his Spirit to assist them in the performance of their Duties and when the Creatures have done the best they can nay when they have the assistance of the Spirit What all no better than Abomination Ah! what pity is it that Men to hold up a fond Opinion should have such unworthy thoughts of God What said David Ps 141. 2. Let my Prayers be set forth before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hand as the evening Sacrifice and said the Angel to Cornelius Acts 10. 4. Thy Prayers and thy Alms-deeds are come up for a memorial before God they were acceptable in the sight of God and the Lord was well pleased with them as Heb. 13. 16. but to do good and to communicate forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased and so Phil. 4. 18. An odour of sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to God Read Prov. 12. 22. Psal 147. 11. Act. 10. 35. Mal. 3. 4. In all which you may see That as they are commanded of the Lord and the Creatures Duty they are acceptable to him Mar. If of Works then not of Grace there 's no Reward belongs to any good Works Heaven and Eternal Salvation is the free Gift of God And I must tell you that all such as you are stand condemned and accursed by the Apostle Paul that set up the Golden Calf of your own Sanctification Philad What is it not possible for free Gift and Reward to stand together nor for Gospel-Dutys and a heavenly Reward to be linked and joyned together or is it a Dishonour to God to say he rewards his own Grace What are you such a Stranger to the Scripture that you have not read of Recompence or Reward which God will bestow upon those that are faithful not for the desert of the Work or Worker but for the Faithfulness of the Promiser which God who cannot lie hath promised Pray read Prov. 19. 17. Blessed is he that hath Mercy upon the Poor the Lord will recompence that which he hath given him And saith our Saviour a Cup of cold Water shall not lose its Reward Matt. 10. 24. Mat. 20. 34. Rev. 22. 12. Psal 19. But it seems you would put it out of all doubt that you pretend to depend upon your own Righteousness and that the Almighty by his Bounty and Grace having elected you he cannot expect any Duty from you You must as Cliford in the New Covenant p. 197. saith Have a cheap Religion Faith without Works pardon without trouble of Repentance and Heaven without Holiness and free Grace to save you without Obedience or you are undone to Eternity Indeed if any shall believe that their own Obedience to any Precept of the Lord justly merits Heaven then they might dance about their Duties as the Israelites about their Golden Calf but I hold no such thing but do believe that we are far from meriting any thing at the Hand of God for he that merits must do these three things 1st He must do the Work of himself without the Help and Assistance of another for if he doth it by the Help and Assistance of another the other merits both the Praise and Reward Now where is the Man that can come forth and say that what good he doth he doth it without the assisting Grace of God and if he cannot say so then the Thanks and Praise is due to God alone 2dly He must do it of mere good Will and not of Duty that which is of Duty cannot merit because a Man is bound to do it so that if Men could love the Lord with all their Hearts Strength and Soul and their Neighbours as themselves which is a thing no Man can do yet is it far from meriting because it is but their Duty and but a reasonable Service that they should honour the Lord with that which they receive from him as holy David said 1 Chron. 29. 11 12. and so on the more we do the more we stand indebted to Divine Grace for enabling us to do it what have any that have not received it first from God 1 Cor. 4. 7. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Eph. 2. 8. 3dly The Work done to merit must be proportionable to the Reward or there can be no Merit but alas what 's the best of Performance which is performed by infirm Man can it have that Worth and Dignity in them as to oblige the Lord to give unto them eternal Life by way of Retribution If God should reward us according to our Works miserable would be our Case so that unless it can be proved that our present Work is comparable to the Glory which is to be revealed there can be no Merit 't is a free Gift 't is Bounty for suppose I should set any Man to work to mow in my Field and for that Labour give him a Shilling or Fourteen or Sixteen Pence here 's only Equity and Justice the Man's Labour really deserved it but if for this one days faithful Labour according to his Strength I shou'd give him a Thousand Pounds this is Bounty so that no finite Creature or Worker can merit an infinite Reward or a finite Act cannot merit of an Infinite God an Infinite Reward Philet Therefore you that preach and press to Duty are but legal Preachers and such as would lead Men to Popery and into a dead Faith for it much derogates from the free Grace of God and lessens the alsufficiency of Christ's Merits and at best makes but moral Christians Philad Is there any such thing as Holiness and Duty to be observed if there be may they not be preached and urged or how can any of you that own the Scriptures scorn or disallow it seeing it calls the Saints not only to the Study and Practice of Holiness but also to grow and increase in it 1 Thess 4. 16. 1 Pet. 1. 15. 2 Pet. 3. 18. 1 Cor. 15. 58. Tho we cannot merit Heaven yet 't is our Obedience both in Heart and Life makes us capable of injoying Heaven through the Redemption of our Saviour we must be Workers or Labourers not Loyterers St. Paul exhorts the Christians of his time to be working out their Salvation with fear and trembling It seems the Christians are to do something towards their own Salvation Phil. 4. 17. In 2 Cor. 9. 6. Paul speaking of Charity shews it to be a means not a merit to conduce to a plentiful increase and 2 Pet. 1. 11. tells us that Grace exercised is a means to farther our Salvation But it seems we must not acknowledg God a Rewarder of his own Grace or any good Duty which he enables his People to perform but straight we preach Popery how then can any desire to be good or do good Philet For all the pressing us to Duty yet we do not build the Hopes of our Salvation upon so sandy a Foundation as our own Righteousness our hopes are in the Lord we put our trust in Christ and hope to be
Apostle saith that the Elect that believe are dead to the Law the Law can no more command a Man than a dead Husband can command his Wife Philad 'T is true Believers are dead to the Law with respect to the Curse and Rigor of it but yet this Death to the Law brings Believers to a New Subjection you are dead to the Law that you might be married to another that you should bring forth Fruit to God so that you may see the blessing of the Marriage-Union between Christ and faithful Souls is fruitful before God in living in Subjection to his blessed Maker and Redeemer Mar. But doth not the Apostle bid Believers stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free and be not intangled in the Yoke of Bondage which is the Law Philad This word Liberty not rightly understood may be a Snare to destroy precious Souls we are bid to stand fast in the Liberty in which Christ hath made us free but not in the Liberty in which Satan the Lust of Men the Spirit of Error Carnal Interest c. make us free Christian Liberty is a freedom from Sin not in Sin Rom. 6. 18. it is a free serving of God to do his Will not the will of the Flesh we are called to Liberty but we are not to use it as occasion of the Flesh Gal. 5. 13. Gospel Grace brings glorious freedom 't is true from the Curse of the Law the guilt of Sin and wrath of God and from the burden of legal Ceremonies Sacrifices Circumcision with other heavy Yoaks yet is this Liberty to be confined to Scripture Rules Believers freedom should be like the Heavenly Liberty Angels are free but 't is to Duty not Rebellion and here will come in the surest Mark and the best Evidence of our Election 1 Joh. 3. 7 10. Little Children let no Man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous c. in this is manifest the children of God and the children of the Devil 1 Joh. 1. 6. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we do but lye 2 Pet. 2. 19. Mod. I believe that in many things Philadelphus is in the right Duties are means which God hath appointed for us to walk to Heaven in and those that belong to him he will give them Faith and Repentance and will by his Grace overpower their Hearts that they shall obey him in all his Holy Precepts I also believe that the New Covenant includes Conditions something to be done by us that believe for though the Love of God the Suffering of Christ was wholly free yet the Saving Fruits and Benefits by the Suffering of Christ doth not actually become ours upon the bare shedding of his Blood till it be receiv'd by Faith for his Death doth not necessarily save any but only as God the Father Son and Spirit shall think fit to communicate and dispense with the Issues of them as he that pardons an Offender may bring him to Terms before he pardons him and he that dispenseth Crowns and Scepters to unworthy Persons may require Homage and Observance from them without rendering it no Act of Grace As to the Law I say we are not justified by that but by Christ alone receiv'd by Faith and that it is necessary that Godly Preachers should teach the Moral Law or the Doctrine of Good Works as the Doctrine of Faith for Satan is a deadly Enemy to both Philad Well said Moderatus indeed to what end should the Great God of Heaven give forth his Divine Laws if they do not require our due observance for the Life of Christianity is not barely a Speculative but an active Life and does as seriously tell us what we are to do for Christ as well as what we are to receive from him Mar. There are many that lead sober Lives yet may nay shall go to Hell for all their Morality 't is not that will save them Philad I believe so too but why should you condemn honest Men fearing God as only Moral Men and as such who must certainly go to Hell yet others must escape it that are guilty of far worse Vices and who have been out-done by meer Heathens in their Practices Some must question their Condition for every Sin though never so small but such as you that reckon your selves true Believers must by no means question your Condition though your Sins be never so great No wonder to hear such expressions as these viz. that if a Believer be overtaken with gross Sins yet he blasphemes Christ that dare serve a Writ of Damnation upon him and that if they be but Believers and have once set their foot upon Christ they need not stagger for the greatness of their Sins nor their continuance in them it seems tho you be not good Moral Men yet you have a right to Heaven for all that Mod. Well but there are many very ignorant in the Mystery of Faith Faith hath the honour to be the Grace that apprehends the Mercy of God in Christ and lays hold upon his perfect Righteousness by which Persons come to be justified and to have peace with God Rom. 5. 1. yea by which Persons become the Children of God and by which they receive Christ as tendered to them in the Gospel and see him to be the end of the Law God hath now in respect to us cancel'd the Law which stood as a hand-writing against us and hath by the Gospel shewed us a way whereby to be made Righteous without the Law nay justified from those things by which we could not be justified by the Law for saith the Apostle by the Works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified but by Faith or by Christ made ours by Faith this was the great overthrow of the Jewish Nation Rom. 10. they being ignorant of Christ's Righteousness went to establish a Righteousness of their own c. this is a Righteousness without the Law and yet witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets and the whole Law is fulfilled in the Children of God because Christ's Righteousness is made theirs through believing and I must tell you that in many things Faith stands at defiance with Working and Doing Philad I believe Moderatus these things to be true and that it is the work of Faith to do what you say yet by the Scripture 't is plainly evident that 't is not a bare naked Faith a Faith that swims and floats in the Brain or a lazy Reliance upon Christ destroying of good Works that can or will save any let not any Persons flatter themselves into Misery for that Faith that is barren of the Fruits of good Works bears its own Curse that Faith that is not accompanied with good Works is stiled a dead Faith a Faith that can never bring us to Life and no better than the Faith of Devils James 2. 19 20. And tho it is true as you have said Faith hath the Honour to be the Grace that
and asserted for a Truth by Men of singular Learning piercing Judgments Gifts Piety Zeal for the Truth and greatest Pillars and Lights of the Christian Church next after the Apostles it being never scarce brought into question till near St. Austin's time which was about 400 years after Christ If you look into Mr. Goodwin he sheweth at large the Testimony of those called Fathers for General Redemption Those Fathers before St. Austin's time are Ireneus Justin Martyr Clemens of Alexandria Cyprian Tertullian Epiphanius Gregory Nazianzen Gregory Nyssen Basil the Great Arnobius Eusebius Cyril of Jerusalem Hilary Athanasius Jerom Ambrose Chrysostom these he cites and proves by words at length out of their Works that they held General Redemption Surely the Primitive Christians for between three and four hundred Years after the Apostles may fully ballance both for Number and Holiness all those in the Reformed Churches since Calvin's Days Philet I spake of our Days and Time which we live in Philad Well compare those Lands and Provinces where some hold to the one and the other and what are those Lands that own the Genevah Principles or the Doctrine taught by Mr. Calvin then those called Lutherans nay compare the People in the Vnited Provinces those that stuck to the Synod of Dort with those called Remonstrants or Arminians and how will you make it out that those Predestinarians that maintain unconditional Election and Reprobation are men of a more pious heavenly frame of Spirit making it more truly visible in the integrity of their Lives and Actions than the other called Arminians what Spirit the Calvinists are of has been seen these forty Years past not only in other places but in England also Philet I meddled not with any Foreign Lands Philad Well if you look home upon England I challenge you to shew me any particular Church or Person this day of your Opinion that is a Phenix whom none of the Universalists may compare with in Grace and Divine Life as far as the Eyes of Man are able to pierce the latter live as godly religiously and soberly in this present World and act as zealously for God and are as fruitful in good Works as any you can produce of your Judgment but I find 't is easy for any that fancy themselves the only Saints upon Earth to despise others In Gen. 38. 24. Judah when he heard that Thamar was brought in for an Adulteress presently sentenced her to the fire but when the Pledges of his own Folly were brought forth then he cried out she is more righteous than I. Consider the proud Pharisee tho he was ready to cry to the Publican Stand off I am more holy than thou yet the other was more justified You only bring Accusation without Proof I shall only say in the words of Seneca If it be sufficient to be accused who can be innocent for our Lord Jesus even Innocency it self was accused Remember he that is wise in his own conceit is but a fool and till you shew me in some Particular wherein you exceed all others in Divine Virtue I shall look upon your Speech to be nothing but the impulse of a giddy Zeal and desire you to be more considerate lest you thereby come to condemn the Innocent and justify the Wicked which are both abominable to the Lord Pro. 17. 15. so that neither the good nor the bad the godly nor the ungodly deportment of Persons professing such or such particular Principles is any proof of the goodness or badness of the Principles unless their Principle doth naturally tend to either nay should the foundness or rottenness of Opinions be esteemed by the goodness or badness of the Lives of many professing them the Opinion then of Atheism may be as sound as any other Christians seeing that many Heathens have acquited themselves upon far better terms of honour and approbation in their Lives than many Christians But come what if I should yield to what you say that many that hold this Opinion of yours are godly Men and walk in a pious and religious course of Life beyond all others yet we may say 't is no thanks to their Opinion that they are so your Opinion naturally tends to beget sloth disengageth from the strictest Rules of Piety Uprightness and Integrity of Life and countenances Men in carnal liberty seeing those that are elected can never fall out of his Love and Favour but he loves them as well while great Sinners as the most faithful humble mortified Christians May not this incourage any Man to take liberty to commit the most enormous crimes go on in sin and cry peace and safety and seeing the greatest part of Mankind are shut up in a state of unbelief without a Christ to believe in or power to believe but are left to die and perish may not such conclude their labour in Religion will be unprofitable and so will rather sit still than labour at all Moderat Come neighbour Martha and Philetus I would have you yield to this that Christ died for all for the Scripture fully testifieth that he died for all and every Man and we may safely conclude that the Lamb of God offered up himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of the whole World for tho Man by his Apostacy fell from God and by reason of Sin our whole Nature came to be at the utmost moral distance from the Lord which was and is the depth of all Misery yet did not God wholly leave Man in this state tho fallen into Misery but was he capable of recovery which was done by Christ's taking our Nature upon him and laying down his Life for all for he took upon him the Nature of Man not of Angels he pitied not the Angels that fell because their Nature was not to be received by Christ but he taking upon him the common Nature of Mankind made it saveable brought it nearer to Salvation than the lapsed Angels and what Christ hath done in the Flesh he must needs have done for all and the direct and immediate Fruit thereof belongs to all for he took upon him our Flesh not the Flesh of the Elect but of Mankind c. so that the Work of Redemption being by his Blood wrought for us thro his Flesh in which all Mankind have union it must needs be therefore universal Philet Surely Christ took upon him the Nature of Men because the Elect Seed was found in that Nature not in the Nature of Angels the Apostle saith Heb. 2. 14 15. that because the Children were partakers of Flesh and Blood therefore he took part of the same and herein there is a Union the Children have a Union with the Flesh of Christ above all others in the World Ephes 5. 30 31. And the reason Christ took part of Flesh and Blood was for the Elect and none shall nor can have any saving benefit by it but only such for to what purpose was it for Christ to be at the expence of his
hath not the least power of his Will but is merely passive in all why then should the Lord so passionately complain of Mens obstinacy and why did Christ wonder at the unbelief of many Mark 6. 6. Here was not the least cause for Christ to marvel at the unbelief of any when it never was in their power to believe unless Christ should wonder that Man should act and do more than he had power to do or more than all the Creatures in Heaven or Earth could enable him to do Nay if Men be wholly as passive as Stones and can neither repent nor believe by means of those Abilities vouchsafed to them by the Lord then can no reward nor punishment be justly awarded to any Man for believing or not believing for if Faith and Repentance be wrought in Man only by the Omnipotent and Irresistible Power of God without Man then cannot that Obedience be a free Obedience and in vain is it required of Man when it is to be wrought by such a Force as cannot be resisted neither can any Man be rewarded as one truly and really obedient And in this case we may safely affirm that the Lord rewards himself and not the Man who is truly passive doing nothing or if any thing 't is purely effected by the Force of another for what things are produced in us by God's irresistible Omnipotency without us cannot of right come under the name of Obedience and therefore cannot justly be rewarded or judged worthy of any commendation Remonstrants Confession pag. 148. Also Eternal Punishment is unjustly and cruelly inflicted on him that doth not repent and believe when he had no power to do either but the want of it was through the alone defect of irresistible Grace and should the Lord punish Men for not repenting and believing he should punish them for not attempting to make themselves equal in Power with himself and then pray to what purpose are all the inviting Promises of Life and Glory and all the Dangers that Souls expose themselves to expressed in the Scripture and pressed so much by your Preachers if we through Grace have not power to obtain the one or escape the other Very well saith S. Jerom as quoted by Dr. Goodman in his Parable of the Prodigal Son p. 100. God bound not Man under the rigid Bonds of Necessity whereby he should be forcibly over-ruled and determined to one thing but put him 〈◊〉 a capacity of making his own choice to the end that being thereby distinguished from Beasts and more like his Maker he might be capable of Virtue and Reward and that as nothing should make him miserable without his own act and consent so he might have the comfort and delight of co-operating freely towards his own Good and Felicity Philet If God works Conversion not in an insuperable or irresistible way then he works it in a dependent way putting Man's Will in an Aequilibrium or even Ballance That this is not God's way appears because he works Conversion in such a way as is most depressive of the Creature and exaltive of himself But now by what you say Grace only sets the Will in an Aequilibrium and that 's all and Free-will must do the business this is a robbing God of his Glory and ascribing to our selves more than belongs to us Philad It 's rather an honouring of him by laying all the blame of our Misdoings upon our selves and acknowledging his free Grace in giving us not only time but abilities and means to know the Lord and to cleave to him and to work with God when he is pleased to be moving upon our Hearts Wills and Consciences by his Divine Grace that so we might be curbed and restrained from being carried headlong into destruction by the sway of our unruly Lusts Yea that which I affirm is as depressive of the Creature and as exaltive of God's Glory as what you hold nay more as I shall make appear by and by Where have I said that we are able to do any thing that 's good to repent believe or obey the Lord and serve him acceptably by our own natural strength without the effectual assistance of Divine Grace I say this is not possible now for Man in his lapsed state tho it be generally held that Man had at the first a perfect liberty to stand or fall in an equal possibility of sinning or not sinning If this were so then his condition was in Aequilibrio and it was in the Creatures choice to turn the Scales but long he did not stand in this equal State for being tempted to aspire above his place at the very first onset at the first temptation he lost his Innocency and fell into a depraved State and so his Will became infirm relation to its acting for Virtue and Goodness But now God having pity on fallen Man in his infinite Goodness and Wisdom found out a way to restore him to a more noble and excellent State than Adam injoyed which was by the promised Seed and what perfection the Will had in the state of perfect Nature is restored by the Spirit of Grace So that a good and real Christian may be said to injoy as free a Will by Grace since the Fall as Adam had by Nature before the Fall John 8. 36. If the Son make you free you shall be free indeed Philet 'T is Christ's work to act Faith and God is said to give Faith and Repentance which are called his Gift Philad I acknowledg that we are all of us from first to last indebted to Divine Grace for all we do all good and pious Actions are begun carried on and perfected by the Lord 't is God that gives Power and Ability 't is he that enables People to repent and believe yea makes Persons willing actually to repent yea and supports them in the act of repenting and believing and so the whole of all Good in us is of free Love and not of Nature The Lord is both the Author and Finisher of our Faith If I be better â—…n any Man it is God that makes me â—…er and therefore he that will glory let him glory in the Lord saying with the Psalmist Psal 115. 1. Not unto us not unto us but unto thy Name be the praise and therefore we stand bound to make that humble acknowledgment as Paul did 1 Cor. 15. 10. that by the Grace of God I am what I am c. What good we do 't is not by our own natural Abilities or the power of natural Reason but by the powerful influence of Divine Grace James 1. 17. John 15. 5. 1 Pet. 5. 10. And we may all say as Holy David did 1 Chron. 29. 11 to 17. So that you may see that I am none of those that hold that we are converted by the power of our own Free-will Neither have we any saving Faith of our selves Mat. 11. 17. 13. 11. 16. 17. 7. 7. John 3. 5. But it is as I said
And pray you to what end are all his Promises in Scriptures are they not to spur us on to a holy and pious Life but how vain are they when they are upon condition of our repentance believing and obeying the Lord which is as possible to perform without Grace as to eat up a Rock Now if God makes a promise to give us Heaven on condition we do believe and yet never gives us a Christ to believe in nor power to believe these are Promises equal to a bare denial but far be it from the most High that any of his Promises should be either false or fraudulent his Promises are in Christ Yea and Amen they are as unchangeable as his being they are not fair to look on like the Apples of Sodom but afterwards die in a mere nothing of performance And to conclude this Point I must needs tell you that I look upon all those no better than ungrateful Blasphemers and Liers that say God hath required us to perform those things which he hath not given us abilitys whereby we may cooperate with him in doing those things which he hath injoyned us to do and in avoiding those things he hath forbidden and yet it shall be our Condemnation Calvin himself acknowledgeth that Man's refusing God's Grace evidently presupposes there is in every Man a real power to imbrace it Philet But do you hold that God gives special discriminating Grace to all you ought to make a distinction between God's Grace for there is common Grace and special Grace his common Grace is given to the whole Universe but his special Grace only to the Elect. Philad I believe God gives not his Grace to all alike but to some more and to others less according to the good pleasure of his Will yet he is wanting to none but such as are wanting to themselves O Israel thy destruction is of thy self Hosea 13. 9. Man's destruction is of himself for not faithfully doing of that which God by his Grace hath enabled him to perform But pray what is this you call common Grace and what discriminating Grace Philet Common Grace is the single Talent of Reason and Understanding with the good things of this Life which all Men injoy and those that live under or within the sound of the Gospel call are under the external Offers of Grace we are not under the Law but under Grace that is the Gospel yea and may from thence receive common Grace viz. Illumination Conviction legal Humiliation c. But special Grace is an inward Work wrought in the Hearts of the Elect by the irresistible Power of the Spirit Philad Pray tell me one thing For what End and Use is God's Grace given to any let it be never so small was it given to do Evil Philet No. Philad What then to do nothing withal Philet No Men that receive it are not to be idle with it Philad Then doubtless it was to honour and glorify the Lord with it here on Earth and through Christ is sufficient to glorify him in Heaven if he be a faithful improver of it But it doth appear that those that have received one Talent have receiv'd a small measure of Grace this you will not call by the name of Special Grace what is not the least measure of Grace which we injoy from God a special Favour and is not Grace as it comes from God whether great or small the same in Nature and will not the least measure of Grace faithfully improved through Christ lead us to Heaven and the non-improvement of it lay the receiver under unpardonable guilt for we shall be accountable to God for what he gives and no more God did not require the improvement of two Talents of him that had received but one neither did the Lord take away the one Talent from him that had it till he hid it and would not improve it Philet Why he that had received the one Talent receiv'd but common Grace and one reason he could not make that one Talent two was because he had not special Grace to inable him to improve it so tho he might have received so much as to leave him without excuse yet it was not sufficient for Salvation Philad But it was not sufficient to leave him without excuse if not sufficient to effect that which the Lord expected from him and still Mens not believing or obeying the Lord must be laid at his door as if God would damn Persons for not improving their Talent that never had sufficient Means or Power to do it You in effect say that God requires Persons to believe and obey him yet he hath not enabled them so to do is not this plainly to say God exacts more of his Creatures than they are able to do God grant you repentance for these your hard sayings Surely if he that had received the one Talent had not thereby received power and opportunity sufficient to improve it according to the Lord's Will it would not have been so provoking in the sight of the Lord as to cause him to pass so heavy a Doom upon him as to be bound hand and foot and cast into utter Darkness This is not like the Righteousness and Equity of God's Proceedings with wicked and ungodly Men to bring the Vengeance of Eternal Fire upon the Heads of those who did not do that which was impossible for them to do surely we shall be accountable to the Lord for no more than what we receive from him according to that principle of Equity attested by our Saviour Luke 12. 48. for unto whom much is given of him much shall be required and then by the rule of contraries unto whom but little is given but little shall be required He that hath one Talent must be only accountable for that and he that is faithful in a little shall be ruler over much And seeing you pretend very high to Grace above others know this God expects sutable returns he that improves his one Talent well shall be rewarded with a well done good and faithful Servant when thou with all thy Light and Talents if not improved according to the Will of the Doner thereof shall receive the greater condemnation and then instead of free Love thou wilt meet with just Wrath therefore fear and tremble lest gracious Favour be abused But come Philetus let us leave this I believe you cannot make it out how the Gospel should be preached to those that God hath not given a Christ to believe in nor power to believe You know it was the Gospel Ministers Work and the first thing they were to do was to say Peace be to this House Luke 10. 5. But what Peace or Glad-tydings could they bring or speak to those where God intended none Philet But it is not known whom the Lord hath chosen to Life and therefore the Word of Life is to be preached to all tho only those will receive it whose Hearts the Lord opens by his mighty Power so
Fate which I could not withstand and if I have done amiss I deserve pity from you rather than blame tho I know if your Doctrine be true neither your Pity nor Prayers will do me any good unless they were able to make a change in God's absolute Decree for there cannot one Soul be saved which is ordained to Hell nor one Soul be cast away which is appointed to Heaven and so your Pity and Prayers may as well be spared as spent to no puroose And Reader if thou beest one that art learned 't is likely thou wilt think this Discourse is a home-spun Piece Why truly I am just of your mind I think the same and so there is no danger we should fall out and by this let thee know it was designed for them that love to have it so and written for the use of those that neither could nor did expect any Rhetorical Flourishes or School-Distinctions from me but only plain Truths They knew that as I was ignorant of School Phrases so I was clogged with worldly Business and had neither learning nor time to dress up my Lines with Wit and Eloquence neither doth Truth stand in need of gingling Flourishes or outward Bedaubing to make it more renowned in the World it being best seen in its naked plainness And Reader if thou art a Critick as this is a peevish and critical Age or so highly conceited that thou disdainest to look any farther all that I shall say to thee is this It will not hurt you if you can but let it alone I never commanded you neither do I care whether you read it or not and if you read it and think your time and pains ill bestowed blame your self for meddling with that you had nothing to do with I know that all courteous and impartial Readers and especially those that have desired this will esteem it as much as I desire they should Reader I will keep thee out no longer pray walk in and if you like your poor entertainment you are heartily welcome fall to and much good may it do you Vale. June 30. 1700. ZACH. STANTON NB. Pray correct the following Fault with thy Pen before thou goest on Page 35. line 12. Philadelphus is to begin with these words What God foresees c. The last line but one of the same page blot out Phil. The Love of God to all Mankind Asserted and Vindicated By way of Dialogue between Martha and Philadelphus c. Martha WEll met Philadelphus you are walking and viewing the Fields Philadelphus Yes and the more I view the more my heart is drawn forth to bless and admire our good and gracious God who hath not left himself without witness filling our hearts with joy and gladness and though we have almost spent the Fruits of the last year yet is the Lord preparing for us against another how doth the Hills and Vallies abound with Corn and Grass burdned Ears with plenty They rejoyce and clap their hands and loudly proclaim that the Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works Mar. Why is your heart so affected with the Creature or any goodness that is in them Phil. No not so much as with the good God that sends them yet I cannot but admire that the glorious Majesty of Heaven and Earth should have any regard to us worthless Worms thus to mind us with the Eyes of his Providence when we are unmindful of him Mar. Why doubtless it is for the sake of his Elect People that the Nation injoys such Mercies otherwise the Lord would quickly turn this fruitful Land into barrenness yea overthrow it as once he did Sodom and Gomorrah Phil. Although I do not question but next unto Jesus who is said to bear up the Pillars of the Earth the Godly are the Pillars of a Nation they stay just deserved Judgments God Almighty would make short work in the World bring all to its first Nothing if it was not for the Godly which as you say are as so many Lots in Sodom that preserve from such an overthrow yet surely God hath some gracious ends and design in giving such Temporal Mercies to the worst of Men even that his Goodness and Mercy might lead them to Repentance Mar. Truly all these outward and temporal Mercies and Blessings which the worst of Men injoy are but like Crumbs which the Master of a Family throws to the Dogs or given with no other intent than Men give good Pasture to their Cattel to fit them the sooner for Slaughter The prosperity of fools destroy them says Solomon that is it shall be the means of heightning their Lusts and thereby fitting them for Destruction Phil. As is your Name so are you Martha is your Name and bitter are your words Come sit you down here by me under this Shade and let us spend one hour in Discourse together if your occasion will permit Mar. I am content Phil. Truly I did not think till I heard it out of your own Mouth that any could entertain such harsh and unworthy suspicions of the God of Love as if his Mercies to any were designed on purpose to multiply their guilt or to heighten their eternal Damnation No Martha God hath more noble and worthy Ends and Designs than such you spake of God is Love and he hath no pleasure in the ruin of his Creatures If their Prosperity destroy them if his Mercies which should lead them to Repentance and have been a powerful means to ingage their hearts to love the Lord any ways heighten their guilt and thereby fit them for Destruction 't is not the effect of God's goodness but rather of their obstinate wickedness their abusing his Goodness and turning his Grace into Wantonness and not into Thankfulness this is that which kindles the wrath of God as 2 Chron. 32. 25. But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the Mercies c therefore wrath was upon him c. and for this cause was it that the Heathens were given up to vile affections But pray tell me do not all Men in the World stand bound to be thankful to God for outward Mercies Mar. Yes doubtless they do Phil. But how can any Man look upon himself any ways obliged to be thankful to God for good things given with such hard intentions even to make his Condemnation so much the greater Had Amasa any cause to thank Joab for taking him friendly by the Beard to kiss him when his intent was to stab him to the heart And as little cause have any to be thankful to God for Temporal Injoyments when all is made as a Gin and a Trap for their Souls and God intends nothing but evil to them and a fuller Cup of wrath to come If this be a truth how can the bountifulness and long-suffering of God be said to lead Men to Repentance which is the Apostle's Doctrine Rom. 2. 4 Nothing can properly be said to lead Men any ways but that which
is proper to perswade or invite them to it Mar. Well for all you think these words of mine are such hard sayings yet I do farther affirm that all Men that are not by true Faith grafted into Christ but remain in an unconverted state all their Mercies are cursed to them yea they are cursed in every thing in their Name in their Estate in their Food for if they receive Food they are Usurpers of that which is none of their own if they receive no Food they are self-Murderers yea their Prayers the Word and Sacraments are cursed to them Phil. The Psalmist saith Ps 145. 9. That the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Martha God is good to all during the day of our Patience and long-Sufferance and what Mercy he affords to them may be called tender Mercy considering their sinfulness who deserve every moment to be cast into Hell But how the tender Mercy of God can be said to be over those when whatsoever God doth for them in a providential way he doth all with an intent to harden them that so he might bring destruction with the more severity and terror in the end will Men or can they call Health Peace Liberty Food Raiment given with an intent to become a Snare unto them and to bring unavoidable damnation upon them the tender Mercies of God Doth the Lord cause the Sun to rise upon the bad as well as upon the good and send Rain upon the Unjust as well as upon the Just in wrath and with a curse What can infinite Goodness and Perfection be implacable to his Creatures God forbid Ah Martha What would have become of you and I long before this time if God had not sought the good of his Creatures Consider we are all called the Lord's Off-spring Acts 17. All his Children by Creation Mar. What by that What would you prove from thence Phil. What Why then I think that the Lord must needs have a very tender regard to all as they are his Creatures the workmanship of his hands and is not implacable to them in this World Why may not God deal with his Off-spring as we deal by ours Goodman's Parable of the Prodigal Son which of us that have Children tho' they should prove very undutiful to us and we could not love them with the love of delight as we do those that are very dutiful and are good and vertuous yet at the worst we cannot chuse but pity them and heap favours upon them Why thus doth the Lord to the Sons and Daughters of Men though his delight is with them that fear him yet those that are the worst he pities And how can you think otherwise when there is not one Soul but is dearer to him than the whole World Neither did he count the Blood of his own Son too great a price for their Redemption but I doubt you are one of those that hold that God did from all Eternity fore ordain the greatest part of Adam's Off spring to everlasting destruction Mar. What if it was the Pleasure of God to make a thousand Worlds and then destroy them all Is it meet for Man to say unto God Why hast thou made me thus or what dost thou For he might glorify his Justice in the Damnation of all for their Sins who shall question God about this Phil. I say that God is so far from destroying one whole World that he is not willing that so much as one Soul should perish 2 Pet. 3. 9. and indeed who can think that our good and gracious God whose Name and Nature is Love should provide means of Life and Nourishment for Man in his Mother's Womb when he could neither breath nor eat should after he is born not provide as sufficient Means to nourish his Soul and Body to eternal Life I may say in this case as the Apostle in another doth God take care for Oxen hath God such a tender regard for the Bodies of Men and hath he none for the Soul surely he is every way as desirous of the welfare of the Soul as the Body and hath declared by Oath that he takes no pleasure in the Destruction of any Ezek. 33. 11 12. Who then is he that dare charge the God of Love with so much Cruelty as to expose his own Children at least by Creation to be a prey to the Devil What saith our Saviour Luke 11. 11. which of you having Children if they ask Bread will you give them a Stone c. Can we that are evil have Compassion upon our Children and will God harden himself as an Ostrich against his Off-spring Job 39. 16. Doth God condemn Cruelty in others and can we think he will harbour it in himself No the Scripture of Truth doth every where abound in giving Testimony of the Love Goodness and Bountifulness of God to all his Creatures and to Mankind above all other Works of his Hands in this lower World in so much as our blessed Saviour recommends him in his Carriage towards the worst and most unworthy of Men as an absolute Pattern for us to imitate in doing Good and shewing Mercy even to our Enemies Matt. 5. 44 45. Be ye therefore perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect that is be you true Imitators of the Lord Followers of God as dear Children in these works of Mercy and Kindness Now Martha pray you observe this if we should suppose that God hath irreversibly from Eternity doomed to everlasting Destruction and without any respect to their Sin those unjust ones upon whom he causeth the Sun to rise c. it must necessarily follow that while he did these good things to them he intended the greatest Evil that can be inflicted or imagined even the Vengeance of Eternal Fire which if so then must those that imitate him in such ways be the most accursed Hypocrites and Dissemblers under Heaven making shews of Love and Kindness while War and Blood are in their Hearts and so by this a Man may be most unjust unmerciful full of Dissimulation hating most Men without any Cause and yet be most like God O horrid and most unworthy a true Christian Believer Mar. What will you deny God to be omnipotent hath not he an absolute Soveraignty and Lordship over his Creatures with full Power to dispose of them as he pleaseth and you that contend with God about his Soveraignty unless you repent Phil. It cannot be denied but that God hath an absolute Soveraignty and Lordship over his Creatures that is a lawful Power to dispose of them as he pleaseth yet it is a horrible Indignity put upon him and a great Injury done to the Goodness Mercy and fatherly Compassion of our good and gracious God to affirm that he exerciseth this his Power upon the hardest Terms and the most grievous unto his Creatures that is or can be imagined and that which no ways is conducing to his own Honour and Glory nay
that died for him and so he came to be sanctified justified and to obtain Mercy Philet I believe that Paul being an Elect Person was as much in the love and favour of God before he believed as after yea the Elect Corinthians that were Fornicators Idolaters Thieves Drunkards c. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. had as much right to Salvation before they believed as after Philad I look upon this Speech of yours that Paul and the Corinthians during their unbelieving State were as much in the love and favour of God as after to be very impious and opens a gap for Men to run into all manner of Abomination for if I once fancy my self to be one of the Darlings of Heaven one of the Elected ones and that I cannot possibly sin my self out of the love of God and that I am no nearer Salvation after I believe than I was before Why may not I take liberty to commit any crime For it seems Heaven may be found in the way to Hell and in the Service of Sin and Satan I may fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh and of the Mind and be fruitful in the works of Darkness and God love me never the worse no danger of forfeiting my Sonship if this be true all the Precepts of Vertue and Holiness with all the gracious Promises of an Eternal Reward in Heaven are all in vain and all those powerful dissuasions from Sin with those severe threatnings of an Eternal Punishment as a Reward to the guilty are all invalid if the greatest sinner the most prophane Liver may arrive at Heaven as well as the most eminent Saint Did ever such Doctrines proceed from the Lips of Truth or are they to be found in the true Sayings of God No no but rather the contrary Eph. 5. 5. Rom. 2. 8 9. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God c. so that no Man that is an unregenerate sinner is or can be said actually to be Elected till Grace comes and Faith comes and puts him into Christ Eph. 3. 17. This is evident from the Ephesians Paul calls them Elect or Chosen before the Foundation of the World and yet however Elected he tells them that during the time they walked according to the Course of this World c. they were the Children of Wrath as well as others and at that time they were without Christ and Strangers to the Covenant of Promise having no hope and without God in the World Eph. 2. 12. Surely it is impossible for any Person to be in Christ and out of him dead and alive old and new born at one and the same time so that before Conversion we are not actually justified This is so clear a thing that the Assembly in their Confession Chap. 11. say God did from all Eternity decree to justifie the Elect. Nevertheless they are not justified until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them And so Dr. Homes in his Antidote against Antinomianism p. 56. If the Lord impute Christ to me a true Christian my sins unto him as 2 Cor. 5. ult and so reputes me justified actually in him He doth all this under the notion of Faith Rom. 4. 3. If any say we are eternally justified in God's Election or Purpose we reply just so as we eternally believe in God's Purpose for he hath purposed eternally both equally He that eternally purposed to justifie did eternally purpose to justifie by Faith Mar. But doth not the Apostle say in Rom. 4. 5. That God justifieth the ungodly Philad Yea but we do not read of those that persevere in their ungodliness that he will justifie them for as God hath never promised so he never purposed Salvation to an unregenerate heart and a loose life Persons may pleasingly dream themselves the Friends and adopted Children of God tho' they will know to their own smart that all that are under the Reign of sin are yet under wrath No Enemy to God and Holiness is actually elected nor hath receiv'd the Spirit of Adoption and if they have not receiv'd the Spirit they are none of his Now where the Spirit of God comes it convinces of sin John 16. 7 8. and witnesseth with their Spirits that they are the Children of God Rom. 8. 16. but do you think that the Holy Spirit will witness for us or bring Joy and Comfort to us if at the same time our Consciences testifie to our Face that our Deeds are Evil and that our walking is not such as to be deemed the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus to good Works which God hath before ordained Doctor Cliffora upon the New Covenant p. 14. saith excellently Can you imagin that the Spirit seals to a Blank and witnesseth to a Lye What! teach People to cry Abba Father before they are born of God or persuade them they are justified when in a state of unbelief and the Wrath of God abides upon them or assure them they are Heirs of the Promise when they are Strangers to the Covenant or that their Estate is safe when a Curse and Death and Hell are denounced against them Is this the Spirit 's witnessing do you think or his way of sealing No he first works Grace upon the heart and then gives testimony to his own work he sanctifies first and then seals to the day of Redemption Eph. 1. 13 14. Rom. 8. 14. As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God and those that have not Christ's Spirit Christ's Image cannot have any true Fellowship with him Can two walk together except they be agreed Amos 3. 3. Doth Reconciliation with God stand with agreement with Satan Can a League with Heaven and Hell stand together Do you think that the Judge of all the Earth will say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom to his Enemies But Philetus what makes you think that Paul and the Corinthians were as much in the Love and Favour of God before they believed as after Philet Why because their believing and obeying the Gospel was an Effect of their Election Our Persons must first please God before our Actions can please him and when once God loves a Person he never ceaseth to love him for the Gift and Calling of God are without Repentance Rom. 11 29. and so Malachi 4. 6. I am the Lord I change not Now if Paul and the Corinthians were elected before they were born and that then God set his Love upon them and after during their Unbelief and Sin should be supposed not to love them it would argue a strange Inconstancy and Mutability in God and so according to this Notion of Election God must be supposed one while to hate a Person when wicked and another while to love him when regenerate Philad Indeed if we must needs understand that God had elected Paul and the Corinthians as Paul or as Men simply so considered
and not as Believers or as their being in Christ by Faith then for God to love a Person to Day and hate him to Morrow would evidently shew a change in his Affection according to the change made in the Creature And I must needs tell you I like this plain dealing the best you are herein truer to your Principles than many of your Brethren that hold this Point of personal Election But for my part I believe that God loveth and accepts more of Actions that are good than of mere Persons and contrary to what you say that such and such Actions do therefore please him because the Person pleaseth him but rather because their Actions please him therefore their Persons please him tho God hates all the Workers of Iniquity Psal 5. 5. yet said he to Cain Gen. 4. 7. If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted and Heb. 11. 5 6. Before his Transgression he had this Testimony that he pleased God but without Faith he could not Read John 14. 23. and 15. 14. and 16. 27. These are those that he will love yet may those that were once beloved of God by reason of Sin come to be the object of his hatred Isa 63. 9 10. But they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their Enemy and fought against them Now you that say that where once God loves he must never cease to love Pray you what think you of the Angels that fell Do you think God did not love them while they stood in that pure and holy State in which they were created and if he did do you think that he loves them now in their Apostacy So God is said to love Jacob and Israel yet at another time he is said to hate Israel Jer. 12. 7 8. Amos 6. 8. yet is this taken off again Isa 60. 15. whereas they were hated God loved them again So that God may love at one time and hate at another without the least change in him in respect of Love or Hatred because no Person of Man is supposed to be the Object of elective Love but only as Righteous nor any Person the Object of Reprobation but only as Wicked so that the Love of God being set upon such kind of Persons as are true Believers those who have Christ formed in them whose Souls are regenerated and formed into the Image of Jesus and Partakers of the heavenly and divine Nature having received that heavenly and divine Anointing by virtue of which they become Christians 1 Cor. 6. 17. John 15. being wrought into a Conformity to Jesus this is that State in which the true Election stands Christ being the elected Root and Believers the elected Branches These are those whom God doth justify and will glorify these are those whom the Lord hath set apart for himself Psal 4. 3. These are those whom the Lord hath chosen from the rest of the World to be his own peculiar Favourites upon whom he intends to bestow an heavenly Inheritance and as Persons decline from Christ living in a State of Unbelief and Impenitency being Strangers to the Life of God disobedient and to every good Work reprobate they remaining such are in that state in which Reprobation stands not being brought over to Christ in whom the Father is well pleased So that I conceive that Unchangeableness which the Scripture asserts of God is to be considered with respect to his Essence Attributes and Decrees and not in his constant loving the same Persons how wicked soever they prove For suppose God should dearly love a Person while he is faithful to him and in case this Person should apostatize and die in a state of Impenitency and he should destroy him with eternal Death this doth not shew the least Alteration in any of the Lord's Attributes either of Love Goodness Mercy Justice c. And suppose a Man passeth from a State of Sin wherein he lived to the Displeasure of the Lord to a State of Faith and Holiness and in this Condition comes to injoy the Love and Favour of God yet his Love and Hatred cannot be said to be changed tho the Persons of Men change never so often from Good to Evil or from Evil to Good This shews indeed a change in Man but no change at all in the Lord he still loves and hates but what he loved and hated before Pray consider Ezek. 18. at what Instant I spake c. if it doth Evil I will repent Here you see God is said to repent so he is said to repent that he made Man upon the Earth Gen. 6. 6. he is said to repent that he made Saul King 1 Sam. 15. 11. And yet the Scriptures cannot be broken which testify that with God is no Repentance or shadow of change 1 Sam. 15. 29. Num. 23. 19. James 1. 17. Mal. 3. 6. Psal 102. 25. yet here is no real Contradiction And as I said before in respect of his Essence Attributes and Decrees God cannot repent yet after the manner of Men he is said to repent in respect of his Works for as Men when they repent alter their Works so when God alters his Work he is said to repent as in Gen. 6. 6. I will saith God destroy Man from the Earth for it repents me c. God made Man to dwell upon the Face of the Earth but now coming to destroy Man from off the Earth seems to repent and so concerning Saul I repent that I have made Saul King that is I have determined to depose him and to prefer another And so concerning Ely c. Delawn Sacr. p. 50. So that no such Conclusion can reasonably be drawn from God's once loving he must for ever love how wicked soever the Person proves afterwards or else be mutable for I do not find in Scripture that God hateth any of the Works of his Hands as they are his Creatures nor any thing but Sin and Sinners for the cause of Sin and there is the same Consideration or the like Reason of his Election being placed upon Faith and obedient Persons or Persons really brought over to Christ Philet The Elect are justified in the Eternal purpose of God and tho the Elect do sin yet the Lord sees it not so as to condemn them for it neither can it do them any hurt or make them less lovely in the sight of God Philad Hold one word before you go any farther you seem to say God was never an Enemy to the Elect Do you not by this make the Fall of Adam in whom the Elect were included a mere Fiction and the whole Story of the Gospel concerning Christ's Suffering a Fable and the Passion of Christ if you grant he suffered for the Elect a mere Vanity more than needs to die to reconcile and bring those into Friendship with God which were never out of his Love nor with whom he was never offended Philet I say all the Sins of the Elect both past present and
God But he is there speaking of the Tenor of the Gospel the word of Reconciliation which was committed unto him and whereof he was a Minister and tells them That God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself The Quarrel began in Adam Sin was that which set God and Man at variance Isa 49. 1. But now the Lord being minded to take whole Adam into Grace and Favour and to found a Universal Covenant of Peace was pleased to appear in Christ that those that were Strangers and afar off might be made near yea the Sons of God But I 'll give you a Scripture that is far from such Objections 't is 1 John 2. 2. He is a Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but for the Sins of the whole World Here you plainly see that Christ is a Propitiation for the whole World as opposed to Believers therefore he must needs die for all Now these words were spoken to strengthen the Faith of those that through the subtilty of Satan and prevailing Temptation were fallen or should fall into Sin and thereby raise doubts in their Spirits whether Christ died for them or was a Propitiation for their Sins or not Now the Apostle to remove all doubts and fears out of their Minds tells them That he did not die for some few particular Men only which might have augmented their fears but was a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World Now this will greatly add to the Comfort and put new Life into a sorrowful tempted Soul one cast down under the sense of Sin to think that Jesus Christ is a Propitiation for his Sins being the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World But pray tell me what could it add to the comfort of those to whom John wrote his Epistle who were weak in Faith to tell them that Christ was a Propitiation for the Sins of all his Elect ones for some few particular Men but a great many yea the far greatest number shall have no part with Christ but shall be damned Would not such a Doctrine rather augment their Fears than their Comforts Would they not be ready to say Ah then I fear I am none of those that Christ is a Propitiation for Therefore the Apostle puts the matter out of all doubt by telling them that Christ by his Death became a Propitiation or made a full Atonement for the Sins of all Men without excepting so much as one Person in the whole World But that Christ died for all I prove from 1 Tim. 2. 6. Who gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time If you look back to the Context of this Verse you will find Paul exhorting his Son Timothy That Prayer and Supplication c. should be made for all Men and telling him That so to do was good and acceptable in the sight of God And to prove that it is good and acceptable in the sight of God to pray for all he lays down this for his ground That God would have all Men to be saved And for a further confirmation that it is the Will of God that all Men without exception should be saved he gives this reason for it that Christ Jesus gave himself a Ransom for all so that Christ's dying for all gives us a ground for Faith to pray for all Men which we could not do if Christ did not die for all 2 Cor. 5. 14. I would have you Philetus to consider 2 Cor. 5. 14. a Text that you cannot well cavil with the Apostle thus argues If one died for all then were all dead but one died for all therefore all were dead The thing that the Apostle is about to prove is that all were dead and the medium to prove it is that one died for all so that if it be clear that all Men were dead by the fall of the first Adam it must be clear that Life was offered to all by the death of the second Adam for if Christ died for none but the Elect then the Elect only were dead for the word all must signify as many in the minor as it doth in the major or else the Apostle's reasoning would be fallacious And so Rom. 11. 32. God hath concluded all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all Now if this last all belongs to none but the Elect then none but the Elect were concluded in unbelief but it is plain that all without exception were first or last concluded in unbelief therefore the Mercy was meant to all without exception Philet But you know very well that this word all men is not of necessity to be taken simply and universally for all without exception of any but is very often taken in a restrained signification when a part is put for the whole as in Exod. 9. 6. and all the Cattel of Egypt died that is all that were in the Field and so 2 Sam. 16. 22. and Isa 2. 2. and Mat. 3. 5. Jerusalem and all Judea and all the Regions c. that is very many Men of those places and so John 10. 8. Act. 2. 5 17. Act. 10. 12. Mat. 4. 23. Luke 11. 42. with many others Philad Tho it be true that the word all Men is not at all times to be taken for all Men simply or universally yet it never signifies the smallest number in comparison with a greater however it cannot be taken here for some of all sorts of Men or for the Elect only or the like but of necessity for all Men universally If we take it in any other sense we make the Apostle to argue very weakly for mind here is first a Duty enjoyn'd I will that prayers c. and to stir us up to so good a work he tells us that 't is good and acceptable in the sight of God because his Will is that all should be saved God is so kind so tender-hearted that out of his love and pity he would have all Men injoy a happy and blessed end and therefore in Charity we must pray for all no Men tho never so wicked and profane are to be excluded from our Prayers unless we know them to be such as have committed that unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost 1 John 5. 16. Now if by all Men we must needs understand some of all sorts of Men or the Elect only then the all we are to pray for reacheth and extendeth not so far as God extendeth his Love Again if we must take it in your sense then we may read the Apostle thus 'T is good and acceptable in the sight of God that we should pray for all Men without exception of any because God would have all his Elect to be saved surely the word all in both places is of the same extent Much of the same nature is 2 Pet. 3. 9. wherein the gracious and good Will of God toward all Men appeareth there it is said the Lord is not willing that any should perish here the
Lombardus as quoted by Morton Page 51 when a Man speaks any thing contrary to his mind And saith Aquinas this is properly to lie when a Man signifies in outward words another thing than that which he thinketh in his mind And whereas you charged Universal Redemption as savouring of Popery pray what greater piece of Popery than their mental Reservation and wicked Equivocation saying one thing and meaning another Have there not been whole Volumes writ to detect it But if professing one thing while the contrary is intended be Holy in God why not in them or if some things in God may be Holy which are abominable in Man by what Rule must we distinguish between Holy things in God which are Holy also when found in Men and such other Holy things in God which when found in Men are abominable Is it not of dreadful consequence to impute that to God which common and approved Reason judges to be unrighteous in Men His Works are so just his Word so pure and so merciful is he in his Ways that there is no appearance to the contrary and in performing his Covenant and Promises he is most highly faithful and constant and is in no wise a Dissembler that under such most affectionate Expressions of Love and Kindness to Man should conceal settled Purposes and Intentions of doing them the greatest Mischief Surely in God's Revealed Will cannot possibly lurk any mental Reservation or Insincerity What a dishonour and a crime of a high Nature would it be if Persons should deal thus with an earthly King as you do with the King of Heaven Suppose a King should set forth a Proclamation of a General Pardon to all his Subjects that had offended him without excepting High Treason or any other Offence whatsoever yet if they will but repent submit to his Mercy sue forth their Pardon they shall have it And now after all this is proclaimed throughout the Nation others should assume to proclaim that which is quite contrary that tho it was the King's Pleasure to offer such a General Pardon yet it was the King's Secret Will yea before the Proclamation came forth that the greatest number should never reap any benefit by it Can any Man indued with reason and understanding any ways think that such Officers proclaimed that which made for the King's Honour Or if it was a Truth would not the Soul of a Person abominate such pretending to Kindness and Mercy And now whereas the King of Kings the God of Heaven hath vouchsafed an Act of Grace and in tender compassion and pure love to all hath sent forth a General Pardon tendering his Grace to all telling us that for his Son's sake he will freely and fully pardon all our Sins whatsoever if we will but accept of it and if we sue forth our Pardon we shall have it freely and the God of Heaven to make this known to the World has sent forth his Messengers to proclaim these glad-tidings to all without excepting one Glory to God high on Earth Peace Good-will towards all which was proclaimed by a Heavenly Herald And how hath the Lord both in the Old and New Testament proclaimed and professed himself a God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth yea how earnestly doth he allure Persons to repentance promising them pardon of Sins with all the Blessings of the World to come and seriously and solemnly protests and swears that he desires not their Death he would not have one Soul of them perish But now if after all this others should come and say that tho it be the Revealed Will and Pleasure of God that such a General Pardon should be divulged to the World yet it was the Secret Will of God yea before this Proclamation came forth it was decreed that he would cast out of his favour and devote to Eternal Burning millions of his most excellent Creatures Men Women and Children that never offended him any otherwise than Children may offend before they are born Do you think such words any ways advance the Glory Holiness and Excellency of God No thus under pertence of glorifying of him you most dishonour him as if God did not really intend that Grace and Good to Man which in his Word he tenders to them and so Persons must be damned because God did not really and in good earnest call them which is a thing more fit to be applied to Cheaters and Juglers than to the righteous pure single and secret Will of God Is it not pity you should impute that to the Lord which is proper to none but the worst of his Creatures surely all God's Decrees are perfectly just and whatsoever he wills is perfectly good neither can he will any thing but what in it self is Righteous Just and Equal and to say of things unequal in themselves yet done by God that they are just is a great dishonour to him Wither's Paraphrase on the Lord's Prayer How dare you speak of such a Will to be in God which he hath no where revealed in his Word His Secret Will how come you to know it and if it be revealed how is it Secret Philet God by his Revealed Will sheweth that he approveth of the Salvation of such Persons that perish as Good and sheweth what Persons ought to do and what would be well-pleasing to God was it found in them yet he doth not will it with his Effectual Will for if he did he would give forth strength and such a power that they should not but believe Philad These are but the perplexing Subtilties of the Schools and but Briers and Thorns to intangle Men in endless disputations What doth God approve of the Salvation of Persons as good by his Revealed Will and hath he by his Secret Will positively determined and decreed from Eternity their destruction which is quite contrary to what he approves takes pleasure and delight in what woful work is here As to his Effectual Will if you mean by it his absolute irresistable Power in converting of Sinners beyond all possibility of perishing or the irresistable efficacy and predetermining Power of Grace this is such a Will as you cannot prove to be in God Philet No surely whatsoever the great and glorious God hath purposed and intended he will do shall certainly be effected by his Glorious Power 'T is a dishonour to the most High God as if he was uncertain to effect what he purposeth and intends to do for seeing God's Power is infinite and he being no less than the Omnipotent God he cannot fail or fall short to effect whatsoever he wills and pleaseth to do in the conversion of any he pleaseth to convert or in any other thing that is his Will and Pleasure to effect and do his Counsel shall stand and he will do all his Pleasure Philad 'T is true God is Omnipotent and can do whatsoever he pleaseth tho all Creatures opposed him yet God can many times do more than indeed
Men may be saved if they will which is so gross an Error that they must be very blind that cannot see it for if it was so Men might have Heaven for willing and none would go to Hell but it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth Mercy Rom. 9. 16. Philad That 's true if Men might have Heaven for wishing or willing few would be so fool-hardy as to go to Hell Who would but with Balaam die the Death of the Righteous Who would but have all Tears wiped away from their Eyes and live in Bliss and Glory if God would save Persons for their good Wishes and Desires and give them Heaven tho they never minded it all their days so as to please God they deserve to go to Hell that would not have Heaven upon this account that think Heaven not worth a Wish And as to your Scriptures the Apostle sheweth that the Jews had a Will to be saved and the reason why they fell short of Justification was not for want of willing or running but for not willing and running in a right way they sought it not by Faith but by the Works of the Law They being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to establish their own Rom. 10. 3. so mist of Justification But surely this is not that Free-will you so much cry out of for where can you find such Free-willers that hold Heaven may be had for wishing for Philet But however you hold that you have naturally such a power and freedom of Will that when you would do good you can Philad 'T is a mistake we do not say we have it from Nature but from Grace for as we are in our depraved Nature we can neither do nor will ought that is acceptable and good but as in Grace we may for then to will is present with us yea and ever since the Promise was made that the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's Head the Lord doth first or last enlighten every Man that cometh into the World vouchsasing such renewing of his Will and such a perpetual co-assistance to perform what shall be accepted if persons do not wilfully maliciously and finally resist his Grace so that none of our Sins can justly be charged upon any deficiency in him Our blessed Saviour tells them the Word was near them and in them and that he was the Light that enlightens every Man Yet if by Free-will you mean a single Power in the Creature to convert it self I know none this day in England that hold such an Opinion however I utterly renounce such an Opinion as vile it being to ascribe too much to humane Nature It must needs be a pernicious Principle for any to believe that a Man by the sole power of regulating of his own Will and Reason can obtain Eternal Salvation this would make the suffering of Christ altogether fruitless and I believe also that none hath any will or power of himself without God to do any thing that 's good or to attain to a supernatural End but by the Assistance of Divine Grace and therefore there is an absolute necessity of seeking and imploring the saving supernatural aid and help of the Spirit of that God from whom all our Abilities are derived to us And as to what you say we hold that when we would do good we can I say that through the Grace of God we may avoid many more Sins than we daily do avoid and do more good than we do tell me are any of us laid under a necessity of sinning cannot we forbear many Sins which we daily run into and do we really do what God by his Grace hath impowred us to do in our Duty to God and Man and in avoiding Sin If you say we can do no otherwise then is all your preaching vain yea ridiculous for if an irresistible Cause overpower us that we can do no otherwise no Man that is truly master of his own Reason will ever spend his time and strength to exhort any to repent of doing that which they could not but do or omitting of that which was never in their power to effect If you say that by the Grace of God we may do the one or the other you own Free-will as much as I. For this is the Free-will if we may call it so that I hold viz. That God Almighty hath of his Free Love and Grace imparted a measure of himself or endowed Mankind with those Abilities to perform whatsoever he requires of them and injoins them to God never gives a Command but he gives a Power or else their Disobedience shall not be their Condemnation if this be a vile Opinion then I confess I am vile for if God requires us to believe and yet administers not sufficient Grace and Strength to believe all our endeavours are vain and fruitless Men cannot make Brick till Srraw be given them for the Lord to prescribe Dutys to us and annex Penaltys upon the non-performance of them as to punish with Eternal Death all those that are disobedient to his Will and yet to deny his Grace and Assistance without which it is impossible to keep them this is to represent the Lord as I once said before too much like cruel Pharaoh that made the Lives of his People bitter to them by laying heavy Burdens in requiring the tale of Brick and yet denying Straw the fit Materials or as the evil Servant in the Parable stiled him a hard Master reaping where he hath not sowed Philet I tell you we are altogether passive in the Work of Conversion we are like Saws or Axes that cannot move any otherwise than the Hand guides or forces them Philad Your comparing Persons to Saws and Axes being altogether passive in comparison is a thing I do not understand for we are not Saws or Axes without Sense or Reason but by God's free Gift and his free Grace we have received Liberty and Ability to accept of his Love and to accept of his Mercy when tendred to us and to perform those things which God requires of us in order to our Salvation yea through the Lord 's assisting Grace which is never wanting to any but those that are wanting to themselves we have received such a Power as to inable us to perform the Will of God when the choice of Good and Evil is set before us Deut. 30. 19. Mar. No more than the Stones in the street Philad Why then Man can have no more Sin nor Righteousness in him than a Stone if Man in the Work of Conversion be like a Stock or Stone merely passive doing nothing then in Conversion Persons neither hear nor repent nor turn from Sin to the Lord nor believe in Christ and how any are truly regenerated without those I know not and if these are to be done in Conversion pray who is active in this Work if the Party regenerated be not And if by God's Free Grace Man