to salvation in Christ not out of him nor without him Eph. 1.4 And they forget that Paul said that he was loved and yet Christ was given for him too Gal. 2.20 So they say that originall sin is not sufficient in it selfe to condemn all mankind nor yet to deserve temporall or eternall death yet it is said that by one man sin entred and death passed upon all men yea more that the fault came upon all men to condemnation Rom. 5.12 18. So they say that holinesse and righteousnesse was not placed in mans will in his creation and therefore he could not lose it in his fall But this is against Scripture for Ephes 4.24 Paul doth parallel the new man to the old and shewes that by Christ man regaineth what was lost in Adam righteousnesse and holinesse They say also that by spirituall death no spirituall gift was separated from the will and therefore it being never corrupted if the understanding be enlightned it can assume her freedome to chuse or refuse any good offred to it It seems then our parents did not sin willingly ignorantly they could not they knew the command so then if neither willingly nor ignorantly then they sinned not at all So they say a regenerate man is not dead in sin but can hunger after righteousnesse yet St Paul saith otherwise Eph. 2.1 you hath he quickned who were dead in sins and trespasses They say also that a man may use the light of nature so well that thereby he may obtain saving grace but we know neither how grace can flow from nature whereby we may use the light of nature so well nor how nature can deserve grace but is rather by divine dispensation nor doth God efficaciously affoord to every man nor people alike the same means of faith and repentance as Psal 147.19 Acts 16.6 So they say that God in mans conversion doth infuse no new qualities or habits into his wil contrary to Isa 44.3 I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring and he promiseth a new heart Ezek. 36.26 Psal 51. which David praieth for So they say God only is a morall agent perswading to conversion but the Church doth acknowledge his attractive power Cant. 1. draw me So God saith by Ezekiel that he will take away the stony heart and change the condition of it So they say that it is in mans power to be or not to be regenerate for a man may resist the power of Gods grace but how then do we beleeve according to the mighty working of his power Eph. 1.19 or how doth God fulfill all the pleasure of his goodnesse and the work of faith with power 2 Thes 1.11 So they say that Gods grace in conversion doth not prevent or go before the act of mans will but free will and grace are co-workers But surely God hath preventing grace as well as assisting grace which a man receiveth 1 Cor. 4.7 and which worketh in us to will and to do before we have any inclination either to will or do But besides all this they do much erre in the doctrine of perseverance for they say that perseverance of the faithfull is not an effect of election nor any gift of God purchased by the death of Christ yet Christ makes it depend upon election when he saith that the Elect cannot possibly be deluded and that he hath laied down his life for the sheep viz. that they might by patience and continuance in well doing attain eternall life Rom. 2.7 and so nothing might be laid to the charge of Gods elect but they say the regenerate may totally and finally fall away from their justifying faith and that some of them do so fall that they perish everlastingly but if Christ died for us while we were yet sinners much more being justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.8 for he that is born of God sinneth not i. to condemnation because Gods seed remaineth in him 1 John 3 9. So Christ giveth eternall life to his sheep and they cannot perish John 10.28 yet these men say that one regenerate may sin to death 1 John 5.18 yet St John denieth it we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not i. that sin unto death there spoken of So they say that we cannot be certain of future perseverance without revelation yet St John testifieth that we may know he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us 1 John 3.24 So they say that assurance of salvation makes men neglect godlinesse yet surely he that hath this hope purifieth himselfe the more 1 John 3.2 3. So they say that temporary faith differeth not from justifying faith but only in continuance but yet Christ makes great difference of them Mat. 13. by their rooting and fructifying So they think it strange that a man should be new born spiritually as Nicodemus but those that are to be saved are born anew 1 Pet. 1.23 not of corruptible seed but incorruptible So they teach that Christ never praied for the infallible perseverance of the faithfull yet Christ told Peter that he had praied for him that his faith fail not Luk. 22.32 So for his Disciples Joh. 17.11 and not only for them but for all that should beleeve by their word Iohn 17.20 Mathe. What other Sectaries troubled us Phila. The Socinians Socinians who were the followers of those two Italians of Siena in the Dukedome of Florence namely Laelius Socinus and his Nephew Faustus The Unckle declared his opinions to Calvin by Letters the Nephew divulged them in publike writings It is a mixture of many heresies namely of the Ebionites Arrians Photinians Samosatenians and Sabellians Servetians and Antitrinitarians For after the execution of Servetus the Spaniard who was burnt at Geneva for his blasphemy 1553. in affirming that only God the Father was the true God and that neither the Son nor the holy Ghost is eternall God but that the Son was a creature and had his beginning of existence when God created the world Many sucked up his venome as Valentinus Gentilis who printed his blasphemies and called Athanasius his Creed Satanasius Creed who suffered death in the Town of Berne yet he had some associates in his bad opinions as Georgius Blandrata a Physitian Matheus Gibraldus a Lawyer and Paulus Alciatus And in the year 1557. Laelius Socinus shewed himselfe a favourer both of Servetus and Valentinus He had by his Letters and travels done much harm in Poland and other places before namely from 1551. unto 1557. and so forward though closely and subtilly enough untill 1562. in which year he died about the age of 37. His Nephew Faustus fled out of Italy to Lyons in France seeing that his Unckle Cornelius was apprehended together with others who have scattered his poison in the world wrapt up in Laelius his notes This Faustus writ two books though no great scholar as he confesseth to Puccius if
which we attaine so great honour that those Angels that never sinned Heb. 1.14 are yet made our servants to minister to us And the rather we should endeavour to know him because now he may be known though in former time he hid himselfe yet now he hath revealed himselfe not only by his attributes in Scripture but also in his Son Heb. 1.2 by whom we may apprehend him by operations in himselfe and toward us Mathe. What are the operations of God in himselfe Phila. They be such as concern the three persons among themselves in relation one to the other as the Father begetting the Son eternally Opera ad intra or divisa the Son giving from the Father procession to the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost receiving this proceeding and returning the glory thereof to the Father and the Son so glorifying themselves in themselves This operation never had beginning nor never shall have ending because God can never cease to be what he is in essence nor as he is in subsistence Now these operations distinguisheth one person from another because in these what the one doth the other doth not The Father is not begotten but the Son and the Holy Ghost proceeds from both for Christ sends him from the Father John 1â— 5 John 15.26 And this is part of that glory which Christ saith he had with the Father before the world was But beside this God may be said to have other operations in himselfe Opera ad extra or indivisa which are common to all the three persons And these are said to be either internall or externall The internall are such as his praescience and predestination Interna by which he decrees all things to their proper ends and man also and this is an operation wherein the whole Trinity hath an equall hand wherein is contained the whole counsell of God 2 Tim. 2.19 which is the firm foundation on which every thing depends and by which he knoweth among men who are his And by this determinable counsell Christ was delivered into the hand of wicked men and men are predestinated to the adoption of children in Christ Jesus according to his will and so by him we obtaine an inheritance Acts 2.23 Eph. 1.5 being predestinate according to his purpose Eph. 1.11 who worketh all things after the counsell of his own will And so he hath saved us and called us to an holy calling not according to our works but his purpose and grace which was provided for us in Christ 2 Tim. 1.9 before the world began In whom those that he foreknew Rom. 8.29 them he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son which are called elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father 1 Pet. 1.2 By which we may perceive that God was never sedent nor cessant before he made this world but had both his personall and internall operations by which also he did in time produce his externall works of creation and providence Mathe. How is predestination to be understood rightly Phila. 1. Predestination and election are much of one likenesse only election argueth that God chuseth one and not another and predestination argueth that God ordains some to glory and passeth by others though all taken out of the same nature and lump and though both these are in the divine mind at once yet election relates more to person and predestination more to the means by which those persons should be made happy For predestination is a decree of God Mat. 24.24 causing in time such effectuall grace in those that are elected that it will infallibly bring them to glory and therefore it is said that the elect are not to be seduced for it is Gods pleasure to give them the Kingdome Luke 12.32 who hath chosen them in Christ before the world that they should be unblameable before him 2. You must know that predestination looks upon all men in the same condition as Israels father was an Amorite and their mother an Hittite even of those Nations whom God cast out of Canaan But that in predestination there is such grace prepared that makes the elect become both holy and happy 3. You are to conceive neverthelesse that this grace prepared for the elect doth not impose any necessity or violent constraint upon their wils Abul in 3. Reg. c. 12. Cant. 1.4 Aug. de lib. arbit but causeth a free endeavour to vertue by a sweet perswasion of the heart to make Gods will ours who makes us by his divine motion of unwilling man to become willing Nor doth Gods passing by others called reprobation or not electing exclude such from all possible means of happinesse but it permits them by the freedome of their own will to neglect or abuse the means which is the just cause of their damnation Hos 13 9. for mans perdition is of himselfe God destinates none to sin but to punishment for sin and therefore predestination is not in Scripture applied to the reprobate because predestination in Gods is of the means i. grace and the end i. glory But reprobation is of the end i. punishment not of the means i. sin for predestination doth direct a man to that which by nature he cannot attain but reprobation destinates no man to aim at sin to which nature of it selfe is too prone when God passeth by it in his election but only preordains men to punishment deserved by sin So that as predestination necessitates no man to good works so Gods not predestinating some doth not necessitate anothers will to evill works no more then a Kings chusing one for his favorite doth necessitate him to do vertuous actions against his will nor another to be traiterous with his will For the decrees of God takes not away the liberty of mans will Mathe. But surely as predestination causeth salvation so Gods preterition or rejection of men causeth their damnation Phila. Wicked men are not damned because they are not predestinated but because they live and die in sin For rejection in God is only a deniall of election which may stand with a possibility of avoiding sin and damnation So all men in Adam were not elected yet all men in Adam had a certain power to stand so that as predestination is not a bare ordination of a man to eternall life by such a sufficient means as makes the event possible but it provides to make the means efficacious So reprobation excludes no man not elected from all means of salvation necesarily but permits them to be lead by their own will so that predestination of some 2 Tim. 2.19 doth not damn others by necessity of consequence but in the infallibility of Gods prescience as Joseph did foresee the seven years famine but did not cause it Mathe. But why doth God looking on all in the same condition predestinate one and not another unlesse it be out of some foresight of ones vertue and
might have a time to be called to salvation and then it shall come suddenly as a thiefe Secondly there must be such a day because judgement is not fully executed in this world for oftentimes the best men are here oppressed and the worst are exalted but a time must be when God will reward every man according to his works Judgement begins in this world with the house of God but it will end with the wicked 1 Pet. 4.17 So that this day will declare the justice of God which now lyeth hidden Rom. 2.5 and is himselfe censured by men but then he shal overcome in judgement which in part he hath shewed by the fiering of Sodom and will compleat it by being revenged upon the sins of all men as well as theirs Mathe. When shall this day be Phila. As some have thought it would never be so others have been too bold to set the time and so have made people carelesse of their calling and some seeing it did not come to fall away from Religion of these St Paul warneth to take heed 2 Thes 2.1 2 3. and saith that the Kingdome of Antichrist must first come and be destroied also whereas it seemed some thought it would be in the Apostles age by mistaking some Scriptures as Iohn 21.21 that St Iohn should tarry till Christ came Others thought it would be 400. some 500. some 1000 years after Christs Ascension Others have thought 2000 years after Christs Nativity because they say the world was 2000 years before the Law and 2000 under the Law and 2000 years under the Gospell but for the elect sake those daies shall be shortned But the account is false for before the Law was more then 2000 years from the Creation and lesse then so under the Law and therefore who can beleeve what they set down for the future As for the shortning those daies for the elects sake that is spoken of the troubles that fell upon Jerusalem by the Roman army in Vespasian and Titus their time But that there shall be such a day the Scripture tels us Acts 17.31 and God will have it known by preaching of it Acts 10.42 both for the consolation of his people in all their troubles and to leave the wicked without excuse that they had no warning And that this day shall be the last day of the last times wherein men shall depart from the faith 1 Tim. 4.1 Which last times are not they spoken of Heb. 1.1 2 for they were the last times of the fourth and last Monarchy foreseen by Daniel wherein the stone i. Christ should crush to dust all those Monarchies and set a Gospell Kingdome But these last times are the latter times of the Gospell profession wherein men shall give heed to spirits of error and doctrines of devils such as popish heathenisme in worshipping Images Saints and Angels which is nothing else but the renewing of their old superstitions under the colour of Christian Religion But it may be that some may wonder why God should defer the day of Judgement so long after the death of so many faithfull Patriarchs and Prophets and holy Martyrs But they consider not that God hath respect to his own glory in raising and altering things in the world as the Monarchies thereof and the rising and fall of Antichrist the rejection and calling of the Jewes the full comming in of the Gentiles to Gospell profession the gathering of the elect by the means of Gospell-preaching who must have a time to be born and live and hear instruction and perform the works of righteousnesse Nor do they consider that the deferring thereof is for the triall of the elects faith patience and devotion in prayer like the Saints crying under the Altar Rev. 6.10 How long Lord holy and true dost thou defer thy judgement Others it may be will object that seeing that God hath determined this day why will he hide it from us The reason is no doubt because he would have us watch and be prepared like the wise virgins with oile in our lamps and like him that expects a theefe to come suddenly as Christ tels us Mat. 24.43 But some will say it is no wonder that we know it not being that Christ himselfe saith he knew it not Mark 13.32 To which it may be answered that he knew it not so as to make us to know it as God is said to prove Israel that he may know that is that he may make them to know Deut. 13.3 for God knew before what they would do or that he knew it not as he was man in the estate of his humiliation or that he knew it not without revelation from his divinity but now he is glorified he as man knoweth the day and hour But it may be some will be so curious to ask where shall this judgement be Some think in the vallie of Iehosophat from Ioel 3.2 but that place hath only relation to those nations that afflicted Israel and so is but an allusion to this great assizes at the judgement day yet it is probable that Christ may judge where he was judged but we have no certaine proofe from Scripture where it shall be but that he will come in the clouds and every eie shall see him and those that have pierced him and thither the elect shal be caught up to meet him 1 Thes 4.17 even in the aire where the devill now ruleth Eph. 2.2 as a Prince but shall then be judged with the rest of his crue to hell to which place they are not as yet committed Mathe. What may be the signs of his comming to judgement Phila. Some take the preaching of the Gospell to all nations but this was done in the Apostles daies Col. 1.6 Others say the security of men Mat. 24. but that is no sign that hath no distinction for men have ever been so and ever will be so Others say the want of faith love wars and plagues and the rising of false Christs and Prophets but these appeared before the destruction of Jerusalem whatsoever may hereafter for Mat. 24.34 it is said that before that generation passe all these things shall be fulfilled But in the succession of ages there hath been alwaies severall monitory signs of that day ever since the Apostles daies As first the rising up of many Antichrists 1 John 2.18 2 Thes 23. Then a generall apostasie of men from the truth of Religion as in the time of Arrius who denied Christ to be begotten of the substance of the Father and that there was a time wherein the Son was not which heresie was generally received and abetted by Bishops and some Emperors Socrat. l. 2. c. 18 few or none opposing it more openly than good Athanasius excepting the Councill of Nice The next sign is the discovery of Antichrist 2 Thes 2.4 by Gods witnesses namely the Scriptures or some faithfull expounders thereof The next sign is the reviving and publishing the everlasting Gospell and profession of
blind Mathe. What be their errors Phila. 1. That the morall Law is of no use to beleevers not so much as a rule of life or examination and yet Christ preacheth it and presseth it Mat. 5. and more closely then ever it was before even to rectifie the spirit and passions as well as the outward manners So they say that it is as possible for Christ to sin as a child of God But as Christ did never sin so now being glorified it is impossible he should but we have sinned and though regenerate yet so long as we carry about this body of flesh in some things we shall offend but not to condemnation So they say that a child of God ought not to ask pardon for sin and it is blasphemy so to do But I will trust Christ before them who taught us to say Forgive us our trespasses Vid. Cypr. in Dom. Orat. and will imitate David who did ask God forgivenesse as you find Psal 25. and Psal 51. So they say God doth not chasten any of his children for sin but yet sin is the moving cause and subject of Gods punishments though not alwaies the finall cause of Gods chastisements but rather for probation of faith and patience If these doctrins were true these men may sin by authority and no conscience being made of sin who would deal with them but upon good security These doctrins opening so easie a way to heaven it is no wonder but they have many followers For they say that in conversion a mans soule hath no operations but the spirit of God only instead of them yet Christ opened his disciples understandings to apprehend the Scriptures Luk. 24.45 So they say that the soul may be united with Christ and yet he an hypocrite yet he that hath the new man is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Eph. 4.24 So they say that a man must take no notiee of sin or repentance yet David doth Psal 51. Also that it is a damnable error to make sanctification an evidence of justification yet St Paul saith otherwise Rom. 8.1.30 namely Vid. Mr. Wels his tract that such walk after the spirit and those that are justified are glorified i. sanctified which is the inchoation of glory Mathe. How may one farther discover them Phila. As a Familist is best discovered by trying whether he will abjure Henry Nicolas and his doctrine so may Antinomians by certain phrases which they commonly use and by other teners which they hold very strange and dangerous which I have not yet told you Mathe. I pray what are they Phila. 1. That the Law or preaching of it is of no use to drive us to Christ yet Paul cals it a Schoolmaster to that purpose 2. That a man is justified without faith and that from eternity yet Paul saith we are justified by faith and so have peace with God Rom. 8.1 We know God justifieth his people in his purpose from all eternity but it is conveied to them in time actually by their faith 3. That we are united to Christ by the work of the spirit without any act of ours yet Paul exhorts us to give up our selves to God Rom. 12.1 and saith that we work together with God 4. That a man is not Christs till he have full assurance yet David sometime was beside the rock Psal 41. and Paul was buffeted 2 Cor. 12. And 5. That the witnesse of the spirit is without any respect to the word or concurrence with it But then how shall I try the spirit whether it be good or bad Paul saith beleeve not every spirit then I must trie it or else beleeve it or censure it without triall and if I must try it I must have a rule to try it by and that must be the word or nothing 6. When a man hath this witnesse of the spirit he never doubts yet David did Psal 37. Psal 71. And 7. Assurance must not be questioned though one commit murder or adultery yet David praied for the spirit after those sins committed Psal 51. This doctrine will make a bold sinner and a presumptuous insurer of himselfe So 8. They say that sanctification is no evidence of a mans good estate yet Paul saith that holinesse is the end of our calling and if so then holinesse is an evidence that I am effectually called 9. They say that to see I have no grace will give me comfort yet St Paul finds no comfort seeing in his flesh he found no good thing but rather crieth out upon himselfe O miserable man Rom. 7. yea they say to take comfort at the sight of any grace is legall and yet grace came not by the Law John 1. but by Jesus Christ and so it is evangelicall to find Gospell grace in us and to take comfort in it 10. They say that an hypocrite may have the same grace that Adam had in his innocency yet most conclude that Adam was created in Gods image which consisted in righteousnesse and true holinesse which two qualities no hypocrite can have So 11. They say there is no difference between the graces of the Saints and hypocrites yet Iob saith the hope of the hypocrite is like the web of the spider spun out of their own phantasie and easily removed so is not the hope of the Saints for it is woven out of Gods promises which makes the Saints so settle upon an everlasting foundation So 12. They say that all grace is in Christ as in the proper subject of it and that we have none in us as if Christ beleeves and Christ loves for us 2 Tim. 1.5 yet Paul finds faith in Timothy and Christ supposeth love to be in his disciples when he said if you love me keep my Commandements Iohn 14.15 So 13. They say Christ is the new creature yet Paul saith 2 Cor. 5.17 he that is in Christ is a new creature So 14. They hold that God loveth a man never the more for his holinesse nor the lesse for his wickednesse but Moses tels us otherwise saying God had respect to Abels offering not to Cains So 15. That sin in a child of God must not trouble him but surely then David might have saved much sorrow expressed in his penitential Psalms and Christs affirmation of the Angels rejoycing at a sinners repenting may be dis-believed for they rejoyce not at our doing amiss So 16. Trouble of conscience for sin shews one under the covenant of works yet Paul commends godly sorrow in the Corinthians 2 Cor. 7.9 who were believers But what if such trouble of minde do argue one sometimes under the spirit of bondage or the law of works yet this may be a means to make us sigh the more after freedome and doth commonly bring his children to Sion by Sinai to freedome by bondage Rom. 8.15 So 17. They say a Christian is not bound to take the Law as a rule of his conversation But why did not then Christ abolish the Law as well as