in these Dispensations of his towards them to do them any good in a saving way he must needs be conceived to intend their ruine and destruction at least the increase of their ruine and destruction by them it being no ways reasonable to conceive but that he hath higher and more considerable ends propounded to himself in his Providential Administrations about men in reference unto men then about beasts in relation unto them though it is true he hath the same general and ultimate End his Glory in all his Works and Administrations one or other But if the generality or far greatest part of men are bound to beleeve and bound they are to beleeve it if it be a revealed Truth that God in giving them health and peace and prosperity in the world intends nothing but evil to them a fuller cup of the wrath and vengeance which is to come how can the bountifulness and long-sufferance of God be said to lead men to Repentance which yet is the Apostles Doctrine Rom. 2. 4. Neither the goodness nor patience of God towards evil men can be said to lead them to Repentance but by the mediation or supposal of these three Principles 1. That these Dispensations of God I mean of goodness and patience towards such men are proper and sufficient I mean by the help of that operation of the Spirit of God which always accompanieth them to bring men to Repentance And 2. That Gods intent is that they should bring them actually to Repentance or at least that he hath no intention otherwise or to the contrary 3. And lastly That he truly and really intends their Salvation upon their Repentance Wicked men can at no hand of reason no nor yet of common sence be said to be led to Repentance by the goodness or long-sufferance of God towards them unless 1. It be supposed that there is a genuine natural or proper Rhetorique or moving tendency in them to perswade and encourage such men to Repent nothing can be said to lead a man to such or such an action or course but that which is proper to invite or perswade him unto either Nor unless it be supposed 2. That God hath an intent that such men should be actually perswaded and made willing to repent by such Dispensations at least that he should have no intentions to the contrary For how can any man be actually perswaded or made willing by any means motive or encouragement whatsoever to attempt or do any such thing which he hath cause to judg or beleeve that Gods intentions stand against his doing or performance There is no motive or encouragement against the determinate Counsel of God made known Nor 3. and lastly Can the said Dispensations of goodness or patience in God be said to lead any man to Repentance unless it be yet further supposed that his real intent and purpose is to save him upon his Repentance or in case he shall Repent or at least that they may be such For what encouragement can any man have to repent in case he hath sufficient ground to judg that God hath absolutely rejected him and will not save him no not upon his Repentance Therefore certainly God hath no intentions of evil or of condemnation or of encrease of condemnation against the generality of men no nor yet against the worst or wickedest of men in those gracious vouchsafements of life health liberty peace food rayment and other the like temporal mercies and accommodations unto them Again How can men look upon themselves as any ways debtors or obliged §. 5. unto God in thankfulness for good things administred unto them with hard intentions or with a purpose not to bless them but to make their condemnation so much the greater and more heavy upon them If birds and fishes had understanding and should know for what end or with what intentions men lay scraps and baits though made of such things as they love and stand in need of in their way would they thank them for it or should they have any reason so to do Or had Amasa any cause to think the better of Joab for taking Him by the Beard with His right Hand to kiss Him a 2 Sam. 20. 9 Or our Saviour to think the better of Judas for the kiss wherewith He greeted Him b Matth. 26. 49 Besides it being the duty of the Saints to imitate or resemble their Heavenly Father not onely in His outward Expressions but much more in His Intentions and frame of spirit towards men when He doth good unto them causing His Sun to arise and His Rain to fall upon them in case His Intentions towards them in such applications of Himself unto them were bent not upon their Salvation but Destruction would it not follow that when they should perform those Christian services unto them injoyned by our Saviour Himself But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you pray for them that despitefully use you a Mat. 5. 44. c. they were bound to do all these in order unto and with an intent to procure their greater and deeper condemnation and not with any intent to gain them in to the Gospel And if wicked men enemies to the Saints should know or have reasonable ground to judg that when they express themselves outwardly in terms of love and good-will towards them they mean them ruine or increase of Punishment and Torment hereby had they not cause to judg them the vilest Hypocrites and Dissemblers under Heaven Nor do they represent the glorious God Himself any whit better unto the World who affirm and teach that in and under His most pathetical and moving invitations encouragements and promissory offers of Grace Mercy Salvation unto the generality of men whereof the Scriptures are full He intends not the Donation or gift of Grace Mercy or Salvation unto them upon any condition or terms whatsoever but Wrath and Judgment and an opportunity to render them seven-fold more the children of death and condemnation then otherwise they would or could have been Lastly If God intends the increase of guilt and punishment unto wicked men or the generality of men in the comforts and good things of this world providentially disposed and dispensed unto them He must needs desire the bringing or coming of these accordingly upon them No man intends any thing in order to the accomplishment of such or such an end but this end is desired by Him Again certain it is that the increase of guilt and punishment cannot come upon men by means or by occasion of the good things given by God unto them but onely by the intervening of their unthankfulness and abuse of these good things in one kinde or other Further as there is no man but wisheth and desireth the coming to pass of such things which are simply and absolutely necessary for the bringing to pass such things as He desireth so hath no man cause to be offended with any man for the doing
hath sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost who is not in a capacity or possibility of Repentance 2. Though it were true yet it hinders not at all the truth or the force of the consequence in the proposition mentioned viz. that in case any of those should repent whom Christ hath bought for slaves then he should be disappointed in his bargaine and that by the righteousnesse of those bought by Him Reason teacheth us that a Connex proposition may be demonstratively true and pregnant though both the parts of it be never so false As for example if Ismael had been the naturall son of Lot he could not have been the naturall son of Abraham this is a proposition of a manifest and cleer truth yet both parts of it are false For 1. Ismael was not the naturall son of Lot 2. He was the naturall son of Abraham Yet Againe if Christ bought some for slaves then hath he some base servile §. 23. hard or drudgery work to doe such as is not meet for sons to put their hand unto For they have no need of slaves that have no servile or slavish work to doe But Christ hath no work to doe but that which is Honorable and worthy the most ingenuous of all His sons to doe All the Commandements of God David saith are righteousnesse a Psal 119. 172. And a little before All thy Commandements are truth b Verse 151. Now Christ hath no more Worke to be done by Men in the World then God hath neither hath God any more then what is expressed and set forth in His Commandements and all these as we heard from David are righteousnesse i. e. require nothing but what is righteous and just for Men to doe and consequently meet for sons yea chiefly for sons or righteous ones to doe Yea God hath no neede of any Mans lye or of any Mans sin whatsoever Therefore neither did Christ buy any for slaves Once more if the Persons here said to be bought by Christ were bought by §. 24. Him for slaves then must the Apostle be conceived to extenuate their sin in denying Him by saying that He bought them whereas by the emphaticall carriage of the Context it is evident that His intent was by this consideration to aggravate that their sin and set forth the hainousnesse the high demerit and provocation of it He that buyes Men being slaves to make them free Men and set them at liberty may well expect thanks and free service from them and if they should not own such a Person as their Great Benefactor they deserve not only to be devested of that liberty which this Benefactor of theirs hath purchased for them but to be subjected to a Bondage seven times more grievous then that from which they were delivered But if a Man shall buy those that were slaves before only to put them into a condition of worse slavery then that wherein they were they are not to be blamed if they deny Him to be any Great Benefactor to them In like manner if Christ shall be here said to buy the Men spoken of for slaves only He should buy them out of a more easie slavery from under a lighter condemnation only to put them into an harder Bondage and subject them to a greater condemnation and consequently their not owning Him or their denying Him as any Benefactor unto them were no just matter of provocation to Him nor of displeasure from God What is that estate of Bondage or Misery in any kinde out of which Christ may be said to buy those whom He is supposed to buy for slaves And what is that estate of slavery unto which He subjectth them or into which He putteth them by this purchase or buying of them that so we may compare them together Doubtlesse that Bondage and Misery out of which these Men can be supposed to be bought by Christ is in the utmost Line and Pitch of it but an obnoxiousnesse or liablenesse to have been cast into Hell fire for their sin committed in or contracted from Adam as soone as they were conceived or borne or the like but that estate of slavery whereinto according to that interpretation of the place which we now oppose they are bought by being bought by Christ is seven times more grievous then so For 1. Under this they are as liable to be thrown into Hell fire as in the other Nay 2. They are sure to be cast into Hell fire with much more guilt of sin upon them then in their former condition they were capable of and consequently to be so much the more grievously tormented for ever Therefore their sin of denying Christ is so far from being aggravated by their being bought by Him for slaves that indeed it is extenuated and brought to nothing by it and consequently such an interpretation is diametrally opposite to the Apostles intent in the place Lastly for this if Christ bought the false Teachers here spoken of with §. 25. other wicked Men who in fine perish for slaves in what respect or with what intentions may He be supposed to have bought such Infants who dying in their infancy and before the committing of actuall sin are supposed through the want of the Priviledge of Election to Perish Must we not have another Device or Notion whereby to forme the Intentions of Christ in His Purchase of these For it can at no hand of reason be said or thought that He bought these for slaves in as much as He never intended that these should live so much as to a capacity of doing any worke at all in one kinde or other for Him If the Assertors of the Interpretation now ready to fall shall think to relieve themselves at this Point by saying that it is not necessary that Christ should at all minde such Children in His Purchase so as to buy them in one kinde or other but may well be conceived only to leave them as He found them I would demand of them only this how then or upon what account such Children should injoy the benefit of life though but for a short season as for a Month two c. together with the comforts of life appropriate to their Age as nourishment nursing looking to c. If no consideration at all was had of such in the Death and Purchase of Christ I would gladly understand what other Friend they had to Mediate with God for such things on their behalfe or whether God be so far well pleased with them without all mediation as to indulge such mercies and comforts unto them Nor can it with any Colour of Reason be said that Christ bought the §. 26. Persons here spoken of for slaves or servants unto the Saints because 1. As the sphere of the affaires of this World moves the Saints are rather servants unto the wicked then these to them Thy seed saith God to Abraham shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs and they shall serve
6. i. e. according to the exigency of His Works or as His Works require To pass by other instances without number in the latter end of the Verse in hand the truth which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according unto godlinesse is a kinde of Periphrasis or Description of the Gospell as being such a Truth which godlinesse as it were requireth for her promotion and advancement in the World 3. If by the Faith of Gods Elect we shall understand either the grace of §. 27. Faith given unto the Elect of God or the act of believing wrought in the Elect of God we shall make no good consistency of sence in the sentence For if Paul should stile himself the Servant of God and Apostle of Jesus Christ according to the grace of Faith or act of Believing in the Elect of God what can we reasonably imagine his meaning should be Verily I understand not Or if there could be any commodious or tolerable sence made with such a construction of the Word Faith yet by the Elect of God we need not understand the generality of the Saints much lesse such as are supposed to have been chosen unto Salvation by God from eternity of which number there are alwayes some as our Adversaries themselves confesse unconverted and consequently have no such Faith as is here pretended but the excellent ones as David calleth them among the Saints whose Faith is most signall and glorious It is a frequent Hebraisme in the Scriptures to call both things and persons of speciall worth and excellency in their kinde eâ—ect or chosen See 1. Sam. 26. 2. Esa 22. 7. Jer. 2â— 7. In this sence the Messiah waâ— notioned and termed among the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Elect of God Luk. 23. 35. And Christ Himself is called a corner Stone Elect and Precious 1 Pet. 2. 4. So Paul a chosen or elect Vessell c. 4. Nor doe I know any ground either in Scripture or good reason why by Gods Elect we should understand persons under a personall consideration segregated or chosen by God from eternity from amongst other Men to be infallibly conveyed by Faith unto Salvation The Scripture knoweth no such sence or signification of the Words as this Nor can it be proved from hence nor otherwise that Men are in any other sence chosen or said to be chosen from eternity but only as that Law or Decree of God by vertue whereof Men come to be elected in time was from eternity The tenor of Gods Law or Decree of Election which was from eternity is as the Scripture evidenceth this or the like Whosoever shall believe in my Son Iesus Christ whom I purpose to send into the World shall hereupon become a Man of that species sort or kinde of Men whom I have chosen from amongst all other Men or sorts of Men in the World and designed to Salvation For that men cannot in propriety of speech be said to be elected from eternity is evident because they were not had no being from eternity nothing having been from eternity but God Himself alone Now that which is not cannot be said unlesse haply it be in some unproper and by sence to be elected or to be the object of any act or action whatsoever And as Men are properly said to be justified in time as viz. when they believe though the Decree of Justification by vertue whereof they come to be â—ustified in time was from eternity In like manner though the Decree of Election by vertue whereof Men come to be elected was from eternity yet it brings forth in time and in propriety of speech Men cannot be said to be Elected but in time But concerning Election from eternity as somewhat hath occasionally been spoken already so much more remaines to be spoken in due place 5. And lastly nor is there truth in this Assertion in the Argument God hath determined to bring his Elect unto Salvation by Faith with the greatest certainty that can be God hath indeed determined with the greatest certainty that can be to bring his elect to Salvation by Faith persevered in or if persevered in but this is not to determine to bring them to Salvation with the greatest certainty that can be by Faith simply or by Faith whether persevered in or no. So that the whole frame of this argument is crasie and loose scarce is there a sound part in the whole body of it A fourth Argument for the countenance of the said Doctrine of Perseverance §. 28. is taken from the intercession of Christ and pleadeth thus Whatsoever Christ Prayeth for unto the Father shall certainly be granted unto him and done But Christ prayeth for the Perseverance of all true Believers as appears by his praying for Peter in this kind a Luke 22. 32 Ergo. I answer 1. To the major Proposition by granting it rightly understood and with some such Explication as this Whatsoever Christ prayeth for unto the Father shall certainly be done viz. So or after such a manner and upon such terms as Christ in His Prayer intendeth not simply or absolutely as the words of the Prayer may sometimes seeme to some to import Hanging upon the crosse He Prayed for His enemies and those that crucified Him that they might be Forgiven b Luke 23. 34 May it not be as well inferred from hence that therefore all his enemies and all such who in any sence Crucifie Him shall be Forgiven by God as it is argued from His Praying for Peter that his Faith might not faile that the Faith of no true Believer shall faile Doctor Twists notion upon the case is not so authentique and though admitted will not heale the difficulty Christ saith he Prayed for his enemies ex officio hominis Privati i e. according to the duty of a private Man but for His Elect as Mediator This is said but not proved nor indeed probable For very unlikely it is that Christ being now in a full investiture of his great Office of Mediator should wave his Interest in Heaven by means hereof in his addressements unto God for Men and pray only in the capacity and according to the interest and duty of a private Man This would argue that He Prayd not for them with His whole heart nor with an effectualnesse of desire to obtaine what He Prayed for But let it be granted yet still it follows that whatsoever Christ Prayed for was not simply or absolutely granted or done And if whatsoever Christ Prayed for was absolutely granted it is not materiall as to matter of impetration whether He Prayed as Mediator or as a private Man But the intent of Christs Prayer for those who Crucified him was not that all their sins should be Forgiven them much lesse that simply and absolutely i. e. without any interveening of Faith or Repentance they should be Forgiven which had been to pray for that which is expresly contrary to the Revealed Will of God but that that particular sin
and brimstone which is the second death a Rev. 21. 8. or in saying that no unclean thing shall enter into it the new Jerusalem neither WHATSOEVER worketh abomination b Verse 27. or that without are Dogs and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murtherers c Verse 15. c. Certainly blood desileth a Person as well as a Nation or Land d Num. 35. 33 when it is unrighteously spilt in it and maketh as well the one as the other unclean until it be attoned And for the sin of Adultery it is sufficiently known that the Holy Ghost presents it almost every where as polluting and defiling So that David during His impenitency aforesaid was cut off from all right of entering into the new Jerusalem both by the general irregularity of uncleanness as also by the particular incapacities of Murther and Adultery 5. If David were a true Beleever during the time of His departure and §. 4. absence from God then may the testimony of former and by-past works of righteousness be accepted by way of proof for the truth and soundness of any mans Faith against the testimony of later and more-present fruits of unrighteousness against it If so then 1. No man that hath approved himself a good Christian formerly ought upon any change whatsoever upon the most Unchristian miscarriages that can be imagined to be judged an Apostate from Christ or consequently be upon any justifiable grounds cast out by the sentence of Excommunication from any Church of Christ whatsoever Which supposed No Church duly and regularly deporting it self in the admission of Members are in any capacity of using the said spiritual Sword in any case or upon any occasion whatsoever For certain it is that no person who either is or ought to be judged by the Church a true Member of Christ ought by this Church to be cut off from his Body or to be delivered unto Satan and as certain it is that no person ought to receive admission into any Church which is not looked upon by this Church as a true Member of Christ 2. The said Position admitted for truth whereas the Apostle James demandeth What doth it profit my Brethren though a man say He hath Faith and HAVE not Works e James 2. 14. He might as well or rather have said and hath not had works For by the Tenor of the said Doctrine though a man wants present works or works of a later edition or performance whereby to shew or manifest the truth of his Faith unto men yea though his later works give never so pregnant or loud a testimony against the truth of his Faith yet if he can but say and make proof that formerly though never so long before he hath been fruitful in well doing this must be looked upon as sufficiently demonstrative of his Faith Which is notoriously contrary to the manifest bent and scope of the Apostles discourse in that place 3. If the case were so that mens former works if good must be heard against their later works though never so bad there is no place or possibility left either for Hypocrisie or Apostacy amongst men especially not for this latter For no man is to be judged an Apostate but He that declines from the Faith of Jesus Christ which sometimes He professed and gave sufficient ground unto men by his works to conceive and judg that He really was possessed of and held So then if such a mans former good works be still to be judged valid in their testimony concerning the goodness of his Faith how evil and vile soever his after-works shall be evident it is that such a man ought not to be esteemed an Apostate but a Perseverer in the Faith though his ways and actions should degenerate into the highest strain of wickedness or ungodliness that can be imagined 4. And lastly for this that Passage from God Himself by His Prophet Ezekiel formerly opened But when the righteous turneth away from His righteousness and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall He live All His righteousness that He hath done shall not be mentioned in His TRESPASS that He hath trespassed and in His SIN that He hath sinned in them shall He dye a Ezek. 18. 24 this passage I say plainly evinceth that the estimate which is to be made of men in point of righteousness and unrighteousness and consequently of Faith and Unbelief is not to be made by the import or rule of their former works but of their latter no not though the former have been many and the latter but few For the Text saith In His Trespass in the singular number that He hath trespassed shall He dye implying that any one sin of that kinde of sins which the Scripture calls abominations whilest unrepented of translateth him from life unto death casteth Him into the state and condition of an Unbeleever 6. And lastly If Davids Repentance after the Perpetration of the foul and horrid sins mentioned was not simply necessary to His Salvation and consequently Himself during His impenitency a man of death Gods sending His Prophet Nathan unto Him to awaken Him and raise Him up by Repentance will be found to have little Grace Love or Mercy in it or at least far less then such a necessity of His Repentance supposed would derive upon it Evident it is from the Tenor of the Message which the Prophet brought from God unto Him that His Repentance did not exempt Him from Temporal Judgments Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord to do evil in His sight Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and hast taken his wife to be thy wife and hast slain Him with the sword of the children of Ammon Now therefore the Sword shall never depart from thine House Thus saith the Lord Behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own House and I will take thy Wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy Neighbor and He shall lie with thy Wives in the sight of this Sun For thou didst it secretly but I will do this thing before Israel and before the Sun b 2 Sam. 12 9 10 c. From whence together with the event every ways answering as the process of Davids History makes manifest it is clear that Davids Repentance did not sanctuary Him from troubles in the flesh and outer man no not from such which were very sore and grievous to be suffered Nor can it be said that it did deliver Him from the wrath which is to come in case it be supposed that He was a true Beleever immediately before and at the time of His Repentance because this supposed He was not liable unto this wrath nor in danger of suffering it in which case His Deliverance from it is to be ascribed not to His present Repentance but to His precedent Faith Nor can it be said that Gods sending Nathan unto David upon such §.
righteous man in the Name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous mans reward e Mat. 10. 41. doubtless he that receiveth an Apostle not only in the Name of an Apostle but as an Angel of God yea as Christ Jesus Himself shall receive a righteous mans reward i. e. Salvation meaning if he shall continue in the same mind and frame of heart unto the end as we have formerly interpreted such Promises of God by express warrant from the Scriptures themselves When he tells them that he is afraid of them lest he should have bestowed on them labour in vain Chap. 4. 11. His meaning doubtless is not that he was afraid they would lose or make shipwrack of an unsound light or Hypocritical Faith such losses whether of our own or of our Friends are no matter of fear unto us but of such a Faith which persevered in would have saved them And to forbear other passages which might readily be produced upon the same account when he speaks thus unto them Ye are abolished from Christ whosoever are justified by the Law i. e. depend upon the works of the Law for your Justification ye are fallen from Grace And again Ye did run well who hindered you that you should not obey the Truth a Gal. 5. 4 7. He clearly supposeth that they had been true Beleevers If they were now fallen from Grace which the Apostle clearly affirmeth they were by depending upon the works of the Law for their Justification it must needs follow that sometimes they were possessed of it and were the children of Grace which also their running well undeniably importeth Whereas therefore saith Musculus upon the place He saith that the Galathians ran well He commendeth their zeal and studiousness in the TRVE FAITH and Religion of Christ signifying withall that they might have attained or reached the mark of true blessedness had they persevered in that which they had well begun b Cum itaque Galatas benè cucurrisse dicit laudat illorum zelum ac studium in verâ fide ac Religione Christi significatque potuisse eos ad verae felicitatis ac salutis metam pertingere si in eo quod bene coeperant perseverâssent Qui à principiis Fidei ac spiritus boni ad per fidiam degenerant omnem suam vitam quae veniae particeps erat mortalem constituunt quales illi sunt qui cum Galatis spiritâ— quidem incipiunt tandem verò carne desinunt Idem Loc. de Peccato Sect. 5. with more of like import Let other Orthodox Expositors be consulted upon these latter together with the former passages mentioned by way of proof that these Galathians were sometimes true and sound Beleevers and they will be found to carry the sence of them to the same point On the other hand several of the said passages with some others do as plainly and pregnantly suppose that at the writing of the said Epistle unto them they were wholly alienated from Christ and had neither part nor fellowship in the great business of Justification by him They were removed from him that had called them into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel They were abolished from Christ they were fallen from Grace they did not obey the Truth Calvin upon the first of these expressions I marvel that ye are so soon removed c. writeth thus He convinceth them of a defection not only from his Doctrine but from Christ Himself For men cannot hold Christ upon any other terms then by acknowledging that by His benefit they are freed from the bondage of the Law c Arguit autem eos defectionis non à suâ Doctrinâ tantum sed à Christo Nam Christum tenere aliter non poterant quà m si agnoscerent ejus beneficio nos manumissos esse à servitate legis Upon the second Ye are abolished from Christ c. thus The meaning is if you seek for any part or piece of righteousness in the works of the Law Christ becomes nothing to you and you are aliens from Grace For their opinion was not so gross as that they thought they should be justified by the alone observation of the Law but they mingled CHRIST and the Law together otherwise PAVL should have had no ground to terrifie them with such threatenings as these What do you mean you take a course to make Christ unprofitable to you you bring His Grace to nothing Thus then we see that we cannot place no not the least part of our righteousness in the Law but we renounce CHRIST and His Grace d Sensus est si quam justiciae partem quaeritis in operibus legis Christus nihil ad vos à gratiâ estis alienati Neque enim tam crassa erat opinio ut solâ legis observatione justificari se crederent sed Christum miscebant cum Lege alioque frustra his minis territaret ipsos Paulus Quid facitis redditis vobis Christum inâ—tilem in nihilum redigitis ejus gratiam Videmus ergo non posse minimam justiciae partem constitui in Lege quin Christo ejus gratiae renuntietur Amongst several other passages looking the same way Musculus upon the former of the last-recited places commenteth in these words He had planted the Galatians and watered them diligently by preaching the Gospel of God unto them and hoped that it would so have come to pass that they would have increased in the Knowledg and GRACE OF CHRIST But whilest He thus hopeth and wisheth they are transplanted or removed from Him in whom they had been planted a Plantaverat Galatas rigaverat diligenter per Evangelij Dei praedicationem sperabatque fore ut crescereÌ„t in cognitione gratiâ Christi Dum hoc sperat optat illi ab eo in quo plantati fucrant transponuntur c. The truth is that several expressions and carriages in the Epistle are so pregnant on the one Hand to evince and prove that when time was they were true and found Beleevers and several others as pregnant as they on the other Hand to prove them at the writing hereof to have been meer nullifidians or persons voyd of all true justifying Faith that Expositors could not lightly but speak them sometimes true Beleevers whilest they had the former places before them and afterwards Persons wholly lapsed from such Faith when they had the latter The case concerning these Galatians being so evident we shall argue it no further but conclude with a brief report of M. Luthers Judgment upon it At first saith He the Galatians heard and obeyâ—d the Truth Therefore when Paul faith Who hath bewitched you He signifieth that now being bewitched by the false Apostles they had FALLEN AVVAY from and forsaken that Truth which formerly they had obeyed b Primò Galatâ— audierant obedierant veritati Ideò cum dicit quis vos fascinavit significat eos per Pseudapostolos fascinatos nunc à veritate cui
ever will be proved that no Heathen wanting the letter of the Gospel and the Oral Ministry of it ever yet beleeved on God to Justification or was accepted with Him yet would it be no sufficient proof that therefore they had â—o power thus to beleeve on Him or to do that upon the doing whereof they should have been accepted with Him But that the Heathen had and have power vouchsafed unto them by God whereby to repent and to beleeve if their Will were answerable to their Power in this kinde might be yet further evidenced by a far greater Vote from the Scriptures but that in levying this here we should anticipate a considerable part of our Intentions relating to the second part of this Work And besides three of the most considerable Passages a Rom. 10. 18 Acts 14. 16 17 Rom. 2. 4 pregnant with the Truth we now contend for have I remember been largely opened and argued by us upon the same account elsewhere b Divine Author of the Scriptures asserted p. 183 184 185 c. I shall at the present conclude the Point in hand with a parcel of Discourse from the Writings of Mr Calvin who in an Epistle shewing how Christ is the end of the Law prefixed before the French New Testament discourseth to this effect After that Adam was left in such confusion he was fruitful in his cursed seed to bring forth a generation like unto him that is to say Adam apres avoir esté deietté en telle confusion il a esté second en sa maudite semence pour enger dier generation semblable a luy cest a dire vicieuse perverse corrompue vuide despourveue de tout bien riche abondante en mal Toutesfois le Seigneur de misericorde qui n'aâ—me pas seulement mais luy mesme est amour charité voulant encores par sa bonté infinie aimer ce qui n'est digne d'aimer n'a pas du tout dissipé perdu abysmé les hommes comme leur iniquité le requeroit mais les a soustenus supportés en douceur patience leur donnant terme loisir de se retourner a lui se r'adresser a l'obeissance de laquelle ils s'estoyent destournés Et combien que dissimulast se teust comme s'il se'ust voulu cacher d'eux les laissant aller apres les desirs souhaits de leur concupiscence sans loix sans regime sans correction queleonque de sa Parole neantmoins il leur a baillé assez d'advertissements qui les devoyent inciter a le cercher taster trouuer pour le cognoistre honnorer comme il appartenoit Car il a eslevé par tour en tous lieux en toutes choses ses enseignes armoiries voire sous blasons de si claire intelligence que ni avoit celui qui peust pretendre ignorance de ne cognoistre vn si souverain Seigneur qui avoit si amplement exalté sa magnificence Ce'st quand en toutes les parties du monde au ciel â—â— en la terre il a eserit quasi engravé la gloire de sa puissance bonté sapience eternité Sainct Paul donc a dic bien vray Que le Seigneur ne s'estoit iamais laissé sans tesmoignage mesme envers ceux ausquels il n'a envoyé aucune cognoissance de la Parole Veu que toutes les creatures depuis le firmament iusqu'au centre de la terre pouvoyent estre tesmoigns messagers de sa gloire a tous hommes pour les attirer a le cercher apres l'avoir trouué lui faire recueil hommage selon la dignité dun Seigneur si bon si puissant si sage eternel mesmes aidoyent chacune en son endrâ—it a ceste queste Car les oiselets chantans chantoyent Dieu les bestes le reclamoyent les eslemens le redoutoyent les montagnes le raisonnoyent les fleuues fontaines lui â—ettoyent ceilladâ—s les herbes sleurs luy riovent Combien que veritablement il ne feust pas mestier de le cercher fort loin Veu que chacun le pouvoâ—t trouuer en soi mesme entant que nous sommâ—s tous substantes conserves de sa vertu habâ—tante en nous Cependant encore pour plus amplement manifester sa bonte clemence infinie entre les hommes il na pas este content de les instruite tous par tels enseignements qua'vons declaire mais il a specialement fait entendre sa voix a vn certain Peuple c. vicious perverse corrupted voyd and destitute of all good rich and abounding in evil Nevertheless the Lord of his Mercy who doth not onely love but is Himself Love and Charity being yet willing by his infinite goodness to love that which is not worthy of love hath not altogether dissipated lost and overwhelmed men as their sin did require but hath sustained and supported them in sweetness and patience giving them time and leasure to return unto Him and set themselves to that Obedience from which they had strayed And though He did dissemble and was silent as if He would hide himself from them suffering them to go after the desires and wishes of their lust without Laws without Government without any correction by his Word yet he hath given them warnings enough which might have incited them to seek taste and finde him for to know and honor him as it behoved them For he hath lifted up every where and in all places and things his Ensigns and Arms yea so clearly and intelligibly imblazoned that there was no one could pretend ignorance of the Knowledg of so soveraign a Lord who had in so ample a manner exalted his magnificence viz. That in all parts of the World in Heaven and in Earth he hath written and even engraven the Glory of his Might Goodness Wisdom and Eternity Saint Paul therefore saith very true That the Lord never left himself without witness even towards them unto whom he hath not sent any knowledg of his Word For as much as all the Creatures from the Firmament to the center of the Earth might be witnesses and messengers of his glory unto all Men to draw them to seek him and after having found him to welcom him and do him homage according to the dignity of a Lord so good so powerful so wise and eternal And also did help each one in its place to this quest For the Birds singing sung God Beasts cryed aloud unto him the Elements stood in fear of him Mountains reasoned with him Rivers and Fountains cast their eyes upon him Herbs and Flowers smiled on him Although that indeed there was no necessity to seek him very far by reason that each one might finde him in his own self being that we are all kept up and preserved by his vertue dwelling in us In the mean while for to manifest more
personal consideration whatsoever altereth their Natures or essential Properties Again 2. If the intent of God were to express or signifie His Approbative Will of the Repentance and Salvation of his Creature or the agreeableness of these to His Nature Minde and Goodness He would rather have expressed it in applications of himself unto such persons or subjects whose Repentance and Salvation he really intendeth and desireth then in addressments made to those whose Repentance and Salvation he desireth not nay whom he was resolved from Eternity for this is the voyce of the Oracle consulted by our Adversaries to destroy for ever It were very unproper and hard for a Judg or Prince to make a feeling and affectionate Discourse of their clemency goodness and sweetness of Nature their great averseness to acts of severity c. unto such persons whom they had been of a long time resolved and before any cause administred by these persons of such a resolution against them to put to a terrible torturing and ignominlous death especially at or neer the time when this most severe execution is intended to be done upon them 3. And lastly The Argument propounded by us and with whose vindication we are yet in labor doth neither suppose that God will work Repentance as our Adversaries call working Repentance in the persons there spoken of i. e. that he will work it upon any such terms that it shall necessarily or infallibly be effected nor yet that the persons themselves can repent without God That which it supposeth is this that God is so far moving and assisting the Hearts Wills and Consciences of these men in order to their Repentance that if they were but willing to do what he enableth them to do in reference and order to the same their Repentance would be effected and they saved upon it In which case I mean if they should repent this Repentance were most justly ascribable unto God not to themselves in as much as it is he that 1. Giveth them power and abilities to repent 2. That secretly forms and fashions their Wills so as to make them willing actually to repent 3. That supports their Wills thus framed to and in the production of the act it self of Repentance Whereas that which men themselves do in towards or about their Repentance is so inconsiderable in comparison of what God doth that the greatness of his Grace and interposure herein deserves in a manner all the praise and honor that belongs unto the action although it be true also that the person himself who repenteth or in whom Repentance is wrought must of necessity be so far or to such a degree interessed and active in the work that the work it self may be as truly and properly ascribed unto him or called His as it is ascribed unto God and termed his For it is man that repenteth not God though what he doth in repenting he doth by the operating and assisting Grace of God in which respect it is said to be his gift But concerning the conjuncture and respective interests of the first and second Causes in the production or raising of one and the same act we shall God willing discourse more particularly in the second part of this Work where also we shall clear and discharge all those Passages and Texts of Scripture from their hard service which are compelled by some to serve against this great Truth of that high importance for the glory as well of the Grace as Justice of God That all Men without exception have a sufficiency of power vouchsafed unto them by God whereby to Repent and to beleeve unto Salvation and that it is through want of Will or rather willingness not of Power that any man perisheth At present to the further confirmation of the main Doctrine commended in this Discourse we argue thus In the eleventh place If God intended not the Death of Christ as a Ransom §. 37. Argum. 11. or Satisfaction for all Men then are there some Men whom He never intended to save but to leave irrecoverably to everlasting destruction and perdition This Proposition I suppose stands firm and strong upon its own basis and needs no Prop of Proof or Argument to support it For God intending to save no man but by the Death of Christ evident it is that if there be any man or number of men for whose Salvation he did not intend this Death that he never intended their Salvation Therefore I assume But there are no such Men or number of Men whose Salvation God never intended or whom He intended to leave irrecoverably to everlasting perdition Ergo. The Reason of this Proposition is partly because whatsoever God at any time intends he intended always yea from Eternity partly also because there was a time when all Men were righteous and holy viz. during the whole time of Adams integrity in whose loyns all Men then were and so must needs be Partakers of the same Holiness and Integrity with him So that unless we shall say and hold that God never intended the Salvation of just and holy men but to leave them irrecoverably to everlasting perdition we cannot say that there are or were any men or any number of men whose Salvation he never intended or whom he intended to leave irrecoverably to everlasting destruction Yea all Men had a Being in God himself before they received or had a Being in Adam in which respect Adam himself is called the Son of God a Luke 4. 38 viz. because he received his Being from him as though not after the manner that children receive their Beings from their Parents or Fathers Now wheresoever or in what estate and condition soever Adam was there were all Men in the same estate and condition with him So then all Men considered as being in God were nothing but God himself according to the common and most true Maxim of Divines Quicquid in Deo est est Deus whatsoever is in God is God The truth of this Maxim was clearly evinced by us Cap. 4. of this Discourse where we argued the absolute simplicity of the Divine Essence or God Therefore if God purposed from Eternity to leave any man or number of men irrecoverably to eternal destruction this Purpose was conceived or taken up by Him against these men whilest they were yet onely in His Will and Power and consequently whilest they were nothing but Himself But that God should peremptorily resolve and decree never to save nor to intend to save but to design and consign over irrevocably irreversibly irrecoverably to eternal misery and destruction millions of men whilest they were yet perfectly righteous and holy yea whilest they were yet nothing but Himself is doubtless a Notion hardly incident to the judgment or thoughts of any man who trembles to think irreverently or unworthily of God It is like it will be here pleaded that God in His Purpose or Decree to §. 38. leave the men we speak of to everlasting perdition doth
Beloved as yee have alwayes obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your own Salvation with feare and trembling d Cap. 2. 12. c. Hope or confidence of obtaining by and upon the use of means to obtaine is a spur unto action but hope and confidence of obtaining whether any means be used or no is a temptation unto sloath Nor doe our Reformed Expositors of best account interpret the place §. 25. in hand concerning any certainty that the Apostle had of the perpetuall continuance of the grace of God with them but only of a charitable or humane perswasion hereof But wheresoever saith Calvin upon the place we see any such signs of a Divine Election which we are capable to apprehend it becommeth us to be presently stirred up to a good hope as well for this end that we be not evill-minded towards our Neighbours or defraud them of an equitable and humane judgment of charity as that we may be thankfull unto God a Sed ubi cunque cernimus quaecunque Divinae electionis indicia à nobis apprehendi possunt protinus ad bonam spem excitari nos oportet tam ne simus in proximos maligni eósque aequo humano charitatis judicio fraudemus quà m ut Deo gratissimus Musculus yet somewhat more fully God indeed saith he had begun a good worke in the Philippians but from whence was the Apostle certaine that he would perfect it untill the day of Jesus Christ I Answer he doth not say I am certaine but I am perswaded It is one thing to be certaine of a matter another to be perswaded A certainty of Gods works may be had out of His Word but a perswasion may be had from a good belief or reliance upon His goodnesse and from some Arguments of such His Works Certainty deceives no Man but a Mans perswasion often falls out otherwise then was hoped b Caeperat quidem bonum hoc opus in Philippensibus Deus verum unde certus erat Apostolus quòd essâ—t illud perfecturus usque in diem Jesu Christi Respondeo non dicit Certus sum sed persuasus sum Aliud est esse certum de re aliquâ aliud vero esse persuasum Certitudo de operibus Dei haberi potest ex ipsius verbo persuasâ—o verò ex bonâ ergà bonitatem ipsius fiducià quibusdam operum illius Argumentis Certitudo fallit neminem persuasio autem saepenumerò aliter cadit qua sperabatur A third Argument layed hold on for the service of the Doctrine of Perseverance §. 26. is founded upon the immutable Decree of Election from eternity and operates after this manner A living or saving Faith is given to none but to those that are Elect in which respect such a Faith is called the Faith of the Elect of God c Tit. 1. 1. And God hath determined to bring his Elect to Salvation by Faith with the greatest certainty that can be From hence then it follows either that the Elect must be brought to Salvation by Faith with so much certainty that they shall never fall away from it either totally or finally or that God is changeable in His Counsell But this latter is at no hand to be admitted therefore the former must stand To this I Answer 1. That this Argument demands that which is sacrilegious to grant viz. that God hath from eternity elected a certaine number of Men personally and as it were by name considered unto Salvation whom he purposeth to bring thereunto infallibly and without all possibility of miscarrying The inconsistency of this notion or conceit with the nature and attributes of God hath been already intimated and the inconsistency of it with the maine current of the Scriptures Reason and Truth it self shall with Gods assistance be demonstrated at large in the second part of this work In the meane time to the Argument in hand in respect of other particulars in it we answer 2. That by the Faith of Gods Elect Tit. â— 1. is not meant such a Faith as he gives unto Men elected unto Salvation under a meere personall consideration from eternity which are a kinde of Men allied to Paracelsus his non-Adami but the Doctrine of the Gospell which Paul was to Preach to the Saints and the chosen ones of God The carriage of the whole sentence evinceth this Paul a Servant of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ according to the Faith of Gods Elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godlinesse meaning that he served God and performed the Office of an Apostle of Christ according to the exigency and requirement of that Doctrine which God had now revealed and sent into the World to be Preached unto His Saints every where termed His chosen ones as likewise according to the acknowledging of the Truth which is c. meaning that He did not only serve God and Jesus Christ in Preaching the Gospell unto the Saints and Persons already called and gained in to the Faith as became Him and as the Nature of the Gospell required of Him in this behalf but that he was faithfull and serviceable also unto them in Preaching it unto such as were yet Infidels and unconverted upon such terms that they also might be brought to the acknowledgement of it That which in the former Clause He calls the Faith of Gods Elect in the latter He calls the Truth which is after godlinesse meaning in both the Doctrine of the Gospell which in twenty places besides especially in the writings of this Apostle by a kinde of metonymie where the object is put for the act is called Faith It was needfull saith Jude for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints a Jude Ver. 3. Peruse the Texts cited in the margent b Act. 6. 7. Gal. 1. 23. Philip. 127. Gal. 3. 2. 5. c. There is one place amongst the rest of like construction with this in hand and that within two or three Verses of it where the Apostle calleth Titus his naturall Son or a naturall Son after the common Faith or according as it is the same Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the common Faith meaning that he was a genuine and true Saint or Son oâ— God and of His as an instrument of his spirituall being according to all those holy qualifications which the Gospell now commonly Preached and known in the World requireth of those whom it owneth or adjudgeth for Sons The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is frequently used in such a construction or sence as this But if for meate thy Brother is made sorrowfull now walkest thou not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Charity c Rom. 14 15. i. e. according to exigency of charity or as Charity requireth So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to His Works a Rom. 2.