A Brief and PLAIN APOLOGY Written By JOHN WHEELWRIGHT Wherein he doth vindicate himself From al those Errors Heresies and Flagitious Crimes layed to his charge by Mr. Thomas Weld in his short story And further Fastened upon him by Mr. Samuel Rutherford in his Survey of Antinomianisme Wherein Free Grace is Maintained in three Propositions and Four Thesis VIZ. Prop. 1. That the Faith of Gods Elect whereby they do believe on Christ is not grounded upon a conditional Promise made to gracious qualifications previous to Faith Prop. 2. That the first evidence of our Justification is not any work of Sanctification Prop. 3. That an act of Faith which is grounded upon gracious Qualifications previous to Vnion and Works as first evidences is legal Thes 1. That Assurance of Justfication from Works of Sanctification is not our Assurance of Faith Thes 2. That Justification goes in order before our Beleeving Thes 3. That the Faith of Gods Elect whereby they do beleeve on Christ is grounded upon a free simple absolute promise of Grace Thes 4. That all Promises proper and peculiar to the Gospel are absolute He that is first in his own cause seemeth just but his neighbor commeth and Searcheth him Prov. 18.17 The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4.18 LONDON Printed by Edward Cole Printer and Book-seller at the Sign of the Printing-Press in Cornhil near the Royal Exchang 1658. To the Christian Reader IF that old Maxime of Jeroms be true In suspicione haereseas nolo quanquam esse patientem surely there is no reason I should suffer what is written against me by Mr. Thomas Weld and Mr. Samuel Rutherford without any reply The Montanists Priscilianists Gnoâ—ticks Borboritae Caenosy that dirty sect Thomas Munsterus Joâ—annes Leidensis Kniperdolingus have not many more marks of infamy and reproach drawn upon them then these my adversaries have imprinted upon me They bring me upon the Stage present me unto the worlds view Stigmatize me for an Arch-Familist Antinomian Liâ—ertine seducer lay me under the guilt of Contempt of Authority and â—edition relate me to an hundred and eleven errors nine unsavoury speeâ—â—s make al the heresies and enormous crimes in the Country to center â—â—â—e My conscience doth acquit me with such cleer evidence against al â—â—â—se horrible accusations that I could willingly pass by al in silence were 〈◊〉 not true which Augustine saith qui fidens conscientiae suae negligit faâ—â—â—m suam crudelis est I am no stoick but very sensible of al indigniâ—â—â—s and injuries put upon me yet should I not in this case have opened 〈◊〉 mouth did not the Loud and strong cal of Mr. Weld and Mr. â—utherford constrain me to publish my Defence Should I consent by â—â—â—ful silence to what they charge upon me not only to the great dishonor of 〈◊〉 self Ministry and my relations here upon earth but of my Lord and Master in heaven Christ Jesus I should grievously sin against the Law 〈◊〉 God Nature and Grace The best way to cleere up things is to follow that rule of Aristotles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The truth I not only evidence it self but discover falshod Veniat veritas ut posfalsitas deâ—â—ehendi John Wheelwright Free Grace maintained c. THE chief Cause of all my sufferings in New England so far as I know was certain Doctrine with its Application which I delivered in the Church of Boston concerning the grounds of a special Faith the substance whereof is contained in these three following Propositions which I shall confirm PROPOSITION I. That the Faith of Gods Elect whereby they do believe on Christ is not grounded upon a conditional Promise made to gracious qualifications previous to Faith 1. First There are no such gracious qualifications precedent to union for then should that which is born of the flesh be Spirit a man dead in trespasses and sins put forth acts of spiritual life an evil tree bring forth good fruit an enemy to God do his Will a person without union do something he must act graciously who hath no formal principles of such acts then may a man please God without Faith and qualifie himself by sin 2. The setting up of antecedent gracious qualifications as a ground of our Faith is quiet opposite to the clear revelation of Gods free grace and the ministration of his power in our conversion and the Lord walks in a contrary way towards his Elect. He cryes down all flesh all power in our selves to act graciously that the glory of his power may be revealed Isa 40. He puts out the light of seeming gracious qualifications and cals us out of darkness making us sensible of the palpable darkness of sin and misery wherein we are inthraled that the light of his grace and mercy in Christ may appear unto us as it is in it self marvellous 1 Pet. 2.9 The almighty power of God the marvellous grace and mercy of God towards us in Christ could never be so apprehended of us in our effectual call did we look at our selves as precedently gracious 3. They who ground their Faith upon these gracious qualifications can never be at any certainty By what light do such being in the state of nature discern that they are rightly qualified having performed as they call it the Condition of Faith It is not the light of the Spirit Faith and Word 4. They who are of this judgement build their Faith upon an imaginary foundation a Work and a Word The Work is done out of Christ the Word is a supposed promise made to this Work unto which the free promise of Grace hath no respect Object 1. The Lord invites such as thirst and are gracciously qualified to come unto him Answ If it be meant of Evangelical thirsting it presupposeth union and a formall principle of life dead men thirst-not They are not called upon firstly to believe but to renew Faiths act Neither is it their grace but their want of grace which is used as an Argument to perswade them to come Object 2. By gracious qualifications and preparations for Christ is not meant qualifications formally gracious but only such as effect or have relation to true Grace which doth necessarily follow them Answ It is acknowledged that some Writers thus express themselves They raise up these qualifications to a very great height and assert that they are proper to Gods Elect not to be found in any reprobate calling them the Condition of Faith and that the Soul thus prepared sees that the promise belongs unto her yet deny that they are works of Sanctification I cannot see but they who affirm that they are works distinguishing between Elect and Reprobates and Arguments that the promise belongs unto them and yet will not have them to flow from a formal principle of saving Grace do imply a contradiction Whether these qualifications and preparations for Christ be denominated gracious formally efficiently or relatively in order to true
Grace it cannot be shewed out of Gods Word That any promise runs thus If you be thus or thus prepared for Christ then he belongs unto you ye have performed the condition and the benefit conditioned is yours I do acknowledge that the formal object of an efficacious Call are Elect persons prepared by the Law being sick lost dead sinners to their own apprehensions to the end that sin may abound and grace abound and that to their sense and feeling Rom 5.20 But there ate no preparations wrought either by Law or Gospel which so qualifie the Soul as a man may conclude from thence That God cals with a purpose to save Mr. Culverwel in his Treatise of Faith much bewailes the cordition of such who build their Faith upon the change of their lives affirming That they can never have sound and stedfast Faith but an unconstant and staggering opinion at the best This grounding of Faith upon gracious qualifications before union is much oppugned by Mr. Coltan in his New Covenant and by Mr. Norton in his Orth. Evang. Surely this is a doctrine which hath too much affinity with that of the Jesuites and Arminians who imagine that God makes a promise that he will give super-natural Grace to men upon condition they will use well their common grace PROPOSITION II. That the first evidence of our Justification is not any work of Sanctification 1. All good works are to be done in Faith Heb. 11.4 Rom. 14.23 Heb. 11.8 We must as â—â—rsinus saith be perswaded that both our persons and our actions are accepted in and through Christ If this perswasion be the cause of good Works there must be a ground of this perswasion precedent to our Works Good Works are the effects of a former evidence therefore not our first evidences 2. All Moral Duties are comprehended under this general Precept of Love by which Faith works Gal. 5.6 as being either the elicite or imperate acts of Love but we cannot truly love God or our neighbor before we know and believe the love that God hath to us 1 Joh. 4.16 17 18 19 20 21. Who is righteous saith Bernard but he that requiteth the love of God with love again Which is never done except the Holy Ghost reveal unto a man by Faith Gods eternal purpose concerning his future Salvation Epist 107. If all our acts of evangelical love flow from the apprehension of Gods love to us they caÌ„not be procreant causes of this apprehension nor our first evidences 3. All that the Gospel requires of us is to believe and repent We cannot evangelically repent before we perceive in some measure that God is reconciled unto us in Christ Zach. 12.10 Ezek. 16.63 Wherefore it is not our repentance nor any work of Sanctification which is our first evidence A man cannot earnestly apply himself to Repentance unless he know himself to be of God Cato Inot 3.3.2 4. All Works of Sanctification are so many acts of gratitude which hath ever relation to some former known benefit and especially our Redemption through Christ 1 Cor. 6.20 This benefit must be known by some Argument precedent to our works Therefore Sanctification is not our first evidence ursinus makes Gratitude the third part of his Catechism and placeth it after mans misery and freedom through Christ 5. All good works must be done in the name of Christ our Mediator Col. 3.17 in obedience to God our Father Then are we to know Christ to be our Mediator and God our Father and so by consequence our justification by some Argument antecedaneous to our works 6. The appearing of Gods grace which brings Salvation and of the kindness and love of God our Saviour justifying of us by his grace is the cause of all our good works Tit. 2 3. If the appearing of Justification and Salvation to the eye of Faith be the cause of all our Sanctification then is not Sanctification our first evidence 7. All good works from the first to the last are to be done without a servil fear Luk. 1.74 This sear is never removed but by a precedent sight of our deliverance from our spiritual enemies wherefore our Redemption and Justification is made known unto us by some other means which goes in order before all works of Sanctification 8. To begin to evidence a good estate from works is opposite to the method prescribed by the Apostle Peter He did write to Christians who knew and believed their justification for believing they rejoyced in joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 He exhorts them to add unto their Faith Vertue c. 2. Pet. 1.5 This Faith was existent out of its causes not to be grounded upon works but only confirmed by them He doth not say Add unto your works faith of assurance but add unto your faith works Therefore this Faith of assurance is not founded upon sanctification as a first evidence 9. We have two distinct witnesses of our good estate which in order do precede our sanctification 1 Our inward call of the spirit 2 Our act of believing on the Son of God The spirits inward call accompanying the outward begets this act of Faith 1 Joh 5.10 1 Thess 1.5 This act of Faith brings forth works of Sanctification Gal. 5.6 Sanctification is in order the last of the three witnesses of a good estate as being the effect of the two former wherefore it is not our first evidence Hoc est initium salutis nostrae quod in nobis sentimus efficax interna vocatio Dei fides nostra assentiens Zanchie De Certâ salute Ecclesiae Mr. Calvin with other learned and godly Divines living in that age wherein the light of the Gospel did abundantly break forth defined justifying Faith not only by an act of the Will whereby we receive Christ and his benefits but also by an act of the Mind by which we are certainly perswaded of Gods love to us in Christ and he doth constantly deny sanctification to be our first evidence and in his Commentaries upon Peter and John calls Works after-proofs Faiths props Both he and Zanchie do acknowledge with all sound Divines and the whole Church that good works evidence but with this caution There must be a former evidence Mr. Calvin thus expresseth himself But forasmuch as of the fruits of Regeneration the Saints gather an Argument of the Holy Ghosts dwelling in them they do thereby not slenderly strengthen themselves to look for the help of God in their necessities when by experience they find him their Father in so great a matter And even this also they cannot do unless first they have conceived the goodness of God sealed with no other assuredness than that of the promise for if they begin to weigh it by good works nothing shall be more uncertain or more weak Inst 3.14.19 Zanchie doth declare his judgement in the same expressions Loco 11. De Justificatione Calvin upon this text 1 Joh. 3.19 And hereby we know that we are of
Mr. VVhelewright upon the Fast-day which they do here present to the Honored Court and the Churches of Christ planted amongst us to be considered of desiring Grace Truth and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ In this Accusation I am charged to have delivered these Four Points I. That Faith and Repentance are no parts of the Doctrine of the Gospel II. That to evidence Justification by Sanctification is a covenant of Works III. That they who see in themselves any Sanctification and thence conclude a good estate shall never be saved IV. They who hold not according to this Doctrine are Antichrists enemies to Christ and under a covenant of Works VVhether my Brethren the Elders dealt regularly and justly with me either for the Manner or Matter of this Accusation I shal now make it appear As for the Manner I shal not much insist upon it but the truth is They accuse me to the Court secretly In the Preface to their Charge after many bitter invectives ranking me amongst the instruments of Satan acted by him to put down the Kingdom of Christ upon earth because I could not do it in heaven c. It is pretended by them That they do not write so much to aggravate my fault in the eye of Authority as to convince me in my Conscience and to bring me to Repentance yet al this while they conceal it from me neither did I ever come to know of this their writing more or less by their means or by the Court but a Gentleman my Friend one of the Magistrates did procure a copy to be transcribed secretly in al haste and sent it unto me For the Matter of their Accusation I shal examine the grounds of the several branches of their Charge I. They inform the Court That I taught That Faith and Repentance are no parts of the Doctrine of the Gospel The reason which they give is because I said That in the Gospel there is nothing revealed but Christ Surely it could not be imagined that I meant that nothing is revealed in the whole Gospel but this simple term Christ The words immediately precedent which they leave out taking that absolutely which I spoke in some respect declare my sense When the Lord said I draws his Elect to believe in Christ he doth not reveal unto them some work and from that work carrieth them to believe on him there is nothing revealed but Christ I exclude qualifications from that promise wherein Christ is revealed offered given to be believed on and make it absolute How should I deny Faith to be part of the Gospel in that discourse in which my chief scope was to put a difference between a legal and evangelical Faith The two Deputys Testimony concerning some expressions which I used in a Sermon at the Mount did not agree made nothing to the purpose If I had spoken something then from which such a conclusion would follow which I never did can you necessarily conclude from thence That I delivered the same in my Sermon at the Fast as you accuse me As for this Article of your Charge there is not to be found in my whole Sermon a syllable sounding that way ne gry quidem To my best remembrance al that I have spoken taught written at any time concerning Faith and Repentance from which you might take occasion to draw such a groundless inference was this for substance 1. That Faith and Repentance are law i. e. our inherent conformity to the law of the Gospel in opposition to the righteousness of the Promise which is Christs righteousness and that only in point of justification I asserted herein no more but this That Faith and Repentance is not that justice for which we are acquitted before God it is alone the righteousness of God which is by Faith 2. That these conditional Promises believe and be saved repent and be saved are not proper and peculiar to the Gospel as conditional but common to the law with the Gospel though not in respect of their matter yet in regard of their conditional form to difference them from absolut promises peculiar to the Gospel both for matter and form 3. Those conditional Promises being made the whole intire Gospel by an exclusion of al absolute Promises without any relation unto them becomes a covenant of Works for form A meer conditional covenant is a legal covenant This is one essential difference between the covenant of Works and Grace In the covenant of Works al the Promises are meerly conditional in the covenant of Grace with relation to Gods Elect the Promises are either absolute or upon conditions absolutely promised Will it follow from these principles That I deny the doctrine of Faith and Repentance to be part of the doctrine of the Gospel or the gifts of Faith and Repentance to be evangelical Graces God forbid I should This is a fundamental Errour of the Antinomians who confounding justification and sanctification imagine that Christ did as wel perform for us the conditions of the Gospel as the law repenting and believing for us All my constant hearers can bear me witness That I have ever Preached Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ I never denyed these conditional Promises to be part of the Gospel but I deny them to be the whole Gospel I do in the name of the Lord as I am called exhort al men not only to believe but repent and you amongst the rest II. The Second Errour of which you accuse me is That to evidence Justification by Sanctification is a Covenant of Works You infer this from these expressions in the broken Notes taken by others which I owned only for substance but not for al expressions that if men think to be saved because they see some work of Sanctification in themselves if they be saved it is without the Gospel this is a covenant of works I spake with relation to that which immediately went before to wit when the Lord is pleased to convert any Soul unto himself he doth not reveal unto him some work and from that work carrieth him to believe on Christ All that I affirmed herein was this To make gracious Qualifications previous to Faith the media to baild that act of Faith upon by which we believe on Christ is not evangelical but legal What though I called them works of Sanctification I did not mean they were such indeed but in the opinion of some III. This is the Third Errour which you fasten upon me That they who see in themselves any Sanctification and thence conclude a good estate shall never be saved This conclusion is inferred by you from the former Passages in none of which I denyed the evidencing of true Sanctification but of supposed Sanctification as gracious Qualifications before Union and Works made first evidences You reason stil from that which is spoken in some respect to that which is spoken absolutely You cut off part of these defective Notes and give such
any such should arise Might not all this have been done without Sedition Tertullian reports That the Gentiles used to fall upon Christians in time of publick Calamity If Tiber and Nilus did not over-flow if the heavens restrained their influence if there were Earthquakes Wars Famine Pestilence as the cause of all those evils whenas indeed the cause was in themselves 4. You make a great matter of certain typical allegorical expressions which I used to set forth our spiritual combate taken from bodily fightings which you would have to be understood in their literal proper sense as if I should stir up to a bodily fight You confess that I did otherwise express my meaning why wil not you take my meaning as I did express it Why might not I use scripture expressions in a scripture sense To cut off all your Arguments at once all this while you dispute ex non concessis You have grounded the Courts sentence Censure all your reasons to maintain the justice of the Court upon the matter contained in that secret Accusation before mentioned which did never shew its face openly but acted in tenebris Brother Weld you would have your Hearers to take it for granted That I delivered that which you charged upon me in your Accusation to which you relate all your defence of the Courts justice You lay this as a ground-work as will appear by sundry passages in that which you call a short story but especially in your Preface to it These are your words Now you might hear one of them Preach a most dangerous Sermon in a great Assembly when he divided the whole Country into two rancks some that were of his opinion under a Covenant of Grace those were friends to Christ Others under a Covenant of Works whom they might know by this if they did evidence their good estate by sanctification These were said he Enemies to Christ Herods Pilates Scribes Pharisees yea Antichrists I confess if this were true I had deservedly suffered But I pray you Mr. Weld let me come a little closer unto you With what good conscience can you report these things First That which you relate is not contained in the Notes of my Sermon which I suppose are upon record in the Court of the Massachusets in New England neither immediately nor in their principles Secondly After your Accusation before mentioned came to my hands I sent an Answer to you Elders which you received shewing my self much grieved with that your clandestine unparalled practise disclaiming these Errours which you charged upon me as erronious and wicked shewing that you had no ground to father them upon me Thirdly I was questioned in the Court about these particulars First They asked me Whether Faith and Repentance were any Conditions of the Gospel I Answered They were Conditions consequent but not antecedent that is they followed Christs giving of himself unto us in a free promise but went not before Secondly They demanded of me Whether Sanctification was any Evidence of a good Estate Yes said I it is secondary evidence but not the first Thirdly The Court put this Question to me Whom I meant of by those under a Covenant of Works To which I Replyed I intend it of none absolutely but conditionally if they walk in that way which I describe to be legal I did openly in the Court and I doubt not in your hearing plainly express my sense and meaning Fourthly Reverend Mr. Cotton who constantly in the Court stood by me with me in a speech which he made bears this witness to the Doctrine I taught I do conceive and profess That our Brother Whelewrights Doctrine is according to God in the Points controverted and wholly and altogether and nothing did I hear alleaged against the Doctrine proved by the Word of God Would that learned judicious holy man of God give such testimony to that Doctrine delivered by me or would you have suffered it in him if it had been according to your Report Certainly he would have abhorred it and born as much witness against it as you Miserable is that cause which cannot be justified without such feigned Accusations against so much light Will these their Fictions justifie the Courts acts To set a fairer colour upon your cause and make it more probable that I was justly condemned and censured by the Court you do in your short story take this course 1. First You put upon me many odious and reproachful Names I am stiled by you an Antinomian Familist Libertine Seducer My conscience bears me witness That I do not hold so far as I know any opinion of Sectaries as such nor any Doctrine condemned in any approved Council or Synod but such as is maintained by some Orthodox Divines not disconsonant from the Harmony of Churches Confessions though I do not build my Faith upon the Dictates of men but only upon the written Word of God I am not through Gods infinite mercy an Antinomian Familist Libertine or any other Sectary but a Christian I do with Mr. Calvin prefer the Papists before them Mr. Weld would drown me in that Pit of Heresies which was privily digged for me The Points of Doctrine which I held wherein I did really differ from my Reverend Brethren in matters of greatest concernment were so far as I know only these Five following Positions 1. That to conclude that Christ belongs unto us from Qualifications precedent to Union is legal and no conclusion of Faith 2. That to conclude a good estate from Works as first evidences of our union is legal and no conclusion of Faith 3. That the Faith of Gods Elect by which they do believe on Christ is grounded upon an absolute promise of grace 4. That the first evidence of Gods grace and mercy in giving of us Christ is the inward witness of the spirit in an absolute promise of Grace 5. That in our passive conversion we are justified by a passive reception of Christ precedently in order of nature to our act of beleeving If I may justly be branded for an Antinomian Libertine Familist Seducer by reason of the Assertions or such as are dependent upon them I cannot justifie my self yet let me be convinced that they or any of them are erronious I shall by Gods grace retract Errare possum Haereticus esse nolo 2. Secondly You would make your Reader beleeve page 25. That in the Synod I disputed and maintained these Points contained in your Charge which you call the ground-work of my imagined Sedition You know very well Brother Weld that long before the Synod in my Answer to the Elders I disowned them as wicked Errours shewing that they were your groundless Inferences and is it likely I should defend them in the Synod There was no such matter The Positions which I brought into the Synod to my best knowledge were these ensuing which I shall explicate and confirm THESIS I. That Assurance of Justification from Works of Sanctification is not our
Assurance of Faith Assurance of Faith may be taken in a Twofold sense 1. Largely for whatsoever assurance we have of Gods special love to us in Christ from Scripture-grounds in which sense a conclusion deduced from true Works of Sanctification is a conclusion of Faith beleeved in its premises or one of them the other being known by spiritual sense The witness which the spirit gives in a conditional promise is as true as that which he bears in an absolute promise No man living saith Vega should ever draw me to doubt of my being in the state of Grace if I might infer it out of two Propositions the one beleeved and the other made some way evident unto me 2ly Assurance of Faith may be taken strictly and properly for our first perswasion we have of Gods mercy towards us in Christ 1 Thess 1.5 This distinction is in use amongst Protestant Writers and the Papists understand them in this sense Certainty saith Mr. Perkins is either of Faith or Experimental which Papists call Moral Certainty by Faith is to apply the promise of salvation to our selves and to beleeve without doubting that remission of sins belongs unto us Moral certainty is that which proceeds from Works of sanctification as signs and tokens of true Faith Treat of Con. cap. 3. Bellarmine doth acknowledge this Moral certainty with this difference from us That it is only conjectural but he will by no means admit of that absolute perswasion precedent to our works calling it the Lutheran presumption They saith he will have their certainty to go before their works and not to follow them Tom. 4. Cap. 9. De Justificatione So that in this Thesis I do not deny simply that we have any assurance of Justification from our works of sancttification far be it from me but that the assurance which we have from our works is our first perswasion of Gods Grace and mercy towards us in Christ which properly in strictness of speech is called an assurance of Faith is denied by me In which respect I said in my Sermon That our first perswasion of Gods love was not by faith it self 1. By faith as an argument though it be by faith as an organ or instrument Consonant to this is that which is affirmed by Zanchy in his dispute with Mazhacchius about the order of evidencing our election page 361. Thus he writes Quis hic non videat apertè qualis fuerit sententia Buceri in hâc materiâ Nimirum ut incipiamus à priori id est contemplatione soluis divinae bonitatis gratiae in Christo oblatae in Evangelio revelatae Et inde certam persuasionem concipiamus nos vere fuisse ad aeternam salutem electos ideoque nunc efficaciter vocari Deinde descendamus ad id quod etiam revera est posterius nimirnm ad certum fidem assensum obsequium vocanti praebendum This is all which I do herein assert That our first perswasion of Gods mercy towards us in Christ is not founded upon any arguments taken from our works of sanctification which I have aboundantly proved in my second Proposition whether I refer the Reader THESIS II. That Justification goes in order before our Beleeving Justification by a passive Faith goes in order of Nature before our act of beleeving which is thus confirmed 1. We have the Spirit of Adoption are made partakers of divine Nature become new creatures before we put forth any act of Faith 1 Joh. 5.1 Joh. 1.12 13. This is Mr. Calvins Note upon this 13. vers Negat Evangelista posse quemquam credere nisi qui ex Deo genitus est Now whereas it seems by the twelfth verse that we are not the sons of God but consequently to our act of beleeving he doth thus answer it In respect of our sense we do not begin to be the sons of God but after faith 2. We are no sooner living in the first Adam but his sin is imputed unto us before we commit any actual sin Rom. 5. and by the like reason as soon as we live in the second Adam his righteousness is imputed unto us before we put forth any act of righteousness As in carnal Generation all men are born sinners even by imputation So in spiritual regeneration all men are born righteous having the righteousness of Christ imputed to them 3. If we be not justified antecedently to our act of beleeving then can a man in the state of condemnation do that eminent work of God to beleeve on Christ whereas except we be in Union with Christ and so by consequence in the state of Grace we can do nothing Joh. 15.5 To Beleeve is the act of a Person either in the state of Grace or in the state of condemnation Not of condemnation therefore of grace and we are justified before our act of Faith 4. Elect Infants dying before they come to years of discretion or sanctified in their Mothers Wombs are justified by the habit of Faith Persons in this state of Grace being adulti cease not to be justified when they fall into sownes or otherwise put forth no act of Faith which I suppose would follow were they not justified by the seed of Faith If the seed failed in such a case so much as the act doth by what band should they be united unto Christ And how could persons out of union with Christ be justified The Belgick Professors in the Synod of Dort give this as a reason Why the Faith by which we are first converted and from which we are called Beleevers is not an act but an habit infused of God because otherwise oft upon one and the same day we should be Beleevers and Unbeleevers the children of God and the children of the Devil It would I conceive upon the same ground follow That were we not justified by rhe habit of Faith but only by the act we should many times be successively justified and unjustified Chamier thus expresseth himself I say it is most true That justifying Faith doth follow if not in time yet in order justification Mr. Cotton saith in his New Covenant page 55. A man is as passive in regeneration as in his first generation only God giveth his spirit that doth unite us unto Christ which is received by Faith together with Adoption and Justification and yet by the act of Beleeving we are justified also Gal. 2.16 that is manifested to be justified in our own consciences Object 1. This is against the judgement of our Orthodox Divines who generally make Faith an instrumental cause of our Justification Answ They who do affirm That in our active conversion we perceive and receive Christ by an act of Faith do not deny a passive reception precedent to that act in our conversion wherein we are altogether passive Object 2. The Scripture never saith That we are justified by the habit of Faith but rather by the act Answ The Scripture doth not say That we are justified by the habit or act of Faith in
confuted by Aquinas 22. c. q. 23.2 Far be it from me to deny the work of Regeneration or new qualities This was my meaning in these passages that we cannot act graciously from any inward principle of Grace further than we are acted upon by the Spirit of Christ in Union That the Commandments of the Law are never accompanied by the Spirit enabling us to perform them being severed from Christ and the Covenant of Grace or before faith come Surely I maintained none of these Points in the Synod which you make the Ground-work of Sedltion 3. Thirdly I am much condemned by you for obstinacy after conviction Of what was I convicted Was it of laying the Magistrates Elders and the most part of the Country under a covenant of works absolutely and that to the knowledg of the hearers out of Contempt of Authority to stir up Sedition Contempt of Authority and sedition is then made the circumstances principles of an act to wit the laying them under a covenant of works in that sort If that act be not proved contempt of Authority and Sedition vanish away having no subject to which they do adhere A man cannot be justly condemned for wilful murder unless it appear that he hath committed murder nor can I be justly condemned for laying men under a covenant of works in that manner out of Contempt of Authority to rayse up sedition except it can be made evident that I did lay them under that Covenant That is then to be enquired into proved by the Court that the Magistrates Elders and most of the Country were the men whom I described and affirmed to be under a Covenant of works otherwise contempt of Authority sedition falls to the ground having no foundation The Court proceeded against me as they said Ex officio which in case of publick infamy and manifest evidence of the fact is not only lawful but necessary and when I humbly requested of the Honoured Court that my accusers might come forth it was answered by them that my sermon was my accuser Then must my Sermon accuse me of that fact which they judged contemptuous and Seditious or else I am condemned without any accusation or accusers meerly from their wil and pleasure How wil they make it appeare that my Sermon was my accuser The Elders in their secret Accusation shewed them a way how to do it viz. by forcing my Sermon to speak thus That faith and repentance are no parts of the Gospel That Sanctification is no good evidence of a good estate That they who see in themselves any Sanctification and thence conclude a good estate shal never be saved That they who are not of this judgment are Antichristians enemys to Christ and under a covenant of works This is made the ground by Mr. Weld in the short story but the Court did not declare themselves to sentence me upon this proofe How then wil they make my sermon my accuser I know not how except it was thus To take a proposition out of my sermon And an assumption which the Elders brought in as hath been said and to conclude against me as though I had been author of them both was the false accusation or application c. of my Sermon Do you think in your Conscience that this was conviction and that I persist obstinate after conviction my circumstantial failing I have acknowledged I did not much inquire after an Apology which I heard was written in the Courts defence because I know very wel that the cause was uncapable of any just defence I knew that if al the men in the world should combine together they could not make a bad cause good no not the Lord himself the defect lieth not in God but in the thing Let a man twist ten thousand sins together he cannot cover sin with sin If your cause was so just and convincing why have you deserted the true cause and set up a new title prove the ground of the Courts sentence out of my sermon or else you say nothing 4. Fourthly You tel a story of a man whom as you say I led into these damnable errors and heresies 1. That the free promises are only for them under the Law 2. That al our assurance is by immediate revelation 3. That in the New Testament there are no signes 4. That Baptisme of water is of no use to them who are Baptized by the holy Ghost 5. That a man may be adopted and not justified 6. That every new creature is a dead lumpe and acts not at al. 7. That we have no inherent righteousness 8. That the commandments are a dead letter I do reject and abominate al these corrupt opinions as none of mine against which I do oppose these following positions as mine own judgment 1. That the free promises are no parts of the covenant of works but of Grace 2. That we do not only come to an assurance of a good estate by the immediate Testimony of the Holy-ghost but also by that which is mediate from faith repentance and works of sanctification 3. That in the New Testament the Lord gives to his confederates signes of their being in Covenant with him both inward and outward 4. That Christians who are inwardly and invisibly ingraffed into Christ stand in need of an outward visible baptizing into him and into one body 5. That justification and adoption are inseparable benefits flowing from our union with Christ 6. That every new creature acts from an inward formal principle of Spiritual life 7. That we are not only justified by the imputed righteousness of Christ received by faith but also have an inherent righteousness infused into us by the spirit of regeneration 8. The Commandements are the spirits instrument to quicken Gods elect The authors of the short story do not propound this to be credited barely upon their authority for than they might have deluded the reader who would beleeve it because of their report but this witness which they beare against me in such a matter of weight consists of this hypothetical proposition If M. Wheelwright tenderly contradicted this poor man being newly come to the profession of religion then must he needs learne those points of Mr. Wheelwright or draw them as necessary consequents from some of his Tenents The Consequent part of this proposition doth not follow from the Antecedent here is no good consequence And therefore this their Testimony must needs appeare to be palpably false to al such as have the use of reason How they should conscientiously ground such an accusation upon such an argument I cannot apprehend 5. Fiftly You much glory in my conceived ruine and cal your proceedings against me to banishment the Lords marvellous doings If by ruine you meane the ruine of my doctrine and cause there is no such matter that you have not touched it is a doctrine and cause of your own devising and setting up which you have ruined If by ruine you understand ruine in respect of
the truth and shall assure our hearts before him doth thus Comment Semper autem me minerimus non habere nos ex charitate notitiam quam dicit Apostolus quasi inde petenda sit salutis certitude certe non aliunde cognoscimus nos esse filios Dei nisi quia gratuitam suam Adoptionem cordibus nostris per spiritum suum obsignat Et nos certum ejus pignus in christo oblatum fide amplectimur This is the question here determined by Mr. Calvin How we come first to know that we are the Children of God and by the like reason justified He denies that it is by any argument taken from our love How then By the inward witness of the Spirit perswading us of our Adoption What use then are we to make of our love to the Brethren in point of evidencing It under props saith he and strengthens our perswasion These are his words Est igitur charitas accessio vel adminiculum inferius al sidei fulturam non fundamentum quo nititur Zanchie upon Ephes 5.1 draws this as an inference from that text Sciamus ergo pro fundamento christianae Pietatis teneamus hoc primum principium fidem i. certissimam perswasionem de remissione peccatorum ex solâ paterna clementia condonatorum causam esse omnium virtutum omnium bonorum operum omnisque verae obedientiae They who stand for the first evidencing of Works overthrow this fundamental principle The Answer which Mr. Cotton gives to this Question Whether some saving qualification may be a first evidence of Justification is thus set down by himself in terminis A man may have an Argument from thence yea I doubt not a firm and strong Argument but not a first evidence In his Answer to Mr. Baylie Object 1. Keeping Gods Commandments and love to the Brethren are brought in by the Apostle John as first evidences of Justification 1 John 2.3 3.14 Answ These and the like Scriptures strongly argue That works of Sanctification are cerrain evidences of a good estate which is a truth so clearly held forth in Gods Word as if it were written with a beam of the Sun But can it be concluded from hence That John and the Christians to whom he wrote amongst which they of the lowest rank did know the Father had received an unction from the holy One and knew all things had no former evidence of their justification Did they never hear the inward witness of the Spirit nor see their Falth by which they did receive this witness Did they conclude a good estate by reflecting upon their keeping Gods Commandments and love to the Brethren without any immediate discerning of their inward Call or their act or acts of believing as precedent in order to their works Whether was this keeping Gods Commandments and love to the Brethren the procreant cause of their knowing and believing the love of God to them or the contrary The Apostle puts it out of doubt 1 Joh. 4.16.20 We know and believe the love that God hath to us What effect doth this produce We love him because he first loved us It is our knowing and believing that God loved us first even from eternity that makes us love him This is then the Apostles meaning We who have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father we who are believers are confirmed in our Faith because it is operative and works causing us to keep Gods Commandments and this special Commandment of loving the Brethren What is the keeping of Gods Commandments but charity out of a pure heart and Faith unfeined 1 Tim. 1.5 Faith whereby we are truly perswaded of Gods mercy towards us in Christ is the mother of a good Conscience and charity What is love to the Brethren but an holy affection wrought in us by the Holy Ghost whereby upon the apprehension of Gods love to us in Christ we do from our very hearts wish well unto them and study to do them all the good we can 1 Joh. 4.16.19 20. Truly we should neither love God nor the Brethren nor his Commandments did he not first make known his love in Christ to us Mr. Calvin upon these words 1 Joh. 2.3 And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his Commandments writes thus Notandus est hic orde quum dicit nos cognoscere quod noverimus Significat Dei obedientiam sic conjunct am esse scientiae ut tamen haes ordine fit prior â—cuti necesse est causam effectu suo esse priorem Object 2. An Effect argues the Cause as well as the Cause doth its Effect Why may we not begin with keeping Gods Commandments and love to the Brethren to evidence a good estate and make them our first evidences We can know by fruit that there is a tree upon which it did grow and by streams that there is a fountain from which they did flow though we never see the tree or the spring Answ The tree doth naturally bring forth its fruits and the fountain sends out its streams without any act of ours whether we see them or not But Justification which is a gracious act of God acquitting of us from our sins and accepting us as just for the righteousness sake of Christ received by Faith doth not cause us to bring forth works of Righteousness and true holiness by a meer Physical force but as apprehended by Faith which works by love Gal. 5.6 The perswasion that Mary Magdalene had of the pardon of her many sins made her love much Luk. 7.46 If a tree did not bring forth fruit nor a fountain send out water but by our looking on them as the instrumental cause surely we should see the tree as going before the fruit and the spring-head before the streams Good works are such effects as are caused by our apprehension of Gods mercy towards us in Christ Object 3. No man can limit God to what evidence he shall first bring into the Conscience of a justified estate Answ True yet can God limit himself He can do more by his absolute power than he doth by that which is actual If the Lord wil have all works of sanctification to be done in Faith out of love without a slavish fear as so many acts of gratitude for our Redemption through Christ they who deny sanctification to be the first evidence do not limit God but are limitted by God The Gospel is as immutable in the order as in the substance of its parts being an everlasting Gospel Rev. 14.6 Object 4. Many of Gods Children can evidence to themselves a good estate by their love to God his children and commandments who never were perswaded of Gods love to them by any argument taken either from the inward testimony of the holy Ghost or their act or acts of beleeving Answ This is asserted gratis but not proved How did those Children of God come unto Christ Surely they were taught of God and heard the spirits inward call He
a sense as the words seem to carry considered by themselves without any Relation to that which goes before or follows You dis-member wrest torture by putting upon the rack some broken Notes of an extemporary Sermon and make them speak what you think good against the Preacher and where they are altogether silent and speak not one word you put in words of your own which makes for your purpose Let such dealings pass for current what Sermon can be Preached by any Minister of the Gospel which ye may not arraign accuse condemne banish as guilty of Heresie contempt of Authority Sedition and what not No man can say with a good Conscience That I did at any time in publick or private in Old England or in New deny true Sanctification to be a good evidence I look at Works of Sanctification to be no dubious nor litigious evidence but demonstrative and infallible without which the imagined spirits witness is delusory and al supposed Faith is vain The Sanctification which I denyed to be any good evidence are certain effects of the spirit of bondage and works of the law and I taught That an act of Faith founded upon them is not saving and according to the Gospel but legal against them who never knew their inward call or hear and learn of the Father and so by Faith come unto Christ The inward witness of the Spirit in a simple promise of grace is not immediately and in it self discerned by them but by their legal Reformation going under the name of sanctification These are my apprehensions concerning our evidencing a good estate The immediate foundation of that act of Faith by which we are perswaded That Christ and his benefits is ours and by which we do receive him is the free simple absolute promise of grace applied by the spirit in our effectual call which is called throughout the Gospel by way of excellency the promise and therefore al Gods children are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the children of the promise Rom. 9 8. This Promise indeed is indefinite yet is it determined to every Elect person in his efficacious call The indefinite Promise with a commandment to believe and make it particular comes not in word only but also in Power and in the holy Ghost from whence he can thus conclude I am perswaded to believe by Christ not only outwardly in his words but inwardly by his Spirit in my heart that the promise and Christ promised belongs unto me therefore Christ with al his benefits is mine The medium of the particular Application of the general Promise is the inward witness of the spirit of Adoption who as Mr. Perkins saith in his Sermon entituled Christ the true and perfect gain beareth witness to our consciences of such things as God hath given us in particular and are only in general manner propunded in the Promise The Apostle Paul grounded his Faith upon this simple promise The indefinite runs thus Christ loved the world and gave himself for the world Christ came into the world to save sinners Paul applies it and makes it particular according to Christs command for thus he expresseth himself He loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.20 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of which I am chief 1 Tim. 1.15 How came Paul to make this application Because he was perswaded thereunto not only outwardly in the word but inwardly by the spirit in his heart 1 Cor. 10.12 The Apostle John saith That he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself 1 Joh. 5.10 Believing on the Son of God is the effect the witness in himself the cause Mr. Calvin thus expounds it Non dicit Deum extra loqui sed unumquemque fidelem intus in seipso sentire fidei suae authorem If it be objected That our first act of Faith cannot be a perswasion that Christ is ours because he is not ours antecedently to our act of believing that seems to me easily to be answered Christ unites himself unto us by his Spirit in our effectual call infusing the seed of Faith and al other saving graces is in us novo modo operandi gives us a new heart and puts his spirit within us Ezek. 36.26 27. Christ is ours by a passive Reception antecedently in order to our act of believing Christ unites himself unto us by his spirit before we joyn our selves to him by an act of believing Phil. 3.12 Faith being thus founded upon the free simple promise of grace applied by the spirit of promise is confirmed divers wayes 1. First by works of Sanctification the immediate proper effects thereof For though the habit of Faith be not the cause of the habits of other Christian vertues yet is the act of faith the spirits instrument to produce al acts of sanctity as being apprehensive of Gods grace mercy love in Christ and other motives and perswasives to induce to good works receiving strength from Christ enabling us to perform them So that true faith works by love which love with other Christian vertues wherein we do resemble Christ to whom we are united are unto us a seal of that fellowship we have with him according to that of the Apostle In whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of Promise Ephes 1.13 The spirit in sealing of us imprints in some measure the very image of Christ upon us consisting in righteousness and true holiness being not only holy in his essence and nature but in regard of his gracious effects in us All these works of Sanctification are so many arguments of the truth of our Faith 1 John 2.3 3.14 They are distinguishing marks and put a manifest difference between the children of God and the children of the Devil 1 John 3.10 They who do not know God to be their God as wel by putting his law in their inward parts and writing it in their hearts as by forgving their iniquities were never truly taught of God Jer. 31.33 34. This is one end of the spirits giving that holy spirit that spirit of sanctification not only to work sanctification but to teach us to know it amongst other things which are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 This hath been practised by Job David Hezekiah Paul and the whole Church of the Elect believers and saints from time to time in al generations who after that they had built their Faith upon Christ revealed offered given in the free promise did under-prop confirm strengthen the same by works of sanctification 2. Secondly by the immediate testimony of the holy Ghost There is an inward testimony of the spirit common to al true Christians Rom 8.16 which I take to be an act of the spirit applying the Gospel with such power as we perceive it is the spirit who speaks and it be gets in us an affured Faith 1 Thess 1.5 This is immediate in and by the word of grace for of his own wil begat he us
with the word of truth James 1.10 The immediate testimony is I conceive an act of the spirit by which he doth dictate and strongly suggest with a soul-ravishing inward voyce to a believing penitent humble over-coming Saint that he is the child of God his sins are forgiven or the like being compared to hidden Manna a white stone a new name Rev. 2.17 which doth exceedingly confirm Faith and it is not I suppose the portion of every good Christian but a special benefit given by God who is a most free agent before in or after sufferings for the name sake of Christ or some special service done unto him as God sees meet Sundry of our learned godly orthodox Divines do acknowledge such a testimony as Dr. Preston Mr. Bolton Mr. Elton with others and divers of the Martyrs had experience thereof as I doubt not many Christians have at this day This is part of the Comforters office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is taught in the Word he shal bring to remembrance John 14.26 The spirit of truth never revealeth any thing in this kind immediately for the confirmation of Faith which is not revealed in the words of truth He shall not speak of himself saith Christ he shall take of mine and shew it unto you Joh. 16.13 14. This immediate Testimony differs not from that which is mediate by the Word in the thing testified but in the manner of testifying and stablisheth the Soul by making a deeper impression filling it with joy and with the holy Ghost 3. By spiritual sense and experience There is in Gods Children not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 1.9 By reason of use they have their senses exercised Heb. 5.14 and that by divine objects 1. They are many times made very sensible of the grace mercy and love of God unto them in Christ The love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the holy Ghost which is given unto them Rom. 5.5 The Lord doth again and again lift upon them the light of his countenance and in the light of his favour they see the light of all felicity Psal 36 9. Christ doth manifest himself unto them in the Spirit Joh. 14.21 They hear see look upon and handle the word of life 1 Joh. 1.1 They taste and see that the Lord is good 2. They have frequently and for the most part as of sin so likewise of the work of Gods grace in them sense and experience The wind of the Spirit blows into the gardens of their Souls and the spices of saving graces with a fragrant smell flow out Cant. 4.16 The Sun of Righteousness shines into the hearts of Beleevers acts upon the saving graces of his own spirit excites and stirs them up from whence a sweet scent goes out as from some costly perfumed Oyntment When Faith love joy godly sorrow for sin humility patience with other saving graces are vigourously acted it exceedingly affects the Saints who are very sensible of it The Virgins love Christ not only for the savour of the oyntment of his own Righteousness which they perceive and receive by faith but even of these good oyntments powred into them Cant. 1. The Spouse in the Canticles David Paul with others do largely express the great sense and feeling they had of the gifts of Gods Spirit in them accompanying salvation as an Argument of that fellowship which they had with Christ 3. Beleevers have an experimental knowledge of the gracious Works of Gods Providence about them which doth likewise confirm their Faith So had David 1 Sam. 17.37 So had Paul 2 Tim. 4.17 18 For though there be no marks set upon the outward acts of Gods Providence whereby they may be discerned to proceed from Gods eternal and fatherly love yet do the children of God behold them in and through the covenant of Grace as testimonies of Gods favour and feel them to be such by their gracious effects knowing by experience that chastisements and corrections for sin are for their good Psal 119.71 So that the long experience which we have of Gods grace upon us his work of grace in us the gracious works of his providence about us is a special means to strengthen our faith This for the substance is all that I have ever Taught or held forth concerning evidencing a good estate I am not for the sole witnessing of the Spirit with Enthusiasts nor of Faith alone with Solifidians nor of works in the first place with you but of al these Three in one and that in the Apostles order 1 Joh. 5. The Spirits inward effective testimony of Gods grace towards us in Christ in giving him unto us in the free simple promise with a command to beleeve begets faith faith produceth works of sanctification sanctification confirms faith Promises are so many Declarations of Gods good Will towards us and it is the spirits office to apply them I do humbly conceive That when the Spirit of Promise applyes the absolute Promise of Grace that by way of excellency is called The spirits witness otherwise I do not see how the spirits witness should be a distinct witness from water and blood If the conditional Promise made to beleeving be applied that is the witness of blood let the conditional Promise made to sanctification have its application that is the witness of water He who hath one of these three witnesses hath them all in some degree and he that wants one wants them all for all these three are brought in by Christ when he comes into our hearts in our effectual call as witnesses of his gracious presence So that a Christian can reason thus I have the spirits witness I am a beleever I am a Saint therefore Christ dwells in me and I in him This is the sum of all concerning Evidencing That act of Faith by which we beleeve that Christ and his Righteousness is given to us and we receive him is begotten by the inward testimony of the spirit in an absolute promise confirmed by works of sanctification the immediate testimony of the holy Ghost spiritual sense and experience Because I would not acknowledge your works to be good Evidences which you will needs have to appear before Gods Grace or Faith appear you are highly displeased and labour to make the Court Churches and all the world beleeve that I taught That sanctification is no good Evidence and if a man conclude a good estate from sanctification which he sees in himself he shall never be saved 4. The Fourth Errour which you charge me to have delivered is That they who hold not according to this Doctrine are Antichristians enemies to Christ and under a Covenant of Works If by this Doctrine you had meant That Doctrine which indeed I taught owned by me in my first Three Propositions you had done me wrong I did never expresly nor implicitly affirm That they who were not of my judgement about the grounds of
that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me Joh. 6.45 What made them follow Christ by Faith and holy Obedience It was this inward voyce of the spirit accompanying the outward word which they did hear and know Christs sheep hear his voyce and follow him for they know his voyce Joh. 10.3 4. That which made them believe on the Lord Jesus Christ was the inward witness of the spirit He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself 1 Joh. 5.10 Can it truly be said That these Children of God so sanctified as they can thereby discern their justification did never hear nor know the spirits inward call nor see their saith Can a man love God or his children who knows not in some degree his reconciliation A man in the state of nature hates God and his children and this enmity is never slain before peace be revealed Eph. 2.16 17. We cannot love the law of God except we know its rigour and curse to be taken from us through Christ We must be delivered from the law in respect of its rigid exaction and malediction and that to our apprehensions before we can serve in the newness of the Spirit Rom. 7.6 Suppose that Gods true children should say That sanctification is their first evidence God speaks no such thing in his Word to the which we must rather attend but the quite contrary as hath been proved neither can they rest in that way of evidencing who are truly gracious for the law of grace binds them first to be perswaded of remission of sins and then to serve God without fear from this perswasion and this law is written in their hearts If men under the law should glory in their penitency works of sanctification and strict walking as first evidences they may be convinced à priori because they want this cause hereof viz. The apprehension of Gods mercy towards them in Christ even as we cut off Enthusiasts Antinomians Familists Libertines who boast of their full assurance à posteriori by reason they have not the effects penitency works of sanctification and strict walking The middle way is the Gospel way to wit from the appearing of Gods grace to our own souls in particular to deny ungodliness and wordly lusts to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world PROPOSITION III. That an act of Faith which is grounded upon gracious Qualifications previous to Vnion and Works as first evidences is legal The Works upon which this seeming act of Faith is founded are not evangelical but legal which I thus demonstrate 1. After that the Commandment comes the spirit of bondage in the law we are said to be married to the law bring forth fruit unto the law and to serve in the oldness of the letter unril we be espoused unto Christ Rom. 7 Before Faith come in the free Promise we are kept under the law schooled and over-awed by the law Gal. 3.23 24. We are in bondage under the law til we receive the adoption of sons Gal. 4.3 4 5. Acts done by them as such who are married to the law in bondage under the law must needs be legal and of this nature are all supposed gracious qualifications before faith 2. Works made first evidences and that de jure though they go under the name of works of sanctifitation yet are they indeed works of the law because they do not proceed from principles evangelical but legal 1. They are not done in Faith whereby we are perswaded that our persons and our actions are accepted in and through Christ No our works must first be done and our perswasion must be the effect of these works We must see our works accepted before our persons 2. They are not done in Love for how can we love God before we know and believe the love that he hath to us 1 Joh. 14 16.19 Our apprehension of Gods love must only be an effect of our works and of some imaginal promise made to us in respect of these our works 3. They cannot be acts of Gratitude for our Redemption through Christ These works must be the first means whereby we come to know our Redemption and justification 4. They are all done out of Bondage and servile Fear This servile fear is never cast out but by a sure perswasion of Gods love to us 1 Joh. 4.18 And what is the cause of this fear but the spirit of bondage Rom. 8.15 Wherefore it doth necessarily follow That a conclusion which doth stay it self upon these legal media works done out of this fear is no conclusion of Faith but if we may so call it a conclusion of works being grounded upon works of the law Estius though a Popish writer speaks to this purpose upon Heb 8.10 Itaque fatemur tempore veieris Testamenti fuisse novi Testamenti filios Et contra tempore Novi Testamenti non paucos censeri filios Testamenti veteris videlicet eos omnes qui carualibus Judaeis similes timore poenae legem servant imo non servant Sed sibi servare videntur ut loquitur August lib. 3. conte 2. Epist Pel. Cap. 4. The Application which I made of this Doctrine was this for substance They who have no more Faith than is built upon gracious qualifications before union and works made first evidences are under a covenant of works and though they be never so much reformed yet wil they persecute them under the covenant of grace as did Paul before his conversion the Scribes Pharisees c. Wherefore if any shal profess themselves to be legal and raise up persecution against you for this truth contend earnestly for it in a way of patient suffering by the sword of the spirit the word of God The Doctrine contained in these three Propositions and this or the like general hupothetical application was the cause of my deep sufferings It seems that you Brother Weld with some others who prosecuted against me did build the Faith upon gracious qualifications precedent to union and works as first evidences I censure this Doctrine of yours to be legal as aforesaid and hereupon you are filled with indignation cast me out as the filth of the world and off-scouring of al things make me a spectacle to the world and to Angels and to men which you effect by these means About two months after the Preaching of my Sermon before ever I was dealt withal in a brotherly way I am sent for to the Court to answer for what I had delivered where I have the true cause of my sufferings suppressed and put out of sight and a feigned cause closely and secretly brought in Certain of my Brethren the Reverend Elders had a great hand in this mysterious business for whilst my cause was depending long before my banishment an Accusation was secretly drawn up against me in writing put into the Court thus inscribed The Grounds and Reasons of the Dissent of the Elders of the Churches from some things delivered by
a special Faith or order of evidencing were under a covenant of Works I was not so censorious I doubt not but many of your judgment who are truly gracious having an internal principle of true faith byassing their spirits another way than they discern The persons so judged by me were such as walked and only walked according to that judgement which I condemend not only Theoretically but Practically But seeing by this Doctrine you understand that Heretical Blasphemous Doctrine contained in the three former parts of your Accusation which you have fathered upon me fallaciously without any just cause it is a double injury and this member of your charge must needs vanish away with the rest of your devised calumnies putting a corrupt sense upon certain expressions in the Notes of my Sermon contrary to all rules of interpretation divine and humane This ground-work being thus secretly laid in the conclusion I am censured by the major-part of the Court to banishment as guilty of those two crimes Contempt of Authority and Sedition That I was justly condemned and censured by the court is that which you in your short story endeavour to prove but by what evidence of reason and force of arguments falls now into consideration to be examined and discussed 1. First You go about to prove that I was guilty of Contempt of Authority because say you I did not study Truth and Peace which Authority required Contempt is an act of the mind whereby we little or not at all regard a thing Contempt of Authority is when a man doth willingly refuse to submit to the promulgated just Laws or lawful known commands of Magistrates as such and hereupon proceeds to do something contrary to those laws and commands I know no law or command prohibiting me to Preach what I delivered Neither do I see how any such law could be just and it will be a difficult thing for you to prove That I acted from obstinacy of Will and such a defect of the Mind I have already proved the truth of my Doctrine and that I endeavoured to bring my Heaters to consent to that Doctrine cannot be denied so that herein I studied truth and peace Peradventure some Magistrates and Elders intended that I should not Preach against gracious qualifications before union and the first evidencing of Works but rather to have cryed down the contrary Doctrine as Antinomianisme and Familism and because I did not Preach according to their Minds this is looked at as contempt of Authority If to preach true Doctrine and unite men in the truth contrary to the intent of some Magistrates and Elders be contempt of Authority surely the Prophets Christ and his Apostles were notorious delinquents and guilty of this crime You speak of other contemptuous carriages but instance in no particulars I came one day tardy to the Court of which you tell all the world but that was from mis-information not out of any contempt I used some expressions of an acquitting glorying conscience when I suffered such shame in your Assemblies and did dispise that shame and so did he who was free enough from contempt of Authority endure the Cross despising the shame 2. In the second place you undertake to make it good That I was guilty of Sedition by these Arguments 1. First say you I inflamed the minds of men one against another caused divisions made breaches All this was accidental The word of God is a fire a sword and hammer to inflame divide break in pieces If simply to make divisions were Sedition it would more strongly conclude against Christ than Barrabas Your Arguments taken from Ethnick partial descriptions of Sedition are of no force against Christians Sedition is a dividing civil Societies as they are combin'd together in an unity of justice and common utility My Division was not Civil but Spiritual I did not go about to divide in that which was just and profitable but in that Errour of gracious Qualifications before Union and Works first Evidencing Paul was accused by Tertullus the Orator for a pestilent fellow and a mover of Sedition upon the like ground 2. Secondly You Object That I laid most of the Magistrates and Elders under a Covenant of Works To lay men under a covenant of Works simply in it self is not any transgression Political Moral or Evangelical The Syllogisme which concluded the Elders under that covenant was this They who walk in that way described by me to be a Covenant of Works are under that Covenant But the Elders Walk in that way described by me to be a Covenant of Works Therefore the Elders are under that Covenant Upon much questioning in the Court the major was made by me upon a question put by the Court to the Elders the minor was brought into Court in writing by them The Conclusion was made by the Court My Proposition was conditional or equipollent thereunto and conditionalis prepositio nihil ponit in esse seu nihil certe affirmat The Elders assumption made it absolute The Argument by which I described a man under a covenant of Works were the internal motions of his spirit known only to God and his own conscience and the Argument sub unâ utrâque is not à pari In a word I did not so much as in my thoughts conclude the Magistrates and Elders or any one of them or any other person absolutely to be under that covenant This conclusion The Magistrate and Elders are under a covenant of Works cannot be deduced from any thing delivered by me without the Elders Assumption in which I had no hand This was the Courts frequent and main Objection against me That I laid them and the Elders under a Covenant of Works I desired to know of them in what line or page protesting that I neither expressed nor intended any such thing Far be it from me to take Gods Office out of his hand who is the searcher of the heart and the tryer of the reins of all men If the Elders Assumption and the Courts Conclusion be removed there remains nothing for me to suffer for but only my Proposition which it seems did pungere and cut deep If it cannot be proved out of my Sermon that I said the Magistrates Elders and most of the Country were under a Covenant of Works c. I am innocent 3. Thirdly You Reason from the Seditious Effects of my Sermon I do not know any following Seditious practises But if there were any such they are not to be called Effects but Events That is put for a cause which is no cause I do not see any innate force in my Sermon to produce any Effects but these 1. To draw the Hearers from your Tenants about Faiths grounds both in judgement and practise 2. To Unite them in that judgement and practise which I apprehended to be evangelical 3. To contend by Arguments and sufferings with such as did profess themselves to be legal persecuting them for the Truth herein in case
terminis but in sense These are frequent Gospel expressions We are justified by Faith Faith is taken as well for the habit as the act When Faith is said not to fail that is to be understood of the habit When we are commanded to Beleeve that is meant of the act Bucer saith Zanchy is not ashamed to say That we beleeve sometimes in act sometimes only in habit There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Let a man be in Christ whether by the act or by the habit of Faith he is justified Which way soever Christ and his righteousness is made ours this righteousness is counted to us for ours by God who counts things as they are Object 3. He that beleeveth not is condemned already Joh. 3.18 We are not then justified but consequently to our act of beleeving Answ The act of Faith doth ever follow the habit and in order of time they can scarce be distinguished the one from the other But in order of causality Gods work goes before ours A Christian is in the order of nature in the state of grace before Faiths act though not in time In a word when it is said He that beleeveth not is condemned already it must be understood thus He that beleeveth not either actu secundo or actu primo else what will become of us when we are asleep and put forth no act of beleeving Object 4. If we be justified antecedently to our act of Faith then justification goes before vocation contrary to that Rom. 8.30 And whom he called them he also justified Answ That doth not follow Vocation is a gracious act of God by which we are brought into fellowship with Christ 1 Cor. 1.9 We are in our effectual call drawn into union with Christ by a Physical act of God in our passive conversion precedently to our act of beleeving Faith goes in order before justification both in our passive and active conversion the habit in the one and both habit and act in the other THESIS III. That the Faith of Gods Elect whereby they do beleeve on Christ is grounded upon a free simple absolute promise of Grace The Question is Whether God in the Gospel do first reveal his special love to his Elect in giving of them Christ and blessing through him in a conditional promise or in an absolute promise I say in an absolute These are my Arguments 1. Almighty God himself the Prophets Angels John Baptist Christ and the Apostles in the publishing of the Gospel have ever propounded Christ to be beleeved on in an absolute promise of Grace Gen. 3.15 15.5 Isa 9.6 Hos 2.19 20. Luk. 2.10 11. Matth. 3.2 4.17 10.7 2. The Elect have alwayes founded that act of Faith by which they did beleeve on Christ upon this principle Abraham beleeved on the Lord and it was counted unto him for righteousness Upon what promise did he ground his Faith Upon this absolute promise Thus shall thy Seed be Gen. 15.5 6. This Faith of Abraham is made a patern for all the spiritual seed of Abraham to follow Rom 4.23 24 25. Paul describeth the Faith by which he spiritually lived Gal. 2.20 In what Promise was Christ revealed Even in this absolute Declaration of Gods good Will towards him who loved me and gave himself for me The Apostle tells us That all the Elect are born as Isaac was Now we Brethren as Isaac was are the children of the Promise Gal. 4.28 In what form runs the Promise This is the word of Promise At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a Son Rom 9.9 The children of this absolute Promise are counted for the seed vers 8. 3. The proper immediate effects of justifying Faith do strongly argue That it is built upon an absolute promise powerfully applyed by the spirit in our effectual call How comes Faith to work by Love It apprehends Gods love to us in Christ How doth it cause Rejoycing It beholds Christ given for us and to us out of Gods eternal love Abraham rejoyced to see Chrtsts day and he saw it and was glad Joh. 8.56 How doth it beget Peace It looks at God as reconciled unto us in Christ How doth it cause Repentance It makes us apprehensive that we have sinned against our Saviour Omnium appetitivorum motuum causa est bonum vel malum apprehensum 4. As in Conjugal Contracts amongst us the Husband doth first make known his Love and express his absolute consent so doth Christ when he doth betroth the Church of his Elect unto himself in their effectual Call I will say unto them that were not my People Thou art my People and they shall say thou art my God Hos 2.23 5. If our Faith be not founded upon an absolute Promise then is not the Covenant of Grace established upon better Promises for form than the Covenant of Works contrary to that which is affirmed by the Apostle Heb. 8.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. The New Covenant Promises are better than the Old in this respect amongst the rest That they are absolute or upon conditions absolutely promised 6. The absolute Promises are either only to be propounded to Beleevers antecedently or else also to Unbeleevers for the begetting of Faith But they are not only to be propounded to Beleevers antecedently They were no Beleevers to whom the Lord by the Prophet Hosea applies the absolute Promises Hos 2.19 20. being such as were unmarried and not betrothed to what end did he propound them if not to build faith upon 7. There is no conditional Promise or Grant in all the Word of God wherein Christ doth convey himself over to us for the beginning of Salvation Christ doth absolutely promise to give us a new heart inhabit in us his Spirit Ezek. 36.26 27. What ever the Remonstrants say to put in any condition is against Scripture and Reason Wherefore we must beleeve on Christ and receive him as given in an absolute Promise of Grace This very Doctrine which teacheth us to ground our faith whereby we are perswaded of Gods Love to us in Christ upon an absolute Promise is maintained by Zanchy in his Miscellanies against Marbuchius who objects against it as one of Zanchy's Errors and new Revelations but he doth earnestly contend for the truth hereof affirming of it to be the Judgment of Bucer and that conformable to the Scriptures Which he could not but imbrace proving it by Four Arguments and Answers three Objections The Definition of Justifying Faith given by Dr. Zanchy and Mr. Calvin declares them to be of this mind Faith say they is a stedfast and assured knowledg of Gods kindness towards us which being grounded upon the truth of the free Promise in Christ is both revealed to our minds and sealed in our hearts by the Holy Ghost They make two Essential parts of Faith 1. An apprehension of Gods Love to us in Christ which is an act of the Intellect 2. A receiving and imbracing of Christ which is