Slave and also promiseth him great Possessions and Honours in a Kingdom in the East Indies or at the Antipodes if he will leave his Servitude and his Country and all that he hath there and go with him in his Ship and patiently endure the Sea-trials till he come thither Here he must 1. believe that the Prince hath paid his ransome 2. That he is a wise man and knoweth what he promised and skilful to conduct him safely through all the perils of the Seas 3. That he is an honest man and intendeth not to deceive him 4. That he is sufficient or able to perform his word 5. And if upon this belief he trust him he will let go all and venture in his Ship and follow him And here one tells him that the Ship is unsound another tells him that the Prince is a Deceiver unable to perform his Word or unskilful or dishonest and some way untrusty and another tells him that small matters in his own Country are better than greater with so much hazard and sets out the dangers and terribleness of the Seas Now if the man be ask'd Do you believe or will you trust me or will you not here every one by believing and trusting knoweth that a practical Trust is meant which lieth in such a confidence as forsaketh all and taketh the promised Kingdom for all his hope Such is our Saving Faith § 12. As many Acts and many Objects go to constitute Saving Faith so if you will logically anatomize it all these following must be taken in § 13. 1. The principal Efficient Cause is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost respectively according to their several operations § 14. 2. The Instrumental Cause is the Word of God and the Preaching and Preachers of it or Parents Friends or some that reveal the Word unto us § 15. 3. Subordinate auxiliary means are Providential Alterations by some awaking Judgments or inviting Mercies or convincing Examples c. § 16. 4. The Soul of Man in all its three Faculties Vital-active Intellective and Volitive is 1. the Recipient of the Divine Influx and then 2. the immediate Efficient or Agent of the Acts of Faith § 17. 5. Preparatory Grace and Duty is ordinarily Man's Disposition as he is the Recipient of God's Grace and the Agent of believing But God is free and can work on the unprepared but it is not to be taken for his ordinary way § 18. 6. The formal Object of the assenting Act of Faith is veracit as Dei revelantis the Veracity or Truth of God revealing his Will § 19. 7. The formal Object of the accepting and receiving Act is the Goodness of the Benefits offered us by the Covenant as offered § 20. 8. The formal Object of our Trust or Affiance is God's fides Fidelity because of his aforesaid Veracity in promising and his Power Wisdom and Benevolence as a Performer and this full Act comprehendeth all the rest It is God's Trustiness § 21. 9. The material Objects of the assenting Act in genere are all God's Assertions or Revelations More especially the Gospel or the Christian Faith objective according to the Edition of the Covenant which we are under § 22. The Essentials of our objective Christian Faith constitute the Essence of our active Saving Faith and the Integrals of it constitute the Integrity § 23. And it is of great importance to distinguish here as to the Word and Objects between 1. the signa or words 2. the signification or sence 3. the things matter or incomplex objects as distinct from words and sence viz. God Christ Grace Heaven Goodness Iustice Men c. And to hold 1. That the words are not necessary for themselves but for the sence and therefore Translations or any words which give us the same sence may serve to the being of Saving Faith 2. That the sence it self is not necessary for it self ultimately as if Holiness lay in notions but for the things which that sence revealeth viz. God to be loved and obeyed Christ to be received the Holy Ghost to be received and obeyed Holiness and all Grace to be received loved used encreased our Brethren to be loved Heaven to be desired c. All sence will not bring us to the reception of the things for all is not apt but any that doth this which must be divine and apt will constitute us true Believers § 24. 1. The material Objects of our acceptance and consent are the Word of God commanding offering and promising and the good of Duty and Benefit commanded offered and promised that is All that is given us in the baptismal Covenant God the Father and his Love the Son and his Grace and the Holy Ghost and his Communion The Father as reconciled and adopting us the Son as having redeemed us to teach rule justifie and save us the Holy Spirit to sanctifie comfort and perfect us § 25. 11. The material Object of our Trust or Affiance is God himself the prime Truth Power and Good and Christ as his Messenger and our Saviour and the Holy Ghost as the Author of the Word and the Word as being the Word of God You must pardon us as necessitated to call God a material Object analogically for want of words § 26. 12. The ultimate or final Objects of Saving Faith are 1. God himself the ultimate ultimum that is the perfect Complacency of his will in his Glory eternally shining forth in our Glory and the Glory of Christ with all the Church triumphant 2. Next to that This Glory it self which is a created thing and the Perfection of the Universe and of Christ's Church and our selves in which it consisteth And therein our own Perfection and our perfect sight love and praise of our glorious God and our Redeemer 3. And next under that the first fruits of all this in this World in the foresaid love of the Father and Grace of the Son and Communion of the Holy Spirit and the Church § 27. If therefore we were put to give a full description of Saving Faith we must be as large as this following or such-like in sence viz. The Faith which the Adult must profess in Baptism as having the Promise of Justification and Salvation is a sincere fiducial practical Assent to Divine Revelations and especially to the Gospel revealing and offering us God himself to be our God and reconciled Father Christ to be our Saviour viz. by his Incarnation meritorious Righteousness and Sacrifice Resurrection Doctrine Example Government Intercession and final Judgment and the Holy Ghost to quicken illuminate and sanctifie us that so we may live in the Love of the Father the Grace of the Son and the Communion of the Holy Spirit and of the Christian Church being saved from our Enemies Sin and Misery initially in this Life and perfectly in eternal perfect Glory With a fiducial acceptance of the Gifts of the Covenant according to their nature and a sincere federal Consent and with a sincere
Conceptions and rectifie my Judgment and give me that practical Faith and Knowledge of Him which constituteth Christianity according to the Baptismal Covenant and which is it that He calleth Eternal Life Amen CHAP. 4. How to conceive of the Diversity of God's Operations seeing he is immutable and intimately near to every Patient § 1. IT is certain That no Change wrought by God signifieth any Change in God and that no diversity of Effects signifieth any real Multiplicity or Diversity in God But all Diversity â—loweth from Unity and Change from Immutâ—bilâ—ty § 2. It is certain That God is intimately present in Essence with every Creature and every Effect and so all his Effects are immediatione proximâ—tatis immediately from God he being as near the Effect when he useth second Causes and having as much Causality in producing what is done as when he useth none § 3. Yet it is certain That God useth second Causes and therefore that all Effects are not so â—mmediately from him as to be sine medâ—is and the highest usually work on the lower § 4. Therefore it seemeth plain that Energy â—r utmost transient Operations go not as far as his Essential Presence nor are equal to his Omnipotency He doth not all that in primo instanâ—â— he can do but suspendeth freely such Acts. § 5. Therefore God may so far suspend some Operations on inferior Patients as to confine them to the Capacity or Aptitude of the superior created Causes as he doth in the ordinary Course of Nature He shineth not by the Moon so much as by the Sun nor in a cloudy day so much as in a clear nor in the night as in the day and nourisheth us not by every sort of Food alike nor cureth alike by all Medicines § 6. As God doth thus in Naturals so may he do in Morals or spiritual Changes As he is the God of Kingdoms and People he may use its Mercies and Judgments by Kings and Magistrates and according to their good or bad Dispositions as he did in the Death of Christ. He doth not use to govern Nations as happily by wicked tyrannical inâ—iâ—el Rulers as by the good and faithful Pagan Rome was more unhappy under Nero Domitian Commodus Heâ—iogabulus c. than under Nâ—rva Trajan Adrian Antonine Alexander Severus And the Empire was delivered by the fall of seven Tyrants by a Constantine § 7. So God usually prospereth or afflicteth Churches and particular Souls working his Grace according to the qualifications of the Pastors and Teachers and fitting them to be meet Instruments of the intended Good though he do not always so confine his Operations This is evide 〈…〉 in the different successes of Ministers that are skilful or unskilful wise or ignorant good or bad concordant or schismatical And it is notoriouâ— in the success of the Education of Youth in Schools Universities and Families § 8. According to this Method we may judge also of God's working according to variety of Company-helps Temptations and Hinderances and how much of God's Work of Grace is thus sapientially and mediately exercised though as to the internal manner of the Agency of his Spirit we are told by Christ That every one that is born of the Spirit is as the Wind bloweth where it listeth and we hear the sound but know not whence it cometh and whither it goeth It is much herein to know a little § 9. It greatly darkeneth us in judging of God's Providences on Earth as to the Welfare or Misery of Nations and Souls Believers and Insidels Peace and War c. that we know not how much God doth here by Spirits good and bad and how far such Spirits are left to their Free-will as Adam was in their Ministration and Executions here below God gave Satan power over Iob and power on the Sabeans that robbed him and power on the Fire that fell from Heaven on his Estate Christ said This is their Day and of the Power of Darkness What Laws the superiour Worlds are under as to us and one another is much unknown to us yea what power for our sins Satan may have against not only the wicked but even those that fear God both on their Bodies by Diseases and on their minds by troubling and seducing Temptations Sad experience â—elleth us that yielding to former Temptations giveth him advantage for easier access to our imaginations and to more dangerous fresh Assaults § 10. But yet we may be sure that all God's Promises shall be fulfilled and that he will never give Satan power to break them nor suspend his Operations so much on any second Causes as to violate any word of safety and hope that he hath given us to trust to which Assurance may serve to keep us in Faith and Hope and Comfort CHAP. 5. Is any point of Faith above Reason or contrary to it § 1. I Have answered this at large in Method Theol. It is a confused and ill-worded Question Distinguish 1. between Faith taken objectively and Faith subjectively as an Act or Quality 2. Between that which is required of all men to be believed and that which is required but of some 3. Between Reason in Faculty and Reason in Act and Habit. 4. Between Reason advanced by improvement and Reason unimproved and buried in Ignorance 5. Between Reason that hath only the Revelation of common Nature and Reason that hath supernatural Revelation § 2. I. It being only objective Faith that is meant in the Question that is no Object of Faith which for want of Revelation a man is not bound to believe There are Millions of Things above our Reason which are no Objects of our Faith And more may be the Object of one Man's Faith than of anothers that had it no way revealed to him § 3. II. Almost all the matter of Faith is above the Reason of ignorant Sots that never improved their Reason or studied the Evidences of Truth It is above their Reason as dispositive and active though not above the possibility of their Faculties being better cultivated and disposed hereafter § 4. III. The Doctrine of Faith is not only above but centrary to the false reasoning of ignorant deceived Fools for so is the very Being of God and such are many that boast of Reason § 5. IV. The Gospel of Christ and many points of Faith are above his Reason that hath only such natural Light as the Creation can give him without any Gospel supernatural Revelation Who can know in India that never heard of Christ that he was incarnate and rose from the dead and ascended c. § 6. V. Nothing that God commandeth us to believe is either contrary to or above Reason that is the reasoning Intellect informed by Evangelical Revelation or Notice and honestly and soundly qualified to judge otherwise as Law Physick Astronomy so Divinity is above the Reason of the unqualified § 7. This is apparent 1. Because we have â—o Faith in us but what is an act of Reason and
sufficiently taught to understand the Essentials of the Christian Religion which they nominally profess and therefore are really much in the case of common Heathens § 4. 2. They consider their impossibility of being saved For it is not only morally by Vice but naturally impossible to believe that which was never heard read or understood So that their Damnation seemeth unavoidable especially to such as live in the vast Countries of America and much of Africa and Asia that are quite out of the reach of any Instructions for the Christian Faith § 5. 3. And lastly they consider the goodness and mercifulness of God declared in his Word and in his great and manifold mercies to all the World and that he would have a righteous man to be merciful even to his Beast much more to the Bodies of Men and most of all to their Souls and that our Rule and Motive is Be merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful § 6. And they think that the contrary-minded by over-doing are the greatest Hinderers of the Christian Faith and Promoters of Infidelity while they make it seem so contrary to God's own Attributes and to humane Interest and to be a Doctrine not of glad but of saddest tydings to Mankind viz. That none shall be saved that hear not the Gospel when it is few comparatively that ever heard it or can hear it § 7. On the other side it is thought a dangerous undermining of Christianity to say that it is not absolutely necessary to Salvation and that any besides Christians may be saved And it seemeth to them to be contrary to Christ's words that He that believeth not shall be damned and that He is the way the truth and the life and no man cometh to the Father but by him And how shall they call on him on whom they have not believed c. No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him c. And it seemeth to confound the Church and the World to say That any are saved out of the Church § 8. In this great Controversie that which must satisfie us is to agree in so much as is certain and to leave that which is uncertain and unknown undetermined For we shall know it never the more for a confident pretending that we know it when we do not § 9. And here the first thing to be enquired after is What Law of God the World that heareth not of Christ is now under as the Rule of Duty and of Judgment And then 2. to enquire Whether they so keep that Law as to be saved by it We can say nothing to the second without the first § 10. And we have here nothing to doubt of but 1. Whether they are under any Law or none 2. If any Whether it be the Law of Innocency as made to Adam or the Law of Grace 3. And if the Law of Grace whether of the first or second Edition It must be one of these § 11. And 1st It is certain That they are under a Law and not only under a Physical Government as a Ship at Sea or Brutes are For else God were not their Ruler and they his Subjects so much as by Right and Obligation and then they were bound to no Duty nor in hope of any Reward nor in Danger of any Punishment for Disobedience For where there is no Law there is no Transgression § 12. It is certain That they are not under the Rule of the Covenant of Innocency made to Adam or the Law of Innocency as containing the Precept premiant and penal parts which is the same with the Covenant as offered This I proved before Though I was long ignorant how far that Covenant was repealed till Mr. Lawson's Papers which I laboured to confute did begin to enlighten me God now saith to no man I give thee life on condition thou be personally innocent and perfectly obedient Nor doth he say I command thee to be perfectly innocent sinless and obedient that thou maâ—st live For no man is a Subject capable of such a Command or Promise being already a Sinner § 13. If any should think that they are under the bare preceptive part of the Law of Innocency with the penal part without any Promise or premiant part or hope of life this is certainly a mistake Because 1. God hath no such Law nor never had which hath no Promise or premiant part and is not in a Covenant-form what he doth by the Devils belongeth not to our Question but as to Men they must be under a Covenant of Works or of Grace And it were a hard Conceit to think that the far greatest part of Mankind had never any means to use for their Salvation nor any thing to do for it but were under a meer Sentence of Despair and Damnation as the Devils are without any offer of Help or Hope and consequently that none of them all are guilty of refusing any such Mercy or neglecting any such Means and Duty 2. The very nature of Law and Government tell us That if God command any Duty it is that the Subject may be the better for it and he never saith to any obey me perfectly and thou shalt be never the better for it § 14. Besides the very Precept is not in force in that sence as it stood in the Law of Innocency for so it bound only innocent Man to keep his Innocency But God saith not Keep that which thou hast lost § 15. Obj. God is not bound to change his Law if man sin Ans. I answered this before That God is not the Changer But the Law will not continue to be a Law but by continuing to signifie God's governing Will And it cannot so signifie his governing Will when there is no Subject to be a capable terminus So that it ceased cessante capacitate subditi vel cessante termino To say That the Law still signifieth what God would have had man do while he was capable is true but that saith no more but that It was once a Law and now is none For so it may do by the dead yea were they annihilated even tell others what God would have had them do but this is not a ruling Act but Lex transit in sententiam And to say That at least the Law bindeth a Sinner to perfect Obedience for the time to come is to say That it binds not as the Law of Innocency but as some other Law of which we are enquiring § 16. And it is a clear Truth before proved That God brought all Mankind in Adam under a Law and Covenant of Grace founded in the Promise of the Victory of the Woman's Seed And his dealing with all men ever since doth fully confirm it And this Law made to Mankind in Adam and Noah was never repealed to the World but perfected by a perfecter Edition to those that have the Gospel Therefore we have two Questions here to consider 1. What Law the World
use and by one he merited this and by the other that when though each part of his Condition or Duty had its proper reason yet it was only the entire performance that was the Condition of the Benefits and so of our Iustification and Salvation § 17. But I say before his Exaltation because the Benefits being of several sorts some of them were given upon Christ's merit presently and some upon Man's believing and some not till long after by application But to all these what Christ did only as under the Law of Mediation was properly his merit by which they were procured But his undertaking what he after did in gathering his Church and interceding and ruling may be numbered with the parts of his foresaid merit and still as a Creature he is under his Creator's Law even the Law of perfect uniting Love and so doth eminently merit § 18. It was neither the Covenant nor Will of the Father and Son that we should either have full possession deliverance or right thereto immediately upon Christ's Merit and Sacrifice as we should if we had done all by him as our Person But that we and all things being delivered to Christ's Power and Will he should convey the Benefits of his Death and Merits upon terms and in an Order suitable to the interest of his Wisdom Love Mercy and Justice even by a Law of Grace and a Ministry and Means adapted to the end and in the time and degrees which his Wisdom should make choice of Which accordingly is done This Covenant which giveth Right and Reward to Christ is not it that giveth any Right or Reward to us SECT III. Of the Law or Covenant of Grace in the first Edition § 1. AS God delivered the Law of Innocency partly by natural and real and partly by supernatural and verbal significations of his will so hath he done the Law of Grace which is the signification of his Will concerning Pardon and Life granted to guilty Sinners and the terms thereof § 2. The Promise Gen. 3. 15. The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head c. was a Breviate of the supernatural signification but it is not unlikely that God did more fully acquaint them with his Law of Grace and Redemption than those words alone could make us understand Because we find in their sacrificing some such intimation and in other signs § 3. God's actual Continuance of forfeited Life Liberty Health and other comforts and his actual Collation of many great Mercies by the course of Nature to such as by Sin have deserved present Damnation is a degree of signification of his pardoning will and mercy by these natural signs which they were not before sin and forfeiture § 4. Man being after guilt of death thus reprieved and enriched with manifold Mercies and his life and faculties continued with many instructing providential helps and means the very Law of Nature now obligeth him to love and thankfulness to God that sheweth him so great kindness § 5. And the same Law of Nature obligeth him to take that God still for a God of Love and Mercy and to believe that what Mercy he hath already shewed the World and us is on terms which he knoweth to be very well consistent with his Holiness Truth and Justice And it obligeth us therefore to seek to him for Mercy and to use all possible means for further hope and pardon and recovery and not to sit down in despair § 6. The common sence of all Mankind from Adam to this day acquainteth us by that experience That these Hopes and Duties are found in the Law of lapsed Nature For all the World that never heard the Gospel do yet take God to be a merciful forgiving God and take themselves to be under some duty for the obtaining of further mercy recovery and felicity § 7. Though want of the sense of Sin and its desert and Man's misery may be thought by some to be the only cause of this and so that it is but sinful presumption and no part of Nature's obligation yet this upon trial will prove false Though what they alledge be one part of the Cause For 1. These men do acknowledge themselves Sinners and to deserve punishment from God 2. They find some misery and fear more 3. It is not presumption to judge God to be merciful when they and all the World do find him so 4. It is not presumption to judge that he can and will pardon Sin when full Experience assureth us that he hath already pardoned much To remit the Sin is as we now speak of it to remit the deserved punishment And He that giveth Man forfeited life health time and all the abundant Mercies which the World is full of doth thereby so far actually forgive Sin Saith Christ Whether is it easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee or to say arise take up thy Bed and walk that is Executively to forgive them which is the full forgiveness by taking away the punishment 5. It is no presumption to believe such Duty to be incumbent on us as the remaining Law of Nature doth oblige us to 6. Nor yet to take God's own Encouragements to seek our own recovery and felicity § 8. The Light and Law of lapsed Nature doth convince men of the duty of repenting and returning to God and oblige them to it So that as Perfect Obedience was the duty of entire Nature so Repentance is the duty of laepsed Nature And I think few will say that all men are not hereby obliged to repent and that in hope of mercy § 9. Hence it is that it is found among the Communes notitiae and all the World as well as Christians acknowledge it and plead for it § 10. They that by God's Patience and Mercy are invited to Repentance which is a return from sin to God and are by Nature obliged to it ought to believe that it is not made their Duty in vain nor shall they lose by it if they perform it for that were to accuse God of making Mans Duty in vain or to his loss which is not to be suspected § 11. Therefore they are bound not to despair of Paâ—don and Salvation for an obligation to use means as tending to recovery is inconsistent with an obligation to despair Therefore hope of Mercy and use of some means Mankind is obliged to by the Law of lapsed Nature § 12. This is not the obligation of the Law or Covenant of Innocency for that Law bound us only as Innocent to keep our Innocency and perfectly therein obey But it giveth no pardon nor appointeth Man any Duty in order to pardon and recovery Whatever doth this is a Law of Grace § 13. The sum of that Duty which the Law of Nature now obligeth Man to is To consider of all the Mercies which God vouchsafeth Sinners and thankfully to improve them to repent of sin and turn to this God who sheweth himself a merciful â—aeâ—doniâ—g God To resign
Conclusion helped by Grace whereof the major only is de fide He that believeth is justified but not the Minor I believe Therefore we usually call it a fruit of Faith § 42. Some incautelous Divines in the heat of Dispute do indeed say That it is de fide divina or a Divine Word that I am a true Believer And Chamier too unhappily goeth about to prove it by saying That it is the Word of the Spirit in us which is the Word of God As if the Spirit spake in us new Articles of Faith or a new Word to be believed whose work in those that are not inspired Prophets is but 1. to cause us to believe that Word already given 2. To be a witnessing Evidence that we are God's Children by making us holy as he is holy as similitude witnesseth a Child to be his Fathers 3. And to help us to discern that Holiness or Evidence and to exercise it and to gather Comfort from such discerning it and exercise § 43. We now commonly disown all such Assertions I meet with no sober Divine that owneth them because we grant that Conclusio semper sequitur partem debiliorem But yet we find that those few that call it de fide do most of them mean no more but that it 's partly de fide because the Major Proposition is so and so they differ but about a Logical Notion § 44. Some have said indeed beyond-Sea That a man cannot believe and not know it but we know thousands may believe and yet doubt whether it be a sincere and saving sort of Faith But I have written so many Books of these matters that I here add no more CHAP. XXI Of the nature of Righteousness Iustification and Pardon § 1. THE Controversies about Justification have made a great noise but I think that those de re are few in comparison of those de nomine even among all sorts of Christians and the confounding them by unskilful Heads who have made the ignorant believe that those which are but de nomine are de re hath kindled foolish Wrath and quenched Christian Love and taken up poor Souls with a deceitful Zeal who have thought that they were contending for great and necessary Truths when it was but for Logical Notions Names and Modes of Expression over-commended to them by their several Teachers § 2. The Words Iustice Righteousness and Iustification are very ambiguous used in many sences in the Scriptures and in the Writings of Divines and in the common use of men which I have opened in so many Books and so largely as shall here excuse my breviâ—y The Sences which we are now most concerned to take notice of are these following § 3. Righteousness is considered materially or formally Materially it is 1. immediately 1. A righteous Action 2. A righteous Disposition or Habit 2. And thence a righteous Person § 4. Righteousness materially is 1. in some or other particular Action 2. Or in the main bent of Heart and Life 3. Or in Perfection The first denominateth the Person Righteous in hoc or secundum quid The second denominateth him a sincerely Righteous Man The third a perfectly Righteous Man § 5. In the notion of the material Cause is included also the Comparative or Relative State and Proportion of Actions When the Action is duly qualified and modified in its physical Nature and Circumstances it is materially just § 6. The form enquired of is Quid morale And it is the Relation of the Action and Habit and Person as congruous to the justitia mensurans or the Rule of Righteousness The Rule or Law first maketh jus vel debitum and saith This shall be your Duty and your Neighbour's Due and declareth God's Due And the jus being constituted by the Law natural or positive that which agreeth to it is jâ—stum So that Righteousness formally is a moral Relation resulting from the physical mode and relation of Actions and Habits as compared with the Law or Rule A moral Relation founded in a physical Congruity § 7. Righteousness is both materially and formally distinguishable as towards God or Man Materially as it is God or Man that we deal â—ustly or injuriously by Formally as it is God himself or Men ruling under him who give us Laws and make the debitum vel jus or dispose of Propriety § 8. Righteousness towards God being Relative to his Laws is to be distinguished according to the several Laws that men are under and according to the several parts of the Law which give the word divers Sences § 9. 1. Righteousness as related to the Precept as such is nothing but Obedience whether partial sincere or perfect He that doth righteousness is righteous § 10. 2. Righteousness related to a meer Condition of Pardon or Salvation c. is the performance of that Condition which may be the Causa judicanda § 11. 3. Righteousness as related to the premiant or donative part of the Law or Promise is our jus ad praemium our Right to that Reward or Gift § 12. 4. Righteousness as relative to the penal part is our jus ad impunitatem or when punishment is not due to us according to that Law § 13. 1. Righteousness as related to the Precept of the Law of Innocency is materially perfect personal continued Obedience to our Creator § 14. 2. Righteousness as related to the Condition of that Law is the same because nothing but the said perfect Obedience is there made the Condition of Life § 15. 3. Righteousness related to the rewarding part of that Law is right to that Life which is there promised that is to God's Love and Felicity § 16. 4. Righteousness related to the Penalty of that Law is a Right to Impunity as to the Death which it threatneth to Sinners § 17. 1. Righteousness as related to the meer preceptive part of the Law of Grace is also perfect Obedience for the future not Innocency as to the time past for even Christ maketh perfect Obedience our Duty though he pardon sin § 18. 2. Righteousness as related to the Condition of the Law of Grace is sincere Faith and Repentance as the Condition of our first Right to the present Gifts of the Covenant and also sincere Love and Obedience to the end as the Condition of our final Iustification and Glory § 19. 3. Righteousness as related to the Reward of the Law of Grace is our Right to our Relation to the Father Son and Holy Ghost and all the Gifts of the Covenant Christ Grace and Glory § 20. 4. Righteousness as related to the penal part of the Law of Grace is our Right to Impunity as to the Punishment threatned specially by that Law § 21. The meritorious Cause of both these last our Right to Impunity and to Life is the Righteousness of Christ for the sake of which the Condonation and Donations of the Covenant of Grace are given us § 22. This Righteousness of Christ is his fulfilling the Conditions
agreed what will be the event that I think the Controverfie not worth the handling but made among other snares of Satan to trouble the Church and draw us to vain Janglings about words that edifie not from the Simplicity that is in Christ. § 14. Q. VII Whethâ—r there be a state of Confirmation here Ans. 1. Undoubtedly there are some Christians that are strong rooted settled established and some that are weak and like Children toss'd up and down Rom. 4. 20. 15. 1. Heb. 5. 12 14. 1 Ioh. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 16. 13. Eph. 6. 10. 2 Tim. 2. 1. 1 Cor. 15. 58. 1 Pet. 5. 9. Col. 2. 5. Eph. 3. 16 17. Col. 2. 7. There is a need of strengthening Grace 1 Pet. 5. 10. Luk. 22. 32. Rev. 3. 2. Act. 9. 22. Col. 1. 11. 2 Tim. 4. 17. Psal. 138. 3. Phil. 4. 13. § 15. 2. It is agreeable to Scripture Reason and Experience to judge that strengthened Christians stand faster than the weak and that it is in it self more unlikely that they should be seduced and forsake Christ. § 16. Seeing it is so doubtful whether any that are sincere fall away we have great reason to think that it will hardlier be proved of the Confirmed I know that Strength hath several degrees and it 's hard to determine just what this Confirmation is but I am perswaded that abundance of confirmed Christians there are who have taken hold of Christ by Faith and Love and have clear light and great experience and so much Grace as that from that Confirmation it may be inferred that they never fall away and perish and consequently that Certainty of Salvation and not only of present Justification is attainable in this Life And some of the Papists themselves are of this mind though others of them say That even a state of Confirmation may be lost § 17. Q. VIII Whether Perseverance depend on meer Election Ans. It was Augustine's Judgment and his Followers That Election is the ascertaining Cause of Perseverance giving the special Grace of Perseverance but what that Grace was besides Divine Volition and Preservation whether any special confirming degree or kind it is not easie to gather out of him And I think it past doubt That God doth elect some to Perseverance and all persevere whom he so electeth and because he electeth them and no other But whether many also are truly sanctified and justified that are not elect and so do not persevere as Austin held I said before I do not know § 18. Q. IX Are all or most Christians certain that they shall persevere Ans. No For 1. most Christians in the World hold that Perseverance is uncertain to the godly and how can they be certain of it to themselves 2. Most that hold otherwise hold it but as uncertain and are not themselves certain that it is true though they call it certain I am uncertain And I find not by other signs that the most have more knowledge than my self And he that is not certain of the Premises is not by them certain of the Conclusion 3. Most Christians are uncertain that they are sincere and justified And such cannot be certain to persevere in that which they are not certain that they have § 19. Q. X. Certainty of their present state of Iustification is not fit for those that sin as much and are as bad as ever will stand with sincerity till they repent Therefore certainty of Perseverance must needs be unfit for them And therefore God never giveth it to such § 20. Q. XI Certainty of Grace Iustification and Perseverance and Salvation is a most excellent desirable thing above all the Treasures of the World and to be earnestly sought by all and tendeth not of it self to carnal security but to fill the Soul with holy Love and Thankfulness and Joy and make our Lives likest to Heaven on Earth O blessed are they that do attain it And woe to them that dispraise it and perswade men to causeless doubting It is the height of our attainment here in it self and the improvement and maketh us live a Heavenly Life and long to be with Christ But we cannot therefore say that those have it that have it not But all should promote and seek it § 21. Q. XII They that are certain that all true Believers persevere have one great help towards their own Consolation But if they be uncertain that they themselves are true Believers this will not comfort them As they that are perswaded only that all Confirmed Christians persevere must know that they are confirmed before this can give them the comfort of Assurance § 22. But I have elsewhere fully proved 1. That most Christians have not the comfort of their own certain Perseverance for want of the Certainty of their Sincerity if not of the Doctrine it self 2. And that thousands and millions of Christians live and die in Peace and Comfort that have not a proper Certainty of Salvation 3. Much more may such live in Joy that are sure of their present state of Grace though not of their Perseverance § 23. For Experience telleth us that though most of the Christian World are against the Doctrine of Certain Perseverance of all true Believers yet many of them live and die in Comfort § 24. And Church-History and the Ancients Writings tell us That though for many hundred years the Christian Doctors commonly held That some lose true justifying Faith and perish yeâ— multitudes lived and died in Joy and went with boldness through the flaâ—es § 25. And we see in all things that men are affected according to what is predominant and he that hath far more Hope than fear and doubting will have more joy than sorrow though he be not certain but some doubting do remain § 26. It is certain in it self that God's Promises in the Gospel are all true But every one that truly believeth it is not properly certain of it past all doubt And he that hath the least doubt of the truth of the Gospel must needs doubt as much of that Salvation which is expected on the Gospel-Promise And yet such Believers may have Peace and Joy according to the measure of their Faith and Hope § 27. We see among men no Wife is certain one day or night that her Husband will not forsake or murder her no Child is certain that his Father will not kill him nor any one of his dearest Friend And yet we can have Love Peace and Comfort in our Relations without such certainty For it 's melancholy folly to live in fears of things utterly unlikely and to cast away the Comforts of great probability § 28. Yea no godly man is certain that he shall not fall into such hainous Sin as Noah Lot David Peter did or that he shall not kill his dearest Friend or himself And yet when a man is conscious that his Nature his Reason his Experience and his Resolution do all make him hate such a wicked act and that there
is no probable cause to move him to it and when we know God is ready with his Grace to help us how few lose the Comfort of their Lives by fear of such improbable things Certainty therefore is very desirable but a hope of great probability may give us joyful thankful Hearts or else few Christians would have such § 29. And the Doctrine of Perseverance hath its difficulties too as to mens comfort For he that holdeth That no man falleth from a state of Grace and seeth many that to all possible humane judgment were once excellent persons fall quite away can himself have no assurance that he is so much as justified at the present unless he be sure that he is better than the best of all those persons ever were which doubt the other side are not cast upon § 30. Q. XIII Whether the Doctrine of Apostacy infer any mutability in God Ans. No there 's no shew of it unless you hold that his absolutely Elect fall away It was no change in God when he gave us grace and justified us and it would be no more if he cease than it was to begin It was no change in God when I was born and it will be no more when I die The Change is only in Man and his receptive Disposition Even the Law of the Land without any Diversity or Change doth virtually condemn a thousand Malefactors and justifie the Just and will cease to justifie them and begin to condemn them if they cease to be just and begin to be Offenders The Changes that God himself maketh in all the World are made without any Change in him Therefore what man doth or undoth cannot change him § 31. Q. XIV Why did God ledve this Case so dark Ans. It is not fit for us to call for any reason of his doing but what he hath given us But while he hath made it sure to us that he will cause all his Elect to persevere and will deny his Grace to none that faithfully seek it and will save all that do not wilfully and finally reject it and giveth us no cause to distrust his Mercy his holy Ends are by this attained in his Peoples Uprightness and Peace And he seemeth by leaving the rest so obscure to tell us that it is not a matter of so great use to us as some imagine and that it is not a point fit for to be the measure of our Communion or Peace § 32. XV. What was the judgment of the ancient Churches of this Point Ans. Vossius in his Pelagian History hath truly told you and copiously proved it in the main Before Augustine's time it was taken commonly as granted That men might fall away from a state of Grace and that many did but the Case was not curiously discussed But some thought that confirmed Christians never fell But upon Pelagius his Disputes Augustine defending the honour of Grace laid all upon Election and maintained That though the Non-elect did fall away from the Love of God and Justification and a state in which they had been saved had they died yet none of the Elect did fall so as to perish but that the preservation of Grace in perseverance was the fruit of Election Thus Prosper and Fulgentius after him and some Passages in him and Macarius and some others intimate that they thought there was a confirmed degree of Grace which was never lost but they all took it for granted that some fell from a state of Iustification and perished And I remember not oâ—â— Writer that I have read and noted to be of the contrary mind for a thousand years after the writing of the Scriptures nor any mention of any Christian that was so unless Hierome be to be believed of Ievinian who saith that he held That the godly could not sin which Report is much to be suspected on many accounts § 33. What Use is to be made of this I leave to others but it beseemeth no good Man to deprave or deny the Truth of such History And some great Divines are to be blamed for reproaching Vossius for a true Historical Report when they neither can confute him nor attempt it Two or three Sentences out of Austin are cited by some but meerly mistaken as if they spake that of all the Justified which he speaketh only of the Elect. § 34. Q. XVI By all that is said it is past denial that Certainty of perseverance should be most earnestly sought and that state of Confirmation which is likest to obtain it but that few have it eâ—en of the truly godly and that it is not the common ground of Christians Peace and Comfort but Hopes upon great Probability do sustain the most and that the difficulty of the point is such as that it should in all Churches be left free and neither side made necessary to our Christian Love Peace Conâ—ord Communion or Ministery CHAP. XXVII Of Repentance late Repentance the time of Grace and of the unpardonable Sin § 1. REpentance as a Pain and involuntary is part of the Punishment of sin by the Law of Works but Repentance as a returning to God and a recovery of the Soul is a Grace and Duty proper to the Subjects of the Redeemer under the Law of Grace § 2. Yea it is a great and excellent part of the Law of Grace to give Repentance unto life and to admit of Repentance after sin which the Law of Innocency did not admit of § 3. Therefore Iohn and Christ himself did preach the Gospel or Law of Grace when they preached Repentance which was a great part even of Christ's own preaching § 4. Therefore the Antinomian Libertines know not what they talk of when they call it Legal Preaching and set Repentance as in opposition to Faith as if Faith were all that the Gospel did command or Repentance did not belong to Faith § 5. Yet it must be confessed that of late times many have laid more upon the sorrowing weeping and fearing part of Repentance than was meet and said too little of the turning of the Soul from worldly and fleshly sinful Pleasures to the delightful Love and Praises of God and willing Obedience and Conformity to his Will which is the principal part of true Repentance And I think God permitted the Antinomians to rise up and cry up Free-Grace and call the Ministers Legallists to rebuke our Error in this point and to call us to preach up his Grace more plentifully and to consider better that Gospel-obedience doth chiefly consist in Thankfulness Love and Ioy and in the words of Praise and Works of Love I am sure this use we should make of their Abuses § 6. Repentance is either general or particular General or Universal Repentance is a turning of the Understanding Will and Practice with repenting Sorrow from the inordinate Estimation Love and seeking of temporal Things for the Pleasure and Prosperity of the Flesh or sensual powers to God his Will and Service and the Hopes