Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A45181
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Infants faith, and right to baptism, proved from Scripture with the chief objections against it answered. By John Hunt, pastor of a particular congregation in Northampton.
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Hunt, John, fl. 1704.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing H3739A; ESTC R221348
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61,988
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172
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may as well walk as a Man Spiritually Dead come to Christ Now then I ask have all Men such a vital Principle If you affirm it you oppose the Scripture Ephes 2.1 if you deny it then you either give me the Cause or affirm a Dead Man can walk And further in all Corporal Motion there is the Term from which and to which so in the Spiritual Motion of the Soul to Christ we come from Sin to Christ And now I have proved this from Scripture I shall cite some Authors of my Judgment that so my Reader may see it is not only my Opinion And I shall only cite such as the Patrons of this Opinion seem to admire as well as I that so you may see how they not only oppose the Scripture and me but also those Authors which they seem to confide in more than either that so you may see how these like Mad-Men even tear themselves The Learned Pemble is of my Mind in his Treatise of Grace and Faith and there spends many Pages to prove that the habits of all Grace are infused into the Soul in Regeneration before an Act of Faith can be put forth by that Soul and why these Men should not as well believe him in this as well as in his Notion of Eternal Justification especially since he hath clear Scripture on his side for the former but not a word for the latter seems strange to me But indeed I need not wonder since they that thus pick and cull this Author taking what suits with their Opinion and rejecting the rest do serve the unerring Word of God no better And if they dare serve Paul so 't is no wonder if they deal so with Pemble Dr. Goodwin is on my side in his Treatise on the Ephesians he hath these words 'T is affirmed saith he by Sound and Able Divines and that on good Ground that the Principles of all Grace are infused into the Soul before the Soul can put forth an Act of Faith with several passages to the same purpose which for brevity sake I omit Dr. Owen gives abundant Testimony to the same Truth in his Treatise on Justification he saith thus Justifying Faith is not to be found in any but those whose Natures are renewed and in whom there is a Principle of all Grace Thus you may see in a little how far these Divines were from this Error But because I have not to do with professed Arminians but with such as privily bring in this Erroneous Doctrine I shall therefore come to consider what their Pleas are and in Answering of them I shall further clear the Point I am upon and then I shall answer some Questions 1. Some I have heard say by coming in Sin we mean such must be sensible of Sin and so come Ans If such mean as they say why do they not always explain their meanings And sure I am if this is all such mean such Preachers are miserably mistaken by their Hearers who hereupon conclude they must come without any Change 'T is well known how with some Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion and I am well satisfied this is but a Jesuitical Shift that when they cannot justifie that rotten Notion of coming to Christ in their Sin then they tell us if we will believe them they mean only sensible of Sin but this Notion shall never be heard of till no other Answer will serve But what Soul-cousening is it to say one thing and mean another suppose they do mean so Pulpits should be places to to Explain things in But that this Cobweb may not cover such Deceit consider when they say we must be sensible of Sin they mean either that they have some Sin adhering to them or else that they are sensible they are in that Moment in a Sinful Unchanged State If they mean the former only they give away the Cause for we are enquiring into the State and certainly if not in a Sinful State 't is because in a Changed State unless some do not come into the World in such a State and so need no Change but if by being sensible of their Sin they mean a Sinful State then they are sensible of that which is or is not if sensible of that which is then they openly declare such are in an Unchanged State only add a Sence to the thing it self if they say they are sensible of a sinful State when their State is not so then this is no less than to affirm that a Delusion is the only Qualification prerequisite in order to our coming to Christ 2. But some may say we own 't is Christ that brings us and so we do not rob Christ of his Honour or Arrogate any thing to our selves as you suppose but we affirm he brings us unto himself in our Sins To which I answer 't is not enough to honour Christ to say he doth a thing unless the thing done be well done 't is far from being an Honour to Christ to make him the Author of Sin But to come to a more direct Answer I lay down this Proposition That some things are impossible to be done by God himself the Scripture affirms 't is impossible to God to Lie and that he cannot deny himself whatever is sinful cannot be done by that God that is Goodness it self nor doth this inability arise from weakness but strength Some things are contrary in Nature and so cannot be done as to make it Dark and Light at the same time and in the same place to make a Man Dead and Alive at the same time and in the same respect Now I shall enquire whether 't is not impossible under one or both of these Considerations for a Soul to be brought to Christ though by the power of Christ in his Sins as aforesaid I shall not now insist on the former how far such a Work would savour of Sin but sure I am in the latter Sence it is impossible and for the clearing this Consider our coming to Christ is an Act of the Will we are willing to renounce all confidence in the Flesh and to rely alone on Christ Now I would ask whether this Will is in all Men by Nature if such deny it then where this Will is there is a change wrought in that Soul and a great change too Psal 110.3 A willing People in the Day c. If such say this Will is in Men by Nature then they not only prove themselves Arminians but virtually deny what before they affirmed that they come by the power of Christ But if they say tho' unwilling by Nature yet they are made willing by the Power of Christ to come yet without a Change in the Will this is a grand contradiction in Nature to say that a Person who is unwilling should be made willing and yet no change made in his Will and yet this gross absurdity my Opposers will unavoidably hereby pluck down upon their own Heads I think it is safest to
Song all joined in the same Assembly all behold and love the same Object Yea how shall we then hugg and embrace each other as Fellow-Heirs of the same Kingdom and Children of the same Father and Members of the same Body I am fully satisfied our Differences are not so great here as our Love to one another will be there we shall no more strive about the Way when we enjoy the End And since we are so unlike fully to agree here and so certain to agree there how should it make all the sincere Lovers of Peace who have been mourning for these Divisions which are among the People of God cry out with the most Earnest and Longing Desires come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen FINIS A QUESTION Briefly Handled CONCERNING What State or Condition the Soul is in in the very Act of Coming unto Christ A QUESTION Briefly Handled CONCERNING What State or Condition the Soul is in in the very Act of Coming unto Christ READER we live in a Luxurious Wanton Age when many even of Professors who instead of Offering Violence to the Kingdom of Heaven instead of giving all Diligence to make their Calling and Election sure who instead of earnestly contending for the Faith once delivered to the Saints are spending most of their Precious Time no better than those Athenians Acts 17.21 either to tell or to hear some new Thing To mention all those new Opinions which have been vented of late by Men of Corrupt Minds Reprobate concerning the Truth would be tedious to me to Write and unprofitable to you to Read I shall only Discourse Briefly upon one which is this That Sinners wreeking in their Lusts must come to Christ as they are 'T is too well known how this Notion hath been spread abroad of late and received too even with such full satisfaction and content that it is a Gospel Truth that by such all others are despised as no Gospel Preachers that dare open their Mouths to oppose it And sure I am when Error thus abounds it highly concerns such as are set for the Defence of the Truth to open their Mouths in Vindication of it I confess I have a long time only bewailed these things to see the Truths of the Gospel Despised and Precious Souls lye Entangled in the Snare of the Devil and unwilling to be delivered But while I refrained my Speech the Fire kindled and now of necessity I must speak in Defence of the Truth as it is in Jesus come on what will and I do it for these Reasons First Because I have been judged Erroneous by some who have been too empty of Knowledge or full of Prejudice who have heard me oppose this Doctrine who I have reason to think are no less concerned than those Ephesians Acts 19.34 who without consulting the Truths the Apostle had Preached or proving the Lawfulness of their Idolatrous Practice cry out like Mad-Men for the space of two Hours Great is Diana of the Ephesians and no wonder because they Lived upon the Silver Shrines and had their Goddess been contemned their Craft had been ended And since I have delivered my Sentiments on this Point it stands me in hand to Vindicate it since I have Truth on my side for otherwise I should rather take shame to my self And since it must needs be difficult for any or at least for most to judge of such deep Mysteries and Niceties upon a Transcient hearing I am willing to expose my Sentiments that so I may either silence my Opposers or they may shame me For my part as I never durst utter any thing rashly in so weighty a Point before I had exactly weighed it in the Ballance of the Sanctuary so I am so far from recanting any thing I have delivered on this Point notwithstanding all the Calumnies of my Adversaries whose Eyes the God of this World hath in part blinded that I hope I shall be able to defend it to my last Breath and I am the more encouraged to defend this Truth That no Man can or ought to come to Christ in his Sins by the good Success I have had in many private Conferences about it for I never yet Conversed with any that opposed it but either I have convinced them of their Error and brought them to embrace the truth they once despised or at least so stopped their Mouths that they have been able no longer to be Gainsayers and indeed what can be said against the Truth That will stand when Errors will like the Chaff be driven away Errors are but Windy Doctrines Second Reason moving me to clear this Point is because 't is so weighty a Doctrine and even the turning Point of Christianity the Foundation Stone of all the Building and Errors in the Foundation are dangerous what greater concern than to know how a Soul must close with Christ Since that Soul that closes not with him shall never be Saved by him For he that Believes not shall be Damned Mark 16.16 And how unmerciful must that Minister be to Souls and unfaithful to Christ that canst see a Multitude at once running on with such a Lie in their Right Hand and not inform them If we see one going to Drink down some Deadly Poison though the Person through a Distempered Brain or by violence of some strong Temptation desire to Drink it yet if we know it and do not our utmost to prevent it we cannot be clear of his Blood so when we see Persons imbibing Damnable Doctrines we ought speedily to provide an Antidote and that though we cannot inform all in all the deep Mysteries of the Gospel by reason of that gross Darkness that hath covered many yet that we might not shun to declare the whole Counsel of God whether they will hear or whether they will forbear Third Reason Because the Error I oppose not only passes for a Truth with many but for such a Truth as doth most magnifie the Grace of God and so is like to do the more harm When Error appears with a bare face it will seem so Deformed that but few will fall in Love with it but when the Devil wraps himself in Samuel's Mantle it 's hard toknow him This Doctrine sets up Free-Will by Craft and that under a Notion of Free-Grace and though nothing differs more than those Two yet the Patrons are minded to let the World see what they can do by Art and whether they cannot make some take bitter for sweet Is 5.20 But because that Monster of Free-Will is but of low esteem with some therefore for love they have to this Creature they have bestowed a new Garb upon it and have changed its Name too calling that which always went by the Name of Free-Will now Free-Grace whereby they have so altered the Property of the thing that the owners thereof scarce know it and so Gild over their Poisonous Pill that it may go down the better Fourth Because this Doctrine I oppose suiting so with our Corrupt Nature