but inward and immediate revelation as we have before proved Their example can be no ways applicable to us except we believe in God as they did that is by the same object The Apostle clears this yet further by his own example Gal. 1.16 where he saith so soon as Christ was revealed in him he consulted not with flesh and blood but forthwith believed and obeyed The same Apostle Heb. 13.7 8. where he exhorteth the Hebrews to follow the faith of the Elders adds this reason considering the end of their conversation Jesus Christ the same to day yesterday and for ever hereby notably insinuating that in the object there is no alteration If any now object the diversity of Administration I answer that altereth not at all the object for the same Apostle mentioned this diversity three times 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. centreth always in the same Object the same Spirit the same Lord the same God But further if the object of Faith were not one and the same both to us and to them then it would follow that we were to know God some other way than by the Spirit But this were absurd Therefore c. Lastly this is most firmly proved from a common and received maxim of the School-men to wit Omnis actus specificatur ab objecto every act is specified from its object from which if it be true as they acknowledg tho for the sake of many I shall not recur to this argument as being too nice and Scholastick Neither lay I much stress upon those kind of things as being that which commends not the simplicity of the Gospel If the object were different then the faith would be different also Such as deny this Proposition now adays use here a distinction granting that God is to be known by his Spirit but again denying that it is immediate or inward but in and by the Scriptures in which the mind of the Spirit as they say being fully and amply expressed we are thereby to know God and be led in all things As to the negative of this assertion that the Scriptures are not sufficient neither were ever appointed to be the adequate and only rule nor yet can guide or direct a Christian in all those things that are needful for him to know we shall leave that to the next Proposition to be examined What is proper in this place to be proved is that Christians now are to be led inwardly and immediatly by the Spirit of God even in the same manner though it befal not to many to be led in the same measure as the Saints were of old § X. I shall prove this by divers Arguments and first from the Promise of Christ in these words Joh. 14.16 And I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever 17. Even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Again ver 26. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance and 16.13 But when that Spirit of Truth shall come he shall lead you into all Truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak and shall declare unto you things to come We have here first who this is and that is divers wayes expressed to wit The Comforter the Spirit of Truth the Holy Ghost and sent of the Father in the Name of Christ. And hereby is sufficiently proved the fottishness of those Socinians and other carnal Christians who neither know nor acknowledge any internal Spirit or Power but that which is meerly Natural by which they sufficiently declare themselves to be of the World who cannot receive the Spirit because they neither see him nor know him Secondly Where this Spirit is to be He dwelleth with you and shall be in you And Thirdly What his Work is He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance and guide you into all Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to the First Most do acknowledge that there is nothing else understood than what the plain words signifie which is also evident by many other places of Scripture that will hereafter occur Neither do I see how such as affirm otherwayes can avoid Blasphemy For If the Comforter the Holy Ghost and Spirit of Truth be all one with the Scriptures then it will follow that the Scriptures is God seeing it is true that the Holy Ghost is God If these Mens reasoning might take place where ever the Spirit is mentioned in relation to the Saints thereby might be truly and properly understood the Scriptures Which what a non-sensical Monster it would make of the Christian Religion will easily appear to all Men. As where it is said A Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal it might be rendred thus A manifestation of the Scriptures is given to every man to profit withal What notable sense this would make and what a curious interpretation let us consider by the sequel of the same chapter 1 Cor. 12.9 10 11. To another the gifts of Healing by the same Spirit to another the working of Miracles c. But all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will What would now these great masters of Reason the Socinians judge if we should place the Scriptures here instead of the Spirit Would it answer their Reason which is the great guide of their Faith Would it be good and sound Reason in their Logical Schools to affirm that the Scriptures divideth severally as it will and giveth to some the gift of Healing to others the working of Miracles If then this Spirit a manifestation whereof is given to every man to profit withal be no other than that Spirit of Truth before-mentioned which guideth into all Truth this Spirit of Truth cannot be the Scriptures I could infer an hundred more absurdities of this kind upon this sottish Opinion but what is said may suffice For even some of themselves being at times forgetful or ashamed of their own Doctrine do acknowledge that the Spirit of God is another thing and distinct from the Scriptures to guide and influence the Saints Secondly That this Spirit is inward in my opinion needs no interpretation nor commentary He dwelleth with you and shall be in you This indwelling of the Spirit in the Saints as it is a thing most needful to be known and believed so is it as positively asserted in the Scripture as any thing else can be If so be the Spirit of God dwell in you saith the Apostle to the Romans 8.9 and again Know ye not that ye are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 6.19 Without this the
granted that place the Scriptures themselves give it I do freely concede to the Scripture the second place even whatsoever they say of themselves Which the Apostle Paul chiefly mentions in two places Rom. 15.4 Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. The Holy Scriptures are able to make wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus All Scripture given by inspiration from God is profitable for correction for instruction in righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto every good work For tho God do principally and chiefly lead us by his Spirit yet he sometimes conveys his comfort and consolation to us through his Children whom he raises up and inspires to speak or write a word in season whereby the Saints are made instruments in the hand of the Lord to strengthen and encourage one another which do also tend to perfect and make them wise unto Salvation and such as are led by the Spirit cannot neglect but do natural love and are wonderfully cherished by that which proceedeth from the same Spirit in another because such mutual emanations of the heavenly Life tend to quicken the mind when at any time it is overtaken with heaviness Peter himself declares this to have been the end of his writing 2 Pet. 1.12 13. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you alwaies in remembrance of those things tho ye know them and be established in the present Truth Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance God is Teacher of his People himself and there is nothing more express than that such as are under the New Covenant they need no man to teach them yet it was a fruit of Christ's Ascension to send Teachers and Pastors for perfecting of the Saints So that the same work is ascribed to the Scriptures as to Teachers the one to make the man of God perfect the other for the perfection of the Saints As then Teachers are not to go before the teaching of God himself under the New Covenant but to follow after it neither are they to rob us of that great priviledg which Christ hath purchased unto us by his Blood so neither is the Scripture to go before the teaching of the Spirit or to rob us of it Secondly God hath seen meet that herein we should as in a looking glass see the conditions and experiences of the Saints of old that finding our experience answer to theirs we might thereby be the more confirmed and comforted and our hope strengthened of obtaining the same end that observing the Providences attending them seeing the snares they were liable to and beholding their deliverances we may thereby be made wise unto Salvation and seasonably reproved and instructed in righteousness This is the great work of the Scriptures and their service to us that we may witness them fulfilled in us and so discern the stamp of God's Spirit and ways upon them by the inward acquaintance we have with the same Spirit and work in our hearts The prophecys of the Scripture are also very comfortable and profitable unto us as the same Spirit inlightens us to observe them fulfilled and to be fulfilled For in all this it is to be observed that it is only the Spiritual Man that can make a right use of them they are able to make the man of God perfect so it is not the natural Man and whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our comfort our that are the believers our that are the Saints concerning such the Apostle speaks for as for the other the Apostle Peter plainly declares that the unstable and unlearned wrest them to their own destruction these were they that were unlearned in the Divine and heavenly learning of the Spirit not in humane and School Literature of which we may safely presume that Peter himself being a Fisher-man had no great skill for it may with great probability yea certainly be affirmed that he had no knowledg of Aristotles Logick which both Papists and Protestants now degenerating from the simplicity of Truth make hand-maid of Divinity as they call it and a necessary introduction to their carnal natural and humane Ministry By the infinite obscure labours of which kind of men mixing in their heathenish stuff the Scripture is rendred at this day of so little service to the simple People whereof if Jerom complained in his time now twelve hundred years ago Hieron Ep. 134. ad Cypr. tom 3. saying It is wont to befall the most part of learned Men that it is harder to understand their expositions than the things which they go about to expound what may We say then considering those great heaps of commentarys since in ages yet far more corrupted § VI. In this respect above mentioned then we have shown what service and use the Holy Scriptures as managed in and by the Spirit are of to the Church of God wherefore we do account them a secondary rule Moreover because they are commonly acknowledged by all to have been written by the dictates of the Holy Spirit and that the errors which may be supposed by the injury of times to have slipt in are not such but that there is a sufficient clear Testimony left to all the essentials of the Christian faith we do look upon them as the only fit outward judg of Controversies among Christians and that whatsoever doctrine is contrary unto their Testimony may therefore justly be rejected as false And for our parts we are very willing that all our Doctrines and Practices be tryed by them which we never refused nor ever shall in all controversies with our adversaries as the Judg and Test. We shall also be very willing to admit it as a positive certain Maxim That whatsoever any do pretending to the Spirit which is contrary to the Scriptures be accounted and reckoned a delusion of the Devil For as we never lay claim to the Spirit 's leadings that we may cover our selves in any thing that is evil so we know that as every evil contradicts the Scriptures so it doth also the Spirit in the first place from which the Scriptures came and whose motions can never contradict one another though they may appear sometimes to be contradictory to the blind Eye of natural Man as Paul and James seem to contradict one another Thus far we have shown both what we believe and what we believe not concerning the Holy Scriptures hoping we have given them their due place But since they that will needs have them to be the only certain and principal Rule want not some shew of arguments even from the Scripture it self though it no where call it self so by which they labour to prove their Doctrin I shall briefly lay them down by way of Objections and answer them before I make an end of this
such as their Converting of the Nations to the Christian Faith their gathering of the Churches their Writing of the Holy Scriptures yea and their Offering up and Sacrificing of their Lives for the Testimony of Jesus What may our Adversaries think of this Argument whereby it will follow that the Holy Scriptures whose perfection and excellency they seem so much to magnifie are proved to be impure and imperfect because they came through impure and imperfect Vessels It appears by the confessions of Protestants that the Fathers did frequently attribute unto works of this kind that Instrumental work which we have spoken of in Justification albeit some ignorant persons cry out it is Popery and also divers and that Famous Protestants do of themselves confess it Amandus Polanus in his Symphonia Catholica cap. 27. de remissione peccatorum pag. 651. places this These as the common opinion of Protestants most agreeable to the Doctrine of the Fathers We obtain the remission of sins by Repentance Confession Prayers and Tears proceeding from Faith but do not merit to speak properly and therefore we obtain remission of sins not by the merit of our Repentance and Prayers but by the mercy and goodness of God Innocentius Gentiletus a Lawyer of great same among Protestants in his examin of the Council of Trent pag. 66 67. of Justification having before spoken of Faith and Works adds these words But seeing the one cannot be without the other we call them both conjunctly instrumental causes Zanchius in his 5 book De Natura Dei saith We do not simply deny that good works are the cause of Salvation to wit the instrumental rather than the efficient cause which they call sine qua non And afterwards Good Works are the instrumental cause of the possession of Life Eternal for by these as by a means and a lawful way God leads unto the possession of Life Eternal G. Amesius saith that our obedience albeit it be not the principal and meritorius cause of Life Eternal is nevertheless a cause in some respect administring helping and advancing towards the possession of the life Also Richard Baxter in the book above cited pag. 155. saith that we are justified by works in the same kind of causality as by Faith to wit as being both causes sine qua non or conditions of the New Covenant on our part requisite to Justification And pag. 195. he saith It is needless to teach any Schollar who hath read the Writings of Papists how this Doctrine differs from them But lastly because it is fit here to say something of the merit and reward of works I shall add something in this place of our sense and belief concerning that matter we are far from thinking or believing that man merits any thing by his works from God all being of Free Grace and therefore do we and always have denyed that Popish notion of meritum excondigno nevertheless we cannot deny but that God out of his infinite goodness wherewith he hath loved mankind after he communicates to him his Holy Grace and Spirit doth according to his own will recompence and reward the good works of his Children and therefore this merit of congruity or reward in so far as the Scripture is plain and positive for it we may not deny neither wholly reject the word in so far as the Scripture makes use of it For the same Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies merit is also in those places where the Translators express it worth or worthy as Matth. 3.8 1 Thess. 2.12 2 Thess. 1.5 8. concerning which Richard Baxter saith in the above cited book pag. 8. But in a larger sense as promise is an Obligation and the thing promised is said to be debt so the performers of the conditions are called worthy and that which they perform Merit although properly all be of Grace and not of Debt Also those who are called the Fathers of the Church frequently used this word of merit whose sayings concerning this matter I think not needful to insert because it is not doubted but evident that many Protestants are not averse from this word in the sense that we use it The Apology for the Augustine Confession Art 20. hath these words We agree that works are truly meritorius not of remission of sins or Justification but they are meritorious of other rewards Corporal and Spiritual which are indeed as well in this Life as after this Life And further Seeing works are a certain fulfilling of the Law they are rightly said to be meritorious it is rightly said that a reward is due to them In the acts of the conference of Oldenburgh the Electoral Divines pag. 110 265. say In this sense our Churches also are not averse from the word merit used by the Fathers neither therefore do they defend the Popish Doctrine of merit G. Vossius in his Theological These concerning the merits of good works saith We have not adventured to condemn the word merit wholly as being that which both many of the Ancients use and also the reformed Churches have used in their confessions Now that God judgeth and accepteth men according to their works is beyond doubt to those that seriously will read and consider these Scriptures Matth. 17.26 Rom. 2.6 7 10. 2 Cor. 5.10 Ja. 1.25 Heb. 10.35 1 Pet. 1.17 Rev. 22.12 § XIII And to conclude this Theam let none be so bold as to mock God supposing themselves justified and accepted in the sight of God by vertue of Christ's Death and Sufferings while they remain unsanctified and unjustified in their own Hearts and polluted in their Sins lest their hope prove that of the Hypocrite which perisheth Neither let any foolishly imagine that they can by their own works or by the performance of any Ceremonies or Traditions or by the giving of Gold or Money or by afflicting their bodies in Will-worship and voluntary humility or foolishly striving to conform their way to the outward Letter of the Law flatter themselves that they merit before God or draw a debt upon him or that any man or men have Power to make such kind of things effectual to their Justification lest they be found foolish boasters and strangers to Christ and his Righteousness indeed But blessed for ever are they that having truly had a sense of their own unworthyness and sinfulness and having seen all their own endeavours and performances fruitless and vain and beheld their own emptyness and the vanity of their vain Hopes Faith and Confidence while they remained inwardly pricked pursued and condemned by God's Holy Witness in their Hearts and so having applyed themselves thereto and suffered his Grace to work in them are become changed and renewed in the Spirit of their minds past from death to Life and know Jesus arisen in them working both the will and the deed and so having put on the Lord Jesus Christ in effect are cloathed with him and partake of his Righteousness and Nature such
their Doctrine 158 159. concerning the possibility of not sinning 172 173. the possibility of falling from Grace 176. many of them did not only contradict one another but themselves also 211. concerning Baptism and the sign of the Cross 301. concern-in an Oath 372. Feet concerning the washing of one anothers feet 317 318 319. Franequer 222. Freely the Gospel ought to be preached freely 180 221 222. G Games see Playes Gifted Brethren 198. GOD how he hath alwaies manifested himself 3. unless he speak within the Preacher makes a rustling to no purpose 5 6. None can know him aright unless he receive it of the Holy Ghost 5 6 7. God is to be sought within 7. he is known by sensation and not by meer speculation and syllogistic demonstrations 6 7. he is the Fountain Root and Beginning of all good works and he hath made all things by his eternal Word 10. God speaking is the object of Faith 15. among all he hath his own chosen ones 5. he delights not in the death of the wicked see Redemption He hath manifested his love in sending his Son 132 149 150. see Justification he rewards the good works of his Children 157 158. whether it be possible to keep his Commandments 159 160. he is the Lord and the Only Judge of the Conscience 331 333. he will have a free exercise 339. Gospel see Redemption the truths of it are as lies in the mouths of profane and carnal men 12 23 24. the nature of it is explained 25 26. it is distinguished from the Law and is more excellent than it 26 42. see Covenant Law whether any ought to Preach it in this or that place is not found in Scripture 42 200. its works are distinguished from the works of the Law 152. how it is to be propagated and of its propagation 334. the worship of it is inward 289 290. it is an inward Power 107 108. Grace the Grace of God can be lost through disobedeince 174 c. Saving Grace see Redemption which is required in the calling and qualifying of a Minister see Minister In some it worketh in a special and prevalent manner that they necessarily obtain Salvation 96 97. Your Grace see Titles H Hai Ebn Yokdan 126. Hands laying on of Hands 199 327. Head of uncovering the head in salutations 350 352 361 362 363 364 365 388 389. Heart the heart is deceitful and wicked 45 59 60 61. Heathens albeit they were ignorant of the history yet they were sensible of the loss by the Fall 124. some Heathens would not swear 378. heathenish Ceremonies were brought into the Christian Religion 301. Henry IV. King of France 341. Heresies whence they proceeded 244. Hereticks 336. High see Priest History of Christ see Quakers Redemption Holy of Holys the High-priest entred into it once a year 14 15. but now all of us at all times have access unto God 27. Holiness your Holiness see Titles Honor see Titles Hypocrite 336 340. I Jacob 241. James the Apostle there were of old divers Opinions concerning his Epistle 40. Idolatry 232 245. whence it proceeded 277. Jesting see Plays Games Jesuits see Sect Ignatian Jesus see Christ what it is to be saved and to be assembled in his Name 119 120 132 238. Jews among them there may be Members of the Church 182 183. their error concerning the outward succession of Abraham 190. their worship is outward 290. Illiterate see Mechanicks Indulgences 130. Infants see Sin Iniquities spiritual iniquities or wickedness 244. Inquisition 340. Inspiration where that doth not teach words without do make a noise to no purpose 5 6. John the Apostle concerning his second and third Epistles and the Revelation there were sometime divers Opinions 40. John the Baptist did not Miracles 198. John Hus is said to have Prophecyed 57. John Knox in what respect he was called the Apostle of Scotland 217. Judas fell from his Apostleship 191. who was his Vicar 293. his Ministry was not purely Evangelical 205. he was called immediately of Christ and who are inferior to him and plead for him as Patron of their Ministry 205 206. Justification the doctrin thereof is and hath been greatly vitiate among the Papists and wherein they place it 129 149 131 132. Luther and the Protestants with good reason opposed this doctrin tho many of them ran soon into another extreme and wherein they place it and that they agree in one 131 132 136. it comes from the love of God 133 149 150. to justifie signifies to make really just not to repute just which many Protestants are forc'd also to acknowledg 135 136 141 142 to 147. the revelation of Christ formed in the heart is the formal cause of justification not works to speak properly which are only an effect and so also many Protestants have said 128 130 131 132 134 135 141 146 147 148 149. We are justified in works and how 128 135 136 149 to 160. this is so far from being a Popish doctrin that Bellarmin and others oppos'd it 129 135 156 157. K Kingdom of God 256 327 334. Knowledg the height of man's happiness is plac'd in the true knowledg of God 1. error in the entrance of this knowledg is dangerous 1 2 superstition Idolatry and thence Atheism hath proceeded from the false and feigned Opinions concerning God and the knowledg of him 3. the uncertain knowledg of God is divers waies attained but the true and certain only by the inward and immediate revelation of the Holy Spirit 3 4 5. it hath been brought out of use and by what devices 8 9. there is no knowledg of the Father but by the Son nor of the Son but by the Spirit 3 9 10 11 12. the knowledg of Christ which is not by the revelation of his Spirit in the heart is no more the knowledg of Christ than the pratling of a Parret which hath been taught a few words may be said to be the voice of a man 12 13. L Laicks 214 218 219. Laity 219 321. Lake of Bethsaida 94. Law the Law is distinguished from the Gospel 26 290. the difference thereof 26 167 168. see Gospel under the Law the people were not in any doubt who should be Priests and Ministers 188. see Minister of the Law Worship Learning what true learning is 205 206. Letter the letter killeth quickeneth not 168. Light the innate Light is explained by Cicero 125 126. Light of Nature the errors of the Socinians and Pelagians who exalt this Light are rejected 57 58 Saving Light see Redemption is Universal it is in all 83 84. it is a Spiritual and heavenly Principle 86 87. it is a Substance not an accident 88 89. it is Supernatural and Sufficient 104 107. it is the Gospel Preached in every creature 107 108. it is the Word nigh in the mouth and in the heart 109 110. it is the ingrafted Word able to save the Soul 114. testimonies of Augustin and Buchanan concerning this Light 127. it is not any part of
only rule to try his Doctrine by So neither will it follow that though he made use of the Scriptures to the Jews as being a principle already believed by them to try his Doctrine that from thence the Scriptures may be accounted the principal or only rule § IX The last and which at first view seems to be the greatest objection is this Obj. If the Scripture be not the adequate principal and only Rule then it would follow that the Scripture is not compleat nor the Canon filled that if men be now immediately led and ruled by the Spirit they may add new Scriptures of equal authority with the old whereas every one that adds it cursed yea what assurance have we but at this rate every one may bring in a new Gospel according to his fancy The dangerous consequences insinuated in this objection were fully answered in the latter part of the last Proposition in what was said a little before offering freely to disclaim all pretended Revelations contrary to the Scriptures But if it be urged that it is enough to deny these consequences Obj. if they naturally follow from your Doctrine of immediate Revelation and denying the Scripture to be the only rule I answer We have proved both these Doctrines to be true and necessary according to the Scriptures themselves and therefore to fasten evil consequences upon them which we make appear do not follow is not to accuse us but Christ and his Apostles who preached them But Secondly we have shut the door upon all such Doctrine in this very position affirming that the Scriptures give a full and ample Testimony to all the principal Doctrines of the Christian Faith For we do firmly believe that there is no other Gospel or Doctrine to be preached but that which was delivered by the Apostles and do freely subscribe to that saying Let him that preacheth any other Gospel than that which hath been already preached by the Apostles and according to the Scriptures be accursed So we distinguish betwixt a revelation of a new Gospel and new doctrines and a new Revelation of the good old Gospel and Doctrines the last we plead for but the first we utterly deny For we firmly believe that no other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid already But that this revelation is necessary we have already proved and this distinction doth sufficiently guard us against the hazard insinuated in the objection As to the Scriptures being a filled Canon I see no necessity of believing it And if these men that believe the Scripture to be the only Rule will be consistent to their own Doctrine they must needs be of my judgment Seeing it is simply impossible to prove the Canon by the Scriptures For it cannot be found in any book of the Scripture that these Books and just these and no other are Canonical as all are forced to acknowledg how can they then evite this argument That which cannot be proved by Scripture is no necessary article of Faith But the Canon of the Scripture to wit that there are so many Books precisely neither more or less cannot be proved by Scripture Therefore it is no necessary article of Faith If they should alledg Obj. that the admitting of any other books to be now written by the same Spirit might infer the admission of new doctrines I deny that consequence for the Principal of fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Religion are contained in the tenth part of the Scripture but it will not follow thence that the rest are impertinent or useless If it should please God to bring to us any of these Books which by the injury of time are lost which are mentioned in the Scripture as The Prophecy of Enoch the Book of Nathan c. or the third epistle of Paul to the Corinthians I see no reason why we might not receive them and place them with the rest That which displeaseth me is that men should first affirm that the Scripture is the only and principal rule and yet make a great article of Faith of that which the Scripture can give us no light in As for instance how shall a Protestant prove by Scripture to such as deny the Epistle of James to be authentick that it ought to be received First if he should say because it contradicts not the rest besides that there is no mention made of it in any of the rest perhaps these men think it doth contradict Paul in relation to Faith and Works But if that should be granted it would as well follow that every Writer that contradicts not the Scripture should be put into the Canon And by this means these men fall into a greater absurdity than they fix upon us for thus they would equal every one the writings of their own Sect with the Scriptures for I suppose they judg their own confession of Faith doth not contradict the Scriptures Will it therefore follow that it should be bound up with the Bible And yet it seems impossible according to their Principles to bring any better argument to prove the Epistle of James to be authentick There is then this unavoidable necessity to say We know it by the same Spirit from which it was written or otherwise to step back to Rome and say we know by Tradition that the Church hath declared it to be Canonical and the Church is infallible let them find amidst if they can so that out of this objection we shall draw an unanswerable Argument ad hominem to our purpose That which cannot assure me concerning an article of Faith necessary to be believed is not the primary adequate only rule of Faith But the Scripture cannot thus assure me Therefore c. I prove the assumption thus That which cannot assure me concerning the canon of the Scripture to wit that such Books are only to be admitted and the Apochrypha to be excluded cannot assure me of this Therefore c. And lastly As to these words Rev. 22.18 that if any man shall add unto these things Obj. God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book I desire they will shew me how it relates to anything else than to that particular Prophecy It saith not now the Canon of the Scripture is filled up no man is to write more from that Spirit Yea do not all confess that there have been Prophecies and true Prophets since The Papists deny it not And do not the Protestants affirm that John Hus prophecied of the Reformation was he therefore cursed or did he therein evil I could give many other examples confessed by themselves but moreover the same was in effect commanded long before Prov. 30.6 Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a Lyar. Yet how many books of the Prophets were written after and the same was said by Moses Deut. 4.2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it So that
and eschewed Evil Who taught Job this how knew Job Adam's fall And from what Scripture learned he that excellent knowledg he had and that Faith by which he knew his Redeemer lived For many make him as old as Moses was not this by an inward Grace in the heart was it not that inward Grace that taught Job to eschew evil and to fear God and was it not by the workings thereof that he became a just and upright man how doth he reprove the wickedness of men chap. 2.4 and after he hath numbred up their wickedness doth he not condemn them verse 13. for rebelling against this Light for not knowing the way thereof nor abiding in the paths thereof It appears then Job believed that men had a Light and that because they rebelled against it therefore they knew not its waies and abode not in its paths even as the Pharisees who had the Scriptures are said to err not knowing the Scriptures And also Job's Friends though in some things wrong yet who taught them all those excellent sayings and knowledg which they had Did not God give it them in order to save them or was it meerly to condemn them Who taught Elihu that the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth Vnderstanding that the Spirit of God made him and the Breath of the Almighty gave him Life And did not the Lord accept a Sacrifice for them And who dare say that they are damned But further the Apostle puts this controversie out of doubt for if we may believe his plain assertions he tells us Rom. 2. that the Heathens did the things contained in the Law From whence I thus argue In every nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousnss is accepted Arg. But many of the Heathens feared God and wrought Righteousness Therefore they were accepted The minor is proved from the example of Cornelius But I shall further prove it thus He that doth the things contained in the Law feareth God and worketh Righteousness But the Heathens did the things contained in the Law Therefore they feared God and wrought Righteousness Can there be any thing more clear For if to do the things contained in the Law be not to fear God and work Righteousness then what can be said to do so seeing the Apostle calls the Law Spiritual Holy Just and Good But this appears manifestly by another medium taken out of the same Chapter verse 13. So that nothing can be more clear The words are The doers of the Law shall be Justified From which I thus argue without adding any word of my own The doers of the Law shall be justified But the Gentiles do the things contained in the Law All that know but a conclusion do easily see what follows from these express words of the Apostle And indeed he through that whole chapter labours as if he were contending now with our Adversaries to confirm this Doctrine verse 9 10 11. Tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil to the Jew first and also to the Gentile For there is no respect of Persons with God Where the Apostle clearly homologats the sentence of Peter before mentioned and shews that Jew and Gentile or as he himself explains in the following verses both they that have an outward Law and they that have none when they do good shall be justified And to put us out of all doubt in the very following verses he tells that the doers of the Law are justified and that the Gentiles did the Law So that except we think he spake not what he intended we may safely conclude that such Gentiles were justified and did partake of that Honour Glory and Peace which comes upon every one that doth good Even the Gentiles that are without the Law when they work good seeing with God there is no respect of Persons so as we see that it is not the having the outward knowledg that doth save without the inward so neither doth the want of it to such to whom God hath made it impossible who have the inward bring condemnation And many that have wanted the outward have had a knowledg of this inwardly by virtue of that inward Grace and Light given to every man working in them by which they forsook iniquity and became Just and Holy as is above proved who though they knew not the History of Adam's fall yet were sensible in themselves of the loss that came by it feeling their incâ—inations to sin and the body of sin in them and though they knew not the coming of Christ yet were sensible of that inward Power and Salvation which came by him even before as well as since his appearance in the flesh For I question whether these men can prove that all the Patriarchs and Fathers before Moses had a distinct knowledg either of the one or the other or that they knew the History of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil and of Adam's eating the forbidden Fruit far less that Christ should be born of a Virgin should be Crucified and treated in the manner he was For it is justly to be believed that what Moses wrote of Adam and of the first times was not by Tradition but by Revelation yea we see that not only after the writing of Moses but even of David and all the Prophets who Prophecied so much of Christ how little the Jews that were expecting and wishing for the Messiah could thereby discern him when he came that they Crucified him as a Blasphemer not as a Messiah by mistaking the Prophecies concerning him for Peter saith expresly Acts 3.17 to the Jews that both they and their Rulers did it through Ignorance And Paul saith 1 Cor. 2.8 That had they known it they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory Yea Mary her self to whom the Angel had spoken and who had laid up all the miraculous things accompanying his Birth in her Heart she did not understand how when he disputed with the Doctors in the Temple that he was about his Fathers business And the Apostles that had believed him conversed daily with him and saw his Miracles could not understand neither believe those things which related to his Death Sufferings and Resurrection but were in a certain respect stumbled at them § XXVII So we see how that it is the inward work and not the outward History and Scripture that gives the true knowledg and by this inward Light many of the Heathen Philosophers where sensible of the loss received by Adam though they knew not the outward History Hence Plato asserted that man's Soul was faln into a dark cave where it only conversed with shadows Pythagoras saith Man wandereth in this world as a stranger banished from the presence of God And Plotinus compareth Man's Soul faln from God to a Cinder or dead Coal out of which the Fire is extinguished Some of them said that the wings of the Soul were clipped or faln off so that they could not flee unto God All which and
by some citations out of them hereafter to be mentioned will appear though this Doctrine hath not since the Apostacy so far as ever I could observe been so distinctly and evidently held forth according to the Scriptures Testimony as it hath pleased God to reveal it and preach it forth in this day by the witnesses of his Truth whom he hath raised to that end Which Doctrine though it be briefly held forth and comprehended in the Thesis it self yet I shall a little more fully explain the state of the Controversie as it stands betwixt us and those that now oppose us § III. First then as by the explanation of the former Thesis appears we renounce all natural power and ability in our selves in order to bring us out of our lost and faln condition and first Nature and confess that of our selves we are able to do nothing that is good so neither can we procure remission of sins or justification by any act of our own so as to merit it or draw it as a debt from God due unto us but we acknowledg all to be of and from his Love which is the original and fundamental cause of our acceptance Secondly God manifested this love towards us in the sending of his Beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ into the world who gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour and having made peace through the blood of his Cross that he might reconcile us unto himself and by the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto God and suffered for our sins the Just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God Thirdly then forasmuch as all men who have come to man's estate the Man Jesus only excepted have sinned therefore all have need of this Saviour to remove the Wrath of God from them due to their offences in this respect he is truly said to have born the Iniquities of us all in his Body on the Tree and therefore is the Only Mediator having qualified the Wrath of God towards us so that our former sins stand not in our way being by vertue of his most satisfactory Sacrifice removed and pardoned Neither do we think that remission of sins is to be expected sought or obtained any other way or by any works or Sacrifice whatsomever though as has been said formerly they may come to partake of this remission that are ignorant of the History So then Christ by his death and sufferings hath reconciled us to God even while we are Enemies that is he offers reconciliation unto us we are put into a capacity of being reconciled God is willing to forgive us our iniquities and to accept us as is well expressed by the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath put in us the Word of Reconciliation And therefore the Apostle in the next verses treats them in Christs stead to be reconciled to God intimating that the Wrath of God being removed by the obedience of Christ Jesus he is willing to be reconciled unto them and ready to remit the sins that are past if they repent We consider then our Redemption in a two fold respect or state both which in their own Nature are perfect though in their application to us the one is not nor cannot be without respect to the other The first is the Redemption performed and accomplished by Christ for us in his Crucified Body without us The other is the Redemption wrought by Christ in us which no less properly is called and accounted a Redemption than the former The first then is that whereby man as he stands in the fall is put into a capacity of Salvation and hath conveighed unto him a measure of that Power Vertue Spirit Life and Grace that was in Christ Jesus which as the free Gift of God is able to counter-ballance overcome and root out the Evil Seed wherewith we are naturally as in the fall leavened The second is that whereby we witness and know this pure and perfect Redemption in our selves purifying cleansing and redeeming us from the power of Corruption and bringing us into unity Favour and Friendship with God By the first of these two we that are lost in Adam plunged in the bitter and corrupt Seed unable of our selves to do any good thing but naturally joyned and united to evil forward and propense to all iniquity servants and slaves to the Power and Spirit of Darkness are notwithstanding all this so far reconciled to God by the death of his Son while Enemies that we are put into a capacity of Salvation having the glad tidings of the Gospel of peace offered unto us and God is reconciled unto us in Christ calls and invites us to himself in which respect we understand these Scriptures He stew the enmity in himself He loved us first seeing us in our blood he said unto us live he who did not sin his own self bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree and he died for our sins the just for the unjust By the second we witness this capacity brought into act whereby receiving and not resisting the purchase of his death to wit the Light Spirit and Grace of Christ revealed to us we witness and possess a real true and inward Redemption from the power and prevalency of sin and so come to be truly and really redeemed justified and made righteous and to a sensible union and friendship with God Thus he died for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and thus we know him and the Power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to us This last follows the first in order and is a consequence of it proceeding from it as an effect from its cause So as none could have enjoyed the last without the first had been such being the will of God so also can none now partake of the first but as he witnesseth the last Wherefore as to us they are both causes of our Justification The first the procuring efficient the other the formal cause Fourthly we understand not by this Justification by Christ barely the good works even as wrought by the Spirit of Christ for they as Protestants truly affirm are rather an effect of Justification than the cause of it But we understand the formation of Christ in us Christ born and brought forth in us from which good works as naturally proceed as Fruit from a Fruitful Tree It is this inward Birth in us bringing forth Righteousness and Holyness in us that doth Justâ—fie us which having removed and done away the contrary Nature and Spirit that did bear rule and bring condemnation now is in dominion over all in our hearts Those then that come to know Christ thus formed in them do enjoy him wholly and undivided who is The LORD our RIGHTEOVSNESS Jer. 23.6 This is to be cloathed with Christ and to have put
thus reconciled never sin or that when they so do they are still reconciled and their sins make not the least separation from God yea that they are justified in their sins From whence also would follow this abominable consequence that the good works and greatest sins of such are all alike in the sight of God seeing neither the one serves to justifie them nor the other to break their reconciliation which occasions great security and opens a door to every lewd practice Thirdly this would make void the whole practical Doctrine of the Gospel and make Faith it self needless for if Faith and Repentance and the other conditions called for throughout the Gospel be a qualification upon our part necessary to be performed then before this be performed by us we are either fully reconciled to God or but in a capacity of being reconciled to God he being ready to reconcile and justifie us as these conditions are performed which later if granted is according to the Truth we profess and if we are already perfectly reconciled and justified before these conditions are performed which conditions are of that Nature that they cannot be performed at one time but are to be done all ones Life-time then can they not be said to be absolutely needful which is contrary to the very express Testimony of Scripture which is acknowledged by all Christians For without Faith it is impossible to please God They that believe not are condemned already because they believe not in the Only begotten Son of God Except ye Repent ye cannot be Saved For if ye live after the Flesh ye shall dye And those that were converted I will remove your Candle-stick from you and unless you repent Should I mention all the Scriptures that positively and evidently prove this I might transcribe much of all the Doctrinal part of the Bible For since Christ said It is finished and did finish his work Sixteen Hundred Years ago and upwards if so he fully perfected Redemption then and did then actually reconcile every one that is to be saved not simply opening a door of mercy for them offering the Sacrifice of his Body by which they may obtain remission of their sins when they repent and communicating unto them a measure of his Grace by which they may see their sins and be able to repent but really make them to be reputed as just either before they believe as say the Antinomians or after they have assented to the Truth of the History of Christ or are sprinkled with the Baptism of Water while nevertheless they are actually unjust so that no part of their Redemption is to be wrought by him now as to their reconciliation and justification then the whole Doctrinal part of the Bible is useless and of no profit in vain were the Apostles sent forth to preach Repentance and Remission of sins and in vain do all the Preachers bestow their labour spend their Lungs and give forth Writings yea much more in vain do the People spend their money which they give them for preaching seeing it is all but actum agere but a vain and uneffectual essay to do that which is already perfectly done without them But lastly to pretermit their humane labours as not worth the disputing whether they be needful or not since as we shall hereafter shew themselves confess the best of them is sinful this also makes void the present intercession of Christ for men What shall become of that great Article of Faith by which we affirm that he sits at the Right Hand of God daily making intercession for us and for which end the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered For Christ maketh not intercession for those that are not in a possibility of Salvation that is absurd Our Adversaries will not admit that he prayed for the World at all And to pray for those that are already reconciled and perfectly justified is to no purpose to pray for remission of sins is yet more needless if all be remitted past present and to come Indeed there is not any solid solving of this but by acknowledging according to the Truth that Christ by his death removed the Wrath of God so far as to obtain remission of sins for as many as receive that Grace and Light that he communicates unto them and hath purchased for them by his Blood which as they believe in they come to know remission of sins past and power to save them from sin and to wipe it away so often as they may fall into it by unwatchfulness or weakness if applying themselves to this Grace they truly repent for to as many as receive him he gives power to become the Sons of God So none are Sons none are Justified none Reconciled until they thus receive him in that little Seed in their hearts And Life Eternal is offered to those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek Glory Honour and Immortality For if the Righteous man depart from his Righteousness his Righteousness shall be remembred no more And therefore on the other part none are longer Sons of God and Justified than they patiently continue in righteousness and well doing And therefore Christ lives always making intercession during the day of every man's visitation that they may be converted and when men are in some measure converted he makes intercession that they may continue and go on and not faint nor go back again Much more might be said to confirm this Truth but I go on to take notice of the common objections against it which are the Arguments made use of to propogate the Errors contrary to it § VI. The first and chief is drawn from that saying of the Apostle before mentioned 2 Cor. 5.18 19. God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them From hence they seek to infer that Christ fully perfected the work of reconciliation while he was on Earth Obj. I answer Answ. If by Reconciliation be understood the removing of wrath and the purchase of that Grace by which we may come to be reconciled we agree to it but that that place speaks no more appears from the place it self for when the Apostle speaks in the perfect time saying He hath reconciled us he speaks of himself and the Saints who having received the Grace of God purchased by Christ were through Faith in him actually reconciled But as to the World he saith Reconciling not Reconciled which reconciling though it denotes a time somewhat past yet it is by the imperfect time denoting that the thing begun was not perfected For this work Christ began towards all in the days of his Flesh yea and long before for he was the Mediator from the beginning and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World But in his Flesh after he had perfectly fulfilled the Law and the Righteousness thereof and rent the vail and made way
called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified This is commonly called the golden chain as being acknowledged to comprehend the method and order of Salvation And therefore if justified were not understood here in its proper signification of being made just sanctification would be excluded out of this chain And truly it is very worthy of observation that the Apostle in this succinct and compendious account makes the word justified to comprehend all betwixt calling and glorifying thereby clearly insinuating that the being really righteous is that only medium by which from our calling we pass to glorification All for the most part do acknowledg the word to be so taken in this place and not only so but most of those who oppose are forced to acknowledg that as this is the most proper so the most common signification of it thus divers famous Protestants do acknowledg We are not saith D. Chamierus such impertinent esteemers of words as to be ignorant nor yet such importunat Sophists as to deny that the words of Justification and Sanctification do infer one another ye we know that the Saints are chiefly for this reason so called because that in Christ they have received remission of sins and we read in the Revelation Let him that is just be just still which cannot be understood except of the fruit of inherent righteousness Nor do we deny but perhaps in other places they may be promiscuously taken especially by the Fathers I take saith Beza the name of Justification largely so as it comprehends whatsoever we acquire from Christ as well by imputation as by the efficacy of the Spirit in sanctifying us So likewise is the word of Justification taken Rom. 8.30 Melancthon saith that to be justified by Faith signifies in Scripture not only to be pronounced just but also of unrighteous to be made righteous Also some chief Protestants though not so clearly yet in part hinted at our Doctrin whereby we ascribe unto the Death of Christ remission of Sins and the work of Justification unto the Grace of the Spirit acquired by his Death Martinus Boraeus explaining that place of the Apostle Rom. 4.25 Who was given for our sins and rose again for our justification saith There are two things beheld in Christ which are necessary to our justification the one is his death the other is his arising from the dead By his death the sins of this world behoved to be expiated By his rising from the dead it pleased the same goodness of God to give the Holy Spirit whereby both the Gospel is believed and the Righteousness lost by the fault of the first Adam is restored And afterwards he saith The Apostle expresseth both parts in these words Who was given for our sins c. In his Death is beheld the satisfaction for sin in his Resurrection the gift of the Holy Spirit by which our Justification is perfected And again the same man saith elsewhere Both these kinds of Righteousness are therefore contained in Justification neither can the one be separate from the other So that in the definition of Justification the merit of the blood of Christ is included both with the remission of sins and with the gift of the Holy Spirit of Justification and Regeneration Martinus Bucerus saith Seeing by one sin of Adam the world was lost the Grace of Christ hath not only abolished that one sin and death which came by it but hath together taken away those infinite sins and also led into full justification as many as are of Christ so that God now not only remits unto them Adam 's sin and their own but also gives them therewith the Spirit of a solid and perfect Righteousness which renders us conform unto the Image of the First begotten And upon these words by Jesus Christ he saith We alwaies judg that the whole benefit of Christ tends to this that we might be strong through the gift of Righteousness being rightly and orderly ordained with all vertue that is restored to the Image of God And lastly William Forbes our Countrey man Bishop of Edinburgh saith Whensoever the Scripture makes mention of the Justification before God as speaketh Paul and from him besides others Augustin it appears that the word justify necessarily signifies not only to pronounce just in a Law sense but also really and inherently to make just because that God doth other waies justifie a wicked man than earthly Judges For he when he justifies a wicked or unjust man doth indeed pronounce him as these also do but by pronouncing him just because his judgment is according to Truth he also makes him really of unjust to become just And again the same man upon the same occasion answering the more rigid Protestants who say that God first justifies and then makes just he adds But let them have a care least by too great and empty subtilty unknown both to the Scripture and the Fathers they lessen and diminish the weight and dignity of so great and divine a benefit so much celebrated in the Scripture to wit justification of the wicked For if to the formal reason of justification of the ungodly doth not at all belong his justification so to speak i. e. his being made righteous then in the Justification of a sinner although he be Justifyed yet the stain of sin is not taken away but remains the same in his Soul as before Justification And so dotwithstanding the benefit of Justification he remains as before unjust and a sinner and nothing is taken away but the guilt and obligation to pain and the offence and enmity of God through non imputation But both the Scriptures and Fathers do affirm that in the Justification of a sinner their sins are not only remitted forgiven covered not imputed but also taken away blotted out cleansed washed purged and very far removed from us as appears from many places of the Holy Scriptures The same Forbes shews us at length in the following chapter that this was the confessed judgment of the Fathers out of the writings of those who hold the contrary opinion some whereof out of him I shall note as first Calvin saith that the judgment of Austin or at least his manner of speaking is not throughout to be received who although he took from man all praise of righteousness and ascribed all to the Grace of God yet he refers Grace to Sanctification by which we are regenerate through the Spirit unto newness of life Chemnitius saith that they do not deny but that the Fathers take the word justifie for renewing by which works of righteousness are wrought in us by the Spirit And pag. 130. I am not ignorant that the Fathers indeed often use the word justifie in this signification to wit of making just Zanchius saith that the Fathers and chiefly Austin interpret the word justifie according to this signification to wit of making just so that according to them to he justified
is ascribed and imputed to Believers for Righteousness the merit of his Blood and the Holy Ghost given unto us by Vertue of his merits are equally included And so it shall be confessed that Christ is our Righteousness as well from his Merit Satisfaction and Remission of sins obtained by him as from the gifts of the Spirit of Righteousness And if we do this we shall consider whole Christ proposed to us for our Salvation and not any single part of him The same man pag. 169. In our Justification then Christ is considered who breaths and lives in us to wit by his Spirit put on by us concerning which putting on the Apostle saith Ye have put on Christ. And again pag. 171. We endeavour to treat in Justification not of part of Christ but him wholly in so far as he is our Righteousness every way And a little after as then blessed Paul in our Justification when he saith whom he Justified them he Glorified comprehends all things which pertains to our being reconciled to God the Father and our renewing which fits us for attaining unto glory such as Faith Righteousness Christ and the Gift of Righteousness exhibited by him whereby we are regenerated to the fulfilling of the Justification which the Law requires so we also will have all things comprehended in this cause which are contained in the recovery of Righteousness and Innocency And pag. 181. The form saith he of our Justification is the Divine Righteousness it self by which we are formed just and good This is Jesus Christ who is esteem'd our Righteousness partly from the forgiveness of sins and partly from the renewing and the restoring of that integrity which was lost by the fault of the first Adam so that his New and Heavenly Adam being put on by us of which the Apostle saith Ye have put on Christ ye have put him on I say as the form so the Righteousness Wisdom and Life of God So also affirmeth Claudius Alberius Inuncanus see his Orat. Apodeict Lausaniae excus 1587. orat 2. pag. 86 87. Zuinglius also in his Epistle to the Princes of Germany as cited by Himelius c. 7. p. 60. saith That the Sanctification of the Spirit is true Justification which alone suffices to Justifie Essius upon 1 Cor. 6.11 saith Lest Christian Righteousness should be thought to consist in the washing alone that is in the remission of sins he addeth the other degree or part but ye are sanctified that is ye have attain'd to purity so that ye are now truly Holy before God Lastly expressing the sum of the benefit received in one word which includes both the parts But ye are Justified the Apostle adds in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ that is by his merits and in the Spirit of our God that is the Holy Spirit proceeding from God and communicated to us by Christ. And lastly Richard Baxter a Famous English Preacher who yet liveth in his Book called Aphorisms of Justification pag. 80. saith that some ignorant wretches gnash their Teeths at this Doctrine as if it were flat Popery not understanding the Nature of the Righteousness of the New Covenant which is all out of Christ in our selves though wrought by the Power of the Spirit of Christ in us § IX The third thing proposed to be considered is concerning good Works their necessity to Justification I suppose there is enough said before to clear us from any imputation of being Popish in this matter But if it be queried Whether we have not said or will not affirm that a man is justified by Works Quest. I answer I hope none need neither ought to take offence if in this matter we use the plain Language of the Holy Scripture Answ. which saith expresly in answer hereunto Jam. 2.24 Ye see then how that by works a man is Justified and not by Faith only I shall not offer to prove the Truth of this saying since what is said in this Chapter by the Apostle is sufficient to convince any man that will read and believe it I shall only from this derive this one argument If no man can be Justified without Faith and no Faith be living nor yet available to Justification without works then works are necessary to Justification But the First is true Therefore also the Last For this Truth is so apparent and evident in the Scriptures that for the proof of it we might transcribe most of the precepts of the Gospel I shall instance a few which of themselves do so clearly assert the thing in question that they need no commentary nor further demonstration And then I shall answer the objections made against this which indeed are the arguments used for the contrary opinion Heb. 12.14 Without Holyness no man shall see God Matth. 7.21 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 Joh. 13.7 If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them 1 Cor. 7.19 Circumcision is nothing and Vncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and through the Gates may enter into the City and many more that might be instanced from all which I thus argue If those only can enter into the Kingdom that do the will of the Father If those be accounted only the wise builders and happy Arg. that do the sayings of Christ if no observation avail but only the keeping of the Commandments and if they be blessed that do the Commandments and thereby have right to the Tree of Life and entrance through the gate into the City then works are absolutely necessary to Salvation and Justification But the First is true And therefore also the Last The consequence of the antecedent is so clear and evident that I think no man of sound reason will call for a proof of it Obj. § X. But they object that works are not necessary to Justification First because of that saying of Christ Luk. 17.10 When ye shall have done all these things that are commanded you say We are unprofitable Servants c. Answ. Answer as to God we are indeed unprofitable for he needeth nothing neither can we add any thing unto him but as to our selves we are not unprofitable else it might be said that it is not profitable for a man to keep God's Commandments which is most absurd and would contradict Christ's Doctrine throughout Doth not Christ Matth. 5. through all those beatitudes pronounce men blessed for their Purity for their Meekness for their Peaceableness c. And is it not then that for which Christ pronounceth men blessed profitable unto them Moreover Matth. 25.21 23. doth not Christ pronounce the men good and faithful Servants that improved their Talents Was not their doing of that then profitable unto them and verse 30. It is said of him
that hid his Talent and did not improve it Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into utter darkness If then their not improving of the Talent made the man unprofitable and he was therefore cast into utter darkness it will follow by the Rule of Contraries so far at least that the improving made the other profitable seeing if our Adversaries will allow us to believe Christ's Words this is made a reason and so at left a cause instrumental of their acceptance Well done good and faithful Servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Obj. Secondly they object those sayings of the Apostle where he excludes the deeds of the Law from Justification as first Rom. 3.20 because by the deeds of the Law there shall be no flesh justified in his sight And ver 28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law Answ. Answ. We have shewn already what place we give to works even to the best of works in justification and how we ascribe its immediate and formal cause to the worker brought forth in us but not to the works But in answer to this objection I say there is a great difference betwixt the works of the Law and those of Grace or of the Gospel The first are excluded the second not but are necessary The first are those which are performed in man's own will and by his strength in a conformity to the outward Law and Letter and therefore are men's own imperfect works or works of the Law which makes nothing perfect And to this belong all the Ceremonies Purifications Washings and Traditions of the Jews The second are the works of the Spirit of Grace wrought in the Heart wrought in conformity to the Inward and Spiritual Law which works are not wrought in man's will nor by his power and ability but in and by the Power and Spirit of Christ in us and therefore are pure and perfect in their kind as shall hereafter be proved and may be called Christ's works for that he is the immediate author and worker of them Such works we affirm absolutely necessary to justification so that a man cannot be justified without them and all faith without them is dead and useless as the Apostle James saith Now that such a distinction is to be admitted and that the works excluded by the Apostle in the matter of Justification are of the first kind will appear if we consider the occasion of the Apostle mentioning this as well here as throughout in his Epistle to the Galatians where he speaks of this matter and to this purpose at large which was this That whereas many of the Gentiles that were not of the Race nor Seed of Abraham as concerning the Flesh were come to be converted to the Christian Faith and believe in him some of those that were of the Jewish Proselites thought to subject the faithful and believing Gentiles to the legal Ceremonies and Observations as necessary to their Justification This gave the Apostle Paul occasion at length in his Epistle to the Romans Galatians and elsewhere to shew the use and tendency of the Law and of its works and to contradistinguish them from the Faith of Christ and Righteousness thereof shewing how the former was ceased and become ineffectual the other remaining and yet necessary And that the works excluded by the Apostle are of this kind of works of the Law appears by the whole strain of his Epistle to the Galatians chap. 1 2 3 and 4. for after in the 4 chapter he upbraideth them for their returning unto the observation of daies and times and that in the beginning of the 5 chapter he sheweth them their folly and the evil consequence of adhering to the Ceremonies of Circumcision then he adds v. 6. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision availeth but Faith which worketh by love and thus he concludes again chap. 6. v. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth nor Vncircumcision but a new Creature From which places appeareth that distinction of works aforementioned whereof the one is excluded the other necessary to Justification For the Apostle sheweth here that Circumcision which word is often used to comprehend the whole Ceremonies and legal Performances of the Jews is not necessary nor doth avail Here are then the works which are excluded by which no man is justified but Faith which worketh by love but the new Creature this is that which availeth which is absolutely necessary for Faith that worketh by love cannot be without works for as is said in the same 5 chapter v. 22. Love is a work of the Spirit Also the New Creature if it avail and be necessary cannot be without works seeing it is natural for it to bring forth works of Righteousness Again that the Apostle no waies intends to exclude such good works appears in that in the same Epistle he exhorts the Galatians to them and holds forth the usefulness and necessity of them and that very plainly c. 6. v. 7 8 9. Be not deceived saith he God is not mocked for what soever man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth in the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting And let us not be weary of well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Doth it not hereby appear how necessary the Apostle would have the Galatians know that he esteemed good works to be to wit not the outward testimony and tradition of the Law but the fruits of the Spirit mentioned a little before by which Spirit he would have them to be led and walk in those good works As also how much he ascribed to these good works by which he affirms Life Everlasting is reaped Now that cannot be useless to man's Justification which capaciates him to reap so rich a harvest But lastly for a full answer to this objection and for the establishing of this Doctrin of good works I shall instance another saying of the same Apostle Paul which our adversaries also in the blindness of their minds make use of against us to wit Tit. 3.5 Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost It is generally granted by all that saved is here all one as if it had been said justified Now there are two kinds of works here mentioned one by which we are not saved that is not justified and another by which we are saved or justified The first the works of Righteousness which we have wrought that is which we in our first faln nature by our own strength have wrought our own legal performances and therefore may truly and properly be called ours whatever specious appearances they may seem to have And that it must needs
Water-baptism Thirdly that Baptism which Christ commanded his Apostles was such that as many as were therewith Baptized Arg. did put on Christ. But this is not true of Water-baptism Therefore c. Fourthly the Baptism commanded by Christ to his Apostles was not John's Baptism But Baptism with Water was John's Baptism Therefore c. But first they alledg that Christ's Baptism though a Baptism with Water did differ from John 's because John only Baptized with Water unto Repentance but Christ commands his Disciples to Baptize in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost reckoning that in this form there lieth a great difference betwixt the Baptism of John and that of Christ. I answer as to that John's Baptism was unto Repentance Answ. the difference lieth not there because so is Christ's also for our adversaries will not deny but that adult persons that are baptized ought ere they be admitted to it to repent and confess their sins yea and that Infants with a respect to and consideration of their Baptism ought to repent and confess So that the difference lieth not here since this of repentance and confession agrees as well to Christ's as to John's Baptism But in this our Adversaries are divided for Calvin will have Christ's and John's to be all one Inst. lib. 4. cap. 15. Sect. 7 8. Yet they do differ and the difference is in that the one is by water the other not c. Secondly as to what Christ saith in commanding them to baptize in the Name of the Father Son and Spirit I confess that states the difference and it is great but that lies not only in admitting water-baptism in this different form by a bare expressing of these words for as the Text saith no such thing neither do I see how it can be inferred from it For the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is into the Name now the Name of the Lord is often taken in Scripture for something else than a bare sound of words or literal expression even forhis Vertue and Power as may appear from Psal. 54.3 Cant. 1.3 Prov. 18.10 and in many more Now that the Apostles were by their Ministry to baptize the Nations into this Name Vertue and Power and that they did so is evident by these Testimonies of Paul above-mentioned where he saith that as many of them as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ this must have been a baptizing into the Name i. e. Power and Vertue and not a meer formal expression of words adjoyned with Water-baptism because as hath been above observed it doth not follow as a natural or necessary consequence of it I would have those who desire to have their Faith built upon no other foundation than the Testimony of God's Spirit and Scriptures of Truth throughly to consider whether there can be any thing further alledged for this interpretation than what the prejudice of Education and Influence of Tradition hath imposed perhaps it may stumble the unwary and inconsiderate Reader as if the very Character of Christianity were abolished to tell him plainly that this Scripture is not to be understood of Baptizing with Water and that this form of Baptizing in the Name of Father Son and Spirit hath no warrant from Matth. 28. c. For which besides the reason taken from the signification of the Name as being the Vertue and Power above expressed let it be considered that if it had been a form prescribed by Christ to his Apostles then surely they would have made use of that form in the administring of Water-baptism to such as they baptized with Water but though particular mention be made in divers places of the Acts who were baptized and how and though it be particularly expressed that they baptized such and such as Acts 2.41.8.12 13 38.9.18.10.48.16.15.18.8 yet there is not a word of this form and in two places Acts 8.16.19.5 it is said of some that they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus by which it yet more appears that either the author of this History hath been very defective who having so often occasion to mention this yet omiteth so substantial a part of Baptism which were to accuse the Holy Ghost by whose guidance Luke wrote it or else that the Apostle did no waies understand that Christ by his Commission Matth. 28. did injoyn them such a form of Water-baptism seeing they did not use it and therefore it is safer to conclude that what they did in administring Water-baptism they did not by vertue of that commission else they would have so used it for our adversaries I suppose would judge it a great Heresie to administer Water-baptism without that or only in the Name of Jesus without mention of Father or Spirit as it is expresly said they did in the two places above cited Secondly they say if this were not understood of Water-baptism it would be a tautology and all one with teaching I say nay baptizing with the Spirit is somewhat further then teaching or informing the understanding for it imports a reaching to and melting the heart whereby it is turned as well as the understanding informed besides we find often in the Scripture that teaching and instructing are put together without any absurdity or needless tautology and yet these two have a greater affinity than teaching and baptizing with the Spirit Thirdly they say Baptism in this place must be understood with Water because it is the action of the Apostles Obj. and so cannot be the Baptism of the Spirit which is the work of Christ and his Grace not of man c. I answer Baptism with the Spirit though not wrought without Christ and his Grace is instrumentally done by men fitted of God Answ. for that purpose and therefore no absurdity follows that Baptism with the Spirit should be expressed as the action of the Apostles for though it be Christ by his Grace that gives Spiritual Gifts yet the Apostle Rom. 1.11 speaks of his imparting to them Spiritual Gifts and he tells the Corinthians that he had begotten them through the Gospel 1 Cor. 4.15 and yet to beget people to the Faith is the work of Christ and his Grace not of men to convert the heart is properly the work of Christ and yet the Scripture often times ascribes it to men as being the instruments And since Paul's commission was to turn People from Darkness to Light though that be not done without Christ co-operating by his Grace so may also baptizing with the Spirit be expressed as performable by man as the instrument though the work of Christ's Grace be needful to concur thereunto so that it is no absurdity to say that the Apostles did administer the Baptism of the Spirit Lastly they say that since Christ saith here that he will be with his Disciples to the end of the world therefore Water-baptism must continue so long Answ. If he had been speaking here of Water-baptism then that might have been urged