sure we shall be no longer accounted innovators by him nor his opposite doctrine be esteemed orthodox But now at length he comes to the second branch of his second position which as he saith hath these two parts to be considered First that no man can be justified by the works of the Law Secondly that we are only justified by the righteousnesse of Christ Both which are true and suit well with what we speak if rightly understood And concerning the first he saith he hath cleared it before but he hath obscured it rather by bringing the works of the Spirit under the works of the law as he will do it again by and by And here he tels us that the Apostle Paul reasons admirably and plainly to this point Rom. 11.5 6. saying If salvation be of grace it is no more of works for else grace were no more grace and if it be of works it is no more of grace for else works were no more works So that it is evident say we that the works that are here recited are not works of grace but works before without and against grace But salvation saith he is by grace for by grace are we saved though faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Ephes 2. And our Saviour tels us plainly that when we have done our best we are unprofitable servants And such a servant will he be for the Church and his doctrine also unto which he pretends And reason it self saith he drawn from the Scripture doth sufficiently prove that we cannot be justified by our works for if any works justifie us saith he they must be done either before or after justification but no works before our justification can justifie us saith he page 61. because an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit and these works not being done in faith must needs be sin for whatsoever is not of faith is sin and without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.5 6. Thus he goes about to maintain that which is true in it self with false grounds as we have shewed before whereupon St. Paul saith quoth he that all men before they be engrafted into Christ which as yet he is not are servants of sin farre from righteousness and bring forth no other fruits but such as deserve shame and death Which is all as false as the other for Cornelius was not as yet grafted into Christ when the Angel commanded him to send for Peter and yet he brought forth many good fruits Acts 10.1 2. as we shewed before Secondly saith he Reason it self tels us that our works done after grace cannot be the cause of grace Yes they may be some cause or means to procure a subsequent grace for how can that which cometh after be the cause of that which went before for the cause must precede the effect and so Augustine tels us that good works do not go before him that is to be justified which is not true in every behalf as we have shewed but they do follow him that is already justified and therefore they can be no more the cause of justification then good fruits are the cause of the goodness of a tree and that place of the Apostle saith he which I cited before proves it Rom. 3.20 by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified But there are good works which follow converting and sanctifying grace which yet may precede the great work of justification and nevertheless are no works of the law against which Paul disputes in this controversie For first saith he Paul tels us verse 9. that all both Jews and Gentiles are under sin because all are transgressors of the law true and therefore all the world must be guilty before God and can no way be justified by pretending innocency and righteousness in keeping the law true likewise Secondly he shews the reason why no flesh can be justified by the law because the law convinceth of sin for by the law cometh knowledge of sin But what he addeth in the next place is partly false and wholly impertinent but the law saith he convinceth them that are under grace some of them it doth who therefore had need to seek the justification which yet they want of sin and who have the greatest measure of grace this is ungraciously spoken to be sinners Phil. 3.9 But that Text speaks of Paul's first conversion to Christ not of his last and best estate Therefore saith he but by a non sequitur they that do the works of the law by the help of grace cannot be justified by the Law yes in one sense they may because the law is with them and not against them Gal. 5.23 because the law sheweth them likewise to be sinners by which words he contradicts himself as well though not as great as those are who endeavour to keep the law without the help of grace with which he is better acquainted then with the other way of keeping it and therefore saith he the Apostle concludeth thus that we are justified by the righteousness of God without the law as ye may in his sense see Rom. 3. from verse 20. But whereas he adds his own subinference thereunto saying therefore we are not justified by any righteousness of the law done either by the help of grace or without the help of grace that is neither the Apostles doctrine nor true in it self and the reason which he yields for his said assertion is devoid of reason saying for he that obeyeth the law howsoever he doth it by the help of grace or by his own strength yet he hath the same righteousness Which we say is false because those two differ as much as weakness and strength as flesh and spirit and as that which is natural from that which is spiritual yea as heaven and earth from each other Yet saith he fondly the righteousness of the Law because of the different manner of obtaining it altereth not the thing But the Apostle saith he sheweth a great deal of difference between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith so he might as to matter manner and measure for Moses described saith he the righteousness of the Law that the man which doth those things however he doth them by his own strength or some other help if he doth them shall live by them But this is a false gloss of his upon Moses for so there shall be no difference between the righteousness of the law required by Moses and the deeds of the foregoing Testament and the righteousness of faith in the nevv Testament Rom. 10.5 But the righteousness of faith speaketh in this wise If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shall be saved vers 6 9. And therefore saith he because the Apostle opposeth doing of the law and believing in Christ and not the doing of
receive those two gifts of justification and regeneration by the death of Christ for though remission of sins is purchased thereby for the true beleevers yet that is neither regeneration nor justification in the Apostles sense nor is justification purchased thereby for he that made us had power to regenerate without any such purchase That therefore it follows that out of the first Adam to wit our first parent there issued a double evil unto and upon us to wit guilt and corruption we deny as false and inconsequent That in this derivative the sin which he speaks of is an universal corruption is false likewise in which are two great evils as he saith Sed sublato sub ecto tollitur ad unctum Pag. 5. That in it first there is a general defect of all righteousnesse in which we were at first created to wit in our first patents First it is manifestly false as also that any such defect is derived unto us who are still created righteous and holy and after the image of God as these ensuing Texts doe clearely prove besides many more that might be added Gen. 9.6 Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God created he man to wit him that is so killed or else the argument is of no force Jam. 3.9 Therewith to wit with the tongue bless we God and therewith curse we man who is created after the similitude of God Ecclesiast 7.29 Lo this have I found that God made man righteous but they have sought out many inventions Jer. 2.21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine wholly a right seed how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a wild vine unto me That this pretended derivative sin to be so conveyed from the first Adam to us is an inherent deordination evil disposition disease propension to all mischief and antipathy and aversation to all good which the Scripture calls the flesh the wisdome of the flesh the body of sin earthly members the works of the Devil the Hell that sets the whole course of nature on fire Jam. 3.5 6. Rom. 8.6 7. Jam. 3.15 Eph. 4.22 Col. 3.5 Rom. 7.23 1 John 3.8 Unto which I say that although all those names are justly given to the body of sin especially when it is fully formed in men with all his members yet first there is no such thing found in children of whom our Saviour saith that the Kingdome of Heaven is of such and that unlesse we be born again after our fall and corruption and become like them in humility righteousnesse love and meeknesse we cannot enter into the Kingdome of God Matth. 18.3 Mar. 10.14 15. Doth not Paul also give us this charge 1 Cor. 14.20 Brethren be ye not children in understanding howbeit in malice or naughtiness be children where he implyeth that children have no malice or naughtinesse in them and if sin be the workmanship of the Devil as he out of 1 John 3.8 confesseth I would demand whether the Devil had an hand in the creation of children which he must if this sin be his workmanship But that which follows there that no man can be more sensible of the through-malignity of this derivative corruption then Paul was when he cryed out Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Is first the old mistake and afterwards backed with this errour and peice of nonsense untill his understanding was opened to conceive the spiritualness penetration and compass of the holy Law which measures the very bottome of every action for Paul could not be so sensible of his sins malignity till his understanding was so opened nor till he had been scourged also for it by the work of the Law as all men are whom God brings to be and maketh his sons Psal 94.12 Heb. 12. That the Law condemns as well the original as the Acts of sin is true of prohibition but not of condemnation for each sinful motion is by the Law discovered and prohibited but we are not condemned for the same till we approve or like of the temptation in some measure Those ensuing positions are also false First that Paul Rom. 5.14 understands by Adam and Moses our first parent and him that was the Lawgiver but two distinct estates in men as was said before which may appear out of the foregoing verse compared with this For untill the Law sin was in the world that is before the inward Moses Lawgiver or reprover cometh unto men but where there is no Law sin is not reputed for sin for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be rendred Secondly because he saith that death reigned from Adum which is the natural man in his first defection till Moses or one that draweth out of the water of sin That the men who sinned between the first Adam's age and the time of Moses did not sin after the similitude of Adams transgression against the clear revelation of Gods holy will as Adam did Yet they did for the same God that did forbid the eating of the forbidden fruit doth ever since prohibit and forbid every sin in every mans soul that is against the moral Law Rom. 2.15 Which shews the work of the Law written in their hearts their consciences bearing them witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another Was not Enoch a Prophet in his time see Jude 1.14 and was not Noah the eight preacher of righteousness as the Apostle calls him 2 Pet. 2.5 were not the men of the old World destroyed for their known wickedness and shut into the infernal prison for their apparent disobedience 1 Pet. 3.19 20. so that the Vindicators misapprehension of this place of mens sinning for want of such light as Adam had is full of darkness As for those over whom death reigned from Adam to Moses and who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression we say that as Adam and Moses are two inward states so may these be inward spiritual messengers of God represented by Abel and others as well as the inward Adam and Moses of which he speaks for such a generation of righteous ones which never sinned we find slain by the wicked and incorrigible generation of men Mat. 23.35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of the righteous Abel unto the blood of Zachariah the son of Barachiah for though men usually in reading this and other Scriptures look no further then the letter yet I demand of them how in justice could all the righteous blood shed from the beginning come upon that wicked and unbeleeving generation of the Jews if they had not inwardly slain a spiritual Abel and other messengers of God even to a spiritual Zachariah that is the Lord remembrancer the son of Barachiah that is of the Lords benediction as all his inward messengers are yea it is true which Abraham answered to
slip or fall as all men confess otherwise David Peter and all the Saints of God during their time of actual fals had lost all their righteousness which they had wrought before by every such by-step or slip Unto which he adds two sayings of the Apostle James which he understands as little as the former The first is chap. 2.10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet shall offend in one point is guilty of all That is of violating the equity of the law and contemning the Authority of the law-giver which binds to the obedience of all the commands as well as to any one yet is not this guilt to be understood of every breach of the law through ignorance or weakness but of witting and presumptuous sins The other place chap. 3.2 in many things we offend all of which we have spoken before and therefore saith he are we taught every day to beg the forgiveness of our trespasses Unto which we have said likewise that although we sin not daily we may daily pray so for our selves and others to have our sins pardoned which have been many great His fourth argument against justification by works which in the Apostles sense we renounce is that Rom. 3.28 We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law unto which he adds Gal. 5.3 4. That if ye seek to be saved or justified by the works of the law then are ye debters to fulfill the whole law and so Christ should profit us nothing who is given for that end But he goes about to prove that here Paul excludes not onely ceremonial works and works before grace but all works whatsoever how doth he that for saith he Paul writes not these things to unbelieving Jews but to the Galatians who were believing Christians But by his leave those of the Jewish faith who looked to be saved by their own works without the grace of Christ were crept in among them and had almost withdrawn them from the faith in Christ as appears chap. 1.6 I marvel that ye are so soon turned from him that called you to the grace of God unto another Gospel See chap. 3.12 and 4.19 20. and 5.1 2 3 4 5. so this argument is false Fifthly he saith that no work of man can be good before his person be justified before God for without faith it is impossible to please God But a man may have faith to please God before a justifying faith the first is in God the Father the second is in God the Son see Heb. 11.6 But without faith it is impossible to please God for he that comes to God must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Abel saith he was first accepted and then his offering But that divinity of his agreeth not with Gods sermon to Cain if thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted and if thou dost evill sin lies at the door Gen. 4.7 Nor with that which Solomon speaks Prov. 18.16 A mans gift maketh room for him which is true of gifts brought unto God as well as unto men especially if it proceed out of a good willing spirit But page 57. he comes to answer some objections which we present not because we oppose not his doctrine in this parergical discourse The first is that to what purpose are good works if we can neither be justified nor merit by them he answers That as gold is good yet not to asswage hunger yet his confiding friends gold and silver made him good cheer and the same hath admirable effects yet not to make the blind man see so good works have many uses both necessary and profitable yet not to justifie us before God or to merit by them for when we have done all we can yea all that is commanded we are unprofitable servants Luk. 17.10 to which Scripture we have spoken before But here he bringeth in some objections against his own doctrine of the impossibility of keeping the law as first If God gives us commandements which we cannot perform it is in vain to exhort thereunto viz. to obey the same Secondly his promises of happiness and means for keeping them were but mockeries as if I should promise a child a thousand pounds to carry away a Milstone which he is not able to wag Thirdly his punishments for the neglect and transgression of them should be unjust for if laws be not made and proportioned to our power of performance the law-giver may as well be termed a tyrant as the laws themselves unjust But none of this can stand with the wisedome and justice of God viz. to command beyond our power or possibility Unto which objections he makes answer after his wonted manner with words of ignorance errour falshood first saith he God doth require of us to keep and fulfil his law to teach us what we could have done in Adam and what we owe to God But in the first Adam or Protoplast we could do just nothing for we had no being then nor are we debters to God upon that score though perhaps upon another score we are Secondly saith he there and page 58. to shew us that it is our own fault that we cannot now keep the Law Which perhaps may be truly spoken but not in his sense and way because man abusing his power and free liberty to do what he would did lose both and now he must do what he would not because Adam received that strength both for himselfe and us He often saith it but he never yet proved it Thirdly God teacheth us saith he what we should ask and of whom for God doth therefore command us to do what we cannot perform that seeing our own infirmities and being wearied under the Law of equity we might sue unto the throne of grace for pardoning mercy and the gracious assistance of the holy Spirit to enable us in some measure saith he yea to the uttermost say we to perform what he so justly requireth To which third reason of his we subscribe as also to that which he cites out of Augustine saying in the commandements we must know what we ought to have and in our punishments we must learn that we our selves are the câ—uses of our own wants yea add hereunto and of our own failings likewise and in prayer we must learn from whence we must fetch the supply of our defects or rather before we goe to prayer or saith he again to answer methodically for all this while he hath been no very orderly man God was upon Mount Sinai to deliver a Law what de novo that was never given before but such as was formerly ingraven on mans heart Thus far he speaks truly but what follows is not so true that the Law was now defaced obliterated through sin for we have proved already that though the righteousnesse of the Law was obliterated yet the knowledge of it was written in every mans heart with indelible characters
answereth that he sinneth not as he is regenerate but in his unregenerate part or as he is unregenerate But so do even the unregenerate sin in that part and manner and yet they sin to death or else they could not perish But he confesseth against himself that sin somtimes reigneth in the regenerate which thing he had denied before And then he brings in John as he hath done often to prove that all have sin in them 1 Joh. 1.8 which is his mistake of the place that he understands not for John doth not only explain his meaning better ver 10. but at the first of the next chapter writes even to the babes not to sin as we have shewed But he will give us his sense 1 Joh. 1.9 whose words are these If we acknowledge our sins he is faithful to forgive us This therefore saith he pag. 44. is the meaning of Saint John that the regenerate do sin but make not much of their sin or they doe not set open the door or yield to evil desires so as to cast off all love to godlinesse and not to repent But we have shewed the contrary even now and might doe further out of Ezek. 18.23 Mat. 12.43 44 45. Heb. 10.27 28. or more briefly because as he tels us yet with more words but to as little purpose that he which is born of God makes not a trade of sinning he lives not in his sin he fancies not his sin he delights not in his sin he sins not with purpose with pleasure with malice with perseverance sin reigneth not but as the Apostle speaks the evill that I doe I would not doe And cannot some of them that are yet unregenerate or but under the work of the Law at the furthest say so likewise we know who said Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor But here he brings the latter part of that verse 1 Ioh. 3.9 by way of objection His seed remaineth in him neither can he sin because he is born of God To which he gives his former answer that he sins nor unto death But is not this to adde to the word that is written our own words and so to come under that curse Rev. 22.18 Then he brings in a fourth Scripture of our alledging as he pretends to wit 1 Pet. 1.21 being born anew not of mortal but of immortal seed by the word of God who liveth for ever From whence he saith that we conclude that since this immortal seed never dieth in them that are born of it they ever remain regenerate retain grace and never fall into sin But as this objection is here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impertinent and upon a new head or point of doctrine so his answer is suitable and false also into the bargain to wit that the regenerate may and do lose grace and the holy Spirit of God in regard of some gifts and those sometimes more and fewer but not in respect of all the gifts for still there remaineth in them some print of faith and conversion which yet by yielding to evil inclinations and desires is ofttimes so opprest and darkened that it can neither be known to others nor confirm themselves of the grace of God and their own salvation for the present howbeit saith he it suffers them not wholly to forsake God and the known truth or the embracements of Christs merits by faith so David prayeth Psal 51.10 11. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me and restore to me the joy of thy salvation But was this by vertue of the old seed of grace when David had been long in his sins of Adultery and murder without any true repentance for them or by Nathan's coming unto him to call him to repentance Therefore his conclusion from thence page 45 is not consequent to wit that David had not wholly left cleanness of heart righteousness of Spirit nor the way of salvation because then he would not have asked them afresh of God as he doth For though some cleanness of heart and rectitude of spirit might remain in him yet he had wholly forfeited and lost the joy of Gods salvation Secondly he further answereth that the seed of God which is his word working true faith and conversion abideth and dieth not Concerning their conversion he means a new and final perseverance however they may fall often grievously and foully before the end because John saith 1 John 2.19 If they had been of us they would have continued with us But we have proved the contrary before out of 1 Tim. 5.11 12. unto which adde 1 Tim. 1.19 holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning the faith have made shipwrack and 2 Tim. 1.15 and 2.17 18. 4.14 15. In the 45 page he brings out other Scriptures as produced against him by us and in the fift place that of our Saviour Matth. 7.18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit To which he answers that it cannot as it is a good tree which shall so come to pass in the life to come but as it is partly good and partly evil it may bring forth evil fruit whereof saith he we have sufficient trial and experience in this life Must we then bring forth no good fruit here But Solomon saith Whether the tree fall to the north or to the south in the place where it falleth there it shall lie Eccles 11.3 and David Psal 91.12 13 14 15. The righteous shall flourish as the palm tree he shall grow as the Caedar in Lebanon those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God they shall bring forth much fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing to shew that the Lord is upright he is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him A sixth Scripture he undertakes to answer which we shall truly own as alledged by Doctor Drayton in his sermon is this Ephes 5.25 26 27. but it seemeth the Vindicator was afraid to recite the words as being too full and evident against his position and purpose which are these Hu bands love your wives as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word and might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Concerning which he saith This Text shews us how Christ in this life by the word and Sacrament and by the operation of grace doth cleanse us that in the state of glory we may be perfectly holy without spot or wrinkle But how proves he that this must be then done and not before This saith he I shall prove by these ensuing reasons First because here we know but in part and consequently can love but in part But we have proved that by and in the new covenant it is promised that such a
Arrias Montanus hath it and that from a special Author also Seventhly we would not have it slightly passed over which is written Numb 13.14 concerning the ten unbelieving spies who would neither encourage themselves nor others to go and fight against the Canaanites that so they might have inherited the promised land but disheartened themselves and others with the apprehension of impossibilities till they were excluded therefrom in the end ' for whatsoever was written in time past was written for our instruction Rom. 15.14 1 Cor. 10.6 Heb. 4.1 and so was the story of Bar-Jesus Elymas the Sorcerer Act. 13.6 who called himself Bar-Jesus that is the Son of Jesus and pretended to become a prophet but he opposed the true faith in Christ as the Vindicator and some others do seeking to turn away the Deputy Sergius Paulus from it and so perverted the right way of the Lord being an enemy to the true righteousness in which regard he is not onely called a false prophet and a sorcerer as his name importeth but smitten with blindness from which sin and all other as well as from the horrid effects thereof the Lord in his mercy preserve us all and let those in speciall find mercy at his hands who opposing the truth have done it ignorantly in unbeliefe 1 Tim. 1.13 Eighthly that a great part of the Clergy in this nation and no smal part of them in authority begin to decline from the Orthodox faith of our English reformed Church and to urge the rigid and turbulent opinions of Mr. John Knox the father of the Gomarists in Scotland whose doctrine and discipline in an hundred years space hath not brought forth so much reformation of life in that nation as our late erected Government hath done there though for the most part by awe and constaint Lastly that as this doctrine deviates from the Apostles faith Rom. 6.8 for if we be dead with him we believe that we shall live with him so it swerves from the right end of both the Sacraments for by baptism we are buried into the death of Christ that like as Christ was raised up by the glory of the Father even so we should walk in newness of life for if we have been planted together into the similitude of his death so then shall we be into the likeness of his resurrection Rom. 6.5 6. and in the Lords supper we are to shew forth the Lords death in dying with him unto all iniquity until his coming again unto us in the power of his resurrection 1 Cor. 11.26 Which two estates are by the Vindicators doctrine opposed as things of impossible attainment in this life and so the summe of the Gospel the right belief and true Christian race hereby denied decried and openly opposed in this Vindication by which the Vindicator hath verified as if his name were ominous in reference to his design another anagram of his Name O hindring net God hath his net and so hath the Devil Both nets are daily us'd about the evil Gods net draws fish out of the sea of sin The Mare clausum Satan casts them in Where Satans drudger-man is still impli'd To watch and draw Gods fish on his shore side This work to do John Tendring he is set To plead for sin hence call'd O hindring net True Doctrine is Gods net his fisher men Are ministers of righteousness and then False doctrine must be Satans net to draw Men from their due observance of Gods law By which they love to God and man forget And such thy book doth prove O hindring net Having finished also the catasceuastical part of our Revindication in the next pirce we shall presume to offer some Queries because we desire to lay open our hearts and minds for the trueths cause to such as are held to censure and rashly to judge of those whom they beleive are contrary-minded unto themselves 1. Querie Whether do you or any of you pretend to an infallible Spirit whereby you do not nor can erre in what you affirm or deny to be divine truth according to the Records commonly called the Scriptures The reason is because the late Synod confessed cap. 31. of their Confession that Councels and Synods have erred as themselves have done else why do they not answer the Examen against it in the materal points out of pity to the examiners who pitied them to undeceive them and the well-meaning people Secondly because if it be true as aforesaid then why do the Committees for trying in one place and ejection in every County though some are more moderate then others put the Article at the foot of other Articles That he is ignorantand insufficient for the work of the Ministry when sometimes the person the said article is put upon is a grave Doctor of Divinity and may be their catechisers Father for age in years and learning Thirdly because many are put out and others kept out of a livelyhood in the way themselves live and grow with other additionals rich by because they cannot ex consciencià subscribe and own their masters opinions Et jurare in verba magistri and yet these masters by their own confession may erre as their masters did whose servants were the miser men John 7.45 46 47 48 49. 2. Querie What do you aim at in your preaching with such bitterness especially in Wilts against us whether to maintain a combination and faction of self interest or that the people you preach unto may live a peacable and most holy life and their souls saved in the day of the Lord. The reason of this Querie is because the Apostle saith James 1.14 If you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not also you lye against the truth and vers 16. where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work vers 17. and that the fruit of righteousnesse sown in peace of them that make peace Therefore Heb. 11.14 the Apostle saith follow peace with all men without which none shalt see God 3. Querie Whether such doctrines as hold out a possibility of a total mortification of sinne through the grace and help of Christ and a perfect obedience to the Law of God are not the Doctrines which do perswade people to live that most holy life but lead men as some have said from Heaven to Hell if Hell be where no sin nor unclean thing can come and Heaven be where much sinne will remain it is confessed according to the Vindicators attestation and position The reason of this Querie is offered by reason we have heard from an intelligent and present hearer thereof that a Minister in Salisbury but it is said he was late a New-England man did pray to God in his ignorant real before many people that he might never believe such a doctrine as a possibilty of a total mortification of sin in this life And we pray God of his mercy not to say Amen to his prayer but pray unto the Lord Jesus for him or