and preach a new Gospel that can make it to be true or prove that it is so The Nature of things are not so soon changed no things will still remain to be what they are though weak passionate Men should never so often think and boldly say that they are not what they are that which is once true will still remain true though men think and say ten thousand times over that it is false As on the contrary that which is once false as it is most false that we preach a new Gospel will still remain false though our Author and his whole party should ten thousand times over both think and say and swear too that it is true We therefore beseech all Christian People neither to believe our Author nor Us upon our bare Words he confidently affirms that we preach a new Gospel We deny it he brings no proof but his own reproachful Word for what he says against us We bring Scripture Reason and the Testimonies of Ancient Fathers and Modern Divines for what we say against him in Vindication of our own Innocency and for Proof that the Gospel which we preach is no other than the Everlasting Gospel of Christ which always hath been now is and ever will be preserved in the Christian Church to the end of the World Now we advise People not to trust either him or us without Tryal but to examine what is said on both sides and then to trust those whom they find upon Tryal to be most trusty and to have given the best Reasons why they should be trusted in these Matters Consider Christians what our most blessed Lord and Saviour saith Matth. 15.14 That if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the Ditch It will not excuse People before God that they followed their Leaders for they are rational Creatures and they ought to see with their own Eyes and not to follow their Ministers blindly without considering and knowing whether they lead them right or wrong whether they lead them in the way of Error or in the way of Truth Therefore our Saviour saith again Matth. 24.4 Take heed that no Man deceive you The like Advice our Lords great Apostle gave unto the Churches to whom he wrote his Epistles Let no Man said he deceive you with vain Words 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Ephes 5.6 This Advice he gave with respect to some of the things that are controverted amongst us at this Day And again Let no Man deceive you by any means 2 Thes 2.3 And as a Preservative and Antidote against being deceived he exhorted them to prove all things and to hold fast that which is good 1 Thes 5.21 Moreover though he was extraordinarily assisted by an infallible Spirit yet he commended the Bereans as People of a noble generous Mind for trying his own Doctrine by the Touchstone of Holy Scripture before they believed it Acts 17.11 It was not any slowness in them to believe which made them examine his Doctrine but it was Wisdom and Prudence for the Scripture saith they received the Word with all Readiness of Mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so they received readily and yet searched diligently making no more haste than good speed and by searching they found all that Paul preached to them to be according to the Scripture therefore they believed his Doctrine and believed in Christ according to his Doctrine ver 12. And this was it which Paul commended them for that though he was an Apostle inspired with a Spirit of Infallibility and could and did Work Miracles to confirm the Truth of his Doctrine yet they searched the Scriptures daily to see whether his Doctrine was according to the Scriptures before they believed it and when by searching they found it to be all according to the Scriptures they immediately believed and readily received it for that very Reason because it was according to the Scriptures of Truth And Paul was of such an excellent Spirit that if the Bereans or any other People had by diligent search found any part of his Doctrine to be really contrary unto the Scriptures of Truth which was impossible for them to do he would have commended them also for not believing it Acts 26.22 23. 1 Cor. 15.1 2 3 4. 1 Cor. 7.25 40. Gal. 1.8 Yea our blessed Lord himself when he was on Earth in his State of Humiliation as a Man and Minister of the Circumcision for the Truth of God to confirm the Promises made unto the Fathers Rom. 15.8 He did not desire that his Hearers should believe him upon his bare Word John 5.31 If I bear Witness of my self my Witness is not true That is though it be never so true in it self yet it is not true with respect to you or it doth not appear true and convincing to you therefore as we read in that Chapter and elsewhere our Lord over and besides his own Verbal Testimony used to prove the Truth of his Doctrine by Scripture and to confirm it by such miraculous Works as could not be done but by the infinite Power of God who neither would nor could give his Seal to ratifie and confirm a lie And thereupon he said unto the unbelieving Jews John 10.37 38. If I do not the Works of my Father believe me not but if I do though ye believe not me believe the Works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him And when convinced by the Notorlety of the Matters of Fact that he did wonderful Works above the Power of Man they were forced by the Evidence of common Sense and Reason to confess it yet being unwilling to believe in him on that account they found out a way to elude the force of his Argument deduced from his Miracles by raising a dispute about the invisible Secret cause of them and by blasphemously ascribing them to the Devil and not to God Matth. 12.24 Mark 3.22 He did not in Answer to that blasphemous Cavil tell them that they must believe on his bare Word that his Miracles were wrought by the Power of God and not of the Devil But by plain Reason and strong Argument taken from the circumstances of his Miracles he proved against them that they could not possibly be from the Devil and therefore they must be from God Mark 3.23 24 25 26 27. with Matth. 12.25 26 28 29. He said unto them How can Satan cast out Satan And if a Kingdom be divided against it self that Kingdom cannot stand c. The Summ of our Saviours Argument was this That his Miracles were wrought to confirm a Doctrine that is directly contrary to and destructive of every thing that is Devilish and wherever it is received in Faith and Love there always the Devils Interest decays and himself is despised and abhorred yea many of Christs Miracles were done immediately upon the Devil himself and he was thereby cast out of that Power and Possession which he had got by
the whole World which we do most abhor Jerome who was contemporary with Pelagius writing against the Pelagians saith Hierom. Epist ad Ctesiphontèm propè medium Asserunt se per arbitrii libertatem nequaquà m ultrà necessarium habere Deum c. Quid rursum te ingeris ut nihil pòssim facere nisi tu in me tua dona compleveris That they assert by reason of the free Will which God hath once given them they stand no more in need of God For saith the Pelagian unto God Thou hast once given me free Will that I may do what I will Wherefore dost thou intrude thy self again so that I can do nothing unless thou perfect thy gifts in me Which Jerome thus confutes They are ignorant of what is written 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou that thou hast not received and if thou hast received it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it And It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth Mercy Rom. 9.16 It is my part to will and to run Velle currere meum est sed ipjum meum sine dei semper auxilio non crit meum but without the continual help of God that very thing which is mine will not be mine That is it will never be done by me but will come to nothing For the same Apostle saith It is God who worketh in us both to will and to do Phil. 2.13 God is always bestowing always giving That which God hath once given me Non sufficit nihi quod semel donavit nisi semper donaverit c. is not sufficient for me unless he shall still continually give me I ask that I may receive and when I have received I ask again I am covetous to receive the gifts of God neither is he wanting in giving nor am I satiated in receiving By how much the more I drink in the Grace of God by so much the more do I thirst after it This which Jerome wrote Twelve hundred years ago against the Pelagians with his Pen we subscribe to it with heart and hand In like manner we subscribe to that of Coelestin in his Epistle to the Gauls in behalf of Prosper and Hilary Coelestini de gratiâ dei Epist cap. 9. Ita deus in cordibus hominum c. God so works in the hearts of Men and on Free Will it self that a Holy Thought Pious Counsel and every good motion of the Will is from God for it is by him that we can do any good without whom we can do no good And to the Seventh Canon of the second Council of Orange If any shall affirm that Man by the strength of Nature Si quis dixerit per naturae vigorem c. without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit can think or choose aright any good that pertains to the happiness of Eternal Life or that he can savingly consent to the Evangelical preaching He is deceived by an Heretical Spirit not understanding the voice of God saying in the Gospel John 15.5 Without me ye can do nothing And that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God All this we firmly believe and heartily embrace And therefore whosoever saith that we are Pelagians or Semipelagians either he knows us not and ignorantly defames us or if he know us and our Principles he knowingly belyes us which we hope our Accuser would not do And as we our selves are not Pelagians no nor Semipelagians so we do not plead for any that are such but are ready to plead for the Truth against them as the Lord shall call us and enable us thereunto As for the Brethren that are accused a number of them hath approved our Apology and we plead only for them who do or shall approve it But if there should be any of the Subscribers whom we have not consulted with who unknown to us are of a Judgment different from us in these matters we leave them to plead for themselves Yet though we thus write we doubt not but they will all agree to the Sum and Substance of what we have said and proved in this our Apology As 1. That the Gospel is a new Law of Grace in the Sense we have affirmed and proved it so to be by the Word of God and by the Testimonies of Antient Fathers and Modern Divines 2. That this Law of Grace or Gospel-Covenant is conditional as we have stated the conditionality of it that is It is conditional with respect to the subsequent Blessings and Benefits of it such as Justification and Glorification 3. That Evangelical Repentance is a Condition Dispositive of the Subject Man necessary in order to his being justified as we have proved by Scripture and Reason and by many Testimonies of Ancient Fathers and Modern Divines And that a lively effectual Faith is the Condition receptive and applicative of the Object Christ and his Righteousness by and for which only Man is justified Finally That sincere Evangelical Obedience proceeding from a Principle of true Faith is a condition necessary on Mans part unto his obtaining possession of Eternal Salvation in Heaven for the alone merits of Christ 4. That in effectual calling by the Word and Spirit of Christ there is a real change and holy qualifications wrought in the Soul of Man in order of Nature before he be justified and pardoned 5. That the Common distinction is true as we have explained it and Calvin and the Synod of Dort approved it That Christ dyed for all men sufficiently but for the Elect only efficaciously This is the summ of what we believe and here contend for and we doubt not but all the Subscribers even those of them whom we never saw do and will agree to these things which are the commonly received Doctrines of the Reformed Churches And it is for such Persons that we make an Apology and for no others In pleading for these things aforesaid we are perswaded in our own Conscience and we think upon good and solid grounds that we plead for the Truth and Purity of the Gospel the defence whereof to the Glory of God is the principal thing that we propose to our selves in this present Apology And next to God's Glory in the defence of his Truth we design the Edification and Common Good of Christ's Church and the defence of our selves only in subserviency to those higher ends That the Father of Lights the God of Truth and Love and Peace would pour out upon us all of all perswasions a Spirit of Light and Love Purity and Peace that we may all see the Truth with our minds believe and love it with our hearts and profess and practice it purely and peaceably in our lives to the Glory of God in Christ to the Honour of Religion and to the Spiritual and Eternal good of our own and others
uncere Obedience to be a Legal but an Evangelical Condition of the Covenant of Grace and consequently that in our Judgment they do not hold the same Place and Office in the New Covenant of Grace which personal perfect sinless Obedience had and were to have had in the first Covenant of Innocency and of Works Object But saith our Authour in his Appendix Pag. 39. It is the Achillaean Argument of the New Divinity that Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience is our Evangelical Righteousness and that Righteousness is our defence against the charge of Vnbelief Impenitence c. And what then Why in the following Pages he so shapes it as might best serve his Design which was to make the People believe that we set up our own Righteousness in the place of Christ's and maintain that Men must be Justified by their own Righteousness and not onely by Christ's And so he trips up Achilles Heels by the Fallacy of many Interrogations But it will be no very difficult Task to scatter this Mist which he hath cast before the Peoples Eyes In order thereunto let it be considered 1. That the Substance of this Argument was not invented by any amongst us dead or alive that we know of but some in this Nation having read it in some very eminently learned forreign Divines particularly Ludovicus de Dieu at large and the Holy Humble Learned and most Acute Placeus they received it and improved it as useful to clear some seeming Difficulties in Scripture obiected to us by our Adversaries the Papists 2. Consider that this way of reconciling James with Paul in the matter of Justification for the Substance of it was taken up also by the Learned Turretin 3. That it doth not appear that all of us ever expressed our selves in those Words for the clearing up of the seeming difference between James and Paul 4. That those who do take that way do not impose it upon others We know there have been many ways taken by Reformed Divines to expound James so as not to contradict Paul And some considerable difference there may seem to be among Divines in the methodizing and expressing of their Notious of those Matters But yet there appears to be very little difference amongst them as to the things themselves Indeed upon the Matter all seems to come almost to the same thing And particularly let it be considered 5. That this way of Interpreting James his Justification by Works and reconciling it with Paul's Justification by Faith seems to differ from the more common modern Opinion mostly in the manner of expression which some of us think most agreeable to the Scripture Phrase But we leave every Man to express his Notions as best pleaseth him provided that if he do not use Scripture Words yet he do not contradict Scripture sense And therefore 6. We desire it may be considered that this way of expounding James which we are now speaking of doth not in the least contradict the Holy Scripture but rather serves to explain it if it be understood as it ought to be in the true genuine sense of its Authours For 1. Though they say that our Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience is an Evangelical Righteousness as indeed it is yet at the same time they declare that this Evangelical Righteousness is no other thing but the Condition of the new Covenant on our part whereby we are interested first and still keep our interest in the satisfactory meritorious Righteousness of Christ by and for which alone we are justified from first to last They do not say that this Evangelical Righteousness which is the Condition of the Covenant doth satisfie God's Justice for the least sin either against Law or Gospel or that it doth properly merit to us the least good so much as a Cup of Cold Water They give unto Christ alone the whole Glory of having by his Righteousness satisfied Justice for all our Sins and merited to us all our Mercies So that our Authour was we think a little impertinent in putting his question page 41. What is that Righteousness which justifies a man from the sin of Vnbelief For he knows well enough that the Worthy Divines as he deservedly calls them with whom he has to do in that Argument have published it to all the World under their hands That assoon as a Man who was before an Unbeliever begins through Grace sincerely to believe in Christ and to repent of his Unbelief and of all his other sins immediately thereupon Christ's satisfactory meritorious Righteousness justifies him from his sin of Unbelief and from all his other former sins both Original and Actual that is God by and for Christ's Righteousness justifies him from them upon his believing and repenting And as our Authour knows this to be true so he hath honestly confessed it in the end of the same Paragraph Will any man says he dare to tell a person who is troubled in Conscience about his sin of Vnbelief that Christ's Righteousness is his legal Righteousness against the charge of sins against the Law but for Gospel-charges he must answer them in his own name I know our hottest opposers would abhor such an answer and would freely tell such a Man that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin and that his Justification from his Vnbelief must be only in that Righteousness which he so sinfully had rejected while in Vnbelief and now lays hold on by Faith Here the Truth comes out at last and in effect he gives the lye to his own false accusations of the Lord's Ministers and acquits the accused For if his hottest Opposers freely tell People that the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin and that their Justification from the sin of Unbelief must be only by the Righteousness of Christ then how can those things be true whereof as was observed before he had accused us in page 6 28 33 and page 39. That we bring our own pitiful Holiness into Justification and make it sit on the Throne of Judgment with the precious blood of the Lamb of God Ex ore tuo c. But 2. The Authors of the Argument we are upon never said wrote or so much as thought that can be known That our sincere Faith and Repentance is a Defence or Justification against a charge of Unbelief or Impenitence given in against us by God for they knew full well without being taught it by this Authour That the God of Truth cannot be the Authour of a Lye which he would certainly and evidently be if he should charge us with being Unbelievers and Impenitent at that very time when he knows that by his own Spirit and Grace we sincerely believe and repent But that which the aforesaid Excellent Divines said is yet to be seen in their Writings and it is this That our sincere Faith and Repentance is a Defence and Justification against any false charge of Unbelief and Impenitence that is or possibly may be given in against
endeavour to make out from several passages in the Letter it self As 1. In Page 10. All that he saith against that Book is this There are many Expressions in it that we generally dislike Now this he might safely say and yet not disown any but in his heart believe every Doctrinal point in it There are many precious Truths ill expressed by some very Orthodox Divines and in such a case we may well say that we dislike the way of expression tho' we dearly love the Truth so expressed We find that the Reverend and pious Mr. Rutherford in a Fast Sermon preached before the House of Commons in the Year 1643. on Dan. 6.26 saith Page 32. That the Antinomian is the Golden white Devil a Spirit of Hell cloathed with all Heaven and the Notions of Free Grace It seems the Devil of Antinomianism did not appear white enough to our Authour in Dr. Crisps Book but what if he had appeared in a better and whiter Dress what if the Antinomianism had been better expressed how would the Authour of the Letter have liked it then Truly for any thing he hath here said to the contrary he might have liked it well enough It is true in the end of that Paragraph he says That Error is often and unhappily opposed by Error under Truths name And we confess he may possibly apply one part of that passage unto Dr. Crisps Book and we would hope that he thereby meant that indeed there are Errours in Dr. Crisps Book but withal we must say that such an acknowledgment of Errour to be in that Book is too obscure to be discerned by the ordinary people that want judgment and for whose use he saith he wrote his Book and that because it is a general expression which is true enough in it self without respect to Dr. Crisps Book and whether it be applied thereunto or not 2. In Page 26. he sayes We justly complain that in their opposing of true Antinomian Errours and particularly the alledged Tenents of Dr. Crisp they hint that there is a Party of c. Now pray mark how warily he expresseth himself and how tender he seems to be of the credit of that Book He doth not say true Antinomian Errors and particularly the Tenents of Dr. Crisp for then indeed he had plainly confessed that there are true Antinomian Errours in the Book but he only saith the alledged Tenents of that Doctor by which Word Alledged he may make some People believe that he never meant there were any true Antinomian Errours in that Drs. Book but that true Antinomian Errours are alledged out of it by Mr. Williams and others and that very wrongfully as Mr. Chancey pretends 3. In Page 24. he says It is not yet called in question by any but that there is a decreed Justification from Eternity Here may be another Juggle for these words there is a decreed Justification from Eternity are capable of the Antinomian sense nay more they are not fairly capable of any other sense to understand them properly For a decreed Justification is not the Decree it self but the object or effect of the Decree The Decree it self is from Eternity but the object and effect of the Decree is in time as Dr. Twiss tells us and even common sense and reason may assure us of it For the Decree being from Eternity and the object and effect of the Decree being after the Decree it cannot be from Eternity too and if it be not from Eternity it must be in time And yet the Letter saith that a decreed Justification though it be the object or effect of the Decree is from Eternity which is the very Errour of the Antinomians who ignorantly confound the object and effect of the Decree with the Decree it self We are sure the Words of the Letter bear this sense yet we will not positively affirm that he meant them in this sense because we would hope though he hath said expresly that there is a decreed Justification from Eternity that yet he onely meant and would have said that there is a Decree of Justification from Eternity If any now should object on his behalf and say the that foresaid words not only may but must be understood of the Eternity of the Decree it self and cannot be understood of the Eternity of the decreed Justification which is the effect of the Decree because of the distinction which follows of a virtual and actual Justification We can easily answer that if we our selves were true Antinomians and durst so far dissemble as sometimes to seem not to be Antinomians we could make the opinion of Justifications actual existence from Eternity consist well enough with the distinction of vertual and actual Justification mentioned in the Letter For we would understand it with respect to manifestation Thus 1. Justification which actually existed from Eternity was virtually manifested in and by the Death and Resurrection of Christ 2. It is actually manifested and is actual in manifestation when we lay hold on and plead Redemption in Christs Blood by Faith And thus by a different use of Words a Man void of the fear of God might juggle and at different times and upon different occasions might please two contrary Parties and make them both believe that he were of their Judgment We do not say that our Authour doth so only we wish that he had not expressed himself so ambiguously but that with more plainness and simplicity he had declared himself against those Antinomian Errours Thus he had effectually removed all grounds of suspecting him any more whereas as he hath carried the matter in general doubtful expressions it may be to avoid the displeasure of some of his good Friends instead of fully clearing himself he hath left ground to suspect him still that if he be not a real Antinomian he is at least a Favourer of them and one that would keep up his Interest amongst them and therefore in speaking of Dr. Crisps Book all that he sayes is that he likes not his way of expressing himself and that there are true Antinomian Errours alledged out of it but not that there are any really in it as also he grants to the Antinomians that there is a decreed Justification from Eternity which is as much as they desire for decreed Justification is distinct from and is the object and effect of the Decree And so if Justification as it is the object and effect of the Decree be from Eternity then the Antinomians and he are agreed in that matter and both of them hold that not onely the Decree of Justification as of all other things is from Eternity but that Justification it self is from Eternity We do not see how Men of their Principles can gather any other sence from his Words But whether he used such Words on purpose to make them conceive good hopes of him we shall neither affirm nor deny but leave it to his own Conscience And as the Antinomians may hope well of him so will
through Grace we be sincerely obedient we shall be saved but if not we shall be damned Now this Faith acting upon the several parts of God's Word according to their respective Natures is of great force and efficacy to determine us unto the practice of sincere Obedience 1. the Faith of God's Word commanding sincere Obedience as indispensably necessary to Salvation makes our Consciences how down to God's Authority in the Command and makes us endeavour to yeild Obedience to it 2. The Faith of God's Word of threatning against the disobedient Rebel works upon our Fears 2 Cor. 5.10 11. Heb. 4.1 and Fear restrains us from disobedience lest thereby we should bring upon our selves the everlasting punishment threatned 3. The Faith of God's Word of Promise to obedient Believers works upon our hope and hope quickens us unto Obedience as the necessary means to obtain the Eternal Reward promised It makes us follow after Holiness in expectation of Happiness 1 John 3.2 3. It is essential to saving Faith to act thus differently on the several parts of the Word according to their respective Natures making us tremble at the Threatnings embrace the Promises and by that means obey the Commands of God As our Confession of Faith intimates in Chap. 14. Art 2. Now our Faith its being thus naturally fitted to make us sincerely obedient unto the Lord in all his Commands and Institutions ariseth partly from hence that the indispensable necessity of sincere Obedience in order to the obtaining of Eternal Salvation is one of the objects of a sound Faith which it firmly assents to and is strongly perswaded of For this firm assent and strong perswasion that sincere Obedience is so necessary to Salvation will not let us rest but will be still putting us on to yeild sincere Obedience unto the Law of Christ as that which must be done or we shall be undone for ever But if a Man be once firmly perswaded in his own Mind that no sincere Obedience but onely the Act of Faith in way of Obedience is indispensably necessary to Salvation his Faith will not have so much Power over him to make him sincerely obedient unto the Lord in order to Salvation Indeed it is much to be doubted whether that Man hath a sincere Faith at all who is under the Power of this erroneous Opinion that no sincere Obedience distinct from the Act of Faith is indispensably necessary to Salvation for a sincere sound Faith amongst other of its Objects it believes this for one that as first Faith so next sincere Obedience is indispensably necessary to Salvation Thus we have proved our Second Proposition to wit It is false that no sincere Obedience but the Act of Faith is required as indispensably necessary to the obtaining the promised Blessing of Eternal Life and Glory Now both the Premisses being certainly and evidently true the Conclusion follows unavoidably which is this That it is true that some Obedience besides the Act of Faith is required as indispensably necessary to the obtaining of the promised Blessing of Eternal Life and Glory For who is so stark blind as not to see that if it be false that no Obedience but Faith is indispensably necessary to Salvation as we have proved it to be false then its contradictory is true that some Obedience besides Faith is indispensably necessary to Salvation We proceed then and thus argue If some Obedience besides Faith be indispensably necessary to Salvation then that some Obedience besides Faith must be either a most perfect personal sinless Obedience or an imperfect personal sincere Obedience There can be no other personal Obedience but one of these two thought indispensably necessary to Salvation But it is not it cannot be a most perfect personal sinless Obedience for if such an Obedience were required as indispensably necessary to Salvation then no Man could be saved because no meer Man ever performed such Obedience to the Law of God in this life no Man ever lived so holily as never to sin in Thought Word or Deed after his Conversion and 〈…〉 And so if such sinless personal Obedience were required of all as indispensably â—â—â—â—â—sary to Salvation no Flesh could be saved but all would be damned notwithstanding all that Christ hath done and suffered to purchase Salvation for his People Christ's blood would have been so far shed in vain that not one Soul would be saved by it which were Blasphemy to affirm and therefore it cannot be that now under the Gospel-Covenant a most perfect personal sinless Obedience is required of us as indispensably necessary to Salvation Since therefore some personal Obedience besides Faith is indispensably necessary to Salvation and it is not a most perfect personal sinless Obedience that is so necessary we must of necessity conclude that it is an imperfect personal sincere Obedience which besides Faith is indispensably necessary to Salvation The other most perfect personal sinless Obedience is not attainable in this Life by the ordinary assistance of God's Grace but this personal imperfect yet sincere Obedience is attainable in this Life by the ordinary helps of God's Spirit and Grace For Christ's yoke is easie and his burden is light Mat. 11.30 And God's Commandments are not grievous 1 John 5.3 The Spirit helpeth our infirmities Rom. 8.26 Through the Spirit we mortifie the deeds of the body Rom. 8.13 We purify our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit c. 1 Pet. 1.22 In short though without Christ we can do nothing John 15.5 Yet through Christ strengthening us we can do all things Phil. 4.13 that is we can do all things which Christ requires of us as indispensably necessary to our obtaining the promised Blessing of Eternal Life and Salvation If any should object against this and say that a Man may be saved although he do not perform that Obedience which is indispensably necessary to Salvation because though he fall into very great Sins yet he may repent of them and so be saved through Christ upon his repentance We Answer 1. That it is contradictious Non-sence to say a Man may be saved without that sincere Obedience which God hath made indispensably necessary to his Salvation 2. We answer with Rutherford and others as aforesaid that when a Regenerate Justified Man fulls into gross Sins against Knowledge and Conscience he cannot be saved whilst he continues in those Sins without Repentance for then he doth not walk after the Spirit but rather after the Flesh then he is going astray from the way that leads to Life and Salvation and is walking in the broad way that leads to destruction And therefore if he do not turn back and return again into the narrow way that leads to Life and Salvation he will certainly be undone he will perish everlastingly Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die But when a justified Man that had fallen as is said rises again by Repentance he returns to his Obedience And we desire it
apprehensive nature and its apprehending Christs Righteousness the Will of God still presupposed doth make this Righteousness ours even as a Gift becomes ours by our receiving of it These Worthy Divines we see were of our Opinion That it is not the nature of Faith it self nor its relation unto Christ which is essential to it that doth formally make it to be the Instrumental Means or Condition of our Justification but it is the Will of God ordaining it to that Office It is true they held and we with them hold that there is a congruity and fitness in Faith to be the receptive and applicative Condition of the Promise and of Christ and his Righteousness therein because it is of a receptive applicative nature yet that doth not formally make it the Condition For notwithstanding its fitness to be the Condition yet it would never have actually and formally been the Condition of Justification nor would it ever have availed us to Justification if God by an Act of his Free-will had not made it the Condition of Justification Is not Justification a great Blessing and Benefit which is in the power and at the disposal of God and Christ and may not God do what he will with his own may not he give his Blessing and Benefit upon what Terms and Conditions he and his Son shall think fit to agree upon This surely is so evident that no reasonable Man can have reason to deny it And then the consequence is as evident that it is not any thing intrinsecal to Faith and so not its relation to Christ which is intrinsecal to it that can nextly and formally make it the Instrumental Means or Condition of Justification but it is and must be the Will of God and his Son Christ Jesus agreeing that Faith shall be and ordaining Faith to be the Instrumental Means Terms and Condition of our Justification For these Reasons we dissent and all Men that love the Truth should dissent from our Authour if by saying that an accepting Faith is the native Condition of the Offer of Christ and of all his fulness he mean That Faith of its own nature necessarily is the condition of the promise and could not possibly 〈◊〉 otherwise so that 〈◊〉 being the condition doth necessarily and wholly arise from its own intrinsecal nature and not at all from the Will of God and Christ constituting and ordaining it do that Office of being the Condition of the promise We dare not uscribe so much Vertue and Efficacy to the intrinsecal Nature of Faith in the matter of our Justification But if by saying That an accepting Faith is the Native condition of the offer of Christ and his fulness our Authour means no more but this That Faith being of a receptive Nature it hath a natural aptitude and fitness to be made the condition of the promise of Justification and that that was a reason why it pleased God and Christ to make and constitute Faith to be the receptive condition of Justification we shall not oppose but join with him in this sense of his words But though we grant him for the reason aforesaid that Faith is the one native receptive condition of Justification yet we can never grant that Faith taken in his sense for the one single Grace or it may be for one single Act of the one single Grace of Faith is the only condition of Justification and much less that it is the only condition of Glorification For as Faith is the one yea and only receptive condition so true Repentance it the dispositive condition of Justification or of the Person to be justified in order to his Justification And moreover Repontance is as native a condition in its kind as Faith in its kind it is us native a dispositive condition as Faith is a native receptive condition For sincere Repentance being a Godly sorrow for having displeased and dishonoured God and a firm resolution through Grace to do so no more it doth from the very nature of the thing dispose and prepare the Soul for pardon and then God hath likewise for that reason Willed Ordained and Constituted Repentance to be the dispositive Condition of pardon of Sin and Justification As we proved before by plain testimonies of God's Holy Word And though Faith and Repentance be equally necessary from the Will Ordination and Constitution of God and Christ yet of the two Repentance seems to be the most necessary with that kind of necessity which ariseth precisely from the nature of the thing For it seems to be absolutely impossible because repugnant to the perfection of God's Holy Nature to Justifie Pardon and Love with a Love of Complacency a Rebellious Sinner whilst he is impenitent and continues his full Resolution to go on in his Rebellion and Enmity against Heaven The sense of this Truth seems to have been much upon the very Reverend and Learned Mr. Clarkson's Spirit and therefore it made him say in his Discourse of free Grace page 129 130 131. If the terms or conditions be such as it is not possible in the nature of the thing that the mercy offered should be effected without them then the offers of saving mercies are as free and gracious as can be as there is any possibility they should be and no more can be desired Then he takes Repentance for his instance we do not say that he altogether excludes the other terms but that Repentance is that which he Jingles out to instance in and which he much insists upon as taken in its Latitude And thus he goes on Let me clear this in one of those terms which is comprehensive of all the rest It is required of those who will partake of Saving Mercies that they leave sin forsake their evil ways Prov. 28.13 Isa 55.7 2 Tim. 2.19 This is the summ of all Conditions and whatever is required in other terms is included in this or may be resolved into it Now it is not possible that saving Mercies should otherwise be had that they should be received or enjoyed but upon these terms not only because the Lord would have it so but because the Nature of the thing doth so require it that it is not otherwise feasible for sin is our impotency Now can we possibly have strength in the inner man if we will not part with our weakness Sin is our deformity that which renders our Souls loathsome and ugly in the eye of God Now can our Souls be made lovely if we will not part with that which is our defilement and ugliness Can we be made clean if we will not part with our leprosie Sin is our enmity against God therein it consists now can we possibly be reconciled if we will not lay aside our enmity Sin is the wound the mortal Disease of the Soul and can you be healed if you will not part with your Disease Sin is your Misery and can you be happy if not part with your misery Happyness consists in the enjoyment of God
both they and the Synod which approved their Suffrage and gave them great thanks for it did all of them believe that there is and must be a great and holy change wrought on us and holy Dispositions and Qualifications bestowed on us before we are immediately able and that we may be able to believe and repent and consequently before we are justified Yea our Divines expresly reject it as the first Arminian Error against that part of the third and fourth Articles which relates to Regeneration and Conversion unto God by Faith and Repentance That in Regeneration there are no spiritual Gifts infused into the Wills of Men. Pag. 91. This Arminian Errour they disprove and amongst other Arguments against it Pag. 92. they use this for one As the Will of a meer natural Man is said to be vicious from a certain inbred and inherent wickedness which in a wicked man even when he doth nothing is habitual so again we must acknowledge that in the Will of the regenerate there is a certain Righteousness or Goodness as it is in the Original given and infused by God which is presupposed unto their Religious Actions St. Austin in many places setteth forth this habitual Righteousness or Goodness And Prosper calls this goodness of the Will Prosper de vocat Gentium lib. 1. c. 6. superni agricolae primam plantationem the first planting of the Heavenly Husbandman Now a Plantation Notes something ingrafted in the Soul not an Act or Action flowing from the Soul Thus our Divines at Dort whereby we see that it is a branch of Arminianism to deny that there is any Holy Habit Seed Root or Permanent Principle of Grace or any Spiritual Qualification wrought in the Soul before Justification And we find that long ago Robinson one of the rigidest Seperatists from the Worship and Discipline of the Church of England yet Religiously adhered to her Doctrine in this Point we are upon for thus he writes in Defence of the Doctrine of the Synod at Dort Robinsons Defence of the Doct. of the Synod at Dort p. 109. Pag. 132.133 That a man may have his Sins pardoned who yet wants all brotherly Love and goodness the Scriptures every where deny Mat. 6.14 15. 1 Joh. 3.14 15. Mark 11 24 25. Rom. 8.1 Psal 32.1 2. And afterwards in the same Book By the Word and Spirit saith he God regenerates Men or gives them Faith and Repentance which they must have before they can believe or repent as the Child must have Life before it can live or do Acts of Life and must be generated or begotten before it have Life or Being Regeneration therefore goes before Faith and Repentance Here we see that old rigid zealous Nonconformist held that there must be a real great change made on a Man a Holy Principle must be put into him and Holy Qualifications bestowed upon him before he can believe and repent and consequently before he can be justified Pag. 56. Again before in the same Book he saith expresly that Rom. 8.29 30. Shews plainly that our Predestination or Election goes before our Calling and our Calling before our Justification And in the same Page Gods chusing a Man whether in Decree from Eternity or by Actual and Effectual Calling and calling of him out of the State of Sin by giving him the Spirit of Faith and Grace goes before his believing for he cannot believe before he have Faith nor have it before God give him it but his actual saving by Justification and Glorificaton follows after Faith The same Truth is witnessed unto by Mr. Ball in his Treatise of Faith Part 1. p. 1.36 Every one saith he is not fit to receive the Promise of Mercy the Enemies of the Gospel of Christ Worldlings Hypocrites and all in whom Sin reigneth can have no true Faith in Christ he is only sit to receive Mercy who knows that he is lost in himself and unsatiably desires to be eased of the heavy burden of his Sins Faith is a Work of Grace of the Essicacy of Gods Spirit whereby we answer to the Effectual Call of God and come unto him that we might be partakers of Life Eternal And if saving Effectual Calling be precedent to Faith the subject of living Faith is Man savingly called according to the purpose of Gods Will. We can teach no Faith to Salvation but according to the Rule of Christ Mark 1.15 Repent and Believe the Gospel no Remission but according to the like rule Luke 24.47 Acts 2.37 38. Our last Witness is Mr. Gataker who saith God doth not actually remit or release Sin until he give Grace to repent Gatakers shadows without substance p. 55. which in the Gospel Phrase and Method goes constantly before pardon c. We might easily bring many more of our Reformed Divines to witness unto this Truth but these are sufficient to shew that it is the old Protestant Doctrine generally received in the Reformed Churches that there is and must be a real Holy Change a seminal permanent Principle of Spiritual Life some Holy Dispositions and Qualifications wrought in us by the Spirit of Christ before we are justified by Faith in the Blood of Christ And here by the way we must tell our Author what it may be he doth not know First that if he will believe Bardwardin Let. p. 13. with whom he saith God blessed England against the Pelagians then he will find it to be a Branch of the Pelagian Heresie that there is no Gracious Principle no Holy Disposition or Qualification wrought in us before our Justification For Bradwardin saith so expresly Bradward de causâ dei lib. 1. Cap. 43. p. 397. Asserunt ambae partes residuae opinionis Pelagii remissionem peccati Justificationem injusti praecedere gratiam tempore vel naturâ That is Both the remaining parts of the Opinion of Pelagius assert that Remission of Sin and the Justification of the unjust go before Grace in Time or in Nature Thus Bradwardin and then he falls a Confuting of this Pelagian Opinion by such Arguments as most manifestly shew that by the Word Grace there he meant not the Good-Will Love and Favour of God but the Effect of it upon the Soul even a Gracious Gift communicated unto and a real Holy change wrought in the Soul whereby of ungracious it is made inherently Gracious and of unjust and unholy it is made inwardly Just and Holy This Grace this Gracious change he maintains to be in Order before Remission of Sin and the Denial of this Grace this Gracious change before Remission of Sin he declares to be a Branch of Pelagian Heresie We thought fit to let the World know that what by some is accounted pure Gospel Doctrine now was in former times accounted a part of Pelagius his Opinion and that even by Bradwardin whom our Authour so highly commends Yet at the same time we must declare that we do by no means approve Bradwardins way of Confuting
34. It is said They understood none of these things And this saying was hid from them neither knew they the things which were spoken If Christs own Apostles remained ignorant of those great Truths concerning himself which he had newly told them with as great plainness as human Speech is capable of we may well suppose that Christs Enemies at least many of them understood nothing at all of the things that were reported concerning Jesus his being the Christ and Saviour of the World and concerning believing on him as such 4. He may reply That suppose it were true which can never be proved That all Christs Enemies knew the common report concerning Faith in him so as some way to understand the notion of Faith Yet that is wholly impertinent for there is a wrong way of understanding a thing as well as a right way so that they might some way understand it and yet that some way might be the wrong way Now what is that to the purpose when one asks you this Question What is it to believe on Jesus Christ To tell him that all Men do some way understand what it is for some to wit Christs Friends understand it the right way and others to wit his Enemies understand it the wrong way If our Author should say that he meant not so that all men did understand it some way that is either the right or the wrong way he would make himself yet more ridiculous For the Unbeliever would in all probability desire him to name and shew any one way of understanding a thing which is neither the right way nor the wrong way of understanding it And all men of sense would laugh at him if he should in earnest go about to convince an Unbeliever that there is a way of understanding what Faith is which is neither the right way nor the wrong way If lastly our Author should tell the Unbeliever That in saying all men did some way understand what Faith in Christ is his meaning is that all men understood it the right way The Unbeliever would reply upon him that if that was his meaning then his meaning must needs be false because he himself in the 20th Page of his Letter affirmeth that All the ignorant people amongst Christians and amongst Christians too of the Reformed Churches in England have no knowledg of Faith in Christ except by Faith you understand a dream of being saved by Jesus Christ though they know nothing of him or of his way of saving Men nor of the way of being saved by him Now if all the Ignorant People amongst us know nothing of Faith in Christ in the right way unless the dreaming way be the right way how can our Author prove that all the Unbelievers amongst the Jews and Heathens amongst whom Christ and his Apostles preached whereof many were grosly ignorant did understand aright what Faith in Christ is Do our ignorant people know nothing of Christ nor of his way of saving men and did not the ignorant Jews and Heathens know as little Especially if it be considered that the notion which the Unbelieving Jews in general had of the Messias was that he should be a great and glorious Temporal Prince and Earthly King who by the material Sword should Conquer and Destroy the Romans and all their other visible Enemies on Earth and should save their Nation with a Temporal Salvation But as for Spiritual and Eternal Salvation in another World many of them to wit the whole Sect of the Sadducees looked upon it as a Dream of Fancyful men but for their parts they expected no such thing either from the Messias or from God himself Acts 23.8 No man in his right senses who considers these things can deliberately and seriously think that all the Unbelieving Jews who heard the common report concerning Jesus of Nazareth had any righter and better understanding concerning Faith in him and Salvation by him than the generality of ignorant People amongst us have Christ and his Apostles have put this matter past all doubt and controversie with all that do themselves truly believe in Christ For thus Christ prayed for many of them Luke 23.34 Father forgive them for they know not what they do Peter also confesseth to themselves that it was through ignorance that they Crncified Christ Acts 3.17 And Paul writing to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 2.7 8. saith That had they known the hidden Wisdom of God in a mistery they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory Whence it is evident that either they had no notion of Faith in Christ and of Salvation by him or if they had any at all it was a wrong and false notion And to tell a Man who asks us what it is to believe in Jesus Christ That even the Enemies of Christ some way understood what it is because they had some wrong and false notion of it is both impertinent and ridiculous and is such an answer as is more apt to make an Unbeliever laugh at Christs Ministers and harden and confirm him in his Unbelief than to move him unto seriousness and to perswade him to believe So much for the Unbelievers first pertinent Question and our Authors impertinent Answer to it We pass on to the other questions and answers as he hath set them down in the 16 and 17th pages of his Letter Quest 2. Unbeliever What is a Man to believe to wit at first Ministers Answer He is not called to believe that he is in Chaist and that his sins are pardoned and he a justified man but he is to believe Gods Record concerning Christ 1 John 5.10 11 12. And this Record is that God giveth that is offereth to us eternal life in his Son Jesus Christ and that all who with the heart believe this Report and rest their Souls on these glad tidings shall be saved Rom. 10.9 10 11. And thus he is to believe that he may be justified Gal. 2.16 This Answer is in it self true and good but in and from the mouth of our Author it hath no force at all to satisfie the Conscience of an Unbeliever who seriously seeks Information and Satisfaction as to what he is at first to believe because if he attentively read and consider our Authors Letter he will see cause to doubt whether in this matter he really believes himself Because in his Appendix pag. 35. He most highly commends and approves Mr. Marshals late Book and in the 7th page of his Letter he saith expesly that Mr. Walter Marshal in his Excellent Book lately published hath largely opened this matter and the true controverfie of this day Now it is true Mr. Marshal throughout his 10th Direction from page 168 to page 193 insists much upon the opening of this matter but he doth it so that quite contrary to the answer which our Author hath now given to the Unbelievers Question he maintians That assurance that Christ is ours that our sins are now forgiven and we are now justified Men is
believed but by the supernatural teaching and assistance of Gods Holy Spirit so it cannot be rightly learned known and believed without our own Reason For 1. Grace doth not destroy but refine and perfect Nature the Holy Spirit doth not put out the eye of our reasoning Faculty Luke 24.45 out opens it clears it elevates and raises it up above its natural ability and strengthens it to see Spiritual objects in such a Spiritual way as it could not see them by its own natural power alone 2. The Spirit of God teaches us by the Word of God and both the Word and Spirit suppose us to be rational for the Word and Spirit of God are given to none but rational Creatures and if we were not rational creatures we should not be subjects capable of being taught by the Word and Spirit or of teaching others We do not then make reason to be either the formal object or rule of Faith and Religion But we hold it to be a light which God himself hath set up in our Souls Whereby 1. We discern through Grace the Written Word to be indeed the Word of God and the Spirit that teaches us by the Word to be indeed the Spirit of God and whereby we discover that every Word and Spirit which are contrary thereunto are not the Word and Spirit of God 2. We hold Reason right Reason to be a light which God hath given us wherewith to search into the meaning of his Word and by studious inquisition and observation to discover and find out the true meaning of the Word and to make it known to others and by good reason out of the Text to convince others of â—he truth of it These things we can never do unless we be rational Divines and unless we use our reason in Studying Speaking or Writing of matters of Divinity and doth not our Author do the same If he say that he doth not because then he should be in danger of being a rational Divine but he is not nor will be a Rational Divine Doubting Conscience resolved p. 46. We demand in the words of Dr. Twiss Doth this Authors Reason go to Bed and Sleep when he comes to Read and Studiously to consider the word of God If it doth he will prove no better than a drowsie Student and we know no reason but such a one may be in Love with Dreams as well as Anabaptist saith Dr. Twiss But we rather say as wâ—ll as those Prophets of wâ—â—om we read in Jerem. 23.25 That they Prophesied Lyes in the Lords Name saying I have dreamed I have dreamed Thus we make an end of what we thought fit to say on the Fourth General Head We have laid before the Reader some of his Calumnies and Aspersâ—ons cast upon us and have wiped them off and we could do no less though it thereby appear that he hath been a false Accuser of Christs Ministers against the sincerity of Christian Love CHAP. V. VVhere People are advised to try before they trust and not suffer themselves to be imposed upon and led into Error by the bold unproved Assertions and Dictates of any Preachers or Writers whatsoever FOR our parts we neither have nor desire to have Dominion over Peoples Faith 2 Cor. 1.24 And therefore we do not desire that any man should believe us and be of our Judgment any further than what we say or write is agreeable to Holy Scripture and to right Reason grounded upon Scripture In those things wherein we affirm that our Author hath erred from the Truth we have endeavoured to prove by clear Scripture and plain Reason consonant to Scripture that he hath so erred And before People positively conclude that we are in the right we intreat them to weigh and consider well what we have written to prove the Truth of our Assertions and after due consideration to judge according to the evidence of our proofs as they will answer to God and their own Consciences If we have clearly and faithfully declared to people the Mind and Will of God as it is revealed by holy Scripture though we do not desire that they should submit their Judgments to us and believe what we believe meerly because we believe it yet we do expect that they should submit their Judgments unto God as we have done And that they should believe what we believe because God hath revealed the matter of our belief both to us and them And whosoever shall either neglect or refuse to submit their Judgments unto God and to believe what they know or may easily know he hath revealed will be found guilty before the Lord of unbelief and Spiritual pride for which he will one day call them to an account But on the other hand if any think and affirm that we are mistaken in our Judgment of the things in controversie and that therefore they are not bound with us to believe them To such we say that if in any of them we are mistaken it is more than we know and our mistake is altogether involuntary for the Lord knows that we have diligently searched for the Truth as to all the matters in controversie with an earnest desire to find it and with frequent and fervent Prayers to the God of Truth that he would teach us the Truth that by his Spirit of Truth according to his Word of Truth he would lead us into the Truth of those Matters And we are fully perswaded in our own Minds that God hath heard our Prayers blessed our Endeavours and caused us to find the Truth which we have diligently sought and searched for We have also given the World an account of the Grounds and Reasons of this our Perswasion which we submit to the impartial Examination of all that fear the Lord and are sincere Lovers of Truth not doubting but that Persons so well disposed will find upon impartial Examination of the matters in Controversie that our Grounds are solid and our Reasons Cogent and Conclusive Yet if in any one thing we should happen to be mistaken which we believe we are not we declare that we are so far from desiring any to follow us in that mistake and to believe any thing in matters of Doctrine which God hath not revealed that on the contrary we shall through Grace be really thankful first to God and next to such men as shall convince us of our mistake by Evidence of Scripture or by Right Reason without Railing and Scolding As for those who have accustomed themselves unto that way of Writing let them not think that ever they shall be able to move us from our Perswasion by Railing at us and calling us Hereticks If any attack us with such Carnal Weapons they will buâ— discover their own Weakness and Folly and we hope it shall have no other effect upon us but to move us to pity them and to pray the Lord to make them better Christians It is not any mans bare thinking or bold saying that we are mistaken