real they had but seemingly escaped the pollutions of the World they were at best but Hypocrites how then could the latter end of such be worse than their beginning Nay what if they had put off their guise of Religion wherewith they deceive the World and appeared like themselves in their swinish nature could that make their end worse than before seeing Hypocrites are like to meet with the greatest condemnation Mat. 24. 51. But how those can be said to be Hypocrites that have clean escaped the Pollution of the World thro the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I cannot see unless Hypocrisy be no Pollution and if it be then were they no Hypocrites or else they had not clean escaped the pollution of the World nor from them that live in Error ver 18. which he affirms But we must hasten to put an end to this days Discourse Now consider Heb. 6. 6. where the Author speaks of the impossibility of renewing some by repentance in case they fall away which plainly supposeth there is or may be such a thing incident to Man and it is very evident from this Scripture that the Author admonisheth those whom he judged true and sound Believers for he here speaketh not of ordinary and common but of special and excellent Grace and yet these are under a possibility of falling away for ever for doth not the Author give them to understand that notwithstanding they were most eminent Saints and Believers yet through carelesness and carnal Security they might make Shipwrack of their Souls and perish Philet What are these Characters applicable to none but true Believers Philad If there be any Persons under Heaven that may be judged true Believers they are such as these mentioned and if you can shew me any that had all these Gifts and yet were destitute of true Grace Philet I cannot give you a particular Instance of all these meeting together in one Person that was not a Believer But can you prove that these Qualifications are applicable to none but true Believers Philad If they be applicable to any others give me an Instance where for I know of none from whence we have cause to believe that true Believers may possibly apostatize so far as to be under an impossibility of being renewed again by Repentance and so perish Again in 1 Cor. 9. 27. you may see that Holy Paul after his Conversion to Christ took great care and pains to beat down his Body c. which was needless in him if he were under no possibility of falling Again that true Believers are under a possibility of falling appears a truth because the Lord by his Holy Spirit in his Prophets and Apostles doth by many Exhortations Promises and Threatnings labour to prevent apostatizing in them and to cause them to persevere But if your Doctrine be true that there is an utter impossibility of a final falling away what savour of Wisdom or Sense is there in admonishing Persons against that which there is no possibility of ever coming to pass but that God will by an irresistible hand of Grace and Power preserve them in a state of Grace and Favour how desperately careless or wicked soever they shall be yea tho they fall into ten thousand abominable Sins yet they shall be brought to repentance before they die doth not this make all Exhortations Threatnings and Promises unnecessary For if Men be assured they shall never perish pray tell me why they should labour to prevent their perishing Moderat But you must understand that the Means and the End are coupled together and that God that hath appointed the End hath appointed the Means to attain the End and God makes use of our own Endeavours as the Means to attain Heaven and prevent our Apostacy as in the case of Noah tho he was assured and that from God himself that he should not perish by the Water yet he was to make the Ark here you see that tho he knew God would save him yet he used the means or else he knew he should not be saved he did not say to himself God hath bound himself by Covenant to save me now if I make not the Ark his Word is his Word and he will stand to it tho I be false yet he will be true tho I do not as I should yet he will do as he hath promised and therefore I 'll spare my labour but you see Noah is of another mind he will not sever God's Word from the Means he judged that if he made not the Ark he was to look for no deliverance this was his Divinity So in Hezekiah's Case tho God had promised to add fifteen years to his Life yet he was to use the means God had appointed to sustain Life as Meat Drink Rest c. yea tho the Lord had absolutely promised that he would add fifteen years to his Life yet there was to be a Plaister of Figs applied to his Sore in order to his recovery So likewise in that of Paul Acts 27. 22. compared with 31. tho the Lord had promised there should be no loss of any Man's Life yet afterwards Paul said to the Centurion and the Souldiers Except these to wit the Mariners by whose skill the Ship should be brought nearer to Land for their safety abide in the Ship ye cannot be safe So tho Christ had assured his Disciples that they should never perish and none should pluck them out of his Father's Hands yet he bid them watch and pray lest they fall into temptation Philad I perceive you look upon these Promises tho absolutely express'd yet conditionally intended so that none of all these should perish provided they should obey wholesom Advice and use all Means that in them lay for their preservation now do you believe this is true in Spirituals Moderat Yea doubtless Philad I say so too and dare be bold to assure from the Word and Promise of that God that cannot lie that not one true Believer shall ever perish who faithfully uses the means God hath prescribed in order to his standing And if Philetus be of this mind we shall soon agree What say you Philetus Philet I believe as God hath required his Children to use the means of Perseverance so he hath decreed they shall all of them use it accordingly and that he will so overpower them by his Spirit that it shall be beyond all possibility of miscarrying Philad Pray produce such a Decree if you can Philet In Jer 31. 33 to 37. you have an absolute Promise of Perseverance made by the Lord to the Church of God Philad You cannot prove by this Text that none can fall away this Promise was made to the dispersed Nation of the Jews whom the Lord in his anger had driven into all Countrys and therefore had a respect as well to the Unbelievers as true Believers amongst them Compare Ezek. 11. 17 18. where is a Promise of the same import yet in vers 21.
The Love of God To all Mankind In the Glorious Work of their Redemption by Jesus Christ Asserted and Vindicated With a plain and sober Discussion of those Controversies which are the constant Concomitants of it viz. Election and Reprobation God's Foreknowledg his Nature Attributes and Decrees the sufficiency of Means vouchsafed to all Men to believe the use of the Law to Believers under the Gospel Also concerning Original Sin Free-Will and falling from Grace All fitted to the meanest Capacity in a way of Dialogue By ZACHARY STANTON LONDON Printed and sold by M. Fabian at Mercers Chappel in Cheapside 1700. TO THE READER Courteous and Impartial Reader I Should not have troubled thee with any Preface were it not to comply with the desire of some Friends and the Mode of the Times This Treatise which I have adventured to expose to publick view and censure of all I desire thee to take notice is much of it a Collection gathered from the Words and Writings of Persons concerned in this Controversy methodized and reduced to Form and Order as my slender Knowledg and Leisure gave me leave for the benefit of all well-disposed People that have a desire to look into the things controverted in this Point and either could not reach the Price or procure those large Volumes wherein this Subject is largely handled by Men of piercing Judgments and known Abilities here they may see the Substance of all the Controversy compendiously in a little room and with that plainness and brevity that the meanest Capacity may reach it as well with their Vnderstanding as their Purses I know that those who live at ease and have none to disturb the Peace of their Church and the Prosperity of the Gospel by sowing Tares in the Lord's Field may think it strange in this Day wherein there should be rather a healing of Breaches and a closing up the old Wounds than a heightning and increasing of them to see any appear in print upon this Subject nor have I done this as if I could be a Means to bring any new Matter which by former Worthys had not been said before but for the settling and establishment of those to whom I belong some of them looking that way that so Satan might not beguile them to draw them from the simplicity and purity of that Doctrine revealed in the Word of God and that I might prevent others from falling into error through the studious Labours of many of corrupt Judgments who to our great sorrow we have found care not how they stumble the weak or what Divisions they make in the House of God so they can but proselite a Party to carry on their uncouth Notions and preposterous Opinions and whose heady Zeal hath brought this forth Tho at first it was written for the Information of a few private Friends yet without any design for the Press and hath been kept from it this two or three years till of late this Opinion hath held up its head in our Parts which tho it hath formerly and of late been often encountered by the Sword of the Spirit yet like the Monster Hydra having one Head chop'd off two grew again So this Error seems to spread and grow faster than of late and tho they have left off openly to assert tho owned in private many of those frightful Sayings and horrible Blasphemies found in many Authors which are enough to make a godly Man's heart to bleed yet now they with open face maintain and by secret ways labour to undermine the Divine Foundation and by crying up Grace and the unconditionality of the Gospel-Covenant and descrying all Inducements to Dutys and Obedience as legal Preaching with the terrible noise of Free-willers Arminians Popery many well-meaning Christians by such subtile Wiles and secret Insinuations are wounded and deceived through the cunning pretence of some that pretend to a more than ordinary pitch of Holiness and Purity who to carry on their Design labour to work upon the Affections and to gain upon the Hearts of thâ—se that are ready to entertain as Gospel any Errors because of the affection to the Person that broach'd them and when once the Judgment is distempered by Affection all things are carried according to the pleasure of it The vilest Deformitys if they are Affection's Darlings shall be accounted comely Ornaments Let God and Man say what they will 't is all in vain when their Vnderstanding is captivated and lull'd asleep by their Dalilah then Judgment and right Reason must truckle and those dark and mysterious Sayings in the Scripture must be made to speak according as they fancy while wholesome Truths are distastful and will not go down by reason of some Prejudice conceived against the Author And therefore I am not without a foresight that both my Person and this my good Meaning will be made the Butt at which will be shot all those sharp Arrows that Wit Pride and Envy can invent But I am content to receive a Scratch that others may scape a Wound and to be accounted as the Filth and Off-scouring of all things that those who are intangled in Errors might learn the Truth and therefore if I be reproached for it notwithstanding all the care taken I am content to suffer Reproach for the Cause of Christ and do count it a very small thing to be judged of Man's Judgment And Reader I do assure thee in the words of a Christian that it is neither Profit nor Credit nor Thanks that I expect for my pains but rather the contrary I by experience find Persons are too apt to be offended with Truth and Plainness yea many mens Spirits are so exasperated against such as hold forth the Grace of God to all which is the Subject of this Book that if it were in their power they would convince us we were in the wrong by Fire and Faggot so distastful are either the Sayings or Writings of those that would take their Diana that is their Opinion from them and when they cannot ward off the down-right stroke of Truth they will then set themselves to censure slight and revile those that speak for Truth But great is Truth and it will prevail in spight of the Sharp Tongues or Iron Teeth of those that oppose it And now Reader if thou beest a Reprobatarian I do not know what cause thou hast to dislike me or this Book if thou wilt be true to thy Principles that God from all Eternity freely and unchangeably ordain'd whatsoever comes to pass and that God hath precisely decreed what Good and Evil shall be done that all things happen not only by God's Prescience but by his express Order and positive Decree and that Man doth that which is not lawful for him to do by the just impulse of God If this be so then surely all that I have done in this case is but the necessary Issue of the Divine Decrees having done nothing but what was not only natural but necessary being over-born by
the manner of Men yet it is not necessary that all those things which are attributed to God should have something in his Nature correspondent to them according to that ancient Saying Similitudes are not wont to run on all-fours Metaphors are not to be strain'd to express things in themselves quite opposite nor make the parallel run till it grows lame but great care must be taken that no mean base or unworthy thing be attributed to the most high And therefore from the Potter's Power over his Clay to make thereof a Vessel of Honour or Dishonour as he pleaseth to infer positively from thence that God hath purposely made some to be Vessels of Wrath is an unjustifiable Inference from that Similitude Surely the Holy Ghost compares not our most wise Creator to a foolish Potter who because he might make what he would of his Clay did therefore make the greatest number of his Pots to be broken again to shew that he had as well a Power to break them as to make them which none but a mad Man would do but rather to a wise Potter that designs his Work for some good end and use Doubtless God so made all things that not one of his Creatures hath so much cause of dislike as to say why hast thou made me thus No Vessel of Wrath came so made out of his Hands So that if any be Vessels of Wrath the fault is not in him but in themselves by reason of their Infidelity and Contempt of the Lord and his long Sufferance I know this place is usually made use of as a Fortress for such as you are to flee to and is misunderstood to imply what you say but if you will but mind what the Apostle was upon and let this place be expounded by the Context and other places of holy Scripture so that the whole and every part of God's Word may agree in one Truth then we shall never take it in this sense of yours for then this dark and obscure part of Paul's Epistle which the Apostle Peter saith many wrest to their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3. 16. must be taken openly to oppose and contradict the whole Course and Tenour of God's Word Is there no way to understand the 9th of the Romans than by making those places which sound severely to clash against those that sound compassionately Is it not far the best way to interpret hard and doubtful Texts by those many Texts that are clear and easy than to interpret the many clear Texts by one that is dark and difficult or if one Scripture may have a double sense must we needs take it in the worst must I needs say that the Father of Mercy and God of Consolation which doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men did absolutely damn him before he had done either good or evil is it not the best so to understand it that his Mercy and Justice his Love and Power may imbrace and kiss each other Now the Scripture speaks in some places darkly and dubiously in other places it expresses the same thing more clearly and certainly the doubtful are to be expounded by the certain and dark places by those that are clear and all Exposition answerably to the Current of Scripture not contrary to it Now it doth seem as if the Apostle in these Words had an Eye to Jeremiah 18. 3 4 c. where he speaks of the Clay in the Potter's Hands not as it was in Creation but in Vocation being marr'd in the Hands of the Potter and so finding it would not be for that use he designed it for made thereof a Vessel as pleaseth him So God sometimes whilst he is at work to fashion a Soul for his own Work by the preaching of the Gospel by the sweet motion of his Spirit by Mercy and long Sufferance yet the Vessel is marr'd the Clav yields not nor is pliable to the Will of God and so finding it will not be a fit Vessel for Honour he makes a Vessel of Dishonour Read the 7 8 9 Verses and compare them with 2 Tim. 2. 20 21. so that it is plain God made of one Lump all Innocent and Upright Gen. 5. ult Eccles 7. ult at the first See what Mr. Loveday saith upon this in his Personal Reprobation Reprobated Page 243 God saith he like a Potter makes of low vile Man honourable Vessels Hath not the Potter any ordinary Potter power over the Clay to make it what Vessel he pleaseth and when a piece thereof runs coarse and is marr'd upon the Wheel hath he not power to make it a less honourable Vessel and hath not God the same and much more power over you that have imbas'd your selves by slighting and abusing all those Mercies he hath designed to bestow upon you and thereby make you honourable To be plain saith the Apostle why may not God for your Disobedience and Rebellion to his Son as zealous as you are for the Law of Moses of a glorious People and invested with all those extraordinary Privileges make you a base and contemptible People and besides your continuing still in Unbelief make your Condition far worse in the World to come Such a Paraphrase as this seems to bear a sweet Harmony with Jeremiah 18. also with the Scope of the whole Context and with the Apostle's conclusive Result Verse 32. that they did not attain to it because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the Works of the Law So that when Persons do Evil against God and will not obey his Voice but obey Unrighteousness and harden their Hearts against him then he will make them Vessels of Dishonour prepared for Destruction These are they that Jude speaks of Verse 4. that were of old ordained to this Condemnation not simply as they were Men but ungodly Men turning the Grace of God into Wantonness c. By what is or might farther be said we may see that those absolute Decrees of Mers inevitable Damnation is no part of God's revealed Will for if this 9th of the Romans faileth to prove what you bring it for as it is evident it doth then there is not the least shew in the Scripture for it Nay this Opinion of yours seems rather to be taken out of the Turkish Alcoran or Heathen Authors than the Bible for the Holy Scriptures are so far from containing or asserting any such Exercise in God over his Creatures which consists in a most severe and dreadful dooming them from Eternity to endless Misery that on the other hand they frequently exalt him as very gracious loving merciful and bountiful towards all and that there must be a great Breach on the Creatures part in point of Degeneration before the Lord gives him up to ruin Isa 27. 11. yea the Love and Pity of God to his Creature Man exceeds the Affections of a Father to his Son or of the tenderest Mother to her sucking Child Mat. 7. 11. Isa 49. 15. Martha I cannot
only himself but all his Posterity if he should have had any under Sentence of Death and Condemnation yet did the Lord who delights in Mercy before he pronounc'd the Sentence due to him for Sin graciously promise a Saviour Gen. 3. 15. by which he was put into a state of Recovery from this dreadful Fall And God by this gracious Promise took whole Adam into Grace and Favour And you can no more exclude any from Justification of Life which hath abounded towards all by Christ than you can exclude them from the Condemnation which hath abounded towards them by Adam Rom. 5. 16 17 18 19. Here the condemned Ones by Adam and the justified of Christ are computed by one and the same Number For as we hear of the Condemnation of all Men by the Offence of Adam so of no fewer than all Men justified by Christ and no more than many made Sinners by Adam or of any fewer than many made Righteous by Christ Mar. Let it be well observed that the Scope of the Apostle in this place is to shew that as Death and Condemnation came inevitably upon all the first Adam's Posterity by his Fall so shall the free Gift of Righteousness come infallibly upon all in whose room and stead Christ died as their Second Adam their Surety and Mediator the first Adam's All was all Mankind the second Adam's All was the Elect upon which Justification and Sanctification shall most certainly and infallibly be bestowed upon them Philad But why the All in the first Clause should be taken for all Mankind without excepting so much as one and All in the latter should exclude all Men a few only excepted I know not For unless Persons will take to themselves a lawless Liberty to exercise Dominion over the Expression of the Holy Ghost they cannot make them greater or lesser in one Clause than in the other for if Condemnation should come upon all Men by the offence of Adam and Righteousness only upon some few by the Obedience of Christ then where Sin abounded Grace should not super-abound as Verse 20. unless Grace hath a proportionable Reign unto Life so as to put all Men into a Capacity of Life and Salvation as Sin reigned over all Men without exception unto Death Philet The Apostle's Scope is to shew that as Death came in by one publick Person so Life and Salvation came in by another publick Person and that the Lord Jesus will infallibly justify and save his All for whom he undertook and died as their Head and Representative Philad But it seems you will not own that the Grace of Christ did profit Mankind as much as the Sin of Adam damnified it No you make Christ less than Adam and that Adam did more to the damning of the Souls and Bodies of all his Posterity than Christ did for the saving of them if so what will become of Paul's glorying over the Grace of God in Christ as much more abounding as in Verse 15. For if thro the offence of one many be dead much more the Grace of God and the Gift by Grace which is by one Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many But now if many more Millions of Men are dead thro the offence of Adam than are made alive by the Grace of God in Christ where 's the much more Philet All Men being fallen in Adam God beholding Mankind in the corrupt Mass and he being the Sovereign Lord of all might at his Pleasure and in his electing Love pardon one or a few of fallen Mankind and by an eternal Decree of Reprobation leave the greatest part of Mankind in that sad and depraved Condition without any Power to believe or a Christ to believe in and this he might do because he hath an absolute and uncontroulable Power and Dominion over his Creatures Philad Now you run upon a Fundamental Mistake about personal and absolute Election and Reprobation You make Adam's Sin the Foundation of building your fearful Opinion upon that Man suffers Eternal Damnation for Adam's Sin This is a most sad Doctrine that God should lay men under a necessity of being born under the Guilt of that Sin which was out of their Power to help or withstand for men can no more help Adam's Sin than they could help being born and yet for that cast away the greatest part of Mankind forever Shall one Man sin and will the Lord be wrath with all Num. 16. 22. 'T is true when Man by disobedience became Bankrupt of the Divine Bounty and had run himself so far in Debt both to the Law and Justice beyond any possibility to pay the Debt the Lord in Justice might have left him in the Fall and made him Partaker of his fierce Wrath Yet was the Lord pleased to break forth in high and much Mercy and in the tenderness of his Love deeply compassionating Man's Misery entered into a Covenant of Peace freely giving his only Son to satisfy the whole Debt and set us free for which we are obliged to be unfeignedly thankful to our dear Lord and truly to love him that first loved us and hath promised that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have Everlasting Life God hath now tied himself by promise and hath firmly indented with us in the Covenant of Grace and Mercy through Christ that if we believe and obey the Lord we shall undoubtedly reap the blessed Fruits of the Promise in Eternal Life Therefore I beseech you do not entertain such dreadful Apprehensions of an Infinite Gracious God that he should send Millions of Men to endless torments for Adam's single Transgression Surely if it was so the Holy Ghost who so effectually in the Scriptures of Truth vindicates the Righteousness and Equity of God's Proceedings in the Condemnation of wicked and ungodly Men would have insisted more or less upon it we should find something of it in the Word of God either from Christ or some of his Servants but I cannot find the least hint of it in the whole Scripture that ever the Lord decreed to assign Men their Portions with Devils for that Sin it being taken away as to the condemning Guilt of it by the Grace of God in Christ Where doth the Scripture say that for Adam's Sin in eating the forbidden Fruit God hateth the greatest part of his Posterity yea so hates them as to reprobate them to the second Death but plainly tells us the Child shall not suffer for the Father's Sins Ezek. 18. Philet But doth not the Lord say Exod. 20. 5. That he will visit the Sins of the Father upon the Children c. Philad Yea but 't is to those that hate him mind the words If Children come to be haters of God as their Fathers were treading in the same steps of sin and disobedience with their wicked Parents they thereby becoming partakers of their sins shall share with them in their punishment But this doth not shew that God will condemn any for that offence which
Death those Infants and Sucklings no more than to take away by Death many thousands which daily die through the World for Death reigns over all and when Infants are taken away either by a Natural Death or in any cruel manner 't is for Sin even that of Adam's yea many times their own Parents Sin hastens the Death of the Child and in Temporals very often the Children suffer for the Father's fault not only in the good things of this Life but also Death it self as in the Old World and in the overthrow of Sodom and are slain with the Sword as in this Case and likewise in those common Calamities which have befallen Nations and Cities But what will any one dare to say that such Infants and Sucklings are damned Who can forbear trembling at such a dreadful conceit And surely you that hold than Infants have sin enough from Adam to damn them to Hell had need bring good Scripture-proof for such a dreadful Doctrine But I need say no more to this than to refer you to what Mr. Grantham hath writ upon this Subject in his Answer to Mr. Petto and Mr. Firmin in his Presumption no Proof and his Infants Advocate First and Second Parts where if you be not wedded to your Opinion or blinded with Prejudice you will see that though all are guilty of Adam's Sin Rom. 5. 14. yet Infants by the presentment of the Satisfaction of Christ are and shall be sav'd for the free Gift cometh upon all Rom 5. 18. Mar. Come leave this Philetus you may easily perceive that Philadelphus owns that rotten and corrupt Opinion of universal Redemption a grand piece of Popery Philet Yea I see he 's an Arminian and I doubt a Free-willer too which is an old Pelagian Heresy and hath been condemned for an Error long since by the best and most knowing Christians Philad This is but the Devil's subtilty and delusion to hood-wink Peoples Eyes and to draw on a Vizor upon the lovely Face of true Religion to make it extremely deformed that so People may start at the naming of it Mod. Come pray let us have no Heats Philad There shall be none for me yet methinks they deal in our Day and Time by those that own the Truths of the Lord much like the barbarous Pagans did by the Christians under the persecuting Emperors who that they might have some Pretence to put them to death loaded them with odious Names and Imputations as if all the Troubles that were in the World happened for their Sakes As may be seen in Tertullian's Apology for the Christians Or as they did when they put them to death in their publick Theater they put upon them the Skin of some Savage Beast or put them into the shape of Monsters such as the nature of Man has the most Antipathy against that they might be the more excited to destroy them and the more expos'd to the fury of the Dogs Even so the noise of Arminians Pelagians Popery Free-willers and I know not what sounds so terrible to the Ears of some that they neither will nor dare examine either the Writings or Opinions of those that differ from them by the Word of God Mod. Neither will nor dare for what reason Philad Why only their Teachers whom they admire have drawn them into a dislike of the Truth of God by putting the Name of Ignominy and Reproach upon them What tho the Papists hold universal Redemption and are so unhappy to hold this part of Truth in unrighteousness Doth it therefore cease to be a Truth Or must I be ashamed or afraid to own it because held for a Truth by them May I not as well renounce the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament yea God and Christ too lest I should be accounted a Papist The Devil held that Christ was the Holy One of God and may not I do so too It will not excuse any in the Rejection of any Truth to say the Papists hold it Tho it was told Paul Acts 28. 22. That this Sect was every-where spoken against yet it did not turn him out of the way or make him out of love with the Truths of God neither ought it to do any and tho you may call this Truth Popery Arminianism c. yet was it owned for a Truth before Popery or James Arminius was heard of or had any being in the World and is indeed the ground of all Saving-Truth and Soul-establishing Comfort since the Foundation of the World and the contrary to it will be found to appear rotten and unsound having no firm footing in the Word of God let it be varnish'd over with never such dresses of Words or pretence of Zeal thereby to make the Face of it shine in the Eyes of others And I must tell you I look upon it to be a piece of daring Pride in any that shall confidently attempt to set bounds and limits to God's infinite Wisdom and Goodness acted towards all Men in the death of his Son Philet Well I am one of those that hold that God looking upon Man in the Fall did set his Love upon some of the fallen Race chusing some to eternal Life and Salvation for which he gave his Son to die for them and rejected others and never afforded them an Object to believe in nor power to believe but hath left them to perish Philad Pray prove what you affirm if you can Philet That God chuseth some to Life and leaveth others in the Fall of his meer Will and Pleasure I prove it by the Instance of Jacob and Esau Rom. 9. 13. As it is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated And this was done before they were born the one elected to eternal Life and the other reprobated to eternal Death and this at the meer Will and Pleasure of God Philad I know it is concluded from this Text that Esau in Person was damned but this is but Mens Rashness and Presumption there is not the least Syllable in all the word of God that I know of for Persons to ground such a Belief or from whence to draw such a dreadful Conclusion that Esau should be damned eternally Love and Hatred in this Text may be with respect to Temporal Blessings and so Esau may be said to be hated and Jacob loved because to Jacob was given the fruitful Land of Canaan and to Esau was given the barren Country of Mount Seir Or Love and Hatred may be with respect to Christ the promised Seed and so Jacob was separated or sanctified to be the Fore-father of Christ according to the Flesh and Esau with respect to that rejected and so was but a common or profane Person Now this was one end of Circumcision to distinguish the Family of whom Christ should be born and to keep that People of whom the Messiah was to come unmixt from the idolatrous Nations Now Esau very justly lost that Blessing for selling his Birth-Right at so base a Price for
who seek Salvation by the free Grace of God through Faith in Christ shall have it Rom. 9. 33 c. So that this Text proves not what you bring it for neither can you fairly understand it of such a Love or Hatred as to prove either Persons or Parties are saved or damned much less doth it prove that God hates any personally considered as they are Sinners in Adam c. Very well saith Dr. Homes p. 8. God cast off none till they cast off him 2 Chron. 36. 16. Prov. 29. 1. And in the New Testament only for the Sin of refusing Christ all along is Damnation pronounced God doth not actually cast them off beyond all Remedy till they actually cast off him and so cast them off not for original Sin but actual Sins and that not too for every actual Sin but for those that cast off the Remedy namely the Word of Christ and Christ the Word Philet That God choseth some and leaveth others in the Fall I prove from the very Word Elect or Election which is a separation or singling out some in a way of Mercy or Choice from a Number and whether these Scriptures do not prove this Election to be personal without any respect unto Faith 2 Tim. 2. 19. Phil. 4. 3. John 10. 3. Act. 19. 15. Rom. 11. 5 7. Rev. 7. 4. Rom. 9. 11. Mark 13. 20. Eph. 1. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 20. Tit. 2. 14 c. Philad But you know that the Word Election doth not always suppose Rejection but preferring one thing above another and it is frequent in Scripture to call both things and Persons of great Value of special Worth and Excellency in their kind Elect or Chosen 1 Sam. 26. 2. Isa 22. 7. In this sense the Messiah was termed by the Jews the Elect or Chosen of God Luke 23. 35. and called a Corner-Stone elect and precious 1 Pet. 2. 4. and Paul an elect or chosen Vessel And Dr. Hammond tells us The Greek Words used in Rev. 17. 14. viz. Chosen and Faithful are joined together as words of the same import Mod. I hope Philadelphus you will not dare to limit the Lord suppose God hath Elected some to Life and Salvation from Eternity or from the Fall Is not God's Mercy his own May he not do with it as he pleaseth What if God will give to one that comes into the Vineyard at the eleventh hour nay give to one gratis for doing nothing as much as he will to me for working according to my Covenant what wrong doth he do to me Why should my Eye be evil because God is bountiful or I repine that another obtains Mercy Philad I am none of those that pretend to keep the Keys of God's Secrets I dare not say God never did nor ever will chuse any personally considered But can it justly be concluded from God's predestianting some personally consider'd to Eternal Life that therefore all the rest were decreed absolutely to Condemnation without any respect to their Disobedience any more than when a King without any Condition premised pardons some that are guilty of the same Offence with others that he thereby implys that all the rest to whom he offers Pardon upon such conditions as they were able to perform should be Executed without Mercy Neither do I see any grounds from these Scriptures that we must needs understand Persons under a personal consideration without respect to Faith in Christ or any other Qualification to be the object of Electing Love and as such shall infallibly enjoy Eternal Salvation I know no Scripture that saith so nor can any Man be said to be chosen before the Foundation of the World or from the Fall any otherwise than in the Decree of God which is brought forth in time when they come actually to believe in Christ for God calleth things that are not as if they were Rom. 4. 7. and it is a usual thing in Scripture to speak of things to be done in time as if already done as Rom. 8. 30. where the Apostle speaks as if they were already glorified yet not actually glorified nor any otherwise than in the Purpose or Decree of God and so 2 Tim. 1. 19. Tit. 3. 5. they are said to be saved who were not at that time actually saved so in Ephes 1. 4. they are said to be chosen in him before the Foundation of the World though not chosen till they came to believe in Christ for as Christ was called a Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13. 8. though not slain till he took Flesh upon him which was some thousands of Years after even so Persons are said to be Elected from the Foundation of the World though not chosen till they be in Christ and when Persons have once obtained a Being in Christ by Faith they may truly be said to be Chosen by virtue of that Decree of Election which was in God before the Foundation of the World whereby he decreed to chuse all those to Salvation who should repent of their Sins believe in his Son and be obedient to his Will and when they come into this State God may be said to chuse them before the Foundation of the World by virtue of the Decree that was in him So that whatsoever Elective Love God hath or might have for any of the degenerate Sons of Adam more than for others Yet this is a thing that wholly lies hid in the secret Counsel of God and wholly unknown to us but this the Scripture reveals for a truth That whomsoever God predestinates them he calls before they are either justified or glorified Rom. 8. 30. and so 2 Thess 2. 13. through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth c. Now if the Saints are chosen to Salvation through c. and were called to it by the Gospel then they were not chosen actually before they had believed the Truth or before they heard the Gospel And to make this more plain you know Paul was a chosen Vessel or a most choice Instrument a Vessel for the Lord's use Acts 9. 15. yet he tells us that he was before a Blasphemer and a Persecutor and Injurious 1 Tim. 1. 13. and writing to his Son Titus ch 3. 3. speaking of himself saith We our selves were sometimes foolish disobedient deceiving serving divers Lusts and Pleasures living in Malice and Envy bateful and hating one another Now shall we say that Paul during his unbelief and impenitence was in a justified State an adopted Child of God Surely no. Philet Well how and when came Paul to be an adopted Child of God Philad How why first God humbles him brings him to the foot of Christ calls him by his Grace Gal. 1. 15. to which Call he was obedient Acts 26. 19. and was regenerated and born again by the Washing of Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost by which he was led to believe and obey the Gospel Acts 24. 14 15 16. and to live intirely to him
to come are taken away by Christ Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect c. and so Rom. 4. 23. Isa 35. 8. The Lord hath laid upon him the Iniquity of us all and 1 Pet. 2. 24. himself bore our Sins on his Body c. and what I said I will say that tho the Elect may sin as well as others yet their God in Christ will never un-son them nor yet touching their Justification and eternal Salvation will he love them ever a whit the less yea tho they commit never so many and great Sins For this is a certain Truth that as no Good in them or done by them did move him to elect and justify them and to give them eternal Life so no Evil in them or done by them can move him to take that away when once given Philad This is like that which is in the Mouth of some Be in Christ and sin if thou canst what pity is it that Men pretending to Wisdom and Sobriety and Professors of Godliness should fall into such Raptures as are next to Madness What a bundle of Errors are here wrapt up together and that under Scripture-guize but surely you do not read the Scripture in that Spirit in which it was wrote or else you might see notwithstanding the Apostle's triumphing that till Persons repent of their Sins and turn to God they stand charged with many things as I have told you from Eph. 2. and from Paul who was before his Conversion a Persecutor a Blasphemer and confess'd himself the chief of Sinners yea before the Apostle comes to this Triumphing he was long exercised with Frights Terrors within and Frightnings without and tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 2. 3. that his Preaching among them was in great fear and trembling so that we must Fight before we Triumph and Mourn before the Lord Comfort us And how clearly doth 1 Pet. 2. 24. shew that the proper intention of Redemption is Dominion eternal Redemption is an eternal Obligation to Service Ye are bought with a price ye are not your own your Bodies and Spirits are the Lord's 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. Rom. 14. 9. You may see that one end of Christ's being a Redeemer was that he might be a Sovereign Lord over his Purchase yea this is one great end of the Lord 's entering into Covenant with his People promising to do great things for them Ezek. 11. 19 20. I say the end of all is that they might serve him Hockins on God's Decree p. 93. Can we entertain so ignoble a belief that the eternal Son of God should suffer for any less end than to advance our Human Nature to the greatest height of Piety and Purity of Life and to raise our Souls to the most refined and sublimate goodness What did Christ take our Nature upon him and become Surety for us and pay such an infinite price for us that we might spend more freely and daringly on the Stock of our Surety's Satiffaction Ah! Who can with-hold their Eyes from Tears to think that any should make use of Mercy to damn them For many had not been guilty of so many Sins nor persisted in them without Repentance had it not been for their false hope in Christ not considering Christ came to redeem from all Iniquity as well as from all Wrath. Philet But Christ dying for the Elect hath thereby fulfilled all Righteousness satisfied Divine Justice and purchased Heaven for them Philad And what then Philet Why then there 's no doubt but they shall be saved for in the very moment of Election they were pardoned of all Sins past present and to come Philad What as if now nothing could endanger their Souls they have enough for Heaven Pray what should hinder them from bidding all Sin welcom Why may they not kill whore c. and commit all Abomination and if impleaded for it bring in this as an Evidence that they were in the very moment of Election pardoned of all Sins past present and to come they have a Gracious God that will forgive them and a Surety who hath paid for all Philet I perceive what you are driving at You hold that Faith and Obedience in us to be the cause of God's Electing or Chusing us to Life and Salvation Doth not the Scripture prove that Election is not according to foreseen Faith not because Men do or will believe but because they should believe Rom. 9. 11. 1 Pet. 1. 2 3 4. 2 Tim. 1. 9. Tit. 1. 1. Now if Faith and Obedience be the cause of God's loving us then here is Merit this eclipses the Glory of God's free Love and renders Salvation of Debt and not of Grace Mar. This is down-right Popery nay I affirm that Faith and Repentance are no more a means to go to Heaven by than prophane Cursing and Swearing Philad That Faith in Christ and Obedience to the Lord is a cause without which God chuseth none to Life and Salvation is a Truth unless you can prove that God hath designed his Son to die to save such as will neither repent of their Sins believe nor obey him but live and die in open Rebellion against God and do despight to the Spirit of Grace and trample under foot the Blood of the Son of God c. but that it is the cause for which God chuseth any I disown as well as you For the Love of God the Father to the Sons of Men as they were Sinners and Enemies to him was the essential cause of our Salvation John 3. 16. Rom. 5. 6 8 10. 1 Pet. 3. 18. and Jesus Christ the meritorious and procuring cause of Man's Salvation and should we admit of any thing else but Christ to be the matter of our Justification or the meritorious Cause of Eternal Life this would be injurious to the Perfection of Christ's Righteousness and overthrow the freeness of Divine Grace and Love But you and all Men ought rightly to divide and distinguish between the Cause and Condition of our Salvation that Christ may be owned as the Cause and Author of it and Faith and Obedience as the way and means to attain to it for as God Almighty hath prepared a Heaven for Men so he hath appointed the way and means to fit and prepare them for it as Christ is the Way so if I should say that Faith and Obedience is a way to come to enjoy it I might say it was advancing Nature above Grace or setting up our own Righteousness in the room of Christ's Righteousness and so robbing him of his Honour or asserting Merits surely Eternal Happiness hereafter hath some dependance upon Holiness here Mod. I like this well and do believe that God that hath appointed the end hath also appointed the means as in the Case of Paul Acts 27. 22. though God had promised to save Paul and all that were in the Ship yet they were to use the means otherwise they could not be safe I would have
saved by his precious Undertakings Philad I never did nor I hope never shall desire you to lay the stress of your Salvation upon your well doing for that would be to build upon the Sands indeed a very infirm Foundation Seeing that without shedding of Blood there is no Remission of Sin and consequently no Heaven Yet give me leave to tell you that to expect Salvation through Christ without Righteousness of Heart and Life is a most infirm Foundation to build our hopes of Heaven upon and indeed 't is nothing but downright Presumption and at the best but the hope of the Hypocrite which will perish Job 8. 13 14. Deut. 29. 19. If you think to find Heaven because Christ died for your Sins and you not bound to the actual Performance of those Duties God hath injoined you to perform I cannot see but you must shew us another Gospel yea and blot out all the Ten Commandments But I tell you Christ himself will not save such 't is contrary to the Attributes of his Justice for he will render to every one as their Works shall be Rom. 8. 13. 1 Cor. 6. 9. Let but any of you shew me a Word from God or Christ that he will save Persons in the profane Contempt of his Service and I will open my Mouth no more against it Philet Did not I tell you he would lead us back again to the Law which is wholly abolished by Christ we are not now under the Law but under Grace Mar. The Law is a cursed Creature Philad A Creature what do you mean by that Where doth the Scripture call the Law a Creature I doubt your design is to invalidate the Law of God which is a divine Direction for all Men in all holy just and spiritual Duties Mar. I could show you it under the hands of fifty Divines that the Law is a Creature besides the many Arguments I could give to prove it a Truth if you please to hear them Philad If you can prove it from the Scripture I 'll hear you but I see you do not that and as for those Divines you speak of tho they may be Men of Piety and Learning yet we ought to follow no Man but as he follows Christ nor take notice of the Quality of Persons and what they believe but the Solidity of their Proof and how they agree with the Standard of God's Word for want ofthis Persons are ready to suck in corrupt Notions without any serious Examination merely because others said it for whose Piety and Learning they have a great and venerable Esteem and indeed when Mens Persons are admired presently their Notions tho never so unsound are received as the Oracles of God which thing has been of fatal Consequence in all Ages and has given footing to most or all the pestilent Doctrines and Errorst hat have incumbred the Church of God Pray ask those Divines you spake of whether they will stand to this That the Law as it is the Mind and Will of God is a Creature whether there is any thing in God perishable or changeable As Learned as they hold these three things as a Truth 1st That God wills nothing in time 2dly That God cannot but have that Will which he hath 3dly That God cannot have any Will which for the present he hath not Now as the Law contains the Mind and Will of God it is as ancient as himself yea there is in it a supernatural divine and unperishing Virtue resembling God himself which shall as easily be destroyed as his Law and was and is and shall remain a word of Eternal Verity Equity and Purity planted in the Heart of Man and is an immutable and eternal Rule of Duty and the breach of it calls for an eternal Punishment upon all Contemners and Abusers of it notwithstanding their boast of Gospel Grace if not repented of Philet I tell you the Law is wholly abolished by Christ we are not now under the Law but under Grace Philad 'T is true Believers are not now under the Law namely in respect of Justification by it or of personal and perfect Obedience to it which Christ in our stead hath performed Gal. 4. 4. nor under the Curse of the Law that is the damning Power of it they are now under Grace that is the Dispensation of Gods Grace the Gospel yet we are not to think that Believers are so freed from the Curse of the Law as to be freed from exercising the Duty and Precepts of Righteousness and Holiness Nay tell me you that say the Law is wholly abolished what there is in all the Ten Commandments that is not a Christian Duty If the Law be wholly abolished what should hinder Persons from worshipping false Gods breaking the Sabbath Swearing Killing Whoring Stealing doing any thing at all no Sin if there be no Law for where there is no Law there is no Transgression Philet The Apostle tells us That Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believes Rom. 10. 4. Philad But what end the fulfilling end but not the destroying end of the Law tho' 't is true with respect to the Ceremonial part of the Law which was only a shadow of good things to come Heb. 10. 12. and center'd in Christ and end in him he being the true Spiritual Substance unto whom that part of the Law was directed it may be said that Christ was not only the fulfilling end but the abolishing end of the Law He is also the end of the Moral Law First because he fully and perfecty obeyed the Law and so the Law in him obtained its end which it had not done amongst all the Sons of Men. 2dly He was the end of the Law on whom all the Maledictions of the Law had full accomplishment 3dly He was the end of the Law in whom all the Blessings and Promises of the Law obtain their end for they are all in Christ Jesus Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. 4thly He 's the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believes because God doth impute unto Believers that Righteousness which the Law requires Thus Christ is the end of the Law Yet 't is folly to believe that Christ is so the end of the Law that we are now wholly exempted from our Obedience to those Precepts which the Law requires or that Gospel Grace which hath appeared to all Men Tit. 2. 11 12. should absolve the Creature from that Love and Obedience which is due to his Creator Disobedience cannot be the spot of God's Children 'T is true the Jews thought that they must needs reject the law if they admitted the Doctrine of Paul concerning Justification by Faith whereas the Apostle proves that his Doctrine was so far from prejudicing the Law that it indeed established it Rom. 3. 31. Chap. 4. So that neither Christ put an end to the Moral Law Mat. 5. 17. nor his Apostles therefore the Law is not abolished Philet The
nor the other Philad I believe God hath a Secret Will and a Revealed Will a Will that neither Men nor Angels know If it be God's absolute Will that the greatest part should be damn'd it is then the duty of the greatest part of Men to go industriously to Hell and be damn'd and to do good would be a Vice to labour to attain Heaven a Sin because it crosseth the secret Will of God and if it be God's Revealed Will that all should repent and his Secret Will that very few shall it follows from thence that it is his Will that his Will should not be done and that when a Reprobate saith Thy Will be done he rather curseth himself than prays for a Blessing And since you affirm that God hath a Secret and a Revealed Will I would have you careful that you do not interpret his Revealed Will by what you conjecture of his Secret One his Secret Will being a thing that cannot be known but rather guess at his Secret Will by his Revealed one and so judg of his Eternal Decree by what we find in his Word concerning his Promises and Threatnings which are the Copies of his Decrees It is very ill done of you to say God hath a double Will the Revealed Will being not only diverse but opposit to his Secret One God ordaining Sin with the one whilst he forbids it with the other and not always willing in secret what he reveals himself will do So that by what you say you had as good tell us God doth not mean as he speaks and so make him a hypocritical Dissembler This is a very high Affront put upon the Divine Goodness and your Testimony is not at all to be credited unless you have the Witness of God for you 1 Joh. 5. For whosoever delivers any thing for a Divine Truth if it be contrary to what is revealed to us in the Scriptures of Truth it ought to be rejected as Diabolical Suggestions all things of this nature must be warranted by the Word Let our Hearts be never so strongly inclined to believe it yea let Persons pretend never so much to the Spirit and to receive new Light yet if it be contrary to the Spirit of God speaking in the Scriptures 't is no better than a delusion of the Devil therefore to the Law and to the Testimony Isa 8. 20. John 16. 13 14 15. 1 John 4. 6. Now seeing by this your Speech you make the pure and holy God who hateth and detesteth yea forbids and punisheth Hypocrisy and Dissimulation in Man 1 Pet. 1. 15. Psal 51. 6. 1 John 3. 18. insincere and a great dissembler in his Word professing one thing and intending another which Imputation consists not with his Honour Justice and Mercy which is always one with his Will and his Will always the same and not two opposite Wills I therefore challenge a proof for what you say or I shall record your words as blasphemous Philet I cannot prove it in those positive terms but if you look 1 Sam. 2. 30. it may give us some grounds to think so I said indeed that thy House should walk before me for ever but far be it from me c. Here you see the Lord said one thing and decreed another and so Jonah 3. 4. where Jonah in positive words asserts it to be the revealed Will of God Yet 40 days and Niniveh shall be destroyed yet it was the secret Purpose Decree or Will of God that it should not Yea and so far as the Prophet could conceive and he had already manifested his Counsel he purposed to overthrow the City but yet the Lord had indeed determined to preserve it Philad I called for a proof that God hath a Secret Will and a Revealed Will contradictory to each other relating to one and the same Persons and Things and instead of that you bring two Texts that make nothing to the purpose that of Jonah concerning Niniveh sheweth that God's Will whereof one part revealed and preached by Jonah was that Niniveh should be destroyed within 40 days if the Inhabitants thereof repented not but remained in an obdurate and impenitent State and the other part of God's Will which was kept secret and concealed was this that it should not be destroyed if it did repent within that time so that that part of God's Will that was revealed and the other part kept secret and concealed was one and the same and tho delivered in positive words yet there was a Condition implied in them tho not expressed That Niniveh was not destroyed at that set time which the Lord threatned they should plainly shews that his Purposes and Threatnings were conditional Upon supposition of their Impenitence he threatned to destroy them but when they repented he promised to preserve them this you know by what Jonah did when he withdrew to see what God would do with the City and by what the King and People did they understood the whole Will of God concerning them tho but part thereof was vocally revealed therefore I heartily advise you to detest that vile School-distinction of a Secret and Revealed Will in God opposite one to the other so that by his Revealed Will he would have none to perish but professes his unfeigned desire after the Salvation of those that perish and seems to be burdened in himself and lament over those that stubbornly run in destructive courses as Deut. 5. 29. Psal 81. 13 14. Isa 48. 7. 65. 2. Jer. 44. 4 5. Mat. 23. 37. and yet by his Secret Will he hath no desire after their Salvation Nay he 's so far from willing or desiring their Salvation that he hath grounded and settled Intentions to destroy them for ever By his Revealed Will he would have all Men to repent and believe in his Son and by his Secret Will the contrary Now if there be any Secret Will in God whereby he willeth the destruction of any at the same time that he willeth the Salvation of all these two Wills must needs contradict one another and of two contrarys if one be good the other is bad and so in God's Secret and Revealed Will if one be good the other is bad But surely if God injoyns Repentance Faith and Obedience unto all Men with Promises upon their complying with his Will they shall be saved as Mark 16. 16. Acts 3. 19. John 20. 21. then he doth not will with a Secret Will the condemnation of any for 't is clear that his Revealed Will runs that he would have all men every where to repent c. and certainly his Revealed Will must needs be one with his Secret Will or else we shall represent the great God of Truth as false as Man for if God's Word which is his Revealed Will be no Interpretation of his mind and meaning then it is not true for that speech that is no signification of the Mind is a lie God's love to Mankind page 96. this is properly lying saith