acting of the Inward man in prayer from the power of the Spirit which they themselves in whom they are wrought do not fathom nor reach the depth of unless he means that a man may desire the Graces of God with inexpressible vehemence and yet not understand that he does so If he intends this I need onely to tell him that because these groanings are unutterable it follows not that they are unintelligible If he intends it not I do not fathom nor reach the depth of his meaning Again when he tells us with respect to the object of Prayer that the mysterious things which Believers pray for are now made nigh now realized unto them I do not well know whether he means now at their Prayers or now at some other time before If when they are praying 't is somewhat hard to conceive that the Spirit represents the truth of those things in and by the Word as he saith if at some other time before then certainly the things themselves were represented before too and they knew they were to pray for these things and then it is above my apprehension how the matter of their Prayers should be far above
other part of it look'd backward to keep off the first And at this rate a Childe may confute all the Arguments in the world that are brought for or against any thing Having thus discovered our Author's fallacious way of proceeding upon this Head and his art in declining the proof of what he so boldly affirms concerning personal Election and the promise of regenerating Grace being made to his Elect it may not now be unnecessary to put the Reader in minde that I have not been wandring all this while from the designe of this Section which was to shew that we have no reason to expect God's special Grace such as that is whereby we are enabled to keep the Commandments of Christ if we be not on our parts qualified to receive it Now I do not see how this can be admitted for a certain truth on supposition that there are any absolute promises in the Scripture made to some particular men that God will regenerate them or that there are any certain persons whom without consideration of any qualities in them God decreed to save But if these are groundless suppositions themselves I understand not which way any man should think to obtain the special Grace of God but by performing the condition on which it is promised And then I say with Dr. Owen that Believers are the onely object of Sanctification and subject of Gospel-holiness not meaning by Believers as he doth holy persons though the word is and may be so used but those merely that are perswaded that Jesus is the Christ. I onely adde that these Believers must visibly own themselves the Disciples of Christ and they must use earnest Prayers for that divine Grace which will enable them to do the Will of God upon Earth as it is done in Heaven For both these conditions are supposed in that promise of the Holy Spirit made to the Disciples of Christ which is mentioned in Luke 11.13 Wherefore if Believers themselves do not perform these conditions they have no reason to expect that special Grace which is there promised Finally since the Spirit of God is promised to dwell in good men onely if the Disciples of Christ do not improve that Grace which they obtain by their Prayers to actual amendment and a sincere obedience of the Gospel it would be a vain presumption in them to think that God will communicate those fuller measures of Grace to them while they are thus unreformed which are signified by his dwelling in us SECT 3. Having thus shewn you who are the Objects of special Grace I proceed to a third conclusion which being proved nothing else seems necessary for the satisfying of this Question To whom the Holy Spirit is given Wherefore I adde 3. That common Grace or that which is not suspended upon the performance of any condition required in the Covenant is given to all those that live under the ministration of the Gospel My meaning is they are all prevented with that Grace which makes it possible for them to begin well i. e. to desire the knowledge of God's ways with a purpose of walking in them when they are known and then to be convinced that the Gospel is the Word of God by the use of those external means which God hath afforded them I do not say that every one of them hath this Grace always bestowed upon him for it is possible that some of those to whom the Word of God is spoken may put it away from themselves as the Jews did and be at length forsaken by the divine Grace and left under an obstinate and unteachable minde as they were Much less shall I venture to say how long the divine Spirit moves upon the Souls of men to make them teachable and willing to learn the truth before he gives them over For God hath reserved this matter to his own Soveraign pleasure and therefore we neither ought to set limits to his patience nor to presume upon the length of it But all I say is this That Grace of God which prevents our first good inclinations and desires and is necessary to make us capable of learning the Truth is given to as many as have the Gospel preached to them so that until by their obstinacy they have utterly forfeited the divine Grace and Blessing it is in their power to lay aside prejudice to attend to the Word of God and receive the knowledge of the truth Out of many Arguments which the Scripture affords to this purpose I shall chuse but one having already drawn out this Part into a greater length than I expected but that concluding strongly enough to spare me the labour of producing any more The Argument I mean is founded upon those passages in the New Testament wherein those to whom the Word of God is made known are threatned with eternal Damnation if they believe it not and with more grievous punishments than had been inflicted on them if the Gospel had never been preached to them Thus saith our Saviour to his Apostles Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.15 16. If any man hear my words and believe not but rejecteth me the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day John 12.47 48. He that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the onely begotten Son of God John 3.18 Further the severity of that punishment which belongs to them who believe not is intimated plainly in the aggravation of their fault as our Saviour saith If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin they could not have been accused of this particular sin of not believing in me and that would have mitigated their other faults but now they have no cloak for their sin they are every way inexcusable and therefore the more punishable John 15.22 But it is fully express'd in Matth. 11.20 where we finde our Saviour upbraiding the Cities that rejected him and declaring it should be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon and Sodom at the day of judgement than for them vers 22 23. These testimonies of Scripture being premised I argue thus If all that preventing Grace which is necessary to believing be not sometime given to all that hear the Gospel then it would be always impossible for some that hear to believe and that without their fault But it is not always thus impossible for any therefore such Grace is sometime given to all The former Proposition is evident for as long as I want that which is necessary to the doing of any thing so long is that thing impossible to me and if it be not my fault that I want the former neither is the impossibility imputable to me as a fault Finally it is not my fault that I want it if I could never do any thing to procure it and 't is
motive included in the nature of this Operation nor does the Spirit use any motive when he thus operates for as these men say this Physical Operation is the immediate cause of Conversion And now let any man tell me in what capacity the Word of God can stand to be a means of Grace In the mean time our Author if you will believe him pays a great regard to the Scriptures which he does not onely render thus useless in general but many plain testimonies whereof he contradicts in particular and for instance that passage in our Saviour's Prayer Sanctifie them through thy truth thy Word is truth I desire him at his leisure to consider whether the Grace which our Saviour praied for in his Disciples behalf were an immediate Physical Operation if not whether we are now sanctified by another sort of Operation than that which Christ praied for Now to say in express terms that the Word of God is of no use in the conversion of a Sinner would sound so horridly in any sober Christians Ears that the Doctor himself has not ventured upon it but on the contrary he is often perswading his Reader that he attributes as much to the efficacy of the Word as any of them all For he tells us Whereas some contend that the whole of the Grace of God consists in the effectual application of it unto the mindes and affections of men whereby they are enabled to comply with it and turn unto God by Faith and Repentance they do not ascribe a greater power unto the Word than we do by whom this administration of it is denied to be the Total Cause of Conversion For we assigne the same power to the Word as they do and MORE also onely we affirm that there is an effect to be wrought in this Work which all this Power if alone is insufficient for After a few such sayings as these a man need not be ashamed to say any thing For 1. They who contend that the administration of the Word by the Spirit applying it to the minde is insufficient to cause Conversion and that there is another action of the Spirit wherein no use is made of the Word at all necessary to Conversion do not attribute so much power to the Word as they do who say the former is sufficient 2. Much less do they so if withal they pretend that this other Operation is the immediate cause of Conversion whereby the Word is excluded from intervening as a Means 3. And yet much less if they say this Operation produces the effect irresistibly and till this irresistible act hath taken place the Word is utterly ineffectual 4. Least of all can it be pretended that they assigne more power to the Word than their Adversaries do I wonder at this man's confidence to venture such open falshoods abroad as these are It had been enough in conscience for a modest man to say that those of our Author's opinion ascribe as much power to the Word as we do but to say they assigne more to it is too much in all reason to go for a mere mistake And therefore one may well think he saw clearly enough that he defer'd not so much to the Word as we and that because he affirmed the contrary he resolved to put on a Face for something and say withal that he ascribed more For truely he may e'ne say that as well as the other for this passage of his is but the next Page before he asserts and endeavours to prove for a great while together that till the Soul is changed by his Physical Operation the Word of God hath no more power to make a due impression on it no though the motives thereof be urged by the internal perswasion of the Spirit than you have to stir a Rock by speaking to it or to raise a dead Body from the Grave by a Syllogiâ—â—â— And yet this is the maâ— that just before would make you believe how he yields as much nay more efficacy to the Word than we who say that Mankinde is not so incapable of being converted by the Word but that when it is blessed and used as he well enough expresseth it by the Holy Spirit it is sufficient to convert a man without any such Physical Operation as they talk of But you see this man makes it to be no more than a Dead Letter even when it is quickened by the Spirit too and after all his Flourishes resolves Conversion into an irresistible Operation in which there is no use of the Word at all And this is enough to shew you what an irreverent opinion he has of it whatever he pretends to the contrary And so much for the first Proposition SECT 2. 2. The manner wherein the Holy Spirit acts upon the mindes of men is suitable to the ratioâ—nal nature of Mankinde Which is a truth so fully express'd and liberally granted by Dr. Owen that I shall need to say the less of it For he saith The power which the Holy Ghost puts forth in our Regeneration is such in its acting or exercise as 〈◊〉 Mindes Wills and Affections are suted to be wrought upon and to be affected by it according to their Natures and natural Operations Again he doth not act in them otherwise than they themselves are meet to be acted according to their own Nature Power and Ability He draws us with the Cords of a man And then he tells us the work it self is expressed by perswading and alluring and that it carries no more repugnancy to our Faculties than a prevalent perswasion doth Again that our mindes are not merely passive Instruments as formerly in Prophetical inspirations moved above their own natural Capacity and Activity as to the manner of Operation But he works on the Mindes of men in and by their own natural actings through an immediate influence and impression of his Power Lastly that he offers no violence or compulsion to the Will this he saith that Faculty is not naturally capable to give admission unto if it be compelled it is destroyed These are very fair concessions and â—â—less you have given over wondering at our Author's way of writing you would hardly believe they should drop from his Pen. But they are his own words I assure you though Light and Darkness may be assoon reconciled as they can be to that Opinion concerning the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations which he so eagerly contends for For if a Physical Operation immediately and irresistibly producing Faith and Holiness be utterly unsuitable and repugnant to the natural faculties and operations of the minde in which those effects are wrought then is it most evident that those Concessions are inconsistent with the Hypothesis of Conversion by that Physical Work Now let him tell me whether the minde of man is according to its Nature and natural Operations suited to be wrought upon by such a Power as makes not the least use of the Understanding of the least Thought
perswasion which it may resist but it is forced by that Physical Operation which it cannot resist and which does not leave any room either for accepting or refusing so that because Conversion thus wrought is not an act of our own choice therefore no violence is offered to the Will when it is so converted which is as much as to say that because Conversion thus wrought is not chosen by the Will therefore it is chosen by it This Answer was so apparently absurd that I thought fit to transcribe the whole Paragraph lest they who have not the Doctor 's Book at hand might suspect that I had wronged him The substance of his second Answer is this That at the same instant of time wherein the Will is acted it acts it self and by so doing preserves its own liberty in its Exercise To which I reply 1. That it cannot be said that the Will or the Soul considered as a free Agent does as such act any thing at that instant of time when 't is immediately and irresistibly converted by the Physical Act. If he means indeed that the Soul acts as my Pen does when I am writing or as an Engine does when 't is set a going I grant it but 't is plain that no such action can properly be said to be an act of the Will or a free action 2. Yet further whatever act you ascribe to the Will at that time it cannot be truely pretended that by this act the Liberty of the Will is preserved The Reason is because there is none to preserve about this matter of Conversion since all the liberty which the Soul had before that Instantaneous Act as he elsewhere calls it is utterly destroyed by it For such is the nature of this Act that it converts by a greater necessity of the same kinde than that whereby Mechanical Causes produce their Effects for it leaves it naturally impossible for the Soul not to be converted Now if such an act be the immediate cause of Conversion I do not see that there is the least regard had to the Souls being a free Agent in this manner of Conversion But on the contrary it seems plain that the Soul is utterly deprived of all kinde of liberty in this matter And if she has no liberty left to exercise she has none to preserve by any act you would have to be contemporary with the irresistible Operation Wherefore our Author 's saying that the Grace he speaks of so acts our Wills as that they also act themselves and that freely is a mere begging of the Question instead of an Answer to the Objection propounded For Whether it be possible for the Soul that is thus acted to act freely at the same time is the very thing in question Perhaps he lays some stress upon those words used by him that there is herein an Inward Almighty Secret act of the power of the Holy Ghost For 't is usual when men contend for inexplicable and unintelligible notions in Divinity to pretend they are Mysteries and fly to God's omnipotence to fetch themselves off Now I think no man denies that God can convert the greatest Sinner in a moment into a Saint or if he pleases into an Angel by such a Physical act as this man speaks of But then 1. This could not be reconciled with supposing the rational use of our Faculties in being converted to God Conversion would onely be a necessary effect of God's power but no free act of our own 2. It does not follow that because God Almighty can convert a Sinner this way therefore he will do it But 3. If it be granted that God always converts men in an intellectual manner and that the Operations of the Spirit produce their effects in our mindes in a way suitable to the rational nature of Mankinde it will follow that God never converts men in that manner which our Author contends for because so to do is inconsistent with a rational way of Conversion and therefore unsuitable to the nature and the natural Operations of our mindes Lastly since he grants that the Holy Spirit operateth in our mindes no otherwise than they are meet to be moved according to their own nature and power it is clear from the premises that by this concession he overthrows his own Hypothesis of Conversion by the immediate Physical and irresistible work I shall conclude this matter with considering that remarkable Expostulation of Almighty God with the Jews which we finde in Isa. 5.4 What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it By comparing the Parable with the Explication of it vers 7. you may observe 1. That it was in their power to have turned to God and therefore God had given them all that internal Grace which was necessary to Conversion otherwise he had not expected their conversion nor complained of their obstinacy much less punished them with that severity threatned vers 5. 2. That they had not onely all necessary means and helps but even such as were moreover profitable and advantageous in the way of conversion so that it was not onely possible but considering what God had done for them it was very likely they would turn and this is clearly signified by that greatness of expectation exprest by the making of a Wine-press in the Vineyard v. 2. Nay 3. God asks them what could be done more than had been done for them already And yet 4. They were all this while unconverted and as bad as ever v. 4 7. Now lay all these things together and it follows 1. That men may be converted without that measure of Grace which makes it impossible for a man not to be so for if as the Doctor tells us the Will cannot make use of that Grace which it can refuse then God had not given these men that measure of Grace which was necessary to Conversion for they refused that is they were not converted by that Grace which was imparted to them Now if he had not done what was necessary for their Conversion what reason had he to expect it how could it be said sincerely What could have been done more what justice had there been in punishing them with so much severity 2. It follows also that 't is possible for men not to be converted when God hath done the utmost for his part that is meet to be done in order to their Conversion For those words What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it strongly imply that he had done all to make it fruitful that was any way proper for him to do and that the Jews could not reply with truth that God had ever done more for the conversion of those that had actually repented than he had done for them Indeed if God pleased he could have converted these obstinate creatures by such an irresistible power as the Doctor ascribes Conversion to and therefore those words What could have been done more or as it
understand our being strongly and deeply affected with divine Truths for where the Word of God dwells richly there the Spirit of God dwells too Nay I may adde further that there is no need of being curious to mark what respect was principally aimed at by the Apostle in the use of these Phrases throughout Rom. 8. and likewise Gal. 5. and other places and that because the Apostle does not seem to be curious in the use of them himself Nor was it necessary for him so to be in order to the making good of that conclusion against the Jews which he aimed at viz. that Justification was not to be had by the works of the Law but by the faith of Christ i. e. by being a true Disciple of Christ in mortifying the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts. But on the other hand his using of those Phrases of being led by and walking after the Spirit indifferently for living according to the Gospel and being governed by the motions of the Holy Spirit was very suitable to his designe of shewing that Justification was no other way to be obtained but by being a true Christian For since mortifying of the deeds of the body and being subject to the Law of God in that degree which Christianity now required were necessary to Justification the Jew who rejected the Gospel of Christ must needs be under Condemnation because the Holy Spirit whose guidance and incitations were necessary to the subduing of sin was given for that purpose to none that rejected Christianity Wherefore as long as the Jew would not submit to the Law of the Spirit of Life i. e. to the Gospel to the profession whereof the special promise of the Spirit was made he must needs be subject to the Law of Sin and of Death Of sin because he refused the necessary means of subduing the lusts of the Flesh viz. the Faith of the Gospel which was to refuse the Incitations and Grace of the Spirit Of Death because if we live after the Flesh we shall die This Observation I thought might not prove altogether unuseful to well-meaning persons that have not hit on it before for a man may well be in danger of mistaking the Apostle's designe in this and other places where the fore-mentioned Phrases are promiscuously used if he expects that every one of them should have a peculiar mystery belonging to it and a sence quite different from all the rest But that which I chiefly intended was to observe that the promiscuous use of those Phrases in the holy Scripture is extreamly agreeable to that familiar way wherein the Holy Spirit moveth the mindes of men For if we are so moved by him that we are not sensible of any operation in our mindes but that of divine Truth as it is represented to us by ordinary means and thereupon embraced by our Understandings then we cannot better express our being led and guided by the Spirit than by saying that we obey the Gospel And thus you see a further reason of the promiscuous and indifferent use of the above-mentioned Phrases and that taken from the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations as the former was from the end and designe of them I shall conclude this point with inferring from what hath been said concerning it that we resist the Holy Spirit of God many times when we think of nothing less and we do not think of it because we do not feel that supernatural impression which is made upon us and cannot discern it from the free and natural Operations of our minds And thus we quench the motions of the Spirit very often when we imagine that we onely quarrel with our own Thoughts or reject the good counsels of a Friend or the exhortations of a Minister or the rebukes of our own Conscience Now if we could hear or apprehend the Holy Spirit disswading us from any wickedness as sensibly as when a good man speaks to us we should not dare surely to entertain one thought more of going forward A temptation could no more prevail against us if we were thus admonish'd than if God should speak to us from Heaven with an audible voice in these words O do not that wicked thing which I hate But God doth not use this method upon us because we are here to live by Faith because he will prove us whether we believe his Word or not Therefore if it be plain from the holy Scriptures that when we are sinning against the clear Convictions of our duty when we are baffling any good Exhortations and Counsels and our own hopes of Heaven or our fears of Hell or the force of any seasonable good thought tending to Repentance we do then as really contradict the perswasions of the blessed Spirit as if we heard his Voice sounding in our Ears shall we not be as much afraid to do the former as we should be to do the latter For it will not be admitted in our excuse that we did not think of rebelling against the Holy Spirit for our not thinking of it is another fault since we have reason to believe that every sin we commit against the checks of Conscience has that aggravation and why should we think that one fault will excuse another Wherefore if we cannot but acknowledge that the doing of despight to the Spirit of Grace must needs adde an heavy weight to every sin which we commit presumptuously and to every neglect of improving an inclination to Repentance methinks we should tremble to do the one or to delay the other Finally the consideration of this matter if we have any due reverence of God will not fail of making all good counsels profitable to us of giving strength to all our own good purposes and making us careful to improve by all reasons that are proper to convince us by all Examples that are fit to instruct us and by all opportunities of serious reflection upon our selves For the Operations of the Holy Spirit do conspire with such familiar methods as these are to produce his Graces in us SECT 6. From all these things it follows in the last place that the Operations of the Holy Spirit in our minds are Assistances or Helps as they are generally called by Christians of all perswasions not excepting our Author and the Friends of his way But I say also they are properly so called because the Operations of the Spirit are no more than Assistances and that because his Graces are truely and properly the effects of other Causes viz. of the ministration of the Gospel of the external means of Grace and of our own endeavours with all which the Operations of the Holy Spirit conspire for the producing of those effects in us The Spirit is indeed the principal cause of these effects and therefore they are called his Graces and ascribed to him as if we did nothing our selves to gain them according to that saying of the Apostle I laboured abundantly yet not I but the grace of God which
but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 This is the substance of what I can finde in the Scripture concerning this matter and I suppose it is sufficiently shewn that faith or a firm perswasion that Jesus is the Son of God and that his Doctrine is the Word of God is an effect of a divine Operation upon our mindes and that the first preparations within us towards Regeneration are from the Holy Spirit And consequently that the Semipelagian opinion introduced by the Massilienses upon occasion of the Pelagian controversie viz. that there is no necessity of preventing Grace though Grace be necessary to make our Faith fruitful of good works but that Faith and the first inclinations of the Will to that which is good are merely from our selves is contrary to the Scriptures SECT 2. Now when we are once perswaded that Jesus is the Son of God that which still remains to be done by us is to overcome the world and keep the Commandments of God Indeed if we believe in Jesus we have entertained into our mindes such forcible and prevailing considerations as will not easily suffer us to disobey him in any thing and they have so much power to lead our Affections after them and to govern our practices that I always thought the Semipelagians might with more appearance of reason have questioned the Doctrine of the Church concerning those divine Operations by which the Faith of a Believer is crowned with all other Christian Virtues than concerning those which are preparatory to Faith it self for of the two he is a more unreasonable man who believing God's Word is yet so mad as to go on still in his sins than he who believes it not and since the Lusts of men make them so unwilling to attend to those truths which are against them we might think it were an easier matter to keep the Faith of Christ from entring into their Hearts than to resist the power of it when it is once admitted But now as the evidence of those Reasons by which the Gospel is proved to be a divine Revelation is far from excluding all need of a divine Influence upon our mindes to create a firm Faith in us So neither does the power of those motives which are contained in our Faith render the concurrence of the Holy Spirit needless to move our Wills to that which is good and upon good principles but still our sufficiency is of God without whose Grace the temptations of the World and the lusts of our corrupt Nature which make us unwilling to entertain the truth would always suppress the force and vertue of it afterwards Thus our Saviour told his Disciples Without me ye can do nothing John 15.5 but he did not suppose that they were incapable of doing any thing with him too but that they had power to bring forth fruit unto God and that it was from him Now that this power imparted to them was not merely the effect of the Revelation of his Doctrine to them is plain from hence that they already believed the Revelations he had made Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken to you vers 3. and yet he tells them that without him they can do nothing which must needs imply some grace distinct from the bare revelation of the Gospel by which they had already bore some fruit and were capable of bringing forth more vers 2 3. But that all those dispositions and vertues wherein our obedience to the Gospel doth consist are as well the graces of the Holy Spirit as the effects of our Faith is clearly and fully affirmed in those words of the Apostle Phil. 2.13 It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do which being again spoken to Believers manifestly suppose a divine Operation distinct from the Revelation of the Gospel which enabled them to will and to do i. e. to perform that obedience from their very souls which would qualifie them for eternal happiness For this is the motive by which the Apostle encourageth them to work out their Salvation vers 12. by universal obedience as hitherto they had done Now because the motive extends to engage us to every part of our duty therefore God worketh in us that we may be every way so disposed in minde and will and obedient in life as to become meet for the Kingdom of Heaven Wherefore the fear and love of God and godly Sorrow and true Repentance and the hope of eternal Life together with all Christian Virtues such as Righteousness Mercy Patience Love Peace Joy Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness and Temperance are the Graces of the Spirit Wherefore Lastly our doing that which God requires and with that fear and love of him which he requires too are the effects of his Operations in us If any thing were yet wanting to satisfie us fully in this matter our being taught to pray that we may not enter into temptation and to pray always that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil would leave no room for doubting whether of our selves we need or by promise have this great encouragement to the study of Godliness and Virtue or not For these directions were unprofitable if we either needed no strength from the divine Spirit against our Temptations or if it were not to be gained by our Prayers Much less would those Prayers of St. Paul for other Christians which we so often meet withal have signified any thing to their advantage or encouragement if there were not a divine Grace obtainable by them for the producing of those effects which he so much desired to see in their conversation And these effects were no other than all kindes of Christian Virtue and Goodness as we may learn by the following places Wherefore also we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of Faith with power 2 Thess. 1.11 i. e. that God would make their Faith fruitful of all good works acceptable to him that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in them as he speaks in the following verse Again we do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good work Col. 1.9 10. Thus in another place For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the Inner man Now that which the Apostle prays for in these and many like places is plainly this That those Christians to whom he wrote might attain all those Qualifications which the Gospel requires in Believers And from hence it follows that God hath not left the success of the Gospel to