Augustine in these words Jubet Deus quae non possumus ut noverimus quae ab illo petere debemus God commands us what we cannot do to intimate unto us what we ought to crave of him namely what we cannot do of our selves And hence are those many prayers of several sorts of persons in the Scripture as Psalm 51.10 Create in me a clean heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within me And Jer. 31.18 Convert thou me and I shall be converted And Lament 5.21 Turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned Fourthly I answer that God commands us this though we cannot do it of our selves that we may be excited to use such means as are by God's ordinance and appointment conducible and available thereunto and which we have of our selves power to use which are Prayer the Word and the Sacraments for his calling to us to repent and return unto him is a provocation or calling to us to use such means as he hath appointed to produce the same in us Fifthly and lastly I answer That such commands aim not only at our first conversion but at our secondary and subsequent returns to God when after our first conversion we prevaricate and digress from him in which secondary return mans will cooperates with the grace of God as formerly hath beeen said And therefore God's invitation of men to these returns wherein their wills have some ability to cooperate with his grace is not vain or needlesse but very efficacious to allure and induce them thereunto Not to tire the Reader with any further dispute about this controversie I will close it up with the addition of these two reasons to the former Arguments to induce all persons to adhere to this opinion as the safest which I have here asserted First because this opinion makes a clearer reconciliation of those Texts of Scripture which hold forth a seeming contradiction about this point then the other doth for according to the other opinon they are not reconciled without some scruple Secondly because this opinion ascribes most glory to God to whom all glory belongs wherein there is no danger though men detract from themselves For to detract from nature and give to grace is no danger but to detract from grace and give to nature cannot but be dangerous This was the saying of Peter Lumbard and is of all acknowledged and owned for truth The fourth Controversie About the merit of good works THe Papists opinion about this and Mr. Haggar's in affirming good works to be causes of salvation which both they do and he also in the 9. page of his forenamed discourse hath so little appearance of truth that it deserves to be exploded rather then refuted And I have good ground for what I affirm First Because it 's so apparently repugnant to Scripture as to Ephes 2.8.9 where it 's said By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any should boast And Tit. 3.5 Not by the works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us And whereas to salve up the discord between Paul's affirmation and theirs they make a distinction of good works of which some say they go before justification and some follow after it and St. Paul they say speaks of those that go before but they speak of such as follow after and therefore they do not contradict him I have formerly declared namely in my 4th Argument about the first Controversie in page the 20. that the Apostle speaks of the same good works which they speak of namely of good works after justification and regeneration And therefore they are herein contradictors of holy Scripture Another ground for what I affirmed before is this Because I never had conference with any Papist yet and I have conferred with many in my time but they all disclaimed the merit of their own works when upon occasion of discourse I have charged them with this grosse Tenet I have yet a third ground for what I said and that is because I find Bellarmine their Arch champion after his affirmation of the merit of good works and that they are true causes of salvation and that some confidence may be placed in them in his book of Controversies namely Libr. 5. cap. 7. de Justificat to give men counsel within ten lines after to put no confidence in their merits but in the alone mercy and benignity of God as the safest way So that there is no great necessity to confute this opinion of the merit of works seeing themselves do distrust it and after a sort desert it But yet some short confutation of this palpable error I will deliver which I hope shall sufficiently convince it And the first Argument I frame thus Argument 1. IF eternal life or salvation be Gods gfit then it is not merited by man's good works so the Apostle argues Rom. 11.6 If it be of grace it is no more of works But eternal life is God's gift so saith our Saviour Luke 12.32 Fear not little flock for it is your Father's pleasure to give you a Kingdom where note that it 's said to be a gift and from no other motive but from his own good pleasure And John 10.27 My sheep hear my voice and I know them they follow me and I give unto them eternal life And saith S. Paul Rom. 6.23 The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore eternal life is not merited by man's good works Argument 2. IF all the good works which possibly we can do be due debt to Almighty God then can they not merit Heaven at his hand for merit and debt cannot stand together a man cannot be said to merit by paying that which he oweth But they are due debts so our Saviour teacheth Luke 17. â—0 When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do Therefore they cannot merit Argument 3. IF our good works be not properly our own but proceed from the grace of God which worketh them in us and by us then can they not be said to merit from God though they may merit from others because we return no more to God then what we have received from him we give him but a cluster of grapes out of his own Vineyard and water out of his own Fountain If any man discern not the necessity of this consequent it 's for want of perspicacity in his own understanding and not for want of truth in the consequence And Bellarmine doth acknowledge it in Libr. 5. cap. 15. De Grat. Lib. Arb. Good works are not properly our own but proceed from the grace of God which worketh the same in us and by us so it 's said Isa 26.12 Lord thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our works in us
active and passive is the meritorious cause of salvation and of all the means conducting thereunto So Colos 1.14 We have redemption through his bloud even the forgiveness of sins And 1 John 1.7 The bloud of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin And 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Knowing that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot with many such like Texts Thirdly Faith is the instrumental cause that is to say the instrument whereby we receive Christ and apply his merits to us so John 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name And Ephes 3.17 The Apostle saith that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith And hence it is our righteousnesse is called both the righteousness of faith Rom. 10.6 And the righteousnesse which is by faith Heb. 11.7 And the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Phil. 3.9 Fourthly and lastly Vocation and Justification and Sanctification and good works and eternal life and salvation are the joynt fruits and effects of the aforenamed causes successively following one another Vocacion Justification and Sanctification and good works are the first fruits and effects of the foresaid causes brought forth here in this life as numerous Texts of Scripture testifie which I need not recite because they are familiarly known and because I have mentioned divers of them formerly And Eternal Life and Salvation is the last fruit the consummation and ultimate end of all as it 's very often taught and testified Rom. 6.22 Being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto heliness and the end everlasting life And 1 Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls These are the links of the golden chain of salvation and the order of the causes thereof as they are annexed and held forth to us in the word of God And in Rom. 8.30 they are summed up together though in fewer words Whom he did predestinate saith the Apostle them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified And hence is Mr. Haggar's grosse error in his concatenation of the causes of salvation detected and confuted In that he makes sanctification and good works causes of salvation which are but fruits and effects of God's election and the merits of Christ apprehended by faith for they go before salvation only as necessary antecedents and as the appointed way to lead us to salvation and as preparatives for Heaven as hath been already declared but not as causes thereof 1. They are Via regnâ— but not causa regnandi So that as the way to any place is not the cause that brings any man to it though he must needs passe through the way to come to that place but the cause of his coming to it is his own will and motion So sanctification and good works though they be necessary antecedents to salvation so that we cannot passe to Heaven but through them yet they are not the causes which brings us thither but the causes thereof are the mercies of God and the merits of Christ apprehended by Faith And so I end this Controversie If now I have not untied the Gordian knots of these long debated Controversies so fully and openly as to give satisfaction to all whose thoughts have been formerly puzzled about them as I believe I shall not yet my labour will not be wholly lost in these regards First Because I have hereby declared my willingnesse to do the Church service to my power by putting my hand to the supportation of the truth of the gospel which these stormy times have so impetuously and vehemently shaken Secondly Because what I have delivered may happily give satisfaction to some and let them loose out of the briers of their hesitation that were doubtful before what opinion to incline to Thirdly Because this Essay may happily be an occasion to invite and induce some more Logical and Learned pen to publish a more Scholastick and plenary solution of them The fifth Controversie About Original sin THat I may the more fully discover and confute this error I will unfold these four points about the sin of our natures the sin wherein we are conceived and born which therefore all Orthodox Divines have fitly and properly called Original Sin First I will render a reason of the epithete why it is called Original Sin Secondly I will give a definition of the Sin what is Thirdly I will alledge some of the evident proofs of Scripture for the justification of it Fourthly I will frame some irrefragable and convincing arguments drawn out of Scripture to prove it by necessary and undeniable consequence The first Point opened THe sinful corruption or corrupt disposition of man's nature from the womb hath many epithetes or names given unto it in Scripture which denote and declare that it hath its original and beginning with man's conception and birth and therefore is fitly and properly termed Original Sin and so ever hath been for above this thousand years by all sound and learned Divines both ancient and modern For though it be not in terminis in these very words so called in Scripture yet hath it divers other epithetes and names there given it which are consignificant and import and imply the same sense and meaning with these words Original Sin amongst which take notice of these Rom. 6.6 It 's called The old man and the body of sin 1 Cor. 5.7 It 's termed The old leaven Rom. 7.17 The sin that dwelleth in us Rom. 7.23 The law in our members Rom. 7.24 The body of death Gal. 5.16 The lusts of the flesh Jam. 1.14 A man 's own lust In which Text in the next words following it is punctually distinguished from all actual sins as being expresly affirmed to be the procreant cause of all actual sin for the cause and the effects cannot be one and the same The second Point opened what original sin is ORiginal sin is a pravity vitiosity or vitious habit or corrupt disposition of man's nature from his first conception as a just punishment of all mens sin in Adam whereby they are born the children of wrath and become subject to death both of body and soul and also become prone to commit all actual sins Or thus Original sin is a pravity of man's nature from his first conception whereby he seems to be prone to all sin as a just punishment of Adam's sin or transgression whereof all men are guilty and for which all men are exposed and subjected to death both corporal and eternal Both these definitions have one and the same sense And from them ye may observe that there be three things in Original Sin or three parts of it The first
THE FORT-ROYAL OF CHRISTIANITY DEFENDED OR A demonstration of the Divinity of Scripture by way of excellency called the Bible WITH A Discussion of some of the great Controversies in Religion about universal Redemption Free-will Original Sin c. For the establishing of Christians in truth in these Atheistical trying times By THOMAS GERY B.D. and Rector of Barwell in Leicestershire All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God c 2 Tim. 3.16 17. Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world 1 John 4.1 London Printed by T.C. for Nathanael Web and William Grantham at the sign of the black Bear in Paul's Church-yard neer the little North-door of Paul's 1657. THE AVTHOR's Preface TO THE READER THis plain and course Treatise that was penned above 30. years since at the motion of a great Earl of this * Francis Earl of Rutland Land who asked of me this question and desired a resolution of it in writing namely which way a mans conscience might acquire best assurance that the Bible is God's own Word is now at last exposed to open view through the encouragement of some persons that are fast friends both to the truth of Religion and the Church of England Who taking the pains to read it and knowing that the very life power of Religion consisteth in the firm belief of that point of Religion which is here demonstrated did entertain some hope that the publishing of it might conduce to the conviction and satisfaction of some mens consciences about this particular Article of Christian belief and thereupon have prevailed with me to adventure this publication of it though there be no worth in it more then this that it 's rational and Orthodoxal If this apology will not excuse my temerity herein the world being now so glutted and ready to nauseate and surfeit with the superfluity of Printed papers I humbly beg that my good intention herein may excuse the rashnesse of the fact who endanger to blemish my self in hope to do others good TO THE REVEREND and his worthy Friend Mr. GERY RECTOR of Barwell in Leicestershire SIR as I am rejoyced to see the late works of your reverend brother in law my honoured Friend Doctor Sanderson So for our mother Cambridge sake I count it among my felicities to find our Country-man Dr. Hall and by much our elder brother in that Arcademy a modern right Reverend Father of the Church still increasing his voluminous sweet and pious writings and like a true celestial plant bringing forth more fruit in his age And that comfort is increased by beholding you also though constantly employed upon a Cure so enabled to afford the world such a testimony as these papers present of solid Theology amongst which after my perusal of the great pains and methodical clearing of that subject concerning our last resolution of faith divine into Divine Scripture and your collection to that end of so many and so convincing arguments I could not refrain my Pen from gratulating to you this work so highly conducible to the glory of God in the exaltation of his holy Word and to the edification of millions of souls who shall enjoy the happinesse of being much confirmed and comforted in their most precious faith by those assistances in your Book for the speedy Edition whereof I do not only hereby solicite but charge you on the behalf of our only Lord and Master Christ Jesus and of his Spouse the Church of God our dear Mother assuring my self that as thereby you shall distribute blessings so many blessings from others shall redound unto your self both in reputation and in their prayers and thanksgivings to God for you We deny not what they of the Romane perswasion say That the tradition of the Church is a great testimony yea take the universal Church in all ages including that of Christ and his Apostles and plain reason and experiment will enforce all men to acknowledge that a Divine testimony To which when that key hath let us in to the Scripture it self we find a light which manifests both it self and other things and so we have a second testimony internal and both Divine The fallacy then is found in making the Churches inducing testimony to be the only or the principal and then in affirming this attestation to the present Church of Rome from whom we must if they may prevail receive these two things on trust That first theirs is the Catholick Church as meer a Bull as that Tiber is all Rivers or a whole Palace is in one room And secondly that he who must be the head of the Church though sometime confessed to be no true member is absolutely infallible Concerning which pretended infallibility so long time contended for though doubtlesse their learned men hold and know it a point ridiculous for in time of three Antipopes at once chairing themselves at Rimini at Bologne and Abignon about 1429. to which head was then this biggen of Infallibility bound it hath now pleased God in this last age to produce amongst us such worthies as have beaten down this Babel of papal pride and levell'd it with the ground I mean this chiefly by that monumental piece The conference of Bishop Laud with Fisher and Mr. Chillingworth's Book against Knot another of the Jesuits On both which one made this Epigram Two little Wills Both understandings great Did fond Infallibility defeat That Supreme Sconce call'd Fisher 's folly won Next Knot their gordian knot was quite undon And for a further manifest of this I refer you to a book of Hugh Paulin de Cressie once a Dean in Ireland and Prebend of Windfor who is gone over to Rome and published the motives of his conversion I read his book newly extant in Essex from the hand of a very worthy Matron Ms. B. a zealous Papist and shewed her therein where he openly confesses That infallibility is a word unfortunate That Mr. Chillingworth hath combated against it with too too great successe He wishes the Word were forgotten or at least laid by That we Prorestants have in very deed very much to say for our selves when we are prest unnecessarily with it and advises his Romists that we may never be invited to combate the authority of their Church under that notion And professes no such word as Infallibility is to be found in any Council c. Magna est veritas c. We and they must of force yield to that of St. Paul Eph. 5.8 We were darknesse in the abstract and all our light in Dom. are now light in the Lord. But how Certainly that Oriens ab Alto that great Bishop of all our souls doth baptize all true believers with the holy Ghost and with the celestial fires of his Grace But since this Arch-prelate and universal Superintendent for properly all cure of souls all Baptism and confirmation is from that our Lord and Saviour Christ
word by the Churches enunciation and report but afterwards they believe much more firmly and undoubtedly when they come to enjoy the sight and knowledge of the Scriptures themselves So that the most that can be gathered from that speech of S. Augustines is but this That the testimony and tradition of the Church is usually the first inducement to men to give credit to the truth and so consequently to the divinity of the Gospel which is not denied But then this credulity is afterwards corroborated and more fully setled and confirmed by more evident certain and infallible groundsout of Scripture it self discovered especially by the help of divine grace from the spirit of God which of all other saith Amen to this truth and sets the surest seal thereof upon the soul and conscience as our Saviour gives us to understand when he saith If any man will do God's will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of (a) Joh. 7.17 God That is he shall know best and most assuredly as having information and attestation thereof from the Spirit of God Yet always God's spirit tells the conscience this out of Scripture for as it suggested and dictated the Scripture at the first so it whispers in the ear of the soul the same note still and hath no discrepant voice or suggestion from it but whatsoever it testifieth it suggests the same not by any secret instinct and spiritual insusurration different from the written word according to the vertiginous fancy and dotage of the Enthusiasts the family of Love as they are phrased and some other of the Anabaptistical sect but by a still voice out of and according to the Scripture Whence is that saying of St. Chrysostome Frustra jactat se Spiritum sanctum habere qui non loquitur ex (b) Chrysost de Popu Antioche Homil 50. Evangelio In vain doth he boast to have the holy Ghost that speaketh not out of the Gospel And therefore we read that when our Saviour enlightened his Apostles understandings it was That they might understand the (a) Luke 24.45 Scriptures And that when he promised to send the Comforter unto them to teach them all things he addeth Whatsoever I have said unto (b) John 14.26 you which intimates that he should teach them no new doctrine So that we are not to believe an Angel from Heaven if he preach any other Gospel then that which the Apostles have (c) Gal. 1.8 preached which we have written in the New Testament And so it was said always of old To the Law and to the Testimony If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in (d) Isa 8.20 them Thus then I conclude That the conscience may be verily resolved and a rational man compelled to acknowledge and believe with an acquired historical faith that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are divine by convincing arguments and evidences apparent even to reason and that from Scripture it self especially Nor am I single in this opinion for I find in S. Augustine the like conclusion who speaking of the Penmen of Scripture delivers this sentence Verè illos magnos divinos fuisse legem illam Dei jussu voluntate promulgatam esse credo id quamvis perpauca illorum librorum sciam facilè persuadere possum si mihi adhibeatur aequus non pertinax (a) Aug. de Vtilita tecredendi cap. 5. animus Verily saith he I believe that they the penmen of Scripture were great and divine men and that that Law was promulgated by the commandent and will of God and this though I knew but a few of those books I am able easily to perswade if I meet but with an equal-minded man that is not pertinacious But to believe this with a divine faith without which it 's never soundly and perfectly embraced must be a work of God's Spirit only from whom alone all such faith proceedeth And so I end the first part of this Treatise The second part of this Treatise which is an application of the Doctrine proved to certaine special uses HAving now laid a sure foundation of this truth that Scripture is God's own word which cannot be shaken it behoves me to superstruct upon it lest that aspersion be cast upon me which the improvident builder is blemished withal in the Gospel This man began to build but was not able to make an (a) Luke 14.30 end This doctrine then is useful both for theory and practice both for information and for exhortation First For information of the understanding two inferences or conclusions are deducible from it First That no man may presume to dispense with this word because it 's God's for being his none but he hath authority and power to exempt any man from obligation to it or any part of it This is a conclusion undeniable and therefore speaks the practice of some late Popes of Rome to be very culpable and inexcusable who have presumed to grant dispensations for marriages within the degrees forbidden in this word of God and to exempt subjects from obedience to their lawful Soveraign strictly commanded in this word This hath been practised by the Papal power of late years here in this Nation And it 's the more inexcusable in that they undertake to justifie it This I find in Cardinal Bellarmine's works who to prove the Popes Supremacy draws an argument from his power to grant dispensations and then doth instance in a dispensation which Pope Gregory granted to the English about marriages within the degrees (a) Bellar de Romano Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 19. forbidden And I can here produce a credible Author who affirms that divers of the Church of Rome have not blushed to defend openly and that under their hands that the Pope hath power to dispence Contra ius divinum contra Apostolum contra Novum Testamentum against the law of God against an Apostle and against the New (b) Favor Antiquit cap. 6. paulo post medium Testament But I am perswaded that now since the reformation hath detected many of their grosse hallucinations the wise and learned among them do distaft and disclaim all such blaspemous and unsavoury assertions A second consequent or conclusion that I deduce from this truth That Scripture is God's own word is this That therefore it 's of superior and greater authority then the present Church militant And this I prove from hence by two reasons First Because the present Church Militant is holy and divine but only in part and after a sort and in this regard is subject unto error whereas the Scripture is simply and totally divine for All Scripture is given by inspiration of God saith (a) 2 Tim. 3.16 S. Paul and therefore must needs be most authentical A second reason is this That which sanctifieth is greater then that which is sanctified by it so our Saviour himself argued against the Scribes and Pharisees Ye fools
in these times as God himself complained of by his Prophet Jeremiah who ran about this important businesse before they were (a) Jer. 23.21 sent and so going without their errand do ventilate their own fancies and dreams instead of preaching God's word To these my exhortation is not directed as who need no spur to hasten them into God's house but rather a scourge to drive them out as our Saviour did with the money-changers and such as bought and sold in the (b) John 2 14 15. Temple But my desire is hereby to quicken both my self and other my fellow labourers in the work of the Ministry about our heavenly Father's businesse To which I will add but this one needful caution which is that we be careful and watchful to preach both verbo vita both ore opere as well by the example of our lives as by the doctrine of our lips according to the charge S. Paul gave to Timothy and Titus two Bishops of his own ordination his charge to Timothy was this Let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in (c) 1 Tim. 4.12 purity And such like was his charge to Titus In all things shew thy self a pattern of good (d) Tit. 2.7 works This if we do not we shall not only prefer and multiply new indictments against our selves by every Sermon and so give the Lord numerous evidences and testimonies from our own mouths whereby to condemn us but shall bereave others also of the fruit and benefit of this divine ordinance for who will not nauseate and despise the counsel of that man who acts contrary to the advice and counsel that he gives unto another And this our Saviour intimates where he saith How wilt thou say to thy brother Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers (a) Mat. 7.4 5. eye It 's out of question that the vigour and prevalence of preaching depends much upon the good life of the Preacher as which sets an edge upon that sword of God's Spirit and makes it more powerful to cut down the strong holds of sin And so on the other side it 's as true that the loose life of some Preachers so dulls and bluts this sword that it prevails little or nothing at all against our spiritual enemies sin and Satan against which it's brandished but rebounds back and hurts themselves like arrows shot at the Sun which wanting force to carry them to the mark intended fall down again upon the heads of them that shot them Thirdly This doctrine urgeth upon all people in general a fourfold duty First Seeing this Word is God's therefore all should be studious of it and careful to learn it for can we have a better teacher then God himself or can any instruct with better principles then he For The Lord giveth wisedom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding saith the wise (a) Prov. 2.6 man Hence is that commendation which Moses gives of God's Law to the Israelites to induce them to the study of it and obedience unto it Behold saith he I have taught you Ordinances and Laws as the Lord my God commanded me keep them therefore and do them for that is your wisedom and your understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all these statutes and say Surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people For what Nation is so great that hath statutes and judgements so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this (b) Deut. 4.5 6 8. day Hence did David learn to be wiser then his enemies and to have more understanding then his (c) Psal 119.98 99. teachers And hence are those earnest exhortations in it to the study of it as that of our Saviour Search the (d) Joh. 5.39 Scriptures And that of the Apostle Paul Let the word of Christ dwell in you plenteously in all (e) Colos 3.16 wisedom with many such like But most ample and emphatical are the wise Solomons descriptions of the excellency of this knowledge and most plausible and powerful his reasons to allure all to the study of it and most transcendently high his commendations that he gives of it in the eight first Chapters of the Proverbs which because the Reader may easily find forth of himself I will omit to rehearse and will alledge only some reasons collected thence and out of other passages of Scripture to manifest the great necessity of learning and knowing this blessed Word of God and to excite all persons of all degrees and conditions to the serious and sedulous study of it First Because this learning is the only true wisedom for it and only it is able to make a man wise unto (a) 2 Tim. 5 15. salvation Nay it is life (b) John 17.3 eternal and there is no wisedome without it For so saith the Prophet The wise men are ashamed they are afraid and taken loe they have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisedome is in (c) Jer. 8.9 them Yea all other wisedom is but foolishnesse to this and all other learning without this doth but make men the more unhappy in the conclusion Whereas this sanctifies all other wisedom and learning teaching men a holy use of them both and how to be bettered and benefitted by them Hence is that profound saying of S. Augustine Infaelix homo qui scit alia omnia te autem nescit beatus autem qui te scit etiamsi illa nesciat qui vero te illa novit non propter illa beatior sed propter te solùm beatus (d) Aug. Confess lib. 5. est He is a miserable man saith he speaking to God Almighty that knows all other things but knows not thee But he is happy who knows thee though he know nothing else And he who knows both thee and them is not the happier for them but is only happy because he knoweth thee Secondly Here is set up the Christians staff of comfort in the time of trouble and in the hour of death and which can be met withal nowhere else This is my comfort in my affliction saith David speaking (a) Psal 119.50 hereof And again Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evill for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort (b) Psal 23.4 me By which is understood this written word And saith the Apostle Paul Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have (c) Rom. 15.4 hope And hence is that advice of the Prophet Isaiah to the people to suck the brests
who ascribe most honour and reverence unto it and hold best correspondence and agreement with it in all points of Christian belief Fourthly and lastly This is not all that 's needful to know honour and believe Scripture and professe the true Religion which best agreeth with it but we must sow the seeds of good works also in obedience to the precepts and commandements of it because they are God's commandements or all the former will be as fruitlesse unto us as the husbandman's ground that 's tilled and dressed but never sown or the garment that 's made but never worn or the skill in humane arts and sciences whether liberal or mechanical that is acquired but never used This practical part of Religion is so abundantly and vehemently called for as of absolute necessity to salvation in every leaf almost of the Bible that I will rehearse but these thâ—â—re Texts Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven saith our (a) Math. 7.21 Saviour And Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own souls saith (b) Jam. 1.22 S. James And again As the body without the spirit is dead so the faith that is without works is (a) Jam. 2.26 dead I might amplifie and adorn this point by the accumulation of a number of elegant sentences to this purpose both out of Scripture and out of the Fathers and Phylosophers which both illustrate and necessitate the saâ—e Such as these Tantum scimus quantum operamur so much we know as we practise and Non incepisse sed perfecisse virtutis est it's the office of vertue not to begin well only but to perfect what she begins And Aristotle could say Virtus consistit in actione vertue consists in action And again he saith That man was born and brought into this world for these two ends Intilligere agere to understand and act to understand what he should do and to do that which he understands intimating thereby that knowledge is the inchoation and practise the perfection of the end of mans life which drew from an Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius Antoninus this wise and gracious speech That all his ambition after learning was but to make him wise and all his desire of wisedome was but to make him good meaning by the practise of it But I know it 's the rationality and solidity the strength and not the length of a discourse that best pleaseth and most prevaileth And therefore I will but only propound certain rules necessary to be observed that our obedience may be an acceptable service to God and profitable to our selves and so conclude which I will reduce to these four heads First We must see that our obedience be universal an obedience to all the commandements of God this is everywhere called for and inculcated both in the Old and New Testament so that I need not alledge any proofs and the reason is because all the commandements are so compiled and coupled together and so intricately implyed and involved one within another that whosoever violates one offers violence to all So saith S. James Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of (a) Jam. 2.10 all For as in a ship or a net or a fence or a City wall one breach made is enough to indanger the losse of all that is contained in them except it be forthwith repaired So is it with God's commandements if we break through one we break out from God and so rush into the snare of the Divel who can hold us too fast with one trap The common objection of an impossibility to keep perfectly all the commandements is as commonly answered that though legally we cannot yet evangelically we may For out of the evangelical part of Scripture we learn that in and through Jesus Christ by whom all our spiritual sacrifices are made acceptable unto God as the Scripture (a) 1 Pet. 2.5 teacheth the unfeigned purpose and sincere desire and true endevour to observe and do all that God commands us is accepted of God for perfect obedience albeit we fail sometimes in some things beside our purpose and of infirmity For as he laies no more upon us in his great mercy then we are able to bear as the Apostle (b) 1 Cor. 10.13 teacheth so he looks for no more from us then we are enabled to do by the help of his assistant grace but spareth us as a man spareth his own son that serveth (c) Mal. 3.17 him who in his tender love to him will require nothing from him above his strength According to that of the Apostle If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath (d) 2 Cor. 8.12 not Secondly As our obedience must be intire and universal so it must be internal also and spiritual as well as external and corporal for God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and (a) John 4.24 truth Humane laws look only at the external performance and charge men no further so as if the outward act of obedience be done the intent of the doer is not questioned as being made to rule only the outward man But the divine Law of God the Apostle tells us is (b) Rom. 7.14 spirituall and so requireth the obedience of the heart and of every power and faculty thereof as being made to order and moderate every motion of the soule as well as to regulate every action of the body of many proofs for this that might be alledged see these few This day saith Moses to the people the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgements thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thy heart and with all thy (c) Deut. 26.16 soul And saith Solomon My son forget not my law but let thine heart keep my (d) Prov. 3.1 commandements And saith S. Paul The weapons of our warfar are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of (a) 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Christ Thirdly Obedience must be spontaneous a willing and cheerful service It 's a sentence of a learned Divine Nemo invitus benè facit etiamsi bonum est quod facit No man doth well that doth any thing unwillingly though that be good which he doth We our selves dislike grudged service either from our children or servants and then God must needs be much more displeased with it from us because we owe him infinitely more obedience then we can here in this life perform unto him and therefore that little which we yield him had need be free and cheerful
We read in the Book of Exodus that when God commanded the Israelites to contribute to the building of the Tabernacle Moses was directed to take their offerings that gave them willingly with their (b) Exod. 25.2 hearts This made David give this charge to his son Solomon And thou Solomon my son know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing (c) 1 Chro. 28.9 mind And himself to promise God to sacrifice freely unto (d) Psal 54.6 him And to professe his delight in his (e) Psal 119.143 commandements This is oft required also elsewhere in the word of God If ye be willing and obedient saith the Lord ye shall eat the good of the (a) Isa 1.19 Land And God loves a cheerful giver saith the (b) 2 Cor. 9.9 Apostle Fourthly and lastly Obedience must be constant continued unto the end without giving over or it 's frustrate and lost so saith our Saviour No man having put his hand to the Plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of (c) Luke 9.62 God For the righteous bring forth fruit in old (d) Psal 92.14 age Hence are thâ—se and many such like sentences of Scripture Blessed are they that keep judgement and do righteousnesse at all (e) Psal 106.3 times And He that shall endure to the end the same shall be (f) Mat. 24.13 saved And We are delivered out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve God without fear in holiness and righteousnesse before him all the days of our (g) Luke 1.74 75. life I will close up all with that exhortation of S. Paul to the Corinthians Therefore my beloved brethren be we stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord and so our labour shall not be in vain in the (h) 1 Cor. 15.58 Lord. So be it FINIS A DISCUSSION AND DECISSION OF SOME GREAT CONTROVERSIES IN RELIGION BEING An Antidote against some Erroneous Pamphlets Published of late to the suppression of God's Truth The Contents whereof followeth in the next Page By THO. GERY B.D. and Rector of Barwell in Leicestershire Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world 1 John 4.1 LONDON Printed for N. Webb and W. Grantham 1657. The Contents 1. Controversie About God's election of men to eternall life and salvation whether or no it be grounded upon the fore-sight of their faith and obedience 2. Controversie About the universality of Christ's Redemption 3. Controversie About the power of Man's free-will 4. Controversie About the Merit of good works 5. Controversie About Original sin 6. Controversie About Tithes A Preface to the Reader HAving a Pamplet accidentally put into my hands twisted of inconsequences incongruities and misapplications and depravations of holy Scripture entituled The order of causes Of God's foreknowledge election and predestination and of mans salvation or damnation I thought I might do a charitable work to detect the impostures of it Especially considering that it had gotten some entertainment with some persons within mine own charge and cure For albeit there be little hope of prevailing with these false teachers in these times especially which have so long connived at their erroneous and seditious courses to renounce their errors though never so fairly and fully confuted as who have resolved to hold the conclusion whether the premises be true or false which every Novice in Logick knows to be an absurdity to be hissed at yet may this detection of their falcies in some measure prevent the further diffusion and spreading of their pernicious errors which is the fole end wherefore these plain ensuing lines were hastily compiled and penned And in this regard the courteous Reader is intreated to vouchsafe a candid and benevolent construction of them as which upon more mature deliberation might either have been kept private or appearing in publique might happily have been clad in a more sightly dresse which is the humble request of A Friend and Servant to all that follow the truth in love THOMAS GERY IT hath ever been the artifice and deceitfull dealing of Hereticks to pick out some such Texts of Scripture wherewith to cloak their errors as by their false interpretation of them in not comparing them with other Texts of Scripture treating of the same subject might afford some colour and countenance unto them Thus the old Serpent the first deviser of this fallacy dealt with our blessed Saviour when he tempted him in the Wildernesse he alledged a piece of Scripture out of Psalm 91.11 where it 's said He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee and skips over the next words in all thy ways and so goeth to the 12. verse as knowing that the words which he left out would quite alter the Text from that purpose for which he alledged the same And thus deal the Heretical Sectaries and Separatists that are of late started up They alledge some sayings of Scripture which considered by themselves without any reference had to other Texts of Scripture which afford light to the right meaning of them seem at the first superficial view of them to speak something for them about some of their erroneous Tenets whereas compared with other sayings of Scripture where the same point is more fully and plainly expressed they make nothing at all for proof of that for which they are alledged as shall be discovered in some particulars in this ensuing Treatise Amongst a Fardle of their palpable and prodigious Errors some whereof are utterly unworthy the refutation being manifest contradictions of holy Scripture As their denial of Faith to be the gift of God which I have heard to proceed out of the mouth of divers of no small esteem amongst them with incredible impudence I have here undertaken the confutation of these six of which some are Popish which I find in the fornamed book and in another which I shall hereafter mention 1. They affirm That God's election of men to salvation is from his fore-sight of their Faith and Obedience Or as some of them phrase it from his fore-sight of their Sanctification and Good Works 2. That Christ's Redemption is universall extending it self to all men in the World indiscriminatim indifferently 3. That men have Free-will to repent and believe and so may be saved if they will 4. That Good Works or Obedience are meritorious causes of salvation 5. That children are not born in sin 6. That the payment of Tithes to the Ministers of the Gospel is not agreeable to Scripture Now that these are false Tenents not justifiable from Scripture but repugnant unto it I shall I hope make manifest to all that are not byassed with prejudice And because I am not to enter the Lists and contest with pertinacious Adversaries who sometime will neither hear right Reason nor yield to Scripture but as they themselves shall expound
it It will be expedient for me to premise certain Theological conclusions or principles which all Orthodox Divines unanimously and univocally have acknowledged to be undoubted Truths as Praecognita and Canons to have recourse unto for the decision and determination of any Controversie as need shall require which if they deny to assent unto they are not to be disputed with as the proverb speaks Contra negantem principia non est disputandum There 's no disputation to be held with him that will deny the principles of Art The Principles I think fit to premise are these four 1. That the Canonical Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is authentical and creditable of it self 2. That there is no contradictions in the Canonical Scripture 3. That the same makes and so by consequence alloweth to be made distinction between things that sometime in Scripture have the same denomination This appears by many instances in Scripture whereof I will name these three Fear Faith and Sorrow First About Fear the Scripture mentioneth a fear which is gracious and godly which the learned have termed Filial and a Fear which is gracelesse which the learned have termed Servile of this we have an example in 2 Kings 17.33 34. where it 's said of the Babylonians in the former verse that they feared God and then in the latter verse that they feared him not Whence it 's evident that a distinction must be made of the fear of God whereof some is a Gracious Fear and some a Gracelesse otherwise there would be a contradiction between the two verses which Scripture admits not Secondly About Faith The Scripture doth distinguish it into these two sorts namely a Faith that hath Works and a Faith that is without works which it also calleth a dead faith James 2.17 Faith if it have no Works is dead being alone Thirdly About Sorrow The Scripture speaks of a godly sorrow for sin and a worldly sorrow in 2 Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow worketh Repentance to salvation but the sorrow of the World worketh death Hereby it 's clear that a distinction is sometimes to be made betwixt things that have the same denomination The fourth Principle which I shall premise is this That seeming contradictions in Scripture are so to be expounded by help of other Texts either speaking of the same point or otherwise that they may symphonize and accord together Which help the Scripture affords in one place or other If our Adversaries will yield to be tryed about the forementioned Controversies by these old Canons which have been universally received for undoubted truths by all Christian Churches in primitive times when the waters ran clearest from under the Threshold of the Sanctuary I shall adventure to bear the disgrace if I do not convince them of error about each Controversie that I have before named The first Controversie handled About Election THeir first Error that I shall undertake to confute is their assertion That God's election of men unto salvation is grounded upon his foresight of their Faith and Obedience or sanctification and Good Works That is that he electeth such and such men to life and salvation because he foreseeth that they will believe and walk in obedience to his Commandements This Assertion I shall prove to be an error by these four Arguments The first Argument If men shall therefore believe because they are elected and ordained to eternal life then they are not elected and ordained to eternal life because they will believe This consequence cannot be denied by any intelligent man But men shall therefore believe because they are elected and ordained to eternal life and therefore are not elected and ordained to it because they will believe The Assumption I prove out of Acts 13.48 where it 's said That as many as were ordained to eternall life believed Here Faith is made the fruit and effect of election to eternal life and therefore cannot be the cause of it for nothing can be the cause and effect too of one and the same thing My second Argument is this If men be elected or chosen that they may be holy then their election must needs be the ground and cause of their holinesse and sanctification But men are elected that they may be holy so saith the Scripture Ephes 1.4 He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the World that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Therefore Election is the ground and cause of holinesse or sanctification and not holinesse the ground and cause of election The third Argument If the good pleasure of God's will be the ground and first cause of mens election and predestination to salvation then God's fore-sight of their Sanctification and Good Works cannot be the first cause and ground thereof This consequence is undeniable But the good pleasure of God's will is the first cause and ground of mens election and predestination to salvation Therefore God's fore-sight of their sanctification and Good Works cannot be the first cause and ground thereof The A sumption I prove from these two Texts of Scripture passing by many other to the same purpose Rom. 9.11 S. Paul there affirms That the purpose of God according to Election stands not of Works but of him that calleth Where works are denied and Gods will affirmed to be the cause of election And Ephes 1.5 and again verse 11. the good pleasure of God's will is made the ground and cause of mens election to salvation The words in the fift verse are these Having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his will And the words in the 11. verse are these In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the councel of his own will If the Adversaries answer that Election may be according to the good pleasure of God's will and yet the good pleasure of his will may not be the cause of Election To this I reply That the Apostle makes it plain in the 11. verse that he speaks of the good pleasure of God's will as the cause of Election by the addition of these last words in the verse Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will For if he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will then Election is necessarily one of those things which he worketh after the councel of his own will and therefore the counsell of his own will must needs be the cause thereof The fourth Argument is this If Good Works be no causes of salvation then neither of election unto salvation this is plain because Election is the cause of Salvation But Good Works are no causes of salvation and therefore no causes of Election The minor Proposition or Assumption is proved by Ephes 2.8 9 verses where the Apostle saith By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the
the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God In which words the Spirit of God expressing a perfect distribution of all the powers and forces that are or can be in man excludes them all from this work and ascribes it to the alone will of God for it neither proceedeth from the bloud of man that is from any prerogative of natural propagation or generation which was wont to be the Pharisees vain brag and oftentation We are Abraham's peed for a which they were sharply reproved by John Baptist Matth. 3.9 Nor doth it proceed from the will of the flesh that is from the natural strength of mans corrupt will nor yet from the will of man that is of such a man whose corrupt will is corrected bettered and amended either by the help of the common grace of God or by the acquisition of humane learning or by his own wise observation and experience for this force the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carrieth with it which is here used and so in like manner doth the Latine word uir by which it 's also translated in the Latine from none of these forces in man doth this worke proceed and these are all the forces in man's will but they are all excluded and God alone is made the Author and Procreant cause thereof A second testimony that I shall produce for proof of this Truth is in Ephes 2.8 9 10 verses where the Apostle speaks thus to the Ephesians By grace ye are saâ—ed through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them In which words the Apostle strives to annihilate our selves about this work and to take away all pretences of our cooperation with God therein For first He saith It 's not of our selves and then he saith It 's not of works lest any man should boast but there were matter of boasting if our selves were co-workers with God herein And then he addeth to remove all scruple about it that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Where note that he doth not say his workmanship renewed or repaired though that be true too but his workmanship created The Apostle as it may seem did pick out this word on purpose which he again also useth speaking of this work in the 4 Chapter following and 24. v. his words are Put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holiness that he might altogether exclude all cooperation herein with God on our part for to create is the proper act of God and no creature can have any hand therein There be many other pregnant and punctual proofs of Scripture for this point As Ezek. 36.26 A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh If God make all new and take away all the old then is there none of the old left to help to make it self new Philip. 2.13 It 's God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Therefore the Will works not till God first work upon it 2 Cor. 3.5 We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God If we be not sufficient of our selves to think that which is good then not to will it for Voluntas sequitur intellectum the Will follows the Thought Jam. 1.18 Of his good will begat he us by the word of truth If of his own will then not by help of our will But to avoid prolixity and tediousnesse which I ever disliked I will rest satisfied with the quotation of those few proofs of Scripture which I have already cited pretermitting a number more of like sort as hoping they may satisfie the unprejudiced Reader because they are so clear and convincing I have not yet done with this Controversie but have something more to say about it And that is to invalidate the main Argument or objection which is brought by them of the Adversarie part against this truth for I read of no other of any force which is this It 's said by them That men are called upon in Scripture to turn to God very often which if they have not power of themselves to do the commandment is unjust and needless for Nemo tenetur ad impossibile To this I return a five-fold solution or answer First That though we have no power so to do now as we are fallen in Adam yet did God give us so much grace in our first creation as would have impowred us hereunto if we our selves had not lost it And therefore is it no severity or injustice for God to require that at our hands which he once gave us power to do though now we cannot do it because we our selves have made our selves unable to do it and not God And here I desire the Reader to take notice how unfit a comparison one of our Adversaries in this point hath used though cryed up for a man of learning who chargeth God with as great severity bidding us to turn unto him if we have not of our selves now freedome of will so to do as for a man to cut off another man's legs and then bid him run But by his leave for all his great learning the case is not alike but varies and fails in the main point of all which is this In that God gave man legs to run the ways of his commandments before he bad him run which he hath cut off himself God gave man power to do all that he requires at his hand and man hath bereaved himself thereof And therefore it 's neither injustice nor severity in God to require of man what he once gave him power to do though now he be unable because he hath disabled himself If God had made man unable the comparison might have held but seeing man made himself unable the comparison halteth Secondly I answer that God's commandments do not alway import what we can do but what we should they do not always argue our ability but our duty As for example to instance but in one particular of many We are commanded to love the Lord our God with all the heart and with all the soul and our neighbours as our selves This we cannot do in that fulsse that the Law requires yet it is not severity in God to require it of us because he once impowred us unto it namely in our first creation And the case is the same about our conversion Thirdly I answer that God requires it though we cannot of our selves do it that we may be put in mind to crave his aid who only is able to make us to do it This reason is given by S.
Government of the World by Angels preached before the Astrologers in 4. Dr. Joh. Whincop God 's Call to Weeping and Mourning A Sermon preached at a Fast before the Parliament in 4. Mr. George Walker A Sermon preached at a Fast before the Parliament in 4. Richard Meggot The Rib Restored or the Honour of Marriage A Sermon preached in Dionis Back-Church occasioned by a Wedding the fifth of June 1655. newly published Mr. Valentine A Sermon preached at a Fast before the Parliament in 4. Mr. William Good Jacob Raised A Sermon preached at a Fast before the Lords in Parliament in 4. Mr. Thomas Goodwin The great Interest of States and Kingdomes A Sermon preached before the Parliament in 4. Mr. Samuel Kem The King of Kings His privy marks for the Kingdomes choice of new Members A Sermon preached upon the choice of Burgesses for the City of Bristol in 4. Mr. Ben. Hubbard Sermo Secularis Or a Sermon to bring to remembrance the dealings of Jehovah with this Kingdome of England in 4. Mr. J. P. A Sermon preached upon Matth. 22.21 wherein is set forth the King 's Due in part and the Peoples Duty in 4. Mr. Ambr. Stavely Iudex Expurgatorius Or a short Examination of the doctrine of Purgatory A Sermon lately published in 4. Mr. Peter Sterry The Clouds in which Christ comes A Sermon preached before the Parliament in 4. The teaching of Christ in the Soul A Sermon preached before the Parliament in 4. Mr. Robert Wilde The arraignment of a sinner at the Bar of Divine Justice A Sermon preached in St. Maryes in Oxon at an Assize there the 5th of March 1655. newly published in 4. Mr. Giles Firmin Stablishing against shaking or a discovery of the Prince of darknesse Scarcely transformed into an Angel of light powerfully now working in the deluded people called Quakers in 4. Mr. Stephen Marshall The Power of the Civil Magistrate in matters of Religion vindicated A Sermon preached before the first Parliament on a Monthly Fast day newly published Mr. Simeon Ash Good courage discovered and encouraged A Sermon preached before the Commanders of the Military forces of the City of London in 4. In Octavo large Mr. Robert Young A Soveraign Antidote against all Grief with the Victory of Patience in 8. Mr. Ben. Needler Expository Notes with Practical Observations upon Genesis lately published in 8. Octavo small Mr. George Hopkins Salvation from sin by Jesus Christ or the Doctrine of Sanctification which is the greater part of our Salvation founded upon Christ who is both the Meritorious and Efficient cause of sanctifying Grace purchasing it for working and perfecting it in his people c. newly published in 8. Mr. John Thrap Theologia Theologiae the true Treasure or a Treasury of holy Truths touching God's Word and God the Word in 8. Bp. Davenant An Exhortation to Brotherly Communion betwixt the Protestant Churches in 8. Bp. Cooper The Triumph of a Christian in three excellent Treatises 1. Jacob's wrestling with God c. in 8. The Bee-Hive of the Romish Church A work of all good Catholicks to be read and most necessary to be understood in 8. Mr. John Simpson The Perfection of Justification against the Pharisees the Purity of Sanctification against the Stainers of it the Unquestionablenesse of Glorification against the Sadduces in 8. Mr. Hall The Loathsomnesse of long hair A Treatise wherein the question is stated many arguments agaimst it produced with an Appendix against Painting Spots Naked Brests c. lately published in 8. Vindiciae Literarum The Schools Guarded or the excellency usefulnesse of Arts Sciences Languages History all sorts of Human Learning in subordination to Divinity with an Appendix in Answer to Mr. Webster lately published in 8. Mr. John Warren of Hatfield in Essex Principles of Christian Practice Illustrated with Questions and Scripture-answers lately published in 8. Mr. Daniel Evans A Baptismal Catechisme shewing unto what persons whether of riper years or as yet Infants the Sacrament of Baptism ought to be administred according to the Scriptures lately published in 8. Twelves large Mr. Thomas Gery The Fort Royal of Christianity Defended Or a demonstration of the Divinity of the sacred Scriptures with a discussion of the great controversies in Religion about universal redemption free-will original sin c. in 12. newly published The Practice of Christianity or the Epitome of Mr. Rogers seven Treatises in 12. Mr. Yhomas Jackson The true Evangelical Temper wherein Divinity and Ecclesiastical History are interwoven and mixt c. in three Sermons in 12. Twelves small Mr. Mullard Celestial Soliloquies composed of several divine Meditations and Prayers drawn from the holy Scripture in 12. Francis Thin Esq The perfect Embassador treating of the Antiquity Priveledges and Behaviour of men belonging to that Function in 12. FINIS
gift of God Not of works lest any man should boast And again Tit. 3.5 Not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost The Advesaries answer That these and such like Texts are spoken of works before regeneration To which I reply that in Tit. 3.5 the Apostle expresly nominates works of righteousnesse and denies them to be any causes of salvation but there be no works of righteousnesse before regeneration for then an evill tree should bring forth good fruit which our Saviour denies Matth. 7.18 And therefore even good works after regeneration are in Scripture denied to be any causes of salvation Hereof I shall have occasion to speak more largely hereafter and therefore will not insist any longer in the illustration of it Before I proceed to the next Controversie I will display the weak argumentation of Mr. Henry Haggar for defence of election from fore-seen sanctification by his straining Scripture from its proper sense and in not comparing it with other Scripture where the genuine and proper sense is clearly explained He toils himself to prove the said point because it 's said in 2 Thes 2.13 that men are chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and therefore thence collects that they are not chosen before they are sanctified by the Spirit which is a very inconsequent collection for it doth not follow that because men are choto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit that therefore sanctification of the Spirit is the cause of their election or that therefore it precedes their election but that therefore sanctification is a necessary antecedent way and means through which they must be brought to salvation whereto they are elected as the way to any place is not the cause of a man his coming thither but only a necessary requisite to be observed of him And thus this Text fitly agrees with other Texts of Scripture as that before mentioned Ephes 1.4 where it 's said That we are chosen that we should be holy which Text he hath waved and never mentioned at all but as Satan alledged the words of the Psalmist leaving out a part as knowing it would disclose his wresting and perverting the true sense of the other Text which he alledged And so he neglects the premised rule of expounding Scripture by Scripture which is of necessity to be observed to find out the true sense and meaning of any Text that is ambiguous or may be variously expounded He alledgeth also the 1 Pet. 1.2 where it 's said That men are elected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit Whence he collects that God knows men first before he doth elect them To this I answer First That God's prescience or foreknowledge of men and his election of them are in him together and one and the same act for all his attributes are himself and whatsoever is said to be in him is himself as it hath ever been acknowledged by all learned Divines But in humane apprehension of them his decrees precede his prescience for he doth not decree things to come because he foresees them but foresees them because he hath decreed them as is colligible from S. Paul's speech before named Ephes 4.11 where he affirms that God worketh all things according to the Counsell of his own will whence it 's manifest that his own will is the first cause of all his works and not his prescience though his prescience do concur with his will Secondly I answer That the foreknowledge of God there mentioned is a foreknowledged with approbation for the original word which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies fore knowledgement as all men of learning know which implies a concurence of his election and approbation with his foreknowledge of men and not any precedence of his knowledge before his approbation and election of them And this affords an answer also to that place which is brought by some of the adversaries for defence of election from foreseen faith and holinesse in Rom. 8.29 where it 's said that whom God did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son where the Greek verb which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly fore-acknowledged which intimates an election either with it or before the foreknowledge and besides the words following lead to this sense in that the Apostle expresseth that the predestination which he mentioneth as a sequell of God's foreknowledge is a predestination to be conformed to the image of his Son that is to be holy as Christ is holy A predestination to holinesse cannot be a predestination for holinesse as was shewed before He alledgeth but one Text of Scripture more about this point which is in the fourth Page of his discourse and which he abuseth very sufficiently as he doth the two former and that is Ephes 1.11 and 12. verses where the Apostle speaketh of himself and others that they were predestinated that they should be to the praise of God's glory who first trusted in Christ Whence he ridiculously collecteth that they did first trust in Christ before they were predestinated Whereas the priority or precedency of their faith there mentioned by the Apostle hath no relation at all to their predestination in Grammatical construction but to the faith of the Ephesians that were Greeks or Gentiles and called to the faith of Christ after Paul and the other Apostles that were Jews as appears evidently by the next verse where the Apostle adds In whom also ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth As if he should have said In whom we trusted first and then ye afterwards which agrees also with other Scripture as Rom. 1.16 where the Apostle saith that the Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek The second Controversie Of the Vniversality of Christ's Redemption TO decide and determine this controversie I must first state the question aright between us and the adversaries To speak nothing of the word All which sometimes is put for all sorts of men and sometimes for all particular men of all sorts Seeing we acknowledge that Christ died not only for all sorts of men but for all of all sorts that do repent and believe The controversie depends upon these three Quaeries 1. Whether Christ died for unbelievers at all or not 2. Whether he died for them in as full and ample sense as for believers 3. In what sense he died for them and in what sense he died not for them To the first quaery or question I answer affirmatively for my part that Christ died for unbelievers in some sense To the second I answer negatively scil that he died not for unbelievers in as full and ample sense as for believers which I prove from Scripture three ways First Because it 's said sometime in